Reflections and thank you from Professor Jonathan Warren

Jonathan Warren is Deputy Chief Executive, Chief Nursing Officer & Executive Sponsor for Violence Reduction

Whenever I think about what we’ve achieved already in terms of violence reduction at ELFT, I’m reminded of the time Andy Cruickshank (former Borough Lead Nurse in Tower Hamlets and now Associate Director of Nursing for QI) came to see me to say that he wanted to work on reducing violence in Tower Hamlets.

I will be very honest with you now and say that I was rather sceptical of whether he would be able to work on this and whether change was truly possible in this area. I tried to encourage him to do work on medication errors instead – because there was a good evidence base around how you could do that.

Andy was insistent though, that violence reduction was what the unit needed to work on – and now, to see the results of the work our wards have done, and the way in which our staff and service users have been able to transform the experience of the wards, is truly incredible.

It has also really been a lesson to me – of the power of listening to staff and service users and allowing them to work on what is important to them. From this you get what can really make a difference.

So, my message to everyone who has been part of this work is really is to say thank you. It is truly world class. When you see and hear about people from around the world truly fascinated in the work that you have done and the results that you have achieved, you must feel incredibly proud.

We know, of course, that our work isn’t finished. We are the only Trust in the country that has been rated as “outstanding” for our work on acute wards by the CQC, but we’ve still got a lot more to achieve in this, and other areas, to improve what we do. Sustaining and achieving further gains needs all of your leadership and commitment every day to strengthen our system, so let’s all keep going with this.

Today though, my main message is thank you again for all of your work – on violence reduction, on other improvement projects – and for the commitment and care you show every day.