Partnership Matters - April 2009

Kent and Medway 

NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust 

matters 

partnership 

The newsletter for staff of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust 

A Right Royal Do! 

matters 

As Patron of the College of Occupational Therapists, The Princess Royal, Princess Anne was guest of 

honour at KMPT’s recent occupational therapy professional development conference organised by 

Debbie Bray, Trust Lead for Allied Health Professions and Linda Hughes, Eastern & Coastal Directorate 

Lead OT. The conference focused on bringing together clinicians, managers, service users/carers, 

academics and policy makers to explore the central role of occupation in the restoration and 

maintenance of health and wellbeing. 

Arriving by helicopter the 

Princess was welcomed by 

Deputy Lord Lieutenant 

Edwin Boorman before being 

escorted in a convoy to the 

conference venue at Kent 

Invicta Chamber of 

Commerce. 

Trust Chairman, Peter 

Smallridge formed part of the 

small welcoming committee 

which included civic 

dignitaries including the 

Mayor of Ashford, Kent 

County Council Chairman 

and the local Ashford MP. The 

Princess was then introduced 

to almost 40 of the Trust’s 

occupational therapists, as 

well as some service users 

and carers. 

Chief Executive Erville 

Millar opened the conference 

by welcoming the Princess 

and proceeded to outline the 

work being undertaken in 

Kent in dealing with 28,000 

clients with problems saying, 

“We respond to demands and 

focus on putting people on 

the road to recovery and 

enabling them to take control. 

Without occupational 

therapists who facilitate 

peoples’ recovery and 

passage back to employment 

and to achieve as much as 

they can for themselves to 

help them get the most out of 

life, we would not see the 

success stories that happen 

everyday in our services.” 

The Princess addressed the 

conference, validating and 

endorsing the valuable 

contribution of occupational 

therapists in responding to 

increasing demands of 

people with mental health 

and learning disability 

problems saying, “I am 

APRIL 2009 

INSIDE THIS ISSUE 

Dementia Strategy 

Creating Capable Teams 

Approach 

The Neuro Nutters 

Triathlon Team 

AND MUCH MORE… 

pleased to come to Ashford 

and support Occupational 

Therapy in Kent. The issues 

of mental health are one of 

the most difficult areas to 

work in and knowing how to 

make a difference allows 

people to participate in 

everyday life. OT gives 

people an ability to manage 

their own lives and the real 

value and key, is to assist and 

understand the need to be 

able to make choices and 

increase independence.” 

Dee Christie, chairman of 

the council for the College of 

Occupational Therapists 

concluded the Princess’s 

address by thanking her for 

her inspirational message. 

There followed a series of 

presentations by speakers 

from the Department of 

Health, Leeds Metropolitan 

University, and the College of 

Occupational Therapists, an 

Expert by Experience, as well 

as a workshop facilitated by 

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 

Top left: Meeting the delegates. Bottom left: The Princess addresses the conference

Contents: 

PAGE 3 

News 

PAGE 8 

Creating Capable teams 

Approach 

PAGE 9 

Marketing 

PAGE 10 

Dementia Strategy 

PAGE 12 

KMPT Staff Learning 

Awards 

PAGE 13 

National News 

PAGE 14 

Patient Feedback 

PAGE 15 

Recovery at Trevor Gibbens 

Unit 

PAGE 16 

Major Projects 

PAGE 17 

Learning & Development 

PAGE 18 

IM&T 

PAGE 19 

ePEX 

PAGE 20 

Dates for your Diary 

Lottery/Take a Break 

For information about our 

services, visit our website: 

www.kmpt.nhs.uk 

KMPT Headquarters 

35 Kings Hill Avenue, 

Kings Hill, West Malling, 

Kent ME19 4AX 

Telephone: 01732 520400 

Fax: 01732 520401 

Designed by Baines. 

The views and opinions in this 

publication do not necessarily reflect 

the policies of Kent and Medway NHS 

and Social Care Partnership Trust. 

Editor’s introduction 

As we go to press, we are deep into our FT application assessment and in the process of 

electing governors to the Trust’s Council of Governors. Once complete these important 

processes will leave the Trust in a strong position for the future. It will be interesting to see how 

the newly elected governors settle into their roles. The success of the staff in these important 

posts will be in many ways determined by how you as staff work with your elected governors. 

All staff need to make use of the governors and use them to make your voice heard. Similarly you 

can also encourage your service users and carers to make use of the publicly elected governors 

in the coming months. I hope you enjoy this edition of Partnership Matters, which includes some 

interesting features on the Dementia Strategy and Creating Capable Teams, as well as the very 

latest news about your Trust. 

Adrian Lowther, Head of Communications and Marketing 

Contact the Editorial Team 

If you wish to contact the Editor of Partnership Matters, you can do so by writing to Trust HQ, 

35 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4AX, by emailing 

communications@kmpt.nhs.uk or calling 01732 520441. 

About the Trust 

Kent and Medway Partnership 

Trust was established on 1 

April 2006. It provides mental 

health, learning disability, 

substance misuse and other 

specialist services and was 

formed as a result of a merger 

between two predecessor 

NHS trusts in East and West 

Kent. Service provision is 

mainly organised through 

three geographical service 

directorates which are 

coterminous with the three 

Primary Care Trusts: West 

Kent, Eastern and Coastal, and 

Requests for information 

Please remember that all 

requests for Information, 

including those from service 

users, carers, police, solicitors 

etc, must be sent immediately 

to the Information Rights Team 

at 35 Kings Hill Avenue, West 

Malling, for response. 

The Information Rights Team 

deal with all requests for 

corporate information under the 

Freedom of Information Act, and 

requests for personal 

Medway. In addition, the Trust 

operates a range of specialist 

services across Kent and 

Medway, including the 

Forensic Mental Health 

Service. 

The Trust boundaries are in 

line with those of Kent County 

Council and Medway Council. 

Serving a population of 

approximately 1.6 million 

people, the boundaries 

incorporate areas of affluence 

and severe deprivation and 

include both rural areas and 

large conurbations. 

information about service users 

and staff under the Data 

Protection Act and the Access 

to Health Records Act. 

As you may know there are 

many instances when 

information MUST or MUST 

NOT be released to those 

outside the Trust. The 

Information Rights Team will 

ensure that all legal 

requirements are met in order to 

ensure that safety and 

The Trust works in 

partnership to provide 

responsive and dependable 

services to the communities 

we serve in Kent and Medway. 

It aims to provide hope, 

recovery, well-being and social 

inclusion, individual choice and 

independence through high 

quality care and environments; 

services that are safe, 

sustainable and stigma-free 

and a culture of development 

and continuous improvement, 

taking account of ethnicity, 

culture and gender. 

confidentiality of staff and 

service users is preserved. The 

team can provide advice to staff 

who are unsure whether 

information should be disclosed 

and to service users who wish 

to access information. Ad hoc 

training to teams is available 

on request. 

For further information 

please contact the team 

on 01732 520447. 

2 Kent & Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust Partnership Matters April 2009

News 

A Right Royal Do! Continued from page 1 

KMPT staff and a lecturer 

from Canterbury Christ 

Church University. These 

looked at the opportunities 

nationally and locally, current 

and future, for occupational 

therapists to contribute in a 

meaningful way to recovery 

from mental distress and to 

CAMHS “book” a spot in the Library 

In 2008, Tunbridge Wells 

Child and Adolescent Mental 

Health Services developed a 

book lending service, 

however as we only had 

limited supply there was often 

not enough available. 

Following a discussion within 

the team, the idea to work 

with the local library to see if 

they could help was 

developed. Subsequent to the 

discussion; a joint initiative 

CAMHS, based at the 

Homeopathic Hospital, and 

the Kent County Council 

Library in Tunbridge Wells has 

resulted in Tunbridge Wells 

library increasing their supply 

of specialist books to help 

families manage the 

difficulties arising from 

emotional and mental health 

issues for young people. 

The service was launched 

during the half term week in 

February at Tunbridge Wells 

Library with the books being 

put on display for families to 

view. Throughout the week, 

staff from Tier 3 CAMHS were 

on hand along with 

representatives from some of 

the services that support 

young people and their 

families such as the SSKY 

Project, the 16+ team, Tier 2 

Lead Nurse, Connexions, 

KCA, Breahthrough and 

Fegans to offer information 

and advice. 

Speaking about the 

initiative, local Child and 

Adolescent Mental Health 

Team Manager, Paul White, 

said, “This is an excellent 

resource for families and will 

help them develop a deeper 

understanding of the problems 

some young people 

experience as well as helping 

with coping strategies. There 

is help available from 

professional services but 

learning about mental illness 

and understanding it better 

can really help both families 

and the young person. Not 

only did the week at Tunbridge 

Wells library provide us with 

the opportunity to make good 

contact with the public but 

also to strengthen the 

relationships between the 

agencies in attendance.” 

Customer Services 

Fraud Awareness – the Results 

The results of the annual staff 

survey to assess the level of 

fraud awareness within the 

Trust and the impact of 

Counter Fraud work have just 

been published. The survey is 

held in accordance with the 

Secretary of State Directions 

and the Counter Fraud & 

Corruption Manual and is 

conducted by Andrew Ede, 

the Local Counter Fraud 

Specialist. Questionnaires 

were delivered to 1400 

randomly selected staff 

across all Trust sites and the 

number returned was 657 

equating to a 47% return. In 

2007/08 the same number of 

questionnaires was 

issued with a 40% 

return. The 

questionnaire 

was designed to 

provide analysis 

ensure the maintenance of 

wellbeing, as well as an 

understanding of the current 

evidence base, linking 

occupation and health. Marie 

Dodd closed the day and 

clinicians went away with a 

responsibility to ensure a 

return to occupationally 

with regard to Fraud 

Awareness; Fraud Awareness 

Publicity and Reporting 

Procedures. 

Findings show that 86% of 

staff is aware of the NHS 

Counter Fraud Service which 

is a small increase on 

previous years and continues 

the upward trend. However, 

the need for continuing to 

develop and provide fraud 

awareness training was 

identified with only 28% 

stating that they had attended 

a fraud awareness 

presentation. The findings 

also provide ongoing 

assurance that publicity 

campaigns to highlight 

the work of the Counter 

Fraud Service are having a 

consistent impact with 67% 

stating they had read 

articles regarding Fraud in 

focused practice. 

Delegates were delighted 

that the Princess took time to 

visit to the Trust before 

heading off to her next 

engagement with the Olympic 

Committee at Canary Wharf. 

From the feedback received 

many commented that they 

the NHS; 64% had seen 

Fraud & Corruption Reporting 

Line Posters; 40% had seen 

counter fraud information on 

the Trust Intranet site and 

52% had read the ‘Fraud 

Matters’ newsletter. 

With regards to Reporting 

Procedures the majority of staff 

– 93% - said they would report 

any suspicion of fraud, mostly 

to their Line Manager which is 

consistent with the previous 

year’s findings and 55% had 

read, or are aware of, the 

Trust’s Counter Fraud Policy. 

Overall the 2008/09 findings 

are consistent with previous 

years and provides an 

ongoing assurance that the 

Counter Fraud function is 

embedded within the Trust 

and that a real anti-fraud 

culture exists which seeks to 

felt the Princesses’ 

contribution made them feel 

valued, recognised and raised 

the profile of OT within the 

Trust. 

Debbie and Linda would 

like to extend grateful thanks 

to all those who helped make 

the day such a success. 

Development Librarian Susan 

Rogers said: "We work hard to 

listen to customers and 

provide the right books for 

each area and we are 

delighted to have been able to 

support local families 

experiencing mental health 

issues by making information 

available through the library." 

It is hoped this initiative will 

be the first of many similar 

projects across the region. 

prevent and deter potential 

fraudsters and increase the 

likelihood of detection. As 

part of the Counter Fraud 

Annual Work Plan for 2009/10 

action will be taken to ensure 

levels of awareness are 

maintained and improved 

upon and that the issue of all 

managers receiving fraud 

awareness training be 

addressed. 

The South Coast Audit 

would like to thank all staff 

who participated in the survey. 

Full details of the report can 

be found at 

http://staffzone.kmpt.nhs.uk/ 

counterfraud 

Kent & Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust Partnership Matters April 2009 3

News 

The Trifle Group 

The Trifle group is a multi issues he recognised how 

agency forum that meets mental health and children’s 

every 6 weeks to discuss services would often become 

issues that may arise within polarised in their service 

service provision that relate delivery. A situation frequently 

to the needs of children. exacerbated by a lack of 

The group was initiated by communication and a 

Nick Esson, a social worker misinformed mindset 

within the Dover / Deal regarding each specialism. 

enhanced mental health Nick identified a need for a 

team as an attempt to more unified multi agency 

provide an interface 

response to families where a 

between mental health and parent suffers from a mental 

children services. 

health problem and sought to 

Prior to working within the address this need by co – 

Dover locality Nick was facilitating the Cake Group at 

employed as an Approved Poultons Family Centre, 

Social Worker within the Dover. That is the official 

Social Services County duty version. In reality he wanted 

team and operated as a to ensure that his weekly 

generic social worker 

calorie count was maintained 

addressing the needs of all by attending a regular source 

recognised client groups. As of doughnuts and other cream 

a result of his involvement filled pastries. 

with several child protection The Cake group was a 

success (and Nick gained 

several pounds), however the 

group was only scheduled to 

operate once a year. (Fearing 

that his weight gain may soon 

dissipate) Nick identified a 

need for a more eclectic 

forum which would include 

both the private and statutory 

sector. It was his hope that by 

facilitating a forum that 

endeavored to promote a 

seamless response to service 

users he would also develop 

greater access to cream 

based foodstuffs. Hence The 

Trifle Group was born! 

Nick decided to call the 

forum Trifle as he felt that 

there was more to an 

individual than just their 

presenting need. His analogy 

being; ‘there is more going on 

than just jelly & custard’. In a 

rational moment Nick will 

Learning and Disabilities leaving do 

There was a rousing farewell party to mark the departure 

of the Learning and Disabilities service from the Trust on 

Thursday 26th February in Gillingham as it moves 

forward to becoming a more independent organisation. 

The journey for change started back in the mid 1980’s, 

away from hospitals such as Leybourne Grange, Darenth 

Park, Lenham and Princess Christian. The Government put a 

lot of money into Maidstone’s Health & Social Services to 

create smaller settings for people and enable greater 

independence. 

Over the years many faces have come and gone. Many 

buildings and services have also changed with clients living 

in houses and bungalows across towns like Maidstone, 

Dartford, Gravesend, Tonbridge and surrounding villages. The 

specialist services that many other people now also have 

access to, such as Physiotherapy, SALT, OT, Psychology, 

Psychiatry, Community Nursing and activity/day services all 

began around that time. 

These services have also seen changes over recent years 

and continue to undergo change to make sure everyone gets 

the right health services when and if needed, be it now or in 

the future. 

From the mid 1980’s many good things developed, setting 

the agenda for change and the step that Learning and 

Disabilities is making now is equally as groundbreaking. 

Chief Executive Erville Millar joined in the celebration and 

said,”The ‘Valuing People’ work has rightly pushed for 

everyone to have much more independence, choice and 

rights as individuals and to not be just part of the NHS or 

Social Service. Across Kent, and not just for the Trust 

pontificate that the term Trifle 

not only depicts how a 

combination of different 

ingredients can become a 

beautiful thing, but also keeps 

delectable foodstuffs on the 

agenda. 

The forum is provided at 

Coleman House Dover and is 

primarily attended by 

representatives from Social 

Services Children’s Services, 

CAMHS, Health Visitors, Drug 

and alcohol services, 

Community Psychiatric 

Nurses, and Psychiatric 

Social workers. Over the last 

18 months it has been an 

appropriate forum to discuss 

referrals, seek advice, offer 

case presentations, develop 

practical strategies for joint 

working, and consume some 

of the finest cakes known to 

mankind. 

services, a lot of new organisations will now provide support 

packages and although many of the current staff will keep 

working within Learning and Disabilities, there will also be 

many new staff to help too. I wish you all good luck for the 

future and thank all the staff who have worked for the Trust in 

helping to support Learning and Disabilities over the years.” 

The party went with a swing 

Staff and residents from 

Oakapple Lane 


News 

Testing time for 

Neuro Nutters! 

It’s not often that a whole Service can 

boast of everyone taking part in the 

same sporting event but the three 

members of staff that comprise the 

East Kent Neuropsychology Service at 

Buckland Hospital in Dover are doing 

just that! Dr Chris Strydom, Dr 

Jennifer Dean and assistant 

psychologist Izzy Biggin have signed 

up to take part in the relay section of 

the South Coast Triathlon on Saturday, 

15th August. 

All three share a common love of sport 

and decided to pool their respective 

talents to form The Neuro Nutters 

Triathlon Team. Izzy explained, ‘From the 

age of 9 until I was about 21 I used to 

take part in tetrathlons which involved 

cross country running, cross country 

horse riding, swimming and shooting and 

then at university I decided to take up 

rugby and still train once a week in 

Canterbury, so sport has always featured 

highly in my life. However, my brother is 

a triathlete and he gradually roped me in 

and knowing that Chris had cycled 

competitively in his native South Africa in 

‘Aiming for Change’ 

A very successful event took place for Black and Minority 

Ethnic women on 28th January at Woodville Halls in 

Gravesend. There were over 90 attendees, the vast majority 

from the South Asian communities in North West Kent. 

There was much enthusiasm and engagement by the 

women in discussing their concerns and experiences of 

gaining access to mental health care. 

The event was coordinated and delivered by KMPT in 

partnership with Rethink and Invicta Advocacy Network, with 

Gravesend BME Event – the conference was 

well attended 

the gruelling Cape Argus 

Cycle Tour and Jennifer is a 

dedicated swimmer I realised we had a 

relay team in the making!’ ‘We thought it 

was a great idea,’ enthused Chris, 

‘although the three of us will be 

competing, our secretary Debbie 

Delbaere will play a supporting role for 

the event so it really is an excellent teambuilding 

exercise for the whole Service! 

We’re also using it as an opportunity to 

raise money for Headway, a charity that 

supports people with a brain injury and 

one which we come across regularly in 

the course of our work.’ 

Jennifer will start the event with a 

1500m open water swim off Seaford 

Beach followed by Chris undertaking a 

40km bike ride and Izzy completing the 

final part of the event with a 10km run. 

Each currently follows their own training 

plan; Jennifer swims a mile several 

mornings a week in Maidstone before 

going to work; Chris cycles every 

weekend and regularly clocks up over 26 

miles in every session while Izzy is in 

training for her first solo triathlon in May 

The Neuro Nutters (l to r) Chris, Izzy and Jennifer 

so the signs are good! And if signs were 

needed, then perhaps I should mention 

that on the day I met the team at their 

office, Dover experienced an earthquake! 

Head of Communications and 

Marketing Adrian Lowther is also a very 

committed runner and would literally like 

to give the Neuro Nutters a run for their 

money and is appealing to any swimmers 

and cyclists interested in creating 

another team to give him a call. ‘It would 

be great if the Trust could put two teams 

forward for this event and with a staff of 

4,000 I’m hoping there may be a 

swimmer and cyclist out there who’ll 

want to join me in taking part.’ So, the 

gauntlet has been thrown and anyone 

interested should call Adrian on 

01732 520441 or email 

communications@kmpt.nhs.uk 

The Neuro Nutters have set up a ‘Just 

Giving’ account and ask that if you 

would like to sponsor them and raise 

money for Headway please go to the 

link www.justgiving.com/neuronnutters 

funding from CSIP. It saw the launch of a report ‘Aiming for 

Change’ published by Rethink which the partnership group had 

produced to review mental health service access for Black and 

Minority Ethnic women in west Kent. The report made a number 

of recommendations from the national and local evidence which 

were then discussed and added to by the women on the day. 

The report emphasised the importance of improving collection 

of ethnicity data across the health community. 

The themes from the report and the event were about 

improving understanding of and access to GPs, 

particularly women GPs; the importance of 

having a specific trans-cultural counselling 

service; investment in community engagement 

with other BME communities such as Chinese 

and refugee/ asylum seekers; improving 

confidentiality and safety, and reducing stigma. 

An action plan will now be developed to take 

this valuable work forward in improving access 

to mental health services for women from the 

BME communities across Kent and Medway. 


News 

Evening Lectures 

at St Martin’s 

A series of free evening lectures is held at St Martin’s 

Education Centre, Canterbury on Tuesday evenings from 6pm 

to 7pm during the year (with the exception of August) on a 

variety of subjects. The lectures carry one CPD point subject 

to peer group approval and although anyone with a keen 

interest is welcome to come along, places are limited and 

advance booking is required. Doors open at 5.30pm and a 

light buffet is available. 

Forthcoming lectures include: 

q 28 April: Belief in Care 

Rev. Peter Richmond, Chaplain at St. Martin’s 

q 12 May: Patient Attitudes to Dementia Screening 

Dr Chris Fox, Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry 

Please note: this is for Clinicians/Doctors only 

q 26 May: Treatment of Bipolar Disorder 

Dr George Umoh, Consultant in Adult Psychiatry 

q 9 June: Maintaining Professionalism - What is 

Professionalism 

Dr Ram Seth, Joint Director of Medical 

Education/Consultant Psychiatrist/Barrister 

If you know people who would like to attend please pass 

this information on, we’re keen for as many people as 

possible to learn about these lectures. 

To book on our lectures, please email suz.laker@kmpt.nhs.uk 

along with the following details for ALL people who would 

like to come: 

q Name 

q Job Title 

q Contact Phone Number 

q E-Mail Address 

q YES or NO to receiving an attendance certificate 

- these will be emailed the day after the lecture 

q YES or NO to being added to the lecture email 

notification list 

PLEASE NOTE, when you book you will receive an e-mail 

notification. If you cannot make the lecture PLEASE let us 

know so we can offer your space to someone else. Due to 

health and safety, we have now capped bookings at a 

maximum of 70 people and we don’t want anyone missing 

out needlessly! 

Please check our website for information on KMPT and 

Postgraduate Centres: 

http://www.kmpt.nhs.uk/NetsiteCMS/pageid/658/index.html 

Pssst! 

Been to any good 

conferences lately 

Would you like to share your learning 

with your colleagues 

Then why not volunteer to write a summary of the conference 

you attended for the Kent Journal of Mental Health 

The exchange of ideas and new research is an important 

aspect of any job and understandably not everyone can get 

to a conference that just might make a difference. We are 

looking for volunteers willing to write a brief outline on the 

conference they attended detailing what it was about and 

the conclusions drawn. Articles are needed 

for the 4th edition of the Journal so hit that 

keypad now and email to 

kentjournal@kmpt.nhs.uk or call 

Lesley Van-Beveren on 01322 622222 

Wanted! 

Peer Reviewers! 

Have articles you read in the Kent Journal of Mental 

Health inspired, encouraged or motivated you 

Perhaps it raised more questions than it answered 

Either way it would be good to hear your views! We 

need more Peer Reviewers and in particular, 

those from OT/Allied professions. Why not look 

at past issues of the Journal by visiting 

www.kmpt.nhs.uk/kentjournal for encouragement 

If you feel you could be a Peer Reviewer please email 

kentjournal@kmpt.nhs.uk or call Lesley Van-Beveren on 

01322 622222 


News 

Tribute to Dr Eileen Clarke 

It is with great sadness that we write 

in tribute to Dr Eileen Clarke, who 

passed away, unexpectedly, on 10th 

March 2009. 

Eileen started her career as a Medical 

Officer in the Army and came to work for 

the Trust 25 years ago as the Senior 

Clinical Medical Officer of a fledgling 

Community Learning Disability Team. 

Having worked closely and tirelessly with 

others, she later became the Team 

Leader of the robust service that had 

evolved. More recently, she became the 

Acting Consultant and Medical Lead in 

Learning Disability Services. 

Over the years, many of us got to 

know Eileen very well, and it became 

evident that at work she was the same 

as in her personal life: generous, 

humane, hard working, knowledgeable, 

fun-loving; a caring person who had a 

wonderful sense of humour. 

Eileen had an acute sense of her 

patient’s needs and distress. She fought 

to make sure they got the help they 

needed both directly as a clinician and 

as a service developer. Recently Eileen 

had been working hard to secure funding 

for Medical Staffing in the East of Kent 

and to recruit staff to these posts. A 

week before she died she found that her 

extensive efforts had been fruitful - 

clients in East Kent are finally going to 

get the significant medical resource they 

need. 

Eileen’s caring nature and humanity 

extended to her colleagues too. If 

anybody was struggling with work, or 

some aspect of their personal life, she 

always took an interest and was there to 

assist both with advice and practical 

help. 

Eileen was generous and hard working, 

often grafting all the hours God sent. 

Although, clear that her family came first, 

if a patient or colleague was in difficulty, 

she would go out of her way to help, in 

the knowledge that at that time, this 

person needed her more. 

Eileen was a genuine person who 

made a positive difference to her family, 

her patients, and her colleagues. Many 

people have been shocked and 

saddened by Eileen’s untimely death and 

have sent messages reflecting the 

significant impact she made. For the 

person she was and for her commitment 

to her work, on behalf of clients and 

colleagues, we are truly grateful. 

Foundation Trust Update 

Election results due. Have you 

cast your vote 

As Monitor continue to assess the 

Trust in the final phase of the Trust’s 

Foundation Trust application, the 

results of the elections to appoint staff 

and public governors are due any day 

now! 

Elections 

As this edition of Partnership Matters 

was going to print the elections to 

appoint 4 staff and 20 public 

governors were well underway. Staff 

and public governors will play become 

part of the Council of Governors. 

Governors will act as a channel of 

communication between staff and the 

Trust and local communities. 

Critically, staff governors will 

represent the views of staff! 

They will sit alongside governors from 

partner organisations, such as the police, 

universities and local business leaders. 

The Council of Governors will not be 

involved in the day-to-day running of the 

Trust, but will play a key role in shaping 

the services that we provide for the 

people of Kent and Medway. 46 public 

members are standing for election in four 

constituencies and 10 staff are standing 

in the four staff constituencies. 

The staff standing for election are: 

• Nick Dent 

• Terence Huckstep 

• Martin Owen Hunter 

• Phil Anscombe 

• Audrey Dudman 

• V M Mathew 

• Jeannette Phillips 

• Timothy Green 

• Sarah Hodge 

• Khaled Kassem-Toufic 

Every candidate has a statement about 

their reason for standing published 

online at: www.kmpt.nhs.uk/membership 

All staff are automatically members of 

the Trust and are therefore able to vote, 

unless you have opted out, so cast your 

vote now and help get the right person to 

represent you! Election results will be 

published on Tuesday 21st April and 

you’ll be able to find out who won, and 

learn a bit more about your governors in 

the next Partnership Matters. 

Monitor Phase 

It will not have escaped anybody that 

since the start of March the Trust has 

been in the final assessment phase of its 

Foundation Trust application, which is 

carried out by Monitor. So far the 

process has gone well and the Trust 

Board would like to thank every member 

of staff who has made a contribution to 

the process to date. It is hoped that over 

the next few weeks the Trust will 

complete this assessment phase and be 

authorised as a Foundation Trust. 


News 

The Most Capable of Teams 

In a quiet corner of South 

West Kent there is a 

remarkable approach to 

service change and 

modernisation underway 

and it is involving service 

users, carers and staff. 

The Creating Capable 

Teams Approach (CCTA) was 

born out of the New Ways of 

Working programme, 

introduced in 2003 to change 

the practice of the workforce 

and develop extended roles 

beyond the scope of current 

professional practice. The 

Care Services Improvement 

Partnership wanted to pilot the 

CCTA and acute adult mental 

health services in South West 

Kent stepped forward to take 

on the challenge. 

They set about building on the 

NWW programme which; 

• Identifies issues the 

workforce faces 

• Works to have the right 

skills in the right place 

• Ensures skilled staff are 

used effectively 

• Aims to ensure teams’ 

capabilities and 

competences meet service 

user and carer needs 

• Supports the introduction 

of new roles 

CCTA builds on this approach 

and; 

• Is an off the shelf structured 

tool with five steps 

• Defines workforce focus 

• Supports the integration of 

NWW & new roles within 

teams 

• Works within existing 

resources 

• Supports teams to review 

their service 

• Involves service users and 

carers throughout the 

process 

• Identifies the skills and 

capabilities a team needs 

to meet service user needs 

• Enables staff to consider 

opportunities and 

flexibilities new roles offer 

• Teams become proactive 

in reviewing their service 

• Takes a bottom up 

approach 

• Produces a team profile 

and action plan 

“….the changes that get made as a result of implementing the approach are not 

all revolutionary. But, the fact there are so many modernisation initiatives 

underway at once is impressive.” 

The approach has five very 

clear steps: 

Step One - 

Preparation and ownership 

Step Two - Team function 

Step Three - 

Service user and carer needs 

Step Four - 

Creating a needs-led 

workforce 

Step Five - 

Implementation and review 

The whole approach relies on 

an open and self critical 

assessment and is also a cost 

neutral process so there needs 

to be degree of creativity in 

your thinking. It is also clear 

that the changes that get 

made as a result of 

implementing the approach 

are not all revolutionary. But, 

the fact there are so many 

modernisation initiatives 

underway at once is 

impressive. But perhaps the 

most impressive thing is that 

everyone (service users, 

carers and staff) is signed up 

to the work and there is 

understanding, clear common 

goals and local ownership. 

As Acute Care Service 

Manager Gwen O’Brian 

explains, “The desire for 

change and improvement was 

shared by everyone. Service 

improvement and change 

meant looking at what we do, 

who we served and the roles 

and skills we had in place. 

This process showed us we 

had 300+years of staff 

experience and 51 service 

user and carer years.” 

The service user and carer 

involvement processes may 

be considered best practice in 

themselves. Job descriptions 

were drawn up, the roles 

advertised and people 

appointed to be a part of the 

team. 

Gwen goes on, “The early 

stages of the process gave us 

a much clearer and fresher 

view of the needs of service 

users and carers. Similarly, we 

gained a better understanding 

of the skills and learning and 

development needs in the 

team. 

The approach has seen the 

team look to combine a whole 

series of initiatives and 

develop an action plan that 

tackles them all at once. 

Paul Hayler, South West 

Kent CRHT Team Leader, was 

clear it was not easy, “Despite 

the challenges it has had a 

positive impact on the 

service.” 

“It hasn’t been a perfect 

process but if others 

implementing it can learn from 

what we’ve done they will find 

it smoother.” 

An example of one of the 

changes forming part of the 

action plan is the aim to have 

pharmacy input to all teams. 

This is move hugely supported 

by Trust Chief Executive Erville 

Millar, who said, “The impact 

of access to pharmacists can’t 

be underestimated. It has to 

be part of the redesign of 

services and an increase in 

clinical pharmacists across all 

Trust teams is part of the 

Trust’s medicines 

management strategy.” 

The team that have been 

involved in looking at the 

service’s set up and the range 

of skills within have been quite 

critical of themselves and the 

processes they followed. They 

have been big enough to 

acknowledge where 

improvements, that would 

improve the approach, could 

be made. As carer 

representative Keith Jennings 

explains, “CCTA is a long and 

detailed process and without 

being open and frank with 

each other it wouldn’t have 

succeeded. It is however clear 

to me we needed more carers 

to be involved.” Service user 

Linda Riley also made an 

invaluable contribution and 

was just as clear on her 

thoughts about the approach 

taken, “We felt our input was 

vital. I’ve never worked with 

professionals in such a 

detailed way before. We did 

learn lessons and I think that a 

bit more help in the 

workshops to enable service 

users to participate as well as 

others may improve this even 

further.” 

32 staff from across the 

acute care service were 

involved the project. As with 

The CCTA action plan is still being 

implemented and includes the 

following initiatives: 

• Physical “Wellbeing” Programme 

• Carers Information Pack 

• develop carers support 

• Service User Information Pack 

• Exemplary Discharge Planning 

• Relapse Indicator discussions with 

service users and carers 

• Care Planning Audits 

• BME Needs Assessments 

• Better employment needs 

understanding and action 

• Improved catering within in-patient 

service 

• Develop ‘Approved Mental Health 

Professionals” 

• Develop pharmacist post 

• review the changing role of the admin 

staff 

• clarify the roles and responsibilities of 

STR workers 

• develop a process to support service 

users and carers during home leave 

and initial discharge 

• develop/increase the participation of 

service users and carers in staff 

training 

• review operational policies 

• Implement the “Buddy Scheme” 

• review workforce capabilities profile 

and implement staff development 

• develop staff skills in medication 

management and dual diagnosis 

• develop a directory of resources / self 

help 

• improve links with other agencies 

many projects, some were 

reluctant to sign up at first but 

those who didn’t sign up soon 

felt like they were missing out 

on something. 

With the performance of 

acute services in South West 

Kent being impressive already, 

the service will go from 

strength to strength as they 

implement the initiatives 

outlined. Thanks to CCTA 

there’s no doubt that it is a 

case of when not if! 

Read More: 

http://www.newwaysofworking 

.org.uk/ccta.aspx 

The team presented their 

work to an audience of staff, 

senior management, carers 

and service users at Whitbread 

Hop Farm on Tuesday 26th 

January 2009. 


Marketing 

Marketing – What’s in it for you 

We are embarking on a new and exciting journey in the life 

of our Trust and the NHS. The Trust, as a member of the 

NHS family, benefits greatly from the power of the NHS 

brand. The NHS is the most powerful, most recognised and 

most admired organisation in the UK and one of Britain’s 

greatest achievements of the last 100 years. 

However, we are now facing increasing commercial pressures 

and competition from service providers who are trying to win 

contracts we currently hold to provide mental health services 

across Kent and Medway. These competitors are after our 

business and we must fight them if we are to continue to grow 

and improve the services we provide to all our communities 

across Kent and Medway. We have the people, experience, 

resources and sense of vocation to take them on and win in 

this marketplace. 

Marketing is central to our ability to succeed in the new, 

increasingly commercial and competitive healthcare 

marketplace. Marketing helps us understand what our users 

want and what they value most about our service. It helps us 

decide how best to communicate our values and offer 

outstanding services at competitive prices to cover our costs 

and deliver a surplus that can be invested back into improving 

services to our communities. 

I have the honour of being the first marketing manager ever 

appointed by the Trust. My role at this time, as we move 

towards becoming a Foundation Trust is to work with you to 

make sure that we compete effectively and win against our 

competitors. I also help train colleagues in marketing concepts 

and techniques so that they become self-sufficient and even 

more creative in the way they market their services to users, 

Funny money 

Geoff Hufton and colleagues from the 

Legal and Corporate Service teams 

were ‘doing something funny for 

money’ on Friday 13th March to raise 

money for Comic Relief. 

Geoff did the honours by serving 

colleagues with a mouth-watering 

selection of cakes and teas and coffees 

and got into the spirit of the occasion by 

donning a red nose and apron. The 

cakes were baked and donated by Legal 

Services Assistant Louisa Tucker, PA 

Gemma Duffy and Complaints Assistant 

Claire Gilchrist and raised a very worthy 

£160 for the cause. 

Geoff’s tea 

trolley of 

temptation 

stakeholders, commissioners 

and external agencies. 

The third component of my 

role is to help instil culture 

change within the Trust so 

that we are all more business 

Did you 

know… 

…that we are responsible 

for providing footage for 

the Mental Wellbeing 

section on the Health 

Channel at Kent TV 

Kent TV is the free internet 

tv channel for Kent led by 

Kent County Council and run 

by Bob Geldof’s independent 

media company Ten Alps. If 

you have not yet had a look 

then please visit 

www.kenttv.com and see if 

you recognise anyone! The 

Communications Unit is 

looking to make some further 

short films for use by Kent TV 

and welcomes your input. So, 

if you see yourself as a 

budding documentary maker or simply 

have an idea for a short film to promote 

mental health wellbeing that you would 

like to discuss, please contact Adrian 

Lowther in the Communications Unit on 

01732 520441 or email 

communications@kmpt.nhs.uk It’s 

Marketing Manager Khaled 

Kassem-Toufic 

aware and more tuned to market conditions so that we are 

competitive, responsive and more dynamic – better able to 

deliver value and improved service to the good people of Kent 

and Medway. 

The Trust is a wonderful place to work. Colleagues have been 

most supportive and impressive in their dedication and 

professionalism. I have been welcomed with open arms 

although there has been a great deal of curiosity as to exactly 

what marketing is all about in the context of the NHS. 

We have so much going for us, we are potentially unbeatable. 

I arrive at the Trust after a career of more than 25 years 

working as a commercial manager and consultant in the IT and 

finance industries in the UK and abroad. I have previously set 

up my own management consultancy business and helped 

many organisations focus on marketing as an essential 

business function and build marketing plans to support their 

business objectives. 

Please contact me if you want to find out more about marketing 

or wish to run a marketing clinic in your part of the business. 

Khaled Kassem-Toufic 

Your Marketing Manager 

khaled.kassemtoufic@kmpt.nhs.uk 

01732 520400 ext 4685 

important we use every channel of 

communication open to us (yes, pun 

intended) to promote what we do and we 

know there’s a wealth of talent out there 

so do get in touch. 


Dementia 

Living well with dementia: a 

National Dementia Strategy 

At the start of February 2009 the government published one of the most eagerly awaited health strategies in years. The 

National Dementia Strategy might be considered one of the most important pieces of work for the future of our ageing 

population’s health. Here we take a look at how this will affect KMPT’s work and consider the positives and, potential 

shortfalls, of the strategy. 

The National Dementia 

Strategy, which is backed by 

£150 million of investment in 

the first two years, will increase 

awareness of dementia, ensure 

early diagnosis and 

intervention and radically 

improve the quality of care that 

people with the condition 

receive. Key proposals include 

the introduction of a dementia 

specialist into every general 

hospital and care home and for 

mental health teams to assess 

people with dementia. 

To be clear, it is important to 

understand that Dementia is 

an illness caused when parts 

of someone’s brain stop 

working properly. Despite 

extensive research the causes 

are not yet understood. 

There is no cure for 

dementia, which gets more 

common with age. Once a 

person has dementia they will 

get worse over time until the 

end of their life. However, 

people who have dementia 

can often have good quality of 

life for a number of years. 

People with dementia have 

problems with: 

• thinking clearly 

• remembering things 

• communicating 

• doing day-to-day things 

like cooking or getting 

dressed. 

People with dementia may 

also have problems like: 

• being depressed 

• mood swings and 

aggression 

• wandering or getting lost. 

There are several different 

types of dementia. The best 

known is called Alzheimer’s 

disease. Some people use 

‘Alzheimer’s disease’ to mean 

all the different types of 

dementia. If dementia is 

diagnosed early enough, there 

are lots of things that can be 

done to help people overcome 

the problems and to improve 

their quality of life. This is 

where the National Dementia 

Strategy is focussed. 

The Strategy is the 5-year 

plan, which was developed 

Dementia Fact File 

• 700,000 people have dementia in the UK 

• Most people with dementia are over 65 years old 

• there are at least 15,000 people under 65 who have the 

illness 

• People with learning disabilities are at particular risk. 

• The number of people with dementia in minority ethnic 

groups is about 15,000 but this figure will rise as 

populations get older. 

• Dementia is becoming more common and the cost of 

looking after people with dementia is going up. 

• By 2038 there is likely to be 1.4million people 

• The estimated cost of dementia is £17bn and will rise to 

£50bn by 2038 

• The Government has identified dementia as a national 

priority. 

with the input of 4,000 people 

at 50 events and with 600 

replies to the consultation, is 

aimed at: 

• People with dementia 

• Carers 

• Health and social care 

professionals 

• Anyone affected by 

dementia 

The Strategy has 3 key 

steps to improve the quality of 

life for people with dementia 

and their carers: 

1) Ensure better knowledge 

2) Ensure early diagnosis 

3) Develop services 

Ensure better knowledge 

There is a lot of ignorance 

about dementia. This 

ignorance is not only among 

the public, but also among the 

people who provide services. 

Many people do not realise 

that there are ways of 

supporting and treating 

people with dementia. In fact, 

if there is a diagnosis early 

enough, a lot can be done to 

help with the symptoms and 

to help people to cope. 

One of the key messages in 

the Strategy is the need for 

better education and training 

for professionals. 

It is clear that this work is 

not only the responsibility of 

the Trust and its staff. As with 

so much of the work outlined 

in the strategy, this can only 

be achieved by working in 

partnership. Everyone can 

play a role in improving 

knowledge but colleagues in 

the PCT’s health promotion 

and public health teams are 

central to this work. Working 

together we can also help to 

run GP awareness events 

which will keep them well 

informed about services and 

improve their understanding 

of dementia care. 

Ensure early diagnosis 

At the moment, we think that 

only about a third of people 

with dementia ever have a 

proper diagnosis. When 

people see specialist services, 

it is often too late in their 

illness. This means that the 

illness will have got worse and 

the chance of improving their 

quality of life is less. 

So it is very important to: 

• Have an early diagnosis 

• Give people the 

information needed as 

early as possible 

• Start support and 

treatment as early as 

possible 

Currently only a third of 

people with dementia receive 

a formal diagnosis at any time 

in their illness. When 

diagnoses are made, it is 

often too late for those 

suffering from the illness to 

make choices. Alternatively, 

diagnoses are often made at a 

time of crisis, a crisis that 

could have been avoided if a 

diagnosis had been made 

earlier. In Kent we are already 

clear that our work has to 

concentrate on ensuring that 

effective services for early 

diagnosis and intervention are 

available in future. This is 

something that is not just our 


Kent and Medway 

NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust 

Staff Survey Results 

2008 

Findings of the sixth annual survey of NHS staff 

have just been published. Believed to be one of 

the largest surveys of staff in the world, the 

2008 NHS Staff survey questionnaires were 

completed between October and December by 

160,000 workers from all 390 NHS Trusts. 

The aim of the national staff survey is to gather 

information that assists Trusts in the provision of better 

care for patients through improved staff morale and 

motivation. The information gained over the last few 

years provides a valuable insight into the values and 

perceptions of the Trust workforce and is a recognised 

tool to support HR interventions to make a real difference 

to patient care. 

The following pull-out highlights the results from a KMPT 

perspective and the overall response rate was 66% which 

ranked KMPT as one of the top performers for response 

rates. Approximately 850 staff selected on an anonymous 

basis were involved in the survey and the results are 

presented with a comparison to the Trust’s 2007 results 

and with other Mental Health Trusts and PCT’s with Mental 

Health services that use the same survey provider. There 

were several questions included for the first time in 2008. 

The results are broadly similar to 2007, although there are 

small improvements in many areas and a few areas where 

there has been a significant reduction in the scores. 

The vast majority of respondents are aged between 41 & 

65 and have worked for the Trust for over 3 years in a 

face to face contact role with service users. This is 

representative of the workforce as 66.5% of staff 

employed in the Trust are in this age category. 

Some of the areas the survey examined showed that: 

j Staff are in broad agreement that the Trust is 

committed to helping balance their work and home 

life and is open to discussions surrounding flexible 

working 

j There is an improvement from 2007 in the level of 

access to training & development and a high 

percentage that access training via e-learning 

j Rates of access to training in infection control, IM&T 

skills and service user information/medication have all 

improved 

j The majority of staff work in a team that has clear 

objectives and meets on a regular basis to discuss 

effectiveness and improvement 

j The majority report that they have adequate materials 

to do their jobs and are able to do their job to a 

standard that they are pleased with 

See over for more detailed analysis of the survey findings.

Staff Survey Results 2008 

2008 Staff Survey - Detailed Results 

TOP FOUR 

RANKING 

SCORES 

j KF20. Availability of hand washing materials 

j KF10. Percentage of staff using flexible working options 

j KF6. Work pressure felt by staff 

j KF1. Percentage of staff feeling satisfied with the quality of work and 

patient care they are able to deliver 

BOTTOM 

FOUR 

RANKING 

SCORES 

j KF7. Percentage of staff working in a well-structured team environment 

j KF30. Percentage of staff agreeing that they understand their role and where it fits in 

j KF2. Percentage of staff agreeing that their role makes a difference to patients 

j KF15. Percentage of staff appraised with personal development plans in last 12 months

The results shown here are just some of the key findings from the 2008 Staff Survey. There are 

detailed reports available online that all staff can view. To see the full reports and the full action 

plan online at: http://www.kmpt.nhs.uk/staffsurvey 

WHERE 

STAFF 

EXPERIENCE 

HAS 

IMPROVED 

j KF12. Percentage of staff receiving job-relevant training, learning or 

development in last 12 months 

j KF20. Availability of hand washing materials 

j KF6. Work pressure felt by staff 

j KF8. Trust commitment to work-life balance 

2008 Staff Stress Survey 

The results of the Trust’s 2008 Stress Survey have also now been published. The survey of stress at work was undertaken in 

May 2008 and used a self-assessment tool developed by the Health and Safety Executive. The survey considers the 6 

Management Standards of Demands, Control, Managerial & Peer Support, Relationships, Role and Change. 

In total 1519 completed surveys were received, equating to 39.9% of the total workforce. The results against the 

management standards are: 

The honest truth is that progress against the performance registered in the 2006 survey has been poor but there is a 

commitment to act on these results. A summary of the action plan for the Staff Survey can be found over the page and 

additional action that will address the issues arising from the Staff Stress Survey will be featured in the next issue of 

Partnership Matters. 

The full stress survey results can be found online at: http://www.kmpt.nhs.uk/stresssurvey

Where do we go from here 

The HR & Remuneration Committee has approved an action plan which will ensure the issues raised by the survey are 

addressed effectively. It will also take responsibility for monitoring progress. 

Action Plan and Target Dates 

‘Neither agree nor disagree’ – this was a recurrent 

response throughout the survey and in particular to the new 

questions for 2008. The Trust needs to establish a genuine 

agreement or disagreement in order to act on results and 

make the improvements that are required. In recognition of 

this need and to support a standard operating culture, the 

Trust has commissioned the services of Valuentis, an external 

Consultancy Agency, to run a series of ‘pulse surveys’ through 

2009. The project plan will be drawn up in April 2009 and will 

involve both HR and clinical services. 

Access to Equality & Diversity training almost half of the 

respondents stated they had not had Equality and Diversity 

training. This is disappointing as the Trust covers Equality & 

Diversity at Corporate Induction and has training available 

via e.learning. In 2009 all staff will be encouraged to attend 

this training as it is central to the Trust’s mission and values. 

Appraisals. The levels of appraisal have not improved since 

the 2007 survey. The Trust set an overall performance 

objective to raise the levels of appraisal during 2008/09 

which makes this result of great concern. It is acknowledged 

that a lack of understanding of terminology such as ‘KSF 

review’, ‘appraisal management supervision’ and ‘clinical 

supervision’ for example may have contributed to this. The 

Trust is committed to the principle of regular feedback 

through supervision and appraisal and in 09/10 the target is 

for 90% of all staff to have an appraisal. 

Dissatisfaction with the level of recognition and 

valuing good work This may have a direct link with the 

number or quality of appraisals being conducted. Staff also 

hold the view that communication between staff and senior 

management is not always effective. Greater clarity is needed 

for those who have a direct responsibility for people 

management and it has been suggested that a cascade 

system be implemented to establish this. Further work is 

needed to clarify the people management KPIs which can be 

incorporated as part of objectives and measured through the 

appraisal process. The HR department will be reviewing this 

and making recommendations to the HR Committee by the 

end of April 2009. 

Discrimination on the grounds of race or age a small 

increase has been recorded in the number of staff who have 

reported discrimination. Analysis is being conducted on a 

regular basis by the HR team to establish trends in the level 

of grievances and bullying/harassment that may or may not 

be related to discrimination. The committee will receive 

details of this analysis as part of the standard HR KPIs and 

Trends report. 

In response to the results we will: 

• Review the Staff Suggestion Scheme 

• Hold the Staff Excellence Awards again 

• Hold local staff involvement events in the summer 

• Hold more Back to Front Days 

• Hold Front to Back Days 

• Establish more opportunities to meet the Chief Executive 

and other directors 

• Hold CEO Lunches 

• Establish Director “surgeries” 

• Audit and empower managers to conduct appraisals using eKSF 

• Encourage use of e-learning 

The full action plan can be viewed online at 

http://www.kmpt.nhs.uk/Working_for_the_Trust/Staff_Survey 

/index.html

Dementia 

business but will be the 

product of effective integrated 

work with GPs and other 

services. 

Develop services 

We need to develop a range 

of services that fully meet the 

changing needs of people 

with dementia and their carers 

in the future. People who 

replied to our consultation 

generally agreed on what 

these services should be. We 

will be testing these out, but 

they are likely to include 

things like: 

• GPs working side by side 

with mental health services 

in a hospital 

• GPs knowing how to spot 

the first signs of dementia 

• Having one person who is 

responsible for dementia 

services 

For KMPT it is important 

that we take appropriate 

action and make it clear where 

our market is. There is new 

activity (or services) within the 

strategy and the Trust needs 

to consider whether it wishes 

to break into these markets. 

For example, local 

Commissioner Linda Caldwell 

has already said that Primary 

Care Assessment Services will 

be put out to tender in the near 

future. The Trust will be able to 

bid to run these services, and 

we believe we are in a strong 

position to do so. 

A critical driving factor to 

how services develop will be 

the strategic needs 

assessment that has recently 

been carried out across Kent 

and Medway, work that has 

been led by the lead 

commissioner’s in Medway. 

Another key issue it is 

clearly important not to lose 

sight of is the need for 

comprehensive older people’s 

mental health services, not 

just dementia services. The 

challenge being to provide a 

non-ageist, needs-led service. 

Work is already underway in 

some areas to develop new 

services. For example in 

Medway bids have been made 

to gain funding for a 

dedicated older people’s 

mental health services district 

general hospital liaison team, 

dementia care advisors and 

dedicated primary care mental 

health workers. 

The Current KMPT Position 

It’s clear that the Trust has 

been very aware of the work 

to develop a dementia 

strategy and in some areas 

the Trust is already in the 

process of implementing 

some of the work outlined 

within the strategy. Director of 

Eastern and Coastal Kent 

Mental Health Services, David 

Tamsitt, is clear on the quality 

of the service staff provide, 

“We’ve got some excellent 

practice and we all need to 

work together now to ensure 

there is a whole systems 

impact.” Jon Parsons, 

Associate director for Older 

People’s Mental Health 

Services, is in agreement, “We 

not only need to continue our 

work but should also move to 

protect the whole system 

service we offer, by competing 

for and winning tenders, that 

will ensure we continue to 

provide services on the full 

care pathway.” 

It might be said that there’s 

nothing surprising for KMPT in 

the strategy, which might be 

considered reassuring and a 

sign that our clinicians are 

plugged in to the latest 

thinking and are keeping 

KMPT at the forefront of 

dementia care. However, there 

are some things that we do as 

a Trust which do not feature in 

the strategy. There is little 

focus on intermediate care in 

the strategy, yet we have the 

funding for 3 new home 

treatment services operating 

in Ashford, Shepway and 

Swale from June 2009.These 

teams are very much a core 

part of the service we offer 

and are commissioned by the 

local PCT. In addition, a new 

Hospital Liaison Psychiatry 

Service in east Kent will make 

a significant contribution to 

the improvement of care 

received by older adults with 

dementia in general hospital 

settings. This should be 

operational in the next couple 

of months. 

Perhaps Alison Culverwell, 

Head of Older Adult 

Psychological Services in 

Eastern and Coastal Kent, 

sums up the position KMPT 

finds itself in when she says, 

“There’s no surprises in the 

strategy, but it needs more 

teeth. We’ve been continually 

improving and moving our 

services on, so its not new. If 

we’d been stood still for 15 

years this would be 

revolutionary and a big 

change.” 

Not a perfect strategy 

Despite a warm welcome for 

the strategy from all parts of 

the health community, rarely 

does a strategy completely 

satisfy everyone in full. It’s 

clear that those who manage 

and lead dementia care within 

the Trust feel it could have 

gone further and been more 

specific. 

For example, the strategy 

does not outline a care 

pathway management 

mechanism or framework in 

which to deliver care. There is 

also little to identify the 

timeframes in which changes 

need to be delivered. The 

strategy also has a lack of 

targets and outcome 

measures. The senior 

dementia service managers 

are not just taking shots at the 

work though. They have their 

own ideas about what might 

make suitable measures, 

including; more people being 

diagnosed, less people in 

nursing homes, residential 

care or hospital and measures 

to ensure consistently high 

standards. 

The strategy does identify 

and commit to fund four 

dedicated dementia 

community psychiatric nurses 

per PCT area, but this is a 

blanket approach with no 

regard to size of PCT area. 

Similar to this, all mentions of 

figures in the strategy are 

broad and do not appear to 

be ring-fenced. 

Those interested in reading 

more will find Dr Graham 

Stokes’ article online at the 

following link very interesting: 

http://www.bupa.co.uk/about/ 

html/pr/030209_dementia_str 

ategy.html 

The secret to success 

Critical to a successful 

implementation will be the 

already established Kent and 

Medway Dementia 

Collaborative. This countywide 

group contains health, 

social services and the third 

sector and is currently jointly 

chaired by the Trust and social 

services. It is clearly the arena 

in which true joined up 

partnership working can make 

the aims of the strategy a 

reality, if it is more 

commissioner led in the 

future. 

Associate Director of Older 

People’s Mental Health 

services in West Kent, Peter 

Marsh, is clear there’s an 

opportunity here to be taken, 

“The advent of the national 

contract may also help to 

make commissioners more 

joined up and consistent 

across the county. This is 

another area where the 

Collaborative can help, if it is 

given a formal place in 

governance structures and 

therefore even more 

credibility.” 

To find out more about the 

National Dementia Strategy 

you can visit 

www.dh.gov.uk/dementia 


Awards 

The KMPT Awards Ceremonies 2009 

The 2009 Learning & Development Awards 

Ceremony for West Kent took place on 

Wednesday 19 March at Oakwood House, 

Maidstone followed by the Awards Ceremony for 

East Kent one week later on 25 March at Christ 

Church University, Canterbury. 

Award winners were treated to a buffet supper 

before the ceremony began giving them the 

opportunity to catch up and exchange notes with other 

colleagues who had also completed their studies. 

Before presenting the award winners with their 

certificates, CEO Erville Millar gave a short speech on 

the merits of lifelong learning, congratulated them on 

their achievements and encouraged them to continue 

with their studies. 

Almost 200 people received awards at the 

ceremonies covering a range of attainment from NVQ 

Level 3 to BSc (Hons). The events were organised by 

Danielle Simmonds, NVQ Centre Co-ordinator/Quality 

Assurance Co-ordinator of the Learning Development 

Department. 

To view photos from 18th March 

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/102264788 

To view photos from 25th March 

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/102264860 

Congratulations go to: 

NAME 

Jane Etienne 

Diane Jaques 

Lee Walker 

Lloyd Ramsey 

Leah Scott 

Stephen Mason 

Sarah Fage 

Christine Gordon 

Chris Cutmore 

Debra Pope 

Rajen Murthoo 

Andrew Johns 

Liza Smith 

Stephanie Bacon 

Deepak Deshmukh 

Lalita Jugnarain 

Suniya Kangal 

Jackie Lebrette 

Savitri Ootim 

Claire Gainsford 

Sheila Rungassamy 

Jayne Sheehy 

Elizabeth Annett 

Nora Fosberry 

Vanessa Jeffery 

Beverley Miller 

Steve Overton 

AWARD 

Diploma in Higher Education in 

Learning Disability Nursing 





BSc In Mental Health Nursing 


Higher Education in Mental Health Nursing 

BSc In Mental Health Nursing 

Managing in Health & Social Care 



Managing in Health & Social Care 

Diploma in Higher Education in Higher 

Education in Mental Health Nursing 









Internal Verifier Award 









Assessor Award 





NAME 

AWARD 

Jayne Sheehy 


Jeanette Hodges Assessor Award 

Lee Patten NVQ Customer Service Level 3 

Danielle Simmonds NVQ Customer Service Level 3 

Jog Ale NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Eileen Bates NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Melanie Bushell NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Margaret Dane NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Maxine Doe NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Tracey Down NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Susan Goodhew NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

David Johnson NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Kay Leaver NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Theresa Medhurst NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Daniel Wells NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Anne Marie Brown NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Jackie McGarry NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Patricia Mercer NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Margaret Pleasance NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Derrick Rodger NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Sue Smith NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Satiamoorthy Sunassee NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Vivien Tulett NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Leigh Warren NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Claire Dudbridge NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 3 

Maria Baynard NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 4 

Barbara Brown NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 4 

Beverley Miller NVQ in Health & Social Care Level 4 

Lorraine Hart NVQ in Care Level 3 

Wendy Keeley NVQ in Care Level 3 

Claire Gainsford NVQ in Care Level 4 

Tracy Holt NVQ in Care Level 4 

Michelle Webb 

Accredited Manager’s Award 

Patricia Guest 


Patricia Todd 


Rajinibye Gunnoo Accredited Manager’s Award 

Samantha Davies Accredited Manager’s Award 

Jim Eldridge 

First Line Management Award 


National News 

Working towards 

reducing our 

Carbon Footprint 

Saving Carbon, Improving Health, the NHS 

Carbon Reduction Strategy for England sets the 

ambition for the NHS to drive change toward a 

low carbon society and pinpoints key actions for 

the NHS to take to become a leading sustainable 

and low carbon organisation. 

Dr David Pencheon, Director NHS Sustainable 

Development Unit says the NHS is perfectly 

placed to become an exemplar low carbon public 

sector organisation. 

“The NHS is an internationally renowned health 

service, Europe’s largest employer and a leader in 

local communities across the country. By leading 

by example the NHS can help mitigate climate 

change and improve our health tomorrow, as well 

as today. 

“Carbon reduction is something that needs to 

extend to every part of the organisation. Everyone 

who works for the NHS should be thinking about 

reducing their carbon footprint as part of their day 

job.” 

Trust Chief Executive Erville Millar welcomed the 

NHS Carbon Reduction strategy and said: 

“Sustainable development is important to KMPT 

and we are committed to investigating and 

implementing low carbon and sustainable 

initiatives wherever possible. As always, starting 

with the little things can help make a huge 

difference, for example switching off your 

computer and monitor at the end of the working 

day and not leaving things on standby or switching 

off the lights in your office or meeting room lights 

when no one is using it. The old adage SOS – 

Switch Off Something - is a good start and 

corporately we will be adopting the national 

strategy over the coming months. Over the coming 

year this work will be a priority for the Trust as one 

of our 2009/10 objectives is to become a 

responsible corporate citizen.’ 

The NHS has a carbon footprint of 18 million 

tonnes of CO2 per year and it is the largest public 

sector contributor to climate change in Europe. 

This strategy will help the NHS achieve an 

enormous cut in carbon emissions, a reduction of 

at least 80 per cent by 2050, ensuring it is leading 

low carbon and sustainable organisation and meets 

the Climate Change Act requirements. 

The NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy sets an aim 

for the NHS to initially reduce its 2007 carbon 

footprint by 10% by 2015. This will require the 

current level of growth of emissions to not only be 

curbed, but the trend to be reversed and absolute 

emissions reduced. 

The NHS Leadership 

Awards 2009 

Achieving our shared ambition for putting quality at the 

heart of everything we do will require a renewed focus on 

leadership at all levels of the NHS. Making change actually 

happen takes leadership. Fostering and developing 

leadership that recognises the importance of high quality 

care is central to our expectations for the future NHS. 

Good leaders already exist at every level in many parts of 

the NHS, but making this the standard will require a 

significant shift in both our thinking and our actions. We 

are committed to spreading best practice, fostering good 

leadership at every level and recognising the best leaders 

for today and tomorrow. 

We know there are many examples of good leadership across the NHS 

be it locally, regionally or nationally and our new awards scheme aims to 

showcase these outstanding leaders at every level from across England. 

The scheme is aligned to the National Leadership Council and will 

compliment their aims and commitments by encouraging future leaders 

from all backgrounds reflecting the diverse communities served by the 

NHS. 

The seven categories of awards are: 

k The NHS Leader of the Year 

k The NHS Mentor of the Year 

k The NHS Partner of the Year 

k The NHS Quality Champion of the Year 

k The NHS Change Leader of the Year 

k The NHS Innovator of the Year 

k The NHS Award for Inspiration 

Showcasing your nominations 

Sharing Best practice is central to the NHS Leadership Awards Scheme 

and all short-listed nominations will be digitally showcased over the 

summer. 

Nominations are peer-to-peer 

The awards scheme is an exciting opportunity for you to nominate one 

of your peers for the most prestigious health awards in the country. If 

one of your peers has shown outstanding leadership in one of the 

categories then you should think about nominating them. 

The scheme is for individuals only except for the NHS Partner of the 

Year which is open to teams and organisations. 

Eligibility 

The NHS Leadership Awards Scheme is open to everyone working for, 

or on behalf of, the NHS in England. 

Nominations will be accepted from March to Friday, 15th May 

inclusive. For further information please visit 

www.leadershipawards.nhs.uk 


Patient Feedback 

Service users, their carers, friends 

of our Trust and the public in 

general, are continually helping us 

to improve our services. Sometimes 

these improvements are described 

and published in Partnership 

Matters as individual articles. 

However, up to now there has 

never been a regular feature to 

describe more fully some of these 

improvements and changes. 

We want to correct that and share with 

you some of these service improvements 

and changes so from now on, you can 

expect further updates or ‘snapshots’ in 

future editions of Partnership Matters. 

Janet Lloyd our Trust’s lead on Patient & 

Public Involvement comments, “This is a 

wonderful opportunity to begin to tell our 

service users, their carers and the public 

just how important a part they play in 

improving services”. 

There are numerous ways in which our 

service users help us to improve 

services. These might occur in 1 to 1 

meetings between a service user and 

their doctor; at ward meetings where 

patients meet together with a member of 

staff; through surveys; or through our 

Patient Advice and Liaison service 

(PALS) and complaints. 

Independent patient and carer forums 

based in local communities also provide 

an invaluable resource. Not only do their 

members work closely with our 

commissioners, the Primary Care Trusts 

and the Kent County & Medway Councils 

in highlighting improvement 

opportunities, but through the Trust’s 

Patient & Public Involvement 

Department, they may also be invited to 

participate in Trust meetings, interview 

panels and provide awareness training to 

our staff. 

Trust volunteers are equally important 

in their contribution to improving 

services. Whether it be taking a trolley of 

consumables and toiletries around a 

ward; helping to carry out an inpatient 

satisfaction survey on a ward; volunteer 

driving or raising funds through the 

“Friends”, their input is invaluable. 

Each year, our Trust is required to 

participate in a nationwide patient 

satisfaction survey. As a result of 

feedback, subsequent improvements 

have included ensuring that relevant 

correspondence to those service users 

on standard Care Programme Approach 

(CPA) clearly states that the 

correspondence (letter) is a Care Plan 

and who the patient’s care coordinator is. 

The Trust’s PALS plays an important 

role in helping service users and carers 

sort out any concerns that they might 

have about our services. Feedback from 

PALS’ clients has resulted in many 

improvements to services including: 

• The development of a patient 

information leaflet outlining the rights 

of informal patients (those not 

detained under the Mental Health Act) 

being treated in an inpatient ward 

setting. 

• In various wards, patients complain 

that it is often difficult to identify staff. 

To remedy this situation, staff 

uniforms are now being considered 

on Amherst Ward, Priority House, 

Maidstone and even piloted at Dudley 

Venables House, St Martins Hospital, 

Canterbury. Their uniforms include 

black trousers, & different coloured 

polo shirts denoting staff grade or 

role. 

• Service users and carers have 

demonstrated a need for greater 

clarity around how to request a 

second opinion, when a diagnosis is 

disputed, and also how to request a 

change of consultant or care 

coordinator. Through PALS, the 

Trust’s Medical Management Team is 

taking these issues forward. 

• Patient feedback has also resulted in 

a cash machine being installed at St 

Martins Hospital to enable patients to 

access money, whilst at Priority 

House Maidstone; the patients now 

have the use of a soft drinks 

machine. 

Elsewhere, in the Child & Adolescent 

Mental Health Service, (CAMHS), 

following feedback from its clients, 

outpatient appointment times can now 

be offered both in the early morning and 

evenings. Other changes have resulted in 

more child friendly environments at 

Gatland House Maidstone, and ensuring 

leisure activities are more closely tailored 

to a particular young people’s age group. 

The Trust takes all complaints seriously 

and endeavours to involve the 

complainant wherever possible. An 

investigation is undertaken and a 

response provided offering an 

appropriate apology where applicable, 

indicating the outcome and 

recommendations or actions that might 

be taken to resolve the complaint and 

improve the services provided by the 

Trust. 

Together with the review and 

amendment of relevant procedures and 

further training provision for identified 

staff, recent changes to services have 

included: 

• Setting up a joint working group 

between mental health services and 

Acute Trusts to look at the time taken 

for mental health professionals to visit 

mental health patients in A&E 

Departments. 

• A local protocol has been developed 

for taking messages as a result of 

reported difficulties in communication 

with the Beacon Ramsgate. 

• Replacement flooring following 

concerns raised about the condition 

of the existing floor covering. 

• Review of meal ordering system 

offering greater choice. 

Look out for more improvements to 

services in future editions of Partnership 

Matters, thanks to the contributions from 

our service users, carers and the public. 

OT Karen Hewitt models the new uniform 

which will help patients identify staff 


Lecture 

The Road to Recovery at the Trevor Gibbens Unit 

Recovery is … a deeply personal, unique process of changing one’s attitudes, values, feelings, goals, sills and 

roles. It is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful and contributing life, even with the limitations caused by 

illness. Recovery involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one’s life as one grows beyond the 

catastrophic effects of mental illness’. (Anthony, 1993) 

Recovery is to be emphasised throughout 

the Trust’s service strategy and a key 

principle that needs to be measured as a 

service outcome. At the Trevor Gibbens 

Unit (TGU) the Road to Recovery has 

started being implemented and a Forum 

established with lead service user 

participation. Each directorate identified a 

sponsor for embedding recovery into 

practice. The role of the Forum is to coordinate 

and support the development of 

recovery practice, in particular the core 

dimensions around communication, 

training and outcome measures. 

Our responsibilities are to act as 

“change agents” accelerating culture 

change across the organisation by 

motivating and driving forward changes 

that relate to adapting Recovery 

principles in the following ways; 

• Ensuring directorate service 

developments embrace Recovery 

principles 

• Promote and develop local user 

involvement via local forums 

• Disseminate Trust-wide Recovery 

information to local forums 

Kent and Medway Partnership Trust 

has made a commitment to providing a 

service that is recovery focused and as 

such our primary purpose is to provide a 

service that facilitates Recovery and 

social inclusion. Recovery is about 

regarding ones self not as an illness/ 

label but as an individual with strengths, 

gifts, past, present and future, who just 

happens to currently be experiencing 

some mental distress. At times this may 

be a painful process but it can also be a 

process of self discovery, self renewal 

and transformation. The aim is to ensure 

that services are developed, provided 

and maintained to ensure that those who 

access our service receive support and 

assistance at the right time and in the 

right place, by staff committed to making 

recovery a reality for all. 

Within the principles of Recovery the 

primary aim is for an individual to take 

control, make choices and develop a 

sense of self worth and hope. It is a 

unique process because every individual 

is unique - it is a personal journey. 

Recovery is about engagement and 

inclusion, participating in one’s own 

community, engaging in vocational, 

educational, leisure interests and 

enjoying life. A holistic approach is 

essential in achieving Recovery. 

It was acknowledged that TGU already 

enjoys aspects that are ‘recovery 

orientated’ e.g. farm, patient council, 

activities, community links and 

psychological approaches but equally it 

is recognised that that there is room for 

improvement. A recent audit examined 

the extent to which the male 

rehabilitation and predischarge 

units were already 

recovery orientated and 

identified areas for 

improvement including a 

change of focus from a 

recovery ‘model’ to a 

recovery ‘philosophy’. 

All disciplines have 

provided a list of their 

specific duties and activities 

on the rehabilitation and 

pre-discharge units and 

these will be ‘mapped’ 

against the 24 agreed 

elements of the philosophy 

to see how and if they are 

addressing them. 

Among the groups already in place that 

are recovery focused is the ‘Supporting 

Recovery’ group which has a rolling 

programme of 1 hour weekly sessions 

and all service users are encouraged to 

attend. Comfortable seats and 

refreshments are provided and there is an 

open door policy – if service users miss a 

session they can still attend the next one. 

The Supporting Recovery group aims to 

provide a supportive environment to 

share experiences, reduce social isolation 

and increase self-esteem and selfdirection. 

The group also explores ways 

that participants can begin their ‘recovery 

journey’ by identifying solutions or coping 

strategies. 

The ‘Moving On’ group takes a holistic 

approach that covers the 

medical/biological, psychological, social 

and value based approaches. It is 

centred around the individuals who are 

being supported and the idea is that they 

will know what helps them most, 

therefore the onus is on the group 

participants to identify areas they require 

assistance with. 

The Art Project gives service users the 

opportunity to express thoughts, feelings 

and ideas about recovery through a 

creative outlet. This helps improve 

confidence and self-esteem and social 

interaction as well as task behaviour 

skills. 

To be able to deliver all the aspects of 

the Recovery Model successfully, multidisciplinary 

staff training will be required. 

This will enable individuals to understand 

and adapt recovery influences practice at 

each stage of a patients care pathway 

and collaboratively work with patients in 

pursuing their goals. 

For more information on Recovery visit 

http://www.kmpt.nhs.uk/recovery 


Major Projects 

East Kent Redesign 

CMHS REDESIGN: PILOT UPDATE: 

Pilots around the delivery of secondary 

care liaison have been underway since 

17th November last year. The focus of 

the pilots and indeed the redesign of 

community services as a whole is: 

• Providing timely access to 

appropriate interventions within the 

most appropriate environment. 

• Improving efficiency of service and overall 

effectiveness of service delivered. 

Teams involved have been asked to collate key data around 

referrals; response rates as well as user, staff and primary care 

views. Early feedback has certainly been positive. Here is a 

brief taster of what has been happening in some of the 

localities across Eastern & Coastal Directorate. 

Canterbury & Coastal: They have named workers for each of 

their GP practices in their locality and are providing 

assessments, and advice clinics within primary care settings. 

Relationships between Primary & Secondary Care are 

improving as are the perceptions of users accessing the 

service. Coastal are also currently developing a web based 

resource with KCC detailing what is available locally for people 

with mental health issues as well as links to national websites; 

it is hoped that this will be launched in the near future. 

Thanet: They have 3 link workers attached to 7 surgeries. 

They have received very positive feedback from primary care 

with those not involved in the pilot requesting that this service 

is expanded. Initial data have seen the link workers in the first 3 

months assess 83 people within 1-2 weeks of referral; 38 

discharged, 32 offered follow up appointments and 6 requiring 

ongoing secondary care. Compared with 54 assessments 

completed by 6 staff; response time on average being 6weeks 

over a similar 3 month period. Further analysis is needed but 

early findings are exciting. 

Dover/Deal & Ashford: These localities are working towards 

developing the whole model not only introducing link workers 

into primary care but also improving services delivered by the 

wider community teams so a whole systems approach is 

adopted. They have started working with their teams to prepare 

them for the changes ahead as well as meeting with Primary 

Care. The first phases of this should begin in the next 6 

months. 

Changes as you can see are afoot and are truly exciting. For 

more information please contact the Redesign Team. 

Patients’ views guide Mental Health 

planning in West Kent 

Mental health patients in West Kent have been asked to 

give their views, as NHS West Kent plans mental health 

services for the future. 

On behalf of NHS West Kent, Sevenoaks Area Mind carried 

out a three-month listening exercise in the second half of 2008, 

to find out from people who have experience of mental 

illnesses such as depression or anxiety disorders, what they 

want and need from mental health services. 

Using both a questionnaire answered by individuals, and 

discussion groups, opinions were gathered from approximately 

250 people on how mental health services should be delivered. 

Jason Jongali, Mental Health Commissioner at NHS West 

Kent, said: “We are very grateful to all those who took part by 

filling out the questionnaire or taking part in discussions. The 

results of this survey will play a key role in guiding our thinking 

and our commissioning intentions on mental health services for 

West Kent.” 

The service-users’ questionnaire and discussion groups 

focussed on a selection of key questions looking at: how 

people get information about the support available; access to 

talking therapies; how GPs and others in primary care could be 

best equipped to help; what is needed in a crisis; what helps on 

the journey to recovery, and what services are needed out of 

hours. 

Mr Jongali added: “As we work with partners such as Kent 

County Council to plan mental health services locally, it is most 

important to us to hear the views of the people who use these 

services”. 

Some core themes emerged through this exercise. Of great 

importance to those with mental health problems, and their 

carers, was the desire for understanding and empathy from the 

health professionals they see. The need for consistent contact 

with an individual they could get to know and trust, in the role 

of a 'care coordinator' was also expressed. 

Linda Leonard, of Sevenoaks Area Mind said, “We were very 

pleased to be able to gather this feedback for NHS West Kent. 

By asking us to carry out the research, the NHS enabled people 

who use mental health services to give feedback in the way 

they want to give it – through direct, face-to-face 

communication via existing groups. By going out to our group 

meetings, we were able to ensure a good response to the 

survey for the NHS West Kent.” 

A Mental Health Commissioning Report will be published 

later in the spring. This will gather together feedback including 

the results of the listening exercise and set out plans for mental 

health services in West Kent. 

Updates on progress on the Medway redesign 

programme will be published in June’s Partnership 

Matters. In the meantime visit: 

http://www.kmpt.nhs.uk/medwayredesign 


Learning News & Development 

Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Learning Sector 

The Learning & 

Development Department 

will be running a City & 

Guilds course called 

Preparing to Teach in the 

Life Long Learning Sector 

for anyone in the Trust who 

delivers training and who 

currently does not hold any 

teaching qualifications. 

You can do the course at 

levels 3 or 4 and upon 

completion you can progress 

to a certificate and/or 

diploma in Teaching in the 

Life Long Learning Sector. 

The course starts in late 

September and will run over 

8 weeks, the plan is to run 

this course at least twice a 

year. If you are interested 

and would like further 

information please contact 

kate.stilliard@kmpt.nhs.uk 

Interested in Management 

Courses 

If you are interested in 

undertaking a management 

development programme we 

have three internally run 

courses that might be 

suitable: 

• Award in First Line 

Management – a 6 day 

course introducing the 

fundamentals of 

management 

Have you visited LearningSpace lately 

• Accredited Managers 

Programme – a six month 

programme for first line 

managers developing your 

skills as a manager in 

KMPT 

• Managing Health & Social 

Care Certificate – a year 

long course for middle and 

senior managers wanting 

to explore further the skills 

and theories of 

management and 

leadership. 

Please contact 

amy.draper@kmpt.nhs.uk for 

further information on any of 

the above. 

New to LearningSpace is Serving Food e-learning 

and Implementation of the Mental Health Act (as 

amended 2007) workbook. Both of these can count 

towards your mandatory training depending on 

your job role so give them a go! We are currently 

working hard to build the site and would welcome 

suggestions about what you would like to see. 

Please log on to http://kmpt.nhslearn.com or 

contact clare.marsh@kmpt.nhs.uk for further 

information. 

Issues regarding Confirmation of Training Letters 

We have been informed by some staff 

within the Trust that on occasion, they are 

not receiving confirmation letters sent by 

the Learning and Development Department. 

We cannot get to the root cause of this 

problem but can assure staff that 

confirmation letters are most definitely sent 

to staff, within 7 days of them sending in an 

application form. 

In November 2007, we updated our Internal 

Application Form, to give staff the option of 

how they would like to receive their 

confirmation, by letter or email. We would 

encourage all staff that has access to email, to 

select this option due to the many benefits it 

brings. Firstly, it will allow us to reduce the 

amount of paper the department uses and 

secondly, it will allow us to ensure that all staff 

receives their confirmation letters because we 

have a process to track any letters sent this 

way and can easily copy the information to 

managers. 

We are aware that some staff cannot access 

a computer regularly to check their emails and 

so for these staff please continue to request 

confirmation letters by post. As a way of 

dealing with confirmation letters that may go 

astray, please can we ask you to follow-up 

your application with a telephone call if you 

have not received a confirmation letter to an 

application form you sent in more than 14 

days ago. We will then be able to confirm your 

booking over the telephone to ensure you have 

the correct information. 

In The other process that we put in place in 

March 2008 was to give the option of the 

manager to receive the confirmation instead of 

the individual – see bottom of the application 

form on the link below – please note that 

whoever receives the confirmation letter 

assumes responsibilities for informing the 

other of the details. 

http://staffzone.kmpt.nhs.uk/NetsiteCMS/pa 

geid/273/index.html (go to learning and 

development forms) 

Any staff wishing to request information on 

something they are booked onto can also 

email training@kmpt.nhs.uk 

If you have any suggestions, comments or 

further issues, please email Emma Matthews 

on emma.matthews@kmpt.nhs.uk 

BME Band 5-7 

Master Class 

The South East Coast SHA 

is running a series of BME 

Band 5-7 workshops across 

the South East Coast local 

health economy. Although 

the workshops are primarily 

aimed at BME Band 5-7 

staff, they are considering 

applications from staff that 

fall outside this group. 

Please note priority will be 

given to BME Band 5-7 staff. 

For further information on 

dates and venues, please 

visit our website: 

http://www.southeastcoastb 

estofhealth.nhs.uk/home/ac 

ademy/talentmanagement/breakingthrough-masterclasses/ 

Below is a list of the 

courses that are being offered 

as part of this programme and 

I have attached an up to date 

list of local coordinators who 

are hosting the events locally: 

• Presentation skills - two day 

course 

• Project & Report Writing 

skills 

• Commissioning 

• Interview skills - two day 

course 

• Influencing and 

communication skills 

• Finance for non-finance 

managers 

In the past there have been a 

number of no-shows from 

those who booked to attend 

courses and as a result of this, 

courses are running below full 

capacity. A significant amount 

of commitment put into these 

master classes in terms of 

finances and extra resources, 

for example local co-ordinators 

taking on additional 

responsibilities by organising 

and hosting the events locally - 

so if registered participants are 

unable to attend, please notify 

the local coordinator as soon 

as possible so that your place 

can be filled by somebody else 

on a waiting list. 


ePEX 

Trust Goes Live with ePEX 

Thursday 12 March 2009 was a big day for KMPT and for 

the ePEX Project Team too as the Trust went live with the 

new, enhanced version of ePEX. 

Congratulations rightly go to the IM&T Information Team and 

others who worked tirelessly to ensure that migration to the 

new system went to schedule so the March Go-Live date could 

be met. 

Staff have been brilliant too, attending workshops, 

collaborating on current state assessment work, engaging in 

specific pieces of work that needed specialist input and, 

perhaps most important of all, finding the time to attend ePEX 

training. Each one of you has played an important part in 

making Go-Live happen and should feel rightly proud of your 

achievements. 

Supporting colleagues in the east 

Although ePEX is a new version of 

an existing system we recognised 

that for our colleagues in the east 

of the Trust it was the launch of a 

brand new system; for some people 

this proved to be a bit of a daunting 

experience. To help overcome 

some of the initial difficulties being 

experienced we provided extra on-site support and 

training. This proved enormously popular with the staff; so 

much so that the support was extended to cover the whole 

of last month and this month as well. 

Data Quality really does matter 

Ever talked about what could and should be done to 

improve the quality of the data held on the Trust’s patient 

information system 

Well, now’s the time to stop talking and do something about 

it. Going live with an enhanced version of ePEX provides you 

with the golden opportunity of starting to turn those words into 

action. For the first time since the Kent and Medway NHS and 

Social Care Partnership Trust was established we have one 

system where patient information is recorded. 

Not only are staff responsible for the care they provide but 

also for the associated data they collect and record, whether 

they are clinicians or administrators. ePEX can only ever be as 

good as the data it holds therefore the accurate and timely 

recording of patient activity information is vital if the Trust is to 

ensure continuity of care for its service users and manage 

clinical risk. Good data quality is essential because it allows 

the Trust to accurately measure service user activity as well as 

plan and design future services. 

As we move closer to becoming a Foundation Trust it 

becomes even more important that we record all of our activity 

accurately and as soon as possible after the event; failure to do 

so could not only jeopardise patient care but also result in loss 

of income for the Trust. 

Access to patient 

information 

Staff are encouraged to understand 

the Caldicott principles and ensure 

that information is maintained 

confidentially and accessed only as part of the operational 

processes that allow for providing continuity of care for 

patients. 

Level of access to ePEX is dependent upon job role and staff 

must only ever access service user details with people whom 

they have a legitimate relationship with. To access a patients’ 

record without that legitimate relationship is a breach of 

confidentiality. This is a serious offence and should it happen 

staff will be disciplined in accordance with HR and Caldicott 

procedures. 

Where there is a conflict of interest, by way of example this 

could include one or more of the following relationships: when 

the person using the service is a wife, husband, child, family 

relative, friend or neighbour of the staff member concerned, the 

patient record must never be viewed by that staff member. 

As a way of monitoring access to patient records regular 

random audits are undertaken; any subsequent concerns will 

be investigated by the Caldicott Office. 

For further information or general advice please contact the 

Caldicott office on 01732 520475 or 

leanne.manley@kmpt.nhs.uk 

The Command Centre 

To fully support staff in the runup 

to, during and for two weeks 

after going-live a Command 

Centre was set up at 

Southlands. Operationally the 

centre supported people during 

the early days of Go-Live and 

acted as the link between staff 

and the system support people. 

Feedback on the provision of support was positive and from 

an operational perspective things went well; all of the issues 

raised were of low clinical risk. Most were responded to on the 

day, and those that couldn’t were resolved by support staff out 

on-site and by the project’s Change Facilitators. 

From 12 March 2009 up to 8.00 pm on Friday 20 March 2009 

Command Centre staff took a total of 1820 of your calls; 405 of 

these were taken on the first day with just over 75% of those 

being for the resetting of passwords. Requests then dipped 

considerably and consistently over the following days so that 

by 20 March password reset requests were sitting at just under 

30%. 

The top four most popular issues for the Command Centre to 

deal with were: 

• Password resets 

• Logon ID requests 

• Training queries relating to how to book on to a course 

through to can you tell me how I do this 

• Not being able to access clinical notes 


ePEX 

News 

ePEX Training 

ePEX training returns to “business as usual” training 

following Go-Live so anyone wanting to book onto future 

ePEX training should e-mail Sheila Sydall at 

sheila.sydall@kmpt.nhs.uk 

In the February issue we reported how the IM&T Directorate is 

actively encouraging its staff to develop skills relevant to their 

post through study and that Leanne Manley and Sharon 

Plumridge are both working towards a law degree. We 

mentioned that Leanne had recently passed her ILM but 

omitted to say that Sharon had also passed her ILM. 

Apologies and congratulations to both and continued success 

with your future studies. 

CPA forms on ePEX 

As part of the move to consolidate the Trust’s 

information systems into a single system existing CPA 

forms were rationalised so that only the official 

approved Trust version of the CPA forms appeared on 

ePEX. However, over the years a number of services 

have adapted the forms for their own purpose. This has 

created difficulties in data collection and made the list of 

forms on ePEX long; it has also become challenging to 

choose the correct forms needed. 

Having different versions of forms that have not been 

subject to the correct governance procedure prior to use 

creates risks for the Trust not only in data collection but also 

in the lack of uniformity of clinical information gathered 

across the Trust. 

As part of the implementation project for the new CPA 

guidance the Trust is addressing new CPA paperwork and 

will be aiming to overhaul the existing forms; the aim is to 

create one set of approved Trust forms. Those forms 

currently in existence will then be removed from use 

meaning that clinicians will only be able to use the new 

forms and not adapt them for use on a team-by-team basis. 

A consultation phase will begin shortly and interested 

clinicians will be asked to assist with building and testing 

new documentation. 

If clinicians wish to be involved in the consultation process 

please email Rebecca Lowe CPA Lead for the Trust at 

rebecca.lowe@kmpt.nhs.uk 

Requests for changes to 

ePEX 

Requests for changes to the system can be made 

by downloading the ePEX Change Request Form 

available on the Intranet. It can be found by 

clicking on the Internal Form link on the left handmenu 

bar and scrolling down to the Information 

and IT section. 

Vox Pop 

Once you are used to the navigation around the site ePEX 

will be an easier to use, more understandable and useful 

system that all staff can access as I feel it is only the 

initial 'getting to know' the site that is confusing. 

Leah Stewart – Coleman House 

I personally feel that this will be a system that when 

mastered (with a lot of practice) will be beneficial for all 

concerned with using it. As with all new systems it is 

daunting but once we have got used to it I am sure it will 

be fine. 

Marilyn Lindow – Consultants Secretary 

I think the implementation of the new ePEX seems to have 

gone fairly smoothly. Most of the teething problems in 

our team have been easily dealt with by the support centre, 

the champions and the quick reference guides. At the 

moment I think most staff are feeling fairly confident 

with the system, although we need to get used to inputting 

everything on ePEX. 

Kerry Holland – Administrator 

We’ve not had any major problems although it is taking 

longer for staff to input data, but this was expected and I 

feel sure once people are more confident with the new 

system it will not present much of an issue. We have three 

ePEX champions in our team and they have been a great 

assistance in helping people navigate around the new 

layout. 

Kate Allen – Service Manager 

Here at the Rochester CMHT we have experienced a few 

minor problems but all-in-all nothing major has occurred. 

Overall we think the transition has been positive and the 

team has risen to the challenge and responded and adapted 

well to the new system. 

Tina Russell – Service Manager 

Interesting Fact 

During the first three months of this year 1643 people 

have logged into ePEX and changed their password. 


Ideas inbox 

There are two new ways that 

staff can make their voice 

heard as part of our ongoing 

Staff Involvement Strategy. We 

cannot unfortunately publish all 

of your ideas and suggestions, 

but please keep them coming 

in as they are extremely valued 

by the Chief Executive and the 

executive team. 

All staff are encouraged to use 

the inbox to contact the Chief 

Lottery winners 

Executive on any issue. You 

can contact Erville at: 

chiefexecutive@kmpt.nhs.uk 

Staff have also expressed a 

wish to be able to submit their 

ideas for improving services, 

working practices or any 

matter concerned with the 

Trust. You can deliver your 

ideas direct to the Trust's 

Directors at: 

ideas@kmpt.nhs.uk. 

Thinking 

about 

trees and 

money 

Are you able to read your copy 

of Partnership Matters online 

Do you really need a hard copy 

of the newsletter If you wish 

to save the planet and the 

Trust some money, you can 

request that in future you 

access your copy of 

Partnership Matters 

electronically via the KMPT 

website. You will also get your 

copy quicker! 

You can notify us that you 

would prefer to access your 

copy in this way by emailing 

communications@kmpt.nhs.uk 

Dates for 

your Diary 

April 

Trust Board meeting 

22 April at 10am, 

The Boardroom, 

Trust Headquarters 

May 


27 May at 10am, 



June 


24 June at 10am, 



January Lottery Winners 

£500 2454 Kent & Canterbury Hospital 

£250 1008 QEQM Hospital 

£100 2408 Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital 

£100 1379 St Martins Hospital 

£100 1550 Royal Victoria Hospital 

£50 2260 Royal Victoria Hospital 


£50 2461 Canada House 

February Lottery Winners 

£1000 1929 Ogden House 


£250 3213 Whitstable & Tankerton Hospital 

£100 3428 Eastern & Coastal Area Office 

£100 3367 William Harvey Hospital 

£100 2616 Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital 

£50 1336 Whitstable & Tankerton 

£50 3312 Templar House 

The staff lottery is open to all 

staff across the Kent and 

Medway Partnership Trust. 

The minimum contribution is 

£1 per month, which is 

deducted directly from your 

salary. Each month a draw is 

made and randomly selected 

winners can win cash prizes. 

The top prize alternates 

between £1000 and £500 each 

month. Smaller cash prizes are 

won each month ranging from 

£250 to £50. 

The lottery also improves 

patient care with money raised 

going towards making 

patients' lives more pleasant. 

If you wish to buy some 

numbers or purchase more 

numbers, please contact your 

lottery representative: 

Gill Dearing, Lottery Promoter, 

Kent and Medway NHS & 

Social Care Partnership Trust, 

Eastern and Coastal Area 

Offices, Littlebourne Road, 

Canterbury, Kent CT1 1AZ. 

Take a Break 

2 1 5 

1 4 9 8 

5 

4 

7 3 

6 

2 

1 

8 

5 

9 

7 2 6 5 

1 6 4 

Want to know more 

Why not log on to www.kmpt.nhs.uk or visit the Trust intranet 

at nww.kmpt.nhs.uk Also you might find more useful 

information online at: www.healthcarecommission.org.uk 

www.dh.gov.uk www.mhac.org.uk

Partnership Matters - April 2009 - Kent and Medway NHS and Social ...

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