Life Beyond the Cubicle - Lunch and Learn

During Patient Experience Week on 1 May 2025, 2:00pm – 2:45pm, NHS England’s Nursing Directorate will be hosting a lunch and learn session to showcase the Life Beyond the Cubicle resources which launched on the learning hub at the end of 2024.

The session will be hosted by James McLean MBE, Regional Chief Nurse – North West. James will be joined by Dorit Braun, Project Coordinator - Life beyond the Cubicle Project, Making Families Count.

Dorit will present an overview of new eLearning resources, including what the resources are, where you can find the resources and the benefits of undertaking the training. The session will close with a question-and-answer session.

This session is aimed at both clinical and non-clinical colleagues, education teams and anyone with an interest in additional learning and/or development. Feedback from the East of England regional team suggest that the resources have been well received by colleagues working across a range of clinical settings due to the transferability and applicability of the material.

What are the Life Beyond the Cubicle resources?

The Life Beyond the Cubicle resources consist of a set of five interactive modules and a training guide. The resources were developed to encourage clinicians to work well with families and friends to develop care and safety plans when someone is in an acute mental health crisis. In this way, the resources aim to improve patient care, avoid harm, and reduce deaths. The Life Beyond the Cubicle resources are available free to health and social care professionals via the NHS England eLearning platform.

This project was developed in partnership with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Life Beyond The Cubicle‘s Co-Creation Group consisted of service users, family carers and clinicians. The project was supported by an Advisory Group, drawn from a wide range of expertise, tested in 11 NHS trusts, and evaluated by Buckinghamshire New University. 

The project title Life Beyond the Cubicle emphasises the existence of individuals, families, and friends before and beyond consultations with healthcare professionals. Through short film and audio scenarios and case studies, Life Beyond the Cubicle shows why it is so important to involve family and friends, helps clinicians reflect on why they don’t do so routinely, and how they can overcome these barriers. The co-creation process used in developing the resources ensured that they are rooted in the lived experiences of patients, family carers and clinicians.

Praise for Life Beyond the Cubicle

 “Life Beyond the Cubicle is an invaluable resource and training that bridges the communication gap between families and mental health services. This well-developed tool is essential for clinicians, fostering thoughtful dialogue, and supporting reparative functioning after traumatic events. It is a vital step forward in mental health care, addressing a significant need in the field. All mental health services should engage with this transformative initiative.” - Dr Rachel Gibbons, Co-Chair Patient Safety Group, Chair Working Group on the Effect of Suicide and Homicide on Psychiatrists, Vice-Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty.

“I really welcome this resource. It supports reflective practice and encourages clinicians to think creatively and constructively about how best to engage with families and friends’ carers in order to improve the care they give” - Ellie Gordon, RN (MH), Senior Nurse: Learning Disability and Mental Health, National, Workforce, Training and Education Directorate, NHS England.

“These resources are such a powerful tool for staff working with people with mental health problems. The scenarios and case studies used reflect the experiences of patients and families we spoke with during our HSSIB investigation. They offer opportunity and time for reflection on how individuals and teams might respond to different scenarios involving people in mental health crises, including the wider impact on families and carers. This is a fantastic piece of work that everyone working and supporting people in mental health crisis should consider using.” - Nikki Crust, Senior Safety Investigator, HSSIB.

You can find more feedback here.

Registration

 Registration for this session closes at 5:00pm on 30 April 2025.

Questions about this event?

Name: Nursing Workforce

Email: england.nursingworkforce@nhs.net

Telephone: 00000000000000000000