Implications for mental health workforce strategy, professional training and supervision of more widespread adoption of the multi-professional Responsible Clinician role: Results of a qualitative inquiry

TY - JOUR

T1 - Implications for mental health workforce strategy, professional training and supervision of more widespread adoption of the multi-professional Responsible Clinician role

T2 - Results of a qualitative inquiry

AU - Oates, Jennifer

AU - Burrell, Carole

AU - Ebrahim, Selma

AU - Taylor, John

AU - Veitch, Paul

AU - Brandon, Toby

N1 - Funding Information: Thanks to our participants for their insights. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/5/1

Y1 - 2021/5/1

N2 - Within mental health legislation in England and Wales the Responsible Clinician for specific patients should be the Approved Clinician with the most appropriate expertise to meet their primary assessment and treatment needs. The study aimed to explore nurse and psychologist perspectives on becoming a Responsible Clinician in the context of their limited uptake of the role and calls for an increase in advanced practice roles within mental health. It comprised a qualitative inquiry in the form of a thematic analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews. Four sub-themes emerged under the theme of ‘becoming a Responsible Clinician’. They were: (i) the Responsible Clinician amongst other roles; (ii) developing in the role; (iii) working with psychiatrist colleagues; and (iv) organisational context. Responsible Clinicians were juggling the role with other senior clinical responsibilities, often without a coherent programme of ongoing educational development or organisational support structures. If mental health service provider organisations adopt this extended role more widely then role-specific support and supervision arrangements should be in place as part of a coherent workforce strategy. This is particularly important given the legal and ethical responsibilities of the Responsible Clinician.

AB - Within mental health legislation in England and Wales the Responsible Clinician for specific patients should be the Approved Clinician with the most appropriate expertise to meet their primary assessment and treatment needs. The study aimed to explore nurse and psychologist perspectives on becoming a Responsible Clinician in the context of their limited uptake of the role and calls for an increase in advanced practice roles within mental health. It comprised a qualitative inquiry in the form of a thematic analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews. Four sub-themes emerged under the theme of ‘becoming a Responsible Clinician’. They were: (i) the Responsible Clinician amongst other roles; (ii) developing in the role; (iii) working with psychiatrist colleagues; and (iv) organisational context. Responsible Clinicians were juggling the role with other senior clinical responsibilities, often without a coherent programme of ongoing educational development or organisational support structures. If mental health service provider organisations adopt this extended role more widely then role-specific support and supervision arrangements should be in place as part of a coherent workforce strategy. This is particularly important given the legal and ethical responsibilities of the Responsible Clinician.

KW - Advanced practice

KW - Mental health

KW - Mental health law

KW - Professional roles

KW - Responsible clinician

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102872076&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijlp.2021.101696

DO - 10.1016/j.ijlp.2021.101696

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85102872076

SN - 0160-2527

VL - 76

JO - International Journal of Law and Psychiatry

JF - International Journal of Law and Psychiatry

M1 - 101696

ER -