I am often asked about our values, as they are something we hold a lot of importance against. Our values inspire us to put the patient first, respect the individual and act with integrity while we provide safe, personal and effective care for the community we serve.
When you have values that you just talk about but don’t really live, you can be very quickly found out. I’m incredibly pleased and proud this is not the case for ELHT. So, this week I thought I would share with you some examples of how we live our values in everything we do.
I received an update of our flu vaccination programme this morning. Twelve days in and we are running at a fantastic 28.6% uptake. This is a phenomenal start to the season and shows in real terms the value of putting our patients first. By receiving the vaccination we are protecting ourselves, our patients and our families. And this was the message Phil Denney, Head of Occupational Health shared on BBC Breakfast yesterday. It is clear that our vaccination programme is incredibly successful, and this is due in part to the culture at ELHT. Last year we tipped the scales at 92.3 percent, can we exceed that this year? Yes we can!
There is more emphasis now than ever before on early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Our services are supported by an outstanding team that move patients through their diagnosis and treatment pathway as quickly as possible both. We do this to provide a safe and high quality service for our community – another core value. Making sure we hit all the mandatory targets is vitally important for our patients, so this week we have relaunched our Every Day Counts campaign. The main emphasis is that early diagnosis and treatment is the best way to arm our patients for their fight against cancer.
This week we welcomed Dr Habib Naqvi, Policy Lead for the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) at NHS England. He gave a very interesting and thought provoking presentation on race equality and how improving the experiences and opportunities for black and minority ethnic (BME) staff increases organisational efficiency and productivity and, most importantly, contributes towards improvement in the quality of care for all our patients. One of the fundamental values of the Trust is to respect the individual, showing our commitment to tackle all inequalities. Each year, through the staff survey, everyone is given the opportunity to voice their opinion on life at ELHT. Each year I encourage everyone to complete the survey. However, this year I am making an exceptional plea to our BME staff. Evidence shows that staff from a BME background are less likely to raise concerns, speak up about issues or share their opinions. Please complete the form and share with us your experiences, this will help us to further improve on the things that matters to you and help our organisation grow. Our Staff Engagement Team will be visiting wards and departments across the Trust offering confidential support, as this year it is a totally online survey.
Keep up the excellent work, I know there are many examples from across the Trust of our values in action. By keeping them at the heart of everything we do, and working together, we are a stronger more diverse organisation with a very bright future.
Have a wonderful weekend!