THE achievements of staff from Cheshire & Wirral Partnership Trust were celebrated in a special event last week.

Around 200 health professionals attended Best Practice showcase event at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton.

It honoured the most exciting and innovative work achieved by its staff over the past year to ensure 'best possible care' for people accessing services.

Among those praised was Wirral Primary Mental Health Team, who have developed a mental health Accelerator Schools project to help foster best practice around mental health in local schools.

Also celebrating was Neston and Willaston Care Community Team, who works with the third sector to improve quality of life. The team wanted to reduce the amount of possible hospital admissions by working collaboratively with other services to enhance patient care and improve understanding of what support is available.

Wirral Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), which has been able to develop nurse-led clinics, standardise the process of ADHD monitoring and has increased capacity in the CAMHS partnership teams to work with young people and their mental health issues.

The event was launched with a speech by young person, Kirsty Robinson, who talked about her journey, the challenges she's faced and the support she’s received from our Wirral Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Kirsty said: "Since I received support and guidance from CAMHS my life has changed in so many positive ways.

"I was able to finish my A-levels achieving A star and two As, I moved to my own flat and gained a place at Huddersfield University to study mental health nursing.

"My aim once I graduate will be to work within CAMHS to help other young people with mental health difficulties.

"I remember being in a place where I didn’t think things would get better and the staff at CAMHS would remind me there's light at the end of the tunnel.

"If it wasn’t for CAMHS I wouldn’t be where I am today and for that I am eternally grateful."

Kirsty was followed by keynote speaker Juliette Burton, mental health advocate, comedian and writer. Juliette, who lives with ill mental health, said: "I myself was sectioned under the mental health act when I was 17; I spent my 18th birthday in hospital.

"The NHS saved my life, so I was so overjoyed to be able to speak here today.

"I believe passionately that comedy is a way of finding light in the darkness, breaking down barriers and increasing understanding.

"If we're laughing together we feel less alone and it has been an honour to do that today with some fantastic people."

The day also saw the launch of CWP's nationally recognised Big Book of Best Practice 2019/20 – a collection of case studies demonstrating some of the Trust’s leading clinical practice over the last year.

Chief executive Sheena Cumiskey said: "The Big Book is an extremely important innovation, with many examples of gold standard clinical practice within the fields of mental health, physical health and learning disability services.

"Much more than just simply recognition of achievement, the book is a way for us to share these successes not just across our footprint of Cheshire and Wirral, but also with colleagues across the wider NHS and beyond.

"Our Big Book of Best Practice encourages us all to break down organisational and geographical barriers and embrace a meaningful, universal culture of learning."

To read CWP's Big Book of Best Practice visit www.cwp.nhs.uk