It’s been another busy week here at NELFT. It was our NELFT Board meeting in public on Tuesday and it was great to see all of our new Non-Executive Directors in the room. You can find out more about them and their role here. As always, our Board meeting started with a patient story and it was a privilege to hear from Jamie, whose daughter Demi is supported by our children and young people’s services in Barking and Dagenham. Demi has epilepsy and ADHD and as well as sharing some of the challenges Demi has faced with regards to support, medication and treatment, Jamie also shared her own experiences as a mum and a carer.

I was also moved to see and hear how proud Jamie is of Demi who received her first achievement award at school this year. The importance of supporting families to navigate all the services who impact on care, not just health services, was really evident and a reminder why working more collaboratively to address the wider determinants of health is the right approach.

As well as welcoming our new Non-Executive Directors to the Board, Paul Calaminus, our incoming Chief Executive was in attendance., Paul will be starting in the role on 21 August. I know you will all join me in welcoming him to the Trust and thank you to colleagues who have already been supporting his early induction. He has visited some of our services already and has a full induction planned for when he joins. I’d like to take this chance to thank you all for your support over the last 19 months and I know there will be an opportunity for me to thank you more fully once Paul has joined us and we have managed our handover.

I know that times of change can feel unsettling and it is ok to reach out for support if you need it. Managing work and life can be sometimes feel as hard as it feels rewarding, and I’m pleased that our KeepingWell NEL service has been extended with a slightly different offer to support colleagues across health and care in north east London, and for our colleagues across the whole of NELFT. Find out more about KeepingWell NEL here.

You all work hard to make a difference every day for our patients, their loved ones and our communities. I was delighted to be reminded of the Make a Difference annual celebrations this week when I saw the film of highlights. You can watch it here and don’t forget you can nominate someone who you feel has really gone above and beyond to make a difference to. Make a Difference nominations are accepted all year round and everyone nominated receives a badge and certificate. Each year everyone who has received a Make a Difference nomination gets entered into our annual awards so that we can crown overall category winners. It’s a great way to recognise the contribution others make and acts as a small gesture of thanks.

On that note, I will thank you for all your hard work to deliver the best care by the best people each and every day.