Springtime at Parkhaven

It is that time of year when our service managers plan for the coming 12 months and reflect on the previous year. It is a time to celebrate what has gone well, what we are particularly proud of and what we want to do differently and better next year. Our ethos in the Trust is to always think that we can learn and do better. We do not stand much truck with ‘we have always done it that way’! In particular we afford a high priority to listening to what the users of our services have to say and what they think is important. These views and feedback are fundamental to the priorities for the coming year. In planning for the year ahead we ask that each service manager present to their colleagues their plans and reflections. The evidence of the Commission for Health Improvement, the precursor of the Healthcare Commission, (although not for long as it is soon to become the Care Quality Commission) was that departments within organisations did not learn from each other. We are determined to ensure that our services do learn from each other so that they benefit from the best of each other. In addition to sharing plans and ideas, the Trust has developed its own internal audit programme which entails different senior managers leading on different matters, visiting all the services and looking at their specialist topic on a regular basis. These include catering, medication, personnel, care plans, health and safety and finance. So as we enjoy and are inspired by beautiful surroundings with the daffodils in bloom and the cherry blossom just beginning to emerge we are confident that the systems we have in place do promote learning in the various parts of our organisation. These systems are crucial to the quality and safety of the care and services that are delivered and help us to work towards achieving an excellent experience for all those who use our services.


Hilary Rowland
Chief executive,
23.03.09