Community Links, together with our partners at Aston Mansfield, have seconded six colleagues to work within the East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) as Community Connectors. Their role involves providing holistic support to patients suffering from a serious mental illness or SMI. Patients will have a single or range of diagnosed conditions, will be known to ELFT and will therefore have a range of needs, including symptoms of anxiety or depression, or have a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Specifically, the Community Connectors work with multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) who sit within primary care networks or PCNs (clusters of GP practices) across Newham and provide patients with wraparound support and access to the services they need.
The programme is a partnership between Community Links and ELFT, derived through the One Newham voluntary sector body in Newham.