Syeda Akther

Maternity care has been in the news, with the government sharing more detail about its maternity services investigation.

Our latest chart examines rates of emergency C-sections, finding that rates are higher among people from minority ethnic groups.

Read the #QualityWatch analysis: buff.ly/3XAqD2t

Cost of private psychology soars in UK as practitioners turn away clients Prices have risen by 34% since 2022, with 29% of psychologists refusing new patients

Cost of private psychology soars in UK as practitioners turn away clients

Not surprised by increased demand considering the ever-growing waiting lists in the NHS. Open to exploitation too considering title of 'psychologist' is not protected.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Careers Do you want to help build a fairer future, free from poverty? Join us and use your skills to make a real difference.

One week left to apply 📅

We’re hiring for a Research Officer and a Lead Researcher.

Are you passionate about conducting qualitative research on poverty and financial hardship? Do you have a strong commitment to ethical and inclusive research?

Apply here: www.jrf.org.uk/careers.

People walking across a busy crosswalk

NEW RESEARCH: People who grow up in deprived areas of the UK experience #PTSD at 3X the rate than those in affluent areas and experience more severe symptoms, according to Prof Jaime Delgadillo (IoPPN) and @drtomrichardson.bsky.social @sotonpsychology.bsky.social.

www.kcl.ac.uk/news/social-...

🚨Journalist Anas Al-Sharif
1997 – 2025

Assassinated by Israel in Gaza last night.

Surrey University to review NHS ethnicity pay gaps The review will explore differences in pay, career progression, and pension contributions.

Another year and another review into the NHS ethnicity pay gap with no mention of racism. At this point, I’m convinced this is just a money making scheme…

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Starmer’s NHS reforms thrown into chaos by ‘£1bn layoff bill’ Patients could be put at risk as the one-off cost of redundancies, estimated at between £600 million and £1 billion, puts staff and services in limbo

Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to overhaul the NHS has been thrown into chaos after no money has been set aside to cover the costs of making thousands of redundancies at ICBs www.thetimes.com/article/14b7...

Illustration of three people playing basketball. Text: Exercise can give our mental health a boost. But people living with mental health problems can encounter many barriers which put physical activity out of reach.

Physical exercise benefits our mental health. But for people with severe mental illness there are multiple barriers to getting and staying fit. What are these barriers, and how can they be overcome? Our new report with @rethinkcharity.bsky.social and @sport-england-se.bsky.social has answers 👇

Infographic illustrating barriers to support for mental health and substance use problems: a lack of integrated care means that people struggling on both fronts are turned away from services for being ‘too complex’; underinvestment in holistic services prevents people from getting support that meets their needs (e.g. Workforce shortages, Funding pressures on services, Compounded stigma & trauma); Fragmentation between NHS, local authority services and voluntary sector services leads to people falling through the gaps; Inequity means that people from LGBTQ+ and racialised communities, as well as people within the criminal justice system, face even greater challenges in getting support; a lack of access to secure housing means that people can find their wider support needs hidden by homelessness.

People with both #SubstanceUse & #MentalHealth difficulties face profound barriers to care - including fragmented services, stigma, and a lack of culturally responsive support 👇

Our roundtable with Prof Dame Carol Black explored how we can deliver integrated, effective care: tinyurl.com/yeynkxba

Survivors have been calling this surveillance out since the MINUTE oxevision got its claws into the nhs. They insist it’s not a replacement for in person care but it is sold as a money saver - and the only way it saves money is if it replaces in person care.

Exploring multilingual voice-hearers’ experiences Exploring multilingual voice-hearers’ experiences

@rrowanolive.bsky.social's preso about voice hearers who 'hear' more than one language: www.ucl.ac.uk/qualitative-... The power of #LivedExperience research

Please RT & help Hannah with her important PhD about staff experience of self-harm management on mental health wards.

Many things improve health outcomes, but let me tell you this:

- Treating people as less because they can’t work doesn’t.
- Giving disabled people less when disability costs more doesn’t.
- And forcing people into poverty to ‘incentivise’ work? That definitely doesn’t.

“The government’s intention to cut billions from the social security budget will drive the poorest Disabled people into even deeper poverty.” Really devastating proposals to cut benefits for disabled people that will just make life even harder to live for those already trying their hardest.

Being exposed to racism can have devastating effects for #NHS staff, including poorer health, poorer retention and underrepresentation in senior roles, says @stephanihatch.bsky.social. #NTSummit #antiracism

▶️ Watch live: events.zoom.us/ev/Ahm9SLEL2...

Family say DWP has unanswered questions over death of disabled woman whose benefits were stopped The family of a disabled woman whose body lay undiscovered in her flat for more than three years after her benefits were stopped say they have serious unanswered questions about the actions of the …

Family say DWP has unanswered questions over death of disabled woman whose body lay undiscovered in her flat for more than three years after her benefits were stopped
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/family-say-d...

Important and poignant piece on the continued racial disparities in maternal deaths. Anecdotal evidence suggests racist ideas about Black people, like supposed higher threshold for pain, result in significantly poor care.

“… a failure to take account of the wider context of racialised lives is not benign, but rather causes harm through invalidation, at the practice level.”

Really excellent piece highlighting the need for continued development of our practice & approaches to consider the whole person & their context.

We know that many people's stories have been marginalised.

Therefore intersectionality must be at the heart of #NATPmentalhealth

Understanding neurodivergence beyond a northern white paradigm can support a service culture that serves all.

The National Autism Trainer Programme Closing Conference takes place from 1230 GMT today.

Just a couple of hours till the start of the National Autism Trainer Programme Closing Conference.

If you’re interested in #autism #training, follow the hashtag #NATPmentalhealth from 1230 for live updates and to get involved in the chat.

Happy holidays Charlotte! Hope you have a lovely break ✨

Zines Forever! DIY Publications and Disability Justice Discover how self-published zines have been used to share individual expriences of disability and disabled identity. You can see, touch, listen to and create your own zines in this display, drawn from...

Going to be in this exhibition at Wellcome from March! wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/...

Hey Charlotte! ☺️

“There’s no us vs. them, it’s just us”: a creative approach to centring lived experience within the AVATAR2 trial - BMC Psychiatry This article describes a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) led creative workshop space held within a clinical trial of a talking therapy for distressing voices (AVATAR2). PPI adds significant value...

A new paper from the #AVATAR2Trial (targeting distressing voices in psychosis) focuses on the set-up, process and outcomes of a patient & public involvement (PPI) creative workshop where people wrote poems, made a podcast, and once featured an amazing flute solo.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

YouTube video by Mental Elf Dr Veenu Gupta - The Evolution of Lived Experience Roles in Mental Health Research #NRSMH24

🎧 NEW PODCAST 🎧

The Evolution of #LivedExperience Roles in #MentalHealth Research.

Dr Veenu Gupta speaks to Douglas @dbadenoch.bsky.social from the Mental Elf in the run up to the #NRSMH24 conference in Edinburgh

youtu.be/sChnCy0gkvk?...

📢 Interview Study on Low Pleasure (Anhedonia) now OPEN to recruitment. The study aims to understand low pleasure first-hand, and the 1hr interview (online or in-person) will be co-facilitated by an Expert by Experience. Participants will be reimbursed £25.