A message from our Chief Executive

Photo of Vanessa Ford smiling

As we move towards the end of this incredibly hot summer, we have experienced challenges and progress in equal measure across our services and, as ever, I want to pay tribute to our amazing NHS staff across South West London who continue to go above and beyond for our communities.

Extreme heat can increase demand on mental health services, with studies showing rises in mental health-related emergency department attendances and hospital admissions during heatwaves. In South West London we have also seen these impacts during the summer months. A huge thank you to our patients, carers and communities for working with us through this.

Across our acute and urgent care services, we are making important progress to ensure more people receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time. The recent opening of Maple Ward at Springfield University Hospital has created 18 additional adult acute inpatient beds, helping us support people closer to home and improving continuity of care for patients, carers and families.

This month, we welcomed £1.9m in capital investment to begin plans to develop a dedicated Mental Health Emergency Department for South West London, when this opens, it will create a more therapeutic environment for people experiencing mental health crises. Alongside this, we will begin developing plans for Neighbourhood Mental Health Centres across our five boroughs, bringing together mental health services with wider community support to provide earlier help and reduce the need for hospital care. We are looking forward to working with partners, patients, carers and our wider community to bring these to life. At the moment crisis support can be accessed in a number of ways, including through NHS 111 ‘press 2’ for mental health and our new Crisis Text Service – find more information on the full range of support available on our website.

Elsewhere, we are continuing to transform our ageing estate through our Better Communities programme. Following the opening of the Richmond Royal Wellbeing Centre earlier this year, work continues on the £30 million redevelopment of Barnes Hospital and the £110 million transformation of Tolworth Hospital, both due for completion in autumn 2027. These investments are creating modern, welcoming environments that improve experiences for patients, carers and staff, help tackle stigma and bring services closer to our communities.

I am also pleased that we continue to make progress in tackling health inequalities, building on the momentum from our South West London Mental Health and Health Inequalities Conference in May. One great example within our Trust is our ASPIRE Programme, which is helping diversify the clinical psychology workforce through paid opportunities, mentoring and professional development for aspiring psychologists from underrepresented and less financially privileged backgrounds. I am delighted that my colleague, Dr Yvette Arthur, who leads this programme, has been shortlisted for the national Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Health & Care Awards alongside one of our long-serving consultants, Dr Peju Raji, who has been recognised for her outstanding contribution to improving equity in mental health care over more than two decades.

Finally, I am looking forward to launching our refreshed Trust Strategy at our Annual Public Meeting (APM) in September. Developed with patients, carers, colleagues, partners and communities, it will set out our vision for the years ahead, and I hope many of you will be able to join us at our APM as we get this important next chapter underway.

Vanessa Ford MBE
Chief Executive
South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust

CEO message July 2025

As we move into the heart of summer, I want to take a moment to reflect on some of the inspiring work happening across mental health, both at our Trust and the wider South West London system.  a woman smiling

In May we saw our South West London Mental Health Conference bring together 120 service users, community leaders, clinicians, and partners for a powerful day of conversation, collaboration, and action. It was fantastic to hear so many diverse voices shaping the future of mental health care. My thanks to everyone who made the event such a success - your passion and insight are helping to drive meaningful change. Look forward to seeing you at the 2026 conference!  

Looking ahead, we are excited to welcome our communities into Springfield Park, which will formally open in July. This landmark green space is a core part of the wider regeneration of our Springfield Village site - blending nature, wellbeing, and mental health recovery in a truly innovative way. I was also delighted to be at the groundbreaking at Barnes Hospital in June, this £15m redevelopment will modernise mental health community services, and bring them together with a new school and housing, to break the stigma of mental ill-health. 

We continue to prioritise timely, high-quality care across all our services. Our work to safely reduce long lengths of stay in our adult inpatient wards, is already delivering positive outcomes for patients, with new models of care and community support helping people return home sooner and more safely. 

Last but by no means least, I’m proud to share the launch of our Health Inequalities Strategic Plan, setting out bold and practical steps to tackle disparities in access, experience, and outcomes, particularly for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities. In Tooting, for example, we’ve undertaken community mental health first aid training through our local Mushkil Aasaan Family Hub - an important step in strengthening resilience and understanding around mental health at grassroots level.  We know we still have so much to do in this most important space.

Thank you for your continued support.

Vanessa Ford
Chief Executive, SWLSTG

 

CEO message January 2025

As we step into spring, we are celebrating some exciting developments in South West London. Last month, construction began on the £110m redevelopment of Tolworth Hospital – a huge moment for our patients, carers, staff and all our stakeholders who have worked so hard to bring this vision to life. Thank you to everyone who has supported us on this journey.

As part of our Better Environments Programme, this will see a second centre of excellence for inpatient mental healthcare open from late 2027, following on from Springfield Hospital’s £150m transformation. We also look forward this year to the opening of the new Richmond Royal Wellbeing Centre, and the start of construction on the new Barnes Hospital, together representing a further £17m investment.

Vanessa CEO

And this is just one small part of the work happening to make our Trust a great place to receive care and to work. I am really proud that, through the national NHS staff survey, 91% of my colleagues report that their role makes a difference to our patients – the highest rate in the country – with more staff saying we are compassionate, focused on learning and inclusive.

We know there is more to do to become a truly inclusive, anti-racist organisation and to work against racial prejudice. I am delighted that we have now signed UNISON’s anti-racism charter making clear our commitments to our programme of initiatives and actions to deliver this alongside our new anti-racism values into behaviours framework.

I am also really pleased that we have seen better experiences of mental healthcare in the community. The Care Quality Commission’s Community Me ntal Health Survey 2024 showed improvements year-on-year in dignity respect, care and compassion patients experience, how open we are to patients’ views, involvement with families and carers, and better conversations and education around medication.

This will continue to be a focus through our Better Care Programme’s work to empower more people to recover and stay well in the community and ensure no one stays in hospital longer than they need to through purposeful, recovery-focused, high-quality care.

Great people deliver great care, and we know there is always more to do to support our colleagues. As part of a focus on reducing instances of poor behaviour towards our staff we have launched a new kindness campaign to ensure respect always goes both ways. Just as we care deeply for our patients, our teams deserve to be treated with care and kindness too.

Treating each other with kindness is particularly important during times of change. We know change can be challenging and as we move towards a new chapter for the NHS more broadly, we remain focused on supporting our people to deliver effective, compassionate care as we navigate the future together.

Next, we look ahead to Mental Health Awareness Week in May, and this year’s campaign theme of ‘community’. I am delighted that we will once again be marking this by staging the South West London Mental Health Conference following a successful launch in 2024. Together with our Integrated Care System, the event will bring together patients, leaders, clinicians, carers, partners and our local community for a series of workshops and interactive discussions – find out more about how you can get involved.

Beyond this we look forward to an exciting programme of events this spring and into summer through our Better Communities Programme. This includes the launch of the next phase of our ambitious mental health training programme, the official opening event for the new Springfield Park and a series of fundraising events for our Trust charity – look out for more information in the coming months!  

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. 


 

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