A few months ago, two of our Connecting partners came along to one of our DG updates and spoke about their experiences of being part of the Connecting programme. One of the issues raised was that Connecting is usually arranged with one …
York Street Health Practice, part of Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust (LCH), is a nationally recognised model of health inclusion for marginalised and vulnerable people. We work with 1200 people in the Leeds area and seek to be a centre …
Several members of the Legislation and Policy Unit in the NHS Group recently went connecting at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM). SLAM provides the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK, has about 4800 …
In health policy we have been talking about ‘moving care closer to home’ for a long time. Although I understand the logical argument for this, I must admit that I have never had any exposure to community services. I also …
When the Connecting programme was first set up, I admit to being a touch sceptical about what it might offer beyond the normal way of doing business. Like other colleagues in DH, I have always spent time visiting and making …
Connecting has been a fantastic opportunity to remind me why I joined the Department of Health, having recently come back after several years working in other parts of Government. It’s also given me a very useful snapshot of the reality …
From the outset, our aim at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust was to provide genuine, real life experiences of our mental health services to staff from the Department of Health (DH). So far, we have had the pleasure …
It was great to be involved with DH’s Connecting programme, helping civil servants gain experience in a school-based early intervention mental health service like ours. We have always supported the recommendations of the Francis Inquiry to improve quality of care …
A passion of staff at all levels to deliver quality I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect on this particular connecting visit, having already done two connecting visits before in acute settings. A group of us recently visited Central London …
I recently started a new role in the Department – and it doesn’t come more exciting or indeed more challenging than preparing for a G8 Summit meeting. On 11 December the UK will host a Dementia Summit. Dementia is a …