Better Together e-news issue 48
Welcome from the Chair, Kevin Lockyer
Welcome to the winter issue of Better Together, our magazine for members. I hope you will be able to take some time to read updates from the Trust and learn more about some of the projects and developments that have been taking place.
It has been another year of care, dedication and innovation. One of the biggest developments we have seen is the introduction of local crisis support through the new mental health option via NHS 111. This is an important step forward to improve care for those with mental health issues and will make getting help in a crisis more accessible. You can read more about the service in this issue.
Over the next few months, we will be holding a number of engagement events to hear the thoughts of patients, service users, carers, families, professionals and the public on how urgent mental health care is delivered locally. Please do visit one of the sessions if you can; it is important that we hear from as many people as possible so that we can continue to make sure we provide the right services, at the right time and in the right way.
Earlier this year we launched the new Virtual Autism Hub, a non-clinical service providing advice, signposting and information to help support autistic people, their families and carers. The team also offers practical support such as help to fill out forms and accompanying people to first meetings. As well as the advice service, the hub aims to harness the already vital work underway by community and support groups for autistic people across the county via a grant programme. You can read more on our website at www.lpft.nhs.uk/virtual-autism-hub.
The Trust has also been able to expand the Mental Health Liaison Service (MHLS) in our children and young people (CYP) mental health services to provide dedicated support to young people attending Boston and Grantham hospitals, This is an important enhancement for our CYP services and focuses on providing a more positive experience for young people and families attending acute hospital settings. You can read more about the service in this issue.
It was a personal pleasure to be able to celebrate just some of our fantastic staff and volunteers at the annual Team LPFT Values Awards in October, as well as having the privilege of attending our inaugural Every Voice People Awards held on World Mental Health Day. This event, organised by our Every Voice Patient Partners, was an inspiring day and an opportunity to celebrate the positive impact that lived or learnt experience has to provide hope and help to inspire recovery. You can read more about both awards ceremonies in the celebrating success section of this issue, as well as learn about various national and local recognition our teams and staff have achieved this year.
This month we are holding a further by-election for remaining vacant seats on our Council of Governors. Nominations are currently open and I encourage anyone who would like to make a difference to local services to get involved. You can read more about it in this issue.
I am pleased to say that building work is progressing on our new state-of-the-art mental health inpatient unit in Boston. I look forward to continuing to see this develop and to share updates with you in the coming year. You can read more about the recent golden trowel commemorative event to mark the brick work commencing in this issue.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the biggest ever public conversation about the future of our health service that the NHS has launched nationally. I encourage everyone to get involved and make your voice heard by visiting https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/.
As we are now approaching Christmas, we should be mindful that this time of year can be particularly tough for many people. It is important that we continue to look after our mental wellbeing, as well as reach out to those who may be quietly struggling. Please seek support if you need to and know that you are not alone.
I would like to finish by thanking all our staff and volunteers who have shown such compassion, dedication, and resilience throughout the year, making sure we can provide the very best care to our service users, their families, and carers.
Wishing everyone a happy festive period.
Kevin Lockyer, Chair
Click on each of the items below to expand the news story.
First bricks laid at new mental health unit in Boston
We are proud to announce that the first bricks have been laid marking an important stage of development of the new state-of-the-art mental health inpatient unit in Boston.
Based at the Norton Lea site on London Road, the new unit will include a new 19-bed mixed-gender adult inpatient ward.
A golden trowel commemorative event took place to mark the brick work commencing on the outside of the building, which will also be the future home for the Boston Crisis Team.
Members of the project team, including Experts by Experience and Occupational Therapy staff, as well as colleagues from Integrated Health Projects (IHP), who have been appointed by the Trust to undertake the building works, were in attendance.
A time capsule was also buried near the site’s Cork Oak Tree, which holds accounts from the staff and patients of Ward 12 inside.
Alan Pattison, LPFT’s Clinical-Operational Estates Lead, said: “This is an extremely exciting milestone as we celebrate the laying of the first bricks, which really help us visualize what an amazing space it is going to be for the community.
“The burying of the time capsule is also very special as we will always have a keepsake of how important this building will be.”
For more information, please visit: www.
If you have experience of mental health inpatient wards or you are supporting someone as a carer and would like to be part of the Trust’s Building Together Focus Group, please contact Sarah Cox via lpft.
Share your views on mental health urgent care services in Lincolnshire
We’re inviting Lincolnshire residents to join us for a conversation about adult mental health urgent care services in the county.
We are holding a number of engagement events over the next few months to hear the thoughts of patients, service users, carers, families, professionals and the public on how urgent mental health care is delivered locally.
Gareth Price, Urgent Care Pathway Service Manager at LPFT, said:
“It is so important to hear from as many people as possible so we can provide the highest standard of care and continue to make sure we provide the right services, at the right time and in the right way.
“We’re particularly keen to hear from people who have accessed our urgent care services either recently or in the past. We’d also like to know how people would like to see care delivered in the future.”
At the events, attendees will hear more about how urgent care support is currently delivered, as well as have the opportunity to share their own experiences and views to help shape future care. Full details about the engagement events can be found at www.
To support and to capture the views of those that are unable to attend the engagement events, we have also launched an online survey. The survey can be accessed using this link - https://
Dragons' DeNHS – improving activities for patients and service users
After our brave staff took to the skies to raise money for Lincolnshire NHS Charity in the Charity Skydive earlier this year, we were able to invite staff and patients to submit their ideas for how we can improve activities in their area to our own Dragons’ DeNHS to access funds.
The initiative was open to all services and aimed to help support not only activities on the wards, but also groups and activities taking place in community services.
The Dragons were our very own Executive Directors and specialist advisors (Every Voice Patient Partners), and staff were able to present their ideas with at least one service user from their area.
All bids were co-produced with patients and were presented to the panel on various days throughout early July of this year.
Our Patient Partners were then shortlisted for the National Lived Experience Awards in the Innovation in Recovery category for creating an opportunity for some thought provoking discussions and learning. The team went on to win the People’s Choice Award on the day, an award where the winner is chosen by service users in attendance at the event.
We talked to Millie Cave, a Patient Partner here at LPFT, who helped with setting up the initiative and judging during the process. You can read more about Millie in our ‘60 seconds with’ article.
To learn more about fundraising, visit the Lincolnshire NHS Charity website at www.
Mental Health Liaison Service expands for young people
We’re delighted to share that the Mental Health Liaison Service (MHLS) for children and young people (CYP) has expanded to provide dedicated support to young people attending Boston and Grantham hospitals.
This is a great enhancement for our CYP services and focuses on providing a more positive experience for young people and families attending acute hospital settings - widening access to services closer to home and reducing unnecessary delays.
The MHLS focuses on a more positive experience for young people and families attending A&E, offering more face-to-face support and linking up with our colleagues in ULHT to work collaboratively to support young people who are admitted to a ward.
The service was initially set up in March 2023 in the north of the county, predominantly providing support at Lincoln County Hospital but also to Boston and Grantham hospitals where necessary.
The service has now expanded in the south of the county, with dedicated colleagues supporting Boston and Grantham hospitals.
The teams assess and support young people up to the age of 18 who present in a hospital-based setting such as A&E or on physical health wards. They provide assessment of mental health, help to signpost to other mental health services and support networks, as well as play a key role in discharge planning for young people, supporting a smooth transition to community services.
The service runs 24/7, 7 days a week, with the team carrying out phone and face-to-face assessments/support, as well as working closely with the CAMHS Crisis and Enhanced Treatment Teams (CCCETT).
Young people can access the service via a referral from healthcare staff within A&E or on the ward they are on. The service also takes referrals out of hours from emergency services and Lincolnshire Police.
Young people in A&E can access a dedicated mental health professional within an hour (response times 4 – 24 hours elsewhere away from A&E, depending on the level of emergency). The team also responds to referrals from UTCs within an hour, but this could be a phone response depending on where the UTC is located within the county.
More information about the service can be found at www.
From recovery to support; the power of lived experience
In this issue, Simon Kettle, a Peer Support Worker (PSW) in the Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) team talks about his journey from being a service user to working for LPFT, and how he has made a difference in his team.
Simon’s story
My mental health journey started back in 2016 where I had my First Episode of Psychosis (FEP). I received support from several community mental health services, including the Early Intervention in Psychosis team.
The EIP team works with individuals aged from 14 to 65 years old across Lincolnshire who are experiencing a First Episode of Psychosis. The team helps with several different aspects in a service users’ life, including medication, mental wellbeing, promotion of recovery, and independence in the community.
When I had my first episode, I was so scared. I hadn’t slept for days before that period, and I didn’t understand what was going on. Fast forward to today, the EIP team have been really supportive in getting me to where I am in my life. During my time as a service user, I worked with the Individual Placement Service (IPS) Employment Service after one of my Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs) suggested how I can support other people by becoming a peer support worker. They helped me sort out my CV and how to approach job interviews.
People with lived experience working within mental health services is a great initiative.
I realised that I had already been doing the role of a peer support worker (PSW) informally by helping my peers, and they were helping me too; it began to click and make sense. I started the job with the EIP team in June 2018 and I thoroughly enjoy working for the Trust.
My days as a PSW are very different. I spend quite a lot of time going out and about. Walks and talks are something that I recommend for everybody to get out and do. Whether it is walking or just being outside, being in a space that is outside of a clinical space when I’m chatting with service users about lived experience is vital. Back in October I won the Making a Difference Community award at the Every Voice People Awards. It was such a great feeling, but it's about the team as much as it's about me. Making a difference is about the team that I work for, because if they didn't look after me, I wouldn’t be able to look after the people that I support.
More information about the service can be found at www.
Celebrating success
A rewarding evening at the Team LPFT Values Awards 2024
On Friday 11 October, we held our annual Team LPFT Values Awards at Lincolnshire Showground. A fun night was had by all as we celebrated and reflected on the year so far.
We said a big thank you to over 250 nominated individuals and teams, 27 finalists (14 teams and 13 individuals), everyone who took the time to make a nomination, our LPFT Heroes, our sponsors, and the event team who made the awards a success.
We are also proud to announce that we raised over £1000 for our Charity on the raffle! Thank you to everyone who donated, and congratulations to those lucky enough to win a prize! You can view the full shortlist and list of winners from the awards at www.
Our Every Voice Patient Partners win the People's Choice Award at the National Lived Experience Awards
We are delighted to announce that our Every Voice Patient Partners won the Mark Britton People's Choice Award at the National Lived Experience Awards, held at Doncaster Racecourse on Wednesday 24 September.
The Mark Britton People's Choice Award is named in memory of Mark, an individual who for a number of years played a key role in the awards before sadly passing away in July 2019. This award is particularly special as the finalists and winner are chosen on the day by service users. Our Every Voice Patient Partners were honoured to receive the award from Mark's mother, Maggie, in person on the day. Congratulations to the team and everyone involved! For more information, click here.
Congratulations to our latest LPFT Heroes
Our LPFT Heroes Awards celebrate and reward our staff who are nominated by colleagues, managers and service users for their outstanding work. An individual and team are chosen by our Executive Team each quarter to recognise and thank colleagues going above and beyond. We would like to congratulate our latest LPFT Heroes.
PICU Housekeepers
The Housekeeping team on the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) have turned the place around after extensive building works, and have continued to work hard whilst the works have continued around them. The team has gone on to receive 5 stars on the cleaning audit, despite the challenges they have faced. They are a credit to LPFT and the rest of the PICU team.
Faye Hunter
Faye is the Deputy Ward Manger at Langworth Ward. She is a brilliant leader and is always visible and present during both the good and the more challenging times on the ward. Her team always feels listened to and supported, and her care and compassion towards both staff and patients has been rated as “above and beyond the call of duty”. Faye will always go the extra mile to ensure that patients receive person-centred and quality care, and she is passionate about her team and the care they provide. See the full list of LPFT Heroes at www.lpft.nhs.uk/lpft-heroes.
Lesley Hutton and Eleanor Duke are officially Queen’s Nurses
We’re delighted to share that our very own Lesley Hutton and Eleanor Duke have both been awarded the title of Queen's Nurse (QN).
Lesley is the Clinical Lead Nurse for Older People and Frailty Division that supports carers, and Eleanor is the Service Lead for East and Coastal Lincolnshire Adult Community Mental Health Services.
The QN application is a tough national competition, with only 20 successful applications given each year.
The Queen's Nursing Institute is the oldest professional nursing organisation in the UK and is believed to be the oldest nursing charity in the world.
A panel of professionals scrutinise each application and the submitted documents by colleagues, patients and carers. It showcases nurses who have demonstrated high commitment to patient care and nursing practice in primary care and community.
Congratulations to Lesley and Eleanor for this incredible achievement! To learn more about Queen’s Nurses, click here.
Staff members recognised in national award
Lindsay Amos, Senior Health Carer Support Worker, and Kelly Dealtry, Carer Peer Support Worker, have both been recognised in the NHS England’s Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Midwifery Officer awards.
The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and Chief Midwifery Officer (CMidO) awards have been developed to reward the significant and outstanding contribution made by nurses and midwives in England and their exceptional contribution to nursing and midwifery practice.
The awards also recognise the contributions of healthcare support workers (HCSWs) and maternity support workers (MSWs) who consistently demonstrate the NHS values in their everyday roles.
Huge congratulations to Lindsay, Kelly and Amy! Learn more about the CNO and CMidO Awards here.
Staff and teams shortlisted in the Lincolnshire Care Awards 2024
We are delighted to share that our multi-award winning Every Voice Patient Partners, Building Together Focus Group, Community Mental Health Transformation Team and individual staff member Liz Holmes have all been shortlisted as finalists for the Lincolnshire Care Awards 2024.
The first three have been named as finalists in the Co-Producing Together Award. The award, jointly supported by the It’s All About People programme and Every-One, recognises teams, services or providers that can demonstrate effective co-production with people and those who support them. The judges in this category are looking for those who understand what true co-production means and can show effective change developed with people through valuing their insight and input from the start.
Liz Holmes, Assistant Practitioner in the Older Adults Community Mental Health Team in Grantham, has been shortlisted in the Outstanding Partner Award category. Liz works with patients in her local care homes, providing support and advice for those patients with dementia, monitoring medications, and advising care homes on non-pharmacological approaches to support patients who may be distressed on arrival.
All finalists are invited to meet with the judges to talk about the work they do in more details, before attending the awards ceremony on Thursday 27 March 2025 at The Double Tree by Hilton, Lincoln.
We wish everyone the best of luck in what is already a fantastic achievement recognising their hard work and dedication.
Patient and carer impact celebrated at first awards
On World Mental Health Day we held our first ever Every Voice People Awards, celebrating the amazing achievements of those with lived and learnt experience from services across our Trust.
The awards, organised by our Every Voice Patient Partners, were open to current or former patients/service users, carers, patients, carers, self-advocacy groups, or anyone with lived experience of mental health, learning disabilities, or autism that deserved recognition. They celebrated the positive impact that lived or learnt experience has to instil hope and inspire recovery.
We used World Mental Health Day as a celebration of everything people have achieved. We heard more about people’s stories, sharing the similarities, and celebrating the differences, as well as launching our new Council for Lived and Learnt Experience.
Millie, one of the Patient Partners involved in the delivery of the event said:
“Patients, carers and service users are often not given the recognition they deserve for the contributions they make to services, each other and in their own recovery and we wanted to give people the opportunity to feel truly appreciated. No matter how big or small we wanted to recognise some of the amazing achievements that deserved to be celebrated and we were so pleased that LPFT were able to support us in delivering this event.”
It was fantastic to celebrate with nearly 100 patients, service users and carers and we look forward to learning from this event and how we can continue this celebration in future years.
60 seconds with… Millie, Every Voice Patient Partner
Please introduce yourself
My name is Millie and I’m from Lincoln. I’m soon to be starting a new role with East Midlands Ambulance Services as a Call Handler, but I’m also really passionate about improving mental health services, so I am starting as a Bank Health Care Assistant for the Trust soon. In the meantime, I’ve been supporting the Trust as an Every Voice Patient Partner.
Can you explain what your role as a Patient Partner involves? Is it different to any other roles you’ve had before?
Being an Every Voice Patient Partner involves using my lived experience to work with other people who use services to improve those services by making them more co-produced. We also give any compliments to staff and make it a more positive environment.
It’s very different to any other role I’ve done before in the sense that I get to go home each day and I actually feel fulfilled, and I also feel like my ideas are genuinely heard and implemented. I don’t feel like I’m just an employee, I feel like I am valued as an individual, and my unique traits bring something to the team that no one else can bring.
Do you have any big plans or projects coming up in 2025?
Yes! I’m starting two new jobs, and I’ve also applied to go to Camp Canada in June 2025, which is completely out of my comfort zone. I realised that one of the gaps in my knowledge is working with children, so I’m going to push myself a bit!
I’m also doing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge in May 2025 to fundraise for Lincolnshire NHS Charity.
I think my main goal next year is to progress my career and find what I’m passionate about moving forward.
About our Every Voice Patient Partners
Our Every Voice Patient Partners work to ensure all patients are heard and celebrated at LPFT. The team meets once a month to discuss current concerns and issues and work together to find a solution.
Our Patient Partners have opened up huge opportunities for our patients, such helping to organise a ‘Dragon’s DeNHS’ panel where staff could present their ideas on how to improve activities in their area, to access charitable funds to make those ideas a reality, and organising the Every Voice People Awards, which took place on 10 October and used World Mental Health Day as an opportunity to celebrate our patients and their stories.
The team also used concerns raised about the food we provide on our inpatient wards as an opportunity to organise their ‘Come Dine with Us’ project, involving both our patients and our Executive Directors, who put themselves in our patients’ shoes by trying out the food offered on the wards. The experience meant that patients had the opportunity to report to the board with recommendations to improve food provision and the whole dining experience on our inpatient wards.
You can find out more about the Every Voice work on our website: www.
An update from our Council of Governors
Summer Governor Elections update – contested seat announced
Congratulations to Debbie Abrams OBE who secured the most votes to be re-elected Public Governor, representing South Kesteven. Debbie used to be a hospice worker before her retirement, and she is now a passionate advocate for local NHS services.
Debbie will continue her role with immediate effect.
Seats remain vacant in multiple constituencies, and we now hope to fill these via both our upcoming by-election in December and our 2025 summer elections.
If you have a question about our governor roles, or the elections period, please contact the Governor and Membership Officer at lpft.
Congratulations to our new Lead and Deputy Lead Governors
The latest Council of Governors Meeting, held on 24 October 2024, announced Rebecca Mezzo to be the new Lead Governor.
Rebecca is a Service User Governor and was previously the Deputy Lead Governor for the Trust, before stepping in as Acting Lead Governor earlier this year. She is taking over the post from Debbie Abrams OBE, the Public Governor for North Kesteven. She has a special interest in supporting those with a dementia diagnosis, young people, and those with thoughts of suicide.
We would also like to give our congratulations to Alice Barton, Service User Governor, who has been announced to be the new Deputy Lead Governor since Rebecca Mezzo stepped up to the title of Lead Governor in October.
Alice has been a governor since August 2023 and is passionate about making sure that services are accessible, effective, and respectful of diverse needs, as well as fostering greater understanding and acceptance of autism.
For more information about our Council of Governors, visit our website.
Nominations are now open for December Council of Governors By-Election
The Council of Governors play an active role in representing the views and opinions of our members, as well as the public. Governors are responsible for holding our Non-Executive Directors to account for the performance and services of the Trust.
This December, we will be holding a by-election for three public constituency seats as well as a number of service user, staff, and carer seats. To see which seats are up for grabs this election, visit our elections page.
If you know anyone who may be interested in being a governor, please note that nominations for the upcoming Governor elections are open from Monday 2 December and will close on Tuesday 17 December. Being a governor is an opportunity to gain invaluable
skills that can help with future employment by building up your CV and enhancing your listening, decision making, and influencing skills.
Voting will take place between Thursday 9 January and Monday 16 September, with the results of the election being formally announced on Wednesday 29 January.
You must be a member of LPFT to stand and vote in elections. As a member, you will be able to work alongside the Trust and governors to help the needs of the community, provide your voice on how LPFT can improve local health services, and be able to apply for a range of discounts through Health Service Discounts. Learn more about becoming a member at www.
For more information visit www.
