Reflecting on 2025: Highlights from our year
From tackling health inequalities and transforming our environments, to celebrating our exceptional people, here’s a look back at what we’ve achieved together in 2025.
Tackling health inequalities
This year, we strengthened our commitment to equity and inclusion through bold initiatives. Our five-year Health Inequalities Strategic Plan sets out a clear roadmap to ensure fair access to mental health services, co-designed with people with lived experience.
We also launched our Cultural Capability Training Programme , equipping staff to deliver care that respects diverse cultural needs and addresses systemic bias.
Our work to embed our Racism Stops Here campaign across our Trust was reinforced by signing UNISON’s Anti-Racism Charter . These actions reflect our unwavering dedication to creating a fairer, more inclusive mental health system for all.
Celebrating our award-winning people
Our staff have shone brightly this year, earning recognition locally and nationally. We celebrated 12 Exceptional People Award winners – staff who go above and beyond to give the best care possible to our patients and community.
Our work has also been recognised nationally, with many staff members and teams being nominating for and winning awards. Plus, Springfield Village, our new stigma-breaking neighbourhood, was shortlisted for Mental Health Innovation of the Year at the HSJ Awards , and our mental health training programme was commended at the Wandsworth Chamber Awards .
Lived experience involvement and co-production
Lived experience and co-production has gone from strength to strength at our Trust, ensuring people have an opportunity to contribute to service developments and improvements. In the last six months alone, 146 Lived Experience Members worked alongside staff, contributing 2,300 hours of co-production and involvement activity, including joining Trust Board Directors to visit frontline services, and shaping the content and format of our Cultural Capability Training.
Peer support has continued to grow and is now embedded in acute care and community services. Carers too remain central to our work, with 102 carers registered with our involvement network and carer peer support available to all five boroughs. Our 66 volunteers also made a huge impact this year, contributing 5,495 hours to our Trust, and adding £80,000 in value.
Helping you Know who to turn to
It can be difficult to know where to go for mental health support and what might be available in your community. To change this, we launched Know who to turn to, a campaign and online directory designed to help people find a range of local support quickly and easily. Whether you’re seeking urgent help, ongoing support or advice for family and friends, our list of trusted NHS services, local organisations and community groups will help you know who to turn to and get the right support, at the right time. Go to our Know who to turn to in the community directory.
Transforming Our Environments for the Better
We’ve continued to transform our environments, by making progress on modernising our mental health facilities. Major redevelopments began at Barnes Hospital and Tolworth Hospital , after breaking ground at both sites this year. Together they represent an investment nearly £130m to deliver better environments for our patients. Staff from our Trust recently got a first-hand look at the progress made to our new building Tala at Tolworth, while in Barnes, children from local schools and nurseries took part in an exciting Digger Day to learn more about the hospital’s construction.
Meanwhile, at Springfield Village, the Mayor of London opened a stunning 32-acre park, and the final brick has been laid on 54 new supported living council homes, connecting Springfield Hospital and mental health with the local community. We also opened a new garden at Ellis Ward to provide a calm space to support people’s recovery.
Investing in our communities
We have continued to support our wider communities through our role as an anchor institution, acting as a force for positive social change. This year we reached an important milestone by training over 200 local people in Mental Health First Aid , thereby empowering communities to identify, understand, and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue. This has included working in partnership with Wandsworth Borough Council to deliver training to their Children’s Services Tooting Family Hub .
Art and creativity also play an important role in our community engagement. This summer, we hosted a unique exhibition celebrating Deaf culture , and a royal visit to Springfield Hospital showcased the 20 co-designed pieces of vibrant and uplifting artwork created with Hospital Rooms.
Making life better together with our Trust charity
Our relaunched Trust charity celebrated another year of making a difference to our communities. Our fantastic fundraisers have run, swam, walked and more, raising thousands of pounds for us to support projects that benefit our patients, their carers and staff that go above and beyond what the NHS can fund.
Most recently our Winter Appeal launched to provide every ward with a ‘party-in-a-box’ filled with decorations, treats and activities to be enjoyed on Christmas Day. Help us make a different to our staff and patients this festive season, by donating to our appeal .
A team effort
Working together with other NHS and healthcare services, local councils, health leaders, clinicians, community partners, and people with lived experience of mental ill health is key to delivering the ambitions from the South West London Mental Health Strategy. This year we held our second South West London Mental Health Conference where we explored some of the most pressing challenges facing us today - from youth wellbeing to health inclusion, anti-racism and the prevention of crisis and early support. Keep an eye out for details of our 2026 conference, coming soon.
Looking ahead
As we reflect on these achievements, we want to thank our staff, partners, patients and communities for making 2025 such an extraordinary year. Here’s to building on this success in 2026, together.
