A simple approach to the management of service risk in a local mental health service

Risk, and how to manage risk, have become dominant themes of this decade. Risk is essen tially any feature of an organisation which is likely to prevent that organisation from achieving its primary aims (Rosen, 1995). In general, the lower the risk in an organisation, the higher the performance of that organisation is likely to be. In turn this can lead to more efficient use of resources. In the area of mental health, the consequences of risk can be serious, this being amply demonstrated by the public inquiries into homicides by mentally disordered people. Such inquiries consistently reveal inadequacies in local services providing mental health care (Appleby, 1997). The identification and management of risk within local mental health services has therefore become a priority. Clinicians as managers have a key role in such a development, particularly with the introduction of clinical governance (Oyebode et al, 1999). This paper outlines a simple approach to risk management in a local mental health service. contribute to the overall risk load of the local mental health service system, and may make the more serious undesirable outcomes more likely. A successful risk management policy therefore needs to take a holistic view of risk as being a potential feature of the whole organisation. The organisation, in this case a local mental health service, is in turn composed of components which themselves may contain appreciable risk factors. From the above définitionrisk in a local mental health service is any feature of the service which is likely to prevent that service from fulfilling its aim. Risk management therefore begins with the analysis of an organisation into its component parts (Cooke & Slack, 1991). Each component can then be assessed for possible contribution of risk to the whole organisation. A suggested classification for local mental health service components is outlined in Table 1, along with examples of associated factors which can con tribute to the intrinsic risk of each component.