Four years ago today, Valentine’s Day, the Academy of Fabulous Stuff was born.
It was a tentative attempt to prove that sharing best practice and good ideas was the fastest way to improving services and experiences for patients, relatives, carers and staff.
I think we’ve made our point; showing people what good looks like, unfailingly means, they’ll get on a do it better.
Three thousand people have shared their best stuff with colleagues, the wider NHS and the world. We have contributors from Australia, Canada, the US and across Europe.
Sharing works.
We’ve learned a lot, laughed a lot, celebrated a lot and made services a lot better. Boasting? No, it’s OK to be proud of what you do…
I think we’ve made our point, with the thousands of visitors to the Academy website every day, the fabulous annual Awards, Change Week, the growing group of dedicated Ambassadors and goodness knows how many visits the ‘Academy-on-the-Road’ has made.
What of the future?
We want the NHS to explore what it does. What it does in every part of our hospitals, community and primary care; in the ward next door, the office and department down the corridor, find the great things that people are doing every day.
We want the NHS to share what it does, locally, nationally and internationally; there is a huge amount to be proud of.
We want the NHS to adopt best practice, fan the flames of innovation and share ideas that have been put into practice by people who know what needs to be done and how.
The NHS has a Long-Term-Plan, we know, in the long-run it will be the people and their ideas that will enrich the service and make sure it is there or us and out families in the years to come.
Explore, Adopt and Share are the watchwords for the Academy for the years ahead.
If the NHS is a jigsaw puzzle of interconnected parts, you and your willingness explore and to share ideas and adopt the best and make it better, is the final piece.
Because of you the Academy is an international success… it’s no puzzle!
Thank you.