New Ways of Working for Allied Health Professionals
in Mental Health
Key recommendations of New Ways of Working (NWW) for
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs)
• Service users and carers
should be actively involved in the development and
delivery of training and
education, and as partners in their care (at both individual and
service levels).
• AHPs should use the
Skills for Health competence-based approach to service
delivery
(www.skillsforhealth.org.uk) and the Creating Capable Teams
Approach
(www.newwaysofworking.org.uk,).
• AHPs need to demonstrate
to commissioners the cost-effective contribution
their specialist skills
can make to improving the health and well-being of service users
and their carers.
• AHPs should extend links
with local authority and other services to ensure clinical
protocols and care pathways for service delivery across
organisational boundaries are in place.
• AHPs should take
advantage of their transferable skills in order to lead service
development across mental
health services.
• AHPs should make
explicit the contribution they can make to improving a person’s
quality of life through reducing their reliance on services and by
promoting health and well-being.
• The ten essential shared
capabilities (underpinning values for all mental health staff,
www.nimhe.csip.org.uk) should be integral to training, induction
and the continuous professional development of all AHP
professionals and support staff.
‘Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
hits the button for me. It is the first treatment I have been
offered that directly addresses my destructive behaviours.
The team who facilitate this – occupational therapist (OT),
psychological and nursing staff – have been helpful and
understanding. My primary therapist is an OT.’
Service user, Berkshire Healthcare
NHS Trust, February 2007
Background
AHPs work with individuals from all
age groups and within all clinical specialties. Their
particular skills and expertise can be
the most significant factor in helping people
develop and maintain their
independence through both physical and mental
rehabilitation. AHPs work across many
sectors and settings including health, education,
social services, primary care,
secondary care, the independent and voluntary sectors.
There are specific AHPs working in
specialist mental health roles. They include art therapists,
dietitians, drama therapists, music therapists, occupational
therapists,
physiotherapists, and speech and
language therapists. However, other AHPs also make
a valuable contribution to mental
health service users via promoting positive mental
health. A unique contribution of AHPs
is their ability to meet the combined mental
and physical health needs of service
users.
New Ways of Working for
AHPs
NWW represents a cultural change in
the delivery of mental health services. The future
is a person-centred values-based
approach where services and roles are responsive and flexible. The
policy context includes the White Paper, Our Health, Our Care,
Our Say and proposals for improving access to psychological
therapies and social inclusion, as well as mental health
legislation.
One recommendation from New Ways
of Working for Psychiatrists (Department of Health, 2005) was
to take forward NWW for AHPs via the Mental Health Allied
Health
Professionals Advisory Group
(MHAHPAG). Representatives on this group included
service users, carers, the AHP
Federation, other NWW workstreams, Skills for Health,
the National Institute for Mental
Health in England and the Department of Health.
This chapter is a summary of the full
report of NWW for AHPs which can be found at
www.newwaysofworking.org.uk. NWW for
AHPs has developed practical guidance
illustrating how AHPs can enhance and
evolve their practice to meet the needs of
working in a modern mental health
service and ensure wider social inclusion of service
users and carers. It demonstrates and
provides examples of how AHPs make the best use of their skills,
competence and capacity to work across and between
organisations.
The MHAHPAG identified four key themes
relating to NWW which have been explored through project groups.
These were:
• education and
training;
• new roles;
• system reform (Our
Health, Our Care, Our Say White Paper); and
• teamworking.
Common issues, challenges and
recommendations of each theme are discussed in the
main report.
Several cross-cutting themes have
emerged both within the project groups and other
NWW workstreams, including improving
access to psychological therapies, regulation, preceptorship,
social inclusion, recovery approaches and complexity. All of these
are addressed in the NWW for AHPs full report.
Chapter 8 of the final report of the
New Ways of Working for Psychiatrists (2005)
identified actions to be taken in
respect of a number of Allied Health Professions to
promote NWW. Updates on these are
included in the full report.
Innovative
practice
North Central London occupational
therapists have developed a training resource
pack for senior occupational
therapists to deliver training to support staff. The target
client/service groups included adult mental health and dementia
services. The training is currently being piloted with a view
to using it as part of an NVQ course at Middlesex University.
Contact: Delia Thomas
at delia.thomas@haringey.nhs.uk or
Vanessa Papas at vanessa.papas@candi.nhs.uk,
Innovative
practice
The Adult Mental Health Joint Training
and Development Strategy Group in Leicestershire has service user
and carer trainers working with professionals/workers
to deliver training that models good
partnership working and hugely enriches the
training experience.
Contact: Rebecca
Pritchard at rebecca.pritchard@leicspart.nhs.uk,
Innovative
practice
Occupational therapists at the
Hartington Unit at Chesterfield Royal Hospital have
a new role, working in the Crisis and
Home Treatment Team. The occupational
therapy team formulated a Crisis Care
Pathway and aims to complete intervention
and discharge in eight weeks. Benefits
include reducing the number of acute mental
health hospital admissions and
establishing more links with community networks.
Contact: Kate
Singleton at kate.singleton@derbyshirecountypct.nhs.uk,
Innovative
practice
A weight management programme for
adult mental health clients in Barnsley helps
clients to manage weight gain that is
due to a variety of factors, including the sideeffects of
medication. It is a three-month programme run by a senior
physiotherapist and exercise specialist with input from dietitians,
pharmacists and psychiatrists, as well as psychology, nursing and
leisure centre staff. It has demonstrated that clients taking
anti-psychotic medication are able to lose weight if they are
prepared to change their exercise and eating habits, and that this
results in corresponding improvements in self-esteem. The programme
is constantly being modifed in response to feedback from clients
and staff – for example, a stress management component has recently
been added to the programme.
Contact: Roderick
Newsome at roderick.newsome@barnsleypct.nhs.uk,
Occupational
therapy
‘The activities my son was involved
with were going shopping, preparing and cooking
light meals, art, constructing wooden
models and computer work... He explained
how, by being given a choice, he felt
he had some empowerment... My son felt the
therapists were interested in him as a
person, as an ordinary human being.’
Other useful
websites
www.nhscarers.nhs.uk,
www.dh.gov.uk,
www.nhsemployers.org,
Reference
DH (2005): New ways of working for
psychiatrists: Enhancing effective, person-centered services
through new ways of working in multidisciplinary and multi-agency
contexts. Final report ‘but not the end of the story’.
DH Publication Ref 270394A/B/C
Contact: Wendy
Osborn, Professional Head of Therapies, Berkshire Healthcare
NHS Trust
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