I am one month in to my assignment as Joint Chair of ELFT and NELFT and although a lot of plates are spinning and my tongue gets tied when trying to spit out the names of the trusts, I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

I chaired board meetings at each of the trusts in January and, importantly, held an in person board to board meeting of the two trusts. The energy in room was palpable. Both executive and non executive directors see ample opportunities for further collaboration. Subsequently the executive teams of both trusts went off and identified a few specific areas for additional collaboration. As I walk around both trusts, I hear from people at all levels about joint working that is leading to improved outcomes for our service users and greater efficiency.

I laid out my vision and priorities as joint chair which I would like to share with you. My vision is to improve the health of the populations we serve and address equity of access, experience and outcomes.  My four priorities as joint chair are:

1. Patient leadership and putting patients and carers at the heart of everything we do. Equity of access, experience and outcomes must be in our sight at all times.

2. Providing the best possible environments for our staff, focussing on their well being, empowering them and ensuring they have equity of access to opportunities.

3. Data driven decision making and assurance at the boards and making the board deliberations and papers clear and accessible to our staff and communities.

4. Being the best possible system player and an anchor institution in the communities where we operate.

I have been very grateful to the NELFT family for making me feel so welcome and giving me the opportunity to meet so many people and visit a number of services so early on. I am very grateful to the ELFT family for cutting me some slack while I get up to speed with my new responsibilities.