I don’t have a specific one-topic blog in mind today that focuses on an issue or theme, but instead I want to touch on a range of really key activities we need to deliver as a Trust and as part of the wider health and social care system too.
If I was going to file for future reference, I’d put it under a section perhaps marked ‘this is a great place to work, there’s a heck of a lot to do and there’s another difficult year ahead’. There’s good and bad in that sentence, I know, but it is an honest appraisal from me as to where I think we are.
In no priority order, the first thing I want to mention is the huge and critical project to implement a new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) at the Trust.
I have covered the detail of this and the impact it will have for colleagues and patients before in the blog – you can read it here if you want a quick refresh. We have also had an introduction to EPR from our previous Chief Information Officer Mark Johnson which you can watch here, and his successor Daniel Hallen more recently shared a Guest Blog which provided even more information on what we’re aiming to achieve.
I won’t repeat any of the specific details again, but you can see just from the amount of blog-time the EPR has commanded in an extremely busy organisation how critically important it is.
So much so that, as an Executive team and Trust Board, we are actively aware of exactly how many weeks we have left until ‘go live’ – although I suspect the EPR team, supported by colleagues in the Trust and specialists externally, are closer to a countdown in days, hours and minutes as time ticks on.
Of course, it’s easy to think about the EPR in terms of an IT project or system switch over. In reality it is a huge organisational change piece that will touch everyone working in all services and settings in the Trust and, by definition, every partner organisation and every patient too.
No pressure then, as they say, and it is this – how we support the team to deliver over the next few months – that is as much on my mind as the project itself.
I want to thank everyone who is helping and supporting the EPR programme to progress in very intense circumstances and a deadline looming closer each day. This includes colleagues across all services and settings who are facing huge changes in their working practices and starting to get to grips – and get ready – for what these changes mean to them.
At the same time, there are many other projects ongoing which are related and intertwined, often being delivered by the same team or people. These include, but are not limited to, closing down the financial year and working through complex plans for next year, in line with the expectations in the national NHS Planning Guidance for 2023-24, which I mentioned last week.
In addition, there are thousands of people across the Trust working each and every day to progress and deliver their own and team objectives – which make such a huge difference to the care we provide and the experience of our patients.
It's huge and, as you might expect, the question ‘what could we stop doing’ regularly comes up when we try and square all of the things we’re trying to achieve with the resources that we have.
It’s a right and proper question and we remind ourselves of it on a regular basis, to ensure we have considered the resources we have in place with what we need to do and what success looks like, especially for the people we’re relying on to deliver.
We know the ‘resources’ we need are colleagues and especially those who either have specialist knowledge and skills.
I have talked previously about the pressure on all teams at the moment and how I am concerned about the impact of it on the health and wellbeing of individuals and the culture of the organisation as a whole.
For this reason, I am determined that in amongst our drive to perform we remain cognoscente of and mindful about being fair in our expectations, even as the ask seems to continuously increase.
In all honesty it is difficult to see what we might stand down or de-prioritise but I know the answer definitely won’t be found in our determination to reduce waiting times for elective procedures or continuing to improve performance in our cancer-related pathways.
If we can’t reduce anything, of course the logical next step would be to invest more, perhaps by taking on extra people to help. Again, I have spoken before about the financial ask of the NHS to deliver efficiencies and it’s a simple fact that extra money just isn’t there.
This brings me to our continuing focus on working better together as NHS organisations and partners across health and social care. We already do this very well in some cases but there is much more that could be achieved. This does take time – especially to build relationships and trust that enables open conversations to tease out ideas and new ways of working – but we must find some space to explore all possibilities.
I hope you know me well enough to recognise that, in amongst all of this strategic thinking and ‘big stuff’, I don’t want to lose sight of the small things either and the balance about what we also need to progress locally to improve.
I’m fortunate to have great people around me who ensure this happens and just one, real tangible example this week is the introduction of hot food around the clock at Burnley General Teaching Hospital for those who are working in the evenings, overnight or on weekends or who find themselves visiting or as inpatients too.
At the moment, when the restaurant closes there is nowhere to find hot food and this has been raised many times in recent months as a real problem. I’m pleased to report we’re the first Trust in the country to trial a state-of-the-art hot and cold food vending machine at Burnley from next month, but don’t underestimate that this type of development takes time and a planned, safe approach.
I worked from Burnley on Wednesday and took the opportunity to walk around as much as I was able, to check in on colleagues and say hello. This is always a productive and really positive activity and I always appreciate everyone’s warm welcome and open response. I know we all have a priority list of things to do, so to take the time to stop and converse with me about all of the good things that are happening and share feedback and any ‘asks’ too is great.
On my travels I dropped into see, congratulate and present the Trust’s Employee of the Month award to Samantha Bend, who is an Advanced Clinical Nurse Practitioner in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It was great to share feedback from Samantha’s nomination with her and colleagues as part of a general visit to the Family Care division. I remain hugely proud of the services in this division which I know makes such a huge different to parents and families right across East Lancashire.
I also had lunch in the restaurant again and enjoyed both the food and the company of colleagues who I found to be really friendly and welcoming.
And, to this point, I will close this week by repeating my earlier sense that ELHT is a great place to work and we do have a heck of a lot on, with a difficult year ahead.
But let me add – we have the very best people and together we will progress and deliver and look after each other too.
Thank you for everything you are doing, it is much appreciated.
Martin