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Published
3 April 2023

Successful First BLMK Mental Health Summit

A public ‘thank you’ has been extended to all service users and carers who attended the first BLMK Mental Health Summit. Experts by experience from across Milton Keynes, Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton took part.
MH Summit

A public ‘thank you’ has been extended to every service user and carer who attended the first BLMK Mental Health Summit. 

Experts by experience from across Milton Keynes, Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton travelled to take part and help shape mental health care planning and delivery across the area. 

Guests shared their experience of accessing the area’s primary or secondary mental health services and also their ideas on how care could be improved at the event which was organised to identify priorities for the area. 

Secondary care is services where people have been referred for support by healthcare professionals and includes community mental health services. Primary care covers mental health support by GPs, talking therapies and third sector organisations such as Mind BLMK. 

More than 100 people took part in the summit which was held at Venue 360 in Luton on Friday, March 31, 2023. 

“The commitment by service users and carers to work side-by side with the NHS and partners to improve mental health care and planning was absolutely incredible,” said Millie Smith, Head of People Participation for ELFT. 

“We have started as we mean to go on – with service user and carer priorities, leadership and voices front and centre.” 

She added: “The summit is the start of our journey and I would like to thank every single person who attended to share such incredible energy, ideas and insight.” 

The theme for the summit was improving mental health services across BLMK and covered all adult mental health services, including learning disability, autism, and older adult mental health services. 

It took place following the formation of a mental health provider collaborative within the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System (BLMK ICS). 

The summit was organised by a team of service users and colleagues from the area’s two main providers of NHS mental health care for BLMK: East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) and Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL). 

It was also attended by ELFT Chief Executive Paul Calaminus, CNWL Chief Executive Claire Murdoch and BLMK ICB Chief Executive Felicity Cox. 

The collaborative includes the NHS, voluntary community sector organisations (VCSOs), local authorities and service users.

The collaborative will look at how mental health, learning disabilities and autism care is planned and delivered and work in partnership to make improvements to outcomes, experience, quality, value for money and inequalities.

This will include how care is provided across the system – the whole of Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes – and also ‘at place’ in individual locations, such as towns. 

The summit will be the start of the process for the collaborative to think about priorities. 

Partners include the NHS, local authorities, service users, staff, charities and community groups. 

The event was organised by a group of local service users from East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) and Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) – the two main providers of NHS care in BLMK. 

It is also supported by Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB), which commissions mental health services for the area. 

Service users, carers and residents of Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes will be central to both the design of solutions and holding the collaborative to account for delivery

The collaborative has pledged to work in equal partnership with service users and carers to develop the collaborative priorities based on what matters to service users, carers and residents. We want to use these service user, carer and resident priorities to drive the change and improvement we want to see in our services

The involvement of service users and carers - experts by experience - is recognised by all organisations involved as fundamental to understanding the needs of people who require mental health support and shaping care that reflects those needs. 

The summit covered adult mental health care services, adult learning disability and autism services and older people’s mental health services. 

It looked at secondary care – services where people have been referred for support by healthcare professionals. Secondary care includes community mental health services. 

The summit also looked at primary care – mental health support by GPs, talking therapies and third sector organisations such as Mind BLMK. 

The summit did not discuss Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) care. This will be discussed through a separate provider collaborative for the area. 

The slides and directory of mental health services shared on the day are available to download here:

We will take all the information gathered from the day and work with service users, carers, residents as well as the providers of health and care mental health services across BLMK, including voluntary sector partners, to develop our priorities and strategy for mental health, learning disability and autism care provision.
 

Absolutely. Please contact the appropriate email address below and colleagues will discuss further opportunities for involvement.

  • If you are a service user or carer from Milton Keynes please email communications.cnwl@nhs.net
  • If you are an ELFT service user or carer please email millie.smith@nhs.net
Guests discussing themes at the summit