I recently attended NHS Leicester City’s long service awards evening. I wasn’t there as one who was to be honoured. I was there in my official capacity as a senior manager of the organisation who was very grateful to those people who have dedicated their working lives to the NHS.
 
The whole event was lovely (and I choose my words carefully). Invitees had come along with their guests and everyone was scrubbed and ‘dressed up proper’. They were bursting with both funny, and heartbreaking, stories to tell of days gone by. That night we celebrated the long service of nearly 200 people who had worked for 20, 30 and even 40 plus years in the NHS. With over 4,000 combined years of experience in the room, and that’s only our staff, just think of how much knowledge we have to tap for service improvement across the Leicester economy and even the country. We must do all we can to capture that experience and use it to nurture and grow our own new ideas.
 
Coincidently, the same week also saw the start of the most exciting bit of the project for me – the redesign of the stroke pathway. My aim is to get a core group of multi-professional people joining forces to do this bit of the project – seems like they’re best placed to me! I don’t know how much experience they have of the NHS between them but I bet it’s heaps.

But, oh how to manage them? The group are so positive and engaged they’re difficult to keep under control. They are keen, enthusiastic and dedicated. They all talk at once and they have so much to say. The acute professionals want to know what their community counterparts are up to and the consultant wants to understand that particular issue from a GP’s perspective.

I don’t understand a lot of it but I do acknowledge that they need to do this networking stuff first. Routinely, the professionals of our different organisations spend so little time together.
 
Of course, I also now appreciate this phase of the project is going to take somewhat longer than I had expected. This team need space to catch up, share news and talk through that professional stuff that affects them all but also affects them differently. And what about those bits where they feel the need to challenge each other’s thinking?

You can see the bond that exists between them all, that passion to do right by their patient in the best way they can. I am now rethinking the next phase of my project timeline, because with a bit more time together I think we could be on to something great!

Those of you who have stayed with me during course of this blog so far may remember I referenced that disco classic ‘Oh what a night’ right at the outset having started my project with a night shift as a healthcare assistant on the stroke ward. Well keeping the musical theme going – ‘what a difference a day makes’.

This is yet another song from the past that perfectly sums up my week. (The version in my head is sung by Esther Phillips, younger readers can feel free to hear Jamie Cullum’s dulcet tones.)

This week I spent time with a seriously talented lady who kindly agreed to provide me with a little mentorship and support through my project. Visualise – a whole hour with her all to myself, over a rather scrummy latte and scone with butter and honey!

Please do not underestimate the power of a really good mentor. An objective person who can challenge you, support you and encourage you out of your comfort zone. In my case there was also the added benefit of someone able to throw so many new ideas and ‘what ifs’ at me in the space of 60 minutes that I came away desperate for a little lie down to recover and thankful I had built up my strength by stocking up on calories.

One of the many things she asked me was whether I had given any thought to the return to my day job. ‘But I’m not even half way through my secondment yet,’ I thought quietly to myself. She is right of course. I already know that I’ve changed, had my eyes and ears opened to lots of old bits I’d forgotten about and to piles of new stuff I’d never appreciated. Maybe I should be giving some thought to how all this will impact on me as a finance director?

If my learning and development is going to have a big impact on what I can do in the future, what else I might want to do, and how I actually carry out my job then perhaps both my organisation and I will need a while to think this through? It’s not fair on either party to be asking the question with two weeks to go.

Being asked this question came in the week when I agreed to do a slot at our forthcoming annual regional HFMA conference. Good timing, as I’ve decided I should do a little summary of the lessons I’ve learned so far. I’m thinking that this will not only be a great basis for my workshop, but also give me the material I need to challenge myself to answer my mentor’s question in the most creative and innovative way I can.

If you haven’t got a mentor, I strongly recommend the idea to you!