Moving into our fifth year as an Alliance, we are focused on working much more in the community, continuing to tackle inequalities and providing evidence of the impact that we are having – all while trying to live within our means, and supporting the people we work with to do the same in these difficult economic times.
Covid 19
As we return to pre-pandemic ways of working, increasing face to face support for example, we are currently (July 2022) facing rising levels of covid in our staff and those we support and are having to reintroduce mask wearing and social distancing in our offices and services. We are hoping this is a temporary setback and will not lead to further restrictions over the coming winter. Although, if it does, we know we have a tried and tested approach to keep staff and those we support safe and continuing to deliver services.
Community focus
We are committed to having more of our staff working with people out in the community, alongside GPs and local voluntary and community groups. We have launched our Staying Well offer to do just that. They are being joined by new roles such as mental health practitioners based in GP surgeries, community reablement workers, ‘mind and body’ workers and others to support more people to stay well in their own homes and communities, both mentally and physically.
Our workforce
We know that people who feel happy and cared for are better able to deliver care. We want to ensure that everyone working for the Alliance works and is treated in the ‘Alliance Way’ – a kind, caring and respectful approach that builds on the strengths and assets of the people we support, including their caring networks to meet their needs in the best, least restrictive way.
We are launching a new workforce strategy, co-produced with staff, that includes plans to embed kindness and compassion in all our work, ensure that all of our staff can realise their full potential and make it easier to recruit and promote people.
Equalities
Our highest priority is to ensure that people from all our communities – regardless of their ethnicity, gender or beliefs – have the same access, experience and outcomes from our services. Building on our exciting new CAPSA (Culturally Appropriate Peer Support and Advocacy) service and pioneering PCREF (Patient and Carers’ Race Equality Framework) approach (for more details see Equalities section of this report [insert link]) we aim to ensure Lambeth mental health services are trusted, welcoming and effective for all.
Service development and innovation
We will continue to innovate, working with service users, staff and providers to develop better ways of meeting increasingly complex needs and growing demand for day to day mental health support.
Our focus will be in ensuring our new services – IPS (Individual Placement and Support), CAPSA (Culturally Appropriate Peer Support and Advocacy) and Staying Well – are effective and continue to be developed. At the same time, we will continue to review our existing services to ensure they remain relevant, effective and provide value for money, whilst increasing integration and community delivery wherever this makes sense.
Can you help us?
We are introducing a short survey that all those who use our services will be invited to complete (online or on paper). It will take less than 3 minutes and will tell us how well we are doing and what we need to improve. Later this year we will report more detailed information on our service performance and impact and ask you for your views and ideas. Click here if you would like to complete this survey or scan this QR code:
Scan to take a short (less than 3 minutes) service user survey.