A new Person Reported Experience Measure (PREM) for the new Community Mental Health Service in BNSSG

A man and woman sitting opposite each other with coffee in front of them, chatting

Community Mental Health services have changed in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG). The services are now integrated, which means that they work together to support people who need help with their mental health. The service planners recognised the importance of understanding service user experience, as a way of measuring and improving service quality, so they have developed a Person Reported Experience Measure (PREM). This is a survey that will explore peoples’ experiences of using the new integrated community mental health service.

The Clinical Effectiveness team’s impact

The BNSSG Integrated Care Board (ICB) Clinical Effectiveness team supported the development of the PREM by:

  • Gathering information about how existing BNSSG mental health support services were collecting user experience
  • Undertaking a literature review of potentially relevant experience measures
  • Developing a list of potential PREMs and engaging with a range of stakeholders to review the list and agree on what should be included in a PREM to capture the experiences of people accessing community mental health services across BNSSG.

This work has resulted in a five question, bespoke PREM for use in Community Mental Health services across BNSSG. These questions measure different aspects of service users’ experience. Two of the questions have come from the Friends and Family Test, which is a measure used by all NHS services since 2015.

The BNSSG Community Mental Health PREM will be available in multiple languages, and in paper and digital formats. Two services will pilot the PREM for six months in 2023 to explore how it works in practice. This test and learn evaluation will help service planners understand if the measure is useful for service improvement, and acceptable to people using mental health services. The findings will inform the final version of the PREM that will be used in all community mental health services across BNSSG.

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