I’ll start this week by thanking Dr Caroline Allum, our Chief Medical Officer and Simon Hart, our Executive Director of People and Culture who both covered for me last week when I was on leave. Taking time off work is so important to rest, recharge and of course to do the things that are important to you outside of work. I’d like to remind colleagues across health and care services to ensure you are taking your leave and prioritising your wellbeing.

Our Patient and Carer Race equality Framework (PCREF) launch event took place on 14 July and was attended by 150 delegates including patients, carers, staff and partners from the voluntary sector, education and police service. This event was an opportunity to learn from patients and carers, understand how we have been coproducing the PCREF and how we will embed it into the future. Click here to learn more.

The London All-Age Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat was published on 18 July 2023 and can be viewed on the NHS London website here. Organisations in health, social care and beyond are signing up to the agreement which pledges that assessment and detention under the Mental Health Act should only occur when detention is the only option to support someone out of crisis and should always be a last resort. Support for people in crisis will be tailored to each person’s needs and will ensure their voice, and the voices of their families and carers are central to decisions made about their care. Work continues with partners across London and locally to support this.

Colleagues who have completed the latest cohort of our Leaders Empowered to Achieve their Potential (LEAP) programme attended their graduation ceremony on 17 July and it was great to see so much positivity, pride and energy at the event. The objective of LEAP is to support colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds to develop and achieve more senior positions within the Trust and this latest cohort supported staff currently working in bands 3 and 4 level roles.

Last week the first cohort of our new NELFT Just and Compassionate Leadership Programme launched. The programme has been developed in partnership with The Kings Fund and has been based on feedback from colleagues and service users. The second cohort is nearly full and I am looking forward to hearing more from colleagues who have been involved in the programme so far.

Finally, I’ll finish with another thank you, this time to Gok Wan, who took the time to visit young people in our Kent adolescent inpatient services. Gok shared his own personal experiences of mental health and inspired young people to see there is hope for the future. You can read more about the visit here.

Take care and stay safe
Jacqui

Jacqui Van Rossum
Acting Chief Executive