Traffic Lights:A practical risk management system for community early intervention in psychosis teams

摘要

Purpose - The current risk management system for community mental health patients in England isrnbased around the Care Programme Approach (CPA). This system is not responsive to changes in riskrnfor community patients. This paper aims to introduce a practical system to manage risk that has beenrndeveloped for an Early Intervention Service in East London on the basis of need.rnDesign/methodology/approach - Coding of red, amber and green is associated with specificrncriteria agreed by all disciplines in the team. The change of a code leads to a rapid change in risk levelrnand management. An agreed clinical and non-clinical action plan leads to a whole team response. Thernlimitation of use is dependent on the size of the case load and the number of clinical staff attending arndaily clinical briefing.rnFindings - Zoning according to the traffic lights system could complement the CPA system andrnsupport a clinical governance structure utilising a whole team response.rnResearch limitations/implications - The risk management system described has not been testedrnempirically. Currently it has been used in early intervention mental health teams but will need to bernadapted for other teams with bigger case loads.rnOriginality/value - This practical risk management system is aligned with the statuary CPArnrequirements. A dynamic and flexible management of risk is central to early intervention in psychosisrnteams but the risk management system described can suit any community mental health team and fitsrnwell with the distributed responsibility model of functionalised teams according to new ways ofrnworking.