Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) is one of the first NHS Trusts to introduce a new team who will use their personal experiences to support families and carers of people being cared for on adult mental inpatient wards.
Family and Carer Ambassadors (FCAs) will build strong relationships with families and carers so they can advocate for their needs, make sure their views are heard, and work with the clinical team to act on any concerns as early as possible.
They all have personal experience of mental health services, for example, as a patient, or as a carer for a relative or friend. Or they may have extensive experience of working with relatives, carers and services.
FCAs are among 330 staff we are recruiting as part of our Time to Care programme, which is transforming the way we deliver mental health inpatient care.
The introduction of FCAs on adult wards follows the success of Family Ambassadors in our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. They support the families of children and young people receiving inpatient mental health care at EPUT and five other providers in the east of England.
Matthew Sisto, Director of Patient Experience and Participation, said: “Our research suggests that EPUT is one of the first to introduce such a role into adult mental health services, which makes it an extremely exciting and innovative initiative.
“I am so pleased to see Family and Carer Ambassadors being introduced into adult mental health services because we know that families and carers can feel unsupported, uninformed and unheard.
“They will work with our inpatient care teams to ensure families and carers are heard and empowered.”
My role as a Family and Carer Ambassador
Rowan Taylor, 18, was one of our first FCAs to join the Trust’s adult mental health inpatient services in November 2024. He will be one of 16 FCAs once the team is complete.
He was inspired by his own experiences of being under the care of mental health care services.
Rowan, who works on Willow and Cedar wards at Rochford Hospital, said: “I’m really excited to be a part of the Time to Care programme.
“It’s something that strikes a very significant chord with me, given my lived experience as a patient within both community and inpatient mental health services.
“I have had a mixture of experiences and it highlighted to me the power of communication between the clinical team and the patient and their family.”
Supporting communication between families and carers and the clinical teams, and ensuring their views are heard, are a key part of Rowan’s work.
He helps families and carers to understand the inpatient care system, explains the processes involved, and works with health professionals to involve families in decision-making about their loved one’s care, with the patient’s consent.
For example, he will explain their legal rights if their loved one is detained under the Mental Health Act.
He also provides information about local organisations and charities that offer further emotional and practical support.
Rowan, who has completed peer support training for his role, said: “Particularly important is gaining family opinions and concerns within care planning.
“This enables the team to make a more personalised care plan and ensure they have the widest perspective and most holistic view of a patient’s lifestyle and wellbeing.
“We only get to see a snapshot of our patient’s lives and often this snapshot represents what they are feeling their worst.
“That’s why it’s incredibly important to involve families and the people around them in decision-making as they will have known this person for often their entire lives and can tell us what the patient acts like when they are feeling better and what their triggers may be.
“It’s also about having trauma-informed care as a family may be able to update us on significant life events that affect our patients, and how we can make steps to improve our care to ensure that we are not re-traumatising them in what we are doing.”
Rowan attends the ward multi-disciplinary team meetings, which bring together professionals involved in a patient’s care, including doctors, nurses, activity coordinators, physiotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, pharmacy staff and peer workers, among others.
He shares any information, concerns, and questions from families and carers, and helps to pass on any information and questions from the clinical team.
Empowering patients and their families
As part of the Trust’s Time to Care programme, we are increasing the range of skilled staff on our wards so we can ensure that patients receive a rich and varied programme of treatment, activities and care every day.
Clinical staff will collaborate with patients and their families to create personalised care plans to support patients towards being discharged from our wards at an appropriate time.
They will also plan the support they will receive from our community mental health teams following discharge.
The Trust has been increasing opportunities for people who have personal experience of physical and mental health services to have an active role in shaping and delivering our services.
These include the growing peer workforce and 250 Lived Experience Ambassadors.