On Wednesday 12 November, partners from across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) were invited to the launch of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust’s (LPT) new “Strategic Plan for Psychological Professions, 2025-30” at the King Power Stadium.

Dr Jon Crossley, Associate Director for Psychological Professions at LPT, led on the strategy development and opened the Conference. Jon said: “This five-year strategy is a significant landmark for the psychological professions. As we look forward to the new NHS 10-year plan, we want to underline the significant role that the psychological professions can play in all areas, whether this is in prevention, the move to more digital solutions or in the shift to a local delivery offer for our patients.

“We also wanted to use the launch to showcase the breadth of work that the psychological professionals are involved with in LLR.  People have been excited to hear about the difference that our teams are making to people’s lives, through new service developments that have been developed with a wide range of different partners including those with lived experience.  There has been a lot of sharing and ideas.

Keynote speaker Adrian Whittington, National Clinical Lead for Psychological Professions at NHS England (pictured), endorsed the plan and its drive to bring psychology into as many areas of patient care as possible. Adrian said: “This strategy is important and I am delighted to be here today at the launch. Psychological professionals are a growing and significant part of the NHS workforce, and this plan will help them to address three key challenges: avoiding competition, being proactive and embracing change.

More importantly, with the shift to neighbourhood working, it presents opportunities to make the shift to a more biopsychosocial approach, for the profession to be a leader in digital psychological interventions and to drive the use of patient reported outcomes to highlight how we are making an impact.”

There were many delegates from across the integrated care system, including Helen Carter from the Loughborough Wellbeing Centre. Helen added: “I am here to represent the Better MH4All network which is led by the voluntary sector.  Members will be keen to play a part in this new strategy. We are that vital link to people who can be struggling, particularly when we are moving towards a digital future. We can work to make sure that people do not get left behind.”

Delegates also included LPT’s own psychology workforce. Jo Scordellis, who is the lead for Psychology and Psychological Therapies in the directorate of mental health said:

“This strategy provides clarity on the direction of travel for the psychological professions working across LPT, to allow us to pull together, to maximise the impact that we can bring to the wellbeing of the population of LLR. “

The conference today has allowed us to celebrate and showcase the diversity of approaches that the different psychological professions bring in delivering evidence based, innovative practice. I particularly enjoyed how it celebrated our partnership working with other health colleagues and the voluntary sector, and most importantly with our patient partners, their families and carers.

“At a time where it can feel challenging to deliver all that we want to, it is exciting to look to the future through that innovation so that we reach as many people as possible.”

You can view the new strategy  Here