I will start this week's blog with a thank you to everyone at NELFT for everything they do for our Trust. I was delighted to be able to join our first event of Thank You Fest 21 with The Lowes last week. The music was great and if you didn’t get the chance to join us they recorded a track just for us. There are still plenty of events throughout the month and we have tried to spread them throughout the week and over weekends, at different times, to accommodate as many colleagues as possible. Colleagues can find out more on our intranet.

As always, patient safety is one of our main priorities and last week saw the launch of our Suicide Prevention Strategy with a virtual event with over 200 people in attendance. The event was an opportunity to hear about the impacts of suicide and how we as a Trust want to reduce both the occurrence of and the impact of suicide across NELFT. Thank you everyone who as involved in developing this strategy led by Dr Vincent Perry.  One of the matters discussed was that suicide is not inevitable and we can and do make a positive impact on keeping people safe. We are focusing September on Patient Safety and the launch of our Patient Safety Strategy on World Patient Safety Day.

I am looking forward to a site visit at Goodmayes on Friday (all COVID-19 secure of course) to meet with colleagues at Sunflowers Court and hear first-hand about patient safety work and transformation project that is being embedded. At our first Bite Size Leadership Engagement Forum this week we heard from Joe Lindo and Claire Williams about the work that has been underway and I am so impressed by the dedication and commitment of colleagues to really think about how we better support each other and, of course, our patients. Last week I also had the opportunity to meet with the Freedom To Speak Up champions at Sunflowers court.  I was so impressed by the enthusiasm, candour and commitment to quality improvement.

Finally, I was delighted to meet with 150 new NELFT colleagues at our Trust induction last week, the largest intake of new starters we have seen for some time. It was a pleasure to hear feedback from colleagues about how their first few weeks have been at NELFT and about the skills, talent and experience they bring with them into their new roles. I would like to thank all 150 colleagues for their enthusiasm and as it is Thank You Fest 21 I would also like to thank Sonya Newby, Vanessa Higby and the Training and development team for all the work that goes into running our staff induction every month.

Take care,

Oliver