Introducing Guy's and St Thomas' mental health strategy

To mark World Mental Health Day, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has today (Thursday 10 October) launched its mental health strategy.

It sets out the ways the Trust will improve mental health care and support for patients and staff, alongside their physical needs, over the next three years.

Figures from Public Health England show that the number of people with mental health conditions within Lambeth and Southwark is higher than the national average.

Caroline Sweeney, lead for mental health at Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: “Putting our patients first is at the heart of everything we do.

“Therefore, we devised the strategy to address the many challenges that people with mental health conditions face in accessing and receiving the right care.”

The Trust mental health strategy has three key aims:

• Improve the quality of care that we deliver to our patients, carers and families who are living with serious mental illness
• Support patients with long term physical health conditions to identify and manage their mental health needs
• Ensure our workforce has the right skills, knowledge and attitudes to recognise and care for patients, carers and families with mental health needs.

The strategy aims to achieve a culture change across the organisation and reduce stigma surrounding mental health by enabling our staff to embrace conversations about mental health and wellbeing.

It builds on work of the Mind & Body programme by King’s Health Partners. The programme has delivered multiple projects with the aim of joining up mental and physical healthcare, to help patients better manage their different conditions, improve their health outcomes, and even prevent unnecessary health problems by identifying risk early.

Caroline said: “It is an extremely important piece of work, which will enable us to improve the experiences of both patients and staff. We have worked with patients, staff groups across the Trust and our partner organisations to develop meaningful objectives that reflect our Trust values and will make a real difference to our patients.”

Read Guy’s and St Thomas’ mental health strategy (PDF 214Kb).