The squeeze on public sector finances is really starting to pinch hard now and the next few years are going to be the toughest ever faced by the NHS – including LPT. 

Apparently, it’s well known by people who study these things that the impact of recession hits the private sector first and then moves on to public sector services 12 months later.  Well, that time has arrived and we at LPT were certainly expecting tighter financial times and have prepared for them – as far as it’s possible to predict what’s going to happen in the NHS over the next few years. 

No-one’s saying this is going to be easy – least of all me - but what heartens me and helps with the future planning is the very solid platform of achievements we have to build on.  For a start, I’ve got 3000+ fantastic staff, we’ve got a shared vision, goals and values that we’ll stay true to because they keep us on the right track.  We’ve got a 5-year improvement and financial plan and that puts us in a better position than most. 

I’m a ‘glass half-full’, ‘silver-lining’ kind of person, so there’s no denying there are grey financial clouds, but there’s also a silver-lining of new opportunities emerging that could see expansion of our services and new business taken on.  But, like any sensible leader or businessman, I’ll want to be absolutely sure that new opportunities we pursue fit well with our values and long term goals. 

What will be absolutely crucial over the next few years is that I, my staff, our partners and LPT as a whole deal with all the challenges – good and bad - responsibly and together.  You know, this could be the toughest challenge, because we shall all have to adapt to change, be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. 

I’m totally committed to working together, to supporting one other through the challenging times and changes ahead – please join me. 

Antony Sheehan

Cupboard Love does seem a strange title for my blog.  I will explain its meaning in a moment or two.  I have been visiting most of the wards involved in the Releasing Time to Care (RTTC) initiative recently.  It has been a great experience seeing staff so committed to this programme of work, aimed at unlocking precious time from ward routines to make more space for direct patient contact. 

 The enthusiasm has been apparent and the results immediate.  What has really struck me is just how many of the staff have been involved, and as one deputy ward manager put it at a recent staff engagement event, “Empowered to redefine our own working patterns in a way that optimises therapeutic time with service users”. 

So where does the notion of cupboard love come into all of this then?  Well, one part of learning from all my visits is that a well organised ward with systems and processes that are clear, even to the level of ordering and storing ward supplies, can really release time to care.  I now go home embarrassed and look at my own cupboards which feel in so much disarray compared to the pristine conditions of storerooms on our RTTC wards.  

In a ward environment what this means is that there is greater control over stock ordering, and staff do not have to waste time delving through bulging and disorganised store rooms for what they need.  Now I am not saying I will immediately go home and tidy all my own cupboards, but I do think there are lessons to learn for the whole organisation from the RTTC project. 

I hope that we can see the project embraced on all of our wards, and progressed into our community settings.   A well organised ward is just one module of many with the RTTC programme that is beginning to create more productive time to do more of what our service users want, and that is to spend good valuable therapeutic and respectful time with them. 

Thank you to everybody who is involved, you are doing a really great job.

Last month, in common with most NHS organisations around the country I’m sure, LPT waited with baited breath to hear of its ratings published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The call finally came and, after several requests by me to repeat what had just been said, the scores on the doors finally sunk in. We had been rated as ‘Good’ for Use of Resources (an improvement from Fair) and ‘Excellent’ for Quality of Services again a (massive) improvement from ‘Fair’ in last year’s ratings. 

This was the first time ever LPT had been assigned such a high rating and doubtless there will be those outside (and possibly some inside) the organisation who will ask questions as to whether such outstanding recognition is truly deserved. So, let me be clear about the meaning of CQC calling us Excellent.

Firstly, we have, quite literally, hit all the targets set for us nationally and been able to say, with evidence that we are compliant with expected standards – this in itself is a significant achievement and a result of really hard work by so many people.

 Secondly, our rating reveals the unassailable truth that many of our services haven’t just become excellent they have been so for some time.  I won’t describe a long list here but I did at our senior leadership group meeting. The fog of negative external perspectives has lifted from these services and rightly so.

 Thirdly, our rating demonstrates that external bodies have confidence in the way we are prioritising and tackling some of our most conspicuous problems. 

Finally, this rating shows that people who use our services are gaining confidence in what we have to offer. This is down to our staff responding with care and professionalism and offering dignity and respect. 

I want to say a really big thank you to all my staff, they really deserve the recognition these ratings bring.

 We now have a choice – we either debate the nature of these ratings, who deserved what or we drive home the advantage an Excellent CQC rating gives us to further improve our care services. I know what I’m going to do…so don’t expect to catch me hanging around debating!

There appear to be signs that globally we’re climbing out of financial recession, although the economic climate for some considerable time ahead still feels undeniably ‘cool’ to me.     

As an organisation we can plan for this.  What bothers me is the potential impact on people who feel socially excluded or vulnerable in some way, whose life circumstances mean they ‘live on the edge’ and as a result their way of life and networks can all too easily breakdown.  It’s hard enough for them to manage in times of prosperity, even worse for them in times of austerity.

Who do I mean by these socially excluded and vulnerable people?  How about young people leaving care – people receiving mental health care – people with learning disabilities – and men and women on probation?  Many of these people are patients or clients of LPT’s services.

So, for public services, and particularly organisations like LPT, it’s down to us to make sure our actions don’t add to the effects of a tougher economic climate.  Where we can, it’s our job to take positive action that might ease the situation for our patients, clients and those members of staff feeling the pressure of the current economic climate.

LPT is first and foremost a public service, but it is also a business, so of course I spend a lot of time with colleagues planning for the tougher financial times ahead. 

But in doing this we always come back to the values that underpin all that we do – we’re like a stick of seaside rock with ‘RIGHTS’ written all the way through it.   Why RIGHTS?  Because we’re mindful of your Rights, our need to act with Integrity, to provide you with Good quality care, to demonstrate Honesty and earn your Trust, and to be Service user led in all that we do.

One of the practical ways that we're helping people at this time is by employing two people specifically to look into and develop employment opportunities for people using our services. 

I’m also leading a network of health organisations across the whole of the East Midlands that is working for better employment, housing and education opportunities for socially excluded adults who might be considered to be ‘living on the edge’. 

We’ve had some very exciting news in the last few days that a bid we submitted on behalf of the NHS in the East Midlands to the government-backed Future Jobs Fund was successful.  I’m especially pleased as we are the only successful NHS bid in this first wave of funding allocations.  Crucially, what it means is that we will have funding to support the creation of new jobs to help people who have experienced mental ill health to get back into work.

At LPT we’ve also become a ‘Mindful Employer’ and as a contributor to this national scheme we’re raising awareness of mental health issues at work and how people can best be helped and supported.  We’re applying these aims in our own organisation and helping other local organisations and groups to do the same.

I lead a business that is driven by its values – please let me know if you share our values and ideals, because maybe there are opportunities for us to work and achieve something together.

Antony

It’s hard to pinpoint when it started, but over a number of years the emphasis in health services has clearly – and quite rightly - moved away from the idea of protecting people (the ‘we know best’ approach).  Now, our efforts are geared much more to promoting all round well-being, more individual choice and, particularly in mental health and learning disability services, helping people to achieve the things they want to do with their life. 

Most of us take for granted, almost as a right, being able to live in our own home, to apply and be considered for a job, to go on education and training courses that will help our career prospects. 

For many of the people using our mental health and learning disability services this is not the ‘norm’.  They are more vulnerable people who need our help and support and yet they are often excluded from the life opportunities that you and I expect.  Sadly, it is also true that even when these people seek help they don’t always get it.   

Here at LPT we’re totally committed to ‘opening the doors’ that will improve people’s sense of inclusion in our communities and as citizens. 

Very often, that means working with other organisations and local communities.  So for example, we work in partnership with Rethink and Assura, with Panj Pani community radio station, with a Somali mental health group.  We have 9000 members of the public who have joined our organisation and I want them to be a strong influence on us and in the communities where they live. 

We’re also setting up inclusive training courses and developing a LPT Academy that will be a place where local people and LPT staff can learn from each other . . . and, we’ve now got staff whose job is to work with businesses to create more job opportunities for people using our services. 

I recently talked about the impact of social exclusion with other Chief Executives of NHS organisations from all over the East Midlands, so I could hear their ideas and put forward my own about how we can improve the situation.  We agreed to work together and set up a NHS inclusion and well-being network across the East Midlands, with LPT leading this important work. 

I’m genuinely pleased with what we’ve been able to do so far through this organisation and more widely with partners.  But there is so much more we could do to help socially excluded people get into settled accommodation, employment, education or training - I know we could do better with the right local connections and pooling of ideas. 

Can you help or have you got any suggestions to make?  

Antony