Trust wide news
Chief Executive Prof Joe Rafferty CBE has examined new data for his latest blog that underlines the importance of community services to the wider health system. You can read Joe’s full blog here.
Further recognition for Prof Rafferty
Prof Rafferty CBE, Mersey Care’s Chief Executive for the last decade, has once again been listed in the Health Service Journal’s assessment of the most pre-eminent CEOs in the NHS.
Each year the HSJ assembles a panel of some of the most influential national healthcare leaders to compile their top 50 and placed Prof Rafferty at number eight. You can read the full story on our website.
Fulfil your potential and SPREAD YOUR WINGS with Mersey Care
Do you fancy a change of career but are worried you don’t have the skills to fit in at the NHS? Don’t worry, Mersey Care has a wide variety of roles suiting candidates with all levels of experience and qualifications.
We have roles for nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, jobs in IT, security, administration, estates, domestics, pharmacists and mental health professionals. We really do have a job for everyone.
So, if you or anyone you know wants to join one of the most innovative trusts in the North West, why not have a look at our current vacancies?
We’ve also produced a film featuring our staff talking about what they like about working at Mersey Care. You can watch the film here:
Internationally educated nurses celebration
Our internationally educated nurses were celebrated at a recent event organised by Clare Pratt, Associate Director of Nursing, to mark International Nurses Day which is celebrated on 12 May every year.
The event involved networking opportunities for our nurses, information stands and a host of speakers. Trish Bennett, Executive Director of Nursing and Operations and Deputy Chief Executive for Clinical Services, provided an overview of the career pathway and development opportunities available to our colleagues from overseas.
Amanda Oates, Deputy Chief Executive for Non Clinical Services and Executive Director of Workforce, also explained our Just and Learning culture where we focus on what didn’t go to plan rather than talking about mistakes and blame. She also explained the Trust’s anti-racism agenda to our new overseas recruits.
Further presentations were made by Estephanie Dunne, North West Regional Director, Royal College of Nursing in the North West, Professor Raj Jain, Chair of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board, and Okey Ibuzo, Practice Education Facilitator and pastoral support for our nurses. The formal proceedings ended with a question and answer session with Rosie Cooper, Chair of Mersey Care, which provided food for thought and lessons on how we can support future cohorts of internationally educated recruits.
If you’re an internationally educated, qualified nurse, or know of anyone who is and might be interested in joining Mersey Care, please contact Clare.pratt@merseycare.nhs.uk
Trust agrees accessibility partnership
The Trust’s formal partnership with AccessableUK has been launched, enabling visitors to get access information via Mersey Care’s website on sites across the organisation.
Work to inspect all our sites and produce independent access guides has been completed and there are links on all the site web pages, an example of which can be found here.
The partnership is based on an understanding that everyone’s accessibility needs are different, which is why having detailed, accurate information is so important. All the details the user sees in the guide have been checked in person, on site, by trained surveyors.
Physical Health
Winter statistics underline importance of community services
We’ve crunched the figures for our winter campaigns in the community and it re-emphasises the key role our community services provide in helping the wider NHS system cope with the surge in demand during the colder months.
The figures (above), which cover the start of September last year to the end of March 2023, show how Mersey Care has helped prevent patients and service users having to access inpatient beds and waiting rooms in the acute sector.
Some of the highlights include:
- Nearly 150,000 people attended our walk in centres
- Only three percent of those who attended walk in centres were diverted to an A&E department
- Over 44,000 bed days saved by people being treated close to their own homes
- Our Integrated Community Reablement and Assessment Team (ICRAS) facilitated 2,737 discharges from hospital
- Over 3,000 referrals to our mental health triage cars, which may have resulted in potential hospital admissions.
The Life Rooms report
Keep an eye on The Life Rooms website and social media platforms for The Life Rooms report into our community based mental health prevention offer to support individuals and communities following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Research and Evaluation Team at The Life Rooms has worked alongside the operational teams for a 12 month period to collect, analyse and evaluate the activity across the pilot project, as well as to understand the experiences of people who have used these services.
The pilot programme, The Life Rooms Public Health Project, was commissioned by Public Health Liverpool after it was predicted the pandemic would have wide ranging impacts on both mental and physical health.
The Life Rooms’ cost of living support
The Life Rooms has awarded funding to a number of different organisations across the region as part of their micro-commissioning support aimed at targeting the cost-of-living crisis and how this impacts health and wellbeing.
Particular emphasis is given to helping support people who are unemployed, families, single parents, carers, elderly and people who are isolated. The following firms will benefit from the funding for a 12 month period:
- Age Concern Liverpool and Sefton
- Citizens Advice Liverpool
- Everton in the Community
- Feeding Liverpool
- Granby Toxteth Development Trust Ltd
- Joseph Lappin Partnership
- Liverpool Arabic Centre
- Merseyside Refugee Support Network
- WHISC
- YMCA Together
Throughout the commission, The Life Rooms’ Research Team will gather and analyse data to measure the reach, impact and successes of each of our commissioned organisations in supporting communities in Liverpool.
Contact number updates
Please update your records with the following number changes for our Admiral nursing services:
- Knowsley - 0151 351 8440
- Halton – 01928 247100
MC Magazine - out now
Our spring MC magazine is out. Read about:
- How being diagnosed with ADHD helped one woman’s life to begin
- Mersey Care’s Specialist Palliative Care Team
- How the Windrush generation benefitted the NHS
- Paramedic’s working in walk in centres.
Why not give it a read via our website?
Mental Health News
Aspen Wood artists meet service users
It’s just two months until Aspen Wood, our new low secure unit, is completed at Maghull Health Park and two local artists, selected via interviews with service users, have spent several days exploring ideas for the big artwork planned for the front of the site (see video below).
Aspen Wood will support up to 40 complex service users with learning disabilities, who will come to the site later this year. Work is progressing well and guests, local stakeholders and NHS England leads, have all visited. You can follow updates about the new unit on our website.
Mossley Hill project heads for 2024 completion
Our new facility at Mossley Hill is continuing towards its planned completion in 2024 with a crane and the first steelwork now on site. The new 80 bed unit will end the use of traditional shared dormitory style mental healthcare wards. Instead, patients will be provided with single bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms to promote privacy and dignity, and therapeutic light and airy environments that include activity areas.
A public engagement exercise last year chose to retain the name Mossley Hill while the Trust is working with staff and service users to select ward names this spring. More information can be found on the Mossley Hill page on our website.
Join our stakeholder news mailing list
Do you know anyone who wants to learn more about Mersey Care by joining our stakeholder mailing list? Please ask them to fill in the form on our website and they’ll be the first to hear all our news.