It’s all about education…
After last week’s write-up about the NHS FOI workshop we ran, the outstanding task was to basically decide… what next?
Often when I run workshops, there is a lot of energy upfront and on the day. The follow-up is often where there is a bit of a drop in terms of energy. Both from myself and others.
So, that being said I’m very conscious to make sure there is a clear next step for this piece of work.
The ideas we came up with in the session weren’t detail heavy but there were some clear themes which mean we can make some decisions about what to do next.
Using the results to inform a future education strategy
One of the ideas which three of us came up with independently and had many dot votes was to use the results in our education work.
This is still a nascent idea, but Sarah (our Deputy Director of Services) wants to develop an education and training strategy so that we can upskill healthcare staff about advance decisions and similar topics.
We have done training in the past, but not in any significant capacity - so it’ll be interesting to see where we land with this especially as we’re now a larger organisation with 3 clinical staff members.
It’s early stage at the moment, so we’re scoping out potential CPD accreditation and need to do a market assessment of what’s currently out there. There was a clear suggestion though, that the results from this FOI can form a core part of how we approach education and training.
Sarah is mulling taking a regional approach and what these NHS policies give us are an ability to get a head start in understanding what is already in place in any given area and to focus our training offer on what is going to work in that hospital or NHS Trust.
Developing a relationship with some NHS Trusts
The most voted idea was to pick 5 NHS Trusts to develop a relationship with. The thinking is that we pick a small number, and try to influence and convene the group for some follow-up work. That could take the form of panel discussions, closed-shop meetings and encouraging knowledge sharing between Trusts.
I really liked this idea (disclaimer it was mine) because it’s realistic (picking a small number) and it allows for some serendipity. It’s one of those professional situations in which there’s a bit of gut instinct at play, you never quite know what’ll happen but deep down expect and hope that by bringing certain people together things might happen.
The other reason is actually pretty basic… by its nature a freedom of information request is quite transactional and almost adversarial in its nature. You (the requester) are availing yourself of the FOI law to request (almost by force) information that a public body must provide (meaning extra work and stress I’m sure). You hope you’ll get some good stuff out of it of course - but it’s not exactly a ‘relationship’ with any prospects. So, by reaching out to the NHS Trust and trying to develop that relationship it adds context behind the policy, it changes the dynamic to one which is more friendly and collegiate. We’re not demanding information… we’d just like to know a little bit more about why things are a certain way… and maybe we could even help?
The last reason I like it is that it fits nicely into Sarah’s idea above. By taking a regional approach to education and training - almost by definition we’ll have to work closely with an NHS Trust. So we’ll be forced into reaching out - and the FOI policy we likely have from whichever Trust we choose to work with gives us the perfect hook to anchor our training on.
A clear signal for blogging!
One of the things I was pleased to see from several people was an appreciation and recognition that we need to talk openly about the work.
I was pleased because recognising why we need to work in the open is part of the battle of good agile comms.
It’s also great timing because I’ve managed to get budget for a training workshop from Giles to help us figure out the how of open working.
Hopefully, by the time we’re ready to move on some of the work above - my colleagues and I will be raring to write with a new energy and some tips of how to channel that energy.
Next step - getting alignment and making the decision
A key next step is to see if everyone thinks using the results for our education strategy makes sense - in terms of impact, but also in terms of effort.
There will be a few differing views about how to best spend our time and efforts next year, and assessing this piece of work against other priorities will be interesting.