May I, first, genuflect before whichever luckless soul it was, who’s spent hours drafting and re-drafting, to get the 20 pages into… well…
… a masterpiece of management speak;
‘Improvement’ has 36 mentions.
Quality 13,
workforce 19 and
objectives, 21.
Diagnostics, maternity, MH, inequalities and autism…
... and mercifully shorter that the usual 40 pages and dumped some stuff we know no one can do.
Artificial Intelligence, which does not yet exist and machine learning, that does but overcoming cost and data issues, makes it next to impossible… get a mention.
Whistle-blowing is left out. Volunteers don’t get a mention.
If you are a volunteer, on behalf of the NHS, thank you.
Procurement gets the traditional, ‘we want to buy more stuff, cheaper’… mention. As Trusts are independent legal entities and can buy what they like, where they like, often local and cheaper… it might be a waste of a paragraph.
And... around a hundred 'key objectives', 'priorities' and 'recovery objectives'.
A word to the wise...
... if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.
... if objectives are multiple it inevitably means they will be multitasked, which slows people down, fogs clarity, damages quality and cascades confusion.
Never mind 20 pages, this could have been written in 19 words;
‘We know it’s been tough but we want everything you are already doing, done better and quicker. Thank you.’
To be honest, I had to check I was reading this year’s version. It could have been any, in the last ten.
There’s no mention of a strike.
There’s a reference to ‘Investing in Workforce’ (page 17), 21 lines.
‘Retention’ gets three mentions, the principle of which is;
'Improved staff experience and retention through systematic focus on all elements of the… People Promise… implementation of the Growing Occupational Health Strategy… improving attendance toolkit and Stay and Thrive Programme.’
Don't ask me... dunno.
Does it mean flexible rota, crèche, free travel to work, free parking, student-debt forgiveness, subsidised hot meals 24/7, free training opportunities and the like.
I don’t think so.
There is an ominous threat of ‘increased productivity… by introducing new roles’. We can’t fill the roles we got… so, forget it.
The upcoming Hewitt report into ICBs? Not mentioned. I hope it doesn’t conflict with the Plan's entreaty, something about;
‘... empowering local leaders to make the best decisions for their local populations’… blah.
Who is this document is for?
Convince Bully-Boy that everyone’s busy?
Or, tempt Silly-Boy Streeting to pick out a cheap headline for the tabloids… ‘Labour would do much more, for less.’
More than a million people, delivering the day job, will be oblivious. This document will be as well read, by them, as a white-van-man’s Highway Code.
It’s called employee engagement and the NHS is, mostly, hopeless at it and the UK generally very poor.
Managers, trying to keep services going through strikes, staff shortages and rocketing sickness… there’s nothing to help them.
Strikes will roll-on, waiting lists snake around the block, staffing crisis deepens.
Page 4, 5th paragraph;
‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan… government… committed to… publication next spring.’
I hardly dare mention; is there anyone at 39 Victoria Street that doesn’t know, it’s already written but the Treasury won’t publish.
And…
… when Bully-Boy and the Unions come to their inevitable love-in, the beaten-up, wreck of the NHS will still come out for the next round. They’ll dig deep, they’ll have to.
What keeps everyone going? Not the planning guidance.
The NHS… we know what it is and what the pages of the planning guidance are trying to make it... but...
... this is not the time. Now is the time to think about, not what things are but what they mean.
The stories that give meaning and tell us how the NHS works, how it touches people’s lives and the importance of it.
I want a planing document that tells me stories and encourages and motivates me to plan and be part of the stories. To tell my own stories.
I don’t want digital gobbledegook.
I want to know why it is that Uber can tell me where my taxi is, but the NHS can’t tell me where my ambulance is.
I want to know why, when we book a hotel for next summer’s hol’s, they'll keep emailing us with updates but the hospital we’re on a waiting list for, ignore us.
I want to know why and how the ChEx with the best staff retention record does it.
I want a know why we don't have a weekly analysis of exit interviews, to look for common themes.
I want a document that realises you can’t ‘half-buy-in’ to the NHS and...
... the people who are left, doing heroics everyday, are the people who have totally bought in, are committed and the people we can put our faith in, to do the best they can.
I want priorities and planning guidance that just says…
>> I'm hearing - leaked info from HMG's submission to the next round of the Pay Review Body for nurses wants no more than 2%.
>> I'm hearing - Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson’s Covid inquiry defence to be funded by taxpayers.
>> I'm hearing - James Benson has been appointed as Chief Executive of Central London Community Healthcare Trust, no surprise he's been the interim.
>> I'm hearing - Ms Hewitt, doing the rounds of the ICBs, compiling a report for the Chancellor is none-too-impressed with some competencies and preparedness and is saying they need more managers and fewer administrators.
>> I'm hearing - neither Number 10, nor DH have ministerial visits planned, anywhere and certainly not to hospitals... I can't think why?
