Barnsley intensive care unit receives top accreditation
A specialist mental health service at Kendray Hospital in Barnsley has been recognised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists as providing high quality care to local people.
The Melton Suite is provided by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and is a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) which cares for people from Barnsley with chronic enduring mental health problems who require intensive care in a safe environment.
The PICU suite has received official Accreditation of Inpatient Mental Health Services (AIMS) from the Royal Collage of Psychiatrists and the National Association of Psychiatric Intensive care Units for their high standards of care.
The accreditation process aims to recognise work within PICU services in terms of the care provided, team working and service improvement.
The six bedded unit is based at the Kendray Hospital and provides specialist psychiatric intensive for people who are in a very disturbed phase of a serious mental health disorder. The unit offers an enhanced level of care and security necessary to safely care for people who require a specialist environment for a short period of time.
Mental health is just like physical health, it can go through phases of being very good or people can become very unwell. When someone is in need of psychiatric intensive care it means that they are so unwell they can not be safely and therapeutically managed and treated in an open ward. The Trust’s PICU ensures that the best care is provided in the most appropriate environment by highly skilled staff.
The service has been accredited by the Accreditation for Inpatient Mental Health Services (AIMS), which is a quality improvement programme developed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to identify and acknowledge services with high standards of organisation and care, and with a view to helping other healthcare providers achieve this status.
Ward manager Sharon Ford, who helped lead the accreditation work, said, “This status recognises the team’s hard work and celebrates our innovative approach, which helps improve the service, keeping the people who receive treatment at he facility at the heart of everything we do. It is fantastic to receive national recognition for the excellent care provided by staff working on the ward and provides people who come into contact with our service additional reassurance on the quality of care we provide."
The application for accreditation includes service users and family carers checking progress against a number of care and organisational standards. Accreditation is only granted following a visit from the Royal College of Psychiatrists assessors, who check current practice within the Unit.