Agenda item 9(i)
THE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
COUNCIL OF GOVERNORS
17th ANNUAL NURSING AND MIDWIFERY CONFERENCE 12th MAY, 2015.
Since becoming a Trust Governor I have enjoyed attending the Nursing and
Midwifery Conferences and the Conference on the 12th May was the third I have
attended.
I have found them to be not only interesting but entertaining and sometimes very
emotional. I did not think that any improvement could be made but they just keep
getting better.
Once again the organising of the Conference was exceptional and everyone
involved should be congratulated for the work involved and the time they must
spend alongside their own role within the Trust is remarkable.
I am sure that everyone in attendance would feel the same as I do and appreciate
all the hard work in organising this event on their behalf.
The speakers for the morning session were as follows:Ray Galloway, Director of the Independent Investigation into Jimmy Savile at
Leeds General Infirmary. Ray was asked to direct the NHS Savile Legacy Unit
which involved overseeing and quality assuring all Savile related NHS
Investigations around the country including Newcastle and Gateshead. His role
concluded in March, 2015. This presentation gave the facts and was quite
distressing but honest.
Kristin Hallenga, Chief Executive and Founder of “Coppafeel”. Kristin talked of
her journey following her diagnosis of incurable cancer at the age of 23 and how
she set up this unique breast cancer awareness charity with the aim of reducing
the incidence of late detection or misdiagnosed breast cancer and to try and
ensure that it wouldn’t happen to any other young woman in Britain.
Kristin, a beautiful young girl with a beautiful personality, has been through so
much and yet here she was bright and bubbly and fighting to go on. I wondered
how you can go through all this and be the positive person she is. She is
remarkable and a real inspiration.
From both of these presentations I am sure everyone learned something very
important.
The afternoon session was with Andrew McMillan, who had everyone laughing
with his wonderful slides and film clips of advertisements, etc. Andrew had started
his career as a management trainee with the John Lewis Partnership. While
working with John Lewis he advised many other non-competing organisations on
their customer service strategy. Andrew was recognised as an expert in this field.
He then went on to be a consultant in this area.
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His presentation was excellent and very informative and entertaining. The
examples of Customer Care were from the commercial world but they all could be
applied to care within the hospital environment.
A wonderful day and I look forward to next year.
Well done to everyone.
Eleanor Houliston
Staff Governor (Volunteers)
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