Chairman experiences life on the wards

1 August, 2003

Time:             10.30am 

Date:              Monday 4 August 

Venue:           Ward B1, Walnuttree Hospital, Sudbury 

Veronica Worrall, Chairman at West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust, goes ‘back to the floor’ on Monday 4 August when she spends a day at the Walnuttree Hospital in Sudbury.  She will be joined by non-executive director John Cullum. Media are invited to attend a photo-opportunity at 10.30am.

They join several other senior staff and members of the Trust Board who have worked on the ‘frontline’ of services earlier in the year, shadowing regular employees to gain insight into their work.  The aim is to help directors understand the issues facing staff on a daily basis, and to experience at first hand life for workers at the forefront of caring for patients.

Chief executive John Parkes spent time in Theatres, Director of Strategy Jessica Watts shadowed staff in the Emergency Assessment Unit, Director of Personnel & Communications Jan Bloomfield worked in Estates as a gardener, and Non-executive Directors Judith Lancaster and Mary Jones worked in Ward G1 and the Special Care Baby Unit respectively.

Following the Strategic Health Authority's approval of the business case for the new Health and Social Care Campus in Sudbury, the visit is a good opportunity for the Chairman to learn about the pressures staff are continually facing and how best these can be managed during the new changes they will be facing.

“I will be spending the day with staff, helping them with their usual work on a busy ward at Walnuttree Hospital,” said Veronica. “There is a serious reason for doing this, which is for me to learn at first-hand how staff do their job and the issues they face in an average working day. It’s important that the people who make strategic decisions about the running of the Trust such as myself have a real understanding of the issues that our colleagues deal with on a day-to-day basis.

“I know that the uncertainty over the future has been unsettling for staff at Walnuttree Hospital, and I want to learn more about how we can manage the forthcoming changes in the best way possible. Any lessons we can take into the design of the new building will also be very welcome.”