I'm over half way through the 100 day
challenge I set myself at the start of September. One of the main
purposes for doing this was to share my experience of working in an NHS ClinicalCommissioning Group (CCG) with my friends, family, colleagues and anyone who is
kind enough to read what I write.
I have a reflective personality and
am never short of a few words to say; so writing 100 of them a day about my
experiences in a new job and a new organisation has not been difficult. When asked how I manage to write 100 words a
day I’ve always said that the hardest part is keeping down to only 100 words! As today demonstrates though, sometimes I do
write a few more.
I realise I am never going to set the
world of blogging on fire with this stuff, but it does provide me with an
opportunity to reflect on what I am experiencing and learning every day. So far I’ve had good feedback that I'm providing
an insight into the workings of the NHS and CCGs; I’ve also been reminded more than once how
much jargon we use in spite of me making efforts not to (must use plainEnglish!!!).
My Day
Today was spent mainly in preparation
for our next Patient Safety & Quality Committee Meeting, which is next
Wednesday. Today was the deadline to get
all papers prepared and sent out to committee members. This is only the second meeting of the committee
and the first since we decided to formally separate from a previous joint
arrangement with a neighbouring CCG. The
main challenge, as anyone who has tried to co-ordinate reports from many
different sources across a number of organisations knows, is co-ordinating
common format and structure to a tight deadline. This was achieved in the main, but we’ve
still got work to do in the future to get more consistency in how we present
reports. We need to be brief, but clear
and include enough information to help the committee perform its role properly.
Digital Health
Before coming into this role I had
worked for over seven years at NHS Direct, who were and still are at the
forefront of digital health. Whilst
there I was fortunate to be part of innovative work to use digital technologies
to improve patient’s potential and capacity for self-management; including telehealth,
web-sites, mobile Apps and social
media. These digital technologies
were used to engage with people about services and to support them to make
better decisions about their health and care.
Whilst working at NHS Direct I developed
an interest in digital engagement and in particular the power of social media
to open up the NHS to patients, the public and colleagues for learning and
improvement.
Through this interest, I have been
lucky to be part of a particular many digital communities; the one I enjoy
being part of the most is: WeNurses. In spite of the name, this community includes
far more than nurses and has expanded to develop communities for pharmacists, midwives and paramedics and also worked closely
with other nursing communities for learning
disabilities and mental health.
The digital community I first really
engaged with was #NHSSM. This is for those with an interest in how the
NHS can better use social media for patient benefit. As I write this blog there is a live chat about
how organisations can learn from and use information from patients live tweeting
their care? One of the most powerful
things about these live chats is that they are in public and patients, public,
health professionals, managers alike all join in and there is no hierarchy, but
lots for all to share and learn.
My experiences of working in digital
health and my interest in social media has led me to write this blog and has
also provided me with so much learning and experience from others that there is
no way I could have otherwise got.
There is much more the NHS needs to
do to unlock the potential of digital tools and to add them to the public’s
toolkit to help self-manage their health as far as they can. Once self-care is no longer an option,
digital tools still have a role to play in giving patients, public and staff a
voice and a way to engage with professionals and organisations.
Erik
Qualman says: “Don’t do social media campaigns; let social media be the
glue that helps connect everything”
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