The Care Trust will be holding a series of lunchtime seminars to discuss the death of David ‘Rocky’ Bennett, a patient who died whilst under the care of Norwich Mental Health Trust. The Inquiry into his death called for radical policy change in a number of key areas in mental health service delivery to Black Communities. Further details will be printed in next month’s Camden Bugle, but if you are interested in finding out more you can contact Robert Jones. SERVICE USER CONSULTATIVE FORUM This is an open event where service users are able to meet with Senior Managers and Directors of the Care Trust to discuss issues of concern. The Forum meets from 1.00 – 4.00 pm in The Groves Lounge, South Wing, St Pancras Hospital on: Friday, 26th March Friday, 28th May Friday, 30th July The Consultative Forum is open to all service users. Rooms have disabled access and BSL signers are in attendance LAUNCH of a NEW SERVICE The Care Trust is proud to announce the formal launch of the Early Intervention Service. The launch will be held from 9.00 am – 5.00 pm on Monday, 29th March, at The Royal Institute of Great Britain, Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BF (nearest tube station is Green Park). To confirm attendance at the launch you are invited to ring the Early Intervention Team on 020-7530-5254 NEW DEVELOPMENTS Sports Buddy Scheme The Service User Resource Team at the Care Trust is working with another organization to establish a ‘sports buddy scheme’ the aim of the scheme is to help reduce the isolation, loneliness, and very often the lack of motivation that people experience as a result of mental ill-health or as a consequence of the medication that people are prescribed. The Sports Buddy Scheme will bring together service users and volunteers who then engage in a physical activity that has been agreed by the service user, i.e walking, tennis, swimming etc. If you are interested in finding out more or helping to set up this scheme then please contact Robert Jones. TRAINING & CONFERENCES The Care Trust is increasingly using this column to provide information on the many conferences that come to our attention. The policy adopted by the Service User Resource Team at the Care Trust is that if any member of the team is asked to take part in a conference, they will do so on the basis that the conference provides a number of free places to Service Users and Carers. The organisers have agreed to do this for the following conferences: Tackling Inequalities In Mental Health Improving access, promoting Inclusion (27th April) to be held at the Inmarsat Conference Centre, London, EC1 For more information contact Robert Jones. Developing the Mental Health Workforce Key issues in Recruitment, Retention and Training (2nd June) to be held at the RCOG Conference Centre, London, NW1 For more information contact Robert Jones. Crisis Resolution (25th May) – Liverpool “Crisis resolution and home treatment services make good sense. Service Users and Carers evaluate them highly and there are many successful working models in the UK already. However, many questions remain about these approaches”. This conference will discuss these issues. For more information contact the Sainsbury Centre on 020-7403-9482 Social Care Institute for Excellence is holding a seminar Participatory Research on Poverty on Thursday 22nd April the seminar is free and travel expenses to service users and Carers will be reimbursed. The closing date is 8th April. For further details contact Mavis Taylor on 020-7089-6855
WELCOME CMHC would like to welcome Ajibola Awogboro to his new post of Commissioning Manager for Mental Health Services within Camden Social Services and Camden Primary Care Trust. Ajibola previously worked in Hackney. We look forward to working with him. CMHC welcomes too the addition of Joan Greaves to the Best Value Review Team. She has moved form her temporary position as Commissioning Manager for Mental Health to another temporary post managing the Best Value Review. The process is already showing the benefits of having this enhanced input. Joan will be in post until the completion of the Best Value Review which is expected to be September 2004. CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations go to all those who recently completed the signing course arranged by Camden Mental Health and Social Care Trust and taught by David Hayes who is a member of the Camden Borough User Group. David has worked hard to put the needs of hearing-impaired service users on the mainstream agenda and this is another milestone along that route for a particularly marginalised group. Congratulations too to St James’s House, Camden’s very successful employment service for users of the mental health services which celebrates its Fifteenth Anniversary this month. There is a joint celebration because it is also the Fifth Anniversary of Jobs in Mind, which is now based at St James’s House. To mark the event they are launching their Active Choices project. SERVICE USER CONSULTATION The Camden & Islington Partnership will be holding a Service User Consultation Event at the London Irish Centre from 1.00 – 3.00 pm on Thursday, 22 April (lunch provided) to review the work carried out over the Mental Health ‘Fortnight Focus’ last year and to plan for this year’s events and the 10th Camden & Islington Mental Health Day Fair on Thursday, 7th October. All interested service-users are invited to attend. CMHC DISCO/PARTY CMHC will be holding a Spring Party/Disco at The London Irish Centre, 52 Camden Square from 8.00 pm until late on Friday, 2nd April. There will be free sandwiches and soft drinks and a Pay Bar. Hugh Sturrock will be providing the music and some spot prizes of Sainsbury vouchers. FUTURE EVENTS The Barbecue was such a success last year that CMHC has decided to do it again and it will be held on Friday, 6th August in the Courtyard at St Pancras Hospital. This site has been chosen to provide an opportunity for patients in the wards and other facilities on the St Pancras site to attend. Last year it was really good to see the inclusion of so many people who normally get left out of events like this one. The CMHC Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday, 21st September in The Sir William Wells Atrium at The Royal Free Hospital. This year we will be reducing the cost of publishing around this event by only sending out copies of the Annual Report and Annual Accounts to people who request them rather than, as in the past, to all Members and Associate Members. There will, of course, be copies of all the documents available at the AGM and they will eventually appear on the CMHC website. We also hope to have some clear plan for the future of CMHC and CBUG for discussion. It may be that we will have a special meeting to discuss these thoughts, ideas and proposals. The Annual Service Users’ Conference will be held on Wednesday, 24th November at Hampstead Town Hall. We are still seeking a subject for this event and if anyone has any ideas then they should contact CMHC. There will be a Pre-Christmas Party/Disco at the end of November and the usual CMHC Christmas Meeting/Party on Friday, 10 December. This fills the year in the usual manner, but we are keen to look at other possibilities and suggestions of what we might do and anyone is welcome to contribute ideas. THE CAMDEN BUGLE The Camden Bugle has been published for more than six years. We are always happy to consider changes of format and would be interested to hear from service users about what they would like to see in their newsletter.
Dr Sushrut Jadhav is a consultant psychiatrist at the Mornington Unit at St Pancras Hospital. His primary interest is anthropology and he came along to the February meeting to talk about a study that he had carried out at an un-named town in the Midlands where most of the doctors originated from India and where most of their patients were white, working class. The findings were fascinating and have yet to be published. As is often the case with Dr Jadhav’s work there is likely to be some controversy about what he discovered. March will be a new development in the SCUF when Colin Plant who is Camden’s Director of Mental Health Services will come along to answer questions. This will be an opportunity for those who use the Camden services to interrogate (in a friendly way) the man who is responsible for them. Colin will attempt to deal with the questions put to him but will not be able to respond to questions which are in the form of a complaint which should go through another channel. If you have any questions or would like any advice then you should contact CMHC. In April, CMHC Member and Councillor Penny Abraham will be coming to talk about her work and experiences as Camden’s Executive Member for Health and Social Services. NORTH CAMDEN USER FORUM (NCUF) Since it came into existence, the PALS service at the Care Trust has been keen to report to service users and to hear their comments. The March NCUF brought the PALS (Patient Advice & Liaison Service) team. They talked about the work that they do and how it continues to grow and some of their successes and their failures. The intention of the PALS service is to obtain a swift solution at local level where that is possible and it seems that they manage this very well and with a high satisfaction rate. Although not independent – PALS officers are employed by the NHS Trust’s – the service has changed the face of complaints and seems very effective in working with patients, carers and staff to resolve many difficulties. The link between mental ill-health and housing is clear and recognised and much research and work has been done around it. The North Camden User Forum on Tuesday, 6th April, will bring John Anderson from Camden’s Housing Department to talk about the assistance that people can obtain through the Tenancy Support and other services and how this is working with Community Mental Health Teams.
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 CIPF and several of our members recently provided evidence to the Camden Suicide Prevention Scrutiny Panel, which is examining the potential impact of the Primary Care Trust’s uicide prevention strategy and action plan. The scrutiny panel is taking evidence from a wide range of individuals and organizations across all sectors. One of the key aims of the panel’s work is to look at how the various statutory and voluntary agencies should work together to implement the action plan. At the recent meeting of the Camden Primary Care Mental Health Strategy Group, Councillor John Bryant commented on some of the preliminary findings of the scrutiny review. Indications were that the voluntary sector could provide an investment in time that might be more difficult for the statutory sector. On average, the Samaritans provide telephone support of up to forty-five minutes. Maytree Respite Centre provides up to three and a half hours direct one-to-one support. The first week or so after discharge is seen as a time of heightened risk of suicide. Therefore a smooth link between service provision across the sectors is crucial. Martin Elman made the point that links with keyworkers could be improved. He said often the onus is on the service user to make contact with services. The current Best Value Reviews of day services in Camden and Islington provide an opportunity for examining protocols for follow-up to discharge. The draft baseline report for Camden’s mental health services Best Value Review was published in March. This review is expected to finish by the first week of July. At the March meeting of the Day Provision Steering Group, it was recommended that a standard set of questions be devised to present to each day service. These would look at the use of service space, opening hours, the range of activities on offer and access. It is important that the review operates from a level playing field when assessing the Borough’s services. Unfortunately there still seems to be considerable uncertainty among several of our members as to what exactly will be the financial contribution from Camden Social Services to their services in the new financial year. With only a couple of weeks to go until the new financial year this is causing disruption to organisations planning cycles.
The Camden Borough User Group (CBUG) provides an opportunity for service users to become actively involved in shaping, monitoring and evaluating mental health services in Camden. It provides its members with training, support and some reward for the tasks that they undertake. It is currently monitoring the Mind in Camden Patients’ Advocacy Project at The Royal Free Hospital and the North Camden Crisis Response and Resolution Service, and collecting user’s views for the Best Value Review of Camden’s Mental Health Day Provision. The Group is currently below its strength of twelve members and is actively recruiting. If you would like to become involved in some of these interesting, important and valuable projects, please contact Camden Mental Health Consortium. SUPPORT FROM ANOTHER QUARTER The Camden Crisis House is a project which is very close to the heart of CMHC. The Camden Crisis House Report in 2001 was not only a very good piece of work in itself, but it laid the foundation for CBUG. For us, the great tragedy is that Camden is still waiting for the Crisis House which everyone seems to agree that it needs and which all the local partners agree is a necessary to complete the crisis provision. It is interesting therefore to see that Camden’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee which is currently looking at Camden’s suicides has taken an interest in this matter and as part of its work has taken evidence from and is intending to visit other Crisis Houses. We welcome this and hope that it put combined with the Local Implementation Team for the National Service Framework will put further enthusiasm into the search for a Camden Crisis House so that the wait will soon be over.
|
