To develop a toolkit (QuIRC) for assessing the living conditions, care and human rights of people with long term mental illness in psychiatric and social care facilities.

The QuIRC was developed by research partners across ten countries: UK; Germany; Spain; Czech Republic; Bulgaria; Italy; Netherlands; Poland; Greece and Portugal. Its content was informed by triangulation of the evidence on critical components of care collated from: a review of care standards in each country; an international literature review; and Delphi exercises with service users, carers, advocates and mental health professionals in each country. Its final format was agreed by an international panel of rehabilitation and recovery experts.

The toolkit includes 154 questions which assess seven domains of care provided in units for people with longer term mental health problems (living environment; therapeutic environment; treatments and interventions; self-management and autonomy; social inclusion; human rights; Recovery-orientated practice). It is completed by a senior clinician and takes around 90 minutes. Domain ratings can be used to assess and review the quality of care provided locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. A web-based version is under development that provides the unit with a report of its performance on these domains, compared to similar units in the same country. This will increase its accessibility for the review of care standard performance.