As exam results season approaches, students’ mental health is once again under the spotlight as many struggle to cope with expectations.

Partnered with BHRUT, NEL CCG and NEC Rego, NELFT have been shortlisted for a HSJ award under the category ‘Using data to Connect Services’.

The newly published NHS plan for improving long COVID services was published last week, sets out the framework for deploying the £90m committed by the NHS for long COVID services during the 2022/23 financial year.The newly published NHS plan for improving long COVID services was published last week, sets out the framework for deploying the £90m committed by the NHS for long COVID services during the 2022/23 financial year.

The Friends of Goodmayes, a charitable association consisting of several retired volunteers, came into operation shortly after the opening of Goodmayes Hospital in 1901. After over 100 years of service, the Friends of Goodmayes made an incredible donation of over £60,000 to the Heath Way Foundation, NELFT’s charity that funds projects that aim to ‘help patients access the best possible care when they need it the most’.

Our pharmacy team celebrated the opening of our new on site pharmacy dispensary for all NELFT services at Barley Court on the Goodmayes hospital site last week.

The Ethnic Minority Network celebrated the graduation of the second cohort of Leaders Empowered to Achieve their Potential (LEAP) for Bands 3-6 and Finding Your Mojo for Bands 7-8a. The course was specifically aimed at ethnic minority staff and aimed to e

Young people and clinicians are backing a new, London-wide mental health campaign aimed at ensuring children and young adults get the help they need before reaching crisis point.

I was lucky enough to take a couple of days annual leave at the start of this week in order to look after my grandson and granddaughter. It was lovely to spend time with them and they are at an age where I really enjoy there company and we had loads of fun together.  I was lucky enough to take a couple of days annual leave at the start of this week in order to look after my grandson and granddaughter. It was lovely to spend time with them and they are at an age where I really enjoy there company and we had loads of fun together. 

It has been another busy week here at NELFT and on Tuesday we held our public Board meeting. We opened the meeting with a patient journey and I am so grateful to Bridget, who was supported by her daughter Margaret, for joining us to share her experiences. Bridget has used mental health services for most of her life and most recently, at 81 years young, she has been supported by our memory service at Broad Street in our Barking and Dagenham directorate.

Firstly, a huge thank you to all our colleagues and partners for all your efforts as you have been working through the heatwave! I know it has been really tough to work in the recent hot weather. I am hoping that the weather will be cooling down over the coming days, at least for the foreseeable future. I really appreciate your efforts in ensuring that our most vulnerable patients have been well supported over the last few days.

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in our CQC Well-Led Inspection this week. I had the privilege, with Wellington Makala, our Chief Nurse and Executive Director for AHPs and Psychological Professions, of presenting to the CQC inspection team.

This month is LGBT Pride Month and I am delighted to see all of the activity being led by our LGBT+ Staff Network. Colleagues attended Canterbury Pride for the first time at the weekend and it looked like a brilliant day.

This week I’ll start by saying a huge thank you to all colleagues who worked over the long Bank Holiday weekend to ensure that our patients and their loved ones were well cared for, I really do appreciate it. I hope that if you did work you will plan to have some time off soon.

I am going to start this week by sharing some feedback from our Trust Board meeting that took place on Tuesday. We always begin each meeting with a patient journey as it really helps to ground us and it is so important for us to remember why we are all here.