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The focus of this paper is to consider the findings of a survey, which aims to identify the types of training that acute mental health staff could access, in relation to workforce development and substance misuse issues in acute mental health care.

An electronic survey was developed and distributed using work email lists to all clinicians who worked in acute mental health services across a region in England. Not all NHS organisations agreed to participate.

A total of 89 clinicians responded to the survey, some failed to indicate their consent, therefore the results of the 77 that did are presented. The main finding was that most acute care staff had only accessed mandatory training such as risk assessment. Many staff had not been trained in the use of psychosocial approaches. Drug and alcohol specific activities were performed on the whole only “sometimes”.

It was not possible to determine the total number of potentially eligible staff who were sent the survey, therefore, response rates cannot be calculated. It is possible that the findings may not be generalisable to other services. There may be bias in those who choose to respond to an electronic email, in terms of those who had access to a computer or who were more IT literate. In addition, the survey did not specifically set out to examine substance misuse issues as its main focus.

Acute care staff work with service users with increasingly complex needs. Creative and cost effective ways of facilitating access to training and support must be found as a priority to ensure that staff have the competencies to identify and manage substance users effectively in acute mental health settings.

The findings reinforce previous studies highlighting the deficit in access to psychosocial interventions training for acute care staff.

Research indicates that the diagnostic label of Bipolar Disorder is being both over and under-used in mental health services. Disagreement between clinicians in how the diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder is perceived and how the label is used can make it difficult to establish and uphold consistent care. This may lead to the experience of negative emotions for service users and poor engagement with intervention. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore whether clinicians do hold different perceptions of the diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, with the view of providing insight into how this may impact service provision.

Q-methodology was used to investigate the subjective viewpoints of 19 clinicians from mental health community teams supporting individuals with a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. The completed Q-sorts were subject to analysis using Q-methodology analysis software.

Three main factors representing the viewpoints of participants were identified: seeing the person and their experience, promoting quality through standardised processes and understanding the function of diagnostic labels. All three factors agreed that more than one assessment appointment should be required before a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder was given and that the focus should be on the difficulties experienced rather than the diagnostic label.

These three viewpoints provide different perspectives of the diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, which are likely to impact on service provision. Services may benefit from a better integration of the viewpoints, noting the important functions of each viewpoint and being guided by individuals’ needs.