The Sainsbury Centre takes shape for the future

2 September 2004

The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) today unveiled a major new work programme with its centrepiece a new project to review mental health policy and practice over the past 20 years.

Angela Greatley, who has been appointed to continue as acting chief executive, said: "The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health is embarking upon an ambitious new work programme. Looking back over twenty years of transformation in mental health care, we will build up an authoritative picture of where we are today, how we compare with the rest of the Western world and what challenges lie ahead in policy and practice."

Christopher Stone, chairman of the Trustees, said: "I am delighted that Angela Greatley has agreed to continue to lead SCMH during a critical period for mental health services. We have concluded that Angela is the best person to lead the organisation while we focus its work around issues of social exclusion.

"SCMH is developing. Its excellent staff team is already working in new ways and taking on new issues. The world outside is changing, too. A new draft Mental Health Bill is expected soon, for example, and that could have enormous implications for the whole field.

"We need an experienced and respected leader to take the organisation through this turbulent time and we are most fortunate to have such a person in Angela."

Angela Greatley said: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to continue leading SCMH at this time of such change in the mental health field.

"The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health has always led from the front in creating new ways of working and tackling the hardest issues in mental health. To do this, we have to keep changing: to take on new challenges and to act where the need for our work is greatest.

"To that end, we intend to focus our work even more heavily on the issues that matter most to people with mental health problems, such as getting work and having a decent home to live in. And we will be turning our attention to the mental health of people in prison, where we know there are massive problems."