Working to improve quality of care and health outcomes for people with mental health and substance use conditions.
The Scottish Government Commissioned, "The Way Ahead: Rapid Review of Co-Occurring Substance Use and Mental Health Conditions in Scotland" argues that “Mental Health Services and Substance Use Services still need to find better ways of working together for the benefit of their patients”. Recommendation 1 of the review is that “each area has an agreed protocol in relation to the operational interfaces between mental health services and substance use services.”
The Mental Health and Substance Use: Protocol Programme has been commissioned by the Scottish Government to develop, test, and support implementation of a good practice protocol for how mental health and substance use services should work together.
Through the development of a protocol and ongoing support this work will seek to improve clinical practice, joint working and interfaces between services to improve outcomes for people with co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions accessing services.
Support for NHS boards and health and social care partnerships.
We support NHS boards and health and social care partnerships delivering mental health and / or substance use services to:
- understand their current systems of care
- develop, test and implement their own protocols,
- engage with people with lived experience of mental health and substance use, and
- engage with a national learning system.
Get involved
If you are interested in learning more about the Mental Health and Substance Use: Protocol Programme or would like to know more about how we can support you; email us at his.mhportfolio@nhs.scot