Learning Disability Today, 10(5), June 2010, pp.20-21.
Publisher:
Pavilion
Place of publication:
Hove
The author reports that, for many project leads who are working on implementing local “Green Light” action plans to improve mental health support for people with learning disabilities, change is proving difficult and slow to achieve. Green Light is a service improvement toolkit centred on the National Service Framework (NSF) for mental health. It includes a self-assessment checklist to evaluate how well local areas are applying the NSF to meet the specific needs of people with learning disabilities who experience mental health problems. Green Light is designed to help local areas plan action to ensure that people with learning disabilities benefit from improvements in the same way as everyone else. To encourage and support the implementation of Green Light the Care Services Improvement Partnership funded a national programme: Green Light: Making It Happen. The author discusses the themes around the struggle to implement action plans that emerged: a lack of local data; capacity issues and competing priorities; the need to change practices; engagement issues; the challenge of change; and a lack of agreements and pathways. She goes on to consider what helps and list things that appear to have made a real difference in local areas. The New Horizons short briefings series beginning in the Spring of 2010 to inform and update local decision makers is welcomed but the author believes there is still a need for a new Green Light support programme.
The author reports that, for many project leads who are working on implementing local “Green Light” action plans to improve mental health support for people with learning disabilities, change is proving difficult and slow to achieve. Green Light is a service improvement toolkit centred on the National Service Framework (NSF) for mental health. It includes a self-assessment checklist to evaluate how well local areas are applying the NSF to meet the specific needs of people with learning disabilities who experience mental health problems. Green Light is designed to help local areas plan action to ensure that people with learning disabilities benefit from improvements in the same way as everyone else. To encourage and support the implementation of Green Light the Care Services Improvement Partnership funded a national programme: Green Light: Making It Happen. The author discusses the themes around the struggle to implement action plans that emerged: a lack of local data; capacity issues and competing priorities; the need to change practices; engagement issues; the challenge of change; and a lack of agreements and pathways. She goes on to consider what helps and list things that appear to have made a real difference in local areas. The New Horizons short briefings series beginning in the Spring of 2010 to inform and update local decision makers is welcomed but the author believes there is still a need for a new Green Light support programme.
Extended abstract:
Author
COLE Angela, GREGORY Margaret.
Title
Green Light for mental health: a service improvement toolkit.
Publisher
Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, 2004
Summary
Green Light is a framework and self audit toolkit for improving mental health support services for people with learning disabilities, providing a picture of what services should be aiming to achieve, including quality outcomes, and a self assessment checklist, and aimed at Mental Health Local Implementation Teams and Learning Disability Partnership Boards.
Contents
Part A is a guide to the pack itself and to improving services and support for people with mental health problems who have learning disabilities. Section One introduces Green Light, telling users about the pack and what it's for and giving some ideas about getting the most benefit from the toolkit. Section Two is an easy to read summary designed primarily for use with and by people with learning disabilities. Section Three has two parts which, when added together, give an overall picture of what services should be aiming to achieve. The first gives the national policy context and highlights what the government expects of services in relation to people with mental health problems who have learning disabilities. The second is about quality outcomes for people with mental health problems who have learning disabilities and for their carers, from their own perspectives. Section Four creates a concrete picture of what needs to happen ‘out there' in the reality of services. It highlights key challenges for services in moving towards integrated mental health services for people with learning disabilities; explores what the national policy objectives actually look like in practice, i.e., accessible, integrated mental health support services, using examples from around the UK wherever possible. Section Five is about how to work out what needs to be sustained or changed locally. It introduces the self-assessment checklist and some ready-to-use survey tools which are found in Part B. The self-assessment checklist is at the core of the service improvement toolkit. There is guidance about getting information and evidence to underpin your local self-assessment, and about presenting findings to the Local Implementation Teams and Partnership Board. Part B – the toolkit – has four sections. Section One contains the self-assessment checklist and an action planning proforma. Section Two is a survey of in-patient experience Section Three is a survey of community support experiences. Section Four is a survey of carers' experiences. Throughout the guide there are quotations from the test sites and from people with mental health problems who have learning disabilities, which reinforce points in the text, and references to publications, resources and sources of information. These are listed at the end.
23 references
Subject terms:
learning disabilities, mental health problems, mental health services, social care provision, evaluation;
University of London. King's College. Institute for Applied Health and Social Po
Publication year:
2002
Pagination:
71p.
Place of publication:
London
This workbook is for commissioners and managers in mental health and learning disability services. It is about helping people with learning disabilities to maintain good mental health or to have a good lifestyle and good support if they have mental health problems. It is about what commissioners and managers can do to secure positive outcomes for people, outcomes indicated in national policy documents like the National Service Framework for Mental Health, in Valuing People (the White Paper on learning disability service) and in Joint Investment Planning Initiatives.
This workbook is for commissioners and managers in mental health and learning disability services. It is about helping people with learning disabilities to maintain good mental health or to have a good lifestyle and good support if they have mental health problems. It is about what commissioners and managers can do to secure positive outcomes for people, outcomes indicated in national policy documents like the National Service Framework for Mental Health, in Valuing People (the White Paper on learning disability service) and in Joint Investment Planning Initiatives.
Subject terms:
joint working, learning disabilities, joint commissioning, joint planning, life style, mental health problems, mental health services, outcomes, service development, social care provision, government policy;