Tom Ayers (NSPA Co-Chair)

Tom Ayers is Director of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and Co-Chair of the National Suicide Prevention Alliance.

He began his career in the NHS as a manager across a range of mental health settings before becoming Director of Community Mental Health and Social Care Services in Sheffield.

Tom moved into his current role in 2016 and led the development of models of care for the NHS in England as part of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and the NHS Long Term Plan, including developing policy for community mental health services for NHS England.

NCCMH is a collaboration between the Royal College of Psychiatrists and University College London which Tom has developed into the leading national provider of Quality Improvement (QI) in Mental Health in the UK. In 2024 the Culture of Care initiative was launched; the largest ever national programme of QI and leadership in Mental Health, aiming to improve care on inpatient wards in England.

Additionally, Tom has led on setting up the RCPsych’s Public Mental Health Implementation Centre, which aims to prevent mental illness, and launched at the Houses of Parliament in 2022.
Tom has co-authored several papers related to leadership and improvement in mental health care, for example The mental health safety improvement programme: a national quality improvement collaborative to reduce restrictive practice in England.