Talking chickens, a curate’s egg and an improving week

Some weeks are better than others. Last week was the proverbial Curate’s Egg; a very mixed week for stories for sure. Storm Agnes came and went, we didn’t notice, whereas in Ireland and Wales there was flooding, damage to buildings and much travel disruption. We heard the dreadful news from Iraq of the fire at a wedding reception that killed over 100 people and injured 150 more. And last week we heard about the conflict that has broken out in Azerbaijan with thousands of folk having to flee to nearby Armenia. I think, like many people living in the relative comfort and security of Britain, facing such an upheaval is hard to imagine. 

Also, hard to imagine, and very sad were two very different stories from last week. The first was the awful killing of 15 year old Elianne Andam in South London. It’s a parent’s worse nightmare. Your child leaves for school and never comes home again. As well as Elianne’s family who will now be trying to come to terms with this senseless murder, Elianne’s friends who witnessed her attack and death will live with that trauma for the rest of their lives. The police have a suspect in custody and if that person is eventually convicted of her murder, then they will have to live with the legal and psychological consequences of their actions for the rest of their lives too. Given the age of the suspect, that is likely to be a long time.   

The other unimaginable, inexplicable and equally sad story, but for very different reasons, was the cutting down of the Hadrian’s Wall Sycamore Tree. The tree had a special place in many people’s hearts and minds and, like me, many people will have seen it during their lifetime. The police have now arrested two people in connection with this apparent act of vandalism. True confession time, sycamore trees are the bane of my gardening life. Neighbours on both sides of me have large, mature sycamore trees. In the spring and summer, they drip a sticky substance (the result of greenflies). Throughout autumn, the tree scatters seeds to every corner of the garden. I spend many hours pulling up the tiny seedlings that grow as a result. I’m sure the Gap Sycamore stump will soon sprout new growth, but of course it will be many years before it regains its former glory.

There were, of course, some good stories last week. One that made me smile was about Joey the 82-year old tortoise. Apparently, tortoises are a very tough species, and just like many men, they don’t let you know there is something wrong with their health until it’s really bad. In Joey’s case he had a huge bladder stone, weighing some 150 grams. Veterinary surgeons were able to remove the stone, but reckon it will take up to a year for Joey to fully recover.  Just to put this remarkable tortoise’s situation into context, if the equivalent stone had been growing in a human it would have been the size of a basketball!

And there was another good news story last week that didn’t get a mention in the main stream news media, but for me was just as important. Last week, at my NHS Trust we held a celebration event for the service transformations that have been achieved over the past 12 months. It was a great celebration too, and a wide range of service improvements were showcased and presented by the teams involved. We do have an excellent ‘transformation team’, and their main role is to try and create the right culture at a local level that supports continuous improvement, innovation and of course, improved outcomes for patients.

Just like the recovery of the Gap Sycamore Tree, developing such a culture will take time. It also needs facilitative and committed leadership from the Board through to the Ward. One of the things I notice the most when doing my walkabouts and talking to colleagues is the ‘can do’ attitude many are proud to share. Given the often challenging conditions facing colleagues at present, this is an attitude that gives me great confidence that we are not content with the status quo, but will keep looking for continuous improvement.

In the summer NHS England launched what they have called NHS IMPACT (Improving Patient Care Together). It is a new approach that will help support organisations to develop the appropriate leadership behaviours, help create a widely shared vision of what is possible, and lead to the development of an improvement culture. You can read about the approach here. However, it does feel like we have taken the first bold steps in reframing how we approach improving patient care as an organisation.

The quirkiest story of the week? It has to be the how a recent study in Japan has used AI to understand what chickens are saying to each other. The researchers listened to the sounds made by 80 hens, which were then analysed, and which allowed the researchers to work out the mental state of the chickens. Their study hopes such understanding can help us create a better world for chickens everywhere. I share that hope. Maybe we can all help create a world where love, not hate triumphs.