NHS England recommends the commissioning of intensive support teams (ISTs) to provide effective support to people with intellectual disability (ID) when in crisis. However, there is a paucity of evidence regarding how these services should be organised. This exploratory secondary analysis of data from the IST-ID study aimed to investigate IST characteristics that relate to clinical outcomes. The primary outcome was mean change in the total score on the Aberrant Behavior Checklist and its subscales.

A measure of mental illness severity was the only variable associated with our primary outcome of reduction in challenging behaviour. Accommodation type, affective status and gender were associated with the subdomains of irritability, hyperactivity and lethargy in unadjusted and adjusted analyses.

Our findings indicate that variation in clinical outcomes is influenced by individual rather than organisational factors. Further research on the theoretical fidelity of the IST-ID model is needed.

Selection into core psychiatry training in the UK uses a computer-delivered Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment (MSRA; a situational judgement and clinical problem-solving test) and, previously, a face-to-face Selection Centre. The Selection Centre assessments were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the validity of this selection process using data on 3510 psychiatry applicants. We modelled the ability of the selection scores to predict subsequent performance in the Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC). Sensitivity to demographic characteristics was also estimated.

All selection assessment scores demonstrated positive, statistically significant, independent relationships with CASC performance and were sensitive to demographic factors.

All selection components showed independent predictive validity. Re-instituting the Selection Centre assessments could be considered, although the costs, potential advantages and disadvantages should be weighed carefully.

We aimed to assess whether viewing expert witness evidence regarding the mental health of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in the 2022 court case in the USA would affect viewers’ attitudes towards the mental health of the two protagonists and towards mental illness in general. After viewing excerpts of the cross-examination evidence, 38 trial-naive undergraduate students completed the Prejudice towards People with a Mental Illness (PPMI) scale.

Following viewing, participants held more stigmatising views of the protagonists than they held about mental disorders in general.

It is plausible that mass media trial coverage further stigmatises mental illness.

Serious incident management and organisational learning are international patient safety priorities. Little is known about the quality of suicide investigations and, in turn, the potential for organisational learning. Suicide risk assessment is acknowledged as a complex phenomenon, particularly in the context of adult community mental health services. Root cause analysis (RCA) is the dominant investigative approach, although the evidence base underpinning RCA is contested, with little attention paid to the patient in context and their cumulative risk over time.

Recent literature proposes a Safety-II approach in response to the limitations of RCA. The importance of applying these approaches within a mental healthcare system that advocates a zero suicide framework, grounded in a restorative just culture, is highlighted.

Although integrative reviews and syntheses have clear methodological limitations, this approach facilitates the management of a disparate body of work to advance a critical understanding of patient safety in adult community mental healthcare.

We aimed to co-design an intervention optimising the benefits of online arts and culture for mental health in young people for subsequent testing in a trial. Co-design followed the double diamond phases of design, discover, define, develop and deliver.

Navigating the views of all co-designers to produce a testable resource demanded in-depth understanding, and frequent iterations in multiple modalities of the theoretical basis of the intervention, amplification of youth voice and commitment to a common goal.

Co-design with a broad range of collaborators with a shared vision was valued by young co-designers and produced an effective intervention. Co-design allowed the theoretical basis to be followed and refined to create an engaging, practical and testable web experience, aiming to optimise the mental health benefits of online arts and culture for young people in a randomised controlled trial.

The aim of this project was to set out recommendations for the section 17 leave form to reflect guidance provided in the Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice, following local Care Quality Commission feedback. We reviewed guidance in the Code and publicly available leave forms to identify items to include in the leave form. Then, we determined which publicly available leave forms included each item and reviewed whether the item should be included in the leave form and whether any reformulation was needed.

Using the method described, we identified a list of items that should be included in the leave form. When comparing the leave forms of different trusts, there was considerable variation with respect to which items were included in each form.

We provide some recommendations for future practice regarding section 17 leave forms to facilitate consistency with the Code and between different trusts.