Listening into Action

This week I attended the launch of Worcester Acute Hospitals NHS Trust’s involvement in Listening into Action. 

We aren’t supposed to call this a project or initiative or scheme; its something akin to “this is not a diet, it’s a way of life!” 
In essence LiA is about employee engagement to make simple improvements to care delivery, services and practice that have been identified and initiated by the people who really do know best; those on the ground. With the added bonus of guaranteed executive support and encouragement. 

I’ll put my cards on the table now and say that I was a sceptic. In fact when I first realised we were signing up I said out loud that I did not think that the Trust had the maturity for something like this (inward looking, set in ways……) BUT the launch event altered my views. 

Firstly it prompted me to remember why I do what I do and how I got here. When I left nursing at the bedside of my beloved MAU (firstly to be a practice development nurse, then as acting ward manager and now as a quality governance manager) it was because I desperately wanted to improve safety, quality and experience for patients, my colleagues and for me and my family. My epiphany in the early days was when I realised how foolish I was to be waiting for someone else to come along and make things better. There never was, and never will be, a mystical “them/they/magic elf” appearing through the mist. Change really does start with you. Yes I know this is simplistic and there are a number of factors that can make this tricky, but in essence it’s true. If you believe in something and want it enough to work hard for it then you can make change happen. Now the impact I have had to date as a lean, mean, changing machine is debatable and is probably the topic of an entirely separate blog (that would outline all the tricky factors alluded to above) but it is the raison d’etre that is important here, because I had forgotten this key tenet lately. LiA and writing this blog have given me a chance to stop and look again at my moral compass. 

Revisiting this has also helped me to reconcile some of the discomfort that I have about moving away from patient care and adding manager to my job title. For anyone else struggling with similar issues I recommend listening to this Lecture featuring June Girvin (@JuneinHE):  Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean at Oxford Brookes University. June is also a nurse and had been a nurse manager. I am also grateful to June for gently telling me off during this week’s @WeNurses tweet chat and to Teresa Chin (@AgencyNurse) for bringing the lecture to my attention. 

The second shift in my scepticism  was with regards to my statement about the Trust lacking maturity to Embrace LiA. How does anyone grow and mature without practice, experience and, perhaps most importantly, prior failure? LiA offers a supportive framework (way of life!!) in which to grow. Such a glib comment suggested that it was pointless to even bother trying. This is actually plain daft as doing nothing is simply not an option. 

Launch day saw a good turn out  and I would say that those in the room ranged from the sceptic at my end of the scale, passing bewildered and curious, and right on through to those who are doggedly determined to make a difference. Now that’s not a bad mix and probably is representative of the Trust’s employees on a larger scale. So it’s a promising start. 

The reason I found myself at launch day was because I had been asked to be one of a triumvirate (Definition – odd word, difficult to pronounce, not many people know what it means, not terribly in-keeping with the ethos of “keep it simple stupid”) to lead on a journey to streamline and simplify the nursing and medical paperwork between A&E and MAU cross county. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for eons so I can’t wait to get started. 

Hopefully the LiA new way of life will exceed this sceptic’s expectations. It would also be really nice if the experience provided me with enough material for a few more blogs so that others get the chance to follow and possibly learn. Watch this space……