My new job in strategy at Birmingham Children’s Hospital means I spend a lot of time in the office, but for a day I shadowed Mary Hobin, Head of Nursing in Medicine, to get to know the hospital a bit better.
As I expected, the day involved lots of discussions around staffing, current pressures in the hospital, and visiting the wards. However I definitely wasn’t expecting to have a massive cake in the conservatory to celebrate reaching 75% of frontline staff having the flu jab! The good news vibe didn’t stop there, as the management team meeting ended with good news stories and whilst there was a strong message about reaching financial targets this year and in the future, the atmosphere was positive.
The language we use is something that really fascinates me especially when there are two languages within the NHS- clinical and managerial. There was a good discussion on whether CIPs (cost improvement plans) is the right phrase to use with clinicians and whether it should be called something different in order to focus on the benefit to the patient rather than the bottom line. However it was also acknowledged that finding savings is going to get harder and we need to be honest about the financial situation and the reality of having to do more with less.
The day ended with a tour of Ocean Ward, the newly opened complex care unit, with a visitor from Alder Hey hospital. It is great that at a time where more and more competition is introduced into healthcare, colleagues are still welcomed to the hospital to learn from each other. The sister showed us around with pride and her passion for the service shone through. But it was a shame to hear about housing problems and cuts in social care across the country, that mean discharges are getting delayed and these children are in hospital rather than being cared for at home.
As we got back to the sister’s desk, we saw that the chief exec had been round to the ward to drop off a box of chocolates for each member of staff for Christmas. Working here definitely isn't all cake and chocolate... but it is a place where passion and commitment is celebrated, and isn't cake a great way to do it!
As I expected, the day involved lots of discussions around staffing, current pressures in the hospital, and visiting the wards. However I definitely wasn’t expecting to have a massive cake in the conservatory to celebrate reaching 75% of frontline staff having the flu jab! The good news vibe didn’t stop there, as the management team meeting ended with good news stories and whilst there was a strong message about reaching financial targets this year and in the future, the atmosphere was positive.
The language we use is something that really fascinates me especially when there are two languages within the NHS- clinical and managerial. There was a good discussion on whether CIPs (cost improvement plans) is the right phrase to use with clinicians and whether it should be called something different in order to focus on the benefit to the patient rather than the bottom line. However it was also acknowledged that finding savings is going to get harder and we need to be honest about the financial situation and the reality of having to do more with less.
The day ended with a tour of Ocean Ward, the newly opened complex care unit, with a visitor from Alder Hey hospital. It is great that at a time where more and more competition is introduced into healthcare, colleagues are still welcomed to the hospital to learn from each other. The sister showed us around with pride and her passion for the service shone through. But it was a shame to hear about housing problems and cuts in social care across the country, that mean discharges are getting delayed and these children are in hospital rather than being cared for at home.
As we got back to the sister’s desk, we saw that the chief exec had been round to the ward to drop off a box of chocolates for each member of staff for Christmas. Working here definitely isn't all cake and chocolate... but it is a place where passion and commitment is celebrated, and isn't cake a great way to do it!
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