From 2–6 March 2026, Mental health leaders from Portugal spent a week as clinical observers within the Trust’s inpatient rehabilitation units at Highgate East. This forms part of an ongoing collaboration between UCL, NLFT and the Portuguese Ministry of Health to deliver an ambitious programme of investment in mental health rehabilitation services.
The visit builds on an earlier delegation in 2024 led by Professor Miguel Xavier, National Coordinator of Mental Health Policy for Portugal. After seeing the services first hand, the team was so impressed that they secured backing from the Portuguese Minister for Health to replicate the model in Portugal.
This project reinforces the international reputation of UCL and the North London NHS Foundation Trust in developing and delivering gold standard rehabilitation services for people with the most severe and complex mental health problems
In March 2025, Professor Helen Killaspy from UCL Division of Psychiatry, whose research on improving the effectiveness of mental health rehabilitation is internationally recognised, met with the Ministry’s mental health leadership team in Lisbon to plan the project in more detail and visited potential sites for the new services in Lisbon and Ciombra in Central Portugal. A third unit is also planned in Porto in the north of the country.
Professor Killaspy has since delivered training on the principles and practice of mental health rehabilitation to the senior clinicians and managers for these new units in October 2025.
Professor Killaspy said “This project reinforces the international reputation of UCL and the North London NHS Foundation Trust in developing and delivering gold standard rehabilitation services for people with the most severe and complex mental health problems. At a time when rehabilitation services are under immense scrutiny in the UK, it is particularly validating that Professor Xavier and his team have asked us to share our learning and expertise to help develop similarly effective services in their country. We are very much looking forward to building on this collaboration in the future.”
The first Portuguese inpatient mental health rehabilitation unit is due to open in Ciombra in the summer 2026.
