NHS England CEO visits Speedwell to meet staff and members of the Lewisham Community Pilot
Lewisham community teams based at Speedwell Community Mental Health (CMH) Centre, were excited to meet NHS England (NHSE) Chief Executive, Amanda Pritchard on a visit recently.
Lewisham’s Neighbourhood 2 Central CMH team was selected last autumn as one of six national community mental health pilots by NHSE, and so the pilot team were delighted to be chosen for a visit by the outgoing CEO. Also attending were the Co-Chairs of Lewisham’s Independent Advisory Group, Michelle Nembhard and Revd. Stephen Lawrence, representing our wider community partners, and the Trust Chief Executive, David Bradley.
Kate Lillywhite, Director of Strategy & Transformation said, “We were delighted to host Amanda Pritchard, and give her the opportunity to hear first-hand from our brilliant staff, about the realities - joys and frustrations - of delivering community mental health care here in Lewisham".
The teams, as usual, proved themselves to be amazing advocates for the work we do, and Amanda was "blown away" by their commitment and dedication to those we serve - leading on the visit in her national update to NHS Leaders.
The Lewisham pilot hopes to incorporate the principles of a membership model – illustrated by the work of Mosaic Clubhouse in Brixton. As a late addition to her visit, colleagues were very grateful to the team at Mosaic for accommodating a visit by Amanda, to show her the impact of their work, and as inspiration in designing the community pilot in Lewisham.
Deputy Service Director, Lesa Bartlett, said: “Mosaic is a such a wonderful place and everyone was so welcoming. It was a great opportunity to show Amanda the transformational power of the membership model in supporting mental health, and in enabling people to reach their potential.”
