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The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is the independent public inquiry set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future. In order to fully understand the impact of the pandemic on the UK population, the Inquiry is inviting the public to share their experiences of the pandemic by launching Every Story Matters. It will inform the Inquiry’s work by gathering pandemic experiences which can be brought together and represent the whole of the UK, including those seldom heard. The output of Every Story Matters will be a unique, comprehensive account of the UK population’s experiences of the pandemic, to be submitted to the Inquiry’s legal process as evidence. Share your story here. Every Story Matters provide a toolkit that contains information and creative assets that can be used to encourage participation in Every Story Matters. Every Story Matters aims to provide inclusive methods for people to talk about their experience of the pandemic, so anyone that wants to share their story feels heard, valued, and can contribute to the Inquiry. tips on engaging people to take part in Every Story Matters print campaign assets to download online campaign assets to download information on how to use campaign assets information on accessible engagement options.

Perioperative practitioners have worked tirelessly to rise to the challenges presented in recent years, and now continue to face the challenge of managing record-breaking waiting lists. Theatre work is challenging. You’re on your feet all day, mentally engaged and, at times, emotionally charged. This study day gives you an opportunity to focus on your own health and wellbeing as well as the welfare of your patients. "If we look after ourselves, we can look after others!" Topics will include: Review of mental health wellbeing and how to optimise it Health diet and fluid intake The benefits of exercise Optional Tai Chi taster session The importance of sleep and rest Debriefing and feedback to prevent burnout and PTSD Menopause awareness Open debate: Achieving a work-life balance in a demanding perioperative role Book

The uncertainty and anxiety that come with the experience of complexity can be overwhelming. It can be hard to think clearly and act wisely, and our wellbeing can easily suffer. The COVID-19 pandemic has made these experiences an everyday occurrence for many people, and the need for us to work clearly, wisely and healthily has never been more pressing. These Organisational Development workshops from the King's Fund will lift the lid on complexity. Together, you’ll explore how encouraging ourselves and others to understand and acknowledge the loss of control when faced with complexity can help us, our teams and our wider organisational systems survive and even thrive in conditions of uncertainty. The workshops will help you: make sense of the messy reality of complexity, accurately categorise different aspects of that reality and be able to choose appropriate, measured, responses understand your own preferences and strengths in relation to the complexity around you and develop strategies to stretch beyond them help yourself and others be their best during uncertain times. Join one or two sessions, or the whole series. Buy tickets

The uncertainty and anxiety that come with the experience of complexity can be overwhelming. It can be hard to think clearly and act wisely, and our wellbeing can easily suffer. The COVID-19 pandemic has made these experiences an everyday occurrence for many people, and the need for us to work clearly, wisely and healthily has never been more pressing. These Organisational Development workshops from the King's Fund will lift the lid on complexity. Together, you’ll explore how encouraging ourselves and others to understand and acknowledge the loss of control when faced with complexity can help us, our teams and our wider organisational systems survive and even thrive in conditions of uncertainty. The workshops will help you: make sense of the messy reality of complexity, accurately categorise different aspects of that reality and be able to choose appropriate, measured, responses understand your own preferences and strengths in relation to the complexity around you and develop strategies to stretch beyond them help yourself and others be their best during uncertain times. Join one or two sessions, or the whole series. Buy tickets

The uncertainty and anxiety that come with the experience of complexity can be overwhelming. It can be hard to think clearly and act wisely, and our wellbeing can easily suffer. The COVID-19 pandemic has made these experiences an everyday occurrence for many people, and the need for us to work clearly, wisely and healthily has never been more pressing. These Organisational Development workshops from the King's Fund will lift the lid on complexity. Together, you’ll explore how encouraging ourselves and others to understand and acknowledge the loss of control when faced with complexity can help us, our teams and our wider organisational systems survive and even thrive in conditions of uncertainty. The workshops will help you: make sense of the messy reality of complexity, accurately categorise different aspects of that reality and be able to choose appropriate, measured, responses understand your own preferences and strengths in relation to the complexity around you and develop strategies to stretch beyond them help yourself and others be their best during uncertain times. Join one or two sessions, or the whole series. Buy tickets

Ehi Iden, hub topic lead for Occupational Health and Safety: OSHAfrica, reflects on a patient safety incident early on in his career. In the early days of my career, I worked with clinical teams while managing a hospital and later a network of hospitals. I must say, the experience I gathered in these different roles shaped me into what I am today. I can fit into healthcare conversations easily because of these early relationships and interactions with clinical experts. When I look back to my experience as a hospital administrator, a particular incident keeps coming back to mind; I sometimes link this to my later involvement in patient safety but most times I feel it is my conscience speaking to me. There was a patient we were trying to give a surgical intervention to; although he was already in a bad condition, he stood a chance to survive yet he died. We had an antenatal case we had managed from conception and the lady had opted for an elective caesarean section (CS). When she was term, we brought her in and prepared her for the theatre. At the time set of the surgery, our anaesthetist was not available; he was assisting another surgery in another facility, but he gave us a name of his anaesthetist colleague we could use for this patient. We brought this new anaesthetist in to assist in the patient’s CS. While we stretchered in the lady for her elective CS, a severe emergency case was rushed in needing an urgent surgical intervention. This case obviously had to override the elective CS in order of triage. We returned the lady to her ward while we rushed to the emergency case. The medical team that was going to operate on the CS patient was now needed for this new case. About 20 minutes into the surgery, our lead surgeon came out of the theatre with an upset look on his face. I sensed something was wrong and I immediately led him into my office which was near to the theatre and locked the door. I asked him what happened? He told me that there had been an anaesthesia accident. The new anaesthetist we brought in to assist with the surgery had not understood our anaesthetic machine as he had never used it before. He had used the machine incorrectly and had given the patient an overdose of gas and the patient’s heart packed up. The lead surgeon was very upset. I was thinking, this could have been my Dad, my Mum or any of my family members; it was a totally life-changing experience for me. The relatives of the patient were notified that the patient had died; there was wailing and shouting in the hospital. I locked myself inside my office and cried because I knew this patient should not have died from an error of one man. I imagined the pain we had caused the family; the grief and the vacuum we created by our error. It was all too much horror for my fragile heart to deal with at that time. But the greatest mistake we made was that the error was never discussed among the team for us all to learn from and we were also not honest enough to own up to the patient’s relatives. This incident led me into researching and reading materials on medical safety and this was how I got into patient safety advocacy. But when I look back at the incident today, was it the anaesthetist’s fault? No not at all; it was the fault of the system. The anaesthetist should not have been allowed access to that machine in the first place as he had not been trained to use that machine. This was where we should have trapped the risk before it got to the patient. In safety, when you change or replace a machine or a piece of equipment your policy must be reviewed to capture the new equipment and users must be trained on the new machine in its specifications and peculiarities. This is what happens in aviation. A pilot cannot fly an aircraft which he has not been simulated to fly and this is one of the reasons why aviation is still one of the safest sectors in the world today.[1] Having established that it was a system error, we should have also been professional and honest enough to let the relatives of the patient know what had actually happened. When we are honest it shows clear transparency, but when we try to sweep things under the carpet it is mostly misunderstood that our actions could have been deliberate. As I am writing this article, I am sure the relatives of the patient, many years down the line, still don’t know what actually happened. Following the Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR) processes,[2] we should have made an early and honest disclosure of the adverse event known to the patient’s relatives, offered them an apology, refunded their payment and let them know how much this mattered to us and what we were going to do to improve our system. Our actions totally contravened all required amicable and fair resolution for the patient’s family. Owing to the fact that every man is fallible – this is why we are mere mortals in the first place – there may be errors but losing the opportunity to learn from those errors is deliberately creating new levels of errors. We never discussed what happened to our patient. I was the only one who got to know about this incident outside the clinical team who were in the theatre when this happened. The Medical Director may not have even known, so the case was never discussed and we could never all learn from it. When I think of this, I feel we need more openness and information sharing in healthcare, allow teams to discuss and share experiences, give room for reporting without blame, design a system that encourages patient safety conversation and liberalise communication processes. Each time this incident crosses my mind, I think of the lady who we had originally booked for elective CS. This clinical team was put together for her CS before the sudden emergency that came to take her place. She never knew what happened. The evening of that same day her CS was done and she had her baby boy who should be a grown man now. This brings to mind the bible verse Isaiah 43.4 “…I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life”. Could this have been what happened? No, the system is what killed the patient and I think we should all own up to this. References Kai-Jorg S. Pilot training: What can surgeons learn from it? Arab Journal of Urology 2014;1: 32-35. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR).

In this updated blog (first published in 2020), Sally Howard talks again about psychological types and why understanding our preferences and how they differ to others can be incredibly valuable. This knowledge can be used to strengthen teams, encouraging people to value diversity and work more effectively together. Ever have one of those days when you feel you are constantly walking up the down escalator, when it just feels tougher than it should? In these current times, when there’s so much to be done, our stress levels will rise and its easy to fly off the handle or simply not listen to those around us. Taking a moment to think about the way you are naturally wired, and how others may be wired differently, can help us better understand and get the best out of each other. Or, to put it in the words of Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, "everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves". We all have a ‘type’… The theory of psychological type comes from Jung who said that what appears to be random behaviour is actually the result of differences in the way people prefer to use their mental capacities. In 1921 he published Psychological Types, introducing the idea that each person has a psychological type. However, the academic language of the book made it hard to read and few people could understand and use the ideas for practical purposes. Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Cook Briggs set out to find an easier way for people to use Jung's ideas in everyday life. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality inventory makes the theory of psychological types described by Jung understandable and useful. I have used this both with individuals and teams over the years. To complete an MBTI assessment properly you do need to complete a questionnaire and have a follow up conversation with an MBTI practitioner. However, having a basic understanding of the principles can really help ensure we get the best out of each other. The four ‘dimensions’ of MBTI 1 How you gain your energy and re-charge your batteries Some of us gain energy through interaction with others, others through quiet reflection. Our work settings are often designed for extroverts, the noise and the constant interaction, not great for introverts who do their best work in a quieter setting. People with an extroverted preference will ‘speak think speak’, whereas those with an introverted preference will ‘think speak think’. Those of us who do a lot of the talking in ‘online ‘and face to face meetings are natural extroverts. The downside of course is that others cannot get a word in edge ways and, as a team, we miss out on a lot of key information. So make space for both preferences. If you don’t know what an extrovert is thinking, you have not listened, in fact you have probably switched off. If you don’t know what an introvert is thinking, you have not asked but you really should. 2 What type of information you prefer to take in, trust and offer to others When I talk to people about this dimension, I often show them a Salvador Dali picture. People who have a strong preference for factual concrete information will give me a list of the painting contents—an apple, a knife, a bird, etc. Others will be reading between the lines and creating possibilities, "something has happened here, it’s unsettling". If I prefer the big picture, any presentation of ideas with a compelling vision will grab my attention. For those of us with a strong preference for concrete information an absence of detail to back it up is going to raise more questions than it answers. We need to pay attention to both. Check in with those around you to explore "what’s missing here?". Its so very relevant when we are working together to provide the best care and treatment for our patients. 3 How you prefer to make important decisions Some of us prefer a logical ‘thinking’ lens. We look at the pros and the cons, we want to help people to solve their problem. Others are concerned about how what is about to happen and how it will impact on others, their values, the ‘feeling lens’. If you always start your decision making with a ‘thinking’ lens, you will struggle to have a pros and cons conversation with someone who you think is taking this all a little too personally. The challenge is that they have a different starting point. They prefer to begin with their ‘feeling lens’. There is simply a difference in your preferences. Once you realise this, its so much easier to work together. This is simply about where you start your decision making. People with a thinking preference take a big step back, start with a detached view and then step in. People with a feeling preference do this in reverse. Both are equally important. 4 How you prefer to live your life Some of us are natural planners, others spontaneous, sometimes VERY last minute. I learnt many years ago that asking for things at the last minute was a great way to hack off your colleagues. We don’t live in a perfect planful world, but a little consideration goes along way. If you like structure, if the word ‘finished’ inspires you, spare a thought for others who may lob something in at the last minute. Your last minute contributor may have come up with the best idea since sliced bread. If you shut them down they may not bother you again with their great ideas. Your loss. And if you love the words ’just finishing’, try where you can to minimise how often you let things run on until the last possible moment and apologise when you do—it can very stressful for colleagues, friends and family who like to plan. In MBTI, all these four dimensions come together for us into 16 different types. MBTI then paves the way for us to better understand our responses to conflict, stress, our contributions within our team and how we can be even better. And, it can also help us understand why some are really wired to deal with change and others less so. Final thoughts And finally, I wanted to add a few more things that are useful to bear in mind: This is simply about understanding your natural preferences and sometimes adjusting them. People sometimes say "I do both of these". We learn that adjustments to our natural preferences can be helpful. For example, I am very planful in work settings, but for me at home it’s all a bit last minute.com unless I try very hard! Which leads into my last point. Expect to be more tired on occasions. If you are required to deal with a lot of detail when you prefer the big picture, be aware it may feel surprisingly tiring. It takes your full concentration, just like folding your arms the other way, also surprisingly tricky for most people I know. Try it! In the meantime, I hope my blog helps you to get your head around why you may find some of the super people around you not so super at times and how you can adjust your approach to accept and value their differences. If you are interested to learn more, go to your local NHS Leadership Academy to find your local MBTI practitioners and take a look at the Myers Briggs website. More blog from Sally Leading for improvement Immunity to change Getting to grips with your imposter syndrome Are you having to bite off more than you can chew? How a single piece of paper could help solve complex patient safety issues The art of wobbling: Part 1 The art of wobbling: Part 2 Looking after each other in times of change