Supervised community treatment: Patient perspectives in two Merseyside mental health teams

Purpose - This paper explores the perspectives of patients subject to supervised community treatment (SCT) within two mental health teams in Merseyside. Design/methodology/approach - A structured survey tool was developed to explore patient perspective. In total, 17 patients agreed to participate in the study subject to informed consent. Findings - The majority of patients believed SCT facilitated early hospital discharge but felt uninvolved in the process. A significant proportion lacked the motivation or ability to understand the verbal and written information pertaining to their legal rights at the time it was given, usually immediately prior to hospital discharge. All felt they must strictly abide to the SCT conditions to remain in the community. There was a lack of knowledge about the harm criteria and the responsible clinician's ability to recall a service user to hospital even if they abided by the conditions. Research limitations/implications - This study is based upon a small sample size. There is no attempt to generalise the results. Originality/value - There have been few studies exploring the perspective of patients subject to SCT. A fuller awareness and understanding of patient perspective is important to promote involvement and therapeutic outcomes.