- April’s membership board was chaired by Toby Ben-Babatunde on the 30 April 2025. Here is a summary of that meeting.
- 26 members attended the meeting which was held via Microsoft Teams.
- There were three items on the action tracker, including a final sign off for the debate club t-shirt and celebration plans for Pride month in June – the engagement team are hoping to have a pride talent showcase – more details will be shared in the coming weeks.
- This month saw seven new community members and 10 new staff members approved by the Membership Board. This brings the totals to 404 community and 566 staff members. Work is continuing with the membership refresh, and we are looking at updating the membership cards, along with new membership pin badges soon. To be eligible to vote in the Project of the Year at the AGM you need to be a part of the membership.
- Anna Morgan presented the work plan for 2025-2026, highlighting key projects and quality objectives. Key projects include such things as implementing co-production training, developing the intranet, and the customer relationship management (CRM) system. Anna outlined quality objectives, focusing on clinical effectiveness, service user experience, and safety – including improving referral pathways and managing caseloads in community mental health teams.
- Julie Gray updated on the AGM planning, asking the Membership Board to consider a proposed focus on local milestones and service user stories for the 2025 event. Feedback from last years AGM favoured local speakers that connect more with our local community.
- Andy Laughton discussed challenges in community mental health services, including high caseload sizes, limited psychological support, and substance misuse issues. However, the team performed well in the National Clinical Audit of Psychosis (NCAP) audit for early intervention and the team morale remains high. Future plans include recruiting more staff, improving data quality, addressing clinic issues, and focusing on Accreditation for Community Mental Health Services (ACOMHS) accreditation. Positive staff survey results showed improvements in training and care planning.
- Heather Clack shared an overview of risk management, explaining that risk refers to the possibility of a negative event that requires controls for mitigation. Anyone, including staff, service users, and managers, can identify and report risks, which should initially be communicated to the line or team manager.
- Richard Watson discussed the staff survey results, highlighting significant improvements in response rates, staff morale, and engagement. He noted areas for improvement, such as managing attendance and supporting staff wellbeing. Richard said about the importance of reviewing the training offerings to maximise clinical time, aiming to improve staff induction processes by scheduling block training for new starters and refreshers. This would allow non-clinical staff to integrate back into teams more quickly while ensuring clinical staff complete their mandatory training efficiently.
- Anna Morgan discussed this quarters Integrated Performance Report (IPR), focusing on existing indicators related to compliments and complaints per thousand staff, as well as service user feedback through the Friends and Family Test. Anna highlighted a positive trend in complaints, which have decreased, while compliments have significantly increased, reflecting the success of their feedback project. Additionally, there have been improvements in mental health care indicators such as dementia waiting times and governance incidents.
- Jo Keen gave a summary from the latest reps meeting on the 9 April. Jo said that they have been working with colleagues in co-production and engagement around Mental Health Awareness Week, volunteering and supporting with activities.
- Rebecca Marshall has done a lot of work on pulling together a schedule for the Breakfast Club, which will be starting on 9 June at 10am to 11am and will run monthly until November. The reps have done their best in terms of locations, and these will be held in inpatient and community settings.
- Toby Ben-Babatunde shared the finalised anti-racism/zero tolerance posters to the Membership Board. These will be placed in reception areas around our sites in the near future.
- Fiona Parker gave an update on events happening throughout Mental Health Awareness Week 12-19 May, which included a launch event at Centre4 on Monday 12 May between 10am and 12pm where they have invited people with lived experience to go along and give a talk. There will also be a treasure hunt that starts and ends at Navigo House on Friday 16 May.
- Community Hub Project of the Year was successful. The team now have a Business Development Manager assigned to this project and a working group is being put together. The team have some really exciting plans in the pipeline.
