Priti with EPUT leadership and staff during her visit to The Lakes
Supporting World Mental Health Day
Witham MP Priti Patel visited The Lakes mental health unit at Colchester Hospital to meet with staff and leadership of the Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust.
During the visit, which coincided with World Mental Health Day, Priti met with staff on two wards who work on the urgent care pathway teams, providing vital care to patients. She also met with the pharmacy team who are based at the King’s Wood unit.
Alongside the visits, Priti met with EPUT Chief Executive Paul Scott to discuss the findings of the recent CQC inspection, which delivered a rating of ‘requires improvement’ and raised particular concerns with the acute wards for adults as well as psychiatric intensive care units.
She also had the opportunity to discuss the recent developments with the Essex Mental Health Inquiry, following the announcements of both the move to a statutory footing as well as the appointment of the new chair, Baroness Kate Lambard.
Commenting on her visit, Priti said: “It was a pleasure to meet staff working at The Lakes today on World Mental Health Day. Receiving the right support and treatment for mental health issues is so important, and the staff are providing much needed care to patients.
It was also a productive meeting with Paul – the changes to the Inquiry are welcomed and I hope that we will now be able to move forward with delivering the answers that the families rightly deserve.”
Paul Scott, Chief Executive of EPUT, said: “World Mental Health Day is a valuable opportunity for all of us to commit to helping people feel able to talk about mental health. We were really pleased to welcome Ms Patel to our services in Colchester and to show her the work our teams do every day.
Colleagues appreciated having time to talk to Ms Patel about the challenges and rewards of caring for people with mental health needs in Essex. Our services are here for anyone who needs our support, and we are committed to providing people with the best care and treatment.”