A Saturday morning stroll up the river Erme with the dog was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours following a busy week with a couple of late nights along the way. I struggle to completely switch off and do nothing, preferring to go for a run or playing a sport to truly stopping, but since moving to Devon and more particularly since the arrival of Jasper almost exactly a year ago, I have started to amble around more frequently and do enjoy the benefit of slowing things down a bit and just letting myself recharge.
It is also getting more enjoyable as the ill disciplined puppy turns in to a slightly better trained adolescent who most often now does obey commands and therefore the wander through the woods next to the river is stress free and a good opportunity to listen to a podcast or two. Desert Island Disks this morning as I yet again try to decide on the top 8 tunes that I would take to the island. I can't get all 8, but the first one would undoubtedly be New England by Kirsty MacColl - it is a bit of a cheat to allow the choice of another Billy Bragg song elsewhere (to be determined) and to get Kirsty in the list, just another 6 and a book to find.
Highlights of the Week - 30th May 2014 (@jeclo)
Highlights of the Week 1: An hour spent discussing the future of general practice and practice management-a land of opportunity
I spent an hour with someone who is about to make a significant change in role and join a general practice for the first time in their career. I had offered to share some of my experiences of working with primary care in a number of different guises over the last 15 years.
I love talking about the potential that I think is latent in primary care and where things may go to over the next decade. I move between the challenges they will face through the niceties of working within the partnership model and calculating practice shares to the ways that GP practices working with the wider primary care market can take a very different role within an integrated health and social care system.
We talked about pharmacy, health and wellbeing, federations, IT, reception and a host of other issues. I think they will enjoy the challenge immensely. I hope so!
Highlights of the Week 2: @nursingtimesed spreads some energy in Devon: really great to host Jenni in the South West. Great reception
I think Jenni Middleton from the Nursing Times will have been many people's highlight at our Patient Experience Summit. She was full of energy, very funny, irreverent and engaging with her audience. I am delighted she was able to come-it is not always the easiest proposition to get someone on some of the slower trains in the country and head down the Peninsular, so it made a real difference to have her with us.
Jenni and I met on Twitter through an introduction that recognised that the way we were talking about the CCG and our vision fitted well with the Nursing Times 'Speak Out Safely' campaign (I should point out here what we failed to note on the day that this won the Editorial Campaign of the Year at the recent British Media Awards - fantastic!). As a result, the CCG is one of a couple of dozen who have signed up alongside many acute, community and mental health providers as organisations who will ensure that staff are supported to speak out safely about concerns and issues.
We almost made the technology work all day and of course it failed for one video from the Wizard of Oz in the middle of Jenni's presentation. As I was gently ribbed by Jenni about not giving up the day job, I did reflect on the how we keep costs down in the search for value for money versus what a greater experience we could give if we did things at a greater level of professionalism and less reliance on my IT skills!
Highlights of the Week 3: Our Patient Experience Summit gets amazing feedback - glad we took it on
No evaluation forms at the end of the event-just make a mark in the box that describes both how useful and how enjoyable the day was. Couldn't have asked for better feedback!
Jenny Winslade and I discussed creating this event, using some of the content we had been basing our Individuals on the Centre on and building on Jenny's desire that we take a significant role in the community of hosting discussions about patient experience with our wider health and social care organisations. Clearly there were many people in the room who live the importance of patient experience on a daily basis; as a CCG we wanted to play our part and inviting people to an summit that aimed to be inspiring, thought provoking and gave them a few hours to review and contemplate how we do things.
Speakers included Sarah Elliot, the Director of Nursing and Quality for NHS England South, Steve Waite, Chief Executive of Plymouth Community Healthcare, Community Interest Company, Tim Robson from nowshowup.com as well as Jenny, myself and Jenni Middleton. A variety of different topics and approaches, but all hugely well received and appreciated. Steve Beety for Devon and Cornwall Police also talked about the use of Appreciative Inquiry as a different approach to working with individuals in challenging situations.
We used some of our wonderful videos, Marilyn's story about personal health budgets Marilyn's Story and our equality and diversity video about the 9 protected characteristics 9 Protected Characteristics (this one prompted a spontaneous round of applause).
The room was full, people joined in and the provocative perspective that we have used with all our staff - how the concept of brand links to the NHS went down well. It is a stretch for most of us in the NHS, I think, to understand how to learn from Ryanair. But love them or hate them, they deliver what we expect them to - they make few promises about customer experience, but give you exactly what you paid for. Apple deliver on promises too - their promise is based on high quality and ease of use, but the concept is the same. And to what extent do we deliver on our promises in the NHS?
Highlights of the Week 4: A leaving meal and presentation that shows how much you can achieve in just a few months
Bill Redlin left us on Friday. He has been working as our Head of Contracting in the Locality for the last 5 months-quite a tough ask to hit the ground running and negotiate a robust contract against a hugely challenging financial backdrop. He has done a great job, bringing experience, wisdom and calmness to the team and, even in that short space of time, supported staff to grow and develop. He will be missed and leaves a gap that we need to quickly fill.
I knew Bill over 10 years ago when we worked in neighbouring PCTs in North Yorkshire and was delighted when his CV arrived in my inbox at a time when we were struggling to find the right person for the job. I am really keen that whatever the contract form or agreement, it is based on thorough understanding of the for all parties. We had an almost block contract last year on our largest acute contract and have a fully variable contact this - the attention to resolving all the many issues that underpin those was equally important both years.
We had a very nice meal and drinks at River Cottage and Royal William Yard (if you haven't been, there are some fantastic parts of Plymouth) and created a suitable ending for a brief, but impactful time spent with us.
Highlights of the Week 5: A meeting with @SteveWaite_PCH to dicuss vision and future and hisgreat presentation of @PlymouthHealth values
Steve spoke at our Patient Experience Summit. He talks very eloquently and passionately about the journey his Community Interest Company has been on since the social enterprise was born out of a right to request. Their social values, interaction with the population and the way in which they work with their staff is key to their brand and the presentation fitted perfectly in to the day and was enjoyed by all there. He talked of early days in nursing, the navy and the bus journey you can take across Plymouth that sees life expectancy decrease by a frightening 15 years.
We also sat down this week and talked about what the next few years would bring. We are looking to make real progress towards integrated commissioning and integrated provision this year and the integration of community health and social care services would have big implications for Steve's organisation. It is a huge challenge for us all and an awful lot of work, but very optimistic about what opportunities that would bring us for the future.
Anyway, back to number 3 on the list....
Anyway, back to number 3 on the list....
Previously Jerry has been a Chief Executive and Finance Director in the NHS before spending several years running his own business driving programmes of change and delivering executive coaching and team and Board development.
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