About the MHIP programme
The Mental Health Improvement Partnership (MHIP) programme was set up in April 2004 by the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE), part of the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP).
The MHIP programme aimed to improve the total quality of every service user's journey throughout the mental health system, by developing the capacity and skills of local care communities in order to make fundamental improvements in the way services are provided. This was driven by the 'Raising Standards - Improving Performance in the NHS' and the 'Building on the Best' publications.
There were 4 pilot sites - Leicesterhire, South Staffordshire, South West London and St Georges and South West Yorkshire.
The pilot sites each developed a whole systems approach to service improvement through effective partnering and applied the MHIP Service Improvement Framework.
They went through 3 phases in the programme:
- Preparation and launch
This focused on the engagement of all the stakeholders and partners in the mental health system, identifying the aims of the programme and planning the programme.
- Diagnosis and solution design
This focused on rigorous assessment of what needed to be done to improve the mental health system and agreeing how improvements could be delivered.
- Implementation
This focused on delivering the improvements.
Read more in the Programme Initiation Document