Earlier this week I joined a session with the Executive Team at NHS England (NHSE) and fellow Chief Executives where we were able to hear, provide and exchange views on where we are and, perhaps more importantly, where we need to get to and how we’ll get there together.
Following local elections this week and with a general election almost certainly later this year, the NHS will be under an intense political spotlight on its performance – but when you ask anyone who works within it what motivates them, it’s always patients and their families.
This is really the only reason any of us get out of bed in the morning and what keeps us going in difficult times.
East Lancashire Hospitals Trust (ELHT) is already well aligned with the direction and the asks that were made by NHSE – and I fed back to colleagues from the Trust Board afterwards that we had largely either completed, already identified or were actively on with doing much of the work that needs to be done.
Of course, there is much more that we want to achieve and I acknowledge we don’t always get it right too, but it’s important to recognise positives and celebrate the successes of colleagues who work so hard every day.
The financial challenge that underpins everything we seek to achieve is never far away either and there are huge budget reductions we need to make at the same time as progress this year.
On this, it was heartening to hear the desire to move on from the language of savings and cuts to a conversation around removing waste and reworking services to improve and remove costs at the same time.
I’m fortunate that improvement methodology is writ large already in ELHT’s existing DNA, with a focused eye on innovation and improvement already central to our day to day work. In addition, our approach to reduce our outgoings must mirror the same vigour we adopt at home in our personal lives when we tighten our belts, swap spending habits and shop around for better deals or different ways to do things to make our income stretch as far as it possibly can.
There is no conceivable reason why this type of thinking cannot and should not be applied in the same way when we get to work – and it is both within our gift and incumbent on us as public servants to make it so as a matter of course.
In a similar way, I know there is lots of discussion at the moment, particularly within NHS circles, about ‘productivity’ and, in particular, how we have more people in teams across all services and divisions than ever before, but with the added negative perception that we aren’t achieving any more.
I want to dispel this idea about productivity and put on the record that I don’t think this is what we mean when we talk about it.
For me, it’s not about doing more, working harder or taking on more and more than we have already - it’s about what we do with what we have and ensuring it is always the most efficient and productive it can be. Only then are we fulfilling our duty to patients and their families – and I know this is the wish of everyone at ELHT.
Here I must highlight that performance nationally and at ELHT in particular does show improvement and, in some areas, we are now getting back to the levels of activity we were delivering before the pandemic.
As a Trust we ended the financial year 2023-24 well with improvements against key targets in important areas such as cancer and reducing the number of people who have been waiting over 65 weeks for treatment. I was also pleased ELHT was referenced as one of the only organisations to hit the target for patients to be seen in under four hours in A&E.
I could list many, many more metrics which demonstrate we’re focused on the right things, improving all the time and working our socks off for patients and their families and I don’t, for one second, underestimate just how much energy and dedication this takes from everyone across all services and settings.
To all colleagues I want to thank you for everything you have and continue to do for our communities – both in our hospitals and out in the community – and this message was clear from the Chief Executive of NHSE Amanda Pritchard too.
We have every reason to feel proud, recognise our contribution to the wider health and social care system – to people’s lives – and to hope that we are and will continue to make consistent progress every day.
It is going to take an ongoing herculean effort from colleagues, both in our hospitals and within community services, where having teams that work together makes a huge difference to local people, with partners across the wider health and social care system also.
Something that is going to be key is more accurately capturing the work our brilliant community teams do when they are out and about and often doing things behind the closed doors of someone’s home, rather than as part of a ward.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out how recruiting and retaining the right people and making sure they’re in the right place, doing the right thing at the right time, is critical to our success. I would argue ELHT is one step ahead of this already. We have the best people and they’re doing some amazing things.
Yesterday I joined a more local forum with members of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) and senior people from ELHT for our monthly Improvement and Assurance Group (IAG) meeting.
It was great to share information with our colleagues about the Trust’s performance and key areas of focus, whilst hearing feedback and views from them about how they feel it is going too. I felt energised to hear we were all on the same page, working together and committed to achieving improvements for local people as one team.
This is useful as we will meet the Minister of State for Social Care Helen Whately MP and a number of parliamentarians local to East Lancashire this month to discuss the complex and difficult challenges we have in delivering urgent and emergency care, including an under pressure emergency department at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.
I have said many times that the huge demand for services which seems to keep rising every day results in long waits to be seen and a patient experience for some people that isn’t what any of us would wish it to be, including regrettably being cared for on a trolley in a corridor.
But I will also be sharing the importance of recognising the hard work and dedication of the team who work so hard and are doing their level best to provide safe, personal and effective care every day in very difficult circumstances indeed.
I will, as ever, keep you posted on conversations, progress and the myriad challenges we face.
Please do, in turn, let me know how it feels to work within the Trust or the care you experience as a patient here. I am interested in your experience and your feedback and it is hugely important as we continue to improve.
I want to end on a real positive – and that is the opening of the new Heart Care Centre at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital this week. I went up to see the team and the final facility on Thursday and I have to say I was beyond impressed with what has been delivered to improve the experience for patients and their families.
Thank you to the entire team who have worked on this significant project – in particular Laura Loveday, Debbie Wilcox, Lisa Grendall and the ward managers Suzanne Barnes and Doris Robinson – but everyone who has helped to make it a reality and ensure patients were transferred in safely.
To everyone who is working over the Bank Holiday weekend – thank you, it’s appreciated. For those who get some downtime, please enjoy it with your friends and family – but stay safe whatever you are doing.
Martin