Published on: 26th February 2024
As part of our ambitious plans to transform community mental health services, the programme leads recently visited colleagues in Lambeth, London. This is where the programme, known as living well, was first established over 10 years ago.
The trio met with a range of professionals and people with lived experience to discuss what has and hasn’t worked well.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Sarmad Nadeem is one of our programme leads. He said: “The visit was hugely helpful, with lots of useful lessons.
“Ten years on, Lambeth continues to face similar challenges to us, so it was reassuring to know we’re not on our own. The approach in Lambeth is also very similar to our plans, which has boosted our confidence we’re on the right track.
“We feel more accepting about how long this complex transformation is going to take, to ensure it’s safe and effective. We need to do it properly, which will be a longer journey.
“We believe we can succeed and the hard work will be worthwhile, as we’ll be making a profound difference to people’s lives.”
Our next step is to develop a clear roadmap – setting out what we need to do, who we need to work with and some realistic timescales.
Pictured left to right is: Dr Sarmad Nadeem, consultant psychiatrist, Pennine Care; Dr Nozomi Akanuma, consultant psychiatrist - Lambeth; Alison Kendall, transformation programme director - Pennine Care; Emma Nazurally, director of operations, south - Pennine Care; Sabrina Phillips, alliance director - Lambeth.