Lessons for leaders

Hundreds of the country’s most senior nurses are convening in Birmingham this month for the chief nursing officer (CNO) for England’s summit 2015.

Over the two-day event, nurse leaders who are responsible for providing or commissioning services will hear from a range of eminent speakers on the central theme of leading change and creating value.

For many of those invited, the summit represents a chance to catch up with what’s been going on over the past 12 months, exchange stories of what has and has not worked well, and compare notes about how best to meet the challenges of leading one of the greatest healthcare workforces in the world.

We feature one such story in this month’s Nursing Management. It is a personal account by acting chief nurse at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust Pauleen Pratt about pulling her organisation out of special measures imposed by the Care Quality Commission.

‘The summit is a chance to compare notes on meeting the challenges of leading one of the greatest healthcare workforces in the world’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poor governance, poor systems and poor care were among the allegations laid against the trust, she says, as well as criticism ‘for the gap between the senior team and the front line staff’. Sounds familiar?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In our article, Ms Pratt makes a series of recommendations about, for example, agreeing priorities, sticking to agreed milestones and allowing staff to be honest. As she concludes: ‘We did not want to know that it was all right; we wanted to know how it really was so that we could plan improvement.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think her narrative offers lessons for leaders at all levels of healthcare provision, not just the most senior staff who are attending this month’s summit. So, whether you have an invite to the Hilton Birmingham Metropole or not, why not see if there is anything from Ms Pratt’s account that you can adopt and adapt for your care setting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For details of the CNO summit, go to www.england.nhs.uk/cnosummit