QuIRC is a web-based toolkit which assesses the living conditions, care and human rights of people with longer term mental health problems in psychiatric and social care institutions. It was developed through a collaborative study involving eleven centres in ten European countries (UK, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Greece and Portugal). The study, Development of a Measure of Best Practice for People with Long Term Mental Illness in Institutional Care (DEMoBinc), was funded by the European Commission through its activities to support policy orientated research relating to the provision of high quality and sustainable health care services.
QuIRC assesses the provision of care across seven domains considered most important for recovery (living/built environment; therapeutic environment; treatments and interventions; self-management and autonomy; social interface; human rights; Recovery-orientated practice). The web-based tool has been developed for self-assessment by a unit manager or other senior staff member and takes approximately 90 minutes to complete. Once completed, a report of performance on each domain, compared to similar units in the same country, is created. For countries where unit averages are not yet available, domain scores will be compared to similar units in a country with similar service provision until enough units have completed a QuIRC to allow for comparison to country averages. You may assess your unit once in a 12 month period. You will be able to compare your report to any previous results.
References
Published literature on the development of the QuIRC and the findings of the DEMoBinc study includes:
Killaspy, H., King, M., Wright, C. et al. (2009). Study protocol for the development of a European measure of best practice for people with long term mental health problems in institutional care (DEMoBinc). BMC Psychiatry, 9:36.
Taylor T.L., Killaspy H., Wright, C., et al. (2009). A systematic review of the international published literature relating to quality of institutional care for people with longer term mental health problems. BMC Psychiatry, 9:55.
Turton P., Wright C., White S. et al. (2010). Promoting recovery in long-term mental health institutional care: an international Delphi study of stakeholder views. Psychiatric Services, 61:293-299,
Killaspy, H., White, S., Wright, C. et al. (2011). The development of the Quality Indicator for Rehabilitative Care (QuIRC): A measure of best practice for facilities for people with longer term mental health problems. BMC Psychiatry. 11:35.
Killaspy, H., White, S., Wright, C. et al. Association between service user experiences and staff rated quality of care in European facilities for people with longer term mental health problems. PLoS One 2012, 7(6): e38070. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038070
