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Loading ...The AMHP Leads Network has appointed fresh leadership to represent the views of those responsible for approved mental health professional (AMHP) services.
Christina Cheney and Robert Lewis have stepped down as co-chairs after just over two years at the helm.
Kirsten Bingham, AMHP lead at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, remains as co-chair, a position she was appointed to earlier this year, with three colleagues also stepping into the role:
- Jill Hemmington, course lead for the AMHP programme at the University of Central Lancashire.
- Darrell Johnson, service lead in Salford, Greater Manchester.
- Dominic Marley, AMHP lead for Brighton and Hove.
The network’s role is to provide representation for leads across England and Wales and influence policy on issues facing AMHPs.
Impact of network under outgoing chairs
Under Cheney and Lewis’s leadership, the network has:
- Highlighted AMHPs’ role in preventing Mental Health Act assessments and admissions, called for data to be collected on it and argued that strengthening this function could significantly reduce use of the MHA.
- Sought to influence the planned reform of the Mental Health Act 1983, including by arguing that the new Labour government should seek to reduce detentions under the existing act to provide time for it to take a more radical approach to legislative change than is currently planned.
- Raised concerns about pressures on AMHPs, including by warning that the service was having to absorb work from elsewhere in the mental health system.
- Flagged issues about the impact of the police’s ‘right care, right person’ policy, under which they will not attend mental health incidents unless a crime is suspected or there are significant safety concerns.
- Joined forces with the children’s and adults’ principal social worker networks to seek to shape policy on social care and social work.
Highlighting the value of the AMHP role
In a parting statement, they described undertaking a role as a “privilege” and welcomed their successors as “brilliant colleagues”.
They added: “We are both passionate about the AMHP role and hold the belief that AMHPs, AMHP leads and AMHP services should be involved at every level of service and policy development locally and nationally.
“While there was always more we could have done, we hope that we step down at a really healthy time for the network. We can all offer something, the more that do, the easier it is.”
Cheney, formerly AMHP service manager in North Yorkshire and assistant strategic lead for adult social care mental health for NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board, has taken up a new role as strategic lead for mental health, prisons and multi-agency public protection arrangements in East Riding.
Lewis has been AMHP service manager at Devon council since 2015.
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For our 50th anniversary, we’re expanding our My Brilliant Colleague series to include anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.
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It would be helpful to know what “appointed” means. Social work organisations aren’t renowned for their democratic structures and real commitment to transparency. To have confidence that the Leads Network isn’t just another buggins turn we should know the process. Writing as a London AMHP.
Hello Hamish
All AMHP Leads Network Chairs are elected by the Steering Group Members, through the Terms of Reference expressions of interest process. ALN Steering Group members are elected by their regional AMHP Leads forum to represent their areas and regions. How regions elect their reps is down to their own local processes. All ALN Steering Group members and chairs are volunteers and give what time they can to support the wider aims of the Network.
All minutes and Terms of Reference are available via the ALN Padlet page. Hopefully that provides the transparency you are seeking.
Thanks Robert but that’s an explanation of a process but isn’t really that transparent. A truly democratic process would involve AMHPs in who gets to represent us not leave it to steering groups and Leads forums to decide how this is done. There aren’t many AMHPs across the country and it’s not impossible to have a way of involving us too. I appreciate that Leads are volunteers but we also do work over and above our normal AMHP duties and I would have thought given Leaderships changes aren’t frequent our involvement would be a priority. I’m not after a row but I know that I’m not the only AMHP that feels detached from the Network because we don’t feel we matter. Surely that’s not healthy for a body that aims to represent our service and our roles. Less verbosely, it’s not democratic.
I’d settle for no democracy if organisations claiming to promote our interests actually did as they claim. Most social workers or AMHPs wouldn’t know anything about BASW or AMHP Leads Network for example if they weren’t featured in Community Care. Leads Network perhaps can be excused given it has minimal resources. I tend to be less charitable when grand claims are loud hailed when our knowledge of them are minimal and their impact on our practice negligible.