Author: Diane Wake, Chief Executive

We had some fantastic news today. The Department of Health has announced we are to receive £1m funding for our A&E!  Read their press release here.

We are absolutely thrilled to be receiving the funding to relieve pressure on our Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department. This really is very good news for our patients.

We plan to use the money to build a brand new urgent care centre (UCC) integrated with our Emergency Department.

This will allow a centralised point of access for patients who will be directed to A&E or the UCC depending on their clinical need. Having the two services side by side will mean patients will benefit from a seamless service with clinicians from primary care and the hospital working even more closely together.

This morning I was delighted to welcome 40 new starters to Dudley at my first Trust induction where I had the opportunity to meet members of staff who will be joining teams across the Trust, including the Emergency Department and Critical Care.

It was a pleasure to meet so many of you, especially as you are in the same position I was just a few weeks ago; getting used to a new organisation, meeting new people and learning about Dudley’s key shared values and objectives.

I also welcomed back some individuals who have recently re-joined the Trust after discovering that the grass isn’t really any greener elsewhere! Our fantastic learning and development programme and access to high quality training courses were mentioned as key areas where Dudley shines amongst the rest and the outstanding clinical teams in Critical Care and the Emergency Department. 

This afternoon I visited the Health Records Team, based just down the road from Russells Hall Hospital at Centafile, Pensnett Trading Estate, to find out more about the way we store, track and transport patient notes.

I know that timely access to notes is vital in the efficient delivery of excellent patient care, and we will be working hard over the coming months to ensure the best systems are in place to make the most of the limited space and resources we have. It was great to meet such a motivated team, doing jobs that are often unseen by so many. 

On a final note, you may have heard today’s news that a general election has been called for Thursday 8^th June 2017. As a public sector organisation, it’s really important that we appear politically neutral in our activity during the run up to polling day. You can find out more about this and your responsibilities as an NHS employee on The Hub.

I remain enthused and impressed by all of the staff that I have met in the Trust and the commitment and energy you have to your individual services but, most importantly, to your patients.

Yesterday I was back in Yorkshire chairing the Northern Burn Care Network and I was inundated by colleagues wanting to know how my first two weeks had gone, what was Dudley like and were intrigued whether I could understand the Black Country accent!

Today I have met the chief nurse for the NHSI West Midlands, Siobhan Heathfield. She was very complimentary about the Trust and will be meeting up with our new interim chief nurse to foster good relationships and support.

I had a wonderful tour of Pharmacy with Ruckie, our chief pharmacist, and had the pleasure of meeting staff, who again showed passion and energy towards their services. They were keen to tell me about all of the improvements that had been made and the aspirations for the future. It was my pleasure to meet such a motivated team.

On my way back I dropped in to the switchboard/help desk team to introduce myself. Well what a hive of activity in there! A lovely team doing jobs that are often unseen and unacknowledged. It was a delight to meet them and see first-hand the amazing work that they do, day after day.

I am looking forward to doing my first Trust induction on Tuesday at 9am and welcoming new starters to the Trust. It will be a great start to another exciting week here at The Dudley Group.

I love the idea of Breakfast with the Boss, not least because I love a good coffee and a natter. Some of you will already have been to these informal chats and I will soon be sending invitations for you to come and have a chat with myself and other directors. The coffee and croissants are on me.

‘Breakfast with the Boss sessions’ give you the chance to find out what’s happening in the Trust and raise anything that’s on your mind so we can see what we can do to sort it.

It is really important that you have the opportunity to tell me how you feel about working for the Trust and I hope as many people as possible will take up their invitations.

Watch out for your personal invitation to the next Breakfast with the Boss session and remember to contact me directly if you would like me to arrange a visit to your area.

Today I had the exciting opportunity of hosting my very first Team Brief! Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who attended, it was a pleasure to welcome our new Interim Chief Nurse, Siobhan Jordan who started on the 10^th April. It was great to meet more staff and discuss interesting topics such as the new anaesthetic rota system CLWRota going live and changes to breast screening services across South Staffordshire and the successes of Red2Green.

As you know, I am keen to engage with as many of you as possible so I would like to officially extend my invitation to team brief to everyone. I would love to hear from you all on how I can improve the meetings and give the opportunity for you to ask any questions. I was stunned by how quiet everyone was this morning so please this is your opportunity to not only hear from myself and my director team but ask questions, raise issues and make suggestions. If anyone does not feel able to do this in the open forum then please email your question into the communications team and we can answer it anonymously in the meeting. I will be publishing all the future dates shortly so keep a look out on the hub.

I am keen to continue meeting with you all to find out more about your areas and the services you deliver so I would encourage you to contact me directly to arrange a visit.

As you can see I also enjoy blogging and like to keep people informed of what I am out and about doing – let me know what you would like to see more of, what you find interesting and what not so I can adapt this as we go.

I have met with Professor Sauid Ishaq who is a consultant physician and the chair of MSC today to chat about the challenges and opportunities of working in Dudley. We discussed the different opportunities to try and get the Trust on the map for the exemplary services it provides both regionally and nationally. We also highlighted the importance of staff health and wellbeing and ways we can improve our website to make it more informative and act as a tool to market the services we offer at The Dudley Group.

I am delighted to welcome Interim Chief Nurse Siobhan Jordan to the Trust. I know that she is thrilled to be here and she has some fantastic ideas around building on the achievements of nursing at the Trust. I am certain she will bring passion and vision in her professional leadership role for the nursing profession.

Wow what a first week. I am Diane Wake your new Chief Executive and I am excited to be joining you all here at The Dudley Group, a high performing trust with a reputation for delivery. I’ve had to hit the ground running as Paul Harrison and the team had organised an action packed first week for me to get a good insight into the Trust. He didn’t tell me I’d need my trainers and an oxygen supply, oh and my PJs! 

I have seen committed passionate people who want to deliver the very best care and treatment for their patients all around the Trust. Seeing so many of you supporting the Red2Green initiative to end PJ paralysis on Wednesday was fabulous and such fun was being had while getting home a serious message. We know patients recover much faster and their well-being is improved if they can get dressed into their own clothes.

It was great to meet some of the GP leaders from the patch on my first day and I look forward to working closely with our GP colleagues to ensure people in Dudley get the very best care. I also met GP s again on Wednesday, at a formal part of the Multispecialty Community Provider (MCP) process, where GPs were meeting prospective partners for the MCP. A presentation made jointly by Paul Harrison and Tracy Taylor from Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust led to good debate and discussion around how we could develop the partnership between providers with our GP colleagues.

My first board meeting was on Thursday and it was interesting to hear from the medical division management team of Hassan Paraiso, Jo Newens and Julie Walklate who shared a frank presentation of the highlights and risks within their areas. We also signed off the business case for the Urgent Care Centre build works to put the UCC right next to ED to make for a better patient experience and more streamlined process. The work you are already well under way with for the Digital Trust and getting an electronic patient record is impressive and another opportunity to use technology to help you all to deliver great patient care.

Engaging with staff and patients is a real passion of mine and I want to make sure everyone knows I have an open door policy. I want people to be open and honest about everything we do here as that is the only way to learn and improve on our journey. I look forward to invitations from you to come and visit your areas and find out just how you deliver your services.

Anyway that’s enough from me for now but I will keep you posted of news and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the coming weeks.