CWP leads the way with healthcare Best Practice

OVER 200 people joined local NHS Trust CWP for its 7th Annual Best Practice showcase event at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton. Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust's (CWP) Best Practice event is a celebration of some of the most exciting and innovative work achieved by its staff over the past year to ensure the best possible care for people accessing services.

40 teams from across CWP showcased their achievements, including:-

► Wirral Primary Mental Health Team who have developed a mental health Accelerator Schools project to help foster best practice around mental health in local Schools.

► The Neston and Willaston Care Community Team collaborate with the 3rd sector to improve quality of life. The team wanted to reduce the amount of possible Hospital admissions by working collaboratively with other services to enhance patient care and improve understanding of what support is available.

► Wirral Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) centralised Neurodevelopmental Clinic developed a centralised Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Monitoring Clinic. The team has been able to develop Nurse led Clinics, standardise the process of ADHD monitoring and has increased capacity in the CAMHS partnership teams to work with young people and their mental health issues.

The event was launched with a speech by young person, Kirsty Robinson, who talked about her journey, the challenges she's faced and the support she's received from our Wirral Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Kirsty said:- "Since I received support and guidance from CAMHS my life has changed in so many positive ways, I was able to finish my Alevels achieving A star and 2 A's, I moved to my own flat and gained a place at Huddersfield University to study mental health nursing. My aim once I graduate will be to work within CAMHS to help other young people with mental health difficulties. I remember being in a place where I didn't think things would get better and the staff at CAMHS would remind me there's light at the end of the tunnel. If it wasn't for CAMHS I wouldn't be where I am today and for that I am eternally grateful."

Kirsty was followed by keynote speaker Juliette Burton, mental health advocate, comedian and writer. Juliette, who lives with ill mental health, said:- "I was sectioned under the mental health act when I was 17; I spent my 18th Birthday in Hospital. The NHS saved my life, so I was so overjoyed to be able to speak here today. I believe passionately that comedy is a way of finding light in the darkness, breaking down barriers and increasing understanding. If we're laughing together we feel less alone and it has been an honour to do that today with some fantastic people."

The day also saw the launch of CWP's nationally recognised Big Book of Best Practice 2019/20; a collection of case studies demonstrating some of the Trust's leading clinical practice over the last year.

Chief Executive, Sheena Cumiskey said:- "The Big Book is an extremely important innovation, with many examples of gold standard clinical practice within the fields of mental health, physical health and learning disability services. Much more than just simply recognition of achievement, the book is a way for us to share these successes not just across our footprint of Cheshire and Wirral, but also with colleagues across the wider NHS and beyond. Our Big Book of Best Practice encourages us all to break down organisational and geographical barriers and embrace a meaningful, universal culture of learning."

To read CWP's Big Book of Best Practice visit:- CWP.NHS.UK.

Taking mental health care to the next level

SUPPORTING patients living with mental health problems and/or dementia, North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) has officially launched its new Mental Health and Dementia Strategic Plan (2019 to 2022). Put in place as part of the trust's aim is to be the best Ambulance service in the country by delivering the right care, at the right time, in the right place; every time; the plan supersedes NWAS' previous Mental Health Improvement Plan (2017 to 2022). It details 17 recommendations, including a range of actions for each of these recommendations, which collectively aim to shape and transform mental health and dementia care within the trust over the next 3 years.

The plan is reflective of the relevant mental health and dementia related aspirations detailed within the 5 Year Forward Plan for Mental Health (2016), the NHS Long Term Plan (2019) and the Prime Ministers Challenge for Dementia (2015). The recommendations and associated actions are based on extensive scoping and appraisal of care provision between January and July 2019 including feedback from staff, patients and partners within mental health across the North West Region.

1 example of the 17 recommendations is to review and learn from the mental health triage car pilots currently taking place within the Merseyside and Lancashire areas, and agree a trust wide plan for the future.  The current pilot operating in Lancashire is called Psynergy and was launched December 2018, within:- Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre, and involves a paramedic, a senior mental health Nurse from Lancashire Care and a Police Officer coming together as a crew in a vehicle to jointly respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis. The aim is to provide appropriate triage, offer the right care and advice, improve patient experience and avoid unnecessary Hospital admissions.

The pilot has already proven to improve outcomes for appropriate patients, and results in better use of Ambulance resources and multi-agency working, ultimately leading to financial benefit to the wider NHS. In year 1 of this particular recommendation, the trust will undertake a detailed and comprehensive review of the 2 pilots and work collaboratively with partners and commissioners to secure funding streams to widen this excellent service. Gill Drummond, Mental Health and Dementia Lead for NWAS said:- "The work regarding mental health and dementia care already being undertaken by the trust is fantastic, but there is so much more we can do to. The number of related:- 999 calls is increasing significantly, which is why 1 of the trust's key priority areas is to improve care in this area, and why we have developed a plan to take this forward."