The annual North East London Mental Health Summit for service users, carers and staff took place on 28 March in Ilford. Service users of mental health services, carers, staff and partner organisations attended the event centred on improving the mental health and wellbeing of local people.  

The theme was ‘500 days: Looking back, looking forward, and celebrating working together’.  

The summit gave attendees the opportunity to both hear about what has happened so far and to contribute to what happens next. The group reflected on the changes and developments made, the challenges set, and what is still to be done as part of the North East London Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Collaborative.   

Stories shared focused on improvement work from the past 500 days, all aiming to improve outcomes, experiences, quality, value and equity for people with, or at risk of, mental health problems and/or learning disability and autism.   

Nadia Ahmed, NELFT Patient Experience, Academy and Co-production Lead, said:  

“ It’s really important to hear how we’ve grown in the past 500 days. We want to make sure that we have a plan for 500 days more, so that we continue to put coproduction, and all things lived and living experience front and centre of everything we do at NELFT.”  

Robert Hunter-Richards, People Participation Lead for ELFT, said:  
 
"The projects that have come out of the 500 days are about improving the experience of using mental health care for service users, carers and staff. This involves all of us."  
 

Clare Burns, Executive Director for Partnerships at NELFT, said:   

“I’m really excited to be at the Summit today because it’s a chance to hear directly from our service users and involvement reps about what really matters to them and how we can make a difference in their lives.”  

If you couldn’t join in person, there is an online event on Monday 7 April. Book your place here: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=slTDN7CF9UeyIge0jXdO40aB2EFzVGFHqjG5jxKJTE5URUlMOVBZNEpUMzU1M0dCNVVFMTQwUFc1Ni4u&route=shorturl