Improving Together: Supporting each other for a stronger future
Inspiring colleagues
Hi all. It was great to have a few days leave recently and good to be back writing my blog with many thanks to Cath Byford for covering me. I do hope everyone has managed to have some leave over the summer period and enjoyed some much needed rest and recuperation with family and friends.
It was great to watch the Paris Olympics and enjoy the numerous personal stories and performances from Team GB and competitors from around the world.
Team GB did amazingly well again and whether competing individually, or as a team, there was a real sense of pride and support for each other. I am so pleased that one of our new values is we work as a team. I see so many great examples of collaborative working across our Trust each and every day.
I was so proud last week of the team that have worked diligently and collaboratively in leading the Future Leadership Structure work.
They have listened carefully to feedback, have worked incredibly well in overcoming challenges, and really instilled a sense of team in the work they have led. I know that change often brings uncertainty and anxiety and proactive communication is essential to ensure there is clarity. At the programme board last week, we heard we need to ensure we are supporting people in both preparing for interviews and supporting the change process – I am pleased that the team are continuing to prioritise this.
Last week we started the interview process for our new locality director roles. It’s really great to see such talent that we have in the trust and also really positive that external applicants are applying for these senior roles, realising that we have a new vision and great opportunities to be part of our continual improvement as a Trust.
I was delighted to visit Julian Hospital last week where I met the teams led by lead nurse Gillian Mutizwa and matron’s Aaron Baffoe and Mel Beales. It was so good to see such an excellent leadership team that were truly inspirational in the work they are doing. I was blown away that they had no vacancies across their teams. This for me is proof that people there feel supported and well led and work in effective teams. I saw so many acts of kindness with service users during my visit and I was really impressed with the thoughtful ideas and feedback for how we can continue to improve to become safer, kinder, and better.
I heard from Jess Turner, clinical team leader, about an excellent quality improvement project on Rose Ward that had focused on creating a more therapeutic environment that has led to significantly reducing falls by 70%. The work led by Jess has also been rolled out across all our older adult wards – what an excellent example of team working – well done Jess!
Supporting colleagues
While our Olympians shone a light on the best of our country, we have also seen some of the very worst behaviours since the horrific incident in Southport a few weeks ago. This led to a situation which I, like all of you, find deeply unsettling and upsetting. I know many of you share this feeling of unease by what happened, I would like to once again state that we will not tolerate racism, discrimination or abuse from colleagues, patients, or visitors and we have a zero-tolerance approach. I would like to remind everyone that if you ever need support, or advice, please speak up early. Please do not hesitate to report any incident either to your manager, or to our freedom to speak up guardian if you have not had the response you would expect. I was pleased to hear that Wes Streeting, Secretary of Health and Social Care, issue a strict warning that “abuse” and “racism” towards NHS Staff is not tolerated and that the NHS can turn those people away without medical treatment.
If you ever need support, or advice, please speak up early – either with your line manager, colleagues, or our Freedom to Speak up Guardian, or through our employee assistance support: a range of confidential support is available on our intranet.
I have also been very concerned about the serious assault on two members of our staff in Great Yarmouth two weeks ago by a patient in our care. Whilst this has been a very traumatic event, and I am grateful to our leaders and our TRIM service for supporting the team, there is learning for us – both myself and members of the Executive team are reviewing what more we can do.
I was really delighted to attend our Listening into Action (LiA) halfway event last week. As you are aware our LiA Pioneer Teams have 20 weeks to make the changes they want to see. It was great to hear about the progress the teams are making and more that they want to do. Anthony Deery, our Chief Nurse also led an LiA workshop last week on the Single Assessment Framework care delivery groups, again hearing progress made so far and supporting our continual improvement. It really is positive seeing clinical services coming together and working proactively to share good practice and supporting improvement – well done everyone.
It was a privilege to have Trevor Stevens join our LiA event, from training organisation Making Families Count and a member of our Think Family and Carer LiA Pioneer Team.
Trevor shared the heart-breaking account of his daughter Tobi who tragically died by suicide in December 2020. Trevor shared how Tobi had reached out to our teams and was not listened to effectively when she needed it most. Thank you, Trevor, for being so open with us and sharing Tobi’s story – we are proud to work with you to improve how we communicate with families and carers, learn lessons from our mistakes and strive to be better. Trevor’s insight helped all the teams to understand the importance of putting service users at the heart of their projects and to make change that matters. It was encouraging to listen to the progress made by each team, and I look forward to seeing the difference each project will make when they come to the end of their 20 weeks in November.
I came away hugely grateful that our work to positively transform the culture at NSFT continues at pace and I am optimistic that we are moving in a direction that you can all feel both part of, and, proud of.
To find out more and see how you can support our teams, please visit our Listening into Action intranet page. Here you can also discover the large number of quick wins you and other colleagues are delivering to make positive differences across our Trust. Please keep sharing details of quick wins which can be actioned and have been implemented by completing the quick win suggestion form or emailing lia@nsft.nhs.uk.
A key priority that I have been supporting is also our Efficiency, value and improvement (EVI) programme. This is a multi-faceted approach, involving a combination of streamlining processes, improving staff productivity, optimising the use of resources, implementing preventative measures, utilising technology, and collaborating with the wider system.
This programme continues to look to how we tackle the drivers of the Trusts underlying financial deficit position with the progression of our 12 Trust-wide project workstreams, each led by an Executive Director.
Our emerging localities leadership will be pivotal, along with our corporate teams, to work together to realise the programme goals and benefits. Our leadership team acknowledge this will be a challenging process, but it will allow us to enter next year in a stronger, more sustainable position with the ability to invest in our key priority areas as set out in our new Five Year Strategy, to improve the health and wellbeing of our patients and staff.
I have met with colleague CEOs across the health system a couple of times last week. Amongst other issues, we discussed our financial challenges. I am really pleased that we are collaborating and working with our system partners as there are things we can do together, as well as learn from each other. We need to continue to support mental health as a key issue across all our priorities.
So, it’s been a busy couple of weeks with much to celebrate. In my next blog, I will share details about our Safer, Kinder, Better staff awards taking place this winter – watch this space.
A very big thank you for your hard work, your teamwork, and your commitment to supporting our journey of improvement.
Until the next time.
Caroline