Beaumont House in Mile End Hospital, which hosts the newly-operational NEL 111 Crisis Hub, held a special event for colleagues from East London Foundation Trust (ELFT) and NELFT.

Edwin Ndlovu (Chief Operating Officer at ELFT) and Paul Calaminus (Chief Executive Officer at NELFT) were in attendance, giving them an opportunity to see the work of colleagues first hand.

Melanie King, who is the Tower Hamlets Crisis Pathway Service Manager, provided an overview of the Service, including details about the switchover from borough-specific mental health crisis lines and employment of staff.

The Service Lead, Jayna Patel, and Saffron Puccinelli, an Associate Mental Health Practitioner, followed on from Melanie by giving details about their day-to-day work, and even provided anonymised case studies to give staff a flavour of the type of calls they encounter.

The afternoon was concluded with a tour of the space for Edwin and Paul, showing them the room where calls are taken – enabling them to speak directly with call handlers themselves to thank them for their hard work.

Speaking about the visit, Paul said: 

“Congratulations to everyone involved in making the launch of this service a possibility. Your hard work and dedication will go a long way in making sure that the people we serve across North East London can access the mental health support they need when they need it.

“This a really important step towards making help more easily available and improving care for those with mental health difficulties, as well as easing pressure on A&E departments.”

Edwin added: 

“Today’s visit was an eye-opening experience, and I’m delighted that the Service has made such a strong start. Lots of collaborative work has taken place behind the scenes to ensure North East London residents can be served by one, consolidated phone number, and I would like to thank everybody for their drive, commitment and determination.”

If you would like to learn more about the NEL 111 Crisis Hub, please contact Melanie King at melanie.king2@nhs.net.