Making Barts Health an outstanding place to work
So… after a lot of background planning and organising, we launched our first collaborative using the expertise and support of the IHI, on Monday 13th May.
The collaborative is called “Outstanding place to work” and focuses on improving the experience of staff. A collaborative is a group of improvement teams working on the same topic, who will meet regularly to learn, support and encourage each other. Getting together also gives teams time to plan, and resolve problems. Over 100 people from 28 teams gathered for the launch, of this 12 month programme.
Our keynote speaker was Ian Tegerdine, of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust and Associate Director National Workforce Skills Development Unit (NWSDU). Ian shared a lot of inspiring and interesting information, but the quote that had resonance on our twitter feed was “you can’t yoga your way out of a toxic work environment.” While Ian recognised the many benefits of staff wellbeing initiatives, he also challenged problematic cultures and systems.
Karis Quaye, senior sister at Royal London Emergency Department and Staff Well-being Lead presented ideas the ED team have implemented to improve people’s time at work.
What I took from Karis excellent presentation, was understanding what is possible in the context of the difficult work we do. Every shift can face difficult and traumatic situations; the reality is high demand on a fixed number of beds, at any one time, some staff may be experiencing challenges in their own personal lives. Despite this, we come to care for patient in the very best way.
One of their change ideas, was focusing handover on different types of learning and support: #MajorsMonday #TeachingTuesday #WelcomeWednesday (that welcomes new staff, and the therapy dogs come) #ThankyouThursday #FeedbackFriday #CelebrationSaturdays #SilentSunday when the nurse in charge can choose a topic. Karis likes to get the whole team stretching.
It seems that small things do help. Watch below to see all of the great ideas they have been implementing, and the impact for the team.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to all of our helpers and presenters on the day. Your support and assistance was greatly appreciated. Especially, Stuart in BIU, Andy and Trevor from Workforce Systems, Caroline and Syed from ER - who all helped with the data session. Thanks to Uzo, Jacqueline and Penka from OD who helped with all the admin. Karis, or course, for her great presentation, and colleagues from ELFT and the IHI.
And especially, a big shout-out to all of the team members who attended, and we look forward to meeting up at the next collaborative meeting
MaryCate, senior improvement manager