Which of the ten commitments really resonates with you?
Well I think actually all of the commitments resonate for me but if I had to pick one,
I think I'd pick commitment number five, which is about partnership.
Partnership with individuals, their families and with carers.
The reason for that is that I think we need to forge a new relationship with our patients,
really helping them to look after their health, manage their own conditions if they're living
with long term conditions and more importantly, helping them take control of what's important
to them.
The commitment that really resonates with me is 'we will have the right staff, at the
right, place, a the right time'.
I think there's a growing need from the public and the patients who want people, regardless
of profession, to be able to deliver what they need at the time that they need it and
I think that nursing and midwifery is the ideal place to do that.
Well all of them do but the one that really captures my imagination most is commitment
number four - 'we will be centred on individuals experiencing high value care' and that's because
everything that everybody does is for that purpose.
I think the main one for me is maintaining a health workforce and looking after each
other.
I think Importantly as a nurse leader, we need to look after our staff as well, to ensure
they give the best possible care.
All ten commitments are vital for this framework but the first three around prevention and
the first one, is so exciting for nurses, midwives and care staff.
This is around culture, about promoting a culture where health and wellbeing is at the
core of everything that we do, where we focus on personalisation and we put the person,
the community, and the population at the heart of everything that we do.
I think commitment two really resonates, about increasing the visibility of nursing midwifery
leadership.
Particularly around prevention but I think there are opportunities across the whole system
for doing that and I see real opportunities with the new STPs for nursery and midwifery
leaders across all parts of the region to get involved with their STPs, influencing
those discussions and engaging with them.
Where do you see the greatest opportunity for closing the gaps?
First of all, particularly clinical systems leadership, to enable us to work across the
whole health economy to the same purpose, around quality and continuity of experience
for our service users.
The second thing is around transformational leadership in our teams who are delivering
and providing care, so that everyone can blossom, grow, flourish and deliver care that is high
quality.
And the third area is really ensuring that we have skilled facilitators in our teams
who are delivering care and who can enable our staff to learn, develop, improve and enquire.
It absolutely is vital that we change our relationship with how we view our professional
roles, and we see ourselves as being partners on a journey with people in communities, in
absolutely looking to maximise health benefit and wellbeing benefit for people in communities.
Equality, if we close the gap in inequalities across our caring.
Whether that be in community or hospitals, that will actually have a knock on effect
on actually saving us money as well.
Well is see one of the greatest opportunities in closing the gap is actually around funding
and efficiency.
I think so many of our front line staff have got some great ideas on how they can improve
the efficiency of the services they deliver, saving money but at the same time improving
the experience and coordination of the care that they can provide.
The greatest opportunity for closing the gaps I think, goes back to that commitment, about
having the right staff, in the right place, at the right time.
I think with complex needs of patients now, with growing demand, with complex medical
needs, with growing acuity, I think nursing is the ideal place to deliver what patients'
needs and that commitment gives us the energy to do it.