MINDS WP3
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Coproducing Improved Mental Health Acute Inpatient Discharge using a Systems Approach: MINDS study – Work Package 3
IRAS ID
335475
Contact name
Jon Wilson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
This ethics application is part of a wider, NIHR funded study, on improving the discharge process from acute mental health inpatient wards. The overall study is split into three separate packages of work. We are currently seeking ethical approval for the final stage of the project. To date, we have interviewed staff members, service users and carers on their thoughts of discharge, and completed inpatient ward observations (IRAS 315309). We have also conducted 6 workshops in 3 mental health trusts to design and refine the intervention using the Engineering Better Care Approach, developed by the University of Cambridge (IRAS 324731). We have considered staff members, service users and carers needs and requirements around discharge, thought about where the difficulties lie, considered what resources are available and how they may be used more efficiently.
All of this work has led to the design of our intervention, called the Systemic Discharge Approach (SDA). The SDA consists of six interlinked components: mini teams, creative practice, gradual leave, service user planner, carer/supporter planner, and goodbye postcards. We are planning to implement our intervention onto six inpatient wards across three mental health trusts, as part of routine clinical practice, and are seeking ethical approval to complete health economic and process evaluation of this work. We will also seek to understand the feasibility of collecting data for a future clinical trial. Evaluation will involve collecting questionnaire and interview data with staff, service users, and carers using the intervention. Observations of the SDA being used in practice on the ward will also be undertaken by the research team. We will also look at service user’s medical notes and routinely collected clinical data to gain a better understanding of when, why, and how the intervention is used.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/YH/0277
Date of REC Opinion
14 Dec 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion