It was an absolute pleasure to join colleagues from across NCG at the two recent Quality Days organised by Karen Lewis and Mike Cleasby which focused on preparing for inspections.
I hope those who attended the days in Stoke, Reading and the earlier events held, found them as useful and informative as I did and that they gave everybody not only some insight into preparing for an inspection but also a sense of the importance given to quality across NCG.
For those not present, I thought it would be useful just to set out some of the thoughts I shared at the days.
I made it clear that our focus on quality goes far beyond our level of compliance with external regulators – it is more important to the individuals we support that they should be able to expect person centred support that is safe, effective, caring and responsive and that this is supported by good leadership and sustained by good use of resources.
Also emphasised was that whilst we have some great services across NCG, we know that in some areas we have more to do to be able to evidence that we are providing the support individuals deserve.
I was really impressed by the commitment and determination of the people attending the days which is often reflected when myself and colleagues visit services. That said I asked everyone to do the following:
- Share, understand and own the NCG vision, mission, and live our values every day – make sure that it comes to life daily
- Keep evidence of the amazing work that is done but go further to improve and challenge practice
- Don’t assume everyone knows what you and your team do – be prepared to push and be proud
- Involve the individuals you support – let’s start talking about caring about the individuals we support rather than just focusing of caring for them
- Motivate and enthuse your staff – look after them and make sure they are engaged
- Use the resources and support available to you locally and via NCG – keep yourself up to date – apply what you learn and keep great evidence
This includes reading up on all editions of our #QualityMatters memo.
More days to bring colleagues together from across NCG are planned as we know from the feedback that we have had, that taking time to share experiences from across the country was useful.
Whilst writing, could I take this opportunity to encourage you all to think about nominations for the NCG Annual Awards 2019 – there are some great people across our organisation doing amazing things – we really want to acknowledge and celebrate what they do!
https://ncgintranet.com/ncg-annual-awards/
Many thanks as always to you all for your hard work and commitment, please do not underestimate the massive impact you are having on the lives of the individuals you support.