Everything is everything…

So I’ve been a bit quiet of late on the blog front.  My head has been rammed with all things work related specifically the medical rota.

I don’t think it’s any secret that things had not been going as well as we’d hoped. We had (and still do have) significant staff shortages. It was becoming a total nightmare trying to balance training, education and service delivery.

It all came to a head a couple months ago and what followed were some uncomfortable but honest conversations.

I took over the day to day running of it.  First up was trying to get clarity over what needed doing first. I set about distilling it into short, medium and long term goals.  That was the easy part however I had forgotten to factor in one thing:

It turns out some people do not want problems fixed.

Yes, it’s true!

This is not a new phenomena either – think about all the projects you’ve tried to get off the ground or change you’ve tried to implement and you’ll know it’s true.

Now of course the trainees wanted it fixed as did some other like minded folk but very few other people did.

To start with it confused me. Perhaps naively I hadn’t appreciated just how many people merely talk a good game.  You can usually recognise them by their passionate agreement with everything and anything followed by doing nothing.

Then you have the people who are downright obstructive either in their behaviour or use of bureaucratic process.  This makes me angry.

At the point where traditionally I say ‘stuff it, I’m off’ I chose to dig my heels in and work harder.

It has made me hugely unpopular at times and probably damaged a lot of my working relationships with colleagues.  However things could not continue on a downward spiral.

To that end I have taken a rather detached but objective view on things. There have been some overwhelmingly positive things to come out of the work so far. Some of which I truly believe have the all the hallmarks of culture change.

There are some who have really stepped up and are effecting this much needed change.  Having the trainees involved in the rota management has been key.  We meet every week to work thorough the issues. The process is still being refined but it is starting to become more slick.

One of our early success stories is the WhatsApp group to help share information and deal with urgent issues in real time.

I also send a weekly rota update to my Consultant colleagues and the wider trainee group.

There is even representation from the management team at our rota meetings.

I know there are those who continue to be unhappy about the perceived lack of progress.  There will also be those who use the rota to push their own agendas, blaming everything on it.  Some are simply furious for all their perceived loss of power and control.

Personally I can see a glimmer of light creeping in through the thorny trees of a dark wood. It is also now that I can allow myself some breathing space to pause and reflect on where we are and where we need to go next.

The path is becoming clearer. It is one where everyone is now much better equipped with information and support.

We just need to keep going, forging new paths before we ultimately reach our destination….