NHS Providers Chief Executive praises Trust’s progress and leadership

10 May 2019

The Chief Executive of the organisation which represents hundreds of NHS Trusts has praised Shropshire’s acute hospitals for their leadership, progress and ‘desire to learn and improve’.

Chris Hopson, Chief Executive of NHS Providers, made his comments after a visit to the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.

NHS Providers, is an association of NHS trusts which represents every variety of trust, from large acute and specialist hospitals, through to community, ambulance and mental health trusts.

Chris visited wards and departments including Maternity, Postnatal, Estates, Cardiology and Respiratory at PRH, which is run by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH).

He said: “It was great to see the passion and enthusiasm of the next generation of leaders for continuous improvement and improvement methodology.

“It was great to see the Chief Executive and talk to the wider Board. There is strong and purposeful leadership to address a significant range of challenges, strongly focussed on providing a continuously improving service to local people.”

In Maternity, Chris met Jill Whitaker, Matron for Consultant Unit Maternity Services, who showed improvements including information boards which are used to share a lot of key data in an efficient manner during daily team ‘huddles’.

Chris said: “I was very impressed with the thoughtfulness, desire to learn and improve, and patient and safety focus of senior and maternity service leaders, given past issues affecting maternity services. There is a strong commitment to providing an outstanding service for local women.”

Chris also praised the Postnatal Ward, which was awarded SaTH’s first Diamond Exemplar Award, for “continually improving the quality of the service they provide with a strong emphasis on ensuring patient safety”.

He also visited the Cardiac Ambulatory Unit at PRH.

He said: “This is a good way to increase patient flow, improve discharge rates and provide care better tailored to patient needs.”

In Estates, Chris was shown how SaTH is using Lean methodology through its partnership with the Virginia Mason Institute in Seattle, to improve efficacy and reduce waste.

He also praised the use of SaTH’s Values In Practice (VIP) Awards.

He said: “I was struck by how effective the use of staff awards schemes is. This helps recognise excellence, but also flags to rest of organisation where to find best practice.”

Following his visit, he added: “Yet again, I have been incredibly struck by how reliant the NHS is on the brilliance, commitment, professionalism, resourcefulness, resilience and skill of its frontline leaders, from Ward Managers and Matrons to Corporate Service and business managers. They are often unsung heroes and heroines.”