A team of volunteer Mental Health First Aiders swapped their desks for paintbrushes to spruce up a much-needed resource in the local community in Guildford.

With Christmas around the corner and it being the season of goodwill the group, who between them work in a variety of roles at Highways England in Guildford, wanted to help a local organisation which supports people with mental health issues.

The group of volunteers approached Oakleaf Enterprise, which is located nearby to their workplace, with an offer of help. With 1 in 4 people in the UK suffering from a mental illness every single year, Oakleaf’s services have never been more vital.

The December timing was perfect as over Christmas one in ten people feel unable to cope, rising to a third of people with a mental health problem. And over a quarter of people feel the pressure to have the ‘perfect Christmas’, increasing to half of those with a mental health problem (48%).

Tom Briggs, from Highways England, said:

We wanted to do something practical and had originally thought about offering to do some gardening – recognising the positive link between physical exercise and well-being. But we found that the art room at Oakleaf was a tad uninspiring and clearly in need of a re-vamp.

It has been a real learning curve for those of us with no DIY skills and a great opportunity for us to build links with Oakleaf, a hidden gem whose staff and volunteers do such a fantastic job. We hope to continue to support them.

In the weeks leading up to D-Day (day of decorating) the team met regularly to organise a rota, delegate tasks and buy supplies. They also gained the support of the local B&Q at Ladymeade Retail Centre who kindly donated some paint and brushes.

Tom said:

Many of the individuals Oakleaf support don’t have loved ones to celebrate with at this time of year and the charity needs donations to give as presents to their clients at their Christmas party. So we also collected donations from our colleagues for Oakleaf to give to their clients at their Christmas party.

Our volunteering is mutually beneficial as we are able to raise the profile of volunteer Mental Health First Aiders both within our organisation and the wider community. In the same way first aiders are called to help people with physical injuries we are here to offer initial support and guidance to those going through a difficult time or may be experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression, especially at times like Christmas when there is social pressure to be seen as having a good time.

Eli Beckett at Oakleaf Enterprise said:

We are thrilled to have the support of Highways England. Bringing our charity and businesses together is a fantastic way of connecting corporate organisations with the local community whilst raising awareness of mental health and reducing the stigma that is connected to this invisible illness.

We strive to work with businesses who take a genuine interest in the mental well-being of their staff – Highways England are a fantastic example of a company doing just that, with a wonderful, proactive team of MHFA trained employees based in the Guildford office.

Both the staff and clients here at Oakleaf are so grateful to Highways England for all their fundraising efforts so far and for coming down to help redecorate our slightly tired looking room! We look forward to growing this partnership with Highways England as we continue to support some of the most vulnerable adults in our local community live well with a mental illness.

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The GP IT Futures framework will create an open, competitive market to encourage the best technology companies to invest in the NHS. All systems will be required to meet minimum standards to ensure they can talk to each other across boundaries.

The current market is dominated by 2 main providers, which slows down innovation and traps GP practices in long-term contracts with systems that are not suited to the digital age.

The framework will look at how patient data will be moved to modern cloud services to allow clinicians and patients to securely access crucial, life-saving information in real time.

By 2023 to 2024 we want every patient in England to be able to access GP services digitally, with practices able to offer online or video consultations.

The changes will free up staff time and reduce delays by allowing seamless, digitised flows of information between GP practices, hospitals and social care settings. It builds on Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock’s tech vision for the NHS.

The new standards, developed by NHS Digital, will introduce minimum technical requirements so systems can talk to each other securely and are continuously upgradable.

Any system that does not meet these standards will not be used by the NHS and the government will look to end contracts with providers that do not understand these principles for the health and care sector.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

Too often the IT used by GPs in the NHS – like other NHS technology – is out of date. It frustrates staff and patients alike, and doesn’t work well with other NHS systems. This must change.

I love the NHS and want to build it to be the most advanced health and care system in the world – so we have to develop a culture of enterprise in the health service to allow the best technology to flourish.

I want to empower the country’s best minds to develop new solutions to make things better for patients, make things better for staff, and make our NHS the very best it can be.

Sarah Wilkinson, Chief Executive at NHS Digital, said:

The next generation of IT services for primary care must give more patients easy access to all key aspects of their medical record and provide the highest quality technology for use by GPs. They must also comply with our technology standards to ensure that we can integrate patient records across primary care, secondary care and social care.

In addition, we intend to strengthen quality controls and service standards, and dramatically improve the ease with which GPs can migrate from one supplier to another.

We are committed to working with existing and new suppliers to deliver these extended capabilities for the benefit of GPs and patients. We’re very excited about the huge opportunities that will arise from improving the sophistication and quality of these services.

Around 360,000 salmon and 20,000 sea trout have been released into tributaries of the River Tyne this year as the centre celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Around 360,000 salmon and 20,000 sea trout have been released into tributaries of the River Tyne this year as the centre celebrated its 40th anniversary.