Shaping our future together FAQs
On 24 March we hosted a virtual Question and Answer session for staff across Homerton Healthcare to find out more about Shaping our future, together.
Three members of the Board of Directors, Julia Simon, Dylan Jones and Catherine Pelley answered questions about Shaping our future, together.
You can watch a recording of the event and read a write up of the questions that were asked.
Questions asked at the event
1. I’m concerned about the increasing cost of living because of the impact it will have on vulnerable adults and families we work with and our staff. Is this the type of concern that The Future Together Group will be discussing during their work?
The cost of living crisis is relevant to our staff and our community and while The Future Together Group won’t be focussing on this issue specifically, it’s important for us to consider what support we can offer to residents of City and Hackney. The focus of the Future Together Group is to support colleagues to put forward their contributions to Homerton’s strategic direction over the next five years.
2. What is the time commitment of the Future Together Group? Will there be protected time to be involved?
Members of the group will be asked to dedicate one day a week to the engagement process, for 12 weeks. We are committed to try and back fill that time for you, so a range of Homerton staff can participate. If you are in a role where it’s more difficult to back fill, we’ll work with you and your manager to create a reasonable solution to ensure you are able to take part in the group.
The work of the Future Together Group isn’t in addition to your job, it is part of your normal working week. There will be development support provided at the start of the process to ensure you’ve got the right skills to undertake the engagement.
3. What is the overall aim for The Future Together Group?
The ultimate aim of The Future Together Group is to enable and empower staff who work for Homerton Healthcare, to shape the development of our new five year strategy for the trust. We want to hear from a diverse set of colleagues who represent the place we all work at, to determine what direction we all believe Homerton should go in, and how we should get there.
Members of the group will speak to staff at Homerton as well as the wider community to understand their views and ensure they are represented in the strategy development process. The outcome of the group is to produce a report of recommendations, to suggest what should be included in the five year strategy, based on the views and opinions of Homerton’s staff and communities. Once the group is established, they will work together to define exactly how they would like to engage with their colleagues and peers.
4. What is the future plan for St Leonards to ensure a better working environment for staff and to give patients better satisfaction?
We anticipate that after we have developed a strategic framework for the organisation, we will then consider operational planning for the future. Part of this planning will include a strategic review of our estates. . There is also work currently underway to examine St Leonards and develop due diligence on the building and develop a business case for the future.
5. Is there somewhere we can find details about changes in North East London so we can try and understand how this will affect Homerton in simple terms?
Not currently, but this is something we will take away and think about to ensure our staff are aware of the upcoming changes to legislation and what that will mean for us.
6. [Are there] any efforts [being made] on supporting different ethnic groups in terms of safeguarding and speaking up. Also, to appreciate the efforts of those who have worked untiringly during pandemic, despite ongoing burnout and mental stress. Any appreciation would be very helpful.
We want the Future Together Group to be as diverse as possible, to represent the wide range of views of our staff at Homerton. The selection process will involve a balance of reviewing the strength of an individual’s application and consideration of the diversity of the group to ensure there is representation of different staff groups.
Kaleidoscope Health and Care will provide a shortlist of applicants to the Homerton Design and Delivery group for selection, the shortlist will be selected based on criteria outlined in the application form. Kaleidoscope will remove your name before providing the shortlist to a panel of Homerton’s senior staff to provide anonymity for the internal recruitment. Tom Nettle, Director of People, is currently leading work around health, wellbeing and inclusion across the organisation. If you have any specific concerns, please get in touch with Tom who will be happy to have a conversation about this in more detail. You can also raise any concerns in confidence with the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian (huh-tr.ftsu@nhs.net or 07776 165 987).
7. Is there a number limit for the group?
The group will consist of 8-12 people and we aim to ensure there is a representative mix of roles, levels, departments (from both acute and community services), ethnicity, age, gender, race, disabled and differently abled staff, and religions or beliefs.
8. Can you offer assurance that the new strategy will see Equality and Diversity issues embedded into the process to ensure there is a culture change?
The ‘Shaping our future, together’ work aims to get honest feedback from all our people on the things that are important to them. Things that will not only help us support the people we care for better but will also create a better work experience for us all. This will naturally include discussions about equality, diversity, and inclusion. Looking at our values and behaviours and having conversations about how we can improve our culture will be an important part of this engagement process.
9. Will this process also cover the Trust’s clinical strategy or is that separate?
This process will create the strategic framework that sets our future direction, aims and priorities. We will then need to do more detailed thinking and planning around specific clinical services in line with that framework, also involving our partners in City and Hackney and across North East London.
10. Will the meetings be virtual or face to face?
There will be a mix of virtual and face to face engagement.
11. Backfilling staff is a challenge as there is shortage of AHP locums – staff will be more stressed as there’s no-one to cover them. Can existing staff be paid enhanced bank rates to work extra hours in order to free people up?
We want to ensure that the group is as diverse as possible and representative of the Trust as a whole, and would not want these concerns to discourage any individual from applying to be part of the group. We will work with service leads to look at the ways in which people selected to be part of the Future Together Group can be supported to participate in the group, while being pragmatic to the pressures of individual services.