At its last Board Meeting, Camden & Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust did away with the role of Service User Special Advisers. This was in response to the development of the new Patients’ Forums and was a move supported by CMHC. However, there is a gap. The new Forums will need to develop protocols for relating to the Care Trust, but they will not have any direct input to Board Meetings and it is not now intended that they should nominate to the Non-Executive Director position which has been held for a service user. There will be no direct service-user input at Board meetings. CMHC was never entirely comfortable with the Service User Special Adviser Roles, since they were nominees and seemed to be compromised but their duality on the Trust Board and within the service-user movement. We hope that the Trust Board will seek a creative solution which will allow the voice of its service users to be properly represented at these ultimate decision-making meetings. INCLUSION For more than three years CMHC has been working with the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Science at The Royal Free Campus of University College London on a study of the stigma of mental illness from the viewpoint of the service user. Two CMHC members have acted as Research Assistants on this project. It gives us great pleasure that the report of the first of these studies has been accepted for publication in the February 2004 issue of The British Journal of Psychiatry. Once the report has been published, we will be able to make copies available to any of our members who request them. The report of course is only one aspect of the process. We would like to see something more positive come out of it which will help to both understand and challenge the stigma which is so often a destructive part of mental ill-health. To this effect, our follow-up work developing a questionnaire to measure stigma has been completed and is shortly to be sent off for publication.
The CMHC office reopened after the Christmas break on Monday, 6th January 2004 and everything is now set for another busy year. DOUBLE ENTRY We are aware and apologise for the fact that the Mental Health Liaison Group was written up twice in the Christmas 2003 edition of The Camden Bugle. Happily, there were no contradictions between the two reports. It may have done no harm to a group where the attendance has been dropping away. FACS (Fair Access to Care Services) CHANGES CMHC is advised that in a forthcoming Camden Council vote there may well be changes in the level at which the Council sets the threshold for Care Services. In line with other councils across the country and to meet the necessary budget cuts, the threshold seems likely to be lowered. The outcome of this is likely to mean that there will be fewer day services across the Borough. We are well aware of our members’ views on this and have let it be known that we oppose any such cuts. Once the decision has been made, CMHC may have to co-ordinate some action on any new proposals. For us, it is not good enough to hear that Camden has provided more than anywhere else for a very long time. There is a high level of need and this must be properly addressed. It also has to be borne in mind that there have been substantial bed reductions over the months and these have only been sustainable because there are other services. Cuts in any of these day services are bound to increase the pressure on the fewer beds. The impact is likely to be on the voluntary sector which provides most day care. FREEDOM TO TRAVEL It’s the time for people to apply again for the Camden Freedom Pass which allows people to travel freely on the tube/bus and rail-routes in London. Current holders will automatically receive renewal forms. New applicants should contact the Accessible Transport Unit of Camden Council. We would be interested in hearing from anyone with a mental-health problem who experiences difficulty in obtaining a Freedom Pass. We are not aware that the criteria have been tightened in any way which would affect people with mental ill-health. IMPROVING NICOL WARD Nicol Ward on Level 2 at The Royal Free Hospital has been undergoing some refurbishment. As part of this, the patients and staff have created as sea-scene mural which will be in the Dining Room. This mural will be unveiled from 1.00 pm on Thursday, 5th February. CMHC members are invited to attend the unveiling and a buffet lunch. SUICIDE SCRUTINY PANEL Camden Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee is currently looking at the question of ‘Suicide’. It is an often-stated fact that Camden has the highest suicide rate in the UK and so any such enquiry is both relevant and timely. CMHC is in talks with the Committee to see how its members can have a proper input into this process.
Much of the Camden Borough User Group programme for 2004 will be centred on Camden’s Best Value Review of Mental Health Day Care and Community Mental Health Teams. CBUG will be responsible for organising the user consultation and input into this process. The original intention had been to launch the consultation in January, but because of the possible budget cuts and the need to see the BVR as separate from this, it has been agreed that the public part of the consultation should not begin until April so that it could be distinguished from the Council’s action. There will be a public launch at Hampstead Town Hall on the afternoon of Wednesday, 21st April. There are now vacancies on CBUG and anyone who is interested in joining should contact CMCH to arrange an informal chat to discuss the possibilities of becoming a member. Besides the proposed Best Value Review consultation, CBUG is involved in audits of the Mind in Camden Advocacy Service at The Royal Free Hospital and the North Camden Crisis Response and Resolution Service.
The collaboration on Research between the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at The Royal Free Campus of University College London and Camden Mental Health Consortium began three years ago. The first project of this partnership has been research into the Stigma of Mental Illness from the viewpoint of the service user. Stigma is one of those subjects on which there is a great deal written (anthropological, sociological, philosophical and theological viewpoints). Much study has gone into the stigma associated with mental illness, but little or none of it has previously looked at the stigma of mental illness from the point of view the stigmatised – those with mental ill health. This research does that. The subject is of great significance but the method is also important. To assist in the work, two service users were recruited as Research Assistants and have worked with the Research Fellow, Sokratis Dinos for the last two years. This was the topic for the November North Camden User Forum where Sokratis came along to present the results of the research work that he has now completed and which is expected to be published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in January. The research found that there was a great deal of stigma associated with mental illness and in particular with schizophrenia. Interestingly, there seemed to be some positive aspects associated with the stigma too. Stigma obviously adds to the difficulties of mental ill-health and makes it worse. The December meeting on Tuesday, 2nd December, will be in Room 20 on Level 2 at The Royal Free Hospital (near psychiatry out-patients) and will have as its topic ‘Surviving Christmas’. This is one of the few meetings in the year where we do not have a speaker but rather ask people to come along and share their own experiences and tell others how they enjoy, celebrate or simply suffer the Christmas period. We held this meeting in December last year and it proved very successful and had people sharing their experiences. We hope that lots of people will come along and that something similar will happen this year. There will also be some seasonal refreshments so that people can enter the party spirit. NCUF will be meeting again throughout the New Year. The January meeting of the North Camden User Forum is the first CMHC meeting of 2004 and will bring along Werner Valentin from CASA with a talk on ‘Double Trouble – Mental Health and Drug & Alcohol Use’. This will be the first in a full programme of NCUF for 2004.
The first meeting of 2004 for the South Camden User Forum took place in the St Pancras Conference Centre, which has become the new home for this group. It began with Oneal Thomas, one of the Service Managers from the Camden side of the Care Trust seeking people’s views on the Care Programme Approach and what the local service users experience had been. The comments that came forth tended to show that in general it was unsatisfactory and that there was little or no faith in the system. Oneal seems keen to develop this theme and to look at how this fundamental plank of the mental-health system works. Professor Roland Littlewood is an old friend of ours at SCUF. In the past, he has spoken on trans-cultural psychiatry and stigma. His topic this time was ‘Psychopathology and Creativity’ and he developed the theme that certain mental disorders and, in particular manic-depression, tend to be represented among the ranks of people who are particularly creative. There were a number of examples from the arts and sciences. Unfortunately, we had not made the necessary arrangements for Roland to show his slides and so we went into a discussion, but the meeting did not seem to lose anything because of that. It roamed over a number of topics including the selfishness which seems to go with creativity and a definition of ‘creativity’ itself. The discussion was entertaining and informative and we will be asking Roland – who holds Professorships in both Psychiatry and Anthropology – to come back again and talk on one of the many other topics on which he is an expert. February’s SCUF meeting on Tuesday, 24th February will bring another anthropologist/psychiatrist – Dr Sushrut Jahdav. Dr Jahdav currently works on the Mornington Unit at The Huntley Centre but his interests are much wider than this. His recent work within the Trust has included the development of Muslim faith awareness staff. He is also probably quite well-known for his chosen form of transport – a former London black taxi. The topic for his talk is ‘Brown Doctors : White Patients’. In March we will be doing something new. Colin Plant is the Director of Mental Health for Camden and he will be coming to the SCUF in an ‘Ask the Borough Director’ format. Colin will deal with questions about the Care Trust’s Camden mental health services. He will not be able to answer questions which form a complaint or are about individual treatment. This is a further development of the format which we began last year with our ‘Ask the CEO’ meetings as an opportunity for those who use the services the opportunity to ask questions of those who are ultimately responsible for them.
The User Advisory Group met for the last time on 19th December 2003. The Group was well attended, and a lunch/buffet was provided. As usual the Group raised a number of important issues, some of which will be brought forward for the attention of the new Implementation Group. The interviews for the Implementation Group will be held on 10th & 11th February ’04. The panel will consist of two Care Trust Staff and two Service Users. Any service user who would like to be a member of this group and feels that they would like to have support for the interview can contact me on 020-7530-2744 The first meeting of the new Consultative Forum was held on Friday 23rd January 2004 from 1.00pm to 4.00pm at the Grove’s Lounge, St Pancras Hospital. All are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be provided. Each Consultative Forum meeting will have a signer in attendance to facilitate discussions with service users who are deaf or who have a hearing impairment. Consultative Forums are open meetings that are held at St Pancras every two months where any service user can attend (you do not have to be a member of a group). Posters advertising the Forum along with a list of all the dates for the year are currently being distributed across Camden and Islington. If you would like a poster or more details about the Consultative Forum, please contact me on the number above. NEWS FROM THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR Aidan Moloney is the Co-ordinator of Camden & Islington Providers’ Forum (CIPF). In future we will be including regular monthly contributions from Aidan telling people what is happening in the voluntary sector. Aidan can be contacted by post at Camden & Islington Providers’ Forum, Legard Works, Legard Road, London, N5 1DE; by ‘phone on 020 7226 2022, and by e-mail: cipf.office@virgin.net The New Year looks as though it is starting with many issues that will impact on the voluntary sector in 2004. Certainly the agenda for our members’ General Meeting at the end of January is packed with topics that are of immediate concern to us all. A direct cause for unease for many will be the imminent cuts to the social services budgets in Camden and Islington, which were announced in the latter quarter 2003. Obviously for organisations such as ours, who are already operating with severely limited finances, any cuts will be a matter of concern. Camden’s Primary Care Mental Health Strategy and their Suicide Prevention Strategy offer exciting opportunities for all sectors to be involved in increasing levels of joint working to offer services that are responsive to the needs of our service users. Equally importantly, however, these strategies look at ways of engaging with people early and working on the issue of prevention as well as care. The consultation period for the Mental Health & Social Care Trust’s Draft Rehabilitation Strategy for Mental Health Services 2003 – 2006 has been extended to 16th February. The strategy covers rehabilitation and residential services provided by Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust, including inpatient and community rehabilitation units, residential services, the rehabilitation ward in the new Highgate Wing and the Islington Assertive Outreach Team. Several CIPF members also provide rehabilitative services and we look forward to working closely with the Trust’s rehabilitation staff in delivering these services.
Robert Jones, the Social Care & Inclusion Development Manager, provides a review of the month’s events within Camden & Islington Mental Health & Social Care Trust. Robert can be contacted at Care Trust Headquarters, 2nd floor, East Wing, St Pancras Hospital, London NW1 OPE, by telephone on 020 7445 8554 or by e-mail robert.jones@candi.nhs.uk Service User Survey 2004 – starting at the end of January In order to find out how patients view the treatment that they have been given and to help improve services, the Care Trust along with all National Health Services have to conduct a patient survey. For the survey, 850 people between the ages of 16 – 64 who are on the Care Trusts Programme Approach (CPA) register and who have been in contact with mental health services within the previous three months are randomly selected and sent a questionnaire. If you receive the questionnaire, please help the Care Trust to improve services, by filling it in and sending it back. If you require help with the questionnaire, you can contact Robert Jones on the above number. Calling all Black and Ethnic Minority Service Users from Camden & Islington Are you interested in joining a Black and Ethnic minority mental health service user group? If yes, then please contact Robert Jones on the above number and you can be a part of this new and exciting development. Carers Event Are you a carer? Are you providing support to a relative, child, partner or friend who has mental health difficulties? If so why not come along to “Celebrating Your Role” - a Carers Event at the Irish Centre, Camden on Tuesday 3rd February, 3pm – 7pm. The line up includes; drumming and Singing with a performance by South African music sensation Pinisie Saul. There will be free massages as well as a number of stalls from carer organisations across Camden and Islington. This is a free event where you can also get your care needs assessed; all mental health carers are welcome to attend. Are you interested in Research? North Central London Research Consortium is holding their stakeholders meeting on the 23rd February at the Conference Centre, here at St Pancras Hospital. This meeting provides an opportunity to influence the priorities for the research that this consortium supports. Although attendance is free, it is helpful to let them know that you are planning to attend; contact Mimi Vesterleund on 020-7445-8505 Mental Health & Housing Do you have a story to tell about housing issues in Camden or Islington? Your story could be as a result of harassment from neighbours, you not being adequately housed. Your house may have been taken over by drug dealers or you could talk about your experiences of housing officers. Whatever your story, the Care Trust would like to hear about it. Please contact Robert Jones on the above number. New Mental Health Centre Following extensive works the Highgate Mental Health Centre is scheduled to open in April 2004. This has been the largest capital project for the Care Trust. The aim was to create a new, modern environment for providing progressive mental health care that recognises the dignity, individuality and privacy of service users whilst recognising the need for a safe and functional environment. The new hospital will provide single bedroom accommodation with en suite facilities as standard; with the design taking into account the needs of people with disabilities. Each ward has its own dining room with servery to enable meals to be plated and served to order on the wards. There is also provision for service users to make their own beverages and snacks. The hospital has landscaped gardens and internal courtyards providing safe access to garden space for service users as well as dedicated gardens for elderly service users. This new hospital will enable the closure of the Waterlow Unit, Noel Harris ward at St Luke’s hospital and North wing at St Pancras. The logistics of organising the move from the old to the new will be complex, demanding and fairly protracted. This will require the support and commitment of staff and inevitably also the understanding and co-operation of service users. More information will be given as the opening date gets nearer.
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