Trustwide - South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS ...

TrusTwide
Spring Winter 2006 2010
Staff engagement strategy
Keeping you
informed
The Communications
and HR teams are
developing new ways
for staff at all levels
to communicate ideas and
information.
A series of lunchtime events
are now complete and the
results are in from the staff
engagement survey. About
0 per cent of Trust staff
answered the questionnaire,
with a good mix of responses
from all sites and from both
clinical and support roles.
You can see the results by
clicking through from the
‘Staff engagement’ link on
the home page of Quick.
In this issue
The Trust’s
new phone
number
Page 3
The hidden
heritage of
Springfield
Page 4
Keeping it
clean with
PEAT
Page 8
The Communications team interviewed
hundreds of staff over the summer and
autumn to find out what they really thought
about the way information is passed on. The
survey also asked people how they thought
their working lives could be improved.
Many people have aready
agreed to be involved in
more in-depth focus groups,
which are now taking place,
and new projects being
looked at include a ‘Staff
Ideas’ scheme to increase
contact between all levels of
the Trust and improve local
and national services.
You can still pass on your
thoughts and ideas or ask for
further information.
Just contact Stephen
McCulloch in
Communications at stephen.
mcculloch@swlstg-tr.nhs.uk.
How we
plan for
emergencies
Page 0
New restaurant for Springfield 2
Staff on the front line of recovery 6
The latest on smoking cessation 9
The associate hospital managers
0
Turn to page 6 to read about recovery in action

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
Judy Wilson
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
The Trust doesn’t need to
wait for the new year to
make resolutions: we’re
committed to reviewing
and improving what we do
on a continual basis and
we’ve already set ourselves
ambitious targets for the
future.
However, the end of the
calendar year does bring
with it a sense of reflection
and a new focus on future
possibilities.
I’m immensely proud of the improvements in the Trust
over the past 2 months. Some of these have already
been reflected in our feedback, formal and informal.
The recent results from the 200 national survey of
people who use community mental health services
show we’re in the top 20 per cent of trusts for talking
therapies, providing a relevant service that people
found to be beneficial. We’ve also improved in several
areas around care reviews and medications since the
survey results two years ago.
But there’s no room for complacency. We must
continue to work for further improvement, particularly
in areas where we did less well. These included the
number of people feeling their views were taken into
account and the numbers who felt that they were
treated with dignity and respect. These are absolutely
fundamental matters which we have to get right.
Hungry? Here’s a
new place to eat
Just a few months from now staff, service users,
carers and visitors to Springfield Hospital will be
eating and drinking at a brand new restaurant.
Run by OCS, the company that does the catering
at the existing ‘canteen’, the cafe will offer hot snacks,
baguettes, wraps, healthy options, good coffee and also
a proper hot meal.
“Service will be much more like a high street coffee
shop,” Director of Facilities Rex Cassidy explained. “It
fits in with all the regeneration plans for Springfield
and will be a more modern facility,”
The new restaurant will be located in the Wandsworth
Recovery Centre, which opened last year, inside an
empty shop unit at the side of the car park. There will
be space for 60 seats inside and a few tables outside.
Access will be from within the recovery centre and also
from the side road between the centre and the old
Orchids Wing (now fenced off). Disabled customers will
be able to get there using a new lift.
The planning application went to Wandsworth Council
this autumn and the aim is to open for business by the
end of the 200/ financial year. Design, construction
and fitting-out should only take 2 weeks.
The new restaurant will replace the green-painted
canteen that’s served Springfield for many years.
There aren’t any final agreed plans for the future of
the old building, but it could potentially be reused for
conferences and meeting rooms.
We know our staff are our best asset and we must
also ensure that you are listened to and treated with
dignity and respect. We’ve been working on the staff
engagement strategy, which includes surveying people
about their views and holding focus groups to gain
a more detailed insight. Look out for new feedback
mechanisms and a staff ideas scheme which will launch
in the New Year.
Our organisation, like the rest of the public sector, will
have to play its part in reducing the country’s financial
deficit. We expect the next few years – particularly
20/2 – to be financially challenging and we’ll need
to look at new ways of working that improve efficiency
and reduce costs. As the primary care trusts cease to
exist and commissioning is undertaken by GPs, this
will add further challenges and changes to our patient
pathways and finances.
At the same time we continue to move towards
foundation trust status, which will provide staff, carers
and service users with new ways to contribute to
Trust governance. It will also bring deeper community
engagement as we build on our strong links with local
groups and individuals.
Concept drawings showing what the inside of the new
Springfield restaurant could look like
2

Trustwide Winter 200
How will it work?
Dialling the Trust’s new central
number, 020 3513 5000, will
connect you with a switchboard
operator who will put you through
to the service you want.
Individual staff members and
departments will still have their
own numbers, but they will all
start with 020 353 instead of say
020 8682, 020 8772 or 020 8296.
MAGIC NuMBEr
From now on, callers to the Trust will
only have to remember a single phone
number. IM&T Project Manager Fazila
Suleman explains the new system
By the time you read this,
the two-week rollout of the
Trust’s new phone number
should be well underway.
Once it’s complete there will be a
single number, 020 3513 5000,
which outside callers can use to
contact services across our sites. All
teams on Trust-owned sites and some
on sites not owned by the Trust will
be given a new direct number.
It’s the culmination of a year-long
project aimed at simplifying the
phone system for service users and
anyone else trying to contact the
Trust. Until now we’ve had no unified
numbering system and no single
number. Instead there were several
different systems, four separate
switchboards and multiple individual
phone lines to smaller sites.
That created a situation that was
difficult to manage and difficult for
outside callers to deal with. Now,
though, we’ll be able to provide a
consistent experience for people
contacting us and using our services.
The new single number offers
other benefits, too. It improves
communication, particularly for
staff working on satellite sites. It
frees up switchboard operators’
time and allows them to deal with
more complex enquiries. It improves
customer satisfaction. It allows staff
the flexibility to give out their direct
number to clients where appropriate.
And it also helps everybody working
at the Trust, no matter where they’re
located, feel part of one single
organisation.
Aside from the technical work
involved in building a single phone
infrastructure, the project team – led
by Assistant Director of Facilities Paul
Lewis, internal technical adviser Tony
Clack and Project Manager Fazila
Suleman – put a major effort into
capturing and validating all the 6,000
numbers and extensions in use at
every Trust location.
All teams, wards and departments
were recently asked to record their
As far as possible teams will get
exactly the same extension number
(the last four digits) that they
currently have. So for example the
Head of Communications will now
be on 020 353 6477 instead of the
old 020 8682 6477. New extensions
at Springfield and Tolworth will
definitely be matched up to the
old ones. Smaller sites might get
different extension numbers.
There will be a three-month
period, lasting until March 20,
when the new and old numbers
will operate in parallel. Callers
using an old number will be given
a message telling them the correct
new one and will be automatically
transferred. After that, for a
further three months outside
callers will get a voice message
only, asking them to please redial
the correct number.
The same goes for internal
extension numbers: the system
will recognise the old number and
automatically switch the caller to
the new extension.
numbers on an electronic form. That
allowed the project team to match
new extensions to the old ones where
possible, and to ensure that anyone
calling an old number in the first
few months would automatically be
connected to the new one.
All the new numbers will soon be
available for staff to view on Quick
and the single number will also be
advertised to the public. But teams
will have to make sure their clients
know the correct number to call and
might need to alter their stationery
and other publicity materials.
IM&T and the Communications
Department will make sure you know
what needs to be done.
3

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
Hidden Springfield
Springfield’s rich historic building fabric will be preserved largely intact
under the latest regeneration plans for the site. Here Jeff Segal looks at
some hidden gems behind those Victorian red brick walls
The Springfield Hospital site in Tooting is set for
its biggest transformation since the original
asylum opened on Surrey farmland in June 84.
But as state-of-the-art health care buildings
emerge over the coming years, the best of our great
Victorian heritage will be restored to its former glory.
At the heart of the proposals now before Wandsworth
Council lies the need to provide mental health facilities
for the 2st century – something that can’t be done
in 9th century buildings. Instead, the biggest listed
properties will be converted into housing while new
wards, clinics and offices arise elsewhere on the site.
The regeneration plans foresee big improvements to
the outside of the two main listed buildings, which have
tended to sprawl as demands have grown. Ugly 20th
century extensions will be taken down, the landscaping
opened up and key architectural features restored.
Inside the buildings, there have been major changes
over the course of the past 70 years and little original
detailing remains. The Main Building, for example, was
designed around long corridors lined with individual
rooms, and most of these have been swept away.
If the revised planning application, due to go before
committee as we went to press, is approved, a lot of the
remaining internal structure will have to be remodelled
to accommodate new bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms
and living rooms. But striking features like the Victorian
staircases inside the main entrance will be preserved
and grand spaces like the chapel, the ballroom and the
Admissions Building dining room will be enhanced and
preserved for continued community use.
If you know where to look, you can still find other
fascinating traces of our past at Springfield. Here are
some snapshots of a few of them.
A vintage movie projector behind the
stage in the old ballroom, once the
centre of social life at Springfield.
The big hall, now a children’s nursery,
hosted dances from the end of the
9th century, films and theatrical
shows. Weekly dances for patients
were already taking place by the
870s, alongside gentler recreation
such as a skittle alley for men and
a bowling green dating from 842.
Male patients also worked on
Springfield’s farm, which – together
with orchards and kitchen gardens
– supplied the hospital with food.
The cast iron spiral staircase leading
down to the old Finance Department
strongroom in the basement of the
Main Building. A hand-cranked lift
(still in place) would convey boxes
of cash down to the strongroom,
where they were secured behind a
heavy barred door. Other remnants
of Victoriana down there include
the scullery for the superintendent’s
servants and the rooms of Lupin
Ward, beneath the exercise therapy
gym. Lupin’s doors, locks, ventilation
grilles and leaded windows are still
intact, but the area’s been sealed up.
A detail from the stained glass
window in the 88 Gothic Revival
chapel behind the Main Building,
designed by C. H. Howell and built
to meet growing demand: over 400
patients regularly attended services in
the 870s. The brick arches, wooden
roof trusses, carved stone altarpiece
and organ pipes are now the
backdrop to the Mayfield Gymnastics
Club. This was one of four chapels
at Springfield: one behind the main
entrance of the Main Building, one
on the second floor and a third, the
Catholic chapel, next to High Trees.
4

Trustwide Winter 200
WHAT’S STAYING
UP
WHAT’S COMING
DOWN
©iStockphoto.com/RuthBlack
Original wrought iron railings on
the roof of the Main Building, with
a fragment of the Elizabethan-style
battlements in the background.
Taking in the view from up there,
you can understand what the Surrey
Magistrates saw in the location
when they were looking for a site
for their new asylum in the 830s.
They wanted somewhere near to
population centres, south-facing, with
clean air and good water supplies.
Springfield Park fitted the bill. In fact
the two original wells that supplied
the hospital’s water still survive.
An authentic Victorian toilet
in its original tiled setting, one
of a number of ornate features
preserved in the Admissions Building.
Springfield boasts some unusual toilet
facilities from bygone days. In the
old Lupin Ward there are WCs with a
unique brass sliding flush mechanism,
and if you look closely around the
two airing courts either side of the
Main Building you can see, set into
their brick walls, the remains of seven
hexagonal ‘privies’, or outside toilets.
These were used by the patients
taking their outdoor exercise.
Based on the latest planning
proposal, the following
historic buildings will all be
retained, along with the
newly built Phoenix Unit and the
Wandsworth Recovery Centre:
The Main Building, designed by
William Moseley as the Surrey County
Pauper Lunatic Asylum. The two rear
wings of the central asylum building
– now known as the Jubilee Building
and Orchids Wing – were added in
849. Listed Grade II and the real
centrepiece of the site, it’s all going
to be converted into flats. The two
historic ‘airing courts’, with their
walled gardens where patients could
exercise, will also stay: the female
court, opposite the Phoenix, and the
male one, now hosting the Share
Community’s gardening project.
The Admissions Building, which
began life in 895 as the Annexe for
Idiot Children and was later renamed
the Elizabeth Newton Wing. Designed
by the architect Rowland Plumbe, it’s
another Grade II listed property and
will also be turned into flats.
High Trees, constructed in 88-
882 as the Superintendent’s House
and now the home of the Deaf Family
Service. It will be converted back to
residential use.
The Chapel, built in 88 and now
operating as a privately run gym.
The Ballroom, dating from the
890s and currently housing the
Mayfield Nursery.
The Mortuary, built in the 890s
and now called Island House, the base
for Facilities Management. Like the
chapel and the ballroom. it will be
converted to flexible commercial or
community uses.
Finally, Glenburnie Road Lodge,
built in 897 and now known as the
Gatehouse. Currently used by the
hospital security service, it will be
returned to housing.
These pre-948 buildings
buildings are all scheduled
to be demolished under the
current regeneration plans:
Harewood House, opened in 930
as Springfield’s first Nurses Home and
now housing outpatient departments,
Finance, Human Resources and
Avalon Ward. Before 930 nurses
lived in the the Main Building, in the
towers and in rooms off the wards.
The ABCD Building, built in 93
as the infirmary block, with its own
operating theatre. Originally known
as the Alexander Morison building,
it now contains the pharmacy and a
number of wards.
White Lodge, built in 872 as
the original Cottage Hospital for
infectious patients, now disused.
The John Meyer Wing of 886.
Most recently the psychiatric intensive
care unit, it was shut down when the
new Ward One opened in 2009.
Hebdon Road Lodge, constructed
in 93 as doctors’ accommodation.
The two detached buildings are now
known as Corner House, a care centre
for deaf children.
The Old Laundry Block, built
in 895 and currently used as the
conference suite.
The Old Estates Building, dating
back to the 890s, now mostly closed.
Later extensions to the Ballroom, the
Chapel and the Mortuary will also
be coming down, along with the
covered way connecting High Trees
to the Main Building and the Roman
Catholic chapel attached to it.
Most of the post-948 buildings on
the site should also eventually be
replaced by new premises. These
include the Springfield Restaurant,
the Recovery College, the Diamond
Estate (staff accommodation) and the
medium-security Shaftesbury Clinic.
5

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
recovery in action
The richmond recovery support Team
The Richmond Recovery
Support Team was formed in
October 2007, heralding the
end of building-based day
services and the start of accessing
more services in the community, write
team members debbie Harris and
Joan usaanga
usaanga.
The Trust’s recovery and social
inclusion approach formed the basis
of our ethos, with clients being
supported to engage in local services.
The team has around 200 clients at
any one time, with referrals coming
from Community Mental Health
Teams, the local Early Intervention
Service, the Assertive Outreach Team
and the Community Drug and Alcohol
Team. Service users are assessed by
an occupational therapist or nurse,
usually at Richmond Royal Hospital or
the Maddison Centre in Teddington,
and then allocated to a recovery
support worker (RSW).
The RSW uses the ‘Inclusion Web’,
a visual assessment tool that looks
at areas that service users might
wish to work on, such as education,
volunteering or increasing social and
leisure networks. With their wide
experience base, team members
constantly strive to enable individuals
to reach their full potential, and the
RSW will always work with the service
user’s goal in mind.
From left to right: Sue Cain, team administrator; Milton Chimonias, nurse; Jonathan
Beale, senior recovery support worker (RSW); Georgina Guest, occupational therapist;
Victoria Ritchie, RSW; Debbie Harris, RSW; and Hilary Crisford, RSW. Other team
members are Julia Griffiths, manager; Mabel Anane-Adjei, RSW; Joan Musakanga, RSW;
Hilary Jimenez, occupational therapist; Marta Itturoiz, RSW; and Tony Helyar, RSW
Seeing clients in the community is
key to the way we work. We might
meet individuals in coffee shops and
the groups that we operate take
place in community settings with
social facilities. The Exercise Referral
Group introduces service users to
their local fitness facilities, while the
Library Computer Group shows them
their local library and provides access
to computers and the internet. The
Buddy Scheme is a new service where
the RSW supports people to access
mainstream activities with a buddy or
befriender who has similar interests.
Other groups run by the team are
Taking Back Control and Anxiety
Management.
The team held its first awayday in
September, with team bonding
exercises and sessions on ways to
improve the service. Miles Rinaldi,
head of recovery and social inclusion,
briefed staff and service users about
peer support training.
The Inclusion Web
The team uses the Inclusion Web to chart a client’s
progress over time. It’s basically a circular diagram,
with segments like a dartboard or a spider’s web. “We
ask what they want to do in their life, set up goals and
review it at the end,” says Georgina Guest, occupational
therapist. “They might say ‘I want to go to work – that’s
my long-term goal’. Then we break it down into steps.
They might get funding for a vocational course, for
example. People can make choices and be in control.”
The web is likely to be almost empty at the start of
the process, with few contacts listed and few activities.
Some of the contacts might be doctors. But by the time
the client is discharged, the segments are almost full up
with new people, new activities and new achievements.
“That’s social inclusion,” Georgina says. “You can use it
as an outcome measure – it’s a very visual tool.”
Feedback from clients
Service users who came to the the team’s awayday were
happy to share their experiences and speak about their
recovery journeys. Here’s a selection of their comments:
●
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“With the step-by-step approach used by the
recovery support worker, you can go back and
forward at your own pace as recovery is not linear.”
“The support worker gives tips on things like
helping to use transport and using these strategies
when you’re on your own in the community.”
“Talking about recovery and hope is helpful.”
“I’m undertaking voluntary work to help me return
to employment.”
“It’s helpful meeting other people with similar
experiences.”
“I find it empowering.”
“You can be yourself and be more relaxed with
support.”
6

Trustwide Winter 200
Debbie Cleaveley from the Recovery College takes us through the steps
people can take towards gaining self-confidence and self-respect
“Recovery is like Strictly Come
Dancing; the only difference is
that we don’t vote people out”
The South West London
Recovery College has been
running for a few months
now, with excellent feedback
already being received from service
users and healthcare professionals
alike.
Debbie Cleaveley, a Recovery Trainer
at the college, takes an inspirational
view on the road to recovery:
“Recovery is like Strictly Come
Dancing; the only difference is that
we don’t vote people out. Recovery
can introduce the possibility of daring
to dream. It can show individuals the
dance steps and encourage them to
take those steps, but cannot do the
dance for them,” says Debbie.
“The panel of judges are prejudice,
fear and ignorance but they can
be proved wrong if challenged
proactively.
“At the beginning, as service
providers, we may need to be the
professional dancer, we may need
to show the steps time and time
again, we may need to provide the
possibilities of hope, opportunity and
control which are like the music and
sequins.
“We may need to be the lead or
guide at the beginning. We may need
to help people up when the steps go
wrong and they fall over.
“With time, we need to step back
and allow that person to grow
in confidence and find their own
rhythm. We need to accept that
we will not always be needed as a
dancing partner. We need to accept
The Recovery College library has proved popular since its opening. Debbie Cleaveley is at
the far right of the picture.
that everyone’s dance will be unique
and may involve music and moves
that we may not choose for ourselves.
“Not everyone will reach the
standards of performance that we’d
like but the act of learning and
growing is as positive and as fun and
fulfilling as making it to the very top.
“We are not all going to have our five
minutes of fame foxtrotting around
the Blackpool Tower ballroom but
there’s far more to our lives than that
and self-confidence, self-respect and
being satisfied and happy with our lot
are just as important.
“I’ve certainly accepted that I’m
probably more of the John Sergeant
and Ann Widdecombe school of
dancing – but hey, I’m at peace with
that.”
Find out more
The prospectus and timetable of
courses available at the South
West London Recovery College
can be downloaded from the
new Recovery College service
page on Quick. You can find it
under ‘Hot topics’ on the home
page.
If you’d like to attend any of
the workshops, seminars and
courses, complete the form
to register your interest and
return it to the Recovery College
via email at recoverycollege@
swlstg-tr.nhs.uk.
Alternatively call 020 8682 588
for a registration form.
7

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
Keep it clean, for PEAT’s sake!
Ros Yu looks at how PEAT inspections can improve the ward environment
PEAT (Patient
Environment
Action Team)
assessments offer
huge benefits to our
patients and our ward
teams, according to Rex
Cassidy, The Trust’s director
of facilities and patient
environment.
Rex and his team are so
convinced of the value of
PEAT that they’ve launched
a ‘ward of the month’
competition for the ward
which has done the most
to improve the patient
environment. Look out for
this month’s winner in the
Weekly Briefing.
In fact wards may well find
that assessment results
and reports, which look
at things like cleanliness,
accessibility and food, can
help them get the money
and support they need to
make improvements.
Rex says: “Wards should
view the process as an
opportunity to look at the
ward environment and
identify what is needed.
After all, PEAT assessments
are self-assessments and
can be validated by an
external body at any time.“
The formal annual
assessments contribute
to the Trust’s overall
performance rating.
But just as importantly,
PEAT inspections are a way
of looking at the ward
environment through the
service user’s eyes.
As well as stimulating us
to make improvements,
they help us think about
and understand the
patient experience. PEAT
inspections for mental
health units in particular
are expected to seek service
users’ views.
PEAT assessments can help
staff in a number of ways.
Everyone can see where
major redecoration or
repairs are needed but it
is often in the small things
that assessments can help.
Small maintenance issues
may go unreported or
cleaning problems may not
be resolved because they
haven’t been brought to
the attention of the cleaner
or their supervisor.
But it is these things
that can make a huge
difference to the overall
patient experience. Bins,
for instance, are often
highlighted by PEAT
assessments because they
are rusty, old and need
replacing. Handwritten
signs often need to be
replaced with printed
laminated signs. Menus are
often not displayed.
Phoenix Ward at
Springfield, for instance,
had a poor PEAT score last
time it was assessed and
had particular problems
with things like cleaning.
The issues were minor but
had been worrying ward
staff for some time. The
assessment meant they
got the help and money
they needed to resolve the
issues quickly.
Phoenix ward manager
Ricky Dalton said: “I think
PEAT assessments are
a great way of raising
standards of things like
cleaning. The assessment
meant we got the help we
needed and we were able
to sort things out quickly.
Sometimes you don’t
always know who to go to
or how to raise issues.”
OCS domestic Nan Ama Dwomo at work in the recently
refurbished Jupiter Ward. Thorough cleaning is vital to maintain
hygiene standards.
What are PEAT assessments?
PEAT is a form of self-assessment – run up until now by
the National Patient Safety Agency – that is carried out
once a year in all inpatient healthcare sites in England
with more than 0 beds.
At this Trust we also carry out internal assessments
every three months to make sure we’re progressing
with improvements. In these mini-PEAT ward
assessments services users, clinical managers and the
Facilities Department team join forces.
Every year wards are inspected for standards in food,
cleanliness, infection control and patient environment
(including bathroom areas, décor, lighting, floors
and patient areas). The aim is to highlight areas for
improvement and share best practice across the NHS.
Standards of privacy and dignity, environment and
food within are scored from (unacceptable) to 5
(excellent). These scores are published each year.
Each inspection is run by a team of assessors including
nurses, matrons, doctors, catering and domestic service
managers, executive and non-executive directors,
dieticians and estate directors. They also include
patients, patient representatives and members of the
public.
8

Trustwide Winter 200
30 seconds to save a life
Angharad A Rudkin and Michelle Devitt round up the latest developments on smoking cessation
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The headlines
Smoking is a major
determinant of health
inequality for those with
mental illness.
70 per cent of people on a
mental health unit smoke, 50
per cent heavily.
People with mental illness
have previously been less likely
to receive smoking cessation
interventions in primary care.
With an accessible smoking
cessation service offering the
appropriate support, those
with mental illness are able to
stop smoking.
Combination nicotine
replacement therapy improves
cessation rates.
Kingston & Richmond
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What service users say
“They said I couldn’t do it, but
I did it with help, support and
understanding.”
“It makes it easier to talk to
someone who understands
my mental illness and my
smoking.”
“I never knew I had the
strength.”
“I feel like a new person, if
I can stop smoking I can do
anything.”
What staff need to do
The smoking status for all Trust
service users must be recorded.
This data will be captured using
a new smoking cessation form
which has been designed and
successfully implemented by Liam
Ford in the IM&T Department.
Brief Interventions need to be
carried out by Level smoking
cessation-trained staff with all
service users and staff should ask
if they can refer those who smoke
to a Smoking Cessation Advisor
(SCA).
Why the latest push?
Smoking Cessation is part of the
CQUIN (Commissioning for Quality
Innovation) payment framework,
a national framework for locally
agreed quality improvement
schemes.
It makes a proportion of provider
income (funding) conditional on
the achievement of ambitious
quality improvement goals and
innovations agreed between
Commissioner and Provider, with
active clinical engagement.
The CQUIN framework is intended
to encourage a culture of
continuous quality improvement
in all providers. Glynn Dodd,
Director of Service Development
and Performance, said: “This
is our opportunity to start
considering the physical health
of our service users. We have the
chance to make a positive longterm
difference to their health
and wellbeing.”
Wandsworth
Michelle Devitt is the new SCA
for Kingston and Richmond. She’s
worked for the Trust for over
0 years, first as a nurse in Deaf
Services then part-time for the
Patient Advice and Liaison Service
(PALS), and from 2008 to 200
as an SCA with the Wandsworth
Stop Smoking Service. So far
Michelle has received over 70
referrals for service users and
trained over 200 staff in brief
intervention. ““I’m really enjoying
my new role,” Michelle says. “It’s
a great opportunity to offer a
service that previously wasn’t
there to our service users and
start to see that it’s making a
difference to their lives.”
How are we doing?
So far 7,071 service users
have had their smoking status
recorded, 62 per cent of the total.
Of those 3,017, or 43 per cent,
were recorded as smokers.
Kris Chokupermal and the
Twickenham CMHT stand out as
the star team. Together they’ve
recorded the smoking status of
100 per cent of their clients.
There were 64 smokers with the
CMHT, or 34 per cent of the total,
and 38 non-smokers.
“My team have really embraced
this,” Kris said. “It was a team
effort, all working together to
record their clients. Everyone does
their bit.”
Bob Joseph is Wandsworth’s new
SCA. He joined the Trust in 998,
working as a CPN before moving
to the Agenda for Change project.
He returned to a clinical setting
in 2006, in the Early Intervention
Service, before taking on his new
job earlier this year. With his
experience in project work and in
working with service users, Bob
says the match was perfect.
9

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
Thinking
Gary Hunt
explains how the
Trust plans to
keep going in the
event of a major
incident
Meet the
associate hospital managers
Associate Hospital
Managers
(AHMs) play a
vital role at the
Trust, reviewing appeals
from patients detained
compulsorily under the
Mental Health Act and
making sure they’re getting
the most suitable care,
Stephen cCulloch writes.
Appeals take place at
formal hearings where
the patient’s doctor,
care coordinator and
nurse give evidence to
a panel of three AHMs
and answer questions
from the patient and
their legal representative.
It’s then the job of the
AHMs to decide whether
or not to discharge the
patient. All three of them
have to agree, and if
more evidence is needed
they can call for an
adjournment.
Patients are able to appeal
as often as they like and
AHMs have a duty to
review a detention order
if it’s renewed. Each AHM
attends at least 2 hearings
a year across a broad
spectrum of conditions.
Kate Allan is the chair
of the associate hospital
managers’ committee and
has been working with
the team since 2006. With
a background in strategy
and policy development,
her personal experience
of weighing up a case and
sifting through information
has proved useful.
“When I retired I wanted
to do something that
would be making a social
contribution. Becoming an
associate hospital manager
appealed to me because
each case is different, and
each time an important
decision is made about a
person’s life,” Kate said.
“It’s a complete honour
to be involved in such
important decision-making.
The whole experience
has been a tremendous
education for me.”
Kate would like to see
a more diverse group of
AHMs than are currently in
service. As long as someone
is logical, sensitive and has
life experience they are
perfect for the role. Derek
Hirst has been an AHM for
almost 20 years and draws
on personal experience
and logic to help decisionmaking
at each hearing.
“An associate hospital
manager must be able
to listen and understand
different points of view
from a large variety of
people,” Derek said.
“It’s very important that an
associate hospital manager
is able to empathise with
each case. We don’t just
push paper, we work hard
to ensure individuals’
needs are understood
and respected so that the
correct decision is made.”
The Trust is currently
looking to expand its AHM
team. AHMs are appointed
on a voluntary basis and
a flat-rate allowance is
paid for each hearing and
meeting to cover travel
and subsistence costs. For
further information please
contact Tom Lelmezh on
020 8682 6409 or tom.
lelmezh@swlstg-tr.nhs.uk.
As a Trust we have
to be prepared
for any event
or incident that
may have a detrimental
impact on the day-to-day
running of our operations.
The kind of things we’re
talking about are fires,
floods, severe weather,
pandemics, power failures
and also the possibility of
escapes or absconds by
service users.
Given heightened security
threat levels in the UK and
the run-up to the 202
Olympics, we’ve also got
to be ready for potential
terrorist attacks in London.
We might have to deal
with direct attacks in our
area or a situation where
we have to provide help to
local acute trusts or other
organisations.
I’m the Trust’s Emergency
Planning Liaison Officer
and I’m responsible for the
review and rollout of a new
major incident plan.
Every area, every ward and
every department of the
Trust must already have a
business continuity plan.
That’s a set of guidelines
and instructions telling you
what to do in the event
of an incident and how to
ensure that we continue to
provide essential services to
our service users.
It’s the responsibility of
every member of staff to
know where the business
0

Trustwide Winter 200
the unthinkable
©iStockphoto.com/TACrafts
Secret lives
WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
The rapper
continuity plan for their
area is and to be ready to
implement it should the
need arise.
There’s also a forthcoming
programme of live
exercises, which can take
many forms. They’ll be
carried out very much on
the spur of the moment,
just like a real incident.
These exercises – simulating
events like the outbreak
of a serious disease
– are aimed at testing
our resilience, identifying
areas where we’re strong
and well prepared, and
drawing attention to areas
where we’re not so strong
to ensure we improve
our capability to respond
effectively to a major
incident.
The Trust has already
taken a number of
measures in recent months.
We’ve set up a new
Emergency Control Room
(affectionately known as
the bunker) from which
senior managers and
directors can control the
operations of the Trust and
any response to a given
incident.
And we’re utilising the
PageOne messaging
service so that we can
communicate with as many
Trust staff as possible
via the web to avoid
being dependent on our
computer network at a
time when it could be
down.
If you have any questions
about emergency and
business continuity
planning please call me,
Gary Hunt, on 020 8682
662 or email me at
gary.hunt@swlstg-tr.nhs.uk.
You might know Lorraine Chademunhu from the
Kingston Crisis and Home Treatment Team, where she’s
been a nurse practitioner since June 2007. But did you
know she’s also a rapper on the open mic circuit, where
she goes by the stage name of The Phattlady? “I’ve
been doing it for 0-5 years on and off and I really
like my music,” Lorraine says. “Some of the raps I write
are like a story.” The biggest venue she’s performed
at is the Music Bar in Brixton, where she featured in
November. “I used to doubt myself,” she says. “Now I’ve
got the attitude that I’ve got to go out and do what I’ve
got to do. On stage I feel great honesty – I feel free.” In
whatever spare time she’s got left, Lorraine also writes
poems and takes part in poetry nights. Influenced by
Lauren Hill and Missy Elliott, you can catch her music on
YouTube or follow her on Twitter.
New faces
Elicia Mollineau started
work as a community
development worker
in Wandsworth at the
beginning of August.
Based in the Psychological
Therapies and Wellbeing
Service, a major part of her
role involves coordinating
Improving Access to
Psychological Therapies for
local black and minority
ethnic (BME) communities
via nine community sites. Her key responsibilities include
working as a change agent for better mental health
promotion within BME communities. Elicia hopes to work
to continue improving services from the “inside out”. Her
background is in psychology/mental health studies and she
previously worked at Kensington & Chelsea Social Council
as senior community development worker.

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
Let’s recap: news around the Trust
Say hello to Sim Man
3, a new addition to
the physical skills lab
team. He’s a very lifelike
simulation resuscitation
dummy that can be used
for medical scenarios
including respiratory
failure, neurological head
injuries, asthma attacks,
fits, heart rhythms and defibrillation and catheter
insertion. Staff were invited to an open day to see the
lab’s new facilities, test out some of the equipment
and talk to Helen Evans and Liz Jones, senior nurses for
infection control and physical healthcare. Helen and
Liz are job sharers who joined the Trust in the summer.
They’ll be actively promoting effective treatment
and dressings for wounds, hand hygiene audits and
measures to stop the spread of viruses such as norovirus.
The Trust’s latest
delegation of
international visitors
hoping to learn from
our expertise was
a group of mental
health professionals
from as far afield as
Kazakhstan and Russia.
The aim of the event
was to share practical ideas and values around mental
health treatment between countries. Our guests were
particularly impressed by the range of services offered
by the Trust and the positive attitude shared among
staff at all levels of the organisation. Chris O’Connor,
head of nursing practice and development, said: “The
event was a great success, with presentations from
many of our executive team giving a real insight to
mental health in the UK to our visitors.”
The St Helier Hospital
Liaison Psychiatry Service
has become one of
the first in the UK to
be rated as ‘excellent’,
the highest level in a
national accreditation
scheme run by the Royal
College of Psychiatrists’
Centre for Quality
Improvement. The service, a small team of doctors and
nurses who see adult patients referred from the wards,
the emergency department and outpatient clinics, met
98 per cent of over 200 different standards. Consultant
Jim Bolton said: “Our success is due to all the hard work
by previous and current staff.“ The team has recently
expanded to provide a better service for older patients
with mental health problems, especially those with
dementia who are admitted to the general wards.
Wandsworth
Pyschological Therapies
and Wellbeing Service
raised a total of £,000
for the Macmillan
cancer charity through
a coffee afternoon
at the Wandsworth
Recovery Centre. There
was a scrumptious
selection of cupcakes, cream cakes, cookies, brownies
and other pastries on sale and a raffle for some great
prizes, including a meal for two cooked by a personal
chef, hampers filled with goodies and vouchers from
exclusive London bakeries. The team arranged the
event in memory of their colleague Rajitha Manhoran
who passed away from cancer this year. “Despite facing
overwhelming obstacles she handled her situation with
grace and determination,“ her colleagues said.
Builders working at
Springfield’s Shaftesbury
Clinic were treated to a
special lunch to thank
them for their endless
patience during the
year-long refurbishment
of the unit, which has
just come to an end.
The builders faced
big challenges. Not only did the work have to take
place while the Shaftesbury was fully in use, but the
contractors also had to deal with additional security
measures. A group of eight inpatients from Turner
Ward were keen to help out and, after lessons from Del
the painter, decorated one of the group rooms. Mark,
one of the patients, said: “The new kitchen (pictured
here) is great and I’m looking forward to practising my
cooking skills that I’ve learnt from my cookery classes”.
Twelve clinical leaders,
including deputy ward
managers, community
psychiatric nurses and
senior staff nurses, have
completed the latest
year-long RCN clinical
leadership programme.
The scheme uses a
mixture of workshops,
action learning, observation of care and patient stories
and forms part of the Trust’s leadership and talent
strategy. Participants undertook a number of projects,
including developing a family room in an acute ward,
reviewing patient handouts and looking at the patient
experience at admission. They presented their findings
to senior staff including Chief Executive Judy Wilson
and Director of Nursing Kim Goddard at a closure event.
A new group started the programme in October.
Trustwide is published quarterly – in June, September, December
and March. Send ideas and stories to trustwide@swlstg-tr.nhs.uk
or ring Jeff Segal on 020 8682 6239 (ext 6239).
South West London and St George’s
Mental Health NHS Trust