Firstly, let me start today by thanking everyone who sent feedback to me following the blog last week.
If you didn’t see it, you can catch up here, but I always take it as a good sign when I get some responses, positive or negative. It makes me feel in touch with people’s lived experience, whether that’s patients, colleagues or wider partners in health and social care too.
If I wanted one point to land, it was that it is going to take a group effort to meet our various challenges during the busy winter period, in both performance and finance, whilst delivering the very best, safe and high-quality care we can to those who need it.
It was particularly pleasing to see people actively considering these challenges and taking time to think about what they could do.
Honestly, thanks so much. There’s no doubt that hearing from others is energising and helps support a positive mood and mindset, even when times are tough. We should actively fight against losing this when heavy schedules take over our days.
This week has been busy but I am pleased to say I am finishing it feeling optimistic in the main.
The first thing to mention is the update from NHS England to confirm that Mike Thomas will be the new interim Chair of ELHT for the next 18 months when our current Chair, Shazad Sarwar, concludes his term in the next few weeks.
Mike was part of ELHT previously when he was a Non-Executive Director (NED) on the Trust Board some years ago, so I know him and am looking forward to working closely with him again. He has worked extensively in the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System and has an enormous amount of knowledge of the challenges we face.
That said I will miss Shazad and am extremely grateful to him for his input and support over the last three years. It is no secret he lives locally and his passion for East Lancashire has been constant and infectious. Thank you Shazad for all that you have done for ELHT and the population we serve. Good luck for the future in whichever direction you decide to pursue.
It is important to note that Mike currently is and will also remain Chair of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals (LTH). I must stress that this is not a joint appointment between the two Trusts. Mike will continue his tenure at LTH and pick up the interim role at ELHT in addition to it. So, he is going to be busy, but it is great to be welcoming him back to ELHT in a critical role at what is an undeniably critical moment for the Trust.
I know he will bring huge experience as we continue to push for high quality and safe care delivered within our financial means.
In this respect, I must recognise the continued effort across all teams, services and settings in ELHT to deliver for patients, meet the various operational targets and balance our books. In this latter respect I would like to just take a moment and share some of the headlines. It’s important for colleagues, in particular, to hear the positives and some specific achievements delivered so far, but also understand what we must do over the next five months or so.
In broad headlines, by the end of October we have delivered efficiencies of just over £20 million – so we’re about a third of the way to our target of £60.8million by the end of March. This is a bigger saving than we made in the whole of the last financial year and I want to thank every single person who has contributed ideas, diligence, determination and sheer hard work. Clearly though there is still much to do.
We have reduced the cost of our pay bill, which contributes to over 60% of our overall costs, by about £6 million to date. A lot of this has been through reducing – and almost eradicating – expensive agency shifts which is important financially but also because having permanent teams on wards and in community settings is better for colleagues and our patients and their families too.
We have also reduced the amount we spend on goods and services by introducing more robust systems and processes which double and triple check and challenge what we’re ordering every single day. Again, no matter our financial position, this is the right and proper approach when we’re spending public money. It is also exactly what is happening in households across East Lancashire as people make difficult decisions to manage their personal circumstances too.
What is extra pleasing is that we have done this whilst also improving our productivity and the quality of our care. This was really obvious during a meeting of the Trust Board on Wednesday when we heard a very positive patient story, as well as metrics about performance.
The Board was clear of the importance of balancing quality, safety and money without impacting services and it was pleasing to see a reporter from the Lancashire Telegraph adding some extra public scrutiny. You can read his update here.
To all colleagues, thank you. We are making progress but we cannot stop now. Where we need to improve is to increase the pace of delivering our agreed efficiency schemes and it’s important we recognise the current gap which still exists of around £10million.
If you have schemes which are part of our financial recovery plan, please make sure you are driving them forward and help the Trust return to a sustainable position for patients and colleagues now and in the future. The stakes have never been so high, but I am confident that if anyone can do it, it is Team ELHT.
To this point, let me just give a huge shout out to our Armed Forces Veteran Support Team Shafiq Sidiq and Fiona Lamb. As well as receiving a whole string of national awards for their fabulous work in supporting the military community in East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen they have been reaccredited by the Veteran Aware scheme as part of the Military Covenant.
Of course, their work is visible and appreciated 365 days a year, but it was amplified when the Trust joined the rest of the UK to celebrate Armistice Day this week. I was humbled and honoured to lay a wreath at the ceremony at Lancashire Women’s and Newborn Centre at Burnley General Teaching Hospital on Tuesday, which was as touching and poignant as ever.
Lastly, you will likely be aware of a period of industrial action starting today involving resident doctors across the UK in a dispute between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Government around pay.
The strike began at 7am and continues until 7am on Wednesday and will be yet another example of where we need to work as a team – including colleagues, patients, families and partners – to ensure we continue to treat those who need our care.
We’re determined to do as much as we can over the coming days without cancelling or delaying appointments, procedures or urgent care. You can read our updates on the impact of industrial action here and do follow the news including our social channels over the coming days.
The key thing to remember is that we’ll contact you if anything changes – otherwise please attend your appointment as planned.
In the meantime, thank you to all colleagues who will do even more over the coming days to ensure the NHS is there for everyone who needs it. I remain so proud of this Trust and everyone in it and everything we continue to deliver every day.
Please, colleagues, ensure you get some downtime too to rest and recover. We cannot do this without you – and neither would we wish to.
Martin