Game changer

Hope is a powerful thing. It’s being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. And it inspires us to do the impossible and carry on during difficult times.

It can come in many different shapes and forms, and this week it has come through the news about the covid vaccine breakthrough.

These are the announcements the world has been waiting for. Scientists are going to help us forge a clear pathway out of this global ordeal.

The pandemic may feel as if it has lasted a lifetime, but a number of companies have done the seemingly impossible in developing vaccines in such an incredibly short time. It is a breakthrough for the history books.

Yes, we know there are immense challenges around manufacturing and delivering the vaccine to many millions of people. But they are a total game changer and the ultimate exit strategy from this awful pandemic.

I’ve been on several national calls over the last week which have really highlighted the phenomenal pace involved in preparing for the covid vaccination programme.  The scale in terms of numbers and logistics is just enormous. But there’s real energy and optimism and a clear plan emerging about how we are going to drive this forwards.

Subject to final approval, the programme is being prepared to start vaccinations as soon as early December. The most vulnerable members of the community and front line health and care staff will be first, with others following very quickly over the following few months. A colossal achievement for the most important public health goal in our lifetimes.

I know this news will be bittersweet for those people who have been personally impacted by the virus and who have lost loved ones. Our hearts go out to them and I know how hard it must be to hold hope when you are grieving. We need to recognise we are all in very different places and our ability to have hope depends on what is happening in our lives. The vaccine is an enormous bright light in the darkness, but it doesn’t take away that darkness for very many people.

For me personally, there have been other chinks of light that have cheered me up alongside the vaccine success story.

It was great to kick off the building of our new male psychiatric intensive care unit at Tameside Hospital last week. Our ‘breaking ground’ event was of course much smaller than originally planned because of covid, but this 12-bedded unit will make a real difference to patient care. Many thanks to everyone who is involved in this significant development. There has been a massive amount of hard work over the last few years to get us to this stage and it’s so good we are finally starting building work.

I also want to give a big shout-out to the rehab and high support staff I chatted to during my visit to Beckett and Hurst Place. They are doing such great work in the directorate, despite all the pressures, and it was really inspiring chatting to them.

Our recent board development session on compassionate leadership led by Professor Michael West was also uplifting. I was so struck by the hard evidence he shared on the direct impact of compassionate leadership on delivering high quality care. For example, the size of effects of compassion are greater than the effects of aspirin in heart attacks and statins in reducing the risk of cardiovascular problems. In other words, being compassionate is one of the biggest things we can do to make a difference to people’s wellbeing and recovery.

And, if we have compassion for ourselves then we are better able to show compassion to others. It means being kind and showing ourselves empathy; accepting that we are not perfect; and understanding that there is potential for learning and growth in every mistake we make.

The work we have done as part of the Civility Saves Lives improvement collaborative has allowed us to reflect on how we see ourselves, as well as how others see us; which can be very different to what we imagine.  Self-compassion brings a greater depth of personal awareness and is a key element to us becoming a more outwardly compassionate organisation. 

We’ve also commissioned an external ‘self-compassion in the workplace programme’ for managers in our new leadership restructure, recognising leaders set the culture for the rest of the organisation.  I’ll hopefully cover more about compassionate leadership in my next blog, as it’s timely with our new leadership structure coming into place.

The driving forces of exceptional leadership are desire, self-awareness and most importantly, compassion. It matters more than ever, especially in a post-pandemic world. It will help us build a better future together.

Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2