Posted on: 7 July 2023
Hello, my name is Carol McKenna and I am the Accountable Officer (place lead) for the Kirklees Health and Care Partnership within the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership.
It was in the Spring of last year when I last wrote a leadership message. At that time, we were in throes of organisational change as the ICB was created clinical commissioning groups were dissolved. Much of our focus then was on understanding roles and responsibilities, making the shift from competition to collaboration and establishing new infrastructures to support our decision making. These things were, and remain important, however if there is one thing I have taken from the last year, it is that the most important ingredient for a successful partnership is the strength of relationships, and a vital ingredient in the glue that holds these relationships together is the care we show each other.
On 19 May, approximately 160 people came together in the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield for the second Compassionate Cultures conference. A joint event across Calderdale and Kirklees, the conference represented the latest stage in our work to develop a culture of compassion and inclusion.
This work is really important. Our health and care partnership is made up of people just like you and me, and just like any well-functioning system, we need to keep the component parts or our system in good working order. Quite rightly, we pay a lot of attention to work related factors that impact on our day-to-day roles, however it is equally important to remember that what we see in our colleagues when they come to work is only the part of their life they choose to share. Every single one of us has a life outside work and we will all have times in our life when what is happening at home will affect how well we do our jobs. Add into this the current societal issues such as the cost of living, high turnover and vacancy rates resulting in increasing workforce pressures, as well as organisational change for some and it isn’t difficult to see why we might be finding life a bit hard now.
That is why showing compassion to each other matters more than ever.
The Calderdale Cares Partnership and the Kirklees Health and Care Partnership work together in a joint Calderdale and Kirklees Workforce Steering Group. With Brendan Brown (Chief Executive, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust) as Senior Responsible Officer, colleagues have coalesced around shared aims. We know that our workforce is our greatest asset, and also our greatest risk, so it is vital that we work together across our health and care organisations and sectors.
There are 4 pillars to our shared work programme for this year:
- Looking after our people
- Recruiting and retaining our people
- Developing our people together
- Place Specific and cross cutting programme of work
The Compassionate Cultures Conference was focussed on the first pillar – 'looking after our people'. The conference is part of a package of supportive measures that we are taking forward to support our colleagues in their work by giving them the tools they need to be motivated and fulfilled in their jobs. Other actions include:
- Developing and agreeing a Compassionate Cultures Strategy
- Continuing to run the Compassionate Leadership Programme and explore a train the trainers programme
- Continuing to run regular place-based Schwartz Rounds (structured forums where all staff, clinical and non-clinical, come together regularly to discuss the emotional and social aspects of working in healthcare)
- Supporting our peoples’ health and well-being needs through an agreed programme of time-limited and targeted offers.
Several speakers shared their own experiences and the offers they are making available to others. These included: the Health and Wellbeing Academy at the University of Huddersfield; West Yorkshire Staff Mental Health and Well-being Hub; Money Buddies; Kirklees Third Sector Leaders; Carers Count; colleagues from Locala Health and Wellbeing who have completed the Compassionate Leadership Programme; and details of the Touchstone Men in Health project.
We even got the chance to participate in some practical actions, led by Halsa Wellbeing Ltd and the Eden Forest Community Interest Group as you can see in this short video from the event.
Master of Ceremonies for the day was Mark Ambrose, the Workforce Lead for the Kirklees Health and Care Partnership. Mark did a great job keeping everyone energised and engaged, and his promotion of the very exciting raffle planned for the end of the day was second to none!
I have saved the last words of the message for someone who is far more qualified than I am to speak on the subject of compassionate leadership. Our keynote speaker was Professor Michael West CBE, who is the Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at Lancaster University, Visiting Professor at University College, Dublin, and Emeritus Professor at Aston University.
Everyone’s full attention was on Professor West as he shared his thoughts on how we can lead with compassion and how this behaviour is at the root of our values in health and care services. Showing leadership in this way isn’t just for those in senior positions, it is for all of us. Each of us can be honest, open and caring, we can all show empathy for those we work with and each and everyone can bring their own experiences into our work for the benefit of others.
It was great to have the work in our places acknowledged by Professor West following the event and I want to also take this opportunity to thank everyone whose hard work made the event such a success, and to all of you who keep compassionate leadership at the heart of what you do every day.
"Your work at Place level is a model for the rest of the country and I felt privileged to contribute yesterday.
I detect a movement towards making such integrated co-ownership and co-design (including with families and communities) as a sea change just now. Your work in surfing the leading edge of that wave is vital to enable learning others can benefit from."
- Professor Michael West CBE, following the Calderdale and Kirklees Compassionate Cultures Conference
Thank you for reading and have a good weekend,
Carol
What else has been happening?
Celebrating 75 years of the National Health Service
On Wednesday 5 July, NHS organisations across West Yorkshire and the UK celebrated the 75th anniversary of the NHS. Colleagues have been taking part in physical challenges, including the NHS 75 park run this weekend. They have held coffee mornings, afternoon teas and quizzes to raise money for NHS charities and have contributed to case studies, videos and photography projects.
For example, Calderdale has been shining a spotlight on some of the people who work across health services in the area. In Bradford, colleagues have been invited to make a pledge – and this invitation is open to everyone. Several colleagues also attended national events to mark the anniversary, including a service at Westminster Abbey. Many public buildings across the area were also lit up blue too, in recognition of this important milestone.
Find out more about what has been going on to celebrate the NHS at 75 in West Yorkshire.
We Work Together podcast NHS@75 special
In a very special episode of our Partnership’s ‘We Work Together’ podcast recorded for the NHS@75, Rob Webster, Chief Executive of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Bord and CEO lead for West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, hosts a discussion with colleagues from across our integrated care system about the past, present and future of the NHS.
Listen to the episode on Soundcloud at https://
A birthday tree for the new A&E: schoolchildren join tree-planting ceremony on the NHS’s 75th birthday
Local schoolchildren joined NHS workers at a tree-planting ceremony today at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary for a double celebration, marking the NHS’s 75th birthday and the hospital’s new A&E department, which opens later this year.
Read the full story on the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust website.
LTHT nurse amongst winners of national NHS photo competition
A research nurse at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) is one of five winners of a nationwide photography competition celebrating the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
Ewa Gasior, Senior Research Nurse, won in the category ‘Our Care’ with a striking black and white photo that depicts the many hands that contribute to delivering patient care. The photo, captioned “We’ve got you, You’ve got this,” was chosen for how it managed to capture the NHS core value of care, whether care to patients, volunteers, or to each other as colleagues.
The five winners of the photography competition for NHS staff and volunteers were unveiled earlier this week at the FUJIFILM House of Photography, with other images including long-serving nurse, ‘Mother Obe’, the NHS COVID-19 vaccination effort and an ambulance battling the Beast from the East also among the winning images.
The national competition, run by NHS England in partnership with Fujifilm, saw hundreds of the health service’s staff and volunteers from across the country enter photographs that told their unique stories of what the NHS means to them. To see more, please visit https://www.nhs75-fujifilm.com/
Statutory Integrated Care Systems – One Year On
NHS England has published a new episode part of their integrated care podcast series titled, ‘Integrated Care Systems – One Year On’.
The special episode, hosted by Adam Doyle - National Director for System Development at NHS England, and CEO for NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board, showcases a discussion between system leaders and capture their reflections on the first year of statutory Integrated Care Systems, including Cllr Tim Swift, Deputy Leader of Calderdale Council and Chair of our Partnership Board. The panel discusses the differences these arrangements have had over the last 12 months while sharing key learnings and their hopes / priorities for the future.
Our Partnership, an integrated care system, was the first Partnership of Sanctuary; offering support services and a welcoming space to refugees and asylum seekers.
Listen to the episode at https://
NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published
On 30 June 2023, the NHS published the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. Read the full plan at https://
Our West Yorkshire ‘People Plan’ aims to support, develop, recruit, and retain health and care staff across the area.
We work across many different organisations in the health and care sector, including the NHS, councils, care providers, hospices, Healthwatch, voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) and through the estimated 400,000 unpaid carers who are all part of a diverse, and valued workforce. Developed with colleagues from different health and care sectors, with their views at the heart of it, the plan is for them all.
The priorities set out in our people plan have been informed through our response to COVID-19 and colleague engagement. It is about embedding the learning and good practice that has helped us through this challenging period, as well as setting out the longer-term ambitions for our people so they can continue to deliver quality care now and, in the future.
It also sets out the actions that we need to take if we are to support the wellbeing of our staff and recruit people across West Yorkshire into new roles. Working in health and care is one of the most rewarding careers and we have over 300 roles that people can choose. We are also taking action to ensure we have a diverse workforce reflective of the communities we serve. Our plan sets out how we are going to do this and is strengthened further by the national NHS Workforce Plan.
The national NHS Workforce Plan, developed by the NHS, is backed by investment from government and created in collaboration with NHS staff and experts. It aims to deliver the biggest increase in training numbers in the NHS 75-year history with record numbers of nurses, doctors, dentists, allied health professionals and other key healthcare staff to address the gaps in the current workforce and meet the challenge of a growing and ageing population.
Things will not change overnight but this NHS workforce plan represents a once in a generation opportunity to put staffing on a sustainable footing.
The chief executive, Matthew Taylor, of NHS Confederation has written to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak to say any benefits to improve NHS staffing will be “limited” without an equivalent strategy for the social care sector, which currently has 165,000 vacant posts.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service named in top 100 apprenticeship employers
Congratulations to Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS), who have been ranked 36 in the list of the country’s top 100 apprenticeship employers in the country and the top-rated NHS trust in this year’s list.
The rankings celebrate England's outstanding apprenticeship employers and help future apprentices, parents and careers advisers to identify apprenticeship opportunities at the country’s leading employers. The rankings recognise employers for their commitment to employing apprentices, their creation of new apprenticeships, the diversity of their new apprentices, and the number of apprentices who complete their apprenticeships and progress further with the employer.
To find out more, visit Apprenticeships Top Employers 2023 (topapprenticeshipemployers.co.uk)