Royal Bolton Hospital's chief executive reflects on her first year

Fiona Noden unofficially took up the post of chief executive of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust two weeks before the first national lockdown and has been in post officially a year tomorrow.

Reflecting on an unprecedented year for the NHS, Fiona told The Bolton News: "There was a lot of trepidation ­— I was coming to a brand new organisation, it was a new role for me.

"But I also took comfort in the fact that nobody knew more than I did and I did not know more than anybody else. We were all starting from the same position. But what I did know was that I was coming into a fantastic organisation and I was completely and utterly blown away by how our staff responded, they were truly amazing"

She added: "I went to see critical care on my first day, the place that was going to be and continues to be the hardest hit, and asked to see their plans, I was completely and utterly assured by what their plans were. I could see how our patients were going to be treated.

“I was completely and utterly blown away by it ­— they are phenomenal people.”

Fiona, who grew up in Bolton, said she was "humbled and privileged" when this month's NHS Staff Survey placed Bolton as the number one trust in Greater Manchester.

The detailed survey reveals how all staff feel about the organisation they work for, and even during these testing times, morale was said to be high.

Fiona Noden

Fiona said: "I feel extraordinarily privileged and extraordinarily humbled and I just think our staff are amazing.

"Our covid ward is D4. We offered to move the staff around to give them some respite because they have had it really hard, really tough on that ward, they have had some really difficult things they had to do.

“They had become extended family for a lot of our patients because our patients have not had their relatives in with them so we offered to move staff around and under no circumstances did they want to move ­—they were a team, they were looking after each other so they could look after our patients. They did not want to move they are proud of being D4.”

She added: "In the first lockdown we had staff living in hotels because they have a desire to come to work but they needed to protect their families.

"It was so difficult for them, they were staying away from home, they were staying away from their own families.

“Our staff are absolutely phenomenal people and I am really proud of them."

Director of people, James Mawrey said that staff wellbeing is an absolute priority.

He said: "We work really hard as as an organisation to put the workforce front and centre

"I was thrilled that in Greater Manchester it was the best acute trust, the second best in the North West and in the top 25 per cent in the country so that gives you perspective with how great it is to work here but importantly it is not myself as the director of people saying that it is the staff who are saying it is a great place to work.

"Here we have so many vehicles where we listen and talk to our staff and understand the way they are feeling and we also do a pulse check on a quarterly basis."

James added: "The staff are incredible people they have all got families all have got loved ones ­—it is not underestimate to say they have put their lives on hold for 12 months.”

Now Fiona and the management team are looking to the future in how they can best support their staff during "recovery".

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Fiona said: "People talk about going back to normal but I have never talked about going back to normal because normal does not exist  - and it is how do we support people to grieve for what they had in the past but actually move on to what ever our business as usual is .

"People will want to go back to normal because that is what they hold on to but it is how do we support people. People have had not time to grieve for their loved ones or for the impact of what they have had to deal with, there will be long term support for our staff, what the have seen, what the have felt and how they dealt with things."

The two say the are proud of the organisation's commitment to inclusion and staff having the 'safe space' to speak about any issues.

Fiona said: "I am a Boltonian I was born in Bolton and I love the system working that we have across Bolton so it is important, many many of our staff are from Bolton we have the culture that reflects our local communities so we have done a huge amount to make sure our staff feel welcome.”