Hi everyone! I am blown away with powerful positivism after spending the afternoon at an award ceremony at O2 in Greenwich. The concept of sharing great ideas that are proven and already used anywhere in the NHS and deserve wider circulation and utility was the brainchild of Roy Lilley, Terri Porrett and Jon Wilks. And as a vehicle for positive change, it has already proven invaluable.

I had a snack before leaving the venue. Guys on the next table saw my badges and lapel stickers. “Awards? Was it just the usual Corporate rubbish?”.  OK, it could’ve been, I said. But with magicians and bubbles and the NHS Choir…it wasn’t your average back slapper!

You had to feel the love. Most of the guest performers, the grand fromages from NHS, the award winners and nominees were quite visibly, emotionally involved. Some to the point of what my sister beautifully terms “happy hankie”.  Including the blogger…(it was the standing ovation for the NHS choir singing their 2015 Christmas number 1 that got me).

Dr. Phil Hammond, Private Eye medico, and West Country GP brought a Clanger. Acronym alert – Connect, Learn, Action, Notice stuff, Give, Eat well,  Relax, and Sleep. I love Clangers!  And had us all shouting out (in appalling West Country accents) “Our NHS”.  OK – this audience is on side already…but don’t underestimate the love, politicians….

Before I give you links to the award winners, through the Fab NHS web site, I just need to mention all if the performers and their simply fabulous metaphor links to what the NHS is and does…

Positive news doesn’t sell newspapers. You might not hear about this in the Daily Wail, or the Excess…but you can read it here. As Simon Stephens said “You 290 winners and your 1.3 million colleagues in the NHS are winning everyday”. Touching the lives of 650000 people directly, the NHS touches everyone…

So who performed – beautifully? Dancers, with Nye Bevan’s speech at the inception of the service. Sometimes it must feel like the troupe is all in time and in tune? A woman doing the splits on a tightrope…don’t want to stretch that too far (!), but the finances make it feel like the safety net needs fewer holes? A posh guy making impossible things happen with bubbles. “Bubbles have to make the most of every precious moment…like you all do”. Surely a perfect metaphor for some of the wondrous stuff that happens, hourly? And Nurse Pseud, the astonishing (you had to be there…) Hula Hoop queen. Sorry, she managed 10 at one point. And was naughty  and quirky and loud and very proud of being an NHS baby. And was moved by saying thank you. And finally a magician – please make your own metaphor link….it’s too obvious…

The roadies and crew were so like the NHS folk. Committed, quietly getting on with it, unobtrusively committed to excellence.  The sponsors are deeply embedded, excited to be so, and want it to grow and grow.

Twitter nearly broke. 857 729 people had interacted with tweets about #fabawards16. Wow.

And maybe a tweet summed up the objective of both the celebration and indeed, the vision of Academy of Fab NHS Stuff:

And finally (as the Two Ronnie’s would have said), I had the serendipitous joy of sitting next to one of the award winners. Lisa Webster  now with Wirral Community NHS Foundation Trust , (recently moved from Pennine Care NHS Trust) win the Mary Poppins Award. “Be Happy”, was the share. She was shocked. And so blown away. As was everyone who won. And all those who were nominated. Cliche it may be – but all are winners of course, because they were the chosen 4 out of 50 nominees for each category…and in the end, it’s is the NHS that wins, through this hugely positive sharing platform.

It works. It really works. Go check it out:

Here’s the categories – Fab Awards Categories

Here’s the nominees and winners – Nominations

Here’s the photos from the event – Photos

And couldn’t without the positive pushing and vision of Roy. Terri and Jon. And the sponsors. And the sharers.

Fabulous.

Read about Developing a Home First Mindset; LEAD it In Leicester; Caring for Carers, Be Happy, Designing & Implementing an ‘Acute Hospitals @ Home’ Service #FutureHospitalsProgramme, Fab Change Day champions, and more on the Fab NHS site…and share something with everyone. Your little idea may be bigger than you think…

https://fabnhsstuff.net/

(All the links to the nominees are on this home page)

The Sponsors – and it couldn’t happen without them:

Cerner

Deloitte

IBM

IMS Maxims

Institute of Healthcare Management

Interserve

Quintiles

If you’re not sure you have heard of Sam, or cant quite place him – click here and here (first is Kings Fund, second Wikipedia).  Those who attended, in person or via Periscope will have learnt more at last weeks Health chat with Roy Lilley.

Less like a Sir, less like a doc, more like a visionary?  Roy Lilley certainly does get some crackers to his health chats.  Read on to find out more of what I think I found on that evening. (Available to watch again on You Tube link in case you didn’t catch it on Periscope).

I thought I might get the feel for a person who had moved from law to GP and find him a little highfalutin’ and pompous. Not likely for someone half Norwegian (and brought up by his madly hospitable, open house mum). He does wear that sort of jumper, normally only seen in Scandi Noir cop shows.. For work too…no ties on him! Trainee woodcarver to ships welder, through Called to the Bar, to GP. All before 23 or 4… Saw a fellow student killed by a crane when a welder. Formative moment. Resolved to become a GP.

Why general practitioner, asked Roy?. He knew that’s what he wanted in Medicine.  it’s a people need. “You need emotional Intelligence, not straight A* s to be a good GP.”.

The Practice he still works at 2 days a week (you got the feeling he needed it as a bed rock of his existence) is well visited by the great and the good.  Heavens, Roy has been there! Bromley by Bow, in Tower Hamlets. Deprived area. Hugely varied communities. And a beacon of excellent care.  The practice sounds as central to community life as a holistic social, health and cohesive service should be. Taking the place of pub, church football and maybe even family? Or just making that mix work better? Is Sam’s thrust just that? Maybe his powerfully political pushing and absolute moral conviction is the enzyme that allows others to have their head too? I know he doesn’t do it all, and says he can walk out of the practice and it will still flourish..but I think he just makes the space for the positive ideas to flow.  And the positive people to come to the fore.

Like Social Prescribing. I didn’t know what that was, really (description here). It starts with the the opposite of normal thinking.  Not “what’s the matter with somebody” but “what matters to somebody”. Like a lot of things – simple to say and to “get”. But harder to do?. Of course. But you have to start at the “what matters” question. Like their practice building. Church audience falling? What do our ageing parishioners want? They want social care.  Let’s bring the GP in here. Another practice defined many of their health issues were related to crime in the local estate. So bring two police officers permanently based into the building. Guess what? Crime reduced 80% and healthcare outcomes improved exponentially.

It is big joined up thinking.  It is all about mind set.  But don’t say it to Sam.  He doesn’t think what he does is the important bit.

Tough? It is. The passion makes it happen.  And others will now follow. Thank you.

Next? Making the High Street healthy….

Good luck, Sam. We get it.  You lead, and we will follow…truly an inspirational chat, and chap.

Sam and Jumper Fans!