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To learn more about the programme and how you can support safer care locally, please get in touch with the team.
Contact usMental Health Safety Improvement Programme
The Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme (MHSIP) is a national patient safety programme commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Its aim to improve safety and experience in mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient services, and specifically to reduce restrictive practices.
Mental Health Safety Network
Established in October 2021, the South London Mental Health Patient Safety Network is an interactive network designed to bring together individuals across the system with the shared goal of improving mental health safety. Its purpose is to create value through sharing learning, creating connections, and building energy and capability in safety improvement. It meets three times a year.
We welcome people with lived experience, including carers, clinical and managerial staff from NHS, independent and private health and social care providers, commissioning leads, local authorities, voluntary sector partners, police, emergency services and other system partners.
Please get in touch for information about future events.
South London Reducing Restrictive Practice quality improvement (QI) collaborative
Building on the work of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, we are delivering a reducing restrictive practice quality improvement (QI) collaborative. This collaborative is supporting ten wards in south London to test and adopt change ideas to improve safety locally.
All our work in mental health safety is underpinned by the principles of co-design and we are committed to address existing inequalities where they exist to ensure our work improves the lives of those with the worst outcomes fastest.
Our programme is delivered in partnership with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and South West London and St George’s NHS Trust.
Key Statistics
- Nationally, a quarter of people who take their own lives are in contact with mental health services at the time of their deaths. Of those using inpatient services: 52% on agreed leave, 16% AWOL, 32% on the ward.
- Black people are more than three times’ more likely to be subject to restraint or seclusion that white people.
- In 2018, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that 1,120 sexual safety incidents (out of nearly 60,000 reports) occurred over a three-month period across NHS mental health wards, affecting service users, staff and visitors.
- The NCCMH Restrictive Practice Collaborative achieved an average 15% reduction in the overall use of restrictive practices among the 38 wards participating. Some achieved 100% reduction.
