Tag: rota

nhs, Uncategorized

Here comes the sun

clcopeland

When I started writing this blog a couple of weeks ago there had just been the GMC ruling over Dr Bawa-Garba.  Not surprisingly it sent shockwaves through the medical profession.  One of the main issues was around rota gaps and trainees being stretched even further in order to cover them.

As I’ve mentioned before I am the Forth Valley medical rota lead.  Some refer to it as the ‘Poison Chalice’.  I roll my eyes whenever things like this are said in my presence.  Why?  Because it shouldn’t be so difficult or complicated to run a rota.

With that in mind I think it’s important to remind people that rotas are a fundamental necessity of the NHS.  A service that is about patients.  Or people.  People who are sick. People who are vulnerable. People who need people to take care of them.

This service can only operate if the doctors, or people if you will, are not over tired, stressed or lack the skills or support to do it safely.

This service of caring also requires processes to help facilitate the safe delivery of it.  Sometimes we refer to these processes as people too.  Behind every flow chart, piece of paper and email are people whose job is the smooth running of this mammoth organisation.

However in every high pressure service there can be obstructive, confusing behaviours or opportunists trying to push personal agendas.  I’m sure we’ve all experienced this at some points in our careers.

Now I can appreciate that people are apt to do to unusual things when they are under pressure.  I can also accept that some lack the insight or self awareness to recognise when they do.  What I can’t accept is when it appears to be wilful.  Blaming others for their mistakes, not taking responsibility or being accountable in any way.

So how does this change?

You need formal governance around any rota work. Without it there can be no consistent management, cohesive policies, guidance, processes or decision-rights to allow the safe running of the service.

The GMC have said there should be a ‘guardian of safe training’.  Now I would love if Chris Pratt came and fixed it all but this seems far fetched.  Well is it so far fetched to have processes and people that work for the service instead of against it?  A service that strives to care for people.  Well I don’t think it is.

This week I had several conversations with those instrumental in improving it.  They were long, they were at times difficult but we made progress.  I could not be more proud or impressed with the way people showed up.  I don’t just mean physically.  I mean actual showed up and had the uncomfortable conversation from a place of honesty and willingness to change.

It’s been a long, cold, winter and I think we could all use a little respite.  So as the sun begins to creep through, I think it’s going to be alright…..

Leadership, Uncategorized

Everything is everything…

clcopeland

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….

nhs

A Change Is Gonna Come

clcopeland

This week I met up with Jenni Burton (@JenniKBurton) she’s one of the smartest people I know and I love when we get time to have a proper catch up.

Predictably as two medics we got to talking about all things work related. In particular education, training and rotas

I’d been involved in meetings this week about how the medical rota was running.  It’s no secret that we’ve had problems and I’d come on board in recent months to help.

Managing a rota can be a bit of a poison chalice to be honest.  There’s a constant tension in trying to deliver both training and service so it can seem that no one is ever happy!

Of course what doesn’t help is some people going down memory lane and thus any discussion turns into the Four Yorkshireman, Monty Python sketch.

‘You were lucky to work 100 hours a week,  we used to work a 100 hours a DAY!’ 

I think that with any rota it’s important to acknowledge that in many ways things have got better.  However we are working in a different culture.  One where the focus seems to be on the training experience and less about the work itself. I don’t think the balance is quite right.

So I think we need to be honest about what we can and can’t deliver training wise while trying to maintain a proper service.

It occurred to me as we were talking that while I spend a lot of time ‘clarifying understanding and expectation’ with my patients and their relatives, I don’t always extend that to our junior medical staff.  What I mean by that is clearly defining expectations and explain some of the decision making process.

As an organisation we need to be up front about saying there are two choices:

1. The best training experience you will get is not through going on umpteen courses, it is by being at work.  Going on ward rounds, getting to clinic, talking to relatives, running the acute take etc. This is enhanced by continuity i.e. keeping you on the same ward most of the time. In order to deliver that it is going to mean compromise.  In this case fixed annual leave, less study leave and few swaps.

Or you can have this experience:

2. You get to go to all your study leave, have your holidays when you want but the overall team will be spread extremely thin.  The compromise here is you accept that you will be moved around a lot to cover gaps.  You may even have to do more on calls.

You cannot have both.

There is a service to run and sick patients who need doctors of every grade to look after them.  There’s also the fact that you also get paid for this and quite well, relatively speaking. That in itself comes with professional T&Cs that come with taking on this job.

It’s not just Forth Valley that haven’t got the rota quite right yet. I do think we need to try different things and see what works.  Jenni was telling me that when she worked in Leicester they offered exit interviews for trainees.  I think this is a great idea and much better then the trainee surveys (they always seem slightly out of date and skewed depending on the number of replies).

Potentially real time change could be achieved by allowing trainees to shape and deliver their training while keeping it in line with local needs.

What we don’t need is a talking shop where we are seen to be engaging with trainees but won’t follow through with the difficult conversations or decisions.  Of course none of this should be done in isolation.  It is as important to have these discussions with Consultant and Nursing colleagues.  I don’t really think we have really acknowledged that their role is also changing as we have more gaps/less trainees.

I do believe we will ultimately get this right. It may be a long time coming but I do believe a change is going to come…