Improving Together – CEO Caroline Donovan’s Blog – 9 December 2024
Hi everyone,
I want to begin my blog this week with a personal thank you to Gemma, one of our service users who shared her experience at our Board meeting in public on 28 November. It was such a brave personal decision, and it was a really moving and concerning story about her experience of care with our Trust and from other agencies. You can watch the video here. Gemma told us: ‘Mental health requires a personalised approach. Personalised care and pathways are key. A holistic approach works.’ I couldn’t agree more. Listening to Gemma describe her lack of support when she was in a crisis was very difficult, but for me an affirmation of why I do the job I do. It reinforces my absolute commitment and determination to see improvement across our services. It is very positive that Gemma is a member of our new Service User and Carer Council, and will be at the heart of our improvement, ensuring we are held to account to deliver safer, kinder and better services in the future.
We said a big thank you and good wishes to Dr Sarah Cornick last week who moves into her new locality medical director role, and to Helen Potton who leaves us at the end of her interim contract. I am delighted that Stewart Gee our new Chief Transformation Officer joins us today – I am sure you will all give him a warm welcome.
At our recent Trust Board meeting, we reviewed the first full year of data from our new learning from deaths reporting system. We also signed off the composite action plan from the Grant Thornton report published in June last year, after reviewing 12,500 deaths. These are both huge milestones for our Trust, for the people we serve, and for everyone affected by the loss of a loved one. Thank you to everyone in NSFT who has contributed to this work, to our partners, and most of all to those service users, carers and bereaved relatives who we continue to work with and learn from.
We can now account for every death back to April 2019 over five years. We will use the learning to help us transform our services. We have so much more to do, but this process has started to re-build confidence and trust in NSFT. We are already starting to share our learning nationally.
Still on the theme of hearing the voices of people who experience our services, it was a real pleasure to speak to our new Service User and Carer Council at their second meeting on Friday 6 December. It gave me an opportunity to welcome them all, to thank them for their commitment to this vital new group in the Trust, and to hear their reflections on how the Council will work. I am very much looking forward to hearing their voice in 2025, having their active involvement in our improvement work, and their presence at our Trust Board meetings. I am so pleased that feedback on our Friends and Family Test has improved, with over 80% now reporting care being good or very good.
At our Trust Board strategy day on 25 November, we welcomed Yvonne Coghill CBE, who continues to work with us on health inequalities, allyship, and individual career journeys. Yvonne shared with the Board some headlines from her work with us over recent months on race equality at NSFT, and I look forward to receiving her full report in December. It is vital that we take every opportunity to learn and educate others about the diverse experiences of our BAME staff. This report will be an essential part of our learning and development. We will also consider how we report effectively on this in the future in public.
On Tuesday 3 December I attended a meeting in London for Chief Executives leading mental health Trusts. These national meetings are so important to share learning and consider our strategic approach. Working together, we must continue to be a voice for parity of mental health with physical health services, especially as the new Government is consulting now on the ten year plan for our NHS. As your Chief Executive, I am always learning every day, and I really value time to share thoughts and discuss challenges with peers and colleague mental health leaders.
It was also great to meet with the Suffolk GP Federation, a not-for-profit organisation owned by 57 GP practice which supports GP practices to provide the very best care. Working in partnership with our colleagues in primary care is an essential part of each service users’ care pathway, and we must do more to improve our partnership with them.
I am really pleased to confirm that we have appointed our new Director of Safer Care, Caroline Sweeney, who will work with our Chief Nurse, Anthony Deery. A registered mental health nurse, Caroline will be joining us in the New Year from North London Foundation trust when she is currently Director of Nursing and Quality Governance.
I would like to congratulate Sarah Sanders, Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Norfolk central early intervention psychosis service, and Jenny Walker, advanced practitioner in the inclusion health and homelessness team in Norwich, who have both been awarded the prestigious Queen Nurse title. And congratulations to Jodi Marin in our corporate finance team who has won the national Healthcare Finance Award for outstanding contribution in 2024. Fantastic achievements!
Finally, I am so looking forward to our Safer Kinder Better Awards this week on Thursday 12 December. We have over 300 colleagues, governors and partners joining us for this glittering event. As we celebrate them, I want to remind everyone to reflect on the fact that in our busy working days, so many colleagues took time out to send in over 630 nominations for our staff awards. Every single one of you, nominees and those nominating, is a winner! Do look out for the photos and stories from the event, but don’t forget you can join us on the event live stream by clicking on this link. We hope you will all be able to join us in our awards celebrations.
Until next time,
Caroline