We are Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, it's a pleasure to meet you!
Our organisation is currently rolling out the national ‘Hello My Name is…’ campaign. We have already had great success with implementing it on some of our wards but we really want to make sure this is something we keep pushing and most importantly, keep doing. The campaign itself was created by Dr Kate Granger MBE, an Elderly Medicine Registrar who was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive terminal cancer at the age of 29; the idea for the campaign came about in August 2013, after noticing just how many staff looking after her didn’t introduce themselves before delivering her care as an inpatient with post-operative sepsis. Using social media to really get her campaign out there, Kate created the hashtag #hellomynameis, and encouraged frontline NHS staff to make a pledge to introduce themselves to everyone they interacted with at work from then on.
Her campaign for more personalised and connected care has been supported worldwide, with 90 organisations and 400,000 health staff backing it. As a result, Kate was recognised for her efforts and dedication with an MBE and a Special Achievement Award. Sadly, Kate died on 23rd July, 2016, just aged 34, but we are determined to make sure that her legacy lives on.
As part of our corporate inductions and fresher's fairs, we will be asking all new starters and students to take a 'starter snapshot' with our editable 'Hello my name is...' board, introducing themselves in a way that can be shared with our staff and the public on social media, in our staff magazine, on our staff intranet and on our website. This way, we are welcoming everyone to our organisation, whether they are joining the team or receiving care from them, and breaking down those barriers that make a hospital environment intimidating.
