Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 31 July
July 31, 2020
On the last day of the month I have been looking back on July and all that we have progressed at the Trust which has not solely been dominated by COVID! We were able to celebrate the NHS birthday, hold our annual general meeting, receive the biggest number of nominations ever for our annual Star Awards (over 700), get settled into our new children’s emergency care unit and achieve a silver TIDE award for our approach and progress on diversity and inclusion, among other achievements. All of you, by the time you read this, will (should) have completed your PDRs, be up to date with your mandatory training and have recorded your COVID risk assessment – a lot to get done in a few weeks, so thank you.
The Trust’s Clinical Leadership Executive (which comprises the Trust’s group leaders and the executive team) met this week and we had good discussions on preparing for the next Care Quality Commission inspection. This is important not just because we are due an inspection and believe we deserve a “good” rating, but because the preparation is useful in helping us understand whether we are providing care to a consistently high standard. We also talked about gaining a better understanding of how patients view our Trust through the friends and family test, not just to improve our response rate and scores but to really make a difference to people’s overall experience. As I wrote last week, often the small things make the biggest impact in terms of a positive or negative experience.
I’m excited that next month sees the launch of our “Why Weight?” healthy weight campaign which is part of our overall wellbeing strategy. The campaign provides a range of initiatives for colleagues to make use of that aim to improve eating habits, increase physical activity and help with mental wellbeing, such as our e-bike trial and the weigh2go scheme. I hope that many of you are able to make use of the fresh vegetables that are grown on site by our friends at Warm Earth nursery on the City site to kick start your own health journey. The organic cucumbers are ready now – you may even find they’ll be cut straight from the stem minutes before you buy them. In around two weeks their aromatic tomatoes will be ready for harvest – so put a date in your dairy – as they are not to be missed. Warm Earth nursery is open from 10am – 3.30pm Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 10am – 3pm on Sundays.
In the past fortnight the government has chosen to focus on the crisis of obesity in the UK with evidence of the increased risk of a poorer outcome for people with a high BMI who contract coronavirus. There has never been a better time to take this seriously and make a change – I am committing to use my bike more on my way in to work so why not think about what healthy changes you can make too? The launch of our campaign is on 14 August so look out for more information about how you can get involved.
August is also the time for families to think through how best to prepare their children for starting school for the first time and going back to school, many of whom have been at home for six months. Our school nursing team have been busy coming up with new ways to help families from a distance and have developed a range of information online to help parents and children. They are also holding online story time for children to enjoy that should be a help in their preparations.
Our COVID recovery plans continue to progress with more patients receiving their diagnostic tests and on-site treatment. We are still seeing some patients choosing to defer their procedures due to fear of catching coronavirus so there is more to do to assure people of the safety of the care we provide. News coverage in recent weeks has shown both positive and negative experiences at our Trust so we need to keep vigilant of our own infection prevention and control procedures at work and reassure people that they are safe in our care.
So, our month has not all been about the coronavirus pandemic, and the impact of that, but we do need to be cognisant of the increased numbers in Sandwell. We all have our part to play in reducing transmission of the virus, particularly as the Sandwell and Birmingham areas experience a few local outbreaks. As I have said every week in these Friday messages, we MUST adhere to social distancing, handwashing and correct use of PPE.
I know that for many of you the government instructions of quarantine following a holiday to Spain will be a blow. We will support those of you who were already in Spain at the time of the announcement, with your requirement to self-isolate at home and I know there are worries about the impact this will have on our services and whether any more countries will be added to that list. As we have learned throughout this pandemic, things can change very quickly and decisions made that have a big impact on our Trust, our service and our own personal lives. Thank you for the way you have responded very quickly to changing guidance. We will need to continue to keep up to date with guidance, reflecting on it and deciding on our own arrangements that keep our staff, patients and population safe.
Congratulations to this week’s Star of the Week, Assistant Service Manager Suki Kalon, who was nominated for hard work and determination in supporting over 140 extra staff who joined Critical Care during the COVID-19 surge.
Eid Mubarak to those of you celebrating Eid al-Adha this weekend and enjoy the sunshine if you are able to have time away from work. Stay safe.
David Carruthers, Acting Chief Executive