Improving Together - CEO Caroline Donovan's Blog - 6 November
Hello everyone and welcome to my first personal blog.
I am delighted to join you all as Chief Executive and have already heard some of the great work you are all doing to continue the improvements necessary for us to deliver high quality services in partnership with service users and carers. Thank you!
Well, it’s certainly been a busy few days. I started the role officially on Wednesday although I have been fortunate to be able to spend some time with Stuart, Zoë and other colleagues prior to that to help prepare me. I am really grateful for that.
It was brilliant that ‘day one’ included the Hear to Listen event for staff which gave me an opportunity to tell you about my priorities and to answer your questions. I was given a very warm welcome and this is much appreciated. I also took part in workshops with the Trust Board and Council of Governors which focused on continuing our improvement journey. It was good to feel the energy, common purpose and shared ambitions to get the Trust where it needs to, and can be. I have also been able to meet with some of our partners and stakeholders and I am excited to be working with them.
I am absolutely committed to this organisation, to you its staff, our service users and carers as well as all our other stakeholders. Tomorrow is our AGM and AMM (Annual General Meeting and Annual Members Meeting) and I do hope that many of you reading this are able to attend so I can meet more of you there. A big thank you to the many people have been working hard on organising this event and preparing the ‘stands’ to showcase services. It sounds exciting and I’m looking forward it.
My emerging priorities are focused on continuing our improvement journey together with our staff, service users and carers and with partners and our communities. They are four-fold and very much aligned to the thoughts and ideas that many people had as part of the formation of our strategy:
- Improve Health
- Improve Quality
- Improve our Culture and Staff Experience
- Improve Value
None of it is possible without your input and involvement. Our staff are the life blood of the organisation and I want you all to be able to proud of the work you do, the difference you make to lives of the people we serve and of the organisation itself.
For this to happen our staff need to be motivated, valued, happy and engaged. I am determined that this is achieved.
The best organisations – both in terms of performance and in being great places to work – are those which have the healthiest culture of openness, honesty, and responsiveness. I have some ideas about how we can continue to improve our culture and ensure it is inclusive and your ideas result in action and improvement. Obviously, there is still a long way to go but this is your organisation, and your input into its ongoing journey of improvement is vital. I want to reiterate here that this includes all staff – clinicians, support workers, administrators, managers and leaders. We are all in this together and every single one of you is important.
I am really looking forward to getting out and about across our services and meeting as many of you as possible. It was suggested on the Hear to Listen meeting that that should include a ‘drop in for coffee’ where possible. This week (9th November) I will start this programme with a visit to Hellesdon Hospital in-patient wards. There will be a drop-in element between 11:00 and 12:00. Please come if you can, I’d love to see you.
As I settle in, there will be many ways for you to have access to me and for you to have opportunities to make suggestions, tell me your views, raise any concerns and share and celebrate your successes.
Our purpose is improving together and I look forward working with you all – staff, service users and carers, governors, partners and our community - to do this.
Until next time,
Caroline