Changes to the Members' Council

The Members' Council now has four new elected members

Welcome and congratulations to:

Lynn Carlisle, elected unopposed to represent public members outside Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark. Lynn was previously an appointed member of the Council and we are pleased to see her back.

Caroline Hough, who has been elected to represent Service Users in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark.

Asanga Fernando and Christopher Scanlon, who have been elected to represent SLaM staff.

Members' Council - In focus

The Members' Council, has a statutory role in overseeing the organisation's strategic direction. There are seats on the Members' Council for individual staff, service users, carers and public.

Membership provides an opportunity for service users, carers, health and social care professionals to come together and create a powerful voice to lobby for informed public debate about mental health issues. You don't need to agree with everything the Trust does in order to become a member - the only 'party line' we ask you to share is a belief in the rights of people with mental health problems to receive dignity, respect and effective care and treatment

Reasons to become a member:

Help us put mental health on the map. In the past, mental health services have sometimes been seen as the poor relation to other parts of the NHS. If you believe that mental health services are important, then we hope you will say so by joining up

Sign up and have a vote: You need to be a member in order to have a vote in deciding who sits on our Members' Council

Help determine our priorities: We believe we have a good track record of seeking to involve people in decisions about the future of services. Membership takes this to another level. As an NHS Foundation Trust, our Board of Directors has a statutory responsibility to take account of the views of the Members' Council on issues such as determining our priorities for the future. As a member, you decide who sits on the Council

Make us truly representative: Mental health and well-being is an issue for everyone. We need a broad range of opinion to help us make the best possible decisions about how we provide healthcare. So, for example, we believe it is important that our membership isn't just made up of health and social care professionals. We also need to ensure that other groups have a voice - including service users, carers and public.

To find out more about SLaM Membership or to sign up as a member visit the membership site