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Each episode brings an insightful conversation with staff across University Hospitals Tees about careers in the NHS, the wellbeing of our staff and the future of healthcare.
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Episode 3 – Schwartz Rounds
Our Schwartz Rounds at both North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees Hospitals are confidential forums where staff come together regularly to discuss the emotional and social aspects of working in healthcare.
During Schwartz Rounds, a panel of staff share their stories – the rest of the group can then reflect on these and share their own experiences. The rounds are confidential, fall under protected time for all staff and contribute to continued professional development.
Here chaplain and Schwartz Round facilitator Jim Wright and clinical coder Matt Harper discuss Schwartz Rounds and the personal and professional benefits of taking part.
Episode 3 – Schwartz Rounds
Intro: Welcome to Tees Voices, telling the stories of the people in our NHS community.
Host: In the studios today we’ve got Jim and Matt who’ve come to talk to us about the Schwartz Rounds. Good morning gentlemen.
Jim: Good morning.
Matt: Morning.
Host: A couple of things. Obviously can you tell us about the Schwartz Rounds and what exactly are they, Jim?
Jim: Yeah, it’s a funny old name isn’t it Schwartz Rounds? It’s all due to a guy called Ken Schwartz. In 1994, he was in the states and he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and during his treatment he found that what mattered most to him as a patient was his simple acts of kindness from his caregivers.
He’s quoted as saying this made the unbearable bearable and just before his death he left a legacy for the establishment of the Schwartz Center in Boston to help foster compassion in healthcare. This is a quote that he left behind – “I’ve learned that medicine is not merely about performing tests or surgeries or administering drugs. For as a skilled and as knowledgeable as my caregivers are, what matters most is that they have empathised with me in a way that gives me hope and makes me feel like a human being, not just an illness.”
So Schwartz Rounds came out of that legacy to foster compassion in healthcare and they provide a structured forum where all staff, clinical and non-clinical, can come together regularly and discuss the emotional and social aspects of working in healthcare. So the purpose of the rounds is to understand the challenges and rewards involved in providing care.
It’s not to solve problems or to focus on the clinical aspects of patient care but the rounds can help staff feel more supported in their jobs, allowing them time and space to reflect on their roles. And actually evidence shows that staff who attend rounds can feel less stressed and isolated and they give an increased insight and appreciation of each other’s roles.
They also help reduce hierarchies between staff and to focus attention on relational aspects of care so the underlying premise for Schwartz Rounds is that the compassion shown by staff can make all the difference to a patient’s experience of care, but in order to provide compassionate care, staff must in turn feel supported in their work.
So Schwartz Rounds are that safe confidential space where stories can be shared, stories can be heard, people can resonate with these stories and reflect on these stories. So it’s not about problem solving, it’s not about finding solutions, it’s not about debriefing or supervision, it’s just about providing that space for emotional resonance and empathy.
Host: How does somebody get involved with the Schwartz Rounds?
Jim: So it’s just turning up whenever there’s a Schwartz Rounds. You just listen to the stories and you can be involved that way.
Host: What sort of themes have you covered so far?
Jim: Well, sort of a whole range of themes. So some great Schwartz Rounds that we had last year was the great pretender where we talked about the issue of imposter syndrome, Dying Matters Week last year, we had a look at wish you were here and some stories coming out of that sort of theme, but we’ve talked about don’t give up, perseverance, You’ve Got a Friend in Me about friendship and kindness, a letter to myself was a very, very powerful Schwartz Round and that was just personal reflections on staff members writing a letter to their younger self.
On the 27th of March at North Tees, we’ve got ‘This is me’ and looking at issues of what’s it like to be touched by neurodiversity working in the trust.
Host: Question to Matt. As a speaker obviously coming up to the Schwartz Rounds, how did you get involved and, you know, take part in this?
Matt: So I think my very first Schwartz Round that I attended was actually five years ago almost to the day really. And it was around an LGBTQ themed Schwartz Round and for me I had just come out as transgender in the November before so I attended the Schwartz Round as a bit like a sort of introduction to the community. And that was the very first time that I’d been and it was the very first time I had spoken in public really outside my sort of workplace and home about being transgender and obviously that was so nerve-wracking at the time but I just stuck my hand up and sort of contributed to this discussion and I’ve never looked back since.
I think that actually was a very pivotal role in my personal life of being able to feel like I’ve got a voice and, you know, I can make a difference with that voice and having that confidence to talk about my personal experiences. So then I went on to actually being a panellist a couple of years ago. I’ve been a panellist twice now and I’m going to be a panellist in the upcoming one in March, ‘This is me’ about neurodiversity.
For me, being a speaker or even just attending and contributing to the conversation, it’s just massively beneficial. For a start, it’s quite cathartic when you’re sort of putting together your kind of story with the help of the Schwartz facilitators who were a massive help.
That was actually how I met Jim in the first place. He was a facilitator the first time I spoke at Schwartz Round and that relationship is sort of having that support of like this is my story and getting that feedback and working with people to sort of hone it and sort of explore it more.
I’ve found like that process of looking at that story, even though telling it to somebody else makes you look at it in a different light and exploring your emotions and your feelings and, you know, all of that thing around it in a in a different way.
The first one that I did that sort of process of going through my story, writing this story, of getting my diagnosis of being autistic and having ADHD, figuring out about being trans, I’d gone through that process and then at the end I was like, you know, I love myself as I am and I’m going to be me no matter what and all of this. And I wrote that thinking that that’s how I felt but as I was writing it and speaking to Jim and Elaine at the time and sort of going through these iterations, I sort of realised actually, you know, I wasn’t okay and sort of it helped me process those feelings and sort of be more honest like both with myself and then to the people at the Schwartz Round.
So I found it really helpful for me and I think people can be sort of nervous about sharing sometimes quite personal situations and emotions, but once you start talking and once you finish talking it’s all positive I think and I think the nerves are worth it in the end.
So I definitely encourage anybody even thinking about it, I’d definitely say give it a go.
Host: I mean the last question, you probably covered this, how do staff actually benefit from the Schwartz Rounds?
Matt: As a speaker there is obvious benefits being there as a speaker, but I think just attending a Schwartz Round. So I’ve started attending them regularly. I even, at first, I sort of looked at the themes and thought actually that doesn’t really apply to me so I wouldn’t go along. Being non-clinical staff, I thought it’s mostly about, you know, supporting clinical staff and sort of that thing but as I started going to them more, even if I didn’t think it was particularly relevant to me, you learn a lot about your colleagues.
Like I think Jim was saying earlier, it’s breaking down those barriers that you may be in this sort of like hierarchical world that, you know, you see people. Like we have speakers there from like executive levels, consultants, surgeons to clerical staff. We have them at all levels and it’s not about your job or what banding you are, it’s about a person. And it really helps you to see people as a person, you know, like with lives outside of work. You see them outside of their job role.
Jim: Absolutely it’s great to hear Matt, hear from his point of view but I would absolutely agree. One of my greatest Joys at the end of a Schwartz Round is to hear people as they leave and say things like ‘oh I thought I was the only one that felt that way’ and it’s this.
The whole point of Schwartz Rounds are to be mechanisms, especially for emotional resonance, for that emotional connection to be tangible between colleagues. It’s easy for work pressures to make us feel isolated and alone as if we’re the only ones that are struggling with certain situations or struggling with our role or with our work or whatever’s going on and Schwartz Rounds can help break down those walls that seek to isolate us and ‘oh, I’m not the only one that’s struggling with this’. And as Matt says, sort of someone can be in a completely different role and a completely different banding but they’re facing the same struggles that we are facing and suddenly we’re not isolated, we’re just part of a of a wider team.
And I’m always amazed that these stories that people share can be so different and they approach a subject from very different angles, as we would do because we’re all individuals – we’re all personal, we all see things our own way – and yet there’s a thread that sort of links each of the stories more often than not. And it’s just fantastic to be there at the end, especially when people have attended perhaps for the first time and go ‘oh my goodness, that was really, really interesting’.
Talking about if people want to get involved, we’re always, always, always looking for new speakers. Contact myself or anyone part of the Schwartz Team, we’ll be able to help guide you there.
Matt: I think it’s important to sort of remind, because it is like about professional development – obviously personal development and the professional development – so it’s worth reminding people that attending the Schwartz Round either as a panellist or just attending the Schwartz Round is protected time and does count towards your continued professional development.
So if managers release them, it’s massively beneficial not just to that person but for the whole team as well. I think, you know, the benefits are really big for everybody just attending.
Host: Well, Matt, Jim, thank you for coming in the studios and telling us about the Schwartz Round. Thank you very much.
Jim: Thank you.
Matt: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time you’ve been listening to Tees Voices.
Episode 2 – The importance of speaking up
We want everyone working in University Hospitals Tees to feel safe and confident to speak up. We welcome it and we will listen.
Here group chief people officer Rachael Metcalf and group chief nurse Dr Hilary Lloyd discuss the importance of speaking up and the different ways staff can do so.
Episode 2 – The importance of speaking up
Intro: Welcome to Tees Voices, telling the stories of the people in our NHS community.
Elliot: My name is Elliot Kennedy. Today we’re going to talk about freedom to speak up.
Rachael: Hello, my name is Rachael Metcalfe and I am the chief people officer for University Hospitals Tees.
Hilary: Hi and I’m Hilary Lloyd I’m the group chief nurse for University Hospitals Tees.
Elliot: Can you describe how colleagues can share their concerns about the issues they have working within University Hospitals Tees?
Rachael: There are a number of ways that we can listen to staff concerns. Staff can raise their concerns through their line managers, they can speak to people within the people directorate, each area within the trust has a designated HR professional who can help and support them with any concerns that they have.
We have staff side colleagues across the organisation and again staff side colleagues will be able to help and support. We’ve got our legacy mentors and we’ve also got our freedom to speak up guardians – which is essentially why we’re here today to talk to you about our freedom to speak up guardians.
Elliot: So there’s a number of ways in which colleagues can speak about their issues and we encourage those conversations.
Rachael: We absolutely do encourage those conversations. If we don’t hear the concerns that our colleagues have across the organisation, we’re not able to learn and we’re not able to make improvements. So it’s absolutely vital that colleagues have a number of opportunities where they can raise their concerns so that we can work with colleagues to ensure that we make their working environment the happiest place it can be.
Elliot: What is important about the role within the organisation?
Hilary: It’s really, really important. The freedom to speak up ethos aims to help promote and normalise the raising of staff concerns, ultimately for the benefit of patients and our staff.
Speaking up not only protects patient safety but can also improve the lives of our staff. Freedom to speak up is encouraged in a positive culture where people can speak up, their voices can be heard their concerns or suggestions can be acted on.
In the seven years since Robert Francis recommendations, the freedom to speak up guardian role continues to evolve and move away from a whistleblowing culture to one of permission, encouragement, openness and transparency.
Ultimately if we get the culture right, benefits will follow. It will improve our patient safety, it will improve innovation, it’ll help retain our staff and make the NHS a great place to work.
Elliot: Now can people speak confidentially and how is this encouraged?
Hilary: So people can speak confidentially. They can speak openly or confidentially or they can also speak anonymously. We would really encourage people to either speak openly or confidentially so that we can really drill down and help sort out the problems or the issues or concerns that the staff are raising.
Elliot: So how does the board receive the information and act upon it?
Rachael: So our freedom to speak up guardians attend our board on a quarterly basis and they also attend our people committee which is a subcommittee from the board on a quarterly basis. And during their time with board and with the people committee they will anonymously work through what the themes are across the organisation – the concerns that have been raised, the staff groups that are raising those concerns so that they’re escalating to a board where we have got concerns in the organisation and also working through what we’re trying to do to help and support colleagues.
In addition, we have an executive director who is a champion for freedom to speak up – that’s me – and we have a non-executive director who was a champion for freedom to speak up. Currently we’ve got two. We’ve got Aida and we have Faye and this means that our guardians can meet with us on a regular basis and come and discuss any concerns or issues raised that they feel we need to be made aware of. The guardians have full access to our chief executive or our chairman. Because they’re independent, they can go and they can meet with them at any time so it ensures that they truly have access to anyone in the organisation who may be able to sort the concerns that they are raising.
Elliot: So how do people contact people?
Rachael: So freedom to speak up guardians have got a dedicated email address which colleagues can find on the intranet and you will hopefully be able to see lots of posters and leaflets which should be displayed on every ward.
If you’re unable to find the email address or the contact details, then please contact your line manager in the first instance or your people directorate.
Elliot: Well thank you, Rachel and Hilary.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time you’ve been listening to Tees Voices.
Episode 1 – Shaping our group values
As our University Hospitals Tees trusts continue to work together, we’re asking our staff and stakeholders to help us shape our group’s values going forward.
We’re asking about the values and priorities matter most to them as they care for our patients and the local community. This will help us to align our health and care offer and ensure it is befitting to patients, communities and staff.
We spoke with group deputy director of OD and culture Jennie Winnard and people services business partner Sharon Ollivier about what this means and how staff and stakeholders can get involved.
Episode 1 – Shaping our group’s values
Intro: Welcome to Tees voices telling the stories of the people in our NHS Community.
Elliot: My name is Elliot Kennedy and in studio today we have Jennie and Sharon, hello there.
Jennie and Sharon:
Elliot: Hello. Jennie, can you introduce yourself please?
Jennie: Hi, yes I’m Jennie Winnard and I’m the group deputy director for organisational development and culture.
Elliot: And Sharon.
Sharon: Hi my name is Sharon, I’m the HR business partner for strategy.
Elliot: What is the University Hospitals Tees values project?
Jennie: So what we’re doing is we’re scoping what it means to work for University Hospitals Tees. So University Hospitals Tees is the group that we formed from South Tees NHS Foundation trust and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation trust and each trust has their own values. But what we’re wanting to do is scope what the values are for those of us as a group.
So as we come together what does that mean for us, what does it mean for our patients and what does it mean for other people who work with us? So that we’ll be able to say if you come to work for the group this is what it means.
And we’re working with AQUA. So some people won’t have heard of AQUA. AQUA are an improvement company that are part of the NHS and they’re coming in to do the scoping for us so that it’s independent. So that we’re not looking at it from a point of view of what North Tees think and that might influence South Tees and vice versa. We’ve got somebody completely different coming in and we’re supporting and we’re helping but they’ll do all the number crunching for us.
Elliot: So what benefits is it having a shared set of values across the group?
Sharon: Really we’re trying to think about from a group perspective how better to increase collaboration to have that shared understanding so we can build positive relationships, build trust, build understanding. And to be able to better understand what will work well for us as a group structure, what will work for our patients and have that expectations of behaviour as well and what you can expect from everybody as you work as part of the group.
Elliot: Why is it important that our colleagues on the ground are part of the work?
Jennie: It’s a really great opportunity to be able to say what you do want at work and also what you don’t want at work because the last thing we want is our values linked to behaviours that people may not want to see.
So we want people to be really honest about what works well for them and what doesn’t work well for them and then that means we’ll be able to work much more closely together. It’s a really great opportunity to be able to have that ability to say this is good, this isn’t good, this is what I want to see when I come to work, this isn’t what I want to see when I come to work.
Elliot: So how can stakeholders join in this conversation?
Sharon: Well what we’ll be doing in the first two weeks of January, the 6th and the 13th of January, we’ll be doing a lot of face-to-face engagement.
We’ll be out and about, we’ll have colleagues going on to ward areas, to high footfall areas. And we’ll be asking lots of questions, even through Facebook and staff bulletin, around what do those values mean to you, what is it that you want those values to look like as a colleague and a member of the group working across both sites?
Elliot: What’s next after the work is completed? What does it really mean?
Jennie: So what we will get, we’ll get a new set of values. Everything that we do is intrinsically linked to the NHS six core values. But from that we’ll be able to link behaviours and behaviour statements. So we’ll be able to say how we work together and we’ll be able to lead on that so we’ll be able to call out behaviours that we don’t want and we’ll be able to have something that we can frame around how we move forwards with our patients and together as colleagues.
It’s really important to remember that everybody who works across the group is valued, acknowledged and their contribution to the work is broadly and widely acknowledged so these values will add to that, that we can offer more acknowledgement and more contribution to what we’re doing for patient services.
Elliot: So if people can’t come along to the days how do they get in touch with you?
Sharon: Just via email for me but we will put details through Facebook, we’ll put them on staff bulletin and you’ll see posters as well that we’ll be putting up through ward areas and high footfall areas so there’ll be loads of communication links to be able to get in touch with us.
Jennie: The links are coming through from the communication teams for both trusts who are absolutely fantastic so they’ll be really, really clear when they all come out about how to get involved.
Elliot: Well, Jenny, Sharon thank you.
Sharon: Thank you.
Jennie: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time, you’ve been listening to Tees Voices.
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Episode 36 – Giving back to our community this Christmas
It’s a sad reality that for a lot of people, this time of year brings more financial pressure and stress than festive cheer and joy.
We’ve re-opened our annual foodbank and toy drive this Christmas to our staff who would like to consider making a donation to support the most disadvantaged people in our communities.
Episode 36 – Giving back to our community this Christmas
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our trust.
Elliot: My name’s Elliott Kennedy in the studio today we’ve got Mark Malik who’s the communications manager. What is the trust annual Christmas appeal?
Mark: Oh, thanks for having me Elliot.
What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to give people in our community a bit of a better Christmas. We’ve got some really disadvantaged people living locally so we’re working with our local food banks to ask staff if they can donate any food or Christmas treats for the festive season and we’re also working with our local Salvation Army branches to collect toys and wrapping paper and other gifts for children in the area as well.
Elliot: So what items are you appealing for?
Mark: Well, in terms of food, we’re looking for canned and jarred items. Things like potatoes, cans of peas, packets of gravy, packets of stuffing mix, things like that, store bought Christmas cakes, Christmas puddings, mince pies, advent calendars, sweets, chocolates, anything that would be the trimmings for a nice Christmas meal or Christmas period.
The food banks can’t accept fresh produce such as turkeys because of storage issues and they also can’t accept home baked goods I’m afraid because of things like allergies, even though that’s obviously a very kind offer that people make.
The food banks also collect toiletries which a lot of people don’t realise and they often struggle for men’s items like shaving cream and razor blades and men’s deodorant. So if anyone can spare anything like that, it’s really appreciated.
The Salvation Army will accept any new unwrapped toys. They often struggle for boys’ toys and gifts for older teens. They’re also grateful for wrapping paper, tags and tape. And might surprise some people as well but the Salvation Army is fine with kind of action-oriented toys as well, so things like nerf guns or action man and things, they are happy to accept that. It’s at the parents’ discretion. They don’t have any standing on what people can or can’t donate.
Elliot: Is there any set amount you’d like people to spend?
Mark: Absolutely not. As with any charity collection, this is entirely at people’s own discretion and we ask people to only donate if they can.
What I would say is one small tin of vegetables or a small toy could make a huge difference to a local family, but we don’t want anyone to feel pressured.
Elliot: Now some may point out – is buying toys the job of the parents?
Mark: I understand that, I genuinely do. But the sad reality is some parents just can’t do that. If someone can buy an extra gift, it may be the only gift that a child in our local region gets.
Going to a food bank or a Salvation Army is not an easy choice, it’s not something people do lightly. The people doing have no alternative and every year after we run this campaign, we receive messages from the food bank and the Salvation Army thanking our staff for their generosity so we know it makes a real difference to some of the most disadvantaged people in our communities.
Elliot: So what’s behind this appeal? We’ve run it for a few years now and initially it started after Covid.
Mark: We were very aware that some people were still feeling the effects of lockdown, of furlough and things like that. So we ran it then and it’s just been really successful so we’ve run it ever since.
And from a personal point of view, I look back to when I was a kid and we had lovely Christmases, you know, absolutely lovely. We weren’t a wealthy family by any means but my mum and dad made a real effort. And I look back and I had some lovely toys that I still think of fondly, had great times on Christmas day, there was an abundance of food and treats in the house. I mean my mum would yell at us if we went near it before Christmas day, but it was it was a lovely, lovely period of time.
So for myself, I can’t bear the thought of a kid in our local region going without a gift or parents struggling and worrying about putting a nice meal on the table and that is a real struggle for some people. And if we can make a difference in a small way, you know, I’d really welcome that.
Elliot: So where can staff drop off food and toys?
Mark: We’ve got collection points across both our main sites.
Over at Hartlepool – ward two floor one the specialist service admin hub, outpatient staff room, the fourth floor of the tower in Amanda McNeany’s office and the chemotherapy ward.
At North Tees, we’ve got the Tatchell Centre, the pathology staff room and in the main tower block floor seven Alison Coates’ office, floor five of the tower block the senior clinical management team, and floor three the care group 2 directors office. We’ve also got the main X-ray office, the undergraduate education department on the ground floor in south wing, the NTH Solutions office which is near the entrance to the Tees Restaurant and my office, the communications office on the fourth floor of the north wing.
So what happens is people can come, they can drop off their food and toys there and once a week our brilliant volunteers do a sweep of the collection points, they pick them all up and they drive them off and they deliver them to the food banks and the Salvation Army. And I would like to say a massive thank you to our volunteers because we couldn’t do this without them, they’re an absolutely integral part of this campaign.
Elliot: Is there anything else going on in the trust?
Mark: Absolutely, for Christmas this year, one of the things that we’re doing is we’re appealing for mini videos from staff to talk about what Christmas means to them. A tradition, something they like doing, and we want to make this into kind of like a countdown to Christmas advent calendar.
So what I’d say is if anyone wants to get involved in sharing that, if they can just get in touch with the comms team and we’ll give them the best advice on how they can share a little video, a little 30 second clip.
And also on the 16th of December, the chief executive Stacey Hunter is going to be hosting a special team quiz, a bit of fun to get teams answering a few questions about Christmas. I won’t spoil what the categories are going to be but it’s a bit of fun for that as well so staff will be getting some messages soon on how to submit a team for that.
Elliot: Okay Mark, thanks very much.
Mark: Thank you for having me.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Till next time, you’ve been listening to NTH voices.
Episode 35 – The importance of Trans Awareness Month
November marks Trans Awareness Month – a time to celebrate and recognise transgender communities and people.
In our latest podcast, LGBTQ+ staff network and clinical coder Matt Harper chats with lead chaplain Jim Wright about why it’s important our NHS trust recognises the awareness month and support available in our area.
Episode 35 – The importance of Trans Awareness Month
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our trust.
Elliot: My name is Elliot Kennedy and today we’re going to be talking about Trans Awareness Month. What is Trans Awareness Month?
Matt: For me, Trans Awareness Month is a time where we can really highlight the experiences of trans people. We want to raise awareness all through the year but having a specific month really focuses our efforts. It gives people a chance to learn about the challenges and, you know, barriers that the trans community face.
But we also want to have recognise how much that we’ve already overcome to be here and to celebrate that – the value that trans people bring to the world.
I think it’s really important that we celebrate Trans Awareness Month as an organisation because we need to be seen in how much we value all of our members of staff, including our trans and non-binary staff, and it’s important to show that we’ve got to stand up and do the right thing. We believe in our staff, our community, our patients, our visitors. We believe they have a right to be treated as human beings.
Jim: I think, for myself, I just love not just Trans Awareness Month, but there seems to be over the past few years a rise in these focus on weeks.
You’ve got Trans Awareness Month, but you’ve got Black History Month, you’ve got Baby Loss Awareness Week and things like this. And I think anything that gives us an extra opportunity to be educated, to pique our curiosity, to ask questions, to be informed in our safe way, I think is to be welcomed. Because you’ve got two ends of the story.
You’ve got people that are save this week, this month coming – November. If you’re part of that community then you’re living this every day. If there’s increasingly those of us, myself included, that have people going through that experience as part of our family, and for us to be better educated then we can support those in our family in a better way. But if you’ve got no connection at all then this, a subject that you know nothing about, it may seem sort of just other or alien or over there and sometimes that can be a bit scary and cause anxiety.
And a week like this, a month like this, a focus like this is an opportunity to safely be curious and ask questions and be informed so that that’s over there comes a little bit closer and you think ‘oh that’s interesting’. And so I welcome any weeks like this, but especially sort of Trans Awareness Week for all the things that Matt has just said.
I think it’s really, really, really important for me personally, for the trust, for the hospital, but for society in general just to sort of shine a light on something that may be at a distance for perhaps a lot of people and just a bit of knowledge, a bit of sort of experiential truth being I think can only be a good thing.
Matt: Yeah, I think having a particular time serves as a conversation starter that we might not be able to have throughout the rest of the year. It gives you these opportunities to talk about things that you might not have known about so that gets missed.
Things like, for the trans community, about the importance of using the correct pronouns. I think that’s one of the things that gets maybe misrepresented or misunderstood or sort of isn’t seen as very important but for a trans person your pronouns and even your name is so massively important because it represents who you are. And somebody using the correct pronouns and the correct name is validating. It means that they respect you and they respect who you are as a person. And obviously people get it wrong, they make mistakes because we’re only human but making that effort to get it right, to respect somebody does make a world of difference.
There’s a study that the Trevor Project did in 2021 and they surveyed the trans and non-binary youth and they found that in the previous year, 24% of trans and non-binary youth whose pronouns were never respected had attempted suicide. That’s nearly a quarter of people who had attempted suicide, and that’s not including those who had died by suicide or those who were self-harming or going through depression or anything like that. That’s just 24% had attempted suicide.
Now in the same survey, they found that of the trans and non-binary youths whose pronouns were always or mostly respected, it was 13% had attempted suicide. And obviously that’s 13% too many – it should be zero, we want it to be zero – but that’s a drop of 11% just by respecting somebody’s pronouns.
That’s just such a huge – just using somebody’s right pronouns, calling them he or she or they, is actually potentially life saving.
And I think these are the conversations we don’t have day-to-day during the most of the year but something like Trans Awareness Month is a time when we can have these conversations and highlight these important facts.
Jim: You’re getting to the fundamentals of life though. Like I have a particular belief that each of us is after what I call the 3 Vs. We want to be visible, we want to know that we’re of some value and we want to be valid. We want to be seen and heard, we want to know if we are of worth and we want to know that we make a difference.
And something as simple but profound as using the correct pronouns is the difference between being seen and not seen so you’re immediately made invisible, it undermines your worth, ‘what value do I have if I’m not even being seen correctly?’ and ‘do I make a difference?’, well I’m not even recognised’. And so something as simple as a sort of a pronoun cuts to the very heart of who we are because the reverse of that is by using the preferred pronoun, you’re saying I see you, you’re worth recognising, you do make a difference as you are.
The family member is my sister’s youngster that is transitioning from female to male and my sister puts it this way. That they’ve never seen them so relaxed and so themselves. And the way that she explained it to me I found really helpful because sometimes when we hear about ‘well are they too young to make such a big a decision?’. And I was having this discussion with my sister and she said ‘well it’s not like a decision of what career am I going to pursue’ which you may change your mind several times and as you’re growing older and circumstances change.
She said to me ‘it’s more akin to are you left-handed or right-handed and when they were growing up, felt forced that they were right-handed and now they discovered they actually have been left-handed all this time’. And life is just so much more natural for them and it’s an undeniable thing to witness. They are so much more relaxed, sociable and it comes back to this, so much more themselves whereas they were almost othered themselves and now they’ve found that ‘oh no, I’m left-handed, I can be myself here’.
So it’s really, really important then, the statistics that you say just back up how important it is. For those of us that are at a distance, it seems well how can such a little thing like a pronoun make such a big difference? But it comes down to fundamental things that are so important and affect us so greatly at times.
Matt: Yeah, I think it definitely does. Like you said, it’s being seen as the person that you are by the rest of the world. I thought when I was transitioning, especially when I first started or before I started on hormones, I’d look in the mirror and that person I saw in that mirror wasn’t me.
But as I went on hormones and my face changed and, you know, I could see these little changes like starting to get facial hair, things like that. The more I looked in the mirror, the more I could see myself and the less I had to sort of squint and like blur my vision to see who I am. And using the right name and pronouns and things like that show that the world sees you as who you really are.
I always remember the very first time I got gendered correctly by a stranger. I was at a market and I bought some popcorn and all that happened was the guy gave me my change back and said ‘oh thanks mate’ and it was brilliant because it was just like, you know, guys say that to each other, call each other ‘mate’ so he saw me as another man, and I was sort of grinning for the rest of time around the market. And I remember that so distinctly and it stuck with me so much and every time it always struck me.
But I think it’s definitely right. I love that analogy about the right and left-handed. It just makes so much sense, it was exactly my experience.
I think looking back, I realised that for my whole life I was kind of trying to be a girl, I was sort of trying a pass as female and forcing myself to fit into that box even though that was the last place I really wanted to be. But when I came out and when I started living as male and, you know, started taking the hormones and seeing the changes and getting top surgery, it just felt like such a release. So much easier, it just felt more natural.
Like especially when I got my top surgery, basically a mastectomy and chest reconstruction, and I woke up after the surgery and the first thing that I did just instinctively, even though I was still on however much medication, literally the first thing I did was I touched my chest and it just felt normal and it just felt like this is how it’s always been and it just felt so easy. And it wasn’t a big epiphany moment, it just felt normal and that was what was amazing about it.
I think something else you said about, you know, people ask like when young people come out as trans and a lot of people think they’re too young to know what their gender is – I always find that curious because if that child was not transgender and it’s a little boy who says ‘I’m a little boy’, we wouldn’t question that. We wouldn’t ask are they sure they know their gender. But if that person, if they look like a little boy and says they’re a little girl, we question it and we don’t think they have that capacity to know who they are.
Jim: On the 20th at 4:00, we’re holding a trans day of remembrance service in the chapel at North Tees hospital at 4pm.
Now this is a service that is really, really important because some of the stuff that Matt’s been sharing and the statistics, this is a life and death issue. And we just want to take a moment to stop and remember all those whose lives have been affected by violence, whose lives have been taken by violence, whose lives have been taken by suicide because of the treatment that they have received through no other reason than they’re trans.
And so it’s important to stop and remember and reflect and be part of this dispelling of ignorance that surrounds it and breeds some of the fear and some of the violence that’s perpetrated in this area. Myself and Matt have put together sort of a short service where people can come and just stand and honour and just remember and reflect on this area.
And everyone’s invited to come and stand with us at that time because I think it’s really, really important. You can just hear, listening to Matt, how deeply rooted these things run. It goes to the core of people’s beings. It’s not playing around, it’s real life and death identity issues here and it’s important that we give this space to try and stand sort of against this.
One of my favourite programmes on TV at the minute is a comedy called Ted Lasso, and I would recommend it to anyone that hasn’t seen it, and Ted Lasso is an incredible character that is really, really inspirational and positive in so many ways. But one of the things that he comes out with is that he tries to base his life on being curious rather than judgmental and I think that’s what we want to sort of encourage.
And, on the 20th, this Trans Day of Remembrance, is part of that invitation to be curious and to stand against judgmentalism that then works out into acts of violence. So that’s what’s happening on the 20th.
Matt: Yeah, I think it’s a really important part of Trans Awareness Month. You know, remembering and honouring these trans people around the world who’ve lost their lives to hate and to violence, like you said to remind people that it is a life and death situation for a lot of people, not just in other countries but here too.
While I’ve been preparing for the service, we’re going to be reading out some names of people who have died this last year and the list of trans people who have died this last year is at 400 at least. That’s just those who’ve been recorded. And I was printing off all of these names and you’re reading them and where they’re from and how they’ve died and it’s just quite horrific reading. Shot, shot, ran over, beaten, beaten up and stoned, raped, beaten and dismembered. These are people, they’re not just dying because they’re trans, they’re being murdered and brutally murdered.
And it’s scary and it’s sad because like I said, it’s not just other countries. We can look at other countries and say ‘oh, it’s a problem over there, it’s theirs’. It’s not, it happens here. You know, we’ve had trans people die in this country, young trans people.
Last year we had a young boy called Cory who died from suicide after getting abuse on social media, not just from children, from adults too. He was 14. We had, even in this area just a couple of months ago, we had a trans woman just down the road from where I lived who was stabbed just for being trans. So it’s not a problem elsewhere, it’s a problem here just as much.
Hate crime in the UK is going up and I think that’s why, you know, Trans Remembrance is just so important as looking at the more positive things or raising awareness about terminology or the process of transition and things like that.
And it’s important that we remember the impact our actions have and the misinformation and the lies and all of this have on people’s lives.
Elliot: Do you have any message for trans people who are listening or anybody that wants to know more about supporting the trans community?
Matt: I think, for me, firstly for any trans people who are listening, my most important thing is to know that you are seen, you are valued, you are loved you, are supported. We’re here for you if you need it. Please, please get in contact if you need it.
If you don’t feel confident contacting people at the hospital, at the trust, there’s a local charity called Hart Gables who are absolutely amazing and I would recommend anyone, trans people or their families, if you need any support get in touch with them because they’re brilliant people there.
For allies, I would say being supportive doesn’t mean being perfect. Listen and learn where you can but don’t let a lack of knowledge be a barrier to empathy. Understanding isn’t a prerequisite of empathy, but empathy is a prerequisite of understanding.
Jim: I was chatting to someone the other day and they said to me ‘never let perfect get in the way of the good’. I think that there’s a truth at the heart of that. I think what I would say, and this is echoing something that Matt and I have chatted about at other times, is that the message out there to other trans people and other allies is that you’re not alone. There are people to chat to, there are safe spaces inside and outside the hospital, like Matt just mentioned.
But, as an ally, I would say that Matt is a fantastic place to go and I love this idea of – I am the epitome of not letting perfect get in the way of the good, at least at the way of trying. The number of questions that I’ve been able to ask Matt. ‘Oh, Matt hang on, can I…’ and we have this almost joke with each other – ‘inappropriate question warning coming up’ and Matt just looks at me and goes ‘come on then’. And then I ask the question and he very graciously answers it and sometimes he goes ‘oh, actually that’s a good one, I don’t know the answer to that myself, I need to go and find out’. And it’s great just having that space to be curious and saying ‘look I’m not trying to be offensive here, but this I don’t know the answer to this, am I allowed to ask this?’
And, as Matt’s alluded, the importance of pronouns. But I’ve got to say with my nephew it’s taken a while. I’m getting a lot better now with ‘hes’ rather than ‘shes’ but every now and again when you’re in the middle of a conversation, it’s going back and forth really quickly, sort of the wrong pronoun will slip out – ‘oh no, I’m really sorry’. And my nephew just looks at me and just almost shrugs it off.
Chatting to someone else in the trans community, they said ‘oh families get a free pass because we’ve just been so involved and so familiar with other pronouns’ but my experience in my family is that we’re all on board, we’re all really supportive. We can see undeniably that this person is much more themselves and we just want to love them, we just want to support them, we just want to be there. But their graciousness to us that we’re not always perfect is a wonderful thing.
So I would say look, you’re not alone. There are people to chat to and there are allies out there who also may not be perfect but we want to be curious, we want to ask questions, we want to find out and find out the best way to support you in whatever journey you’re going through at the minute.
Elliot: And before we go, Matt, is there any contact places that is different to the hospital one?
Matt: Yes, so if you aren’t able to get in contact with us at the trust, the best place I would advise people to go is Hart Gables. They’re a local LGBTQ+ charity who support the whole community and their families and allies and I can’t recommend them highly enough.
Elliot: Jim, Matt, thank you.
Matt: Thanks.
Jim: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Till next time, you’ve been listening to NTH voices.
Episode 34 – Festival of Finance
This year we are once again welcoming in local public sector and private companies to offer staff money saving advice and exclusive offers as our financial health and wellbeing marketplace event returns.
In this episode of NTH Voices, Helen and Laura discuss our reasons for putting on this event across our hospital group and what our staff will be able to find on the days.
Episode 34 – Festival of finance
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our trust.
Elliot: My name is Elliot Kennedy and in the studio today we have Helen and Laura. Why are we hosting the Festival of Finance at different hospitals across the University Hospitals of Tees.
Helen: In November 2022, colleagues at North Tees and Hartlepool initially held a festival the finance event, which proved to be extremely successful. The events have been set out in a direct response to the reward and recognition survey we carried out and the feedback was really positive. So we’ve continued last year and then again this year. Both sites have their own Festival of Finance at North Tees and Hartlepool and it’s because we really understand some of our staff that may be struggling with the cost of living challenges and we want to help them and support them as much as we possibly can. Because there’s so um many ways that, there’s different Financial issues that impact and so we we need to support them.
Laura: At South we use an external company called Affinity connect that run Financial well-being courses for our staff so I’ll be promoting them on the day, making sure staff sign up to them. For example we get great feedback that staff um have been told about grants that they didn’t even know existed that they can apply for. We’ll also be handing out things like recipe cards with healthy recipes on that will have like the price per portion on them. So there will be a lot going on on the day.
Elliot: How big is the impact of financial difficulties on our staff’s health and well-being?
Laura: So financial difficulties can significantly impact on staff well-being in many different ways. Employees may experience heightened stress anxiety levels due to financial pressures, they may have concerns about the cost of living, they might worry about how they can afford day-to-day Essentials, it can even distract employees from undertaking the job role. They may struggle to focus on their everyday tasks at work, as they’re constantly worrying about their finances and stress and financial difficulties can even manifest physically. It can lead to issues like headaches fatigue, so I think overall. we have a social responsibility as an organization to recognize the effects of financial difficulties on staff and support them as much as we possibly can.
Elliot: Who is the event aimed at?
Helen: The events have space for staff to find out more about support, discounts and offers that are available to them, and we’ve got a wide range of internal and external organizations coming along. Some the internal ones are occupational health and menopause, which I do, smoking and alcohol support, the Eco shop and Vivup. The external people, they’ve got citizen advice Bureau for both Stockton and Hartlepool. We’ve got loan sharks, we’ve got Hartlepool carers, we’ve got uh stockton learning skills Council and in the Hartlepool one we have Hartlepower. I think there’s other particular ones that are over at South Tees.
So what are the supports available and where do staff where do staff start looking?
Laura: Yes, so at south tees NHS trust we do have a staff Financial well-being page and that covers information on pensions benefits and discounts, cost of living support, debt management support, gambling support, links to benefits support and so much more. We’ve also got information on for example our Cleveland fire brigade scheme – so they actually run a stay safe and warm scheme that’s completely free – so they offer access to heaters and other equipment. So if you can imagine during the winter if someone’s boiler breaks down or they have a ongoing heating issue that can support you by giving you free heaters. So again, knowing that information could really be beneficial to staff members.
Helen: Stockton, Middlesbrough and Redcar councils each have their own financial support websites that specialize in cost of living support. So that helps people in crisis, helping with bills, carers, benefits, debts, food support and warm spaces Etc. And then we have a tab for making every contact count website and that helps to sign post staff and a wide range of services that are available in the Tees Valley area. Also including affordable warmth, alcohol, carers, gambling, housing, mental health finances and cost of living. So you can search for your local supports using your postcode. There’s also debt and gambling Charities that are also able to assist, if that’s what is required.
Elliot: Laura can you give me those dates and locations again please.
Laura: So the first event will take place on Thursday the 14 of November at the main concour at Hartlepool.
The second event will be Friday the 15 of November in the Tees meeting room at the back of Tees restaurant at North Tees.
The third event will be Friday the 22 of November and that will be in the main atrium at James Cook University Hospital.
We will also be doing an event at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton and we will confirm this date shortly.
All of the events are being held between 11:30 a.m. until 2:p.m.
Elliot: Laura, Helen, thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Till next time, you’ve been listening to NTH voices.
Episode 33 – The staff survey and making meaningful improvements for our people
The annual NHS staff survey is now well underway for our colleagues across University Hospitals Tees to have their say, let us know what’s important to them at work and to help us make meaningful improvements.
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, we talk all things staff survey with group deputy director of workforce Jane Herdman, group deputy director of OD and culture Jennie Winnard and people promise manager Steph Gale.
Episode 33 – The staff survey and making meaningful improvements for our people
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our trust.
Colin: This is Colin on Radio Stitch broadcasting to the patients, staff and visitors to the University Hospitals Tees. Today we’re talking staff surveys and we have three ladies in the studios today starting with…
Steph: Steph Gale.
Jenny: Jenny Winnard. Jane: Jane Hedrman.
Colin: So as I said we’re talking about staff surveys and let’s turn to you Jane for the first question. What is it and why is it so important?
Jane: So the staff survey is a national initiative which is set by NHS England and it includes every single trust within England and Wales. It’s specific to each trust but it has very, very similar questions that are surrounded around the people promise.
It’s really, really important to take part in the staff survey because it captures your views on patient experience, on your work experience, on how you feel personally at work, the capabilities of your managers, whether you feel like you’ve got a voice and whether you’re listened to. So it’s really important that you put your view across in the staff survey so we can see the results and do something about it.
Colin: Right, Jenny well, I’m going to point the next question to you although I think Jane’s probably already answered some of it. Why would you encourage the staff to take this opportunity to complete the survey?
Jenny: It’s our opportunity as a member of staff to be able to say what it’s like for us working in the organisation and then for our managers and for the senior teams within in the organisation to actually hear what’s being said and then look at what might need to be done what changes might need to be made.
It’s an opportunity that we’ve got once a year where we can be anonymous but we can answer the questions and give feedback so that people really know what it’s like to work within the trust.
Colin: So that was going to be my next question actually. Jane, how can staff be assured of their anonymity?
Jane: So staff can access the staff survey by either an email account or a paper copy and each has got a unique number that’s specific to that member of staff. The only person that can access the actual staff survey is that member of staff. The results go straight through our survey provider, they don’t come to anybody in the trust at all so we have no idea who’s completed what.
Colin: Steph, can you tell me what kind of information does it capture?
Steph: So as Jane said, it obviously is themed into the seven people promises so it really allows us to understand what’s going on within all of our organisations and it captures the areas that we really need to focus on.
A big part of my work this year has been looking at flexible working and that actually came from the results from last year’s staff survey so it’s really important that we look at each of these themes, see what we’re doing well, see areas that we can improve on to make sure we’re making the right changes for our staff.
Colin: And finally, Jenny, how does that help to make changes across the group?
Jenny: It means then that we’ll be able to look through the themes that we get back because the company that works for us with the staff survey – they send back answers that are linked to departments and to each individual organisation. So one for South Tees and one for North Tees.
And then we’ll be able to look at a group level and we’ll be able to sit and see if there’s any areas where we might need to go and provide support, if there’s things that we need to change.
There’s also specific additional questions that are bespoke to us as a group at the end of the survey and we’ll have information from those which will tell us if there’s things that we need to do. So we’ll be able to sit and look at that and work with the executives and then work with managers to say actually what would help in your area and look and think. So people can work together as a group to be able to say this is going to make a difference for us and we will then properly listening to what people have told us in the staff survey.
Colin: So for you people out there who were thinking of doing the survey don’t think, just do it. A big thank you ladies for coming in today.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time, you’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 32 – Freedom to speak up
Every year in October we celebrate Speak Up Month – a month to raise awareness of Freedom to Speak Up and make speaking up business as usual for everyone.
Here, our University Hospitals Tees speak up guardians discuss the services our trusts offer to support staff, as well as their own personal experiences of speaking up.
Episode 32 – Freedom to speak up
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our trust.
Elliot: Hello I’m Elliot Kennedy. In the studio today we have…
Philippa: Hi I’m Philippa from freedom to speak up at South Tees.
Jules: Hi I’m Jules, I’m the freedom speak up guardian at North Tees.
Sam: Morning I’m Sam, I’m the freedom speak up guardian at south Tees.
Jim: Hi and I’m Jim and I’m the third freedom to speak up guardian at South Tees. And we’re here today to talk about freedom to speak up month which is the whole of October.
Elliot: So what is it all about?
Jules: So, freedom to speak up month is a national campaign where it gives us an opportunity to locally celebrate speaking up within our organisation.
Jim: So freedom to speak up month in the month of October celebrates speaking up within a NHS organisation. Every NHS organisation has a freedom to speak up guardian or freedom to speak up programme, as we do here at University Hospitals Tees.
We have three guardians at South Tees, we have the one guardian, Jules, at North Tees. We’re working closer and closer at the moment with the hospital group as the hospital group is developing.
So freedom to speak up month is all about celebrating what it means to speak up. Speaking up is something that we feel obviously is very important. Speaking up protects patient safety and it helps to promote staff wellbeing.
Philippa: I think it’s probably really important to focus on speaking up, on what it means to us as well and to staff within the organisation. So for me personally, speaking up is about feeling that there’s definitely value in every voice – every single voice within the organisations that we work in, that there’s value to hear it, to truly listen to what is being said, what are we hearing. And then also what are we doing about it as well.
I think when we speak, it’s a big brave step to take but actually the ‘so what afterwards’, what’s going to happen after we’ve spoken up is so invaluable.
Jim: Yeah. absolutely. I completely agree speaking up is not just important obviously within an organisation, speaking up I think is the foundation of democracy where everyone not just has the right to speak, they’ve also got a responsibility to speak and I think if we speak up when we see something that’s going wrong or something that could be done differently, something that could be done better, it’s a way we can prevent harm, build trust and develop as an organisation, as a NHS service.
Jules: I think also for me, speaking up is about that culture. I think we all within any organisation have that accountability to allow others to speak up so, you know, create those environments that people feel safe to speak up in the first place.
The gold standard that we’re always trying to achieve is that sort of open culture where people can speak up openly within teams to line managers so that we can learn things quickly that might be going wrong and that might affect our working lives or our patients so that we can learn and grow and become the sort of best versions of ourselves really to get that really quality improvement.
Sam: I guess for me it’s about the staff as well. It’s a way for staff to be heard. Some people might not otherwise have a voice without us and they might just need that extra little bit of support to approach the right person. I guess the guardian role provides a safe and supportive environment for staff to do that so they can raise concerns. And the ultimate aim is speaking up to just become business as usual across the group.
Jules: Yeah, I agree with that and I think also it’s about that empowerment. It’s empowering our staff.
Sometimes people just want to have an initial conversation with a guardian and it might be around sort of relationships where there’s a bit of conflict and actually just having that really good sort of listening – someone that actually stops everything they’re doing and listens to them, can actually get them to the point that they feel actually empowered to go back to their person themselves without including third party and having that adult conversation that really brings that harmonious relationship back and ultimately again that’s something that we really want to achieve.
We want to empower our staff to be able to have those sometimes difficult conversations, to be able to move forward positively.
Jim: And you mentioned difficult conversations there. Unfortunately, as we all know as guardians, it is difficult to speak up for many people. There are probably quite a few reasons for that. Sam, what do you think stops people speaking up?
Sam: There’s lots of reasons isn’t there? It’s different for everybody. Some people might think nothing will change if they do speak up, some people might worry about what’ll happen, sometimes people just have a lack of confidence and maybe doubt the validity of the concerns. And as a guardian it’s my aim to help people overcome those barriers.
Jules: I think the sort of relationship between speaking up, listen up and follow up is really key and like what Sam said, it’s that futility that things – you know, I might really put myself out there and be really courageous to speak up but actually what’s the point if nothing’s going to change?
So I think it’s really important to help break those barriers that we ensure that when we follow up, we really celebrate the following up so that people know that they are being listened to. We want to make those changes, we want to be the best version of ourselves as an organisation.
I think also the fear aspect in terms of what a lot of people will understand as detriment is a big barrier as well.
Jim: So you mentioned detriment there that’s a very guardian word. So when you say detriment, just for the benefit of people listening, what do we mean when we say detriment?
Jules: So detriment is sort of the fear that things might change for them in their working life. So it might be someone might be wanting to go for a new job promotion and they might worry that by them speaking up, that they might not get that promotion. It might be that they worry their rota at work might change where, you know, it might become more difficult and not the sort of rota that’s been…
Jim: You mean we’re looking at someone getting a whole bunch of nights worried that they might be given the bad shifts?
Jules: Yes they might be given the shifts that no one wants to have. Yeah. The unpopular shifts. It might be that they feel outcasted by their peers because peers might think that they’ve been disloyal so suddenly their kind of environment is very different and uncomfortable. So all those could be sort of examples of where someone might feel as though they’ve potentially suffered detriment.
Jim: And detriment doesn’t necessarily happen, it’s the fear of detriment sometimes is enough isn’t it?
Jules: Absolutely.
Jim: To stop people, even if that detriment maybe doesn’t exist. So what about you, Philippa? What prevents people speaking up?
Philippa: I think as well there’s an element of understanding the process – actually what it is to speak up. So yes, we’re here, we’re visible, hopefully people will get to know us as people and we can be approachable but actually what is the process of speaking up? So where will that information go?
I think it’s all those types of questions that people might worry about or how confidential is it. So I think it’s really important around when we’re educating and getting people to understand the process that there’s those three elements to speaking up, that yes you can come to us openly as guardians if you feel comfortable in doing that and that’s great but also if you are a little bit cautious or a little bit fearful then actually your confidentiality will be maintained.
And it’s about really kind of affirming that to people and building up their confidence that when they come to speak to us individually as guardians, we will absolutely maintain that confidentiality as much as we can unless there’s those risks beyond that or safeguarding.
Jules: Yeah, so there was if there was a safeguarding issue or a significant patient safety issue then that obviously would mitigate confidentiality but we’d always do our utmost to protect the identity of the person who is raising those issues. But obviously if there was that risk there, then we would have to but in cases that don’t have those risks then the person who is raising the concern is very sort of well cited and in control in terms of how the concern is sort of escalated and who it’s escalated to.
Once we talk through the different scenarios of escalation, and one of the things that we always consider and talk about when we’re escalating concerns is around impartiality. So we as guardians, we’re very impartial and that’s one of the reasons why we don’t investigate investigations and that’s why we escalate in the first place.
But sometimes situations can be quite complex so we look and think well, who is that impartial person in the organisation that can give that fair overview? And that might be your non-exec director, it might be your chairman.
We at North Tees have also got a lead independent investigator so again that all really sort of states that trust that we’re really trying to manage concerns really, really fairly because ultimately, as I keep referring back, to it’s all about the learning and the growing for the organisation – that growth so that we can be the best versions of ourselves.
Jim: So we mentioned the reasons why people don’t speak up and I think we’ve moved on quite naturally haven’t we to what makes it easier to speak up?
So I mean we mentioned the reasons that people don’t speak up – fear that something might happen to them, the idea that they’re worried that nothing will ever change – it’s been like this for 10 years, why would I say anything now? They feel the organisation can’t move on and I think one of the important things I think that we have as guardians, that link is we have the ability to raise that person’s voice, raise it to the appropriate person or people or group and we also are there to watch what happens as that voice, that concern is listened to by the appropriate people or the manager, whoever it might be and that action is taken.
And I think that is one of the things for me that will make it easier for people to speak up is once they see, and you touched on this Jules, just now in earlier on by saying people actually see a change as a result of somebody raising a concern and I think what’s really important, what will make it easy to speak of is ensuring that everybody, every level within the organisation appreciates why speaking up is important. And that’s not just where the staff are raising the concerns, but everybody right up to the very, very top. The chairman, the CEO, the board, senior leaders.
I remember when I first started this job and raising a concern with a manager and the response that I got was quite dismissive and as we’ve worked as guardians, as I’ve worked as a guardian over the last two years, I found that attitude amongst managers, although it still does exist in places in small small parts, that it is changing and people do see the benefit. Not just the people who are raising the concerns, the people who are voicing the problems, but the people who are actually receiving those. They’re taking them on board and they’re blowing up and they’re making significant changes, positive changes in the organisation.
And I think the more that’s seen by every member of staff in the organisation, the more it will become, we mentioned this term didn’t we, business as usual to speak up and raise concerns where they exist.
Jules: And I think that’s where the training is. So obviously we’ve got the speak up training, that’s for core workers. We’ve got the listen up training for middle managers and we’ve got the follow-up training which is for your execs, your NEDs and your governors.
And I think, as we keep saying, there’s a relationship between all three and I think that training really helps people to know their part in speaking up. Also there’s workshops that we do using those as a framework which, again, I think is really beneficial in terms of giving that sort of objectivity and that sort of conversation in quite an informal kind of manner where we can just sort of you know learn about our responsibilities and our experiences.
And I think that all helps you change that culture, that we’re trying to get to businesses us usual through that education side of things and I think that we’ve seen the benefits of that over the last year.
Philippa: For me, when I was thinking about what makes it easier, is there was like key words that really stood out to me. So it’s things like that commitment which I think we’ve referred to – the seeing it in action.
Visibility I think is massive and also engagement so really having across all levels within the organisations, across within the group model, that actually there’s that engagement with freedom to speak up that everyone’s committed to having it as business as usual.
Sam: Yeah for me it goes back to the staff members again just having that confidence that they’ll be listened to, taking really seriously and for some I guess just feeling that they’ve been heard and taken seriously, even if nothing much changes. And again that assurance that when they do speak up it, will be handled sensitively confidentially if required. We’ll keep in touch with them and support them through whatever process they’ve got.
Elliot: So how do people get in touch with you?
Jim: There are myriad ways that people could do that, thanks Elliot. So they can get in touch with us in different ways depending on the trust that you work with.
So what are the ways that people could contact you here at North Tees, Jules?
Jules: So on SharePoint, we’ve got a freedom to speak up page and my contact details are on there so people can contact me through my phone or email and that’s all documented. There’s poster all over, in all the areas, of me and again that’s got all my contact details on as well.
Sam: At South Tees, you can get us on extension 516. We’ve got our email which is [email protected]. We’ve got a Facebook page at South Tees. We have an online reporting tool as well which can be accessed from the intranet and you can raise your concern online and we also have a Twitter page.
Jim: Accessing on the intranet, quite simply go on to the intranet, if you type in ‘freedom to speak up’, our page will appear. If you actually type into the intranet online reporting tool, into the search bar, you will be taken to that. And the online reporting tool is really useful because the information will come straight to the guardians. It won’t be seen by anybody else.
You can leave your name on the report or you can omit your name or contact details from the report so if you are really worried about being identified then you are able to still get in touch. Obviously if you come to us without any contact information, we can’t follow up if we’ve got any further question questions. Do try and give as much detail as you possibly can and obviously we can’t feedback to you and let you know what changes have occurred as the result of you speaking up to us. If you can come to us confidentially, give us a first name, maybe a contact number, we can actually have that dialogue with you and support you further.
Jules: One of the things I would also like to mention is that we’ve got the speaking up policy. Again in North Tees, you can see this on SharePoint. And it talks about all the different ways you can speak up so it’s not just about know going to your line manager. Obviously we would always say that’s the gold standard, but also it’s all the other different routes. So for example if your concern was around a fraud case, we’ve got a fraud specialist team that you can get in touch with, whether that’s openly or anonymously. So do look at the freedom to speak up policy as well.
And there’s also, you know, people are fully within their right to go externally if they feel as though they can’t raise their concern internally so that could be NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, the GMC, the NMC.
Jim: There’s a national help line for whistleblowing as well.
Jules: Yeah, so again that’s all in the speaking up policy so do have a look at that as well.
Jim: And that’s the same – there’s separate policies at the moment at North Tees and South Tees but obviously those policies are very, very similar and will contain that information. Similarly all our contact details will be on that policy.
Jules: Also a bit of a plug from me and I’m sure I speak for everyone here. We are constantly wanting to recruit freedom to speak up champions.
Philippa: Yeah.
Jim: Okay, well can I just stop you there Jules? Again I’m just conscious of the fact obviously people listening might not know what a champion is. Do you want to tell us about that? What does a champion do?
Philippa: Freedom to speak up champions are there to promote freedom to speak up really, demonstrate the values of freedom to speak up. They’ve got a good understanding of the provision so they can provide that education to staff and colleagues, really look at supporting us in breaking down the barriers of speaking up and role modelling and also signposting.
So they’re great champions if you come to them if you’ve got a concern or a discussion that you need to have, they will absolutely signpost you to the right place to take that forward.
Jules: In terms of the support for the champions, we will train the champions, we do quarterly network meetings.
Jim: I’ve been to one of your network meetings and there were some very nice refreshments there.
Jules: Yes, absolutely, we will always supply a bit of a lunch as well. But there’s lots of support. The freedom to speak up champions get one to ones and ultimately it’s whatever you are able to give to the role.
Obviously you will need your line manager to sign off permission but anything that we get involved with, and you’ll see through communications all the things we’ve got going on in speak up month and that’s the sort of things that the champions can really get involved with. It’s something that the exec teams – the group of execs – really support.
And, you know, some of the champions that I have already often say that they’re doing skills in the champion role even, though it’s voluntary, that they don’t use in their day-to-day job. So there’s some really good transferable skills from the champion role as well.
Jim: Can you just tell us how you might like to become a champion at North Tees?
Jules: So if you’d like to become a champion at North Tees then, as I say my contact details are on SharePoint. If you get in contact with me, then I will send you an expressions of interest, a line manager sign off form and some information with regards to the role. Following that, there’ll be an informal conversation just to sort of go through the reasons of wanting to become a champion and then following that, that’s when we’ll do the training to train you up as one of our freedom to speak up champions.
It’s a very rewarding role.
Jim: And South Tees, Sam, what would we ask?
Sam: Very similar to North Tees. It’s obviously just get in contact with us, let us know that you fancy being a champion, we’ll have an informal discussion, we’ll send you the forms for your manager to sign off, we’ll get you to do the speak up training and yeah.
Jim: And we have quarterly meetings and regular catch ups with all our champions. Anything else you want to add regarding champions, Philippa?
Philippa: No I don’t think so.
Jim: Thank you. Just one last question if you don’t mind.
Could we just ask – tell me about a time, Philippa, that you have spoken up. What happened?
Philippa: So I personally, in a previous role not within this organisation, very early on in my career within healthcare, there was a an error with a patient medication that I had to kind of take forward and report. It was a really difficult process, it took me out of my comfort but I knew it was the right thing to do in order to promote the patient’s safety and the safety of the staff.
The actual reaction from my colleague unfortunately wasn’t the best, it was really uncomfortable, but actually what happened was I was supported really well by my manager in having those discussions to take it forward. I felt supported, felt heard and saw the follow-up action from it so it was a positive experience and the fact that I got to see an outcome, I appreciate that that isn’t always the case for some but for me, it was very positive.
Sam: I actually used the freedom to speak up service at my previous organisation. It wasn’t something that could be addressed by the organisation. It did end up being addressed by an external organisation but I was actually really inspired by the support I got from the guardians and that’s what inspired me in this role. So speaking up can happen, like I say inside of work, outside of work.
Jim: My recent example of speaking up is working. When I was out and about, I noticed somebody was in a wheelchair waiting at the crossing to cross the road, waiting for the green man. And the green man came on and somebody came up behind him and pushed him across and he objected which I think is kind of fair enough and I actually went and spoke to that person – directly spoke up, saying you’ve basically just taken somebody’s independence away by doing that. It wasn’t received very well but I did get obviously thanks from the person in the wheelchair for actually sticking my head above the parapet, if you like, and actually saying well actually no that’s not on.
There’s a couple of very different ways of speaking up.
Elliot: Well, thank you all for coming in and we look forward another chat at some point in the future.
Philippa: Thank you.
Jim: Thank you very much indeed.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time, you’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 31 – How is University Hospitals Tees financed?
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, group chief finance officer Chris Hand talks through how our trusts are financed and our ambitions over the coming year.
Episode 31 – How is University Hospitals Tees financed?
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: My name is Elliot Kennedy in the studio today we have Chris hand who is the trust finance officer.
The NHS finances are rarely out the news lately. Can you outline very simply how the NHS finances work and where does money come from and how does trust manage the finances?
Chris: Yes, hello Elliot and thanks for having me. I will certainly try to do my best.
So the money that the NHS spends comes from taxpayers. So the government raise money through taxes and then through Parliament they set the national budget that’s available to the NHS to spend. And I think it’s about 170 billion this year overall.
And that funding then gets allocated down to each local area called Integrated Care Systems, ICS, using a funding formula based on the size of the local population and their relative health needs. And then the commissioners in each local area which are called ICBs use their share of that NHS budget to buy services from local providers like ourselves.
So as NHS trusts, our group gets paid income and it’s based on a national tariff for each of the patients we treat and that income that we get determines effectively how much we can afford to spend overall as a trust. And based on that overall trust control total, each ward and department has a budget available to them for the year which they spend on all the things that they need to be able to deliver the services required of them.
And in the NHS, most of our costs relate to our workforce, our staffing, so we spend about two thirds of our NHS budget on our staff.
Elliot: So what does our group financial picture look like?
Chris: So NHS finances overall are currently in a very challenging place which I’m sure you have seen in the news recently. Over the last few years, we’ve seen quite a lot of growth in the cost of running the NHS, particularly during the Covid pandemic years and we’ve seen large increases in the number of NHS staff that we employ.
And as a health service, we’re now basically spending more than the taxpayer can afford. And that’s the position at all levels of the NHS so it’s at a national level, it’s regionally across the whole the north east and also locally within our group.
So we have both trusts with an underlying financial deficit which means we’re spending more than we can afford and over the short term unfortunately, again as you’ll have seen in the news recently, that financial picture for the group and the broader NHS is going to become increasingly challenging. So, as we see, the national funding levels in the NHS reset back down to those affordable levels for the taxpayer.
Elliot: Now when I spoke to Stacey Hunter, she outlined that there was a need for our group to pull together, reduce our costs. Can you offer some tips to other staff regardless of their position within the trust? How to reduce costs?
Chris: Yeah, absolutely. I think we can all make a huge difference. You know, it’s the daily choices that we all make that decides how we spend our money. We’ve got a share of a limited NHS budget that is a very precious thing and every pound that we waste means that there’s one less pound that we can spend on our patients when they need us the most.
So there are, you know, very simple things that we can all do just as we would do at home. So, like not wasting energy, switching off lights and computers when we’re not using them, reducing waste, so you know, not printing things off unless they’re really needed, properly segregating our recycling and also things like reporting any maintenance issues early so that we can get them fixed before they come too expensive to mend.
And it’s about making sure I think that we understand how much the things we use cost so that we don’t use something that’s really expensive when there’s actually something much cheaper that we could use and get the same result.
Elliot: They all sound a little, a tad easy. Is this a case of looking after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves?
Chris: Yeah, I think that’s probably true. If we all pull together and care about the precious NHS pennies that we’re being entrusted with, then the pounds will look after themselves.
But it’s also about working together as teams I think and to challenge our current ways of working so that we can innovate and improve things and remove any unnecessary steps or duplication. If we can find ways to see just one extra patient in every outpatient clinic and every theatre list or reduce their length of stay in a hospital bed, then we’re making things better for our patients and we’re also making best use of our NHS money too.
Elliot: What else is the group doing to save or even earn some money?
Chris: Well, every year the NHS is setting an efficiency target that it has to meet and this year’s no exception. So all our care groups and clinical collaboratives and corporate areas have been planning across the group and they’re working hard to deliver their own local efficiency programmes.
So we’re looking at lots of things but things like saving money from procurement, so buying things for cheaper medicines optimisation, looking at a rostering and reducing agency and premium costs any opportunities from digital and it and within our back office and admin costs and making sure our clinical coding is really accurate as well because that’s really important to make sure that we get in all the income that we are due.
There’s also lots of work going on around reviewing our elective activity and making the best use of the new surgical hubs that we’ve got as a group so that we can see even more patients and drive down those longer waiting times and earn more money again for the group. And our new clinical boards are reviewing the service models right across the group, locking those opportunities of being a group that University Hospitals Tees gives us that are going to both improve patient care but also give us more cost effective care.
Elliot: Now, finally is there one message you’d like to give to our colleagues to take away and consider? What would it would be?
Chris: I think the one message is that we all have a collective responsibility when we work in the NHS to do the very best for our patients and that means making the very best use of every single precious NHS pound that we’ve been entrusted with.
Elliot: Chris, thank you.
Chris: Thank you, thanks a lot.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time, you’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 30 – Launching our Health and Social Care Academy
A brand new state-of-the-art academy has opened its doors to help kick start the careers of the region’s next generation of health and social care professionals.
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, we find out more about the academy with Gary Wright, group deputy director of education learning, and Alex Taylor, business manager for the academy.
Read moreEpisode 30 – Launching our Health and Social Care Academy
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: My name is Elliot Kennedy. In the studio today we have Gary and Alex and they’re here to talk about the Health and Social Care Academy.
Where abouts is it?
Gary: The Health and Social Care Academy is a state-of-the-art training facility located at ward 10 at the University Hospital of Hartlepool.
Elliot: And how did the Academy come about?
Gary: In order to make sure that we have the right staff with the right skills to deliver the high quality care, both now and in the future, it’s important that we plan effectively. It’s important to note that the Health and Social Care Academy is a collaboration between a number of key stakeholders including Hartlepool College of Further Education and Hartlepool Borough Council.
A couple of years ago now there was an opportunity for us to bid for some funding through the Hartlepool towns deal fund and following the development of a robust business case we were successful in attracting over a million pounds of capital funding.
In addition, we’ve also been successful in attracting funding through the local skills improvement fund which has enabled us to invest in the latest equipment such as an immersive suite.
Elliot: And what will it offer?
Alex: The aim of the academy is to attract, develop and retain the best people to ensure that we can continue to offer high quality services to our patients and service users. And this isn’t just patients in a hospital setting, it also includes community and social care settings as well.
We’re currently developing a comprehensive prospectus of what we can offer through the academy. However, we are keen to be flexible as the needs of the health and social care sectors evolve and change.
Elliot: And when will this all begin?
Alex: We are officially launching the academy on Thursday 5 September. A number of key stakeholders attending alongside the media and we’re hoping it’ll be an absolutely fantastic event.
Elliot: Now what areas is the academy going to focus on?
Gary: The academy has three main focuses, firstly apprenticeships. Working with partners such as Hartlepool College of Further education we aim to increase the number of apprentices as we have, creating career pathways for people in the local area.
Secondly, specialist skills. The academy will have the capability to train people on a wide range of specialist skills including venepuncture, catheterisation and basic life support. In addition, the academy will be and is equipped with the latest simulation technology which will allow people to train in a realistic yet safe environment.
And then finally, corporate social responsibility. The trust is the largest employer in the area and, as an anchor organisation, has an obligation to support the community that we serve.
We have ambitious plans to work with a wide range of stakeholders across the community and an example of this is we are currently working with Cleveland Police to plan an event to tackle knife crime across the Tees Valley.
Elliot: Where can people contact you?
Alex: We’ve created a web page within the North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trust website so all information can be found there, including contact details.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 29 – Listening to staff, improving our workplace and the People Promise
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, we chat with our people promise manager, Steph Gale. A new role at the Trust, Steph is here to speak to staff and help support their working lives to be the very best they can be.
She discusses how we’re learning from our NHS staff about flexible working, talent management and reward and recognition – all to improve our workplace for our current and future employees.
Episode 29 – Listening to staff, improving our workplace and the People Promise
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: Hello, my name’s Elliot Kennedy and in the studio today we have Steph Gale. And your role in the hospital is?
Steph: People promise manager for North Tees and Hartlepool.
Elliot: Exactly what is a people promise manager?
Steph: So the people promise manager is set from NHS England.
So for those of you who don’t know, the people promise is seven elements that all NHS employers should provide all of their employees and these seven elements were created by NHS employees about things that they want, things that they felt they needed from their employers. So things like working flexibly, being safe and healthy whilst at work, having a voice that counts. Also opportunities to learn and educate.
So my role as a people promise manager is to kind of see how well we do with all of these elements as an organisation and where our gaps are and what areas we could really focus on and improve for our staff to make their experience at work much more enjoyable, and also therefore impact our patient experience and make that much more effective and better for our patients.
Elliot: So what are your key areas to focus on?
Steph: So my key areas of focus at this present moment in time is flexible working. So, some of us work really flexibly and some of us don’t so it’s about supporting our managers and our leaders within the Trust to look at options and barriers that they’ve got around flexible working and how we can really improve these and the opportunities they have to support staff.
But it’s also about educating staff on what is flexible working and how they can request and what they can look at and opportunities that are available to them. Also looking at how we evidence it as a Trust. At the minute, we don’t have any way of evidencing this so we’re going to use ESR to improve this service, so we can say we have 2,000 people in the organisation working flexibly.
Another thing I’m looking at is talent management – so how we progress our staff and how our staff move through the organisation through into different roles and different opportunities, the educational opportunities that are available to them, you know, apprenticeship schemes that are offered to them. You know working really closely with the education and OD department in this. And also supporting line managers and care groups to improve their staff pathways.
I’m also looking at something called ‘itchy feet conversations’ so if you’ve ever got home from a day’s work and you think ‘oh, that was terrible, I don’t want to work there anymore’ and you log on NHS jobs. This is about trying, as a Trust, to understand why people want to leave, what frustrates you, how can we make these improvements and looking at what we can put in place to prevent you getting to this stage of burnout really.
And the last thing that I’m looking at is some reward and recognition. So unfortunately at North Tees and Hartlepool, we don’t have Shining Stars at the moment. That was put on pause. We do have a celebrating excellent event but we don’t have a lot in terms of reward and recognition compared to some other organisations within the area so it’s about creating a reward and recognition policy aligning with South Tees as we’re now group working with them and also just looking at how we can reward and recognise our staff.
So something I’m looking at the minute is a ‘Love Admin’ event that’s happening in October. So I’m working with some of the admin leads in the organisation to try and improve that.
So they’re my key areas of focus at the minute, and obviously I’m trying to get out there and engage with staff a lot more so that I can see if these are the right things.
Elliot: So how do you hope to make the changes?
Steph: So again, as I’ve just said, trying to engage with people. So I’m trying to get out there, speak to staff, seeing what they want, see if I can come up with any new ideas, innovation from the staff, what they’ve made suggestions for, and also just trying to positively collaborate and work with everybody.
We do something as people promise managers throughout the country called ‘pinch with pride’ so it’s not about reinventing those cogs and the wheels. It’s about, you know, looking at what people have done well and trying to replicate that here and any innovation ideas, as I say, are welcome and suggested so we can see how they could be developed.
Elliot: Now, how will you know when you’ve made a difference to the staff experience?
Steph: So something that obviously I’ve looked at a lot in this role is the staff survey, so I urge everybody to do their staff survey because it really helps benefit us on what areas we need to focus on and the actions that we need to take to improve all of our staff’s experience.
But also feedback from staff, you know, going around and meeting people and I’ve had lots of really interesting conversations, some really good suggestions and some really, really positive sharing of really good stories from some departments that do work really well and some areas been highlighted of common themes. So it would be an improvement of staff’s experience on those conversations and engaging with them and really getting to know people and what matters to them.
Elliot: Now, is the staff survey the only way to get in touch with you? How do members of staff reach you, if not through the staff survey?
Steph: So anybody can email me. So my email is [email protected] and I’m very happy to meet anyone’s teams, come and introduce myself, come and have conversations with people and any suggestions are more than welcome.
No question’s a silly question either because I don’t think anyone was very aware of the people promise while I’ve been out there and talking to people so it’s just really good to get to educate people on that as well.
Elliot: Do you go around the wards and meet face-to-face?
Steph: Yes, so I’m actually going to do that right now after this conversation. So yeah, I’m going around some wards, I also go to Hartlepool so I’m at Hartlepool next week and I do quite a few engagement events as well.
Elliot: Okay, thanks very much.
Steph: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 28 – Our financial ambitions for University Hospitals Tees
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, we discuss financial ambitions for our University Hospitals Tees group model with group chief executive Stacey Hunter.
Episode 28 – Our financial ambitions for University Hospitals Tees
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: My name’s Elliot Kennedy and with me in the studio today I have Stacey Hunter who is the chief executive of University Hospitals Tees. Hello.
Stacey: Good morning. Lovely to be with you this morning.
Elliot: We know that the finances in the NHS are always a hot button topic. Can you provide an overall view of the current financial picture within our group?
Stacey: Yes, I can and I think it’s fair to say, and I’m sure your listeners will have seen this certainly in the news in the run-up to the general election, but our NHS finances are in quite a challenging place. And, as a health service, put simply we’re kind of spending more money than is available and that’s at a national level, at a regional level and for us across both of our trusts, so that includes North Tees and Hartlepool.
Over the short term, we continue to see the extra money that we got during Covid that was made available to the NHS is being removed and you’d expect that given that we’ve responded to that period of time and the NHS is resetting the finances back to a level that’s affordable for the taxpayer.
Since the pandemic, all areas of the NHS have seen really significant increases in the number of people who work with us, which gets termed ‘workforce’, and obviously the cost of that. And as the growth in people has outstripped the growth in the activity we do, there’s a lot of focus on the NHS around how do we get some of that productivity back?
And productivity is not a word necessarily everybody likes because it sounds quite judgmental but actually if you go back to you, I, our families, our friends pay for the NHS. I think we would all agree that it’s really important to make sure that we get the absolute best value out of the pounds that we’re spending and in a way that’s all productivity means.
Elliot: So what does it mean for the staff, the patients and the region?
Stacey: No, it’s a really good question because actually since the formation of integrated care boards and integrated care systems – so that was back in 2022 – there’s a legal requirement on all partners in that system to work together collectively to make sure that the entire system can achieve financial balance.
And we’re part of that system, alongside others in the North East and North Cumbria. In our region, we’ve got an underlying financial deficit of around half a billion pounds.
So, again put simply, that means at the moment across the hospitals and services, we’re spending half a billion pounds more than we’ve actually got. So there is a system-wide recovery plan that’s been developed looking at different ways of working that are better value for money and we’re looking at that scale across the system so things like procurement. So when we buy things, if we did that together can we get better value because we’re buying more essentially.
And looking at our care delivery across elective – our planned services are non-elective – so as a group we’re part of that system and North Tees and Hartlepool obviously is a really key part of our group. And we’ve also got to look at, locally, what opportunities are there to work in better and more sustainable ways?
I hope your listeners have heard of our clinical board. So some colleagues from within North Tees and Hartlepool, as well as South Tees, who are helping us think about our services in the future and whether or not we can design them in a way that allows us to invest on a more sustainable footing. And on a day-to-day basis, it’s your listeners, our staff, who through the daily choices that we make, can help us make some decisions on how we spend money.
We all want to give our patients the very best care all of the time and that includes having to make best use of that precious kind of finite NHS pound that we’ve got available to us.
Elliot: Clearly there’s a need to save money across the group. Are there any large projects in the pipeline to review with potential savings, such as digital transformation supply chain management and estates development?
Stacey: Yes, I mean, you’re right. Every year, there’s a requirement on all of the NHS trusts to make efficiency savings. And, with the current local challenges that I’ve described to you and the national challenges, the opportunities that we’ve got as a broader group – so when we think about North Tees and Hartlepool Trust together with South Tees – gives us a bit better opportunity actually to think about some of those things at scale.
So together, we have greater access to combined resources – whether that’s our staff, our hospitals, our community sites and the opportunity to review the way that we’re working and make sure that we’re prioritising our capital investment, for example, in the right ways each of our care groups here at North Tees and Hartlepool and our clinical collaborative groups across at South Tees.
And all of our corporate services, so things like our finance teams, HR, are all working hard to deliver their own efficiency programmes so all of our managers out there will know what their efficiency target is and they’ll have a programme of work that is aimed at trying to deliver that.
In addition to that, you’ve asked about larger scale projects, to think about what are some of those new opportunities? And I’ve mentioned a couple, so procurement. We spend a lot of money and actually if we look at procuring things together across our group, we should be able to get better value because a lot of our contracts are based on volume for the obvious reasons. A bit like if you and I shop, often if you’re in the supermarkets if you’re prepared to buy three of something, you might get it for the price of two and it’s that kind of concept that works.
We’re also looking at digital, as you mentioned. How do we get the best from distributing our care and advice sometimes through digital means rather than always through face-to-face.
And we’re doing a huge piece of work on how we can reduce the costs of our temporary staff, so our bank staff and our agency staff. And I must say, here we’ll never be without them, we will always have a need to use some staff in that way. But as we, if you like, increase the number of permanent staff we’ve got – and we’ve definitely increased our permanent staff in the last three years, and at North Tees and Hartlepool we’ve an additional 450 whole time equivalence in three years which is a lot of people. Now, I’m not saying there isn’t a lot of work because there always is but it’s actually how do we learn to live within that resource and get the work done that way?
Elliot: Now we all know that University Hospital of North Tees is in need of constant repair. How much did it cost and are you still pursuing a new hospital to replace North Tees?
Stacey: Oh, it’s always topical, isn’t it? Capital in the NHS, which is just the name we give to any investment of half a million pounds is known as capital. So for buildings and things, you’re always in that territory.
And yes, all our hospital and community sites across the group, including University Hospital of North Tees where we’re recording this today, are in need of constant repair. We spend a huge amount of our capital budget that we have available every year doing that maintenance and what we often call backlog. So there’s repairs that our staff out there will be aware of but that gets harder as the buildings get older and the way we deliver healthcare changes. It becomes really difficult to maintain the sites and it is really clear to us that a new development is needed at this particular site. And in Stockton, we have to be realistic that the national pressures on the amount of capital funding that are available and obviously we’ve got a new government.
There’ll be further details, I’m sure, to emerge over the coming months but I think what we won’t here is that we’re awash with capital funding for public sector so we’ve got to put ourselves in the best possible position to be prioritised to receive that funding.
So I referred earlier to the clinical boards and developing a joint clinical strategy and that’s so that we can then produce our business case for the North Tees site but that’s taking account of that joint work because, in the past, some of the constraints to getting access to money has been, if you like, people having not seen what both of the trusts would do together and what that might mean for what you needed in hospital terms at this particular site.
So a huge priority for us and we expect really, as we get into April next year, to be able to be progressing that business case at that point. Now, again, to tell your listeners, it takes a long time to progress a business case just to manage expectation. But it’s really important we get on with that because, as colleagues will know, we’ve got some parts of our estate that make it very challenging for our colleagues to deliver really high quality care and get the experiences that patients need and want and actually the experience we’d want for our staff.
Elliot: Now, I suppose an important question is how can staff do their bit to reduce the cost?
Stacey: Yeah, it’s a great question and actually our staff can make a huge difference. As I’ve already said, it’s those daily choices that we make on how we spend our money and we need to remember, all of us, that we’ve been entrusted with a really precious thing.
You know, our share of a very limited NHS budget – as I’ve already said your money, my money, Mark’s money, our friends and neighbours’ money – and for every pound we waste, there’s a pound less that we can spend on patient care when they need it the most.
So some really simple stuff, and I know colleagues really help with this, but the stuff that you would do at home so switching off lights when you don’t need them on, switching off your computer, making sure taps are turned off, those kind of housekeeping things. And I always laugh because it’s the things I can hear my grandmother saying to me when she used to look after me in the school holidays about, you know, closing doors and turning off lights but they are really important.
I think the other thing is, colleagues and this will depend what role you do and what team you’re in, but be aware of what things cost. You know, we’ll all be consuming things during the day. So, for example, if you’re going to open a pack of something and there’s 10 in them and, actually don’t just use one and then throw the rest away, and be really mindful of those things.
For some of our clinical colleagues, things like there’ll be choices around which sort of dressings we use. Some will be less expensive than others and whilst we always want to make sure we’re using the right products, there are sometimes cheaper alternatives that do just as good a job.
And then the other thing we’d say to people is actually you will know your services really well. You know, people who work here day in day out in the jobs they do understand how it works in their teams and their services and there may well be different ways to do things. There may well be ways that are better value for money, take us less time and more efficient or there may be ways to join things up that we don’t always, you know, from my position you wouldn’t necessarily know about. So we’re really encouraging colleagues to think about that and put their ideas forward in their teams and I think we can do it.
The other ways in which we do our best is by doing the things that our teams do all day every day, and if you provide high quality, really good clinical services, do our very best for patients. Then we reduce harm that comes from, you know, the things that we’re doing and if we have the best waiting times and the best length of stay for people that are in hospital and in our community teams, get people in and out of our services as quickly and as efficiently as possible, all of that helps us spend our money in the right way.
And a couple of other things I’ve talked about is actually how do we work better together to reduce that premium cost around our agency spending in particular? And as I say, I don’t want to undermine the contribution that some of our staff who work with us on a temporary basis make, they can make a really big difference. But the reality is it does cost us more money and as I go back to we’ve hugely increased the number of whole time equivalent permanent staff, we’ve got to find a way to start doing the work we’ve got to do within that, you know, extra number of staff that we’ve already invested in.
I say to colleagues, wherever you see waste, challenge it. You know, talk to your teams about it, talk to your managers about it, come and talk to us about it if no one else is willing to listen. Because, as I say, it’s not right to be wasteful with that NHS pound when we simply don’t have enough to go around.
Elliot: The group will soon be launching a campaign to get staff to think about our financial situation. How can we all pull together? How can we tell other people about this?
Stacey: No, and I guess this conversation is part of that and we’re prepared to, you know, use whatever ways we’ve got available to us to engage our colleagues about money.
You know, there are over 15,000 staff. It’s a lot of people to talk to but this is a really important topic. So in the same way that we always want to talk to staff about how we deliver services and the quality and experience of people in those services, it’s really important to us that we get a bit of a shared understanding of the current financial picture and ensure that everybody feels able to do their bit.
Now, what your bit to do is will be different depending on your roles. If you’re me, you know, I’ve got ultimate accountability for you know breaking even, managing the money on behalf of the board. And if you’re somebody in one of our clinical teams, the ask of you would be to understand your budget, to do really good rosters so that you’re less likely to have to use bank and agency staff, to make those sensible choices when it comes to value for money in the products and things you use.
So we’re just really keen to make sure people have an awareness. I’m dead clear after 38 years in the NHS, sometimes people don’t like talking about the money, it feels quite hard because I think people feel it as a bit of a judgement on what they’re doing. It’s really not that, it’s a bit like at home.
You can ignore the money but it doesn’t usually mean that you’re managing your bank balance any better and so I think this, for all of us, is just eyes wide open, have some awareness, help us make some really sensible choices that get that value out.
And for us, and it’s important for me to say this on behalf of myself, my colleagues and the board, we won’t prioritise money over quality and safety and the experiences patients and families have. But we have to accept it’s part of the mix. You know, in a publicly funded service, we have to accept that doing our very best around the money is part of the job that we’ve all got to do.
We’ll come and talk to anybody anywhere, anytime, anyhow actually, and if you’re out there listening to this – which I hope some people are – and you think it would be helpful to have somebody come into one of your team meetings or the places that you sometimes get chance to talk to each other, please feel free to contact and we’ll make sure that somebody can come and support that conversation with you.
And money is not something to be scared of, is it? It is something the more you know about it, the more information you’ve got, sometimes the more control and influence you feel you can have over it.
It goes without saying, you don’t meet many people do you who say ‘I’ve got too much of it’? Particularly at the moment, you know, we know – and therefore I know our colleagues know – how hard it’s been for some of our teams to manage their own personal finances with the cost of living crisis.
And in a way this is us just trying to do the same at work. How do we respond to that economic environment and really do our very best when it comes to the pound notes, as well as everything else right?
Elliot: Before you go, what one message would you like to give our colleagues to take away and consider and what would it be?
Stacey: Yeah, and it might be a little bit repetitive this so apologies. But I really want to persuade everybody that we do have a collective responsibility to do our best for patients and I don’t think anyone would argue with that.
And I think it’s that thing about acknowledging that that means making the best of every single NHS pound that we’ve been entrusted with, as well as all of the other things we ask of our staff. So not to think that the money’s not a question for you in your role, it’s a question for all of us.
As I say, making the very best use of that NHS pound we’ve got available on behalf of patients and their families is a job for us all.
Elliot: Stacey, thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 27 – Supporting hospital staff to help patients quit smoking
Our tobacco dependency treatment service is helping our staff on the wards with support for patients who are smokers – whether that’s withdrawal relief while receiving treatment or trying to quit for good.
This week on NTH Voices, Radio Stitch’s Elliot Kennedy chats with Julie and Bernice from the team about the waves our ward staff are making in supporting patients who are smokers and how they can support.
Episode 27 – Supporting hospital staff to help patients quit smoking
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: Hello, my name’s Elliot Kennedy and in studio today we have Julie and Bernice from the TDST. Exactly what is the TDST?
Julie: So the TDST is the tobacco dependency treatment service. We’ve been here at the trust for over two years now and we’re here to support staff who care for patients identified as smokers.
What we recognise is that tobacco dependency is a chronic and relapsing medical condition, and patients who were in a forced abstinence when they’re entering the hospital site, which is smoke free, will quickly go into withdrawal and that’s a little bit different to a quit attempt because it’s forced upon the patient.
They’ll feel a lot of unpleasant symptoms within two hours of not having a cigarette. They’ll feel irritable, they’ll get headaches, they could get nausea, vomiting bowel disturbance, palpitations, sweating. It really is uncomfortable and completely preventable if we do ask patients the smoking status and offer them some treatment in the form of nicotine replacement therapy.
Elliot: How is frontline staff supporting patients with a tobacco dependency?
Bernice: So nicotine withdrawal is a real thing and the frontline staff can support patients by offering very brief advice. Very brief advice has three elements – ask, advise, act.
So the ‘ask’ element is asking the patients for their smoking status and recording this status on the nursing admission notes on TrakCare. Advising that we are a smoke free site and they can access support through the tobacco dependency treatment service in hospital. So they can offer nicotine replacement therapy prior to the visit of a tobacco dependency advisor.
And the ‘act’ element is the last one – kindly refer to the inpatient tobacco dependency treatment service and then an advisor will come around and chat to the patient, create a plan, possibly a quit plan if they’re going on to make a quit attempt, and then the staff can kindly offer nicotine replacement therapy to manage the nicotine withdrawal.
Elliot: So you have the resources available to help frontline staff identify and treat tobacco dependency?
Julie: Yeah, so we recognise that ward staff across the trust face so many pressures every day, and there’s so much to cover within the daily duties that we want to make life easier where we can in treating tobacco dependency. So what we’ve developed is a frontline staff quick guide bundle and this is going to help staff to do their element in supporting patients who are forced to be smoke free as easy as possible.
So what we do have is staff are very welcome to some free banner pens, which we have endless supply of still, that show how to provide very brief advice that Bernice has kindly explained. We also recognise that we could do with making the referral process itself as simple as possible. So as much as staff are still welcome to use the ICE referral system to notify our team of any identified smokers, we’ve actually managed to get a lot of support from the digital teams and we’re automatically notified now of all smokers.
The staff element is to ensure that they fill in the smoking assessment on the nursing admission note. So literally anyone where it says a smoker on that, it gets pinged over to our team and we find out straight away so that’s been really brilliant.
And we’re seeing from as little as 35 smokers on day one of the service, that was the month, to over 270 smokers a month now. And for those patients, that’s making a massive difference. It’s making them more comfortable and it’s resulting in quit attempts in one out of three patient cases, so it’s really, really brilliant.
We also want to make it easier to discuss nicotine replacement therapy options with patients and to prescribe nicotine replacement therapy. So there is like a nicotine replacement therapy decision aid I can send them out to anyone on request.
There’s already been a lot of requests coming through with it going out on trust comms and it’s proven popular. It’s very simple, it shows some of the medicines that are available and how to decide on the right one. And then another one is like a prescribe prompt for the staff, just to show how simple the system is now on our TrakCare in getting nicotine replacement therapy prescribed.
You just literally need to put ‘NR’ and it populates your list and your update so it’s like two clicks. It’s brilliant so that’s the resources and I feel confident they’re going to really help the process for the ward staff.
Elliot: And exactly what do your dependency team do?
Julie: So, as Bernice has kind of touched on, again we appreciate the ward staff are busy and their element is just to literally ask a patient smoking status and to quickly offer some nicotine replacement therapy.
So in order to really get a true understanding of a patient’s level of dependency to nicotine, we would have a 40-minute bedside assessment which patients really appreciate – someone sitting down and having a full discussion around this and showing some understanding around it. Because it’s really important that we’re non-judgmental.
It is an addiction that’s usually occurred from early in childhood so it’s something that does need treatment and recognition and understanding. And then patients may have had past quit attempts – we can discuss them, what they’ve tried before, what works, what doesn’t and then really, not put the pressure on, but just kind of say what support’s available so that will be nicotine replacement therapy or vapes which are in line with the treatment of the nicotine replacement therapy. And then just develop a plan.
It might just be to stay smoke free for the impatient stay but, as I said, it does convert a lot of patients that might not have been expected to go on to do a quit attempt on discharge.
Elliot: Now you mentioned vapes there – is it the same as smoking?
Bernice: No, not at all. So vapes are significantly less harmful than smoking. There’s no combustion so there’s no smoke and as a result of that, there’s no carbon monoxide release. There’s no tar and all the toxins and chemicals you find in the cigarettes, you won’t find them with the vapes.
The vapes are regulated for quality and safety so I would definitely say a vape is significantly less harmful than smoking and it’s a very good substitute for people who want to stop smoking. We do not advise children to use vapes so I would say if you’ve never smoked, do not vape.
Just to add that when you want to buy vapes, it’s better to buy from a reputable source so I’ll say like the supermarket as compared to other places where we’re not sure if the vapes are regulated or not because we don’t know what’s in them. But when you buy from a reputable source, you know it’s just nicotine and then the vape is delivering nicotine to the body in a less harmful way than cigarette smoking.
Like I said earlier, there’s no carbon monoxide, there’s no tar, all the toxins and chemicals you have in the cigarettes and tobacco you will not find, so it’s best to source them from a reputable place.
Elliot: How do people get in contact with you?
Julie: So the quickest way would be to just contact our office number. So that would be, it’s an internal contact number, but 01642 383813.
Elliot: And is there anything else you two would like to add?
Julie: No, just keep doing your bit working hard, you’re all doing an amazing job and we can support you to support patients with tobacco dependency.
Elliot: Julie, Bernice, thank you.
Julie: Thank you.
Bernice: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 25 – Supporting University Hospitals Tees’ LGBTQ+ workforce
As we start our Pride celebrations across University Hospitals Tees, our latest episode of NTH Voices discusses all things LGBTQ+ and staff support.
Catch up with LGBTQ+ staff network leads at both North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees trusts and Rachael Metcalf, group chief people officer, to find out more about how we support our LGBTQ+ workforce, learn from the community and our plans for Pride.
Episode 25 – Supporting University Hospitals Tees’ LGBTQ+ workforce
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: With me in the studio today, I have…
Rachael: Rachael Metcalf and I’m the group chief people officer.
Alison: Alison Kerr – I’m the AHP workforce lead at South Tees and I’m also chair of the LGBT+ network alongside Steven Cox who also works with me at South Tees.
Matt: Matt Harper – I’m a clinical coding officer and the network lead for the LGBTQ+ network at North Tees and Hartlepool.
Elliot: What is the staff network and why is it so important?
Matt: The staff network is just a staff-led group, usually focused on either like a shared identity or experience. We’re network leads for LGBTQ+ staff networks but we have other staff networks. For example at North Tees, we have a disability network, women’s network, ethnic minority networks.
Alison: I think that the networks are really important at North Tees and South Tees. And they provide a safe space for people to come and have discussions and to share any issues. It also raises awareness for any issues in the organisation and it provides the support for staff.
It’s really good at South Tees and North Tees that we’re actually combining our networks to work quite closely together so we can support each other – which has been a really big help for our network working alongside Matt as well, and our other networks as well within South Tees.
Rachael: For me I think the networks provide a real opportunity for feedback based on real life experiences of our colleagues. And this means that we can really look at our people policies and make sure that they’re fit for purpose, that we’re provided with new ideas and innovative solutions that can help us to promote a much more diverse and equitable workplace.
Elliot: And who can join the LGBTQ+ staff network?
Alison: So anyone can join the networks. Anyone can join the LGBTQ+ network. And we also accept allies as well because we have a lot of staff that would like to come in and just ask us questions and share the experience of wanting to fight inequalities.
Matt: Yeah we’re open to like all staff, students, volunteers, anyone who works out in the communities. Anyone who works at our Trust is more than welcome to come along. The meetings are scheduled well in advance and they’re publicised.
Often they’re on a lunchtime so this means that colleagues are able to come away from the ward area sometimes and colleagues do have protected time in order to be able to attend.
Elliot: What does being part of the staff network involve?
Matt: It’s really important that people know that they can be involved as much or as little as works for them, as suits them, as they feel comfortable with. Sometimes they might be too busy to be able to come along to every monthly meeting but they still want to know what’s going on, what we’re doing, maybe get involved with other events. So we do have monthly meetings, we have a mailing list so you sign up, get email updates.
At North Tees, we also have an online community on Microsoft Teams. We also both have online resources on our intranets, that’s both at North Tees and South Tees.
Alison: I think getting involved with events that we do across both sites is very important, not just for the networks but also for the staff members. And it helps us make changes to some of the policies and procedures that we have across both sites and just give that lived experience of people. Everyone has a different experience when they come in and it benefits our staff and our patients throughout the patch.
Rachael: As an executive sponsor for the LGBTQ+ network over on South Tees, I’ve found it really invaluable to actually hear the lived experiences of some of our colleagues. We do get information through from our staff survey results but I found this has been the next level of really enrichment from colleagues. So the networks for me provide a strong sense of belonging to each of the organisations and working with the network on topics, and on some really difficult topics and issues. We’re able to make a difference to our colleagues.
Elliot: Now, what kind of support does the staff network offer?
Alison: So the networks offer confidential support for individuals and guidance on navigating different situations in the workplace. We can often signpost as well and people just feel it’s a space to come and have that psychological safety.
Matt: We can also offer training for teams. We can come and do awareness sessions either specifically for teams or just for any staff. We have been to different teams to do trans ally sessions with them. actually coming to their team meetings as part of their regular business. We can also offer advice for any teams who are wanting to better support their LGBTQ+ colleagues or even their patients.
Rachael: Yeah, I agree with Alison, it’s absolutely a psychological safe space where colleagues can come, they can support each other, they can share their experiences and have those real honest conversations.
But it’s also an opportunity where concerns can be escalated. So if we’re aware of those concerns, we can address the issues and hopefully improve the lives for all of our colleagues.
Elliot: Now, I suppose one of the most important questions is how do people get in touch with you?
Matt: Yeah, so staff wanting to get involved can email the LGBTQ+ staff network directly at [email protected]. Or for any of the our other staff networks, they can email [email protected].
Alison: And over at South Tees if anyone would like to join, the email is [email protected].
Rachael: So equality and diversity and inclusion – it’s a real high priority for our board members and I know all of my colleagues would really welcome hearing from colleagues about their own experiences. As a group, we need to learn and develop by hearing your voices so that we can improve the experiences for all of our workforce.
Elliot: And is there any incoming events?
Alison: So we’re going all out for Pride this year. On the sixth and the seventh of June, we’re going to have the Melissa Bus – on the 6th of June at the Friarage in Northallerton and on the seventh at James Cook site, and we’re going to be giving away freebies and and doing it as a big wellbeing event and just making sure staff can engage. There’ll be some badges and a bit of fun.
Matt: Yeah and over at North Tees, we’ll have the same thing. We’ll have freebie stuff to give away, come along and chat, we’ll have a Pride themed lunch and learn where people can come and bring their lunch and learn a bit about different topics.
Rachael: So all of our events are open for everyone, not just our colleagues who are in the networks. They are about being inclusive and being diverse as a whole and it’s really about the person and not just about the label.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 24 – Celebrating our volunteers
Volunteers’ Week, running in June each year, is a time to celebrate our volunteers and inspire others.
In our latest podcast, we catch up with Ann and Mike, two of our clinical volunteers, and head of volunteering Paul Wharton about the highlights of their roles and plans for the week.
Episode 24 – Celebrating our volunteers
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: I’m Elliot Kennedy. In the studio today we have Ann Mike and Paul.
Ann: Ann, tell me a little bit about how you got involved as a volunteer within the Trust. Lots of years ago when I lost my husband, I started to raise money for North Tees Hospital, raised quite a lot of money, which I thoroughly enjoyed and it kept me going.
When that finished my brother said to me in the Daily Mail there is a piece saying you can volunteer at a hospital and I thought this is another reason to give back what they gave to me and my husband.
Elliot: Mike, how about you?
Mike: Well not as much as Ann. I did no fundraising unfortunately but I retired in 2019 and always intended to do some kind of volunteering somewhere. I talked to my wife and, again because of family problems and the care that was given within the hospital, decided that this is where I would like to do it.
I contacted the office and I think it was Nicola I spoke to, I made an appointment to go along and chat and don’t regret it since.
It’s an absolutely fabulous thing to do and, as Ann says, it’s nice to give something back and to help people where they need it.
Elliot: So what kind of roles do volunteers fill within Trust?
Ann: Well I’ll come in and I’ll set up the tea trolley, go around with cups of tea and coffee, have a chat with all the patients. ‘Good morning boys, good morning girls’, cheer them up, give them a scone, do my rounds and then just do the little bits and go and chat to people.
Elliot: And what about you, Mike?
Mike: Again, much the same, I’ll come in on the morning, help with any residual of breakfast pots to clear those away and get ready to do a tea round with the ward hostess. Where I can help with anything non-medical, I’ll help the staff, the HCAs, et cetera and the cleaners. I’ll take laundry round to where it needs to be deposited, I’ll fill up water jugs for the patients, chat to the patients, time permitting ask if anybody needs anything from the shop – newspapers, magazines, just generally help patients and staff wherever I can, just to be there for people.
Elliot: Now Paul, you’re the volunteer organiser within the Trust. What impact do the volunteers have?
Paul: It’s massive really. From a smile at the main entrance that our welcomers offer and directions to where they need to be, to some of the more interactive interventions that Ann and Mike get involved in around the clinical setting, popping to the shops as Mike said, encouraging them to eat and drink. Malnutrition and dehydration is a huge issue and all our clinical volunteers are encouraged to help and support in that and to help people recover, so that’s a little bit more intense.
There’s also things like just helping people along through discharge as well, helping people get home, helping them get settled back into their community. We’ve got a group of volunteers who do that, supported by our volunteer drivers who bring people in for outpatient appointments. They also deliver some medication and some equipment that might be needed. So the impact is quite big within the Trust.
Some people might know that we have a friends and family test that we ask patients to complete and I get a report for where volunteers have been identified as being involved in a patient or a family member’s journey through the Trust. And out of 10, our volunteers regularly score over nine. In the last quarter, it was 9.3. So that’s the feedback we’re getting from our patients – that the impact our volunteers are having is absolutely huge and all credit to people like Ann and Mike.
Elliot: Ann and Mike, without naming any patients, what is your favourite story, you know, from the time you’ve been volunteers with the Trust?
Ann: Well, I have lots but I have one special young lady who was given bad news and told to put her affairs in order. She’d just been told the family weren’t around and she broke her heart and I broke my heart with her. I’ve since stayed with this in touch with this young lady, she’s now on the mend and we keep in touch and it’s lovely.
Elliot: And what about you, Mike?
Mike: Well, I got chatting to one particular lady and at the time I was chatting to her she had a visitor who was in a nursing uniform and chatted away and then I went off and left her with her visitor. When I came back in the next morning, this lady told me that the visitor was her granddaughter and she’d recognised me.
And it turns out I used to work with her – different environment, different clothing, I just didn’t recognize her. And it turns out she was married to my old boss and from there I really got chatting with this lady and she was lovely and she enjoyed our chats and I stayed there for sort of 15 or 20 minutes at a time where I could. And I’ve been in touch with the family since.
Elliot: Now Paul, this week’s Volunteers’ Week. Any plans?
Paul: Oh, yeah, lots. It’s the 40th anniversary of National Volunteers’ Week so we’re trying to push the boat out a little bit but there’s a couple of things in particular. We are getting involved with the local authorities’ celebration so we’ve got an event in Stockton Town Centre on the Tuesday that we’re helping and supporting with.
But the big one for us is our thank you event which is a dinner provided by the Trust to thank all of volunteers for everything that they do throughout the previous year. Everybody’s invited, including our external volunteers from Book Base, RVS, yourselves at Radio Stitch and the League of Friends are invited. So we’re looking to cater and help and support and entertain roughly around 150, getting up towards 200, volunteers. We have entertainment on.
This year it’s the first year of our long service awards so the new chief exec and our chair will be in attendance, along with other members of the board, supporting the volunteers and giving those badges out. So that will be an absolutely busy night but it will be lovely, it’ll be great. Really looking forward to it.
Elliot: Ann, Mike, will you be coming along to the events?
Ann: I’ll definitely be there. There’s no show without punch, as Paul will tell you.
Mike: I will too. It was my first one last year and it was a good event and a pleasant, a good way to get to know other volunteers within the volunteering service.
Elliot: Ann and Mike, any words of encouragement for people who might be considering to come along and volunteer within the Trust?
Ann: I would advise anybody who’s lonely, regardless of age, to come along. It’ll be the best thing you’ve ever done. You reap what you sow and I think that’s the case in this position.
Mike: I would echo that. It’s a very, very rewarding thing to do. Without wanting praise from anybody, it’s a wonderful feeling when the patients and the staff acknowledge what you are doing for them and it helps to make a very, very difficult time for these patients a little bit easi-er. Come along, it’s easy. You’re not thrown in at the deep end, there’s people who will guide you through what you need to do. Even if it’s only a couple of hours a week, it’ll help people.
Paul: I suppose the most important thing is how can people apply or get in touch with the Trust to become a volunteer? Usual socials, I think we have Facebook, Twitter, others, too many to mention.
But if you’re struggling with social media, onto the website, just any search engine North Tees and Hartlepool NHS FT. That will bring you through and just look for volunteering opportunities and they’re listed on there within that page. There is a direct email address and contact details, phone number and address if you need it.
But, yeah, please as these two guys have said, please take the step to help our community. Our patients are very vulnerable at times and any support you can offer would be absolutely greatly appreciated.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 23 – FutureMeds clinical research
This week on NTH Voices, we get to know more about our partnership with FutureMeds – a network of commercial research sites leading cutting edge clinical trials.
FutureMeds site director Anna Townsend Rose discusses upcoming clinical trials, working with our hospital staff and how patients can get involved.
Episode 23 – FutureMeds clinical research
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: I’m Elliot Kennedy and with me in the studio today I have Anna Townsend Rose who is from the FutureMeds North Tees and she’s a site director.
Anna: Thank you, thank you so much for inviting me to speak today with you on Radio Stitch.
Elliot: Can you tell me a bit more about FutureMeds and the background and the collaboration it has with North Tees Hospital. Yeah, of course, so Meds is a clinical research organisation. It has 20 dedicated research units in six countries, including, amazingly, three in Ukraine and still managing to see patients out there and recently we opened sites in Germany and Spain. Within these clinics, we are conducting clinical trials for our clients who are the pharmaceutical companies wishing to develop new medicines.
The North Tees site is based in the hospital grounds and we have very close collaboration with the trusts who support us in various ways. So some of the studies require X-rays, MRI or the expertise of a consultant, for example maybe a gastroenterologist. And the Trust will provide those services for us, as per the protocol would dictate.
I’m also very excited to share that we’re about to acquire a second site for the North East in Byker in Newcastle so that will be yeah our second site within the North East. So we’ll be looking to recruit patients at Byker as well.
Elliot: So how do you recruit patients for the clinical trials and what kind of process do you want them to get involved with?
Anna: So we recruit them with various methods, one being social media. So on the Facebook and Instagrams of this world and we have a group of practices across the North East that refer patients to us as well, so GP practices. They basically identify patients which potentially would fit in with the study and they send a letter out to the patients directly from the GP inviting them to call into the North Tees site.
We also have a collaboration with the Trust. They can refer patients with us, depending on which study it is.
Elliot: What’s your makeup of your nursing team on the site? So we have two nurses at the site, including myself. So my background is nursing, so all my career since I was 18 I’ve nursed up to about seven years where I’ve been running clinical trial sites, so I dip in when Caroline’s away which I still really enjoy. Seeing patients, it’s such a privilege, I’m really honoured to be able to do that.
We also have two doctors who work at the clinic full-time and also Natalie our lab technician who’s processing the blood samples within the lab before they’re shipped over to the appropriate international lab, supported by the pharmaceutical companies.
We also have a data team, a quality team and an admin manager, so full quota of staff delivering multiple studies at the FutureMeds site.
Elliot: So what are the benefits of being part of the clinical trials and how does it affect the future of the new medicines that are being developed?
Anna: So there’s huge benefits really if you’re on one one of our clinical trials, you’ll be monitored very, very closely, be assessed for the trial.
On average, every visit that you attend at the site you’d spend at least 45 minutes with a doctor where you’d have examinations and then you’d spend the same again with the nurse where she’d do your blood pressure. We do very specialised bloods. I mean, we could not develop future medicines without the input of our patients which we value so much.
I remember when I started nursing there’s a thing called national formulary which is basically an encyclopaedia and a dictionary of all the medicines that are available in the UK now. I recently saw a copy and it’s gone from being sort of a fairly thin pamphlet that it was 35 years ago to being a big, big, big dictionary – very thick, about four inches deep. Those are all new medications that have come in over the last 30 years and we could not develop them without running clinical trials. There’ll be no progress in new medications.
Elliot: What type of trials have you got currently going at the site and what’s in the pipeline?
Anna: So at present, we are conducting two cardiovascular trials. One looking at lowering participants’ cholesterol to prevent them having a further heart attack or strokes. The other is for participants who’ve had a heart attack or a stroke and aim to prevent them having further events.
And of course we have to remember that on every clinical trial we just have to manage people’s expectations that you don’t always get the study drug, there is also a placebo arm. And that’s the only way to evaluate if the study drug is effective.
In the pipeline we have been happy to have been awarded vaccine studies, women’s health studies, one study that’s going to prevent basically treat people with fatty liver, and also a very good asthma study.
We have one of our clients, one of our sponsors which is one of the big pharmaceutical companies, are going to be working with us delivering obesity studies. So, as we know, this prevails a big burden on the NHS and if we can look at medications to aid and support patients who are suffering with obesity then this could be a breakthrough pioneering medication.
We’re also running a diabetic study which is more of a surveillance study, so no change in patients’ medication just really monitor them very closely. Again, they see the doctor and the nurse at the site, they have various ways of monitoring their blood sugars and it’s really just to see, it’s comparing home care scheme for patients with diabetics versus them attending the clinic so that’s really that’s going to be really an interesting surveillance study.
Elliot: So how do people contact you?
Anna: The best way is to contact the clinic directly and one of our admin team will respond. We are open 8am to 4pm Monday to Thursday, and 8am to 2pm on a Friday, and the direct line is 01642 843780.
Elliot: Well Anna, thank you for coming in.
Anna: Thank you thank you for having me.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 22 – Equality, diversity and human rights in the workplace
This week marks Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week – a week to promote and celebrate the great work taking place around equality, diversity and inclusion.
We sat down with Kris and Kendra to find out a little more about equality and diversity in our workplace and how our staff networks are key in driving inclusivity for all.
Episode 22 – Equality, diversity and human rights in the workplace
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: With me in the studio today I have Kris and Kendra and they’re going to talk about equality, diversity and human rights. Tell me a little bit more about the Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week.
Kris: It’s an annual event. It’s a campaign that started 12 years ago now, it’s in May every year from the 13th to the 17th. This year it’s a national campaign for healthcare organisations and it actually highlights the importance of creating a fair and more inclusive workplace for our staff, patients and visitors.
So it’s all about promoting inclusive and supportive work culture and that is a key priority for the Trust. So we’re really committed to ensuring the Trust services and workplace are fair, accessible and meet the needs for all our patients, carers and our staff.
Kendra: So as part of the drive, we’re trying to improve the inclusivity within the workplace. So we’ve been promoting the staff networks that we’ve been building and we’ve now got seven of those.
So it includes, which I think people are used to hearing about, the ethnic minority and multi-faith group, the LGBTQ+ group, the women’s network, the age older network and the ability group network for support for staff with disabilities. We also now have an age younger network group and the age older network group.
The newest edition is the men’s staff network for the male employees and we’re looking to create a volunteer group and potentially a carers group coming as well. So we are seeking a network lead to support our age younger group at the moment, for our young employees up to approximately the age of 25.
Kris: The networks are not just for our staff but also for volunteers within the Trust. They’re welcome to come along to our meetings. We have monthly meetings but we also run various campaigns and events that we encourage all staff to come and take part in these events and campaigns to raise awareness and understanding of different themes, which include our disability, LGBTQ+, multi-faith and BAME backgrounds.
Kendra: I think one of the misconceptions which I had before I started going to the network groups was that they would be quite formal and they’re really not formal in the respect that it’s quite a welcoming environment, it’s quite like a chilled out environment.
You come in, you just be yourself, you fit into it without even trying. It’s quite an informal sort of chat, support system and
it’s a really good group to be part of if you can make that work obviously within your working day. We understand that the on-site ones don’t always fit in for people depending on their shifts.
Kris: Yeah, exactly and we don’t just have the monthly meetings where people can come face- to-face or via Teams, we also have support external from that as well. There’s loads of information about, especially in the back of the Tees Restaurant and our display cabinet outside of the Tees Restaurant.
But, you know, get in touch if there’s something that you want to do and join the network, find out more about the network, how you can be an ally for the networks.
Kendra: If anyone’s listening and they’ve got ideas for a network group that we haven’t already covered, we’d love to hear about new areas that we could include as a support group for people to cover in the Trust.
Kris: Yeah, I mean it’s really important, you know, it’s part of the Trust goals to improve equality and diversity, inclusion.
And the networks offer that safe supportive space for discussion of issues around discrimination, provide a source of support for staff face and particular challenges or barriers, things that can be easily removed. It’s the small things that can have significant value and the networks can also act as a powerful and collective voice to communicate issues to management, help bring about all that positive change.
We know there’s a lot of work still needs to be done and that’s what we’re trying to do. The networks are a valuable source that many staff are still not aware of so that’s why we need to continue to promote and celebrate our networks, as you know, and bring about that significant value and positive change throughout the workforce creating that culture where people do feel they belong, a sense of belonging and they don’t have to face these barriers and challenges. They can come and actually be themselves.
Kendra: I think what you might not realise is that it they can actually be quite fun events to come to as well. It’s not necessarily structured, it might have a name for that sort of session but it doesn’t have to be led in a particular sort of direction, people feed into it at the time and I think that they are sort of valuable therapy without realising.
People can go and get a lot off their chest in terms of being around like-minded people that are going through similar scenarios so it’s a really good opportunity.
Kris: Yeah, knowing that that support is available for them – all staff and volunteers. So yeah, we continue to strive to ensure our workplace is more inclusive and help people feel a sense of belonging and where they can bring their whole selves to work without feeling they just have to conform to fit in.
Anyone can get involved in Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week. And equality, diversity and human rights or equality, diversity and inclusion isn’t just about one week. It should be every single day in everything we do. You know, inclusions in all our abilities.
Kendra: Like how Kris has kindly included me into this podcast this morning.
Kris: So yeah, we will be sharing information at back of the Tees Restaurant this week on the display boards. Information will also be communicated through our comms teams, bulletins also through these podcasts and you can also visit the NHS Employees website where there’s a lot of free resources, free webinars and information.
There’s different themes throughout the week, such as understanding disabilities, fostering excellence in tackling inequality, there’s even a spotlight on women leaders, creating an anti-racist organisation and there’s lots more.
So, you know, we encourage people just to take a little bit of time out and just have a look at that. That’s on the NHS Employers website. Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week is happening all this week.
Elliot: Is there any other events planned for the near future?
Kris: Yeah, we have a lot of different events planned in the near future, Elliot. Coming up there is, this week is actually Mental Health Awareness Week so there’ll also be information displayed around and communicated throughout the Trust – probably from Helen Waller who’s our health and wellbeing advisor.
Elliot: And finally, how can people contact you?
Kris: They contact us through email which is Kristopher Bell, it’s Kristopher with K @NHS.net. Or they can come up on floor three, where we’re based and we’re happy to, you know, it’s always nice to see people in person.
They can come along to our monthly network sessions and we also have drop-in sessions. We have regular drop-in sessions now every other month so that people can get to meet the network leads, can have a chat to the network leads, find out about the networks, the information that we have, signposting.
So you can contact any of the network leads. I’m the ability group network lead, that’s me Kristopher Bell and we have Matt Harper who is the LGBTQ+ network lead.
Elliot: Kris, Kendra, thank you.
Kris: Thank you.
Kendra: Thank you for having us, Elliot.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 21 – The way we talk about Dying Matters
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, we get to know some of our specialist palliative care team.
They talk about their plans for Dying Matters Week and how the team support our staff on the wards with patients receiving end of life care.
Episode 21 – The way we talk about Dying Matters
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: In the studio today we have Vanessa, Emma and Trevelyan from the specialist palliative care service.
Can you tell us about Dying Matters Week?
Emma: Yes, so Dying Matters is an event which runs nationally from 6 to 10 May. This year’s focus is based around the language we use to talk about death, dying and grief here at North Tees and Hartlepool Trust.
The specialist palliative care team have several events running to promote this, including a barrow which will be located at the back of the Tees canteen which will be manned daily from 10 am until 2pm. There will be lots of information leaflets and books to open up throughout the conversations around death and dying.
The Melissa bus will also be visiting North Tees on Wednesday 8 May, 10 until 3, and Hartlepool on 10 May 10 until 3. This is focused on community staff access and is done by appointment only. Again, these can be booked through the palliative care team. If people are interested they are one hourly slots which will be running on both days. There will be interactive games, information and leaflets, much like the barrow.
There is also the Schwartz round running that week which focuses on ‘wish you were here’. These can be accessed at the Spirituality Centre in North Tees on May 9 and Hartlepool on May 16.
Elliot: And what is palliative care and end of life care?
Emma: Palliative care aims to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients who have been diagnosed with an illness that cannot be cured. It’s about ensuring that a person’s dignity and comfort is promoted and respected at the end of their life.
And end of life care focuses on the things that matter most to a patient, their family and loved ones, friends and carers. This could be spiritually, emotionally or physically.
Elliot: So what is specialist palliative care then?
Vanessa: The specialist palliative care is provided by a team of professionals. They have the extra training in and experience in palliative care. So where the kind of health professionals that provide the generalists palliative care are struggling we often step in, so the likes of the GP district nurses. If there’s extra advice or support needed that’s when we get involved.
We’re quite lucky in so far as that we have consultants in our team and that the local hospice is a specialist palliative care unit because it has that consultant representation.
Elliot: And who are the team and what do you actually offer?
Vanessa: So the team are made up of, as I’ve already mentioned, consultants in palliative medicine, we have quite an extensive team of clinical nurse specialists that a lot of them have prescribing qualifications, we have therapists, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists and the therapy technicians. We have access to chaplaincy, psychology and also the local hospices what we offer is a specialist assessment for people so we kind of give expert advice on helping to control symptoms such as pain.
So where people are struggling, often we step in. We don’t take over people’s care but we can step in and give advice on how to manage complex symptoms.
Elliot: So how do you contact the team or refer to the team?
Emma: So the team can be contacted as part of a limited seven day service. The team can be reached by contacting us through Vocera and asking for palliative care. This can be done 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Outside of the 9am to 5pm hours, the on call palliative care consultant can be reached for telephone advice by contacting switchboard and asking to speak to the on call palliative care consultant. There is also limited support available on Saturday, Sundays and bank holidays via Vocera, 9 to 5. Patients, families and carers can contact the palliative care team by contacting the single point of access on 01429 522500 and asking for specialist palliative care. A member of the team will aim to respond to calls as soon as possible.
And just so that everybody is aware, the team are based at Farndale House which is on site here at North Tees Hospital.
Elliot: And what educational involvement do the team have?
Trevelyan: We have quite a lot of educational involvement and this is just a sample of a few things. So we have produced some education boards that go onto the acute wards, we are teaching district nurses through their PCN networks. We’re involved with delivering sim training, Sage and Thyme communication training.
We also have many students that come to the team and we also have members of the team that deliver education by lecturing at university and, of course, we have medical training programmes involving GPs F1s, 2s and registrars.
Elliot: How do SPC get involved with research and national guidance and with an audits?
Trevelyan: We have an active quality improvement and research group. Some of the ongoing products which I just pulled out to speak about today, we’re seeking to improve the experience of families where we have patients at end of life in hospital. We’re looking to improve information sharing across teams, we’re also involved in research.
Primarily, at the moment, one of our consultants who does a lot of research is involved in a project looking at palliative care and mesothelioma. We also have two team members doing PHDs doing their doctorates and it’s worth mentioning that in early 2024, we were awarded as a team the Dundas Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons and that was for improvements in provision of hospital palliative care.
Elliot: So where abouts do you see the patients?
Vanessa: Well, we realise that each person that we come into contact with has quite different needs. So we have an acute team that sees patients in the hospital when they’re admitted and then we also have a community team that see people in their own homes.
There’s also the choices of patients that we’ve seen come to clinic on a Wednesday or we see people in the hospices if they’ve been admitted or the therapists run clinics in the hospices as well. So we are quite a versatile service.
Elliot: So once again, how do people get in touch with the team?
Emma: So the team can be contacted as part of a limited seven-day service. The team can be reached by contacting us through Vocera and asking for palliative care. This can be done 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Outside of the 9am to 5pm hours, the on call palliative care consultant can be reached for telephone advice by contacting switchboard and asking to speak to the on call palliative care consultant.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 20 – Get involved, become a governor
Want to stand for our upcoming governor elections?
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, group chair Professor Derek Bell discusses what our governors do, why the role is so important and how members of our community can get involved.
Find out more about becoming a governor for our Trust.
Episode 20 – Get involved, become a governor
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: My name’s Elliot Kennedy and with the studio today we have Derek Bell.
Derek: First of all, I welcome the opportunity to speak on Radio Stitch today so thanks very much for that opportunity.
Elliot: Our Trust is appealing for people to stand as governors. What does a governor do?
Derek: What the governors do is support the Trust to deliver the high quality care that’s needed for our patients and population. And they do that by monitoring the senior leadership team and people like myself and also they have oversight of a number of important annual functions, like the annual report which tells people what the organisation’s doing over the year.
It’s a really important role that they’ve got.
Elliot: So why should our listeners consider standing as an elective governor?
Derek: To be an effective governor what we need is the governor to be representative of the population that we serve and our staff groups and then what they can act on is the voice of that group for us as well. It means we get important information, if you like, from the horse’s mouth.
Elliot: And what makes a really good governor?
Derek: What makes a really good governor is actually, first of all it is a voluntary post and therefore they do need time. Obviously we support them as best we can with infrastructure and take some tasks away from them but they do need time.
But importantly what we really want them to do is be really interested in the services that we provide and the population that we serve. But by being representative of the population, they can come and give us that advice.
Elliot: And I understand time’s running out now. When is the deadline?
Derek: Well I suppose the important thing is we need you now is the message and the deadline is next Tuesday.
But we’re really keen to get members to become a governor. And that’s an important point – to become a governor, you need to be a member of the trust but becoming a member of the Trust is an easy application process for both for the public and for staff.
Elliot: And how do people find out more information on this?
Derek: Well, importantly, there’s information on the Trust website. So if you search on the Trust website under ‘governors’, that information should be there. And also you can call 01642 383 563.
And we look forward to people trying to apply as quickly as possible.
Elliot: And, once again, the deadline is next Tuesday the 23rd is it?
Derek: Next Tuesday the 23rd.
Elliot: Right, well thank you Derek.
Derek: Thanks very much.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 19 – Tees Community Dental
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, Elliot Kennedy meets our Tees Community Dental oral health promotion team.
They discuss our region’s position in regards to oral health, how they support local children and care home residents and what we can all be doing to keep our mouths healthy.
Episode 19 – Tees Community Dental
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: My name is Elliot Kennedy and with me in the studio today we have Roy and Marie from the oral health promotions department. Hello.
Roy: Hi, Elliot, how you doing?
Elliot: Right who are you?
Roy: It’s a long answer to that, Elliot. We come under the umbrella of the Tees Community Dental Service. We’ve got a clinical team working in the community around the Tees area and administration group based in Guisborough and our screening team of Hannah based with us in the oral health promotion department at Helmsley house here at North Tees Hospital.
Hannah organises the schools and the dental teams as we conduct our screening surveys of 5-year-old children. The results from this survey, which is almost complete for this round which is brilliant, feeds into a national survey giving us both a national and local picture of the dental health of our children. This gives us direction and helps in the commissioning of dental health priorities for Teesside.
The OHPD itself is a small six-person team but we all come with a clinical background, mainly in dentistry. Marie. our line manager. Lindsay. Sue. Becky and myself have loads of experience of working in dental surgeries and our colleague Karen, who’s our glue and holds us all together, joined us from Cipher ambulance and worked alongside the paramedics.
Elliot: And what areas do you cover?
Roy: The four main Tees regions – Hartlepool, North Tees, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland. Roughly each of us works an area but we help each other where we can and often support each other at health awareness events.
Elliot: And how is your work planned?
Roy: We have a consultant in dental public health. Kamini Shah oversees us and she and Marie meet annually to determine our priorities, set us our goals and make sure everything falls in line with the commissioning team’s requirements.
Elliot: What is the OHPD’s priorities and what do you actually do?
Roy: It’s a nice simple question, it’s got a big long answer. Marie, do you want to start us off on this?
Marie: I can do. Basically we work right across the board, children and residential care homes take our priorities. We have about 200 settings on our book and the overwhelming majority of these are child care centres, nurseries and primary schools.
Our number one priority is to keep children out of hospital, trying to prevent tooth decay. Tooth decay is preventable and is caused by a poor, often sugary diet and generally little are poor toothbrushing. You can’t hide from it, access to a dentist in the UK is difficult at the moment which obviously doesn’t help the situation. However, prevention is better.
Roy: We go to the vast majority of schools and nurseries in this area. We deliver a toothbrushing program to about 177,000 children, getting them into the habit of good daily brushing. Most importantly, because there’s so few of us, we train people, we train the teachers to deliver this programme safely, cleanly and efficiently. We’re funded by the local authorities to supply toothbrushes, fluoride toothpaste and storage racks.
And, Elliot, I think this is important, parents can rest assured that this programme is delivered to the highest level of cleanliness possible. To achieve that, we go out to each setting and make sure that the pre-schools and the schools are delivering this programme safely by observing. We go and watch the whole process from start to finish in all of the groups that take part. We also advise teachers on what is a healthy diet and what is not, giving them advice that underpins the programme and that they can use to pass on to parents and especially those parents and children living in our most vulnerable areas.
Marie: Our other priority is residents in our care homes. The emphasis here is to make sure that we encourage care staff to look after the oral health of our elderly or infirmed loved ones by providing them with the training and knowledge, and hopefully the confidence and motivation, to care for the people to the highest possible standard.
We also provide training to our 0-19 19 services, including our health and social care colleagues.
Roy: And if that’s not enough, we also work with our colleagues here in North Tees Hospital, for example Ward 28, again training people to give them an understanding of how to help their patients achieve a higher standard of oral health and reduce the risk factors that can delay their recovery.
We work collaboratively with other departments, for example the Melissa bus where I think you and I bumped into each other, and are often asked to deliver training to outside agencies. For example the START team as well as frequently supporting health awareness events. We reported an inaugural STEM at Middlesbrough College event and carried out our own supportive presentations both here in North Tees hospital and at Hartlepool hospital.
For example, the National Smile Month and that’s due up again – quick plug – 23 May here at North Tees Hospital when that will begin. We also attend the community forum which often leads to collaborative discussions and, I think Marie would agree, that for a small department we don’t half get round.
Elliot: Is the OHPD successful in this way?
Marie: Well, we have statistics to prove that for the first time ever, the North Tees region fell below the national average for tooth decay. Hartlepool, which is blessed with having fluoride naturally its water supply, has always been below the national average.
Sadly, the overall levels in the Tees region is far too high. And this is attributed to a poor diet which is high in sugar and often poor toothbrushing. There are still too many children being admitted to North Tees hospital to have teeth removed, and often multiple teeth removed, under the general anaesthetic.
As a department we still have lots of work to do but as a population we have to truly realise the impact sugar and poor toothbrushing has on our children and we have to act on that.
Elliot: You can’t keep dentistry out of the news can you?
Roy: No, you can’t. Sadly it’s never in the news for good reasons. The quality of dentistry in the UK is wonderful, unfortunately access to dentists locally and nationally is really difficult.
This makes it even more important that we get our message over. Eat healthy, keeping sugary snacks to meal times when they have a reduced impact on the health of the mouth, brush your teeth twice a day and certainly last thing at night with a toothpaste that has a minimum of 1,350 parts per million of fluoride which covers most adult conventional toothpastes. And don’t rinse out afterwards, just spit excess toothpaste out.
And, of course, see your dentist every six months unless they specifically advise otherwise. If you want to snack during the day, please, please, please choose something healthy like fruit or at least savoury. While dentistry is going through a tough time, we all have a part to play in keeping ourselves as healthy as possible.
Elliot: What’s the best bit of your job?
Roy: For me personally, I love watching the youngest children when we go around to the schools and we’re watching the children brushing their teeth and we see the youngest children discovering toothbrushing and going to a setting and seeing children develop this brushing – learning a skill that they can use every day at home and for the rest of the lives, and a skill that’s going to enhance their oral health as well as their overall health.
Elliot: Why did you say that brushing their teeth will improve the overall health?
Marie: The plaque bacteria that comes with poor oral health has long been associated, increasing the risk of other systemic diseases within the body. For example, oral cancer, heart health, diabetes Alzheimer’s, strokes to name but a few.
Elliot: What’s the worst bit of your job?
Roy: Worst bit of my job is also the bit that drives me. Up to the end of the financial year, 22-23, our clinical team carried out tooth extractions and, as Marie said, often multiple extractions to over 300 children here at North Tees hospital. 300 children. We should all be saddened by these figures but we should all be determined to drive these figures down and the only way we can do this is by driving the good oral health message forward.
Elliot: So what are the messages to people?
Roy: The message is a simple one and it’s an old one. Eat healthily. Sugar causes tooth decay. Eat sugar at main meal times only and eat a healthy snack between meals. Everyone brush your teeth at least twice a day and absolutely last thing at night using a fluoride toothpaste that has at least 1,350 parts per million. We prefer you to spit out any excess toothpaste rather than swallow it and don’t rinse out afterwards, leave the toothpaste in contact with the teeth as long as you can.
Help and supervise your children brush their teeth up to the age of seven. See your dentist every six months, unless they specifically tell you otherwise. Let’s try and get in regularly so that we deal with small problems rather than the big ones.
Marie: Every single one of us has a part to play. Look at yourselves first and make simple adjustments that will improve your dental health and your overall health.
For example, reduce or stop putting sugar in your teas and coffees, if you’re a parent make sure your children are brushing their teeth twice a day even from when their first tooth comes through using an adult toothpaste, and keep sugar to meal times. If you’re a grandparent, don’t offer your grandchildren a sweet treat between meals, try to keep that to meal times only. Offer them something different instead, maybe it’s a piece of fruit.
Dental decay, and the sadness and trauma that surrounds it, is preventable. So we can all do a little bit more ourselves.
Elliot: Roy, Marie, thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 18 – Exploring our NHS subsidiary, NTH Solutions
The latest episode of NTH Voices explores NTH Solutions – our subsidiary company for estates, facilities and support services within our Trust. They also support external organisations.
We get to know managing director Mike Worden a little better, discuss the company’s achievements to date and discuss what’s next for NTH Solutions.
Episode 18 – Exploring our NHS subsidiary, NTH Solutions
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Andy: Hi, I’m Andy tingle and today I’d just like to welcome the MD of NTH Solutions Mike Worden into the studios once again. Welcome Mike.
Mike: Good morning Andrew, nice to be here.
Andy: Yes, it’s always a pleasure to have you here in the studio, especially because you’re so busy and so hard to get old of as well.
So I brought you in just to ask you a few questions about NTH and about yourself. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and obviously have you always worked for the NHS?
Mike: Yeah, a good start. So I don’t traditionally have a normal NHS background. I would say personally, I mean technically actually I started in the fish and chip business as most people do right way back when obviously as a kid but I used to love it. And by the way my friends used to love it on a Friday night because they were best fish and chips ever. One portion would cover four people, they loved it.
But anyway on a serious note, it isn’t a traditional background. I worked in private equity in London in healthcare related businesses. But in essence, private equity companies that I work for would parachute me in to then turn them around operationally to make them a viable business. And then we’d then look to move them on. So down in London kind of the Monday to Thursday thing for, oh God, more years than I really want to count.
And then in 2016, yeah I’ll just check, my daughter was actually born. Yeah, 2016 when my daughter was born I wanted to come back North. I was tired of the commute and living out of hotels a bit so I moved back North. And obviously private equity brings a degree of financial stability with it which gives you a few options so I wanted to do something with genuine purpose, to add real value somewhere and then by the luck, I ended up here and here I’ve been since for the last kind of nearly five years now.
Andy: Fantastic. So what is NTH Solutions? What do they do really in the Trust? And tell me a little bit about your role within the company.
Mike: Sure so NTH Solutions is a subsidiary of the Trust but, you know, in essence what does that mean? Well it’s a fundamental part of the Trust. We deliver all the non-clinical services that the Trust needs to be able to kind of function properly, as well as with the commercial revenue side of the Trust as well. So not only do we try and deliver all the great services that all the clinical sites need to be able to deliver their services effectively, but we actually try and bring money in so that we can actually increase the funds at the financial position of the Trust so that we’ve got more money to do more good things for patients with. That’s fundamentally what we do.
It’s a bit of an analogy really but I like to think of it as we’re the kind of like blood of the Trust. Kind of in a biology way, you know, you got the heart, the lungs and all the good stuff that, in essence in the analogy, the clinical teams would be. They go out there and do all the essential functions that we’ve got to do but none of those kind of organs would be able to function properly without a good blood supply.
Andy: Yes.
Mike: And in essence, all the things that sit in the non-clinical services are the equivalent of that blood supply. We keep it working, we keep it functioning and I like to think that none of us could do our job without each other. But that’s the kind of essential nature of NTH Solutions, but in essence it’s the non-clinical services of the Trust.
Andy: So a little bit about your role?
Mike: So I’m the managing director, not the medical director, as someone said when you call yourself MD of that company. And technically, I guess I’m the ultimate responsible person for the kind of the operational delivery, the financial management, the strategic direction of the company, as such, reporting to the board on that.
So, from a technical point of view that would be my role. But the way I view it, and I’m a simple man so I do like to keep things simple, but I think my role is to create an environment where our people have the opportunity to be the best that they can be. Now, what do I mean by that? You know, it’s kind of a big thing to say but I genuinely believe that my role is to make sure people feel valued that they’re recognised and they’re supported to be the best version of themselves because if someone’s the best version of themselves, the things that we do will be of the best quality. It will feel good to be part of and to be part of it and to receive those services. And, in essence in a non-technical way, that’s how I kind of see my job. I’m here to help our people.
Sorry I just want to add to that though – are we there yet? I mean it would be remiss to think and try and articulate that, you know, I don’t think you ever really get there, by the way, it’s kind of a continual thing. But we’ve got a long way to go but at least if we’re on that journey to create that type of place to be, I think that’s a good place to start.
Andy: What motivates you to get out of bed on the morning and come to work?
Mike: Yeah, well I mean, it’s going to sound a bit cheesy and people roll their eyes I would imagine, but do you know what? First, it doesn’t feel like work. So in my other careers and jobs that I’ve held, even though they’ve been really rewarding and very good in many ways and give me some invaluable experience, they felt like work. And I remember someone telling me that, you know, that famous saying that you know if you do something you love then you’ll never work a day in your life or words to that effect. But I genuinely have experienced that here. It, for me, doesn’t feel like work.
I genuinely have fallen in love with the people of this area and the people in this organisation, they’re very real, very honest and great people and that brings me to work. People work for people I think and, you know, I work for the people here and I really enjoy it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, some days are a chew aren’t they?
Andy: Yeah.
Mike: I’m talking on averages here, you just can’t escape that fact. But, I mean generally, I’m like ‘great, it’s Monday, let’s come to work’, you know. I really enjoy my job and I feel very blessed and lucky to work with the people that I do work with so I guess that’s why I come to work.
Andy: The last time you were in the studios we touched on something called a letter to myself and this was so inspiring, and I know you’re a team player and things like that. I even took it home and I played it to my 15-year-old son and even his eyes welled up as much as mine did on that day.
How do you motivate and inspire your team to deliver those best interests for the Trust?
Mike: Well I mean, first off, thank you for that. Very kind words. It was a good thing, I enjoyed doing that letter to myself. It was part of my test to make myself vulnerable and to put myself out there. I think actually by doing that, it actually gives you some strength and courage. So thank you for that, Andy.
I mean they’re big words aren’t they? ‘Motivate and inspire people’. I just come to work and I am who I am. If I may, can I rephrase that?
Andy: Yeah, of course you can.
Mike: Call it imposter syndrome or whatever you want but I’d kind of prefer to rephrase that as ‘how do I feel people are motivated and inspired?’ And again, I come back to a point I touched on earlier which is I think it’s important to create an environment that people want to be part of and are proud to be part of it and that they have some purpose within it.
There’s a kind of like a strategy, if you like, that I like to think of when I think about these things and it works on the basis of I think if you can give people accountability, the accountability that they get and, of course, you’ve got to hold them accountable. But that accountability makes people feel like they’ve got a contribution, they can contribute to something. If they contribute to something, then they’ve got relevance. If someone feels like they’re relevant, then they’ve got purpose.
Andy: Yeah.
Mike: Purpose usually helps people perform well so their performance is good and then performance gives people belief. And I think, I would argue until the cows come home, that if you work in an organisation where the majority – and obviously this is kind of the majority game in this. If the majority of people have belief in themselves, that’s a great organisation to be part of.
That inspires people, it motivates themselves, it’s self-generating.
So again, I come back to where I started that, you know, no one person can do any of that but if you can create an environment and then that self builds itself by allowing people to work for people and to feel part of it, then I think that’ll motivate and inspire people ultimately. You know, I just come to work and I am who I am.
Andy: You do your job.
Mike: I do my job.
Andy: And being a good leader obviously takes a lot of work. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Mike: Well if you ask my wife, she’ll have a different view to this. But my strength and weaknesses. I don’t think it’s really for me to say what my strengths are, that’s probably for other people to say that and I’ll come to what I know I need to work on more in a moment. My strengths as such, well as I just mentioned I come to work and I am who I am.
One of the things that I’ve learned over time, and I actually mentioned it in that letter to myself, one of the things that I’ve tried and learned is that I try and act myself and I know that my inherent values are good. I would say, you know, I try and do the right thing and try and help people. You can’t always do that every single time but inherently I try and do the best that I can do in a situation. So I’d say that my values are okay, they’re good values I would say.
And inevitably just by having the responsibility I do, some people are going to like that, some people are not. You know, some people have good days, bad days and, you know, you’ll annoy some people, you’ll help other people, etc. etc. But because I think that my values are about right, that gives a degree of authenticity I think to the way that I behave and then by not having to be liked if you like.
As I put in that letter to myself, I’m very careful with who I give that power to and it is a power if you let your own feelings be controlled by how other people judge you. That can be a really difficult position to be in and can be very unhappy position. So I think if you’ve got inherently good values and you behave in a way that reflect those and you don’t have to be liked by everyone and their dog, then that can give you a position of being a good leader I think, in many ways.
Now, no one’s ever perfect on these things and it’s always work in progress but again on a lot of averages, if you can work on that basis then I think you’re probably doing well in terms of like stuff I need to work on and ‘God do I know this’. And I keep kicking myself every time by the way so if someone ever learns how to actually learn these things and not keep repeating them, please do tell me but I definitely need to listen more, you know. And I think most people would agree with that. I think I’m like a goldfish. If I don’t speak it, then I forget it so actually Deepak gave me some great advice about writing questions down so that I don’t have to interrupt everyone every two seconds. I try but I know it’s something I need to do more of.
I’m also a doer, so I like to fix things and get things done and sometimes people just want an ear to listen or to talk to, they don’t want someone to fix the thing that they’re talking about. I’m very aware of that and my default one is to try and help and fix and I need to be mindful of that.
The other bit I think is that I am passionate and I do care and I’m the worst person in the world at poker, I’ve got the terrible poker face. If I’m annoyed, happy, sad or whatever it would be, it’s written all over my face. So I need to detach a little bit more in situations where I’ve been triggered or whatever and not react as much as I do. Literally, I laugh at myself when I do it because I know I shouldn’t do it, that I’ve done it and I’m like ‘oh God’ and I spend half my time unpicking it and I wish I could do more of that.
So there’s definitely some things that I need to work on, but I’ll leave the strengths for others to say.
Andy: And that’s the same for us all I believe.
Mike: Yeah, maybe.
Andy: And you’re saying that obviously you’ve got a passion. What are you most proud of during your time at NTH Solutions?
Mike: Probably two things really. One is a specific example and another is a more generic thing. But I think I’m most proud of where NTH Solutions has come from and what it is now. We really have an opportunity – had an opportunity and still have the opportunity – to create something very special that people can feel part of.
And when I first joined, it was an organisation that had just been set up and was working perfectly fine but it didn’t feel like there was any identity or feeling of belonging they were searching for actually in this new entity that’s being created. Who are we, what are we and now when I look back over that time and see how people have grown into leadership roles and the great services that they delivered then but now we also deliver now and I think we’ve enhanced.
And also the commercial side of the business and the things that we’ve managed to bring into the Trust from an outwards perspective. I’m really proud of that. I’ve seen some great people grow and do great things and I’m really proud of that.
Andy: I see the branding all over the place, especially throughout the Trust and things like that, throughout the hospitals. And it has, it’s jumped leaps and bounds.
Mike: It’s really important to have an identity, be part of something.
Andy: And I believe obviously you and your team have done that over the past few years because of the awareness that you’ve give it throughout the hospitals, even on t-shirts and stuff like that with the staff that are going around, that you’re supplying to the hospitals and making sure that they’re working properly.
Mike: The other bit that I think I’m proud of, from an example side, would be how the business or how the people reacted to COVID-19. To be part of that was, although obviously and clearly a very difficult time, I was very proud without being any way condescending of the team, the staff, how they reacted. People stepping up and the way we worked with our Trust colleagues, it was literally one team, one dream, you know.
You had the likes of Med Engine and Keith and Phil at the time talking about all the different ventilators and how they’re going to work and the consultants were avidly listening and buying in. And then we had, you know, people like Stuart that was talking about the oxygen supply and you know pipe diameters and we really were ahead of the game and it was literally in total synergy with our clinical colleagues who obviously had the tough job to do.
But again by working as a team and everyone doing their piece of the pie and really pulling on that experience, and we’ve got so much wealth of experience in the business, some real experts in there – people that it would be easy to not know. But they make it work and that really was at the forefront of it.
And if I think about, you know, some of the normal headlines part from the oxygen one, you know it was PPE shortages. Well, you know, the procurement team and everyone in NTH Solutions and in the Trust that helped make sure our clinicians never run out of PPE. I mean, we were on the front foot the entire time and that was not by luck. That was exceptional graft and pulling in favours, but just absolutely doing whatever was needed to make sure that the frontline guys had everything they needed to be safe. And, you know, it got close sometimes but no one particularly knew about that, but it was tight at times but we pulled it out the bag.
And honestly I was so incredibly proud. I think I’ll probably take that to my grave, it was a wonderful experience. Apart from, I don’t want to kind of take away from obviously the very difficult nature and the losses that people encountered but it was good to be part of this team during that and to be part of the Trust, I’ve got to say.
Andy: To see you come through the other end is always the best part of it, isn’t it really? And you’ve learned lessons as well, for if anything happens in the future you know that it’s right, you can put systems in place and they’re already there.
What’s on the horizon for NTH Solutions? And tell me about any exciting opportunities that are going on.
Mike: Solutions is always exciting.
I mean, for me, I think the group opportunities with our colleagues at South Tees – that presents some real opportunities I think. I mean obviously everything’s got to work out but the potential for both our organisations to come together to then contribute to the ICB, to the North East, to the wider geography. I think by working better together, we’ve got much more opportunity and ability to do things better and at scale. So I don’t exactly know, of course, what that will be or what it is at this stage but I think the potential opportunity is one that we should all be excited about and ready to take advantage, if that’s the right word, or maximize when they do present themselves. And I am genuinely looking forward to those conversations at the right time.
We’ve got some wonderful work that’s been going on. Steve Bell and Tash that have been working on the stereowave so, in essence, this is way of processing our own waste. It, in essence, gets clinical waste, it microwaves it for lack of a better summary and then turns it into a usable product that we can then resel l, and that’s going on. We’ll be the first in the UK to do that. It’s been a long journey to get it and, again the team have been fleet of foot in purchasing the equipment out of another business that was in administration. And we’ve turned that to a real advantage and we’re going to drive income into it as well as obviously benefitting the sustainability agenda as well.
Thinking about some of the external commercial services we do. So the NHS implant analysis service that we’ve set up – got a global conference that we’re launching in I think November in in Newcastle where we’ve got 10 speakers from all around the world where, in essence, we support the analysis of an implant that’s been removed from a patient and then do a whole kind of analytical procedure on that, feed that back then to the clinical teams and to the manufacturers to make sure that in time, lessons are learned and patient safety and patient care is improved.
We’ve got the Everybody Feels Like Somebody Awards – our second year of running those. So we had our first one last year where we celebrate the excellent work all our staff do and we have drink or two as well to celebrate that, which is always a pleasure. So we’ve got that coming up I think it’s in late November time.
Then, actually I think some people will be aware of it, we managed to partner up with Hardwick Hall Hotel, the Ramside Group and actually got some heavily, heavily discounted tickets for Hardwick Live and that’s coming up soon in August time. And we’ve got like a year that we can all kind of congregate around and people have had access to tickets and various bit and I’m looking forward to seeing people in a relaxed social environment and seeing that too.
So lots, and that’s many different things, Andy, but I think it’s really exciting stuff that’s coming on the horizon for us.
Andy: Yeah, I mean listening to you there, there was a lot of things that I didn’t even realise that NTH Solutions ever did, you know. We just see the staff walking around the place, we see people with hammers and screwdrivers and fixing things and we see the buildings and what’s going on with new theatres getting built and all that sort of stuff which is absolutely amazing.
Mike: And essential.
Andy: It is, it’s exactly what you’ve just said there. And like you said, without NTH Solutions, the building wouldn’t be standing. You are the blood that pumps around the place and keeps it going.
We’re going to finish off with just a little bit of humour. If there was going to be a movie written about yourself, who would play your character?
Mike: Okay, good one. Well I don’t know who would play my character but as a bit of a reference, she’s going to kill me for this one, someone that I worked with said that I looked like a love child between the Rock and Jason Statham. Now I’m not commenting, but they said if those two had a kid it’d look something like me. So anyway, maybe a genetic alteration of those two, something like that.
Andy: We’ll watch out for Netflix and see what comes up. Well, Mike, it’s been a total pleasure as always having you.
Mike: Who would play you?
Andy: Who would play me? Probably Homer Simpson.
As I said, it’s been always a great pleasure to have you in the studio, Mike, and thank you and your team for what you do for the hospital and for the Trust, and I hope to have you back in here in a couple of months’ time and maybe we could reflect on something and see where we are with the new exciting things that are going on within the Trust.
Mike: Love to, it’s an absolute pleasure, and thank you for all the great work that Radio Stitch does as well, it’s wonderful.
Andy: A pleasure, Mike, thank you.
Mike: Cheers.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 17 – Meet our LGBTQ+ staff network lead
In this episode of NTH Voices, we chat with Matthew Harper – clinical coder and lead for our LGBTQ+ staff network.
Matt talks through the importance of sharing experiences in the workplace, a little of his story as a trans man and how our LGBTQ+ staff network can support.
Episode 17 – Meet our LGBTQ+ staff network lead
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Host: With me in the studio today I have Matt Harper who is the lead for LGBTQ+ within the Trust.
Matt: Thanks for having me.
Host: Why is visibility important?
Matt: I think because how we view ourselves and our place in the world is so largely shaped by what we see, what we hear, our experiences.
When you don’t see people that are like yourself, you don’t hear stories that you can relate to. When your experiences are so different from everybody else around you, it can leave you feeling very alone like there’s something wrong with you, like there’s something broken about you.
So it’s so important that we have these role models, that we’re sharing stories about ourselves so that we can reach those people so they don’t feel alone, so they know that they are valid and their experiences matter.
So I think it is important that for those of us who are able to share our stories, who are safe to do so, who feel comfortable to do so, I think we really should be doing that where we can. And it’s also important for other people to be giving opportunities for people to share their stories.
And that’s why I’m really grateful for the opportunity to come along and do this podcast because that’s what that’s doing. It’s given me the opportunity to share my story and to help other people to see that they’re not alone.
And that’s why it was important as well a few years ago in 2021 for Pride, I did an interview for the Trust. The comms team approached us asking for our experiences to put things out and they invited me to do an interview with them about my experiences as a trans man. It helped me a lot but it also helped a lot of other people too and I was really grateful for that opportunity.
Host: So how much has actually changed since the interview?
Matt: Well the first thing is that I’ve got beard now which I’m really, really proud of and really happy with. Wasn’t sure if that was going to happen so I’m really proud of my beard now.
I’ve also become the lead for our LGBTQ+ staff network which is a big responsibility and such a great opportunity to make changes and make improvements and help people as the network lead. Something I’ve been able to do as well is run some trans awareness and allyship sessions so I’ve been able to share my story, share my experiences, to educate others to give them a bit of a glimpse into the experiences of trans people and find out how they can help, how they can be better allies.
I’ve also been diagnosed with ADHD since that interview and that’s quite linked because since starting on testosterone, and hormones that increase testosterone also decrease my estrogen, and that can bring about the symptoms of ADHD, it can bring them out more. And I didn’t know I had ADHD before that so that was such a massive shift in my life and I’ve had to deal with that and come to terms with that as well.
But on a more positive side, the gender dysphoria that I used to feel mostly before transitioning was still quite present and a big influence on my life at the time of that interview has all but disappeared really.
Host: So you mentioned dysphoria – what is gender dysphoria? So gender dysphoria is technically defined as a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual’s experienced gender and assigned gender. So what that means in real terms is when the sex that you’re assigned at birth – so when you’re born and the doctor or the midwife said it’s a boy or it’s a girl – when that isn’t the same as your gender, your true gender, how you would identify your gender to another person. When those are different.
So when you are trans, there’s a jarring feeling between those and that can be small in some people but it can also be really distressing and intense and quite anguishing. I heard a really great analogy about sandpaper. It’s like if your assigned sex and your experienced gender are two pieces of sandpaper, the gender dysmorphia is that feeling when they rubbed together and it can be overwhelming. It can feel like that trapped inside your body with nothing you can do about it.
I felt it mostly before I got my top surgery, before I had chest surgery and that feeling of anguish, that disgust, that pain was really intense to the point where I just wanted to rip my chest off my body. And it was made even worse by the fact that I couldn’t do anything about it to the point where it can lead to depression, to feelings of suicidal thoughts, to self harm. So it can be a really awful and dark place to be and that’s the diagnosis that you need to access hormones and surgery.
That place of intense anguish and distress is where you need to be before you can get access to hormones and surgery which have a life-changing effect, which can help get rid of those feelings or make them less and that’s what really helped for me.
Having surgery was the biggest change in my life. That was a turning point for me because it was literally a huge weight off my chest and it just turned my life around so much. From feeling so broken and hating myself and even going as far as wishing for a cancer scare to be able to have an excuse to get rid of my chest, to be able to just recently doing the boxing day dip without a top on, going out in public topless, feeling that wind and the sun on my chest. That euphoric feeling that I now associate with my chest is just such a 180 turn.
So a lot of stuff has changed for absolutely the better.
Host: So how can people be a good ally to trans people within the Trust and further afield?
Matt: So first and foremost, I would say just treat us as people. The fact that we’re trans is important but it’s just one part of us.
I would say educate yourselves – there’s plenty of great resources out there that you can access. Just be mindful of your sources, there is also a lot of misinformation going on at the moment unfortunately. So when you are looking for sources of information, the best places are by trans people themselves, also organisations who actively support trans people.
To use inclusive language where you can. And that’s not about what you can’t say, it’s not saying ‘you’re not allowed to say this anymore’. It’s all about what you can say, it’s about alternative words that you can use or adding words to make sure that everybody’s included and not just some people. For example, instead of saying ‘good afternoon ladies and gentlemen’, you could switch that to ‘good afternoon everyone’ and already that’s just including everybody and it’s, you know, it’s less wordy as well so it’s a benefit to everybody.
And there’s little changes like that in your language that go a long way. We’ve recently had some sort of communications out and there was a little part of it and it just said something about ‘all genders’ instead of ‘both genders’ and it was one word and it was a little different and probably put in without much thought. But I saw it and it was a heart-warming validation, it was like feeling seen. So if you can give that feeling to somebody who is going through those feelings of gender dysphoria perhaps just by changing one little word, I think that’s worth it.
Host: Now what would your message be to give to any trans people listening in? I would say you’re valid, you matter, you’re seen and you’re loved. And you might be going through a really difficult time right now but you will be able to get through it and you will be so much stronger for it.
I’d say reach out if you can. If you can’t reach out to family or friends for whatever reason, there are organisations and local groups that are there to help and there to be your family – your chosen family. For example Hart Gables, there’s the lavender Lounge, there’s Rainbow Recovery.
And there’s also us here at the staff network, for staff, for patients, for anybody. You can find our contact details on the Trust website and we’ll be happy to speak to anybody, whoever it is. We would never turn down anyone who needs to talk.
Host: Well Matt, thanks very much. Matt Harper there.
Matt: Thank you very much.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 16 – Volunteering with the NHS
From driving patients to hospital to offering bedside emotional support, our volunteers make a huge difference to our staff, patients and visitors.
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, members of our volunteer team discuss the different roles available, our volunteer to career scheme and what’s next for the service.
Episode 16 – Volunteering with the NHS
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: With me in the studio this morning I have Paul and Lindsay from the volunteers department. Why do a podcast now?
Paul: We’re always looking at ways to reach out to volunteers and our wider local community. Currently have seminars for volunteers drop-in sessions, we have newsletters, we have other ways of contacting our volunteers. Going right back to the basics of phoning, emails, that kind of thing.
But I guess this is an attempt for us to reach into a new way that people pick up with podcasts. So it’s kind of, this is the start of us to embrace the modern era. It’s a new, innovative way of getting our message out.
Elliot: Lindsay, what were the highlights of last year?
Lindsay: So some of the highlights for us were that we recruited and inducted 152 volunteers. Our volunteer drivers also supported nearly 5,000 patients, either taking them home from hospital, bringing them in for outpatient appointments or delivering medication or equipment out to them in the community.
2023 also saw the introduction of the volunteer to career pilot in the Trust. So from April last year we’ve been able to support, to date, 14 volunteers to develop their skills and experience and gain employment within the NHS.
Elliot: And what are we looking forward to in 2024?
Paul: More of the same really. We’ve got our thank you event arranged for June this year. National Volunteers Week is 40 years old this year so we’re going to do something a little bit special. As a Trust, we have a new chief executive, our recently appointed chair and other senior managers and we’re hoping they’ll all be there with us to celebrate. We’ll have some entertainment, catering will be top notch as ever and it’ll be a cracking night so always looking forward to that. Always work really hard but to see the benefits and the sort of appreciation of the volunteers is really something that I look forward to.
Student Volunteers Week was a few weeks ago. We look forward to that because as a Trust we’re trying to encourage as many students to get involved as volunteers as they start to build their career and develop as people.
I’ve got to say one of the highlights for my year is the session we put together just before Christmas where all our volunteers come together and wrap all the Christmas presents for all the patients that are in hospital on Christmas day. That’s a great event, love that.
And I suppose from a Trust point of view, what I’m looking forward to is sort of developing our team a little bit further. We’ve got some plans to grow our volunteer to career programme which is helping people move into employment within the health and social care services.
We’re looking to implement the investors in volunteers which, if you are from a human resource background you will be aware of. The investors in people which is a structure around how well do we look after staff. The investors in volunteers is a structure around how well we look after volunteers. I guess the bottom line for me, what I’m looking forward to is recruiting more volunteers to help and support more people in our local community.
Elliot: So how can people help?
Paul: Very easy. If you have a few hours to spare, you’d like to help some people who are possibly a little bit less well off than you or definitely more vulnerable and you’d like to contribute to your local community, get in touch.
We have a phone number – 01642 383 933. There is a website. Go on to the Trust website. It will lead you to just type into search ‘volunteers’ and there is other email addresses to put in there. Just contact us and we’ll give you all the information you need to sort of decide whether volunteering within the hospital is for you and how you can do it.
Elliot: And I think lastly, what do volunteers get involved with within the Trust?
Lindsay: So we’ve got a variety of roles that volunteers can get involved with. The first being volunteer welcomers. So they are the friendly face at the main reception areas and they will meet and greet people coming in, just make sure that they know where they’re going and just take them to their appointment or department the quickest way possible.
We also have a group of clinical volunteers who will provide support in the ward areas. So they will chat to the patients, keep them company, they’ll assist during meal times, encourage the patients to eat and drink and generally just try and make the patients’ experience a little bit better.
We’ve got a volunteer driver role so they will take patients home who are being discharged from hospital and also bring them in for outpatient appointments.
And then we do have a group of discharge support volunteers as well. So they help patients who are going home who are at risk of loneliness and isolation and they’ll just generally keep in touch with them after discharge. They’ll signpost them to other services and organisations in the community and just check in with them and check that they’re doing okay after their hospital stay.
Elliot: And all the information that they need is on the Trust website?
Paul: Yes.
Elliot: Well Lindsay and Paul, thank you.
Paul: Thank you.
Lindsay: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 15 – Celebrating International Women’s Day
In episode 15 of NTH Voices, we chat with Natasha McManus, pelvic health physio and the lead for our women’s staff network, and Helen Waller, staff health and wellbeing advisor.
They discuss what International Women’s Day means to them, from both a health and workforce perspective, and how we can further support equality across gender.
Episode 15 – Celebrating International Women’s Day
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: And today in the studio we have Helen Waller and Natasha McManus and you’ve come to talk about…
Natasha: International Women’s Day.
Elliot: And my first question is what is International Women’s Day? So for me it’s a celebration of all the social, economical, cultural and political achievements that women around the world have achieved to date. It’s obviously an annually celebrated day for women.
Helen: My side of things, it’s essential for employers not to only just celebrate the achievements of women but also actively support their wellbeing in the workplace.
Elliot: So what does International Women’s Day mean to you personally and why do you feel it’s important to celebrate?
Helen: As I’ve said, it’s actively supporting the wellbeing in our workplace and as a health and wellbeing advisor, I think it’s just highlighting the gender-specific health issues that women go through.
Just highlighting what we need to be doing better and what are the issues and what are we celebrating.
Natasha: And for me it’s very much like we’re celebrating the past but we’re also inspiring the future. I’m a woman, I’m a mother of three daughters so I’m not sure if that’s enough in itself of why I want to celebrate International Women’s Day.
But the idea that once upon a time we couldn’t work, vote, you know, do anything really without some sort of authoritative person over us and for me that’s just absurd and we’ve moved on so much since that time. So to celebrate the people that put us in the position that we are today is such an important thing for me and then obviously to inspire the future because we’ve still got those issues out there, such as the pay gap is still a thing, you know, we’ve got healthcare inequalities for women.
There’s so much that we could inspire for the future.
Elliot: Can you give us a significant moment or an experience that shaped your perspective on the equality of gender?
Helen: I think listening to the stories for people’s menopause journey. I think that we have done so much in the last few years but we shouldn’t have been at that point, it should have been sort of business as normal for years and years and years. I think that’s what sort of shaped my experience, my perspective on gender equality – that we haven’t got equality in that aspect of things.
Natasha: Yeah, I agree and for me, I’ve got so much. If I’m honest, I think this all started for me when I was a 10-year-old girl singing Wannabe on the steps at school, very girl power.
I’ve very much been like that forever and I’ve always sort of hid under a rock of the fear of being called the feminist and I did used to think that I hated that terminology and didn’t enjoy that narrative, but actually now I’m quite happy to be called that because I think it is an empowering statement – to be someone that’s supporting women.
There’s so many things to think about that’s changed my perspective. So, you know, the Spice Girls were number one for me and then as I’ve gone through my life, there’s loads of little parts of my personal development and then going into my professional development that’s highlighted the importance of gender equality.
For example, 84% of our workforce is women. I’m a pelvic health physiotherapist so I see women at their most vulnerable. It’s really empowering to know that we’re there to support these ladies but historically that support has never been there.
I read a book at my Nan’s house about the 1930s and it was talking about the gender pay gap and I actually nearly fell off my chair thinking that these issues were raised in the 1930s and they’re still on our agenda today. So there’s just so much that’s constantly been fed into me, that’s opened my mind.
But not to think about, you know, little things like this for example – I’m a physiotherapist by background and I’ve seen a lot of patients with an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury. And we see and we hear that quite a lot, everyone knows what an ACL injury is and there’s about an average, say in 2019, the statistics suggest that 15,000 people experience an ACL injury.
But realistically, approximately 12,000 women experienced birth trauma and really do we have the same amount of support for ladies experiencing birth trauma as we do people experiencing ligament trauma in their knee and when you jump on a trampoline, that’s okay. And we just ignore that narrative, but falling over because your knee’s giving way, we’ll fix that.
For me what’s worse is, it’s so mad to think, that those healthcare inequalities are there, birthing people out there. It’s just, it’s madness. You know, we’re trying to repopulate the world and we have to live with the consequences and be quiet about it and it’s taboo.
Again, a lot of mine is linked to pelvic health inequalities because of the job I’m in as a pelvic health physiotherapist. We are getting there, you know. We’ve had a new appointed women’s ambassador, Dame Lesley Regan, and she’s documented and brought out the women’s strategy which is amazing, and we’ve got the 10-year plan which has got lots of important plans for women’s health which is unbelievable and incredible. It just highlights that inequality that has been there because these things are on the agenda now.
My biggest one I would like anybody to take home from this is go away and read The Invisible Woman book. It is fantastic. One of the big things that blew my mind in the book was women are more likely to be seriously injured in a car accident today. So that is a thing. Just purely because of their genetic makeup and crash dummies are built on the size and the weight distribution of men.
Finally, for me, I’ve got loads ticking on there but let’s not forget our trans community. It’s been difficult for women but can you imagine how difficult it is for our trans community. For example, this year it’s about promoting inclusion and inspiring inclusion – so this is my little inspiration, my little food for thought.
So cervical screening in itself is really difficult for some women. Just put yourself and your thoughts into the trans community that have to go through a process of cervical screening. It’s not just the situation being in the clinic, but it’s also attending a woman’s outpatients. It’s also revisiting the trauma that you’ve experienced resurfacing memories.
I follow a trans man on social media and they’ve given me such great food for thought. So if there’s anything that you can do for this International Women’s Day to inspire inclusion is go out and have a little look around trans women, trans men and the issues that people experience on a day-to-day basis that we just don’t even consider sometimes.
Elliot: What are the practical steps then for individuals to take and promote gender diversity and inclusion?
Natasha: So obviously I am the women’s network lead so I’m going to say come and join our women’s network. Our women’s network is open to absolutely everybody, so please come and join us.
Any and every support is fantastic but joining the networks, not just my women’s network, we’ve got other networks within the Trust. So please reach out. We do like to think of ourselves as one network, although we have little side groups within them, subgroups. We do think of us as one Trust network.
Within the networks, we do little days like this, you know, supporting International Women’s Day highlighting the issues of healthcare inequality for women, we’ve got the trans awareness weeks, we’ve got awareness and understanding and education.
We don’t know it all, even sat here today, I fear that I might say something that might impact or hurt somebody and it’s not through any fault. I don’t know everything. I’m not completely educated in all the narrative out there. It’s just having that language isn’t it?
You know, we are emerging, we’re changing, we’re growing, we’re learning so it’s all about educating yourself. I’m not perfect and we’re not expecting anyone to be perfect but go out there and educate yourself and ask the question why.
Helen: Yeah, and just feel free that if we are saying something wrong and it feels uncomfortable for you, then just highlight it.
Natasha: Tell us. Yeah come and tell us, join our podcast.
Helen: I think it’s just being inclusive, as Natasha has said, that we just want to go out and be celebrating the differences but also acknowledging the sort of indifferences as well. So that we can sort of go forward and be a better human being.
Natasha: Definitely. So the aim of the game like we’ve said is to inspire inclusion this year for International Women’s Day so we’re truly trying to include all women and embracing, you know, the diversity – race, age, ability, faith, body image and how everybody identifies. Just being supportive of all women out there and trying our very best.
Elliot: Final thoughts from each of you?
Helen: I would hope that people get on board with International Women’s Day, that you think ‘Oh, it’s just another day’ and ‘do they ever shut up’ and ‘why is there a particular day just for women’. There is International Men’s Day and hopefully we would have the men’s network lead, and I’ll be sort of coming for the wellbeing slant of men’s discussion. But I think it’s just celebrating it.
Natasha: Yeah, like it’s crazy to think of how far we’ve come in such a short space of time really. Like, looking back at my Nan’s era, it was totally different to what we are now. So let’s keep changing, you know – the period poverty movement, you know being aware of period poverty, menopause – we’ve got wonderful Helen leading our menopause support groups. And just know that obviously we’re linking with South Tees now and they’ve got good support with menopause as well.
And it’s trying to encourage that growth and that support of 84% of our workforce who possibly need us at any point of their career. Because it’s difficult isn’t it? I’ve just come back from maternity leave and the brain fog is real, so I can only imagine what I’m going to be like at perimenopause, so please help me Helen.
So yeah, it’s just about that, you know, support and educate and just, you know, ask questions.
Elliot: Well, thank you both, take care.
Natasha: Thank you.
Helen: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 14 – A letter to myself, with Mike Worden
Our latest episode of NTH Voices sees Mike Worden, managing director of NTH Solutions, look back on his life and struggles during childhood.
Mike wrote and recorded an emotional ‘Letter to Myself’ exploring how early difficulties became the lessons that taught him the most.
Episode 14 – A letter to myself, with Mike Worden
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Andy: My name is Andy Tingle and this morning I’ve got the privilege of having the managing director of NTH Solutions in the studio, Mr Mike Worden. Welcome Mike.
Mike: Nice to see you, Andy.
Andy: Yeah it’s been a long time since we’ve cross our paths and had a chat and things like that.
Mike: I’m not sure someone’s ever explained it as a privilege to be locked in a room with me before but I’ll take that.
Andy: It is a privilege to have you down because I know how busy you are on the site and everything else with everything that’s going on and you and the team flat out completely throughout. Both sides at the moment with Hartlepool as well.
Yeah we’ve brought you in the studios today to talk about a letter to myself. What is a letter to myself?
Mike: Well I mean in many ways do you remember the famous advert, you know it does exactly what it says on the tin. I think in many ways that’s what this is. It’s a very simple concept but in many ways it’s got a lot of deeper, more useful purposes than you might just think it has on the on the face of it, particularly in terms of your personal and your professional development.
So for example, a letter to myself. Obviously it’s a letter to myself.
But if you took it in the concept of, as I did as I’ll read out in a moment or two, about a letter to my younger self in the past. You’re able to use it in a very reflective way to look at that and think about the journey that you’ve gone on.
I guess it is a journey, in terms of personal development. If you took it as a letter to my present self, you could use it as a practice for appreciation or gratitude for what you have or the things that you’ve gone through. And equally, you know, to your future self in many ways, you can use that for goal setting. Again, you know, reflecting on who you want to be in the future.
So it’s one of those elements that got my interest because it’s simple in its nature and I always like to keep things simple. But actually you can use it in a number of different ways depending on what you feel is going to be most beneficial. Yeah, you could use it as like a developing tool or whatever else – a reflective tool within yourself. Yeah. That’s great stuff.
And I guess that brings on to why did I write one really.
Andy: Yes.
Mike: There’s a number of different reasons for that if I’m being honest to myself about it.
Firstly I believe in the Schwarz Rounds. So I’ve only done a couple of them and I’m down to do one shortly around impostor syndrome. But I just believe it’s so critically important when we’re all so busy to create a space and environment where we take time out from everything and we can sit and openly and safely discuss things that are maybe weighing heavy on our minds or in our background thoughts.
But, you know, we need to give them time to circulate or just to sit and listen to others. I think that’s an incredibly simple yet incredibly powerful way of helping people be themselves and come to terms with things. So I’m a big believer in it. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to do a letter to myself.
It first came up in terms of the Schwartz Rounds and, as I say, I’m a big believer. I think a letter to myself – it was one of those things that I, you know, very often find myself or in conversations with other people, when you’ve had a drink or you’re sat around with family and friends, say ‘oh I wish I’d known that when I was younger’. And so I really bought into the concept of what it could be, and again I think there’s other uses for it.
But, for me, I thought it would be quite interesting practice to talk to the younger Mike and just talk about some of the challenges that, with hindsight, you look back at and they don’t seem that big. But when you’re a young Mike or a younger version – doesn’t have to be a young one, it could be just in any time frame previously. You know, they always seems so incredibly important at the time. So I thought it was a really good practice – that was one of the reasons.
Thirdly, I think it’s really important in a senior leadership role that if we’re going to encourage and recommend that people engage with and do things like the Schwartz Round or you know address previously I think taboo, maybe not taboo, but hidden topics around your feelings and how there’s elements of insecurity or stress and pressure on people, that we don’t we really create an environment for that.
It’s important for me, I think for senior leaders, to lead by example on that.
Andy: Exactly.
Mike: And to engage with those things and to talk openly about these things because I hope then that they will encourage other people to engage and get the benefits that I’ve got from them. There’s three things there.
I think finally on that last one, when I read my letter it’ll make more sense and this is certainly not to do with the Schwartz Rounds because that’s a very safe and confidential environment, but the challenge I wanted to set myself was to really share the reflections that I’ve put into my letter to myself, which I’ll read, and as people will hear. And they’re very personal to me, you know.
And I actually invited my daughter to the Schwartz Round to sit in the audience so, you know, she was hearing the things that I’m saying. And I thought, there’s no better way to really truly test if I’m kind of walking the walk as such to actually put myself out there and share these things I now know from doing things like this, that I truly have kind of learned these things as I’ve gone through it. Which is why I want to share the letter because it was a test for myself to put myself out there and be vulnerable and I’m okay with it.
Andy: You mentioned the Schwartz Round and everything else, how did they receive it and the reactions of people there?
Mike: Yeah, I mean that’s confidential obviously so I don’t want to overly share too many things that we discussed within there. But there was three wonderful speakers. I was obviously one of those, not I was particularly wonderful, you know. The other guys were amazing.
The dialogue, I mean the letters themselves are the letters themselves, but the dialogue and the engagement and the commonality of the themes that we discussed in both, not only the one that we did at Hartlepool but we replicated it over at North Tees, was wonderful. It really was a great conversation to be had.
I won’t say any more of the detail around it because it is confidential in that nature. But I would highly recommend people to attend.
Andy: I was just about to say would you encourage people to write a letter to themselves?
Mike: There’s two answers to that. I mean that’s a very personal answer I think, so it’s up to people to decide their own answer on whether or not they want to do that.
But what I will say is, for me, there is something powerful about writing something down. I mean we often have conversations and various bits and, you know, we might send messages and texts and WhatsApps and all that stuff, but actually spending the time to sit, reflect and then write down. Physically writing something down – there’s something very cathartic and powerful about that.
So, for me personally, I would recommend it a great exercise to do. What you then do with that or, you know, don’t do anything with it. Just do it as the reflective cathartic practice that I found it to be or do more with it – that’s up to the individual. But I would highly recommend doing it. Just the benefits that I’ve had.
Andy: Yeah, it’s like people writing a diary and things like that, it gives them something to reflect on but to sit down and to write a letter and think about it and to open up to yourself.
Mike: Very often we’re not honest with ourselves.
Andy: When they say it’s all right not to be all right and things like that, I could well believe how powerful it is, the power of the pen.
Thank you for that, Mike. If we can get you to read your story out for us now please.
Mike: Dear Mike, there is an age-old saying that says the story you tell yourself is the story you will become. And you need to hear our story.
I am the only person that will ever truly know you so for once in your life, will you listen? I know it feels like you’ve been dealt a tough hand. You wonder why it couldn’t be you that is the clever person in the class, why am I the one that is dyslexic sent for special remedial lessons while everyone else sits in the normal class?
I know you wonder why you’re not the popular one who’s friends with all the cool kids. I know you don’t do some of the things you really want to do because you’re afraid it’ll be embarrassing and people might laugh or judge you. I know you desperately want to say hello to the girl you really like but you daren’t. I know you think you’re the chubby one and why am I the one with all the spots, while someone else has perfect skin?
Why am I the one with two left feet and always picked to stand in goal? Why am I the one whose parents can’t afford to send me on the school trips and who buy my school uniform from the local charity shop? Why am I the one whose parents don’t live together?
I know these things are very real for you and life feels very unfair but I’m afraid there is a reality that life is just not fair. But there is your opportunity, Mike.
Life isn’t fair and it’s equally unfair to everyone. Life owes you nothing and if you sit back and blame things for the way they are or everyone else for having things that you don’t, then life will always seem unfair. You need to stop blaming life for the way it is and own your own future.
Now here is the best bit. What you believe is unfair right now are actually the things that will drive you to be who you are today, and today is pretty good.
Feeling like you’re thick and can’t learn simply isn’t true. you will realise there were reasons for this and that actually there are different forms of what people call intelligence.
But more than any of that, not having things come naturally to you means you learn the value of discipline and hard work. You will learn that nothing of real value is given to you in life and hard work, consistency and simply outworking everyone else will more than compensate for any intelligence you think you may or may not have.
And actually, you will see that the true value of achievement isn’t actually achieving the goal or the outcome which you’re working for, but it’s the self-belief and the confidence that you’ll gain from the dedication and hard work that was needed to reach it.
Having the discipline to consistently do the things that you may not want to do in the moment will absolutely give you the things you want in the future. For you, Mike, daily discipline will give you the freedom to be you.
I know not being the popular kid feels a very hard one right now. But it means you will learn the incredible power of not needing to be liked. But rest assured, you’re not a weirdo or locked up in jail, you will learn to cherish the friends you have and realise that giving someone else the power to make you feel good or bad based on whether or not they like you or agree with you or laugh at you is literally crazy.
Please listen to this again, Mike, it is so incredibly important for you. Don’t give someone else the power to make you feel good or bad. You know what is right or wrong. When you do a good job or a bad one, be your own judge and be very careful with whom you give that power to.
Now with a twist of irony that makes life the puzzle that it is, not needing others’ approval will give you belief in yourself. This will give you values. Having values makes you authentic and, ironically, authentic will make people like you. So being the fat spotty lad picked to be in goal isn’t easy but there is a wonderful thing called genetics. And you may think they’re working against you right now but sometime soon, you will start to grow and when you pick up the rugby ball and a barbell or two, you will never look back.
But, again and I want to be very clear on this, Mike, what you have is not god-given. It’s earned. So don’t sit back and accept things as guaranteed. Go and earn it.
So this will be annoying for you right now but guess what, Mum was right. Playing rugby is good for you. The anger you feel gets channelled on the pitch and you learn to respect authority while standing your ground and being heard. You learn the value of teamwork and how different skills, strengths and weaknesses are the key to success in a team.
So the toughest one for you I’ve left until last. You feel embarrassed about being the poor kid in class, and I know you feel it’s unfair. But this is one you can own and you do. For good or bad, it will be a driving force for success in your career. So what feels unfair right now will allow you to value what it means to have stood on your own, to have earned everything that you have in your life and provides the perspective you need to appreciate what you have earned.
But be careful with this one. There is always more to be had and money does not mean happiness. In fact your lesson to learn, Mike, is that the never-ending comparison will kill any hopes of your own happiness.
So in roundup, my friend, just keep going. Learn to use the things you feel are against you, accept the things you can’t change and let them go. But own everything else you can change.
And most importantly of all, don’t stand back and blame the world for the way it is. If you don’t like it, keep working and trying until you change it. And on one final note, if there is any chance of time travel, say yes to the Canadian rugby contract.
Andy: That was Mike Worden and a letter to myself.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 13 – Transforming our digital services as a group partnership
In our latest episode of NTH Voices, we’re joined by just some of the team leading on collaborative digital work across our group partnership with South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Ken, Jay and Maxine discuss how the two trusts are already working together collaboratively and putting our clinical staff at the very forefront of our digital ambitions.
Episode 13 – Transforming our digital services as a group partnership
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Colin: This is NTH Voices and my name is Colin Overton. We broadcast to the patients, staff and visitors to the NHS hospital trusts across the Tees Valley.
Today in the studio, we have some of the digital team and I would like them to introduce themselves and their position within the Trust.
Ken: Hi Colin, great to be here today. My name is Ken Anderson and I’m the chief information and technology officer at North Tees and Hartlepool Trust.
Jay: Thanks Colin, my name is Jay Vasani. I’m a consultant gastroenterologist and also the clinical lead for the digital program and I work alongside my colleague Andy Adair at South Tees.
Maxine: Thanks Colin, I am Maxine Crutwell, I am programme manager for the group model working across both North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees hospitals.
Colin: We’ll start off with you Ken. What is the longer term vision for your group digital work?
Ken: So Colin, a digital data and technology strategy which is really ambitious and wholly aligned to the group’s strategic objectives. It will deliver digitally enabled services which provide exceptional care, quality and safety for all of our patients, a single view of information for our clinicians, with group collaboration at its core.
Colin: Thank you. Jay, for you. The digital strategy is a key priority for clinicians. What work streams are you currently delivering?
Jay: Absolutely, Colin, as you said it is a key priority for all clinical staff. So as part of our group strategy, we’re quite clear that we want clinicians involved in all steps of the journey, if you like. So as part of that we’ve had several clinical engagement sessions. Two already have been done and there are two others planned.
We’ve also started work on undertaking a gap analysis which involves seeing what systems South Tees have, what clinical systems we have here at North Tees and Hartlepool and see how we can bridge the gap.
We’ve also started pilot work with our pathology teams who work across North and South Tees and our digital strategy is already currently in draft form.
We’ve also started work on looking at having a joint help desk to respond to queries from clinicians who are struggling with digital systems and we are also quite clear that we can’t do this work without having some extra resource so we’re also looking at how we can bring all that into the group.
Colin: So what will you be doing, Ken, over the next 18 months?
Ken: So our goal is to support the group clinical strategy. In this respect, the digital programme will be a key enabler. We’re currently recruiting into six clinical boards and the expectation is that they will be up and running from this April or early may.
As the clinical board developed, we’re going to seek to understand their technical and their data requirements. In the meantime, there’s a lot of work we can just be getting on with. In particular, we’ve already started working on how we can enable seamless working between the two trusts.
Over the next few months, we’ll be ensuring that our clinicians can connect to their clinical systems irrespective of which site that they’re on. We’re already investigating how we can deliver a single IT service desk – effectively a one-stop shop for all of our digital services.
On the back of an event that we held with our community colleagues, we’re looking to set up a user group to deal with some of the issues that they experience on a daily basis. Within the next 18 months, we’re looking to identify ways in which our systems can share information to provide up-to-date patient level data at the point of care.
We’re also going to do more in the way of what is referred to as single sign on. So this is a secure way in which our clinicians can access a range of systems without having to remember multiple passwords.
Overall, the digital strategy aims to improve both our staff and patients with a seamless experience to deliver proactive systems of care.
Colin: Okay, so you’re telling me that the work will be clinically led. Jay, what reassurances can you give to the group?
Jay: Absolutely, Colin, so we want to reassure all our clinical staff that the work we’re doing will be clinically led. The two engagement sessions we’ve had so far have been incredibly helpful. We’ve heard loud and clear that staff want to see several improvements, including having access quickly across the two trusts, having things like, as Ken mentioned, single sign on so people can log on to clinical systems to look after patients quickly.
The community engagement session has also been helpful and we’re looking to set up what we call a clinical reference group to take this work forward. We have two other engagement sessions planned in March for the rest of our staff, including nurses, allied health professionals, midwives, corporate staff and others.
As we mentioned before, our pathology service is already learning from collaborating digitally and we’re going to continue to tell clinical staff that if they have any other ideas thoughts or questions, then please feel free to contact any of us in the digital group.
Colin: Maxine, how will you involve the patient voice in the transformation?
Maxine: Thanks Colin. So I started in post nine weeks ago and one of the things that I really want to bring to the group model is patient voice. It’s something that I feel very passionate about. It’s integral in terms of laying that foundation across not only our digital work but our vision for the group model as well as our clinical strategy.
So I’m delighted to see that we have recently commissioned Healthwatch to do our external consultation work. And I think what Healthwatch as a statutory organisation will bring to the group work is very much that breadth and depth of our local communities that we serve. We have such a huge diverse demographic population and it’s important that we reach all those voices to make sure that we’re clinically digitally informed in terms of how we work going forward as a group.
Internally, our patient involvement teams will absolutely mirror the Healthwatch consultation so we’ll have both that internal and external viewpoint and that work will take place over March to July. At the end of July, we’ll receive a list of recommendations that we as a group are accountable to.
And what that’ll create is a local dialogue with our local communities as well to make sure that we have that open conversation about what can and can’t be achieved. Our local population is our biggest stakeholder so it’s important that we get this right from the earliest point.
Colin: Jay, just a quick one to you. Can you give us some examples of where services are already working across the group and how digital is actually supporting clinicians to deliver?
Jay: Thanks Colin, yeah, sure. So we have some strong examples already. Pathology to start with. The pathology teams have already started to work cross site with a solid structure and our digital and IT teams are supporting them to deliver this work.
It’s still early days so we know we have some teething problems which we have to get through but equally we’ve learned a lot from this work which we hope will help us in spreading this across when we roll out the digital programmes. Our ICT workforce currently work across site and will continue to collaborate and visit each other’s teams to see what challenges people face, especially what clinical staff face in real time.
We’ll constantly try and improve this work.
Colin: Ken, will there be any opportunity for clinicians and staff to actually test each other’s digital systems and see what works?
Ken: There’ll definitely be that opportunity and I think that’s one of the things that came out really clearly with the clinical engagement is that clinicians at all levels across a wide range of specialties, they were really keen to understand from each other. And one of the great opportunities of the two trusts working more closely together is that we can identify which systems work best and we want to familiarise respective colleagues on each other’s systems and learn from each other.
So even just yesterday at the community session that we run, the teams were talking about various apps that they were using so there’s just really one very small example and something we can put into practice quite quickly.
Jay was saying it’s got to be clinically led and this is really important.
Colin: Thank you for that. Maxine, final one to you. How will you keep the staff up to date and communicate with the workforce on the digital plans and changes that are foreseen?
Maxine: So that’s a great question and it’s really important that we keep our clinical and corporate teams informed of the work that we’re doing throughout this journey because it is a journey that we’re going on over the next year to two years to make sure that we really respond to what clinicians are seeing.
So we would welcome feedback on how often those communication messages go out because we are aware that our workforce receives lots of messages, are juggling lots of things daily so it’s getting that balance right across board.
I have to say both our communications teams across both sites have been absolutely fantastic in supporting the group model work and we’ll continue to work with both teams to send out messages at the same time so everybody receives the messages at the same time in the right way.
The clinical triumphant, once they’re in place which is expected to be around May time for the clinical work streams. Once they’re in place, they’re kind of our key business change managers in terms of disseminating information through their clinical work stream so we’ll absolutely be utilising that workforce.
We know South Tees have got a great staff Facebook page and just talking to Jodie this morning, North Tees and Hartlepool are going to be replicating that as well. So we’ll have a staff Facebook page which is such an easy way of promoting positive messages and getting engagement as well.
So there’s lots of different ways in which that we’re going to make sure that we put those comms messages out. It’s just getting the right balance and not overloading staff. But absolute commitment to keeping people up to date.
Colin: Thank you for that. Hopefully we can have another session in the future and we can just upgrade everything that we’ve been talking about today.
So can I thank you very much for coming in.
Ken: You’re very welcome.
Maxine: Thank you, Colin.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 12 – Meet our new group chief executive Stacey Hunter
Stacey Hunter joins us this week as group chief executive of both our Trust and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
In our latest episode of NTH Voices, we get to know a little bit more about Stacey, talk through her ambitions for our two trusts and quiz her on all things Teesside. (Yep – we’re talking parmos here.)
Episode 12 – Meet our new group chief executive Stacey Hunter
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: You’re listening to NTH Voices, my name’s Elliot Kennedy.
With me in the studio today I have the new joint CEO Stacey Hunter. Welcome.
To start with can I ask you to introduce yourself to our listeners?
Stacey: You can. Good morning, everyone. My name’s Stacy, I’m super excited to join you guys in what’s only a couple of days now actually. So I start officially on the first of February.
Just a little bit about myself – I’m originally from Hull, I have worked in the NHS now for 38 years, the last 25 others in various different leadership roles. Spent quite a chunk of that time in Leeds for just under 20 years and I’m joining you from being the chief executive at Salisbury hospital.
So quite a big geographical move because I headed south for my first chief exec post but I’ve spent the vast majority of my personal and professional life living and working in the north of England.
Elliot: So what does it mean to become the first joint CEO of both North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees Hospital Foundation Trust?
Stacey: Yeah, it’s actually an absolute privilege. I know this is something that the two organisations have thought about and done work on over these last couple of years so I’m really thrilled to have been given the opportunity.
They are both really good trusts with some excellent services and good reputation so lots to build on. And I’m really looking forward to working with communities where there are quite significant health needs and also some inequities in how people access care.
So quite a lot for us to think about as we, I guess, lever the benefits of working collectively more than we do already.
Elliot: And can you explain a little bit about the vision for the joint partnership between the two trusts?
Stacey: Yeah, as I say, it’s very early days because I’ve not actually started yet. And my style I guess and preference will be to work and build that vision with people who work in our services. So I have some thoughts about how you build on the best of both organisations and, as I’ve referenced already, something about how we get more equity for the communities that are served by both of the trusts.
And I think how we use our collective influence to secure resources into the Tees Valley and think about how we make the best use of all of the facilities we’ve got available to us across the four hospitals and the various community teams that work as part of the two organisations.
And then there’s something for me about working really closely with our partners. So our colleagues in the local authorities, you obviously know those communities really well, but our broader partners in education, some of our universities – just to think about how we really get the benefits out of some of the things that anchor institutes which people may not have heard of.
But basically big organisations that are spending, you know, lots of resources in the local area and really maximise the benefit of those for the people who live there.
Elliot: Will you be splitting your time between both organisations?
Stacey: Yeah, it’s a really good question and obviously there’ll be some practicalities around actually certain things happening in the different organisations at certain times.
But one of the big challenges, one of the things that I’ll really want to work with people to get right is how you can be visible when you’re covering such a broad area. Yeah, I think there are just under 18,000 staff in total that work across the two trusts and, as you know, four hospitals in the group and then community teams based at several locations.
So I’ll be working hard to make sure that I’m as visible as possible. Clearly the chief exec is, you know, an important role and very symbolic for the trusts but not the only person. And we have a leadership team, we’ve got local leaders in all of our services and for me it will be about how I can support and amplify the work that those local leadership teams are doing.
Elliot: Your three priorities for this next year? Oh, this is a really good question. Well, my first priority is to I guess transition and settle well. So there is something about, although I did a lot of due diligence on the job, I don’t know the area as well as many of the staff who work in your teams will so I want to spend time working with people who live there and the staff understanding what matters to people in the Tees Valley.
I think then there is, as I’ve already said, there’s something about how we might create some immediate priorities around making sure that we’ve got equitable access to services for people. Whether they’re living in Hartlepool or across in Northallerton and everywhere in between. Because I suspect there are some differences in that approach that have just grown up with the two separate trusts over the years.
And then, thirdly, I want to make sure that we’ve forged really good partnerships with some of those other partners I’ve already mentioned.
Health doesn’t operate as a kind of island just in hospitals or our community health teams. We’re part of a much broader set of partners to really secure the benefits for the people that live in the local area.
Elliot: If you want our colleagues to take one key message from this conversation, what would it be?
Stacey: That’s an interesting question. As I’ve highlighted, I think there are some excellent services and practices in both the two trusts from what I’ve been able to gather to date.
I guess my key message would be that working even more closely together, we can be even better and make sure that the services for the people who live in the Tees Valley and rely on us are absolutely first class and consistent every time that people need them.
Elliot: What do you think are the main challenges facing the NHS at this moment in time and, of course, for the future?
Stacey: Yeah, I think undoubtedly anyone listening to this that works in the NHS or I think experiences services will know that we often struggle to have sufficient staff.
So I really welcomed the national workforce plan that came into effect probably about six to eight months ago now but we’ve got a long way to go to populate that plan over the coming years to make sure that our teams have enough people in them to meet the demand.
And I think that’s probably the number one thing if you talk to our colleagues that they would say we need to focus on and prioritise over the coming years.
Elliot: Now, that’s enough about work because I’m sure that people realise that you are actually a human being and you have other things to do other than working in the NHS. So what do you do to relax?
Stacey: No, it’s another great question. So I guess a couple of things.
I’m a big dog lover, I’ve got an eight-year-old spaniel called Finn who has a very special place in my heart and we got a puppy before Christmas. A new cockapoo who’s 15-weeks-old called Daphne who is occupying lots of time and attention, as you might imagine puppies do.
And then when I’m not out dog walking and getting a bit of fresh air, I like to go sailing. It’s something I’ve only done for seven or eight years. I’m still more enthusiastic than I am competent but very, very keen on it and enjoy getting out on the water and you know practicing some of those very kind of practical skills that you need to be safe in a boat.
Elliot: Now I’ve been sent a few questions about a little test about your knowledge about Teesside. So what is a parmo?
Stacey: Now I’ve never had a parmo is the first thing to say, so I’m sure that will be put right within a within a few weeks. But I have seen parmos and had a good friend who lived in the North East who used to talk about them.
So I understand that they’re either chicken or pork. My preference would be chicken, I have to say. With some bechamel sauce and cheese, well lots of cheese, covering them. And then I think basically you can eat them in a sandwich or with anything in the North East. So I’m looking forward to getting an opportunity to try one.
Elliot: I’m sure we’ll sort that out for you.
Stacey: They do sound lovely, if not slightly calorific.
Elliot: They are, yeah.
So what are the travelling fans for the Boro called? To insultingly call the Boro fans?
Stacey: Now I do know this. I know they’re call smoggies, relating back I guess to the industrial times in the North East. Which feels like, at some level, it might have been a name to be a little bit rude or offensive but actually I’m sure that people who support the Boro are very proud of that history.
And certainly when you drive through Middlesbrough, you know, you’re able to see if you like all the landscape that reminds you of that industrial past which will be very very proud for the people who live there.
Elliot: Now, of our local regions who do you know? We’ve got comedian Bob Mortimer – local or not?
Stacey: Local.
Elliot: Chris Rea?
Stacey: I think he’s local. I think he is, I couldn’t be certain.
Elliot: Or Emilia Clark from Game of Thrones – is she local?
Stacey: Ah, no. Now I know she’s not local, she’s from London. So I’m guessing that means Chris Rea must be local but I couldn’t tell you which part of the Tees Valley he’s from.
Elliot: Right, which was invented in Stockton – the match stick or the cigarette lighter?
Stacey: Oh, now this will be a guess because I don’t know. 50/50. Let’s see. I’m going to go the match stick.
Elliot: Correct, yeah. So you’ve done your homework.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Stacey: All I would want to add is that I’m really looking forward to getting started. I’ve had opportunity to meet a few people in the team but obviously not very many yet.
I start in a couple of days and look forward to getting out and about and meeting some of the staff that work in the teams, you know, which is always the absolute best part of the job to be honest.
Elliot: Right well I’ll call it an end there. Thank you, Stacey, for talking to us and we look forward to having you down in the studio in the very near future.
Stacey: Lovely, thank you very much.
Elliot: All right then, take care.
Stacey: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 11 – What is measles?
Cases of measles are rising in England. And it’s more than just a rash with one in five children needing a hospital visit.
In this latest episode of NTH Voices, deputy director of infection, prevention and control Rebecca Denton-Smith discusses what measles is and how we can all work to keep ourselves and others safe.
Episode 11 – What is measles?
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Andrew: Hello, you’re listening to NTH Voices. With me in the studio, I have Rebecca Denton-Smith. Hello Rebecca.
Rebecca: Hi.
Andrew: What is Measles?
Rebecca: Measles is a contagious infection. It’s a viral infection and it spreads really easily.
Andrew: And why is it so serious?
Rebecca: Measles has been around for a long time but currently it’s quite serious because it can affect people. Especially those under the age of five and adults over the age of 20 or any at risk groups that might have a low immune system can have some longer term effects.
But most people do get over measles quite quickly. However, some of the longer term effects include things like pneumonia and meningitis so it’s really important that we minimise the spread of this infection.
Andrew: And cases arising across the UK. Are we seeing a rise here?
Rebecca: Thankfully not the moment but they are rising across the UK. And the main reason for that is because people haven’t had their immunisation. So really it’s just a plea to make sure that people have had their children and themselves vaccinated.
And that we’d like to keep that under control for our region just to stop any unnecessary pressures on our services.
Andrew: And what are the symptoms?
Rebecca: Symptoms include high temperatures, runny blocked nose, sneezing, coughing, red sore watery eyes and then it generally turns into a rash. So that can start with spots in the mouth and then a rash on the face which spreads across the rest of the body.
Andrew: And how can parents protect their children against measles?
Rebecca: So obviously vaccination is the first point of call so you can reduce your child’s chance of getting measles.
But if your child does have measles, you should go to your GP surgery. It usually does start to improve and symptoms start to improve within about a week.
And during that contagious period you should try and obviously avoid contact with others. It does help to have plenty of rest, drink plenty of water, take pain relief and try not to sort of pick or irritate the rash at all.
Andrew: Is there any simple steps people can take?
Rebecca: Yes, there are. So people can make sure that they’re washing their hands with soap and water which we should be doing anyway, utilizing tissues – what we call respiratory etiquette or coughing and sneezing away from others – and making sure that you’re throwing your tissues away so they catch it and bin it.
Andrew: Now one of the problems with the increase in measles is is the MMR vaccine safe?
Rebecca: Yeah the MMR vaccine is absolutely safe. I know there was some concerns around this years ago but it is proven to be very effective and safe for people to have.
Andrew: Where can people find out more information and advice?
Rebecca: So you can find the advice on the NHS website where they’ll be quite easy to follow advice just by Googling NHS measles.
Andrew: Thank you, Rebecca.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 10 – Giving back to our communities this Christmas
Each year we organise a food and toy drive to give back to our community over Christmas.
In this episode of NTH Voices, communications, engagement and marketing manager Mark Malik talks about why this is so important to our Trust and how staff can get involved if they would like.
Episode 10 – Giving back to our communities this Christmas
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: Hello, my name is Elliot Kennedy. With me in studio this morning we have Mark Malik from communications, engagement and marketing team. Good morning, Mark.
Mark: Morning, thanks for having me today.
Elliot: Today we’re talking about giving for Christmas.
Mark: Yes, absolutely.
Elliot: Who will we collecting for?
Mark: Well basically we’re asking staff, if they’re able to do so, to collect food, toys, gifts and wrapping paper for some of our local partners.
So the food will be going to the food banks in Stockton and Hartlepool which will be supporting some people with extra food and treats over the Christmas period. And toys, gifts and wrapping paper going to our partners over at the Salvation Army in Stockton and Hartlepool as well to help some people enjoy Christmas a little bit more.
Elliot: And why are we collecting these items?
Mark: Well basically, it’s a sad fact that our region experiences some of the worst poverty and financial disadvantage in the entire country. So this collection is about some of our local families, some of whom are in you know very, very dire financial situations, to just have a nice Christmas and enjoy themselves a little bit more, try and ease a little bit of that pressure.
Elliot: It’s a nice idea but some of our own staff may also be finding a hard times this year.
Mark: Absolutely. We wouldn’t want anyone to feel pressured into donating. What we ask is only to donate anything if you can afford to do so. But, you know, every penny counts so even if a couple of colleagues could club together and get something small, that would be appreciated too.
Most supermarkets have, you know, very reasonably priced own brand goods – tins of peas, sweetcorn, things like that that can go on their meal. Or even gifts that start from just a couple of pounds.
But, again, absolutely only if you can afford it.
Elliot: Are we appealing to members of the public as well?
Mark: Not really, no. This is a staff only appeal but if you’ve got a family member who wants to join in they can give you something to bring in yourself or give you some money. My dad always gives me a few quid and he’s quite surprised how far we can stretch it.
So what we’re looking for is tins of vegetables, gravy granules, packets of stuffing mix, store bought Christmas cakes, Christmas puddings, toys, games, things for older teenagers – they often struggle with older gifts for them. Men’s toiletry sets – Salvation Army struggles with that. Lots of people don’t think that men require things like that as well so anything that people can give would be great and if families want to join in and help as well that’s absolutely fantastic too.
Elliot: Now, more importantly, where can staff drop these items off?
Mark: Best thing to do would be for staff to check their emails where we have sent messages around.
But if I can quickly recap them, up in Hartlepool we’ve got ward two on the first floor, the specialist services admin hub, the outpatient staff room, Amanda McNeany on the fourth floor kindly uses her office as a dropoff base, and the chemotherapy ward as well.
And over at North Tees, Tatchell Centre reception, the pathology staff room, the third floor of the tower block, the fifth floor of the tower block and the seventh floor of the tower block – that’s the directorate offices. They will all take gifts and donations there. The main office of the X-ray service, the undergraduate department in the south wing, NTH Solutions office which is near the Tees Restaurant entrance and our own office communications, engagement marketing office on the fourth floor of the north wing.
So we’re spread about the Trust. Wherever people are, they’re not too far from a drop off point. And then our brilliant volunteers collect them once a week, gather them all together and take them off to the food banks and Salvation Army.
I know the stuff that me and my dad have done has already gone so it’s already on its way, it’s already moving well.
Elliot: Well thank you, Mark.
Mark: Thank you very much.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 9 – Introducing InPhase
Over the coming weeks and months, we are introducing InPhase into our Trust – a new hospital events reporting system which will replace Datix.
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, chief nurse Lindsey Robertson gives an overview of how we are rolling this out with staff, how to get involved and what you can expect.
Episode 9 – Introducing InPhase
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: My name’s Elliot Kennedy and today we go behind the scenes with…
Lindsey: Lindsey Robertson, chief nurse, hello.
Elliot: Hello there. Why are we moving away from Datix?
Lindsey: We’re moving to a more flexible system so that’s the first thing. Datix has stayed fairly static and it hasn’t really kept up with the national direction of travel.
The bigger context of this really is how we capture events that happen across the organisation. So we used to call them incidents but now we call them events and it’s all in line with the national patient safety strategy.
So we want to make it really, really easy for all of our staff to capture events where things might go well and things might not go so well so that we ensure that we learn and we improve. And that’s really the basis of why we’re changing our system.
InPhase is really flexible. Most young people or most people across the organisation now have apps on their phone, we we’re used to that, so this is an app based system that sits in the cloud, uh wherever that is, and they can access those apps on any device that they’ve got. So they’re not restricted to any of the computers that we’ve had previously.
So it’s much more flexible and easier so when staff feel that there’s something they want to share with us from a patient safety perspective or improving quality then they can do it really easily.
Elliot: So how long will it take to learn and embed?
Lindsey: So we’ve been learning for a little while. So there’s a core team of us that have been doing this and driving it forward. There’s quite a number of staff already being trained but, with anything, I think it’s once we start to roll it out and we use it and we test it and it’ll evolve.
So certainly the first phase of roll out will be for our events which our staff will understand as Datix incidents, how they report, so we’ll call them events and that’ll be the first app to roll out in December. So there’s lots of training around that and then we’ll follow on with complaints and compliments and risk. So we’re moving that as a rolling programme.
Elliot: So what’s the main advantages of implementation of InPhase?
Lindsey: I think I’ve probably said a bit of that in a very hurried way.
So I think the main advantage is that it is really accessible. I think previously there’s only been one system, people have to sit down, they have to get to a desktop computer. This means that they can do it from their phone. It’s really easy like anything, like if you were buying something on your phone.
It’s very easy to access as it’s a cloud-based system so any piece of technology they can do and if people can’t get to the technology can support them with some paper if they need to do that.
Elliot: We have clear points and contact support and training and advice?
Lindsey: Yeah, we’ve got what we would call super users. We’re going to have those across all the departments, we’re going to make it really easy for those staff who are front line so they can go and get some support from the teams understanding it and rolling it out, but not just around training that they have to access online but we’ll be there walking the walk with them so that we can really get underneath it and support any of those things that we probably haven’t predicted but we can do it the time.
Elliot: So the roll out plan will be phased?
Lindsey: Yeah.
Elliot: How do you plan for that?
Lindsey: We’ve already got that happening so we’ve done quite a lot of training now. I think there’s been circa 130 people trained on some of the app based stuff, already got a dedicated team.
We’re going to have computers and any technology set up in the back of the restaurant but we’ll be walking the floor so when we roll it out we’ll go to the areas where people are using it and we’ll be with them on site.
Elliot: And the planned roll out is to end in March? Yeah. This year Datix will go at the end of December so we’re on a tight deadline. People have been working really hard to make sure that we get those first apps in use and then we’ll have it all in place by the end of March.
Elliot: Okay, thank you.
Lindsey: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 8 – Relaunching our communications, engagement and marketing service
Our communications, engagement and marketing team support services right across our hospitals and community bases.
In the latest episode of NTH Voices, Ruth Dalton, deputy director of communications, engagement and marketing, discusses how the team works with NHS staff and journalists, and how they’re evolving support based on staff feedback.
To get in touch with the team, email [email protected]
Episode 8 – Relaunching our communications, engagement and marketing service
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: I’m Elliot Kennedy and today we go behind the scenes with Ruth Dalton, deputy director of communications, engagement and marketing. Why are you doing a relaunch of communications, engagement and marketing?
Ruth: Okay, it’s a really good question. The communication service within our Trust has been here for a number of years now. People across the organisation will link it with Anthem and newsletter as well as messages about updates and events.
But back in 2018 there was a directive to change how we deliver our service and what it should look like moving forward. And after a lot of reshaping and restructuring – some bad, some terrible in fact and some good – we’ve arrived where we are today and we want to talk about how we now work and what you can expect from us in terms of support.
Elliot: So what can we expect to see and how we got to this point?
Ruth: Well hopefully most people across the organisation will have had some link at some point with our team. That might be reading a health and wellbeing magazine, following us on social media or you might have shared a good news story or two for our website.
But we deliver a lot more than that and we wanted to test if we were getting it right or completely missing the mark. So back in October, we issued a brief survey and invited staff to respectfully give their thoughts on our service. It’s all subjective of course and working in PR and communications you become exceptionally thick skinned.
The feedback leaned the majority of the way to a positive view of the service. Staff suggested that there were lots of platforms and channels for them to receive Trust news but they also gave us some really candid feedback about what else they wanted. They want more face-to-face communications, our community staff want more involvement and inclusion and boy do they love a screen saver.
Our job now is to translate that feedback into a service befitting of the Trust and in shaping that we want to talk a little bit more about some of the other work that we deliver.
Elliot: So beyond the bulletins and the newsletters what else is the team going to do?
Ruth: Well we look after our website – we built our new version earlier this year. We work with our external stakeholders to ensure that they know what’s happening in the Trust and how they can use their voices to help us – our political partners and our local authorities, for example.
We work with the local regional or national media, we try exceptionally hard to ensure that we get as much positive coverage as possible, and we’re really proud of that, but we also work to support maintaining a good reputation for this organisation, our group and the wider NHS. That’s some of the more challenging aspects of our work really.
Most of our media partners are great, they’re not all journalist of days gone by but some are still looking for sensationalist headlines and a scoop if you will. And if you sit within earshot of my office, you’ll hear the rows and challenges made of some of our colleagues on a day-to-day basis.
I’ll give you one little snippet insight to something that happened during the pandemic. One of our local newspapers printed a headline without any consultation with us about how Covid had hit the University Hospital of Hartlepool. People remember at that time that that wasn’t the situation, that Hartlepool was kept for our elective work and making sure that it was a green site essentially. There were a lot of rows that day with the local editor of that newspaper to pull the headline, which happened.
So there’s a lot of that negotiation goes on behind the scenes, some stuff that doesn’t get to press perhaps where it would have if our team weren’t in place often happens. So we deal all sorts with all sorts of crisis communication, celebratory communications, sometimes straightforward fact giving communications.
We also now look after engagement and that’s a learning curve. Pleasing 6,000 staff is no easy task but we keep going.
Elliot:
Ruth: So what’s happening next? So next we’re looking to share more of our ambitions and our service into the teams that feel they might benefit from our work. So if you’ve got something you want to share, get in touch, we can give you platforms internally and externally. If you need support with a challenging media issue give us a call.
We look after identity and voice – ensuring that we make North Tees and Hartlepool stories heard. We deliver difficult messages at times and they can be really hard to land but we try to do it with respect. We’ll be sharing more of our plans in the coming days and weeks and we would love colleagues from the Trust to get involved.
Elliot: Thank you Ruth.
Ruth: Thank you Elliot.
Elliot: Bye bye.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 7 – Welcome to our financial health and wellbeing events
This year we are once again welcoming in local public sector and private companies to offer staff money saving advice and exclusive offers as our financial health and wellbeing marketplace event returns.
In this episode of NTH Voices, chief people officer Susy Cook and deputy director of communications, engagement and marketing discuss our reasons for putting on this event and what our staff will be able to find on the days.
Episode 7 – Welcome to our financial health and wellbeing events
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: You’re listening to Radio Stitch, serving the patients, staff and visitors at the university hospitals in the North East. Today we have Ruth Dalton and Susy Cook.
Ruth: Good morning.
Susy: Good morning, Elliot.
Elliot: Good morning. What are these events and financial health and wellbeing and how do they come about?
Susy: So the events are really exciting events with the help of Ruth, our communications and engagement lead. They came about because when we started to really understand what people meant by health and wellbeing.
We decided to run a survey with the support of Ruth and her team to understand what people really wanted to help them around health and wellbeing. So we ran a reward and recognition survey to understand, in the guise of reward and recognition, what people wanted to know more about, where they wanted help, what would really help them in their work and daily living.
And one of the things that came out was support around financial health and wellbeing and therefore that was the start of these events.
Elliot: Why should staff attend and what can they expect to experience?
Ruth: Okay, so Elliot, this is the second year we’ve run these events so hopefully staff will remember their success last year. So we work with a number of internal departments as well as lots of external partners as well.
So we’ve got people from the welfare team at Stockton Borough Council, and Hartlepool Carers who can support families who need support there. We’ve got commercial enterprises coming in, Kwik Fit onsite on the day offering free winter checks for our staff so make sure you register for that.
It’s a real host of different organisations and departments that can offer different levels of support, advice and guidance.
Elliot: And what type of organisations will be there?
Ruth: So, as I said, we’ve got Stockton Borough Council health and welfare, we’ve got education teams. We’ve got the ARC in Stockton so if staff already don’t know this we get a 10% discount on all of their gig tickets, we work really closely with those guys.
We’ve got some health and beauty people coming along, we have food banks coming along in respect of can we work to support those guys as well, we know we work really actively with those guys.
Lots of different organisations internally. We’ve got our smoking cessation team coming along who I am assured are bringing along some really exciting new vapes for people to look at.
So lots of different ways that people can look at different aspects of their life to address any kind of financial health and wellbeing imbalances really.
Elliot: Are these events part of a wider ambition for health and wellbeing for the Trust?
Susy: They absolutely are. So we’ve done a full review of our health and wellbeing offer for the organisation and really focused on what can we do to provide a service that helps people on a number of levels.
So we’ve reviewed our occupational health team we’ve got Helen Waller now. A big plug for Helen, our health and wellbeing care coordinator, who’s out there on a regular basis linking in with our staff and supporting.
We’ve got the health and wellbeing magazine that Ruth here supports us with that promotes and shares ideas and information around health and wellbeing. We’ve got our occupational health team, who are fantastic, that support our staff out there around all things health.
We’ve also got, remember, for everybody the flu vaccination. Please get your flu jabs and the Covid vaccination because, you know, it’s really important not only to protect yourselves but to protect our patients.
So yes, whilst the festival of financial health and wellbeing is really important in terms of finance support, we do have a bigger ambition for health and wellbeing and we will continue to review our health and wellbeing offer.
Elliot: Now, what are the dates for these events?
Ruth: They are happening on the 29th and 30th of November at Hartlepool and Stockton respectively.
Elliot: And what time are they? All day?
Ruth: They are running from half 11 until 1. So when we worked with colleagues last year, these were the best times for people to drop in and out as they’re grabbing sandwiches or having their lunch. And happy to sort of feedback from staff after that as well.
Elliot: And it’s an open door?
Ruth: Open door. So at North Tees it will be in the back of the restaurant, literally in the back of the restaurant not the Tees meeting room on the outside. And Hartlepool in the main foyer there so you won’t be able to miss us.
Elliot: Ruth, Susy, thank you.
Ruth: Thank you.
Susy: Thank you, Elliot.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 6 – Developing our group model
James Bromiley, associate director of group development, works across both North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He leads on collaboration between the two NHS trusts.
Here he discusses recent developments and how our working group model this will look in the future.
Episode 6 – Developing our group model
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: I’m Elliot Kennedy and I’m going behind the scenes. Today we have James Bromiley. Good morning James.
James: Good morning, Elliot.
Elliot: What’s your role?
James: So my role, Elliot, I’m the associate director of group development and I work across North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees trusts on group development which is the way in which the two trusts work together collaboratively across the range of services.
Elliot: And tell us about the group and what’s the model that North Tees and South Tees are going to use?
James: Yeah, so it’s clearly not new for North Tees and South Tees to work together. That’s been going on for years and years across a range of services. The group model is really a description for how we take this forward with more pace and across a greater range of services over the next few years.
The trusts stay as autonomous trusts. North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees remain as organisations but it’s an equal partnership.
It’s describing how we work collaboratively for the benefit of patients, for the benefit of staff, for the benefit of the population really, to make the strategic decisions at a group level.
The idea of group model really is something that’s going to be more common across the country. So there are group models for example in Barts, in London, in Manchester, in Northamptonshire, and what we’re trying to do is to take the benefits of those group models which already exist but then put them into a way in which really works for our own circumstances and our own population.
Elliot: And what does that mean for staff and others within the trusts?
James: The benefit of the group model is we get the scale of working together across the two trusts but we keep that local identity and we keep that those local links and access to services.
So I think for patients, you can see benefits in terms of making sure that we get exactly the same level of care across the two trusts. For example, if you have to go from one hospital to another through your period of care that should be made much more easy for you.
I think, for staff there are huge benefits as well so you could form a career path much more easily across North Tees and South Tees.
And for clinicians working across the two sites through for example having the same digital platform or a digital platform which at least talks to each other will be much more straightforward. So for staff it’ll be much more easy.
And then the third thing really is around the voice that we’ll be a much bigger group than two individual organisations and so we’ll have a stronger voice. We’ll be able to respond much more clearly to the needs of the population and we’ll have a stronger voice regionally and nationally in terms of how we argue for our population’s needs.
Elliot: And I understand there’s going to be a partnership agreement?
James: Yeah, the partnership agreement is really something I’ve been living and breathing, Elliot, since I’ve been in this role at the start of August. What it is it’s a formal agreement for how this group model will work across North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees. And also the ICB, the NHS for North East and North Cumbria, will also be a signatory to this.
What it does is it sets out how this group model is going to operate so it sets out the context, the population needs that we’re trying to meet and the benefits of working collaboratively. It sets out governance, how we’re going to take joint decisions and how we’re going to have a joint leadership structure. It sets out a road map for how we’re going to get there.
The most important part of the partnership agreement is describing how we’re going to change things and migrate things clinically to join those clinical services together. And to set a series of priorities which will be really the heart of what this collaboration will be to enable those services to really serve the population much more effectively than they currently do by working collaboratively.
And clearly clinicians have been at the very forefront of designing what those should be and it also sets out what we’re calling the enabling strategies but that’s really the support – so how do we support that clinical change in terms of digital strategy, in terms of HR strategy, in terms of finance strategy as well.
Elliot: And the aim is to achieve this by when?
James: Well it’s going to take a long time to do this really properly but we’re making this change now through the partnership agreement to really accelerate the collaboration that we’re doing.
The aim will be to have the group set up and running by quarter one of 24/25. so in that April to June period. But that won’t be the finished article. The partnership agreement is very much a live document. It’s a living document and the group model will be a living entity. It’s going to change and migrate and evolve as we come across new things and new opportunities.
So I don’t think there is a finishing point to be honest.
I think it’s really important that we indicate that we’re doing this at pace, but of course we’ve also got to make sure that we maintain the stability of services in both of the trusts. What we don’t want to do is create change which is destabilising. It’s about the balance between clear step change but also making sure that we maintain that stability of services.
And I have to say, and this gets very boring for people who talk to me, but I really love this role. I think it’s fantastic. I feel like this is the opportunity to make this work after lots of attempts at collaboration over the previous years.
This is the opportunity that we’ve got to make things really work for our staff our patients and the population of the Tees Valley and beyond.
Elliot: Thank you James.
James: Thank you, take care.
Elliot: That was James Bromiley, the associate director of group development here within North Tees.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 5 – Launching our faculty of leadership, learning and improvement
This episode of NTH Voices sees conversation around the launch of our new faculty of leadership, learning and improvement.
Chief people officer Susy Cook and group chair Derek Bell discuss what the faculty is, how it will support our current and future workforce, and how everyone can get involved.
NTH Voices episode 5
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: You’re listening to Radio Stitch serving the patients, staff and visitors of the University Hospitals in the North East and today we’re behind the scenes with Susy Cook and Derek Bell, hello.
Susy: Hi, I’m Susy Cook, chief people officer and director of corporate affairs here at North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals.
Derek: And I’m Derek Bell, the joint chair of North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals and South Tees Hospitals Foundation trusts.
Elliot: Well we know what your roles are but what are we here to talk about today?
Susy: So we’re here today to talk about the faculty of leadership, learning and improvement. The aim of the faculty is to take us one step further in bringing together our leadership and learning offer for the organisation and to support our staff in their development which is really crucial as they move on their journey.
We also want to think more widely about how we attract people who may not have even thought about coming to the organisation and having a career in the NHS and it will be an enabler to drive transformation forward and use some of our improvement methodologies as we move towards our group model.
Derek: And just picking up on what Susy was saying there, it’s important that the faculty itself will align with colleagues at South Tees through STRIVE which is achieving similar things in recent months and that will help both organisations work together for the benefits of the local population and also the staff in terms of their learning.
Elliot: What has the faculty already achieved and what are the future ambitions for it?
Susy: So the faculty’s already achieved significant things. We had the NTH100 programme that’s ran, we’ve got our medical education offer, our apprenticeships offer.
But in recent months we’ve reviewed all our leadership offer, creating a new suite of programmes to support all staff at all levels, including the very first programme which is ‘It All Starts with Me’ which is a leadership development programme for everybody within the organisation. And our online learning support for staff to allow them to start to understand and work in terms of leadership training and leadership development.
We’re currently working with our medical colleagues in reviewing leadership development and how we support them and we’ve also reviewed our improvement delivery model which is supported by our medical lead Gill Davidson who does significant training around the QSIR initiative which is an improvement method to help everybody improve their day-to-day working.
Derek: We’re also at an important point in time with the launch of our Health and Social Care Academy. This is supported by Hartlepool Council and Hartlepool College of Further Education working with the Trust through the towns deal. This is to create a new environment to attract people to learn and work with us at all levels of the organisation and create opportunities for the future for all staff and for the population.
The academy will actually importantly include a state-of-the-art simulation facility based at the University Hospital of Hartlepool, offering our local partners and organisations access to these state-of-the-art facilities.
Elliot: Do you have any events arranged where staff can find out more about this?
Susy: We certainly do. We’ve just ran a really successful event at Hartlepool Hospital a week ago which allowed everybody to turn up and get a sample of some of the facilities that we’re going to have and have a taster of some of the development opportunities and this Thursday we have another event here at North Tees Hospital.
It will be back of the staff restaurant for people to come along in a very non-formal environment and have a taste of what’s available to them within the faculty – no matter what their role is, no matter where they are within the organisation – and allow them to have some open and honest conversations about what they’d like to do with their future careers.
Derek: I, along with the other non-executive directors, will be attending. We’re very keen to support this exciting agenda and we’re looking forward to meeting staff and seeing them on the day.
Elliot: Now any last messages for the staff?
Susy: Yes. To all the staff members out there, please do come along to the event if you can. If you can’t, ask your colleagues to come.
Keep your eyes on the development of the faculty as we move forward. And as Derek rightly says there the launch of the academy and the simulation suite – there’s some exciting times ahead. We’re going to be running a suite of programmes where we have speakers join us from external organisations.
There’s some exciting news to come.
Derek: I mean, this is importantly about how we value staff and if we want to encourage people at all levels in the organisation to come along and take the time to learn and work with us with these development opportunities so we’re looking forward to a very exciting day but importantly continuing that relationship in future months and years.
Elliot: Susy, Derek, thank you.
Susy and Derek: Thank you.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 4 – The mortuary is not how you see it on TV
In this episode of NTH Voices, we go behind the scenes of our mortuary where our patients are cared for after death.
Mortuary assistant Sara Hutchinson talks through what her role involves, how the team after patients at their most vulnerable and what they do to support their loved ones throughout the process.
Episode 4 – The mortuary is not how you see it on TV
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Elliot: I’m Elliot Kennedy and we go behind the scenes today with Sara Hutchinson.
Sara: Hi.
Elliot: Hello, Sarah, what’s your job?
Sara: I am a mortuary assistant. I’m one of a small team of people who work within our mortuaries taking care of deceased patients just like the live ones. We maintain patient dignity and respect at all times, check identification, property, ensure patient paperwork is completed and just make sure the patient remains safe and cared for whilst they’re in our care.
Elliot: And what does a typical day look like? First thing on a morning when we arrive at work, we check our patients that have been admitted overnight and then we admit them onto our electronic mortuary register. We obviously check their identification, any property, clothing record any implanted devices like pacemakers.
We then change sheets and clothing if they become soiled for any reason. We then liaise with our bereavement services to ensure they are aware of our new admissions.
Most of the rest of our day’s split between cleaning the mortuary, assisting the funeral directors when they come to collect their patients and just helping families who come to visit their loved ones throughout the day.
Elliot: And do you deal with all patients that come down?
Sara: Yes, we deal with children, babies and adults, early pregnancies all the way through to a patient aged of 102 is actually the eldest that I can remember we’ve dealt with.
Myself and the team, along with bereavement services, do support mums and families and they’re able to come in and visit and hold their babies in our care. With baby loss awareness week recently I think it’s really important to speak about baby loss and make people aware that we have facilities to help support the bereavement process.
We can also help with funeral advice. While we always remain professional, we are that empathetic ear and at times that shoulder to cry on.
Elliot: And what’s your favourite part of your job?
Sara: My favourite part of the job is helping with the families. Quite often people have misconceptions of how their loved ones will look or how the mortuary will look. It’s very rewarding when someone comes to visit at the mortuary and they thank us for making their loved ones look so well and just showing how nice a place their loved one is staying.
We always treat our patients as if they are our own family and I think how we would like our loved ones to be treated. Some staff have had family come through our mortuary and it’s nice to know that they’ve been given the best possible care.
I also like when families share stories of their loved ones. Sometimes it just describes how they used to be. It helps us to feel connected to our patients as human beings and know that they were loved and cared for.
Elliot: What advice would you give or something you would like the living to know about the mortuary?
Sara: Just that the mortuary is not how you see it on TV. It’s a professional environment, it’s just like a ward for the deceased really.
If someone has any concerns, needs advice or assistance in regards to death of a loved one or patient just contact us as the bereavement team are very knowledgeable and experienced and can help advise, guide or signpost you to the information you require.
Elliot: And lastly, what would you say to someone who was wanting to work with the deceased?
Sara: Why not? It’s very rewarding. You get to look after families and deceased patients when they’re at their most vulnerable. I enjoy it and I get to work with some amazing people in the team.
If you like to deliver excellent patient care then the mortuary is the place for you.
Elliot: Well thank you, Sara. That’s Sara Hutchinson who’s a mortuary assistant.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 3 – Making every contact count
Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is an approach to behaviour change that uses the day-to-day interactions that health and social care staff have with people to support them in making positive changes to their physical and mental health and wellbeing.
In this episode of NTH Voices, MECC lead Kath Tarn talks through how it can improve health and wellbeing, what patients can expect from these conversations and how our staff can support.
Episode 3 – Making every contact count
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Andrew: Hi welcome to radio stitch. In the studios today I’ve got Kath from make every contact count and she’s going to tell us and give us some awareness of what it actually means. Hi Kath.
Kath: Hi Andrew. Hi I’m Kath Tarn, I lead on making every contact count here at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
Andrew: Hi Kath, so tell us what is make every contact count?
Kath: So making every contact count is an approach to behaviour change. So it’s about using the interactions that we have with people every day in healthcare and communities and with our families as well to have a conversation that will make a difference and influence someone to choose a healthier behaviour.
Andrew: So is that like, I don’t know, say a patient that comes in and they don’t know what the options are and they don’t know who to contact is that where you say make every contact counts does that.
Sort of say right, okay, then we can point you in the right direction. These are the people that can help you and then obviously you’ll send them there or whatever, point them there and if they make that contact that’s basically what it’s saying isn’t it? Make that contact which is going to make your life a lot easier and better in the future.
Kath: Yeah, so our ask of patients is to expect a conversation about health and wellbeing. Then when they come to our hospitals we want to know about your health and wellbeing. We are interested and we want to signpost you to be able to change behaviours that are important to you.
So to support us to help do that we’ve got a MECC gateway which is a a website which has all the services that are available in our region. So for our Hartlepool patients. Stockton patients, Peterlee patients. And patients can access this website for different parts of wellbeing.
So the core elements of MECC, to name just a few, are to improve physical activity, to support with mental health, to reduce smoking, to promote healthy weight, reduce alcohol but there’s many many other options on there where I’m making every contact count.
Andrew: What’s the website address?
Kath: The website address is www.meccgateway.co.uk/nenc
Andrew: So anybody who wants to look at that can actually join onto it and look on the website and they can actually access all those positions that you’ve just mentioned and everything else rather, smoking or and give contact to yourselves? Would a member of the team actually contact them after that or?
Kath: The gateway works as a resource so that there’s contact information on each page that might be relevant to that person. So if the person wants to stop smoking, the website has information on there that helps someone to do that, whether that’s a national initiative or something local to us. And we’ll have contact information on there.
The gateway is what it says, it’s a gateway to other services.
Andrew: Yeah, so basically you’re just opening the gate and it’s widening your world as such?
Kath: Yeah.
Andrew: Especially on the worldwide web as they say, which is great and like I said moving forward with MECC and things like that where do you see that the future is with it? How do you think it’s going to progress and get bigger and bigger? Is that only with the interaction of other people and staff and obviously patients that are out there?
Kath: Yes, so MECC is for everybody and we recognise that our population, particularly in Hartlepool and Stockton, we have higher prevalence of people who smoke, who have obesity, we have higher prevalence of physical inactivity and alcohol admissions to hospital.
Andrew: Yeah, I remember talking to other members of staff and especially the alcohol awareness team and things like that. Covid had a lot to do with it because obviously people were stuck at home and it was just easy to go around the off license or the supermarket and get 24 cans of lager or these shops that are open 24 hours.
And obviously when you’re bored and people who were smoking smoke more as well because they just sat at home so yes, and eating more. So yeah, you’re covering every boundary as such and hopefully obviously making people more aware of this and making them healthy as well while doing it which is great.
Kath: So MECC is one of our key priorities as a Trust as part of our health and wellbeing strategy. And we’re on a journey to challenge culture through a change programme to become a healthy hospital.
So we have support from the regional team across North East and North Cumbria and North Tees and Hartlepool are a leading Trust in the implementation of MECC across the region so we have support from staff to act as role models to have healthy conversations with each other and with family and to have healthy conversations with patients where the possibilities lie.
MECC isn’t about taking up clinical time that should be invested in a clinical decision, it’s about taking an opportunity for a brief or very brief intervention that could signpost someone to a better life.
Andrew: So basically a member of staff who’s got a member of their own family or anything like that can just sort of say look have a go, get on to that website, it’ll open your eyes to a lot of things and where to go to gain help for the wellbeing of themselves basically?
Kath: Yeah and it doesn’t just stop with the website, it also is about who you know and what you know. So if you know that there’s somebody who’s managed to have a successful behaviour change in their life, do you think they could influence somebody? Then someone to have a conversation with that person might be useful.
And it’s also about knowing what’s available in the community outside of the gateway as well and acting as community connectors to influence our population.
Andrew: Yeah the way I see it, it’s a lot to do with support as well and that’s what’s needed, it’s good having that contact, it’s having the support with it and having a team like yourselves that’s there willing to give that support to staff, patients, anybody that’s out there – friends, neighbours, whatever.
They always say if you know somebody who’s lonely just give them a call, it will boost them up and that’s having that contact, it’s knowing somebody that’s out there and knowing somebody. Okay, Audrey next door, I’ll give her a knock and go in and have a cup of tea or whatever else. Again it’s all contact isn’t it? Yeah. And that’s what you are doing, which is great.
Kath: And I think at that level as well, Andrew, there’s also great importance on partnership working because we know there’s health inequalities in our communities, we know that people don’t have the same opportunities and it’s not just as easy as asking somebody to be more physically active.
There might be other reasons why they aren’t and we want to adopt a personalised care approach to our interactions and our interventions so that we find out what matters most to people.
We work at a system level to understand our population, understand what the barriers are to achieving health and healthy lifestyle and we are able to provide opportunities, work with local authorities, work with our voluntary sector to provide opportunities that mean something to the people of Hartlepool and Stockton.
Andrew: That is absolutely fantastic and I’d like to thank you for coming into the studios today to have a chat with us and things like that and hopefully we can progress this and give you some awareness, like I said Radio Stitch is out there broadcasting throughout North Tees and Hartlepool we’re even on the TVs and hopefully going over with James Cook very shortly.
Thank you very much, Kath, for coming down and seeing us and if we can help you in any way in the future please do. Just give us a refresh on the website and how people can get in with you.
Kath: Yes so making every contact count – the website is www.meccgateway.co.uk/nenc
And my final ask of Andrew today is what opportunity do you have, Andrew, to make every contact count today?
Andrew: Well in the Radio Stitch network, we have a lot of contacts out there in the communities. Like I said now we’re reaching out to other hospitals, other community sectors like Peterlee, Lawson Street and things like that.
Plus I have a lot of contacts from my industry over the last 30 years of being in the hospitality trade and things like that. And again now I have the time to sit down and think about people, I will definitely be making that contact count. So yeah we’ll push forward and we’ll give you some backing and we’ll get you some awareness out there and hopefully we can grow this for you.
Thank you very much for coming in, Kath, and don’t forget make every contact count.
Kath: Thank you, Andrew.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.
Episode 2 – Meet our alcohol care team
One year on since our alcohol care team was formed, we chat with alcohol lead nurse Hayley Douglas about how the team support our patients and their ambitions going forward.
Episode 2 – Meet our alcohol care team
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool Voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
John: So hi and welcome to NTH voices, our new podcast. I’m John Hugill from the communications and marketing team. I’m joined by Hayley Douglas, our alcohol lead nurse.
Hayley: Hi.
John: How you doing today?
Hayley: Good, yeah, are you?
John: Excellent, yes, very well thanks. So I’ve just got a few questions to ask you so can you tell me first of all a bit about your role and the role of the wider alcohol care team?
Hayley: Yes so the alcohol care team is made up of myself and another registered nurse. We have three band four associate practitioners. We see patients all across the hospital from A&E to patients that are waiting for operations if they need any support with their alcohol withdrawal management when they’re in hospital.
We’ve been around since July. I’ve been around since April last year but we’ve actually only been live since July and the team’s just been coming in slowly throughout the year. We’re fully staffed now and we’re fully operational so we do Monday and Friday 8 till 6. And weekend and bank holidays we do 8 till 4.
John: So like you say the team was set up in in July, so it’s nearly coming up to a year now. So what would you say have been the main challenges and achievements over that time?
Hayley: I think we’re still embedding in the Trust really. I think not all the staff know that we’re here so hopefully doing this will help. So yeah we’re not getting a true picture of how many of our patients are coming through the hospital doors who actually have an issue with alcohol.
The government recommends that you don’t drink any more than 14 units a week so everybody really should be screened for that when they’re coming into hospital and patients aren’t. So it’s kind of our job to embed that into the Trust but that’s an ongoing piece of work really. So yeah we’re catching as many patients as we can but there is still quite a lot of patients that we aren’t getting hold of.
John: So as we know Teesside has some of the highest rates of alcohol related deaths in the country, with Hartlepool being the third highest I believe. Why do you think this is and what challenges does this represent to the team and to those people affected?
Hayley: I think the pandemic has got a lot to answer for. We are still not seeing the full aftermath of that, like the sales of spirits and wine was up by millions. So I think all these patients are now starting to filter through.
We’re even seeing patients that have never been to a GP for 10 plus years and they’re coming into the hospital with like end stage liver disease and I think the fact that they have been in their house for years and done nothing but drink alcohol has massively impacted on that like on the whole population really.
And then, in turn, is loneliness which leads to mental health problems.
John: Quite a multi-layered thing, lots of different reasons I suppose why someone might get to the point where they come into hospital with an alcohol problem.
Hayley: Yeah, I mean like even falls. You know if you’re at home, you have you’ve had too much to drink and you have a fall and then they’ve had a long lie we’re seeing lots of those patients. A lot of our patients come in with chest pain as well in regards to what’s going on like with the community and how we’re working.
So Stockton and Hartlepool have both just – both councils have just written a report on their drug and alcohol needs assessments which we are being part of as well in regards to writing out the recommendations for that.
It’s quite interesting actually when you look at the map on Hartlepool, there’s like specific areas where the hot spots are. And those hot spots tend to be the more deprived areas. They tend to be the areas that have more, you know, your 24 hour places where you can get alcohol 24 hours a day basically. So they’re going to look at things like not being able to get more licensing in them areas.
John: So how do you think that will help then with licensing?
Hayley: If we do make those changes and find those patterns where in those areas – interestingly Scotland actually have done something very similar to what we’re proposing in our area. They’ve even put, you know, on your bus stops and things like that the posters about like not drinking too much. I’m sure a lot of the places in Glasgow they stop selling alcohol at 10 and they’ve seen a massive reduction in their alcohol related hospital admissions.
So that would be amazing if we could do something similar in our area. It’s getting all that pushed through though but that’s working with our community partners to do that. It sounds like very interesting work and I’ll hear more about it over the next few months.
John: So just finally, have you got any new developments and events planned over the next few months and any key messages for our listeners?
Hayley: Yes so we have put on another clinic for our fibro scans – that’s on a Thursday morning over in Hartlepool. We continue to do the Friday morning ones here at North Tees.
Our AA meetings obviously in the chapel every Tuesday 4 to 5. All are welcome to that so that’s like family members, patients and staff.
We are doing a one-year run event in July which is open for all staff, that’s going to be in the lecture theatre so keep your eyes peeled for an email about that and register your place. On the agenda will be people from AA, our liver disease training.
John: Just for our listeners what is fibro scanning – what’s that?
Hayley: So fibro scanning is not an ultrasound but what it does is it’s a scan but it kind of like sends vibrations to your liver and it measures the stiffness of your liver.
So if your liver is a little bit stiff that would probably indicate that you’ve got a fatty liver. If it is really quite stiff you would be looking at more of an aerosis of the liver which would need ongoing management really. But your fatty livers can be turned around and they’re the patients that we want to be seeing and getting really so that we can put some support in place for them around their drinking, exercise and diet.
John: Is this a brand new development for a lot of NHS trusts? Is this is just quite a new thing?
Hayley: For the alcohol care teams across the country it is yeah. A lot of the alcohol care teams nationally are doing the fibro scan clinics and we’re lucky to have two clinics on. So yeah it’s all about early detection and prevention, I suppose it’s just picking those things up as early as you can and it doesn’t even have to be I suppose a patient who necessarily has that issue who comes in. We’re just picking something up.
hey might be in for something else and we’re picking that up when they’re in yeah. And the attendance is quite good on the clinics to be honest.
We had some figures back the other day from how many have attended and how many have DNA-ed and how many we’ve referred on for like a consultant gastroenterologist to pick them up and it’s a third which is quite scary really. But these are the patients that we haven’t picked up prior to us being in the hospital.
John: It sounds like there’s lots going on and lots to be excited about over the next few months so hopefully we can get you back on the podcast in a few months time and find out lots of new developments because it all sounds like it is changing very quickly so.
Hayley: Yeah thank you a lot.
John: Thank you very much, we’ll see you soon
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening
Episode 1 – The mental impact of stroke
Welcome to our new podcast, NTH Voices.
In our very first episode, we chat with David and Laura, two of our psychologists working in our stroke service. The pair share insights into the impact a stroke can have on mental wellbeing, the questions our patients have, and how their service can support patients in hospital and in the community for up to two years post-stroke.
Episode 1 – The mental impact of stroke
Intro: Welcome to North Tees and Hartlepool voices, telling the stories of our people and community in our Trust.
Laura: Hi guys, we’re just here today to speak a bit about our role on the ward 41, the stroke ward. My name’s Laura.
David: And my name is David.
Laura: And we’re both psychologists that work into the stroke service.
So today we’re just going to have a bit of a general conversation from our experience of seeing and supporting patients on the ward following having a stroke and just thinking about how difficult that can be for patients. And also just to bring in awareness really to the mental health aspects of having physical illness, and in particular having a stroke.
So I don’t know if you want to start, David, but what kind of comes to your mind do you think when you’ve seen patients on the ward who’ve just recently had a stroke?
David: I think what comes to mind initially is that there’s a process of shock and it’s really hard I think for people to sometimes accept what has happened to them. And it brings with it a lot of feelings of loss of independence, questions about stroke, questions about when they’ll be able to go home and it is a process of adjustment.
Laura: Yeah I think you’re right. I think for a lot of people and some people will do well just naturally over time. I think when someone’s first had a stroke, it just comes as a massive surprise I think.
That’s what a lot of people have told me. They’ve said to me ‘you know what I never thought I’d have a stroke, I didn’t think it would happen to me’. Some people have said ‘I didn’t even realise I was having a stroke when I was having a stroke so maybe I deferred getting help and treatment’ and then to turn up in hospital there’s I guess quite a lot of just shock and surprise really about ‘I’ve had a stroke’ and what a stroke means.
I think that’s one of the things that’s really difficult about being on the ward. I think some people on the ward are very unwell when they’ve had a stroke and they’ve got everything that people might think about when someone’s had a stroke. They might not be able to move, they might not be able to speak and might not be able to function very well. And I think on the whole in society that’s the image that we have of people that have had a stroke, that it’s older people that become very frail and they can’t do a right lot. And I think actually that’s not the reality I think when people have a stroke.
There’s so many people on the ward that are working age adults. that are young. They have some difficulties from having a stroke so they might have some difficulty with their speech, with their vision, with their balance. They might have some weakness in one of the arms and legs. Some people might not be able to move, some people might be able to move but actually they’re pretty well functioning after having a stroke and that comes as quite a surprise to people then being this young person that they’ve had a stroke. Or maybe they don’t have some of the obvious complications with having a stroke after.
I don’t know what your thoughts on that are David?
David: I agree with that, Laura. I think, you know in my experience, over the last six months we’ve seen people across the lifespan. You know I’ve seen people in their 20s, 30s up to the 90s so it isn’t limited and I agree with what you were saying about we have this image, this idea as a society that stroke only affects people of old age and that is, you know, patently untrue and I think sometimes that can be really difficult when you’re a younger person or a working age adult person on the ward.
And I think it goes to what you were saying earlier – you see the full spectrum of stroke on the ward as well which can be quite distressing. So you might, you know, depending on what type of stroke you’ve had you might see someone who’s been really affected by it. And I guess one of the things that I talk about with patients is to not make those comparisons. Sometimes it can be unhelpful to make comparisons between the stroke that you’ve had and the stroke that someone else has had.
Laura: Yeah, I think you’re right. I think sometimes the patients can get into that state can’t they? Comparing themselves to others with that comes anxiety and concern about ‘well, why am I okay?’ ‘why are they not okay?’ ‘will that be me?’ ‘will I have another stroke?’ and end up like that and you get a lot of worry don’t you about what that means. Will they have more strokes.
But I think there’s also the other side of that where they really start to worry and then almost feel guilty that they’re not that impaired and that can impact on people. I guess that’s a theme that we’ve seen maybe more towards the community when people are going home.
David: Yes.
Laura: That they’re saying you know ‘am I a fraud?’ ‘did I have a stroke?’ They almost question themselves because they’re not how they think they should be or they’re more functional than they should be. And then it’s like, ‘well do I deserve support?’ Is it okay for me to have difficulties with my mental health because I’m not really impaired? I just can’t speak very well.’ Or ‘I still don’t have the function in one of my left hands’.
And we always say, don’t we, that actually everyone that has a stroke goes through a process of being scared, being anxious, of being worried, of being in shock, having to adjust and process what’s happened to them, coming to terms with maybe physical difficulties as a result of having a stroke, potentially difficulties within their family but also with their mood and mental health. Because I think even if you’re doing okay after you have a stroke, there’s still that worry and anxiety about having another one.
David: Yeah, it’s a big worry isn’t it for a lot of people?
Laura: Yeah, it’s a massive worry for a lot of people. In fact a lot of the people that we see – that’s one of their questions isn’t it? ‘Do I know if I’ll have another stroke?’ and I guess what we say about that is we don’t know but we do know that no one asks to have a stroke. We don’t know if anyone’s going to have another stroke in the future.
But if we spend a lot of time I guess getting caught up in that worries, that can be really negative for our mental health. And it’s really difficult and it’s a process of adjustment but it’s trying to really take things one step at a time, one day at a time and trying to think about getting better and focusing on your rehab at that moment in time. But it’s tough isn’t it? Those comparisons.
David: And I think that’s so important just to pick up on what you said there, Laura, about taking it one day at a time and that it’s temporary, you know?
I think when people come into hospital if they’ve not been in hospital before that in itself is different, they’re in a different environment you know they might be missing their family they might have a lot of certainty around, you know, like you were saying ‘will this happen again?’ and questions around ‘why did this happen?’
And I think as people we like certainty, we want certainty and that question that you mentioned there – ‘will I have another stroke?’ – we hear that a lot don’t we? We hear that on the ward, we hear that in the community, in our group work that we do. And there’s something about wanting that absolute certainty. And I think people can buy into that worry of ‘am I going to have another stroke?’ And it can have a really detrimental impact on their wellbeing.
Laura: It really can. But it’s all an effort isn’t it to try and feel safe, try and prevent something else from happening? And it’s hard to accept that some of the time we don’t have control over these things.
But I guess what you picked up on there as well, David, is that sometimes people can get into this state of blaming themselves for having a stroke as well. And sometimes you have to work with that and say ‘you know what, we don’t always know 100% why people have strokes’. There are certain risk factors, there might be certain things about your diet and exercise that might have increased it, but we don’t know because everyone’s different.
So some people might smoke and drink and never have a stroke and someone might never drink anything in their life and yet have a stroke. So I guess it’s all about interactions, isn’t it, with your body. And we try to move away, don’t we, from kind of working out why someone’s had a stroke because no one asks for it. To just think about what can we do now to look after you.
David: I think that mirrors a lot of my experience on the ward, Laura, as well sometimes when I’ve met people, the question of ‘why have I had a stroke?’ They can be very self-blaming, you know. They can say I’ve smoked or I’ve drank or it’s because of my weight or it’s because I’ve been stressed and they internalise that problem and they attribute it to something that they’ve done.
And I think it’s really important to try and step away from that mindset because the blame, you know, like you were saying it’s not clear what necessarily the causes are. And individual differences will always be present, as it is with any condition, and I think it goes to that process of adjustment as well doesn’t it? Of wanting the certainty of why has this happened to me?
Laura: And I think that’s a natural process for everyone to go through. And that’s what I say to everyone that I meet on the ward is that it’s a process of adjustment and in fact a lot of the patients that I do see will tell me that they’ve started to adjust themselves.
So I think often we will see someone maybe a week after the referral has gone in and what I will get told is they were feeling really low. They were really upset, they were feeling quite anxious when they were initially on the ward.
But now they’ve been on the ward a week, you know what, they’re feeling better and they’re telling me that they’re feeling better because they’re seeing their family, they’re coming to visit, they’re starting to understand what’s happened to them. They’ve started to engage in physio and speech therapy, they’re starting to see progress and so actually that initial shock, that initial distress is starting to lift and for a lot of people this happens naturally, doesn’t it David?
Quite often the people on the ward don’t need a lot of input from us, it’s just about helping them to understand that it’s okay to feel distressed and anxious after a stroke.
Something big has happened to you, something scary has happened to you. Of course you’re going to feel upset, anxious and worried.
David: It goes to what we were saying earlier, doesn’t it, about normalising distress. That it is normal and I think, you know, there’s a tendency I wonder sometimes about pathologising distress and seeing it as being something that needs specialist input.
To pick up on what you were saying, Laura, sometimes we do see people a week after the referrals come in and, you know, once I’ve seen them they’ve said like ‘actually yeah, a week ago when I was speaking with a consultant, I was really distressed but actually I’ve talked about a plan, I’ve got a plan for going home and the physios have already noticed an improvement in my mobility or my speech is getting better’.
And once they can see those incremental increases, those gains on a day-by-day basis or somebody feeding back to them, you know, ‘I can see that you’ve made this improvement’, I think it has a huge impact on their wellbeing. I think that period of time to just make sense of and process what has happened to them is so important.
Laura: Oh, definitely. And I think getting that feedback and getting that improvement in physio and therapy really motivates them as well to continue to do well.
I think the only downside sometimes – one of the difficulties though is that if there then becomes any delay or I guess people aren’t making as good a progress in physiotherapy and speech therapy as they would like, so I think then when maybe they initially started to make progress on the ward, and then they’re starting to struggle, they can get quite frustrated. Because they start to worry about what my life might be going forward, they might start to then blame themselves as well.
So I think one of the things that I’ve noticed when I have met patients on the ward and they’ve not kind of made that natural adjustment or they made that natural adjustment to feeling a bit brighter and they’re starting to struggle again is when they’re getting frustrated with themselves.
And I think when people have had a stroke as well, what’s really difficult is sometimes obviously you can see some of the physical impact when you can’t move and you’re having difficulty with your speech.
But you forget that it’s your brain that’s hurt because you can’t see your brain. Everyone’s used to their brain kind of doing what they want when they want, so thinking for them – making sure they’re breathing, walking, talking, all the rest of it. But then when their brain’s not allowing them to do something because it’s damaged, they start to blame themselves.
So quite often I spend a lot of time with patients and really reinforcing the fact you’ve had a stroke, your brain is hurt, you have a hurt brain, it’s not you that’s struggling because they start to feel like a failure. It’s the fact that your brain’s hurt.
And we then try to compare it and think about, well if you had a broken leg and could see that your leg was broken, would you get angry and frustrated with yourself if you couldn’t walk, if you couldn’t get yourself out of bed? Probably not. You’d probably be much more kind to yourself and understanding, you might be more likely to ask for help.
And it’s the same thing but because you can’t see that your brain’s hurt, particularly if the rest of you is quite well functioning, and maybe you can do everything else that you want to do but your brain’s not letting your think straight or getting your words jumbled, you can get really frustrated. And it’s just reminding yourself when you’re on the ward I think.
I don’t know if this is same when you see patients – ‘you know what, it’s not you, you’ve got a hurt brain, be kind to yourself.
David: And I’ve used that exact terminology, Laura. That if you’ve got a visible difficulty like, you know, a broken leg, it’s visible, it’s easily observable and you wouldn’t expect to climb a ladder, you wouldn’t expect to run a marathon.
But we can’t see the damage to our brain so if you’ve got difficulty with your speech or difficulty with mobility or difficulty with coordination, it’s not easy to observe where that’s coming from or why that is. So it builds a lot of frustration and I think sometimes people can be very self-critical.
And I think that’s sometimes one of the things that I see in people that’ve been on the ward, and I wonder if that’s your experience as well, Laura? They can be really critical about and I think it comes back as well to what you were saying earlier Laura about the idea of feeling like a fraud, you know, that my stroke isn’t as bad as other people.
And, again, being on the ward you see the full spectrum of stroke so it does invite that comparison. And I think it’s really important to remember that, what we were saying, that every stroke is different, that you can’t make those comparisons because we have strokes at different ages, different types of stroke, whether it’s ischemic or hemorrhagic, and also how physically fit the person was before the stroke is a factor as well. Do they have other physical health problems, do they have previous mental health problems?
I wonder, Lauren, in your experience – in mine when I’ve seen people on the ward who’ve struggled with adjustment sometimes it’s because they’ve had previous mental health problems and I think that can make it more difficult to adjust as well.
Laura: Yeah I would say so. I think for some people their life experiences may have been difficult way before the stroke happened and they might have lots of other things going on for them. They might find that they don’t always have strategies to manage their emotions, historically, based on their upbringing or different life events.
And then when you’ve had a stroke, obviously you need ways of managing your emotions and managing difficulties in life. And I think if they don’t have that already, then they’re more likely to find it harder to them to adapt to having a stroke. I think that’s what I would say. I think most people that I’ve seen that maybe don’t have a history of mental health difficulties, haven’t been in kind of secondary mental health services, have adapted quite well while they’ve been on the ward.
I think one of the things that we notice on the ward as well is that actually sometimes the biggest distress about being on the ward isn’t necessarily about having the stroke, but it’s being about being away from family.
David: Yes.
Laura: because being on the ward anyway is tough, you’re in an unfamiliar environment, you’re not in your own safe space where you’re in control, where you have family members around you that you feel supported by and comfortable with.
I think people are different aren’t they and I think some people can adapt to getting support and help from people they don’t know. Other people just don’t like that, it’s not what they’re used to, it’s unfamiliar, particularly if someone’s really independent.
So I think sometimes actually some of the distress about being on the ward isn’t necessarily about the stroke specifically but it’s about that loss of independence and having to rely on people that they don’t know and being away from the family that they would much rather be with.
David: Yeah.
Laura: nd the home environment that makes them feel safe and it’s that breaking relationships that then impacts their mood. But what we often find with those individuals is when they do get home, when they’re thinking about home or when patients’ family members are coming in to see them, that they get brighter, they’re feeling better in themselves. That’s what’s helpful.
And for those individuals, we know lots of people on the ward don’t we, we talk about bringing things in from home that might help them to adjust or to manage while they’re on the ward, particularly if they’re in here for a long time. Things that remind them of family members things that remind them of the comforts and support and love that they’ve got outside of hospital because hospital’s tough isn’t it?
It’s a tough place to be if you’ve got any other physical health difficulties going on, if you’ve got negative experiences of being in hospital or your loved ones of being in hospital, if you’ve had bereavements recently hospitals are even harder.
David: Yeah, completely agree Laura, with everything you said there. And I also think, you know, going back to what you’re saying, a lot of the people that we see on the ward for initial assessments, we often don’t see again once they’re released, post discharge.
And I think it goes to what we’ve been saying today about the normal process of adjustment. Once they’re home, they’re back in their normal environment, they’re with family, they’re being cared for, they’ve had time to process what’s happened to them, the distress reduces significantly and they no longer need or want psychological support in many cases.
Laura: No, I think you’re right. I think that’s the thing, isn’t it? And that’s what amazes me. I think humans always amaze me, just how resilient and adaptive we are really as a species and people do remarkably well without our support.
It is just the odd case, isn’t it, where something where they’ve maybe got a delay in physio on the ward, things haven’t gone quite to plan, they maybe have underlying kind of mental health difficulties where we’ve had to do more with them while they’ve been in hospital.
And I think when people get discharged home, quite often people do really well for a period of time. I think sometimes that changes if maybe, as I said earlier, things aren’t quite going to plan, they’re not getting back to have their previous level of functioning and I think that’s when I guess that loss comes in and I think people forget this quite a lot.
So we often think about loss and grief to do with death and people dying but actually it’s just to do with loss in general. And when someone’s had a stroke if they’ve lost part of what they’re able to do, if they’ve lost where they’re functioning, if they can’t go back to work, they might not feel like themselves. And I think sometimes it’s that grieving process for who they used to be and I think sometimes then people can really strive to be the person that they were before and spend a lot of energy and effort into being that person to no avail.
So I think quite often they’ll try to do things exactly how they used to, not be able to, feel frustrated in themselves but still want to get back to that person so then continue trying to do it. And then it’s about working with people to process that that loss and those kind of feelings of grief but then thinking about, well how can you be the person you are now? Because he still you, it’s just maybe a different version of you going forward so how can we help you to adjust to your life to still do the things that are important to you?
David: Yeah, it’s interesting isn’t it? The idea of, we talked a little bit about normal and I think there’s something really powerful about wanting to get back to normal and we hear this a lot, we hear this on the ward. We hear this also in the community, in our groups and our one-to-one work.
There’s something really strong, I think, about ‘I want to get back to normal’. And I think in some of the people that I’ve met and worked with there’s kind of like a grace period where they’ll allow themselves say a period of time, say six months, and they notice that they’re making progress but once they get to that six-month point sometimes there can be a dip in mental health when people feel that I’m not back to where I thought I was going to be or at this point in time. I thought I would be, in air quotes, ‘back to normal’.
And once there’s a realisation that sets in, I think that there’s a new ‘normal’ and there’s going to be a new sort of equilibrium. I think that is where sometimes people can struggle with their mental health.
Laura: There’s a real sense, isn’t there, of people wanting to be who they were before and I think that always comes through with everyone that we see. And I think, for me, it’s those two themes of ‘I want to be certain that nothing bad’s going to happen to me again’ and ‘what can I do to prevent another stroke happening to me?’ and ‘I just want to be who I was before’.
And it’s tough because I think one of the hardest things about having a stroke is we don’t know if that’s going to be the case and for some people we do know that they will never be who they were before. But other people, we don’t know that.
And it is then a process of adjustment and grief. Kind of coming to some acceptance that you are still you, but things are going to be different and you have to be ready to take that journey and then to engage in therapy around that as well.
David: And engagement is so important isn’t it? We have that conversation a lot in our group work, in our one-to-one, that it has to be right, that we can’t fix people, we can’t fix their mental health and it’s collaborative.
It’s a shared process of psychologists trying to make sense of what it is that they’re struggling with at that time and also thinking about what are the barriers? So where is it that they’re stuck? And I think the biggest, the common pitfalls, and I think you’ve commented on some of them Laura already, are among things like wanting to get back to normal.
I think change in identity, which I think we’ve touched on, is such a huge thing isn’t it? Especially if you’re a working age adult because our job is part of our identity, whether or not we’re a mother, father, son, daughter, friend, partner. We all have different social roles and sometimes a stroke can challenge or change those roles if you’re not able to work, if you’re not able to adapt.
In my experience, Laura, and I’m curious about yours, sometimes the people who struggle to accept the care and the support are the ones who are themselves carers. So if they’ve been a parent and they’ve been used to caring or if they’ve been in a job where they’re used to caring for people professionally, it can sometimes be harder I think for them to accept that support themselves. What’s your experience?
Laura: I think that’s bang on, David. I think that’s my experience and I think it comes from a place of it just feeling really uncomfortable and I think, therefore, sometimes frightening and scary to give up that role.
And I think that might come back to not feeling in control and I think there also comes a doubt of ‘will people be there for me?’ because I think their dynamic within relationships has always been ‘oh, I’ve always looked after other people, will people really do that for me?’ Because this is how I know to get my needs met, this is how I know to make sure that I have those relationships and maintain those relationships. And I think people then become quite frightened of doing things differently.
And I think we often try and say to people to think about things from a compassionate perspective. So to think about actually, what do you think your daughter or friend would say when you said that you didn’t want people to help you or you’d be worried that they wouldn’t want to help you? And quite often they go ‘well, I think they’d be fine with it, like I think they’d want to help me’. But I think they don’t often come to that conclusion themselves, they just become worried because they don’t want to burden other people.
And I think their life has always been about not being a burden but being helpful. So then to not be helpful automatically makes them feel like they’re going to be a burden.
David: And that can have such an impact on recovery, can’t it? Because it comes with all those feelings of guilt and feelings of grief again, and I think what’s underpinning it is difficulty of accepting it.
And we talk a lot in our work about acceptance.
Laura: Yeah and I think it is, isn’t it? We do use acceptance and commitment therapy in a lot of the work we do with patients. And ultimately in that, it talks about how life is really tough, there are difficulties to life. Having a stroke is tough. It’s difficult physically, it’s difficult emotionally and that’s what we’re saying really, just to accept that there are difficulties, there are emotions.
It’s going to be tough but let’s do it together and I think that’s how we work therapeutically, isn’t it? We work with people and sit beside them in their difficulties to see what sense we can make of it together and how we might be able to make it feel less overwhelming.
But it is, it’s about acceptance ultimately when you’ve had a stroke. And I think that’s what’s hard because there’s no other way around it.
David: And I think it’s important to add on the back of that, Laura, as well is that we see people who make enormous improvements in their mental health, people who do move to that place of a new normal for them, people who are able to connect with the things that they value and we do see really positive therapeutic gains.
I think motivation is important, I think engagement. I think one of the things we spend a lot of time talking about doing, especially in our group work, is about tolerating distress and it’s not something to fight. That we all experience negative emotions, we all have difficult thoughts, we all have difficult feelings and these are not abnormal. They’re not bad. Sometimes though we spend a lot of time trying to fight those thoughts and push them away and it’s kind of like adding fuel to the fire, it just exacerbates the distress that’s already there.
And sometimes people spend a lot of time fighting their suffering rather than actually turning towards it and thinking ‘I’m going to embrace what I can do in the moment’.
Laura: Yeah, I think a lot of people don’t really spend so much time trying to be who they were before and to get away from any of the suffering or any of the difficulties that they might now have, that they don’t acknowledge what time they’ve got or what are the positives in their life right now and how they could be spending their time a different way.
David: And people, this is experience on the ward and in the community, some people spend a lot of time hiding that they’ve had a stroke, not wanting other people to know they’ve had a stroke and they might go to great lengths.
So, for example, they might go they might do their shopping in a different town so they don’t bump into people who know them and I think underpinning it is the lack of acceptance of what’s happened and wanting to be seen as ‘normal’. And if somebody I see who knows me knows I’ve had a stroke then it’s like.
Laura: And we speak don’t we to them often about, well what impact does that have on your life? Like how can you still see your friends, how can you still see family members, how can you still do the things that are important to you if you’re not willing to acknowledge that you’ve had a stroke and you’re hiding? Because it’s taken away from you everything that’s important in your life and everything that you enjoy.
And quite often people, when they think about it like that, start to come around to accepting it and actually by preventing others knowing that I’ve had a stroke, it’s stopping me from doing the other things I enjoy in life. Because I don’t want my friend to know, I don’t see her anymore. Or because I don’t want another friend or family member to know or my work to know, I don’t do this anymore or they might not engage in hobbies that they like. And it’s so important, isn’t it, that acceptance really to be able to move forward?
David: And there’s something about being in the now that I think people spend a lot of time imagining a future that they haven’t lived and also living in a past that they have lived, but there’s very little time sometimes spent in the present moment.
And we talk a lot about mindfulness and being present in the here and now, because ultimately this is all we have. We only have now, we don’t have the past because it’s gone, we don’t have a future because we haven’t lived it yet. All we have is here and now.
And we all do this, whether we’ve had a stroke or not, we spend a lot of time ruminating about what’s happened or what we think is going to happen and we get caught up in these really difficult cycles don’t we?
Laura: Oh, so easily. So easily we get really caught up in just thinking and thinking and thinking about things don’t we? And it’s because we want to prevent bad things happening to us and we don’t want to sit with discomfort, we don’t want to be in in pain.
But I think, David, what’s really important to emphasise is so many people that we see do really well following a stroke with their mental health. So many people that then come to see us in the community make huge improvements in their mental health and go on to live really meaningful lives. And it’s a journey for everyone. Everyone’s different.
I guess one of the things that might be important to mention on the podcast is if you’re on the ward and you feel like you might need support or you would like to speak to myself or David, speak to the staff on the ward. We can arrange to come and see you.
But also if you’re listening to this now in the community and you think you might need support in the community, you can always get referred back into us. So we’re here to offer a service for anyone that’s had a stroke for up to two years post-stroke.
One of the main things that we offer as a service is a group therapy which has had just amazing feedback. People get to meet other people that have had a stroke, people that they say are like them and it really normalises some of these difficulties. They learn from each other, they grow together, they learn strategies for me and David to think about things differently and it’s just one of the best groups I’ve ever run really.
David: Yeah.
Laura: So please, if you think you need any kind of support with your mental health. We know that some people are just okay but others, they do want that support and that’s okay too, it’s valid to need that support.
Please just kind of let someone know or get in touch with us directly.
David: Yeah, I would echo that 100%, Laura, yeah.
Laura: Is there anything else that you think might be important for them to know? I think they’ve probably got a whistle stop tour of everything we’ve ever done in stroke psychology.
I think, for me, it’s just remembering that yes, a stroke is a physical illness but it might have an impact on your mental health, it might have an impact on your relationships and I guess the one thing we’ve not mentioned, it can also have an impact on your cognition. So what people don’t always think about is when your brain’s hurt, that impacts your memory and your attention and your understanding and how quickly your brain can think things through.
David: And that’s another thing we offer in the community – we offer neuropsychological assessment to assess in more detail some of the memory or cognitive difficulties you might be experiencing. So if that’s something that you’re concerned about, we would happily accept your referral for that as well.
Laura: So I hope all of you listening are continuing to do well in your journeys post-stroke and potentially me or David will see you on the ward in the future.
Outro: Thank you for joining us. Until next time. You’ve been listening to NTH Voices.