Hello everyone,
I think you’ll all agree that there was a real touch of Autumn in the air today. I hope we can look forward to more crisp and bright days ahead. We tend to do a lot of preparation at this time of year, ready for winter and for Christmas which is in three months today!
On Tuesday this week, I had the privilege of being shown around the new Acute Medical Unit (AMU) at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital. The way the construction is coming on is extremely impressive, what was once a shell is now a building with designated rooms and areas - you can really see it coming together. What is especially remarkable is that work has continued to progress, at a pace and, despite the difficulties of the pandemic. It’s fantastic that the work remains on schedule to open in time for winter as it plays an instrumental part in how we will function during those difficult months.
This work forms part of our vision for an 'Emergency Care Village', bringing two smaller AMUs together to enhance patient care and staffing and to make better use of our resources. The hope is that this provides a much-improved experience for our patients, and a high-quality working environment for our staff. You can find out more about this development on our website.
This week we launched our Agile Working Policy and Toolkit. The presence of COVID has required usto fundamentally and rapidly change the way we work, and as we all know, the changes continue to be necessary. Agile working is a flexible approach to how we work and includes remote working, hot desking, safe travel and working from home.
There are many benefits - reduced travel time, improved productivity; reduced carbon footprint; better use of our estate; and increased efficiency. It has also had a positive impact on the Trust’s travel expenses spend, which has seen a significant reduction of £380k between April and July compared to last year. And above all that, it helps and supports the organisation to practise good, safe social distancing.
Agile working is not a perk. It can be difficult and it’s really important that staff are supported to deal with the challenges of limited social contact, distraction, and dealing with new ways of working. Obviously, not all roles can be ‘agile’, as some require constant on-site presence. However, we do have numerous examples of clinical and support staff, as well as senior leaders, working effectively, in a more adaptable way. We will be reviewing and modernising our approach for all staff and will focus on clinical roles and teams, to explore and enable flexibility for them too. Watch this space!
Having touched on the challenges of our changing working life, I’d like to share with you news about our new Health and Wellbeing Directory, to help youimprove your quality of life and help you get through the day-to-day challenges you may face.
The coronavirus outbreak has had an impact on everyone’s daily lives. During this time, you may feel low, worried, anxious, or be concerned about your health or that of those close to you. We all react differently to events and changes in the way that we think, feel and behave vary between different people and over time. Because our line of work has been heavily focused on the pandemic it can feel as though all elements of our lives have been impacted. And this is why it is so important that we try to maintain good health and wellbeing and we get support when we need it from the right people.
The Well Team’s directory of services covers topics ranging from mental health to financial concerns and will be regularly updated to make sure as many subjects are covered as possible. Even if you do not feel as though you need support right now, why not have a look through the directory so you know there is help available if you do need it.
And finally, flu! After the first week of vaccinations we are at a fantastic 13% (4% ahead of our target). As I have said many times before, we have a really great culture and response to flu vaccinations – you all take the role of being an inFLUencer very seriously. I’ll continue to update you all on our progress, keep up the good work in protecting yourselves, your family and our patients!
Whatever you may be doing this weekend, I hope you manage to find time to rest, relax, and reenergise!
Kevin