APPENDIX 34
Supplementary memorandum by South West
London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust (MH 71A)
1. USER
EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMME
Rationale
— Mental health services are major
employers. If other employers are to be encouraged to offer jobs
to people who experience mental health problems then it is important
that we lead by example;
— The 1995 Disability Discrimination Act
requires employers to make reasonable adjustments for people who
have psychiatric, as well as physical, difficulties. Given the
expertise present in mental health services we are well placed
to take a lead in demonstrating what "reasonable adjustments"
might mean for people who have experienced mental health problems;
— Employing people who have experienced
mental health problems can actively enhance the quality of service
provided. People who have themselves learned to live with mental
health problems have gained a wealth of experience and expertise
in coping with such difficulties that most clinicians do not have.
A Supported Employment Programme
Research suggests that some people who have
experienced mental health problems require help and support to
gain and maintain open employment. Support workers provide applicants
with assistance in completing their application forms, preparing
for interview and starting work, as well as providing ongoing
support to enable them to maintain their employment.
In the first four years of its operation:
— 39 people with long-term mental health
problems—schizophrenia, manic depression, severe depression—have
been successfully supported in existing clinical and non-clinical
posts within the Trust on the same terms and conditions as anyone
else;
— With the support available, their
sickness absences (3.8 per cent) have been lower than those of
the Trust's direct care workforce in general (5.8 per cent);
— As well as the clinical and social
benefits that have resulted from employment, the programme makes
good economic sense. The amount saved in benefits no longer paid,
and gained in taxes, as a result of employment exceeds the cost
of providing support by some £1,900 per person per year.
A Charter for the Employment of People who have
Experienced Mental Health Problems
Most people who have experienced mental health
problems do not require special support in employment: the only
reasonable adjustment they require is a willingness on the part
of employers to take them on. The Trust's Charter is designed
to decrease employment discrimination against people who have
experienced mental health problems throughout the Trust (see overleaf).
This Charter has ensured that some 20 per cent
of people recruited by the Trust in 1999 had personal experience
of mental health difficulties (an increase from 9 per cent in
1997 when the Charter was launched and monitoring began).
A Work Experience Programme
Designed to enable people to get the experience
and references they need to gain open employment. In the first
three years of its operation, 71 people were supported in work
experience placements in various departments of the Trust. 32
per cent have successfully moved on to open employment.
The programme has been cited as an example of
good practice in both the report of the Report of the Disability
Rights Task Force on Civil Rights for Disabled People (DfEE, December
1999) and in "Mental Health in London: A Strategy for Action"
(NHSE—London/SSI,2000). It also won first prize in the 1999
national Nursing Times/3M Awards. The model developed has been
used by other Trusts to set up similar programmes in their own
services.
2. CHARTER FOR
THE EMPLOYMENT
OF PEOPLE
WHO HAVE
EXPERIENCED MENTAL
HEALTH PROBLEMS
South West London and St George's Mental Health
NHS Trust, in line with its Equal Opportunities Policy Statement
endeavours to create an environment in which people can expect
to be treated both fairly and equally and where the rights of
the individual are respected. This principle applies equally to
staff where the Trust seeks to operate employment procedures and
conditions that do not discriminate on any grounds other than
an ability to meet the requirements of the job.
In particular, and in line with the Disability
Discrimination Act (1995) and the Positively Diverse initiative,
the Trust will not discriminate against disabled people and will
make reasonable adjustments to overcome the barriers to employment
that such people may face. Being an organisation committed to
mental health, the Trust recognises that:
— the absence of employment is detrimental
to mental health;
— prospective employees may be subject
to discrimination in recruitment and selection procedures as a
consequence of mental as well as physical health problems;
— people who have experienced mental
health problems have gained a specific expertise that is valuable
to others who experience similar difficulties;
— for many people who have experienced
mental health problems, the only barrier to employment is an unwillingness
on the part of employers to consider them because of their psychiatric
history; and
— many people who have experienced
mental health problems can successfully gain and sustain employment
if they are provided with appropriate help and support.
The Trust's User Employment Programme has been
successfully developing ways in which employment can be made available
to those people who have experienced mental health problems in
line with these initiatives, and in recognition that personal
experience of mental health problems among staff can actively
enhance the quality of mental health care provided, the Trust
will:
(1) Maintain a Supported Employment Programme
Team to provide support in employment, where necessary, to recruits
who have experienced mental health difficulties, and take a lead
in minimising employment discrimination against people who have
experienced such problems throughout the Trust.
(2) Identify "personal experience of
mental health problems" (in addition to the other qualifications
and experience necessary for the post) as a desirable part of
the selection criteria for all clinical posts within the trust
(unless specific exemptions are agreed by the Chief Executive
or his appointed deputy). Where it is considered that the employment
of someone who has experienced mental health problems might be
facilitated by the provision of additional employment support,
this will be provided by the User Employment Programme Team.
(3) Actively seek to increase the skill mix
of the workforce to include the expertise of personal experience
of mental health difficulties by identifying a number of positions
where specific accommodations can be made to provide additional
support (in the recruitment and retention process) to allow people
who have more marked disabilities resulting from their mental
health problems to gain and sustain employment. For these supported
posts, experience of mental health problems will be an essential
part of the selection criteria and support will be provided by
the User Employment Programme Team.
(4) Ensure that for all other posts, the
experience of using mental health services will not form a barrier
to selection to the post providing that the person is otherwise
able to carry out the requirements of the job. The Trust will
seek to encourage applications from those people who have had
mental health problems to demonstrate its commitment not to discriminate
against them.
(5) Offer work experience placements, co-ordinated
and supported by the User Employment programme, to people who
have experienced mental health difficulties to enable them to
prepare for open employment within and outside the Trust.
(6) Establish a system to monitor success
in recruitment of people who have experienced mental health problems
and work towards a position where the Trust's workforce reflects
the proportion of the general population who have experienced
such difficulties. That is, the Trust should progress towards
the target of 25 per cent of its recruits having experienced mental
health problems.
(7) Recognise that the employment discrimination
experienced by many people who have had mental health problems
may have discouraged them from seeking employment, the following
Equal Opportunities statement appearing on advertisements for
posts to read:
"The Trust is actively seeking to recruit
people currently under represented in the workforce. This includes
people from ethnic minorities and people who have experienced
mental health problems."
3. INCREASING
ACCESS TO
EMPLOYMENT AND
EDUCATION: A PILOT
PROJECT
Providing Training and Information to Community
Mental Health Team Staff
— Staff in community mental health
teams were provided with three training seminars in work assessment
and vocational rehabilitation;
— Provided these staff teams with a directory
of "Local Work, Training and Educational Opportunities"
which is updated every three months;
— Produced quarterly newsletters "Access
to Work and Education Newsletters" to keep staff up to date
with what is going on locally.
Providing a Specialist Work Co-Ordinator to Work
with the Mental Health Team
A work co-ordinator worked for two days per
week with two Community Mental Health Teams in order to:
— Make links with the local Employment
Service, employers, other employment agencies and education/training
providers in order to facilitate access for clients;
— Provide information to keyworkers
and clients about work and educational opportunities that might
be appropriate for individual clients;
— Assist keyworkers in performing vocational
assessments, constructing vocational rehabilitation and support
plans for individual clients and enabling clients to access appropriate
work/educational opportunities.
In the first six months of work within these
two mental health teams:
— Six people were helped to start work
in open employment and a further five people had secured interviews
(but did not yet know their outcome);
— Nine people had been helped to secure
work experience placements;
— Five people had been linked with
their local Department of Employment Disability Employment Advisor,
and four linked with other local employment agencies, who were
helping them to find employment;
— Four people were helped to find voluntary
work;
— Twleve people had started education
courses at local colleges.
June 2000
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