Computer generated transcript

Warning!
The following transcript was generated automatically from the content and has not been checked or corrected manually.

Let's get things going properly. I want to welcome onto the stage someone you all know very well. It's good to have him back and he will want to say a particular word of Welcome to all of you the chief executive of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and, of course, the chair of Nikon. Welcome, Please, Michael Bloomfield. Thank you, Mark and Good morning, everyone. I'm delighted to welcome you all to Nikon 2022. And isn't it great to be back meeting together in person for the first time, as markets said in three years? And while our virtual conferences in the last couple of years were a real success, there really is no substitute for being able to come together in one place with all of the benefits that that brings of catching up with colleagues, some of whom we may not have seen since before the pandemic. We have around 750 people on site over the two days, the largest number ever. And for the first time, as Mark said, we have live streaming from the main stage. The buzz in this room so far this morning and outside around the reception areas really is so good to hear again. And I think it's something we all need right now. For everyone working in the health and social care system has probably had the toughest couple of years that most of us have ever known professionally and in many cases personally to and those pressures are not easing. If anything, it's more difficult now than at the height of the pandemic. It's been said time and time again that staph are exhausted and it's so true after managing the unique challenges the pandemic presented, during which time we struggled to provide staff with the time to rest that they needed. They have for the last year been facing a level of pressure that is normally experienced only during the worst period of winter. But it's now constant everyday and regrettably, we are seeing some staff leaving the service as a result. We just had a summer winter. Unscheduled care services didn't get any easement whatsoever. The number of people waiting every day in our emergency departments for admission to hospital was more like January and February positions, and at the same time we've been trying to increase activity levels in other services to try to make some inroads to the huge backlog that have built up. And I know we all have real concerns for what this coming winter may bring. The Nikon conference provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the incredible work that all of you and your colleagues have done during those past few years and to thank all our teams for their huge efforts and unstinting commitment. Time and time again, they've been asked to step up, to go above and beyond, to stretch themselves a little further and time and time again. They have responded way above what could have been expected. There was a huge amount to be proud of, and we must never forget that for any of you who attended the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool back in June, you have heard the then health secretary been at least a couple since. It's hard to keep up, but you have heard them talk about their four PS prevention personalization performance and people. Amanda Pritchard then set out her for hours recovery, reform, resilience and respect, and responding to these and bridging the alphabetical gap between pee and are Matthew Taylor put forward for cues, quantity, quality, quickness and cues as in waiting lists. So not to be left out of this approach, I would continue the sequence by suggesting for S is as we as priorities that we need to focus on and they're consistent with the theme of our conference. Those would be staph system, stability and society. Our top priority must always be our staff, our workforce. We must continue to value them to support them, develop them and have the right number of them what's often term capacity, and to be able to provide the level of care that they and we know they should in relation to system. How many times have we heard? It said that Northern Ireland is the perfect size and has the benefit of being an integrated system to be able to deliver change that scale and pace. Yet we seem to struggle to fully realize that opportunity. We must continue to act as a single system to consistently provide the highest quality of service is for our population, regardless of where they live, while recognizing and respecting the role and expertise of local teams. And to make these changes, we need stability, political stability, that Marks already referred to to be able to make the sometimes difficult decisions that are going to be required and the financial stability to plan for and fund services over the longer term. And we can only do this if those we serve wider society or local communities if they are involved in and understand the changes that need to be made. Nikon members believe it's time to broaden and accelerate the conversation with the public about what their health and social services can do and to concentrate on doing those things really well and what perhaps it can no longer do, because with the current workforce challenges and the extremely challenging financial outlook, it's no longer possible to do everything. And we need to engage the public to assist in making the changes that are needed. These four s are all captured in the title of this year's conference Recognition, ambition, mobilization. We must recognize our staff and value them. We must be ambitious about the changes we need to make but realistic in that ambition about what is possible and then work tirelessly to achieve it. And we must mobilize all our skills and experience and that of our partners and wider society to help deliver it. So things are really tough right now. People are tired. Heads are down there. Real worry about this coming winter. But the next two days provide us with some much needed time to lift their heads above the immediate pressures to draw energy from each other and renew our shared purpose. It's so important that we make time and space to have these discussions, to be innovative, to remind ourselves of the amazing things we can do. And this conference your conference provides us with the opportunity to do so. So let's all look forward to really positive few days and make the most of the fantastic program that Heather and her team have once again arranged. There really is something for everyone. I'd like to thank everyone who's presenting over the next two days, whether that's in the main plenary sessions at the 10 parallel or 24 fringe sessions or the 18 cafe conversations, not just give us a sense of the scale of what's packed into the two days. I'd like to see a particular thanks to those who have come to join us from outside northern Ireland as we seek to build a wider learning network, including Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, who has been so supportive to us here in Nikon since since taking up post last year and has kindly agreed to chair a number of sessions over the next two days. Thanks again. Two are two main sponsors, BT and a PPI who have been supporting us for for many years and continued to do so with the virtual events over the last two years. There. Support helps us to put on an event of this scale and quality, and we're very grateful to them. I'd like to welcome to an icon for the first time our colleagues from Queens University and Ulster University, who you will see in the Innovation Zone. It's great to have you both with us as ky partners in driving improvement. There really is so much to be seen over the next two days, and I do encourage you all to visit the digital village and encompass, which is situated just above the bistro at the front of the hotel, and to take the time to chat with the more than 50 exhibitors that we have this year, including from the business community and voluntary sectors, which again highlights the importance of partnership to delivery and innovation. I'm particularly pleased this year that we're joined by so many of the adept fellows, the graduate trainees and students from the Northern Ireland Healthcare leadership for, um, they are our future clinical and managerial leaders, and it's great to have they're valuable insight to our discussions and last, but by no means least, a huge thanks to our minister of health, Robin Swan, who's once again made the time in what we all know. It's an exceptionally busy schedule to come along and address conference. We're particularly pleased you've been able to join US minister before. Whatever changes may take place next week and thank you for your steady, consistent and most importantly, supportive leadership over the past almost three years, and we look forward to hearing from the minister shortly. So in conclusion, please enjoy the conference and make the most of this short break in your hectic schedules to contribute to shaping and influencing the much needed transformation of our service. Thank you