AQuA Lived Experience Affiliate Starts Nursing Training

The Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA) is delighted to share news that Carl O’Loughlin, one of our Lived Experience Affiliates, will be taking his first step into nursing as he begins his training to become a Mental Health nurse at the University of Chester in February 2018.

Carl O'Loughlin, Lived Experience Affiliate

Carl, who started his career training to be a Chartered Accountant, has worked alongside our staff and members for a number of years, to help design our programmes and offers, and ensure patient experience is at the heart of our work. To support him during his studies, Carl has also been awarded one of the prestigious Margaret Parkinson Scholarship’s from the Royal College of Nursing Foundation.

Speaking on the news, Carl said:

“I am absolutely delighted to have been offered a place to begin my Mental Health Nursing degree. I am passionate about mental health care and I want to use my own personal lived experience of severe mental illness to try and make a difference to others suffering similar problems.

“My 'lived experience' roles at the Advancing Quality Alliance, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and CLARCH North West Coast have provided me with invaluable experience and have certainly been the driving force behind me wanting to become a mental health nurse.

“I am also extremely proud and honoured to have been awarded a Margaret Parkinson Scholarship from the Royal College of Nursing Foundation which will support me throughout the 3 years of the course.”

Paul Greenwood, Mental Health Improvement Advisor, said:

“We’re really pleased for Carl and wish him all the best as he takes his first step into nursing. It is a pleasure to work alongside him as part of our Lived Experience Panel as he brings such a wealth of experience to our work, both from his previous career as an accountant and through his own personal experience of mental health.

“We’re delighted that the work with us inspired him to take this decision, and I know he’ll have a lot to offer when he qualifies in the years to come.”

Carl will continue to work with us through the Lived Experience Panel throughout his training. To find out more about the panel, please visit our website, or contact Paul.Greenwood@srft.nhs.uk.

Scoping for Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Improvement Programme – Join our Webinars

The Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA) is currently carrying out a scoping exercise with a view to developing a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) improvement programme for the North West.

Improving children and young people’s mental health outcomes by 2020 has been highlighted as a national priority for health and care.

In 2015, the Department of Health’s Children and Young People’s Mental Health & Wellbeing taskforce also highlighted the need for high-quality and accessible CAMHS services in their report Future in Mind.

In keeping with this agenda, AQuA will look to establish whether a three-year AQuA CAMHS improvement programme is needed for the North West, how this might be delivered, and the possible content of the programme.

Paul Greenwood, Mental Health Improvement Advisor for AQuA, said:

“Through this scoping exercise we’re really pleased to be exploring CAMHS support in more detail, and hope to gather some great insights and ideas from our members and partners across the North West.

“We want to establish whether there is a need for a dedicated improvement programme across the region, and how we might be able to support members in the improvement of their services.

“Over the coming months, our CAMHS Affiliate Sue Hooton will be meeting a range of colleagues, and we’ll also be hosting a series of webinars for them to find out more about this work and share their ideas.”

Scoping Webinar Sessions
We are also looking for members and partners to join us on two upcoming webinars, to learn more about this work and to share ideas on where improvement efforts would be most effective.

These are open to senior leaders, managers or frontline staff working across CAMHS services, including across health and social care providers, commissioners and third sector organisations.

Sessions will take place on the dates below. To book your place, please follow the links to the booking page:

• Wednesday 16 August, 10:30-12:00pm
• Wednesday 6 September, 2:00-3:30pm

As part of the review, we will also be hosting an exciting Hackathon event in late September, as an innovative session to help generate ideas to support this work. Further details of this event will be announced in the coming weeks.

If you would like more information about the CAMHS scoping review, please contact Sue Hooton, CAMHS Affiliate, on Sue.Hooton@srft.nhs.uk.