Kevin McGee
HELLO and welcome to the latest Chief Executive’s blog.
This week we have had our first ever Thank You Week and I was delighted to see so many people get involved.
It was great to see so many pictures on social media and so many posts from staff at all levels using the #BTHThankYou hashtag thanking colleagues and members of other teams for their help and support.
It is now more important than ever in these amazingly challenging times that we all make sure we value the contributions of each other in our everyday work and pass on our thanks to others.
We have done a lot of work over the past year or so to focus on improving our culture and this week has supported that with other Trusts getting in touch with our communications team this week to learn from what we did. The message from me now is don’t stop thanking people because the week has passed. Keep making it a part of your day to thank someone for what they have done for you. It is a small gesture yet it has such a massive influence on people.
National Grief Awareness Week
The Fylde coast community is being asked to come together and show their support for National Grief Week, 2-8 December, 2020 and there has never been a more poignant time to support those who have lost loved ones especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The annual national event is driven by the Good Grief Trust, the UK’s leading umbrella charity, bringing all UK bereavement services, support organisations and helplines together and aims to raise awareness of the impact of grief and loss on a national platform. There are various ways to get involved: See page two of this weeks’ Weekly News for a list of events including our own – Tree of Lights and Book of Remembrance Service run by our Blue Skies Hospitals Fund charity. We want our community to join us and light up lights or candles. Light up and share with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Royal seal of approval for Trust award winners
THE Nursing Times awards took place ‘virtually’ last week and I was extremely proud to see two of our teams walk away with two awards on the night.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales thanked the profession for its work in a video marking his ongoing partnership with Nursing Times on the Integrated Approaches to Care category. This year, that special award was won by the Trust for its health independent sexual violence advisor service which was a huge achievement.
The success continued as members of the safeguarding team won the Patient Safety Improvement Award for the health response of victims of domestic abuse/violence during COVID-19.
These are the biggest nursing awards in the country and I am extremely proud of the teams for their successes.