Tony Warne visits Gaskell House

Staff group outside the entrance to Gaskell House, with NHS signage visible.

Earlier this week, our Chair, Tony Warne spent time visiting Gaskell House, home to our Manchester Specialist Psychotherapy Service, Eating Disorders Service, and Psychosexual Service.

During the visit, Tony was given a tour by Frank Denning, Consultant Adult Psychotherapist and Clinical Lead (interim) for Specialist Psychological Services, alongside Claire Briggs, Admin & Operational Performance Manager, while also having the opportunity to speak with a range of colleagues to learn more about the services they deliver.

Three staff members speaking in an office at Gaskell House, with desks, computer screens and workspace furnishings visible.

Two colleagues Tony met on his tour were Rachelle Smith, Clinical Lead and Lorraine Chan, Administration Assistant within the Eating Disorder Service. They shared details of the team's assessment week initiative, where the service is prioritising delivering assessments, to ensure that the needs of those people who have had the longest wait have had a full psychological assessment. This is just one example of Delivering Care That Matters that this service is offering in response to the very high demand for help, and the complex needs of the people referred to their service.

Other highlights of the tour involved visiting the library within Gaskell House, which also functions as a group therapy room. This on-site resource offers a wealth of evidence for clinicians to draw from, as well as serving as a reminder of the history of the psychotherapy service at Gaskell House. In particular, Bob Hobson, who developed the Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy Model which continues to be taught, supervised and practiced by therapists at Gaskell House.

Three staff members talking in a meeting room with bookshelves and seating at Gaskell House.

Gaskell House continues to be a valuable training resource, offering placements to final year clinical psychology trainees as well as junior and more senior medical trainees. It is an important aspect of the service that there are medical psychotherapists on the team, which means we can offer those training in a psychiatry an opportunity to improve their clinical skills.

After a tour of the building Tony had the opportunity to sit down with members of the clinical team, as well as Keely Morris from the administration team, to discuss what service provision looks like at Gaskell House, the challenges the services face, and the positive outcomes they deliver to the people who access their services.

Four staff members talking in a corridor during a tour of Gaskell House.

During the meeting, Tony was asked about his own experiences in mental health and gave an inspiring account of the work he has done and the roles he has held over the years, including that of university professor.

Following this conversation, Frank said:

"We appreciate Tony making the time to come to see Gaskell House and hear about the services we offer. It was evident how interested he was in the work we do, and learning about his own experiences helped us get more of a sense of Tony as a person, not just the Chair of our Trust.

Following the meeting Tony sent us a paper he co-authored, in which he discusses the diagnosis of BPD/EUPD, thinking about the impact of gender. This is a live issue, and we look forward to reading about and discussing Tony’s ideas."

After meeting with the teams based at Gaskell House, Tony reflected on his visit:

“As always, this was a very informative visit and a great opportunity to find out more about this specialist service. I was impressed with the eating disorder assessment initiative, which on day one had already had a great take up from people using these services. Our discussion made me feel as if I was coming home, so many thanks for colleagues making the time to speak with me. I was also able to do a Dolly Parton and donate a number of textbooks to their library."