Reflections 2022: Sarah Connery – Increasing access to local mental health support

By Sarah Connery LPFT Chief Executive

Sarah Connery is Chief Executive at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

What a year it has been! Whilst it has been a demanding and difficult year on many levels for the trust, NHS and everyone in our local community, I’m so proud of what we’ve been able to achieve in improving access to mental health support in the county.

Our staff have continued to be amazing and despite the challenges and increasing demand for support, they have shown compassion, dedication and gone over and above to deliver vital services for our local communities – whilst also finding new and innovative ways to improve.

I’m pleased to share some of the main highlights and look forward to even more in the forthcoming year.

I have to start with the positive impact the Mental Health Urgent Assessment Centre has had in supporting people since we opened in January. The centre is an alternative safe space for people to go in crisis, rather than busy A&E departments – which we know is not always the best place for people in mental health crisis.

We’ve supported over 700 people since launch and feedback from patients and our partners in A&E, police and ambulance services has been positive. We look forward to building on this further and expanding to more self-referrals very soon.

We’ve also been able to further invest in community groups and resources to support people in the community with the mental health wellbeing transformation programme and further expanded the Night Light Cafes across the county.

We’ve particularly concentrated on expanding in the East Coast and have a further five more cafes set to open in 2023. These are community spaces, hosted by volunteers, where people can go when they just need a chat and company -something we know many people find particularly helpful at this time of year.

Our Lincolnshire mental health helplines continue to offer vital support for anyone struggling -offering a listening ear, or help finding the best support for people’s needs. Anyone needing someone to speak to, or advice, can call the 24/7 helpline for free on 0800 001 4331. If you are a young person or family member and want some advice, you can call the Here4You advice line on 0800 234 6342, open 24/7.

We’ve also made it easier for people to access our services digitally and have new online self-referral chatbots for our talking therapy service steps2change, which has been used by 4,000 people already. We’re pleased to have also been able todeliver over 300 memory assessments virtually, as a more flexible approach to how people access our services.

Of course, you will have read about recruitment and demand challenges in the NHS both locally and nationally, and in that context, I should recognise that we know we have longer waits than we would like in some of our services. We’re working hard to find innovative ways to recruit and retain staff, as well as seeking further investment to bolster services, particularly in our children and young people and talking therapy services, which we hope will have a positive impact as we head into the New Year.

There is much to look forward to in the year ahead, including the opening of our new adult acute inpatient wards in Lincoln. I’m also pleased to share that we have been given the go ahead to progress with building a new mental health hub in Boston. This will enable us to create en-suite bedrooms, providing privacy and dignity rightly expected for our patients across all our inpatient wards.

I’d like to finally take the opportunity to thank the compassionate and dedicated staff we have working in LPFT and across the whole health and care system for consistently putting patients at the heart of everything they do.