East London mental health Trust joins charity to improve schizophrenia care
Pictured at the launch of the project, are, left to right, Diane Hull, East London NHS Foundation Trust; Jane Hughes, Rethink Mental Illness; Jonathan Warren, East London NHS Foundation Trust and Meg Hillier, MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch - Credit: Archant
A national charity has launched a ground-breaking project with a mental health Trust to improve schizophrenia care for patients in east London.
Rethink Mental Illness has teamed up with the East London NHS Foundation Trust to launch a project to improve services for people with schizophrenia and psychosis.
The Rethink Mental Illness Innovation Network, launched at the Houses of Commons, will see the Trust join with the charity to test new and innovative services for people affected by severe mental illness.
It will focus on issues like improving mental health hospital care, tackling physical health problems, and helping people with mental illness get into employment.
This follows a report last year from the charity’s Schizophrenia Commission, which revealed catastrophic failings in the state of care for people with schizophrenia and psychosis.
The new project hopes to transform mental health services for people in east London by putting some of the Commission’s recommendations into practice.
Jane Hughes, Rethink Mental Illness, said: “Last year the Schizophrenia Commission showed that care and treatment for patients is nowhere near good enough. It highlighted that people with schizophrenia are dying 15-20 years earlier than the general population and that only seven per cent are able to get a job.
Most Read
- 1 Stratford roof-terrace restaurant destroyed by late-night fire
- 2 The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee flypast: Where, and when, the planes will fly over north and east London
- 3 Homes under the Planner: Applications lodged and approved in Newham
- 4 Man dies after falling unwell in Stratford
- 5 Girl, 17, held on suspicion of terrorism offences after east London arrest
- 6 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: Street parties and road closures in Newham
- 7 Man held in murder probe after woman fatally stabbed in Custom House
- 8 Man charged with fatal stabbing of woman in Custom House
- 9 'Unexplained': Man dies after being found unresponsive in Plashet Park
- 10 Two teenagers charged after 12 phones nicked in stealing spree
“But by developing better services, we can transform people’s lives. We’ve launched the project with East London NHS Foundation Trust to help us find out what services work best for people with schizophrenia and psychosis, and to put them in place in the NHS. It could make a massive difference to people in east London who are affected by mental illness.”
Jonathan Warren, Director of Nursing at East London NHS Foundation Trust said: “East London NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to be joining with Rethink Mental Illness in this innovative partnership to find and develop unique approaches to improve the care of people with schizophrenia.”
