Stuart Bell CBE, Chief Executive of SLaM, contemplates the
future of SLaM:
"In the last 20 years, there has been a real revolution in
mental health care with the closure of the Victorian asylums and
the establishment of community based services, and of course that's
what Henry Maudsley founded a hospital in order to achieve.
What's remarkable is how much foresight there was in Maudsley's
founding principles: first, that we should aim to provide effective
treatments for mental illness, just as we would for any other
illness, in order to try to get people better, rather than simply
removing them from society; second that there should be research
into finding new and better treatments; and third that there should
be centers for training people who are able to deliver those
treatments.
I think the big difference in the future is going to be the way
in which science is developing and how we're going to be able to
put that into practice. The last 20 years has been about
putting building blocks of services in place, community teams, home
treatment teams and different types of services. I think what we're
going to be concentrating on for the next 20 years and beyond, is
what actually goes on within those teams, what treatment will be
available, what's the pathway of care that people are going to have
on offer? How can we bring the new scientific developments in
genetics, proteomics and imaging to find ways of screening, early
detection, early treatment, perhaps even prevention of some of the
mental illnesses that are now so common?
The best research in the world is of limited value if you can't
put it into practice. We have had some success in doing this, for
example in the development of services promoting early
intervention, as a result of our unique relationship with the
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. For the future, the
key is being able to do that systematically. We also need to ensure
that research is geared to real life clinical problems and can be
applied in a meaningful sense in everyday services.
The essence of the Trust is in its name - we are rooted in south
London and grounded in the clinical reality of serving a local
inner city community with high levels of mental health need. The
Maudsley part of the name is internationally recognised for
excellence in research, treatment and teaching in mental health
care and it's the combination of those two things together that
makes us unique."
