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Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 1 February

February 1, 2019

If you look on page 6 of Heartbeat, or now on myConnect (download the free myConnect app, simply search for SWBH myConnect on the Apple App Store or on the Google Play Store) or Connect, you will find our snow plan. As we end Dry January, and whispers of cold weather, please make sure you know what to do to help yourself and others. And if the coming week does see heavy snow, let’s look too to neighbours and others who may be isolated or alone and need a little more help to get by.

The Seal naming contest is well timed. Paroseals, as you may already know, but I am learning, are evidenced in Japan and we are bringing them to our workplace now. Three seals will be out and about on our wards helping patients with mild confusion or dementia, or more generally just intruding an element of distraction and wonder into our wards. This week has seen a naming contest hit the daily comms bulletin, and the winning three entries were not mine. Instead the names of our seals are:

  • Snap
  • Crackle
  • Pop

Obviously you are wondering how my entry, Ron Seal, did not win. Ask the Chief Nurse. If you see a fourth seal, you know why, and who.

TeamTalk is now out. You will remember in February we have a push to make sure everyone in our Trust, part timer, night worker, bank employee, longstanding team member, has access to a face to face conversation about our organisation. The focus of TeamTalk in January was getting ready for our Unity full dress rehearsal (FDR). That kicks off Monday, for our IT teams, and goes live across our sites on 11 February. Get in touch with Katie Gray or Liam Kennedy if you want to know more, and if you are one of our missing 700, the untrained in Unity, please get yourself signed up for training https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/trustindigital/unity/unity-training/unity-end-user-training/  We want you to be part of the Gain, not the Pain.

For the month ahead TeamTalk focuses on flexible working. As a clinical leadership executive, we have our ideas, but we need yours. Flexible working needs to be fair, but it should also let the balance of work and life be fun too. So talk about it across your team, think about what happens in other industries or Trusts, and don’t assume we can’t, because we can.

Massive congratulations to Ruth Naylor, Amanda Nadeem, Latoya Woolery, Lynsey Parkes, Victoria Cooper, Naveed Saeed and doubtless many others, who together have led the Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) accreditation of our cardiology diagnostics services.  The news came through this week, and I know it is the finish line in a long race. We have work to do Trust-wide to support diagnostic certainty, which is why we are investing over £1m next year in imaging, and why new scanners are en route to the BTC. But there are many crucial smaller diagnostic experts across our Trust, and we want to work to offer short waits, great quality, and access to results electronically.

While I am writing about investments, we have now signed off plans for the refurbished neonatal unit at City, which is one of the projects we have funded because of the Midland Met delay.  Recruitment in the service is going well right now, and I am optimistic that after a really tough 2018, the staffing and equipping position of the service will have a terrific 2019 and 2020. Of course IT changes, or estate investments, are only an enabler to team work, training, reflective practice and new skills. The Board meets on Thursday and the heart of our discussions will be just that: What is our route to 2 per cent vacancies or less? Don’t assume we can’t, because we can. And how do we build on QIHDs, Grand Rounds, simulation and welearn posters to create a thriving curiosity across our Trust to spread the best of what we know, across not just 6,500 of us, but our colleagues and partners in primary care too? The front-page of Heartbeat makes it very clear – 2019 sees us ending the distinction between primary and secondary care. One care service – in general practice, care homes and schools.

We are only a month in to the New Year but I want to issue my second message call for you to come forward with volunteer opportunities. Over 300 volunteers are working now across our sites. Young people giving a few hours a week, and others devoting lots of time to our SWB family. We have 200 more volunteers ready to start this spring, and I met with our team this week to think through how to use those skills best. We need your help, not just with way finding roles, but mobilisation and befriending too. Volunteers will never replace what we do. But they can add a voice into a team from our communities and patients, and add a listening ear into a service that is always pushed for time. So get in touch with Ruth Wilkin if you have options for us to consider. The Trust will succeed if we connect into all of the communities we serve and the volunteering service is a really important part of that public health mission.

I attach this week’s IT stats: IT Performance Stats 1 February 2019

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