Northumberland Tyne and Wear Service User and Carer Network
Friday 19th July 2013, Community Centre St George’s Hospital Morpeth
In attendance –
Alisdair Cameron (Chair) Team Leader Launchpad/ Co-chair NTWSUCN
Mish Loraine (minutes) Regional Co-ordinator NEt/ Co-chair NTWSUCN
Margaret Adams South Tyneside Carers/ Blissability
Helen Clay Development Worker Mental Health Matters
Angela Glascott Engagement Officer NTW NHS Trust
Terence Haley Peer Support Worker NTW NHS Trust
John Johnson Peer Support Worker NTW NHS Trust
Joe Lewis Development Worker Crossroads Care
Bex Moody Peer Support Worker NTW NHS Trust
Chauntelle Pattison Peer Support Worker NTW NHS Trust
Miranda Petersen Peer Support Worker NTW NHS Trust
Bill Scott Development Worker Mental Health Matters
Kirk Thompson
Denise Toward Peer Support Worker NTW NHS Trust
Jenny Redshaw North of Tyne PALs
Stephen Wedderburn Launchpad Volunteer
Alisdair welcomed everyone to the meeting and a round of introductions took
place.
Apologies
Jane Noble, Steve O’ Driscoll, Steve Nash, Kathryne Wray, Sheila Weddell, Denise Porter,
Julia Minto, Matt Coyle, David Wisdom, Jayne Guppy, Nicola Armstrong, James White,
Sharon Gibson, John Whitehead, Craig Lynch, Paul Johnson, Guy Tindale , Aidan Moesby
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Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes were agreed as an accurate record with the following amendments;
1. Bill requested that when talking about activities for World Mental Health Day in
South Tyneside the phrase ‘Mental Health Month’ be removed.
2. Joe requested that in the Carers’ section regarding the Triangle of Care it was added
that a single star can be achieved via self-assessment.
3. Replace ‘Stewart Mitchell’ with ‘Stuart Mitchell’ under the PD news and network
section
Carers
Joe updated on the South of Tyne Carers’ Liaison Group, originally the group was
sponsored by the old South of Tyne Mental Health Trust and then by The NTW
NHS Trust. In austerity times this support has had to be withdrawn, the Trust has
undertaken to still provide meeting rooms but has found it a struggle to provide a
room on the first Wednesday of each month, the Trust is now saying it can offer a
room but will have to give very short notice as to which room it will be.
Margaret added that the group were now looking to organise a room themselves.
Margaret then updated re the Trust’s workshops where service user and carer views
were being sought, however it was quite a demand on people’s time as they were
asking for people to give five full days of their time for each pathway.
Alisdair asked what others thought and Helen said she had booked herself in for just
a couple of days of one workshop. Margaret felt that the demand on carers was
unfair as workers feel unable to put this sort of demand on unpaid carers.
Angela asked what people saw as a way forward? Perhaps following the intensive five
day workshops with days to consult with service users and carers, Angela felt there
were conduits for involving carers.
Alisdair stated that it was hard to see what workers and service users and carers
would get out of the process and that had it been directed from Sandra’s team the
consultation would look very different.
Angela reported she had met with James Duncan regarding this work and if service
users and carers are not there the clinical mass will take over, we need to be there
to influence. Margaret updated that the South of Tyne Carers’ Liaison Group were
looking at how to approach The Trust, and have had a meeting with Gillian Fairfield
and Caroline Wild.
Helen felt The Trust could have been more creative, for example by going out and
visiting user and carer groups in their own areas. Alisdair made the point that taking
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consultants out for this length of time would have required planning, therefore The
Trust could have given users and carers more notice.
Margaret made the point that the work around the introduction of the Initial
Response Teams was superb practice and the end result was these services are
working well, there is a stark difference in this new round of consultation. Alisdair
observed that there was no organisational memory of what has or hasn’t worked in
the past.
Alisdair felt there was a pandemic going round the NHS as a whole with a political
ideology behind it looking to destabilise and open the door to private sector
provision. Helen felt part of the problem was new people working who don’t know
the best practice for involvement. Alisdair made the point that we need continuity to
avoid bad practice and embrace what works.
Complex needs
Alisdair shared that there was a pot of money from the Big Lottery dedicated to
work on complex needs. The definition of complex needs in this instance being
people who have at least two out of the following issues; Mental Health Problems,
Drug and Alcohol, homelessness and experience of the criminal justice system. The
North East was one of the areas identified for this piece of work, in particular
Newcastle and Gateshead. The work is being led by The Cyrenians in conjunction
with Mental Health Concern and Aquila Way.
A series of Workshops are being held on the 29th July as follows;
10am-11.15am Lifeline (drug and alcohol)
11.45-12.45 Lifeline (women only)
2pm-3pm Brunswick Methodist Church
4pm-5pm Basis@366
Joe asked if the information had been circulated to people with complex needs and
Alisdair explained that this was an ongoing project which was just beginning.
North East together
Mish updated that there would be a full network meeting of North East together on
Wednesday 31st July at St Cuthberts Hospice
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with buffet lunch at 12 noon, meeting held from 1pm to 3pm. Refreshments and
travel expenses would be provided on the day.
Group of Groups
Alisdair explained that there was a plan to establish a group for group facilitators and
people who want to set up new groups, this could provide ‘peer support for peer
support’, share best practice amongst groups, look at how to work with related
groups e.g. Drug and Alcohol, learning disabilities, visual impairment etc and work
out what models work and don’t work.
Alisdair said he would send out a doodle for expressions of interestand also ask
people to Email him suggestions for venues, Angela suggested just holding the first
meeting at Launchpad (soup kitchen) and this was agreed.
Peer Support Workers News
Angela updated that the workers were all coming to the end of their 3 month
induction and were now being given placements to various pathways/divisions with
the exception of Neuro Rehab. The workers are contracted to a 24 hour week and
initial one year contract so it may be difficult to find permanency.
Alisdair added that he had met with Sandra Hutton to discuss drawing up a
memorandum of understanding between The Trust, NTWSUCN and The Voluntary
Sector.
John added that some of the peer support workers had visited the Recovery College
in Nottingham and there was hope to get something similar off the ground in The
North East, the only difficulty was that within a 24 hour week workers need to be
on the wards too. There is hope that the posts are sustainable and hours will be
increased.
Angela stated that the team need to meet core objectives for example PD Pathways
but whilst meeting objectives they will identify needs. There is a need to manage
expectations. John said the workers will need to meet expectations with little time
which can be hard. Angela added that the Trust are working on publicity and the
type of intervention peer support will provide. Miranda asked in regards to the third
sector what peer support projects were out there? Alisdair said this differed
geographically and that there was no definitive database. Helen and Margaret
suggested looking at The South of Tyne wellbeing directories and the wellbeing
website. Bill asked if any of the Citizen Journalism books were left and Joe promised
to forward Bill some copies.
PD News and Network
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Alisdair updated that 2 people from the PDNUNS group are going to a two day
event on groups and peer support in Leeds, hopefully they will come back and share
the knowledge, Angela felt this would feed into the Group of Groups work, finding
best practice and lessons learnt.
Interdisciplinary projects
Alisdair shared that the people behind the ‘Hearing the Voice’ event will be attending
the next World Mental Health Day planning meeting. The organisers (who also
organised Alice in Bed) are putting in a bid for some film projects looking at mental
health from a literary or historical perspective, not just around hearing voices but all
aspects of mental health. The plan is to break down barriers around mental health,
such as diagnosis, profession etc.
The work is being led by Leigh Weatherall-Dixon who led the recent Shipley Art
Gallery exhibition and Guy Austin who is a professor of Film Studies.
Time to Change/ World Mental Health Day event
Alisdair also updated on The World Mental Health Day joint event with Time to
Change on the 5th October at Grey’s Monument Newcastle. All are welcome and
there is capacity for organisations to share stalls. There will be a mental health village
with 7 tents including a village green, post office and tea shop, at the last planning
meeting it was agreed not to have themed areas.
Joe asked if Time to Change would have any money to support the Gateshead event
on the 12th October? Alisdair said this was likely but Joe would need to speak to
Angela Slater from Time to Change. Alisdair added that at the Newcastle event
there will be pots of money to pay for some publicity for smaller groups. The next
planning meeting is on 5th September at Launchpad.
Northumbria University Pathways Research Project
It was shared that Nicola Armstrong will be presenting the research project at a
conference in Verona later this year.
Groups New and news
Alisdair shared the details of the following groups;
Song writing group- Meets at Newcastle and Gateshead Arts Studio (NAGAS) every
Thursday from 1pm to 5pm in the music room.
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Self-Injury Group- meets monthly at Crisis Skylight on a Saturday morning from
10am to 12 noon; next meeting Saturday 10th August.
Mish shared that discussions were taking place to relaunch Pride in Mind, a social and
support group for LGBT people with a mental health problem.
Upcoming events/ future planning/AOB
Bill shared that the next Adult ADHD support group would be held in the seminar
room at Collingwood Court. Bill said the group had been receiving some support
from The Trust in the shape of Tony Quinn and Sarinda Patel. The group meets on
the third Monday of the month at 6.15pm.
Bill also shared that South Tyneside Mental Health User Voice will be holding a
meeting on The Bedroom Tax. Jayne Guppy who is the manager of Moving Forward
South Tyneside has been planning to set up a welfare rights drop in at the service
and the STMHUV meeting will launch these sessions.
Helen said that Jane Noble had asked her to feedback on an event that was held in
conjunction with Andrew Clifton of Northumbria University. The feedback has been
mainly discussed at this meeting before, some small focus groups were also held.
There is a need for regional co-ordination on this issue. One of the ideas coming
from the meeting was to set up a group to disseminate and provide information as to
what services can be provided to people.
Alisdair said that he has contacts and there needs to be co-ordination of what’s
going on/what’s out there. Alisdair said he would look to the Mental Health Concern
work around welfare reform training for GPs which will be done in conjunction with
Newcastle and Gateshead’s CABs. Alisdair suggested that Jane and Helen could feed
into this work.
Alisdair added that a Launchpad member is a consultant who could lead on the
training of how to fill in assessment forms for ATOS. Margaret asked how this would
be targeted and Alisdair replied that the member does this already and would roll it
out further. Helen shared that Sunderland MH User Voice were wanting to work
more widely with GPs and this could be a way forward. Alisdair believes GPs will be
very keen for this training.
Alisdair and Joe than updated on the work of the Newcastle and Gateshead Alliance.
The Alliance are trying to work out a matrix with 7 key challenges;
Access, Service Transition, Dementia, Prevention and Early Discharge, Urgent Care, Physical
Health and Complex Needs. There are also six key principles; Be Bold Be Brave Be
Creative, Right Person Right Time Right Place, Improving Quality and Experience, Safety and
Effectiveness, Carer and User Focussed Outcomes, Engagement and Involvement, Equality
and Diversity.
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Margaret shared that the next South of Tyne and Wear Carers’ Liaison Group will be on
Wednesday 7th August 12pm to 3pm at Sunderland Carers Centre. There will be a
discussion around the staff consultation on the closure of Bede Wing which Russell Patton is
leading. Margaret would like to know more as this will have a massive impact on users and
carers in South Tyneside.
Alisdair asked if there was any interface locally between mental health and Public Health.
Helen said that in Sunderland it was best to Email Jackie Nixon, Mish said the best contact in
Gateshead was Paul Gray and Margaret suggested for South Tyneside the best route in was
via The Positive Mental Health partnership, contact Mark Overton.
Kirk explained he was trying to embed mental health across various metrics and also link
into Time to Change. Kirk added that in the Public Health strategy for Newcastle mental
health is throughout but not explicit.
Alisdair made the point that in the future we could see one Local Authority for the whole of
the North East.
Meeting closed 2.30pm
Date and Time of next meeting
Friday 16th August 12.30pm to 2.30pm
Moving Forward South Tyneside
8 Derby Terrace, South Shields
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