Chief Officer's Message
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August 2019 Chief Officer’s Message A Day in the Life Renfrew Day Care – 10 Year Anniversary Flexicare Volunteers The Big Conversation Paisley Parking Pilot Chief Officer's Message Welcome to the August Team Brief. We face a busy few months, now that the summer leave period is almost over. Our latest Annual Performance Report is now available on our website. It provides an overview of our performance in our third year as a Health and Social Care Partnership and highlights some of the work that has been undertaken during 2018/19. You can read the full report at www.renfrewshire.hscp.scot/AnnualReport. The next Integration Joint Board meets on Friday 20 September. From this issue onwards we will provide upcoming IJB meeting dates and agenda items to ensure you know what is being discussed. These meetings are open to staff and members of the public. Thank you to those who took the time to nominate a colleague or team for a staff award. We received a substantial amount of nominations this year and I am looking forward to meeting our nominees at this year’s ceremony on Wednesday 4 September. A Day in the Life Name: John Gallagher Role: Business Support Base: Podiatry Department, QEUH Tell us a bit about your role – I work in the Podiatry Department based in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (or Southern General as it will always be known) as part of the South Quadrant Team. Everyone knows what podiatrists do - we do feet! Not everyone knows though that the service provided by podiatry staff is so important and ensures that people are given the care that will help them look after their limbs and prolong a healthy life as well as providing essential treatment to those who suffer from a variety of foot issues As this is also a Teaching Hub we have students from Glasgow Caledonian University Podiatry degree course based here for a good portion of the year for the bulk of their clinical placement (September to May) who learn from the skilled staffed on site. As well as a teaching site we also have a Musculoskeletal team based here and provide routine clinics, foot protection clinics and nail surgery. I provide support to the team based at the QEUH, the Podiatry Senior Team, Podiatry Practice Development as well as line managing the Podiatry Admin Hub teams out at Greenock and Shettleston. I have come to the podiatry service at an interesting time so I have found myself very fortunate to be able to involve myself in some of the new projects here. The service are about to begin the process of testing Attend Anywhere. This will give the podiatrist/service users the ability to utilise a web based platform to give consultations and also as a way to access the service and help provide another facet of care in their day-to-day routine. As the podiatry service have come to pride themselves on being almost completely paper free, I am involved in the process of moving all of our paper based staff records to the Sharepoint site. This will be another space saver that will contribute towards the overall goal. What inspires me? I have just recently started full time as the Senior Administrator within the Podiatry Service. I took on this secondment as I wanted to try something that was outwith my comfort zone, something that would give me new challenges. What matters to you in your role and what do you find most rewarding? I pride myself in knowing that I go that extra mile to provide support to any team that I am involved with. I have always enjoyed getting to work with new systems and software and adding new skills to my CV. The greatest reward for me is knowing that the support I provide has made a difference to the working day and the team that I am part of. It is also really important to get on with the staff that you work with; it gives you that extra incentive to get up in the morning knowing that you are going into a great working environment. What else are you involved in? A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Renfrew Day Centre – 10 Year Anniversary Renfrew Day Centre had a week full of festivities to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. The clients enjoyed a variety of activities and entertainment throughout the week which began with a tea dance including entertainment from singer Lesley Wallace. The saxophone quartet afternoon was enjoyed by all with cheese and wine. Mid-week there was an open day with the clients enjoying activities from the rolling programme which included art and crafts with Iain Richardson, relaxation therapy with Debbie Ballantyne, massage with Sandra McGuire and a health and wellbeing class with Lorna Mullen. The clients also enjoyed a dance with 50s and 60s music and afternoon tea. They were pleased to be visited by Head of Service, Carron O’Byrne on the day. They had entertainment from singer Jackie Lee. As four of the clients, Ellen Ewing, Margaret Middleton, Duncan Orr and Rosanne Love, have been with them from Stewart House 10 years ago, they celebrated with their top table and anniversary cake. The week was completed with another celebration cake and drinks while enjoying a mother/daughter duo performing a Mamma Mia tribute. The residents were invited from Renfrew Care Home to enjoy the performance, bringing together some old friends. The atmosphere was as lively as ever at the centre with dancing, singing, good food and friendship making the week a special time to remember. Paisley Town Centre Parking Pilot Through the Paisley Town Centre Working Group, local businesses have identified a period of three hours free parking as a way to encourage shoppers into the town centre and Renfrewshire Council is now running a pilot to assess whether this is viable. From Monday 29 July to the end of January 2020, six car parks in the town centre will have three hours free parking after 10am and the Council will then assess the impact this has had for local businesses and the Council. The six car parks that are part of the pilot are: Orchard Street, Weighhouse Close, Hunter Street (upper and lower), Oakshaw and School Wynd - a total of 186 spaces. The three hours free parking doesn't apply to any other Council car parks or any of the private car parks in Paisley. Click here for more information. The Big Conversation Flexicare Volunteers Flexicare supports young people and adults with a learning disability or autism to enjoy and take part in social and leisure opportunities in Renfrewshire. Des Maughan volunteers with Flexicare as a Befriender. “Volunteering for Flexicare is a rewarding experience and one which I would highly recommend to anyone who has a few hours to spare. It is a great way to spend time doing something meaningful with the added bonus of watching individuals develop as they enjoy themselves”. We are looking for people like Des who want to make a huge difference by giving up a small amount of time. You don’t need any special skills, just your time and your enthusiasm. We will provide training, support and development. If you join us as a volunteer, you could help to make a difference just like Des does. If this sounds like something you or someone you know would like to do we would love to hear from you. Contact us on 0141 618 6536 or by email at Des Maughan [email protected] Digital Skills Survey Renfrewshire Council are keen to encourage staff to complete this Digital Skill survey, therefore, please disseminate across your teams. We want to find out more about the digital skills that exist across our workforce. To do that, we need your help! Our Digital Skills Survey – which can be completed in 10 minutes – is a set of information questions which focuses on what you currently know about the digital landscape, and what you would like to learn more about. The answers we receive will help us direct support to where it’s needed most. It’s not designed to be a test – it’s simply a tool to identify any skill gaps and discover who has specialist knowledge about particular systems that we can tap into. Link to survey https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/fe3bb51135ee453fb14f9fe9109be613 Fancy winning a tablet in the prize draw? If you complete the survey, and choose to provide your name, you will automatically go forward into a free prize draw to win one of two tablets. We will keep the survey open initially until 30 August. Accessing the survey To make sure all colleagues have access to the survey – even without a council pc, Smartphone, or tablet – the questions will be available on both our public website and our intranet site. Results Responses will be analysed and a breakdown of results per service will be presented to the Better Council Board. High level results will also be shared with staff in September. Further information If you have any questions about the survey, please email the project team via [email protected]. Alternatively, contact Andrea Hensley on 07534 146 190 or Diane Webb on 0141 618 7999. We’re on Instagram! You’ll now find Renfrewshire HSCP on Instagram. Follow us @renhscp Instagram is a photo sharing app which allows us to promote services and campaigns using photos or videos as well text within captions. If you are keen to promote a campaign, good news story or a key message or if you want to find out more about how to use social media in general please contact our Communications Officer – [email protected] www.instagram.com/renhscp Scottish Sensory and Equality Award 2019 Renfrewshire HSCP Sensory Impairment Services provide rehabilitation, skills training including technology, information, advice and support to Renfrewshire people of all ages who have a sensory impairment (blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing and deaf blind).