Mental Health Product Testing

Ensuring the safety of people suffering with mental illness whilst in a treatment facility is critical, and can often be affected by the products selected for such environments.

Informed Choices: Testing Guidance for Products in Mental Health Facilities

A key issue for those who are sourcing products for the rooms and facilities in which patients are treated is understanding whether they are suitable for the intended purpose. BRE and theDesign in Mental Health Network (DIMHN), along with input from over 60 other contributors, has developed the new document ‘Informed Choices: Testing Guidance for Products in Mental Health Facilities’.

The Testing Guide aims to:

• – ensure patient safety is not compromised by inappropriate selection of products for current and future use;
• – communicate product-testing requirements to manufacturers to enable them to supply a product that is appropriate for the environment in which it is to be used;
• – help procurement teams to better evaluate manufacturers’ trade literature;
• – discourage the proliferation of unique product testing methods by NHS Trusts and authorities;
• – provide performance categorisation criteria for products that can easily be referred to by contractors, specifiers, procurement teams and manufacturers;
• – improve efficiency and design costs.

The Testing Guide provides testing methodologies for materials, fixtures and hardware that have been specifically designed for use within mental healthcare facilities. It brings together the many disparate requirements for these products into one document, enabling suitably qualified experts to choose the most appropriate product.

It will form the basis of a new, independent declaration of performance scheme to be run by BRE Global Limited.