So this week started with Valentine’s Day and whether it’s something you celebrate or not, it was great to see so many people using it on social media as an opportunity to share their love for the NHS and for NELFT. It was really heart-warming to see so many positive messages about how NELFT and the NHS more widely has impacted on both colleagues and patients lives.

Last week was our regular Trust Induction and I was delighted to meet so many new colleagues who have joined Team NELFT. It was a really lively induction with close to 150 new recruits and lots of suggestions about great things we can do to support our colleagues across the Trust. As well as an opportunity to grow my own Twitter following, thank you to those of you who linked up with me,  it was good to be able to plug our Make a Difference Annual Awards event that takes place on 31 March. On induction colleagues said it would be great to have some entertainment in the same way as we did for our Thank You Fest last year so we are working on factoring this into the event!

At our People and Culture Committee this week it was brilliant to hear more about the 44 Kickstarters working with us across NELFT as part of the Government’s Kickstart Scheme. We have people working in administrative assistant, digital champion and support learner (clinical) roles across the Trust and this is such a brilliant way to support young people from our local communities to gain experience and employment opportunities. I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported the scheme and of course to our amazing young Kickstarters.

Our Clinical Effectiveness team have been working really hard to roll out sexual safety awareness training across the Trust this month and at our Executive Management Team meeting this week we all undertook the same training. It is really important as leaders we role model good practice and take part in the same learning and development as all our colleagues in the Trust. This is one of many important topics we need to ensure colleagues and patients feel able to speak openly about and is part of how we deliver a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Finally this week I wanted to highlight the work of our Mid and South Essex Urgent Community Response Team (UCRT) which we provide in partnership through the Mid and South Essex Community Collaborative. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care visited the service yesterday to see first-hand the work taking place to support patients experiencing an acute episode of illness or social care crisis. You can read more about the service and the Secretary of State’s visit here. Health Secretary visits pioneering Essex community teams

Take care and stay safe.

Jacqui