A very proud mum and the NHS change day…

I am very proud of both of my daughters but today I want to share with you the success of my eldest daughter and how I feel so proud of her, especially in the last few weeks and months.

Pollyanna is undoubtably a very bright and focused young lady. This is not only demonstrated by her academic achievements that include, a first degree in politics and philosophy, a distinction in Masters of research, and her recent completion of the CIMA
(Chartered Institute of Management Accounts) course, (so far she has passed all of her exams for this with flying colours and is all set to receive her qualification as a charted accountant). I also want to acknowledge her dedication in supporting my own organisation, me personally and the rest of her family.

Pollyanna is always ready to help her elderly grandmother calling her most days and visiting her weekly, she supports her sister with her baby Elliot, and of course is there for me and her step father, calling us daily with offers of support and regular visits.

She finds the time and energy to do all this whilst finishing her NHS graduate scheme, which was no mean feat to get on (the competition was very tough) and is juggling her studies with her regular work place.

I am sure like me, having the support of a caring partner helps, so I must also thank her lovely boyfriend for his contribution.

I certainly appreciate that I couldn’t achieve all I do without the support and care of my loving husband and I often think Colin should be on my trusts pay role with the unseen time he spends rushing around printing, binding and generally supporting me behind the scenes. No wonder the poor guy has chest pains! Maybe I had better take a look at his work / life balance! Colin really is the wind beneath my wings.

Pollyanna has lots of resilience factors and her mothers drive, energy and enthusiasm for life.

Only a few years ago her paternal grandfather, to whom she was very close, died of Myeloma and her biological father has only recently got over ( if you can get over such a thing) bowel cancer. Now with my own diagnosis to come to terms Pollyanna’s powers of resilience and positive mental attitude are really coming into play

She is presently being offered various jobs and has to consider her next move very carefully. There is nothing tying her in to the NHS and with her connections in the city she could easily get a job with a bank earning mega bucks.

But not Pollyanna she is passionate about the NHS and making a difference, (now where may that have come from, I wonder ?).

Relatively recently , together with a few of her young graduate colleagues, they came up with the idea of the NHS Change Day.

This day is drawing close, it is set for March 13th, so only one week to go.

If I had been well and working (not signed off on sick leave) , I would have been more involved in our trusts drive to get our staff involved. I do hope, however, that many of the staff have read the newsletter that came out on February 27th . It was all about the NHS change day and how our chief exec David Law, is calling on us all to make a pledge.

David Law, will pledge…….”We will discuss how to reduce paperwork for the clinical teams”

and…The Quality Directorate Team pledges that on that day, each member of the Quality and Governance Directorate will visit one of the Trust’s services to meet the patients and team members, find out more about the services offered and support them to get involved in the day.

If you are working for our organisation have you made your pledge yet?

You didn’t think a little thing like Cancer would keep me quiet and off your back did you, even if I am running a little behind schedule?

For the many readers of this blog who aren’t health professionals and we are up to nearly 10,000 views now , let me explain to you what this is all about.

This information is taken directly from NHS Change Day website:

NHS Change Day is a single day of collective action to demonstrate how small changes can have a big impact.

On the 13 March 2013 NHS Change Day will bring together the individual creativity, energy and innovative thinking of thousands of NHS staff from across clinical and non-clinical areas of work, in a single day of collective action to improve care for patients, their families and their carers.

Change Day is an NHS grassroots initiative devised and driven by new young and emergent clinical and managerial leaders from primary and secondary care across the NHS in England, who want to make this call to action the single largest simultaneous improvement event in the NHS.

It is an ambitious programme of activities aimed at galvanising and engaging the frontline in the process of improvement through individuals and teams pledging to make a change in their practice which will improve patient experience and/or clinical outcomes by spreading and adopting best practice and championing innovation.

This will be a country wide event covering the whole of the UK and will coincide with Healthcare Innovation Expo at Excel in the same day.

The idea of NHS Change Day is to create a mass movement of people working in the NHS
demonstrating the difference they can make – by one simple act – and proving that large scale improvement is possible in the NHS. The aim is for 65,000 people to take part, 65 being the number of years the NHS has been in existence.

Those who wish to take part can go to the NHS Change Day website at http://www.changemodel.nhs.uk/changeday and make their pledge online, join in the discussions on the forum and become part of the growing list of active supporters and organisations taking part on the day.

You can see how proud I am of Pollyanna for coming up with such a great idea , (alongside a few of her colleagues of course)

My pledge is…to increase the resilience of our workforce by empowering them to improve their own mental health and emotional well being and achieve a better more healthy work / life balance.

I intend to do this by writing a blog for our organisation, very similar to this one but perhaps more specifically sharing the mental health parts of this blog with all the Hertfordshire Community NHS staff.

Should I just share this blog, which could perhaps act as a good role model for coping with adversity and demonstrating resilience?

Or write a more specific new blog? I am not sure as this one is quite a bit more about me rather than how I can help others.

I know some of you reading this are working in our trust so I would value your opinion in particular. Also have you made your pledge yet?

Remember you only have a few days left to deliver your pledge.

I am also considering going down to London ( yet again but not for treatment this time) to take part in the Heath Innovation Expo being put out on to celebrate the day.

I just need to find some one to go along with who is happy to perhaps drive or at least accompany a bald, bloated but enthusiastic cancer patient who is still holding on tight to her passion for work and mental health.

I think I must also ask the nurses etc at UCLH today what they know about the NHS change day and check to see of they have put their pledge in yet.

Hmm I wonder if my own team have put out their pledges, it’s hard being out of the loop. Hopefully one of them will be reading this blog and encourage the others to get their pledges in. It doesn’t have to be anything big just one thing that you are pledging to do to make a change in practice that in turn will improve our patients experience. Please let me know.

I urge you all not to just read, or necessarily believe all the bad spin stories often reported about us in the daily papers. We are, in the majority, a caring bunch of extremely dedicated people who want to keep the NHS alive and something that our whole country can feel proud of. I do however feel thst we have the private sector biting at our ankles, hungry for a piece of the action, and just perhaps offering a cheaper but not necessarily greater quality of service. In this day of financial constraints , even at the cost of reduced quality, money talks, and with new commissioning arrangements we are all having to work with a business head on. This is not necessarily something nurses have had needed to think about never mind worry about and do before.

Well it looks like I have got plenty to keep me motivated and out of mischief, so I am so pleased those cancerous cells have been taking note and dying off. They really do have no place to hide in my body. Together we are seeking them out and if one rat gets pregnant we shall be after it and its young, (sorry poor rats I didn’t mean to necessarily pick on you as my metaphor).

I am also grateful for my ten plate spinning abilities and will certainly not let the ‘Village Secrets’, ‘ Especially for You ‘ charity scarves or ‘Hinxworth Festival Birthday Charity Party’ , fall to the ground, with much family and community support they are continuing to spin well.

So just to finish off, this post is dedicated to Pollyanna.

Thank you for being the beautiful shining star you are and letting others benefit from you glorious rays of sunshine.

Your very proud mum

Deborah

X

The reluctant Grandma.

I must admit becoming a grandma was not top of my wish list and I entered the new role kicking and screaming. My years of Sunday lunch sex educational talks came shattering around my ankles one eventful Mothering Sunday in March 2011. My daughter wasn’t terribly young (22) and she was in, what could have been described, as an OK relationship (the kind young people seem to have nowadays all text and six packs?) but it just didn’t feel right, I was far too young to be a grandma! Oh, I tried to fight it and negotiate trendy names such as Mamon or Memie but my dear daughter was insistent. So whether I like it or not I am a GRANDMA! And do you know, a year on, I am secretly quite enjoying it.

I was privileged enough to be invited to participate in my grandson’s arrival, with the important and very vital role of chief supplier of energy giving Malteser’s. Witnessing Elliot’s arrival, which in my opinion, my beautiful youngest daughter made look far too easy and stress free than I remember, filled me with pride and suddenly my new acquired title faded into insignificance.

So today, a year and a bit later I am looking forward to another Grandma (and special youngest daughter) day. I am fortunate enough to have Jem living only about 15 mins drive away, so these visits can be as frequent as we all desire, but we usually manage to catch up weekly or near enough. Jem is an excellent mum and Elliot a perfect bundle of joy, who can’t help but bring laughter and happiness into a home. Never complaining about being guided away from the wood burning stove, low shelving, tippy-up coffee tables and numerous other baby hazards. We are armed with sheds full of suitable baby attire brought out upon arrival. high chair, pushchair, playpen, travel cot, toys, dogcart, walkers etc all easily put out of sight again as the home is quickly retuned back to a baby free zone. Being a Grandma is like having all the good bits of having a baby, minus most of the hard work. Jem appreciate’s the break and Grandpa and I get some quality play time.

Times have changed, so it’s sometimes hard to keep up with the latest advice and trends for baby rearing, but the good old stalwarts (is that a real word?) remain. A bath in the washing up bowl with lots of bubbles, sitting in the garden with a tray full of Rice Krispies to throw, eat squash and added to ice-cream, paint with. Washing line, kitchen utensil mobiles and saucepan drums. This baby navigates the modern world of FaceTime iPad screens as we wave goodnight from our separate locations with traditional family values and perhaps, rather antiquated entertainment solutions, with ease. My lovely daughter has succumb to the realisation that expensive brand new plastic gadgets and toys do not equate to being the yummiest mummy in town and that there is no substitute for mummy or indeed grandma and grandpa TIME. The most precious, scarce and undervalued ( in my humble opinion) resource of all.

We were lucky enough to have Jem and Elliot live with us for a few weeks, providing great learning and bonding experiences and a new found respect for each other. Ooh she rightly worries about the rusty nail on the dogcart, and that eating grass and climbing the wrong way down from the sofa may be a little hazardous but this young chap is building up resilience as he discovers the challenges of his external environment, so far with very few disastrous consequences that haven’t been easily solved with a warm wet flannel and a hidden milky bar (whoops sorry all avid blog reading health visitor colleagues).

So today will be fun, steroids should keep tiredness at bay and with good planning the wood burning Rayburn should cook an excellent family roast. With a bit of luck the weather will allow for a short country dog / baby walking stroll and you never know I think we may be privileged enough today to witness Elliot take his first steps so watch this space for breaking news.

PS. Somehow yesterday I missed out on the fact that it was World Cancer Day, however I do think my blog was most appropriate for that. To find out more please go to: http://www.worldcancerday.org/