Developing practical social inclusion outcome measures to evidence mental health recovery

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to describe the development of a suite of social inclusion outcome measures and how they are being applied in practice within Stockport.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper gives a description of the development approach; the development of the measures and how the data collection systems have been established.

Findings – A suite of practical measures of social inclusion has been developed that are being used to inform local service delivery, commissioning and service redesign with the purpose of evidencing the effectiveness of provision in delivering social inclusion for people who have used mental health services in Stockport.

Research limitations/implications – The paper does not contain data. It is anticipated that the data will inform a business case for commissioning in new ways and which may be the subject of a further paper.

Practical implications – The paper describes the practical approaches that have led to the development of the measures.

Social implications – The measures will be able to demonstrate the social impact of services for people who use them.

Originality/value – Mental health services are striving to develop meaningful measures that are embedded in day-to-day practice and are meaningful to people who use services. These measures and the way they are being used in services will provide evidence to service commissioners of effectiveness and have been signed off as such by commissioners. The outcomes framework will have implications locally for the implementation of payment by results in mental health.