Welcome to the September edition of CNTW’s Membership e-Newsletter
Farewell Message from Ken Jarrold, outgoing Chair of the Council of Governors and Board of Directors
The 30th of September will be my last day at CNTW and my last day working with and for the NHS. My first day was the 14th of September 1969 when I joined the NHS as a National Administrative Trainee. My first contact with what is now CNTW was in September 1970 when I was invited to apply for the role of Nursing Assistant [Nursing Education] for the Briggs Committee on Nursing. Vince Gorman from Northgate had been appointed to the Committee as the only Nurse with experience of Learning Disability in the UK. In 2006, soon after I retired from full time work as a Chief Executive, Mark Spybey invited me to give talks on Leadership and Management and current affairs at NTW Workshops. I did that until 2020. In 2017 the Council of Governors did me the great honour of appointing me as their Chair and as Chair of the Board of Directors.
It is a great sadness to me that I will be leaving the NHS in the worst condition in its history. As a citizen, I will be doing what I can to make sure that what has happened since 2010, never happens again. For all its faults and challenges the NHS remains a shining example of humanity in action, of the belief of a society that all people should be entitled to health care regardless of their circumstances. That is a principle worth fighting for.
It is also a great sadness to me that CNTW is in more difficulty than when I joined it in 2018. I have done my best to face up to the challenges we are facing and to be honest about our situation. Waiting Lists, particularly for Children and Young People and for people of all ages with Neurodiversity and some other specialist services, are much too long, our Community Teams and Wards are under great pressure, we are not always providing the care and treatment we know is needed and that we have the skills and experience to provide, we have faced great difficulties with recruitment and retention and rely too much on Agency staff, we are facing the greatest financial challenge we have ever faced.
Despite all these challenges, CNTW is the best organisation I have ever served, and I am profoundly grateful and honoured that I have been one of you. When I became Chair, I spent time understanding why CNTW was special. I said in an article in the Bulletin that it seemed to me that there were ten things that made NTW special. My experience in the last 5 and a half years has reinforced my view. The ten things are:
- No complacency. Although people are very glad that CNTW has been rated “Outstanding” by the Care Quality Commission twice they know from complaints, and from the staff survey, that we don’t always get things right and that we do our best to learn from what goes wrong.
- Values are lived – service users and carers are at the centre of all we do and staff are supported and developed.
- There is a powerful circle of experience – high calibre and long serving staff and the respect and trust that exists between them – supported by a vast array of opportunities for training and education.
- Curiosity and Innovation – there is a strong desire to do better, to learn from the best to develop and adopt best practice. An example of this is our Innovations Team which has helped other Trusts.
- Research and Development – a long history of distinguished people including the founding Professor of Psychiatry, Alexander Kennedy, and the second Professor, and First President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists – Martin Roth.
- Generations of distinguished clinical and managerial leaders.
- Many outstanding leaders and managers at all levels and in all occupations and professions.
- Information and IT- amongst the best in the NHS.
- Excellent support services and estates services imbued with NHS values.
- Excellent internal communications including regular bulletins.
I know that you will do your best to live the values set out in ‘With you in mind’ and our commitments to service users, families, and carers, each other, and our partners and communities. I know that you will look after yourselves and each other.
I dedicated my book, “Other People’s Shoes”, to my first boss, Jack Newton. By the time I stopped working with him in 1974, I had learned the things that I have tried to live by:
Service Users and Carers first, last and always. Keep them in your minds and in your hearts.
We all have an important part to play, however, the most important people are the front-line colleagues who work directly with service users including the Support Workers on whom we rely so heavily.
The Board and Managers are here to serve their colleagues. They are servants first.
No bullying or harassment of any kind. What matters is who you are, what you do, what you say and how you behave towards others.
I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life in our new home in Ryton and to being a member of CNTW. I look forward to attending the Annual Members Meeting and to asking challenging questions!
I will hold you all in the light.
Ken
Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) is pleased to announce that Darren Best has been appointed as the Trust’s new chair.
World Suicide Prevention Day was established in 2003 in conjunction with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and is a significant advocacy and communication-based event aimed at reaching national organisations, governments and the general public, giving a singular message that suicide can be prevented.
At 8pm on the 10th of September 2023 in Barrow, Carlisle, Kendal, Maryport, Penrith and Whitehaven.
Local housebuilder, Barratt Developments North East has donated an amazing £1,500 to the SHINE Fund as part of the NHS 75th Anniversary this year. As part of this commemoration, and to highlight the site’s history as the former Walkergate Hospital, a vibrant NHS rainbow road crossing has been created at Sycamore Grove, honouring the invaluable contributions of healthcare professionals and acknowledging their unwavering dedication.
