Commissioning guidance
Commissioning guidance on Personality Disorder services.
Recognising complexity: Commissioning guidance for personality disorder services
Recognising Complexity provides guidance for commissioners by reviewing what we know about personality disorder, government policy, clinical approaches and learning from the pilots, and by setting out a series of recommendations.
It’s essential reading for anyone in our health, social care, education and criminal justice systems with responsibility for commissioning as they take up the challenge of recognising and addressing the complexity of personality disorder.
- Download Recognising complexity: Commissioning guidance for personality disorder services
- Read it online
- Download a leaflet about the report
Over the past 10 years the government has produced a number of policy documents focussed specifically on ways of preventing personality disorder and providing appropriate treatment and care for clients, including:
- 1999 – Managing Dangerous People with severe Personality Disorder (DSDP)
- 2003 – Personality disorder: No longer a diagnosis of exclusion
- 2003 – Breaking the Cycle of Rejection: The Personality Disorder Capabilities Framework
- 2006 – Reaching Out: An Action Plan on Social Exclusion
- 2007 – Mental Health Act
Within this positive context of change, this guidance aims to use what we have learned to support commissioners and service providers in addressing the needs of local populations with PD. Those populations are diverse, as PD can form part of a complex profile of need across many service user groups and age groups. Effective commissioning depends on recognising this complexity as it considers the needs of vulnerable children at risk, offenders, people with substance misuse problems, women with complex needs, offenders and others.
So, while NHS mental health commissioners have a key role to play, they cannot alone deliver better health and well-being for people with PD. Success also depends on developing effective coalitions and joint approaches, most notably with criminal justice system agencies, but also with drug action teams, children’s trusts and local authorities.