Letter to Service Users and Carers from Dr Vincent Kirchner - September 2024 edition
North London NHS Foundation Trust sent this bulletin at 03-09-2024 12:04 PM BST
Letter to service users and carers
September 2024
Dear All,
I hope you are keeping well and enjoyed the recent bank holiday.
August was a challenging month for all, given the violent race riots that took place across the UK. If you are feeling anxious as a result of recent events, please do get in touch with your Trust contact. We hosted a special CEO webinar as a support forum for staff. It was a difficult session but one of the most moving and emotional webinars we have hosted. Whilst some people described appalling experiences they have had personally, the most powerful emotion felt was the absolute determination of every person to support one another and stand against any form of racism. Together we are stronger.
There have been further positive developments in our work to become our new Trust. There's not long to go now and I again thank all of you who fed into the work.
Two of our services have been nominated for the prestigious Health Service Journal (HSJ) awards. We're very proud of our teams who have worked in those services and extremely grateful for the feedback we've received from our service users, their loved ones and carers, about the great care being delivered.
Below are some exciting upcoming events, and we would be delighted to invite you to attend.
Update on our journey towards becoming a new Trust
We have an important update around us becoming the new North London NHS Foundation Trust soon.
We recently had our final meeting with the NHS England and everything went well. We are now progressing to formal sign-off by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care - which is really good news. Unfortunately, though, as he is new in the role, Secretary of State approval will take slightly longer than originally planned and our new Trust will now come into being on 1 November, which is not that far away!
Our new Trust will help us enhance patient quality and safety and address health inequalities more effectively, as we standardise best clinical practice across our five boroughs. As a larger organisation, we will have increased capacity to improve our performance to deliver consistently high-quality mental health care across North London. We will have a single inpatient bed management system, which will help us ensure care is delivered as close as possible to home and to eliminate out-of-area placements. We will have the ability to deploy our staff more flexibly to meet changes in demand and to develop our staff across a wider range of services. All of this will improve our patients’ experiences and outcomes, supporting our vision to deliver better mental health, better lives and better communities.
As one new Trust, we will be able to focus more on preventative care and will seek to reduce the number of people requiring emergency, unplanned mental health care. For local people who do face a mental health crisis, our improved care pathways will ensure they get the right care from the right professional, as quickly as possible.
As the new North London NHS Foundation Trust comes into being on 1 November, we will continue to keep you updated on all the improvements we are making to deliver real step-changes in secondary mental health care in North London.
Please join us at our Annual General Meeting (AGM)
We’re excited to invite you to our Annual General Meeting (AGM), scheduled for 5pm to 7pm on 29 October 2024, at the Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE in central London.
The AGM will be a great chance for us to reflect on the past year and discuss our future together, as we continue our mission to deliver the best mental health care across North Central London.
For the very first time we will be having a Partnership AGM, this is because Camden and Islington and Barnet, Enfield and Haringey are very close to becoming one trust and have now been working in partnership for a number of years.
We hope you can attend. Please sign up for a free ticket on Eventbrite to reserve your spot.
If you can’t join us in person on the day but wish to participate online, please email nlft.communications@nhs.net.
Health Service Journal Awards finalists
Two of our services have been shortlisted for the prestigious National HSJ Awards! The Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 21 November and we will be sure to let you know how to the teams do on the night, but for now you can congratulate those teams shortlisted as finalists.
The Hope FX project, which supports young people from North Central London with mental health recovery, has been shortlisted in the category of 'Early Intervention and Prevention for Children, Young People and Families Award'.
Its ambition is to introduce young mental health service users aged 18-25 to a career in the world of fashion through an innovative partnership between our Young Adults Transitions Services and the clothing industry. You can read more about it on our website here
The North Central London (NCL) Vanguard Services, have been shortlisted in the category of ‘Mental Health Innovation of the Year’.
The NCL Vanguard is an innovative psychologically-led service that offers accessible, holistic wellbeing support to marginalised children and young people affected by serious youth violence and offending. Find out more here
Giving all our service users easy and quick access to their health records
The Patients Knows Best (PKB) platform is now available across the North London Mental Health Partnership for all service users 14 years and above, making access to health and care information quick and easy. Our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) was the first of its kind across the NHS to provide children and young adults with a personal held record portal in October 2023 via PKB.
Patients Know Best (PKB) is a digital platform that gives the service user secure access to their health record via an online portal. It can be used to store their medical and care information securely in one place.
Recovery College Autumn courses now open for enrolment
There is a new ‘move into confidence’ course this term, co-produced with The Place who worked with us on our dance and movement courses, as well as many other popular in-person, online and video courses from 'alone but not lonely' and 'coping with anxiety'.
The new course guide and calendar can be found on our website, as courses are free for anyone 18+ living in Camden and Islington. The Recovery College 10 year Anniversary is on Wednesday 25 September and all are welcome to join the celebrations.
Please get in touch with your service contact if you ever feel in need of greater support. We are here to care for you. Please look after yourself and support those around you when possible.
