Making a difference
With over 350 delegates, 19 guest speakers, 62 exhibitors, four award winners and one Falklands hero, this year’s 11th annual HefmA conference debated, discussed and challenged ideas that pushed those within the NHS to strive for much more than they have before, reports Clare Riley
‘Making a Difference: Putting Patients at the heart of EFM’ was a conference that aimed to inspire innovation and give HefmA members the tools and confidence to go back to their trusts and implement changes that would impact in a positive way.
The line-up of guest speakers certainly left no stone of EFM unturned and opening the conference was West Midlands Chair Jon Meigh who encouraged delegates to listen intently: “Our theme is making a difference. We must make sure our operations are strategically planned and effectively run. Our hospital environments must be therapeutic and complement the services we offer. We must listen to our patients and improve their experiences in our trusts.”
Frances Edmonds, broadcaster and writer moderated the conference, ensuring timings were kept to and delegates who wanted to speak up and voice their opinions were given the chance to do so. Kicking off the Plenary Session, Frances said: “Making a difference is simply a matter of doing what you say you are going to do.”
She added that healthcare is being lost and compassion and care must be at the forefront of services, encouraging leaders to have more guts to do something that takes them out of their comfort zone.
During the Plenary Session, Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust discussed the financial implications of running estates and suggested that: “The NHS has often been backward looking. We must learn to look forward. You are the voice of your function and we must put patients first.” Speaking about the issue of sustainability Tom also questioned how many board members really understand what this is all about.
Neil Carr OBE, chief executive of South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust touched on the differences between private and NHS institutions saying that hospitals should promote themselves in the same way and shouldn’t offer anything different. He concluded by explaining how 100 hospitals now have Foundation Trust status but most fail to use their freedom to the maximum effect.
Kevin Oxley, HefmA’s national chairman rounded off the debate with a presentation about the future of healthcare and how the NHS and HefmA can adapt to challenges and issues.
“We can all talk the talk but we must start walking the walk.” He added that new foundation trust awards bring about new styles of operating particularly in the boardroom and that chief executives and other board members are having to become much more commercial than in previous years.
Kevin explained: “The NHS as we knew it is now more of a virtual concept than a reality.” He concluded that going forward services must be super efficient, contributions to profitability must be made, estates should be fully compliant, defendable and above all treat patients as paying customers.
A noisy town crier announced the start of an even noisier team building exercise-involving drums just before lunch. Delegates were then split into two groups to attend the afternoon’s various presentations and seminars.
Helen Jenkinson, hygiene code lead from the Healthcare Commission took to the floor assessing the role of inspections and how they drive trusts to aim for better standards in EFM and infection control.
Dr Liz Jones, head of patient environment for the Department of Health (DoH) explained how Health Care Acquired Infections (HCAI) are manageable and treatable and that one of the main issues trusts must overcome is the perception patients have of hospitals and their hygiene records. She highlighted how HCAIs cost the NHS an extra £1billion every year.
Dr Jones made it clear that patients see HCAIs as the direct result of not cleaning thoroughly enough and that myths like these need to be tackled head on. Touching on the recent NHS deep cleaning programme, some delegates questioned the DoH’s guidance on this, claiming that not enough support and direction was given to them, which they said has in turn led to variation throughout the system. Dr Jones responded by saying it was very difficult to give guidance to trusts on an individual level, as each hospital has a unique environment requiring different and often complex needs.
Others sessions wrapping up the first day of the conference were designing the healthcare estate; financing the healthcare estate today and tomorrow; and social enterprise and sustainability.
Conference day two was very emotionally driven with a moving and inspiring speech from Falklands hero Simon Weston. Talking about his welldocumented injuries from the bombing aboard the Sir Galahad ship, Simon showed how humility, ambition and a positive outlook can turn around the most desperate of situations. His ability to make light of his extraordinary situation struck a chord with delegates who laughed raucously at his jokes and at the end rewarded his courage with the warmest of applause.
Edwina Currie was another guest speaker who managed to evoke the emotions of the audience. Her speech on behalf of the Patients’ Association ruffled feathers as she highlighted the mountain the NHS still has to climb.
“What makes patients feel angry and insulted is the feeling that the money is not being spent where it should be, on their care which is the first priority. They’re paying for it, so in return they expect a clean, efficient and local service, which deals with them with dignity and wherever possible sends them home in better shape than they went in”, said the ex-health minister, who is a trustee for the Patients’ Association.
She accused the NHS of not doing enough to control and regulate standards within hospitals: “They (patients) are furious about the lack of attention to the completely obvious. That in a dirty over-crowded hospital, where staff don’t wash their hands before touching a patient or after, where commodes are left smelly and disgusting, toilets are filthy and bathrooms are being ignored, cannulas and catheters are overused and not properly sterilised, infection rates will soar.
“The allegation that there’s no time is insulting rubbish and dangerous.
“Countries such as Scandinavia and the Netherlands have no MRSA and this is because of the search and control policy over there.”
At the risk of making delegates feel demotivated Edwina explained how going forward change is possible and should come from the top.
“It starts at the trust board. If the trust board gets on top of this, then you can get on top of this too. If the trust board is more concerned with budgets and making sure there’s no overspending then this is where you’ll do well, but the patients will suffer.
“Bold trusts should introduce MRSA screening and of course when you’ve got that you need to be able to act fast, impact on results and you should test on discharging as well.
There seems to be a lack of political welly and the targets and priorities of the government are changing. There’s too much reform and reorganisation, which is distracting, expensive and pointless.
“We hope if everyone here remembers that next week they too could be a patient, we might actually start getting something done. And people like me from the Patients Association can turn up and finally say ‘well done’.”
