The Liaison Psychiatry team has been working on a project to use new data to measure the effect its support is having on our service users.

Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are short rating scales completed by service users to support therapeutic conversations and measure the impact of interventions. PROMs are completed periodically to track changes in somebody's health and wellbeing.

They are useful tools and when used collaboratively can be helpful to measure change, both for service users and for the service. The team can then compare and improve on the impact different interventions have on someone’s recovery.

The team hopes to use these as a basis for how it can improve the service, and to inform staff feedback and reflection.

The team has been working to use ReQoL-10, one of the outcome measures available which looks at recovering quality of life, since the end of 2024. Here is the progress the team is making:

• The team has identified two time points to use the measure, where service users are accepted into the service’s care
• It has decided to use ReQoL-10 as the areas it measures align with the areas the team can impact in a person’s life
• The team is delivering 45 minute in-house training to launch the use of the measure to staff
• It has made use of the 'how to' guides available for using the ReQol-10 in the electronic patient record systems used by the team
• These will start the launch across the whole team in the middle of January
• The team is exploring which other PROMs might be useful to start using in the future with different service user groups, such as older adults experiencing symptoms of dementia

Implementing the use of outcome measures means that we can use data to measure and shape the care that we're giving, to help us understand what is working well and what isn't, and to work towards providing care that is the best that it can be.

This is considered practice-based evidence, which is a key part of our clinical and social care strategy. You you can learn more in this video from Michelle Horspool, deputy director of research, and Alix Smith, clinical outcomes lead.

To find out more, please email outcome.measures@shsc.nhs.uk