Core mental health standards

4. Scope of the Core Standards and Engagement

It is our ambition for these standards to be applicable across all mental health services. They will initially apply to Adult Secondary Services, Psychological Therapies and Interventions and services that treat those with an eating disorder.

The standards have been developed based on engagement with people who use and work in adult secondary services, psychological therapies and eating disorder services. They cover common themes which were important to people in all of these areas.

The consultation results for the adult secondary standards showed clear support for standards which applied to all mental health services. We have responded to that feedback by producing these core standards for all mental health services, alongside requirements for specific areas of practice as ‘service specifications’. Our ambition is to work with mental health services more widely to explore how the Core Mental Health Standards could apply across a wider range of services.

The majority of the core standards were originally part of the standards for adult secondary mental health services which were published for consultation. However, there were some standards which apply to only adult secondary services, rather than all mental health services. These specific standards are included in Annex B.

The Core Mental Health Standards are informed by the Health and Social Care Standards. They use the principles of the Health and Social Care Standards and apply them in a mental health setting. The Core Mental Health Standards directly reflect what people who use and work in mental health services told us was most important to them.