A message from our CEO and President - March 2023

On the inside looking out...

As we write this blog the latest news alert beeps on the phone to tell us that the next junior doctors strike will be 11-14 April, 2023. So, the negotiations have stalled.

Meantime, we wait with bated breath to hear the outcome of votes by other healthcare professions to decide whether they will accept the deal that has been put to them. We know it’s complicated but if only the powers that be could recognise this is all about staff needing the basic core conditions to thrive at work so that they can deliver the best quality of care for those who need it, when they need it. Because whichever lens you look through we mustn’t forget that patient safety, outcomes and experience are at the heart of what we do.

How far can any reasonable person stretch before they snap? How much longer can we draw on the good will of health care professionals to go the extra mile, for free, in an under-resourced system?

The continued life of the NHS as we know it is not sustainable without adequately valuing all the skills and experience that a multi-professional team can bring to the holistic care of a patient. Staff need opportunities to train and develop in their roles and not be expected to pay for courses and training themselves as many of our AHP, pharmacy and nursing colleagues do. There needs to be a positive work environment and investment in the professions that deliver the care. The NHS needs to create the core conditions to thrive at work to retain experienced staff. This will also create an environment that encourages new generations of staff to want to train in healthcare and work in the NHS.

This week we launched an exciting new partnership with Health Education England, NHS England and NHS Elect to help to develop the AHP critical care workforce.

We’ve been enthused by the engagement across social media with so many different professionals. The AHP capability framework will build on the work the Society has done with the AHP Professional Development Framework and leverage a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve career progression opportunities for AHPs in critical care enabling their continuing professional development.

In project, we are focusing on dietitians, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists.

You can read all the details and the full role profile at bit.ly/AHPRoleProf.

We launched the second year of work with our All-Party Parliamentary Group in Intensive Care in January. We always planned to focus on workforce this year, after last year focusing on patients, relatives and rehabilitation pathways. We ran an interactive workshop at Westminster with Parliamentarians and benefitted from two engaging presentations by Michaela Jones (Matron and elected Chair of the Society’s Nurses Professional Advisory Group) and Paul Dean (Consultant Intensivist and the Society’s elected Honorary Secretary).

We also spent some time explaining the pensions precipice facing our more senior colleagues in the critical care team and the impact of pension thresholds causing experienced professionals to leave earlier than they would otherwise. Following this APPG, the co-chair tabled eight Parliamentary Questions about critical care and workforce. We would like to think our APPG discussions about pensions at Westminster led to the recent budget decision and hope it will help to retain many of our senior and experienced colleagues.

Finally, we wanted to share our thoughts about a six month piece of work that did not end as we had hoped. We gathered together a multi-professional working group including legal advisors to help us to develop an application to be a Core Participant in the Covid-19 Inquiry. We felt we had a very strong case – being the only membership organisation representing the whole multi-professional team and your unique voice.

Despite seeking a reconsideration (essentially an appeal) of the initial determination by the Chair of the Inquiry she retained her decision not to confer Core Participant status on the Intensive Care Society. We have considered our next steps carefully with both our Council and our Trustee Board as well as the multi-professional working group and our senior management team and have decided that we will now take up a role as observers and perhaps commentators on the Inquiry.

However, we will remain open to assisting the Chair and the Inquiry should they wish to approach us directly. While we’re on the inside looking out on most things, for the Inquiry we’re on the outside looking in.

Until the next blog, please feel free to email us at the Society or contact us via twitter where you will see we always enjoy a healthy debate and discussion.

You can find Steve at @stevemathieu75, or contact Sandy at @sanmather.