Pathways, Barriers and Aspirations: The Mental Health System in Birmingham from a Service User Perspective
This research project was commissioned in 2000 by the Policy Development Panel: Remodelling Mental Health Services, the City of Birmingham. Its purpose was to contribute to the development of joint commissioning and joint provision across the local authority and health services. It aimed to gather service users' experiences of mental health services in Birmingham and develop from this data an approach to improving and monitoring service development.

The project was undertaken by a Suresearch research team. 60 people who had used a range of mental health servicesin Birmingham were interviewed by service user interviewers. The findings indicated that most service users expected that contact with services would assist them in managing their mental health problems through times of crisis and recovery. However, their eperiences indicated that whilst some services did deliver on these expectations others had the reverse effect.

The research findings were discussed by two user-led focus groups. From these discussion a set of user-generated criteria were developed as a means of evaluating and monitoring mental health services in the future. These criteria represent seven key characteristics of services that users consider enable recovery and life planning.

They are:

Valuing users and people and experts in their own lives

Listening to users

Learning from users

Engaging with users on key issues relating to their lives, e.g. employment, housing, income, personal and family relationships, treatment and care options

Working with users through exchanges directed at planning for change in their lives to support recovery

Connecting users to sources of specialist and community based advocacy and advice

involving users in service development and the recruitment of staff

MACA DIFFERENCE - A Service User Survey About MACA's Services and Future
This survey was commissioned by MACA, the Menal Health After Care Association (known now as Together: Working for wellbeing). During a two day MACA Conference event in 2004, to celebrate 125 years of the organisation, 50 service users were asked about their experiences of the organisation and their ideas about its future. This data was used to inform MACA's organisational review which was being undertaken to rededicate its focus and activities in order to achieve its mission in ways best suited to the 21st century.

A Suresearch team of service user researchers worked with MACA to design a questionnaire which they used to interview service users over the two days of the Conference.

The report which emerged highlighted the following issues:

Over three quarters of the people interviewed used mainstream specialist mental health services as well as MACA services.

Income, housing, employment, leisure activities, personal relationships and medication were the most important issues in the lives of the majority of people taking part in the survey.

There were high levels of satisfaction amongst service users with the response that MACA made to these issues of concern in their lives.

A great deal of enthusiasm and satisfaction was shown about the range of services that MACA provide. These included support, domiciliary, day and residential care services. This degree of safisfaction reflected both the quality of the services on offer and the attitudes, skills and responsiveness of MACA staff.

MACA service users wanted MACA to maintain and extend its services in the 21st century because they were delivering on what service users needed in their lives.

Service Users' experiences of transistion through mental health services
This research was commissioned by the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Patient Public Involvement Forum. Its aim was to investigate mental health service users experiences of transition through services and make recommendations for service improvement in supporting people in transition.

The research was carried out in 2006 by a Suresearch research team of service users and academic researchers. It comprised of two parts. The first were interviews with 63 mental health service users to find out about their experiences of transition. The second was undertaking an analysis of the findings of previous Suresearch research projects which related to the experiences of 150 service users, many of whom had experienced service transitions.

The findings suggested that a majority of service users had experienced support in transition through services, although there was some evidence that expectations of services were low. A minority of service users had not felt supported and were left isolated, in distress and disengaged from services. This had a negative impact on recovery and well being. In some cases this was due to services losing sight of a service user, for example when they moved house or out of a catchment area. In other situations service users eplained how the experience of services had a negative impact on mental health.

Recommendations to services made on the basis of these findings encompass steps relating to policy, practice and procedures which need to be embedded across services if hey are to actively improve the support they offer to individuals at times of change and crisis.

Copies of the summary and full reports of this work can be downloaded from:

www.socialresearch.bham.ac.uk/downloads/summary reporttransitionsMHServices.pdf

www.socialresearch.bham.ac.uk/downloads/Service Users Mental Health Services.pdf