Sara's Blog for April 2019
This month Sara starts by reflecting on the Sri Lankan terror attacks and how important it is to seek help if you are suffering emotionally. She also talks about our next CQC inspection, fire safety improvements, refurbishments at the Becklin Centre, pressure on local mental health services and how the Trust compares well to others on staff survey data. Plus, her usual reasons to be proud!
Hello, welcome to my April blog.
Only a month has gone by and I find myself reflecting on yet another dreadful terror-related event. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the Sri Lankan terror attacks. We know that a number of our staff are Sri Lankan, or might have links with those directly affected by it.
I urge anyone who is affected by this to speak to someone. For people in Leeds there are details of local services that can help on the MindWell website. For our staff, there are a number of ways to get support, including through our occupational health service and our Employee Assistance Programme.
Our next Care Quality Commission inspection
We found out in March that we’ll receive our regular CQC well-led inspection later this summer. I’m confident we can leave our “requires improvement” days behind us and achieve a rating of good this time round. I know we’ve made huge strides forward against the actions that were laid down for us by the CQC at their last inspection, and I’m sure they’ll see this for themselves when they come.
Fire safety improvements
I’m really pleased to report that we’ve received formal notification from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service they have now closed down their investigation following the fire at the Becklin Centre last year. This is in response to work we’ve done through the fire safety task and finish group and the joint arrangements we have now put in place with Leeds Teaching Hospitals. Well done to all those who’ve been involved and made a difference here.
Becklin Refurb
The fire at the Becklin Centre did give us an opportunity to kick start our refurbishment programme – in that we renovated ward 5 whilst it was unoccupied and patients were being cared for in Bradford.
We’ll soon be starting our full Becklin refurbishment programme in earnest, which is part of our Estates Strategic Plan. This will involve transforming the management suite on the second floor into a ward, then using this as a ‘decant ward’ to allow us to refurbish the other wards safely. Once this work is done, the intention is for Becklin to become the Trust’s acute site, with ward 4 at The Newsam Centre being relocated to Becklin.
We held an open morning on 23 April to share plans and listen to views from staff about what they’d like to see there. My colleague Dawn Hanwell and her estates project team will be taking this forward.
Pressure on acute mental health services
During the last month our acute mental health services have seen significant pressure which has resulted in an increase in out of area admissions. We recognise out of area admissions are not an ideal solution for anybody, most of all service users and their carers. However, our priority is to keep people safe in an environment that is appropriate for their needs. Unfortunately sometimes this has to be further away from home than we’d want.
We’ve got a long term plan to address this and it is important we continue to support the acute services leadership teams for the hard work they are doing day in day out. This increased pressure and demand is being seen across the country with many trusts reporting unprecedented demand and out of area placements as a consequence.
Staff Survey – we’re high fliers!
We had some good results in our yearly staff survey report, published in February. Eighty one percent of staff said they were satisfied with the quality of the care they deliver, and 87 percent felt that their role made a difference. We’ve now received some interesting info from Listening Into Action on how we compare with other trusts.
This league table shows that we are now ranked thirteenth nationally, up three places on last year, and one of only seven trusts to show year on year growth.
This scatter diagram shows we’re now sitting in the top quadrant of high performing trusts in England. The diagram plots trusts on a grid that shows the difference between key findings trending positively and negatively, and the difference between key findings which are above and below average.
I believe this shows our workforce and organisational development strategy is working and we are making great progress on our ambition to provide outstanding services as an employer of choice.
Reasons to be proud
More success for our trainee doctors
Dr Claire Eccles, one of our core trainees, has been appointed as a Royal College of Psychiatrists Neuroscience Champion. This following a very competitive national selection process – well done Claire.
HSJ Value Awards Shortlist
Our new CONNECT eating disorders service has been shortlisted for two HSJ Value Awards. The service launched in April 2018 and now covers community provision across the whole of West Yorkshire and Harrogate. The awards take place on 23 May – good luck CONNECT!
Excellence in sustainability reporting
We’ve been recognised for excellent sustainability reporting by the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU), NHS Improvement and the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).
The SDU, which works across the health and care sector on behalf of NHS England and Public Health England, conducted an analysis of all NHS trust and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) annual reports to evaluate sustainability sections. We are one of 55 trusts and 42 CCGs (around 22%) which were selected for recognition out of 432 organisations across England. Well done to our Environment and Sustainability Manager Chris Hayes for his work on this.
Find out more about Dr Sara Munro