Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 20 December
December 20, 2019
It is Christmas week next week. If you are at work, thank you for giving us your time at this special time of year. If you are at home with friends or family, enjoy! Let’s remember too that in our community and among staff, Christmas can be a challenging and lonely time for some, and let’s look in on those who may be alone or isolated. 116 123 is the Samaritans Suicide Hotline and now seems as good a time as any to make sure that that safety net is known.
Across our whole organisation there are lots of celebrations going on. Today our Staff Networks held a festive event, there were simply loads of Christmas jumpers raising money for charity, and individual teams came together – like our BMEC theatres team who raised over £100 for the League of Friends in our Eye Centre. And of course we did rounds checking on Christmas Decorations. We were out at Victoria Health Centre, around BMEC and the BTC, through wards at Rowley Regis and across the City and Sandwell sites too. It is always exhilarating to see the enthusiasm and energy people put into the decorations and which themes trend each year! Not as much Frozen 2 and Star Wars as Richard Samuda, our Chairman, and I had feared. Many mince pies.
The real judges were our star award winners Richard Burnell and Dottie Tipton. Along with them, we chose the following prize winners, who can collect their gifts from Katherine Bayley from Monday. Contact Katherine on ext. 4795.
The Myrrh Award for the most imaginative decorations goes to our Children’s Outpatients Department on the ground floor of the Birmingham Treatment Centre. With a healthy eating theme, linked to diversity, and tying all that into Midland Met. It has to win – Sue could not have lobbied harder.
The Star Award for our best decorations as a whole department this year goes to the A&E team at City. The decorations mock the Chief Executive, reflect clinical need, include both floors and sides to the department, and put a real colour and bounce into an under pressure area of the Trust. I know they have also pinched some decorations from neighbours while handing over patients, but we see that as naughty but also nice.
Lyndon Ground scoops the prize for the best environment created for and with our patients. Always a tough contest and many areas, including M2 and our day nursery got very close. But the Polar Express theme chosen by staff and then executed brilliantly wins the Gold Award.
And finally, in the mini contest that is maternity services, with five fabulous entries, a split decision gave the Frankincense Award for over the top effort to the candy theme of the Labour Suite. Stretching all the way round the unit and encouraging only a little sugar we nonetheless wanted to acknowledge the team effort and hand-crafted nature of what was done. Isaac and Isla would be proud.
I know the awards are not evenly spread by site or setting: But after Unity it feels more than ever like one Trust here, so we went with artistry not geography this time. It is always invidious to pick out individuals for special mentions. We have some like John Masih in visual function, or Susan Harris on M1 in maternity who always put forward an amazing offer. Hilary Linton in Antenatal and Charlotte Green in Windmill Theatres are clearly award winners of the future. The whole physio team at Victoria Health Centre have worked Christmas into their exercise plans for patients. A special, special mention must go to Emily Lunn on Priory 4 whose Stroke themed tree is worth a visit – reflecting some of the effects of a stroke and the real beauty of any individual. Well done to everyone.
As we look forward into 2020 I want to update you too on some pay changes made in the organisation in recent months. Any time that happens it is likely that some colleagues will be pleased and others aggrieved. What pay changes are not is a statement of someone being more valued than someone else or someone working harder than someone else. They are an attempt to get the right balance of reward, recruitment and retention. Let me mention four areas where this is true. Each are areas where this Trust is trying to live out our values and spend more of our money on employees in our workforce.
So you know that we are a Living Wage employer. In practice that means that we have largely abolished bands 1 and the lower part of band 2. That is not national policy, it is something we decided to do. We are working hard to make it policy across the local NHS, and as GP practices join us some of their lowest paid staff see that benefit immediately. Then we have introduced from next year a performance related pay scheme for all employees, further details of which will come out in February. But in essence the scheme will pay a small premium non-recurrently to any employee rated as 3a/b or 4a/b in your next PDR, after moderation. This is a deliberate attempt to incentivise delivery of objectives. Objectives being the improvements we each make in how we do our job each year, as an individual within a team. A PDR score of 2 is a good score. It is the normal score, but we consider it right to recognise more clearly those achieving more within teams.
Thirdly, we flex our bank pay rates to try and ensure we are competitive. Two years ago we dropped our rate to align to others. We have now introduced a temporary winter rate for some grades and professions, but not all, to address consistent gaps in rosters. To be clear we want to recruit substantively, and neither rely on agency nor bank – which is why many bank staff were offered guaranteed substantive jobs earlier this autumn and dozens took up that offer. Finally, we agreed with staff-side some time ago that we would create a single skills-related pay scale from band 2 into band 3 for clinical HCA roles. The programme started on our wards but will roll out in 2020 to areas like theatres. For our first phase effective from October 1st some staff are now being paid on a band 3 given an assessment of their current skills. Those on a band 2 can progress to 3 if, or better when, they meet those skill requirements. Contrary to an urban myth this project does apply in surgical wards – and I know that Diane and her colleagues are working through a skills assessment, and what support we can give anyone wanting to meet the higher skills threshold. If anyone feels that those assessments of current skills has been undertaken wrongly, then their individual case will be looked at, but thank you to all involved for the work done to resolve this longstanding concern. In advance of introducing nurse associate roles at band 4 we absolutely want to invest in, thank, and support our many HCAs who do an outstanding job looking after our patients – and are part of a Trust rated Outstanding for caring.
The NHS in 2020 will only thrive if we find better ways to look after, support, and recognise the talent in our midst. I hope during 2019 we have begun to do that, and whilst the phrase ‘morale has never been lower’ is as annual as Christmas itself, the data from your views and voice is clear. Our organisation now has above normal levels of engagement, involvement and advocacy. We are not at 4/5 yet (which is our top ten in the NHS goal) but actually things are looking up….
#hellomynameisToby