The second annual edition of the NEL Collaborative Mental Health Summit was held on Friday, 24th November at City Gates Conference Centre in Ilford, ahead of a virtual event on Monday, 24th, for those who were unable to attend.
The action-packed day began with a roundtable discussion about work that had taken place since last year’s summit to address the priorities of service users at ELFT and the North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), and how the two trusts had been working closely to deliver on them.
Chaired by ELFT’s Deputy Director of Integrated Care, Carys Esseen, speakers for the session were Robert Hunter, ELFT’s People Participation Lead for the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism (MHLDA) Collaborative, Nawshin Ali, who is a service user at ELFT, Eileen Taylor, the Joint Chair for ELFT and NELFT, and Selina Douglas, NELFT’s Executive Director of Partnerships.
There was a sense of agreement amongst panellists and attendees that there is a continual need for ‘service user advocacy’ across NEL, so their visions and ideas are actively included in decision-making – outlining mutual respect for all and creating collaborative healthcare.
After this session, attendees were invited to participate in an imaginative exercise, where they could think about what improving experiences of accessing services means to them – not just at ELFT, but everywhere across the NEL area. Guests then split up into various break out rooms, where they discussed:
- What ideal first contacts with services feel like and what could be done differently.
- Ensuring equitable and fair access to services and ways to safeguard this.
- Supporting service users during life-changing moments, and what more could be done.
Speaking about the success of the Summit, ELFT’s Robert Hunter said: “I must thank everybody who attended the recent Mental Health Summit, and it was really eye-opening hearing from various service users about how they feel services should work for them.
“ELFT and NELFT will use key learnings from the Summit to continue reviewing processes and ensuring high quality care is a number one priority.”
All information gathered from the conference will be used to work collaboratively with partners, VSOs and decision-makers from across the NHS framework to improve provisions and succinctly outline priorities for 2024 and beyond.
If you would like to learn more about the work undertaken behind the scenes to improve mental health services across the collaborative and the important role that service users are playing to shape this, contact Robert Hunter at robert.hunter3@nhs.net.