3 March - Mental Health Network webinar - governance during the COVID-19 pandemic

Overheard during a discussion about chairs’ priorities in the 12-18 months ahead:

“As ICSs form, many people will transition from trusts and providers into new systems. It would be beneficial to set up a similar forum to this one for those involved in integrated care boards and systems to come together and work together.”

“We should be pushing money out to voluntary organisations in a more sustainable, long-term

way. Voluntary organisations benefit from commissioning, as this tends to fit better within the governance framework. Very short-term funding can create further challenges.”

“We need to get better at tackling inequality. I work alongside Pastor Mick, who opened a church for those in mental health crisis. The people who go to him are hard to reach and do not normally access services, due to huge social deprivation. Perhaps we should start to build new models for working with community, with a focus on tackling inequalities. There is also a need for a strategy for building capacity and sustainability in the voluntary sector. Short-term funding could be used to build things the sector needs to enable them to bid for longer term money to keep services going. The voluntary sector can struggle with governance, so a package of support for this would be useful. Our MHLDA provider collaborative has produced a framework which includes certain competencies, and which could highlight gaps where the voluntary sector requires support, such as support, training or model contracts.”

“One area for improvement is inpatient acute care. The quality of basic hospital care can be lost in the plethora of system working and that organisations can spend too much effort assuring themselves of their great values and behaviour, but not put enough effort towards working on sustainable change. I would be interested in researching an ethics-based organisation that is initiative, creative and attracts quality people, both nationally and internationally.”

This week’s special guest was Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation.

Matthew reinforced the NHS Confed’s awareness of the pressures on mental health services. A recent piece of research highlighting the scale of the backlog and the importance of recovery, not just elective surgery, gained a lot of press coverage, he said. The Confed will continue to make government and the public aware of the challenges and keep mental health in the spotlight, including arguing for parity of esteem. From time to time, the Confed will put in a concerted effort to highlight sector challenges at a national level.

These meetings are by invitation only. For further details, visit our events page.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about these webinars, please contact: events@good-governance.org.uk