In a recent paper, High integrity mental health services for children: Focusing on the person, not the problem, Miranda Wolpert and colleagues consider how the principles of high integrity healthcare can support improvement in children and young people’s mental health.
For those unfamiliar with high integrity healthcare, the BMJ have recently put together this podcast ‘What is high integrity healthcare?’ which provides an overview of the topic and discusses a recent paper on approaches to measurement in this area. The principles involve consideration of more than the clinical evidence as well as better engagement with patients and non-health professionals who have an impact on a person’s care. This is particularly important in the treatment of children and young people. In Focusing on the person, not the problem, the authors emphasise the need to listen to what the patient thinks and improve the use of measures to determine what’s working and what’s not.
Listen below to an interview with Miranda Wolpert on the key messages from the paper. You can also read an analysis of the work on The Mental Elf.
An example of the type of service mentioned in this podcast, designed by children and young people for children and young people is Pause in Birmingham.