Two invitations to scrutiny
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When the invitation to attend the scrutiny committee dropped into Jeff’s inbox it was already feeling like one of those days. He had just seen the update on the hospital inspection, and it wasn’t good news. To make things worse, the disciplinary hearing he was chairing this afternoon was looking like a nightmare for the ages. “The Chair, Councillor Rogers, would like to invite you to meet with the committee to discuss recent concerns raised by residents about health services in the area”, he read. Staring at the computer, images of parliamentary select committees flashed through his mind. He could hear the questions, the accusations, and the political point scoring. Yes, ambulances had been queueing up outside A&E last month, but the issues were complex, and Jeff wasn’t sure that this is what the committee wanted to hear. In truth, he didn't really know what the committee wanted. Still, he wasn’t actually required to attend, was he? Ready to move on, he forwarded the email on to Fiona, Head of Performance. “Hi Fiona, could you deal please? Let the Councillor know that, respectfully, we are unable to attend at this time due to work pressure but if there is any information they need, we would be happy to provide by email, etc etc. Thanks. Jeff.” —————————------------ About 200 miles away, at exactly the same time, Jim also received a similar invite to attend a scrutiny committee. Another difficult day. As always. “The Chair, Councillor Patel, would like to invite you to meet with the committee to discuss recent concerns raised by residents about health services in the area”, he read. Ah, yes, he thought. He’d had a quick call from the Chair last week to say this was coming and to explain the background. She had mentioned that they would send through more information and likely topics nearer to the time. He had met Councillor Patel through the social care panel he had contributed to last year and found her to be good to work with. In fact, the whole experience was a lot more constructive than he had expected. Mmm, this could well be useful. It’s good for the Trust to be in listening mode, he mused. We’d actually picked up a lot from that social care panel. It would also be helpful for the councillors to have the full picture, in all of its complexity. Who knows, it might even lead to a more balanced debate in council meetings. Hah, better not get ahead of ourselves, he smiled to himself. Ah, yes, and with the inspection coming up it wouldn’t do any harm to show our willingness to be accountable in this way. Ready to move on, he forwarded the email onto Frances, Head of Performance. “Hi Frances, I’m giving this priority and will be attending - would be great if you could attend also. Either way, let’s discuss at next week’s catch up. Thanks. Jim.” By the way, if you would like to see / add comments, I've posted this reflection on LinkedIn here. |
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