Clinical Director's blog

April 2011

Spectrum Goes Live – Business as usual providing high quality healthcare to all

You might be forgiven for thinking April Fools Day is a rather unusual date to launch a business but so it was for Spectrum Community Health CIC.  The contract, a business transfer agreement was signed late on March 31st paving the way for us all to wake the following day, the majority of us as shareholders of a new organisation.  Whilst for our patients the day came and went with little in the way of visible change I’m sure many of you like me felt that little bit different, reflecting on the change in your stake in the organisation and our collective responsibility to make a difference. 

Given the huge effort required by all of us in the run up to going live I could be forgiven for being so touched by those who pulled off the spurious meeting that turned out to be the unveiling of the Spectrum birthday cake.  Words of congratulation via email, card and corridor conversation with a genuine warmth from stakeholders and partners who’ve walked with us on the journey and who are eager to work with us to achieve success outcomes for our patients.

‘And now the hard work begins’ is a phrase I often hear around the organisation although I know it has always been a hardworking environment where people readily give a 110% everyday.

We have a lot to look forward to.  The bringing together of the three distinctive business units will provide opportunities for us to learn from each other and create efficiencies that hopefully will be welcomed by our commissioners.  The interest in our way of working has made it easy for us to market what we do, not only locally, but nationally and so many of you are already ambassadors of the business through your professional and ethical values.  We begin our first year of business with good news having started to mobilise our new business delivering primary care services to low and medium secure environments at Fieldhead Hospital, and the announcement that we have been chosen as one of only eight national pilots in drugs recovery.  I can also share with you the success of our HMP Wakefield Primary Care Workforce whose bid to fund a coronary care nurse specialist through the British Heart Foundation has been fully supported for a period of two years.

These success stories are testament to our mission to innovate, empower and challenge stigma and will provide opportunities for staff to develop professionally as well as disseminating good practice.

Press Coverage

The Wakefield Express ran an article on the launch of Spectrum.  It gave an overview of the journey toward establishing the social enterprise and examples of the flexible new ways of working that we hope will enhance the care we provide in our new organisational form.

Until the next time – Linda.