East Lancashire heath chief vows to boost staff morale

7:30pm Thursday 31st July 2008

By Camilla Sutcliffe

BOOSTING staff morale is top of the list for new hospitals chief Marie Burnham, at the end of her first month at the helm.

Marie Burnham, who took charge of the Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Hospital on July 1, said she had "worn out three pairs of shoes" in her first four weeks, visiting all departments on both sites to speak to staff and patients.

She said although hospital workers had given her a "fantastic welcome" and had been keen to work hard on further improvements, it was clear that they were frustrated by negative publicity, while more staff input was needed in management.

She has already begun the process of changing management structures – from September, all policy decisions will have to be approved jointly by clinical, business and performance monitoring teams, while monthly meetings will be held with senior clinical staff from each department to boost doctors' input.

Departments will also be given the opportunity to gain "earned autonomy". This means that if they fulfil strict criteria on medical and financial competence, as well as patient experience, they will be allowed to carry out research and studies without referring to the board of directors.

Miss Burnham said she had an "open door policy" for staff who wanted to raise concerns, and urged them to speak to her rather than approaching newspapers and political parties.

But she vowed to talk to all political groups, particularly the Liberal Democrats in Burnley and Pendle who published a dossier of complaints against the trust in May, about their concerns.

She said: "I do feel staff have been undervalued and that's something we have a duty and a responsibility to change by making sure the directors have a different relationship with them.

"On the whole, services in East Lancashire are top-notch, and it upsets me that all the staff's hard work is so often criticised and the NHS is used as a political football. You will always get the odd person who goes to the press, but their concerns can and will be investigated by the trust.

"There has sometimes been too much emphasis on business and not enough on the clinical side, but by working with staff, patients, and campaigners, I intend to change that."