NHFT Together - Issue 5

Welcome to another new edition of NHFT Together, the quarterly magazine from Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) for our service users, colleagues, stakeholders and communities.

At NHFT, we're proud to serve diverse communities across Northamptonshire and beyond. Through co-production with our patients, service users, carers and families and colleagues, we are making a difference in our communities while continuing to learn about what is important.

A new partnership between NHFT and local community organisations in North Northamptonshire is proving that when it comes to supporting secondary school-age students, teamwork really does make a difference.

Patients, carers and NHFT colleagues have been working closely together to make the Trust's adult mental health inpatient wards safer, kinder, fairer, better and more inclusive places for all.

The Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) is a national NHS framework that supports mental health trusts to become actively anti-racist organisations and to reduce racial inequalities in care, experience and outcomes.

It's common for NHS care to involve support from more than one organisation - and this can often be at the same time. To make sure people receive the best possible care it's essential that services can work together effectively and in a joined-up way.

It's estimated that 1 in 2 of us in the UK will either care for someone with dementia or need dementia care ourselves. Caring for someone with dementia can be rewarding but it can also be overwhelming, exhausting and, at times, isolating.

NHFT now provides healthcare services at 14 different prisons and secured sites around the Midlands. The latest of these to come on board is North Sea Camp, an open prison housing around 300 male inmates on the coast just outside Boston in Lincolnshire.

People in prison and other secured settings have a right to the same standard of healthcare that they would expect to receive in the community. This includes having opportunities to access the latest treatment and care innovations by taking part in clinical research projects.

A unique support group at HMP Littlehey is helping people affected by cancer feel less alone, offering connection, understanding and compassion in a setting where support can be harder to access.

At NHFT we celebrate the diversity of our workforce - and we are committed to being a safe, compassionate and more equal place for our colleagues to work.

Following a successful nomination and election process, five new governors have now begun their roles with NHFT. The new intake includes four public governors representing different constituency areas and one representing patients and carers.

This year's NHFT Annual Showcase, which includes the Annual General Meeting of the Council of Governors and the Annual Public and Members Meeting, is taking place on Monday 21 September 2026 at 5.30pm.

Mabel Blades is a dietitian, author and a Public Governor for NHFT, representing the Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire constituency.