DIMHN WORKSTREAMS
performance and current position. Showing a slide of the DiMHN’s 2019-2020 draft accounts, he explained that, ‘due to COVID’, the Network had been unable to hold its annual conference, planned for June 2020 – traditionally its largest income stream – resulting in turnover falling from £64,800 in 2018-2019 to £24,500 – made up of membership subscriptions of just under £20,000, and the remainder from The Network magazine. Expenses had fallen significantly, due to the conference’s postponement, and the non-completion of some of the Workstreams’ work, while all the Board meetings in the year’s second half had been ‘virtual’. Consequently, expenses fell from £32,000 in 2018-2019, to £16,562 in the latest year, with a surplus of just under £8,000 at the financial year-end.
Importance of service-user input A key message from Trudi Beswick, who leads the Stakeholder Engagement Workstream, and was the first of the DiMHN Workstream leads to present, was that in future service-user views would need to be taken ever more into account in the design of fit-for-purpose mental healthcare facilities of all types. The ‘increased feedback, sharing of knowledge, and support’ the DiMHN obtained through effective stakeholder engagement helped to ‘drive its plans and actions, with successful results for all involved’. Further expanding and building upon this should, she said, be ‘a key development area, to grow substantially’ over the next three years. She added: “Stakeholder engagement will support every DiMHN Workstream, and inform each development, but for this to occur more effectively and efficiently, we must collectively ensure thar such engagement takes its place as a meaningful component of each focused campaign and project, and is at the core of our communication strategy.” 2020 had been ‘challenging for all’, and the DiMHN and wider mental healthcare sector had been required to react to change quickly. Trudi Beswick said: “I believe that during the year we have looked for the silver linings among the difficult situations, and the tough decisions we have had to make. For example, through the use of technology, stakeholder engagement has continued to support innovations, research, building regulations, serious development, policy change, and product knowledge, while sharing solutions and information around COVID-19.”
‘Warm welcome and support’ She thanked the DiMHN Board members for their ‘warm welcome and support’ in her new role as Trustee, and their collaboration on the Stakeholder Engagement workstream, James Lee and his team at Step Connect for their professional assistance and advice, and Paula Reavey and Katharine Lazenby for coordinating roundtable engagement discussions and expert-by-experience sessions for the annual conference. She
THE NETWORK | JANUARY 2021
The Network’s Treasurer, Phil Barsby, discussed the last year’s financial performance and current position, noting the impact of the loss of conference revenue from 2020’s postponed event.
added: “Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold these activities this year, but I am sure for next year we can build upon all this.” Reporting on some specific
Workstream initiatives, she explained that, as lead – drawing on information collected by a Board Review – she was looking to identify ‘key focus areas, knowledge, and need’ around stakeholder engagement in the following areas: ‘The business case for stakeholder engagement’, ‘Networking and collaboration’, ‘Project case studies’, ‘Communications’, ‘Website and social media’, ‘Research’, ‘Inclusion & diversity’, ‘Resources’, ‘Events’, and ‘Ensuring exponential growth of stakeholder understanding’.
Stakeholder Engagement Workstream lead, Trudi Beswick, believes that service-user views will need to be taken ever more into account in the future in the design of fit-for-purpose mental healthcare facilities.
During the year, the Workstream had delivered an ‘open and broad’ panel discussion on stakeholder engagement, with the webinar ‘attracting a reasonable attendance’, and securing post-event views on YouTube. Trudi Beswick said the ‘reasonable interest’ in the topic both highlighted the need to raise the profile of stakeholder engagement within the sector, and ‘to improve widespread understanding of why and how stakeholder engagement should be, and is, a positive part of the systematic process of developing R&D projects, services, and core management operations, but in particular building environments’. The Workstream had also created guidelines and scoping documents to develop a Stakeholder Engagement Focus and Advisory Group, to be launched to attract members through the DiMHN website, emails, and social media communications. Its aims would include raising awareness about the importance of stakeholder engagement sector-wide, and supporting the development of the DiMHN Workstreams and projects, assisting the Board members by sharing eachother’s knowledge through ‘think tanks’ and communications, ‘giving their expertise, and utilising their practical skills’.
Professor Paula Reavey, the Network’s Research & Education Workstream lead, explained that it had begun work on a joint NAPICU project with Sheffield Health Authority, focusing on the impact of the environment on seclusion and restraint practices.
Testing guidance ‘among a number of milestones’ Presenting next, Philip Ross, who leads the Network’s Testing & Innovation Workstream, noted that among ‘a number of milestones’ in 2020 had been the successful launch of the ‘Informed choices’ testing guidance and certification scheme on which DiMHN has worked with the BRE over the past 3-4 years, with the guidance published in April. The BRE had agreed to act as single source of testing to provide independent and certificated declaration of performance, but unfortunately the coronavirus outbreak had delayed the ‘set-
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