Since I wrote my blog earlier this week, we've all been made aware that the terrible situation in Ukraine has escalated. We watch the shocking and distressing news with horror - our thoughts and hearts are with all who are in Ukraine, and everyone else affected by this. We will do all we can to support our Ukrainian colleagues in Pennine Care.
I’m
sure you will have picked up in the news that all remaining covid restrictions ended
yesterday. I know many of us are keen to get “back to normal”, especially as
most people experience mild symptoms.
But it’s important to remember that
covid remains a significant risk for vulnerable people, including many of our
patients. We need to be cautious, continue wearing personal protective
equipment and follow existing infection prevention and control guidelines until
we’re advised otherwise.
We’ve been told to expect further
guidance soon which (I hope) will set out what things will look like going
forwards. It’s possible that staff based in non-clinical buildings may not have
to wear personal protective equipment, but this is not yet confirmed. So, until
it is, we should all continue to socially distance and follow infection,
prevention and control guidelines in the workplace. And as soon as we hear
anything, we’ll let you know.
With the easing of all restrictions
outside of care settings, it does feel as if a line is being drawn under the
pandemic and, barring new variants, we’re about to head into a solid recovery phase.
But it is important that in thinking how we do this, we take note of the impact
that the pandemic has had on our services and the people who work in them and
use them.
To this end, this week I had a look
at the quarterly Pulse survey results, which provide insight into how people
are feeling at the moment. On a positive note, the survey highlighted that more
people have had a health and wellbeing conversation with their manager. It’s
great to see this being taken seriously, and you are living our values of
kindness and compassion by supporting each other.
However, a small but significant number
of you said you are feeling stressed and demotivated. But by far the word that
stood out the most about how you are feeling was the word ‘coping’. In some
respects, it is positive that you are coping, but the word for me conjures up
images of people having to dig deep, to draw on all your reserves and with a
dogged determination to keep going against the odds.
I don’t know how you are all doing this.
I know how exhausted and down people are feeling after two years of working
under immense pressure and in such a strange situation. But hats off to you.
You may feel that you are only coping, but the evidence of everything you are
doing is writ large in the achievements and progress that is being made.
This was really evident in the Trust
management board meeting last week, at which we heard lots of stories about
positive changes and improvements which felt really energising and uplifting. The meeting was jam packed with examples of
the fantastic work you are all doing and there was a definite sense of hope in
hearing about people’s achievements. That doesn’t mean our challenges will
magically disappear, but it did make me feel awe and pride in the sheer grit
and tenacity of Pennine Care people.
The weather this week feels like a
good metaphor for this. After a week of storms battering the UK, the sun has
finally been making an appearance and it feels like there is a touch of spring
in the air. That doesn’t mean there won’t be more bad weather, but there is hope
of a slightly brighter future not too far ahead. So, I wanted to do a shout out
to some of the brilliant work that is bringing a chink of sunshine through the
clouds…
We’ve
successfully recruited to several new roles as part of the community mental
health transformation, including 28 senior mental health practitioners to
support the new primary care networks and all posts in our new Trust-wide
personality disorder pathway.
There’s been
a fantastic response to our new trainee associate psychological practitioner
roles and we’ve appointed two pharmacists to support our community mental
health teams.
While these
new roles are exciting, we’re also planning several focused pieces of work to support
services that face ongoing staffing issues.
Our
information technology colleagues have rolled out Office 365 to 3,600 users,
and successfully upgraded our Paris electronic patient system. A huge thankyou
to everyone involved, especially those who worked over the weekend. They’ve
also successfully bid for £650k to buy new devices and a further £250k to allow
us to plan how new technologies can benefit us in the future.
It was great
to hear about our new mental health joint response pilot in Oldham and
Tameside. Since launching on 31 January 2022, over 100 patients have quickly
received the right support at the right time. The scheme has led to a reduction
in the number of patients taken to A&E or one of our section 136 suites.
Thanks to
this early success, the service is being rolled out in Bury on Monday. The
evidence will be evaluated at the end of March, and we hope to permanently
provide this service across all five boroughs.
Our child and
adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Rochdale have been ranked in the
top three in the country by the Children’s Commissioner. This is amazing given
the challenges that we know services for children and young people are under as
a result of the pandemic.
And it was
brilliant to hear that we have improved our rating in the organisational
strategy improvement matrix (a self-assessment tool to measure improvement),
moving from ‘building’ to ‘refining’ out improvement infrastructure and
approach. I am really pleased about this one, as it shows more and more people
are getting involved in improvement work which given the pressure on core
services, is a complete testament to your hard work and commitment to making
things better.
These are
just some of the highlights I wanted to share from last week, but I know there
are many more examples of outstanding work across the Trust. I see this every
week when I read our Together We Can update, which never fails to
inspire me.
Although you are finding things hard and having to dig deep to keep going, you really are making a huge difference and we are making progress towards a better future.
I’d like to end with a quote by
French philosopher,
author, and journalist, Albert Camus. I have never read anything by this
author (far too intellectual for me!), but I fell in love with this quote many
years ago and feel it really sums up the fighting spirit, grit, and
determination of our Pennine Care people:
“In the midst of winter, I found
there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it
says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s
something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
From all of the examples I have heard
about over the last few weeks, I know that even in the most difficult scenarios,
you are keeping that invincible summer within you: confident in the knowledge you
are making a real difference to the lives of everyone in our communities.
Best wishes,
Claire
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