Culture of Care Celebration Event 2026

Colleagues and Experts by Experience came together recently for the Trust's annual Culture of Care Celebration and Phase 2 Launch Event, a day of learning, reflection and shared ambition focused on creating safer, more inclusive and compassionate services.

The Culture of Care programme is a quality improvement initiative aimed at transforming mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient services. Built around 12 co-produced standards, it promotes trauma-informed, autism-informed and anti-racist practice, ensuring both patients and staff feel safe, valued and heard.

The event celebrated the progress made during the Trust's involvement in the national Culture of Care programme over the past two years and formally launched Phase 2, which will see Culture of Care principles embedded across all inpatient wards through the new Safe and Caring Cultures approach. This brings together Culture of Care, Safewards and Being Humber to support positive experiences for patients, carers and staff.

Throughout the day, attendees heard a diverse range of presentations showcasing improvement work taking place across the Trust. Teams from Westlands, Swale Ward and Townend Court shared their experiences of embedding Culture of Care principles, highlighting work to strengthen psychological safety, improve patient involvement, tackle racism and create more inclusive ward environments.

A particular highlight was hearing directly from colleagues with lived experience. Presentations from Experts by Experience and co-production leads explored the importance of meaningful involvement, open communication and partnership working, demonstrating how lived experience continues to shape positive change across services

The programme also highlighted a number of innovations in co-production, including the introduction of the Culture of Care podcast series, which attendees were encouraged to access. The first two episodes can be found at the following link.

Alongside the presentations, marketplace stalls provided opportunities for colleagues to showcase quality improvement projects, share learning and network with teams from across the organisation.

For Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, Culture of Care is more than a programme. It reflects the Trust's commitment to Caring, Learning and Growing Together and supports a culture where listening, learning and continuous improvement are part of everyday practice. The celebration event provided an opportunity to recognise the progress made so far while looking ahead to the next phase of this important work.