Long term care in forensic psychiatric settings: carers views
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Characteristics and needs of long stay patients in high and medium secure forensic-psychiatric care: Implications for service organisation: Carers views
IRAS ID
178619
Contact name
Shirley Mitchell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, days
Research summary
High and medium secure forensic psychiatric services are both expensive to the NHS and very restrictive to patients. Clinical experience and the available research indicates that such services are not always used in the most cost-efficient way, e.g. that patients stay too long periods of time in highly restrictive and expensive secure settings. A proportion of patients may require long-term, potentially life-long, secure forensic-psychiatric care but their mental health, psychosocial and service needs are not met by existing service provision designed for faster throughput.
This project is related to a three year multicentre project, funded by the National Institute of Health Research, investigating the characteristics and needs for long stay patients. The findings of the research aim to improve the quality and cost-efficiency of care and management of patients who stay for prolonged periods in high and medium secure forensic-psychiatric settings. The project will also explore the views of clinicians and patients on the possible reasons for long-stay and their experiences in high/medium secure settings. The service user group of this project has highlighted the need to look at the views and experiences of forensic carers. The current project will therefore add this perspective to the enquiry whereby care givers will also be interviewed via focus groups to gauge their views and experiences of their long stay care recipients and current services.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0218
Date of REC Opinion
1 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion