Focus Weekly: Meet the Teams edition
11 September 2026
Welcome to the Focus Weekly bulletin, this week focusing on teams across the Trust.
Get to know our services, what they do, and learn about best practices or new models that make a positive difference to delivering good patient care.
This month we focus on three teams: the Physical Health Monitoring Team, the Intensive Support Team and our Procurement Team.
If you are looking for a specific section of the newsletter, click on the grey square in the bottom right of your screen.
What's happened this week...
- Message from Mark - This week, Mark's message focuses on our people, from HEARTS nominations to the staff survey. You can read Mark's full message on Focus
- This week's Learning and Engagement hour had news of this year's flu vaccination campaign, the 2026 staff survey and the No Excuse for Abuse campaign. If you missed it, you can watch the recording, or view the slides, on Focus
- Our urgent assessement services
asked for staffing support for shifts this week - find out more by reading the Focus news item or contact Brad Allison-Stevens if you can help
- A reminder that corporate and non-clinical colleagues are being asked to avoid driving to Kingsway Hospital while the overflow car park is being upgraded, between Tuesday 8 September and Monday 28 September. You can find out more on Focus
- Sharing your news: please continue to submit your news on Focus. You can also post on the closed staff Facebook group - visit Facebook to join up.
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Meet the Teams
Physical Health Monitoring Team
Interview with Victoria Gregory, Physical Health in Mental Health Practitioner
What’s the name of your Team?
We are the Physical Health Monitoring Team, offering clinics and home visits across Derbyshire covering Derby City, Amber Valley, Derbyshire Dales, the North, High Peak and Erewash.
What are your specific responsibilities?
The team follows the Lester Tool Care Pathway, which offers physical health monitoring for the first 12 months of all patients who are starting anti-psychotic or mood stabilising medication.
During the first appointment we carry out a full health check including blood pressure, weight, a comprehensive lifestyle questionnaire, an ECG and blood testing in preparation for any new medication.
After three months, we carry out another health check to see if there are any changes and to revisit health goals which may include things like stopping smoking.
Nine months later we do a final check, to complete the 12 months of monitoring.
Where are you based?
Derby City – Laura
Amber Valley – Lauren
Derbyshire Dales – Eve
North (including Chesterfield and Bolsover) – Katie and David
High Peak – Xanthea
Erewash – Victoria and Kelly
What’s the best thing about your team?
The team really, really care about the patients and service, and everyone goes above and beyond to make sure patients are seen. We are all very flexible and try to accommodate where we can.
Any achievements or special projects?
Laura and I have given talks at Derby University a few times, explaining our work to the student nurses, and highlighting the Lester Pathway, which I’m really passionate about.
It’s named after Professor Helen Lester who made it her life’s work to close the 15–20-year gap in life expectancy faced by people with severe mental illness, who often die prematurely.
Often people don’t know about it and it’s such an important tool.
Just for fun:
Who’s got the cutest pet on a Teams call?
Xanthea’s sausage dog Penny.
Who eats the best biscuits out of the tin?
We all do! But Eve is the feeder, she makes the best brownies for us all. The other week she brought in a tray of scones with jam and cream too.
Who’s the first to make a round of brews?
I suppose that would have to be me, I do like my coffee.
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Intensive Support Team
Interview with Rebecca Needham - Operational Manager, Intensive Support Team
What's the name of your team?
We are the Intensive Support Team (IST), a specialist multidisciplinary service supporting adults with learning disabilities across Derbyshire. Our team operates across both the north and south of the
county and includes nurses, occupational therapists, psychologists, speech and language therapists, assistant practitioners, and support workers, all working together to provide high- quality, person-centred care.
What are your specific responsibilities?
We support people with learning disabilities to remain in their communities and live as independently as possible. We provide specialist assessment, intervention, and support in people's homes and local environments, working intensively to prevent hospital admissions and placement breakdowns. Our multidisciplinary team works closely with individuals, families, carers, and partner organisations to deliver person-centred support and improve quality of life.
What's the best thing about your team?
What makes our team special is our shared commitment to putting the people we support at the centre of everything we do. We are passionate about person- centred care and work hard to improve quality of life, promote independence, and achieve meaningful outcomes. We have built strong relationships across the team, creating a supportive, compassionate, and collaborative environment that makes the IST a great place to work.
Any achievements or special projects?
Over the past 18 months, we have been working to bring together our north and
south teams into a more integrated Derbyshire-wide service. While this remains a work in progress, we have made significant progress by developing shared ways of working, standardising processes, and building stronger connections across the county.
As a result, we have created a more consistent and equitable service, meaning people accessing IST support can expect the same high standards of care and support wherever they live in Derbyshire.
Our focus remains on improving outcomes for the people we support, and we continue to work together to further strengthen and develop the service.
And a special mention...
to Kabuki, Joanne's cat, who has become an unofficial member of the IST through regular mentions and the occasional cameo during team meetings. Jo works in the South Team in Derby.
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The Procurement Team
Interview with Ateeq Hussain, Head of Procurement
What’s the name of your Team?
We are the Procurement Team. Procurement makes sure the organisation gets the right goods and services, from the right suppliers, at the right price, through fair and compliant processes that protect public money. It is our job to make sure we get the best possible value for money while focusing on delivering high quality patient care.
Where are you based?
We are based at Kingsway House, Kingsway Hospital, Derby.
Introduce us to the members of your team
We are a really small team compared to other procurement teams in the NHS. There’s me; the Deputy Head of Procurement, Elizabeth Bailey, who has just joined the team; then the Assistant Purchasing Officers Cynthia Gomez and Kay Hudson.
What’s the best thing about your team?
The best thing is that we may be small but we are very highly skilled and a strong blend of experience. The team really cares about getting it right for the Trust; it’s not just a job for them, they go above and beyond to get things right.
Any achievements or special projects?
We’ve recently introduced the Trust to an NHS England contracting portfolio called ATAMIS, following the trend of trusts across the country. We have uploaded all our contracts in a structured way so businesses can now see and respond to our contract opportunities, submit bids and we can get the best possible results for the Trust.
Just for fun:
Who has the cutest pet on a Teams call?
We can’t possibly pick one – we’ve all got pets. Although I would say my British shorthair cat, Romeo, who is 2.
Who eats all the best biscuits out the tin?
I don’t eat many but I do buy a lot of treats for the team, Costco desserts are our main go to items. They say I’m a feeder! But we do share them with other teams.
Who’s first to make a round of brews?
That would have to be Kay.
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Want to feature in a "Meet the Teams" edition of Focus Weekly? Contact jane.mcfarlane8@nhs.net to get involved!
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List of useful Focus links
The quick links to systems page on Focus, Freedom to Speak Up page on Focus, Staff Room pages on Focus, our staff network groups and all news items.
Focus Weekly is a weekly e-newsletter for all Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust staff created by the communications and engagement team. Read back issues of the bulletin in our Focus Weekly archive on Focus.
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