On the 4th June 2025 we held our annual Urgent Care Conference at the Ark, Basingstoke with a focus on urgent mental health. This is the second year that the event has been running and we were delighted to see more delegates this year from a wide range of services both internally and externally to NHUC.
The agenda included a briefing from the NHS England team on the national strategic direction for crisis mental health, a patient story from Angela Forster from Sasha’s Project, Samaritans, Mental health presentations in the Emergency Department, CAMHS and acute mental health presentations in children, Veterans mental health and our TalkPlus team considering the FAST Pathway and support to healthcare professionals.
The patient story from Sasha’s project was particularly moving and we thank Angela Forster for coming in and speaking about her experiences with her teenage daughter who sadly died whilst living on a mental health unit. Sasha’s Project have a drop in for children aged 13 – 25 and you can find all information here: Sasha’s Project on Hub of Hope
We also ran a breakout session where groups were able to discuss two key questions:
- What can NHUC do better to support the crisis on mental health?
- 10 years down the line with unlimited funds what would urgent mental health care look like to you?
Main points from the breakout session questions included:
- Including a mental health practitioner on site
- Clearer and simpler signposting
- Allowing more time for complex cases
- More integration between services
- A focus on resilience and support for staff
- Quicker referral time for patients
We had some valuable discussion on these two questions with interesting suggestions and similar themes picked up throughout the groups. The Senior Leadership team were grateful for all of the input in this session and will certainly be able to take these suggestions to system partners and more widely.
We ended the day with a presentation from TalkPlus’ Mel Davies on the FAST Pathway and a 2-minute meditation session which was gladly received after all of the information taken in from the day.
Paula Clarke, a receptionist with NHUC shared her reflection on the day;
“I attended the NHUC Annual conference last Wednesday held at the ARK Centre at Basingstoke Hospital… I went with some nerves and a little apprehension that the day might be too medical or not for the likes of mere admin staff, but with a keen interest in the topic both personally and professionally, I was interested to go.
I was pleasantly surprised by the whole day, after a warm welcome, and a chance to say hello to colleagues and put faces to names you see on emails and computer screens, over teas, coffees and pastries, we made our way into the facility.
Break out groups were the bit I had been somewhat nervous about all day, but I needn’t have been. Ideas were listened to from anyone, no matter rank or station and at the end, if we had an unlimited pot of money we would have given the government a scare as we would have fixed parts of the NHS!
The conference was thought provoking , inspiring, moving and funny which was a heady mix for the day, but I would encourage everyone to go and see what a difference we can make.”
We also had some stalls up for areas of interest and if you would be interested in setting one up for next year just let us know!
“I wanted to say thank you to everyone who came along, engaged and made our second Urgent Care Conference such a success. We were extremely lucky to have such a great range of speakers, but it was the audience who really added the magic. Please do talk to your colleagues, spread the word, and look forward to seeing you all next year. Thank you”
Caroline O’Keeffe
NHUC Medical Director