Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 26 January

January 29, 2024

As chief executive you never stop saying ‘thank you’ to people for their efforts and their resilience and the last week has given me plenty of opportunity to say this.  I feel there is no better way than to reflect my gratitude in my weekly message to colleagues.

Firstly, I would like to thank those executive colleagues who stepped up to handle much of my responsibilities while I was laid low with what I suspect as my sixth bout of COVID-19. I repeatedly tested negative but my word, it certainly felt like COVID-19!  Like colleagues in patient facing roles or roles closer to the “front line”, my colleagues picked those additional responsibilities up without complaint and did so on top of already very pressured day jobs.  I am hugely appreciative of their help.

Secondly, I would like to thank the clinical and managerial teams who have worked manfully to keep our urgent and emergency care pathways as safe as possible, during the last couple of weeks of relentless “winter pressures”.  There are too many people to list here, but the professionalism and positivity shown by many in the face of service pressures which could severely compromise patient care standards at times, is very impressive.  So, thank you.

Thirdly, I want to thank the team on Lyndon 2 at Sandwell, who “flipped” a surgical inpatient area to a medical one in less than 24 hours and did so without complaint or escalation.  I do not underestimate either the logistics of this ask, nor the frustrations surgical teams must feel during winter when medical patients “outlie” in their beds, yet this team’s response to managing medical patients in a safer and more systematic way, was exemplary, thank you.

So, the theme of this week’s message is showing appreciation for a job well done or a responsibility shared by a colleague.  It takes little effort and little time to thank people, yet it still means so much.  It is often done too little, as well.  During these extremely difficult times, when tempers are frayed, in which professional standards feel compromised, saying thank you and retaining our civility is so important.

Yesterday, Rachel Barlow (Managing Director, MMUH Programme Company) and I were delighted to welcome Victoria Atkins, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands for a visit to Midland Met.

The visit enabled us to showcase the progress of MMUH and discuss the support we need to ensure that it delivered in the way it needs to be, to offer the best care for our patients and population.

Whilst the tour was relatively short, we had the opportunity, to take the party to some key areas of focus, the winter garden on Level 5, the wonderful midwifery-led care in maternity and our expansive ED areas.

Both the Secretary of State and the Mayor were hugely impressed with the progress of the building work, the MMUH purpose and vision and the facilities which will be available for staff and patients and the local community.

So, in the spirit of saying thank you, thank you to everyone who is working so hard on getting us set for our move to MMUH. Whilst we set-up the programme company to have a real focus on opening the new hospital, I know there are lots of colleagues doing work on MMUH on top of their core work – so thank you – and having walked around again yesterday – trust me, it will all be worth it.

Have a good week.

Richard