Access to mental health services survey user testing - People Bank Involvement

1. Overall the survey felt appropriate, allowing people to share experiences of accessing mental health services.

1. We are pleased that testers felt the survey was appropriate.

2. Consider how the survey will reach people who are not online at all; in particular, older people.

2. We will consider ways to do this, such as use of paper surveys left at libraries, and local papers or newsletters.

3. It would be good to explain more about the Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust.

3. We have added a short explanation of the Trust and what it does.

4. Certain words don’t feel Plain English, such as ‘co-occurring’.

4. Wording has been reviewed throughout to be more user friendly.

5. The instruction text for one of the free text answer boxes felt too long and wordy.

5. Question has been shortened and focused on asking people to expand on previous answer in their own words.

6. Ensure that those who answer ‘no’ to having tried to access support in the last 6 months will still be able to progress through the survey and share their views.

6. A sentence has been added, explaining that they will still have the chance to offer views about why they have not tried to access support if they click “No” to this question.

7. Consider other wording for asking about support for ‘mental health’, as some may not recognise their negative emotions as being a mental health issue.

7. We have reviewed the wording of this question, so that there is a wider focus on emotional wellbeing and feeling like themselves.

8. Make sure there is signposting to services for mental health support on the overview page and on the final submission page.

8. We have added information signposting to appropriate services.

9. Should the survey ask about re-accessing support, and also about people’s wide range of experience of mental health?

9. The survey is focused on initial access only, rather than re-access and broader issues. However, people may use the free text boxes to explain anything important or unique to their experience of access to support.