IMPACT review of access assessments shows improvements across the East Midlands
Providers of adult low and medium secure services across the East Midlands have demonstrated improvements in their service user access processes, a new audit by the IMPACT provider collaborative has found.
Access assessments are undertaken following a referral of a patient who may require admission to low and medium secure mental health inpatient units. The nationally agreed standards for urgent and routine referrals are that a patient is assessed within 7 days and a report is generated within 28 days.
IMPACT, which is responsible for adult secure service (low and medium) delivery across the East Midlands, has a robust single point of access process in place for all providers, to ensure that an access assessment can be undertaken by any unit or professional on its behalf. This avoids patients having multiple access assessments and having to 're-tell' their story multiple times.
An audit was conducted to evaluate if access assessments across the provider collaborative were undertaken within the specified timeframe and to determine if reports were written to a high-quality standard. The IMPACT Clinical Governance and Reference Group also wanted to assess progress since the last audit in 2023 and identify areas for continual development.
A random sample of 30 access assessments was reviewed by the IMPACT Quality Lead, and the IMPACT Clinical Director. The audit found that:
- 80% of access assessments were undertaken in the appropriate time frame, compared to 55% in 2023.
- Since the start of 2023, the rate of service users undergoing multiple access assessments has reduced to 5%.
The review highlights the positive developments in improving access assessment processes across the East Midlands. Continuing an annual access assessment audit will ensure the quality of assessments and written reports remains high and consistent across the different units and assessors in the region.