Two weeks from now (Thursday June 8), we will be launching the first of our three-part webinar series on mental health waiting times.

With the theme of ‘how do we solve a problem like community mental health waiting times?’, the first webinar will focus on the importance of accurate waiting time measurement and why this is so crucial to service user outcomes.

Chaired by Lynne Hunt, a former mental health nurse and now chair of Southern Health NHS Trust, the webinar will feature Michael Watson (Principal Consultant at Acumentice) and Alastair Hughes (GP at Canbury Medical Centre) as speakers.

Michael, who previously held various mental health positions within NHS England, will be focusing on how waiting times are currently measured, how this can be improved, and why accuracy matters so much.

Meanwhile, Alastair will be zoning in on the patient experience and how the lack of access and transparency around waiting times can negatively impact service users.

Waiting times for mental health doesn't receive anywhere near the same coverage as waiting lists for acute care, but we want to play our part in moving the dial on that, to open up the conversation to a wider audience so more people start talking about this most important of topics.

“Really looking forward to taking part in my first webinar for Acumentice, where we'll be talking about why getting waiting times measurement right is so important for mental health services – particularly with the introduction of the new NHS England waiting times standards," Michael said.

"Being complete and accurate might not sound like the most glamorous thing in the world, but it is hugely important, especially as tracking and management of waiting times in mental health systems lags significantly behind physical health."

He added: "We hope this webinar will open eyes to how important this is as well as start to open up a long-overdue discussion about waiting times improvement in mental health and moving towards parity with physical health."

If you haven’t already, sign up to the webinar today. It only takes a few moments to register.

We look forward to seeing you there!

‍