Salford Community Mental Health Service

Healthwatch Salford and the Mental Healthwatch Action Group carried out a mystery shopping exercise to assess how easily people could access community mental health services by telephone. Nine mental health service users made 42 calls to eight local mental health services using scenarios based on a range of protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, including disability, age, race, sexual orientation and gender reassignment. 

The exercise found considerable inconsistency in the quality of telephone responses. Positive experiences included polite staff, appropriate signposting, detailed explanations of services and awareness of support needs such as British Sign Language interpretation. However, participants also reported poor communication, difficulties getting through to services, inconsistent information about referral routes, a lack of awareness of accessibility issues, and occasions where messages were not returned. Some felt that responses could deter people in distress from seeking help. 

A key concern was the role of reception staff as the first point of contact. The mystery shoppers felt that staff knowledge, attitudes and responses varied significantly between services, particularly when dealing with people who might have communication needs or additional vulnerabilities. The project also highlighted concerns about the availability of accessible information and whether services were fully meeting the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard. 

Overall, Healthwatch concluded that access to mental health services could be improved through more consistent telephone responses, better staff training, clearer information about referral pathways and services, greater use of accessible communication formats, and improved awareness of equality and accessibility requirements. Recommendations included reviewing accessible information provision, strengthening receptionist training, improving public information about services and continuing to engage service users in service improvement.