Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 9 November
November 9, 2018
Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice from the First World War. I know that many colleagues have taken the opportunity already to mark this important occasion which is a tribute to public service and sacrifice. As best we can on Sunday at 11oclock I am sure we will all seek to take a moment of silence in our day to remember all who served and, in particular, all who did not return.
Last Sunday, Chairman Richard Samuda and I had the opportunity to attend the unveiling of a unique memorial in Smethwick which pays tribute to Sikh solders who have served in conflict, particularly in the two world wars. This memorial is also a recognition of the enormous contributions made by the Sikh community in so many ways within our local care system. I believe that this is the first such memorial of its kind anywhere in the UK.
You may have seen in the local Express and Star a number of stories over the last week about the Trust. One of the things that I am proud of about our organisation is the way in which we seek to manage our affairs in public and transparently. One example is that our risk register is discussed openly at our board, just as it is available for you to view within our organisation. In that context I want to be clear that I have every confidence in our ability to find an outstanding contractor to finish the construction of the new hospital by 2022. Indeed just this week, as our picture shows, Balfour Beatty have begun in earnest, construction work on the fabulous winter garden that will be the main amenity space in Midland Met. There is every reason to expect that we will be able to proceed with the construction and that the construction market will support this exciting project. At the same time our risk register discusses the challenges of recruiting and retaining skilled and outstanding staff into our emergency departments in order to maintain two such departments until Midland Met opens. To be clear, it is our firm intention to seek to maintain those two emergency departments until that time, however, we do need to build contingency plans in the unlikely event that this is not possible. We should make no apology for seeking to plan for unlikely but difficult events.
The board of course also discussed the process of Brexit negotiations and the work that we need to do locally to ensure we have what we need to sustain services, medicines, and the supply of equipment. We also agreed at the board that both settlement and pre-settlement fees for EU nationals from our existing staff seeking to remain in this county would be borne by the Trust and details of how to reclaim that cost will be published over the next few days.
I have written a number of times in these messages about our QIHD poster competition. You will remember that this carries a headline prize of £5000. It is also part of a broader strategy for organisational learning under the welearn banner. We have received 57 posters to consider at the start of December and they will become visible in the trust over the next few days for you to look at. In the week beginning 18 November, for one week only, you will have the opportunity to give your view on the best posters as part of this contest.
I know next week we have our latest Quality Improvement Half Day and within that there will be an initial opportunity to reflect on the feedback from the CQC visit in September and to make sure that we are taking the steps necessary to address the concerns raised as part of that process.
One of the most important issues that we have been seeking to address over the past few months, and one that features with our conversations with CQC, is to ensure that everyone who needs their Basic Life Support training undertakes it before the end of 2018. If you are one of the very few employees who is yet to undertake that training, I must urge you to do so in coming weeks. At the same time we are working through, and will decide at the beginning of December which employee must undertake mandatory paediatric life support training over the first part of 2019. Increasingly, as we go through 2019, we will be looking to ensure that mandatory training is indeed mandatory and that the responsibility to be fully compliant each year sits with each of us as part of our contractual obligations as an employee.
Without wishing to start our Christmas celebrations while we are still celebrating Diwali, I should confirm that the Christmas decorating competition judging will take place on 21 December and details will be published next week on how to obtain funds to support your entry.
Attached are this week’s IT statistics: IT Performance Stats 9 November 2018
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