Thursday 29th July - Leadership message from Dr Tom Davis, Interim Chief Executive

We talk a lot about staff wellbeing and how important it is to make sure you have the right support in place, this is especially important at a time when demand is increasing for all of us across the Trust.

As pressure increases for NHS services across the country, our own service is facing 14% higher demand than during the same period last year. We know you need more support, and I’m really pleased that we have now successfully recruited extra staff for our AOCs who are completing their training. But it’s not just about extra people, we also need to ensure that those vital health and wellbeing support services are in place and accessible.

We are already recruiting to a number of posts within the central well-being team. We are also looking to create and maintain a network of well-being ambassadors within the Trust. We currently have over 120 members of staff who do this on an informal basis, helping colleagues to find and utilise the support networks, so we know that there is demand. As a senior team, we are extremely grateful that people are willing to take the initiative and help colleagues in this way. We want to recognise this and make the process easier, with a more formalised well-being ambassador scheme, so that everyone has access to trained ambassadors, able to help and support them when needed.

The National NHS staff survey is now being undertaken quarterly and closes on 30 July. Please do complete the survey, which you can find here. Our own pulse survey, along with a number of workplace harassment questions will follow in August. I recognise that you may be beginning to have survey fatigue, but if we want to continue changing the culture of the organisation, regular feedback is essential to ensure we are heading in the right direction.

Lastly, this is my final leadership message as your Interim CEO, before Tom Abell takes over as permanent CEO next week. We have faced some very difficult issues over the last few months but we are meeting those challenges head on, and we are overcoming them. I am extremely grateful to all of you for your support, hard work and dedication. I’m very much looking forward to continuing to move the organisation forward as I move back to my substantive role as Medical Director and Deputy CEO.

Dr Tom Davis - Interim CEO

Published 29th July 2021