It was great to be at an event where so many colleagues from around the region were being recognised for their contributions and with many from Devon, there was plenty to cheer. Some of those appear as highlights below, but I was delighted at the end of the night to be presented with the award; the first time ever that I've been in that "and the winner is...." pause as envelope is opened situation.
And it does mean a lot; it means a lot personally - most importantly that people that know me well felt enough about our work to have nominated me - and it does matter to an organisation that has many challenges at the moment and where it can feel like the world is lining up to comment on and critique our decisions, leadership and processes. So with plenty of humility, really pleased.
And no long thank-you speeches; so what would I have said (in bullet point form). Thanks to:
- Rebecca Harriott and Ann James for convincing me of the benefits of moving to the South West;
- Paula for taking the decision to move half-way across the country and the children for making that such a wonderful success;
- The CCG for allowing me the space to lead and manage in a way that plays to my strengths;
- The team and the staff in the CCG for the dedication, commitment and expertise they show;
- My father who instilled in me the importance of the lesson that the quality of society should be judged by its ability to look after those most in need and to play a part in that mission.
Highlights of the Week - 21st November 2014 (@jeclo)
Highlights of the Week 1: @JoeTeape Development Champion of the Year at @southwestleader Awards - rewarding clear commitment
Really delighted for Joe. You can learn a lot about people from Twitter and Joe tweets about team development and Finance staff development regularly, alongside his pride in the NHS, Derriford hospital and the staff that work there.
We are often on the opposite sides of difficult contract discussions and sometimes that leads to heated exchanges or very different perspectives on issues. I was thinking, as I was sitting at the awards, how the system can lead experienced and able leaders in to conflict. Our job is to rise above the transactional disagreements and focus on the bigger picture and I think largely we do that well in Plymouth.
But I have never doubted that Joe is working towards the same end as I am - delivering the highest quality of care we can to the largest number of people, within the resources we have available - so delighted for his award.
Highlights of the Week 2: Project Search @phnt_nhs wins NHS Leader of Inclusivity @southwestleader Awards - inspirational!
I hadn't heard of Project Search before the awards night, but it was a really inspirational moment seeing the work the team had done to create paid employment opportunities for young adults with a learning difficulty within Derriford Hospital.
It goes to show that in reality I get to find out very little of what goes on in the large hospital that we commission from and that there are some truly wonderful things that go on there. Read a bit more here
Highlights of the Week 3: Sam Cush @Devon CCGVideos wins AHCM NHS Communicator of the Year - watch some of his work https://www.youtube.com/user/NEWDevonCCG
We have some fantastic videos on our YouTube channel (Link to channel homepage) and almost all of them are the work of Sam Cush, who is fantastic. It is not just the framing or the lighting or the sound that matters, it is the ability to find a way to get the message across and Sam is fantastic at that. To be rewarded with the Association of Healthare Communications and Marketing award is fantastic and shows what potential Sam has for the future.
If you haven't (how can that be?) seen any of his work, some of my favourites are:
9 Protected Characteristics
Marilyn's Story
Winter Friends Pledge
And, of course, do watch this latest one about our integration journey in Plymouth: Integration Video
Highlights of the Week 4: Leadership Team Evening Meal - time to talk about other than work; vital with challenges this size
As we were sitting at the end of the meal deciding how to split the bill, I reflected on the fact that we probably don't do this enough as a Leadership Team; we don't get the time to talk about things other than the crucial and urgent decisions we need to make to run the organisation more effectively.
So, at the expense of a late night, it was really valuable to spend a few hours in a nice environment just chatting and sharing stories. Inevitably there was plenty of discussion about work issues too (sad isn't it that we would always get drawn back to those topics), but even then it was an chance to reflect from a different perspective.
The team recognises the spotlight we are under, but this was a moment to take a bit of time out.
Highlights of the Week 5: Emerging signs that primary care is ready to engage in a new challenge-it is critical to a sustainable future
If our system is to become sustainable, we need primary care to be ready to forge a new future at the heart of the health and social care community. It is always hard to see how we transform the urgent care system that I work in by ensuring that 50+ independent GP practices all do something consistently, but unless we solve that challenge we will have hospitals that buckle under the weight of expectation that builds up in a community.
This is partly about general practice working at scale, but it is also about practices with the ability to benefit and risk share on the creation of new models of care. We need practices who are willing and able to respond to some of the opportunities we create, but more we need practices who are creating the future and coming to us with ideas. The perfect solution would be a scheme that creates commissioning savings by increasing the number of patients able to access the care they need within the practice or community team, that also helps general practices to become more sustainable.
We are working on a set of "offer and asks" for primary care - this is what we can offer in terms of resources, support and finance, in return we are asking for a partnership to manage risk and to generate savings to move towards sustainability. This will be a large part of our commissioning plan over the next few months, we do now need practices ready to pick up the opportunity.
Maybe one day we can win an award for primary care innovation with one of our practices?
You can read other blogs related to the work of the Western Locality of NEW Devon CCG
About our workplan: Western Locality Workplan
About our Locality business: Western Locality Business
Jerry Clough is Chief Operating Officer for Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group. He is also Locality Managing Director for the Western Locality of the CCG covering Plymouth and the surrounding areas of South Hams and West Devon.
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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