Centre for Mental Health

Implementing Recovery
through Organisational Change (ImRoc)

Having developed a framework by which organisations might become more recovery-orientated, we are now embarking on a project to test it with NMHDU and the NHS Confederation. The ImRoc project is expected to run until 2011/12.

We aim to field test the methodology for organisational change in 6 demonstration sites and help them to improve the quality of their local services to support people more effectively to lead meaningful and productive lives.

This project provides an opportunity to demonstrate an innovative approach to quality improvement and cultural change across organisations. The project will assist services to undertake self-assessments against ten indicators, plan changes and report their outcomes over two years. This work addresses the following High Impact Areas:

1. More people will receive care which is, as far as possible, 'self-directed' and reflects their preferred goals and outcomes.
2. More people with serious or severe mental health problems will be able to use their own experience and expertise to manage their symptoms, in partnership with professionals.
3. More people with serious or severe mental health problems will be in employment.
4. More people with serious mental health problems will be living in appropriate accommodation.

Although controlled trial evaluations are not yet available in this country, it is clear that there is significant potential for improvement in the quality of care and savings in resources from using the expertise of people with lived experience of poor mental health in the workforce - providing they are appropriately trained and supported.

The project team of Jed Boardman, Rachel Perkins (South West London and St George's NHS Trust) and Geoff Shepherd will provide direct consultancy and advice on target setting and implementation to individual sites. Julie Repper from the University of Nottingham will provide specific help with training of service users and staff.

The sites

We have selected 30 sites to take part in the project. (The sites are listed here.) Each site will be supported to identify and progress through each of the ten challenges using a 3 point scale of 'Engagement', 'Development' or 'Transformation'.

Each organisation will receive an individually-tailored support package of expert consultancy, access to specialist, user-led training programmes and materials, and participation in a learning network. This will enable organisations to put a truly person-centred approach at the heart of service delivery with the aim of improving service user outcomes and satisfaction levels with service provision.

The project team

The work is led by Professor Geoff Shepherd, Dr Jed Boardman, Dr Rachel Perkins OBE and Professor Julie Repper, leading experts in this field. Read more about the project team.

For more information about the project, contact imroc@nhsconfed.org.