Senior nurse joins mental health and learning disability trust board

There’s a new person leading nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) working in mental health and learning disability services in Lincolnshire. Anita Lewin has been appointed the new Director of Nursing, AHPs and Quality at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT). She has been supporting the Trust as interim director for several weeks already and she is thrilled to be taking up a permanent post.

Anita has worked in the NHS for over 30 years, having started her career as a ‘dinner lady’ at the psychiatric facility Rauceby Hospital. She has had several roles across Lincolnshire’s mental health services, at Boston hospital and Stamford resource centre, the Grantham assertive outreach team and as a divisional manager for mental health inpatient services.

Anita’s dedication was honoured in the 2018 Lincolnshire Health Awards when she was awarded the lifetime achievement award for services to mental health in the county.

She has developed her career from humble beginnings to now sit at a board table and drive quality improvements for mental health and learning disability services in Lincolnshire and beyond.

Brendan Hayes, LPFT Chief Executive, congratulated Anita on her appointment. He said: “Anita impressed the staff, governors and other stakeholders on the panels with her compassionate and caring attitude, as well as her drive to continually improve services for the benefit of patients, carers and staff.

“She is a passionate advocate of excellence in patient care and has a proven track record of leading on successful and complex service transformation projects. Her most notable achievements have been the implementation of a ‘triage car’ in conjunction with East Midlands Ambulance Service, placing mental health workers in Lincolnshire Police control room, and overseeing our psychiatric clinical decisions unit (PCDU) from the initial idea to making it a live service.”

Anita commenting on her appointment said: “I’m excited to be able to continue supporting the Trust. One of my key priorities is to keep developing our nurses and allied health professionals, ensuring that we have a workforce fit for the future, both in terms of high quality care we provide, as well as ensuring that our staff are able to achieve their full potential.”