This week I’ll start by saying a huge thank you to all colleagues who worked over the long Bank Holiday weekend to ensure that our patients and their loved ones were well cared for, I really do appreciate it. I hope that if you did work you will plan to have some time off soon. I would also like to thank Dr Caroline Allum, our Executive Medical Director, for covering for me last week so that I could take the week off. For those of you who did get a break from work I hope you managed to enjoy it.

As part of our approach to developing and embedding a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT I am pleased to see more of the short films being shared, this week we hear from Becky Rowley, Serious Incident Investigator, about her views on how we ensure we are a learning organisation that supports colleagues and ensures that people who may be involved in incidents do not feel blamed or uncared for. You can watch Becky’s short film here. I was also pleased to see our social media campaign #CompassionAtNELFT launch this week, starting with a quote from Simon Hart, our Executive Director of People and Culture. Keep your eyes peeled across our social media channels to find out more about what our colleagues across the Trust have to say about what it means to be compassionate.

It was lovely to come back from the Platinum Jubliee weekend to see the celebratory atmosphere continue with brilliant news about two of our NELFT Governors. Mark Dale, one of our long standing Governors here at NELFT, was one of only 490 Platinum Champions that were selected from across the UK to receive one of the Platinum Champions Awards. This is in recognition of his voluntary work, not only in NELFT, but across a huge variety of roles, with a focus on mental health and companionship. This is hugely well-deserved so congratulations Mark. You can read more here. I’m also delighted to see our staff Governor Satha Alaganandasundaram receive the Alumni Volunteer of the Year Award from the University of Essex for all Satha does to support the university – well done Satha! It is so heartening to hear more about the work many of our colleagues and Governors do outside of already very busy day jobs, a huge thank you to everyone who volunteers. And a special thanks you as part of Volunteers Week 2022 to everyone who volunteers here at NELFT, helping us to deliver the best care by the best people.

We are always looking for ways we can learn and improve as an organisation and we are currently participating in a project with colleagues from three other NHS trusts to better understand how we can improve communications for colleagues who work in inpatient settings. And thank you to colleagues at Mayfield who have offered to take part in some of the research face to face. I look forward to finding out more about how we can make improvements once the project concludes later this year.

Finally, I just want to end this week by encouraging all of you to look after your own health and wellbeing. I know it can be challenging to find the time to do even those little things that help your wellbeing when we are all so busy, but I do hope that you prioritise yourselves. Even if it is getting outside for some fresh air or having a few minutes for a cup of tea, these little things can make a big difference to how we are feeling. There are a range of wellbeing support offers available for health and care colleagues and you can find out more here.