New Ways of Working in UK mental health services: developing distributed responsibility in community mental health teams?
BACKGROUND
This paper examines the introduction and operation of a number of support roles in mental health services. This is done in the context of concerns about the effectiveness of CMHTs.


OBJECTIVE
Three questions are addressed: the degree to which concern for the work of consultant psychiatrists informed the introduction of the new roles; what the reforms implied for the work of the psychiatrist and those in new roles; and the impact of any changes on the operation of CMHTs.


METHODS
Data were collected as part of a national-level evaluation. The main means of collection was the semi-structured interview.


RESULTS
The study shows: that reform was underpinned by concerns about the workload of psychiatrists; and that while in principle the responsibilities of the psychiatrist were to be distributed across other team members, those in new roles felt themselves to be isolated.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the intentions of policy, the creation of the new roles did little to extend the idea of distributed responsibility in CMHTs.
a Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK .
Stephen
S
Procter
b North of England Mental Health Development Unit , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK .
Deborah
D
Harrison
c Department of Healthcare , University of Northumbria , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK , and.
Pauline
P
Pearson
d Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK , and.
Claire
C
Dickinson
e University of Northumbria , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK.
Chiara
C
Lombardo
D003155:Community Mental Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011570:Psychiatry; D006113:United Kingdom
Mental health services; NHS; community mental health teams; interprofessional working; new ways of working; support workers; teams; workforce change