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Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 22 March

March 22, 2024

I had the pleasure of attending a very special event on Monday. For the first time, we had over 120 people in a room, discussing our staff survey results and the improvements that we are going to make as a result of what you have said. The energy in the room was excellent, so thank you to everyone who attended and made such a valuable contribution, I do hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.

During the morning, we welcomed Professor Michael West, who gave an inspiring speech about the importance of compassionate leadership, and how this is linked to both organisation performance and staff and patient experience. As you hopefully know, one of our key People Plan commitments is developing our line managers, with compassionate leadership at the very heart of this, and what I heard from Professor West cemented that this is exactly the right approach for us to take.

During his speech, he referenced several trusts that he thinks are doing great things when it comes to improving staff experience and he was impressed with the approach we are taking to improve things for our people at SWB, in fact Michael commended our People Engagement Teams model as being best practice for the wider NHS. He did also remind us that the culture change that we want to deliver across our organisation will take time, but I hope that in a couple of years from now, Sandwell and West Birmingham will be one of those names that he mentions when talking about trusts that are getting it right. The key to this will be working together in the coming days, weeks, months and years to make the working lives and experiences of our people better.

So, what are the next steps?

During the event on Monday, each clinical group, and some of our corporate directorates, supported by colleagues from organisation development and our improvement teams, reviewed detailed analysis of their staff survey results and started to develop actions, based on this feedback. This is really important – I have previously heard from colleagues that they haven’t seen action following staff surveys – well I am really pleased to say that the event on Monday was focused on the actions that are needed to respond to the valuable feedback that we had from the staff survey.

Some examples of these included:

  • Making sure effective 1-1s are taking place for all staff
  • Ensuring that all colleagues have knowledge of how to access Trust wellbeing support
  • Establish a process to feedback how a shift has gone and offer immediate support if needed
  • Developing or improving local recognition and reward
  • Improving the visibility of leaders

We also officially launched our People Engagement Teams.

These are groups of staff from all roles, levels, and backgrounds, who will come together to champion staff engagement for their group or directorate. They will drive forward their chosen objectives and regularly report to Trust Board committees. The groups will be supported by our communications, improvement and OD teams and link in with our staff networks and trade unions. I am really excited about the potential of these teams, and I know many of them have already got their first meetings set-up. We will bring you further details on the objectives set by each area in due course.

You can find out more about what a People Engagement Team is by watching this short animation.

Keeping with the theme of improving staff engagement and experience, we are planning for the next PULSE Survey, which will launch on 1 April.  We achieved a 40 per cent response rate in the January pulse survey and will be pulling out all the stops to improve this for our April survey. Through achieving a high response rate we will be able to make things better for our people, within your teams and local work places. The PULSE surveys will be a key way of checking in to find out if the actions that the People Engagement Temas are delivering are actually working.  So please get ready to respond to the April pulse survey.

Tomorrow sees the fourth anniversary of the first COVID-19 national lockdown, a day I, along with many of you, remember like it was yesterday.

COVID-19 changed the NHS, some of it for the better – I mean, who had ever have heard of Microsoft Teams before 2020? – and now a large proportion of us spend many an hour on it, but the challenge of a global pandemic is something we still haven’t recovered from. However, as I reflect on the challenges of the last four years, I am full of gratitude and admiration for your unwavering dedication to our organisation and the communities of Sandwell and West Birmingham.

Earlier today, there was a wonderful service at Leasowes, where we officially planted our tree of hope. The tree acts a lasting memorial to patients and colleagues who have died in our care. We have chosen Leasowes as the site as they provided end of life care to many of our patients during covid and continue to do so to date. Please do take some time on Saturday to reflect and remember those who we lost during the pandemic.

Together, we have navigated uncharted territories, adapted to change, and supported one another through moments of uncertainty – and I expect there to be more of that over the coming months, as we continue our journey towards the opening of Midland Met. However, I know that your commitment and tireless efforts towards providing quality care, amidst unprecedented circumstances will see us through and into our exciting new chapter.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Richard