We are pleased to introduce you to our annual
report for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health
NHS Foundation Trust for the nine month period
from July 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009.
This report represents the work carried out, not
throughout the whole year, but during our first
nine months in operation as an NHS Foundation
Trust. This is because our Trust was granted
Foundation Trust status on July 1, 2008 by the
independent regulator, Monitor and we are now
known as Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health
NHS Foundation Trust. A separate report covers
the early part of the 08/09 financial year.
A considerable amount of work was undertaken
to prepare our Trust for Foundation status which
involved a rigorous process of external
assessment. We would like to extend our sincere
thanks to every single person whose commitment
and hard work has contributed to our success.
Throughout the period, we have continued to
demonstrate our commitment to making sure
people with mental health problems receive swift
and appropriate treatment in the best possible
setting to suit their needs. To support this, we
made changes to our operating structures this
year resulting in services becoming aligned to
programmes of care in three clinical divisions
rather than being focused on geographical PCT
district boundaries. These changes have ensured
that service users can be assured of a common
approach to their care, regardless of wherever
they present, and further strengthens levels of
quality and safety.
During 2008, our commitment to investing in
services came to fruition when we saw our new
National Centre for Mental Health: Birmingham
open to service users. The centre, which includes
the Barberry and Oleaster buildings, provides
some of the most prominent mental health
services in Europe. Our service users, carers and
staff are extremely pleased with the modern,
fresh and calm environment created for them.
The second part of the development, our Zinnia
centre, also opened to service users during 2008
and delivers modern mental healthcare right at
the heart of a multi-cultural community.
Furthermore, our staff and the services they
provide were recognised this year when they
scooped various national awards. Staff from our
Meriden programme won a prestigious Health
Service Journal Award for mental health
innovation and Dr George Georgiou, from our
Bridge Project in Solihull, won the coveted BUPA
award for patient safety and was also named as
public servant of the year in the Guardian Public
Service Awards.
The staff survey this year provided us with a
valuable method of understanding the views of
our workforce. The results highlighted a number
of key areas where we have seen improvements,
including an increase in the number of staff
receiving training in equality and diversity; a
reduction in work-related stress, and a decline in
the percentage of staff who say they have
experienced physical violence from patients or
their relatives in the past year. In other areas,
where we have made some changes, results
continue to show that we still rate unfavourably
Welcome from our chairman
and chief executive
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Chief executive Sue Turner and chairman Peter Marquis celebrate achieving FT status.