News from Bethlam Hospital Beckenham

As you may be aware, the trust was recently inspected by the Care Quality Commission and achieved an overall ‘good’ rating with some services rated as ‘outstanding’. More than 100 inspectors visited our services and judged them to be “safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led”. The full report can be found here: http://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RV5 if you would like to read it.

 Also, last year, we opened the Bethlem Gallery and Museum. A new space open to the public and free of charge where visitors can view centuries of significant historic artworks and objects together with inspiring contemporary works by current artists and service users.  Since the space opened, we’ve welcomed many visitors and I hope that you will consider going along . More information here: http://www.slam.nhs.uk/about-us/art-and-history/bethlem-gallery-and-museum

You may remember that in May 2014 our documentary series Bedlam was awarded a BAFTA television award. Since then, we have been working with Channel 4 and Rare Day (a production company) on a project looking at forensic mental health. We recently started filming at River House, Bethlem Royal Hospital. This will not be a second series of Bedlam, we hope to achieve the same outcomes in terms of successfully breaking down widely-held prejudices surrounding mental illness. The aim is to give members of the public a better understanding of what forensic mental health really means, seen through the eyes of the patients and the staff who care for them. At the moment we don’t have a name or broadcast date for the series, but we will be in touch when we know more.

You can contact the Media Team at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust which runs Bethlam by email  communications@slam.nhs.uk for further information.

Best wishes

Sarah

Sarah Crack

Head of communications and media

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust