Event insights: Improving across the boundaries of mental health and A&E
29 April 2026
This webinar explored learning and reflections from our programme which supported teams across the country to improve services for people with a mental health need accessing A&E.
Mental health
Improvement
Speakers
- Sir Terence Stephenson – Vice-chair, The NHS Alliance
- Rebecca Gray – Director, Mental Health Network
- Dr Mary Docherty – Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- Dr Mark Buchanan – Emergency Medicine Consultant, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Ian Callaghan – Lived Experience Programme Manager, Rethink Mental Illness
- Representatives from Surrey Heartlands, Avon & Wiltshire, Kent & Medway and Cheshire & Wirral interface teams.
- Paul Hopley and Frances Igbonwoke (NHS England)
- Emma Fulton (Acute Network)
- Alex Stewart (Mental Health Network)
This webinar covered
- An overview of our Interface Improvement Programme, which between May 2025 and April 2026, supported teams working across 18 separate locations for acute care to understand what’s needed to improve services at the intersection between mental health and A&E.
- Insights from our programme teams.
- Learning and evaluation from the programme.
- What is needed to make collaborative working a success.
- Next steps.