Chief Executive Fortnightly Blog to NHS Orkney Staff – 13 May 2024

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Message for All NHS Orkney Staff 

To: Team Orkney

This week I have several updates to share and reflect on.

This includes:

1. Celebrating and thanking our nurses and midwives

I start with a big thank you to our 246 registered nurses and midwives (22 midwives and 224 nurses) and the 110 healthcare support workers who are vital and valued members of Team Orkney in the week we celebrate International Day of the Midwife (5 May) and International Nurses’ Day (12 May). Thank you for delivering excellent care to our patients and community and for the positive difference you make to the lives of so many. It has been great to see your contributions celebrated, including the photos in the foyer of The Balfour.

2. The iMatter survey is open – please have your say

This year’s iMatter survey opens today at 11am and closes on 3 June. Your feedback helps us to know what we’re doing well and where we need to do better. You will receive the questionnaire link by email. Please have a voice and take the time to have your say about what it’s like to work here. This is your chance to feedback and influence positive changes – and help our continuous improvement. We’re listening and will act on your feedback. If you have any questions, or haven’t received your survey link, please reach out to the Ork iMatter email address. We will receive our results early June and we’ll share these with you as soon as possible so you know what the headlines and themes are and most importantly, we’ll involve you in developing our organisational priorities that we will give most focus to in the year to come in response to your feedback.

3. Our new Corporate Strategy – aligning all we do with our 5 priorities (5Ps)

We’ve launched our new Corporate Strategy, which is called ‘Delivering what matters to our community 2024-2028’ and are very much looking to our future. Our promise is that we will look after our community and provide excellent care. We have three core values based on what you told us mattered to you most – open and honest, respect and kindness.

Our five strategic objectives are: people, patient safety, performance, potential and place (our 5Ps).

My ask is that our 5Ps are the focus of every appraisal and every meeting where personal objectives are agreed across NHS Orkney, so that every member of Team Orkney knows how they contribute to the delivery of our priorities. We are one team and we all contribute to the delivery of our strategy and have an important part to play.

4. Mental Health Awareness Week

This week it’s Mental Health Awareness Week. We’re all human and poor mental health can affect everyone. Most of us have been affected by mental health issues directly, or because we care for a loved one with these challenges. We never really know what is going on inside someone’s head, as much as we can all try. People’s home lives affect work lives and we need to be alive to this and understand this, and offer support where this is needed. What this really means, linking back to our values, is that we must all act with kindness and respect towards others and continue to raise awareness of mental health – reminding ourselves that mental health is central to our priorities as stated in our Corporate Strategy and Clinical Strategy – both supporting the health and wellbeing of Team Orkney – and your mental health – and improving our Mental Health Service. Please remember we have our Employee Assistance Programme – our free confidential helpline available to us all – 0800 028 0199 – which is here to support you with lots of issues: family issues, medical information, alcohol and drug issues, bereavement, financial wellbeing, relationship advice, childcare support, counselling, legal information, tenancy and housing concerns, stress and anxiety and consumer issues. This support is here for you – please use it if you need to talk or seek support – https://wisdom.healthassured.org/login

I would also like to say thank you to our Mental Health Team for the incredible job they do every day of the year, very often in difficult and challenging circumstances and to recognise the expectations on this service and toll this takes on many, including this team themselves (I know this from the conversations I have had recently). You all do an incredible job and make a positive difference to so many at such difficult moments and I want to notice and recognise this. Thank you all.

5. Some success stories

Midst our challenges there are always many positives and I want us to celebrate and recognise small steps and green shoots.

Here are some success stories and thank you’s.

  • Very many congratulations to Sara Murray and Dr Tariro Gandiya who were recently invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace to thank organisations and individuals for their work to support survivors of sexual assault. Sara and Tariro were invited in recognition of both their work to help establish a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Orkney. Well proud – we are incredibly proud of the work you do
  • This week I received this direct message that I want to share:

“Today we saw exceptional people at The Balfour in the Emergency Department. The team looked after us really well. Thank you so much to everyone.”

  • Our appraisal rates are now at 33%, which shows a month-on-month improvement, though this still means that the vast majority of you have not had an appraisal and therefore we must keep prioritising appraisals please (every member of staff deserves an annual appraisal where a discussion about how things are going happens, where objectives are set for the year ahead and where personal development is discussed – this is non-negotiable for me and what I expect every line manager to start taking seriously please)
  • Another success story is our sickness absence rates – this time last year we were in a position where just 6/22 Health Boards in Scotland had a poorer record for sickness absence than NHS Orkney. In 23/24 we have seen improvements and our sickness absence rates are now below the national average (5.85% versus 6.3% national average). 12 months on, 12 Boards have a poorer record than NHS Orkney. This is another small step forward. Our focus is on making NHS Orkney a great place to work and I recognise the increasing trend when it comes to 25% of staff off on sickness absence being related to stress and anxiety and we are looking at what more we can do to maximise our support for staff.

I hope this update is helpful – please send any feedback on my blogs, to me directly by emailing me at laura.skaife-knight@nhs.scot and if there are any subjects you would like me to cover in future updates, please let me know and I will include these moving forward.

For now – thank you for all you do Team Orkney – I leave you with this quote:

“It always seems impossible until it is done” (Nelson Mandela)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we can do it. Let’s keep going.

Laura Skaife-Knight

Chief Executive