CET110613_TrustMattersJuly11:pages 06/07/2011 13:09 Page 1
Inside:
Issue 56
. July 2011
. Contact us at: membership@smhp.nhs.uk . online: www.smhp.nhs.uk/trustmatters
Woodlands Patient safety review Merger update 100 days of Aidan CQC spot checks Staff engagement Payment by results West recovery team Productive wards forum Trust Update Golf Society Equality survey BME meal Sujata’s role Cost improvement programme How football helped me Health Records Catherine’s mentor award Trust objectives Letters and competitions
Review into patient safety
After a decade of hard work and dedication Ipswich’s new ultra-modern mental health wards are welcoming their first service users. Starting Monday 4 July service users from the Trust’s adult wards at St Clement’s Hospital and later life wards at Minsmere House began transferring to Woodlands, the state-of-the-art mental health facility at Heath Road hospital site in Ipswich. “The service users are looking forward to the move as only a few of them have been over to see the new wards,” said Margaret Little, Acute Service Manager. “There is an air of excitement among staff and service users alike, as the event we have been talking about for years is finally happening! “A great deal of planning for the moves has been done by the clinical staff and I’m sure there may be some nerves. However we have high numbers of staff available across both the old and new wards to ensure the smoothest transfer and to help service users settle in to their new accommodation. “This project has always been about providing the best mental health care possible in an environment that is fit for this purpose. We are extremely pleased
Pictures: Woodlands from inside the building, below, and outside, above!
that our patients and staff will now benefit from buildings that are of exceptional standards.” Woodlands has received some excellent feedback after holding open days for staff and local partner organisations. Mrs Little added: “We have received lots of fantastic comments about the wonderful use of space, how light and airy the buildings are, how the garden areas are nicely laid out - everyone has been really impressed.”
The Rae Report praised the quality of care that staff provide but also identified a series of recommendations to improve the systems and processes which support the delivery of healthcare. We invited the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to work with us to ensure the changes are made in line with their expectations. We have recently received informal feedback on unannounced spot check visits. They said that staff and the organisation care for our patients well. Both NHS Suffolk and NHS East of England are happy with the progress the Trust is making. - A service governance group reporting to the Trust board has been set up to oversee and audit all the recommendations in the report. - The acute care forum a peer network for clinicians, has been revised and provides a place for discussion and reporting on service development projects. - Modern matron Sue Howlett is leading on the development of the personality disorder strategy. - The new health records facility is up and running with refiled and reordered health records. - Effective clinical supervision is being embedded in the organisation. Once completed, we will be able to say our systems are leading edge. - Training is a minor concern in some areas and has been addressed. Mike Hurley, Associate Director of Education and Nursing Practice, has put addition training opportunities in place. - CQC visits have also shown we need to do more within the care plan process with regard to how prescribing decisions are recorded. Continued on page 3…
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Merger date set for October Approvals cause delay
New merger network
The revised date has been set for the creation of the new mental health trust covering Suffolk and Norfolk following delays in the approvals process. A proposal to merge with Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust is being considered by the independent assessor, Monitor. However, last month Monitor indicated it would deliver its decision in September, rather than its original July deadline. As a result, the earliest the merger can take place is October. Chief Executive Aidan Thomas said Monitor was taking the additional time to the review the competition aspects of the proposal. “While we are disappointed at the further delay, we are confident that the merger will take place, and each Trust is continuing its conversations with the other as we plan the combined Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust,” Aidan said. “Both Trusts recognise the merit in joint working in order to share good practice, learn from each other and share some costs. Therefore, even though the merger date is a little way off, the two Trusts will continue to work together. We can re-assure you that our conversations with Monitor so far have been extremely positive and we are confident that the two Trusts will soon be operating as a merged organisation.”
A Merger Communications Network has been set-up to provide workplaces with local staff representatives to share information and answer questions about the merger. Three of the seven representatives appointed to the network are from Suffolk. Each representative will be available to talk to individuals or teams about the merger, providing you with the latest information available, as well as raising concerns or questions on your behalf with the Merger PMO. For workplaces that don’t have a network representative onsite, please either contact your nearest member or use the dedicated merger email address (merger.pmo@nwmhp.nhs.uk). Staff are welcome to send in expressions of interest at any time. It is hoped to have representatives from as many workplaces as possible around Norfolk and Suffolk. The Suffolk representatives are Christine Roper, David Pickess and Tracy Kerr (see below).
Christine Roper: “I am very supportive of the merger, but I do appreciate that people do have concerns regarding jobs, services and locations. Good communications is at the heart of getting the message across. By joining the panel, I feel that I can voice these concerns or issues raised to the people who can answer these questions. Therefore, if you do have any questions or concerns, which you want raised, please to not hesitate to contact me. I will do my best to get the answers, as I am
Are you up to date? More than 300 staff are registered to receive electronic merger updates. These updates include the merger staff newsletter, which is published every three weeks. To sign-up, write to the Merger Programme Management Office on merger.pmo@nwmhp.nhs.uk.
just as keen as you are to know what is happening next.” Contact Christine on 01473 329413. David Pickess: “I would like to help ensure everyone is fully aware of what will affect them during the merger process. I will also stress the need for all news, good or bad, to be made available at the earliest possible opportunity in order to give individuals the maximum amount of time to make decisions regarding their own futures. I hope that
all concerns expressed through this group are given genuine consideration.” Contact David on 01473 329622. Tracy Kerr: “I have always worked on the principle that honesty is the best policy even when the truth might be painful to manage and accept. Change is inevitable and can be challenging. An essential component of successful change is effective, accurate and honest communication.” Contact Tracy on 01449 742600.
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Aidan’s first one hundred days in Suffolk! 22 June 2011 marked my 100th day as Chief Executive of the Trust. In some ways the time has raced by, but in others it seems like I have been here for much longer. Together, we have achieved much in the last 100 days. Three months ago, our governance (systems and process) arrangements were in a muddle, highlighted by the Rae Report into patient safety. This obviously raised concerns with both the primary care trust (NHS Suffolk) and the strategic health authority (NHS East of England). Our Board took the decision to publish the Rae Report. We didn’t have to, but we felt that we couldn’t make the changes that we needed to make if the report was locked in a drawer. We also wanted to make sure that you heard it from us rather than learned about it from a third party. We attracted some negative
publicity, but we demonstrated that we were taking ownership of the issues and were determined to put things right. There have been a lot of changes, not least with our governance arrangements. We have brought together all the numerous action plans into one which we all work to, we have improved clinical engagement and are moving towards locality management which will improve the accountability within the management structures. None of this could have been done without you – and to each and every member of staff I’d like to say thank you. This has been a particularly uncertain time for everyone and NHS Suffolk recognise how far we have come and what we have achieved in a relatively short space of time. One particular comment sticks in my mind from a meeting I had with their Chief Executive
Paul Watson – he said we “clearly now have a grip on the organisation”. We know where we are going and we know what needs to be done. There is still some way to go: We are still completing the work programme for patient safety. We still have to meet our financial targets and need to identify some £3m of savings by the end of the financial year in March 2012. We are still pursuing a merger with Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Despite all the uncertainty you have applied yourselves to continuing to run excellent services, and I have been able to see some of these at first hand. Thank you for everything you have done, and I am looking forward to continuing to work with you. Contributed by Aidan Thomas, Chief Executive.
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Patient safety review and CQC spot checks From front page… - Director of Nursing, Barbara McLean, has met with a group of allied health professionals (AHPs). The plan is to develop leadership and professional development for AHPs combined with the planned leadership programme for nursing and other clinical staff. - Barbara writes a paper on governance issues, which goes to the board meeting which is held in public every month. - We are revising the way that serious incidents requiring investigation (SIRIs) are reported to enable us to consider themes for new learning events. This will build on the old learning by experience workshops, which staff particularly appreciated. - Ward managers’ checklists looking at the patient experience are already in place, based on National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) standards and will be expanded to include an NPSA environmental checklist. Risk Manager Neil Paull is will highlight potential patient safety concerns within the ward environment. - Work is being done as part of a ligature action plan. The opening of Woodlands in Ipswich and safety work at Wedgwood will address the remaining concerns. - We have recently consulted on a paper which sets out potential arrangements for out of hours coverage as part of a clinical
and managerial review. - The engagement of senior clinical staff has moved on significantly, with good representation on the Trust’s senior management forum meetings. The new multi-professional clinical cabinet will also provide sound clinical advice to the Trust board.
CQC visits to Wedgwood You may be interested to know some of the headlines from the recent CQC visits to the Wedgwood unit. The inspectors had no immediate concerns about patient safety and commented that Wedgwood House was a better building than those at St Clement’s (which are currently being vacated) apart from Foxhall House. Some of the feedback included: - Staff were very welcoming, friendly and receptive and answered questions knowledgably. - Interactions between staff and service users were positive at all times. - A varied range of activities were available to service users and they were engaged in meaningful activities. - Multi-disciplinary handovers were very good. - The support available to young people brought into the 136 suite was positive. - The education support provided by the practice development nurse was
encouraging, although the importance of maintaining accurate records of training delivered and attended was emphasised. In addition staff needed to be advised that some courses are being rolled out over three years so course places are limited. - Record keeping is good but care planning needs to be tidied up and be more service user focused. In addition there were some points that were noted as needing improving: - Internet access - Need for a medical examination room. - Removing dead insects from the cavity between the two layers of glass in the window of the seclusion room. - Understanding the different uses of the low stimulus environment seclusion room. - The ‘poor’ environment and furniture on Westgate ward and the effects on privacy and dignity (a refurbishment programme is already underway and in the meantime, furniture from Minsmere House will be redeployed.) - Ventilation. - Attention needed for a new lock on the controlled drop cupboard, which does not always work correctly. - Daily record checks of fridge temperatures. As a result of the visit, a new CD cupboard has been installed. A final report is expected soon.
Improving staff engagement
Increase number of staff recommending the Trust as a place to work or receive treatment To tackle these themes, an employee engagement group (EEG) has been set up with representatives from all areas of the Trust. The group will address staff concerns through staff networks,
reviewing employee engagement programmes of work and acting as champions of the staff survey programme. The Trust also seeks to deliver the staff
pledges contained in the NHS constitution, adhere to the staff requirements of the Care Quality Commission and carry out its duty of care to employees. Workforce advisor, Ben Askew, said: “Good staff experience and engagement improve the way staff interact with service users and carers and ensure that staff are enthusiastic about coming to work. Everyone wins.” To help deal with suspected harassment or bullying, the Trust has agreed access to seven trained mediators available from Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Foundation NHS Trust. There are plans to increase the number of trained mediators over time. The Trust is also participating in a project called ‘Looking After Me’ led by Ipswich Hospital which is targeting improvements in health at work by championing the lifestyle changes which aid improved physical and emotional wellbeing. If you would like to join the EEG contact Ben Askew, 01473 329282 or Ben.Askew@smhp.nhs.uk. This group is open to staff from all areas.
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The Trust board has agreed a series of Reduce number Promote actions to improve staff engagement and of staff experiencing physical, thereby increase the quality of its harassment or bullying emotional services and aid staff retention. from other staff and personal The initiative follows a mixed set of 2010 wellbeing to staff survey results in which the Trust Increase improve came in the top 20 per cent of mental staff reporting of people’s health trusts in six areas, including errors, near ability to commitment to work life balance, jobmisses or carry out relevant training and percentage of staff incidents experiencing violence, but in the bottom Improve the 20 per cent in 13 areas. quality of job design, As a result, the board identified Improve with clear planned seven key themes to be percentage of goals and objectives addressed: staff agreeing that and consultation with their role makes a staff on changes which Introduce welldifference to structured appraisals with will affect their work patients development plans area
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Payment by Results
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Thanks again to staff for helping in the activity around ‘clustering’ our service users in preparation for developing the care packages that relate to each cluster. The overall percentage of service users clustered for all teams in the Trust is 71.8%. We have made a start on a care package for cluster 18 and we have designed a template for costing the care packages. This has led us to understand more about the importance of the data recorded by practitioners and how the costs of the care package will be affected by inaccurate data. To help us continue our work we need your help by: - Continue clustering as quickly as possible. - All clinicians recording their contacts including Medical, Psychology, Nursing, Social Work, Occupational Therapy, other therapy and Physiotherapy staff. - Accurate recording of all contacts and the duration in hours and minutes. Ensure data is good quality, accurate and complete – inaccurate data produces unrealistic financial outcomes which can threaten service delivery. - Using appropriate clinical activity types when recording - i.e. Initial assessment should only be used once for initial first contact assessment under each cluster, because under the PbR regime prices for initial contacts are set separately. - Be aware that we must be competitive in cost of care delivery – it is important for us to find the best ways to do this. - Use the available reporting systems: MIS HoNOS MIS Report , IRIS and HoNOS excel information HoNOS: Paired Scores Report to analyse effectiveness of our interventions and review practices not giving desired outcomes. For more information visit the PbR Intranet page under Projects > Payment by Results (PbR). Contributed by Jeannie Wright, PbR Project Manager. Tel: 01473 329184. Email: Jeannie.Wright@smhp.nhs.uk
New: Trust Update Have you been reading Trust Update, the weekly email briefing telling you all the latest news in the Trust? Rather than send a global email out you could include your piece of news in Trust Update, which is sent every Tuesday. Instead of lots of globals clogging your inbox, everything you need to know will be there in one email! If you want something included simply email it to Nicola.brown@smhp.nhs.uk.
Golf therapy works! Members of the Assertive Outreach Golf Society enjoy a day out at the Felixstowe Ferry golf course. Left to right: Brendan Colton, Rory Stankiewicz, Tom Smith, John Pritchard and Fraser Lawson.
The Assertive Outreach Golf Society meets once a month. They have a chat over coffee, test themselves with a golf quiz, and then it is off to the course for a round of the sport itself! The Society play on many different courses all around East Suffolk. The Society’s members have talked about the experience as very rewarding. It provides them with an informal opportunity to socialise, get some fresh air and exercise, and, of course, have a bit of fun! Contributed by Vince Brookes (the man behind the camera!), Case Manager and secretary of the Society. If you would like to join the Society, or if you would like to simply find out a bit more about the group, then simply give Vince a call on 07508040158, or email him vince.brookes@smhp.nhs.uk.
Praise for West community support recovery team A positive survey conducted by the West community support recovery team revealed that their patients are ‘quite or very satisfied’ with the service they received. Twelve service users took part in the survey, which showed encouraging results. All but one of the respondents said that the team had improved their quality of life and that staff were friendly, polite, courteous and showed respect. The community support recovery team provides a service for people who require longer term support and treatment to live independent lives in the community. Aideen McBride, acting team leader, said: “Although the sample is small, these results do show a high level of appreciation for our service. It shows that we are working well and are making a difference to our patients’ lives. “As recovery workers this really is a confidence boost.” The service promotes social inclusion, increased quality of life and enables
service users to access a range of community resources and facilities. It also helps people to return home early from hospital by providing rehabilitation in the home. Aideen added: “All of the people who responded said that visits were arranged at a time suited to their needs, and almost everyone said that they felt they could contact the team when they have a problem. The survey also asked for where the team could make improvements. Some service users identified areas where they would like more help and we will be working to address these in the future.” The survey also reveals the range of activities they team can help with, ranging from DIY, social activity and leisure to help accessing GPs, laundry and cleaning. The activities used most by respondents, cited by more than half, were managing mental health, transport and shopping.
PMHW launches online forum An online forum for productive mental health wards has been set up on the Intranet. The forum is open to all staff and allows discussion about key issues, enabling ward staff to share information, contribute knowledge and opinions and get involved in general discussions. You can share information with colleagues,
either by adding a comment to someone else’s thread or raise issues themselves. Sue Hudson, project manager, said ‘’Opening this line of communication will enable staff to support each other on a 24 hour basis, regardless of location and will enable good practice and new ideas to be shared across the Trust.”
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Equality survey At the end of last year almost 500 of you took part in the staff equality survey - an amazingly high response! This article gives you a summary of what you said and what we are going to do to improve equality in the Trust. Why did we carry out the survey? In recent history we have worked hard to raise the profile for equalities in the Trust. The survey was a chance for us to know if it had worked. We wanted to know what staff thought about the importance of equality issues in healthcare, and about the personal experiences of staff working in the Trust. This is the first time that we have asked staff such a comprehensive set of questions, which delve much deeper than the national staff survey. What did the survey tell us? In general the
Many staff know me for my work with equality, diversity and human rights, but as well as this I also lead on patient and public involvement. I am responsible for developing user and carer engagement groups working in partnership with other organisations such as Suffolk User Forum and Suffolk Family Carers, ESAN and the voluntary and statutory partnership (VASP). I’m involved in ward meetings and also facilitate user and carer Black and minority ethnic (BME) groups and a Transgender support group which is open to both the public and staff and supports employee network groups – BME, lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) and disability and family carers. If you are planning any kind of public facing activity such as open days, exhibitions, workshops, surveys or consultations, or would like information on activities in the community then please let me know – I’d be happy to help. If you are planning any kind of public facing activity such as open days, exhibitions, workshops, surveys or consultations, or would like information on activities in the community please contact Sujata on 01473 329476 or sujata.gathani@smhp.nhs.uk and she will be happy to help.
Cultural heritage on the menu at BME meal
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people who responded to the survey were those who had access to a PC and because it was a voluntary survey - those who already had an interest in equality issues. Here are some of the results: - Staff feel confident about the level of commitment to equality in their own team, but their confidence wanes when they think about senior managers and the Board. - A high percentage of staff hadn’t heard about equality impact assessments or didn’t know much about them. - Some staff felt that the Trust spends too much time promoting equalities. - Very few staff who responded said that they had experience of mental health problems (4%). Of those who did many said that they had faced poor responses from colleagues. - Although lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) staff felt very positive about the Trust’s commitment, black and ethnic minority (BME) and disabled staff had much less positive experiences. - Almost 1 in 4 respondents were family carers – but many had experienced a
lack of understanding from colleagues. So what are we going to do about the findings? Awareness – we’re working on a guide called ‘Mind your own business’ to explain the importance of equalities in healthcare for both you as staff and for our service users. Keeping momentum going - over the coming months we will be developing our national NHS Equality Delivery Scheme (EDS) objectives. Two of these objectives, which are particularly important in regards to this survey, relate to staff support and leadership. The responses you have provided us with will help us to decide the objectives that we set. Support for staff – we would like to strengthen our Employee Network Groups (ENG) and look at new ways for staff to stay in touch with them. Currently we have a group for trans- people, BME staff, LGB staff and disabled staff. One of the things we want to work on is making these groups more accessible, for example we know that getting to meetings can be difficult especially when people work all over Suffolk. You can find out more about our employee network groups on the Intranet under Staff Support. You can download the full report from the Trust public website under Information > Equality and diversity > Staff Survey 2010.
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CIPs: how we are saving money The Trust is pressing on with its cost improvement programme (CIPs), although there is still a significant amount of money to be found. In total, the Trust needs to find £4.2m from its annual apend. So far, we have identified £1.2m which still leaves £3m to go. We have set up an estates strategy implementation panel to oversee all office moves and estates changes. This group will agree spending priorities and also consolidate accommodation so that we don’t need to pay the running costs on more buildings than are necessary. Projects underway in this workstream include: - A project group is now meeting weekly to plan the move of staff out of North Building and Suffolk House. Finance staff and high computer users will be moving to Ashfield House with remaining staff moving into the main building. The learning disability community east team will transfer to 5 Walker Close. The aim is to complete the moves by 31 July. So far the terms of reference and project overview have been completed. Lists of
staff have been made to clarify who will be moving to Ashfield House, along with inventories of telephones and computers. Updated floor plans for the new locations have been produced. - We will sell properties which we no longer need, such as Stourmead in Kedington (the community staff based there will relocate to premises in Bury St Edmunds). - The system for clinic room bookings will be reviewed so that we make best use of the space we have available. As well as estates management, we are also managing vacancies in the Trust via our Workforce Management Panel. Details of this are on the intranet under Projects > PMO. Important things to note: - There is a new vacancy advert and approval form, which all managers should fill in if they wish to recruit to a vacancy - Any change to staff working times which has a financial aspect to it (for example, increased hours) must be agreed by the cost improvement steering group.
Individual directorates are working to meet their own designated cost reduction targets, with varying degrees of success. Suffolk Support Services, CAMHS modernisation and LD community teams are on track with their cost reduction targets. The new locality management structure for clinical services will assist the mental health and specialist services directorates in reaching their targets, but there is still some way to go. The forthcoming redesign of mental health services will have a significant contribution. More detailed cost improvement plan (CIP) information will be provided in the next issue, but in the meantime please put forward ideas to either the CIPS programme management officer or your line managers of how we can work differently to provide services at a lower cost. I know that staff providing the services will have lots of ideas of how we can change/streamline processes and improve patient care and support functions at the same time.
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How football helped me... The St Clement’s Hospital service user football team won the Mental Health League in June after losing just 3 games out of 38. Other teams in the League include the Ipswich Town Charitable Trust, Suffolk Early Intervention into Psychosis, SAM Project and CSV Media Clubhouse. The following answers were provided by a service user, talking about the positive outcomes of playing football. Q. How did you first feel when you came into hospital? A. Very depressed, I wanted to be on my own. I felt lonely, felt lost and felt like I had no hope. St Clement’s football team gathers for a celebratory group shot after winning the Mental Health League. Q. How long was it before you felt been going almost every week for two Portman Road this year. able to exercise? years. Q. Will you continue to use the group A. It must have been under a week, I Q. How has the football group helped after discharge? wanted straight away to get out of my you? A. Definitely, I will come up every week I room. A. It has helped me big-time with my possibly can, as I don’t want to lose the Q. How do you think Ipswich Town depression. My confidence has increased group and happiness. I want to stay with Community Charitable Trust has massively and I have made a lot of good the same players and hopefully win the helped you? friends. I get on with everyone and league again. A. Tom and Chris the two coaches give Q. How has it helped you socially? the group and me confidence - making us football is my way of working out. Q. What have you achieved through A.It has helped me socially with meeting feel like professionals. the football group? good friends. I go out on outings most Q. How soon was it before you started A. Through being part of the football Thursdays, which I really enjoy. playing football? group, I have been given responsibility by My favourite outing was Freeport in A. It was around two weeks, I thank my being made captain of the B Team. Braintree because I like the shopping brother as he was the one who asked I am really happy about this. It is good to centre there. I’ve also been to Andy Harding (Fitness Instructor) if there be part of a team. Chelmsford, Dedham, Stonham Barns was any space in the football group for Over the course of 5 months, we also and all were great. I have also gone to me. Andy told me to come along to the won the Mental Health League at the cinema with friends. next session, and ever since then I have
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Work is well in hand to create a super new central health records library in S Block in Bury St. Edmunds. Files will now be kept in unified set of folders which meet NHS Litigation Authority standards. In addition Wedgwood records will now be in the same folders as the rest of the Trust instead of at West Suffolk Hospital. Sue Tiller, Health Records Supervisor, said: “The benefits will be that are all in one place rather than archived in several places, that records are quicker to find, and that they will be kept in safe storage. It is a positive move which will benefit patients and the Trust.”
The new library will be live and include material that would previously have been archived. Often archived material was kept in dingy, dank locations and knowledge of where things were filed was sometimes lost when a key member of staff left. Records will be kept under the terminal digit system using patients’ NHS numbers, which can be found on ePEX. Files are initially located via the last two digits of the NHS number, then within that the previous two numbers and within that the two numbers before that.
can see the new system in action. The library is open 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday but out of hours, in an emergency, records can be accessed via St Clement’s main reception on 01473 329000. Normally requests will be made via healthrecordsrequests@smhp.nhs.uk but urgent requests can be made by phoning 01473 329536.
The case note tracking system is also being improved on ePEX so it will be easier to locate paper files when they are needed. Open days will be organised in August and September so staff
Catherine awarded for mentoring Head Occupational Therapist Catherine Hatton has won a prestigious award in honour of her support to pre-registration healthcare students. NHS East of England’s Suffolk Practice Education Facilitator Team awarded her the Mentor or Practice Educator of the Year Award in the SMHPT category for ‘the high quality of the learning environment’ that she provides. “I have been a practice placement facilitator for students from UEA and Colchester for about 7 year, taking up to 6 students a year. Mentoring is something I do quite a lot of,” Catherine said. “I felt flattered and curious as to who had nominated me, when I heard the
The Board has agreed its key priorities for the coming months. The priorities will underpin all the Trust’s strategies and staff objectives throughout the organisation. Chief Executive Aidan Thomas said: “The priorities will help provide focus to managers, clinicians and all our staff. This will ensure we keep our eyes on what matters and what will make a difference to both the Trust and to the people we serve.” The priorities are to:
news. I was a little embarrassed as I am only doing the same things as most educators! I mentor because I enjoy it - it feels like an add-on to my job as they just come and work alongside us as we get on with our day to day work.” Catherine works with people who have a learning disability, and quite often a mental health problem, to assess and improve their daily living skills. As an occupational therapist she ensures service users are engaged in meaningful activities throughout the week. She also works with parents to offer support with developing and improving their parenting skills. Catherine said: “My work varies so
much there is no such thing as an average day – that’s why I love it. I clinically lead the occupational therapists in learning disabilities across the county, and I line manage those here in central Suffolk. They play a huge part in the experience which students get when they come here. I also work very closely with my colleagues in the multi-disciplinary team, which helps with the experience that the students who come here get.” The Suffolk Education Facilitator Team’s annual award scheme celebrates mentors, practice educators and placement areas commitment, hard work and good practice.
The Trust is working through a work programme which addresses the independent Rae Report into patient safety. Delivery of these priorities for 2011-12 will be monitored by the Trust Board through a performance report, governance report, risk register and directors’ objectives.
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Letters and compliments To the Redwald Unit It is my pleasure to give back a little of the service you have given me while at the Redwald Unit. I found you all willing and caring and always with a listening ear. The food was also a bonus and the transport a great asset. To Helen Bedwell, CAMHS Our son is doing remarkably well at college, studying a two year A level course. We have recently learned that he will be attending university next September – as you can imagine, we are absolutely delighted. I would never have dreamed that he would reach the stage he is at now when I first met Dr Evril Silver, who diagnosed him with an autistic spectrum disorder. Please pass on my sincere thanks and best wishes to all your team. To CMHT Stowmarket Thank you so much for all your care, support and guidance during the past year. Liz and Nick have been the only two people I have really trusted throughout, as you have always been so supportive, genuinely caring and so unjudgemental. You’ve given my confidence a boost when I’ve most needed it and also boosted my drive to carry on ‘recovering’ when I have faltered. I’ve always felt I could say anything to you, no matter how I was feeling and knew you would support, never judge. There might be many who are in your line of work, but not so many who genuinely care and are as nice as you.
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To the Redwald Unit I wish to thank everyone in the unit for all the care etc I have had whilst coming to you on a Friday. You all do a wonderful job in what you do for everyone and I am not looking forward to leaving it at all as I am going to miss it so very much but I wish you all Good Luck. In much appreciation for everything.
To Maureen Parnell, Crisis Response Home Treatment Team I just wanted to take time to thank you for the time you gave me with our recent meeting. I hope after all the muddle and mix ups that affected not only myself but others that there is peace overall for everyone. I know I felt a lot better after meeting with you and think it all went very well in the end.
To Richard Smith, link worker, East I wanted to write to thank you for your kindness and understanding today towards my partner. You can imagine the intensity of feeling when after more than 50 years, P felt that you were the first professional to ‘hear’ him in any meaningful way. It was an enormous relief for both of us and gives us hope for the future.
Thanks for your time as I know you must be a very busy lady. I hope you are keeping well and find time for yourself. It must be hard work being a manager and as I said to you in the meeting, you have a great team there. I know I would have been lost many a time without the home treatment/phone/email support when I have needed it so I thank God for you all. Take care, God bless.
Please work to the full extent of your ability to find the best help for him. He has waited too long, too patiently and without hope for too many years. Anything you can do will be much appreciated.
To Professor Bob Peckitt, consultant forensic psychiatrist I am writing to express my compliments and thanks for the courteous and helpful welcome I received when I visited and at the obviously warm relationship between the team and patients on Foxhall House. It was a pleasure to visit. I hope you are able to pass this on. To Tom Carroll, CBT therapist, IAPT You may recall that I was an IAPT patient/client of your in the latter part of last year. The concern was needles and in particular, re: blood tests. I am delighted to be able to let you know that on Friday I successfully had a large blood test at Ipswich Hospital with the help of some valium. It is absolutely clear in my mind that a great part of the success is due to your much-appreciated and highly professional counselling, the notes for which I reviewed before hand as I said I would. To Eddie Cross, case manager, IAPT I just wanted to say thank you for talking with me in your office. It made me feel enlightened as I have never really faced up to myself before. I have read the information you gave also. I did not think I would follow through with any help, but know it is time now. Thank you for all your help in making me realise I am ill.
To Jane Coates, Minsmere Ward We wanted you to know that during the weeks my father has been at Minsmere Ward you staff have been wonderful in caring for the changing needs of his condition. We have witnessed genuine patience and kind attention from all members of your excellent staff. We are very grateful and have huge admiration for such kindness, especially in this most unpredictable and emotive environment. With such continuous, sometimes turbulent, sometimes contentious elements to deal with, it is amazing how the balance between dignity, compassion and genuine care is achieved. I know from my many conversations with your team how deeply their dedication to achieving this balance is taken and I would like you to thank them all for going far beyond the remit of their job description on our behalf. We fully understand that there is due process to be gone through as to what the next step is and that there is an ‘official’ line to be followed but we have every confidence that such decisions will be taken with the same professional and caring attitude that we have experienced to date. To James Woolnough, Patient Advice and Liaison Officer I am writing to you to pat you on the back. The work you do is brilliant, you should be very proud of yourself. You have served me in a truly professional manner. Thank you again.
If you have a letter you would like to share through Trust Matters, send it to Nicola Brown, Suffolk House, St Clement’s Hospital, Ipswich or email nicola.brown@smhp.nhs.uk Letters may be edited and will be anonymised to protect service users’ identities. EDITORIAL: If you would like to contribute an article (and accompanying photo) for inclusion in the next Trust Matters please email it to helen.abbott@smhp.nhs.uk. If you want to discuss ideas about potential features or make a suggestion about improving the newsletter you can also email the above address or call Helen Abbott on 01473 329700. The deadline for the September 2011 issue is August 20th.