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This paper sets out to look at social inclusion among users within services, asking the questions is there a general measure of agreement about what social inclusion means to people, and is there an accepted way of measuring these views? The initiative was funded by the NIHR Research Methods programme now part of the Health Technology Assessment group at Southampton. Nine focus groups explored what people understand by ‘social inclusion’ and concept mapping was used to try and define the term. The research methods are reported here, along with plans for the future.

The current role of the approved social worker (ASW) will be changed to that of the approved mental health practitioner, who may be a nurse or other mental health professional, if proposed legislation comes into force in England and Wales. This has implications for service users, carers and the mental health workforce. This article draws on literature and a conference discussing this change attended by practitioners and policy‐makers. It considers the complexity of the ASW role and the implications for the AMHP, and sets the related issues in the context of integrated working.

National directives in the UK aim to enhance community provision for mentally ill people. One of these initiatives, the Care Programme Approach (CPA) requires health and social services to develop a needs‐led approach; care plans for discharged patients; co‐ordinated “packages” of health and social care and information systems. A survey conducted in the North Western Regional Health Authority area confirms many of the findings of recent work and raises other issues for health and social services managers. These include the need to: recognize and alter bad clinical‐organizational practices; develop assessment and priority rating systems which combine health and social care variables; implement relevant and accessible information systems; and develop adequate, standardized outcome measures for mental health services.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the development and results of the Mental Health Inclusion Index.

Data gathering and interviews with key policy makers in 30 countries in Europe (the EU28 plus Switzerland and Norway). Data gathered enabled the production of an 18 indicator benchmarking index ranking the 30 countries based on their commitment to integrating people with mental illness.

The main findings were: mental illness exacts a substantial human and economic toll on Europe, and there is a substantial treatment gap, especially for people with common mental health problems. Germany’s generous social provision and strong healthcare system put it number one in the Mental Health Integration Index. The UK and Scandinavian states come next. The lowest-scoring countries in the index are from Europe’s south-east, where there is a long history of neglect of mental illness and poorly developed community services. One needs to understand that the leading countries are not the only ones providing examples of best practice in integrating those with mental illness. Employment is the field of greatest concern for people with mental illness, but employment is also the area with the most inconsistent policies across Europe. A distinction can be made between countries whose policies are aspirational and those where implantation is support by substantial and most importantly sustained, resource investment. Europe as a whole is only in the early stages of the journey from institution- to community-based care. Lack of data makes greater understanding of this field difficult, and improvement can only be demonstrated by repeated surveys of this kind, based on more substantial, comprehensive and coherent information.

Usual caveats about the use of surveys. Missing data due to non-response and poverty of mental health inclusion data in many European countries.

The author reflects on the findings and considers areas for future action. The main implications are: better services result from substantial, but most importantly, sustained investment; and that employment is most important to people with mental health problems, but is one of the most inconsistent policy areas across Europe.

Supports the need for consistent investment in community mental health services and more consistent employment policies in Europe.

This survey is the first of its kind in Europe, and was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, and sponsored by Janssen.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate health and social care integration in North Wales in a short window of time between the assent of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and its implementation in 2016.

The findings are based on the experiences of health and social care professionals from six Local Authorities and one Regional Health Board working in a management role with strategic responsibility, gathered from an online survey (n=43), semi-structured face-to-face interviews (n=14) and supplemented with reflective interviews with regional coordinators responsible for facilitating cross-organisational working (n=2).

Senior managers are devoting considerable energy to understanding the implications of the new legislation, ensuring that their organisations will be ready and able to successfully implement it. This work is perceived to be commensurate with wider agendas to transform and integrate working practices and services, influenced by a range of financial, environmental, organisational, social and policy factors.

This research has direct implications for stakeholders in North Wales, having already been used to shape conversations about integration in the region, and furthermore builds upon existing knowledge in the academic and professional field of integration, with additional limited wider implications for policy and research.

This index covers all issues between February 2005 (Volume 9, Issue 1) and November 2008 (Volume 12, Issue 4). Numbers in bold refer to yolume, numbers in brackets refer to issue, with subsequent numbers to pages.

Support, time and recovery (STR) workers are in the vanguard of the new frontline, non‐professionally affiliated groups identified in the NHS Plan (Department of Health, 2000).Since 2003, the former changing workforce programme mental health team (now part of NIMHE's national workforce programme) have facilitated the implementation of this role across England, initially through a pilot project, then an accelerated development programme (ADP). It is this latter, ongoing, programme that forms the basis of this article. The authors refer to the challenge of establishing the STR worker role in a variety of statutory, non‐statutory and independent service settings and achieving the Department of Health (DH) target of 3000 STR workers in post by December 2006. The collaborative implementation process is discussed and many issues such as performance management, measures, service user involvement, organisational (including human resources and occupational health) support, and education and training, are explored. Key learning from the process is identified, and consideration given to the future application of such a simple yet effective model for change.

THERE was a rather remarkable statement made at the Royal Institute of British Architects by Mr. Berwick Sayers last month. He affirmed that so far as the recorded issues of the reference libraries in the municipal libraries of London were concerned, only 8,880 books were consulted daily. This, as the statistical account of twenty‐nine public libraries, shows an average of a fraction over 302 books daily. To some this may seem not an inadequate issue, if all the books recorded are books which the student and the searcher for information have used. The point of the meeting at which the remark was made was that the reference libraries of London should do more in co‐operation with industry, and it was argued by the representatives of ASLIB who took part in the conference that our London reference libraries should be strengthened in the science and technology departments, even at the expense of the lending libraries. The experience of the public librarian seemed to be that few people lived in London near their work; and that they had command of the special libraries in London in a way that provincial industrialists had not, and therefore they did not make any use that mattered of London reference libraries. The Chambers of Commerce in the various boroughs of London consist of small traders as a rule whose main purpose is “to keep down the rates,” and who have very little connection with industry on the scale in the minds of the ASLIB representatives. In short, the chief function of the London public libraries is mainly that of home reading. Ultimately the solution of the reference problem may be the establishment of one or two great regional reference libraries supported by the co‐operation of the boroughs. Co‐operation, however, is in its initial stages yet, and it will probably be some time before such an ideal, if it be an ideal, is achieved.