A leading-edge Essex Trust is the first mental health and social care Trust in the country to be awarded University Trust status. Until now, only hospitals attached to medical schools could apply for the honour, but South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT) challenged the system, convincing Government ministers to take the unique decision to allow a community-based Trust to scoop the coveted University Trust status for the first time.

The title 'University Foundation NHS Trust' has been awarded to SEPT by Anglia Ruskin University. This ground-breaking award recognises that the educational achievements of all staff working for the Trust - doctors, nurses, social care staff, psychologists, therapists and managerial and other non-clinical staff - contribute significantly to the Trust's academic excellence and keep it at the forefront of practice. In essence, the Trust is recognised by Anglia Ruskin as a centre of learning excellence in its own right.

Traditionally, community-based Trusts were prevented from gaining University Trust status, as the Government's criteria largely depended on the numbers of doctors being trained by a Trust. SEPT's success has kick-started national reform of this old-fashioned model, by shifting the emphasis onto the academic achievements of the whole staff team.

The news that SEPT was the first community-based Trust nationally to be awarded University Trust status was announced at the Trust's annual Quality Awards ceremony in Basildon. Professor Mike Thorne, Vice Chancellor, and Professor Lesley Dobree, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University took to the stage at the Towngate Theatre to award the official recognition to Dr Geoghegan, Chief Executive and Lorraine Cabel, Chair of SEPT, in front of a cheering audience of Trust staff and service users.

SEPT has an unrivalled reputation for top quality in the fields of mental health, learning disability and social care research, education and training:

• The Trust employs one of the only Professors of Mental Health working in a clinical environment; Professor Jenny Secker is a joint appointment with Anglia Ruskin University. She has a background in mental health nursing and social work and heads up the Trust's innovative research department. Recent research includes looking at how effective occupational therapy is in adult mental health services and the links between unemployment and mental health (in which service users were supported to actually design and carry out much of the study).

• Last year, the Trust launched one of the first ever Foundation Degrees in Mental Health Studies - delivered in collaboration with Anglia Ruskin University. Students have completed their first year of study and more started on this initial stepping stone to graduate-based learning in June.

• The Trust has established formal academic partnerships with the famous Yale University in the United States and the University of Pavia in Italy. These close links have enabled Trust staff of all grades and professions to gain high-level academic qualifications accredited by these internationally prestigious universities.

• A formal academic partnership with Anglia Ruskin University is in the pipeline, starting with the Trust delivering university-accredited courses for staff in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and modern creative therapy courses which staff and service users find therapeutically beneficial.

• For almost a decade, the Trust has made sure that its wide range of in-house training is externally accredited. This ensures the quality of the training, which gives staff greater opportunities and means that practice improves significantly, benefiting service users.

• The Trust is particularly proud of its ability to offer all staff outstanding career development choices. In practical terms, this means that a person can join the Trust with very few formal qualifications and, using SEPT's complete progression pathway approach, they can gain skills and qualifications from entry level (via the Trust's own NVQ centre) right up to post-graduate level, via the Trust's Foundation degree or direct access to professional qualifications.