The festive season is here – a time for togetherness, celebration, and for some of us, hopefully much-needed rest. With Christmas around the corner, I find myself reflecting on what an extraordinary year it’s been for our teams across Norfolk and Waveney.

This time of year also brings its own set of challenges, especially as we brace ourselves for winter’s impact on health and care services. This is when our collective efforts are more important than ever. Whether you’re on the frontline, leading initiatives, or working tirelessly behind the scenes, your dedication makes all the difference.

Warm and Well – Supporting Winter Health

Winter is a challenging time for health and care services, and this year is no exception. With multiple viruses circulating – including flu, RSV, COVID-19, and norovirus—the Warm and Well campaign is here to help. This initiative is about empowering residents to protect their health, stay warm, and build resilience during the colder months.

The campaign’s advice is straightforward but impactful:

• Get vaccinated: Flu, COVID-19 boosters, and RSV vaccines are essential tools to reduce severe illness and protect vulnerable groups.
• Know your options for care: Using NHS 111, pharmacies, or walk-in centres for non-urgent health needs helps alleviate pressure on A&E.
• Stay warm and active: Keeping homes warm, preventing falls, and maintaining mobility are small actions that make a big difference.
• Practice good hygiene: Simple steps like washing hands regularly and wearing masks in crowded spaces help prevent the spread of winter illnesses.
• Access support when needed: From financial aid to mental health resources, help is available for those who need it.

The campaign webpage provides resources and advice: Warm and Well Campaign. Sharing these widely – whether with colleagues, friends, or the communities you serve – can help ensure that everyone has the tools to navigate winter safely.

Vaccinations – Protecting Ourselves and Each Other

Vaccinations remain one of the most effective ways to protect against winter illnesses, particularly flu, COVID-19, and RSV. These vaccines reduce the risk of serious complications, prevent the spread of infection, and alleviate pressure on health services.

This year, the campaign to vaccinate frontline health and care staff has been in full swing. For those of you who’ve already had your flu or COVID-19 booster, thank you for stepping up to protect yourselves, your colleagues, and the people we care for. If you haven’t yet booked your vaccination, it’s not too late! I had mine at the NNUH just after my clinic a few weeks ago, which was very quick and easy, but remember frontline staff can have them at local pharmacies too. Book via the NHS app or at NHS Vaccination Booking.

Remember, vaccines aren’t just for individuals — they’re a collective act of care for our whole community. By increasing uptake across Norfolk and Waveney, we’re not only reducing the severity of illnesses but also helping to keep our health and care services running smoothly through the winter months. Every little helps!

Quality Improvement – Supporting Innovation and Transformation

Hopefully, most of us will have at least some time off over the festive season. So, if you have any good ideas during your time off, please come back refreshed to put them into action next year! Over the last two years, we’ve tried to foster a can-do culture – empowering our clinical and care professionals to innovate, improve, and to not be afraid to try something new.

Under the leadership of Jenny Lane, the Quality Improvement (QI) Hub is now our centre for supporting innovation and transformation across Norfolk and Waveney. If you have an idea and aren’t sure how to take it forward, please contact Jenny and the team. They can provide QI training if you need it to plan and implement your QI project. Alongside the evidence and evaluation team, they may also be able to find the evidence you’re looking for and save you a lot of time if someone has already done something similar. Whether it’s an audit, a research project, a service evaluation, a QI project, or a completely novel transformation, this is our one-stop shop to bring your ideas.

It’s also a space to connect with others who share a commitment to making things better. Next year, the hub will roll out new training opportunities to help more of us develop the skills to lead change. If you’d like to learn more about the QI Hub and its resources, please visit their website: QI Hub.

Building a Confident Research and Innovation Workforce

As part of our effort to support a confident and capable research and innovation workforce across Norfolk and Waveney, we have collated all the available training opportunities for colleagues looking to expand their knowledge in research, evidence use, evaluation, and quality improvement.

We intend for this to be freely available for colleagues across the system to use how they wish – it may be useful as part of an appraisal, training needs analysis, or to help inform strategic conversations. We hope it is also useful as a handy reference guide for colleagues working in these areas and advising others.

This resource can also be accessed on our website, and we will aim to update it every six months with new opportunities. Please feel free to disseminate widely and let’s continue to build the skills and confidence needed to drive positive change across our system.

Stewardship – A System-Wide Approach

Another exciting development is the upcoming stewardship programme within our clinical teams. Building on our old specialty advisors, stewardship is a new approach to clinical leadership designed to encourage collaboration and support teams while ensuring we use resources wisely. Stewardship is about balancing today’s needs with long-term goals, ensuring that the care we deliver is both high-quality and sustainable.

Key aims of our stewardship programme include:

• Empowering teams: Helping those on the ground to make impactful decisions about care delivery.
• Optimising resources: Aligning actions with broader system priorities to maximise efficiency and effectiveness.
• Encouraging collaboration: Strengthening connections between teams, leaders, and organisations to drive system-wide improvements.

Stewardship is not just about leadership; it’s a collective mindset that aligns our efforts to deliver meaningful, sustainable change.

We’re expecting the adverts to come out soon after Christmas, and I’ll put the link into next month’s blog—so watch this space!

Thank You and Wishing You a Wonderful Festive Season

Finally, as the year draws to a close, I want to thank each and every one of you. Whether you’re delivering care on the frontline or working behind the scenes, your dedication and compassion make all the difference.

The festive season can be a challenging time to work in health and care, but it’s also a time when the impact of what we do is most keenly felt. I hope you find time to rest and recharge, but for those working through, please know how much your efforts are appreciated.

Here’s to a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season—and to an exciting year ahead. Together, we’re making a difference, and for that, I am truly grateful.

Warm regards,
Frankie