Improving Together – CEO Caroline Donovan’s Blog – 2 October 2024
Hi all, and welcome to my latest blog.
I want to start my blog with an update on our new Future Leadership Structure across our five localities. This new structure will really help us further improve the quality of care we provide, and the experience for our service users and carers.
Appointments have been made to most Locality Director roles in each of our new localities following phase one of the consultation, while recruitment is taking place to clinical leadership and management roles as part of phase two. I am delighted with the calibre of candidates for these vital posts – and we are currently recruiting to the two remaining locality director posts. Please follow this link to see our announcement about phase 1 appointments.
After listening to feedback from our staff, we have made some changes to the third phase of the consultation. This includes giving staff more opportunities to tell us their preferences and apply for the positions which they feel their experience and competencies suit most closely. These changes aim to further strengthen our recruitment and assessment approach so that we can make sure we appoint the very best people to the right roles. We continue to work through this phase with our colleagues and staffside, and are currently working through feedback. We will share an update with next steps in the coming days.
I know that the change process can often be difficult for people with uncertainty about future roles. Please do access the support available on our intranet.
Last week, we held our last virtual Trust Board meeting. I am so pleased we are moving to meeting in person from now on. There was a strong theme of improvement and progress, whilst recognising that we still have many challenges to resolve.
We were very fortunate that Darren Edwards, a patient, spoke about his Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder assessment care with our teams. It was good to hear some good practice shared by Darren, including short waits between appointments and contact made with his family proactively. We also heard how his experience was quite daunting. Darren explained how we could support others in his situation better, especially in preparing for appointments, and in working with close family members. I was really pleased to learn that we have actively changed how these appointments take place now to reduce anxiety for service users. Thanks so much to our teams who have made this happen. We have really learnt a lot from Darren’s feedback, and it was so good to hear how the input from our teams now means he really enjoys his life. We are so grateful Darren shared his story with us. It reminds us all how important our work to reduce waiting lists for ADHD is, both locally and nationally.
I would like to commend Priscilla Nzounhenda, our Listening into Action (LiA) Lead, and Rita Welham, our Ethnic Minority Staff Support Officer, who have been recognised for their work at the national BAME Health and Care Awards 2024 last week – a really terrific achievement. Black History Month runs throughout October, giving us all that vital opportunity to learn and educate others about the diverse experiences of black people who work for NSFT and who we care for. It’s a real chance for us to dispel myths, challenge stereotypes, and foster understanding. I am pleased that we are planning an event to celebrate the careers of black people and hear and learn about their experiences. I am delighted personally to support the event on Friday 25 October at Kesgrave Community Centre, just outside Ipswich, from 10am to 4pm. Please do attend if you are able to.
It’s also such a step forward for us as a Trust that we have Yvonne Coghill CBE, FRCN working with us, after her inspirational speech at our leadership conference. Yvonne was the Director, Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES), NHS London, and has been named again amongst the top 50 most influential black people in the NHS. I am really looking forward to hearing from Yvonne when she completes her review and will no doubt be indicating to us areas for improvement. Finally, I am pleased to have chaired our Inclusion Council in the last week where we heard from our staff networks regarding their priorities for action.
It’s important for me to update you on our work on our urgent care pathways. Our responsiveness to those in our communities in crisis, and to health professionals, is an area that has been highlighted in prevention of future deaths, in addition to concerns from partners. We have established an Incident Management Group (IMG) to oversee the improvement work needed with weekly reports into the executive team. We have completed a full ‘deep dive’ into our crisis services and are now beginning an improvement plan. I look forward to bringing you news of our progress over the coming weeks.
Looking ahead, we have our Annual General Meeting (AGM) next week on Thursday 10 October from 12 noon to 4pm. This year, our AGM is at The Carnegie, Cage Lane, Thetford. We will have a great market place event ahead of our formal meeting. It’s an excellent opportunity to meet teams and ask questions. Colleagues will be on hand to talk about projects and services under NSFT’s four large-scale change programmes – improving health, improving care, improving culture and improving value. Find out more here. I am looking forward to seeing many of our partners at our AGM, and also at our Listening into Action Pass it On event on 7 November.
Developing our partnership working and being a good system partner is crucial to our success. I was pleased to attend the Norfolk Integrated Care Board (ICB) meeting last week, with our deputy chief executive Cath Byford representing us at the Suffolk and North Essex ICB Board. Our work with local councils continues too, and I have recently met Councillor Brenda Jones and Councillor Pallavi Devulapalli, chair and vice chair of the Norfolk Health Scrutiny Committee.
And finally, please do take 10 minutes to complete the NHS Staff Survey 2024. There is so much excellent work happening across the Trust, all to deliver longer-term sustainable improvement. Rapid change can be challenging, and that is why it is important for us to reflect on what we have achieved this year, and for us to listen to what we can do to improve.
Between now and when the survey closes on Friday 29 November, we will continue to showcase successes and update you on improvements made.
Don’t forget that you can do this too – celebrate a colleague or team with our new Safer, Kinder, Better Awards – or please do get in touch by emailing me at ceo@nsft.nhs.uk.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and to complete the NHS Staff Survey 2024. Your voice will help us to continue to improve together.
Until the next time,
Caroline