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Posted on 20 Sep 2017

Brecon Intensive Treatment Unit at Rampton Hospital has been officially accredited by the Quality Network for Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (QNPICU).  This is a mark of assurance of the quality of the service provided by the Unit and recognition that it meets all of the national quality standards for psychiatric intensive care units in secure settings.

Brecon ITU is part of the personality disorder service for men at the High Secure Hospital managed by Nottinghamshire Healthcare and provides care and treatment for patients presenting with behaviour deemed to be too high risk for management on a treatment or admission ward. 

The accreditation process began back in November 2016 with the self-review phase.  This enables a team to review their practices against the national quality standards and make any necessary changes.  The self-review included a full health records audit, carer and patient questionnaires, an environmental and facilities audit, and an audit of policies and procedures.  For Brecon, the self-review period enabled specific improvements to be made regarding admission criteria to the Unit and exit strategies for patients moving on, plus maintaining links with parent wards. 

A summary of the self-review findings is then used to inform the discussion of the next phase, which is a peer review carried out by an external review team.  In addition to validating the self-review, the peer review provides an opportunity for discussion and sharing of ideas.   Brecon’s peer review included group forums for staff and contributions from all of the multi-disciplinary team on the Unit.

A summary report of both the self and peer reviews was then submitted to the Accreditation Committee for a decision.

Commenting on the accreditation, Michelle Dixon, Ward Manager said:  “We are all delighted.  I am particularly pleased with the review team’s comments about the friendly and warm atmosphere which they found exceptional for a personality disorder PICU in a high secure setting. I am grateful to the staff team who made sure that the review team felt welcomed and were open and transparent about areas for development.  There are still areas that we would like to work on in collaboration with our patients to improve their experience, but for now I am immensely proud of what Brecon team have achieved and I want to say a big thank you for all their hard work day in, day out.”

An interim review will take place in 18 months with a full re-accreditation review in three years.

QNPICU is a quality improvement initiative that offers accreditation and developmental membership options and is run by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Centre for Quality Improvement.  More about the PICU standards, and aims and work of QNPICU can be found on the website http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/workinpsychiatry/qualityimprovement/ccqiprojects/aims-picu.aspx