'Coming to Sussex Partnership is a bit like coming home'

Sean Duggan, new Chair of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, talks about making a difference to the lives of local people in this blog. 

Coming to Sussex Partnership is a bit like coming home, having started my career as a mental health nurse (more years ago than I care to remember). In a more literal sense it is actually home for me, as I've been a Worthing resident for many years. Being appointed to the role of Chair of the Trust is a real privilege for me.

One of the things that brought me to the role was the possibility of making a difference to the lives of local people. For the last 20 years or so I've been involved in mental health national policy work, most recently as Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation's Mental Health Network. It's a real joy to think that I now have the chance to have a positive impact in the local community I'm part of.

In terms of what makes me tick professionally, I'm a big fan of integrated care systems. That may not sound particularly exciting thing to say, but stay with me…

At our best, in mental health and learning disability services, we embrace the ethos of working collaboratively in partnership on behalf of patients. I think we can make a huge contribution to the wider health and care system in Sussex. We are part of the solution to some of the sticky problems we face, not least in relation to health inequalities, waiting times and finance. If we do our bit as a partner in the system, then we can help make the system work for the patients we serve. This is much better, as far as I'm concerned, than working in silos where we don't look beyond the walls of our own team or organisation.

I'm very conscious that I join the Trust at a time when we are having to make some really difficult decisions about our plans for the year ahead. At the same time, we're starting to think about our future in the context of developing a new organisational strategy. These two things aren't mutually exclusive. They are one in the same. Planning properly for the next five years will help us get a grip on some of the longstanding issues that require us to make difficult choices right now.

For me, this is all about balancing our role in providing high quality care with the duty to make the best possible use of the public money we are custodians of. It requires tackling problems head on when they get in the way of either of these responsibilities. It involves having difficult conversations. And most of all, it means working together - with each other, our system partners and the people who use our services. I'm particularly looking forward to working with our Council of Governors, not least as this is the forum which brings all of our stakeholder perspectives together in one forum.

I'm proud to be given the opportunity to work with you as Chair to meet the needs of patients, families and carers. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the coming weeks and months.