Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Citizens Advice Winchester District is pleased to announce that the Citizens Advice support for mental health inpatients has been shortlisted for an NHS Parliamentary Award in the Excellence in Mental Health Care Award category.
This partnership provides each patient a Citizens Advice employed case worker to offer support and guidance in matters relating to living in the community, from financial, housing, legal and relationship advice, to give them confidence and hope for their lives outside hospital and greatly reduce the need for readmission.
The NHS Parliamentary Awards were created in 2018 to celebrate and recognise the outstanding contribution of staff, volunteers and others working in the health and care sector. In the first stage of the awards, MPs nominate healthcare teams and individuals in their local area to highlight their exceptional commitment and achievements working in and with the NHS.
The Citizens Advice Southern Health project going forward to the final round of the awards is a particular achievement this year, with 318 MPs across England putting forward 918 nominations – a far greater number than in any previous year.
Danny Chambers, Member of Parliament for Winchester says:
“I am delighted that the ground-breaking partnership between Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and Citizens Advice has been recognised and wish them luck in the final stage of this award.
“As a trustee of a mental health charity, I know how crucial helping people with social stressors, like debt, benefits problems or family disputes, are to improving mental health. This partnership has already seen fantastic outcomes for patients and inpatient NHS mental health services and I look forward to seeing how it progresses in the future.” Best of luck in the awards!
Heather Mitchell, Director of Strategy & Infrastructure Transformation for Southern Health said:
‘There is a wealth of evidence to show that it is the wider determinants, such as housing, employment and social factors that really make a difference for people’s health and well-being. Addressing these requires complex partnership working and stepping outside of the traditional health provision norms. I am delighted that this project which supports people with the greatest health inequity is getting this prestigious recognition and thank the team for all the hard work involved in its success.”
Jon Pritchard, Associate Director of Population Health and Equality for Southern Health said of the shortlisting news:
“I’m over the moon that our innovative partnership with Citizens Advice Winchester has been shortlisted for an NHS Parliamentary Award for 2024. Having Citizens Advice expertise based on our mental health wards enables service users to start to address the social stressors that so often burden their life.
Delivered through trusted and positive relationships, the impact and outcomes achieved through the partnership with, and for, service users is truly phenomenal. Importantly, we have designed the solution so that the Citizens Advice service follows people from hospital into the community, supporting their sustainable discharge. My sincere thanks go to the amazing colleagues delivering this partnership, who make a significant difference to people’s lives every day.
We have now expanded the solution to all four of our mental health hospitals, partly funded by a grant from Hampshire County Council”.
Sue Campbell, Citizens Advice Winchester District:
"We're so thrilled that this project has been shortlisted. Experiencing things like debt, low income, insecure housing or relationship breakdown can have a profound impact on people's mental (and physical) health. Being able to access to non-judgemental support to address these, often complex, issues is so vital for recovery. We're delighted to work in partnership with the team at Melbury Lodge, and with the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust more broadly, to deliver this project, and are hugely proud of our dedicated caseworker, who achieves so much for people who are in urgent need of support".
A panel of national judges – made up of notable figures across the healthcare sector – will now come together to select the winners of this year’s awards. These winners will be announced at the awards ceremony taking place on Monday 14 October 2024 – when healthcare leaders, finalists and MPs will come together to celebrate the immense contribution which healthcare staff make to the NHS.
This shortlisting is one of two nominations from Southern Health which have been successful in this year’s NHS Parliamentary Awards, the other being the Isle of Wight Podiatry Team in the category Excellence in Primary Care and Community Care Award.