A visit from NHS England’s Patient and Public Voice Members group for mental health on Wednesday (15/11) provided valuable insight on how we can improve the care we give to patients.
Hosted out of our new Medway Hub – home to our Medway Make Ready Centre, 999 control and 111 contact centre – the event was a first for the Trust.
The group, which consists of patients and family members from across England, who have lived experiences of mental health services, had the opportunity to find out more about how our service manages and responds to mental health emergencies in both our 999 and 111 centres.
Lead by Deputy Director of QI and Patient Experience, Jo Turner, the event was also an opportunity for us in terms of delivering a more patient-centred and effective response to this growing cohort of patients.
With our data showing that mental health calls are the sixth most common emergency to our service, we know we can do more.
Jo said: “We were delighted to welcome the group to Medway and provide greater insight to members how we respond to mental health patients.
“We recognise there is much more we can do and this session really helped our understanding from a patient’s perceptive.”
“The timing of the event could not have been more fortuitous as we are currently developing our new five-year clinically led Trust Strategy.
“Through their lived experience, we have a fantastic opportunity to learn and develop approaches to improve the care we provide to mental health patients in the future.”
If you have experience accessing our services and would like to share your story and support us in the development of our strategy, then please do join us at our next community forum meeting taking place virtually on Monday, 27 November, between 19.00 and 20.30hrs. To join, please email engagementteam@secamb.nhs.uk.