The Trust hosted the Annual Members Meeting and Annual General Meeting (AMM and AGM) on Tuesday 10 September at Didcot Town Council Civic Hall.

The evening captured the true essence of the Trust and importantly acknowledged staff, with their devoted contributions giving hopes for a bright future.

Trust Chair David Walker and Chief Executive Grant Macdonald welcomed stakeholders, acknowledged the continuous dedication, care and efforts from staff. Both recognised the challenges the NHS currently faces and the impacts this may have on the Trust in the future.

Chair of the Trust David Walker said:

“This year’s event, hosted at Didcot Town Council’s Civic Hall, recognised the value of our colleagues and communities. Didcot is home to one of our excellent community hospitals which provides essential care to patients, offers a range of activities through the Oxford Health Arts Partnership, and the staff show great levels of commitment to our patients.

“We are proud of the care all our colleagues and services provide across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset. We continue to work to make improvements to provide great care.”

The keynote speaker and Psychiatry Trainee Dr Monty Lyman gave a thought-provoking presentation on the connection of the mind and the body. He emphasised the need to take the physical health of mental health patients seriously and similarly to validate, explore and understand the mental health of patients with physical health conditions.

Monty was followed by three powerful presentations from Oxfordshire Family Nurse Partnership, Buckinghamshire Primary Care Mental Health Hubs (PCMHH), and the Clinical Research Facility – each one expressing the significance impacts they have on local communities and future generations.

Oxfordshire Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) change the world one baby at a time with their home-visiting programme for first-time young mothers and their families. Oxfordshire’s team is the biggest in the UK, building relationships to help new mums, encouraging and inspiring them to achieve their aspirations.

Buckinghamshire Mental Health Services Primary Care Mental Health Hubs (PCMHH) are new integrated models of mental health care working in partnership with the voluntary sector. They bring care closer to people’s homes, making sure the service is accessible to everyone. Their compassion shone through as they acknowledge the value of peer support workers and detailed the great help their Service User Network (SUN) can provide.

Oxford Health’s Clinical Research Facility, the only one of its kind in the UK, discussed impressive studies and the value of public involvement, championing mental health research.

The presentations were followed by the annual finance and auditor’s reports and plenty of opportunity for stakeholders to ask speakers questions.

Oxford Health: AGM reports