Publish date: 10 October 2024
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) is the largest specialist provider of mental health, learning disabilities and autism services in the south west and one of the largest in the country, with around 5,000 staff supporting a population of 1.9million people.
Our Thinking Ahead newsletter provides a snapshot of the work we’re doing to provide high quality, compassionate mental health, learning disability and autism care for the people we serve.
It’s World Mental Health Day!
Today (Thursday 10 October) is World Mental Health Day and this year’s theme, set by the Mental Health Foundation, is ‘Workplace Mental Health’.
Anyone can be affected by mental ill health, and there are many factors that contribute to good mental health or mental ill health including your role and working culture and environment.
One of our aims at AWP is to be a Great Place to Work and we’ve been sharing lots of information with our staff this week to support their wellbeing. We have more work to do, but we are also making progress e.g.
- More of our staff would recommend AWP as a place to work (NHS staff survey 2023)
- We were named in ‘top 10 inclusive employers of 2024’ in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List
Taking those first steps and asking for help is a sign of strength not weakness, and we want to create a working environment where all our staff feel safe and supported.
Construction of the new £20 million Learning Disability and Autism Unit is underway.
Being built at the Blackberry Hill site in Bristol, the Unit will serve the south west providing specialist mental health care for those with a learning disability and people who are autistic when their needs cannot be met in a mainstream hospital or at home.
The Unit is set to open in 2025 and is a partnership between AWP and our ICB partners.
Find out more about the new learning disabilities and autism unit here.
AWP and Rethink join forces to launch men's crisis house
We have opened the new men’s crisis house in Avonmouth, Bristol. The day to day running of the service is led by Rethink mental health charity. It is open 24hrs a day, 7 days-a-week providing vital support to those experiencing emotional distress. The facility has 10 en-suite bedrooms and people will be able to stay for up to two weeks.
Support includes helping people think about what support they might need in the long-term (care planning), getting help with problems such as loneliness or debt, and therapeutic activities such as art, group cooking or gardening.
CQC report into Forensic Inpatients and Secure Wards
Following a CQC inspection of our forensic inpatient and secure wards in Bristol in January 2024, the CQC published a final report on it’s website.
We accept the report’s findings and since the inspection in January 2024 have launched an extensive training programme for staff, and invited external organisations into the service to carry out independent reviews.
We value everyone who works with us but also acknowledge the impact a high use of agency staff can have, and addressing this has been a Trust-wide priority leading to a sustained reduction overall. Within forensic and secure services there has been a 52% reduction in agency use since this inspection, which means we now have a more consistent team in place.
These plans have been supported by both our local Integrated Care Boards (Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB and Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB), and our commissioners, the South West Provider Collaborative, and while we recognise that there remain challenges within the service, we are confident these measures are now improving the overall standards of care for our patients.
New Chair announced
We are delighted to announce that Paul Miller, Non-Executive Director at Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, has been named as the new Chair of Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.
Paul will join AWP on November 1st, replacing Charlotte Hitchings who stepped down in September. Brian Stables continues as Interim Chair until then.
Paul said: “In my role as Chair I will be a champion and advocate for local mental health, learning disability and autism services and alongside the rest of the leadership team, will continue to drive the Trust’s commitment to providing high quality, compassionate care to people across the south west."
Do you know someone who is affected by gambling?
We invite you to join us for an online interactive information session via MS Teams on the 26th November from 11am-11:45pm.
Join Dr Chris Gillmore, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead for the South West Gambling Service.
The service provides specialist treatment and expertise to help people recover from gambling harms.
You will hear from Chris about:
- How gambling affects people in the South West
- What harm does gambling cause and how to spot it
- Where to get help for someone who is gambling and the types of support available
If you would like to join this session please contact awp