15 March 2017

For immediate release

Time to hear what patients say - the mental health survey

The independent Community Mental Health Survey starts this week and a large sample of patients and families who use CNWL's service will receive a questionnaire in the post asking for views.

Andy Mattin, Director of Nursing & Quality said: "These are exceptionally important services - keeping people well at home, in work and education. We made changes after last year's survey and now we want to see what people think of their care. The results are important because we will make changes based on what people tell us. We need a really big response from every borough. Are our staff doing well?"

All CNWL's Borough Directors are calling for a big response from the communities.

• Hillingdon - Kim Cox

• Harrow - Tanya Paxton

• Kensington & Chelsea - Ann Sheridan

• Brent - Jo Carroll

• Milton Keynes - Ty Blackford-Swaries

• Westminster - John Martin

Their message to every patient is, "Tell us, we're listening. We will act on what is said but the bigger the response the more powerful it is."

The survey is conducted annually by the Care Quality Commission and asks views on aspects of their care from community mental health services, like whether they felt they were treated with dignity and respect and whether they felt involved in decisions about their care.

A postal questionnaire is sent to a random sample, we use an external organisation to conduct the survey and collate our results and all feedback is confidential.

Feedback from our service users is vital and tells us their views and priorities for bringing about improvements in the quality of care. The results help us see where we perform well and to identify any areas where there is room for improvement.

The CQC use the results from the survey in the regulation, monitoring and inspection of NHS trusts in England.

The survey will run from March until 23rd June 2017. The results should be available by August 2017.

Please get in touch with Karen Doherty, Head of Patient and Carer Involvement on karen.doherty4@nhs.net, tel: 020 7504 5553 with any questions.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Stephenson House, 75 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PL
Tel: 020 3214 5756 e-mail:communications.cnwl@nhs.net