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Friday 22 November – Message from Mel Roberts

November 22, 2024

Dear colleagues,

This week I’m writing the Friday message, as Richard takes some well-deserved annual leave.

So, whilst he isn’t here – can I take this opportunity to remind you that you are welcome to leave messages for Richard for his forthcoming departure as our Chief Executive. You can submit them here. Further details of plans for Richard’s departure will be communicated soon.

I would like to start with my reflections on Midland Met. Our Sandwell site moved back in October, with the rest of our City colleagues moving a couple of weeks ago,  and although there have been some teething issues, I feel like the quality of care we are offering to our patients is of a high standard. I have spoken with lots of colleagues, both clinical and non-clinical, who are enjoying their new working environments which only impacts our patient care in a positive way. How staff feel impacts the care they give, so with positivity on a high, this means our patient outcomes are better.

Yes, there are signage and navigation issues, but we are working on this on a daily and weekly basis to ensure these are put right. We will also be updating you next week on our approach to agile working, which I know has not been an easy transition. Thank you for your patience on this, and please continue to ensure you are being kind and considerate when using these shared workspaces.

Speaking of staff morale, I must make one final push for the NHS Staff Survey with it closing in a matter of days. We know many of you may have survey fatigue, and it may feel like we are always asking you to complete a survey, but we can’t make improvements and make your working life better if we don’t know what will help. The survey closes next Friday, and our current response rate is only 30 per cent – meaning there are lots of you who haven’t yet told us your thoughts and feelings, and these can be both positive and negative. We want to hear it all so we can improve

As a reminder, because of the last NHS Staff Survey, we implemented the following changes at SWB – there have also been many local improvements – please discuss these with your line manager if you are unsure of what they are.

  • Improved Health and Wellbeing programme: Introduced Mental Health First Aid, Employee Assistance Programme and Learning and Organisation Development Prospectus
  • Introduced compassionate ARC leadership programme to improve leadership and team work at SWB
  • Implemented our EDI delivery priorities
  • Established our People Engagement Teams

The survey has been sent to you via e-mail and these useful steps should help you locate it. Please be assured it is confidential as I know many of you have those concerns. It will only take 10 minutes of your time, so please do try to complete it next week.

  1. Log into to NHS Mail
  2. Search “Staff Survey 2024” or picker_surveys@picker.org
  3. Open the email relating to “Staff Survey 2024”
  4. Click the link in the email to complete the survey

As you may have seen our communications in recent week, the Trust will be launching GoodShape on Monday 11 December. Anyone unfamiliar with GoodShape, it’s our new sickness absence management system which will be implemented across the organisation.

Next week, to support line managers with getting to grips with the system, we have arranged some training sessions via Microsoft Teams. Please attend one of these sessions as it is vital you know how to use this platform, especially if you have line manager responsibilities. Please click here for details about the sessions and to join.

Look out for more information in the coming weeks about GoodShape and how it will benefit you and support your wellbeing.

I end my message with talking about Christmas – and I make no apologies for it only being November!

I know how much you all love getting in the festive spirit, and it almost feels extra special this year with our beautiful new building. We have some exciting things in the pipeline (including a Christmas light switch on) but could I just ask that you curtail your excitement for just another week and don’t put up any decorations just yet. We will be providing departments with decorations, but just have a few details we need to sort – we will put out some very festive messaging next week – so please just bear with us for a few more days before we really get into the SWB festive spirit.

Finally – thank you to all of you for your ongoing support, without your hard work and dedication, Midland Met, and our Health Campuses (more on those in next week’s Friday message) would not be what it is. We have some wonderful people in this organisation, and I am incredibly proud to be your chief nursing officer.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mel