Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 11 September
September 11, 2020
Hi everyone – how has your week been? I know things have been really tough recently, and continue to be, but despite this I hope you’ve all had a generally positive, fulfilling week. If not, is there anything you personally could do differently to make next week better for our patients, yourself, or your colleagues? Or is there anything you need to speak up about if you feel it is outside of your control? If you are seeking permission, please take it!
Continuing on from last week’s theme, we continue to speak to Black Country partners about their plans to collaborate. Since last week we have written formally to STP leaders setting out our position, which reflects what I said last week in my message, and this position has been formally fed back to regional NHS leaders – that the Sandwell and West Birmingham system is already on a path to deliver some of the desired benefits of collaboration through the plan to rationalise much of our service delivery from two sites to one through the building of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. The Trust’s focus needs to remain on delivery of this and not any wider consideration of organisational change. The Trust is not seeking at all to discourage the configurations of our partner trusts that they are or may be deliberating on, assuming this will be a reasonable self-financing improvement case.
The key focus for us remains delivery of high quality care for our patients, delivery of our clinical and financial plans, strong operational performance in response to COVID Phase 3 recovery and restoration, and making progress with our CQC readiness such that a rating of “good” is achieved as soon as possible. As always, any day, any time, if you have concerns about our ability to deliver any of that, you must speak up. We held our twice-yearly speak up day this week – thank you to those who took the opportunity to raise concerns, I hope you found it constructive and helpful and are confident issues will be taken forward. It is important to note, though, that speak up day is also about raising awareness about ways in which you can speak up, which isn’t just on one day in September – it’s every day. We will be focusing more on this in the days and weeks ahead, in particularly during October which is the national awareness month for the Freedom to Speak Up Guardians. It isn’t one day a year; it is an everyday culture that we will embed.
COVID-19 has not gone away. It is clear that infection rates are increasing in our local area, particularly in Smethwick and Birmingham, with announcements today on the reintroduction of local restrictions of movement, limiting households meeting together. For those of you personally impacted by this, please do take advantage of our mental wellbeing support in the Trust through the Recharge Booth, or the Wellbeing Sanctuary. Details are in the COVID-19 comms bulletin and on Connect. There is support in place via your line manager also for those impacted by school closures. It is therefore more important than ever that we all continue to adhere to these new restrictions, and for all of us – social distancing, personal hand hygiene and PPE guidelines, at work, and at home.
I remember this time last year having a fantastic presentation at our Trust Board meeting from our Organ Donation professionals on their priceless work. Organ Donation week runs up until 13 September with thanks to our teams for raising awareness of this important subject. It is vital that we all know that the law around organ donation has changed to an opt-out system to allow more people to save lives. There is still a choice if you want to be an organ donor or not and I would encourage you to talk to those closest to you about organ donation and your decisions. You can find out more about the changes and what they mean for you here, where you can also read stories from people about the impact of organ donation for themselves and their loved ones. Thank you to the outstanding clinicians in our Trust who lead and are involved with organ donation work, which involves talking to families sensitively, often at their most difficult moments.
This week saw a new arrival in BMEC with the donation of a mini-Tesla for children to drive as they journey to surgery. The donation was provided by Tesla Owners UK to Your Trust Charity following the grateful thanks of a member whose child received excellent care. I am sure that this will help relieve anxieties at what can be a scary time. Road (corridor!) safety procedures will need to be followed, and of course, the BMEC team will make sure it is covid-safe by thorough cleaning between each small patient.
Congratulations to Neale Martin in Informatics who is this week’s Star of the Week. Neale was nominated for the support he provided to a colleague who was returning to work in a new role following 20 weeks shielding at home. The colleague was having problems with the laptop and Neale took time out to meet the colleague, demonstrate how to use the different systems and checked that everything was working correctly. He was able to put her mind at ease, during an anxious time starting work in her adjusted role.
There is only one week to go to cast your vote in four of the categories for this year’s star awards. I have cast my votes and it takes only a few seconds to do! The closing date is next Friday so please take some time to read the summaries of your colleague’s excellent achievements and select your preferred winner.
I return back to my “day job” next week as David Carruthers returns from leave. It’s been an absolute honour to stand in, I am so proud to work with you all.
Dinah McLannahan
Chief Finance Officer