Trust Matters April 2024 edition

Contents

Welcome from our Chair Kathryn Lavery

Hello and welcome to this edition of Trust Matters which has a special focus on partnership working across our communities.

Spanning a geographical footprint of South Yorkshire and The Humber, which includes the three places of Doncaster, Rotherham, and Scunthorpe and two Integrated Care Partnerships, gives us plenty of opportunities to work with many, health, social care and voluntary organisations and providers.

We have included some examples of the collaborative work we are doing with our partners to deliver health services which meet the needs of the people living in our communities.

There has certainly been lots to celebrate over the past couple of months. We launched a new Dementia service which combines the skills and expertise of the NHS, Alzheimer’s Society and Age UK Doncaster, to help improve the lives of people living with the condition.

We also had a couple of milestone birthdays. The virtual ward service celebrated its first birthday, and our children’s With Me In Mind school service celebrated five years of providing mental health support to young people across our areas.

Congratulations to our Grounded Research team which was a winner at the Medipex NHS Innovation awards for its work to develop and test an artificial intelligence driven outcome feedback system called AiOracle.

There are lots of exciting new things coming up in the next few months. Look out for our new look charity which will be launching soon.

As part of national volunteers’ week, we will be hosting a celebration event on Monday 3 June to say a massive thank you to our fantastic volunteers. We will also be showcasing the new and exciting volunteering and involvement opportunities we are creating. If you know of anyone who would be interested being involved at all levels of our trust, please let them know about this event. We very much look forward to meeting them.

And finally, save the date for our summer spectacular free fun day and annual members’ meeting on Saturday 20 July at Clifton Park, Rotherham. There will be traditional side stalls, giant games, and interactive fun. Watch out for the giant walkabout adult dinosaur and baby dinosaurs too. There is also It’s a knock-out competition and rounders tournament. We are looking for staff teams (and community) to enter.

All you need to do is enter your team by emailing our Health and Wellbeing team on rdash.rdashcommunications@nhs.net As always thank you for everything you do.

Kind regards,

Kathryn

If you’ve a story to tell let our Communications team know.

• Email: rdash.rdashcommunications@nhs.net
• RDaSH X (opens in new window)
• Facebook (opens in new window)
• Instagram (opens in new window)
• YouTube (opens in new window)

Going the Extra Mile (GEMs)

Well done to our Going the Extra Mile award winners!

Celebrating the good stuff that our colleagues do day in, and day out is something that we take pride in.

Well done to everyone who received a going the extra mile (GEM) award. All well and truly deserved. Here are the photos from our three most recent events which were presented by Ian Currell, Director of Finance and Performance, Richard Chillery, Chief Operating Officer, and Philip Gowland, Director of Corporate Affairs. Thank you for everything that you do.

Going the Extra Mile photos

• RDaSH GEMs for 11 March 2024 (opens in new window)
• RDaSH GEMs for 22 March 2024 (opens in new window)
• RDaSH GEMs for 27 March 2024 (opens in new window)

View from North Lincolnshire Place Director Alex Seale

In Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care System, our Places are central to driving our aim of narrowing the gap in health inequalities, increasing healthy life expectancy, and improving outcomes for people and communities.

As Place director for North Lincolnshire, I have a key role working with our Place leadership to bring together partners across health and care, local authority, voluntary and community sector and wider partners. Together we will harness the collective leadership to lever the totality of resources at Place and to engage, lead and own shared plans that will deliver change and enable people to thrive.

Last May 160 members from the organisations in our Place came together at our ‘Making it Real’ Health and Social Care Integration event. At this event we launched our The community first strategy which is a plan developed by North Lincolnshire’s Health and Wellbeing Board and Place Partnership to improve the lives of local people through a health and social care system where everyone works together to achieve our aims. The strategy focuses on keeping people in good health as much as possible by giving them the support and information they need to take care of their own wellbeing. The strategy will make sure those working in health and care understand what local people need so the most appropriate care and support is available at the time and place they need it.

At the event, we heard from a panel of our senior leaders about their ambitions for integration in a round table discussion. From my own personal reflections, I would like to see a coordinated approach between our workforce in how we meet the needs of the individual. I believe that by working better together, we can do the right thing for people.

I would like to see a coordinated approach between our workforce in how we meet the needs of the individual. I believe that by working better together, we can do the right thing for people.

Delivering integrated working approaches between teams will require teams to share, understand and challenge working practices together working towards shared values and behaviours but always with the common goal of the individual at the heart of decision-making.

Our North Lincolnshire Place Partnership has focused on three priority areas to drive integrated working and improved outcomes:

Integrated locality working

We are developing and preparing to scale up integrated locality working in North Lincolnshire. This is where people with, or at risk of developing long term conditions and or disabilities, and those who have existing conditions are supported in a person centred, proactive and preventative way that enables them to remain in their own homes, communities, families, schools, and employment. In North Lincolnshire we have five Localities which are the foundation of North Lincolnshire’s population health management approach. All Place Partners have agreed to use these localities as the basis of understanding need and informing preventative and proactive approaches to designing and delivering integrated support that will improve people’s health and wellbeing.

In our Scunthorpe South locality really good progress has been made. All partners in the health and social care system are coming together to pilot data, insight and intelligence led preventative approaches to understanding need and view from North Lincolnshire Place Director Alex Seale I would like to see a coordinated approach between our workforce in how we meet the needs of the individual. I believe that by working better together, we can do the right thing for people. Alex Seale 7 designing better direct care interventions centred around the needs of people.

The difference this will make forms a really important part of work in North Lincolnshire to ensure:

• people get the right care at the right time at the right place and people and communities are at the heart of health and care
• people get personalised care, closest to home
• we meet need at the lowest level and the most in need are prioritised

Integrated urgent care is our approach to ensuring that people experiencing episodes of physical or mental health remain in their own home, families, jobs and communities wherever possible. If a person needs to attend hospital or be admitted to residential care, they are supported with the right care to return to their home as soon as their acute or care needs have been met.

Our accelerated Home First discharge approach, a test event launched in 2023, has been used to embed our principles of Home First and has helped to embed our multiagency approach to facilitating discharge from hospital. We have successfully built on this through the development of integrated working in our single point of contact and transfer of care hub improving discharge flow and avoiding inappropriate admission to hospital.

Integrated strategic commissioning ensures that people are safe and have good quality provision enabled through a single integrated strategic commissioning and safeguarding approach that maximises place resources to the best effect to meet need and achieve the best quality of provision for residents.

A transformational care at home model and specification is being developed that will enable us to increase capacity to care for people in their own home including those with complex needs across the spectrum of physical, mental health and learning disabilities. This service model will move to an outcomes-based focus, giving people more control of their care and supporting innovative approaches to supporting their care.

With our partners in the local authority and RDaSH we are working together to reduce the number of people with complex needs including mental health and learning disabilities and who currently receive care outside our local area, by looking at how we can develop local solutions and packages of support and address any gaps in our local services. This will enable us to use the resources we have as effectively as possible as well as providing better outcomes for our people as close to home as possible.

Our Community First approach is underpinned by the amazing work of our experts by experience, ‘experts together’. Our ‘making it real’ event heard from the voices of people who need support from the health and social care system, which really helped everyone attending to understand that user experience is at the heart of everything we do. Twenty-five local organisations have signed the experts together pledge with quarterly forums scheduled to celebrate the successes and for the lived experience experts to ask questions of the organisations who have signed the pledge.

NHS North Lincolnshire Talking Therapies

Feel sad, low or tearful?

Worrying more often than not?

Got a long-term health condition that’s getting you down?

Talking Therapies gave me all the tools I need to move forward, and I learned to be kind to myself. I feel like I’ve been given my life back.

NHS North Lincolnshire Talking Therapies can help you feel like yourself again.

To access our Talking Therapies service, self-refer online at our Talking Therapies website (opens in new window) or call us on 03000 216 165.

Peer support showcase event

Colleagues joined community groups and charities across North Lincolnshire to showcase opportunities and raise awareness of the value they bring and introduce the role of peer support workers in the mental health communities.

The peer support worker role forms part of the Community Mental Health Transformation programme. It is supported by the Integrated Care Board, which had funded a peer support coordinator at citizens advice to assist the peer support network across grassroots mental health peer support groups.

The culmination of this was a peer support event which was attended by a range of community groups and charities all with a focus on mental health. Those present were:

• New beginnings, The MoveMent and Andy’s man club
• MIND
• Islamic centre, Your wellbeing and Mindful sisterhood
• North Lincolnshire Council Public Health, suicide prevention
• One for the Girls
• One for the Lads
• Westcliff Community centre
• Samaritans
• RDaSH Community Mental Health teams
• Cloverleaf advocacy, Mental Health and Autism

The event was also a chance for the groups to make connections and showcase what each other had to offer and how they could work together to help bridge the gaps.

Following on from this event some of the groups have accessed free mental health training. They are attending each other’s group sessions and will be able to offer their members other group support when needed.

Feedback includes:

• “Thank you for today I thought it went well and there was a lot of interacting between the numerous services. It was incredibly positive, and you did an excellent job of organising the event.”
• “Thank you for your ongoing support, you really have helped give us a voice and by being able to showcase what we are all about, it’s nice to have someone backing the need of peer support in the community.”
• “Please, please, please let this be a regular event, we have gained members to our group who did not have a clue we existed, and they have been struggling for some time. You are a real asset to our community.”
• Lindsey Bull reflected on the day “I feel a real privilege to be able to help give the people with lived experience an opportunity to be heard and for the people who have been through the system have the chance to help make changes for the better. I will strive to keep the community groups sustainable and hopefully get more people the help they need.”

A view from Rotherham Place Director at NHS South Yorkshire Chris Edwards

We are passionate about providing the best possible services and outcomes and are committed to a whole system approach across Rotherham.

By working together to make decisions on the best for Rotherham basis and getting the best value possible for Rotherham health and care pound, we can provide sustainable services over the long term that aim to help all Rotherham people live well for longer. We know the health of people in Rotherham is generally poorer than the England average, and people are living shorter lives than they should and in poorer health for longer than they should. Therefore, we are paying particular attention to certain population groups such as those who live in the most deprived areas or those from ethnic minority populations as they are more likely to experience higher inequalities in health.

We want everyone who works or lives in Rotherham, patients, people, families, to work together to establish an individual and collective widespread aspiration for improved health and social care. To work with partners to positively influence wider determinants of good heath, such as having a strong local economy, good housing and a good environment.

We have over 20 improvement projects in our plan, but we have collectively identified four key projects to prioritise, respiratory, Ambulatory care (SDEC), Diabetes and Frailty, for particular focus over 2024 to 2025 that will realise the maximum benefits which will also improvement pathways for patients and use our resources more effectively.

Expansion of award-winning social prescribing scheme

We have a national award-winning social prescribing scheme in Rotherham, which covers mental and physical heath, funded through the Better Care fund (a joined budget between health and care), that demonstrates the excellent partnership working we have in the borough.

From the original two schemes, (one for people with long term conditions and one to help patients under the care of RDaSH with a mental health diagnosis to be supported out of long term statutory mental health services) this work has expanded in a number of ways. This includes working with a number of Rotherham Primary Care Networks, through the GP federation, to host social prescribing link workers, supporting patients who are able to benefit from non-clinical interventions. The link workers complement the existing social prescribing work by supporting patients who otherwise would miss out. A social prescribing pilot is also underway, as part of the Urgent and Emergency Care Centre offer, working with Rotherham hospital colleagues to enable patients to have their wider support needs met.

Chris Edwards said: “In Rotherham, we have fantastic relationship across all our health and care partners who are really committed to working together to improve the lives of Rotherham people. Our Place builds upon the individual organisational plans, identifying areas where we can do more together. We have a number of key priorities, as set out in our recently updated Place plan, that we are committed to delivering.”

Rotherham 5 to 19 neurodevelopmental

Pathway An area we’ve been working hard to improve over the last few years is our neurodevelopment pathway for children and young people aged 5 to 19.

Targeted work with education colleagues has resulted in significant improvements to the quality of referrals, which has reduced the time taken for clinicians to gather information for assessment. This has freed them up to spend more time with children and families. It has also reduced the length of assessments, increasing the number that clinicians can complete.

The referral pathway ensures implementation of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) graduated response so that we are assured children and families have access to support whilst they are waiting. Although the number of referrals has increased over the last few years, we are making progress to reduce the waiting list and have seen both the length of time children wait for assessment and the number of children waiting reduce. Referrals are allocated based on complexity of need therefore allocations are not always taken from the longest waits.

Action on prevention and health inequalities improving the population’s health and preventing illness and disease is key to reducing health inequalities and is at the heart of our health plans.

Tackling health inequalities is a core priority because people from more deprived backgrounds are more likely to have long term health conditions and suffer poor health. It’s extremely pleasing to see some of the work taking place across Rotherham on prevention and health inequalities. As part of Place governance, we have a dedicated group, chaired by Ben Anderson our Director of Public Health, driving forward a plan to address this key area.

Lottery funding boost

One of our peer support groups in Rotherham has just ‘won the lottery’ and received a whopping £347,521 boost. S62 Community Together Rotherham Community Interest Company, based in Rawmarsh, received the grant award from the National Lottery, meaning stability for the peer support they provide.

The group currently mainly offers group mental health peer support, but the cash injection means that they can now expand what they offer and include one to one peer support.

Sarah Lacey, one of S62’s Directors and the Operations Manager, said: “It was a huge relief when we received the award. The money means stability for our community. We had really struggled with small pots of funding to date, so this will provide us with a secure future. Not only is this a relief it’s also very exciting and will help us to move forward. It’s transformational for Rotherham.”

Our trust will be working with the group, for example, looking at how the S62 can offer peer support to RDaSH patients who are ready to head home from our wards at Swallownest Court.

Sarah added: “It’s early days at the moment and I’ve meetings with RDaSH staff to plan our next steps, but this investment means we have a future.”

Top marks for specialist Rotherham team

Trust colleagues working in a service providing highly specialist life-changing care are beaming after being given a big thumbs-up by a royal college.

The team at Rotherham’s electro convulsive therapy (ECT) suite celebrated after learning that, following a detailed review, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has reaccredited their 12-year-old service for a further three years.

Acute Directorate Matron Carla Rogers, said: “We were assessed against 244 individual criteria and hit 100 per cent in all areas, which is a fantastic performance. I’m incredibly proud of the team, who operates in a very important, but not always widely spoken about, field of mental health.

“We are the only ECT suite within RDaSH, based at Woodlands on the Rotherham General Hospital site, and treat around 12 patients a year, from within the trust and externally. Theatre staff from the adjacent hospital work in the suite.

“Patients come to us with really severe depression and are very ill, often close to death when they arrive. Under general anaesthetic, the ECT treatment resets imbalances within their brain, though a process that takes around 20 minutes and the improved health outcomes are amazing. They literally wake up to a new positive life.”

A view from Doncaster Place Director at NHS South Yorkshire Anthony Fitzgerald

NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) is a key partner in the Integrated Care Partnership within Doncaster and Rotherham.

Alongside RDaSH, the NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board is a key partner with our health and care partnerships in Doncaster and Rotherham. Across South Yorkshire we want everyone to live happy and healthier lives for longer.

In Doncaster, we have been working collaboratively for many years to transform the way we care for and achieve a positive change for our residents. Along with the partnership chief executives, I am committed to tackling health inequalities and the challenges faced by our core20 and inclusion health communities.

I believe it is extremely important that we continue to embed health inequalities in the development and delivery of our core business across all in the city. The key to our success and to turning the tide on tackling these inequalities is the strength of our relationships and trust across the partnership and with our local communities. New priorities for health and care are emerging for Doncaster, focusing on three key areas which I strongly believe will have the greatest impact on people’s lives, and on the longer-term financial position:

• right sizing complex care in our hospitals
• integration and alignment of primary care and community health
• develop our community prevention approach

Our priorities have been development after extensive engagement with residents and communities. It is really pleasing to see the commitment shown by all our Doncaster partners to the significant system change required to respond to the residents’ voice and to closing the significant financial gap.

There is some excellent working taking place across the health and care across Doncaster that supports our priorities and tackle health inequalities. For example, after the success of last year, peer support workers worked in the emergency department for six weeks throughout Christmas and New Year. They worked seven days a week at peak times, supporting staff and patients. Anything from making drinks, keeping people company, keeping people calm and in some cases supporting people in the community and preventing re-attendance where possible with the wider networks of support.

Feedback about this service from both staff and patients has been extremely positive. We have also worked closely to put hospital to home peer support coordinators in place support for people after they leave hospital. The fantastic people focused group (PFG) has been working in partnership with RDaSH on this pioneering programme to offer support for people to help them to make the transition from hospital to home.

Anthony Fitzgerald said:

“It is really pleasing to see the commitment shown by all our Doncaster partners to the significant system change required to respond to the residents’ voice and to closing the significant financial gap”

Trust workers close to eliminating Hepatitis C in Doncaster

A potentially deadly disease is being given its marching orders in Doncaster, thanks to effective targeting by a dedicated team of trust nurses whose reputation is growing worldwide.

According to figures from NHS England, Hepatitis C, which has no symptoms but can cause liver damage and potentially lead to cancer of the liver, is close to being eliminated in the city.

The disease is spread by through blood to blood transmission for example sharing (repeated use of) infected needles, injecting drug users being most vulnerable. Other potential risk areas include skin breaking procedures like tattooing and having a medical operation or dental treatment overseas.

Specialist Nurse, Jenny Havercroft, (who heads) the RDaSH led Hepatitis C service in Doncaster with colleagues Sheena Emerson and Janine Smith, said: “The World Health Organisation (WHO) has set a target of 13 cases per 100,000 population by 2025 in order to eradicate the disease. Doncaster is currently at 21 cases per 100,000, which is less than 65 cases across the whole city.

It’s a far cry from just 15 years ago, when between 2,500 and 3,000 Doncaster people were believed to be infected.

“Taking testing and treatment into the community has been a massive game changer, compared to when it was just provided in hospital, added Jenny. “ Coupled with this has been the introduction of tests in prisons and Doncaster has a high prison population. Since 2019 we have been able to test prisoners and can currently place those who are positive into treatment within four days, which is believed to be the fastest in the country.

“Our work with prison healthcare providers is seen as gold standard best practice and has been featured at an international conference. Around two or three Doncaster prisoners are placed into an eight to 12 weeks long treatment course every week, which cures them of the disease.

“We link up with the volunteers from the Hepatitis C Trust who have lived experience of the disease and provide peer support. We have also worked with colleagues from the British Liver Trust offering fibroscans during a liver awareness event. We use the RDaSH health bus one night a month and link in with sexual health services, the amber project and drug services to reach commercial sex workers and the homeless, offering testing and advice.”

Testing is soon to be introduced at hospital emergency departments and free home test kits can be ordered from the NHS.

Hep C services is part of the South Yorkshire Operational Delivery Network working with prisons, hard to reach communities across the whole network. Some good regional and national evidence of how brilliant we are.

Dementia service supporting people to live well

An Emmerdale star has helped to launch a new dementia service in Doncaster.

Actor John Middleton was among the speakers at the event talking about his lived experience of dementia.

The launch means that Doncaster people and their families affected by dementia are benefitting from the new service which brings together the expertise of the NHS and key charities working together to improve the lives of people living with the condition.

The Doncaster Dementia service, which launched in March, is a partnership between this trust, Alzheimer’s Society and Age UK Doncaster. Together they provide a wraparound service which includes clinical and non-clinical dementia advice, information, and support.

Richard Chillery, our Chief Operating Officer, said: “We are pleased to be working closely with Alzheimer’s Society, Age UK Doncaster and local groups to give Doncaster people a service which places their needs at the centre of their care, supporting them to live well with dementia.”

Representatives from RDaSH, Alzheimer’s Society, Age UK Doncaster, Crossroads Care Rotherham, Royal Voluntary Service, Club Foundation Doncaster, and DARTS attended a showcase event at the Eco Power Stadium in Doncaster to celebrate the new service.

Michael White, Regional Manager from Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Supporting people at each stage of their life journey with dementia is essential, from being worried about your memory or other symptoms, to receiving a diagnosis and adjusting to a new lifestyle with friends and family. This partnership with RDaSH and other partners enables the right support to be provided at the right time for people in Doncaster.”

Around one in three people in the UK will be affected by dementia. There are over 3,800 people estimated to have dementia in Doncaster, with this figure expected to rise to over 5,500 by 2030 (source NHS Digital, Integrated Care System data). Having a timely diagnosis is key to accessing treatment and support to help people to manage dementia symptoms. If you or someone you know is showing the signs of dementia, please seek advice from your GP

Virtual ward celebrates success

An NHS service, which provides Doncaster people with hospital level care in the comfort of their own homes, marked its success at a celebratory event held at St Catherine’s House in Balby.

The Virtual Ward, run by this trust in partnership with Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, has clinicians visiting patients at home, delivering the same care, while keeping hospital beds free.

Daily clinical support and specialist assistance is provided to the patient by a skilled healthcare team which includes, advanced clinical practitioners, registered nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists, and occupational therapists.

Since launching in December 2022, the virtual ward has helped 700 people to receive their care in their own homes without the need for an extended hospital stay.

Cora Turner, our Director of Physical Health and Neurodiversity Services, said: “The Virtual Ward has been a great asset to the health community, local people, and their families. It has helped residents to live well in their own homes and recover in familiar environment whilst receiving the care and support they need.”

Patients who have received care through the virtual ward said they valued the service as they could sleep in their own bed but still have the care liked they had on the ward.

The virtual ward is one of the services which is part of a range of Home First services which aim to support people at home or if they are in hospital helping them home more quickly.

The Doncaster primary care mental health service celebrated its first anniversary

The morning session was attended by staff working in the primary care mental health hubs and PCN mental health practitioners working within GP surgeries. They reflected on their journey so far and held discussions about the following:

• how they would like to see the service develop over the next 12 months
• how they can continue to develop relationships and work collaboratively with voluntary, community and social enterprises
• which Doncaster services they would like to connect with more

Partners from across the community of Doncaster joined the afternoon session and over 60 people attended, including colleagues from primary care and specialist mental health services, NHS Talking Therapies, primary care and voluntary, community and social enterprises.

Attendees worked together to share ideas and best practice, build connections, and develop a shared vision of the future, which included the following ongoing priorities:

• listen to the needs of Doncaster communities and the voice of lived experience
• good and timely communication between services
• continue to build relationships and trust between partners
• focus on staff retention and wellbeing
• continue to develop the ‘No Wrong Door’ referral approach
• ensure everyone has a good understanding of the collective service offer across Doncaster

Barbara Taylor, Service Manager for Primary Care Mental Health and Specialist Services in Doncaster said: “It was a great opportunity to have some time to consider the journey that has been before and celebrate successes alongside looking forwards to our next steps to making first class services in Doncaster from the very early front door of access across the spectrum of services.”

Readers’ letters

This is where you can write to us about topics of interest, either work related or something completely different. Please email your letters to us at rdash.rdashcommunications@nhs.net and include Trust Matters readers’ page in the subject heading. We hope to hear from you soon.

Alcohol Early Interventions team compliments

It is great when we receive compliments from the people who use our services. Here is some feedback that the Alcohol Early Interventions team has received:

“Life is very good right now and I really do appreciate all your help. You really made a difference to me and helped me on my journey, so thank you.”

“Thank you so much for all your help. I’ve always felt completely at ease in our sessions and never ashamed. I’ll always be grateful for the tools you’ve given me to cope with anything else life with throw at me and I’m determined to never be in that place again.”

“Just wanted to share it’s my one-year anniversary without alcohol today. I’ve become a regular gym goer and I’m slowly starting to let myself off the hook for things that didn’t go so well before. Thanks again for everything you did. Couldn’t have got here without you.”

“It has been a massive help. Non-judgemental, explained well and challenged well when needed.”

“All of it was really good and it has turned my life around.”

“Just wanted to say a massive thank you to yourself and the staff of RDaSH for the support you have given me over the last six months or so. I really appreciate what you have done. You’ve not only given me the tools to help me through my addiction but also given me a completely new outlook on life.”

The Alcohol Early Interventions team is part of aspire drug and alcohol service and aims to help people to safely manage their drinking within safe limits to prevent it spiralling out of control. For more information, please ring 03000 213900.

Doncaster Armed Forces Community awards 2024

The Doncaster Armed Forces Community awards have been launched, why not consider entering?

The awards recognise those that go above and beyond in supporting Doncaster’s Armed Forces Community.

The categories are:

• Doncaster Armed Forces Covenant board member of the year award
• Reservist of the year award
• Adult cadet leader award
• Community engagement award
• Innovation award
• Business of the year award
• Giving back award
• Charity of the year award
• Volunteer of the year award
• Special recognition award

If you want to nominate a person, group, organisation or business please visit the Doncaster Armed Forces website (opens in new window).

Corporate directorates

The trust’s five care groups are supported by our backbone, or corporate, sixth group, which has ten directorates.

Each are accountable for specific support to frontline patient care, either through the delivery of direct services, such as catering, or IT solutions, or through provision of expert advice on subjects like safeguarding or communications.

Corporate directorates are represented in the clinical leadership executive by their director and are responsible bi-monthly for reporting their work to deliver the trust’s strategy and promises.

There is currently a brief review of grading and job titles within corporate functions at bands 8 and 9. This may give rise later in the year to changes in what is shown here.

Each directorate contains many teams and dedicated individuals. The roles shown are only the most senior leaders in the existing structures. Whilst the corporate functions vary in size and scale, each play a critical role in delivering services and in working in partnership with other organisations.

Directorates

Operations

• Whole time staff equivalent: 42.78
• Budget: £2,190,669

Director

• Richard Chillery, Chief Operating Officer

Officers

• Victoria Takel, Deputy Chief Operating Officer
• Natalie Belt, Head of Change and Transformation
• Katie Speed, Emergency, Preparedness, Resilience and Response Manager
• Matt Thomas, Head of Patient Flow
• Jill Fairbank, Head of Contracting Performance and CQUIN

Finance and procurement

• Whole time staff equivalent: 46.78
• Budget: £3,177,393

Director

• Ian Currell, Director of Finance and Estates (until 1st July)

Officers

• Izaaz Mohammed, Deputy Finance Director
• Amy Denning, Assistant of Finance, Financial Management
• Rob Kirkby, Assistant of Finance
• Lynne Beedle, Head of Procurement

Estates

• Whole time staff equivalent: 44.19
• Budget: £5,014,035

Director

• Ian Currell, Director of Finance and Estates (until 1st July)

Officers

• Mark Swift, Head of Estates and Development
• Paul McGuinness, Head of Capital and Planning
• Ian Higgins, Environmental and Waste Manager

Nursing and facilities

• Whole time staff equivalent: 193.42
• Budget: £8,439,829

Director

• Steve Forsyth, Chief Nursing Officer

Officers

• Kate McCandlish, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer
• Paula Rylatt, Deputy Director Patient Experience and Public Involvement
• Vacant, Deputy Director of Safety and Quality
• Lisa Grandcourt, Head of Facilities

People and organisational development

• Whole time staff equivalent: 97.19
• Budget: £4,074,394

Director

• Carlene Holden, Director of People and Organisational Development

Officers

• Lisa Earnshaw, Head of Workforce Information and Transactional Services
• Vacant, Deputy Director of Human Resources and Learning
• Jayne Collingwood, Deputy Director for Organisational Development

Medical, pharmacy and research

• Whole time staff equivalent: 51.75
• Budget: £2,598,228

Director

• Dr Graeme Tosh, Medical Director

Officers

• Dr Sunil Mehta, Deputy Medical Director
• Dr Diarmid Sinclair, Deputy Medical Director
• Steve Davies, Chief Pharmacist
• Heather Rice, Director of Research and Innovation
• Sharon Greensill, Deputy Director of Organisational Learning, Patient Safety and Inquests

Strategic development

• Whole time staff equivalent: 11.47
• Budget: £639,990

Director

• Jo McDonough, Director of Strategic Development

Officers

• Ray Hennessy, Deputy Director of Strategic Development
• Lynn Hall, Head of Communications
• Wendy Fisher, Clinical Strategic Adviser

Health informatics

• Whole time staff equivalent: 76.46
• Budget: £5,330,895

Director

• Richard Banks, Director of Health Informatics

Officers

• Caroline Britten, Head of Information Governance
• David Hush, Head of Information Management and Business Intelligence
• Lee Isle, Head of IT Support Services
• David Smith, Head of Information Quality
• Nigel Wright, Head of IT Infrastructure

Corporate assurance

• Whole time staff equivalent: 38.60
• Budget: £3,184,606

Director

• Philip Gowland, Director of Corporate Assurance and Board Secretary

Officers

• Jane Charlesworth, Corporate Assurance Manager
• Lindsay Fleming, Executive Admin team Leader
• Toni Ellis, Executive Business Manager
• Vacant, Head of Risk Management

Psychological professionals and therapies

• Whole time staff equivalent: 6.50
• Budget: £465,830

Director

• Dr Judith ‘Jude’ Graham, Director of Psychological Professionals and Therapies

Officers

• Jon Rouston, Chief Allied Health Professional
• Jo Farthing-Bell, Lead Social Worker
• Noma Makhanda, Lead Occupational Therapist and Deputy Chief Allied Health Professional
• Dr Claire Klein, Deputy Director for Psychological Professionals

Celebrating our social workers

We celebrated social worker week between 18 March and 22 March and paid tribute to our amazing colleagues.

Social workers are vital to some of our services and as part of the celebrations our colleagues held a conference at the Holiday Inn in Doncaster.

The theme of the event was Buen Vivir ‘Shared Future for Transformative change’ learn, connect and influence.

Our social workers came together with social work colleagues from local authorities and the integrated care boards to discuss key social work themes and celebrate the profession with speakers from Sheffield Hallam University, University of Sheffield and the People Focused Group.

Organiser Joanne Farthing Bell said: “We had fantastic feedback about the event with social workers stating that they felt really passionate about their profession and honoured to continue to practice social work across health and social care in a mental health setting.”

Many of our social workers are pictured here at the event. We also have some fabulous videos of our social workers on our YouTube channel (opens in new window).

New way to access help from our Crisis teams

Now, people of all ages in Rotherham, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire will be able to access our local crisis services directly by calling 111 and selecting the mental health option. Calls will be answered by our call handling team who take initial personal details and concerns at that time and pass this on to our crisis staff who will call you and explore your situation with you and develop an initial plan with you.

Our local crisis line will remain accessible directly via 0800 8048999 for people already familiar with it. If you have any questions about NHS 111 ‘select mental health option’, please email paula.thompson12@nhs.net.

Pilot poverty proofing of services set to start

The trust is embarking on an exciting piece of work as we set out to ‘poverty proof’ all our services.

The aim is to prevent lack of money from being a barrier to our patients getting the healthcare they need.

The geographical areas that RDaSH serves contain some of the most deprived communities in the country, where living with hardship is an everyday battle for many people.

Research shows that poverty makes it harder for patients to access our health services. The obstacles include not having enough money to pay for the bus fares to get to appointments, or being able to afford equipment they may need to help them get better, such as specialist shoes.

Do not attend (DNA) levels also tend to be higher in poorer areas because people do not always have any credit on their phones to cancel or re-arrange booked appointments.

Our intention, through Promise 6, is to reach out to the communities we serve to address these inequalities, as barriers to care mean people living in poverty are getting sicker and accessing services later. Emergency hospital admissions can be as much as two-thirds higher in deprived neighbourhoods.

Senior Strategic Development Manager Steph Pinnell said: “Nobody should be excluded from the care they need simply because they are poor. We are the first NHS Trust in South Yorkshire to set out on this journey and, initially, three services will pilot the ‘poverty proofing’ initiative, one in each of the geographical areas we cover.”

The services are Doncaster Adult Podiatry, led by Tracey Wheeler; North Lincolnshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) led by Michelle Loveland; and Rotherham Early Intervention in Psychosis, led by Nicola Bonser.

“A lot of engagement with patients and the public will be carried out first to scope out the barriers and identify solutions. To help us, the trust is tendering for a charity partner, with experience in the poverty proofing field, to guide us”, added Steph.”

“The successful organisation will also train the trainers so we can gradually roll out the programme to the 250 services we currently provide. We expect to start the pilot process in early summer this year.”

Improving your experience at work

We’ve taken up the opportunity to be a people promise exemplar organisation. This means we will be working closely to improve your experience of working in our organisation over the next 12 months.

We will be working with colleagues at NHS England and a dedicated people promise manager will lead our work as an exemplar in our organisation. This work will be aligned to the NHS Long Term workforce plan and people promise which sets out in the words of our people what will most improve their working experience and make the NHS the workplace we all want it to be.

The Promise focuses on seven key elements; we are compassionate and inclusive, we are recognised and rewarded, we each have a voice that counts, we are safe and healthy, we are always learning, we work flexibly, and we are a team.

As an exemplar organisation, we will draw up an action plan outlining what areas of the people promise we will focus on over the next 12 months. These will be areas where we think we can improve our offer to you. If you want to know more, please contact leanne.young2@nhs.net.

Royal College of Nursing Prince of Wales Nursing Cadet Scheme programme launched

We’ve launched a Royal College of Nursing Prince of Wales nursing cadet programme, so watch out for some new faces in our clinical teams this summer!

We’ve been working in partnership with NHS England’s North East and Yorkshire Nursing, Allied Health Professionals and Midwifery Workforce team and Sheffield Health and Social Care to launch the programme, run by the Royal College of Nursing.

The aim of the programme is to support young people who may be considering future careers in nursing. The trust will be supporting them to consider a career in nursing through a variety of routes and will be assisting with practical support such as interview preparation and observational work experience.

We’ve started working with All Saints’ Catholic High School in Sheffield and we will see our cadets joining us for an observational work experience in the early summer.

Watch this space for further updates.

Taking the bus where it’s needed

Trust colleagues are taking to the bus to forge strong links with our underserved communities in a bid to reverse their poor health outcomes.

The RDaSH health bus is acting as a mobile one-stop point for nursing staff making contact with families living on traveller sites. The pioneering scheme, delivered by staff from our trust and the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), is being welcomed by traveller families who can access health and wellbeing checks and be signposted to relevant health services.

Kathryn Bebb, our Matron for Community and Long Term Conditions, said: “Gypsies, Travellers and Roma are among the most disadvantaged people in the country as they often have difficulty accessing NHS services and tend to have poor health outcomes as a result. We want to close the inequality gap between their community and the rest of the country through this local initiative.

“After successful engagement with the community leaders, we are now able to take the health bus onto the traveller sites and offer routine observations such as blood pressure monitoring. Importantly, we can offer advice on a wide range of different health and social services that are available to the residents to support their physical and mental wellbeing. On a recent visit we were able to help three residents register with a NHS dentist, something they had struggled to do, all got appointments within seven days. We also assisted in the downloading and use of the NHS app onto their smartphones as an additional source of information and to access their health record.”

Kathryn works closely with Whitley Smith, Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Connector at the South Yorkshire ICB who, through her links to this community, is able to build trust in the scheme and pave the way for the bus visits. Whitley said: “The drop-in sessions are available on-site between 11:30am and 3pm. We put the word around and the residents know they can come along to discuss any problems they have confidentially. The sessions are proving very popular and as well as seeing adults, Kathryn is arranging to bring along a paediatric nurse too, so child consultations can take place as well.”.

Volunteers’ Week showcase event

Come and join us as we celebrate our amazing volunteers and say thank you to them for the contribution they make to our services and patients.

We are hosting a celebration event at Doncaster’s CAST theatre on Monday 3 June as part of the national Volunteers’ Week. We welcome new and aspiring volunteers and people who wish to be involved at all levels of the trust to call in from 1:30pm to 3:30pm to find out more about the new and exciting volunteering and involvement opportunities we are creating. Many of our volunteers tell us that it gives them a sense of purpose, boosts their wellbeing and is a way of giving something back to their NHS.

We are also wanting to involve patients, carers and communities in decision-making in our trust, throughout the year.

Whether you are looking to gain insight and experience in the NHS to enhance your future career or make a meaningful difference to how we deliver our services to our communities, you are an expert by experience, a current or former person who has received our services, a carer, or community member, or simply want to get involved, we’d love to hear from you.

Staff volunteer and engagement (placement ambassadors) needed

As part of our promises 3 and 5, we are seeking colleagues and key ambassadors from each of our services who will support volunteer and involvement placements in their area. The aim is to have prospective ambassadors representing their service at this event to support our strategy of having more volunteers across the trust alongside involvement within our governance and decision-making structures.

If you are interested in having a volunteer placement or to learn more about involvement and coproduction, please come along to the showcase event on 3 June.

If you have a particular interest in this area or wish to be involved in the event, please email initially Stuart Green, Patient Experience and Involvement Lead (Interim), on email stuart.green4@nhs.net.

The event will be recorded, and we hope for those that cannot physically make it on the day be able to see recordings from the day.

For more information about the celebration and event please contact the Patient Experience and Involvement team on rdash.patient-experience@nhs.net.

To book your place please see the CAST website (opens in new window).

Volunteering boosts confidence and leads to a job

When Becca Robinson decided she wanted to change direction with her job, she turned to volunteering to give her the steer she needed.

Becca (29) of Balby, Doncaster, was working in a care home as a beautician, but she wanted a change, packed in her job and headed to volunteer at our trust.

And after four months of working on receptions at The Opal Centre, at Tickhill Road Hospital site, and at St John’s Information Centre, at St John’s Hospice, she has now secured some bank work as a Domestic.

Becca, who gets married later this year and volunteers for two days per week, said: “I wanted to help the NHS out and wanted experience to get a job with the hospital, which has turned out well for me. Eventually I hope to head into other health care roles.”

Becca is promoting volunteering as RDaSH gears up to celebrate national volunteers’ week. A volunteering and involvement celebration event will be held at Doncaster’s CAST theatre on Monday 3 June where new and aspiring volunteers and people who want to get involved are invited to drop in to talk to staff between 1:30pm and 3:30pm to find out more about the new and exciting volunteering and involvement opportunities at RDaSH.

Becca added: “If anyone is thinking of volunteering, I’d say go for it. It really is great experience that can lead to a job role. Volunteering has given me more confidence and helped me to get employment and before I started my job, I knew a lot about the services RDaSH offers.”

RDaSH has committed to a number of promises to engage both volunteers and local people in all aspects of decision-making across the trust’s services.

Anyone wanting information about volunteering or involvement and should contact Stuart Green in RDaSH’s volunteers office by emailing rdash.patient-experience@nhs.net.

Happy retirement Helen

After 40 years in the NHS and 23 years working with us, we bid farewell to Helen Dixon. We all wish you a very happy retirement Helen.

Pilot framework completed

The Doncaster Central Locality Community Mental Health team recently completed a pilot psychological framework known as structured clinical management (SCM), marking a significant step in the broader initiative to transform community mental health teams (CMHTs). SCM, an evidence-based intervention tailored for individuals presenting with symptoms consistent with complex emotional needs and emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD).

SCM is a generalist treatment delivered by the Multidisciplinary team. It includes weekly individual one to one sessions along with taking part in six month skills group therapy sessions. SCM emphasises problem-solving, effective crisis planning, and strategies to manage impulsivity, emotions, and interpersonal relationships. Nationally, there has been an increased effort to enhance care provisions in community mental health teams, aligning with the goals outlined in the NHS long-term plan.

Feedback from graduates of the pilot SCM group has been overwhelmingly positive. One service user said: “A lot of us have changed since beginning SCM. We’ve got through bad situations in a much better way.”

Another service user said: “The SCM group was a warm, welcoming, non-judgmental environment and it has made me feel better about getting help.” Another service user added: “The skills that I have learnt have had a very positive impact, I have now begun to live for myself, not just my child.” Staff members have shared how it has improved their confidence and skills and they find their sessions have more structure and focus working within a SCM framework. This means there is a dedicated focus on treatment and problem-solving and has been well received by staff and service users alike.

The insights gained from the pilot framework have been instrumental in informing the implementation of the SCM programme across the other three locally based CMHTs in Doncaster.

Colleagues are looking forward to the continued success of SCM, with the confidence that it’s benefits has and will continue to will extend to future service users.

Feedback

“We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone involved in structured clinical management (SCM). I’m sure I speak for us all when I say we have learnt so many new skills, achieved new goals, rebuilt relationships, started making better life choices and so much more. We couldn’t have come this far if it wasn’t for the SCM, so thank you for taking the time and having patience to make it more than just tables, chairs and PowerPoints. The experience made therapy seem less scary and intense. We are very sad to leave but very happy to graduate. Thank you again.”

Vulnerable in-patient rucksacks are hospital bound

Learning disability adults cared for by our trust are being given special “grab and go” rucksacks to take with them to hospital as a pilot project.

Called VIP, vulnerable in-patient, bags, they feature the learning disability traffic light on a clip-on badge and act as useful ‘one place’ storage for important health documents and other personal items.

Trust Acute Liaison Nurse Rebecca Knapton said: “People with a learning disability may struggle in certain environments like hospitals, which they can find daunting and upsetting. We have provided the rucksacks to carry important documents like health passport, care plans and medication lists.”

“They can also be personalised to carry any distraction items that the patient may find comforting in a stressful situation, such as fidgets or colouring books, some basic items are provided initially.”

“The aim is to keep everything together so that they can accompany the patient to outpatient appointments or inpatient stays.”

To date 115 rucksacks have been purchased, funded by £1,000 from RDaSH charitable funds and £1,000 from Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust charitable funds.

“We organised a number of focus groups consisting of patients and carers to pick the colour of the rucksacks and the majority of people chose green. We will use this year’s learning disability awareness week (17 June to 23 June) to gather feedback on how well they have been received and used”, added Beckie.

Praise for community nurse

It is always great when we receive compliments from our patients. Here is one of them: VIP rucksacks are hospital bound Holding the rucksacks are left to right, Louise Darling and Cat McGee. Praise for community nurse

“I would like to let you know about a member of the Community Nurses. I am afraid I don’t know this ladies name, but she was leaving a visit on Castle Crescent, Conisbrough on Monday, 18 March at about 3:45pm. One of the residents had a fall via a pothole.

The resident in question is 79 years of age. He was laid on the road as we had been advised by the ambulance service not to move him. Your member of staff stopped straight and came to assist us she stayed with us until the Ambulance came three hours later.

She went above and beyond. I hope your records will find who this lady was and as she was so helpful.

Well attended recruitment workshop

RDaSH as a great place to work and develop a career was showcased at a special recruitment event at Doncaster’s Danum Gallery Library and Museum.

The trust’s recruitment team and Doncaster Good Work, Individual Placement Support team invited members of the public and patients to the two-hour interactive recruitment and employability workshop, where they learnt about vacancies and life as an RDaSH employee.

Julia Shaw, Acting People Resource Manager, and Liam Hackett, Pastoral Officer, provided insight into the roles available, pastoral support and employee benefits. Employment specialists based in Community Mental teams across Doncaster encouraged people to ask questions about roles and to apply for current vacancies. Around 60 people attended the event, which featured a discussion about application and interview barriers and an opportunity to answer questions about vacancies and areas of work.

Well done!

Colleagues from the Children’s Care Group had the privilege of attending the health service journal’s partnership awards after the Children’s Transformation team was shortlisted for a partnership award with concept health for their workaround virtual reality.

Although the care group didn’t leave with a trophy in hand, they say it was wonderful to hear all about the amazing work going on around the country which is focusing on improving health, and they’ve also brought back ideas on what innovations could be introduced at our trust.

Kate Jones, Care Group Nurse Director, said: “I want to say a huge well done to Karen Smith, Leana Gater and Lewis Turgoose for all their hard work, and to all colleagues across our Children and Young People’s Mental Health teams (CAMHS) who have promoted and supported our young people to join the virtual reality pilot project.”

Free fun day and annual members’ meeting

On the 20 July, 10am to 4pm at Clifton Park, Rotherham, Garden House and surrounding parkland we will be hosting a free fun day and our annual members’ meeting.

Free fun for colleagues, patients and the public includes:

• a giant walkabout adult dinosaur and baby dinosaurs or dinosaur petting zoo
• circus skills workshop
• coconut shy
• hook a duck
• play your cards right
• test of strength
• mega buzz wire
• crazy mirrors
• face painting
• giant games area including snakes and ladders and noughts and crosses
• dance machine
• ice cream bike with free ice cream
• candy floss and popcorn cart
• air hockey table
• and much more

There will be refreshments and food to buy too. And visitors can find out about all of the trust’s services.

On the day spectators can also watch as RDaSH and community teams take part in an It’s a knockout style competition and rounders tournament. If you work for RDaSH, get your team in now by emailing rdash.rdashcommunications@nhs.net.

We need teams of 10, but if you’re short, we may have others interested who can fill a slot.

Part of the day will also be the Annual Members’ Meeting which will take place in the Garden House, near all of the fun.

Get the date in your diary now!

Winner at the Medipex NHS Innovation awards!

Personalised outcome feedback technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of psychological care.

Around one million patients in England are referred to psychological services that treat depression and anxiety each year. Only 50% recover after treatment.

A team based at Grounded Research developed and tested an artificial intelligence (AI) driven outcome feedback system called AiOracle. AiOracle allows therapists to monitor changes in their patients’ symptoms during treatment and it provides feedback about how likely it is that they might recover. The system compares each patient’s level of depression and anxiety symptoms to records for thousands of similar cases at each session and evaluates a patient’s therapy progress to provide a personalised probability of recovery. Therapists are alerted to cases that are showing poor progress, prompting them to identify and resolve obstacles to improvement.

AiOracle, a timeline

• Dr Claire Bone, Clinical Psychology Unit, University of Sheffield, began her doctoral research in 2017, analysing data from two NHS trusts to develop an AI-driven Outcome Feedback system. The work was co-supervised by experts in the field, Jaime Delgadillo, Grounded Research (UK) and Professor Wolfgang Lutz (Germany).
• Results enabled the team to obtain a Knowledge Exchange grant from the University of Sheffield, working with Mel Simmonds-Buckley to replicate the analysis using a database from eight other NHS trusts.
• Findings from Claire and Mel’s work were published in a research report in The Lancet Digital Health, 2021.
• The Knowledge Exchange grant also funded an industry partnership with MindLife, a digital health company that developed the AiOracle software.
• Once the software was ready, MindLife obtained an Innovate-UK grant that funded a clinical field-test in our trust, where therapists were trained to use the technology to guide treatment for their patients.
• Our success led us to take the top prize in the category ‘Using AI to improve patient services and safety’ at the 2024 Medipex NHS Innovation awards, which will help to scale up the use of this technology across NHS services in years to come.

Collaborators on the AiOracle project include Dr Melanie Simmonds-Buckley, University of Sheffield; Dr Claire Bone, Clinical Psychology Unit, University of Sheffield; Amy Southgate and Professor Jaime Delgadillo, Grounded Research at this trust; and Professor Wolfgang Lutz, from Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Trier University, Germany.

Mel and Claire attended the awards online, and used the photo of Jaime as he wasn’t with them.

Care opinion coming soon

The trust in May 2024 is moving from your opinion counts (YOCs) to care opinion.

Care opinion offers an opportunity to bring meaningful stories through feedback and improvements between the patient or carer and the service through new digital platform.

The roll-out of this will be coming to your service soon, so please watch out. Care opinion is independent of the clinical record system and puts the service and the patient at the heart of the response.

Please see the short two-minute video (opens in new window) about Care Opinion.

For more information, please contact Stuart Green, Interim Patient Experience team Lead.

Welcome Steve our new chief nurse

Steve Forsyth, who is of Indian and Scottish heritage, started with us in April and brings 24 years’ nursing experience to the executive role at our trust.

Over the last two decades, Steve has worked in criminal justice, physical health, and mental health services. A registered nurse in both adult nursing and mental health, Steve is a qualified Best Interest Assessor and is trained to carry out Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR).

Steve’s nursing career began in 1997 with his nurse training and a B-grade role as a care assistant. He was inspired by his mother, Inderjit, who came to the UK from India in October 1959, qualified as a nurse in 1975 and is still practising almost 50 years later.

Speaking about the Chief Nurse appointment, our Chief Executive Toby Lewis, said: “We are thrilled that the trust has attracted a leader with Steve’s values and skills. Having started in the NHS as a b-grade care assistant and with his mother still working as a practice nurse after almost five decades, the profession is key to Steve’s identity.”

“Steve will be at the heart of making a reality of our 28 promises to better nurture the power in our communities. The authenticity of his commitment to staff, carers, patients, and our communities is immediately apparent. I am pleased to working with and learning from him.”

The role of chief nurse leads professionally the largest group of clinical staff in our organisation. The post also takes responsibility for volunteering, safeguarding and infection control. Our freedom to speak up arrangements are championed through the role, which leads on organisational safety and care quality.

Wolverhampton born Steve, who is the UK’s first male Chief Nurse of South Asian heritage, said: “As a proud brown man and from a global majority background, navigating the NHS has not always been easy for me. My mum inspired me to get into nursing and I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have been given over the last few years.”

“I love people, their stories, and the opportunity to play a part in improving lives, reducing health inequalities, enhancing access to care and ensuring people receive nothing short of the safest and best quality care.”

“I am really excited to have joined the RDaSH team and to have the privilege of leading, shaping and inspiring its nursing workforce.”

Steve is also a member of the national Global Majority Chief Nurse Officer group, an active and proud member of the Jabali Network, the Nola Ishmael Executive Nurses Group, Asian Professionals National Alliance (APNA) and British Indian Nurses Association (BINA).

Steve takes over the role from Sheila Lloyd, who retired in March, and joins us from recent senior roles in North Wales and in the West Midlands.

Promoting safer sleep

Safer sleep week, 11 March 2024 to 17 March 2024.

Our health visitors recently worked with their counterparts and maternity colleagues across South Yorkshire to promote safer sleep week at Meadowhall. Well done!

New faces for the trust team

Victoria Takel, Deputy Chief Operating officer

Victoria Takel joins us as our new Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Laura Wiltshire will be our Director for the Doncaster Adult Mental Health and Learning Disability Care Group while Matthew Thomas becomes our new Head of Patient Flow and Iona Johson joins as our Director of North Lincolnshire Adult Mental Health and Talking Therapies Care Group.

Victoria Takel, of Rotherham, joins us from The Rotherham Hospital NHS Foundation Trust where she was the general manager for the division of family health. An allied health professional (AHP) by background, Victoria has a range of operational experience in various acute trusts in the South of England where she lived during her husband’s military service.

“Everyone has been really lovely and welcoming so far at RDaSH,” said Victoria. “I’m looking forward to getting going, building relationships with teams, and getting stuck into the new challenges ahead. The 28 promises are what originally attracted me to work for RDaSH so I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of the delivery of these across the organisation.”

Laura Wiltshire, Director for the Doncaster Adult Mental Health and Learning Disability Care Group

Laura Wiltshire will take up her role on 3 June and joins us from Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Trust where she is currently the head of service for rehabilitation and specialist services. She is an experienced clinical and operational leader, having qualified as a social worker in 2007. She is also a qualified approved mental health professional (AMHP). Laura has a passion for developing and supporting people. She took a year secondment teaching social work students at the University of Sheffield and continues to teach on areas such as men’s mental health as a guest lecturer.

Laura said: “I am very proud to be joining such a forward-thinking trust and looking forward to meeting and getting to know everyone in the care group.”

Matthew Thomas, Head of Patient Flow

Matthew Thomas, of Doncaster, a Registered Mental Health Nurse, is service manager for our Children and Young People’s Crisis and Intensive Community Support team and for our community eating disorders service and our new head of patient flow.

Matthew is covering both posts at the moment until his replacement can be found. Prior to this he was team manager for the Mental Health Liaison team in Rotherham and before that a clinician. Matthew has previously worked on Brodsworth adult mental health ward and at Rampton Hospital.

Matthew said: “I am extremely excited to be moving into this post as it is a fantastic opportunity. I’m looking forward to working with colleagues that I have known in my previous roles, as well as building new relationships with others both with RDaSH and externally. In this position I’m very much looking forward to helping the trust achieve on Promise 19, supporting people to be cared for as close to home as is safely possible.”

Iona Johson, Director of North Lincolnshire Adult Mental Health and Talking Therapies Care Group

Iona Johnson joined us on 29 April as our Director of North Lincolnshire Adult Mental Health and Talking Therapies Care group. Iona lives in North Lincolnshire with her husband and two young children. She joins us from Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust where she worked as their general manager for community, therapy and family services, having started her career here at RDaSH working across a number of corporate and operational roles covering contracting, performance, programme management, business support and patient flow. Iona said: “What a privilege it is for me to return to RDaSH where my NHS career started 12 years ago. It is such an exciting time to re-join the organisation with the launch of the clinical and organisational strategy and I can’t wait to work alongside colleagues to nurture the power we have in our communities and deliver on the 28 promises.”.

It’s a Knockout competition and rounders tournament

Calling all trust colleagues!

Team needed for It’s a knockout competition and rounders tournament.

Saturday, 20 July from 10am onwards at Clifton Park, Rotherham in the Garden House and surrounding parkland.

• Teams of 10 for it’s a knockout.
• Team of 8 to 9 for rounders.

Trophies and medals up for grabs!

Family and friends welcome at our free fun day, which incorporates our annual member’s meeting;

• tradition side stalls
• giant games area
• soft play area
• dance machine
• giant walkabout adult and baby dinosaurs and much more!

To enter a team email our Communications team at rdash.rdashcommunications@nhs.net.

Celebrating success, happy fifth birthday!

Our children’s With Me In Mind (WMIM) service has celebrated its fifth birthday.

The service has been successfully running in Rotherham and Doncaster for five years and was introduced into North Lincolnshire slightly later.

Around 80 WMIM colleagues gathered at Doncaster’s Holiday Inn for the occasion, where they showcased their work and celebrated how they now support young people in schools across the RDaSH patch.

The day also saw some dedicated awards for some of the staff, including rising star award, above and beyond award and Inspirational team award.

Lyndsey Leebetter, Clinical Lead for our WMIM services, said: “The event was a great opportunity for colleagues to get to know each other from across RDaSH, to network and to learn from each other. Each of the teams showcased work they were incredibly proud of.”

In the afternoon Andy Roberts, who works in children’s mental health across the Humber and North Yorkshire area, was keynote speaker.

Well done and thank you

We thanked our flu vaccinators for making last winter’s flu campaign our best yet.

They worked so hard to make it happen to keep our patients and colleagues safe. We held a prize draw for the top three vaccinators as a special thank-you.

• First place was Lisa Tuck, who vaccinated 206 colleagues and received £75.
• Second place was Jessica Goodwin, vaccinating 186 and received £50.
• Third place was Kathryn Cracknell, vaccinating 111 and receiving £25.

We have started planning for our next staff flu vaccination campaign which starts in September and hope that we can count on your support for the next campaign.

We’ve a short survey for you to complete to help us to plan our forthcoming vaccination campaign.

Simply have your say by visiting the Microsoft forms feedback form (opens in new window) about the 2023/2024 flu campaign.

Digital for all campaign

We are supporting Good Things Foundation’s digital for all campaign to raise awareness of digital exclusion.

Wondering what digital exclusion is? Millions in the UK face barriers to accessing the internet and digital tech. Digital exclusion can be due to affordability, a lack of devices or low digital skills. Someone may experience one or all these barriers to getting online.

Julie was isolated because she had no idea how to use the internet.

Now she has a new lease of life and freedom.

Digital inclusion has helped to make this possible.

Digital inclusion, having equal and safe access to the internet and digital technology, transform lives.

Before getting a free mobile data and a device, Sam was depressed, and couldn’t see a way forward. Sam got help and became digitally included, saying “I’m on my way to becoming a qualified engineer. I feel closer to my dreams than ever before.

Staff, patients and carers

The Patient Experience and Involvement team is here to understand and improve patient and care experience.

Come meet us at:

• Hazel Ward, Doncaster on Tuesday 14 May from 10am to midday
• Hawthorn Ward, Doncaster on Tuesday 28 May from 1pm to 3pm

Published British Journal of Occupational Therapy

Well done to Jennifer Humpheson, Occupational Therapist on Magnolia Lodge, Neurorehabilitation Ward who has been published in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Her review focuses on sensory approaches often used by Occupational Therapists working with people with a severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities aimed to synthesise the outcomes of sensory approached for adults and describe the key intervention components.

Here is the link to find out more about the review (opens in new window).

Short message service (SMS) patient feedback

Alongside the roll-out of care opinion in May the trust, with the support of the Data warehouse team and individual services, will be rolling out SMS Patient feedback.

Unlike care opinion, SMS patient feedback is mobile compatible and asks a series of both trust and service questions which are aimed to capture the quality of treatment, care, and environmental feedback.

Currently this has been successfully rolled out in Talking Therapies which has seen a 120% increase against your opinion counts returns we see across other areas of the trust. The reports will be available on RePortal and will provide the Friends and Family Test returns for NHS England and the trust.

To know more please contact Stuart Green, Interim Patient Experience Team Lead.

Pioneering Elaine calls on her own experience

Elaine Blow is relishing bringing the combination of her training, skills, work experience and her own lived experience to her new post as the trust’s first neurodiversity practitioner.

Elaine, who qualified as a children’s nurse six years ago, is filling an identified gap in services for families waiting for an autism or ADHD assessment for their children. The shortfall was highlighted following extensive consultation by colleagues in North Lincolnshire, who engaged with local young people, parents, carers and educational staff before creating the post.

Elaine’s role, which is currently being piloted for 12 months as part of the trust’s neurodevelopmental pathway, extends to providing pre and post diagnostic support after many families reported feeling isolated and unsure of where to access support.

In addition to her professional background, Elaine has lived experience of accessing neurodevelopment services. She has a diagnosis of Autism and ADHD and has been through the pathway with her own child.

“Having lived experience helps me empathise with families and supports my delivery of evidence-based therapeutic interventions. I have developed my role structure to provide families with support strategies, information and guidance, said Elaine.

“I offer both individual and group support for families who are on the assessment waiting list and individual support for three months post diagnosis. Families can self-refer and any service working with those families can also refer in to me where there has been an identified need for specialist Autism and, or ADHD information, guidance and strategies. Up to three one-to-one sessions of support are available.”

Since September 2024 Elaine has received 87 referrals for 1 to 1 support, 45 families have now been discharged and the rest are either actively being seen or awaiting their initial appointment.

Following evaluation, it’s hoped the role can be embedded throughout Neurodevelopment Services in Rotherham, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire in a positive move aimed at ensuring families are not only supported whilst waiting for an assessment, but also following their child’s diagnosis.

Learning from valuable feedback from staff survey

Thank you to all the colleagues who completed the 2023 staff survey, 53% of you responded to the survey, so we have some work to do across the trust to encourage all colleagues to respond!

The staff survey allows you to provide anonymous feedback, both positive and the areas we need to improve across a range of areas or questions. You told us that our strengths linked to the people promises;

1. we are safe and healthy
2. we work flexibly, which we will look to build upon this year

The areas which you have highlighted as requiring further work are;

1. we are compassionate and inclusive
2. we each have a voice that counts and (3) Staff engagement

So you said and collectively we will undertake the following:

We are compassionate and inclusive, there has been an increase in colleagues reporting that they have experienced discrimination from their manager or team leader or work colleagues of the 134 respondents from ethnic groups (other than white) 25.3% had experienced harassment bullying or abuse and 20.9% had experienced discrimination. This is a startling statistic, but behind each statistic is a colleague and the significant impact this has. We must all work collectively to address this unacceptable behaviour!. We are clear in our commitment to becoming an anti-racist organisation by 2025 (Promise 26) and we will be working with our networks, colleagues, and partners to deliver the promise. But we need your help, if you see or hear unacceptable behaviour, challenge the behaviour and report it!

‘We each have a voice that counts.’ It is really important that you feel safe and able to raise concerns and we welcome everyone having a voice and ‘speaking up’. This is one of the ways that we can identify where we may have some issues or risks that we need to sort out. We have increased our number of Freedom To Speak Up champions and we have a number of trained mediators across the trust. We are investing in our leadership offer this year to enhance managers skills to facilitate discussions and encourage colleagues to raise issues timely, to prevent further escalation.

Staff engagement, our work will focus on understanding what would improve your work experience so that you enjoy work and recommend the trust to friends and family as a good place to work and receive care. We are being supported in this area by the People Promise Exemplar work. We spend a significant amount of our time at work, so we are keen to ensure you have the best possible working environment. Look out for further details in next month’s Trust Matters.

Autism talks Autism

Proud mum, Helen Hickling shared this with us as part of Autism awareness week. Helen’s son Austin was recently on BBC Radio Humberside on Tuesday 2 April talking about his Autism and mentioned the With Me In Mind service. If you would like to listen to Austin just see the BBC Radio Humberside website (opens in new window).

Farewell

Farewell Kay

We bid farewell to our lovely Events’ Co-ordinator Kay Batty, who worked in the Communications team, based in Woodfield House. Kay has worked for the NHS for 34 years. Kay is pictured with her retirement gifts.

Farewell Chris

We’ve bid farewell to Chris Glynn (Edgar) from our Unplanned Nursing team based at the Opal Centre in Doncaster.

Chris dedicated 43 years of her life working as a nurse, across a variety of settings, and always went above and beyond for her patients.

Everyone thought highly of Chris.

Happy retirement Chris!

Charity matters

Look out for our new-look charity coming soon!

Our RDaSH charitable fund was set up to help us go further for our patients, staff and the communities we serve.

Over the years, we have been fortunate to receive donations and legacy funding, particularly into our end of life and frailty pathways and one part of our charitable funds is our hospice fundraising, which you can read about in this magazine.

However, we want to take a more pro-active approach to both raising the funds and encouraging our staff to spend them on ideas and projects, above and beyond routine NHS funding to enable outstanding care to improve their lives and those we serve in the wider community.

 

RDaSH Fundraising Manager Jenny Baynham has been working on behalf of the trust’s Charitable Funds Committee, which oversees the fund, to create a new fundraising strategy and plan to increase overall funding and maximise flexibility of the funds in line with our clinical and organisational strategy, which focuses on working with, and nurturing the power in our communities.

We have created five new funding propositions to encapsulate what we do and the localities we serve and will promote projects and activities within these themes in each area to avoid being Doncaster centric:

• a great start (children and young people)
• a good death (end of life care) which will include our hospice fundraising
• our best self (mental wellbeing for patients and staff)
• research across RDaSH
• education and learning

As well as creating new branding for the charity, there will be a separate website to encourage support and Jenny will be working closely with the care groups to develop a narrative about why we need the funds and where it will be spent.

Jenny said: “We are a truly local charity supporting local people, so we aim to encourage people in our local communities to support what we do by donating funds, but also work with them to identify where funding can support them in line with the care and services we provide, above and beyond what they NHS can fund.”

She added: “We know that our RDaSH staff are very supportive of fundraising for national charities, and we’d like to harness their support by giving an opportunity to raise money for our own charity by way of fundraising activities and events to get involved with, knowing that every penny they raise will go directly towards supporting and improving their everyday work.”

Look out on the RDaSH Staff App and future editions of Trust Matters for more information over the coming weeks.

Hospice launches Care for a Cuppa campaign

Doncaster’s Hospice is inviting the local community to pop on the kettle and raise funds for charity.

People can support ‘Care for a Cuppa Campaign’ by holding a coffee morning or event with friends, colleagues, or loved ones to raise funds for St John’s Hospice in Balby.

Charity Fundraising Manager Jenny Baynham said: “We like to provide a variety of ideas for supporters to raise funds for our hospice charity, and our own coffee mornings are always very popular, so we’ve put together this campaign for people to get involved at home.”

She added: “You can organise your event any time, simply pick a date that suits you!”

“Once you’ve registered, we’ll send you our handy fundraising pack, which will help you get started. It contains useful tips and information, a poster to advertise your event, invitations to send out, cake flags and labels, as well as an exclusive recipe from one of our wonderful volunteers.”

“Every cuppa you share, means you’re raising vital funds to support patients and families in our care.”

To register for a care for a cuppa event, or email rdash.stjohns-hospice-fundraising-team@nhs.net.

Follow us on:

• St John’s appeal X (opens in new window)
• Facebook page (opens in new window)

Registered charity number 1055641.

Freightliner fundraiser gives hospice £500 boost

Doncaster’s hospice charity has been given a £500 boost thanks to some nimble-fingered knitting and the support of one of the UK’s largest rail freight transportation companies. Train Service Controller Karen Gyte and her mum Di Donald have been busy knitting woolly hats to sell to Karen’s Freightliner colleagues all around the country, raising £250, which the company has now generously match funded as a donation to St John’s Hospice in Balby.

Karen said: “Mum and I started knitting to raise funds for St John’s after they cared so well for my dad Roy at the end of his life in 2012. We’ve raised thousands of pounds since then, through knitting hats, scarves, and toys for every occasion, even the King’s Coronation!”

“We’ve also sold tickets for Hospice raffles and Easter hampers and were delighted when Freightliner agreed to donate £1,000 to St John’s as one of its employee chosen charities in 2022.”

She added: “Mum and I work well as a team, and mum’s partner Les also helps out by looking out for wool for sale online, and even creating pom poms!”

“As well as thanking both of them, I’d like to pay tribute to my colleagues and everyone at Freightliner for supporting me and my chosen charity.”

Fundraising Manager Jenny Baynham said: “A massive thank you to Karen and Di for continuing to give us so much support with their beautiful crafts and fundraising assistance, it’s also been wonderful to meet her colleagues at Freightliner to say thank you to them for helping raise so much money for St John’s Hospice.”

She added: “It’s great to see companies caring so much for their local community charities.”

South Yorkshire Lions groups make major donation to hospice charity

Our hospice charity has been awarded a £22,943 donation thanks to the support of five South Yorkshire Lions clubs.

Representatives from Tickhill and District, Thorne Rural, Doncaster, Mexborough and Doncaster Went Valley Lions visited St John’s Hospice to hand over the significant donation, following a year of fundraising, which was generously matched by the Lions Clubs International Foundation in the USA.

The money will be used to purchase twelve brand-new rise and recline chairs, a state-of-the-art bath hoist and three sensor mat kits to support both inpatients and day patients at the 31-year-old hospice, which provides specialist palliative and end of life care for local patients and families.

Service Manager Sam Edwards said: “We are extremely grateful to the Lions clubs for donating such an incredible sum of money, which will greatly benefit all our patients, both in our 10-bed inpatient setting, and our recently re-launched Day Therapy Service.

“Patient comfort and safety are paramount for those in our care. As well as providing high quality seating in our Day Therapy Unit, the new electric lifting hoist will mean that even more of our patients will be able to enjoy a relaxing spa bath in our newly refurbished bathroom, and the three new wireless sensor mat kits will help us prevent falls for those patients who are assessed as being at more at risk.”

Ron Lindsay, Lions Club International Foundation Coordinator for Tickhill and District Lions said: “After holding a whole host of fundraising activities over the past year including race nights, car shows and golf days, as well as our ever-popular Christmas Santa sleighs, we then put a bid together to receive a match funding grant from the Lions Club International Foundation and were delighted to have been successful.”

Ron added: “Lions Clubs International has been in operation for over 100 years. It is made up of 1.4 million members in 49,000 clubs and we help hundreds of millions of people every year throughout the World.”

“This is the third time our clubs have worked together across Doncaster and district, and we are delighted to be able to grant such a large sum of funding to such a deserving local charity, which supports so many patients and families.”

Mike’s charity run is also a bucket list challenge

Trust mental health practitioner Mike Bell has been putting in the steps as he built up his fitness as he tackled his first full marathon on 28 April.

It’s for a great cause, to raise funds for Papyrus, the charity that works to prevent young suicides.

And it’s also to tick another ‘must do’ off his bucket list. Mike, a Doncaster-based Senior Mental Health Practitioner at the With Me in Mind school nursing service, counted down the days to the Boston Marathon which took place on 28 April, where he covered the gruelling 26 miles through the Lincolnshire countryside, with money riding on his stamina and determination.

Mike said: “I’ve never run a marathon before, but I have completed three half marathons in Carlisle, plus a half iron man triathlon. They were all a few years ago so this time I’ve decided to really challenge myself.

“I started running 5k distances during the pandemic so I thought I would tackle a full marathon for charity. I didn’t want to raise money for a big charity, so Papyrus fits the bill nicely and it links back to lockdowns when many young people struggled and had suicidal thoughts.

“Suicide is the biggest killer of young people under the age of 35 in the UK, every year over 1800 young people take their own lives. Papyrus provides confidential support and advice to young people struggling with thoughts of suicide, and anyone worried about a young person, through their helpline, HOPELINE247.”

Mike has set himself a target of raising £1,000 for the charity and he’s currently around one-third of the way there, so if you can help please visit his Just Giving page (opens in new window). “I’m grateful to everyone who has donated so far, it’s really spurring me on”, added Mike.

Running a marathon is just one of many ‘bucket list’ challenges Mike has set himself in 2024, so expect to hear more from him as the year progresses.

Sharon’s giving to back to her favourite charity

Sharon Dawson celebrated beating cancer twice in the past 25 years and strutted her stuff on stage in front of hundreds of people.

Sharon, a Senior Admin Assistant with our trust’s East Locality team, took part in the Aurora cancer charity’s 2024 Fashion Show on Friday 3 May, where she joined other cancer survivors in their finery at Doncaster’s dome.

It was the charity’s biggest annual fundraiser and Sharon, who battled thyroid cancer in 1999 and breast cancer in 2012, is no stranger to the spectacular event, having been involved in the first fashion show in 2002.

The mum of four has taken part in 18 shows since then, helping to raise tens of thousands of pounds to fund Aurora’s vital role of caring for local people living with cancer.

Sharon, 61, said: “My mum died of liver cancer in 2011, the year before I was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was my biggest fan and I take part in the event in memory of her and Valerie Lapadet and Denise Dunn, two ladies who started the Firefly bus service that takes patients for cancer treatment at Sheffield’s Weston Park Hospital.

“It’s a way of me giving something back as a cancer survivor, and an opportunity to meet others who have been touched by the disease, as well as those who professionals who treated me. When I am on stage with other survivors I want to help make it an inspirational event. We were put through our moves by choreographer Jenny Siswick and it was great showing the audience there is life after cancer.”

Flourish news

Hannah’s message for Autism Awareness Month

A trust colleague who overcame knock backs at school, and various health challenges throughout her life, has achieved her dream of becoming an occupational therapist (OT).

Hannah Brown was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at the age of 11 and used April’s Autism awareness month to share her inspirational story that with the right determination and dedication anything is possible.

Hannah, 23, who is currently seconded to Doncaster’s Flourish organisation to complete her OT preceptorship, is celebrating a year at RDaSH after gaining an occupational therapy degree at Sheffield Hallam University.

She said: “I have always wanted to help people and at the age of 15 I decided I wanted to be an OT, though a couple of teachers at my school and others told me I would never make anything of myself. But my parents, other family members and friends always believed in me. “It has been a bit of journey since then, but I wanted to prove those teachers wrong, and I have done so by achieving my career ambition.

“I have Asperger’s syndrome, dyspraxia and attention deficit disorder. They are all linked, but anxiety is the main thing that I experience with these. At work I have learned how to manage them so I can do my job properly. Interestingly, living with these conditions gives me a good understanding of what our service users who have similar health issues are going through.

“My message for Autism awareness month is ‘don’t be afraid to be yourself and don’t let anyone label you. The right people will always love and support you’.”

Celebrating community events at Flourish

Looking for something to do then why not try some of these.

Building Community through Arts (BCA) community engagement programme involving ten schools and groups to create up cycled flower sculptures made from old bike wheels as a celebration of both community and Flourish. February to June workshops with Linney Centre Dice, Manor House, Quarryfields, Woodfield School, Mallard school, Skillshare, Dadesley crafting, Friday Creatives and Family hubs.

Coming soon

Summer holiday family workshops creating artefacts for the summer events. Ideal for families to learn new skills making items to decorate the summer fayre.

Summer Fayre on Saturday, 7 September from 11am to 4pm celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Flourish and the wider community. Mini big top with circus performers, walkabout acts, free family creative activities and much more.

Autumn

Halloween family fun Thursday, 31 October (time to be confirmed) Carve your own pumpkin, enter pumpkin carving competition, Halloween parade and trail, music, food, and performers.

Christmas Fayre

Christmas Fayre Saturday, 7 December 11am to 4pm. Stalls in St Catherine’s House, Christmas stocking trail, decorate a large Christmas tree, and Christmas tree exhibition, lots of tasty food.

Easter eggstravaganza

It was a cracking day out at Flourish’s Easter event. A big thank you to everyone who came along and joined the Easter Parade around the grounds and took part in the many family fun activities.

Toby’s last word

let’s put our money, where the need is

At RDaSH we are fortunate to be able to spend about £225m of taxpayer’s money.

The question for me, and for the board as a whole, is whether we spend that money on the most important things, and on those things best able to deliver great outcomes for our patients, carers, and communities. Those conversations can be big or little. I agree with our Procurement team that we seem to spend too much money on promotional items like branded mugs, pens, and cups. And then at the other end of the scale many millions of pounds are spent on agency cost, including a huge premium paid to agency companies. Our financial plan for the next 12 months mainly looks to target eliminating that premium. What does that mean in practice? Three things.

1. We are consulting this spring to work with NHS Professionals (NHSP). They will run our bank staffing, or our flexible staffing. As a trust we are hugely in favour of flexible staffing models. They meet a need not just in our services, but in how people want to work. The trust will pay for bank staff training, and work with NHSP to make sure that the experience of working on the bank here is second to none.
2. Starting in May it will become much more difficult to have agency staffing authorised. In non-clinical areas, I will need to agree such staffing and the bar for approval is exceptional. For clinical roles, initially the relevant executive director will need to agree, and from this summer I will too. If you currently work with someone whose skills you admire and value, have a word. That someone needs to join trust staff or the bank. Because increasingly we simply won’t agree to fund the high cost of agency staffing.
3. As a trust we will eliminate agency use. That means we are looking hard at long term agency and looking to redesign roles to remove the need for this excess cost. Over the last year we have replaced seven very high-cost agency consultants. We have made a number of hires to new roles, including as nurse consultants. Posts where we can hire without agency waste. We must not convince ourselves that there are no skilled senior medical staff out there. We have made some fantastic hiring choices in recent months in Children’s service, home treatment and elsewhere. What we need to focus on is making the trust attractive to people who can choose to work anywhere in the world.

Sometimes NHS finances feel like annual cuts. That is why it is so important to make our investments including to tackle cost pressures. We have a strategy to cut costs and to move money from non-patient facing services to patient care. We also have a strategy to reduce cost and then to make investments into things that really matter and help us to deliver our 28 promises. In 2024, that means some big new spends.

• The board cannot accept the nationwide scandal of long, long waits for diagnosis and treatment for ADHD. Led by Cora Turner and Christina Harrison we have a plan to cut years-long waits down to months and then weeks. Our view is that the harms of long waits are under-discussed. People who cannot work, and kids whose learning is interrupted. We make no apology for wanting to change that. This does not mean that only waiting times matter, but it does mean that we will look to hugely reduce our current waits.
• The clinical leadership executive has then prioritised a number of areas for change. I won’t do justice to all of them here. But I am proud that our big savings programme now enables us to invest in learning disabilities care in North Lincolnshire, bringing it up to levels seen trust wide. We will be looking to cut waits for patients with complex emotional needs across the trust. We have agreed investments in older people’s care trust wide and will be supporting the intra-venous pathway in Doncaster. Expanding and developing our children’s virtual reality programme will make a big difference for teenagers locally, and we hope to develop new facilities in the city centre as well.
• We have already agreed almost £2m of capital investment, including investment in IT. Later in May we will sign off the spend to end identified ligature risks in the trust and address safety issues in our mental health wards, seclusion suites and S136 services.

If you have read this far in my note, please consider three final ideas:

• our consistent message remains. If there is a safety issue, we will find the money. Please do not stop coming forward with concerns because you have heard that the NHS is short of cash
• training spend is not cut. In fact, it will grow year on year. Make sure your PDR includes a clear plan of training need and action, and our learning and education sub will oversee our spend
• and what do you want to bid for in October? We will re-run our £3m investment fund next autumn. So, if you have a plan to deliver promise 14 on wait times, or to improve education at promise 24. We need to hear from you

From April 2025 this trust will become a real living wage employer. That means in practice that we will no longer pay below a band 3 wage. Of course, for some colleagues that will mean their pay goes up and is in effect frozen for a while. It will reduce pay differences in the trust, so some people will be unhappy. But it is justified by our clear commitment to eliminate poverty pay.

The trust has a very clear and consistent financial strategy, it is one that is allowing us to hire to vacancies in the weeks ahead. Our financial plan is based on becoming fully staffed, paying well, paying for training, removing low wages, and investing in areas of the highest clinical need. Do disagree or agree with that plan, but please let anyone convinced there is not a plan, because there is, delivering 28 promises by 2028.

Thank you,

@TobyLewis_NHS (opens in new window)

Page last reviewed: December 24, 2024
Next review due: December 24, 2025

Problem with this page?

Please tell us about any problems you have found with this web page.

Do not include personal or medical information in your message. For example, your name, NHS number, date of birth or medical history.

Type of problem -- Please choose an option -- Wrong information Accessibility Spelling or grammar Layout or display Other

Please provide details of the problem