If you tuned into live Teams Brief on Tuesday you may have seen an anonymous question in the chat which, like so many of the comments and questions we receive, prompted me to pause for thought.
You can watch the session back here, but to recap it said: “This is a good trust. Many would say it is an outstanding trust. At a time of change, there are concerns, there are worries. A change in government is one thing and the uncertainty of direction. The ‘cost of living’ crisis and the many struggles communities will face and already face. We are, they say, all in it together. So, my question is this. How confident is the exec of sufficient grip and control in our spending, will we break even and will our staff have something less to worry about as we approach Christmas and all the joys and hope that the festive season would normally bring? Of comfort and of joy. Or is the outlook bleak and Dickensian? #worried”.
I recognise and appreciate the honesty in this comment and whilst I responded in the chat at the time, I wanted to say a bit more here.
Following Teams Brief on Tuesday I joined the Chairman and other colleagues from the Trust Board to present our Annual General Meeting for the first time as permanent Chief Executive of ELHT. My role in the meeting is to give an overview of our achievements in the past year, with performance statistics, challenges we have faced and any issues, as well as highlighting our achievements and progress.
Last year the meeting was very much focused, almost solely in fact, on our response to COVID. It looked at the impact on Pennine Lancashire which consistently had some of the highest community prevalence rates, with huge numbers of people requiring inpatient treatment.
We talked also about the impact on colleagues who had worked relentlessly through the pandemic and were still balancing the need to reduce our waiting lists, cope with very high pressure and demand for services, particularly in urgent and emergency care, and look after themselves and each other too.
Bearing in mind the Trust has again reinstated wearing masks in all areas in the last couple of weeks as infection and hospitalisation rates rise again, you might think nothing has changed.
But, for me, this year’s look back was really quite different. It was less about our response and more about the progress we have made, alongside COVID.
The highlights and achievements section was packed with progress, innovation, delivery and so many positive improvements that at one point I questioned whether I had too many slides in that bit. There was a video played that sums it up, if you want to watch it, you can do so here.
The day after the meeting, on Wednesday, I met again with Trust Board members for a strategy and development session and chatted to a colleague about the positive nature of the AGM, which he had enjoyed but was struggling to conflate with daily updates about the perceived state of services in the wider news and political landscape.
But the truth is that every one of those achievements was delivered by colleagues across the Trust – not just in urgent and emergency care, but in every ward in each of our hospitals, across our incredible community teams and by thousands of people in our support and development services who help us to not only keep the show on the road, but help us to keep going as people too.
I want to specifically mention colleagues in the PWE Healthcare team here as we received an update on their progress and achievements as part of the session. For those of you who don’t know about PWE it’s been in place for a few years but joined the Trust formally last year and was an important development for the organisation. The team provide primary care services for people in our communities as part of the Trust and, on the whole, from our existing settings including Accrington Victoria and Pendle hospitals. The approach, which is really innovative, is doing brilliant things and I want to thank the team for everything they have done and are doing for local people.
Of course, I have to also acknowledge that the operating environment is challenging and it is clear there are some very difficult times to come not just for the NHS but the country as a whole. I don’t deny any of this will have a very stark impact on ELHT, all colleagues and our patients and their families and I am committed to doing everything we can as an organisation to support both.
It's an understatement to say that this is neither a perfect world or an easy landscape to navigate when trying to deliver consistent safe, personal and effective care. I want to encourage colleagues to focus on two things: manage the risks we are facing as best we can and always, always, do the right thing for our patients. As the winter unfolds this might result in doing things differently – please be open to this, to new ideas and thinking, to find improvements and make a difference.
I say this knowing that what I see every day in the Trust – and what sets us apart from the others in my honest opinion – is the way we respond and move forward. Every single achievement is delivered by a person who feels passionate and worn out in equal measure, but keeps going, driven by and focused on providing safe, personal and effective care.
During the AGM I shared some statistics which demonstrate our unrelenting determination and sheer hard work - 34,000 operations delivered, 215,000 people supported through urgent and emergency care, nearly 13 million laboratory tests carried out and 6,000 babies delivered for local families. I could go on – and on and on – but you see the point.
The energy, resilience, determination, compassion and empathy it takes to work in health care cannot be added into a performance report or measured on a bar chart but it what makes ELHT officially ‘good’ but ‘outstanding’ to me.
I would add, though, that 90 per cent of patients last year also told us that their experience was positive which tells me that no matter how hard it is, we are still achieving our goals.
On Wednesday night I travelled to Bolton University to be part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Minimal Access Surgery Conference, which was hosted by ELHT and led by our research department and in particular Daren Subar. I’m so proud of the team and everything they are achieving in this important area of work. They have done a great job with the BRIDGES (Blackburn Research Innovation Development Group in General Surgery) programme which has undoubtedly reaped benefits not only for our patients and their families, but for our surgeon community too.
I was invited by Daren to provide some closing remarks for the event and I was beyond delighted to finish with the amazing news that for the first time in the history of ELHT we have received a significant NIHR grant to support the head and neck service across Lancashire and South Cumbria. This recognition is so richly deserved and well done to everyone involved, especially Panayiotis Kyzas (Panos to friends and colleagues) who has been instrumental in leading the team to press forward, often in their own time, fighting a lack of funding, but determined to deliver anyway. It’s really inspiring.
And so, whilst I think it’s writ large in this blog each week that the achievements of ELHT are never far from my mind, this week has been a very powerful and timely reminder that we continue to be successful and make progress, even though things are incredibly hard.
I know colleagues are tired so please remember also that health and well-being support is available which you can see in detail here. If you need help it is there for you or if you see someone struggling for whatever, please just ask. Also, let us know how it feels for you by completing your staff survey and help us to protect you from Covid or ‘flu this winter and get your jabs as soon as you can.
If you’re having a difficult day, that’s OK, but let me encourage you to look around for two things. One, the many people and services that are here to help you and two, those colleagues beside you, who are working hard and delivering amazing things.
You won’t have to look far before you’re feeling better and with hope restored, I promise, but please look after yourself as a priority.
Martin