Following the appointment of Aidan Thomas as chief executive the Trust has been welcoming more friendly faces into its midst. Barbara McLean has now stepped in as director of nursing following Robert Bolas’ retirement. Barbara comes with a wealth of experience of developing nursing leadership and managing and delivering mental health services. Her key priorities are service user engagement, clinical development and shared learning. Barbara is looking forward to meeting staff and clinical teams: “I want to make sure I am getting on the wards and in departments. We run a 24-hour service and I want to ensure that staff who work out of office hours have the opportunities for the same level of development and learning.” Roz Brooks, director of quality and nursing at Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Trust, will take over the role post- merger. With the secondment of Robert Nesbitt to NWMHFT, we have now been joined by Paula Bourthis who takes over the role of Trust secretary. Some of her duties involve improving the system for health records, tightening up corporate governance and reviewing legal arrangements. Paula is already known to a number of members of staff through some work she completed last year as part of the merger assessments. Until her retirement in September her main focus will be health records. At present, health records are kept in a number of places, including basements which are dirty, damp and difficult to access. In addition, the records are kept in alphabetical order, which presents privacy and data protection problems. Paula is working with project managers Punna Athwall and Crissy Webber towards a solution which will see all the paper health records kept at S Block in Bury St Edmunds, and re-filed using a system called Terminal Digit – this relies on records being given a numerical reference rather than using the patient’s name. Paula’s core role, as Trust Secretary, is a Board-level position. She is the ‘conscience’ of the Board, challenging staff at all levels to ensure good governance is achieved. This includes making sure there are no financial irregularities, that records are kept appropriately and that decisions are followed up and not allowed to fall by the wayside. Paula also leads on Freedom of Information Act requests and compliance with the Data Protection Act. Dr Hadrian Ball is the new medical director for the Trust, having previously worked in Norfolk for 10 years. He has also been appointed medical director designate for the merged Trust. “Before I came here I was aware that the results of service user surveys were stronger in Suffolk than in Norfolk, and I am keen to find out what is behind that,” he said. “Since I’ve been here, I have been extremely impressed with the IT department. I’m very interested in the concept of information systems and how they can improve the productivity of healthcare professionals.” Hadrian is arranging visits to clinical and non-clinical areas over the coming weeks and months, and is keen to hear colleagues’ views. “I like listening to service user and carer representatives and I generally try to concentrate on putting into place the systems and frameworks which allow people to get on with their jobs and make all the really important decisions.” Hadrian is also the responsible clinical officer and Caldicott Guardian. Also in this issue: meet interim finance director Keith Mansfield on page 7. . Contact us at: [email protected]. online: www.smhp.nhs.uk/trustmatters Issue 55 . May 2011 Inside: • Executive team • Fire safety • Library services • Merger update • Clinical engagement • Service Governance Department • Equality survey results • Stepping Forward 12 • Mental health and the media • Terrace Restaurant closure • Patient safety review • The Great Escape • Payment by Results success • Exploring shared decision-making • Farewells and fundraising • Working with voices • Beat the Blues campaign • Aidan meets staff and sets priorities • Meet Keith Mansfield • Employee Engagement Group • Getting to know you • Letters and compliments Barbara McLean, director of nursing Paula Bourthis, Trust Dr Hadrian Ball, medical director New faces welcomed to the Trust Board A key focus will also be around the governance of the Trust – including making sure that we spread the learning, having that drive to develop the workforce. I also want to make sure that we hear the voices of service users. I want to see how involved they are, and what that involvement looks like. People have been very open and honest, which has been very useful in assessing where we are and where we need to be. My overriding view was that there were lots of good clinicians and staff who wanted to do the right thing but they were being hampered by a lack of direction. The organisation at that time felt tired, like it had run out of steam. The changes the Board are making now will address this. I was impressed with the support and corporate staff that I met as part of the merger sessions. I was impressed with how they were dealing with all the uncertainty in a considered and dignified way and although the merger presents a great uncertainty for them as individuals, none of them opposed the merger itself. CET110223_TrustMattersMay11:pages 11/05/2011 13:16 Page 1
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Transcript
Following the appointment of Aidan
Thomas as chief executive the Trust has
been welcoming more friendly faces into
its midst.
Barbara McLean has now stepped in as
director of nursing following Robert Bolas’
retirement. Barbara comes with a wealth
of experience of developing nursing
leadership and managing and delivering
mental health services. Her key priorities
are service user engagement, clinical
development and shared
learning.
Barbara is looking
forward to meeting staff and clinical
teams: “I want to make sure I am getting
on the wards and in departments. We run
a 24-hour service and I want to ensure
that staff who work out of office hours
have the opportunities for the same level
of development and learning.”
Roz Brooks, director of quality and
nursing at Norfolk and Waveney Mental
Health Trust, will take over the role post-
merger.
With the secondment of Robert Nesbitt to
NWMHFT, we have now been joined by
Paula Bourthis who takes over the role
of Trust secretary.
Some of her duties involve improving the
system for health records, tightening up
corporate governance and reviewing legal
arrangements.
Paula is already known to a number of
members of staff through some work she
completed last year
as part of the merger
assessments. Until
her retirement in
September her main
focus will be health
records.
At present, health
records are kept in a
number of places,
including basements
which are dirty,
damp and difficult
to access.
In addition, the records are kept in
alphabetical order, which presents
privacy and data protection problems.
Paula is working with project
managers Punna Athwall and Crissy
Webber towards a solution which will
see all the paper health records kept
at S Block in Bury St Edmunds, and
re-filed using a system called
Terminal Digit – this relies on records
being given a numerical reference
rather than using the patient’s name.
Paula’s core role, as Trust Secretary,
is a Board-level position. She is the
‘conscience’ of the Board, challenging
staff at all levels to ensure good
governance is achieved. This includes
making sure there are no financial
irregularities, that records are kept
appropriately and
that decisions are
followed up and not
allowed to fall by
the wayside.
Paula also leads on
Freedom of
Information Act
requests and
compliance with the
Data Protection Act.
Dr Hadrian Ball is
the new medical
director for the
Trust, having previously worked in Norfolk
for 10 years. He has also
been appointed medical director
designate for the merged Trust. “Before I
came here I was aware that the results of
service user surveys were stronger in
Suffolk than in Norfolk, and I am keen to
find out what is behind that,” he said.
“Since I’ve been here, I have been
extremely impressed with the IT
department. I’m very interested in the
concept of information systems and how
they can improve the productivity of
healthcare professionals.” Hadrian is
arranging visits to clinical and non-clinical
areas over the coming weeks and
months, and is keen to hear colleagues’
views. “I like listening to service user and
carer representatives and I generally try
to concentrate on putting into place the
systems and frameworks which allow
people to get on with their jobs and make
all the really important decisions.”
Hadrian is also the responsible clinical
officer and Caldicott Guardian.
Also in this issue: meet interim finance
director Keith Mansfield on page 7.
. Contact us at: member [email protected] . online: www.smhp.nhs.uk/trustmatters
Issue 55 . May 2011
Inside:• Executive team• Fire safety• Library services• Merger update• Clinical engagement• Service Governance Department• Equality survey results• Stepping Forward 12• Mental health and the media• Terrace Restaurant closure• Patient safety review• The Great Escape• Payment by Results success• Exploring shared decision-making• Farewells and fundraising• Working with voices• Beat the Blues campaign• Aidan meets staff and sets priorities• Meet Keith Mansfield• Employee Engagement Group• Getting to know you• Letters and compliments
Patient safety is our top priorityI am writing this to explain a little more
about the external review of patient
safety which was carried out at the Trust,
and to tell you what we are doing to put
right the issues identified.
The recommendations in the report are
wide-ranging and indicate the fact that
clinical and managerial leadership and
our systems were not working as they
should, rather than a reflection of our
healthcare.
The review which led to the report was
carried out in December 2010 and
January 2011 by an external assessment
team, led by an experienced professional
called Malcolm Rae – hence the name of
the document, the Rae Report.. They
interviewed staff and our service users,
examined our systems and processes
and made a series of recommendations.
We have already made changes as a
result of the report and will continue to
work through the programme in order to
address each recommendation.
The review itself was commissioned by
the Trust with NHS Suffolk, and was
sparked by the death of a young man
who died on one of our inpatient wards.
Prior to that, we had a cluster of five
homicides in 2009 which were the
subject of an independent review. The
work programme refers to nine
homicides, which is the five plus an
additional four which happened after
2009.
It’s tragic whenever a death happens.
The majority of mental health trusts have
experienced homicides and suicides,
although they all try to reduce the risk of
these. I don’t wish to detract from the
severity of what happened, but I do want
to stress that we are not unusual. An
important point, however, is that we must
learn from what happened and put
measures in place to reduce the
likelihood of it happening again.
What appears to have happened in the
past is that there were many action plans
and that these were either confusing or
had not been audited to ensure actions
had been taken. Those, plus other
governance issues, are the crux of the
Rae Report.
We are confident we will make all the
changes needed within the timescale set
out in the work programme. Over the last
few weeks, we have been putting in new
procedures, reorganised support teams
and cut through complicated processes
in order to address the
recommendations.
The list of improvements is long, but we
will address each and every
recommendation in order to improve the
systems and processed which underpin
quality healthcare.
Aidan Thomas, chief executive.If you have any questions orcomments, I would be pleased to hearfrom you: [email protected]: 01473 329603.See page 7 for more from Aidan.
The Terrace Restaurant, which currently
provides hot meals, snacks, beverages
and vending services for staff and
visitors, will sadly close the doors for the
last time on Friday 29th July.
Peter Richardson, managing director for
Suffolk Support Services, said: “For
many years now the restaurant has
proved to be very popular with patients,
staff and visitors. Our catering team here
at St Clement’s has been continually
praised for their hard work. Their BBQs
and special theme days have been
particularly successful. However, the
Trust Executive team has agreed that as
services begin to move off-site there will
be a considerable fall in the demand for
the service. It is therefore sensible and
cost effective to close the restaurant at
the end of July.”
The closure of the Terrace Restaurant
should deliver a considerable saving
towards the 2011/12 cost improvement
programme. Any costs incurred will be
absorbed by Suffolk Support Services.
Staff will be able to access an
independent sandwich van service and,
if necessary, additional delivery points
can be requested by teams. Any
departments that require food or
beverages for meetings or training will
need to make their own arrangements.
The catering staff will be holding a BBQ
during July to say goodbye (date TBA).
Questions? Call the ModernisationProject Office on 01473 329318 orPeter Richardson on 01473 329337.