Community Mental Health Survey

On Friday 18 August, Sussex Partnership is launching a survey on people’s experiences of using community mental health services. If you used services in April or May 2023, you could be invited to take part and give your feedback on the quality of support you received.

In last year’s survey, we received 224 responses from adults aged 18 and over, who used the survey to tell us what is working well and what requires improvement.

Since then, we have been working to improve the information available to support people who are experiencing a mental health crisis so that people know where to get help. We're also working towards bringing local community mental health services closer together to make them more accessible and easier to navigate by creating local hubs to help ensure people get support that's right for them as soon as possible.

Dr Jane Padmore, Chief Executive at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said:

"Receiving feedback from patients and taking account of their views is really important to us. It helps us learn about people's experience of our care, highlight what we are doing well, and where we need to make changes to ensure quality of care.

"I would like to encourage anyone who is asked to take part in the Community Mental Health Survey to be open and honest and tell us about their experience of our services so we can promote examples of good practice, keep doing the things that we're doing well, and make improvements where we need to."

This year, for the first time, the survey will be inviting people aged 16 and over to share their experiences of care. This is really important to help us understand how well young people’s care is transitioned as they move into adult services.

The survey can be completed online or as a paper questionnaire. The survey is confidential and carried out by the Care Quality Commission and a dedicated Survey Coordination Centre at Picker, on behalf of NHS England.

The responses are not shared with our staff, so participation will not affect your care or treatment.

The results will be published in the spring of 2024 and will be used to assess Community Mental Health Trusts in England. What we learn will enable us to identify key priorities, aiding our mission to provide the very best care for you and our community.

If you are invited to take part, whether contact with our services was regular or minimal, know every voice is valued.

If invited to take part in the survey and need help completing it, please call 0800 783 1775.

For more information about the survey which closes on 7 December 2023, please visit www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/cmhs