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’ll start this week by thanking Dr Caroline Allum, our Chief Medical Officer and Simon Hart, our Executive Director of People and Culture who both covered for me last week when I was on leave. Taking time off work is so important to rest, recharge and of course to do the things that are important to you outside of work. I’d like to remind colleagues across health and care services to ensure you are taking your leave and prioritising your wellbeing.

I’d like to start this week’s post by acknowledging the news of our new Chief Executive, Paul Calaminus. I have already had the chance to congratulate Paul on his appointment and look forward to working with him when he joins later in the summer. Until then I will continue in the role as acting Chief Executive. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support over the last 18 months in the role, it has been a real privilege and I am sure there will be an opportunity for me to say more by way of a thank you as I hand over to Paul when he joins.

I hope you have been enjoying the sunshine, I certainly have been enjoying spending more time in the garden getting my daily dose of vitamin D. Having said that, please do make sure you are taking care to keep hydrated, wear sunscreen and all the other precautions, as well as looking out for others who may need some extra support during this spell of hot weather.

It has been another busy week here at NELFT and I would like to start this week by acknowledging the courage of Marcella and Hazel who both shared their personal stories with the Trust Board yesterday. Marcella shared her journey as a carer for her son Mitchell who has a learning disability. It was really moving as Marcella was so generous in sharing both her challenges and the things she has put in place to support her son. There were some real lessons for us in health and care about how we truly listen to and enable people with a learning disability and their families to have a voice and access the care they need, when they need it most. Hazel is a patient involvement representative with us and shared her experience of COPD and anxiety and again, gave us lots of food for thought about how we can improve our respiratory services and the lives of those with respiratory conditions. I am so grateful to those who use our services for their time and energy helping us on our improvement journey.