Author: Andrew McMenemy, Director of Human Resources

This is my first blog for a couple of months but I felt the need to write this today following the exceptional work demonstrated by the nursing professional development team with support from the recruitment team, communications team and the lead nurses and matrons.

I am talking about the first of the new nurse recruitment events that took place today. It was an overwhelming success for what was considered a trial event. The teams I have mentioned have been planning how to make these events successful for the last few weeks. Everyone was committed to working well together and it was really good to see their plans come together this morning.

I understand that we successfully offered nursing roles to 10 candidates. This included providing them an opportunity to visit their area of interest, have an interview and receive a conditional offer of employment.

This has been a great start to the campaign and I am really proud of everyone that contributed to making this successful. The next thing is to make the next event even more successful.

Well done everyone.

First of all I would like to open the blog by acknowledging the great work done by the AMU team to support their fundraising effort in conjunction with National Acute Medicine Day. Particular thanks should go to Bethany Smith and Laura Gallear for their sterling efforts selling cakes in the baking heat for a great cause.

On another proud staffing story, Tracey Bayliss, Senior Project Manager in our Service Improvement Team has had a blog published by NHS England after she completed the Improvement FUNdamentals course in March this year. Her blog highlights some of the benefits of the course and explains why other people should consider enrolling on it. Well done Tracey for helping to get Dudley on the map! Anyone interested in the course should visit www.qihikers.co.uk or email england.si-mooc@nhs.net.

We held our latest Breakfast with the Boss meeting on 5th June 2017. The meeting again was well attended and provided an opportunity for staff to have their say on any issue with me and Diane Wake, Chief Executive. The main topics raised were around the age of computers, training & development for health care assistants in the community and SIM cards for community staff. I am pleased to confirm that outstanding issue regarding sim cards for community staff has been resolved and staff requiring a SIM for their mobile device will be provided with one, with the roll-out starting on Monday 26th June. Community staff should have received an email with details of where and when they can have their SIM cards installed.

On the topic of our community teams, Paul Bytheway and I attended the latest engagement meeting with community staff regarding the MCP process on 14^th June at Stourbridge Health Centre. The meeting was well attended with around 50 staff from the community teams were present. Thank you to those who attended and contributed to the discussion. We are currently arranging for the next engagement event at the end of July to coincide with the next stage of the MCP process. We will confirm the details shortly.

Thank you to all staff who have contributed to the discussions regarding proposals for the Trust to consider going smoke free. I can confirm that at this stage we are seeking views for our staff and members of the public. We have developed additional questions in our Staff Friends and Family questionnaire that allows feedback to be provided.

You may have noticed the message on the hub regarding measures to reduce costs associated to agency staff. We understand the challenges facing us but together if we can reduce our agency costs we can prioritise our investments into improving our services at Dudley. Thank you to all staff for their commitment to making this succeed.

I am also pleased to congratulate all our teams for their continued performance around compliance for appraisals and mandatory training. The last 3 months has seen significant improvements in our rates of compliance which means enhanced safety for our patients and support for our staff.

This is an opportunity to remind staff that the Action Heart Gym will be extending its opening times from 3^rd July. The new opening times will be from 7am – 9:30pm. Contact Action Heart directly to join and make use of the extended opening times.

As you know we provide the facility for free flu vaccinations for staff each year from October. The planning has already commenced for the vaccinations taking place from October 2017. In 2015 we achieved a vaccination rate of 23% of patient facing staff. We improved this last year by achieving 50% vaccination rate for patient facing staff. In 2017 we are required achieve a flu vaccination target of 70%. This is important to all of us as it support the well-being of our staff and patients. In addition, where we achieve this target the Trust will attract funding of over £200,000 as part of our CQUIN.

Finally, thank you to you all for your continued commitment to high standards of care under challenging circumstances. Well done.

Well done and thank you to all the staff at Dudley Group. The last few weeks have made me very proud and fully appreciate what a great place this is to work. The events that supported ‘Thanking our Caring Profession’ were fantastic. I had the pleasure of handing out doughnuts and pens to our staff last Friday at main reception. Everyone seemed so pleased and grateful to get the recognition that they deserve.

How do you follow doughnuts? Health & Wellbeing for staff. You may remember that we have been working hard to have the opening times of the Action Heart gym extended for staff. I can now confirm that the extended opening times from 7am until 9:30pm will commence from 3^rd July 2017. It is hoped we can arrange an event to coincide with the new opening times.

Over the next few weeks the team at Action Heart will provide further details for existing members and information for those wishing to join, following the new opening times. I would like to thank Russell Tipson, the Estates Team and the Health & Wellbeing Group for making this happen.

Continuing on the theme of wellbeing the Trust will be considering its options regarding going smoke free over the next few months. One of the options open to the Trust is to make our sites entirely smoke free and therefore remove the existing smoking shelters. We are keen to engage with staff, patients and visitors on our options and listen to feedback.

We have two more Breakfast with the Boss sessions planned in June and July 2017. For those not familiar with the sessions, we invite a random selection of staff from across the Trust and entice them with croissants, tea, coffee and fresh orange juice. This provides an opportunity for staff to provide feedback on current issues affecting them at the Trust. Following the success of our previous sessions we are looking to continue to hold these events each month. If you have not had the pleasure of an invitation and you would like to attend please contact me by e-mail and I will make sure you are invited to the next relevant breakfast meeting. We are also planning to have a few Breakfast with the Boss meetings in our community sites in order to provide the opportunity to listen to all of our staff. Your feedback is really important and valued.

As you know we provide the facility for free flu vaccinations for staff each year from October. The planning has already commenced for the vaccinations taking place from October 2017. In 2015 we achieved a vaccination rate of 23% of patient facing staff. We improved this last year by achieving 50% vaccination rate for patient facing staff. In 2017 we are required achieve a flu vaccination target of 70%. This is important to all of us as it support the well-being of our staff and patients. In addition, where we achieve this target the Trust will attract funding of over £200,000 as part of our CQUIN.

Following the receipt of the staff survey results we successfully held a number of staff survey focus groups. This provided the Board with excellent feedback of where we can make the Trust an even better place to work. Some of the main highlights were:

You said:

We want you to do more engagement/continue engagement activities to give the opportunity to be heard and for our job roles to be valued and understood.

We are committed to:

Publish a quarterly programme of events to give staff the chance to talk, see and experience a range of views in the Trust including: CEO Team Briefings (monthly) open to all, Back to the Floor, Breakfast with the boss, Blogs and ‘staff stories’ to compliment patient stories showcased.

You said:

We need to improve how we communicate patient feedback to wards and departments so they can listen to the messages and use the information to recognise staff, develop services, and make improvements based on patient feedback.

We are committed to:

Review and refresh what departments receive – asking what they want and how it will be used. Follow up the ‘you said, we have done’ review and ensure wards/departments see the results.

You Said:

Capacity has a big impact – but it doesn’t feel like everyone ‘gets it’, or gets involved in supporting patient activity when the Trust under times of pressure

We are Committed to:

Develop clear guidance for all staff about their role during peaks in demand and explain how all staff can support/contribute.

You Said:

Make it easier for us to access mandatory training.

We are Committed to:

Liaising with teams to explore how we make it easier to access training and offer solutions that work for teams.

You Said:

The Community teams would like to be better connected to the wider Trust and access more information.

We are Committed to:

Explore how we implement key mechanisms such as a service directory, community newsletter and revised Hub pages. Implement a CEO team brief monthly in community.

These are examples of some of the main actions based on your feedback from the Staff Survey and the subsequent focus groups. Where you have further comments or suggestions you can contact me directly or alternatively contact Rachel Andrew, Head of Learning & Organisational Development or Liz Abbiss, Head of Communications. We look forward to hearing from you.

Finally, thank you to you all for your continued commitment to high standards of care under challenging circumstances. Well done.

Hello again. It has been a few weeks since I last posted and again a lot has happened in the Trust and this is a great opportunity to share some good news stories.

First of all we have had two more Breakfast with the Boss sessions. For those not familiar with the sessions, we invite a random selection of staff from across the Trust and entice them with croissants, tea, coffee and fresh orange juice. This provides an opportunity for staff to provide feedback on current issues affecting them at the Trust. In the first session Glen Palethorpe, Director of Governance, and I spent an hour receiving excellent feedback on what it feels like for staff at Dudley and what we could do to make our place of work even better. In our March session I was joined by Paul Harrison, Acting Chief Executive. Thank you to all those who attended and contributed to our get together.

One of the areas discussed at the first session was better collaboration between ward staff and mortuary staff to ensure we continue to provide dignity to our patients after death. The discussion at the session acted as the catalyst for Anthony in the mortuary team to meet with matrons to develop better understanding and actions to support best practice.

In our March session we had staff from Radiology who had identified frustrations from patients unable to have their telephone calls answered in a timely manner. Therefore, we have agreed to assist the team in looking at ways in which we can use technology to support a better service for patients when telephoning the department.

At the session in January the attendees raised issues relating to health and wellbeing initiatives for staff. I described in my first post that the Trust was having initial discussions with Action Heart as to whether the opening times of the gym could be extended and I requested your comments and feedback.  I am pleased to say that following your positive feedback, the Trust, alongside Action Heart has agreed to fund the opening of the Gym from 7am until 9:30pm. We are waiting for the work to be completed in the next few weeks and when this is done we will communicate the first day for the opening times. Thank you all for your support with this!

I also had the great pleasure of attending my first Committed to Excellence Awards that took place on 16^th March. The ceremony was a great success and congratulations to all those who were nominated. The event demonstrated the strength, dedication and excellence in our workforce.

This post also gives me an opportunity to say thank you to all staff for their commitment to mandatory training and appraisals. You are now demonstrating the best performance in over 12 months. This has been done following a period of unprecedented capacity pressures and your support is greatly appreciated.

Following the receipt of the staff survey results we have started our first staff survey focus groups. This is an opportunity for staff to articulate the feedback based on the staff survey both by staff group and also within your work area. I attended the focus group for nursing staff in medicine on Friday last week. Everyone who attended provided excellent feedback. The meeting was energetic and constructive and gave me the opportunity of where we can make a positive difference to our staff. Thank you all for your time and contributions.

Finally, thank you to you all for your continued commitment to high standards of care under challenging circumstances. Well done.

Hello again. Following my first post three weeks ago a lot has happened in the Trust and this is a great opportunity to share some good news stories.

First of all the first Breakfast with the Boss took place on the morning of the 23^rd January 2017. We invited a random selection of support staff from across the Trust and enticed them with croissants, tea, coffee and fresh orange juice. Paul Bytheway, Chief Operating Officer and I spent an hour receiving excellent feedback on what it feels like for staff at Dudley and what we could do to make our place of work even better. Thank you to all those who attended and contributed to our first get together.

We are planning further Breakfast with the Boss sessions over the next few weeks. If you receive an invite we would really appreciate and welcome your attendance and feedback. We are interested in hearing your views.

One of the areas discussed at the session in January was support for health and wellbeing initiatives for staff. The Trust is having initial discussions with Action Heart as to whether the opening times of the gym could be extended. I would, therefore, appreciate your feedback on earlier opening times to see if this something that you would welcome. Let me know in the comments below what you think.

On 25^th January I undertook my second Back to the Floor experience within the Outpatients Department. I had the pleasure of being managed by Rose Tonti who clearly takes great pride in the highest clinical standards and support to her staff. It was a great experience and the staff were brilliant. A special mention must go to those who supported me directly. They were Samantha Foot, Katie Wood and Lisa Gallier. Thank you for your patience.

In my last post I mentioned our compliance rates for mandatory training and appraisals. There has also been a letter from Paul Harrison, Acting Chief Executive to highlight the commitment to achieving high levels of compliance. I am pleased to say that we are making progress with increases in the compliance rates. However, we need to continue this trajectory each week to meet the standards required. Thank you for your efforts so far and please continue the good work.

The Committed to Excellence Awards shortlist has now been announced and is available on the Hub. I had the pleasure of being involved in some of the shortlisiting and seeing the full list demonstrates what an excellent group of staff we have at Dudley. Congratulations to all those nominated and to those who have been shortlisted.

Finally, thank you to you all for your continued commitment to high standards of care under challenging circumstances. Well done.

Hello and welcome to my first attempt at blogging. It is the intention that myself and other Directors will provide regular updates using a blog to advise staff on relevant matters in the Trust in order support better engagement.

It was a pleasure and privilege to go ‘Back to the Floor’ and attend the videofluoroscopy clinic on 11th January 2017. I observed two patient referrals under the careful guidance of Clare Nightingale & Linzie Preistnall from the Speech and Language Team, Jane Eades from Radiology and support staff. I am very grateful for the opportunity to observe the valuable work undertaken by our clinical staff and in particular the teams from Speech and Language Therapy and Radiology.

In the world of Human Resources, we have had two new members join the team in the last few weeks. First of all, Angelina Thompson has joined as an HR Advisor and Kulvinder Chahal has joined the team as our new Medical Staffing Manager. The workforce team has worked really hard over the last few weeks with some staff shortages and we all appreciate the support and team work demonstrated by our colleagues in other departments.

I also had the pleasure of sitting on the Committed to Excellence judging panel for the Unsung Hero – Clinical category this week. The standard of nominations was excellent and, after much deliberation, we got there and found our unsung hero!  The winners will be kept a secret until the awards night. My only challenge now is whether to wear a kilt to the ceremony on 16th March!

On a personal note, I had my first 1:1 with Diane Wake, our new Chief Executive this week. She was very supportive with a clear vision of how she wants to make Dudley even better. I am looking forward to working with Diane when she starts at the Trust on 3rd April.

The Board of Directors would really appreciate our efforts in raising the levels of compliance with mandatory training and appraisals. The workforce team are in the middle of implementing changes to both processes to make this as straightforward as possible. However, we all need to ensure we maintain our compliance for the safety of our patients, staff and ourselves.

Finally, thank you to you all for your continued commitment to high standards of care under challenging circumstances. Well done.