Thank you to everyone who continues to provide feedback on the blog each week and, indeed, to those who step into the breach when I’m not able to file something personally. I thought Sid and Fiona’s update on their work supporting veterans across the Trust was brilliant and so inspiring last Friday and thank you to both for doing it.
One of the first things I want to talk about today is the junior doctors strike, planned to take place for 72-hours starting a week on Monday, March 13. You will be aware this is part of a wider landscape of industrial action taking place across the NHS at the moment.
I want to say first that I completely respect the right of individuals to take part and I mention it for awareness and something that will impact on services, rather than any opportunity to comment politically.
All industrial action is a challenge to plan for and, as always, we continue to seek balance – moving colleagues around to cover, protecting urgent and emergency care services and, wherever possible, carrying on with as much planned work as we can.
On this, I want to reassure patients that we’ll go ahead with everything humanly possible but we will be in touch if anything needs to be rearranged. We appreciate your support as we work through this.
I joined Chief Executives from across the Lancashire and South Cumbria system on Tuesday for a briefing to all colleagues about progress we are making on working more collaboratively too. It is unfamiliar territory to how we have worked in the past to an extent, but I was pleased to see open and honest feedback and positive questions in the chat during the meeting, with colleagues actively seeking to understand and get involved.
One of the biggest drivers for making changes and working across teams and services in the wider geographical patch is to see if we can improve services and make efficiencies to reduce our costs. It’s also really important to create a system where access to health care is both high quality and more equitable, effectively eradicating the notion of a ‘postcode lottery’ and simply working together to support people’s needs in the very best way we can.
I’ve also been podcasting again this week with colleagues ahead of International Women’s Day (IWD) next Wednesday, March 8. The Trust is proud of and continues to prioritise an inclusive culture and, with a majority of women in our workforce, gender equity remains an important area. Colleagues in the Women’s Staff Network will host a conference on the day and there will be lots of activity, especially across our social media channels.
The theme of IWD this year is ‘embrace equity’ and we chatted about microaggression based on gender and imposter syndrome. I think we all recognise this at some point in our lives and I’m sure we were all a little outside of my comfort zone ‘podcasting’. The end result, however, felt like an interesting and thought-provoking conversation, as well as an open and honest reflection of our own experiences and observations. If you get chance give it a listen after it is published on Wednesday – it’s available alongside lots of other podcasts on a wide variety of topics on our ELHT Audio channel (you can just ask your smart speaker for it if you have one).
This brings me to mention one very special colleague – among literally thousands of brilliant women in ELHT to be fair – who works in our family care division at Burnley General Teaching Hospital.
Patricia Knight, who you might know as Trish, will be a familiar face to many patients, families and colleagues both past and present after working within the Trust for an incredible 47 years. Previously as a midwife, Trish now volunteers with the team and is known as – and I quote – “an absolute superstar”.
I just wanted to let Trish know that her dedication and spirit has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. What an incredible impact you have had over a long and distinguished career. I know I speak for everyone when I say thank you for everything you have done and continue to do.
Finally, for this week, I want to recognise and congratulate all colleagues who have been part of a reaccreditation process from the Joint Advisory Group (JAG). JAG is a voluntary scheme that focuses on professional standards, identifies areas for development and is based on evidence linked to clinical quality, patient experience, workforce and training.
It is considered a ‘Gold Standard’ and I am beyond proud and delighted of the feedback we received from the assessors for services at Royal Blackburn and Rossendale, with a pending visit to Burnley pencilled in. I have no doubt this required a substantial amount of hard work but I am looking forward to the formal outcome soon.
This is another example which demonstrates that together we continue to deliver safe, personal and effective services, even in these challenging times.
Well done and thank you to everyone involved.
Martin