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The Southern Health

SUMMER 2017

MEET JAMES 1

LIFE WITH A LEARNING DISABILITY

Star Awards Tea Parties • Better Local Care explained • Clinical Services Strategy • My Job with Abigail Barkham

WHAT’S INSIDE? 13 Charity makes a difference at Romsey Hospital

WELCOME Hello and welcome to the Summer edition of our Journal – and what a packed issue it is – full of examples of staff demonstrating our values of respect, working in partnership, and putting patients and people first. I also enjoyed reading the inspirational stories of James and Peter – people whose lives our staff have helped to improve. It’s been a busy summer with some really positive developments for Southern Health. We’ve had an encouraging report from the Care Quality Commission telling us we’re on the right track with improvements. I’d like to thank our staff once more for their efforts to get us to where we need to be, for the benefit of the people we support. I’m pleased to say that our new Chair has begun her role in earnest: Lynne Hunt comes from a background in NHS mental health services and brings a wealth of experience and expertise. We are also in the process of appointing a permanent Chief Executive which will bring additional stability and leadership to help us move forward. As well as focusing on delivering the best care today, we are also looking ahead to the future. We’ve now identified seven important areas which will help us to become the organisation we need to be in the longer term. These areas include staff and patient involvement, quality improvement, and clinical leadership. We’re making sure staff working on these areas have the support they need to make this happen and it’s really exciting to see the progress we’re making. As always, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want to share your stories. I hope you enjoy the issue. 2

Julie Dawes, Interim Chief Executive

14 Focus on nursing: meet Alison

16 General Election 2017 - what does this mean for your NHS?

17 Meet our Family Liaison Officer

28 COVER STORY: Life with a Learning Disability

10 Working with the

CQC

12 Body and Mind 14 Living with frailty 16 Our Governors 18 Going smoke free 19 Off Duty: the Ultimate

Gift

CHARITY MAKES A DIFFERENCE AT ROMSEY HOSPITAL

Charities, League of Friends and Romsey Hospital Appeal, have been extremely generous and donated £36,000 to Romsey Hospital to buy an imaging eye scanner. The scanner is so important as it detects Glaucoma, a common eye condition which can lead to progressive loss of vision if not identified and treated early enough. Having this equipment available at a community hospital like Romsey is already making the world of difference. Most of the eye care patients in the local area are elderly so being able to treat them at Romsey Hospital is a real benefit as it’s closer to their home and has free parking. Both charities are delighted they have been able to donate to such a worthy cause which has improved eye care treatment in the local area. Elaine Granger, Chairman of League of Friends says, “It is an absolute pleasure to be able to donate to such a worthy cause. It’s a heart-warming feeling to see people benefit from this donation and know that you have made a positive change in people’s lives.” Thank you so much to the League of Friends and Romsey Hospital Appeal for their generosity!

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It is an absolute pleasure to be able to donate to such a worthy cause. It’s a heart-warming feeling to see people benefit from this donation and know that you have made a positive change in people’s lives.

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#nur

heroe se

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To become a nurse you have to have a certain mind-set – it’s not for the money, it’s for the love of the job…the love of giving.

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Alison Wileman is a Continence Service Lead and Advanced Clinical Nurse Specialist, wife and mother of two.

She is also a member of the Royal College of Nursing Continence Care committee and from January 2018, Alison will be chairing the committee and working to develop national continence guidelines. We met with Alison at Fareham Community Hospital to find out what inspired her to become a nurse, what it means to be a continence nurse and what makes her job so rewarding.

CHILDHOOD INSPIRATION “My sister has a long term medical condition – she’s got Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. She’s had it since she was two years old. “When she was unwell or had surgery, she would stay at a special hospital for children with arthritis. I would often stay up there with her. There were some really lovely nurses that used to look after her. I was struck by how approachable and caring they were, and how much of a difference they made to people’s lives. “It was then, at age 11, that I knew I had to become a nurse. I was the first person in my family to aspire to do so. My mum was a cook in a care home and my dad was a carpenter; with nobody else in the medical profession at all – but it was what I knew, it was what I’d grown up around.” TRAIN LOCAL, WORK LOCAL “I decided to train locally so that my family and I could continue to support each other. Friends that I made during my training were going for an interview in Urology. I went for the interview as well, simply to get a bit of practice filling out the application form, but to my surprise I ended up getting the job. I had actually wanted to work out in the community, having loved my community placement, but I felt I needed some hospital experience. “I worked in Urology for four years and then got a community job locally on Hayling Island. I was able to apply my experience and knowledge to people in the community. I was tasked with managing patients coming into

the ward with blocked catheters and those who required some problem solving. “Management realised that I was interested in continence, and I was offered the chance to run a continence clinic one day a week, dealing with complex patients. I was the only nurse providing continence clinics for the whole of Waterlooville, Havant, Emsworth and Hayling Island.” THE EXPANSION OF CONTINENCE “Around 2005 I was involved in discussions about how we could change and expand the continence care model. The idea was to take continence from the community care teams, to free them up, and create our own specialist continence team that would see people purely for bladder and bowel problems. “When Southern Health was formed in 2011, we were able to roll out this new model to the whole of Hampshire. We now have a team of 33, including clinical and admin staff.” OUR SERVICE “Patients can self-refer to our service. Six years ago we would receive 200 referrals a month on average, and now we receive 900. “We triage within five working days and we see someone faceto-face within 28 calendar days. We see people with bladder and bowel problems, including stress incontinence, over-active bladders, and functional and reflex problems. “Often we receive calls from people asking for pads because they wet themselves, and they are surprised when we suggest

that we could find out what’s causing them to wet themselves and help to solve it. It’s about empowering the patient.” CONTINENCE IS MORE THAN JUST A PAD “Continence is fundamental to nursing care. But even in the core training for nurses, there is very little on continence. There is loads of training on nutrition, hydration, and tissue viability – but as far as I’m concerned, what goes in has to come out and if it’s not coming out, it won’t go in. “If you don’t know about bladders and bowels, how can you care for a patient holistically? I think continence should be on everybody’s agenda, but I’m sure every specialism will say the same thing. “Solving people’s continence issues can have a massive impact on their quality of life. I had a lady recently who had to change her son’s school because she couldn’t get him there without wetting herself. I took her off of drinking caffeinated fizzy drinks, did some bladder retraining and spent some time with her. She says she can now go onto the bus, take her child to school, get back on the bus, go into town and do some shopping. “It is cases like this which make the job so rewarding. With continence, the simplest of interventions can make such a difference, so I think every nurse should be interested in continence. Continence is too often seen as just ‘providing a pad’.”

Find out more about Southern Health’s continence service by visiting the Trust website: www.southernhealth.nhs.uk/services/community-health-services/continence-service

YOUR

GENERAL ELECTION 2017 WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR NHS? On June 8 2017, people across the UK took to the polls after a snap general election was called by Prime Minister Theresa May. It was a very close race against the Labour party, but on the day the Conservatives achieved a narrow majority and have now signed an agreement with the Democratic Unionist party of Northern Ireland in order to lead the country in partnership. The Conservatives made a range of commitments to improving health and social care in the party manifesto, defined within three key areas; • Providing the money and the people the NHS needs • Holding NHS leaders to account, and • Ensuring exceptional standards of care, whenever, wherever

In order to achieve these a number of promises were

made:

• an increase in NHS spending by £8 billion in the next five years • an increase of 1500 students in medical training • recruiting up to 10,000 more mental health professionals • improving understanding and awareness of mental health issues across the NHS 6

• improving standards of care for people with learning disabilities • seven day healthcare services to become more available to patients • prioritise the rights of health and social care staff from the European Union to stay working in the UK • removing barriers to developing the future of services These will need to be revisited as time goes on, and much is still unknown at this stage. What is clear is that the population continues to grow as health and social care services are continually squeezed, and the extra funding promised does not meet the demand. This means that working closely with other public sector services will continue to be a high priority, in order to close the gaps. Over the next few years the NHS will go through some of the greatest change the service has seen in its lifetime. There will be many challenges along the way as we redefine the services we provide and continue to develop collaborative care with patients, families and carers, but there are also a great many opportunities for realising our true potential and delivering excellent care.

Elaine Ridley, Family Liaison Officer Hello my name is Elaine Ridley and I’m the Family Liaison Officer. I started at the Trust in December 2016.

Tell us about yourself, what attracted you to the role? “What attracted me to the role? I was curious! Having worked in the Coroners service for 14 years I could see that there was a need for this type of role. I was aware of the criticisms of the Trust before I applied and was a little apprehensive but I felt compelled to try to make a difference. So far it has been massively rewarding and I’m very much enjoying it.”

What does the Family Liaison Officer do? “My role is pretty varied but the main part is to provide support

through the difficult process of an investigation into a serious incident or a serious complaint. Quite often this means supporting a family through a bereavement to inquest and beyond. It can require signposting to specific services such as counselling or simply being available to listen and to help. I’m currently supporting 14 families and each one of them has different needs. I also try to work closely with Investigating Officers to ensure that families get the information they need. “I‘m involved in a lot of the groups the Trust has set up to help it improve the way it works with families and I have learned so much from these. I’m committed to using the feedback from families both in training and in the development of this role.”

What are you most proud of so far? “I don’t know if there is one single thing, I have been able to help and support multiple families in extremely difficult circumstances and feel this is a privileged position. Over the last few months I have been developing training with the Trust Chaplain for Investigating Officers, which will help them with all aspects of sharing reports with families following an investigation. By listening and communicating effectively with families the Trust will continue to improve for both service users and their families and I am proud to help drive this.”

Living with a learning disability People living with a learning disability find it harder to learn certain life skills. The problems experienced vary from person to person, but may include aspects such as learning new things, communication, managing money, reading, writing, or personal care. Some people are born with a learning disability, whereas others may develop one as a result of an accident or illness in childhood. James Elsworthy, 37, was born with a learning disability which became apparent during his early childhood years. James also struggles with anxiety issues, and at the end of 2016 he accessed our learning diability services to receive support to identify and manage his triggers. We spoke to James to find out what life is like living with a learning disability. “My support worker says I have complex needs. Having a learning disability affects me most when there’s a lot going on. I tend to get quite upset. One minute I’m happy and the next minute I’m sad. It takes me a little while to process things. “I live in Winchester, up and out of the way – that’s what Mum and Dad say. I have lived on my own since I was 18, but I have support workers twice a week. Before that I lived in a house for people with learning disabilities. They still have some houses for people with learning disabilities, but I think they should get their own places really – you’ve got to learn to live on your own. My Mum and Dad live in Winchester too. I see them quite a lot but they can be annoying! “I remember being told I had a learning disability when I was about 12 or 13. But I think they all knew because I went to a special school. I quite liked that school but I got bullied quite a lot.” “I have a cleaning job at the police headquarters. I do that from 6.00am to 9.30am every day, Monday to Friday. I’ve worked there since 2004. I like my job but I don’t like cleaning at home. I used to work in Sainsbury’s at Badgers Farm, but that’s when I knew something wasn’t right. I felt a bit out of place and it made me feel anxious. I worked there part-time. My Mum and Dad say that I couldn’t do full-time – it’s too much for people like us. “I do football on a Monday and Tuesday at River 8

Park Leisure Centre with the Saints Foundation. It’s open to people with Learning Disabilities, as well as everyone else. We warm up first and play a match at the end. I can be really competitive. I’m also doing a play – it will be at the Theatre Royal. I’m the one doing the puppetry and I’ll be dancing with Katie. The dancing is the best bit for me – I do like my dancing. “I also go to college. I am doing Maths for Everyday Living. I like maths anyway. I’m learning times tables at the moment, like 1x3=3 and 2x3=6. We’re learning about money too. College finishes soon and then it’s summer. I think I’d like to go on holiday then, probably on my own and meet some people there. I book my holiday through Winchester Go LD, which is there if you need a bit of help. I might go to Sussex for a change or I could go to Cornwall again. Cornwall’s nice. “I’ve got a girlfriend called Claire. I’d like her to come on holiday with me but her support worker said she’s not ready. She has more needs than me. She lives in Chandlers Ford and we’ve been together for six months. “I really enjoy working to help Southern Health. Southern Health has had a lot of bad news lately, but the only way is up and we’ve got to promote the good things. I run a service user group. That is to do with how the NHS can help us - people with learning disabilities. Last Friday we were looking at a leaflet – like “is this alright?”, “is that alright?”.

FEATURE LIVING WITH A LEARNING DISABILITY

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I think politics is really important – I like to know what’s going on. I wanted to be one of those people that carry the boxes in for the general election.

“I’ve also done some work with Jayne Jazz [Patient Experience Lead for Learning Disabilities] too – I like her. I helped her do some interviews at Eastleigh Holiday Inn.

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In 2016, I was involved with the Star Awards and I got to present an Award!

those two – they’re both as bad as each other. Now it’s going to be a hung parliament, which could be worse. I don’t think they do enough for people with needs. There could be more support workers and more funding. I’d like to have support to cook more for myself.

“I think politics is really important – I like to know what’s going on. I wanted to be one of those people that carry the boxes in for the general election. I voted this time, but I didn’t vote for

“I watch Question Time with David Dimbleby. I think he’s brilliant and when they argue he says “Stop, stop” and lets them speak. He makes me laugh actually.”

Working with the CQC

PREPARING FOR AN INSPECTION... “In 2018 we are due our next Trust-wide CQC inspection. When I say ‘CQC inspection’ to people I often get a mixed response. “Some staff are full of enthusiasm, keen to show inspectors their services and what they do.

ANNE’S ADVICE Sara Courtney, Interim Chief Nurse

“In others you can see the panic spread across their faces at the thought of being questioned for periods of time and ‘tested’ on their knowledge. “Having been part of many CQC inspections I can understand how they both feel. It can be a daunting task to talk to inspectors and make sure they hear and listen to the good things we are doing as well as asking about the challenges we face.“ - Sara Courtney, Interim Chief Nurse

Anne Harms, Ward Manager for Willow Ward, a learning disability service, tells us more...

Being inspected is always going to feel daunting but it is nowhere near as scary as you think it is going to be. • Make sure you are well prepared - use the information on our intranet, it really helps! • Showcase what you do • If you don’t know the answer always be honest and let the inspector know that you will get back to them with the information they need • Finally, the CQC are not here to catch you out and, no matter how daunting it may seem, you know more than you think you do this is what you do every day!

Anne Harms, Ward Manager for Willow Ward talks to us about her experience and shares her top tips!

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When we were told that we were going to be inspected – our initial reaction was OMG! We started to panic - are we doing everything correctly? Will we be able to answer all of their questions?

There was a lot of preparation but, what was most interesting is, how much the team already knew. We quickly began to realise that we were able to answer the questions asked in the ‘time to shine’ self-assessment tools which helped us feel more confident. We also made sure we focused on areas where we felt we needed to know more about. When the CQC arrived, we were very nervous! We still had no idea what they were going to ask us. We were also a little nervous about escorting inspectors through our wards, as some of the patients have challenging behaviours, and we had no idea how patients would react on the day

Anne Harms (far left) tells us her CQC story. of the inspection. When the inspectors arrived they were very polite, friendly and put us at ease straight away. The great part of it was they understood we still had our day job to do and they worked around us. I spoke to an inspector about the Mental Health Act (MHA). We went through all the paper work and explained how it applies to our patients. We talked about Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLs), what they are and how we use them. They walked through the wards, spoke to staff and also went through RiO and some of our secondary files – again they didn’t ask anything that we didn’t already know and if there was a question we were unsure of we just let them know that we would get back to them with the information they required.

BODY AND MIND

As a Trust, we’re committed to improving the physical health of people with a serious mental illness or learning disability. Cory DeWet, Clinical Service Director (Adult Mental Health, West), tells us the rationale behind the Trust’s recent ‘Body and Mind’ Conference, which aimed to do just that, making a difference to the lives of the people we care for… “We know that people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder die on average 15-20 years earlier than the general population. They are also three times more likely to attend emergency departments with an urgent physical health need. “There are a number of reasons for this. People with severe mental illness are more likely to experience heart disease, diabetes, respiratory disease and infections. They also have higher rates of smoking, alcohol consumption and drug misuse. “It is also recognised that people with a serious mental illness often experience difficulties in accessing physical health care 12

due to reduced motivation, and as a consequence of stigma or ‘diagnostic overshadowing’. “With all this in mind, we wanted the conference to kickstart conversations amongst our staff about how we could do things differently to help the people who use our MH and LD services. “The day-long event proved very popular, with more than 200 staff and partner organisations arriving at Southampton’s Grand Harbour Hotel to attend workshops and listen to the speakers. “One of the most well received presentations of the day was an inspiring service user perspective

from Kerry Matcham, a senior peer specialist from Dorset Mental Health Forum. She has bipolar disorder and also lives with a number of physical health issues, including asthma, which can have a negative effect on her mental health. Whilst she explained how important it was to look at her various medications and how they interact with each other, she also made a comment that really hit home. She said “The turning point for me was when I realised the medication wasn’t going to do it on its own. Selfmanagement and changing my lifestyle was really important and empowering.”

LAUNCHING OUR MONITORING TOOL

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We wanted the conference to kick-start conversations amongst our staff about how we could do things differently to help the people who use our mental health and learning disability services...

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“The conference also included various workshops covering a range of physical health topics – from smoking, drugs and alcohol to sexual health, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. In addition, delegates had the opportunity to attend a yoga session during lunch and chat to a range of services with exhibition stands. These included stands from Quit4Life, our LD health facilitators, the research team and LEaD who were promoting medical education and continuing professional development. “The day concluded with all delegates completing a ‘commitment card’ – setting out how they were committing to change in order to improve the health of the people they care for, plus a discussion about what needs to change in the future for us to have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of people accessing our mental health and learning disability services.”

Since the Body and Mind Conference, one key change is the introduction of a RiO monitoring tool to assess the physical health of our adult mental health patients. Cory DeWet explains: “Launching this new tool is the right thing to do for our patients – we really want to address the health inequalities faced by people already struggling with their mental health. We’re also being monitored on our progress in this area as part of two Trust ‘CQUINs’, which lends an additional financial motivator to this key improvement goal. “The new tool is for both our community patients and our inpatients, and monitors their physical health on an ongoing basis. Every patient who is on a long-term care plan, or who is under the care of the Early Intervention in Psychosis Team, or who is admitted to one of our wards now has a monitoring form completed for them by our staff. “The form records a patient’s medical history, medication history, cardio metabolic screening, and other blood tests and health screening. The plan is that it is regularly updated each time our staff undertake additional physical health observations. “By doing this, staff will be able to identify any issues and help patients to take positive action to improve their physical health. For example, referring them to our Quit4Life stop smoking service or assisting them with issues regarding their diet, exercise habits, alcohol consumption, blood pressure or cholesterol readings to prevent more serious health problems emerging. “The new tool has been carefully designed to prevent duplication of work and to allow information to be easily extracted for external audits - to save clinical time in the future. We’ve worked hard to keep additional paperwork to a minimum whilst balancing this with the desire to introduce new measures to improve the physical health of our patients.” * CQUIN stands for commissioning for quality and innovation. The system makes a proportion of healthcare providers’ income conditional on demonstrating improvements in quality 13 and innovation in specified areas of patient care.

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E G A M I LIVING WITH FRAILTY

When Peter lost his wife to cancer nearly 30 years ago, he knew he wanted to spend his final years at home. Now 90 years old, Peter suffers with vascular dementia and other illnesses related to frailty. His daughter, Lis, tells us how her family have been working closely with the Enhanced Recovery and Support at Home (ERS@Home) team to make his wish to stay at home come true.

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Dad is a true gentleman, very charming and thrives on making people laugh. He has vascular dementia and is very frail and his condition changes from day to day. On a good day you wouldn’t think anything is wrong with him; he is bright, perky and laughs and jokes with us. On a bad day he is confused, vulnerable, very wobbly on his feet and struggles to complete everyday tasks - all he wants to do is sleep. Over the years his memory has worsened and he doesn’t remember a lot of things. He still lives at home on his own and as a family, including my sister Vicki, we all pitch in and care for him daily and also have a private arrangement with a close friend who helps care for him.

Dad is a true family man and loves being at home. When mum was diagnosed with cancer in her early fifties, Dad nursed and cared for her until she

The first time he saw her he instantly fell in love and turned to his friend and said ‘that’s the girl I am going to marry.’

died peacefully at home. It was mum dying that cemented Dad’s decision that, he too, wanted to be cared for and live the rest of his days at home; a decision with the help of Southern Health’s ERS@ Home Team we have so far managed to honour. Over the past year he has been in and out of hospital several times. A few months ago, Dad was admitted to hospital with pneumonia on his right lung; it was here we met Ally McGuiness, Matron for Dementia and Frailty at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We knew from previous experience that Dad doesn’t do well in hospital and deteriorates both mentally and physically in this environment. Ally was fantastic; she completely understood our situation, knew that Dad wanted to be at home and did everything she could to make this happen.

Celebrating with

the family Dad’s real passi an actor and on is acting. He wante d to be regul productions, arly performed in theat which is how re he met Mum .

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Thank you for making Dad’s wish come true.

She referred us to Dr Abigail Barkham, Consultant Nurse for Frailty, who met both me and Dad and immediately started to put a wellbeing plan in place based on Dad’s needs to help us care for him at home: • An Occupational Therapist came and inspected the house and identified additional equipment that Dad needed. This included: - a stall to help us wash him - and two new walking sticks at correct height • A Tissue Viability Nurse and Community Nurse ensured that Dad had the right mattress, provided barrier creams and gave advice to help prevent him from getting pressure sores • A nurse gave advice about how to maintain his catheter, provided advice on nutrition and medication and even prescribed dietary supplements

Sandra helps us care for dad every day; Dad calls her ‘My Angel’

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to keep him healthy.

• We were advised to create a memory book for Dad about key aspects of his life including where he lived, pictures of family members and carers, a history of his life including pictures. It really helps him especially when he is having a bad day. Since the plan has been put in place, Dad has been doing really well, in fact from October to April, we had to call an ambulance out to him more than 11 times and since April we haven’t had to call anyone out and I truly believe it’s because he is happy, has all the help he needs and is well. As a family we feel so reassured knowing we have a strong support network around us, not only from friends and family but from Southern Health’s ERS@Home Team.

Me and dad on my wedd

ing day

I just can’t thank the team enough. We feel so supported and the care we have received has been first class. We have felt involved right from the start and really feel they genuinely care about my father. Meeting Ally and Abby and her team, it’s so evident that for them it’s not a job, it’s a passion. They really care about what they do and they will do anything they can to make sure their patients get the right support – we just feel so grateful that we’re able to fulfil Dad’s wish to live his final days at home.

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GOVERNORS at Southern Health

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All of us have a real appetite to improve things

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Governors play a vital role in the Trust, not only do they sit on the Council of Governors but they also perform a number of key functions and have the opportunity to get involved in different areas and working groups. Over the coming months we will be talking to our Governors to find out what makes them tick, what they are involved in and how they are making a difference to the Trust. We caught up with Adrian Thorne, an Appointed Governor for Carers Together. Adrian is part of the Membership Engagement Group, which has been looking at how the Trust can better engage with its members. Hello Adrian, why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about yourself? Hello my name is Adrian Thorne and I am the Appointed Governor for Carers Together at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. I am the current chair of Carers Together which is a charity that supports carers. I have a real passion for the public sector, as well as being a carer I have also been an Assistant Director for Social 16

Care at Hampshire County Council. Along with this I have worked with several different local authorities helping them make efficiency savings. I am very supportive of staff, they are the ones that have to carry out the changes on the ground. Anything I can do to help them, to make their job easier or to support them, that is what I am interested in doing. With the Trust working to transform its services I am also keen to ensure carers are taken into account as

part of the process. You’re involved in the Membership Engagement Group (MEG), can you tell us a little bit about that group? As Governors we have a statutory duty to represent the interests of the Trusts Members. The Membership Engagement Group was set up to help Governors do this and to focus specifically on engagement. I

think all of the Governors, and the Trust, would admit that this is something that needed to improve. The group has a number of key duties including seeking out and ensuring members and the public’s views are included as part of any activities as well as taking an overall lead on membership recruitment and engagement.

It is very much a partnership now, rather than being one way, we approach decisions jointly and take on board each other’s expertise. So that has been good and has definitely contributed to the group.

How do you feel the group is working?

We are currently working on a few different things. We are working on proposals for the Annual General Meeting. I think we all recognised that we can make it a better event for our members and the public so that is something we are looking at. On a personal note, I was involved in the recruitment of the Trust’s new Chair. We as Governors were excited to be able to choose in conjunction with our stakeholders our new Chair and are looking forward to working with her. I think that goes to show the level of involvement Governors have in

I like the way we are working as a group, it is very inclusive, it’s friendly and everyone around the table is equal and has just as much say. All of us have a real appetite to improve things and we all have different skills which we can bring to the table. The discussions we have are really productive and you can feel that everyone is pulling in the same direction. I think we also have a really good relationship with the Communications Team and the Corporate Governance team.

Is there anything the MEG are working on that you want to share?

the Trust at the moment. Thanks Adrian, is there anything else you’d like to add? Only to say how much I have enjoyed the year I have had with Southern Health so far. On a personal note I would like to thank our departing Chair, Alan Yates. His support and guidance has been invaluable to myself and the other Governors and I have really enjoyed working with him. I think the Trust has great staff and great services. I know it has been through some tough times but I really believe things are changing. There is still a long way to go, and we should never forget what has happened to patients and families in the past, but there have been a lot of positive change over the last few months which is great to see.

Elections at the Trust In July the Trust held elections for both Public and Staff Governor roles. These were in the Southampton and South West Hampshire constituencies for Public Governors and South West Hampshire for Staff Governors. We are pleased to announce that Andrew Jackman has been re-elected as Public Governor for Southampton and Margaret Martin has been elected as Staff Governor for South West Hampshire.

This is Andrew’s third term as a Governor representing our Southampton Constituency. His passion to improve our community’s mental health results from his daughter’s difficult decade with poor mental health. This, and his experience interacting with constituents, equips him to both actively support and challenge the Trust, funders and politicians in pursuit of the best possible services and care for local people.

Margaret has worked in the NHS for over 30 years and has had a variety of roles. She has worked across acute, rehabilitation and community services, giving her a good understanding of the way the Trust works. She currently manages a team of highly skilled professionals working with people who have a learning disability.

At Southern Health, we are on a journey to become completely smoke-free by 30 September 2017, as part of the national Smokefree initiative to benefit the physical health of NHS patients. Whilst many of our services have been smokefree for many years, our adult and older people’s mental health inpatient services have been granted exceptions. However, from 30 September, they too will be enforcing the smoke-free regulations. Going smoke-free means smoking cigarettes or tobacco products will not be allowed on any of the grounds or in any of the buildings owned or leased by us. This will apply to patients, staff, carers and visitors to Trust premises.

GOING SMOKE-FREE

The story of an inpatient “Before coming to Ravenswood, I smoked about 10 roll-ups a day. I’ve smoked since I was 15. I can’t really remember how I started – I guess I just tried it and liked it.

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When I was admitted, the unit was already smokefree. I was really unhappy about having to stop smoking, but I was given patches, lozenges and an inhalator which really helped with the withdrawal symptoms.

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Evidence tells us that people with mental health problems are more likely to smoke, and to smoke more heavily, than the general population. However, they are just as likely as other smokers to want to quit, but because they are more likely to be heavily addicted to smoking, they need more support to be successful.

We spoke to an inpatient at Ravenswood House - a medium secure unit for people with serious mental illness, which has already achieved Smokefree status - about what it was like to be admitted to a smoke-free ward and how he has managed to quit smoking tobacco.

As a Trust, we appreciate that going completely smoke-free will have a sizable impact on staff and patients at affected inpatient “I’m really pleased that I made the units. People who are admitted to decision not to smoke once I got back onto the ward, especially as hospital will have the option to temporarily stop smoking during I came down with pneumonia at their stay, or to make a quit Christmas. My dad died from a pneumonia related complication, attempt with support from a and had I still been smoking I may trained member of staff. For both options, we will provide nicotine not have been able to recover as replacement products to help with well as I did. the cravings for a cigarette, so “If I was to give advice to no-one is forced to experience the someone else being admitted to effects of nicotine withdrawal. a smoke-free ward, I’d tell them “I have relapsed once since being admitted to Ravenswood, during a brief spell back in prison. Smoking is like a currency.

to go for the nicotine spray. If I had the choice, I’d probably use an e-cigarette, as it’s the same habit – holding something in your mouth.”

To find out more about our journey to becoming a completely smoke-free Trust, please visit: www.southernhealth.nhs.uk/inside/ smokefree-trust

The Ultimate Gift One of our mental health practitioners has bravely donated a kidney to save the life of a stranger. Nicky Newman (51) who works in our forensic inpatient hospital at Ravenswood made the remarkable decision to gift one of her kidneys after losing her husband to skin cancer. She explained: “My husband died a decade ago, after living with a terminal diagnosis for the last four years of his life. He was a fantastic role model and we often talked about organ donation but sadly he was unable to do this on his death, due to his illness. “The thought of helping someone in this way has stayed with me over the years and, whilst I’ve often supported charities with donations or sponsored activities, it has always felt a bit removed in contrast to the idea of physically donating a part of my body to save somebody’s life.” Nicky continued: “When I found out that I had a match, I received a huge amount of support from my parents, sisters, friends and Trust colleagues. My ward manager and charge nurse have provided practical and emotional support and the team (who will kindly be covering my three month recuperation!) have already visited me since I left hospital.”

Nicky Newman

“

I’d really like to raise awareness about altruistic donations. My message is: try and do one good thing to help other people. You don’t have to be as drastic as me but I hope my choice can encourage others take on something big or small for others – from organ donation to simply giving blood. Nicky is the 54th person to altruistically donate a kidney from the Portsmouth area. At any one time, there are roughly 8,000 people on the transplant waiting list and Nicky is keen to promote the little known fact that people can donate a kidney or part of their liver as a living donor. Visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk to find out more.

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ARE YOU FEELING LOW? ANXIOUS? STRESSED? Come and talk to us italk is a free service for people suffering from depression or anxiety. We are an improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service which is delivered as a partnership between Solent Mind and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

023 8038 3920 info@italk.org.uk

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Do you have a story you’d like to share with us? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us, the Communications and Engagement team, by phone or email, or come and chat to us via Facebook or Twitter.

023 8087 4666 communications@southernhealth.nhs.uk www.southernhealth.nhs.uk Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust @Southern_NHSFT