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.

Bridget spoke with great insight about her own experience with depression, referring to it as “a coat of armour that protects her from her inner most feelings” that she doesn’t feel able to talk about. As well as sharing such a moving account of her own mental health journey she also fedback that the support from the music therapy and relaxation group has been really valuable, and she would like to see these sessions extended. She also shared professionals from our services working more closely with primary care colleagues would benefit people who need mental health support. As always, hearing directly from patients about their experiences really does serve to remind us why we are here and to focus on the areas we can improve for others.

As I have mentioned making improvements for others, we are currently recruiting to a number of Governor vacancies within our Council of Governors. If you are interested in finding out more or nominating yourself click here Being a Governor is a real opportunity to hold the Trust Board to account and to influence improvements across NELFT.

I was pleased to see the write up about the new onsite pharmacy dispensary that has opened at Goodmayes this month. Congratulations to Rahul Singal, our Chief Pharmacist and his team for their work to deliver this, I know it will make a huge difference to service provision. You can read more here.

This month also saw the fourth End PJs Paralysis summit which was held online and NELFT were invited to speak at the event. Chris Tucket our AHP lead and Wellington Makala our Chief Nurse and Executive Director AHP & Psychological Professions both spoke at the event sharing their knowledge and expertise.

Finally, I would like to thank colleagues who have been donating items to support those locally who were impacted by fires caused by the heatwave last week. Thank you to our HR and Equality and Diversity colleagues for their support in ensuring we could circulate support and information as well as collect donations. As always, your wellbeing is our priority so do make sure you access our wellbeing support services if you need them.

Take care and stay safe

Jacqui