Monday, April 18, 2011

Guest Blog - Scott Darraugh from Social Adventures on stepping out from the NHS

Since stepping out of the NHS and going-live as a new social business, it's been quite a couple of weeks ! The whole things as been like running the London Marathon wearing a Gorilla costume.

Friday (1st April) last week has been be the most surreal day for my career to date !

9am we all received P45's from NHS Salford which was emotional for me and the team after 10 years for NHS service. Some members were visibly upset. And to be honest I did have a lump in my throat at that point.

At noon I signed the contract with NHS Salford for the next 3 hopefully 5 years. Next stop was HR to collect the crate with our HR records. The whole floor was deserted bar 2 ladies one collecting name badges, laptops and mobile phones and the other handing out records to the staff moving to the local authority or acute trust. By the time I got back to the office the first quarter's cash had hit the account !

Then to the local pub to celebrate !

I did for some strange reason think that this would be a moment where things would somehow get back to normal (pre right to request) where life would be again just be about developing and delivering services. Errrm no! I now find myself the expert in VAT, HR law, negociating new deals with suppliers and organising a new payroll system !

But does it feel different ?

YES things are somehow more productive. There has been a cultural shift within the team. People are driven to make a difference to take ownership and I believe that has to be better for the people we serve. With the right to request comes lots for new responsibility, responsibility to service users to deliver great service and to employees to be a healthy and happy place to work.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well done scott! a strange time, lots of unknowns, some confusing policy and a challenging journey. but massive respect and admiration to you and the team for taking things into your own hands and giving it a go. very best wishes. dan.