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Placement with NHS England: Ashleigh Charles

Ashleigh is on the Mental Health & Wellbeing Pathway at the University of Nottingham. Her research topic is: “The impact of context on mental health peer support work: ethnographic study”.

From September to December 2022 Ashleigh undertook an Internship with NHS England. During that time she participated in a wide range of activities, including, (but not restricted to), the following:

Ashleigh worked alongside a senior nursing leader and other senior nursing leaders in the national mental health nursing team, gaining valuable knowledge and insight into what the Deputy Director of Mental Health Nursing for NHS England and other senior roles entail. She attended weekly team meetings with the national mental health team, learning about what is happening currently within the organisation affecting the mental health nursing profession and received updates on current projects and work carried out by the team. She also attended the weekly nursing directorate meetings facilitated by the Chief Nursing Officer for England which provided a unique insight into NHS England.

Ashleigh was invited to in-person visit at a mental health hospital with the Deputy Director of Mental Health. She was invited to a range of different meetings about specific commissioned projects including suicide prevention research projects, mental health research projects and special interest groups. She contributed to research oversight groups and attended various groups and meetings around international nursing recruitment. Ashleigh her increased knowledge and understanding of mental health strategies that are currently being implemented and evaluated through involvement with the Suicide Prevention Strategy, the Professional Nursing Advocate (PNA) role, and the Professional Nursing Educator (PNE) role. Ashleigh worked with deputy director of nursing for NHS England and observed discussions around national strategies and plans and attended the Association of Chief Children’s Nurses Annual Conference.

As a result of the Placement, Ashleigh became the only PhD candidate to become a member of the Demand Signalling Mental Health Nursing Group. She presented in the Mental Health Workstreams National Webinar and was invited to contribute to a chapter in a forthcoming book on Mental Health Nursing Models.

Ashleigh comments:

“The internship provided me with key knowledge in relation to NHS England delivering the NHS Long Term Plan and NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20-2023/24. In particular, the two key commitments outlined in these plans relate to my PhD. These include: (1) Community mental health – which sets out the development of new and integrated models of primary and community mental health care, and (2) the implementation of new roles to support the mental health workforce. This further understanding of these areas has increased my knowledge and has provided me with possible implications for my PhD discussion.”

Ashleigh has identified significant benefits in gaining a greater understanding of how NHS services are organised and how national policies are developed and implemented in line with the NHS Long Term Plan, and how NHS England supports the introduction of new roles into the workforce - with specific relevance to her research. She has deepened her understanding of the role of the nurse researcher and clarified her thinking about her own career development, as well as hugely developing her confidence as a presenter, and gaining substantial networking opportunities.

 

Tue 28 Feb 2023, 08:29

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