The NHS Forth Valley staff event ‘Our Culture: Working Together to Make a Difference’ was voted a huge success by the 170 staff who attended the two events at Dunblane Hydro on 23rd and 24th June 2022.
The focus was on Compassionate Leadership and Culture and was supported by keynote speakers, Professor Michael West, a Senior Visiting Fellow at The King’s Fund and Professor of Organisational Psychology at Lancaster University, and Dr Andy Cope from the Art of Brilliance.
NHS Forth Valley Chief Executive, Cathie Cowan, opened the events by thanking staff for their resilience and the compassion shown in the care provided to our patients and each other, whilst acknowledging how exceptionally tough the last few years have been.
In her concluding remarks she reminded colleagues that “if we do not look after each other and you don’t find time to look after yourself who will look after our patients?”.
Board Chair, Janie McCusker, in her closing remarks acknowledged the fabulous atmosphere, energy and ‘buzz’ within the room on both days before thanking delegates for their “tremendous contributions in what has been unprecedented times.”
The morning session included group discussion and a call to those in the room to nurture compassion within themselves and across local health and social care services to support a healthier and happier workplace. Staff rose to that challenge and presented lots of ideas and suggestions to support a culture in NHS Forth Valley that demonstrates kindness and compassion in how we work and interact with each other.
An important message throughout and shared in the feedback was:-
“Compassion begins with you – it will be much easier to be compassionate with others if you can show yourself some compassion.”
Other feedback included:
“The speakers were fantastic.”
“There was an amazing atmosphere being able to be back in the room.”
“There was a real sense of joy.”
“I really appreciated the time out with others.”
“Thank you for a fantastic day.”
The output from the group work and evaluation will be collated into a report to help inform how staff work together to identify the barriers and enablers to support a compassionate culture that cares for the health and wellbeing of everyone.
This work is being led by NHS Forth Valley’s Organisational Development Team and there will be more information in future issues of Staff News.
