Sue's Post Board Blog November 2017
Sharing stories on autism, long-awaited five year strategies and getting ahead on flu vaccinations
Hello
Welcome to my latest Post Board Blog following the Board meeting on 30 November. At this meeting we welcomed CQC inspector Hamza Aslam who observed proceedings ahead of our well-led inspection. It was also good to welcome some governors, staff and members of the public.
This was a busy meeting, but one of the really important papers was our long awaited five year strategy (item 9 page 51).
This marks the end of a period of development which started back in March 2016 and has resulted in the publication of a really clear and accessible document that sets out our priorities for the next five years.
We believe we can improve quality, consistency and experience of care for people by working with our partners in teams, rather than as standalone organisations. Prevention is crucial and proactive care and rapid response in a crisis are priorities. Our approach will be rooted in local communities, with co-ordination between primary care, community, specialist and social care.
We’ll be sharing this strategy with staff, partners and the public in due course, including producing an easy read version.
To turn this strategy into action we have developed a set of strategic plans which provide the detail on how we’ll achieve our ambitions over the next five years. These are focused on clinical services, workforce and organisational development, quality, estates and information management and technology (IM&T). Our aim is to have all these plans signed off by February 2018.
Workforce matters
The Board reviewed a draft of the Workforce and Organisational Development Strategic Plan (item 15 page 197).
Recruiting and retaining a highly skilled, high performing and healthy workforce is a tough ask in the NHS right now. There is a lot of day to day pressure and a lot of uncertainty in the system, and this is set to continue for some time. That’s why we need to work with our partners in the health, social care, the third sector, as well as colleagues in higher and further education. We’ve got to work hard if we’re going to realise our vision of providing outstanding mental health and learning disability services as an employer of choice.
I was therefore encouraged to see how the workforce plan had taken this context into account. One of its objectives really stood out:
“To create a culture where everyone is united around a shared vision and high levels of staff engagement are the norm.”
In other words, we’re all in it together!
Sharing Stories: Autism
We heard a wonderful presentation from Dr Alison Stansfield, clinical lead for the Leeds Autism Diagnostic Service (LADS). She gave us a potted history of how the service had gone from a small pilot in 2011 to its current position of receiving over 30 referrals a month.
We had a fascinating insight to the condition and the work of the team, including an inspiring video featuring the story of service user Dr James McGrath, who spoke openly and bravely about his experiences of living with autism. It was great to be joined in person by James at the Board meeting too.
Alison will soon be publishing a suite of videos about the work of her team featuring service users like James and we look forward to seeing them all. They will be published on our You Tube channel and our website.
John gives us the freedom to speak up
We received our first report from our recently-appointed Freedom to Speak Up Guardian John Verity (pictured).
The role of the Guardian was a recommendation of Sir Robert Francis following his review into failings at Mid Staffordshire in 2013. Guardians have a key role in helping staff to raise concerns about safety and provide confidential advice and support. They provide an important bridge between staff at the front line of care and the Board. John also meets regularly with myself and with Sara to advise on the concerns being raised by staff so we can take appropriate action to address any concerns.
John has been meeting with staff in an effort to understand the culture of the organisation and any barriers staff might have to raising concerns. This includes working with our Head of Diversity and Inclusion Caroline Bamford to better understand any barriers staff from certain groups or with protected characteristics might experience.
Performance – we’re winning on flu
Our Chief Operating Officer Joanna Forster Adams is improving the way we manage and present our performance information. We now highlight key areas of performance in monthly reports (item 11.1 page 101).
On a positive note, we heard good things about improving standards in our crisis services, a marked improvement in the recording of clinical supervision, and some great news about our flu vaccination uptake. At the time of writing we’ve vaccinated over 51% of staff, a good 13% higher than where we were last year and as important as ever given the warnings we’ve had about the winter ahead of us.
Two of our key areas of concern remain as out of area placements and delayed transfers of care. However, we have received some good news about our financial position which has been adversely affected by the high level of out of area placements.
We’ve received some financial support from the Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group to help with the costs of placing people out of area – however we must be clear that is only done due to absolute necessity and is something we’re working to eradicate.
Next time
There’ll be no Board meeting in December so our next meeting will be on Thursday 25 January 2018 when we’ll be considering more of our strategic plans.
Until then, as we approach the holiday season, I know many people love this time of year, but for others it can be particularly difficult. Let me take this opportunity to wish you all an enjoyable festive time and to thank our staff for their dedicated professional and compassionate care at this time of the year.