Leadership message from Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith

Just a few updates from me this week, and I will start with the people news. We have been keen for everyone to get their Covid vaccinations and just over eighty percent have now had their first jab. There are still opportunities to get yours so please check Need to Know for details.

There are still a few days left to complete the latest Pulse Survey and give us your feedback on your views of the organisation right now. The survey only takes a few minutes, and really helps us track how you feel about working at EEAST in real time. 

Look out at the end of the month for the start of a regular update on the steps we are taking to improving the culture here at EEAST. This involves all of us, and will take time to get right, but we want to share our progress with you.

In terms of performance, we have coped well so far with the latest visit from the Beast from the East and the snow and ice. My thanks to all the frontline staff for their preparation for this poor weather so we have maintained our response for patients. Thanks also to those who used 4x4s to ensure colleagues could get to work. It’s also good to see our inbuilt resilience now so many support colleagues are able to work from home successfully.

Finally, I want to highlight some progress you will start to see in the coming weeks and months. There is a great deal of investment this year going into our estate, Make Ready programme and IT which will make your day job easier and more comfortable. So please look out for updates on this investment, for example in improving your local stations and the roll-out of Ipads in your area.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this update and please join the WeAreEEAST online staff session if you can. We will of course post the video on Need To Know as Usual.

Kevin Smith
Director of Finance and Commissioning

Published 11th February