Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 26 July
July 26, 2019
Unity runs through this message, as you might expect….
If you are reading this message and have not yet completed your Unity competency checklist please take a few minutes to do so. If the particular competency is not relevant to your role then tick not applicable or leave it blank. Earlier today I issued additional guidance and resources to support team simulation. Do get in touch if that request is not clear or talk to your line manager who will be working to organise the activities we want to undertake during August. Connect is absolutely full of material to support your learning about Unity and I would encourage you to try that, and to try the Play System too.
The hot weather is in many ways a joy. I know that it can make some departments or homes that we visit fairly unbearable or some uniforms oppressive. Thank you to everyone finding practical solutions to that. Over 100 fans arrived earlier in the week and many teams have set up hydration stations too. Our tap water is safe to drink (as Board members today have made good use of). Please do work to make sure that teams, patients and visitors stay hydrated. We expect high temperatures to remain with us through this weekend. After the air conditioning induced IT problems of three weeks ago there is additional monitoring in place.
On 12 July we removed the temporary Unity leave booking bar for the go-live period in late September and early October for most teams working in the Trust. For Silver and Gold teams the decision has now been taken that we would aim to have in place ten and twenty percent more staff over the first fortnight of go live, including super users but excluding our digital champions and floor walkers. That provides local leaders with a new rota to work to for that period, and leave can be booked once that rota is fully populated.
Earlier in the week, we opened on Priory 5 our dedicated Paracentesis room. We hope that that will slash wait times for patients in beds awaiting care by creating a dedicated ambulatory space. Many congratulations to GI consultant Saket Singhal and specialist nurse, Clare Smith for bringing their idea to rapid fruition, and to Carol Cobb for cutting the ribbon! This change is one of quite a few planned for coming months as we begin to implement our winter plan for 2019. Next week’s Trust Board will consider a series of specific guarantees about how long inpatients will wait, as a maximum, for key interventions or tests. We want to ensure that ward leaders from all professions have some ‘backstop’ for what support they can expect, seven days a week. Those guarantees will be publicised as August goes on and they will be inevitably disruptive. Historic practices vary by site and team and day and personality. We to be transparent about arrangements, in the same manner that establishing our turnaround times for imaging scans and reports is beginning to drive real improvements in the quality of the care we offer.
You probably know that, in the margins of Unity, we will roll out in August and September our Tap & Go RFID changes. These will give you immediate access to the product at log-in. More excitingly still during 2020 the change will start our single sign-on programme for other applications. The challenge in the next eight weeks is to get your ID card enabled for this. Please keep an eye on the Daily Comms Bulletin for details.
Our Smokefree campaign continues. Thanks in advance to our grounds and gardens team who, having worked hard on the butts campaign, are turning their minds to how we might change our gardens in coming months. The aim is to remove unnecessary landscaping, and wild field areas that we are disposing of, but to concentrate more time, love and pride on our main gardens. Those gardens are an important place for colleagues, visitors and patients to relax and socialise. At the same time we will be investing in outside gym equipment, to go alongside the new free gym at City which is coming soon. Of course thinking about our gardens also gives chance to look again at how we work to create space for fruit and vegetables on our sites – a key part of our coming Obesity Strategy: If you are a reader of the Express and Star you will have found that message starring back at you on Thursday! Thank you to everyone who used Team Talk to submit ideas to us. In October we will start to publicise the changes that we want to try and make – just after Unity go-live with its new Making Every Contact Count functionality.
I know football is almost back, and notwithstanding the current England Ireland cricket excitement, or distant memories of world cup glory, our own backs to wall scrap against local GPs at Dartmouth CC opposite the Hawthorns is now pencilled in for 8 September. Do get in touch with me if you want to be considered for selection this year, as we look to make it five wins out of six. If you work in one of our three primary care practices, we would especially like to have you fielding with us!
Attached are this week’s IT stats: IT Performance Stats 26 July 2019
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