The Annual Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards celebrate all of the hard work that is taking place in mental health service across the country. This year the Positive Practice MH Collaborative have successfully shortlisted Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust for two awards.

The Trust’s Rapid Intervention and Treatment Team (RITT) have been shortlisted in the ‘Older Adult Functional Mental Health Services’ category for their commitment to providing a robust older adult mental health community service which focuses on keeping people well at home and avoiding preventable hospital admission.
James Harper, Allied Health Professional Lead at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:
“I am delighted that the Rapid Intervention and Treatment Teams have been recognised nationally for the Older People’s Mental Health Award at the National Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards. Being shortlisted for this award really does highlight the dedication of our staff working in Older Peoples Mental Health and the high quality care and service that they provide.
“We work extremely closely with our partners in the Mental Health Collaborative and hosted a fabulous ceremony here in Lancashire last year. We are so pleased to be involved again this year and are looking forward to hearing about all the fantastic examples of positive practice that are taking place across the county and to celebrating with everyone on the evening.”
The Eating Disorder Service has also been shortlisted for the ‘Community Mental Health Services for Eating Disorder’ category, for innovatively embedding a GP into the service, which has resulted in better outcomes for service users.

Local GPs were struggling to meet the demands of physical health monitoring for service users, and also lacked the specialist knowledge as they may only see one or two cases per year. The service decided that it would be beneficial to have their own GP to enable them to successfully manage both the physical health and psychological health of service users with eating disorders.
reduced risks around communication between the service and GPs, and sped up the process of monitoring service users.

Dr Karen Seal, Clinical Lead in the Eating Disorders Service Team at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:
“We are really excited to have been shortlisted for this year’s Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards for this piece of quality work that breams with innovation and has transformed the way healthcare is delivered to people struggling with eating disorders. The service has proved to be a great success in supporting people with some excellent results and outcomes. The nomination also recognises all the hard work our truly fantastic team of dedicated and caring staff have put into the service, and the energy they provide for improving and driving forwards positive changes for people with eating disorders right across Lancashire. This passion enables us to provide a tailored plan of support and care to ensure they receive the very best care for them with a great outcome.

“Anybody can develop an eating disorder and so it is really important that we educate people around the illness so that they’re equipped to seek help either for themselves or for someone around them that is suffering. As a service we welcome self-referrals and would encourage anyone struggling with an eating disorder, or worried about someone, to get in touch.”

The ceremony is organised by the Positive Practice in Mental Health Collaborative, a user led multi agency collaborative of seventy-five organisations, including, NHS Trusts, CCG’s, Police Forces, third sector providers, front line charities and service user groups.
For more information about the Rapid Intervention and Treatment Team please visit http://www.lancashirecare.nhs.uk/med...nt-older-adult or for the CAMHS Eating Disorders Service awards visit http://www.lancashirecare.nhs.uk/eat...people-service. The winners will be announced at the prestigious ceremony at Liverpool Football Club on the 11 October 2018, for more information about the evening please visit http://positivepracticemh.com/.
Notes to editors:

The RITT service provides an urgent response to those in crisis and is able to provide a same day response, with flexible visits up to four times per day. The service utilises pharmacological interventions where needed but is recovery focused promoting the use of non-pharmacological and psychoeducational techniques. The service covers people living in their own home and those who are in care homes as well as supporting people in hospital to receive safe and timely discharges.

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust was established in April 2002 and authorised as a Foundation Trust on 1st December 2007. The Trust provides health and wellbeing services for a population of around 1.5million people. The services provided include community nursing, health visiting and a range of therapy services including physiotherapy, podiatry and speech & language. Wellbeing services provided include smoking cessation and healthy lifestyle services. The Trust specialises in secure, inpatient and community mental health services.

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust covers the whole of the county and employs around 7,000 members of staff across more than 400 sites, working with a multitude of partners to provide health & wellbeing services. The Trust’s vision is to provide high quality care, in the right place, at the right time, every time. To find out more about the Trust, its services and innovations visit www.lancashirecare.nhs.uk

The Trust also uses social media to promote events, involvement and job opportunities as well as general news and updates. You can find us at:
Twitter: @LancashireCare
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LancashireCare