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Hello All

The results of the survey that I sent out (re celebrating xmas) was equal between a party night and a meal then drinks……it’s a little late to organise a party night and a lot of places are already booked up!

I have been in touch with Halfway House (on the A6) and they can fit us in on Friday 29^th November or Saturday 7^th December they have a festive menu – 2 courses for £24.95 (to sit in the dining area), and a DJ for entertainment – or we can just go and be in the bar area (can’t reserve seats) and have festive drinks, bar snacks (dependent on how busy they are) and enjoy the DJ.

If you would like to attend the Christmas Celebrations at Halfway House, then please let me know as soon as possible, please reply with preferred date and either festive meal or festive drinks (and I will go with the majority) then I can get it booked and pay deposits etc if need be.

This is a great place to either stay and enjoy the DJ or move on to either Preston or Chorley later on in the evening!

Don’t forget to ask your volunteers.

*Please note I have checked the hospice bookings and there are no CYP staying on either of these nights*

Kind Regards

Kirsty Yates

Admin Team Leader

Hi everyone,

As you are all aware recruitment of Registered Nurses is a key priority for us.  We held an open evening last week and will be carrying out another round of interviews in November.  We are also offering an incentive for any staff member who recommends a Nurse to Derian, you could receive a £500 bonus (subject to deductions) when you recommend someone and they commence in their role.

So get thinking if you know a great Nurse who would love to be part of Derian House and our growth plans for the future.

Thanks

Kim

Refer a nurse leaflet

An exclusive red carpet screening of ‘The Little Things’ – an emotional documentary inspired by Derian House – debuted with a special appearance by Benidorm star Steve Pemberton this weekend.

Lancashire-born Steve Pemberton, who is an Executive Producer of the film, joined 300 families and friends of the Chorley-based charity at the VIP event at Bolton Cineworld.

It was a family affair as Steve’s son Lucas Pemberton wrote the original film score for the production, which is now searching for a distributor so it can be shown to the rest of the world.

The Little Things has already received two five-star reviews, and has been nominated for ‘Best British Documentary’ at the Docuworld 2024 Film Festival.

If you haven’t yet seen the film and would like to attend a showing at Derian at the Movies, here are the three dates that you are welcome to attend (all starting at 14:00pm):

• Friday 8^th November
• Wednesday 13^th November
• Tuesday 19^th November

The film’s runtime is 98 minutes long, so please be seated for 13:55pm… there’ll be complementary popcorn and tissues provided.

If you’d like to attend one of the screenings, please drop me an email.

Good Afternoon,

Catherine has arranged for Flu and Covid Vaccinations to be available for all staff.

These will be administered by the NHS on Thursday 24 October and Wednesday 30 October in the music room.

You can have either or both vaccinations.

No need to book just turn up on either day.

Thanks,
Kim

Hi Team Derian,

With lots going on around the charity, I thought it a great time to update you on a few things….. happy reading!

1. There’s still time to book your tickets for the exclusive friends and family screening of Derian House documentary, The Little Things, taking place at Bolton Cineworld on Saturday 19^th October at 5:45pm. Some additional seats have now become available so if you have already booked but would like to add a guest this is now possible. Please email movie@derianhouse.co.uk.  We have over 200 people joining us on the night and it is going to be wonderful.

2. It’s been Hospice Care Week, and the theme of this year’s week of celebration is retail, which is very fitting seeing as our retail team has been working round the clock to get our Chorley store ready for opening after its big revamp. The Chorley store will set the standard for how we want our shops to look and feel and we can’t wait to see the finished product.

3. Our Family Engagement & Advocacy Team got a special thank you from trustees for their work in setting up this piece of the jigsaw in our offer for families. The team are currently working with families on what improvements we can make to services, access and the way we communicate with them.

4. Over in fundraising our very first fire walk event was a red hot success with “Walk This Way” raising a wonderful £13,472.64! Well done to everyone involved, and all of the staff who took part, some even in fancy dress.

5. Our annual supporter magazine, Stories & Smiles (formerly Danni’s Diary), is out now. The newsletter is jam-packed with good news and family stories from the year. You should all feel really proud of the part you had to play in making these success stories happen.

6. You may have noticed the front of the hospice has been lit up blue and pink. This is to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, which runs from 9-15 October. The idea of lighting up the hospice to remember all of our babies was first suggested by the parents of baby Iris last year and we’re really pleased to be able to carry on this important tradition. Thanks to our facilities team for their work on this.

7. We hosted a successful afternoon tea event last week to celebrate the end of the Morrison’s and Together for Short Lives Partnership. So far, the stores have raised £149,925 for Derian House, with more money still to come in.

8. Our personalised stamps for bereaved parents, launched as part of our Say my Child’s Name campaign last year will be returning in time for Christmas thanks to a generous donation by Leyland Trucks, who have paid for 100 stamps to help parents who have suffered a loss to remember their child in Christmas cards this year.

9. We had a very successful QSI meeting this week with Trustees with focus on due diligence,  governance, safety, data, performance, risk and an update on progress against our strategic plan.

• We’ve produced an article written to celebrate that we currently have all aspects of the NMC register covered which includes health visiting, learning disabilities, midwifery, children’s,  adults, mental health nursing and public health.

• Welcome to new staff who started in the last couple of weeks –

• Maria Williamson – Perinatal Midwife
• Vicky Tadman – RN
• Sam Jackson – RN
• Shannon Gaynor – RN

• Joining us in the coming weeks are Vicky Robinson as Community Team Leader and Beverley Alty, as Lottery and Individual Giving Administrator.

• Sadly, it didn’t work out for Tracey Scott who joined to lead our Finance team, and so we are now reviewing the position and will be hopefully filling the gap as soon as possible

• Recruitment remains a key priority and we have a 2^nd Open Evening for nurses this week.  We are also offering an incentive for staff who recommend nurses to Derian, look out for the leaflet and your chance to receive a £500 bonus (subject to deductions) when you recommend someone and they commence in their role.

• A massive thanks to the care team who have changed shifts and swapped days to accommodate end of life and sunflower admissions and potential admissions recently, we wouldn’t be able to offer this element of care consistently without your flexibility.

• Bridget and Kim are currently sorting the details for our flu jabs, more details as these are offered.

• And finally, I’m pleased to share that Kim has decided not to leave Derian, and therefore the hunt for a new HR Director is no longer required.

Have a great week everyone

The 16^th October is Restart a Heart Day in the UK. Did you know that less than one in 10 people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest? By learning CPR and feeling confident to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), you can give someone their best chance of survival.

The Education Team at Derian House are inviting you to learn CPR in the clinical skills lab between 9am-1pm today.

We can also show you how to use an Epipen and tell you how to spot the signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis and how to use an AED.

If you want to book in a time slot please email us or call 01257 233300 ext 230

For more information about Restart a Heart day visit resus.org.uk/rsah

Good Evening,

Following recent incidents around the country, it is now more important than ever that we know who is on our site at all times.  Therefore, with immediate effect, ALL visitors to Derian House must sign in on arrival and sign out when they leave.  Not only is this for security reasons, but also should an emergency situation arise and we have to evacuate the building then we will be able to conduct an accurate roll call.

I do understand it may be upsetting for families attending the Sunflower Room, but it is also for their safety that they sign-in on arrival, and must follow the procedures we have in place.  Additionally, any parents/carers collecting one of our children or young people from respite or day care must also sign-in.

I am aware some staff members who see parents/carers in reception, will say “come with me” or “it’s ok they don’t need to sign-in as they are with me”.  This is not acceptable and must no longer happen, visitors must always sign-in.

In an effort to make visitor sign-in easier, I am going to look into the possibility of being able to pre-book visitors on the system.  This would enable you to inform reception if you are aware of visitors attending site and they could be pre-booked which would make signing-in an easier and quicker process.

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation in ensuring we keep Derian House a safe and secure environment for all.

Hello Team Derian, I hope that you are all well, it has been a few weeks since my last update email which shares news and info from across the charity.  There is so much great work and news, here’s a few things that I think you’d be interested to hear about. It’s a long one…grab a brew and enjoy!

• Congratulations to Rosie who has now started in her new role as Head of Integrated Care. Rosie and Bridget will be reviewing the in house and community offer over the coming months and we’ll be sure to share the outcome and plans for growth.

• Bridget has asked that we remind all staff regardless of role that all activity including home, community and hospital visits should be recorded on Care Database. This will be monitored this over the coming months particularly when reviewing the community offer.

• We’ve had a successful clinical update day with external speakers. Back to basics on mouth care and positioning to ensure pressure area care is prioritised.  We’re committed to supporting our staff to be the very best they can be, and this includes regularly remembering the basics.

• PSIRF policy is out for comment and overview was presented at away day – this is a shift to a learning culture when errors are made with Just Culture, Duty of Candour and staff support central to the framework.  Great work to date everyone that has been involved so far.

• A new Activity Heat map/Performance Dashboard is now in final draft all team KPIs and performance will be included for Directors, CEO, QSI and the Trustees  This is with me at the moment for review.

• Well done to Sue Ward on achieving Queens Nurse status, what an amazing achievement for Sue, and for Derian, we’re all really proud.

• AN open evening for more nurse recruitment is planned on 16^th October with a similar format to previously.

• Hospice activity is busy with an increased offer for end of life and Sunflower admissions, thank you to all the team who have worked extra shifts to accommodate a 7 night opening for EOL and Sunflower children, it is very much appreciated, and it is wonderful so the services growing following our reset period.

• We have 2 newly qualified Nurses joining us on Monday the 23^rd September, Sam & Shannon so will be doing their preceptorship with us.  We are fully committed to preceptorships and see this being a key part of our workforce plan.

• Perinatal Nurse Vicky, Midwife Maria and Team Leader for Community, Vicky are all  joining us in October.  Great to see us expanding the team and employing all aspects of the register.

• Internally we will be recruiting for a Team Leader to fill the gap that Rosie leaves, this could include a great development opportunity for a 6 month secondment.

• A new Individual Giving Administrator, Bev, will join us in October.  Bev’s role will support the Lottery, Raffle and Individual Giving aspects of fundraising, which we are growing.

• Thank everyone for taking part in the Employee Engagement survey, the initial results are fairly encouraging which is wonderful to see, if you didn’t have the opportunity to take part Kim has resent the link so please do… you have until the end of September!  The final results will be produced by the end of October and shared with everyone.

• Tracey Scott, our new Director of Finance and Resources has started, please do say hello.  Tracey has a lot to do, one of the key things being reviewing and improving all of our financial procedures.

• Dawn in Finance has started her Level 4 AAT qualification, which will mean study off site every Tuesday, we wish Dawn well in her development.

• Risk Management training has been completed for Middle Managers and Team Leaders on 5^th We continue to raise awareness around risk.

• Care Database – laptops now in place for remote working for staff visiting patients/families at home, hospital, etc.

• Anthony has asked me to remind everyone regarding ensuring all computer screens are locked when not in use.  In addition, I’d like to add to this a reminder about a tidy desk policy, and ensuring that any papers left on desk do not contain any personal information about anyone.

• The annual Quality Account which we compete is almost near completion, and is with me for review, This is a public facing document.

• A Trustee development session on 4 CQC Quality Standards (Safe, Caring, Effective & Responsive) is scheduled for 14^th October, following a successful session on Well Led.

• We have finalised the contract for this year (finally) with the L&SC ICB (lead contract for our children’s hospice grant across LSC, GM and C&M), and have agreements in place with Bolton and Wigan.

• We have an exciting piece of research that we are embarking on which Catherine is leading on behalf of Derian, we will share more soon.

• You’ll have noticed an increase number of visitors across the hospice, this is a key part5 of our strategy which Catherine’s new role is focussing on, the visits are being extremely well received and lots of outcomes from them, thank you everyone, especially the care tem for accommodating these.

• I have submitted a proposal to the Finance and Investment sub-committee of the board for investment across the site, including increased car park (don’t worry we are not losing the seaside garden!), installation of solar panels, a brand new Smile Park and activity Hub, and a nursing station.  This is a proposed investment of around £400k,and I’ll share with you all the outcome over the coming month.

• Our Retail portfolio is expanding, we are currently negotiating a lease on a new store – our biggest to date – on a retail park in Bamber Bridge.  This will test out a new approach for retail, and we look forward to sharing more with you.

• Most of you will already know that Kim will be leaving Derian House later this year, and therefore we are currently reviewing the role and will be advertising soon for her successor.

• And finally… the news you’ve all been waiting for… we’re just finalising the details of the cinema screen showing of the documentary “The Little Things”.  This will be in October and EVERYONE will be invited.  As soon as the details are finalised we will share them….. I can’t wait!!!!!!

If you’re still reading this (J)thank you for everything that you do at Derian, and have a great week.

K

Our Housekeeping Team, aka the Pink Ladies, are the unsung heroes of the hospice, ensuring that all of our areas are constantly spotless and sparkling! 

On Housekeeping Appreciation Week, we’d like to thank them for their hard work – without them, viruses would spread and our facilities wouldn’t be safe for the children and young people in our care 

To Nic, Mags, Lynn, Alison, Pam, and Alison – we appreciate you so much! 

Hello,

Just to make you all aware that on the 12/09/24 there is young person coming for respite with a severe peanut allergy. Please do not bring nut products into the hospice.

Thank you.

Good morning everyone,

A huge congratulations are in order for our Catering Team, who are the proud recipients of a 5* food hygiene rating after the health inspector visited us yesterday!

Well done to Jeff, Kath, Andrea and Nic – alongside their dedicated team of volunteers – for not only feeding us excellent food, but for keeping Derian House safe, clean and tidy in the process.

Our shiny new sticker is being proudly displayed on the front door leading into reception J

Hi everyone,

Over recent weeks there have been a number of occasions when I have noticed that computers have been left with their screens on and in a state of live use, i.e. the screen not locked out with information visible on screen.  Where I have seen this, I have closed the lid on computers and/or locked the screen immediately.

Can I remind you that leaving information on screen and unattended is a potential breach of General Data Protection Regulation principles and guidelines, and could lead to sensitive information being accessible to anyone.

As Data Protection Officer, I will now be formally monitoring this situation to ensure screens are not left unlocked and unattended.  Staff will therefore be challenged to ensure we all follow information governance policies and procedures.

It is the responsibility of us all to protect the information we hold.

Many thanks,

Anthony.

Hello Team Derian, I hope that you are all well.

It’s been a while since I sent a staff update email, so I thought I’d share some brief information with you all:

1. Cost of Living Increase: You will recall the Trustees approved a cost of living increase in April of 3%.  Since then we have been following the public sector pay award decisions, and can now confirm that following a request to the Trustees we will be increasing that 3% award to 5.5%, matching the NHS pay award for this year.  This is great news, however not everyone will be eligible, you’ll need to have been in employment at Derian on the 1^st April this year at the time the cost of living increase was awarded.  The additional 2.5% will be backdated to the 1^st April and you will receive this in your August salary.  You will also recall that we became a Real Living Wage employer in April also, and many staff had an uplift in hourly rate to match the RLW rate.  Some of this uplift was greater than the cost of living increase, and therefore these employees will not receive a further increase.  If your RLW uplift is less than the 5.5% then you will receive some uplift to match the 5.5%.  Apologies if this sounds confusing – please check with HR for any queries you may have.

2. Recruitment: We have been extremely busy with recruitment across both the care and non-care  areas of the charity.  New roles appointed to include a Perinatal Nurse (Vicky), Midwife (Maria), Community Team Leader (Victoria) and our new Head of Integrated Care, who I am delighted to say is our very own Rosie Thomas.  We have also appointed  new Finance Director (Tracy) who will join in September.  We are still very actively recruiting Nurses to continue to build the team.  Other roles across the charity will be advertised also.

3. All Staff Away Day: Given the amount of new staff joining Team Derian we have decided to postpone the away day until the majority of posts are recruited to and new staff have joined us, we thought this made sense.  A new date will come out soon.

4. CQC Awareness: Anthony and Catherine have carried out a workshop for Trustee and the GPs to remind them of their responsibilities within the CQC framework, this was very well received and we plan to provide them with more knowledge around CQC compliance.

5. Visits: We’re now putting Derian back on the map in terms of our external positioning and reputation building, and so you’ll see many visitors over the coming weeks and months as we re-build our profile.  Many of the Chief Nurses across the health system will be visiting along with many other colleagues as we build partnerships and collaborations.  Catherine is leading this piece of work.

6. Income Generation: We are developing an Income Generation strategy across four key areas of our financial modelling, as we aim to raise more funds over the coming years to help support the growth in our hospice services.  We’re focussing particularly on our fundraising plan, and Emma our new Fundraising Manager will be key in developing this, also our Retail growth plan, and two new areas of fundraising for Derian, Major Donor fundraising and developing our strategy for Legacies.  We’ll share more about all of this over the coming months.

That’s about it for now

Rather than a weekly email which can be difficult to commit to and often there isn’t much to share, going forward I’ll email fortnightly if there is anything to update staff with.

Have a great day/week everyone…

Hello All

The Amazon account has been changed to a ‘business Amazon account’ – going forward all orders will be processed via the Admin team, please continue with your usual process of having the PO signed off and pass to Paula or Kirsty to order – please send a link for the items to be ordered by clicking on the following symbol and email it to admin@derianhouse.co.uk

Please note we will trial this way of ordering and review it in time to see how well it works – items will only be ordered if we have the approved purchase order – thanks all, any queries please ask Kirsty Yates.

Looks like PaperCut have changed the way scanning works on the printers.

Process is now…

1. Scan your card OR log in to the scanner
2. Push “Scan”
3. The scanner should automatically fill in your email address, subject and file name.
4. Push settings to change 2 sided, paper size etc. if you wish.
5. Push “Start”
6. The scanner will automatically start scanning and show “1” under Number of Originals.
7. Push “Finish” and then “Start”
8. Push “Send”

Seems to be a few more steps than necessary, but at least it’s clearer to read than the previous method!

MONDAY 8^th

• What film will we choose to watch in the cinema this afternoon?

TUESDAY 9^th

• Derian Playgroup will be held in the Seaside Room this morning, where our babies and toddlers will be enjoying a morning of music, messy play and fun from 10:00am – 11:30am.

• Eyes down looking, it’s Prize Bingo time! Join us for one of our favourite activities in the Messy PlayZone this morning.

• After lunch, we’ll be joining Caroline (Wellbeing & Play Worker) for a session of Sensory Story Time in the House Lounge.

WEDNESDAY 10^th

• We’ll be welcoming a team from Baxi into the hospice gardens today for a corporate volunteering day.

• Music teacher Rachel will be in the Snug for an hour of singalong fun from 11:00am.

• Let’s make summertime sun catchers in the Messy PlayZone this morning… we may even do it outside in the Sensory Garden if the weather is kind to us.

• Our children and young people will be enjoying fun and splashes in the hydrotherapy pool this afternoon.

• Derian Dads will meet for their monthly session in the Seaside Room from 7:00pm – 9:30pm this evening.

THURSDAY 11^th

• It’s competition time! Who’ll come out on top as we play Boccia and Kurling in the Messy PlayZone this morning?

• Shuna and her human Linda will be visiting us for Pet Therapy fun.

• Individual and group sessions of music therapy with Martha will take place in the Snug from 2:00pm.

• We’ll be in Danni’s Diner this afternoon, baking some yummy treats to take home.

FRIDAY 12^th

• Join us in the Messy PlayZone for themed activities this morning.
• The hospice will be closed for in-house respite tonight, tomorrow (13^th) and Sunday (14^th). Please be aware that the hospice will not be open until 7:30am on these days.

SATURDAY 13^th/SUNDAY 14^th

• Please see above.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

• If you would like to share with the rest of Derian what your department is up to in the next 7 days, please send an email to murray@derianhouse.co.ukbefore Friday the week before.

Have a great week everyone! J

Hi all,

Hope you are all well. Just a quick email to remind you about our BRAND NEW event we have planned for this September, right here at the Hospice!

On Friday 20^th September from 5pm, we will be hosting a never been done before in Derian history, triple whammy event called “Walk This Way for Derian House”.

Walk This Way consists of three mind strengthening, exhilarating walks across fire, shattered glass and those pesky Lego bricks that we all dread!

The event itself will be held right here at Derian, well, over on the pony field across the way, and it could see over 300 people attending on the night. This event is suitable for all ages, families, corporates, communities, the lot!

I wanted to give Team Derian a heads up, so that some of you who may be interested can bag those places! All we ask is the you raise a minimum of £50 per person, per walk.

If you are interested in the event or would like to register/sign up, please follow the link below J

https://www.derianhouse.co.uk/events/walk-this-way-for-derian-house/

It would be great to see some DH staff at the event taking part, and also volunteering to help out on the night too (more details to follow).

If anyone has any questions please do come up and see me or pop me an email.

Looking forward to walking with you all! 🔥

Good morning, it has come to light that fleet vehicles have and are being parked within the Family and Disabled parking bays, could I just remind everyone that these bays are there for the benefit of the intended user only and should not be used for fleet vehicles at any time.

In addition to the reserved bays we are currently in the process of obtaining signage for the new Bus which is to be sited to the right-hand side of reception next to the family parking bay.

This bay is to be dedicated for the bus only at any time so please bear this in mind when parking.

Kind regards,

Richard Duckett
Facilities Coordinator

In June, we got stuck in and celebrated Children’s Hospice Week, Volunteers Week, AND Pride Month in true Derian style, we enjoyed plenty of fun outside thanks to the sun finally making an appearance, and the Derian Dynamos did us proud once again by winning the regional kurling finals! #MonthInAMinute 💚

MONDAY 1^st

• Bonjour, hi! To celebrate Canada Day, we’ll be doing themed arts and crafts in the Messy PlayZone this morning.

• What film will we choose to watch in the cinema this afternoon?

TUESDAY 2^nd

• Derian Playgroup will be held in the Seaside Room this morning, where our babies and toddlers will be enjoying a morning of music, messy play and fun from 10:00am – 11:30am.

• Wimbledon is kicking off, so naturally we’ll be doing tennis themed activities this morning in the Messy PlayZone.

• Join us in Smile Park this afternoon for tennis and outdoor games – weather depending!

WEDNESDAY 3^rd

• Our children and young people will be enjoying sensory tenpin bowling fun in the Messy PlayZone this morning.

• Music teacher Rachel will be in the Snug for an hour of singalong fun from 11:00am.

• We’ll be making a splash in the hydrotherapy pool this afternoon.

THURSDAY 4^th

• To celebrate American Independence Day, we’ll be doing themed arts and crafts in the Messy PlayZone this morning, followed by Hollywood Walk of Fame hand and footprint fun after lunch.

• Individual and group sessions of music therapy with Martha will take place in the Snug from 2:00pm.

• The Sibling Social (for our 16+ siblings) will meet here at the hospice this evening for a relaxation session with Denise.

FRIDAY 5^th/SATURDAY 6^th/SUNDAY 7^th

• The hospice will be closed for in-house respite tonight, tomorrow (6^th) and Sunday (7^th). Please be aware that the hospice will not be open until 7:30am on these days.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

• Walk This Way! On Friday 20^th September, gather your friends and family for our latest fundraising event, which will see our supporters walk 10ft across fire, shattered glass, and/or Lego bricks. All we ask is a minimum fundraising target of just £50 per person, per walk. Get involved by emailing salmon@derianhouse.co.uk.

• If you would like to share with the rest of Derian what your department is up to in the next 7 days, please send an email to cameron.murray@derianhouse.co.uk before Friday the week before.

Have a great week everyone! J

Hello,

The new vehicle NV24 UWU (black Renault Traffic) is now available to book, the process is exactly the same as the other fleet vehicles and can be booked by all departments.  If you want to familiarise yourself with it or want to know how to use the ramp etc then please see Richard.

Please note there is currently no fuel genie card, this has been ordered so until it arrives you will need to get petty cash from Finance.

Happy Driving! J

Good morning, this is particularly short notice but tomorrow the 27^th we will have an engineer with us to perform the annual Pat Testing.

As per usual this service will require us to make available all electrical equipment the only items that will not be tested is medical.

If you have any questions please contact Facilities.

MONDAY 24^th

• It’s film time – what will we watch in Derian at the Movies today?

TUESDAY 25^th

• Derian Playgroup will be held in the Seaside Room this morning, where our babies and toddlers will be enjoying a morning of music, messy play and fun from 10:00am – 11:30am.

• VR Pixel will be here at the hospice to capture new drone footage and stills of our gardens – particularly the recent updates to the Sensory and Reflection Gardens – for the updated virtual tour on our website.

• The Quality, Safety and Improvement Sub-Committee meeting will take place in the Conference Room between 10:00am – 12:00pm.

• From 12:00pm until 1:00pm, the CQC Preparation Meeting will be held in Vinten Meeting Room to ensure we are CQC ready.

WEDNESDAY 26^th

• Our children and young people will be enjoying water and sand play fun in the Messy PlayZone this morning.

• Music teacher Rachel will be in the Snug for an hour of singalong fun from 11:00am.

• There’ll be lots of fun being had in the hydrotherapy pool this afternoon.

• A group of corporate volunteers from Capita will be in our gardens doing some general maintenance work today.

THURSDAY 27^th

• Join us in the Messy PlayZone for ten pin bowling fun this morning – who will win?

• Our resident pet therapy pooch Shuna will be here in the hospice with her human Linda for pet therapy.

• A Sensory Story Time session will take place in the House Lounge this afternoon.

• John (Family Counsellor) will be running a guided meditation session available to all staff in the Cinema from 4:00pm today.

FRIDAY 28^th  

• Get creative with summertime arty fun in the Messy PlayZone this morning.

• Our children and young people will be in the Sensory Room for a therapeutic TACPAC session this afternoon.

SATURDAY 29^th/SUNDAY 30^th

• The hospice will be closed for overnight respite this weekend. There will be no access to the building until 7:30am on these days.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

• If you would like to share with the rest of Derian what your department is up to in the next 7 days, please send an email to cameron.murray@derianhouse.co.uk before Friday the week before.

Have a great week everyone! J

Good morning all,

A new function has been added to the Vantage reporting system to specify the area a BCYP or family is from if they are involved, affected or witness to an incident. Please see below;

1. Complete initial details such as incident date/time/type as normal
2. You will then reach a blue ‘People Involved’ banner – please select ‘+ Add’ on the left hand side
3. When you ‘Patient’ as person type, a field named ‘Area Patient is From’ will appear – select the relevant area from the drop down list
4. Continue with the form as normal

Completing this field will allow us to more accurately report to our funders on the demographic data for each area. Thank you for your support with this.

If you have any problems, please let me know.

MONDAY 10^th

• Say hello to our new starter Ionie Calderbank, who joins us today in the exciting new role of Child & Family Advocate & Engagement Worker.

• The hospice will be closed for planned overnight respite until Thursday 13^th June, when it will resume as normal. Please note that the hospice won’t be unlocked until 7:30am on these days.

TUESDAY 11^th

• Derian Playgroup will be held in the Seaside Room this morning, where our babies and toddlers will be enjoying a morning of music, messy play and fun from 10:00am – 11:30am.

• Our Lodgers will be celebrating Pride Month with an abundance of activities at today’s Day Care session, with bingo, rock painting, and rainbow baking on the agenda!

THURSDAY 13^th 

• We’ll be continuing our Pride Month celebrations with arts and crafts in the Messy PlayZone throughout the day. Join us as we create our very own jewellery and rainbow jars.

FRIDAY 14^th

• It’s the inaugural Derian House PRIDE today, so we’re celebrating with a colourful dress-up day. If you’re working directly with our CYP, please adhere to IPC policies when choosing your rainbow outfit.

• We’ll be in Danni’s Diner cooking up some tasty rainbow pizzas this afternoon.

• Siblings group Chill Out & Chat will be meeting in the Seaside Room this evening for their monthly session.

SATURDAY 15^th

• Happy Birthday King Charles – we’ll be celebrating the occasion with arty fun in the Messy PlayZone.

• Our children and young people will be enjoying fun and splashes in the hydrotherapy pool this afternoon.

• Danni’s Club – for our younger siblings – will meet in the Seaside Room this afternoon.

SUNDAY 16^th  

• Happy Father’s Day to all of our Derian Dads – we’ll be busy making cards and gifts in the Messy PlayZone this morning.

• What will we find on our Scavenger Hunt in the hospice grounds? Join Caroline (Wellbeing & Play Worker) for an interactive sensory story this afternoon.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

• If you would like to share with the rest of Derian what your department is up to in the next 7 days, please send an email to cameron.murray@derianhouse.co.uk before Friday the week before.

Have a great week everyone! J

Hi everyone,

Next week, we’re celebrating Pride Month here at the hospice with activities in the House and Lodge throughout the week.

On Friday 14^th June, we’re having a Pride Dress-Up day, where staff and volunteers are encouraged to wear a colour of the rainbow. Please adhere to IPC policies when choosing your outfit.

Good Afternoon,

As you are all aware (or may not be), we have been closing to Planned Overnight Respite for specific nights for the last few weeks. This allows us to safely staff the nights where BCYPS are planned for admission.

On the nights where we are closed, we have no staff in the building and therefore, there will be no one in the building until 0730hrs in the morning. I have listed the dates we have planned closures as I am aware some of our staff arrive before 0730.

The dates where you will not have access to the building until 0730 are:

08.06.24-13.06.24

18.06.24-20.06.24

29.06.24-01.07.24

06.07.24-08.07.24

13.07.24-18.07.24

23.07.24-25.07.24

02.08.24-05.08.24

Please note, the hospice remains open for all other activities during the day.

If there are any changes to any of the above dates, you will be updated via email.

Any questions, please ask.

Thank you for your support with this,

Did you know that every year communities across the UK celebrate the amazing contribution and dedication of volunteers in what is known as ‘Volunteers Week’?

So many of you work alongside our volunteers on a day to day basis, and I am sure you will all agree that they are simply superstars for their unwavering support of Derian House.

From that welcoming face on arrival at the hospice, enjoying a homemade cake from the tea trolley, watching our gardens bloom under the loving care of our gardening team, to the teams of people sorting through donations and ensuring our shops run smoothly, not forgetting all of our Trustees who continually support the growth of our services.

Every single role is important to us here at Derian.

We have 39 hospice volunteers, 66 supporting our retail and 27 event volunteers along with various corporate groups who volunteer for a day with us.

In 2023, they gave over 16,994 hours of their time; that’s equivalent to a staggering 708 days.

Some help weekly, others once or twice a year – it make no difference how much time they give, it’s their continuing support and passion for Derian House that I find amazing.

To say a little thank you we will be hosting an Afternoon Tea in the Seaside Room on Thursday, 6^th June,  from 1.30pm – 3.30pm, if you’re free, please pop in and say hello. We have a few fun things planned for the afternoon.

I hope you join me this week in saying a huge ‘THANK YOU’ to all of our wonderful volunteers.

Hello Team Derian, please find a brief below an update from across the Hospice……

1. Our new Children & Family Advocate and Engagement Lead, Natalie, has settled into Team Derian. Thank you to those of you who have met up with Natalie and made her feel welcome. She is currently working her way round the teams, meeting as many people as possible to build up a picture of the services we offer and all of our touchpoints with families. She will be looking at everything we do to engage with our families – from referral to discharge – and will be helping us to ensure that their voices are being heard in everything we do. Natalie will be joined by Ionie, our Children & Family Advocate and Engagement worker in early June. These roles will be vital in ensuring that we put our families at the heart of all decisions, and that we can co-design services in the future.  Natalie and Ionie will play a key role in our next Strategic Needs Assessment which will help develop the services for the future.  These roles were directly requested by the board of trustees and set us apart from the rest of the hospice world. It is important that these roles are independent to service delivery and as such sit within our Engagement structure under Caroline. Welcome to the team.

2. We now have a new graphic designer in post. Welcome to Kathryn who started work last week. She is now available to receive your graphic design requests.

3. Have you seen our recent TV advert? Holly’s Story is now running on ITV Granada, encouraging people to leave a gift to us in their Wills. Thank you to Holly’s family for letting us tell the story of their special girl. If you haven’t seen, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFJe7u-ywSE&feature=youtu.be

4. Bridget Thomas, our new Deputy Clinical Director has hit the ground running this week.  Bridget helped to deliver training during our standards re-set week, and has now started in earnest and is spending her first few weeks getting to know Team Derian and reviewing all of our policies and procedures to support our teams to deliver outstanding and safe care.

5. A small group of staff represented Derian House at a £1million celebration dinner held by Together for Cinema, the charity who donated our £100,000 cinema room back in 2019, and reported that the quality of our cinema room is one of the best of all children’s hospices across the UK.

6. It’s pay day (yay!) and you should all have your 3% increase back-dated from April. Thanks to the finance team for the extra work they’ve put in this month to ensure this has happened smoothly.

7. In terms of statutory funding, we are clear on the funding from L&SC for this financial year.  It is less than last year due to many matched funding pots no longer existing.  GM continues to be difficult to navigate however we will get there I am sure.

8. As many of you will know Ruth will be leaving the team over the summer and therefore we are now out to advertisement for her successor.

9. In addition to the roles mentioned above we’re busy on the recruitment front with the following colleagues having recently joined or arriving very soon !

• Ken Whalen – Facilities
• Heather Skinner – Care Team
• Alice Whaley –  Care Team
• Dorota Rebis-Witkowska – Care Team
• Nicola Grindley – Cook
• Vicki Boe – Temporary Finance Officer
• Samantha Oakes – Care Team
• Emma McClymont – Care Team

• Thank you to those of you who expressed an interest in supporting Kim with designing our new staff engagement survey.  There are 11 of team Derian involved and they’ll be getting together very soon to redesign the survey to be more bespoke to our needs.

• Managers embraced a half day training session this week on Employment Law.  The session was delivered by Employment Lawyer John Hassalls who provides legal advice on more complex HR matters.  Feedback on the session has been wholly positive, and we’ll be providing more development for managers around HR in the coming months.

Finally, thank you for your continued hard work and I hope that you have a well-earned break over the Bank Holiday (for those of you who are not on shift).

Take care everyone

We are the champions, my friend! 

Last month, three of our talented young people took part in Bolton Wanderers in the Community‘s Panathlon Challenge secondary curling competition at Bolton Arena… and they only went and won it! 

15 teams from eight schools took part, but it was the Derian Dynamos that came out on top… and they’ll now progress to the North West finals in June 

Not only have we been awarded a shiny trophy to add to our ever-growing collection, but each of our lads went home with a medal, which they were presented with at a homecoming here at the hospice during Friday Night Club

We’re so proud of the boys for their incredible efforts – well done 

In April, our children and young people celebrated Rainbow Day with an array of colourful activities, we threw open our doors during the Easter holidays for lots of family fun, and thousands of fans united at Bolton Arena for the biggest Stars & Cars event to date! #MonthInAMinute 💚

It will cost us £6m to run our services in 2024, with only 30p in every pound coming from government funding. Help us give our children more moments like these by donating now ✨

https://youtu.be/QvWKkpenAy8

Dear Team Derian,

As promised, I am writing to update you on discussions at our Trustee board meeting last week.

It was really pleasing that we had the opportunity to discuss a number of areas where we are performing exceptionally well.  We were delighted to note the financial position at the year end.  We are in a strong position and, for this year, and despite some challenges we are hopeful that we will retain a good level of statutory funding.  We were also pleased to note that we have seen significant improvements in our retail offer and performance.  Thanks to the efforts of the team we now feel in a position where we can start to further develop and build our retail offer. This is a significant shift from where we were twelve months ago.

We were also delighted to hear of the progress that is being made in strengthening our governance arrangements. This work will continue over the year and will be a continued focus for the board.

Our performance in marketing, retail and income generation remains strong and today I have been delighted to see our Derian advert on television for the first time.

One of the key decisions that the board took at its meeting this month was to approve the annual pay award of 3% which will be applied with immediate effect. We will of course keep our eye on the pay award given to the NHS and may decide to review our position in light of that announcement later in the year.

We were delighted to read a number of impact stories that were presented to us.  It is really important that we continue to understand the significant difference that the smallest thing can make to our children, young people and their families. The impact stories are a really good way of reminding us what we are here for and the board takes great pleasure in recognising the achievements of our teams.

So whilst there was lots for us to celebrate, we were also extremely concerned to hear of a number of incidents which may impact the safety of those in our care. We expect that our services are of the highest standard not only from a safety perspective but from an experience perspective. Our families deserve no less than the absolute best. They deserve safe, compassionate  care and in every contact should expect to experience our teams professional and ‘over and above’ response. Catherine shared with us the care improvement plan, which we were pleased to see but we need to see urgent progress made in this area. Care is our core business and we have to see urgent and significant improvement in this area. If we fail in providing outstanding care, all our other achievements are meaningless. It is for this reason that following the board meeting and a further issue on Sunday, I took the decision with the Karen our Chief Executive to suspend our in house overnight care services for a period in order that we can undertake a ‘reset’. I ask that all those in the care team, look to themselves and take personal responsibility for supporting us to be the best we can be for those we serve.  I will be in regular contact the team to ensure that we are seeing the required change brought about.

In the meantime, thank you for all you continue to do to support our children, young people and their families.

Afternoon all,

As you may be aware, Derian House is running a TV advert campaign throughout the month of May, encouraging people to leave us a gift in their Wills.

The advert features Holly’s parents Jenny and Mark Prince.

You can see the attached spreadsheet which shows the dates and times that the ad will be running on ITV Granada (in case you fancy tuning in). We have some great slots, on the evening news, The Chase, Lorraine and This Morning.

The advert’s debut will be during the 10.30am ad break on This Morning.

The adverts will ask people to give us a call to ask about how they can make a Will for free with us. The phone number goes straight through to fundraising, but if anyone happens to find themselves taking the call when nobody from fundraising is available then please take down their details using the form you’ll find at www.derianhouse.co.uk/legacy. This will ensure we can send them an info guide on what to do.

Thanks so much for your support with this – I appreciate it.

Caroline

P.s. Here’s the ad: https://youtu.be/iFJe7u-ywSE

Hi everyone, just a brief update on a few things….

1. You’ll be pleased to know that the Trustees have approved a 3% cost of living increase which will be awarded in your May salary and backdated for the month of April.  Other fab news for staff is that as Derian House became a “Real Living Wage” employer, rather than a minimum wage employer, 12 colleagues will have their hourly rate increased in line with the increase for RLW employers.  This is great news and we are really pleased to be able to pass on this benefit.
2. Many of you will know Lisa Kauffmann who has been a Trustee here at Derian for many years, and last year took up the role of Chair of the Trustee Board at Together For Short Lives.  Sadly, Lisa has had to resign from her trustee roles due to her health.  She will be a huge loss, brining that paediatric consultant experience to both the board and to the QSI sub group.  I am now looking to find an equally experience medic to fill these huge shoes.  Bringing experience across a range of health services is really important for the board and therefore I have this week appointed a new trustee who is a physio by profession, and is currently Chief Allied Health Professional at LTHTR.  Claire Granato will officially join over the coming months but we should expect to see her around over the next few weeks.
3. We welcomed colleagues from the RCN on Monday.  It was really interesting to meet Melissa, Lead Nurse for the NW, and hear about the support the RCN can provide not only for our colleagues who may be members, but the organisation as a whole.
4. We’ve had a really big interest from across the care team in developing their skill sets across our community provision, this is wonderful to hear and is a key feature of our new integrated way of working.
5. We say a very fond farewell to Kirsty on Monday as she embarks on a new role with the Kentown Nursing Team, we are delighted Kirsty will remain within the L&SC wider system and look forward to working closely in the future.
6. We now know what are funding looks like for this year from the L&SC ICB, which encompasses almost half of the children’s hospice grant.  We will receive a reduced amount for this year, mainly as the education and exemplar projects were match funded, and this funding no longer exists. Discussions with GM continue.
7. Leadership is about making popular decisions, but sometimes it’s about making unpopular decisions.  This time last year I was proposing significant changes to the trustees regarding our retail portfolio based on the financial performance of the shops that I had inherited.  We were on track at that point to make a loss of around £200,000.00 on retail.  I had to take some brave decisions with the charity at the heart of them and we had to sadly make some staff redundant and re-shape the retail offer.  I am absolutely over the moon to share that under Micks leadership the retail team have absolutely flourished and we have ended the year in an almost break even position.  Our budget for this year 24/25 will make a surplus for the first time in years.  I’d like to thank all the staff across retail, including those working hard in the shops, Tony who has stepped up as Area Manager and the warehouse/driving team Gaz & Peter, who have all worked their socks off turning our retail portfolio around.  We are now in a position to start thinking about how we grow retail, and that’s just amazing….
8. My favourite email this week came from Katie McNally… no… not the car accident…. BUT THE AMAZING ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR YOUNG ADULTS !!!! Derian Dynamos rock again !!!  so inspiring and so wonderful that we can create opportunities like this for our CYP
9. And finally I’d like to shine a bright light on the education team, just back yesterday from the Nursing Times Awards where we had made a prestigious short list.  Sadly, this year wasn’t our year, however that takes absolutely nothing away from the team and the wider care team for their support for student nurses.  Well done everyone…. We’re very proud !

That’s about it for now, thanks everyone for your hard work and commitment

We didn’t want to leave them hanging about on the Intranet on their own, so now that we’ve got four (relatively) new starters, let’s find out more about them!

Gillian Viragh – HR Administrator

Our latest addition to the HR department has spent most of her working career in HR, with her previous position at a small, family-run planning company lasting for seven years… when she was only supposed to be the maternity cover for 10 months!

Gillian was browsing for jobs when she came across the one at Derian House, and it was exactly what she was looking for. She’s lived next door to us for a whopping 24 years, and is only a six-minute walk away. Not only is it super convenient, but over the years she’s heard loads about the amazing work that our charity does, and she wanted to be a part of it.

Gillian loves working with people, and especially watching staff members develop throughout their career. She’s already hit the ground running when it comes to recruitment, having been part of the employment of over ten members of staff since she first started back in February.

Outside of work, Gillian enjoys planning holidays abroad and being mum to Maisy and Marnie.

FUN FACT: Gillian and her twin brother were born in Hungary!

Paula Buchanan – Administrator/Receptionist

After 35 years working in a range of customer service roles, Paula sought after a job where she could truly make a difference, and was at a point in her life where she wanted to be a part of something special.

With a stretch of 16 years of HomeServe, Paula brings to Derian a range of experience of working with people, and she’s already made a big impression with our Reception volunteers who she works closely alongside.

When she first started with us early last month, our Administrator was looking forward to being part of a team that supports one another, and meeting all of our staff and volunteers – and she’s absolutely loving it!

When she’s not at work, Paula loves running, and is mum to both Oliver and Mia, and dog mum to Norma the seven-year-old Shih Tzu.

FUN FACT: Paula was once at a friend’s wedding where guests included Declan Donnelly and Stephen Mulhern!

Sarah James – Estate Maintenance Support

The first of our two new starters within the Estates Team is Sarah, who currently lives in Crewe! (But not for much longer, hopefully!)

After 17 years of living in Chorley, our latest handy-woman relocated for her son’s education, but is (almost) back and ready to get stuck in here at Derian House.

Sarah has worked in maintenance for most of her career, with a stretch at Cuerden Valley Park where she worked as a park ranger as part of a tightknit team. She’s got a degree in ecology and conservation management, and even has both a chainsaw and tractor license!

She’s always known of Derian House whilst living in Chorley, and has even attended some of our fundraisers. She’s used to working at charity events due to her time at Cuerden, so is looking forward to more of the same here at the hospice.

When she’s not working – or travelling to and from Crewe – Sarah is a keen gardener and has her own vegetable patch, and also enjoys a spot of camping.

FUN FACT: Sarah’s nickname is Jimmy – so if you shout it, she’ll answer!

Ken Whalen – Estates Maintenance Support

Completing our line-up is Ken from Darwen, who has spent 20 years of his working life at Twin Valleys (previously Together Housing). He’s always held up grounds maintenance roles, varying from Crown Wall Coverings to BwD Council, and is looking forward to making a difference here at Derian House.

Ken actually did a sponsored walk for the hospice many moons ago, dressed head-to-toe as Freddie Kruger as he hiked from Ewood Park to Derian… and then back again!

He’s looking forward to using his skillset to make a difference here at Derian House, and learning about all the facilities here at the hospice.

Outside of work, Ken loves doing anything arty, caring for his house rabbit Shadow, and holidaying to Thailand.

FUN FACT: Ken is a a seasoned pumpkin carver, and spends his spare time making incredible 3D creations (mainly in the month of October).

Hi everyone,

Dave from IT here! Hope everyone is having a good week.

This is an email to let you know that Derian is about to start using a new email spam filter.

The system is called “Barracuda”.

Below is a link to a short document on how this affects you! I strongly suggest you give it a read today, as we’ll be rolling it out shortly.

https://tinyurl.com/Barracudabbey

Hi everyone,

Here’s a run-down of some of the news and issues discussed at last week’s LMT meeting…

FACILITIES

• There is a brand new menu set to be launched, with the exciting return of the popular salad bar!

CARE

• We are currently still operating at four beds, and offering respite on a month-by-month basis. The nurse recruitment is back on and we’re hopeful to reach more nurses and clinical support workers.
• LifeNoW charity has now closed down, and the trustees have transferred us the remaining funds which are being ring-fenced for young people services in the future.

FINANCE AND FUNDRAISING

• The last 2 months have been steady across income and retail and our investments are doing well.
• Fundraising finished the 2023/24 year strongly, bringing in £3.2m, which was £300k over budget.
• We are recruiting a Fundraising Manager to run the Community and Events Fundraising team under Mick Croskery’s leadership.
• Our investments have performed well over the last three months to boost reserves.
• We have finished the extended financial year to April at £37,000 operating surplus which is great news as we budgeted a deficit.

COMMS & MARKETING

• Our spring campaign ‘Daniella’s Story’ will be hitting the doorsteps of our donors in late May, and it’s a moving story about how we have supported Daniella through a variety of Derian services – she has a unique story as she’s used our bereavement services with Arthur, and continues to access our respite service with his twin, Tommy.
• We had the privilege of being shown the first draft of The Little Things yesterday, in its raw two-hour form. There’s still some work to be done, but we’re confident that the documentary is going to make a massive impact.

RETAIL

• Retail has seen six months of positive figures, and the refits of Horwich, Preston and Blackburn have helped this along. We’ve had some positive feedback and increased sales already.
• Retail finished the 2023/24 year in a strong position. In the last six months we have reversed the position from a predicted loss to one where we are set to make a profit in the coming year. This is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved.

GENERAL

• SMI has now been updated with everyone’s holidays and bank holidays, which are now merged as one.
• If anyone would like to put themselves forward as a CQC Champion or a fire marshal, please speak with Anthony Mohammed and John Boe respectively.

RECRUITMENT

• There’s lots of recruitment happening at the moment which is very exciting, starting with our new Estates Maintenance Support Ken, who will be joining us on Monday, he will spend a lot of his time working in our gardens.
• We’ve also got a new chef, Nicola, joining us in the next few weeks.
• From the 6^th May, we’ll see seven members of new care team staff starting with us over a staggered three-week period.
• Executive assistant to Catherine, Julie, will join us in June, and Catherine’s deputy, Bridget, will start with us on 20^th May.
• We also look forward to welcoming two family engagement leads, Natalie and Ionie.

Hello team Derian,

Welcome to my update for this week.  I hope you find the information useful, and as always please do pop in and see me if you have any questions on the content.

So let’s talk growth…. What do we mean when we say we are growing ?

I wanted to clarify with you all about the level of recruitment we have across the charity at the moment.  I know that many of you are wondering why we are recruiting to some of the positions currently advertised/being recruited to, so I thought I’d try to provide some context for you.  If you remember the staff briefings that were held in November, we shared the ambitious plans for growth across the charity, in particularly our care offer.  And whilst we have had to step back a little bit on this growth plan due to staffing pressures, the plan is very much to build back capacity and continue to reach for our goals.

So with this comes the need to invest in our care team staff, and we have been appointing CSWs and Nurses, and we need to continue to recruit more.  With the staff we have recruited so far we expect to be in a position to increase our in house care from 4 to 5 beds in July, and would hope to aim to 6 in the Autumn, subject to continuing to recruiting staff.  We’ve also recognised that driving the growth plan forward is a HUGE task, much bigger than we first realised, and to achieve this Catherine has requested additional support in a leadership capacity to free her up to focus on the strategic side of her role, and so we have appointed Bridget Thomas who will join the team as Deputy Clinical Director on the 20^th May.  In addition, Catherine and Bridget will need dedicated admin support to free up Kelly and Rebecca, and so a part time PA role has been recruited to, and Julie will start in June.

The investment in the care side of the charity is much needed otherwise we will not achieve what we need to in ensuring we not only get back to previous recent capacity levels, but that we fly past them and then move forward to increasing capacity to a 10 bed model.  Yes – 10 beds !

It’s probably at this point that I share with you all that the Trustees have asked me to develop a proposal for getting us to 10 beds available every night for a range of complex and stable children and young people.  Ruth and I have worked up a draft staffing model including specialist roles and an increased medical model, and this has been costed.  I’m looking forward to exploring this with the trustees next week.  If approved this will create opportunities for development across the care team.  We have a very supportive Board and if the plans are in line with what they wish for us to deliver they will approve the funds required to achieve a vibrant, busy, and most importantly high quality safe in-house offer for more bcyp.  It is really exciting !!

As part of this we will review the facilities and other resources needed to support the growth.  One discussion is about a dedicated nursing station in the children’s bedroom corridor, but there will be much more, and I want you all to be part of these discussions.

What is absolutely clear though, and we are under no illusion, is that we are not going to be opening 10 beds any time soon.  This is a planned approach and will require careful project management, but the very fact that we are looking at how we do this is brilliant and hopefully provides clarity for everyone on what we are trying to achieve.

The other side of the recruitment is in non-care roles.  Clearly if we are growing our services we will need to raise more money and have a bigger back office support function, and this is why we are now investing in these areas, to build the platform ready to grow.

If you have any feedback on the ambitions, or want to chat to me about any aspect of it please do.

Have a lovely weekend everyone

K