The Patient Advice and Liaison Service [PALS] is a department of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust [SLaM] which aims to help resolve any problems our clients may have with our services, allow good ideas to be spread across the organisation and provide information to people who need it, when they need it. PALS here is also intended to be a way for interested people to get more involved in the work of the Trust, through contributing ideas and enthusiasm. How we work, and what we hope to achieve, is explained on the what PALS does section, who we are on the PALS staff page .

The "frequently asked questions" pages list some of the more common enquiries we receive and basic responses. Elsewhere, you will find a variety of links to other parts of the NHS and to sources of information on mental health / illness generally.

You can e-mail us directly or, from the UK only, phone us free on

0800 7312864

weekdays, office hours. Other contact details for the service are given under contacts.

If you need help "out of hours" or to access crisis services, you can download information leaflets for the Boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth and Southwark (information for other areas is being prepared) or see our "what to do in a crisis" FAQs page.

We also have included a guide to the abbreviations and acronyms used only in the Trust and more widely in the NHS.