Jenni, who is Deputy Director of Estates and Facilities at the Trust, is described as a brilliant communicator, particularly in one-to-one circumstances, who dedicates a huge amount of time to talking to and listening to people. By doing this, she helps them to understand the Trust's vision for the future, putting it in a clear context that is relevant to their roles, and then helps them understand how their work can specifically contribute to achieving this.
She is particularly skilled at communicating this importance to operational teams. She will often talk directly with key team members in cleaning, portering and maintenance, making sure they understand just how critical their roles are, in both keeping the hospital running and also helping to deliver a brighter future.
In her wider role she will fly the flag for ensuring estates and facilities teams are part of conversations about the Trust’s vision for the future and that their contribution is recognised.
Jenni sets the highest standards of integrity. She treats all members of staff with respect and kindness and is very clear in her expectations of how others work and communicate with colleagues. She sets and demonstrates high personal standards herself which has been recognised through her election and re-election to Staff Governor, representing non-clinical services. This shows the level of trust that her peers place in her, and is recognition of her high levels of integrity and honesty.
Jenni is brilliant at giving people the space they need to undertake their roles. She will make sure that individuals have absolute clarity on their objectives and what is expected of them. She will then engage with them to make sure that they have the resources and tools that they need, whether that be physical resources, equipment, access to IT systems or something else, and regularly check that these tools are effective. She will also ensure that a task assigned to a fellow team member is clearly communicated to the rest of the team, to ensure that others understand and support. She will then let people get on with their work, checking in as needed and always ensuring that an individual feels valued and supported, and that they have her trust. This clear, collaborative environment allows team members to thrive.
Jenni is an expert at understanding and diagnosing issues quickly and efficiently, knowing exactly how to coordinate a response, giving clear directions to teams on how to respond, and ensuring that all actions are effectively delivered. She is viewed in the Trust as the ultimate 'safe pair of hands’; people will entrust issues to her knowing that they will be effectively resolved, coupled with excellent communication that lets people know what's happening clearly and honestly.
One example of this has been her day-to-day management of ward moves throughout the pandemic. Jenni attends clinical strategy meetings twice daily to agree how the Trust will deliver the correct size and shape of bed base to cope with balancing elective/non-elective requirements with the correct infection control measures. On a daily basis she then co-ordinates the response needed from porters (to move beds and patients), cleaning teams, estates teams and the medical devices team to ensure that wards are quickly and efficiently cleaned, ventilated and equipped to cope with changes in status. This is all done whilst communicating clearly with clinical teams providing advice and updates so they can prepare patients and staffing.
Jenni lives and breathes the NHS values on a day-to-day basis and inspires and expects others to follow her example. She ensures that the estates and facilities team understand just how critical their work is to provide a fantastic service for patients, and that any patient feedback is understood and actioned, including making sure the team are aware of complimentary feedback. She treats all members of the team with respect, taking time every day to walk around the hospital, greet staff personally and ask them about their work.
Jenni also takes the lead on service transformation designed to improve quality of care. Recent examples include the new cleaning standards, new catering requirements and procuring a new non emergency patient transport service. At all times ensuring these services will deliver brilliant care for patients is a key priority. Recently, she took the lead on organising a 'foodie festival' that gave free meals to all staff members, together with an opportunity to gather and celebrate their achievements.
Trust Chairman, Gillian Norton, says: “Jenni is a great leader and manager who understands that the key is her support to and belief in the team, enabling them to give of their best. She is the ultimate problem solver and when all else fails you know you can always go to Jenni. Above all else is the way she conducts herself, with absolute integrity, and even in the most difficult of situations, with good humour and grace.”
Jenni was shortlisted for one of HEFMA’s 2022 awards.
