Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 14 April

April 14, 2023

This week we issued the Pulse survey which is a quarterly check in to find out how you are feeling about working in our organisation.

Earlier this year we launched our People Plan which sets out how we will deliver on our People objective – to cultivate and sustain happy, productive and engaged staff. Our new People Plan supports that strategic objective by focussing on improving staff satisfaction and experience in order to support a positive organisational culture to thrive.

It is a direct response to the feedback you have given in the staff surveys. It means every time you give us feedback, we genuinely listen and take the time to understand what your views really mean in reality. The People Plan is a very detailed commitment about what we will do to give you a great experience as a member of our team here at SWB, this is why your feedback is crucial so we can learn more about what would make the biggest difference to improve what it’s like to work here.

The first year of the People Plan will have a focus on leadership development for all colleagues. We are all leaders in our own roles and investing in each of you is a main priority for the organisation. The training has been piloted over the last few months with great reviews from those who attended. It is about taking ownership of your roles/services, being inclusive and compassionate, creating a great staff experience, and being supported to do so.

All this is under pinned by our values – Ambition – Respect – Compassion and ensuring we are living these values at every level within the organisation. The staff survey response rates and scores give us a good measure on how we are doing in this area.

Managing this week’s industrial action has been particularly challenging for everyone. However, I have been heartened to see our values demonstrated by everyone to ensure we are able to keep safe services for our patients. Thank you for stretching yourselves, going beyond what is required and, in some cases, even cancelling annual leave. There is a great deal to learn from such challenges, so please share your learnings and feedback with your managers and in the Pulse survey.

This quarter, we are trialling a single anonymous link, that any colleague can use to complete the survey on any device as long as they have connection to the internet. When you access the link, you will be required to select the name of your clinical group and the team you work in. We hope that this will give many more of you the opportunity to give your feedback.

Follow the link www.myonlinesurvey.co.uk/FFST/RXK to complete your survey. The deadline is Friday 28 April.