Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust’s employment service has been certified as a UK Centre of Excellence for the second time in a row for its efforts in supporting people with mental health problems get back into work.

Following a recent review by the Centre for Mental Health, the Trust’s employment services have been identified as ‘exemplary’ across the range of indicators for a quality Individual Placement and Support service.

Representatives from the UK Centre of Excellence scored the service a total of 115 out of a potential 125 marks, describing the team as being ‘committed to providing a high quality of care’, ‘dependable’ and ‘always looking for ways to engage with service users’. Employment and Recovery Programme Manager Vicky Harris said: 

“We have a very dedicated and experienced employment team who are always proactive in supporting some of the most vulnerable individuals. We always receive great satisfaction when someone we are supporting gains meaningful employment.”

The service is one of only 18 IPS Centres of Excellence in the UK and is the first Thrive into Work* provider to gain a Centre of Excellence status alongside being the only Primary Care and Long Term Conditions Centre of Excellence in the country. Chief Executive Mark Axcell added:

“We are so proud to have upheld our status as a UK Centre of Excellence and I am honoured that we can provide this service to our service users. This is a brilliant result and it is clearly a reflection of the hard work of our IPS team and colleagues within the Trust.”

The employment service hopes to build upon this success over the coming year and support even more people to gain meaningful employment.