As I sit at my desk, looking at the ’blue sky thinking’ ideas board left behind by colleagues and listening to a lively Education Committee meeting in the room next door, I find myself very excited about the future for BSH.
A year ago, I walked through the doors of our offices in White Lion Street for the first time. I’d been hesitant about the commute and had been looking for something a little closer to home. But the more I found out, the more excited I became and really, really wanted to work here.
BSH was respected, financially stable, had a scientific meeting attracting a global audience, a strong guidelines programme and networks, an education programme ripe for development, links to healthcare professionals in lower and middle income counties and engaged volunteers. There was a lot that was good but, and here was the exciting bit, also a huge amount of potential to make things work better for our membership.
Within three weeks of starting, I was in Liverpool. Back-to-back meet-and-greets with volunteers and stakeholders. Wow! The ASM was incredible – but not as great as the members I met and the issues that were raised. I came home exhausted and limping (my pre-marathon hip injury didn’t like me standing so much!) but buzzing.
The year has certainly lived up to my expectations: we’ve run 19 events, held 76 committee and SIG meetings, published 18 guidelines, awarded 129 grants and created 10 podcasts. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
We reached the conclusion of our workforce project. The results were stark but not unexpected. It has given us really strong evidence leading us to reframe how we work with you. We know you are busy. We know you have more than enough on you plates with emotionally draining work and spend a huge amount of time giving advice to other specialties. You barely have time to pass on your expertise to your colleagues so the least we can do is make your lives easier.
We need to work better to support you but while setting realistic expectations of what can be delivered. I keep thinking of that old TV ad – let the train take the strain – well in haematology let the BSH team take the strain. We’re here for you.
Our member survey will be coming out soon. Do fill it out if you can. We want to know how best you like to receive things from us, and what you would like us to prioritise. We’ll let you know when it’s going to drop into your inbox.
We have focused over the last few years on diversifying our membership – there has been a 45% increase in nurse, AHP, PA, pharmacist and scientist membership in the last year and we have members from over 60 countries. Now we need to focus on delivering the best membership offer we can for all of you.
To do that, we have had a reshuffle of the team here at BSH and recruited to fill obvious gaps. We now have 21 people across teams looking at education, guidelines, influencing, grants and, of course, a group looking after all your membership needs.
If I haven’t met you yet, please do introduce yourself at the ASM. Glasgow is only a few weeks away now and Sue Pavord and I have been practicing our Ceilidh steps for the social evening – but if doing an eightsome reel isn’t your thing there’ll be quizzing and bar games. So if you don’t see me in the crowds of the conference – you know where I’ll be Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, I’ll temper my excitement into enthusiasm ready for year two. Thank you for making me feel so welcome.