Psychiatry-UK

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

Staff appropriately assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with most up to date evidence-based research available. Patients were assessed and treated in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.

Patients’ immediate and ongoing needs were fully assessed, via both AI risk identification software and patient clinicians. Where appropriate, this included their clinical needs and their mental and physical wellbeing. Staff assessed people’s suitability for assessment and treatment and discussed this during multidisciplinary meetings. Staff made contact with patients GPs to ensure the service had enough information about the patient before treatment was given.

Staff provided a range of treatment and care for patients based on national guidance and best practice. They supported patients to live healthier lives by providing additional resources and advice. Staff participated in clinical audits and quality improvement initiatives which was informed by patients’ feedback.

This service scored 62 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Patients told us they felt their clinician understood their needs and experiences. However, some patients reported there were errors recorded in their assessment reports, and they had difficulty relaying this back to the service to have amendments made because there were long wait times when patients tried to phone the service.

Patients' initial assessments were structured according to NICE guidance. Pre assessment forms recorded the patient's clinical history. Staff followed the provider's guidance on completing assessments and managers audited them.

Clinician used the provider's AI programme to generate clinical letters and appointment transcripts. This made the process of completing patient records quicker. The provider monitored performance for the timeliness of assessment report letters to send to patients and their doctors.

The provider followed best practice and delivered care and treatment in line with the most recent clinical recommendation.

The provider had an audit implementation group which was set up in December 2024. This group ensured that staff followed professional guidance and legislation. For example, CAMHS ADHD assessments had recently been audited against NICE guidance.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. There is no previous rating for the Effective key question so we cannot yet publish a score for this area.

Staff supported patients to live healthier lives by supporting them to take part in programmes or giving advice. Patients told us they had been signposted by their clinicians to a variety of resources on the provider’s website and other external resources such as meditation techniques, getting better sleep and recommended apps, books and therapy.

Staff made sure patients had support for their physical health needs, either from their GP or community services.

Patients told us there was good communication between their GP and Psychiatry UK.

NHS contracts governed the shared care arrangements between the provider and the GP. The provider requested any physical health information from the patient's GP. Clinicians could send out blood pressure monitors and similar items to the patient's home if that was suitable.

The provider used recognised rating scales to assess and record severity and outcomes.

Clinical staff engaged actively in clinical audits.

The provider had implemented several new areas of innovative information technology work to improve patient experience and outcomes. This included an AI appointment letter generator,which tracked clinical mail into the organisation and mail to patients, and an AI indicative risk screening tool for analysing key risk information designed to assist clinicians in reviewing extensive records effectively. These AI tools were used by registered clinicians in the organisation and integrated with each other.

The provider conducted friends and family tests and shared the results directly to staff. The provider had a patient experience lead who reviewed feedback from patients and their carers.

The provider's new virtual assistant informed patients of any progress whilst they were on the waiting list to be seen.

Staff understood the requirements of legislation and guidance when considering consent and decision making.

At every assessment and prior to treatment the service required the patient to give consent. However, some patients told us they were not aware that their online assessments were recorded.