NHS fundamentals: a conference + some fundamental thoughts...

I received notice from the Health Service Journal of the following conference:

Fundamentals of the NHS

Get up to date with the latest changes in NHS structure, policy and reform

25th November 2009
Manchester

Does the rapidly changing world of the NHS leave you feeling overwhelmed? Do you need a solid introduction or an up-to-the-minute refresher to firmly underpin your understanding of all the recent policy changes, reforms and agendas?

Whether new to the world of the NHS or simply in need of clarification over recent advancements - this essential Health Service Journal learning forum provides a whistle-stop tour of where the NHS is now and where it is heading in the future. ...

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The HSJ's NHS focus is clear just from the snippet above.

As to the 'fundamental' in health care, well, I still wonder how (since August 1977*) with all this talk of:

• multidisciplinary care
• integrated care
• continuity of care
• holistic care
• individualised care

- there is still NO fundamental model, NO universal conceptual framework applicable for the whole of health and social care. Yes, there is the nursing process, CPA, SAP, CAF. ... We have and benefit from - it must be said - the NHS Core Values, Patient Charters. ...

But where is the conceptual primer, the underlying substrate that can be applied implicitly or explicitly, whatever a person's age, discipline, ethnicity, beliefs, employment, financial means, legal status, location. ...?

More than ever we need a model that is not just the preserve of nurses and their colleagues, we need a conceptual tool that is part of education programs world wide: helping to preserve individual, family and community in health and well-being.

Conceptual models are so abstract. Strange then that a model - simple, basic, underlying, fundamental - is needed that is much more substantial than a chapter in a book, or paper in a journal.

This conference is in Manchester.

Manchester - where Hodges' model was first taught.

For the sake of future health - a universal model should be one of the fundamentals:

our tools
and values
should indeed deliver
right on the doorstep.

* As a Nursing Assistant awaiting entry to Warrington School of Nursing, Winwick Hospital.

Please note: This blog post is not sponsored nor
endorsed by HSJ, its publishers, or the event sponsors.

Congratulations to Paul Streets new Patient Voice Lead

Staying with the HSJ, this week (21 May) an 'in brief' item announces the appointment of the new Patient Voice Lead, Paul Streets - to whom I extend many congratulations! I note that:

His role includes developing methods of collecting near time patient feedback. p.8

Mr Streets could do worse than look (and listen) over here....

Hodges' model provides a person-centred, situated and multicontextual framework (across health and social care) that can be employed explicitly or implicitly. The model would also greatly benefit from and needs research and development.

While some of the comments in response to this on the HSJ site may reflect the current political-public pyrexia, perhaps they also demonstrate the need for a structured approach - an integrative and collaborative model?

NHS: Welcome to the world of churning?

In February (hey, give me chance - I am part-time!) in the HSJ was a news item about the NHS Constitution which warned of the huge bill that looms in the need to provide choice information for patients. Quoted figures c/o health economists at the Department of Health put "the best case scenario of a cost of £5.2m per year (£33,000 per PCT) 5.5 per cent of patients would need to switch providers".

We are all accustomed to switching providers when it comes to telephone, gas, electricity, TV, internet-broadband in various combinations. Some 'real' markets need their business models to recognise and take account of the fact that a proportion of the market switch service providers - in other word they churn.

You have to ask I suppose are the +ve and -ve qualities and impact of churners in these markets equivalent to those in health and social care? The future is a place and time of complex deals no doubt...

Crump, H. (2009). Huge bill looms for choice information, HSJ, February 5, p. 5.

NHS Talent Management 2 July 2009

Well done HSJ!

This event should be a packed house -

IMHO - of course....

There is so much latent talent out there!

Leadership Qualities Framework: individuals, teams, boards and systems

I've been catching up on some reading and according to Mike Cooke the (NHS) Leadership Qualities Framework includes vision, emotional intelligence and continued delivery of results. To which he adds:

'We need all three plus the marketing and political skills and some productive leadership skills thrown in. It is about balance in individuals, teams, boards and systems.'

So in Hodges' model then:

individual	systems
teams	boards

There is nothing special about this formulation whether as part of the Leadership Qualities Framework or Hodges' model. Individuals, teams, boards and systems are fundamental building blocks to any attempt to encapsulate and understand the world of local, regional and global health and much more besides.

Mike Cooke, Good Management: On Sizzling Leadership, HSJ, Jan 22, 2009, p.24.

Additional links:

http://www.nhsleadershipqualities.nhs.uk/

To blog or not to blog - that is the question?

Much has been written - blogged about even - as to whether clinicians should blog or not. In a recent article and the Health Service Journal's new blogs this question has been raised.

As the cogs turn, I'm a very small one; but even as a nurse and blogger I am acutely aware that being on the web is the equivalent of the old town square. That square is increasingly global (at the month's end).

The stocks sit there plainly visible, prompting pause for thought ...

Blogging on the HSJ Nadeem Moghal made the point about the risks of being a clinician, a blogger AND being tired and frustrated to boot. Mr Moghal also references a source which advises that clinicians should not blog.

There are reasons not to blog as a health service employee. Like everyone I get tired and frustrated too. You have to remember your contractual and professional obligations, plus your relationship (actual and potential) with the people in your care.

That said, the government, NHS, Connecting for Health and others need to consider what they want in terms of the skills and experience of the professionals it employs. Using nurses as an example - is it enough that nurses are 'IT users' and 'web-savvy'? Or should nurses, academics and other professionals be capable of critiquing the hardware on their desks, ward trolleys, the software they use (and help develop) and the associated issues that arise? In the sense that we are professionally accountable, then a given level of insight and understanding of new media and technology forms is vital. There are a lot of issues: take for example Rod Ward's recent post on access to records.

Perhaps some established journalists are worried about the changes in the(ir) business? I am part of that media demographic that Sir Michael Grade must worry about over at ITV. Being on the web means you watch less TV, amongst other things...

To agree that clinician's should not blog and close-up shop is to consider and respond to the situation in purely political terms.

Despite the dangers of being online - in person - I believe there is a case to demonstrate that this new media can provide a marvellous and effective outlet for new (and old) perspectives on what it is to care. Whether wearing a white coat, driving around the community or writing your latest post if you have a message then surely it can be delivered in a professional manner?

For me here on W2tQ
I've some help in not just having a message
but also having a mission.

To focus on the politics alone, is to ignore the role we also have in teaching and mentoring others. This should include not only students, but members of the public too: see healthspace and personal health records. ... IT literacy, political literacy, health literacy, media literacy - there's no end to the 21st century skill set ....

So if you blog,
tread carefully,
listen and pay attention to the constantly breaking glass.
Politics (and your job) does count!

And yet blogging can be about more than just politics:
it can be about creativity and exploration.

h2cmuk at yahoo.co.uk

"Let us put our minds together
and see what kind of life we can make for our children."
--Chief Sitting Bull (1823-1890)

Image source: Tony Woof.com