Thursday 28th April - Leadership message from Melissa Dowdeswell, Director of Nursing

Next CQC Visit

I would like to start by thanking you all for making me very welcome since I started with the Trust about seven weeks ago. I’d also like to say thank you for the support myself and the team have received in responding to the CQC following the unannounced inspection at the start of April.

The CQC will be with us again next week, on 4th and 5th of May, to inspect us on the ‘well-led’ domain, looking at leadership at all levels within the organisation. This will involve interviews with our leaders. I think we have a really good story to tell. We know that we have a number of challenges. However, I believe we are realistic about these challenges and have robust plans to respond to them. We also have a huge amount to be proud of and we will be wanting to share information about the improvements we have made and are continuing to make.

Using social media appropriately

I am sure most of us use social media on a regular basis and are aware of the impact our posts and content can have, but I’m sorry to tell you that we are still receiving reports of our people using social media inappropriately.

We are a public service and our behaviours need to be in line with both Trust values and the 7 Principles of Public Life: Selflessness; Integrity; Objectivity; Accountability; Openness; Honesty and Leadership (respecting others, and challenging poor behaviours). Unfortunately, we are witnessing on social media a blatant disregard for these principles with individuals taking the time to develop content, post or comment in order to deliberately hurt other colleagues.

We have received reports of:

Posting pictures, some of a sexual nature.
Screen shots of MDT containing information, some patient identifiable, and some around patient/situational issues.
Comments on closed groups demonstrating prejudice and discrimination.
Comments and posts criticising colleagues or their actions or situations – often with little understanding of the facts.
Posting of comments unrelated to EEAST while in uniform, which directly associates the subject with the organisation, the wider ambulance service or NHS.

This kind of behaviour erodes trust in our organisation, the profession, the ambulance service and the wider NHS, but most importantly it is damaging to our colleagues who are affected by it. Please understand that we cannot, and will not, accept this kind of behaviour within EEAST and should you use social media inappropriately you could be subject to disciplinary action.

Helping you progress

Whatever your role, you should have the opportunity to grow and develop. I’m pleased to say that over the past few weeks, our Education and Training team have been working on identifying and simplifying routes for progression for pre-reg operational staff within the Trust.

The progression pathway guidance is designed to support the development of anyone in a pre-registration operational position, with ambitions for role progression. This includes Trust IHCD Emergency Medical Technicians looking to achieve paramedic registration.

We are also now able to offer funded functional skills programmes and assessment for anyone unable to evidence their previous numeracy and literacy qualifications, perfect for anyone wanting to evaluate or update their skills or improve their recruitment and application processes.

Fit for the Future – new podcast available

This month’s Fit for the Future features Marika Stephenson, Executive Director of People Services, talking about the new People Strategy for the Trust. This follows our previous Fit for the Future blog on the same topic – which is close to my heart. Making EEAST ‘the Trust we all love to work for’ is the vision that Marika describes and is absolutely vital if we are to make the improvements needed to support our people and patients.

Click here to hear the podcast.

Your response counts

A last minute plea for those of you who haven’t already done so to please complete the latest Pulse survey, which closes on Saturday (30^th April). Your response is completely anonymous and will help us plan the direction for the organisation over the coming months, so it’s important we hear from as many of you as possible about what’s working and what isn’t. You can find the survey here.

Thank you for all that you continue to do in responding to our patients and communities.

Please stay safe,

Melissa Dowdeswell
Director of Nursing

Published 28th April 2022