Changes for the new year
9 January 2012
Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you are all looking forward to another busy and exciting year at Chelsea and Westminster.
As I announced last week, I will be leaving the Trust this summer after 12 years as Chief Executive and I would like to thank you to everyone who has contacted me with messages of goodwill for the future.
I know that the Trust will have a very bright future under a new Chief Executive who will be able to work with an extremely strong Executive team and a group of hugely talented staff who together have made Chelsea and Westminster one of the best NHS trusts in the country.
I am proud to have led Chelsea and Westminster over the last decade and more, and this was not an easy decision to take because I care deeply about the work that we do here to provide the very best quality experience for our patients.
In the short-term from later this month I will be dividing my time between the Trust and a new role working for our Strategic Health Authority, NHS London, where I will be heading up a new unit focused on improving the efficiency of hospitals in the capital and supporting them to achieve Foundation Trust status.
These hospitals are all at different stages of the journey that we took at Chelsea and Westminster in order to become a Foundation Trust, which has enabled us to reap the benefits of greater financial freedoms by investing in significant improvements to patient care.
Thanks to our status as a Foundation Trust, we have been able to retain our financial surpluses and access other sources of finance to invest in a £40 million project to transform the patient experience—particularly for children and their families, as well as patients living with HIV, oncological and haematological conditions.
The next stage in the development of our new children's hospital will be reached during the week beginning Monday 30 January when two more paediatric operating theatres, Recovery, Day Case Unit and High Dependency Unit are due to open.
New facilities for HIV patients and patients with oncological and haematological conditions are due to open during the week beginning Monday 6 February—they include an inpatient ward and daycare/outpatient facilities.
We aim to hold official openings for both developments which will provide staff and patients alike with an opportunity to celebrate these significant landmarks in the life of Chelsea and Westminster.
On Friday the Prime Minister talked about a new 'friends and family test' which will ask whether patients, carers and staff would recommend their hospital to their families and friends in their hour of need.
As I have previously discussed in my blog entries, at Chelsea and Westminster my challenge to all our staff is for them to ask themselves the question: "Would I want my relative treated in our hospital?"
In 2012 I would urge all staff to ask themselves that question on a regular basis so that we can strive together to improve the patient experience with care, expertise and a willingness to learn from our mistakes.
I welcome your comments on the issues raised in this blog and anything to do with Chelsea and Westminster—please do get in touch with me via our Head of Communications Matt Akid matthew.akid@chelwest.nhs.uk.
My next blog entry will be on Monday 23 January.
