Three Trust services have been shortlisted for this year’s prestigious RCPsych Awards, the leading ceremony for the psychiatry profession.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists holds an annual ceremony to recognise teams who are making a difference across mental health care. They are the professional body responsible for supporting psychiatrists’ career development.
The Pathways App Team is shortlisted in the ‘Psychiatric Team of the Year: Digital Mental Health’ category. East London Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) is in the running for ‘Psychiatric Team of the Year: Quality Improvement’. Finally, the Nature in Mind team is up for the ‘Psychiatric Team of the Year: Outstanding Commitment to Sustainability/Green Care’ Award.
Pathways App
Colleagues and service users at the John Howard Centre – our Hackney-based unit that provides specialist psychiatric services – have been building an app to achieve goals while staying in hospital.
The app is fully accessible in its format, giving service users ownership of their own objectives. This has enabled staff and patients to develop positive relationships, so that progress can be monitored in real time. As a result, the app has a completion rate of over 80% from 389 sessions, meaning service users are engaging effectively.
Speaking about the app’s shortlisting, Lead Occupational Therapist at the John Howard Centre, Seán Harte, said: "We're delighted to be shortlisted for this award as it highlights all the hard work put in by the patients, developer and staff team. I'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished so far and excited to see how much further we can go."
East London CAMHS Crisis Team
Staff have improved the reliability of handovers between shifts to ensure safe delivery of care. This is a service that assesses and treats children and young people experiencing mental health crisis.
Colleagues previously used a shared Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to present handover information to team members, which was unsuitable due to unreliable systems and connectivity issues accompanied by varying levels of digital literacy.
Utilising Microsoft PowerApps, a new application was created to securely hold handover data. A survey of staff found that colleagues find the new handover system to be more accessible, intuitive and easy to use when compared to using the previous spreadsheet.
Emma Holland, the Crisis Clinical Service Lead for East London CAMHS, said: "I am extremely proud of the dedication and commitment from the whole service to work together in sourcing a solution to our system which ensures patient safety and staff satisfaction is promoted. The innovation to design a system which to our knowledge is not used elsewhere nationally, demonstrates the passion each member of our team has in providing a gold standard service."
Nature in Mind
This partnership between the London Wildlife Trust (LWT) and Newham CAMHS has delivered workshops for young people to nurture their mental health through a variety of outdoor activities. LWT is a charity that manages 36 free-to-access nature reserves across the capital. It has aimed to showcase the positive impact of nature on mental health, including reducing anxiety and stress.
The project – developed by Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trainee Doctor, Alexia Haysom and delivered by Art Psychotherapist, David Berrie – has fully aligned itself with the Greener NHS initiative. This promotes mental wellbeing, encourages staff retention, and contributes to the fight against climate change.
The General Manager for Newham CAMHS, Fiona Stockley, said: “Our partnership has allowed young people to learn new skills by embracing nature and learning about the benefits it can have for mental wellbeing. I could not be prouder of everybody involved.”
The ceremony will take place on Thursday, 7th November at the Royal College of Psychiatry’s London Office in Tower Hill.