October is Black History Month
and we want to mark the month by highlighting the stories of some of our BAME staff. They’ve kindly shared their experiences with us and you can see their stories on the board in main reception at Russells Hall Hospital. We will be displaying the storyboards throughout the month across our sites.
We kicked off the celebrations with a steel band from Summerhill School performing a set in main reception on 1st October. The youngsters are incredibly gifted and drew quite a crowd, as did the tasty Jamaican spiced bun and cheese! Interserve has a fabulous menu planned for the month which I’m looking forward to sampling!
Black History Month has been celebrated every year in the UK since 1987 and was originally founded to recognise the achievements and contributions of people from African and Caribbean backgrounds. It has now expanded to include the contributions of people from Asia.
There are lots of events planned in the West Midlands and you can find out more about them by clicking here.
October is packed with exciting and important events. It’s AHP Day on 14th October. This is our chance to congratulate AHP colleagues by nominating them for the AHP Awards. If you’re an AHP, book onto the celebration event, if you haven’t already. The Health and Care Professions Council will be joining us for a professional talk at the awards. The day is also an opportunity for colleagues to network from the twelve AHP professions that our Trust employs. It also counts as CPD. More info on the Hub including nomination forms.
It’s also National Speak Up Month. We are raising awareness of speaking up and underlining the importance of listening to workers. There are speak up drop in sessions here and at Corbett where you can speak in confidence to the speak up guardians and NED Julian Atkins. Author John Higgins, who works NHS London Leadership Academy running Speak Up, Listen UP workshops, is speaking at November’s Grand Round. Email Wendywheeler@nhs.net to book your place. More information can be found on the Speak UP page on the Hub.
I was pleased to be part of the stakeholder panel to appoint the accountable officer for the Black Country and West Birmingham CCGs. Following a successful assessment day, a preferred candidate has been agreed. The decision still requires ratification by NHSE/I chief executive Simon Stevens. A decision will hopefully be made in the next few days and so I will keep you posted.
The National Staff Survey 2019 opens on Tuesday 8th October and I would urge you al to use it as an opportunity to tell us about your service and the Trust. If you want change, this is your chance.
Look out for an email link and unique password. This will enable you to log in to the basic survey and tell us what you think.
We’re using outside company Picker to run the survey for us – this means that all your responses go to them and they only provide the Trust with an anonymous report summarising staff responses. It ensures everything you say is treated in confidence.
Picker will also send you email reminders – this is something that NHS England tells us we have to do to make sure as many of our staff completes the survey as possible so that we can listen really well to our successes and our areas to do better.
If you do not have easy access to a computer, please let either your manager or lead know so we can make sure equipment is made available. You can access the survey from any device that you use to access your nhs.net email account.
If you do not regularly use your email and have forgotten your log in details, now’s the chance to get yourself back on so you can be ready for the survey. Go to www.portal.nhs.net, click on ‘email’ and follow the instructions for ‘unlock account or forgotten password’. If you are still having difficulties, call IT service desk on ext. 2376.