Listening into Action

We recognise that as well as listening to our patients, it is also important that we listen to our staff and involve them when we try to identify where improvements could and should be made. That’s why we are fully on board with the national Listening into Action staff engagement programme.

Listening into Action launched at St George’s Healthcare in March 2013. It is a new way of working at St George’s. It’s about achieving a fundamental shift in the way we work and lead, putting clinicians and staff at the centre of change for the benefit of our patients, our staff and the trust as a whole. In the process, Listening into action is adopted and spread as a sustainable way of continuously improving services for the benefit of patients, staff and the trust.

Essentially, Listening into Action is about:

• engaging all the right people around delivering better outcomes for our patients, our staff and our trust,
• aligning ideas, effort and expertise behind the patient experience, safety and quality of care,
• overcoming widespread challenges around staff engagement and morale,
• developing confidence and capability of our leaders to ‘lead through engagement’
  collaborating across the usual boundaries, and
• engendering a sense of collective ownership and pride.

Listening into Action complements other important projects taking place at the trust, including the Improvement Programme. In fact, the change methodologies, systems and experience staff develop and gain through this programme will in many cases be used to help achieve changes which are identified by Listening into Action.

We have held Big Conversations in 2013 and 2014. Staff from all departments, levels and roles came together and talked openly about what matters to them, and what changes should be prioritised. We use the feedback from these Conversations to inform our future actions and to support and enable our teams to do the very best for our patients and their families, in a way that makes us proud of our work.

For further information please contact listeningintoaction@stgeorges.nhs.uk