Patient survey results

South London and Maudsley has received top marks for listening to patients and involving them in their care.

The Care Quality Commission's survey of people who use community mental health services rated SLaM the best performing mental health trust in the country for taking people's views into account when prescribing medication. The survey also found that SLaM was among the best performing trusts for working with service users to meet their personal goals to manage their mental health and giving people a chance to express their views about their care.

SLaM was rated among the lowest 20% of NHS trusts on working with families of people with mental health trusts. SLaM has been working  to develop a strategy to improve its performance in this area. The results of this work include a new plain English guide for families and carers to explain how services work.

SLaM's Medical Director Dr Martin Baggaley says:

"Listening to what people tell us about the experience of using our services is really important. This year's patient survey shows that we've made some real improvements in the way we work with patients to provide them with the best possible care. It also highlights areas where we need to improve, which is also what the survey is about."

The 2010 survey of people who use community mental health services involved 66 NHS trusts in England. The survey involved distribution of a questionnaire to a random sample of people using services. This year a total of 233 SLaM service users responded from a sample size of 850. Service users aged 16 and over were eligible to take part in the survey if they were receiving specialist care or treatment for a mental health condition and had been seen between 1 July 2009 and 30 September 2009.

You can see the full report here