FST MERSEYSIDE
This project has been operating since a successful feasibility study in 2002. The project has since developed a number of work areas for in-patients at the Scott Clinic, which is the regional medium secure unit for Merseyside and Cheshire.
Range of Trading Activities
The FST Merseyside project offers five work areas for workforce to access. The current working hours at the project are, 9.15 – 12pm, 1.30pm – 4.30pm and two evening per week from 5.30pm – 8.30pm to staff the evening snackbar. However if we work outside the unit we work from 9am – 5.30pm. Below is a breakdown of the work sections and the range of work they have done.
Gardening section.
This developing work section operates from the women’s compound area. We have continued to develop this section by planting bulbs to sell in the spring. The workforce takes responsibility to maintain the plants on a daily basis by way of a three monthly rota system. The workforce also came up with good ideas for spring displays and we set up a stall in reception at the end of March to sell these spring indoor planters. We had an excellent response from staff and visitors and had to buy more planters to meet the demand. This section is currently constructing hanging baskets, which will be sold to staff and visitors in the coming months. We are also working on some ideas to brighten up the interior and exterior of the FST SMaRT project. This work will be underway by early summer and the workforce who carries out this work will be working a full working day. We have also quoted for a maintenance contract at a local medical centre, which will involve landscaping and cutting of the grass areas of the site.
Established work sections
The established work areas are Car Valeting, Snack Bar, Painting and Decorating, and Office Administration.
Office administration
The admin department have continued with the daily administration and weekly finance returns using Microsoft office and at the end of March they completed the year-end finance returns. The challenging stigma work, commissioned by Warrington Primary Care Trust has also continued two half days per week and is expected to come to an end in May. This involved visiting businesses in the Warrington area to sign up to workplace Charter to improve their working practise in line with new government policies such as the Disability Discrimination Act.
Car valet
The Car Valeting section operates three half days per week and remains popular with staff at the clinic and is regularly booked prior to work commencing. We advertise this section by distributing flyers throughout the Scott Clinic car park to promote Car Valeting on a regular basis. The services we provide for this section range from a basic outside wash to a full interior and exterior valet. In the near future we plan to expand this section further by shampooing the seats and carpets of a customers vehicle.
Painting and Decorating
The Painting and Decorating section operates two half days per week and has done significant refurbishments of areas within the Scott Clinic since the project began. These areas include nursing stations, ward smoke rooms, communal areas, and the domestic science room. We have recently submitted quotes for a number of areas and are waiting approval before commencing this work.
Snack bar
The snack bar is very popular and has seen increased trading income each year that the project has been operating. We recently developed this section to include a Monday morning baguettes work session, with a variety of fillings from classic tuna melt to chicken and bacon fillings. We market this section by utilising our notice boards, which are strategically placed throughout the unit and ward areas. We also advertise by sending patients and staff menus of our snack bar food and drink options. The current opening days of the snack bar are, Monday morning, Tuesday evening and Thursday evening. Alongside the snack bar we also provide a social club were patients can attend events organised by the project such as film nights and discos.
Current workforce information
We currently have 19 workforce members out of a patient population 43. We estimate that we are currently working with 67% of the eligible patients in the unit. The gender split is 14 males and 5 females.
Latest News
In recent weeks we have welcomed a number of visitors to our project from FST SMaRT to interested units throughout England to see how First Step Trust operates. The feedback we have received has been very positive and they found the visits very informative and enjoyable. The project is currently planning three open days to further raise our profile and awareness to relevant disciplines in the unit and Mersey Care NHS Trust.
Contacts:
Project Manager: Geoff Andrews
Assistant Manager: Trish Ward.
Northern Area Director : Stuart Owen
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