Considering the wider consequences of our actions is what unites us

Facilities and estates are key to delivering a wide range of vital activity: ensuring patient flow is continuous and patients get to their appointments on time, keeping patients’ bed spaces clean, reducing the risk of infection.

These non-clinical interventions are some of the most critical factors impacting a patient’s experience while in hospital. And they all need to be carried out by compassionate individuals who put patient care at the heart of what they do.

The reality is that things don’t always go well. Poor practice exists and poor experiences do happen. It’s always disappointing to learn a patient hasn’t got food they ordered, a bed space has not been cleaned, or a person missed an appointment due to a delay in porter transfers. A good system is one that is both efficient and responsive. With a team of people who are really committed to patient wellbeing, errors like that are much less likely to occur.

There is so much value in the ability to deliver beyond the immediate task, and to see the wider purpose of our work.

This is why the What unites us?  prize is so important to me and why I am excited to judge it. There is so much value in the ability to deliver beyond the immediate task, to see the wider purpose of our work. To provide a good patient experience, offer a high-quality healing environment, and support the NHS and government’s net zero carbon strategies.

Everyone will have different ideas based on the settings they work in or have worked in. I expect the judges will not necessarily agree. Some may want to see a bigger focus on wider issues like health inequalities and responding to NHS priorities.

But for me everything comes back to our patients, they have to be at the forefront of everything we do. That means that patience, kindness and passion are a must. How we seek these qualities out and foster them in our work is challenging. Asking what we might learn through the three questions prize will help us move forward in a positive way.

Zoey works for Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust as their Soft FM contract manager, and is on the panel of judges for ‘What Unites Us?’

Find out more and enter the What Unites Us? competition – entries close on 31 October.