Day 19: Every opportunity to connect
- Helen Kilminster
- Jul 5, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 6, 2019
It's another day and another trip into Wolverhampton. I'm meeting with Marie Tolley, my very talented yummy mummy friend who I've had the pleasure to get to know over the past few years through Neve. Neve and Grace are the best of friends. They were at nursery together but now go to different schools and regular meet for gymnastics club on Thursdays. Casually us mummies have our usual gripes and giggles about our work/life balance from the sideline benches. Marie is cardiac physiologist and has just changed jobs from Birmingham Children's Hospital to Wolverhampton Uni. She is so passionate about evidence based practice and her compassion for patient care is incredible. She shares with me some awful patient cases and as mummies we just can't comprehend how tough it must be for some parents and such little people.
On one Thursday catch up I tell Marie about my Clinical Director appointment and I kid you not, she was so pleased for me, to the point I thought we were going to be told off for being too loud by the gymnastic instructor! I don't think I got a reaction like that off anyone else! We start talking about what it all means and before you know it, we end up talking about endless possibilities for advancing healthcare services, clinical education and support. We are just two passionate people about our professions and we have so much admiration and respect for each other. It's times like this, where women supporting women is such a powerful feeling, it resets my resilience and gives me the encouragement to face into the unknown with my head held high.
Funnily Marie mentions me to her line manager at Wolverhampton Uni and apparently the lightening paper has been well and truly lit. Private conversations spiral into an arranged appointment within 2 weeks between all of us. So today I got to met Liz O'Gara. I was more nervous that this was Marie's line manager above anything else, I didn't want to disappoint nor over promise. We talked about PCNs and what it all means. We discussed about clinical leadership and education provisions that are already on offer to healthcare professionals in General Practice. I forget how information is squirrelled away in my tiny, little brain and I just offload as much as I could recall. We all have some further scoping to build on, but we're keen to keep all necessary people in the loop and for transparency, ensure everyone is invited to this party.
Higher Education Institutes aren't the only ones who can provide clinical education and support to our Primary Care Workforce. Many localities will have CEPNs (Community Education Provider Networks) and ASHNs (Academic Health Science Networks) already. Also third organisations, royal colleges and professional bodies. Understanding the needs at the coalface and realising the opportunity to expand skillsets in the workforce is quite challenging at scale but from PCNs could education and development become more meaningful? Could this enable our workforce to feel more valued if the right input has been made to further their career aspirations and build confidence to own some clinical leadership within their competency? Would this lend itself to better recruitment and retention? I think professional education and development are key strong factors to address.
We must not forget our industry colleagues whether it be from drug or medical technology companies. Many provide and sponsor great education events and resources. Code of conduct ensures relationship with industry remain above board. Like all relationships the dialogue needs to be open and honest. Yes, it's important to have a critical eye to the detail presented to you and healthy debate around clinical evidence is usually most welcome to conscientious company representatives. Now how will industry reach all PCNs with their rich portfolio of offerings of education, patient resources and data presentations? How many flyers/leaflets/promotional information gets binned? I do attend many conferences in the year, I make sure I use every opportunity to network with as many people as possible, you just don't know what you don't know. Please may I just add that working with industry does not also mean palms are crossed with gold and silver. Sometimes people just want to do the right for patient care and for the healthcare profession.
Find the right contacts, make the right connections. Forge the relationships. PCN is about thinking bigger. Always.
Thankyou for your comments on working with industry. I see great variation of engagement with pharmacists across my region. Some readily accept info so they can understand, verify, make great decisions and understand future developments. Others don't engage at all. I try my best every day to serve the NHS from the outside, and I care about patients as much now as when I worked for NHS.