One Message
The monthly staff briefing
from the Chief Executive
Dear Colleague,
In March I want to introduce you to the
Trust’s new programme for the next five
years. We are calling it Transforming St
George’s and the Trust and Clinical Man-
agement Boards have given their full sup-
port to it this week.
All staff will hear about Transforming St
George’s as we roll it out in a series of meet-
ings over the coming weeks and months.
And I hope that you will agree that the
thinking behind the programme will fit our
hospital for the coming years, as the NHS
enters another new phase of its life on its
60th birthday, incidentally St George’s 275th
anniversary.
The ideas are not revolutionary. Essentially
they build on the good practice that is
already very much part of the way we do
things here.
We want to:
• Improve the experience for patients
throughout the hospital, providing
quicker, better care and faster discharge
• Bear down on hospital acquired infec-
tions and make them yesterday’s story
• Develop the services we do well still
further
• Challenge some of the things we don’t
Our values + Treat all do well and do them better
people with respect • Make St George’s a better place in
and dignity + Deliver which to work.
care in partnership with
others + Continually Of course we hope that providing serv-
strive for excellence ices more efficiently and effectively to our
patients and our commissioners will also
+ Ensure probity and
transparency in spend- be more cost-effective. I have told you in
previous newsletters how we are turning
ing public money + Be
the corner financially, but there is still more
an exemplary employer
to do.
+ Be committed to
education, training and
research + Be open
and honest with each Transforming St George’s... with your help
other
February 2008
We have made such progress over the
last three years that I am now ending the
Turnaround Programme on 31st March. It
has been hugely successful, saving more
than £70m over three years. It has stabilised
our finances and secured our future. There
have had to be some tough decisions taken
and it has been difficult for staff. Many
challenges, including our finances, remain,
but it is time for a new approach, to build on
what we have achieved and to put quality
and safety consistently at the forefront of
everything we do.
And we need to remember that in today’s
NHS we are competing with other teach-
ing hospitals. Patients will increasingly be
able to choose where they go for treat-
ment and we want St George’s to be their
first choice. We are a centre of excellence in
many specialties, but we cannot rest on our
laurels. We want to be recognised as one of
London’s top teaching trusts renowned for
our patient care, education and research,
achieve Foundation Trust status in 2009 and
develop new services.
I will be hosting a series of meetings across
the Trust and this is a general invitation to
all staff to attend whichever meeting is con-
venient for you. Come along and ask ques-
tions. Come as well with your own ideas
about how we can transform St George’s.
Further details about the meetings will be
circulated in March.
Best wishes,
David Astley
Chief Executive