Hi my name is Jonathan and I am the Involvement Centre Manager in Nottingham. What does it mean to manage an Involvement Centre? Well the answer is varied and never the same!
My job is not boring, sometimes challenging and can be very rewarding. I often think of myself as having three bosses, my line manager, the Trust and all the volunteers that I work with and have a duty to make sure they are heard.
The reason I come into work is to improve and change services for people that receive them. Which I believe is the main reason everybody in the NHS comes into work. We (staff) just sometimes get a little pressured to deliver on targets that don’t always work for the person that is in front of you that day.
I hope the work we do within Involvement means that we can deliver on those targets without forgetting what is most important to those that receive treatment and care. The care part is really important; the NHS is a world leader at ‘treatment’ but sometimes we fall down on the ‘care’ part, and its’ then that people feel dehumanised and frustrated.
Let’s talk to each other, find out what we all would like. Be honest about what we can do, and completely honest about what we can’t do. Ask ourselves ‘would that feel ok if it was my Mum being cared for’?
Involvement gives us a chance to stand back and think about services in this way. We should always listen, but more importantly we should all be part of the solutions that we find.
That’s why I come to work – and not everyday is like that, but enough are.
If you’re interested in being a volunteer email: involve@nottshc.nhs.uk or call
0800 052 1415