Andrew, centre right, with Trust colleagues at Mile End Hospital on Monday
Andrew's visit was a useful opportunity to find out about a range of ELFT services and how they operate as they manage the move to recovery after the COVID pandemic.
He was also given an insight into how central People Participation, co-production and partnership working is for the Trust.
Andrew met representatives from Mental and Community Health, CAMHS, and Specialist Services including the Tower Hamlets Crisis service, Talking Therapies and the Rough Sleepers & Mental Health Programme (RAMHP) for the borough.
Matt Preston, People Participation lead for the Trust’s Befriending Service, described how the Service User Accreditation Programme works to recognise excellence and identify areas that need improvement.
This pioneering programme is co-produced between the Trust’s Quality Assurance team, People Participation, service users and carers themselves.
Matt explained how the Programme is viewed as a model of good practice by other organisations.
Borough Director for Community Mental Health Day Njovana,and Service Director for Community Health Services Michael McGhee both described priorities for their services as needs are evolving in the wake of the pandemic.
Day explained how Improving staff experience, the Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, ensuring care is Trauma Informed, working to improve the physical health of people with Severe Mental Illness and implementing a new Carers Strategy are all important future work focuses for the Community Mental Health Teams.
Michael outlined how the Trust’s Community Services teams have been working to develop a range of new services and teams to cope with the risks and challenges of the pandemic, including Rapid Response, Integrated Discharge Hubs, the creation of Virtual Wards and the provision of support for people with Long Covid.
As well as praising staff in Bedfordshire for their cross partnership work to develop an innovative pressure ulcer app, Michael described how ELFT’s emphasis on building and sustaining good relationships both between teams internally as well as with partner organisations allows for efficient decision making, ultimately benefiting patients and their families.
ELFT’s Chief Operating Officers Edwin Ndlovu said:
“It was a real pleasure to give Andrew an insight into how ELFT works across a range of services today.
“We have very dedicated and talented staff working at all levels in ELFT. The presentations and discussions today made that crystal clear.”
Commenting on his visit, Andrew said:
“It’s been an absolute privilege to come to visit ELFT and find out about the range of services the Trust provides.
“The high degree of integration between teams, services and partner organisations, allows patients to get the right service for their needs.
“ELFT is an impressive organisation.”