Improving Together – CEO Caroline Donovan’s Blog – 23 December 2024
Hi all, and welcome to my latest blog. This is the last one of 2024 with a celebratory feel as we head into the festive period.
I want to begin with a reflection on our fantastic staff awards - what a night it was! I could tell by the smiles and whoops on the night that everyone felt the same. Over 300 colleagues, stakeholders and sponsors joined us, plus, for the very first time, over 250 people via live streaming. From the creative selfie props that brought so much fun to the evening, to the thoughtful awards videos which added a personal touch, and all the decorations, we celebrated in style. I hope everyone rightly felt special - it was a terrific evening of celebration.
I have received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and I want to thank the 630 people who nominated a team or an individual, all our judges, our finalists and of course, our winners. Listening to the stories and the impact our inspirational staff are having day in and day out serves as a reminder of why we are here. Valuing the work our people do and celebrating success means we are able to improve our care and deliver safer, kinder, better services for our service users, carers and families. Take a look at our latest Trust magazine Better Together for more detail on our staff awards.
I am so pleased to be ending this year with two really good news stories. The first is that we have just heard from our Chief Nurse Anthony Deery that we have achieved 100% completion of our CQC ‘must-do’s’ which is just terrific. Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard to get us to this point.
And we also had our final NHS England oversight and assurance group meeting on 19 December with our external regulators, a real milestone for us. It was great to hear from our external colleagues including both our Integrated Care boards (ICBs), the NHS England regional team, Healthwatch, the CQC and the General Medical Council. They all have growing confidence in us as a Trust, and they were all very positive about the improvements we have made in the last year or so. Whilst recognising we have much more to do, they expressed that there is a stronger sense of sustainable improvement than there has been in the past.
Whist this was really positive to hear, I am very aware that we cannot yet have assurance that we are providing high quality care across all our services. I feel we have made strong progress this year in how we connect with and hear from our service users and carers, but we again have a way to go before we are really able to evidence that we have heard and acted on feedback in a consistent and systematic way. We must continue to look through their lens in everything we do in 2025.
As we head towards the festive season, I want to wish everyone a good break however you choose to celebrate. I particularly want to thank colleagues who are working over the festive period to support service users and carers - I am truly grateful to you.
I also want to acknowledge that for many people, and for service users, carers and families, this time of year can be difficult. It can heighten loss as well as enhance loneliness for many people. If you feel you need help, please contact https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/help-in-a-crisis
Do try and get some rest and downtime if you are able to, take some time to reflect. And do take a moment to watch our brilliant review of the year video to remind you of some of our highlights in 2024.
We have so much to be excited about as we enter the new year, with our new locality leadership structure, and a shared belief that we can change NSFT for the better. As we head towards 2025, we are absolutely not complacent, and we will continue to strive to be safer, kinder and better, with humility.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and for everything you continue to do.
Until next year,
Caroline