Combinations Podcast from Combined Healthcare NHS Trust

Our Chief Executive, Peter Axon, was interviewed today by Stuart George on BBC Radio Stoke and was able to give some insight into how our magnificent staff are rising to the Covid challenge and maintained outstanding mental health services in our acute and community settings

This extended episode features a new innovation we have introduced into our Trust Board programme of patient stories, which we are calling "Patient Story Plus". We have always attached huge importance to giving service users a voice at the highest level of decision-making at Combined Healthcare, through the opportunity to pre-record a short video, shown at the Trust Board meeting, telling their st...

Jenny Harvey is our Chair of Staff Side and attends the Trust Board. She has worked for years for Combined Healthcare NHS, representing staff in all aspects of industrial relations, negotiation, representation and advocacy. She is a member of our People, Culture and Development Board Sub-Committee and our Inclusion Council and provides inclusion training for our staff. She is also a Trans woman. I...

In our most powerful and important episode to date, Dr Becky Chubb, Consultant and Older Person's Lead at Combined Healthcare tells the story of life on the NHS frontline during Covid. This testimony was originally delivered as a contribution via Microsoft Teams to our People, Culture and Development Committee on 7th May 2020. Becky talks of personal and workplace challenges, changes to working pr...

On the eve of the biggest game of his life, as Port Vale prepare to take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, one of the Vale's biggest stars, Cristian Montaño, talks candidly about the pressures of the game and how he overcame his own issues with mental health by being brave enough to talk to his family about the problems he was facing. He urges his fans to realise "It's ok not to be ok" and...

Thea first accessed mental health services almost 6 years ago. In November 2013, Thea attempted to end her life. She planned to die after years of being subjected to domestic abuse and to escape the unbearable pressures of her secret, mounting debts. She spent several weeks in recovery in general hospital following this. She was transferred to Ward 3 at Harplands Hospital from Royal Stoke Hospital...

To sign off national Speak Up Month 2019, we hold a conversation with Zoe Grant, our Freedom to Speak up Guardian and our Freedom to Speak Up Champions. By having Freedom To Speak Up Champions across the Trust’s localities and diverse staff and professional groups, the aim is to give staff a wide choice of who they may be most comfortable in speaking up to. The Champions are supported by the Trust...

After a brief sojourn away from Combined following over a decade of service, Matt Johnson returned in 2019 to become the Trust's Head of Psychology and lead introduction of its first ever Psychology Strategy. He talks about our plans for psychological services, the vital role our psychological professions play across the whole of Combined Healthcare, our valuable and valued partnership with Staffo...

World Mental Health Day - Thursday 10th October 2019 - celebrates awareness for the global community in an empathetic way, with a unifying voice, helping those feel hopeful by empowering them to take action and to create lasting change. This year, the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) has decided to make “suicide prevention” the main theme of World Mental Health Day. Combined Healthcare is...

We were delighted to welcome Stuart George from BBC Radio Stoke to our Open Day preceding the official opening of our new £1.1 million Crisis Care Centre. This is his piece first broadcast on 7th October 2019, featuring interviews with Jonathan O'Brien, Executive Director of Operations and Joanne Willis, newly appointed Service Manager for the Crisis Care Centre.

On Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th October, Combined Healthcare is proud to hold Open Days for its brand new £1.1 million Mental Health Crisis Centre, based at the Harplands Hospital, Hilton Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 6TH . The open days run from 10.00am to 4.00pm on both days and are open to all. The new service is unique in the NHS in bringing together under one roof a whole range of teams offering a s...

To celebrate and raise awareness of World Alzheimer’s Month this September, we spoke to Debbie Scragg and Emma Daniels from the Memory Clinics Service about the invaluable work they do and they tell us a little bit more about what Alzheimer’s is.

A local Nation Citizen Service group kindly volunteered to completely decorate and update the family room at The Darwin Centre. In just 3 days, the group of young people transformed the room into a tranquil and engaging space for the young people staying at The Darwin Centre to spend valuable time with their families. Thank you to the NCS team for choosing The Darwin Centre and for doing such an a...

The Wellbeing Academy offers, together with our partners, a wide range of courses, workshops and activities to support people to discover interests and develop their skills on their mental health recovery journey. All of our course facilitators are dedicated to recovery and wellbeing and have a range of personal and/or professional experience in adult education; activities related to mental health...

The Volunteer Peer Mentor Scheme is for anyone with a lived experience of mental health issues who can use their personal experiences to develop meaningful and trusting relationships with people, acting as a mentor and role model. Fiona Campbell talks to the tutors and four of first cohort of volunteer peer mentors on their final day of training before being paired up with service users or those i...

In conversation with Fiona Campbell, Sarah Tombs from the Combined Healthcare Staff Counselling Service discusses stress and how it manifests itself, plus offers hints, tips and techniques for understanding, recognising and dealing with stress.

One of our most important priorities is improving the support for our BAME workforce. One very brave nurse who worked in our services has shared her story with us which a local poet has interpreted – it makes very powerful listening. It demonstrates that we have much to do to make Combined a diverse and welcoming organisation for all. We have collectively identified the five key areas for action f...

To mark Learning Disability Week 2019, this episode features the Talk and Change Group a service user group aligned with our Learning Disability Team. The podcast is opened by Helen Perry, Occupational Therapist in our Community Learning Disability Team, who introduces the work of the group. She is followed by a group discussion, chaired by Clinical Psychologist Charlotte Etchells, featuring servi...

In one of our most inspiring episodes to date, Maria tells the tale of a lifetime of engagement with our CAMHS service, supporting her and her 18 year old son Jack, who has autism and epilepsy, and who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy aged 8 months. Maria tells how CAMHS "gave me hope", "gave me another way of looking at things" and "made me see that life can be brill."

Individuals with a Learning Disability have a much higher rate of risk factors associated with suicide, suicidal thoughts and suicidal behaviours. But research and general understanding of suicide and its impact on this group is lacking. To mark Mental Health Awareness Week 2019, Felicity Watkin and Phil Emery from our Learning Disability service tell us of their groundbreaking work - in collabora...

To mark the start of Ramadan 2019, a group of Muslim members of our staff discuss the fundamentals of Ramadan, how it fits with the wider pillars of the Islamic Faith and how non-Muslim staff can show their support to their colleagues during this special time for them.

The Combined Healthcare Staff Counselling and Support service provide a vast range of services, including preventative and responsive mechanisms of support. It also signposts staff to self-managed free resources, apps and other materials that staff can use to help them cope with stress and promote mental and physical wellbeing. This Relaxation Session, provided by Staff Counsellor and Support Offi...

Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition, which causes problems in the brain and gets worse over time. The number of people diagnosed with Parkinson's in the UK is about 145,000 - around 1 adult in every 350. Parkinson's UK maintains that having Parkinson's can feel overwhelming if people don't have the right information and support. The Parkinson's Social Club - which meets every Wedne...

To mark World Autism Week, this episode features Jackie in conversation with Fiona Campbell, describing the care and support she and her son Mathew - who has autism and severe learning disabilities - have received from our Assessment and Treatment Unit at Harplands Hospital.

The Family Group is a support group set up by staff on Ward 4 who wanted to ensure that family members of patients also received support that they need. Often family members will have been or exist to be carers for patients who are staying on the ward. This can take a toll on their own health and wellbeing, whilst they are also managing the difficulties surrounding having their relative or friend...