About Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Their Chief Executive, Andrew Morris, has demonstrated strong leadership for nearly a quarter of a century. One of Andrew's key drivers is an eternal desire to be the best and he inspires staff with his vision. His monthly staff briefings, which welcome all staff, are refreshingly honest and open forums where no question is off limits. Andrew’s down-to-earth manner, humour and professionalism earn enormous respect from everyone at the Trust. Andrew is a visible presence throughout the estate and seems to know most staff by their first names – whether they work in catering, portering or surgical services. Andrew's leadership style has helped to develop a culture that some call the ‘Frimley family’. Above all Andrew advocates a focus on the patients as individuals and urges staff never to stop thinking about how they would like their mum, dad or loved one to be treated. Andrew recognises that needs and expectations are constantly evolving and helps Trust staff understand that however good they are they must constantly improve in order to provide the local population with the health services they expect and deserve. Andrew’s tireless dedication is unquestioned and no-one at the Trust works more hours or with more focus. On a snowy day a couple of years ago he went to A&E first thing to see how staff were coping and ended up rolling up his sleeves to push trolleys until more staff made it in.

The Trust Leadership Development Strategy is to provide an organisation wide system approach to leadership development and succession planning. They provide a progressive framework of leadership programmes from shop floor level to board level which ensures that the Trust has in place an effective leadership community with the necessary knowledge and skills to deliver the changes needed to ensure the highest quality health care possible. This provision is a mix of local delivery for introductory, supervisory and middle manager, regional provision for senior managers and nationally procured programmes for the most senior directors. Their programmes define and emphasise engaging behaviours for managers and leaders across all disciplines and staff groups within the Trust and sets out to be inclusive of medical, clinical and non-clinical leaders in development opportunities that are multi-disciplinary in nature.

Quality Ward Walkabouts occur twice a month and are a way of gathering staff, as well as patient, feedback and comments about key issues in the ward. Walkabouts include an Executive Director, a Non-Executive Director, a Governor and a member of the Trust's Risk Team. Following the Walkabout, a template is populated with the key issues. Any negative feedback or comments are followed up and dealt with as appropriate. One example of something they have done is in response to stress levels reported in their NHS Staff Surveys. Where stress levels appear to be high, they have offered the use of an external stress audit approach. This involves a pre-survey staff briefing, a survey of staff in the area and then a follow-up focus group at which the survey results are reviewed and action is planned to reduce stress levels. 6 of these audits have been undertaken in the last year.