STUDYING THE FUTURE - A DELPHI SURVEY OF HOW MULTIDISCIPLINARY CLINICAL STAFF VIEW THE LIKELY DEVELOPMENT OF 2 COMMUNITY-MENTAL-HEALTH-CENTERS OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT 2 YEARS

Two community mental health centres (CMHCs) in North Staffordshire, En gland were the sites for a recent Delphi survey of multi-disciplinary clinical staff. The views of staff were sought on the likely developme nts over the next 2 years, at the CMHC where they worked. Each group o f staff independently produced healthy numbers of suggestions, with fe w contradictions, and displayed predominantly positive attitudes, both towards particular suggestions and the future in general. Summarized results were classified within seven themes, producing similar distrib ution patterns for both CMHCs. The most frequently occurring themes we re changing staff roles and CMHC functions and developments in therapi es and skills. Mid-placed themes concerned community development and c ommunication/continuity. The least frequently reported themes covered general management, user involvement and quality assurance. Issues rai sed by the study are discussed and related to other published works, f ollowed by consideration of how the findings might be utilized. Clinic al staff have generated a large number of suggestions and, importantly , via rounds of confidential voting, indicated the group consensus on each item. Consequently, management of change should stand a high chan ce of success. Finally, one means of taking the findings forward is de scribed.