Pádraig Belton

Governor @South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

London, GB

Coronavirus is also a mental health epidemic, which we do not speak about enough. This drives my contribution to serve as a public governor in the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, a global clinical and research leader in mental health which treats people each year. I\'ve been appointed to serve as chair of the Quality Working Group, which gets at the heart of SLaM\'s work to make sure patient safety and care is continually improving. I have also helped to represent the Trust in the local community by taking part in the South London Listens events organised by Citizens UK. I\'ve also taken part in a site visit to better understand the work and challenges of psychiatric intensive care units which work with children and adolescents.More broadly, the council of governors exercise oversight over the work of the non-executive directors, support the board of directors in setting the Trust\'s long-term vision, and sit as an informed, evenhanded friend, asking regularly for assurance and evidence of how SLaM is meeting those important goals.