Making Life Better Together: New Year message from our Chief Executive Vanessa Ford
As 2025 draws to a close, our Chief Executive Vanessa Ford reflects on the progress we've made, the challenges we're tackling and her hopes for the future.
"On New Year's Eve I want to take a moment to reflect on this year — and what lies ahead in 2026.
"This time of year naturally invites reflection. Some people make resolutions; for me it's about building on what's going well and learning — openly and honestly - from what hasn't Improvement is rarely straightforward!
"Together we've achieved so much this year in our shared commitment to Making Life Better Together for our communities. Through a consistent focus on continuous quality improvement, we have strengthened our mental health services and improved experiences for both patients and staff.
"We've welcomed Tier 2 CAMHS services in Kingston and Richmond, broken ground on the Tolworth (and we now even have two floors and windows!) and Barnes redevelopments, improved experiences for community patients and carers, and continued to reduce vacancies and turnover, with more people recommending our organisation as a place to work and receive care.
"We launched our ambitious health inequalities strategy and saw significant reductions in length of stay and restrictive practice for Black and Asian inpatients. We continued to challenge stigma through initiatives such as the groundbreaking Springfield Village — nominated for an HSJ Award! — and made further progress on our journey to becoming an actively anti-racist organisation.
"It's equally important to be open about the challenges we've faced. Continued demand pressures and long length of stay have affected our ability to support everyone who needs mental health care. And yet, by working together, we have met this challenge head on — we've seen our length of stay reduce (from 79 to 59 days), and supported more people to recover in the community, closer to friends and family. While there is still work to do, particularly in reducing long waits in some community services, these are strong foundations as we move into 2026.
"Looking ahead, our focus must be on consolidating and building on this progress — making care more timely, purposeful, and least restrictive, preventing crisis wherever possible, and supporting recovery.
"None of this is possible without our staff and volunteers. Thank you for your collaboration and commitment. The way we come together with our patients and communities — through events South West London Mental Health Conference, the visits from local community faith groups, and through the hundreds of nominations for our Exception People and Quality Awards — speaks volumes about the culture we are building together. I also want to say a special thank you to everyone working today and tomorrow.
"These are just some of the many reasons I feel grateful and hopeful as we approach the New Year. I look forward to finding even more ways of Making Life Better Together in 2026."
