Someone was worried about her sister in hospital, saying her arm had been broken in two places by a nurse.  Another asked where the accounts were and what salaries were being paid.  The Annual Public Meeting of my local mental health trust.  It was packed & divided roughly in two: the professionals in business wear and the dispossessed.

The professionals presented their slides and, rather like the old cartoon of the bridge that doesn’t meet in the middle, the ‘service users’ and their families and friends waited their turn to say how bad things were.  The polite but defensive tone of the suits and the raw-edged voices of the public they serve.

You wouldn’t find such a profound gap at many other public sector APMs.  Only community-police meetings come close.

That the meetings take place at all is something.  And that the coproduction of mental health services with community groups is a priority for 2016 is a ray of hope.