“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”
I’ve said before that this line from John
Lennon is one of my favourite quotes. With our world being turned upside down
by covid, it feels more poignant than ever.
After the excitement of agreeing our five
year plan in early 2020, who would have envisaged that we would then spend so
many long, hard months grappling with this pandemic rather than taking forward
our big ambitions.
It’s given us all perspective on what’s important
in life and it’s certainly made me reflect deeply on the future and my life
going forward.
Sometimes we have to take a deep breath and
make decisions that are right for us personally, even if it impacts on others.
There’s never an ‘ideal time’ to step away in a job like this, as there’s
always more to do.
A continuous improvement mind-set means we
could just keep going and going. But I do think it is the right time for me to
step down now.
It has been an emotionally draining and
difficult decision to retire after nearly 30 years in the NHS, but steering
Pennine Care forward into the next chapter of its journey is a longer term job
that will better suit someone able to throw themselves completely into that
challenge for the next few years.
I will treasure my time with the NHS and this
organisation, and the memories and amazing people I’ve worked with will stay in
my heart forever. As they say, I’m going to try not to cry when it’s over in
six months, but smile because it happened.
In the truest sense of the John Lennon quote,
my NHS journey was never planned. I did science A levels and went to University
doing a science degree (microbiology and pharmacology), with the notion I would
probably end up either doing research into new treatments or as a pathologist
(for the older readers, I watched a lot of Quincy when I was younger!).
But I met my husband in my first year and, even though he had been told he couldn’t have
children as a result of cancer treatment, we found out at the start of my second
year he could! So I dropped out of university when I was pregnant with my
daughter at the tender age of 19.
I then started a series of jobs to literally
pay the rent and survive, eventually going back to university as a mature
student to do something completely different - business studies.
When I graduated and was looking for jobs,
the NHS appealed as it brought together my interest in science with my degree
in business studies - even though the NHS is
far from the sort of business most of my friends ended up in.
But most importantly, I was looking for an
organisation that valued diversity and wouldn’t discriminate against a 30 year
old graduate with two kids. The NHS is
such an inclusive institution compared to some others, and I felt intuitively
that it was the right place for me.
I secured a place on the NHS management
training scheme and over three decades have been fortunate to work in
a wide range of different organisations and places: acute, primary,
community and, of course, mental health and learning disability services. When
I finally got into mental health and learning disability services I felt like I
had really found my ‘home’. And home is
where the heart is as they say.
I’ve always tried to take jobs that are
challenging, where I could make a positive contribution, and where there was
personal learning, but most of all, where you have fun. We spend a lot of time
in work, so it’s been hugely important for
me to enjoy my job. And I have been incredible lucky that in the main, I have.
I’ve been put at risk seven times in my
career (the not so enjoyable bit), but
although painful at the time, I wouldn’t ever have been a CEO if this hadn’t
happened. And for this I am so thankful, as
it has definitely been one of the most enjoyable and rewarding roles I have
done.
There has been such a lot of other change
during my thirty years. We’ve had 12 different health secretaries over my NHS
career (the first being Virginia Bottomley for those who remember her), and
I’ve worked for eight different bosses. I’ve been so lucky they have all been
inspiring and brilliant people. And my last job, here with you, has absolutely
been one of the most rewarding.
Having been chief exec at two previous
organisations before I came to Pennine Care, I felt I was able to bring the
confidence and clarity that you personally get from learning and making
mistakes. I hope I was able to make a better fist of being a CEO in this
organisation as a result of this. Mistakes definitely have the power to turn us
into something better than we were before. That’s how we grow.
I hope that the work I’ve led here around
about our culture and values has been seen as positive and inclusive, as you
are the culture and these are your values. The chief exec may set the tone and
direction of travel, but can never do it alone. Lots of people contributed to
this, and you will continue to live and breathe these values long after I
retire. No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play
it.
I’m not skipping off into the sunset yet;
there’s lots to do over the next six months, for example recalibrating our five
year plan as the pandemic has understandably impacted on this. We want to be
aspirational, but we definitely need one foot in the reality of where the last
18 months have left us.
So I want to be able to retire knowing I’ve
done as much as I can to ‘bake in’ our philosophy, style, and direction of
travel, and not start to wind down or defer any decisions. It’s important that
your next chief exec can pick up a strategy that we’ve committed to and we’re
already on our journey.
And in terms of my successor, we’re going to
look for a permanent position straight away. Evelyn our chair is leading this
and if there’s a gap between me going and the new person starting, then Clare
Parker my deputy – who has been with me since the start of my journey here –
would stand in as a very able interim chief exec in the meantime.
It’s all about the team and, although I know
we’ve had some other leadership changes recently, there are many other talented
and committed members to keep steering our ship forward.
I love the quote “Be defined by your soul, not your role”. It has been a privilege to use my role as chief exec to lead
this organisation, but what I hope you have seen more than anything is, regardless
of whatever role we hold, that we all have the capacity for kindness, compassion
and to make a difference.
Best wishes
Claire
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