The development of a mental health service patient information management system

Abstract

In this paper we describe the development of the Mental Health-Patient InformationManagement System (MH-PIMS), which is an information management systemdesigned for use in a modern, primarily community-based, mental health service.MH-PIMS is a computerised database which was designed by clinicians and issupported by a case management system and complementary patient record set ?together called the Assessment and Care Evaluation (ACE) system. The paper alsodescribes the ACE system. MH-PIMS can generate patient reports of use to casemanagers and teams in managing their caseloads and is of use to senior cliniciansand service managers for audit and strategic planning purposes.