Connected - Issue 1, May 2015

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May 2015

Issue 1

Open dialogue find out more inside...

Upnor ward preview...

about Take Off inside

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Front cover: the Sheriff of Canterbury, Councillor Tony Austin and Chair of Take Off, Ellie Williams

Useful information Carers First

0300 303 1555 www.carersfirst.org.uk

Carers Support Ashford, Shepway and Swale

Carers Support Canterbury, Dover and Thanet

Dementia UK

01233 664393 www.carers-ashford.org.uk

Health Help Now

www.healthhelpnow-nhs.net

Healthwatch Kent

0808 8010102 www.healthwatchkent.co.uk

Healthwatch Medway

01634 566777 www.healthwatchmedway.co.uk

KMPT Contact Centre

0300 2220123

Live it Well

www.liveitwell.org.uk

MIND

www.mind.org.uk

Mental Health Matters

0800 107 0160 info@mentalhealthmatters.co.uk www.mentalhealthmatters.com

NHS Choices

www.nhs.uk

Rethink Mental Illness

www.rethink.org

Samaritans

08457 90 90 90 jo@samaritans.org www.samaritans.org

Take off

01227 788 211 www.takeoff.works

Voluntary Action Maidstone

01622 677337 www.vam-online.org.uk

01304 364 637 www.carers-supportcdt.org.uk www.dementiauk.org

If you would like to include your Carers group details here, please contact communications@kmpt.nhs.uk.

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Contents list to the first issue of Connected, your carers newsletter.

Staff training .................................. 4

Working alongside our carers leads, carers committees, website and social media, Connected will help keep you informed on projects and news from the Trust. You can also find a copy of Connected available to read online.

Dementia Assessment Services ...... 5

This is the first issue and it will be an evolving publication. We would like to hear your thoughts on what you would like to see included. Drop us a line at communications@kmpt.nhs.uk or speak with us at the Carers Conference on 9 June at Oakwood House in Maidstone.

For more information on how to register for the conference, see page 10. One of the key projects delegates will hear about at this conference will be our Open Dialogue pilot. If you’re not familiar with it, see page 9 for more.

You can also keep up to date with Jane Hetherington, Senior Specialist Psychological Practitioner, who will be regularly blogging about the pilot project team’s progress on our website www.kmpt.nhs.uk/research-anddevelopment/open-dialogue_2.

We look forward to seeing you on 9 June.

Communications Team And remember, if you’ve got a story you want to share, get in touch with the Communications Team at communications@kmpt.nhs.uk

Carers Conference .......................... 4

Open Dialogue.............................6-7 Friends and family test.................... 8 Carers Charter.................................. 9 Upnor .......................................10-11 A&E Alcohol Pilot.....................12-13 Health Help Now........................... 14 Smokefree...................................... 15 Live It Well..................................... 16 Live it Library................................. 17 PALS clinic...................................... 18 Supporting..................................... 18 Take off.......................................... 19 Useful dates................................... 20

Contact Communications Team Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust Headquarters Farm Villa Hermitage Lane Maidstone Kent ME16 9PH communications@kmpt.nhs.uk

kmptnhs

kmpt.nhs

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Carers Conference 9 June 10-2pm Could you train our staff?

Only a carer knows what a carer goes through when their loved one begins their journey with us.

Could you share your experience with our staff?

Help us to broaden our skills, to understand, empathise and work with carers in the care of their loved one by becoming involved in our Carers Awareness sessions. Dawn Hyde, carer and volunteer, has already made a difference by sharing her story.

Madelaine Lambie, OPMH service manager for Thanet said: “It made an immediate impact on the team.

Dawn’s personal journey made us all think more about the effect on friends and family. It’s an invaluable piece of training.”

Join us in celebrating Carers Week (8-12 June) with the next Trust Carers Conference.

Highlights will include: • updates from the February conference • discussion on Open Dialogue • changes to the Care Act • information from carers support groups • a celebration of all carers involved in the support of those using mental health services.

Join us at Oakwood House, Maidstone, ME16 8AE

Contact Nick Dent on 01227 812370 for more details on how you can become involved.

This work is part of our wider commitment to carers that also includes annual carers survey, carers charter and service line carer engagement protocols.

Register at communications@kmpt.nhs.uk Or call 01622 724100

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Dementia assessment services in Shepway achieve ‘excellent’ accreditation!

The Trust dementia assessment and diagnosis service in Shepway is delighted to have received an excellent accreditation ratified by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP).

To achieve accreditation requires extensive data collection and audits, a self-review process that checks the service against set standards, gathering and providing evidence on meeting these standards as well as presenting the evidence to a visiting team of service users, carers and professionals from the RCP team.

Justine Leonard, Service Line Director for Older Adults said: “Memory clinics play an important role in helping people with dementia and their families to access an explanation of what the disease is and what can be done about it. This can help people feel empowered and reduce some of the worry caused by uncertainty.

“Achieving ‘excellence’ is a fantastic achievement. It is always pleasing to get third party endorsement acknowledging that we are providing the best possible service for our patients.”

Left to right: (Seated) Dr Kalidindi, Dr Dalvi, Laurie Hudson. (Middle row) Anneli Gower, Dr Kachroo, Natalie Wanstall, Michele Woolford, Yvette Kusel, Christina Godden.

(Back row) Stacie Eilertsen, Paula Allen, Bev Smith, Mike Hastings, Tina Howard.

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Introducing Open Dialogue Open Dialogue is a process which recognises the importance of talking to aid recovery. We are currently taking part in a national pilot project involving the Open Dialogue (OD) approach. Those of you who attended the Carers Conference last year will have already had a preview of the pilot and we hope to expand on this at the next conference in June. In the meantime, Jane Hetherington, Senior Highly Specialist Psychological Practitioner in Early Intervention gives us an insight into OD. The pilot team comprises of 17 practitioners predominantly working in Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) but also from other services that manage severe presentations within Kent.

The initial stage of the pilot requires the team to undertake a foundation course in Peer Supported Open Dialogue (POD) which recognises the necessity of the therapeutic relationship and the importance of dialogue to foster personal recovery as well as humanising psychiatry and mental health care.

The OD approach originated in Finland in the 1980’s, where it is now standard psychiatric care. The data is striking in that in non randomised trials currently 75 per cent of those experiencing psychosis return to work or studies within two years and only 20 per cent of those diagnosed continue to take anti-psychotic medicine.

Our pilot is similar to that which has been pioneered in New York. The project promotes the involvement of peer support workers in the training and process. They are seen as experts

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in their own right through lived experience and will be encouraged to disseminate the training to a supportive peer community.

The POD approach involves psychologically consistent, family and social network meetings where members of the service user’s family or peer group will meet with a team of professionals in their own home and engage in dialogue including the service user. Members of the professional team will remain consistently involved in the treatment. POD assists those in a crisis situation to work with the emotions of the crisis and to tolerate the uncertainty. Over the course of time working in a dialogic manner results in understanding of the meaning of the crisis and in healing and reparation.

Jane and the team have since attended a conference in London organised by the North East London Foundation and in New York which was organised by the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS). The team has returned

with vital experience from these informative sessions with connections that will prove to be significant in helping to implement OD throughout the Trust.

You can keep up to date with the pilot by visiting www.kmpt.nhs.uk Or join us at the next Carers Conference for more (see page 4) details.

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Family and friends test The Friends and Family Test is an important method all NHS organisations use to help us understand service users’ perceptions of our care.

This is a short survey that asks – how likely is it that you would recommend our service/ward to a friend of family member if they needed similar care or treatment?

There are two supplementary questions asking what was the best thing and what required improvement.

We have imbedded this system across the breadth of our services.

Some of our services have already been able to make changes and improvement in regard to the feedback they receive. Whilst it is an important means of assessing experience and where services need to improve, it has also demonstrated how positive many of our service users feel about the services we provide. In January 2015 we recorded 117 responses with 81 of these rating the likelihood of recommending our service as extremely likely.

For more details visit http://www.kmpt.nhs.uk/about-us/ patient_exp_team.htm Or contact the Patient Experience Team at: West Kent and Medway PET Priority House, Maidstone, Hermitage Lane, Maidstone, ME16 9PH 0800 587 6757 01622 723207 01622 725290 East Kent PET St Martin’s Hospital, Littlebourne Road, Canterbury, CT1 1TD 0800 783 9972 01227 812020 01227 785101 Or email them at patientexperience@kmpt.nhs.uk

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Carers charter The Carers Charter has now been finalised and signed

by Chief Executive Angela McNab, overseen by Chairman Andrew Ling, at the March Board meeting.

The Charter has been sculpted by carers and staff to reinforce the joint commitment to providing care to those using Trust services.

The Charter has seen a number of consultations including the Carers Conference 2014, Carers Consultative Committee and Trustwide Patient Engagement Group.

Pippa Barber, Director of Nursing said: “Carers asked us to bring together a charter to outline our commitment to service users, carers and their families. We know the importance of all those involved in the service users pathway to recovery and it has been a pleasure to construct this commitment in an identifiable way for all concerned.�

The Charter will now be displayed throughout the Trust, on www.kmpt.nhs.uk and the intranet for all staff.

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Delivering Upnor The ground was broken in October 2014 to construct a new, modern acute inpatient unit in Maidstone which replaces out-of-date facilities at Medway Maritime Hospital and will start to receive patients early next month. The timescale of 15 months from initial concept to actual delivery is unheard of for mental health construction projects in the NHS. Using a unique approach, based on a traditional and modular construction method, the project is now approaching the final stretch.

The finished ward will have benefitted from a very high level of stakeholder involvement through a Clinical User Group process, which included service user and carer input. Service users from

Medway and Swale were involved from the start, as well as experts by experience and staff. Lessons learnt from recent building projects at St Martin’s in Canterbury were another important element of the build planning.

Post-project evaluation and feedback from service users and carers have also been fed into the design process. An expert by experience who was involved in the development of St Martin’s, and in a previous Kings Fund project was involved from the start as a design champion, they also sat on the Project Board.

A further service user/carer representative also sits on the Inpatient Programme Board. Other communication and engagement activities have included attendance at user/carer forums and there

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have been opportunities for users, carers and members of staff to visit the site.

Geri Coulls, Service Manager said: “There is a huge amount of work going on to engage with staff at all levels and to involve them in developing the new culture of the whole unit as well as establishing high-quality care underpinned through best practice. Staff and service users are also being involved in smaller, but important, details such as signage and artwork.”

Staff who will be working at the new ward have visited the site which gave them an opportunity to give their feedback on fixtures and fittings before final decisions were made. Visitors have been impressed by the anti-ligature features included in the design; such as a special strip on the top of the door which triggers an alarm if it is pushed down. The accommodation

includes a bathroom with an antiligature shower head and water controlled in both the shower and basin by sensors. Positive comments were also made about the window which can be opened without allowing anything to be passed in or out thanks to a thin mesh which still allows light and air to enter the room.

Phillipa MacDonald, Acute Service Line Programme Manager, explains: “It is very exciting to be using such an innovative approach.

The new ward will be fit for purpose and provide a quality patient environment that supports delivery of good care. All of the rooms will be en-suite and we’ve incorporated quiet areas in the wards. Importantly, the building will be very light and airy.”

The ward will be formally opened in June.

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A&E alcohol pilot up and running in Medway

Left to right: Brendan Conway, Consultant for A&E; Emma White, Alcohol Clinical Nurse Specialist (ACNS); Dr Jessica Rogers; Sister Vanda Barr and ACNS Lisa Purland

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A new intervention service has been launched at Medway Maritime Hospital to help people who are identified by A&E staff as having a potential alcoholrelated problem.

Funded by Public Health England, the service is a two-year pilot which has been set up by Trust A&E Alcohol Clinical Nurse Specialists who have in-depth experience of working with alcohol and substance abuse cases.

Medway was identified in a White Paper as needing the service.

Trust nurses, Lisa Purland and Emma White work alongside Turning Point, with some support from liaison psychiatry nurses.

An appointment is offered within 24 hours of a patient being admitted to A&E followed by referral to the appropriate intervention and treatment.

Lisa explains: “We are a specialist team working closely with A&E colleagues. The aim of the service is to help reduce A&E attendances and physical problems through intervention, education and motivation. Research has shown

that giving brief advice and education can be very effective we also hope that the service will increase the take up of resources in the community and reduce A&E attendances.

Emma explains: “We also work with people who are very dependant and we will recommend medication to help with their withdrawal. The administration of these drugs can be very complex depending on the problem and doctors and nurses are sometimes apprehensive about using them so they really appreciate our expertise.”

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We are now Smokefree!

Legislation from the Government now states that smoking must be banned on all hospital sites, including psychiatric hospitals.

We are now smokefree.

This will help us support wellbeing and health while trying to look after long term care.

Hospital admissions On admission, and throughout a stay on the ward, all patients will be asked if they would like any help to stop smoking.

Although patients will not be able to smoke, we will provide nicotine in the form of a replacement therapy so that patients will not have severe nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine replacement therapy is available for all patients and this includes patches, lozenges and inhalators.

Want to quit now?

Your local stop smoking service can offer friendly and professional advice to help

you become smokefree. With a range of options available to choose from you are four times more likely to be a successful quitter with support from your local team of specialist advisers.

Services are available to everyone including Trust staff, service users and carers, and anyone else wanting to make a positive lifestyle change.

Call the Kent Community Health NHS Trust Stop Smoking Service on 0300 123 1220 or Medway Stop Smoking Service on 0800 234 6805.

Visit www.kmpt.nhs.uk for more information or speak to a member of staff.

Did you know‌ Most people are aware of the physical health risks of smoking but research shows that after quitting smoking people report an improvement in their symptoms of depression and anxiety.

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The Live It Well website has been designed as a source of information, help and guidance to promote better wellbeing and mental health in Kent and Medway and to help people connect with local communities. Live It Well has a unique database of over 400 resources across Kent and Medway.

As well as information targeted at people who are worried about their mental health, Live It Well is promoting the Six Ways to

Wellbeing. These are the things that you can do to help enhance your own wellbeing, to manage stress and increase resilience. They can’t change our circumstances but they can help us cope better and reduce our risk of anxiety and depression. They can also help us to get more out of life even when everything is going well!

The Six Ways to Wellbeing are: • Be Active • Keep Learning • Give • Connect • Take Notice and • Care for the Planet

For more information visit www.liveitwell.org.uk

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Live it Library With no experience of mental illness in the family, Dawn desperately wanted to hear from other people about how they coped and listen to someone with an illness similar to her daughter’s diagnosis.

With help from the Trust, Kent County Council and Rethink, over 60 ‘books’ have already been recorded. Live it Library has gone from strength to strength in just three years.

The years that followed were more challenging than Dawn and her family could ever imagine as they tried to come to terms with what had happened.

“The idea is that the books are honest and using their own words to best describe what it feels like from within a mental illness. For instance, things that helped, things that didn’t, their thoughts when they were ill, where they are today and what their ambitions are.

Also, we ask them what advice they would have liked someone to give them if they could turn back the clock – it’s about learning and peer support. People often find it cathartic to share their story and feel empowered and really pleased that they had the opportunity to share.”

It was this desire to listen to other people’s experiences that led to Dawn, a carers carer and Trust volunteer, coming up with the idea of the Live It Library – a ‘human library’ dedicated to mental illness that could be shared on the internet.

“I stood up at a peer support conference and asked for someone to take notice of a little idea I had, and here we are now.”

Check out the events section on the Trust website for details on where the Library will visit next or email communications@kmpt.nhs.uk for more detail.

The original ‘Live it Library’ team celebrating their 1st birthday, Dartford 2013.

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Supporting...

The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week was Mindfulness.

Left to right: Pauline Sadowitzki, Linda Stocker and Debbie Davison

PALs clinic PALS clinics have been extended after following a successful pilot. The aim of the clinics is to help us capture and deal with any issues raised in a timely manner, in a friendly environment.

Linda Stocker, Community Recovery Service Line Lead for Allied Health Professions, was involved in one of the pilots. She explains: “If we can deal with issues at the earliest opportunity then we can prevent them from escalating into formal complaints which can sometimes become protracted and lead to those involved feeling more distressed. It was also envisaged that the clinics can help us to capture more compliments.”

On average eight responses were received during each clinic during the pilot. Of these there was a good mix of concerns and compliments.

All of the responses were given to the service managers at the pilot sites who followed up as necessary.

Details of clinics will be advertised on the Trust website.

An important week for us all and we’ve supported this throughout the Trust by reminding ourselves of the great stories we’ve heard from staff, service users and carers.

All week we’ve shared stories on our website, Facebook and Twitter of the amazing people throughout the Trust. Live it Library, Upnor ward, our staff awards and we introduced Joe Blackburn a service user who is now working with the Trust after gaining work experience with the Transformation team.

Dementia Awareness Week saw a similar theme as we shared stories about the Forget Me Nots, the wonderful Keith Oliver and Trust events.

Weeks like this are important, helping us to raise awareness and sharing the important stories which may help someone going through a similar journey.

Now we’re looking towards Volunteers Week and Carers Week during which we’ll hold our own Carers Conference. If you have an event and you would like us to advertise throughout the Trust, please let us know.

In the meantime, check out our events page on our website, visit us on Facebook kmpt.nhs or Twitter kmptnhs.

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Launching Take Off An innovative new service, which supports people with long-term mental and physical health conditions, was launched last month in Canterbury. Take Off, which was previously known as Canterbury and District Mental Health Forum, was officially opened by the Sheriff of Canterbury, Councillor Tony Austin and Chair of Take Off, Ellie Williams (Pictured) cutting a commemorative cake in the organisation’s new crisis café.

Take Off Director, Mark Kilbey said: “It’s great that so many of our funders and agencies we work in partnership with were able to be represented at the launch event. Take Off is a vibrant organisation that innovates in the field of peer support and demonstrates what people with lived experience can do when given the freedom to design, develop and deliver services for themselves.

“Many of our staff, who are not volunteers but paid, once trained, on a seasonal basis, have great skill from lives of full employment before they were unwell.

We help them through training and mentoring to regain confidence and selfesteem and that is something we are particularly proud to have developed.”

For more information visit: www.takeoff.works

14 July West Kent Patient Consultative Committee Highlands House, Tunbridge Wells 10am

4 June 2015 Trust Board Meeting 10.30am Room RWG15 Canterbury Christchurch University Pembroke Court Chatham ME4 4UF 8 June Carers Week 9 June 2015 Carers Conference Oakwood House, Maidstone.

10am 27 June Armed Forces Day 8 July North Kent Patient Consultative Committee Canada House, Gillingham.

11am 12 July Disability Awareness Day

22 July East Kent Patient Consultative Committee Eastern and Coastal Area Offices, Canterbury 2pm 24 July East Kent Carers Consultative Committee Eastern and Coastal Area Offices, Canterbury 2pm 30 July Trust Board Meeting Location to be confirmed, see events section on our website for further details.

9.30am 2 August Friendship Day 13 September National Dementia Carers Day 11 August West Kent Carers Consultative Committee Priority House, Maidstone 7pm

8 September West Kent Patient Consultative Committee Farm Villa, Maidstone 10am 9 September North Kent Patient Consultative Committee St Michaels House, Sittingbourne 11am 23 September East Kent Patient Consultative Committee Eastern and Coastal Area Offices, Canterbury 2pm 24 September Trust Board Meeting Location to be confirmed, see events section on our website for further details.

9.30am 24 September Annual General Meeting Location to be confirmed, see events section on our website for further details.

6-8pm 25 September East Kent Carers Consultative Committee Eastern and Coastal Area Offices, Canterbury 2pm

KM367 200515