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A campaign to combat mental health has been launched to get the undivided attention of men, while in the washroom of their local St Austell Brewery owned pub.

The poster campaign is aimed at destigmatising mental health and directing men to organisations which they can talk to and seek help.

The initiative is part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness of men's mental health in Cornwall, which has a higher than national average rate of suicide, with the most at-risk group being middle aged men.

Posters have gone up in pub toilets across Cornwall and are supported by further messaging on beer mats. The posters have also been adopted in police stations, health centres and council offices.

The Don’t Flush Your Life Away campaign is a collaboration between Cornwall Council, Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust, Outlook SW, Samaritans, BBC Radio Cornwall and St Austell Brewery, which runs 129 pubs in the Duchy.

Dr Ruth Goldstein, Cornwall Council Wellbeing and Public Health team said:

“Everyone has mental health, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not! We ask someone who we can see who has hurt themselves if they are okay, and we need to do the same when it comes to mental health, even though we can’t always see it in our friends and family.

“It’s so important that we start having these conversations. Lots of people socialise in a pub, so it’s the perfect place to have that initial chat.”

Dr Ellen Wilkinson, Medical Director Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust said: “Each person who dies by suicide is one too many, and we’re working hard to try and reduce those to zero. Talking about mental health is something we need everyone to do. We know it’s hard for men to open up and not bottle up emotions, but we want them to know it’s okay to not be okay. Being able to talk openly can and does save lives”.

Steve Worrall, retail director, St Austell Brewery: “Pubs are very often the hub of a community and are a great place to start the conversation. This campaign has a very important message and we’re delighted to be able to play our part in getting it out there.

“Supporting all mental health is part of the well-being ethos at St Austell Brewery and we want to continue to be industry leaders in our approach to supporting customers and employees who may be experiencing mental health issues.”

Anyone struggling with stress, anxiety, depression or thoughts of suicide can contact the Samaritans at any time of day or night, 24/7 365 days a year. Or people can refer themselves and get support online to learn how to cope with mental health from Outlook South West.

If you would like to take part in the campaign and display posters in your workplace, sports club or social place please email phdesk@cornwall.gov.uk

This is the third campaign to run under the Don’t Flush Your Life Away title. It was originally started in The William pub in Truro and then championed on Radio Cornwall’s regular mental health slot. Listeners were then asked to give a name to the campaign and the winning suggestions from over 100 entries was adopted.

Praise has been heaped on Newquay’s clubs and pubs for backing the extended opening hours of the town’s Minor Injury Unit (MIU) – helping to take the pressure off Treliske’s emergency department.

Ahead of the August bank holiday weekend, Kieran Bignell,  from Cornwall 111 – the team behind making sure Newquay’s MIU is open around the clock – has hailed the extended opening hours a “wonderful success”, and thanked the support of the town’s night time economy.

The additional opening hours from 10pm to 8am mean the MIU is open 24 hours a day until 14 September.

The MIU will also be open from 10pm Friday 23 August until 8am Monday 26 August.

It is staffed by a 111 clinician and an assistant who are able to see and treat people who have minor injuries or illnesses and who would otherwise need to visit the emergency department at Truro, or call for an ambulance.

Kieran, consultant paramedic with Cornwall 111 IUCS and head of Integrated Urgent Care, said: “It’s been fantastic to see how the pubs and clubs of Newquay are supporting the MIU’s longer opening hours’’.

“About two weeks ago a young woman had fallen while in a nightclub in Newquay and had twisted her ankle. The door staff called a taxi for the patient to be transported to the MIU where she was able to have an immediate assessment’’.

“We’ve had a real mix of injuries including a chef who had cut his head open while at work. He walked into the MIU  with a cut to the head and we were able assess and treat the injury within 15 minutes and he was able to return to work and finish his shift.

“A large proportion of patients attending the emergency department have a minor injury but attend the emergency department because there are limited availability of alternative resources.’’

“The pilot scheme of opening up the MIU has seen us treating and average of five to seven patients a night which is taking some pressure off the main hospital.”

What you need to know about the Newquay MIU:

• People are advised to call NHS 111 first to determine the best route of care for their condition.
• A person who has called NHS 111 may still be referred to Truro’s emergency department for the treatment and management of a wide range of medical conditions.
• Overnight cover at Newquay MIU is provided by highly skilled clinicians (an NHS 111 advanced practitioner and an assistant) from Cornwall 111 IUCS who are able to treat a range of minor conditions which have occurred during the previous 14 days. These include sprains and strains; broken bones; minor burns and scalds; head injuries (but not if someone is unconscious); insect and animal bites and stings; minor eye injuries, cuts, bruising and grazes. 
• X-ray is available at Newquay MIU from 9am to 5pm. It is not available during the extended period (10pm to 8am).

For more Choose Well information visit https://www.kernowccg.nhs.uk/get-info/choose-well/ 

Maureen Geen who is a Cardiac Rehabilitation Nurse will be retiring at the end of the month after 14 years.

Janet Norman, Cardiac Administrator commented: “When Maureen arrived, the Cardiac Rehabilitation Service was still in its infancy. Maureen was instrumental in helping to move it forward, shaping the service that we deliver today.  She initiated the start of a community based rehabilitation programme in north of Cornwall to support the patients living in that area who otherwise would not have attended a rehabilitation programme because of travelling distance.

“In her time with the service she also chaired the cardiac network and helped bring other cardiac services together from the south west so that we could share best practices and use these meetings to support ongoing educational needs. 

“We could not let Maureen leave without mentioning her tireless dedication to the National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation, something we are so familiar with now thanks to Maureen’s persistence to the cause!

“Maureen has been pinnacle to the team’s success and she has seen its many changes. She will be greatly missed by her team and colleagues but we wish her all the best in her retirement.”  

Congratulations to Rachael Brandreth, Joint Professional Lead for Dietetics across RCHT and CFT who is the national winner of Health Education England’s Emerging Leader of the Year award.

Rachael has been recognised in HEE’s Health Eduation and Training awards as one of the outstanding, inspirational staff who embody the values of the NHS

Judges said ‘Rachael possesses all the characteristics needed to inspire her staff and to drive the profession forward. Rachael has had an influence on the national stage by being one of the driving forces behind the first ever AHP’s day. Along with her colleague she managed to inspire AHPs across the nation to get behind a one-day focus on the contribution of the allied health professions.’

The annual Healthcare Education and Training (HEAT) Awards, run by Health Education England (HEE), aim to celebrate all that is very best about education and training in the NHS workforce and help foster an environment of compassionate, high-quality care.

This year’s winners and finalists came from all corners of the NHS, ranging from students and apprentices to tutors, directors and operational managers as well as doctors, nurses, scientists and specialists in a wide array of fields.

Following news of her win, Rachael said,

“I love my job as a dietitian and in leadership, and I am really honoured to be receiving this award. I feel very lucky to be working at a time in which local and national leaders are recognising both the worth and the potential of the allied health professions. The last couple of years have taught me that ideas are worth sharing, it’s OK to think big, collaboration is where you see the real benefits and to believe in myself.”

Entrants were nominated by colleagues with the winners chosen after three rounds of judging. Winners were announced tonight (18 July) at the Royal College of Physicians in London, at the culmination of NHS Values Week. Values Week seeks to encourage staff to think about and share how they put the values of the NHS into practice, helping to make the NHS the very best place to work.

Sir David Behan, Chair, Health Education England, said:

“Our winners, and all nominees, are examples to all of us and remind us that the strength of the NHS lies in its people.”

Prof Ian Cumming OBE, Chief Executive, Health Education England, added: “Our 790 entries this year were of an extremely high calibre, and choosing the winners was no simple process."

HEAT awards were presented in 13 categories, ranging from Inspirational Trainee and Inspirational Leader to Champion of Diversity, Champion of the NHS Constitution and Inspiring Return To Practice.

A new hub at the Royal Cornwall Hospital bringing professionals under one roof to better meet the needs of vulnerable people has been shortlisted for a national nursing award.

Building work has already begun on the Integrated Multi-Agency Prevention and Assessment of Crisis Team (IMPACT) Support Hub, which will bring together Cornwall’s team working across health, care and the voluntary sector in Cornwall supporting people in, at risk or recovering from mental health crisis.

The first of its kind hub for the county was made possible after NHS Kernow, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT), Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CFT) and Cornwall Council were awarded nearly £1.5 million of funding from the Department of Health and Social Care (DOHSC) for the initiative, following a successful bid endorsed by Cornwall’s Crisis Care Concordat Steering Group.

The cash boost will mean that experts from, Addaction (drug and alcohol services), housing, advocacy services, perinatal mental health, child and adolescent mental health services, safeguarding (adults, children and midwifery), psychiatric liaison, complex care and dementia and Devon and Cornwall Police, who work with people at risk, in or recovering from mental health crisis, will be based in one place.

The hub is a professional working environment and not public-facing. It will allow the co-located teams to provide rapid assessment, advice and support as well as planning for future care requirements with the aim of improving the person’s outcomes and avoid the need for admission to acute mental health settings, as well as helping to reduce attendances to the emergency department.

Lerryn Hogg, advanced nurse for mental health and complex cases at RCHT, said: "We are so proud and excited to have been shortlisted for the Nursing Times Awards. RCHT safeguarding services are passionate about the services we deliver.

“The team is made up of staff from RCHT and colleagues from Addaction, independent advocacy charity SeAp, Safer Futures and Dementia UK. We also work in close partnership with our colleagues in CFT, the Police and third sector services.

“Each member of the team is committed to providing the best possible care to our patients and to support the staff we work alongside. We were overjoyed to have been awarded the Department of Health and Social Care’s Beyond Places of Safety scheme which allowed us to make our vision for integrated safeguarding a possibility and to have this recognised nationally is the icing on the cake."

Dr Paul Cook, NHS Kernow’s clinical lead for mental health, said: “Health and care partners are committed to working together to ensure that mental health services in Cornwall are joined up so that we can better meet the needs of vulnerable people with complex mental health issues. Everyone was delighted that by working together we were able to secure the funding for the clinical hub and to see that work is beginning to gather momentum and is being recognised by the Nursing Times is very rewarding for everyone involved.”

The Nursing Times Awards recognise those making nursing an innovative, patient-focused and inclusive profession, highlighting excellence in a wide range of nursing specialties.

The team will now go on to present to judges at the head office of Nursing Times ahead of the awards ceremony in October in London.

A national mental health programme to bridge gap between schools, colleges and NHS services will be introduced in Cornwall as part of the national roll out in 2019/20. Local implementation of the multi-million pound scheme will be led by Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Pupils who are struggling with mental health will benefit from more joined up care and support across schools, colleges and specialist NHS services.

The Mental Health Services and Schools and Colleges Link Programme is a national initiative funded by the Department for Education, supported by NHS England and led by the Anna Freud Centre. The programme will be rolled out over four years from September 2019. It will reach every school and college in England over the next four years, identifying children and young people’s needs at an early stage and equipping professionals to support them.

Phil Confue, Chief Executive of Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “With half of all lifetime cases of mental health disorders beginning by the age of 14, there is no greater investment we can make from an economic or moral perspective than to promote the physical and mental health of children and young people.

“We are excited to be leading on the local introduction of this national initiative alongside a number of other developments and investments we are making to support the health and wellbeing of young people locally, including the opening of Sowenna – our first adolescent mental health unit, later this year.”

The programme aims to bring mental health and education professionals together so that more children and young people can get help and support when they need. By working together, professions can plan services for the future and help create long-term sustainable support for children and young people.

The Anna Freud Centre’s Chief Executive, Professor Peter Fonagy, commented: “The Link Programme brings together mental health and education professionals to work together to promote mental health and alleviate children and young people’s distress. This way we can identify their needs early and sign post them to the best support.

“This is a transformative programme and one which we at the Anna Freud Centre are proud to lead. It’s an indication of the groundswell of support that it is funded by the Department for Education, supported by NHS England and 13 partners from local authorities, health providers and the charity sector.”

The announcements build on the Government’s wider investment in children’s mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges, including compulsory health education lessons from 2020, to ensure every young person is given the tools to thrive despite the challenges they may face growing up.

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Notes to editors:

The Link Programme was developed in response to recommendations in Future in Mind. In 2015/16 the Anna Freud Centre was commissioned to run a pilot of the Link Programme by the Department for Education and NHS England. This pilot ran successfully in 255 schools and Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services across 27 CCGs in England.

 

An independent evaluation found that the pilot ‘had considerable success in strengthening communication and joint working arrangements between schools and NHS Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services’. It recommended further testing and a second phase was launched in which the programme was scaled up. This phase included sixth form and vocational colleges for the first time. Phase 2 ran from 2017-2019 and was delivered to 1,100 schools/colleges and 1,020 mental health professionals across 23 CCGs and Local Authorities (LAs).

 

Pure electric pool fleet cars at Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CFT) are to be renewed with updated electric vehicles (EV).

Having already used EVs in its fleet since 2015, the Trust will be moving across to the new Volkswagen (VW) E-Golf which has a larger battery, therefore covering a greater distance before needing to be recharged.

This change will be a marked improvement to the fleet and enable an increase in efficient pure electric car use. 

“The range and reliability of the current fleet of pure electric cars (that have been in use since 2013) have become challenging and we wanted to continue pursuing alternative fuelled vehicles.  The VW E-Golf will provide safe, reliable and efficient transport for our community staff” commented Neil Hudson, Transport Manager for the Trust.

Neill continued: “While electric cars currently cost more to purchase than conventionally fuelled vehicles, the very low running costs mean they are comparable to the hybrid cars we also operate.  The electricity the cars will consume incurs no cost to the Trust due to solar energy harvesting at two of our sites.”

Not only do EVs reduce air pollution by having zero tailpipe emissions and help to fight climate change, they offer a quieter and peaceful drive for those using them.

The VW E-Golf will use existing charging stations and training will be available for those using the cars. Staff new to the Trust will receive a presentation on the benefits of EVs at the Trust’s monthly new staff induction to encourage and inform new employees on the benefits of switching to a greener mode of transport.

From Friday 12 July, Newquay’s Minor Injury Unit (MIU) will have extended opening hours and be open 24 hours a day on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the summer months

Additional cover will be delivered by 111’s advanced paramedics and nurses until 6 September 2019.

The scheme will see that the MIU has cover from 10pm until 8am and will run for nine weeks during a time where the population of Newquay will more than treble with holiday makers, families and young people visiting the seaside resort.

Run by Cornwall 111, the MIU will be staffed by a 111 clinician, who will be able to see patients who walk-in and self-present with minor injuries or illnesses which otherwise would have needed to attend the Emergency Department in Truro.

In addition, for those patients who have called an ambulance, where appropriate the clinician will take referrals from paramedic crews; saving an ambulance journey to Truro and Emergency Department attendance.

As always, the public are advised to call 111 first to determine the best route of care for their condition. Those calling 111 can be still referred to Truro’s ED department for the treatment and management of a wide range of medical conditions.

Paul Toon, Head of Operations for Cornwall 111 commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the people of Newquay and visitors to have access to a local service at the busiest time in the county; I would strongly recommend using the 111 service to get the right care in the right location in the most expedient manner.”

The overnight cover at Newquay MIU will be provided by highly skilled clinicians from Cornwall 111 who are able to treat a range of minor conditions which have occurred during the previous 14 days. These include sprains and strains; broken bones; minor burns and scalds; head injuries (but not if someone is unconscious); insect and animal bites and stings; minor eye injuries, cuts, bruising and grazes. 

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• The MIU will be open for extended hours on Sunday 25 August (Bank Holiday weekend).
• X-ray is available at Newquay MIU from 9am to 5pm. It is not available during the extended period (10pm to 8am).
• Ground Floor, Newquay Community Hospital, St Thomas Road, Newquay, TR7 1RQ

An innovative partnership approach which will enable overnight services to return to Stratton Hospital was endorsed this week by Cornwall Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The trailblazing proposal will see overnight services return to the Hospital in August 2019, in the form of a new service which is being described as a’ Community Treatment Centre’.

The community Treatment Centre will be run by staff from Kernow Health CIC which provides the county’s urgent care service- NHS Cornwall 111.

Mark Woolcock, Chief Operating Officer of Cornwall 111 said, “We are pleased to be in a position to work with our healthcare partners and  to trial this new service for people in the Stratton and Bude area. We will be providing an expert senior clinician whose clinical skills extend beyond those of a traditional minor injury practitioner.  

“In addition, we will also be able to see those patients from the local area who have an appointment to been seen by our out of hours service after contacting NHS 111; patients, who need to attend the centre with a minor injury out of hours, will also be able to be treated.”

Phil Confue, Chief Executive from Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said, “We are delighted to have found a potential solution which will benefit people in the far North of the County and also our neighbours over the border in Devon.

“Providers and the local community have worked together to develop a solution which will help people to feel safe and make best use of the resources currently available overnight by working differently. We are also exploring how we can work with colleagues in North Devon to ensure this resource offers maximum benefit for people who live locally.”

Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that it will continue to recruit nurses to work locally, where necessary supporting them to complete the additional minor injury training while the Community Treatment Centre model is tested.

To allow the Community Treatment Centre to be fully tested and evaluated in partnership with the local community, the service will operate until the end of March 2020.

If the approach is successful, it will become permanent.

The inspection report of Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s (CFT) services, by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been published today and sees a change in the Trust’s overall rating from Requires Improvement to Good. 

In the report, following their visit in March and April, the Inspectors paid tribute to the staff in the Trust who, they said, “had worked hard to address concerns raised at the last inspection.”  These applied to five services that had previously been rated Requires Improvement at an inspection last year that were now rated as Good.

Community Health services including community hospitals and minor injury units had all improved as had community health teams.  Wards for older people with dementia and other mental health problems were rated as Outstanding due to the way staff worked with patients and their families and how they ensured patients moved on to appropriate placements despite a challenging environment which had seen over 200 nursing home beds closed locally since 2016.

The report found that the Trust had an experienced stable senior leadership team with the skills, abilities, and commitment to provide high quality services with a strong unified board.  They had set a clear vision and values that were at the heart of all the work within the organisation and worked hard to make sure staff at all levels understood them in relation to their daily roles.

This was demonstrated by the work to change the culture of the enlarged organisation and bring the trust together as one following the transfer of the community health services contract to the trust in 2016.  As a result the inspectors observed that the culture of the trust had improved and staff morale was high in the majority of services with staff feeling respected, supported and valued by their managers and the Trust.

The inspectors felt the Trust had responded positively and taken immediate action to ensure children and young people received a timely safe service after concerns had been raised about two of the six child and adolescent mental health services teams which had resulted in a section 29a warning notice.

The Trust’s Chief Executive Phillip Confue said:

“We agreed a comprehensive action plan with the CQC and aim to continue improving services with their support.  Since the inspection we have appointed another 29 CAMHS workers and our CAMHS Sowenna unit will be open in September.

This is a positive result for the people of Cornwall and a direct reflection of the dedication and delivery of health and care services of the frontline NHS staff who work for the Trust.”

The CQC is the independent body that inspects and regulates health and social care services in England.