Posted on: 15 November 2019
The BIG conversation: inclusion, diversity and the power of partnerships
Hello, we're Salma and Fatima.
As members of the Partnership’s Leadership Group we had the privilege of being part of a BIG conversation in celebration of Black History Month (October).
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) talent takeover included a twitter conversation led by Owen Williams, Chief Executive of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive of Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network and many others.
A series of 90 second film clips answering bold questions by leaders across the Partnership were shared which stimulated challenging debate and dialogue on how we could collectively turn the dial on inclusion and diversity. A number of talented BAME staff in leadership roles from the Partnership joined the conversation and celebration.
The feedback in the room (and virtually) was that the session was empowering, which some colleagues found thought provoking, with insights and perspectives that they had not considered before.
The West Yorkshire and Harrogate BAME talent takeover was one of the boldest and courageous leadership conversations that we have had the privilege of being part of in health and care and we wanted to share some of our reflections with you in this week’s blog.
Salma’s reflections
In joining the conversation with colleagues from across the area I was both humbled and filled with hope for the future. I experienced colleagues in the room sharing their vulnerabilities and having the faith to hold up the mirror, challenge and be challenged in open and very honest conversations. It was inspiring.
In my current role as director of strategy for SWYPFT, I experience daily first-hand the power of inclusive leadership and allies in helping people reach their potential and importantly their career aspirations. My decision to join the Trust was sealed when I personally experienced the organisation’s values-based recruitment process almost three years ago.
The value of consciously creating an inclusive Board that sets the tone for an organisation is a key part of the jigsaw. Our Board is led by Rob Webster, the Trust’s chief executive, and Angela Monaghan chair of the Trust. The Trust Board has more women than men, three of which are from BAME communities and I’m very proud to say I am one. I have also witnessed the impact of a thriving BAME network alongside our disabilities, LGBTQ+ and carers’ networks. These are great forums and a good place to hear first-hand about what colleagues need to help them stay healthy and happy at work.
We have seen some of our Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) indicators improve. However, we know we have much more work to do to ensure that, as a Trust, we are a great place to work for every employee and that our Trust reflects the diversity of the communities we serve at every level and across all our services. We know that a diverse workforce is directly related to improved care and outcomes for the people who access support.
This conversation made me reflect on the progress we have made so far as well as what else we can do. I am privileged to be in this role and in service to people from across different and diverse communities. It is critical that I continue to play my part in ensuring that inclusion remains a visible priority. I left the conversation feeling challenged with a renewed commitment and hopeful that we can collectively make the biggest difference across our area through the Partnership. Everyone can get involved and make a difference, simply by putting yourself in one of your colleagues’ shoes and thinking differently.
Fatima’s reflections
It can be tough enough growing up, and at a time when I was growing up as a British Muslim woman living in Yorkshire without any obvious role models in public life it felt quite scary to identify a space that I could confidently and comfortably contribute within. I am delighted to say that looking around the room I felt proud that there are many talented BAME leaders that are positive role models across our Partnership, and I consider myself one of them.
Being part of the BAME talent conversation made me realise the significance of networks, peer support, mentoring and role models that have impacted on my leadership journey both personally and professionally on many levels. The opportunity to influence a positive conversation to ensure that our leadership is more reflective of the people we serve is one that I fully embrace.
We know we can’t solve this in one session, and we did not intend to do that, all we wanted to do was to get people to leave the room thinking differently than when they arrived. I think this was achieved.
The session was timely given that October in the UK Celebrates Black History Month. It was a great way to ‘kick-start’ the month. The main aims of Black History Month are to celebrate the achievements and contributions of black people not just in the UK, but all over the world.
It also left us asking the question; what do we do next?
Salma and Fatima share their future aspirations
Our hope for the future is articulated in our shared Partnership plan. In five years’ time we hope we can witness our collective legacy, so that more people across West Yorkshire and Harrogate are living healthier, have productive lives, and are achieving their true potential in communities that feel connected by staff they can relate too. We can only realise this ambition if our workforce is made up of all sections of the communities that we serve. This will mean that we need to go further in our commitment to ensuring that inclusion and tackling inequalities is the lived reality of the people that we serve, alongside our workforce - as they are one and the same.
We, in our privileged leadership positions, must continue to act as ambassadors of hope in our communities and places. Whilst recognising that this is an incredibly challenging agenda, we need to remain focused on our values, relationships and solidarity across difference, starting with all that we have in common. The inclusion agenda is about all of us, there cannot be a hierarchy of diversity. Everyone is of equal value. We have to grapple with a much deeper understanding of lived experience starting with ourselves, and understanding and listening to staff, people who access care, and our communities. It is through this deeper shared understanding that we can act to make the difference that we want to see across the Partnership for our workforce now and all generations to come. Have a good weekend, Salma and Fatima
What else has been happening this week?
West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (hospitals working together)
West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trust (WYAAT) chief executives met at their monthly programme executive meeting last week. In addition to their regular updates on the WYAAT programmes and the Partnership, the group considered these key items:
- WYAAT procurement - The procurement lead gave an overview on national developments in procurement and the approach to collaborative procurement in WYAAT. They described a regional model for procurement within WYAAT, supported by a single product catalogue, inventory system, contracts database and eTender portal for all six trusts. There will be a regional procurement work plan in which each trust leads on work streams on behalf of WYAAT as a whole.
- Yorkshire Imaging Collaborative (YIC) - Cindy Fedell, CEO Lead for the YIC, attended the meeting. They provided a comprehensive update on the YIC programme. Five trusts are now live with the new Agfa Enterprise Imaging PACS system, with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust still to roll out the new system. The ‘Xero Viewer’, which allows clinicians in any trust to view completed images from any other trust, is being trialled between two trusts. The next stage is a shared reporting system which will allow radiologists to report images across the trusts. Colleagues explained that collaborative working through YIC is now becoming the norm for radiologists across West Yorkshire and Harrogate and special interest groups have been established to encourage standardisation and support between radiologists in different trusts.
- Harrogate briefing - Steve Russell, CEO for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, briefed the meeting on the work taking place in the area, highlighting its particular characteristics and challenges.
Committee in Common
WYAAT Chairs and Chief Executives met in October as part of the Committee in Common to discuss the collaborative pieces of work we are driving forward across the region. It was a full meeting with a good discussion on the work taking place from teams across the six trusts working together. There was support for the recommendation to take the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Pathology Network Strategy and the outline business case for a single, shared pathology Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to Trust Boards for approval. Carol McKenna, Senior Responsible Officer for West Yorkshire and Harrogate Primary and Community Care Programme, gave members an update on the development of primary care networks and how acute trusts can best support. It was agreed that one of the main priorities as a group was to support the work of the Cancer Alliance and the delivery of the West Yorkshire Cancer Strategy. It was good to see how working collaboratively with colleagues can really help us to build sustainable services that are better for our patients.
Sally Warren visit
Sally Warren, Director of Policy at The King’s Fund, visited Calderdale and Kirklees health and care leaders on Tuesday. Sally has extensive experience of health and care, having previously held positions at the Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England, the Care Quality Commission and the Cabinet Office. Matt Walsh Chief Officer for Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group and CEO Lead for Improving Planned Care for the Partnership hosted the morning session at the Piece Hall in Halifax. This included an overview on ‘Staying Well’ in Calderdale. Arts and health was on the agenda as well as the Calderdale College and Future Leaders Programme, and Active Calderdale.
In the afternoon Sally visited Community Plus (community hub) at Almondbury Library in Huddersfield. This part of the visit was hosted by Richard Parry, Strategic Director of Adults and Health at Kirklees Council. The Community Hub gives people access to a wide range of services under one roof, including support for children and families, help and advice, activities for older people, community events – as well as the traditional library service valued by residents.
A round table discussion took place in the afternoon in Huddersfield. Chaired by Rob Webster, our CEO Partnership Lead, there were programme discussions on mental health, health inequalities, public health, maternity care, and the role of NHS England and clinical commissioning groups.
Thank you to all colleagues who took part and for making Sally’s visit to West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership both informative and interesting.
Local place planners
The Local Place Planners from across the area met on Tuesday (Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield). Each gave an update on the development of their local health and care plans, which are owned by the Health and Wellbeing Boards in each area. There was an update on the development of the Five Year Plan, and the draft public summary, which goes to our Partnership Board on the 3 December in Bradford. There was also an update on the leadership day held on Tuesday 3 November. In particular colleagues talked about the dementia pilot work and the new ‘ageing well’ programme funding and most importantly what it means for people living in their local areas.
The national 'Ageing Well' programme will oversee the development of community health services to meet the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions. The Partnership is committed to supporting the four parts of the programme as part of our priority areas of work. These are to:
- Improve responsiveness of community health crisis services so that by 2023/24 all services are delivering support within two hours of referral where appropriate
- Support people in their own home for as long as possible. If this is not possible, we must ensure that the best possible care is provided to people living in care homes
- Implement anticipatory care for older people with moderate frailty and people of all ages living with multiple health conditions. This is all about supporting people to think ahead and understand their health needs for the future. Many people with long term health conditions can benefit from having an ‘Anticipatory Care Plan’
- Join up care across providers of community health, primary care networks, and the voluntary and social care sector. The work also relies on population health management support
The work in relation to these priorities will be led at place level (Bradford district and Craven; Calderdale, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) supported by West Yorkshire and Harrogate programmes.
Local Maternity System Programme Board
The Board meets today. The meeting will be chaired by Anne-Marie Henshaw, Associate Director of Nursing and Head of Midwifery at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust who is one of two co-chairs. The other chair is Carol McKenna, Chief Officer for Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group and North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group. The Board includes representation from midwifery, public health, hospital consultancy and finance.
The role of LMS’s is to bring together providers involved in maternity and neonatal care, including the ambulance service and independent midwifery practices. It is also important that the services are co-designed with women, their partners and communities. A series of staff roadshows are currently underway, taking place in our hospital trusts with the intention of finding out more about how we can work differently and together to support front line workers, for example midwives.
Suicide bereavement support services
West Yorkshire and Harrogate postvention suicide bereavement support service has started taking referrals this week. The first Bereaved by Suicide Bradford Peer Support group is planned for Friday the 6th of December at Mind in Bradford, 6-8pm. More information is here.
The new service is an extension of the Leeds Suicide Bereavement Service, now in its fourth year; set up in 2015, led by Leeds Mind with support from Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service and funded by Leeds City Council.
As an expansion of the Leeds service, additional workers with personal experience of bereavement by suicide will offer a variety of support, including individual and group peer support, advocacy and memorial events. This includes emotional help to support people’s reactions to the death, practical support in how to negotiate what happens next and signposting to other needed services, for example counselling or financial advice. People can also self-refer, or be referred by other people, such as funeral directors, the police, coroners, or NHS staff across West Yorkshire and Harrogate. Postvention seeks to provide proactive and timely support to people in the immediate aftermath of a suicide. It also addresses the isolation often felt by survivors of suicide bereavement and challenges the stigma associated with death by suicide. Support is also available to people who have been bereaved historically yet feel they may benefit from peer led supports.
Contact Lin Harrison for more information.
What's happening next week?
- West Yorkshire and Urgent Emergency Programme Board meets on Monday.
- Reimagining the Care Market in West and North Yorkshire Workshop take place on Monday.
- On Tuesday the Elective Care and Standardisation of Commissioning Policies Programme Board meets.
- The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme Board meets on Tuesday.
- There is a meeting on Thursday to discuss the Local Workforce Action Board development hub project.
- West Yorkshire and Harrogate System Oversight and Assurance Group (SOAG) meet on Friday.