Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 18 May 2024 at 12:33
I recently had some time away from work due to my mother-in-law passing away. As is often the case with such life-changing events it prompted me to reflect on the fact that while all cultures and religions have different ways of dealing with death and burial it is one of those things that also ties us together as a common human experience. Within EEAST we have many different cultures and practices and I hope that we are building a workplace in which these differences are celebrated and respected.
Central to this is recruiting our cultural inclusion agents (CIA). These are voluntary roles that will provide independent support and challenge to disciplinary, grievance and interview panels involving staff who come under any of the 9 protected characteristics, challenging if they see colleagues being treated less favourably.
Another important area is people feeling able to speak up. I was pleased to see that EEAST has seen an increase in the Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) casework – with 281 cases - which, for me, indicates that people believe that action will be taken. We are in the top 10 most improved trusts for FTSU.
Kate Vaughton and I will be chairing the Executive Q&A session today, Thursday 29 June. Myself and my fellow directors really enjoy these sessions and want to hear your ideas for improving the Trust. We recognise part of that is being prepared to be challenged. However, as we said in the piece on Need to Know we need to keep these sessions respectful and polite and we have seen an improvement in the last session. So, thank you. Civility is key and being polite and respectful is important in building a culture that respects people’s views.
Respect is one of our fundamental values and is important in making EEAST a place where we will all want to work. That does not mean that we cannot have different opinions, but the way we express these differences is very important.
Career for Life
By now, many of you will have read about the launch of our new recruitment campaign, #CareerForLife. The campaign showcases what we have to offer to all recruits and how everyone can have a career for life.
Thank you to everyone who has already shared their story as part of the campaign. You can read more about the campaign on Need to Know and if you’d like to share your story with the team then I know they would love to hear from you. You can find details of how to do that in the article.
Vote for your People’s Choice Award winner
Next week our Stars of EEAST Awards 2023 will be taking place at Barrington Hall in South Cambridgeshire. The nominations have now been shortlisted and we’ll be finding out who our worthy winners are on Wednesday evening.
I’m delighted to say that this year, we’re throwing open the decision making to you. This is your chance to look through the list of shortlisted nominees and pick your own winner. Voting is open until noon on Wednesday 5th July, and you can read the full list of nominees, and cast your vote, here. For those who can’t be with us on the night we are also live streaming the event and would love you to join us. Just keep an eye on Need to Know in the next day or two, as we’ll be sharing the link.
New Transgender and Non-Binary Equality Policy
Pride Month might be coming to an end, but our commitment to building an inclusive workplace for all of our colleagues is not. On Friday (30th June) we will be publishing our new Transgender and Non-Binary Equality Policy.
A recent Totaljobs poll found that only a third (36%) of trans employees surveyed worked for employers who had a dedicated anti-trans discrimination policies. This policy has been written in partnership with our LGBT+ staff network and our recognised trade unions: GMB, RCN and Unison. It outlines our commitment to welcome and support our transgender and non-binary employees, including raising awareness of gender identity for all employees.
We shared a NTK message on 8th June informing you of the Changes to HR policies and forms, and the Transgender and Non-Binary Equality Policy will lead the way by being published using the new Metacompliance Policy Library. On Friday, all employees will receive an email with a link to the new policy, which will be available in both the current and the new policy library until the full transition of all HR Policies takes place.
We will keep you updated via Need to Know on the HR policy changes, including the different methods for accessing and using the MetaCompliance policy library.
Time to Lead
Our Time to Lead programme will invest significantly in developing and supporting our frontline managers, so that they feel far more supported in their leadership role and so that we can free them up to better support and manage the people they lead.
The proposals increase the number of Leading Operations Managers, give our HALO staff line management of teams, and significantly invest in their development and training.
These proposals are not final, and all feedback is welcome. A pre-consultation engagement period on these proposals will run from June 29th to July 13th, before a consultation on final proposals begins on July 31.
To support this pre consultation we are publishing on East24;
We are holding face to face meetings around the Trust, with three meetings each day to allow as many people as possible to attend and ask questions. We are also holding Teams meetings so that everyone will have an opportunity to have their questions answered.
To sign up to the face to face events, please visit the Evolve page here. To sign up to the Teams meetings please visit here.
Thank you in advance for your engagement with this programme. Your views are important so please do either e-mail TTL@eastamb.nhs.uk or fill in the dedicated feedback form here.
Thank You Thursday
This week’s Thank You is from a patient to one of our call handlers in Bedford.
‘The call handler who dealt with my call was very attentive and met my needs in a sympathetic way. She stayed on the line talking and reassuring me until help arrived.’
Fingers on the pulse
Lastly, our next quarterly Pulse Survey will go live on Monday. Don’t forget, this is your chance to have your say and give us a feel for how you’re finding life at the Trust. It really is the best way for us to ensure that we are making progress in the areas where it is most needed.
Thank you in advance for your support with this.
Hein
Dr Hein Scheffer
Director of Strategy, Culture and Education
Published 29th June 2023