Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) is the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

With our expertise in clinical care and developing partnerships, we continually strive to improve and deliver services of the highest quality. We are also committed to research and innovation to improve care for everyone through new and better treatments. 

There are over 4,000 dedicated members of staff delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering a region of 2,200 miles. AWP has approximately 150 teams and our services support a population of around 1.8 million people. 

Our staff play a vital role across AWP; with their high levels of expertise and a shared passion to deliver excellent mental health care services, we are committed to involving our staff in the development of AWP and the services we provide. 

As an NHS trust, AWP is part of the NHS family. This means we are accountable to our commissioners, patients and service users, carers, and to the Secretary of State for Health. 

We are also a partnership with important responsibilities to work with the voluntary sector and public bodies, including local authorities. This ensures we provide a joined-up service for the communities we support. 

We treat people with a wide range of mental health problems, including: 

  • severe anxiety 

  • severe depression 

  • obsessive compulsive disorders 

  • phobias 

  • borderline personality disorder 

  • schizophrenia 

  • psychosis 

Through our partnerships, we also provide specialist care and treatment for people with more specific needs, including: 

  • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) – for children and young people requiring community services in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, and for children and young people requiring inpatient treatment from across the South West region.
  • Drug and alcohol services – for people who have a drug or alcohol dependency and who may need inpatient treatment or community-based care.
  • Eating disorders – for people who have an eating disorder and may require specialist inpatient or community-based treatment.
  • Perinatal services – for women who have mental health needs during pregnancy and childbirth.
  • Specialist services for people with learning disabilities, deaf people with mental health needs, and people with a mental health disorder who pose a risk to others.
  • Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing – for armed forces personnel with a mental health need who have been or are about to be discharged from service.

Our purpose and our values

We are committed to improving the lives of the people we serve with compassion, respect and dignity.

Our purpose can only be fulfilled by staying true to our core values which underpin everything we do; they guide our behaviours and can be seen in every interaction we have with patients, staff and stakeholders. We refer to our values as PRIDE:

  • Passion – we want our service users, staff and stakeholders to recognise our passion, knowing that we do our best, all of the time.
  • Respect – we value everyone’s contribution and take time to really listen and understand what matters to our patients, staff and communities.
  • Integrity – we work openly and transparently, learning from our mistakes and continually improving our services.
  • Diversity – we personalise care and treatment to individuals and provide equality of opportunities to our staff.
  • Excellence – we inspire and empower our staff to deliver outstanding care.

Our strategy and vision

Our vision is to provide high quality, compassionate care for people living with mental ill health, autism and learning disabilities, and be the provider of choice for our patients, carers, staff and partners.

To deliver this vision, we are pleased to be able to share with you the new AWP Strategy 2023-2028. You can read more about our strategy and vision here. 

 

Our objectives

Our strategy has four key objectives:

Provide outstanding care

  • ​​​​Continually improve and provide high quality care to help everyone using our services feel safe, involved in decisions about their care and assured that our staff are focused on their recovery and future goals.
  • Design and deliver care and treatment that is person-centred, evidence-based and a joint endeavour.
  • Improve access and provision in our services to reduce inequalities.

 

Develop outstanding people

  • Our people make the difference in everything we do. We will retain the best staff by making AWP a great place to work and learn.
  • Develop our staff to fulfil their potential.
  • Implement great workforce planning to ensure we are fit for the future.

 

Provide sustainable services

  • Services that are properly resourced to meet rising demand.
  • Reduce our environmental impact.
  • Capitalise on digital opportunities.

 

Delivered in partnership

  • Deliver care as a joint endeavour with patients, their family, friends and carers, including the voluntary sector.
  • Add value to all partnerships.
  • Explore opportunities to develop more partnerships.
  • Build and nurture our reputation.