Today is going to be one of those blogs that simply provides an update on various elements of the week.
It’s been busy, varied and enjoyable on the whole and, although we continue to deal with some challenging and complex issues, the spirit of ELHT means there is always positivity to be found and this I will gladly share too.
Firstly, I attended a session on Tuesday with the national leadership team including NHS England Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard and the wider group of Chief Executives at the helm of myriad NHS organisations across the land.
Whilst it’s a big group, it’s welcome that we continue to try and get together a couple of times a year to hear updates, share learning and get around the big issues as one. Just to see people and be assured we’re all wrestling with common issues can provide a sense of that ‘all in it together’ camaraderie that is so important when times are tough.
We were fortunate that the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting MP joined us and as a key member of a new Government, it was great to hear his views and plans first hand.
Amanda began the day and, indeed, concluded it with opening and closing addresses on the same theme: Everything has changed, yet nothing has changed. You might think this a bit profound and circular, perhaps like a riddle that can’t be solved, but it is true in so many ways.
On the question of what has changed, it is clear the new Government is going to be material to our lives in the NHS and as the biggest part of the public sector, our success is going to be critical to them too.
The Health Secretary talked of manifesto ambitions being delivered, improving performance to meet constitutional targets and how the expectations of patients and their families – and also importantly of colleagues – would need to be prioritised and delivered, but in the inevitable affordable way.
Regular readers of the blog and certainly those who work in ELHT will know we’re not quite there on this, but there is nothing surer than our current commitment to bringing our budget in within our means this year.
It’s clear also that relationships have changed with the new administration at Number 10 and we have already seen a new approach to the various long-running pay disputes, which I welcome on the back of a number of periods of industrial action which have impacted us operationally, delaying procedures and treatment significantly in recent years.
That takes me to what's not changed and that, of course, includes the need to reduce our costs and operate within our budgets, but also includes the really big and complex challenges around demand for our services, driven by the everyday lives and experiences of our communities. Across East Lancashire this includes huge diversity driven in places by deep deprivation that creates unequal and unfair health outcomes. Tackling this is a big one for us.
Both the Health Secretary and the NHSE CEO described their determination that addressing the changes, alongside all the issues that remain, is going to require a reset moment. Among other things, we are mid-way through a huge baseline assessment of where we are nationally, the review being undertaken by Baron Ara Darzi, which will help inform what needs to be done over the next 10 years.
Among all of this, I want to share that I was heartened to hear a commitment to building trust between the NHS and the Government, as well as with patients and colleagues. I was also pleased that safety remained everyone’s top priority and that we were asked to be honest about what is working and what is not – as well as what we felt we could fix ‘back at the ranch’ and what was well out of our sphere of influence and would need a national approach, actions by others or new policy to improve.
For all of these reasons I left the day feeling positive and re-energised – and certainly that I was in good company with good people around me who could get some of this done for everyone who relies on or works in the NHS.
I’ve said before, that’s why I joined the NHS initially and I am proud to say it is what still gets me out of bed in the morning too.
On this point, knowing we are serving our patients effectively and supporting colleagues equally is hugely important to me – so let me share a couple more updates which demonstrate our commitment in both of these areas.
Yesterday I joined a thank you event with the team from our hospital charity ELHT&Me and East Lancashire businessman John Banaszkiewicz to celebrate and receive a new, £250,000 state of the art piece of endoscopy equipment.
The money was presented by John’s charity Labels for CARES (Cancer Assessment Rapid Early Support) which raises funds through events and a shop selling clothes in Burnley. Amazingly, this is not their first donation and in 2020 an initial £125,000 also paid for two endoscopy machines at Burnley General Teaching Hospital, which have already scanned thousands of patients, providing swift results and utilising the latest technology to improve outcomes.
It goes without saying, we are immensely grateful to John for his remarkable vision in establishing a charity with the goal of providing the Trust’s Endoscopy team access to the latest and best equipment in healthcare. It was brilliant to see how proud they all were as the equipment was handed over with a clear message of just how much it will support and improve cancer diagnostic work.
Thank you so much to everyone at Labels for CARES and everyone who, in turn, supports them – including their ambassador and ITV weather presenter Jo Blythe who came along too. It would be remiss of me not to also reference the endoscopy team who have worked so hard in the background not only to help select and buy the equipment – but will use positively to treat our patients too.
On a similar note, I want to mention a number of moments this week where I have had the chance to catch up and check in with colleagues across the Trust. This included a conversation with people from across various divisions in an employee focused group. What impressed me most about this meeting was hearing the focus on improving the experience for our teams in all services and settings – and in particular in response to some of the issues people raised within the staff survey last year. I won’t repeat them all here but I am grateful for all the work being undertaken to address what colleagues told us. Thank you to everyone who has taken on the challenge to make a difference in areas that we know really matter to people amongst everything else we are dealing with.
I was also with the team in A&E at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital this morning and I make no apology for trying to drop in and see them as often as I can. This isn’t because they are any more important than anyone else in the Trust, but I do recognise the particularly difficult environment urgent and emergency care provides for both patients and colleagues and I like to remain close to the issues as much as I can.
It was great to see their improvement projects shared and tracked on an ‘improvement wall’ and I know their commitment to eradicating corridor care and getting ready for winter will make a huge difference for people in the coming months.
Lastly, I said last week that I would be regularly returning to the issue of equality and I am pleased to say that the Trust will launch a new and unapologetically hard hitting anti racist campaign on Monday. It will begin with a statement from myself and our Chair Shazad Sarwar, explaining some of the reasons we are doing this and setting out our views clearly as a statement of our intentions in this area.
If you’re a colleague, a patient or visitor into the Trust please get involved and pledge your support in this important area – and, more to the point, if you see any behaviours that are racist or discriminate against anyone for any reason, please speak up and offer your support.
As always, let me know your feedback and views on any and all of the above and after such a busy week let me end by wishing you a good weekend when it comes. For everyone working, thank you and I hope you also find some much deserved downtime too.
Martin