Introducing our mental health strategy

By Sharon McNally, chief nurse and deputy chief executive

There is no health without mental health. That is the key focus of our five-year mental health strategy

I am proud of our commitment to making a difference to the way in which we support the mental health needs of our patients and their loved ones.

The strategy was approved by the Board in January 2023. I welcome the introduction of this strategy, which marks an important milestone in our work towards transforming our care, as part of our PAHT2030 strategic priorities.

We aim to provide the most up-to-date and expert care designed to meet the individual needs of our patients, where and when they need it.

One in four adults and one in ten children will experience mental illness (as shown in NHS England data) and our local population that we serve will have mental health needs whilst they are under our care.

That’s why we have developed an ambitious mental health strategy that sets out how we will improve mental health care for our patients, alongside providing services for their physical needs.

The plans within the strategy reflect what matters most to people who use our services, the people who care for them, our organisation’s partners and community providers.

To deliver our strategy, our focus is to: y Improve the quality of care that we deliver to our patients who have mental health needs y Support our patients with long-term physical health conditions to identify and manage their mental health needs y Ensure that our people have the right skills and approach to care for patients with mental health needs y Ensure that our people are confident and knowledgeable to recognise individual mental health needs and provide early intervention where required y Engage with voluntary services to further support our patients with mental health needs y Work collaboratively, working with local system partners to enhance care and pathways y Ensure that our environments are quiet, clean, safe, and fit for purpose to reassure our patients with mental health needs y Enable our mental health partners to access our electronic documents and to ensure we have a joined-up approach to the care of our patients y Enable people to embrace conversations about mental health and wellbeing

To refer a patient to the mental health urgent care services, please complete the referral form via this link >

You can read the full strategy here >

Thank you for your support of our patients.