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 3rd 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.
