CEO blog: Summer 2023

Welcome to our latest CEO blog!

We are now halfway through 2023, and the months seem to be flying by - our organisation continues to move forward, with our team continuing to go above and beyond for our patients - who remain at the heart of everything we do.

Organisational Growth and Development

Shropdoc, as an organisation, has seen significant development and growth in 2023, and this is set to continue as we head through the remainder of the year.

Presteigne Medical Centre

I was delighted to welcome the staff at Presteigne Medical Centre into the Shropdoc family at the beginning of July as we began providing primary medical services for their patients.

This venture is a natural fit for our organisation, as we share a common commitment to providing high-quality, accessible healthcare to everyone in our community. 

All of the Presteigne team bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise and will, importantly, continue to provide stability and access to primary care for our patients in Presteigne and surrounding areas.

Salus 

Within Wales, there is currently a project to replace the 111 services and to move from Adastra to Salus from Capita.  This project, which is due to go live in mid-November, is a significant change for Shropdoc and how we access the information to provide services for our Welsh patients.  

Starting from the beginning of August, a group of staff will be trained on how to use the system, and then, in turn, they will be training others in how to use both Salus and the Aremote replacement, TotalMobile.  

IT Modernisation phase 2 

As you may have seen in my previous blogs, we are working with a company called EBC to help us modernise our server estate.  They will soon be working with us to move our servers out of Longbow and into their data centres in Birmingham.  

Along with this will be new data links that will give us increased capacity and resilience to help us take forward our systems. Due to the timescales of ordering new data links, this project is looking to be completed towards the end of the year. 

UHUK CEO Workshop

I was extremely pleased to be able to attend the 2023 UHUK CEO workshop in June. The event looks to ensure CEOs across the country continually refine their leadership acumen and keep up with the latest trends to drive growth and navigate challenges successfully.

I found it hugely beneficial and am very much looking forward to applying many of the issues discussed within Shropdoc in the coming months.

Employee Engagement

Staff Forum Outcomes

The quarterly Staff Forum meetings here at Shropdoc provide a fantastic opportunity for all staff voices to be heard through their departmental Staff Forum representative.  This is one of the many ways that Shropdoc proactively listens and takes action, where appropriate, to the suggestions from our valued teams to ensure we continue to improve our services to patients and to our colleagues. 

Some examples of what our Staff Forum representatives have recently achieved based on suggestions include the establishment of a system where staff can obtain a parking permit for free parking for staff who work at SaTH bases, the creation of a clarification document around bank holiday incentivised rates, and adapting the staff induction days to include a site visit, benefits package details and a buddy and integration plan for the first few weeks of employment.

Working with our teams to improve systems across the board, to benefit both staff and patients, has proved hugely beneficial, and I look forward to seeing the future outcomes of the staff forum.

Launch of Employee Engagement Survey

Engaging with our workforce is a priority for us here at Shropdoc, and as part of that, we are currently producing a Values-based Employee Survey to ensure staff are utilising the current benefits on offer and to consult with them about where we can do better in any areas of engagement. The survey will launch this month.

Community 

It has been amazing to see the level of community activity over the past three months and to see what is in store for our community engagement as we head through 2023.

Summer Celebration

Not even a few showers could spoil the Shropdoc Summer Celebration held at the Shrewsbury Food Festival on June 25th. It was fantastic to see so many of our team come together for a family day of food, drink and festivities.

A huge thank you goes out to those who were working - we thank them for their commitment to our organisation and its patients and hope they enjoyed the gifts put together for them.

Shropdoc takes to the river for charity