Excellence in mental health

A leading national body has this week confirmed a new accreditation for St Andrew’s. Our medium secure ward for older men, Cranford, has received an Accreditation for Inpatient Mental Health Services (AIMS). The Charity is the only dedicated provider of medium secure services for older men in the UK and the clinical team have unique experience in caring for this patient group.

AIMS is run by the Royal College of Psychiatrists College Centre for Quality Improvement. The purpose of AIMS is to improve patient care. The accreditation focuses on excellence and recognises that national requirements and recommendations have been met which make a difference to the experience of the patient. The programme is underpinned by a core set of standards developed by AIMS including consulting patients, carers, professionals and national bodies such as the Department of Health and NICE.

The AIMS process is very thorough taking six to nine months from the time a ward registers with the AIMS programme. It involves a self-review using patient, carer, staff, and ward manager questionnaires, a review of health records and other key documents, and an audit of the environment.                    

Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Muthusamy Natarajan said: “The team are extremely proud to be recognised for the specialist care that we provide. Continuing to build on this success is  important to ensure that patients are always at the centre of all that we do.”