People from North East London came together with healthcare leaders from NELFT and ELFT for this year’s Mental Health Summit last week in Ilford.

The aim of the summit led by the North East London Lived Experience Leaders Group, was to celebrate the progress made for services since last year’s summit, communicate service users’ priorities over the next two years, and build lasting relationships with internal and external decision makers.

Video below features Nadia Ahmed, NELFT's Leader of the Young Adult Network:

Improving access to mental health services by considering ways services can be kind and compassionate when individuals first contact them was a key theme discussed on the day.

Establishing what needs to be done to ensure access is equal and fair for all of those seeking support and looking at ways to help service users, who are transitioning from children’s to adult services, or from services to the community were also areas of focus.

The conference was geared towards hearing from service users directly about their lived experiences, and what they feel should be done across our trusts to enhance care. This provided opportunities for healthcare leaders to think about how to drive changes forward.

Video below features NELFT CEO, Paul Calaminus:

The NEL Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Collaborative:

The NEL Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Collaborative is run by service users from across East London NHS Foundation Trust and the North East London NHS Foundation Trust. They jointly hold a mental health summit for those across the NEL catchment area aiming to improve access to mental health services.