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
Swindon Town FC supports our gambling campaign
Our ‘Crossed the Line’ campaign aims to raise awareness of our Gambling Service, launched across the south west last year.
The campaign aims to reduce stigma and encourage more local people to get the help they need.
Information will be shared across the League Two club’s social media accounts, website and in its matchday programmes
If you or someone you care about is affected by gambling, visit our webpage to find out more, or you can refer yourself by calling 0330 022 3175.
World Suicide Prevention Day – ‘Start the Conversation’
This World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD), we highlighted the importance of the language we use when we talk about suicide, especially when asking someone you're worried about if they're suicidal.
Natasha Bryant, AWP’s Suicide Prevention Lead said: “When asking someone about suicide, we recommend you do so clearly, directly, compassionately and without apology e.g. ask “are you thinking about suicide?”
“If the person is feeling suicidal listen to them, allow them to express their feelings, reassure them they are not alone and try to promote some hope, but without minimising what they are going through.”
Together, through a culture of open dialogue, care, compassion and support, each and every one of us can play a part in working towards a community where talking about suicide is no longer a taboo and deaths by suicide are prevented.”
To hear more from Natasha and for more information and support click here.
Trust AGM
We held our AGM on September 19th summarising the progress and challenges during 2023/24.
We also heard from some of our experts by experience who talked about their role developing our Working Together strategy and with the Your Team, Your Conversation, Your Plan project.
A recording of the AGM is available here.
Here are some examples of progress made during 2023/24:
RLDatix Awards 2024
We're delighted to announce that we've been shortlisted for the Sustainable Organisation award in the RLDatix Awards 2024 for our work to reduce staffing agency use.
Our project ‘Controlling Agency Expenditure & Usage’ focuses on managing the cost of agency staff and reducing our reliance on short notice high-cost staff and long-term registered lines of work.
Our aim was to reduce agency cost without creating a significant knock-on impact on supply which would destabilise existing teams. Our bank and e-rostering teams have collaborated to analyse data, identifying risk areas and areas for action, while providing sustainable alternatives and effectively gate-keeping the process.
The initiative has seen a significant reduction in agency use which not only reduces costs but also supports us to provide better continuity of care for our patients.
Recognised with a gold award
For a third consecutive year we have been recognised for our approach and progress to diversity and inclusion, achieving a gold standard TIDE award 2024, awarded by the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (enei).
Enei TIDEMark is a diversity and inclusion benchmarking tool which looks at the whole organisation, including workforce, strategy, leadership, recruitment, training and communication. It measures how well an organisation is cultivating a positive and inclusive culture and allows the organisation to understand their current position in relation, and where to focus their efforts on areas that will have the greatest impact.
Partnership Highly Commended at National Patient Safety Awards
The innovative partnership between mental health, ambulance, police and social enterprise in the South West was Highly Commended at the HSJ national patient safety event recently. The Integrated Access Partnership (IAP) is a partnership made up of Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, Avon & Somerset Police, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, and BrisDoc Healthcare Services.
The IAP provides an integrated ‘front door’ to urgent and emergency mental health care for people in crisis, who make contact through 999 and 111 services. The team provide both remote and face-to-face mental health triage, assessment and care for patients, as well as clinical support and advice to emergency service professionals, including the police. This level of integrated response across professions is unique and means individuals only need to tell their story once before accessing emergency, mental and physical health services.
Since 17 June this year, there has been a 30% reduction in concern for safety related calls to the police, which has resulted in police officers attending 22 fewer incidents each day.
Join our Thinking Ahead Forum
Thinking Ahead is the name of an engagement programme we launched recently to help deliver our 5 year strategy
The aim is for the forum to bring together a range of insights from a broad pool of people who have different experiences and backgrounds, but can come together to give feedback and where appropriate help co-produce solutions and developments.
Interested in becoming a member? Email awp
There are hundreds of career choices on offer at AWP, from frontline clinical roles through to non-clinical administration and support roles, including apprenticeships.
Many roles support flexible working so that you can manage other commitments and still make a vital contribution to the work we do.
Visit our jobs page to find the perfect role at AWP for you.
