Whitehall communications colleagues visit Trust

On Wednesday 21 June we welcomed Chloe Watson, NHS England’s senior strategic communications manager for mental health and Neil Coffey, deputy head of media and campaigns at the Department of Health.

Chloe and Neil spent a full day at Fieldhead Hospital meeting with staff from across the Trust and finding out more about our work. They started the day with a meeting with our chief executive Rob Webster and then went on to hear from Wakefield and Five Towns Recovery College, the communications team and Creative Minds before enjoying lunch in the staff canteen.

In the afternoon they heard about safer staffing and Barnsley speech and language therapy team’s creative approach to using social media. They also enjoyed a tour of the Mental Health Museum and the new adult acute mental health in-patient wards being built on site as part of the £17m Fieldhead master plan.

Chloe described the Trust as having “A remarkable culture with happy proud staff. Their expertise and professionalism shines through.”

As a result of the visit the communications team are now working with Chloe and Neil to explore how we can work more closely and develop better links between NHS communications at local and national levels.