Is Everything in the Garden Rosy? An Integrated Care Pathway for Acute Inpatient Mental Health Care, from Development to Evaluation: Part 1

Abstract

This paper is the first of two which consider the development, use and evaluation of an integrated care pathway (ICP) for acute inpatient mental health care. The care pathway discussed is in use on seven inpatient wards within a UK mental health trust. Pathway development began in January 2003, and after a pilot period the pathway was fully implemented in June 2003. Since that time the pathway has been revised twice and the current version can be viewed at http://www.nimhe-em.org.uk/pages/integrated_care_pathways/index.shtml . This paper describes ICP development and implementation, with extracts from variance reports, compliance audits and concluding with lessons learnt from the process. Paper 2 of the series, which follows, describes an evaluation of the pathway's impact upon securing interventions.