2025 in review at South London and Maudsley
As we come to the end of 2025, we are reflecting on a year of transformation, collaboration and progress at South London and Maudsley.
2025 has been filled with change and innovation, all driven by our unwavering commitment to shaping patient care for the better.
We’ve strengthened partnerships, celebrated the incredible contributions of our colleagues, received awards and recognition for our work and research within mental health, deepened our investments in local communities and shared the voices and stories of our service users.
It’s been a year of inspiration and learning that has helped us get closer to our goal of providing outstanding care and supporting those struggling with their mental wellbeing.
Forming new partnerships
Our partnerships with other Trusts, charities, councils and more have been strengthened this year with regular collaborations.
One of the new partnerships formed this year was with the Southbank Centre and South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) we established a Creative Health Centre offering art-based support for children on the CAMHS waiting list to reduce health inequalities.
Celebrating our staff
Throughout the year, we celebrate our staff through long service awards for those who have been at the NHS for over 25 years, international awareness days such as International Nurses Day and much more.
Each month, our Listening Into Action team award a team and an individual an award for their incredible work and name them as team or individual of the month. In 2025, 12 individuals and 12 teams were recognised – congratulations to all the winners!
Sponsored by the Maudsley Charity, our annual Staff Awards ceremony brought together over 200 colleagues from across the Trust to honour their outstanding contributions across 12 award categories, celebrating the impact they make in improving the lives of patients, carers and communities across Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, Croydon and nationally.
Recognition of our work through national awards
Our teams have won several national awards this year including our incredible Staff Support Team – who won a National Positive Practice in Mental Health Award for the Wellbeing Matters Project – and our 27 staff members awarded the Chief Nursing Officer Healthcare Support Excellence Awards.
Additionally, teams and individuals from across South London and Maudsley and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) won many of the top prizes at this year’s RCPsych Awards 2025, with many more shortlisted.
Supporting our local communities
Our work with transforming our communities continues with projects and support all year round. One of the key projects from this year was the Lewisham Community Funding.
We are investing more than £2m in voluntary community and social enterprises (VCSE) offering community services, with a significant amount going to local grassroots organisations to help shape a bold transformation of mental health care in the community. The first wave of this funding has seen £800,000 of new partnership money has been approved to work with a range of local partners to improve services and support provided across communities in Lewisham.
We also launched the VCSE In-Reach Project to help bring VCSE organisations to support our service users and staff by delivering structured activities on our hospital wards. Applications are open until January 12, 2026.
Find out more and apply: Working with Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Organisations - South London and Maudsley
Influencing mental health care with research
We were proud to celebrate the pioneering work of Professor David Taylor and our pharmacy team, whose research and leadership have directly shaped new European guidance on the safe use of clozapine – a life-saving treatment for schizophrenia.
Additionally, our patients and service users will be some of the first to benefit from a multimillion pound research into a new digital tool to help young people with psychosis and depression, funded by Wellcome and created by the IoPPN.
Progress on our anti-racism ambition
In October, we marked a milestone moment – the conclusion of the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework's (PCREF) pilot and the beginning of its next chapter: embedding race equity into the Trust’s everyday practice.
We’ve seen marked improvement for Early Interventions for our Black service users. Between March and May 2025, 77% of all service users referred to Early Interventions at the Trust were seen within two weeks, outperforming the London average of 68%.
Sharing patient stories
The experiences of our service users are at the heart of everything we do. This year, we spoke to some of them to discuss their time and treatment with us including:
-
Alice’s experience of being diagnosed as autistic later in life: Patient spotlight: Alice’s journey with Autism | Our blog - South London and Maudsley
-
Tahira’s experience with electroconvulsive therapy to support her recovery: Patient spotlight: Tahira’s journey with Electroconvulsive Therapy | Our blog - South London and Maudsley
-
Annabel’s story exploring the connection between ADHD and addiction: ADHD Awareness Month: Understanding addiction through a neurodiverse lens | Our blog - South London and Maudsley
-
Our Cannabis Clinic clients shared their experiences with cannabis use and psychosis with The Guardian: The Guardian: A day at the cannabis psychosis clinic | Our blog - South London and Maudsley
A huge thank you to all our staff, service users, partners and stakeholders for making this an incredible year filled with change, innovation and support.
We hope you can find some time for respite, connection with loved ones and relaxation where possible. See you in 2026!
