Posted on: 16 October 2020
This week’s leadership message comes from Dr Sara Munro, CEO for Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Keir Shillaker, Director for the Partnership’s Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Programme. Sara is the CEO Lead for the work.
Hello,
The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day, which took place last Saturday 10 October, was “Mental Health For All”.
This year, World Mental Health Day has come at a time when our daily lives have been changed considerably. We haven’t all experienced these changes in the same way and time will tell which of them we want to hold on to and which we will be glad to see the back of! Having good mental health doesn’t happen by chance. It is a balancing act that is deeply personal to individuals that we are still learning how to talk more openly about.
For many people who work in frontline health and social care, providing care in difficult circumstances, managing the direct risks from Covid-19 and balancing this between work and home life can impact on your mental health. Yet, at the same time many staff have reported a sense of togetherness, pride in their work and the role they play.
This togetherness has helped us to learn, at pace, during the pandemic. Through work such as our Keeping Connected project we know that many people with neurodiversity really value the networking and self-care support that can help them during periods of isolation, that many service users value the ability to engage via virtual means (even though we don’t yet know if these methods are always as effective as face to face contacts) and that our staff have been able to innovate because of the pandemic in a way they might not have done in normal times, speeding up some of the decisions we make to improve care.
However, for people with existing mental health conditions, the past six months of lockdown and restrictions have meant that many have experienced even greater social isolation than before. Some in this group, as well as many others, have had to manage the grief of losing a loved one, sometimes without being able to say goodbye. Other forms of loss have been felt by people in vulnerable economic sectors as companies have had to let staff go in an effort to save their businesses, or indeed shut down completely. Our Grief and Loss service is available to help people with their feelings about any form of loss, whether recent or not.
The World Health Organisation tells us that based on past experience of emergencies we can expect that the need for mental health and psychosocial support will substantially increase in the coming months and years. Work at the national and international levels to embed parity of esteem and increase investment in mental health programmes that have already suffered from years of underfunding is more important now than it has ever been – and we as a partnership are committed to ensuring this investment reaches those people who need our help the most.
World Mental Health Day reminds us that the work we do as a Partnership every day to improve mental health for the people who live in West Yorkshire and Harrogate is important and far-reaching. We know that good mental health is absolutely fundamental to quality of life for all of us and we strive to transform the services that people use so that they are the best that they can be.
Our Partnership ambition is clear - we will achieve a 10% reduction in the gap in life expectancy between the 220,000 people in West Yorkshire and Harrogate with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and autism and the rest of the local population by 2024. It’s important that we all use World Mental Health Day to reflect on how we’re feeling as well as reaching out to anyone who we think is going through a tough time.
This week’s blog to celebrate Black History Month is from Sayma Mirza, Senior Head of Collaboration - Act as One - System Transformation Programme – Bradford District and Craven; Deputy Chair Airedale NHS Foundation Trust BAME Network; Member of the Partnership’s BAME Network and Senior Leadership Executive Group BAME Network representative.
Do you bring your whole self to work?
Hello my name is Sayma,
During Black History Month, we are sharing our stories in the hope they will increase understanding, promote diversity and inspire others to create a sense of belonging so that we can all bring our true self to work because it is only then that the magic happens.
As a daughter of first generation Pakistani immigrants that grew up in Pendle, Lancashire which is an area that was, and still is predominately populated with families of South Asian heritage, I grew up listening to stories of overt racial discrimination that my parents and many others like them experienced on a daily basis.
As a bus driver, who originally started out as a conductor back in the mid 1970’s, my dad would tell me stories about people refusing to handle tickets issued by him because they didn’t want to touch his hand and the constant comments telling him ‘to get back on his boat and go home’.
However reflecting on my own early years; I can’t ever remember being made to feel different. Everyone I knew looked like me, dressed like me and spoke like me so I suppose I never really acknowledged my culture or ethnicity - I was just me. Hearing my parents often relay their shocking experiences felt surreal and I would compartmentalise their stories, thinking that was then and this is now.
Despite the shocking impact these experiences had on my parents’ sense of belonging, the one thing it taught them was resilience and a steely work ethic that was undoubtedly instilled in me and all of my siblings. I moved to Liverpool to study pediatric nursing in the mid 1990’s and whilst on the whole I had a fantastic time and made numerous lifelong friends; it was also the first time I personally felt like I didn’t truly belong.
Undertaking various placements across the city in numerous health and care settings; I would always start by introducing myself and would without fail be asked ‘Can we call you Sam?’ It became so frequent that I began to introduce myself as Sam and would then be asked ‘Sam as in Samantha?’
Then would come the countless questions and judgements about where I was really from, arranged marriages, being told you are not like the other ‘Asians’ because you speak so eloquently and so forth.
It felt uncomfortable talking about my culture because it was considered so alien to everyone. I quickly realised that in order to fit in, I would have to leave the real me behind and mould myself into this new version of me that I didn’t really know. I was allowing others to define my identify and in doing so I had been stripped away of my true culture and sense of belonging.
After qualifying, I secured a nursing role in West Yorkshire and continued working hard at fitting in and not lifting my head above the parapet. However as my career progressed into more senior roles, I started seeing and hearing about behaviours that I hadn’t noticed properly before and I couldn’t really make sense of them at the time. I would hear Black Asian and minority ethnic colleagues relaying feelings of increased pressure to perform, concerns downplayed or denied that they existed, feeling excluded from certain situations, unfairly judged or stereotyped, unfair recruitment and development opportunities, the need to fit in and not stand out in order to progress and so forth.
It wasn’t until an NHS Leadership Academy course ‘Ready Now’ designed for BAME people used the words ‘micro-aggressions and micro-inequalities’ that I was finally able to make sense of those detrimental covert behaviours that contribute and perpetuate structural racism in organisations. Behaviours that prevent individuals from bringing their whole self to work which create barriers that limit progression, opportunities to develop and negatively impact the health and wellbeing of individuals. Behaviours that unlike overt racial discrimination, often take place over a longer period are hard to make sense of and call out.
It was like a light bulb had been switched on and I suddenly realised my sense of responsibility to create inclusive cultures; and help people celebrate difference by actually using that as an asset to further understand and meet the needs of local communities.
I now work in a senior system transformation role across West Yorkshire and Harrogate whilst also being an active member of numerous Partnership work streams and BAME networks. I use every opportunity to talk about inclusion so that it becomes part of the ‘day job’. I am drawn to others also wanting change and actively seek opportunities to help me grow as a leader so that I can help others to do the same.
I influence, I challenge, I encourage, I inspire, I question the status quo, I coach, I mentor, I make a difference; I create my own seat at the table because I now celebrate my ethnicity and the difference in perspective I bring. I finally bring my whole self to work because I BELONG and it feels good.
Improving the conditions in our organisations and actively supporting the work to have inclusive cultures and diverse leadership means social justice for our societies as a whole is positively impacted. When everyone’s needs are better met we create a collective sense of belonging; so I ask you, do you belong and whilst doing so do you help create the conditions for others to also belong?
"To understand where we are going, we need to understand where we have been" - Maya Angelo
Have a good weekend
Sayma
What's been happening this week
Queen's Birthday Honours list
(those across our area recognised for health, care and community)
Congratulations to everyone recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list across West Yorkshire and Harrogate, including:
- Our Partnership CEO Lead and CEO for South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Rob Webster, for receiving a well-deserved Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to healthcare leadership. You can view the list here.
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals Chair, Linda Pollard was awarded damehood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. This award is for her services to healthcare, which span almost 30 years, and in recognition of her unbroken contribution to the community. It also recognises her tireless commitment to address the under representation of women in senior roles across corporate Britain and in public services. Linda has been with Leeds hospitals for more than seven years.
- Order of the Bath (CB): Dr David John Snowball. Formerly Member, Management Board, Health and Safety Executive. For services to Occupational Health and Safety (Wakefield, West Yorkshire).
OBE
- Philipa Bragman. Founder and lately director, CHANGE. For services to People with Learning Disabilities (West Yorkshire)
- Lilian Clara Alexandra Black. Chair, Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association. For services to holocaust education in Leeds
- Martin John Edward Moorman. Headteacher, Ravenscliffe High School and Sports College. For services to Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Calderdale
- Muhammad Naveed Idrees. Headteacher, Feversham Primary Academy, Bradford. For services to education in Halifax.
- Professor Catherine Jane Noakes. Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings, University of Leeds. For services to the COVID19 response
- Dr Alison Jane Pittard. Dean, The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine. For services to critical care particularly during COVID-19 in West Yorkshire
- Professor Sheena Elizabeth Radford. Astbury Professor of Biophysics, University of Leeds. For services to Molecular Biology Research in West Yorkshire
- Imran Rashid Davji. Human Resource Administrator, Asda Ltd. For services to the COVID-19 response (Batley)
- Paul Anthony Jones. Chief Officer, Denby Dale Centre. For services to Older People and the community in Kirklees, West Yorkshire during COVID-19
- Farrah Khan. Head, Service Delivery, Children's Services, Leeds City Council. For services to Children and Families.
- Dr Thomas Oldroyd Lawton. Consultant in Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. For services to the NHS during COVID-19.
- Vasant Patel. Senior Policy Officer, Department for Education. For services to Adopted Children and their Families
- Christine Ann Bown. For services to the community in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
- Michael Ignotius Chin-Chan. For services to Charity during Covid-19 in Bradford.
- Colin William Gibbs. President, Tewit Youth Band. For voluntary service to Young People in Harrogate.
- Richard David Holmes. Volunteer Guide, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. For services to the NHS during COVID-19.
- Henry Robert Jenner for services to the community in Halifax
- Belinda Alison Marks. Palliative Care Clinical Lead, Bradford District Care Foundation Trust. For services to the COVID-19 response.
- Jane Rosemary Pratt. For services to the community in Menston.
- Joanne Swaine. Area Branch Manager, Leeds Credit Union. For services to the financial sector and the community during COVID-19 in Leeds
- Faisal Tuddy. Superintendent Pharmacist, Asda Ltd. For services to the pharmaceutical sector during COVID-19 in Leeds.
- Nicholas Ian Watson. For voluntary service to Scouting in Rastrick, West Yorkshire.
Partnership community resilience event
The event took place on Friday 9 October titled ‘Third Sector Resilience: Before and during COVID-19’. The event used digital technology and builds on the first in the series which took place in July 2020.
Working closely with the voluntary community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) across Bradford district and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, we welcomed around 100 people and the event was filmed live. Guest speakers included Charles Khaula, Executive Director of The Association of People with Physical Disabilities in Malawi, a Disabled People's Organisation working to enable people with physical disabilities in Malawi to access their rights – including to education, health and other care services as well as livelihood opportunities; Sam Dhanjal from the Sikh Elders Service, Touchstone based in Leeds; Peninah Wangari-Jones, an anti-racist activist, organiser and Director of the Racial Justice Network. Another international speaker included Manuchehra Shaknamova who runs a women’s civil society organisation in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, who will focus on gender equality.
Partnership’s BAME review
The fifth and final review session into the impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities and support needed for Black Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities and colleagues took place on Wednesday. You can view the agenda for this meeting here.
The review panel sessions, chaired by Professor Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, a leading figure in national health and care policy, included WY&H HCP leaders, members of the WY&H HCP BAME Network and voluntary and community sector partners.
All have worked tirelessly through the summer to investigate and understand the disparities in the risks and outcomes of COVID-19, as well as learn from the experience of the organisations and colleagues that make up the Partnership. The review’s report will be published on the 22 October following a virtual event. You will be able to watch live on on our website.
Robin Tuddenham, CEO for Calderdale Council; Chief Officer for Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group; Fatima Khan-Shah, Director for the Partnership’s Unpaid Carers Programme and Personalised Care and Alison Lowe, CEO for Touchstone in Leeds attended the Solace UK Virtual Learning Week on Thursday to talk about COVID: A defining moment for health inequalities in West Yorkshire and Harrogate, a review journey into the impact on communities and colleagues.
Partnership Suicide Prevention Annual Review and Plan Published
National figures published by the Office of National Statistics in September 2020 show that Yorkshire and the Humber region had the highest suicide rate in England at 12 suicides per 100,000 population over a three year period between 2017 and 2019. In West Yorkshire and Harrogate, there has been an increase from 10.6 per 100,000 between 2016-18 to 11.88 between 2017 and 2019.
The Partnership has been working hard to reduce suicide and the devastating impact on families, carers and friends across West Yorkshire and Harrogate since 2016/17 and has stated its aims in the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Five Year Plan. In support of this work, our West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Suicide Prevention Advisory Network (SPAN) Annual Review 2019-2020 and Annual Plan 2020-2021 is now available. This report provides a review of the previous year’s developments (2019/2020) and outlines our proposed work plan for the coming year 2020/2021. You can read more here.
Public and Patient Involvement Assurance Group
Clinical commissioning group lay members for the Joint Committee met on Monday. They were updated on engagement, campaigns and events taking place. Specifically about the work plan for the Joint Committee; engagement work taking place by the Cancer Alliance and an engagement update from the maternity programme as well as presentation about supporting BAME communities and staff. They also had the standing item about communications and engagement which this time included: the coronavirus engagement report for stabilisation and reset; the Assessment and Treatment Unit engagement which started on 5th October; the autism survey; the awarding of a contract to help the climate change programme engage with communities and appoint a public representative to the steering group.
Members were pleased to hear about the suicide reduction staff campaign and the latest phase of the ‘Looking out for our neighbour ‘campaign taking place this winter building on previous successful phases.
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Programme Board
The Programme Board met earlier this week, chaired by Dr Sara Munro, CEO Lead for WY&H HCP Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme and CEO for Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
The comprehensive agenda covered matters of strategy, planning and operational delivery with contributions from other key programmes including Improving Population Heath, Children and Young People and the Carers programme.
From 1 October NHS England transferred £400m of its budget for specialist mental health services to 10 groups of providers across England. These groups, called provider collaboratives, will be responsible for commissioning specialised services across the country. The Board recognised the achievement of everybody involved in establishing the Connect Adult Eating Disorder service as the first Adult Eating Disorder Collaborative in our region.
As Covid-19 infections rise, the Nightingale hospitals are now being activated and the MHLDA programme is looking at what provision for psychological liaison should be made for both staff and patients, especially those with learning disabilities. More work will be done over the coming weeks as the need becomes clearer.
Analysis of housing needs for people accessing forensic services is being undertaken by a team from South West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust. This will link into the Housing and Health event which will take place virtually on 23 October.
The Board received an update on The Yorkshire & Humber Learning Disability & Autism Operational Delivery Network (ODN). An ODN is a collective group of specialists within a given field of clinical practice who work together to provide impartial clinical advice and expertise to service providers and commissioners, with the objective of developing equitable, high standard services for patients and focus on coordinating patient pathways between providers over a wide area to ensure access to specialist resources and expertise. The Yorkshire & Humber ODN is an active network, with very good service-user and carer engagement and representation, putting personalisation and coproduction at the heart of everything it does. It has over 250 members from different backgrounds including clinicians and practitioners, service-users and carers, commissioners, independent community and inpatient care providers and academics.
Grief and Loss Support Service
The Centre for Health Promotion Research at Leeds Beckett University is currently conducting an evaluation of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Suicide Bereavement Service.
We would like to invite stakeholders and partner organisations to participate by completing a short survey about the service.
The evaluation will be asking about your experience of West Yorkshire and Harrogate Bereavement Service; your perceptions of the service; what impact you feel the service has made or is making to you; and any recommendations you have for improving the service provided.
If this is something you would be interested in, please visit https://
The survey will be live until 13 November.
Looking out for our neighbours winter campaign phase three
Looking out for our neighbours is an award winning social movement that aims to prevent loneliness and its associated health issues throughout West Yorkshire and Harrogate. It succeeds by encouraging people to do simple things to help out their neighbours.
Prior to the covid-19 pandemic, we got over 49,000 people involved by making a positive difference to their neighbours lives through acts of kindness. Building upon the success of the previous work, the winter 2020 campaign will launch in November with more opportunities than ever for local people to get involved. This third phase will be delivered whilst covid-19 remains part of our lives and will see local charities working in communities and the launch of the ‘Looking out for our neighbours TV’. Messages told by real people who are making a positive difference in their communities in these tough times, and who want and share their experiences.
The Partnership are currently recruiting a panel of diverse neighbours across the area, to take part in a short online conversation to show how neighbourly kindness is making a difference to people’s lives. You can find out more and apply by 22nd October at https://
Improving population health programme
The Improving Population Health Programme (IPHP) is making progress with its Health Inequalities Strategy. The strategy and accompanying action plan will communicate to the system the next steps for the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health Inequalities Network as an approach for partnership working.
Communities in West Yorkshire and Harrogate experience differences in health outcomes that are unfair and avoidable. These inequalities can be reduced through action on the determinants of health (e.g. housing, air quality), risk factors (e.g. smoking, healthy weight), access to health care and quality of care received. The COVID19 crisis has highlighted and amplified these inequalities in communities as we see that those who were already experiencing inequalities are most vulnerable to COVID19 and to the indirect impacts of the pandemic on wider health, economic and social issues.
Working with the system to understand and address health inequalities is central to achieving the aims of the Improving Population Health Programme and the overall ambitions of the Partnership, the priorities laid out in the NHS Long Term Plan (2019) and Phase 3 planning guidance for the NHS response to the COVID19 pandemic.
Great work is happening across the places within the Partnership and the Programme aims to build on this work to add value at a system level, focusing on three ‘system tests’ to inform where regional system working can add value: These are:
- What we can do once at scale
- How we can share good practice
- How we can come together to tackle difficult issues.
Health inequalities Grant Funding totalling £553,000 was awarded to fourtenn VCS organisations working in partnership with statutory health providers to reduce health inequalities in August 2020. The IPHP programme is now planning a new Prevention Grant fund to support targeted preventative interventions that will reduce harmful health behaviours and improve health outcomes, and contribute to a reduction in inequalities for population groups who are likely to be disproportionately at risk or affected by COVID-19.
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Partnership’s People Board
The People Board met on Wednesday and welcomed new members to the group. The Board took the opportunity to revisit its role, purpose and membership to ensure it is truly reflective of the Partnership’s sectors and diversity of the communities we serve. A review of membership includes an invitation for West Yorkshire and Harrogate BAME network members to join the Board and help inform its work. The Board also discussed the approach to developing our People Plan with resounding consensus that this needs to be informed through active engagement with those representing the health, care and VCS workforce and is reflective of many colleague’s voices. Linked to this was a discussion about the role universities and higher education has in addressing the workforce challenges and the role of health and care in supporting economic recovery.
Area Partnership Group (unions)
Today the Area Partnership Group meets. This includes union representatives and HR colleagues. There will be an update on the development of the Partnership’s People Plan and COVID-19 phase three planning. Work has begun with partners to agree the scope and approach to developing the West Yorkshire and Harrogate People Plan. This was considered alongside the stakeholder engagement plan by the People Board on the 14 October 2020. An outline of the plan will be considered by the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Partnership Board on the 1 December 2020 prior to finalising the document. There was also an update on the proposal to establish a staff mental health and wellbeing hub for health and social care staff.