User Focused Monitoring (UFM) is a way of evaluating and researching local specialist mental health services also known as secondary mental health services. UFM uses service users’ experiences of using a service or receiving a form of treatment for instance, in order to evaluate how well or not mental health services perform locally.
UFM members are people from all walks of life who have used or who currently use secondary mental health services, or who have experience of mental distress. They are involved at all stages of the research process, from deciding the subject to designing the questionnaires, to conducting the interviews, analysing the findings and writing up a report. The findings of reports have been presented to the service user community in Bristol and beyond at conferences. They are of course also presented to staff. The findings are then used to negotiate and make positive improvements to the way that local mental health services are provided and run.
Between May 2001 and May 2002, research was conducted into service user experiences of being in-patients. This research was published in the report: User Focused Study of Three Bristol Hospitals. The findings of this report and the recommendations for change were presented to service users and providers. The report also led to the formation of a group that aimed to work on the implementation of the recommendations made.
This report "Three Hospital Report ?" has now been published as is available to download as a pdf file here
Between September 2002 and October 2004 the UFM project, following a large consultation exercise within the local service user community, decided to look at the experiences of being in a mental health crisis in Bristol, resulting in the report Crisis…What Crisis?, published in October 2004. We were interested in how people defined what a crisis meant for themselves, where they sought help from, what kind of help they got or not, how mental services interpreted and responded to their crisis. We also talked to people who had experienced a mental health crisis but had not used mental health services. The project also looked at non specialist sources of help and support at times of crisis, for instance friends and families, telephone helplines etc. and what coping strategies people resorted to.
Altogether, over 120 people were interviewed, in two phases, recruited through the mental health Trust (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health in Partnership Trust - AWP), or through adverts placed in the community.
The recommendations made in the Crisis report are currently forming the basis of an implementation group.
The report was presented at a number of events organised for service users and staff in Bristol and beyond, such as conferences in other parts of the country as well as in France recently. The UFM model is increasingly being recognised as a valid way of evaluating mental health services and service user experiences of using those services.This report "Crisis What Crisis ?" has now been published as is available to download as a pdf file here
Due to staff changes, the UFM project is only now embarking on its third major project and is researching care planning in Bristol. This will not only be about the actual formal process, known in mental health services as the Integrated Care Plan Approach (ICPA), but also about what care planning means for people as a way to support them on their very own journey of recovery, and in terms of social inclusion. The idea for the project came about as a result of consultation but will also be a response to the type of large scale surveys which too often omit individual experiences. As part of this study the project is also planning to look at care planning in prisons in Bristol which see a significant number of current service users in their midst. So quite an exiting project in prospect!
If you want to know more about this project then don't hesitate to contact the UFM Development Worker on 0117 980 0388 or via e-mail
Three Hospital Report - Follow this link to view the Bristol Mind UFM report April 2002
"Crisis, What Crisis ?" - Follow this link to view the Bristol Mind UFM Report October 2004
Bristol Mind was also pleased to be able to support a group of mental health service users carry out some research into mental health service users expereinces of attempting to return to work after experiencing mental health distress. This work was funded by Strategies for Living. Please follow this link to download a copy of their report
" Lifes Labours Lost" - A study of the experiences of people who have lost their occupation following mental health problems.