Collaboration Know-How?

On Tuesday 13th June four members of the FHG Vanguard programme, including Susan Acott, Chief Executive of Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, attended the Collaboration Know-How? event hosted by Kaleidoscope and Credo Consulting. 62 leaders from across the UK healthcare system came together to talk about what’s working well in healthcare collaboration and why. Practical steps for improving collaboration were discussed, as well as the challenges still to be overcome.

Attendees represented a wide range of organisations including policy makers, clinicians, managers, researchers and consultants. Many inspiring healthcare leaders gave talks throughout the day including Sir David Dalton, Chief Executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, and Jacob West, National Lead of the New Care Models Programme.

Conversations highlighted great positivity, particularly focusing on the strength of relationships between healthcare leaders and clinicians. A number of key issues were also identified which could greatly improve the collaboration landscape. These included the need to bridge the gap between primary and acute care and the need to encourage collaboration in a historically competitive system.

With new models of healthcare delivery being created and tested in locations up and down the UK, many delivering tangible benefits to patients, attendees demonstrated a strong appetite to continue collaborating.

Catch up on discussions from the event by following #NHSKnowHow on Twitter.

Vascular Grand Round

On Thursday 1 June Mr Michael Dialynas, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, spoke to a crowded lecture hall about the vascular services at Darent Valley Hospital. He spoke about the new 'Proactive Care of Older People undergoing Surgery' (POPS) service and highlighted how the Vanguard programme has allowed him to fund and facilitate a full clinical team who are on call every week to offer this important service to patients. Find out more about the POPS service by watching our vlog.

Lucy Grothier, Director of Strategic Network Development: Cardiovascular at King's Health Partners, also spoke at the event. She outlined the importance of building a strong vascular clinical network and how important it is to ensure that everyone involved shares a common purpose. She used the Vanguard programme as an excellent example of clinical and organisational collaboration.

No Hospital is an Island

Gerard Sammon, Deputy Chief Executive at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Vanguard Programme Director, recently spoke at the NHS Confederation fringe event, 'No Hospital is an Island - How New Collaborations are Improving Care and Saving Money'.

On 14 June, Gerard spoke about some of the challenges faced in setting up the Foundation Healthcare Group including the synchronisation of IT between the two trusts. He highlighted the importance of shared organisational values and robust support from both the executive and clinical teams in ensuring the success of the Vanguard programme. 

You can catch up on the latest news from Confed 2017 by following the hashtag #Confed17 and #FutureNHS on Twitter. 

Being Part of the Foundation Healthcare Group

Dr Catherine Meilak and Dr Anna Whittle, Registrars at Darent Valley Hospital, share their experience of being part of the clinical team delivering the 'Proactive Care of Older People undergoing Surgery' (POPS) service at Darent Valley Hospital.

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