Service User Perspectives: Evaluating Experiences at Rethink Mental Illness

Over the last year, Rethink Mental Illness has transformed the way that we engage with people we support.

We launched our Service User Experience Survey in to get feedback on our services right across England to help ensure we are providing what people living with mental illness need. 

To develop and enhance our services, it is essential that we hear directly from the people who use them. By prioritising a wide reach and making the survey as accessible as possible, we were able to hear from 1,587 people accessing our services. 

To make sure we asked the right questions we coproduced the survey with people with lived experience who use our services and our expert staff.

The results were fascinating and instrumental in steering our efforts towards improvement and influencing the quality and outcomes of our services.

Key findings

For all services 

• 83% of respondents agreed that their quality of life improved as a result of the support they had received.
• 91% or respondent would recommend the service they had received to a family member or friend if they were in a similar position (this compares to an average for NHS mental health services of 86%).
• 93% of respondents rated the support they received as either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.  

For specific services

• 79% of community services users are progressing towards goals they have set themselves.
• 85% of crisis accommodation services users ‘agreed’ or ‘completely agreed’ the service had a positive impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
• 96% of carers service users ‘agreed’ or ‘completely agreed’ that they have been supported to access appropriate information.
• 90% of CQC residential service users who agree that staff are willing to help with errands or any support needed.
• 82% of supported accommodation service users felt they were ‘definitely’ or ‘in some way’ on track to achieve their goals, or already have, and felt positive about the steps they had taken.
• 85% of helpline service users ‘agreed’ or ‘completely agreed’ that the service is accessible through various means of communication, underscoring their adaptability and user-friendliness. 
• 88% of employment services users ‘agreed’ or ‘completely agreed’ that the service had improved their confidence and self-esteem.
• 83% of Black Asian or other Minority Ethnic service users ‘agreed’ or completely agreed’ that they had been supported to better access to mental health services.
• 80% of Advocacy Services Users felt confident raising concerns about the service they had received
• 95% of Prison Service Users said that the service had helped them better understand and address their difficulties ‘all of the time’ or ‘most of the time’. 

Key areas for improvement

The survey allowed us to identify some key areas where we think there is scope for improvement, such as:

• Improving levels and variety of activities available to all service users.
• Promote more co-production and involvement of service users in service development and improvement. 
• Considering areas of impact and best practice demonstrated by other services within the same respective area of service provision.

We are always seeking to improve and learn, and are open to more suggestions on how to improve the service user experience survey.

If you have any suggestions, please email: glenn.raymond@rethink.org.