Women's Inpatient Safety Project - Jude Stamp

VMIAC PROJECT TAKES A FRESH LOOK AT SAFETY OF WOMEN IN INPATIENT FACILITIES

What factors allow a woman to feel safe from all forms of abuse or neglect when receiving treatment in an inpatient psychiatric setting? VMIAC has been funded for a 12 month project by the Lance Reichstein Foundation to investigate how women across Victoria experience psychiatric care in metropolitan and country facilities. We will seek to identify areas where women do not feel safe, the causes of their anxiety and what can be done to alleviate the stress on vulnerable people. We are not going to re-invent the wheel. A lot of good work has already been done around safety issues for women, and we will tap into this and build on it. Jude Stamp, a former consumer consultant for 10 years with Southern Health, will lead the project. Jude is keen to hear about how spending time in an inpatient unit impacts on patients. Is there a sense of security or a feeling of being vulnerable? Do mixed gender settings cause tension? Do women feel safe from any kind of abuse or neglect while they are in hospital?

If you would like the opportunity to discuss these issues, either in a group accessible to you, or in a one-to-one meeting, please contact VMIAC. You can email Jude on: systemic@vmiac.com.au. Ring: (03) 9387 8317. Or, mail your comments to Jude Stamp, VMIAC, 23 Weston Street, Brunswick. 3056. Fax: (03) 9388 1445

V-group

The VMIAC young consumer group

C&C Project

Consumer & Carer
Experiences of Care Survey Project

A flagship project for Victoria: Consumer and carer-led evaluation of Mental Health Services for service quality improvement:

The state-wide survey of consumer and carer experience of public mental health services gives consumers and carers the chance to provide feedback to help improve the quality of services in Victoria. The Review of the 2003-04 Victorian Survey made recommendations for new ways to improve the way information is collected, how it is used by services, and how to facilitate involvement of consumers and carers in quality improvement. This project draws on those recommendations and breaks new ground in the level of consumer and carer participation and partnerships with services:

• A collaboration between the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council, the Network for Carers of People with a Mental Illness, Mental Health Services and the Department of Human Services
• A 12-month pilot project involving 4 clinical and 4 PDRSS sites across metro and rural Victoria
• Independent carer and consumer bodies responsible for the organisation of the survey, carers and consumers involved in the research design and survey construction, trained consumers and carers carry out the survey
• Services work together with consumer and carer project officers to generate locally relevant questions, to recruit respondents and to make the best use of survey results

Four Phases

1. Wide consultations with consumers, carers and service providers about what a survey of experiences should be about and how it is best delivered
2. Developing and refining survey instruments and processes
3. Promoting the survey, recruiting and carrying out the survey
4. Evaluation of results and survey processes and recommendations for service quality improvement

The pilot will make recommendations for a state-wide roll-out of the survey in future years.

UPDATES

Communication

In addition to planning for the discussion groups, we are also developing some marketing materials to help recruit consumers and carers to the discussion groups. We will be sending flyers and other advertising materials to your area shortly.

February Update

• Feb Update

March Update

• Mar Update

June Update

• June Update

November Update

• November Update

For further information, please contact the project manager:
Mr Lei Ning at projectmanager@vmiac.com.au Ph: 9387 8317. C&C Project Consumer and carer experiences of care Survey Department of Human Services

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