The caseloads of members of community mental health teams are growing in size and complexity due to an increased emphasis on community-based care.

This article describes a complex quality improvement project consisting of a series of group meetings and workshops over a period of six months. The authors outline the rationale and development of the project, the philosophy and values that underlie it, the processes and strategies adopted, and the activities they and the team engaged in.

They developed a multifunctional caseload weighting tool to facilitate the referral process, case allocation, equalising caseloads, caseload management and discharge planning of mental health service users in a London borough. The tool also includes a ‘step up’ function that enables service users who develop worsening mental health to be allocated to a care coordinator.

This quality improvement project can be used as a model for other community mental health teams that want to improve the management of their caseloads.