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.
