Talent management, leadership programmes and an exciting new clinical career pathway were all tabled at last week’s Board meeting in Hertfordshire.
So what were the highlights?
- The first draft of a clinical career framework was shared, which provides a very clear development pathway for patient-facing colleagues. You can read more about this here [link to separate article]. Non-executive director Peter Kara also raised the need for a similar programme to be provided for non-patient-facing staff, like those in support services, to which the Board wholeheartedly agreed.
- Chief Executive Robert Morton said that we need to link better with our acutes to get detail on good / poor outcomes for patients, so we become more clinically focused.
- A paper was shared on our people and culture strategy, which you can read in full here. In that there’s more information about our upcoming cultural audit – what we’re hoping to achieve, how it will affect you, and why we’re doing it. Robert said it was “part of us becoming more people focused as an organisation.”
- The Board heard of a rumour that the number of ambulances, or ‘DSAs’, we have are going to be reduced. Robert confirmed that there are no planned ambulance reductions, indeed if anything we will need to increase our overall capacity.
- It was reported that hospital handover delays are unfortunately starting to increase again across the region, but that our Hospital Ambulance Liaison Officers (HALOs) were making a real difference. Robert made it clear that to fix the problem there needs to be a whole-system approach. “Acutes are our partners in the system,” he said. “We need to work collectively with them, not against them”.
- Eighteen serious incidents were raised in December, with ambulance waits and non-conveyance being common themes. But the Trust has seen a real increase in the number of Datix reports from staff which was praised, particularly by the non-exec directors, as it’s reflective of a “very professional and accountable approach” from colleagues.
- The Board asked about what progress was being made to tackle staff fatigue, in particular those patient-facing colleagues who travel long distances from their base station as part of their day-to-day work. The Board were pleased to note that a group of colleagues, including Staffside, were coming together to help tackle this problem.
- A talent management programme is on the cards to help our ‘best and brightest’ develop and progress. Robert said that, in his opinion: “it should be mandatory for our leaders to go through a proper leadership programme.”
As well as that, two substantive directors were announced which brings us one step closer to having a permanent, stable leadership team driving forward change. We welcome Lindsey Stafford-Scott as Director of People & Culture, who joins us from Essex Fire & Rescue Service in April, and Kevin Smith as Director of Finance and Commissioning following his acting role in this post for two years.
Remember, we tweet from every Board meeting so you can follow along wherever you are in the region. You can look back at our tweets using #EEASTBoard or by joining our 15,000 followers @EastEnglandAmb.
The Board meeting, which is a formal meeting of our executive and non-executive directors, takes place throughout the year to discuss policy issues, progress and any problems / achievements. The public sessions are open for anyone to attend, so if you’d like to come along and listen first-hand (or speak to our Board members face-to-face), please feel free! The next meeting is scheduled for the 23rd March at 10am, at Melbourn HQ.
Published 3rd February, 2016
