Better Together e-News Summer 2019 - news in brief
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- Orange lanyard initiative to support carers>>
- Become a governor – develop yourself and gain invaluable skills>>
- Community mental health survey>>
- Writing my way to recovery>>
- 60 seconds with…Kathryn Hopkins>>
- Freedom from eating disorders event>>
- Patient research ambassadors>>
- Board changes>>
Orange lanyard initiative to support carers
Carer leads wear orange lanyards, so they are easily identifiable on the ward should a carer need to speak to someone about their family member.
Carers visiting their relatives in hospital are often anxious and don’t always feel able to approach staff to ask questions.
Donna Bradford, Service Manager for Carers and Peer Support Lead said:
"After feedback, it was apparent that visitors needed to be able to easily identify staff that can answer their queries and alleviate concerns."
Carer leads have access to carer’s assessments and have had carers awareness training or family therapy training. Wards that do not wear lanyards for safety reasons, wear the orange lanyard on their security belts and community team’s carer leads wear the orange lanyards, so carers attending outpatient appointments can speak to a carer lead easily.
Become a governor – develop yourself and gain invaluable skills
This summer we will be holding elections for our Council of Governors (CoG). Governors play a vital role in ensuring that your views are heard and that our services continually improve.
LPFT governors gain invaluable skills that can help with future employment. By becoming a governor you can build your CV and enhance your listening, decision making and influencing skills. Samantha Swindell, Governor and Membership Officer said:
“Many of our current governors take great pleasure from knowing that they’re influencing services for their community. Being a governor helped them to grow their self-esteem, learn how to challenge constructively and be a team player.
“I’d like to encourage anyone who would like to support the Trust to volunteer and put your name down for elections.”
We are looking for nominations for the following seats: service user, carer, young people carers, City of Lincoln, West Lindsay, surrounding areas and LPFT staff from specialist services.
Nominations open from 2 to 30 July. Don’t miss your window of opportunity. For more information on how to put your name forward please contact info@lpft.nhs.uk 01522 309176.
Community mental health survey
This year’s national community mental health survey is now out. If you have received it please take the time to complete it and let us know what you think about the support you receive.
The survey is undertaken by the Care Quality Commission and is sent to a random sample of patients accessing community services across adult and older adult services. Your feedback helps shape future improvements in how we deliver local services. We are also compared with other trusts and this helps our regulators understand how LPFT is performing.
On average the Trust receives responses from around 30% of patients chosen, however we would really encourage more people to have their say, to ensure we have as complete picture as possible about our patient’s experience. Previous feedback has helped us further develop how we support people to access and maintain employment, as well as increasing opportunities for service users to access activities in their community.
The survey closes for comments on 21 June.
Writing my way to recovery
A service user who has struggled with managing their mental health is advocating her love for creative writing in supporting her recovery.
Emily* from Spalding has accessed community services for her conditions over a number of years and more recently spent time in hospital on Charlesworth Ward where her love for writing was really nurtured.
“With the help of the staff on Charlesworth Ward and my husband I’ve really found solace in my writing. I’ve now written four books and I use my bears as inspiration and imagine what fun and adventures they may get up to. We even use pictures of the bears dressed up to illustrate the books.
Writing is a channel of peace for me, a lovely escape. I feel like I’m achieving something when I see the finished book and love seeing people’s reactions to my positive and happy stories.”
Since her discharge from Charlesworth Ward, Emily is now living independently at home but always makes time for her writing which she says it continues to help her stay well.
*patient’s name has been changed
60 seconds with…Kathryn Hopkins
Tell us about yourself
I’m a qualified occupational therapist (OT) and have worked for the Trust for 13 years as an OT in a variety of services, as well as a ward manager at Ash Villa. I’ve recently taken on a new role as deputy lead for allied health professionals (AHPs) and leading the on-going development of the Recovery College.
What do you do within your role?
I’ll be helping to represent the voice of AHPs in the organisation and supporting the on-going development of their roles. I’ll also be working with the Recovery College to develop their offering, continuing the focus on an educational approach to understanding and managing people’s mental health.
Why did you want to take on this new role?
It was a wonderful opportunity to put into practice lots of skills I have developed as an OT. I’m especially looking forward to working with people with lived experience, health professionals and qualified trainers, who design and deliver all our courses. As well as work with AHP colleagues to promote their important contributions.
What’s the best thing about LPFT and the NHS?
I love that I have the opportunity to really make a difference to people’s lives. There are endless opportunities to share ideas and be part of seeing how they progress. I truly believe LPFT wants to enable people to live well and I’m proud to work with some fantastic, enthusiastic staff and volunteers.
Freedom from eating disorders
As part of raising awareness and sharing what help is available the team will be hosting a free event at the Lincoln City Football Club for anyone wanting to know more.
There will be stands from both the adult and children and young people’s eating disorder services in Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, as well as lots of information from national charity B-eat. Trust Governors and carer representatives will also be on hand to answer any questions you may have about the wider trust services.
Helping to achieve freedom from eating disorders
Saturday 15 June 2019, 11am to 4pm
Lincoln City Football Club, Legends Lounge, Sincil Bank Stadium, Lincoln LN5 8LD
If you have any queries or would like further information, please contact the Lincolnshire Eating Disorders Service on 01522 421632.
Patient research ambassadors
Medical research is vital and can change lives by providing important information about disease trends, risk factors and outcomes of treatment.
The two ambassadors will promote health research from a patient point of view and use their enthusiasm and experience to promote research to patients, the public and other healthcare professionals.
The volunteers Cllr Diana Rodgers and Martin Daly will join other ambassadors across the region to encourage patients and members of the public to be part of research.
If you are interested in taking part in research please email research@lpft.nhs.uk or call 01522 421724.
Board changes
We are pleased to welcome two new appointments to the Trust Board. Brendan Hayes, Chief Executive and Dr Ananta Dave, Medical Director both joined in May and are currently visiting services to learn more about LPFT.
Brendan joins us from Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust where he was Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive. A qualified nurse with a strong mental health and operational management background he has vast experience in leading services and improving care.
Dr Dave is a qualified consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, with many years’ experience in this role and more recently as a clinical director.
We also say farewell to Anne-Marie Newham MBE, who had been the Trust’s Director of Nursing, AHPs and Quality and recently interim Chief Executive. We are sad to see Anne-Maria leave but wish her the best of luck as Director of Nursing at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.
