Overview

Quality of Care (QoC) measurement is an important tool in assessing, developing and improving services. Measuring Quality of Care is increasingly being recognised as a vital part of assessing and improving healthcare. Not only is it important in maintaining and improving standards of care, but higher quality care is associated with improved outcomes in a wide range of disorders, both in general medicine and in psychiatry.

Until recently, attempts to measure quality of care have focused largely on what clinicians regard as important, and the perspective of service users has been relatively neglected. This is a crucial issue, since some studies show that good quality care, as assessed by users, is better at predicting good outcome than that assessed by clinicians. However, few studies have attempted to develop a quality of care instrument that incorporates both the clinicians' and the service users' views.

This study aims to expand on previous work, by developing instruments for use in two of the most common and serious mental health disorders: bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and incorporating the service users' views at all points of the study. We will also test this instrument on 75 people with each disorder to see if, and in what way, quality of care is linked to a good or a poor outcome 2 years after first presenting to our services.

This will help shed light on

  • What Irish service users' consider important facets of quality of care

  • Whether people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have similar or different priorities in quality of care

  • Whether good quality of care is associated with a better outcome for people with these disorders.

These findings, in turn, will help to guide service development, in keeping with the service user-centred focus of the Department of Health & Children's ‘A Vision For Change' strategy for the future of Irish mental health services.