As identified through the meetings attended by Derbyshire Voice Service Receiver Representatives.

 

·      Once again we are hearing concerns from inpatients that the ‘named nurse’ system isn’t working well, some patients say they often don’t know who their ‘named nurse’ is, that there isn’t a deputy if the named nurse is not on shift and they don’t have enough time with them.

 

·      We are still concerned about unfilled posts within Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (DHCFT), particularly within the Occupational Therapy Department, if this is part of the overall strategy for efficiency saving they are making, we are concerned that this may impact negatively on the capacity of this department and therefore the service provided to patients.

 

·      We are continuing to raise the concern about how individuals and groups, that represent service receivers in mental health, will be supported financially and practically to have ‘a voice’ within the new Clinical Commissioning groups (the organsiations that will replace the Primary Care trusts and take over commissioning after the NHS reforms).

 

·      We were, again, concerned about the relatively poor results for DHCFT regarding the application of the Care Programme Approach highlighted in the recent Patient Survey Results. We will be requesting further information on how DHCFT plan to improve future results, the experience of patients and the use of care plans by staff.

 

·      Linked to the previous point, a key meeting that deals with the Patient Survey has been reduced and will now only meet 6 times a year.  Considering the poor results of the recent survey, we feel it is vital that this meeting continues to meet every month to plan and direct improvements.

 

·      There are concerns about the long-term negative effects of anti-psychotic medication and how research is used by doctors prescribing this to patients to inform the decision to start or maintain patients on this form of treatment.

 

·      Following a recent 3 month audit by DHCFT into seclusion on some inpatient wards, we feel further work is needed due to some of the indicative findings such as: over 35% of patients secluded were from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, plus, the mandatory staff and patient debriefs were not recorded.

 

·      The Representatives that attend a meeting about Spirituality with DHCFT have voiced some concerns about the changing leadership and administrative support for the meeting. This is not reflective of the dedicated people that attend it.

 

·      We have heard about additional support around sleep patterns being offered to patients on the older adults ward, we welcome this and would like to see it extended on to adult wards.