I will begin the first blog of 2023 with a customary Happy New Year and a thank you to colleagues who worked tirelessly in 2022 and especially those who picked up shifts to care for patients and their families over the past few weeks.
The current operating context, the challenges and pressures being seen nationally across the NHS in England, are particularly resulting in extremely high numbers of people attending for urgent and emergency care.
But it’s really important to remember that whilst this might be the ‘front line’ the response is a team effort across the Trust – including those on our wards who are caring for more patients, in our community teams who are working hard to support people in their homes where possible and in our support services who are often the quiet engine room of the organisation, keeping the whole show on the road.
This week I visited colleagues in both Clitheroe and Pendle community hospitals and it was clear they are very much part of the team, focused on corporate and clinical priorities including timely discharge and taking patients from across the Trust to ease flow and support them to recover and return home as soon as possible.
I also received some feedback about two teams working in parallel with ED to make it a better and safer place for patients.
The first was the Intensive Home Support Service (IHSS). The feedback referred to them as ‘a fantastic group of clinicians and nurses with wealth of knowledge about community services who are friendly, pro-active and very approachable. They see very vulnerable people and quickly turn them around by using the support services in community’. I couldn’t agree more but it’s great recognition nonetheless.
The second team mentioned was the Acute Care Team who were similarly described as an ‘excellent group of very committed, knowledgeable people who see the most unwell patients in ED. Their presence is palpable in resus and majors. They review unwell patients, make plans of escalation and give a lot of support to resus nurses’. Again, a reflection I recognise and appreciate. Well done everyone.
It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that spending a night in a busy emergency department as a patient or with a loved one, with a long wait to be seen, can be an anxious and distressing time. I am sorry if you have recently experienced this but I hope I have provided assurance that the team is working hard and doing everything they can.
Please be kind and courteous to them, always. It’s difficult to overestimate how difficult and challenging it is to work in this environment at the moment. I have visited colleagues at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital most days this week and many of the Executive team have been down to A&E to help and support colleagues and patients alike.
Blackburn is the busiest A&E in the North West and it is a very, very challenging situation. For this reason, the Trust is keen to do everything possible to support the health and wellbeing of staff and this week we have asked ourselves, rightly, are we doing enough? We are expecting the results of the national staff survey soon and this will, in part, answer this as thousands of colleagues responded to the questionnaire.
There is a key question which is included every year which asks for affirmation that the Trust takes positive action on staff health and well being and this is supported by supplementary questions about what we are doing to actively reduce stress and injury, from both a physical and mental perspective.
I am extremely keen to ensure we do everything we can and I’m proud our programme of activities and interventions, as well as more bespoke and tailored occupational health provision, is considered second to none.
We are also raising awareness and asking people to look out for themselves and each other, recognising when you or someone you work with might need some extra help. This is an important part of our response and I have invited Lee Barnes, who leads the Trust’s Well team, to provide a guest blog about the Colleague Care Month initiative, which you can read here.
I will end by saying that 2023 will be a year of many things but let us make sure it is a year of health and wellbeing, of looking out for each other and for celebrating successes at the Trust. Whilst these are difficult and testing times, there is much to remind us how we are delivering safe, personal and effective care every day.
To this point, you might see coverage today of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into maternity services in Blackburn, Burnley and Rossendale which are provided by the Trust. I am beyond proud and delighted for the team that they have been rated as good in all five categories - safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led. Several areas were highlighted for outstanding practice including the focus on the needs of local women and families and the midwife champion for equality and diversity who is actively working with local groups. The Trust’s approach to safeguarding and ongoing activity to proactively improve services were also singled out for praise.
This is an enormous achievement in services that really matter to local people. Thank you to everyone who was involved in this – and a massive well done on such a positive report. (If you want to, you can read the CQC report on their website here.
Take care,
Martin