Chief Executive at Heart of England NHS Trust hospitals heads 'back to the floor' - The Solihull Observer

Chief Executive at Heart of England NHS Trust hospitals heads 'back to the floor'

Solihull Editorial 3rd Sep, 2015 Updated: 21st Oct, 2016   0

A HOSPITAL Chief Executive has swapped his spreadsheets for scrubs and headed ‘back to the floor’.

Andrew Foster, Interim Chief Executive at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, could be seen pushing beds and providing a helping hand on wards as part of a new initiative.

Mr Foster took on the role of porter for the day at Good Hope Hospital to gain an insight into what staff across the Trust’s three hospitals do in their day-to-day jobs and how important they are to the organisation.

Explaining why he felt the ‘back to the floor’ initiative was important, Mr Foster said he learnt a lot from his day as a porter.




He added: “For example I have learned about the sophisticated way in which we check blood samples which was extremely interesting.

“The other reason is to demonstrate to staff that we are genuinely interested in what they do.”


Describing porters as ‘the nerve system of the hospital’ he said he was interesting to see how they ‘make everything tick’ around the hospitals.

Mr Foster said: “Not all staff on the floor have the opportunity to meet managers but I feel it is vitally important and it also gives you the chance to show you are a real human being and not an ogre.”

Other senior members of the executive team will also be joining the initiative and taking on roles in areas such as housekeeping and catering in Solihull, Good Hope and Heartlands Hospitals in the coming weeks.

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