Date: Wednesday 14 May 2025
Time: 2-3.30pm
Location: Online (Teams)
You’ll find out what our mental health investigations and safety recommendations mean for different people including patients, health and care staff, commissioners and charities.
The webinar is free of charge and open to all.
Speakers
Sarah Ashe
Associate Director for Safeguarding, Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism – NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board.
Sarah trained in Somerset as a registered nurse (adult branch) in 1989 and in Bristol as a specialist community public health nurse in 1995. She subsequently became a nurse prescriber and community practice tutor. Sarah took a lead role as named nurse safeguarding children in 2007 which she held until 2019 when she moved to be the first designated nurse for children looked after and care leavers in Somerset. She is currently Associate Director for Safeguarding, Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism at NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB) with a focus on quality, improvement and patient safety.
Dr Dorit Braun, OBE
Project Coordinator – Making Families Count.
Dorit retired in 2019, having worked as a charity chief executive and in a variety of senior management and governance roles in the social care and family support sectors. Following a very traumatic family bereavement Dorit is active in trying to improve mental health care and the ways NHS staff and organisations learn from deaths. Dorit became a member of Making Families Count in 2020, where she coordinated a mental health focused project – ‘Life beyond the cubicle’ – which has developed, tested and published eLearning materials. These materials aim to contribute to improving patient care and reducing harm, deaths and near misses that might occur during mental health crises. The resources are free to the health and social care workforce on the NHS Learning Hub. Dorit is also an artist, exhibiting from time to time.
Dr Rachel Gibbons
Consultant Psychiatrist and Consultant Medical Psychotherapist; Vice Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty – Royal College of Psychiatry.
Dr Rachel Gibbons is an expert on the psychodynamics of suicide and homicide, with a focus on their impact on clinicians and the bereaved. Over the past 20 years, she has worked in the NHS as a consultant psychiatrist, medical psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, and group analyst. She chaired the Patient Safety Group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) for four years and recently stepped down from chairing the Working Group on the Effect of Suicide and Homicide on Psychiatrists. She has led the development of two RCPsych guidance documents for all mental health organisations in the UK on the pastoral care of mental health staff following a patient's death by suicide and a patient-perpetrated homicide. The guidance on suicide is now incorporated into England’s National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2023). She is currently Vice Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatry.
Stephen Hinchley
Policy and Public Affairs Lead – VoiceAbility.
Stephen is policy and public affairs lead for VoiceAbility, a leading provider of advocacy services (including independent mental health advocacy) in England and Scotland. Stephen has been working on reforms to the Mental Health Act and inpatient mental health services since he joined VoiceAbility in February 2020.
Eelke Zoestbergen
Quality Lead – NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board.
Eelke has worked in the public sector since 2002. First in the police service in quality assurance (including a focus on equality an inclusion, as well as mental health and learning disabilities) and then from 2012 in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner as a commissioner (victim services). In 2015 she moved to Somerset County Council as a joint lead commissioner for learning disability and autism in a joint NHS/local authority role. After this she joined NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board in 2019 as a quality lead (mental health, learning disability and autism) focusing on quality, improvement and patient safety.
Paul Whiteing
Chief Executive Officer – Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA).
Paul is an experienced senior leader and former chief executive officer of a telecoms regulatory body. Prior to joining AvMA, Paul was a lead ombudsman and director of casework at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), where amongst other responsibilities, Paul led FOS’ work on vulnerable customers and the service they received. Paul’s focus at AvMA has been on creating, and now implementing, the five-year strategy (2024-29) and at the same time ensuring that the charity has a long-term plan to remain financially sustainable. Outside of work, Paul likes to spend time with his family, is an avid reader, takes a keen interest in current affairs and enjoys riding his mountain bike on the South Downs.
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