Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s blog. Judging by the sunny weather we’ve enjoyed the past few days, I can’t believe it’s officially autumn.
I’ve written a number of times about the importance of quality improvement as evidence of a safe, effective healthcare service. Quality improvement is at the heart of our work and, in the history of ELHT, I doubt there’s ever been a greater focus on improving the quality of our services than right now.
This week I’ve seen several examples of ELHT quality. One such area is our specialist stroke service. Not so long ago, we were a low performing Trust and rated Grade E in the independent SSNAP Audit. However, thanks to the hard work and dedication of many staff, fantastic improvements have taken place, resulting in the service achieving Grade A in our most recent audit (Dec-March 2018). Well done everyone, this is an incredible achievement.
Quality improvement means continuously reviewing the treatment and care we provide and, where appropriate, making changes. Two further quality ELHT initiatives that will make a real difference to our patients is the development of our new Older People’s Rapid Assessment Unit and the excellent integrated neuro rehab services our staff provide at the Rakehead Unit (Burnley General), both of which I saw at first-hand this week.
A reminder that the best way to learn more about ELHT quality is for staff to read our regular ’Share 2 Care’ magazine and for everyone to follow our latest Quality Improvement news on Twitter.
Of course, high quality staff is more often than not the main reason we’re able to provide quality services. Throughout this week I’ve been delighted to see the spotlight being shone on a group of staff who make up a significant portion of our workforce and who play vital roles in allowing us to maintain good patient flow throughout the Trust. Monday 15 October was AHPs (Allied Health Professional) Day, celebrating the work of the third largest workforce in the NHS whose focus is on prevention and improvement of health and wellbeing to maximise the potential for individuals to live full and active lives. At ELHT we pushed the boat out with a week-long programme of activities covering each of the AHP specialties we have at the Trust. Thank you again to all our valued AHPs.
More good news this week from the ‘Royal College of Nursing, Black History Month Conference’ where our Workforce Project Manager Sufiya Rasul was presented with an award for her ‘Outstanding Contribution to Equality and Inclusion in Health and Social Care’. The tireless work of Sufiya and her colleagues to engage with local schools and our wider community has, quite rightly, been acknowledged at a national level and Sufiya has proven herself an excellent ambassador for ELHT. Congratulations!
Your views from the NHS Staff Survey help us improve the quality care we deliver to our patients even more. And everyone who completes the anonymous survey has two chances to win £100 Love 2 Shop vouchers – which always come in handy for the Christmas shopping! Let’s have a real push this week. If you haven’t completed your survey please do and encourage your colleagues to complete theirs to. Together I’m sure we can boost our current 12.7% return rate.
And finally, one area in which ELHT most definitely provides a quality service is in protecting our patients from the flu virus by vaccinating our staff. Just two weeks into this year’s programme and, despite being the #1 Trust in the country, our 2018 campaign is ahead of trajectory. Thanks to the hard working Occupational Health Team, we’ve already achieved an excellent 36.3% uptake. The vaccination programme continues and there will be more flu vaccination clinics for ELHT staff at our hospital and community sites in the coming weeks.
Have a wonderful weekend and, if you’re off work during the half-term holidays, enjoy your annual leave!