In this edition, we are focusing on what our priorities are for the year ahead, which are being driven by our operational plan.
These priorities, which you can read about on page 4, are rightly ambitious as we look to build on the progress we have made over the last 12 months to improve care for our communities.
We also highlight some of the fantastic improvement work that is being undertaken by colleagues across the organisation to ensure every patient has high quality care and a positive experience.
Delivering these improvements and focusing on our priorities, as well as living our values and working together, will help us get to where we want to be.
Working together is essential to driving forward improvements in urgent and emergency care. Thank you to colleagues who are getting behind our Stronger Together campaign. We need everyone to come together, across the organisation, to improve the care and experience for every patient throughout their hospital journey.
Everyone can help us to improve flow through our hospitals – you can read more about how our colleagues are supporting the campaign on page 10.
Our teams in medicine and emergency care are progressing our Urgent and Emergency Care Transformation Programme, including the opening of new Frailty Assessment Units on both hospital sites.
Older and frail patients will be transferred to these new units, instead of having to wait in busy emergency departments. In the units they will be assessed and cared for by a specialist multidisciplinary team.
The aim is to enable timely care and where appropriate to discharge patients on the same day. We are already seeing positive results. Thank you to everyone who is making this happen.
Our Children and Young People’s Service has worked incredibly hard to improve the care and support we provide to our young patients, and as a result the service was rated good across all five domains in our recent CQC inspection. On page 13, you can read about the fantastic improvements the team has put in place and the difference they are making for our patients and their families.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who was involved in the rollout of paediatric vitals in our emergency departments and children’s inpatient wards. This new electronic system replaces paper charts and means clinicians can now record vital observations on iPads and have access to real time data.
This will help with the early detection of patients who may be deteriorating. This is another significant milestone in our digital transformation and will help us provide high quality, safe care for our communities.
Thank you.
Dear colleague,
MESSAGE
Mary Aubrey Getting to Good Programme Director
So much incredible work is taking place across the organisation to support our journey of improvement and we are continuing to make good progress.
Delivering our Getting to Good programme, alongside our quality priorities, is a key part of our operational plan 24/25
Getting to Good is the Trust’s overarching improvement programme which aims to help us to achieve our vision to provide excellent care for the communities we serve. There are eight transformational programmes – including maternity, digital, urgent care, elective recovery and workforce.
I am pleased to report that a number of improvement projects within the workforce transformation programme have been completed and closed. Most recently, this includes culture and behaviours, future workforce design and recruitment and retention.
The culture and behaviours project was established to support the cultural transformation of the organisation and enable us to create a psychologically safe place to work for everyone. The civility and respect programme has been and continues to be key to driving change. This has now been integrated within all Trust leadership programmes while colleague civility and respect sessions will continue to be rolled out.
The future workforce design project has helped us to develop a Trustwide recruitment plan for
now and in the future. We have also reviewed our flexible working practices and developed innovative programmes for specific hard to fill roles and apprenticeships. This has helped to reduce our reliance on agency staff which is much better for our patients.
As part of our recruitment and retention programme of work, we have improved our recruitment and onboarding processes, reduced our vacancies and successfully achieved our internationally-educated nurse programme.
A huge amount of work has gone into delivering each of these programmes and laying solid foundations for the future, all of which will benefit colleagues and patients. Thank you to everyone who has been, and continues to be involved.
Thank you.
MOVING FORWARD ON OUR IMPROVEMENT JOURNEY
We are entering a new phase in our improvement journey as we continue to strive towards providing excellent care for the communities we serve. We have made good progress over the last few years, and this is reflected in our improved CQC (Care Quality Commission) rating and is a recognition of the dedication, commitment and compassion shown by our colleagues.
We know we still have much more to do, and that it will take time, as we work towards achieving a good rating consistently across all our services. This year brings many exciting opportunities and investment, that will help us to improve care and deliver a positive patient experience for everyone.
OUR OBJECTIVES
1 2 4 3 5
Deliver our quality priorities and the next phase of our Getting to Good programme
Deliver elective services and implement enhanced recovery
Maintain Faster Diagnostics Standard and achieve 62 day Referral to Treatment Standard
Improve Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) performance in line with GIRFT recommendations
Use of resources – operate within our budget through delivery of efficiency and productivity measures
Our Operational Plan for 2024/25, developed by leaders from across our divisions, sets out our collective objectives which we are committed to achieving together. It focuses on addressing our biggest challenges and driving forward our essential transformation programmes.
Building on our work in recent years, and recognising the challenges we face, we have agreed five objectives and five enablers for the coming year. These will provide focus and help us move forward together on our improvement journey.
OUR ENABLERS
1
Live the People Promise in our teams through valuing difference and inclusivity
2
Deliver our workforce plan, including agency cost reduction, based on the principles of Train, Retain and Reform
3
Develop an estates plan to optimise our current estate and continue to progress our Hospitals Transformation Programme
4
Develop and implement a sustainable travel plan to improve patient and staff experience
5 C
Electronic Patient Record (EPR) –complete phase one (implement and embed CareFlow PAS and ED) and commence phase two
“Although our services remain under pressure, we all need to work towards our common goals to ensure we continue to provide the highest quality care for our patients and communities. We are not alone on this journey. We will continue to work closely with our health and care partners to deliver the overall system priorities and excellent care for the communities we serve.”
Inese Robotham, Assistant Chief Executive
Patient experience is at the heart of everything we do. We will continue to champion quality improvement throughout the Trust as we know this leads to the delivery of excellent care for patients.
Our clinical colleagues have refreshed our nine quality priorities, which are part of the Operational Plan, building on our progress last year and helping us to focus on the areas that will deliver the maximum improvements in the care and experience for everyone.
Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing, said: “We are really proud that our focus on quality
improvement and building a learning culture was recognised by the CQC, but we have more to do to embed and sustain improvement.
“We are embracing the national NHS Impact (Improving Patient Care Together) approach. This will help us to create the right conditions to deliver continuous improvement and high performance to improve care for our patients and deliver healthier outcomes for our communities.
“We are committed to building on our progress last year to improve the quality of all our services for patients.”
OUR PROGRESS AGAINST OUR 23/24 OPERATIONAL PLAN
Deliver phase 3 of our Getting to Good Programme to continuously improve care for our patients and community standards
• Good progress on our actions: 13 actions ‘Evidenced and Assured’ and 6 actions ‘Delivered but not yet Evidenced’, with 4 actions remaining as ‘Not yet Delivered’
• Improved workforce planning and recruitment to essential clinical roles reducing agency spending
• Launched the Quality Dashboard and monthly quality audits
• Focused on training and education
Restore and sustain elective orthopaedics and other services
• Eliminated over 104 and 78 week waits
• Reduced over 65 week waits to 378 (English) patients against our reforecast plan of 550 patients
• Achieved 80% theatre utilisation (March 2024)
• Validated (clinical and admin) waiting lists to maximise capacity
Improve efficiency, deliver within our budget, demonstrating financial prudence and making every penny count
• Significant reduction in agency spend, at its lowest level since September 2021 –working towards our ambition of near-zero agency usage
• Significant reduction in our vacancies – with 2.1% vacancy rate at the end of March 2023
• All divisions contributed to c.£17.2m in cost improvement programme (CIP) efficiencies
Estates
• Community Diagnostic Centre opened in Telford supporting 30,000 screenings in 2023/24
• Improved workspace for clinical and admin teams, and improved catering options in multi-million pound PRH new front entrance
• Ongoing maintenance at both sites
Progress our Hospitals Transformation Programme plans to improve care for all
• Clinical teams engaged in the detailed designs with full support from Clinical Advisory Group across all divisions
• Full planning permission received for works on RSH site
• Outline Business Case formally approved and developed Full Business Case
• Contractor awarded and enabling works started on site in January 2024
Improve flow through our hospitals by delivering our Emergency Care Improvement Programme
• Improvement in time to initial assessment patients seen within 15 minutes in emergency departments and we are working to improve this further
• Reduction in length of stay (discharge pathway 1-2) from 4.5 days to 3.5 days
• Developed an action plan - working with Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) colleagues to improve flow in and out of our hospitals
• Continued to focus on improving 4 hour target - achieving 60.2% at end of March
Achieve 28-day faster Cancer diagnosis standard for patients
• Improved Faster Diagnosis Standards (FDS) for Cancer - 74% against the national target of 75%
• Reduce Cancer waiting times (62 day standard). 197 patients being prioritised for treatment against the 62 day standard - slightly ahead of our target of 212 patients. We are working to ensure no patients wait over 62 days for treatment
• Improved Colorectal Oncology waiting times - 3-4 weeks
Implement phase one of our Electronic Patient Record (EPR) programmeincludes replacing the Patient Administration System
• Vitals went live in October 2023, improving the way our clinical teams capture patient observations
• Over 374 change agents trained to support our teams with the roll-out of CareFlow systems in April 2024
• 80% training compliance for CareFlow systems achieved by end of March 2024
Information Governance (IG)
• Data Protection Officer and IG Manager appointed
• Significant project underway to support retention of documents/storage
Value difference and live the People Promise in our teams
• Improved in all People Promise themes in the Staff Survey
• Mandatory training remains above 90% target, but more work to do to ensure consistency in all areas
• 1,300 staff used resources on SaTH Talent Programme
OUR OPERATIONAL PLAN 24/25
SPOTLIGHT ON: THE PATIENT SAFETY INCIDENT RESPONSE FRAMEWORK
The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) launched in November 2023. This national framework has fundamentally changed the way we investigate and learn lessons from incidents.
This new way of working is helping us to further grow our learning culture within the Trust by increasing understanding about how incidents happen and enhancing learning through earlier identification of themes.
In 2024/25 we will continue to embed PSIRF throughout the organisation and everyone will have a role in making this a success.
As part of PSIRF, we have two new Family Liaison Officers now in post within the central Patient Safety Team, to improve compassionate engagement with patients and families affected by patient safety incidents.
“Thank you to all colleagues who have embraced and embedded PSIRF. It has meant a huge change in process for incident review and quality governance and the support and enthusiasm of everyone has been fantastic.”
Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing
NEXT STEPS
• Continuing our digital transformation programme and working towards launching our next key systems. See page 14 for paediatric vitals.
• Developing our estates including delivering more services within our communities and completing the installation of a much-needed new LINAC to improve cancer care.
• Progressing our Hospitals Transformation Programme to create two thriving hospitals.
• Delivering a greener NHS through net zero emissions by focusing on reducing our carbon footprint. This includes installing more solar panels, improving the efficiency of our buildings and supporting greener ways of working.
• Developing healthy communities through partnership working. Working together and breaking down barriers for patients will help improve the overall health and wellbeing of our communities.
“It is absolutely right that we continue to set ourselves ambitious priorities as we seek to improve care for our communities. We are determined to build on last year’s progress and continue to tackle the significant pressures that we continue to face. Together we know we can make a difference for our patients as we enter the next phase in our improvement journey.”
Louise Barnett, Chief Executive
UEC IS EVERYONE’S RESPONSBILITY
We are determined to deliver compassionate care in the right place, and at the right time to every patient who needs urgent and emergency care.
We know the challenges that we face and we are investing in our services, and whilst we are not where we want to be, we are making steady improvements.
We have an Urgent and Emergency Care Transformation Programme in place and have invested in new Frailty Assessment Units on both hospital sites to improve quality of care and patient experience. The units provide same day emergency care for older patients (those aged over 65) who are living with frailty.
Patients who attend emergency departments or acute medical units are screened by dedicated Frailty teams, before being transferred to the units for comprehensive assessment and care by a specialist clinical team. This service will be expanded this month with the provision of an advice line whereby GPs
and West Midlands Ambulance Service colleagues can speak directly with the Trust’s Frailty team to gain advice and support. This will enable patients to be supported in the community or directed to the right place of care first time.
Where appropriate, same day community discharge is arranged avoiding the need for an unnecessary hospital admission. It means patients who are frail will not have to wait in busy emergency departments for their care, reducing the overall time spent in hospital if they do not need to be admitted.
So far, the units have treated and discharged more than 130 patients in the first month of operation. Data collection so far, suggests that we are increasing the number of patients going back to their own homes and less reliant on social care for discharge.
CASE STUDY: UEC CHAMPIONS
Callum McClennan works as a flow coordinator for Surgery Division. He was one of the first colleagues to put his name forward to be a UEC Champion as part of our Stronger Together campaign.
Callum said: “It’s up to all of us to work together and make those small changes that will improve patient flow.” One of the ways that Callum’s team is helping is to actively move patients out of ED on a regular basis.
We have made a Trustwide commitment to improving urgent and emergency care through our new Stronger Together campaign.
Colleagues across the organisation are encouraged to think how they can positively contribute to improve flow and support a positive experience for patients. A number of pilot schemes are underway, for example trialling a new transfer team to ensure patients are moved to the discharge lounge in a timely way and also the cleanliness team are taking on additional cleaning responsibilities usually carried out by nursing or housekeeping colleagues.
In the coming weeks, we will be holding focus groups for colleagues to join to learn more about our improvement plans, and how they can get involved.
Surgical patients come into ED on trolleys or in chairs into fit to sit, and the surgical flow team has made a commitment to move one patient every hour away from the ED and into the Surgical Assessment Unit (SAU) to increase flow and relieve the pressure in the emergency department.
If you are interested in becoming a UEC champion, please email us on sath. strongertogether@nhs.net
Other improvements we are making to improve care and support a positive experience for our patients are:
• A pilot involving a dedicated nursing colleague based in the emergency department’s waiting room at PRH to support patients who are waiting and improve the care and experience.
• Co-locating and improving the Fit to Sit area at RSH to support early identification of patients at risk of deterioration.
• Recruitment of more housekeepers, as they play an invaluable role within our Trust supporting the cleanliness of our departments.
• Investment in additional staffing, both nursing and clinical, to maintain safe staffing levels.
• Focus on improving the nutrition and hydration needs of our patients.
“We are committed to improving urgent and emergency care and patient experience for everyone using these services.. We are seeing an increase in the number of patients attending our emergency departments and acute medical units who are frail and so we have invested in opening dedicated new Frailty Assessment Units on both hospital sites.
“Once in the dedicated units, patients with frailty are assessed and treated by a multidisciplinary team, led by a specialist consultant. It means that some patients can be discharged the same day, avoiding unnecessary hospital stays, and reducing the overall amount of time they spend in hospital, which we know is better for their ongoing wellbeing and recovery.
“The feedback we have had so far has been very positive and we are incredibly grateful to our teams who are working hard to ensure that our more vulnerable patients have the right care in the right place.”
Dr John Jones, Medical Director
CASE STUDY: THE DISCHARGE TEAM
The Discharge Team – made up of SaTH and Shropcom colleagues, is a great example of how small changes can make a big difference.
Previously the Transfer of Care (TOC) form for patients being discharged from the hospital, was filled out by the therapies team after their assessment. The forms can be complex and can
take extended time to complete which sometimes meant less time with the patients.
The Discharge Team now takes on the responsibility of filling out the TOC form freeing up the Therapies Team to assess, handover and move on to the next patient.
“We have made progress in recent months to improve the care and experience for patients using our urgent and emergency care services, including the new Frailty Assessment Units and standardising our ward processes by rolling out the SHOP model.
“However, we know we have a lot more to do and we need to work together to ensure we are providing compassionate care for everyone throughout their hospital journey. Urgent and emergency care is everyone’s responsibility and we need everyone to come together and make a commitment to play their part. Thank you to everyone who has got behind the campaign so far.”
Sara Biffen, Acting Chief Operating Officer
CARING FOR OUR YOUNG PATIENTS
One of our priorities is to ensure that every young patient has access to the highest quality care and support.
Our teams have implemented a number of improvements and initiatives to support children and young people, and their families, when receiving care and treatment at our hospitals.
This includes the introduction of a children’s mental health specialist nurse, play specialists and most recently, the rollout of paediatric vitals as part of the digital transformation programme.
There has also been a focus on sepsis and sepsis training and mental health and wellbeing – with areas of outstanding practice recently recognised the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC rated the service as ‘Good’ across all domains which is a significant improvement from the previous rating of ‘inadequate’.
The team has introduced sepsis escalation stickers within patient records which identify patients who require escalation due to their deteriorating health. The identification of sepsis in paediatric patients will be further improved when the Sepsis module, part of the Paediatric Vitals digital programme, is introduced later this year.
An eating disorder care bundle, which is personcentred to each individual young person admitted as an inpatient, has been implemented by the service. Every patient has a treatment and management plan as well as a package of care and support.
They are supported by a specialist team which includes a paediatric mental health specialist nurse and paediatric youth worker who complements
Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing
the mental health support and engages with the patient to ensure there are activities available, whilst offering advice and holistic care.
The CQC also recognised that:
• The ward had the support of a mental health nurse, who worked directly on the ward and offered support and training to staff.
• The ward employed a hospital teacher who worked term times. The ward also employed a youth worker and play specialists.
• Staff understood and respected the personal, cultural, social, and religious needs of children, young people, and their families and how they may relate to care needs.
• The service had regular visits from Lottie the therapy dog. Lottie attended the ward and contributed positively to the emotional support of patients.
• The staff were trained in specific neurological conditions such as autism awareness.
Julie Plant, Divisional Director of Nursing for Women and Children’s, said: “The new initiatives such as the sepsis escalation stickers and term time teacher have been fantastic additions to the care we provide. I am so proud of the team who ensure our young patients have high quality care and a positive experience whilst they are with us.”
NEXT STEPS ON OUR DIGITAL JOURNEY
The rollout of a new electronic system as part of our exciting digital transformation programme will improve care and safety for children using our hospital services.
Paediatric Vitals has replaced paper charts in our emergency departments and inpatient children’s ward at PRH. It will improve patient safety through more accurate and timely monitoring of patients compared to the previous paper-based methods.
Clinicians are now recording vital observations, such as heart rate and blood pressure, on iPads in real time.
The system helps clinicians across the Trust to track and monitor patients that may be deteriorating to provide early intervention and safer care.
The successful rollout of Paediatric Vitals will improve communication between colleagues across the departments, with the relevant clinicians having access to the clinical information in the right place, at the right time.
Angela Windsor, Deteriorating Sepsis Specialist Nurse, said “Paediatric Vitals and the Sepsis module provide organisation-wide visibility of patients at risk of deterioration. These processes aim to improve patient outcomes by supporting timely recognition and treatment to prevent avoidable harm.
“This provides our clinicians with more modern tools and supports them in the delivery of safe care aligned with national standards and best practice principles.”
The paediatric early warning score (PEWS) module has been included in Paediatric Vitals to help identify early detection of deterioration and extra intervention for at-risk children, by alerting users to increasing/decreasing scores.
To cascade training before the go-live, colleagues in the digital team worked closely with the practice education facilitators (PEFs) in the departments to create a “train the trainer” approach.
“Paediatric Vitals now allows our clinical colleagues to record real time data on portable tablets. This eliminates the potential for illegible writing or miscommunication.
“It also promotes the delivery of safe and effective care, from the moment a patient sets foot in a hospital to the moment they leave, no matter which pathway they use.”
Julie Plant, Divisional Director of Nursing for Women and Children’s
The Vitals observation system is part of a suite of products, which also includes the CareFlow Patient Administration System and Bluespier Theatre Management System.
The systems link together to gather information for users in one centralised place, and are all part of the Trust’s wider digital transformation programme.
The programme will progress further over the year of 2024/25 to include the implementation of systems such as a Patient Portal, Capture Stroke and an upgrade of CareFlow PAS and ED.
Joshua Pagden, Chief Nursing Information Officer, said: “The introduction of Paediatric Vitals will transform the visibility of vital clinical information in paediatrics.
“As we move away from paper charts to a digital solution, vital signs will be visible on our systems. This will allow secure and confidential access for all the clinical teams involved in patient care.
“This will improve communication, support handover activities and ensure this critical information is stored safely.”
Caring
INVESTING IN PATIENT CARE
We have invested in vital new equipment to improve access to the diagnostic tests that our patients need, reducing waiting times.
We are pleased to have opened our new gamma camera unit at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, following a £3.6m investment – the largest single investment in nuclear medicine in the county.
It is used to detect cancer, paediatric and other acute conditions and will produce better quality images.
It follows on from the investment made into a new CT and MRI scanner and also the new LINAC accelerator expected to open in 2025. This will improve the quality of care we provide our patients and reduce waiting times for the vital tests they need. The equipment will also support the recruitment and retention of highly skilled staff.
Dr Laurence Ginder, Associate Medical Director, said: “This is a key investment for our patients. The demand for diagnostics has been increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic. The camera has the potential for us to expand our imaging capabilities, improving the diagnosis and treatment pathways for our patients,which is good news for our communities.”
The new gamma camera unit will complement the facilities offered at the new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), based at Hollinswood House, Stafford Park, Telford.
The CDC offers cardiorespiratory services, radiology (CT, X-ray, ultrasound and MRI), pathology (blood tests) and teledermatology. More than 64,500 patients have been seen at the CDC since it opened its doors in October.
“It is fantastic to see so much development and investment happening across our estate, and we are really pleased to have successfully delivered our latest construction project, with the opening of the Gamma Camera unit at RSH last month. So many people have been involved, across many teams and working with our contractors, and it is great to see another modern, purpose-built facility on our site that will support our clinicians to improve care for our patients. It really makes us feel proud to hear the positive feedback from our patients and colleagues in the new facility, as we work to deliver a positive experience for patients and a more modern working environment for our colleagues. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this happen.”
Robin Long, Estates Principal Capital Project Manager
CREATING A GREAT PLACE TO WORK
We are committed to creating a compassionate, inclusive and great place to work where everyone feels they belong.
Fundamental to our plans, through our People Strategy, is strengthening an inclusive culture of diversity, innovation, and continuous improvement. This will support us in delivering excellent care for our patients
We are celebrating the diversity of our workforce. Our colleague representation for people with Asian, Mixed, Black and other ethnicities has increased year on year since 2020 and now makes up 21% of our workforce. In 2023, 50% of new starters were from an ethnically diverse background.
We want to tackle discrimination and build a culture of belonging for all, and to do this we need inclusive leadership at every level of our organisation. Leaders are not just managers, everyone has the potential to be a great leader with
the opportunity, right support and peer networks.
Our amazing Galvanise programme aims to empower individuals to lead compassionate and inclusive culture in their areas. Galvanise was introduced into the Trust by Dr Victoria Walton, Junior Doctor in Training, who won last year’s Chair’s Award.
The programme’s goal is to ensure that colleagues from ethnic minority groups have a safe space to come together and share their ideas, challenges and opportunities. It equips colleagues with the skills, knowledge and confidence to be leaders in their areas, as they develop within the Trust and NHS.
Nkiruka Nduka is a Discharge Lounge Sister at PRH and has recently completed the programme.
She said: “Galvanise has made me want to pursue more goals and it has given me a lifetime mentor. I now understand the challenges other members of staff go through and how we are all connected through working for the Trust. Through Galvanise, I am more conscious of people, their names and what or who they represent.”
Key to the programme is providing the time for critical discussion, through action learning groups and reflective practice. It is also an opportunity to access training such as difficult conversations, DiSC and Civility and Respect training sessions.
The DiSC assessment is a key part of the course and is a psychometric test which helps individuals to understand themselves and their relationships with others.
Galvanise graduate Dr Dodiy Herman, Emergency Medicine Consultant, said: “By understanding my own behavioural tendencies and communication preferences, I have enhanced my self-awareness and adapted my leadership style accordingly.
“The DiSC tool highlighted potential blind spots, such as a tendency towards perfectionism or over-analysis, which has been invaluable in navigating team dynamics.”
Every member of the Galvanise programme receives a mentor from within the senior leadership of the Trust, to offer advice and support on their professional development and aspirations.
For some, this has included career advice and interview advice, and it is fantastic that 40% of attendees on the programme have successfully achieved a promotion since starting the programme. Promotion is not everyone’s goal, and mentors are able to help empower individuals to make positive changes in their own areas.
Anish Pasumarthy works as a Specialist Cardiac Physiotherapist for the Heart Assessment Team at RSH.
Anish said: “I was motivated by a desire to enhance my leadership skills and contribute more effectively to my team. Throughout the course, I felt consistently supported by the course leaders, my mentor, and my current managerial staff, who provided invaluable guidance and encouragement.
“To others who may consider applying, I would say it’s a transformative opportunity worth pursuing. Participating in Galvanise has significantly impacted my career, boosting my confidence, expanding my professional network, and equipping me with skills that have opened doors to new leadership roles.”
If you have any questions about the programme or would like to take part, please contact sath. leadership@nhs.net
“At our closing ceremony, I was incredibly proud of our Galvanise graduates’ journey and inspired by their enthusiasm and commitment to lead positive change in their areas, as together we build a Trust where everyone feels they belong.
“It is not only an opportunity to help individuals to reach their potential, but our mentors have also learnt so much as well from working with our inspiring participants. Mentoring provides opportunities for us to learn about diverse cultures and backgrounds so we can continue to learn and grow together. Already we have 19 people signed up to our next cohort starting in September, which is great. I’m very excited about the future of Galvanise and how we can continue to develop the programme, providing opportunities and networks across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.”
John Skelton, Head of OD and Leadership and Galvanise Lead
CASE STUDY: MULTI-FAITH ROOM
As well as investing in growing the chaplaincy service to become a multi-faith team, we are also creating spaces where people of all faiths and beliefs are welcome and supported.
We are committed to meeting the needs of our diverse communities and have created a multi-faith space for everyone at RSH.
Previously the chapel, this multi-faith space is for colleagues to use as both a quiet and reflective area, and also a place for conversations and relaxation.
Lead Chaplain Patrick Aldred and his team met with the Staff Psychology Service to discuss the need for colleagues to have access to a space to meet, which wasn’t a staff room or the canteen, and the chapel was chosen.
The multi-faith room is also a place where cultural events can be celebrated, such as Pride or South Asian Heritage month.
As part of the transformation, local artist Charlotte Tisdale was commissioned to paint the artwork on the walls.
The new multi-faith space at RSH is now in use, with plans under way to create a similar multi-faith area at PRH. There is also a multi-faith space at Hollinswood House in Telford, which is home to the Community Diagnostic Centre.
“We want all our patients, visitors and colleagues to feel supported and included and our chaplaincy team, and Charlotte, have done a fantastic job in transforming this space.”
