Dual Diagnosis: Raising Concerns Related to Mental Health and Substance Misuse
What is Dual Diagnosis?
Dual diagnosis most commonly refers to people who have a diagnosed mental health condition and substance misuse.
In Hertfordshire, mental health services are provided by Hertfordshire Partnership University Foundation Trust (HPFT) while drug and alcohol services are provided by Change Grow Live Spectrum (CGL) both of which developed a Dual Diagnosis Protocol.
What We Did
This piece of work originated in 2016, with the primary focus being to ensure the service user and carer experience fed into the Dual Diagnosis pathway and protocol (now developed).
We worked with service users, carers, representatives from voluntary organisations, and commissioning bodies to identify the main challenges for patients using services with a dual diagnosis, and to raise these issues with the service providers to negotiate change, and to improve the Dual Diagnosis Protocol.
What happened in response to the feedback?
In response to the feedback collected from service users and carers of this project, HPFT and CGL made measurable improvements to the Dual Diagnosis Protocol:
- Jointly producing a Dual Diagnosis Protocol which outlines a clear pathway for people with a dual diagnosis
- Implementing a new call handling system to improve monitoring, triage, support for carers, and call waiting times
- Significant work on the Triangle of Care, which outlines the involvement and support for carers
- Consultation with service users and carers in the development of the Dual Diagnosis Protocol, developments around Single Point of Access, and the Triangle of Care
- Demonstrable commitment and plans to reduce the number of staff vacancies, and acknowledgement of the challenges associated with a high turnover of staff. It also clear that HPFT’s vacancy rates are in line with the national average.
- Training all multi-disciplinary teams on dual diagnosis, and clear communication of the protocol with all staff.
- Both organisations have begun to co-locate staff to improve working relationships, handovers and joint working
We, and partner organisations such as Viewpoint, Carers in Herts, Herts Mind Network, Mind in Mid Herts and Turning Point continue to work with HPFT and CGL to feedback experiences of how the protocol is working in practice, so if you have any feedback on these services please continue to share these with us.
Read the full report and responses from services, here:
If you require this report in another format, please get in touch.
