At the recent NHS ConfedExpo in June 2022, our organisational development team led a thought-provoking discussion on ‘How is OD enabling everyday conversations to transform complex systems?' They explored how if your organisation isn’t considered to be a thing, but a story inside people’s heads, how can you disrupt these stories to enable people to lead change themselves using a technique called dialogic OD? 

We’re pleased to let you know about a new opportunity to share ideas. SCW Spotlights, is our new programme of short and snappy events, launching in September 2022, where we’ll be spotlighting pressing topics and challenges in health and care today.

SCW’s mental health team took to the stage at this year’s NHS ConfedExpo (15-16 June 2022, ACC Liverpool), to highlight the work that we've been delivering around the Children and Young People’s Referral Management System Tool (CReST). The event, which attracted more than 6,000 delegates across the two days, was an opportunity for health and care leaders and their teams from across the healthcare system to come together and network, spread learning and encourage innovation.

'Healthy women are the cornerstone of healthy societies'. For me, this quote by the World Bank (2017) sums up the intent behind the publication this week of the first Women’s Health Strategy for England, which now adds detail to the vision set out in December 2021. What is key is that it is all influenced by women’s voices about what matters most to us – and many of them resonate with me both professionally and personally. 

Workforce challenges are a universal problem for most organisations. We aim to take the focus away from roles and move the lens to people and context, thinking about the art of the possible. Tackling workforce quandaries differently helps unlock a range of innovative potential solutions that we would never see when taking a top-level view of your workforce. 

For a second year, we were commissioned by the South West (SW) regional NHS England (NHSE) Children and Young People (CYP) Transformation programme team to conduct a strategic review for CYP transformation within each SW system and across the region.

Given the current economic climate, I feel in a fortunate position to be heading away for an abroad holiday this summer. We go in the coming days seeking that glorious foreign weather….. but with the current sunshine and immense heat here in the UK, you do start to question one’s thinking…. especially given the rising COVID cases. 

Amanda Pritchard’s keynote speech at NHS ConfedExpo last month resonated with me on many levels.  As an Organisational Development Practitioner, I was delighted to hear her view that the NHS is “the largest learning organisation in the world” and that our opportunity is in “the power of the relationships formed and strengthened by common purpose”.

At this year’s NHS ConfedExpo, we hosted several interactive sessions and shared our learning on some pressing challenges in health and care today. One of the sessions included ‘Working collaboratively to improve local CYP mental health services’, collaborating to understand your challenges, develop tailor-made solutions and deliver efficiencies that improve mental health services.