How can NHS Change Day help us be ‘fab’? - Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust

For what feels like a very long time, we’ve been told that the NHS needs to change. As tax payers or ‘investors’ in the NHS, as users of the NHS, as carers of loved ones who rely on the NHS, as employees of the NHS, we’ve all got an interest in “making things even better than they already are.”

I wonder if we sometimes make change out to be more complicated than it actually need be and while for some, change might not feel easy. I also sometimes wonder if we wait for someone to say to us, “it’s okay, you go ahead and give it a go.”  Is it really true that “no one likes change”? Maybe we don’t like the loss that comes with change or being told to change, but I know lots of people who not only like change, but they appear to thrive on it.

So, as opposed to waiting for permission to make a change, we might like to think and talk about one or two things that we could do to make things even better. If things don’t work out as we hoped first time around, let’s talk about what we learnt, how we might have done it differently and let’s give it another go! Let’s work with and support each other to make some of those changes that could really make a difference and let’s talk about what we do well, let’s tell everyone about this!

So, on 19 October, NHS Change Day, make a pledge for change, you can do this here: https://fabnhsstuff.net/fabchangeday/

We’re also inviting staff to our Change Day/Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff event in the Jubilee Theatre on Friday 28 October.We will be joined by Roy Lilley, who is a well-known health policy analyst, writer, broadcaster and commentator on the NHS. He writes the popular blog, ‘NHS Managers’.

Roy will be visiting the trust together with Dr. Terri Pollett and Alfie the Pets As Therapy Dog. For the first time, NHS Change Day is merging with the Academy of Fabulous Stuff, which is an online platform set up by Roy Lilley, that freely shares best practice examples, great ideas and service solutions from the NHS. You can view it here: http://fabnhsstuff.net/

We would like to hear about this innovation from Roy in order to explore how we might make best use of the Academy of Fab Stuff and whether or not it we might like to develop our own version of it. The visit also gives us an opportunity to showcase some of our work. So please come along!

Any staff interested in coming along, please let [email protected] know if you intend to come. Unless you hear back from Julia, please assume you have a confirmed booking for the event. Mark Spybey Head of Team and People Development Workforce and Organisational Development