1 July 2023
Happy Half Year!
Yes, I’m sorry to tell you that we’ve Summer Solstice and the longest day, its now a rush downhill to Christmas, Excellent!
Well, June was busy!
The event on the 6th of June with BodySwaps and Re:Course was amazing, my thanks to everyone who was involved! It was very well attended (approx. 60 over the day), excellent feedback and I cannot thank our hosts at the Holiday Inn Rotherham enough, they were fabulous! We had huge reservations about whether all the streaming on laptops and headsets we’d planned would be too much for the hotel’s Wi-Fi, bearing in mind they had restaurant and hotel guests there too! They were really great with us; they even went to the rooms checking the strength of the signal and added boosters for us especially! With this and the attentive nature of their staff I’m not sure they could have done any more than they did that day. Thank you!
All sessions were facilitated by each provider and were brilliant and we did have one of the afternoon’s Re:Course educational part delivered by our own Alan Shirley so that was great! We had lots of positive comments like “Wow!” and “When can we use this?” so I now need to work out how we would use it, in what setting, with which audience and who from the team would facilitate the sessions! All of these factors then help me work out the costs of adopting the software.
Here are some pics of the day (below).
Work has begun on the promotional video with drone footage of the building and area being done this weekend and interviews booked in of peers for their opinions. Of course, with the arrival on 30th June of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan I can now look to see how much more evidence and need there is for a facility such as this! On first scan reading… I am more convinced than ever that we need the Primary Care Innovation Centre!
I’m collecting the costs of staff, equipment, rent, maintenance, consumables, software licences etc etc etc to see who much I believe we would need to set up, open and run the Innovation Centre…. There’s a lot to consider, I hope that I don’t massively underestimate what’s required!
I heard yesterday at the Northern Powerhouse Education, Employment and Skills Summit (hosted by Sheffield Hallam University) that we must reframe the suggestion to the Whitehall decision makers that this is not an increase in spend that’s required, actually that this is an investment to create the confident, competent and relevant workforce that we need.
An investment leads to return and if that investment is in the right place, then the return will be plentiful. I believe that. I believe that true quality and sustained investment into the workforce of wider Primary Care will return huge dividends for our population!
The concept that actually you don’t necessarily need to go to University to get the career you want has been talked about for a while, with the increase in popularity of apprenticeships and T Levels etc. but the promise now from the Government about an increased provision in those and the ability for Businesses to plan what they need and to get involved in the shaping of those apprenticeships, affords more people the ability to do that.
I’m very happy to say that the Workforce & Training Hub have been working with Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam for a long time now to create the courses we need for Primary Care, so we as a business are affecting change on behalf of General Practice as least. Long may that continue.
The requirement for place-based spending decisions based on what the place determines it needs to succeed makes so much sense, and we can offer a solution that just needs to be invested in to fulfil its potential. There’s so much work going on right now developing digital solutions across the board to help South Yorkshire get somewhere near where it needs to be and so much good will to get it there. I just need to get that across to potential investors, NHS England, our Integrated Care Board (ICB) and the Mayoral office now.
Trust me, I’m a Project Manager… I can do this!
Wish me luck!
Happy Holidays if you’re lucky enough to have one.
Liz
