October 2022

From the Chief Executive

As we enter the new season of Autumn, it’s an opportunity to reflect on the last few months and some highlights of summer.

In September, we mourned the death of Her Majesty the Queen and one of her quotes echoes more clearly than ever: "We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it's easy to forget to pause and take stock."

There’s lots to celebrate within the Trust, with staff performing tremendously across a number of prestigious awards, picking up award wins and being shortlisted for others.

Developing staff remains a top priority and I was pleased to learn that three of our nurse apprentices have passed their degree training, registering as nurses and joining our growing number of highly qualified employees.

We've also continued to see improvements in the workforce culture, with reports showing evidence of increases in BAME representation throughout our organisation as reported in the recent Workforce Race Equality Standards data.

You may have heard or seen West London NHS Trust in the news too. We welcomed Sky News and MyLondon to take a closer look at our services, read more below.

I hope you enjoy reading this month's stakeholder newsletter and continue to support us as we look ahead to the winter. The increasing cost of living crisis will undoubtedly present many challenges for patients and staff alike. There are staff initiatives to address this and as always we're here to listen and to help.

Carolyn Regan

Chief Executive

Trust marks World Suicide Prevention Day

To mark World Suicide Prevention Day (Saturday 10 September), the Trust published a blog from one of its nurses about the impact of losing a patient to suicide.

Lilian Hove, who works as a practice development nurse for the Trust, explained the tragic toll a patient's death has on both staff and other patients. You can read Lilian's blog post here. 

The Trust also invited Lucy Williamson, the health correspondent from MyLondon, to visit its mental health single point of access (SPA).

Congratulations to our nurse degree apprentices

The Trust is pleased to announce that three of its nurse apprentices have passed their degree training and registered as nurses.

The group is the latest cohort from the Trust to become registered nurses and join our growing workforce with many more due to qualify later this year.

The newly qualified nurses have shared their thanks and plans for the future, which you can read here.

Sky News crew visit CAMHS to speak about eating disorders

Sky News visited the Trust in August to interview three people about the pressure mental health services are under.

They were specifically asked about whether social media is a factor for young people to look a certain way and how this can lead to increases in health issues such as eating disorders.

West London NHS Trust has seen a 140% increase in referrals to eating disorder services since 2019, with the impact of the pandemic being one of the many factors. Read more about the visit and watch the news report here.

Equality reports show progress in supporting BAME and disabled staff

The NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and NHS Workforce Disabled Equality Standard (WDES) reports were published last month.

The reports show how the organisation has made significant improvements in supporting BAME staff with greater representation across the Trust. Read more here.

Trust in the running for prestigious awards

Well done to one of our occupational therapists Laura Johnson, who won the Royal College of Occupational Therapists' Early Researcher Prize.

Patients and staff at St Bernard's Hospital also recently scooped several Koestler Awards.

The Trust's Practice Development Team was shortlisted for three health care sector awards and our CAMHS team has been shortlisted for a HSJ Workforce Initiative Award!

National Guardian for Freedom to Speak Up visit

In August, the Trust was visited by Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark, the National Guardian for Freedom to Speak Up in the NHS.

Dr Chidgey-Clark attended Clayponds Hospital in Ealing, where she met with senior leadership from the Trust and received an update about the progress of its Freedom to Speak Up programme.

The programme asks staff to 'speak up' about anything that prevents them doing their job, for example, bullying or harassment. You can read more about the visit here.

International Youth Day - highlighting Speak CAMHS

The Trust marked International Youth Day (August 12) by shining a spotlight on one of its services shaped by young people in West London.

Speak CAMHS is a specialist helpline, which is available to young people and anyone with any concerns they have regarding the mental health of children and young people aged under 18, who live in Ealing, Hounslow, Hammersmith and Fulham.

The helpline is run by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) professionals from the Trust, who are familiar with local services and have a range of specialist knowledge.

Two new clinical directors appointed 

The Trust has appointed two new clinical directors, one in Acute Mental Health Services and the other in Older Persons' Mental Health Services.

Dr Suhana Ahmed is a consultant psychiatrist, dual-trained in Old Age and General Adult Psychiatry. She will be working as a clinical director in Older Persons' Mental Health Services.

Sonya Clinch is an experienced clinician with a background in nursing and has worked in the NHS for over 25 years. She will be working as a clinical director role in Acute Mental Health Services.

Clayponds annual gardening competition is back

After a break for two years the Trust was pleased to announce the return of the Clayponds Hospital gardening competition.

Staff from the hospital have been busy over the last few months preparing the gardens, planting, watering, weeding and feeding and the results bloom for themselves.

The various gardens across the hospital were assessed by a panel of four judges, who looked for creativity, collaboration and participation, cleanliness and orderliness and overall presentation.