Minutes:
Representatives of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust attended to provide verbal updates to the Committee concerning the Bethlem Hospital. In attendance were:
· Dr Martin Baggaley, Medical Director and Lead for Clinical Governance
· Ellie Bateman, Service Director
· Professor Tom Fahy, Clinical Lead
· Dr Matthew Patrick, Chief Executive
· Roger Paffard, Chair of the Board.
The Committee were informed that Bethlem Hospital offered a wide range of mental health services, and was located in grounds covering 270 acres. Some of the services and facilities provided on site were:
· An on-site mother and baby unit
· An anxiety disorders residential unit
· Crisis care
· Forensic services
· Talking therapies
· Memory clinic.
It was explained that the term “forensic services” referred to services provided for individuals who may pose a risk to themselves or others as defined by the mental health act. Bethlem has one hundred forensic beds.
The SLaM Board were pleased to inform the Committee that a full time police officer had been appointed to the Bethlem Hospital site, and that this post was fully funded by SLaM. This was regarded as a positive development, and reduced the demand on the local police. The Board were also pleased with the renovation of the museum and mental health archives. The Board were planning to invite local schools and the community to visit the grounds and the museum.
SLaM were pleased to report that there had been no incidences of crime or escapes in the last year. It was explained to the Committee that “leave incidences” could be categorised in two ways; “absconders” were individuals that ran away from escorted leave, whilst there could be incidences when individuals on unescorted leave failed to return. SLaM reported that out of 12,000 cases of leave, only 22 incidences had been reported and this was a very encouraging statistic.
SLaM felt that there had been an increase in the morale of staff and the general public due to the appointment of a uniformed police officer on site. They felt that it reduced their reliance of having to call 999, and also would result in increased conviction rates for offences. The police officer had been appointed on a three year contract, and worked 9-5, Monday to Friday.
SLaM explained that the BUDDI tagging system was used to electronically tag patients, and provided real time monitoring. It was also used to monitor when patients had crossed boundaries that were prohibited, and was an aid to retrieval.
The Chairman asked if there was an update on the review conducted by the health regulator Monitor. SLaM clarified that the review was purely with respect to governance, and not to any aspects of care. They regarded the review as helpful, and changes had already been implemented.
SLaM informed Members that the patients enjoyed the previous visit of the PDS Committee, and that they were looking to organise further visits to the site and to the museum in the future.
The Portfolio Holder thanked SLaM for his warm welcome to the Governor’s meeting that he had been invited to, and felt that this had provided him with a good insight into how the Board of Governor’s worked.
The Committee were informed that following on from the “Bedlam” series, Channel 4 were working on a new forensic series, and that LBB were involved with this.