Bucket-loads of love, togetherness and Christmas cheer

An important Christmas meeting on 'elf and wellbeing!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The bitter and bruising election campaign is finally over and whatever you feel about the outcome, we can get on with real life. Let’s hope we can rise to the challenges ahead as a nation with hope and unity. 

So, as we head towards Christmas, let’s try to rejoice the universal themes of love and togetherness that can be celebrated at this time of year; irrespective of religious faith or lack of it. Not just this Christmas, but also during Eid, Hanukkah and other religious festivals. 

It is fantastic to hear that we currently have 109 different nationalities working for our organisation (around half the countries in the world!). I’m therefore very aware that not only do we have people from a wide range of different faiths and cultures here, but that many might not be with loved ones over this holiday period.

Traditions have a habit of breaking free from their roots however and hopefully there is something for everyone, whether it’s the joy of helping others, or team celebrations, or simply making the most of good telly, lounging around, and eating our body weight in food!

We know the Christmas season can sometimes be fraught with tension and emotion, and never more so when there has just been such a divisive election; and there's plenty of criticism that consumerism, focus on materialism and advertising have taken over. But there is still something wonderful about the widespread sentiment of goodwill associated with this season. 

I’ve been blown away by your focus on kindness. The number of teams who are collecting goods for local food banks, donations for countless charities and gifts for the Cash for Kids appeal is truly wonderful.

You have shown the spirit of togetherness, hospitality and generosity in bucket loads. 

A lot can happen in a year.

It was exactly 12 months ago that our board made the decision to radically change as an organisation and transfer community services. It’s been a year of momentous change and you have been tremendous in how you have supported, managed and responded to this. Thank you.

There’s more change to come next year and I’m very conscious of the risks of ‘change battle fatigue’ and the fear factor this uncertainty creates. Evidence shows that the more we understand and are part of the process of change, the more positively we respond to it. So, we need to listen to you, support you, explain ‘why’, but most importantly keep you involved in bringing our vision and ambitions to life.

Engagement is key and so it was great to attend the latest Go Engage celebration event this week. 

We had colleagues from Prospect Place in Rochdale, Be Well Tameside, our Health and Wellbeing College, and from the pharmacy, organisational development and clinical system change teams. All of them said that they were experiencing change of some description, whether it was a change in leadership or the focus of the team. One of the attendees reflected this by saying  “everything changed this year”. 

Most of the teams talked about coping with change and the importance of strong engagement. They highlighted the difference that small things can make in terms of people feeling valued; from being recognised for accomplishments to having the opportunity to express their feelings freely.

It was brilliant listening to them and the progress they are making in improving engagement within their teams. There were lots of great examples; the clinical change team, for instance, have turned the corridor to their department into an information and forum zone which everyone can contribute to.

A final thought in my last blog for 2019. Never forget the amazing work you’re doing to add real value to our little bit of the world, as you should feel so proud to be part of the Yuletide hope for peace on earth and goodwill to all.

Thank you again for all that you are and all that you do. 

I hope you have a lovely break, and my immense gratitude goes to those who are working over the holiday period.

Merry Christmas. 

Claire

Snappy slogans and virtual assistants

As I listen to the political parties on the election campaign trail, I’ve been fascinated by how they are promoting and selling their different manifestos. Whatever your political persuasions, it’s interesting to see how each party is ‘pitching’ to get our votes.

I can even see some similarities between what our organisation is trying to do and the ways all of the parties are trying to convey their visions for change, albeit for very different purposes!

We’ve set our vision for the future around happier and more hopeful lives and maximising potential. And when you look at the main parties slogans, they all appear to be selling messages of hope.

The Conservative’s slogan includes ‘Unleash Britain's potential’, for Labour its ‘Time for Real Change’, the Lib Dem’s is ‘Build a Brighter Future’ and the Green’s ‘A Fair Society for All’. 

Their challenge, like ours, is to have one foot in aspiration and one foot in reality. People need optimistic visions of hope but, whatever promises are made, they need to be followed up by real delivery. 

The last year or so has brought a lot of uncertainty within our country, particularly with the challenges of Brexit, and all political parties are trying to sell a way out of this and to move on to other priorities.

Similarly, Pennine Care has had a year of change and uncertainty as we re-shape ourselves following the transfer of most of our community services to other organisations. We still have some changes to make to our integrated leadership structures to strengthen clinical and professional leadership, and in developing our corporate services. But it does feel as if we are moving towards the home straight. 

The challenge for us, as it is for our political parties, is to recognise the different emotions people are feeling whether that is fear, cynicism and weariness, or excitement and optimism. We need to be appreciative of people’s concerns and sensitive to people affected by change, while also building confidence and hope about the future.

So, as I say, I’ve been watching how the different political parties frame their future vision with interest….

The radical elements of manifesto plans have brought praise for being transformative, but also criticism for not being realistic. Whilst the modest and cautionary proposals are appreciated for the stability they promote, but aren’t as engaging. And then the ‘all the eggs in one basket’ manifesto has strength in its simplicity, whether its Brexit or the climate, but some worry about the limitations of this ‘inch wide - mile deep’ focus.

All approaches have merit and I’m absolutely not advocating any one style, but, it’s tough isn’t it? I have been trying to watch with an open mind (while only occasionally shouting at the TV!) to see if there is any learning for us in the framing of our future strategy. 

On some of my recent visits I’ve also seen teams trying to make sense of how our future vision and ‘resized’ organisation may affect or change things for them.

If you’ve visited the second floor of Trust HQ recently, you will have seen that we have opened up the doors right next to my office so you can go from one side of the building to the other without having to change floors. It has been like going through the wardrobe to Narnia discovering what’s on the other side!

So, it was great to visit the HR department just a short walk from my office and hear about their work and how things are for them. It was clear they have worked incredibly hard on our community transfers and continue to work with great commitment, despite the challenges of workload.

They were obviously feeling the stress and anxieties that come with change, but there were many examples of positive practice. I loved the effort going into the Christmas quiz; and the ‘Wednesday walkabout’ where the HR business partner for corporate services goes around the building talking to everyone and checking if they have any HR issues they need support with.

And on my recent visit to the Tameside early intervention team, it was great to see the improvements that their enhanced physical space has brought, in terms of accessibility and welcoming environment.  They are an impressive team, with strong visible leadership and positive team work. I also appreciated their honesty as we had a really open chat about the things that don’t work as well as they should, with the Paris IT system being a major frustration.

Our occupational therapy conference that I attended a couple of weeks ago highlighted that change doesn’t always have to be transformative. The event, with over 100 people, was framed around a ‘small change, big difference’ theme. 

I loved hearing about their virtual personal assistant ‘Alexa project’, which is changing some of our service users lives in remarkable ways. Our therapists are helping people stay independent with Alexa reminding  them to take medication, attend appointments and do exercises, as well as assisting them to order food and taxis, dictate texts and get help.

Some of you will know my daughter is an occupational therapist, so I am well sighted on what a huge difference occupational therapy can make to an individual’s lives. I know that this profession and all of our staff working in it are making a huge and important contribution in helping us deliver our vision of maximising potential. 

There are always things to celebrate and applaud. And on that, can I give a huge shout out to some superb stars who have recently won awards.

We swept the board at the Royal College of Psychiatrists North West awards last week where we won six of the nine categories. Well done Roshelle Ramkisson, Prathiba Chitsabesa, Shafaq Sajid, Syeda Hasan, Cara Webb And and Marsha McAdam!

And while they were cleaning up at the psychiatrist awards, Carol Rushton who works in Stockport won a ’Best dementia nurse specialist’ national award and Linda Chadburn was crowned ‘Clinical audit professional of the year’.

We are very lucky to have you all working here. Well done and thank you.

Best wishes,
Claire