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Rethink's mental health summit

Rethink Mental Illness, England’s biggest national mental health membership charity, would like to invite you to take part in its Mental Health Summit on 18 March 2011. This is your chance to hear from both national and local decision makers and have your say about how mental health support should be improved in your area.

Secretary of State for Health and MP for South Cambridgeshire, Andrew Lansley, will be attending. This is a unique opportunity for you to hear about his plans for the NHS and his aims to improve the nation’s mental wellbeing following the recent launch of the Government’s Mental Health Strategy ‘No health without mental health’.

To offer a local perspective on what these changes will mean for Cambridgeshire, Dr Paul Zollinger-Read, Director of GP Commissioning for NHS East of England and former Chief Executive of NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, will be speaking.

A key part of this event is for those who have experience of mental health services to hear from both the Secretary of State for Health and senior representatives from across the local NHS and social care system and be able to ask them questions directly.

Places are strictly limited and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve your place or find out more details please contact paula.reid@rethink.org or phone 0207 840 3147. Lunch will be provided.

First 2011 Peer Support Workers graduate

CPFT's first 2011 cohort of Peer Support Workers (PSWs) graduated in a special ceremony in Peterborough on 11 February.

The Peer Support Programme runs across Cambridgeshire and focuses on training, employing and supporting people with mental health lived experience as Peer Support Workers. This was also the first cohort who had been trained by new Peer Educators Sheena Mooney and Tracey Tingey, who had both themselves gone through the PSW training last year - a tremendous achievement by them both!

At their graduation ceremony in Fletton, family and friends joined the new PSWs and heard about the difficult journeys they had undergone to get where they are today. The ceremony even saw a marriage proposal by one of the PSWs - another first - which added to the celebration.

The journey to become a PSW is hard work. After a rigorous interview and selection process the students cover 16 modules, 76 hours of classroom work, 32 hours' on-the-job work experience and a great deal of homework and reflection. Further cohorts will be taking place throughout the year.

New out-of-hours contact service

A new out-of-hours service has been set up by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT).

The service is available for service users who are experiencing a crisis in their mental health and feel that they need to seek immediate advice. This service is also available for carers who are concerned about the mental health of the service user.

The out-of-hours telephone number is:
0844 931 2120
and it is available at the following times:
- Mondays to Fridays: 17:00 to 22:00
- Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays: 08:00 to 22:00
After 10pm, an answer-phone message will give information on other contact numbers, such as: NHS Direct and ‘Lifeline’ Cambridgeshire & Peterborough. In case of an emergency, contact the local A&E or dial 999.

During normal office hours please call your local Community Mental Health Team. For individuals who are not known to CPFT mental health services and their carers, it is advised that a first point of contact should be your local on-call GP service, which will be able to undertake an initial assessment of your needs and be able to review your care records. This is especially important as you may have physical health needs that may be affecting your mental health. Everyone is, of course, entitled to attend the local A&E for an assessment of their health.

9 March 2011 - no smoking day! Join us at Fulbourn

9 March 2011 is national no smoking day and CPFT smoking cessation advisors and CAMQUIT Smoking Cessation Service are hosting a no smoking event at the Resource Centre, Fulbourn Hospital. This year’s theme is “Time to quit?”, which will encourage you to think ahead and plan your quitting date.

The programme for the event is packed with activities and opportunities to stop for a moment and look if it is “time” in your life: to learn new skills, to take care of and nourish yourself, to be active, to leave something behind, to start something new or to move forward.

The day is open to everyone. Spread the word.

We look forward to meeting you and hope you will enjoy the day. For further information on the event, or if you want to get involved, contact Amalia Sommariva, Physiotherapy Department, Fulbourn Hospital, on 01223 218558.

See attached the timetable and the programme for the day.

Leadership in Action open space

We would like to invite you to an event being held with leaders from health and social care organisations in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, which will look at the delivery of services and what would make the most difference to those who use them. The event will be held in an open space format and be facilitated by Trevor Dolan and Sheila Marsh from AltStrat and the Institute of Education, London.

The event, which takes place from 9.30am-1.30pm on 28 February 2011, is part of the launch of the Leadership in Action programme which is a practical leadership development programme for those leading health and social care services including nurses, practitioners and general managers. Commissioned by the Cambridgeshire County Workforce Group and hosted by CPFT, this programme includes participants from organisations delivering acute care, social care, mental health and learning disability care and community care.

The open space format enables those attending to set the agenda and discuss issues that matter to them in flexible small groups. By the end of the event participants will have set the top priorities from the output of all the groups. Every participant will get a report on the issues and solutions identified. Those participants on Leadership in Action will then use the report during the programme to frame specific action areas which will form service improvements projects in their area of work, whether that be a maternity ward, a prison psychiatric ward, a commissioning office or those visiting homes in the community. The programme and the project will end in October 2011, when you will again be invited to attend the celebration event to in part, hear from the participants about their project and the improvements to services that they deliver.

We hope the event will be attended by different people from our community, including those who use services, support others in using services, commission services and deliver services and would appreciate you forwarding this invitation to other contacts you think should attend. Please note, places are limited so if you would like to attend or have any questions about the event please contact Emma Walker, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Leadership Coordinator on 01223 884108.