July Catch Up

I am a third of the way through the HEE Knowledge for Healthcare Leadership Development Programme and I can say its been harder than I thought it would be. The lack of posts on my blog can attest to this. I find it a fulfilling programme though. I am fortunate to be on a project with an understanding team. We plough through the work and step in for each other when there are challenges or conflicting priorities. I have had an opportunity to network with other participants and manage the project for my team. Team members are spread across England so we have found teleconferencing a useful way of keeping in touch. With an action learning set next week and the CILIP Conference tomorrow (I will feedback on this), I have been pretty busy. The greatest challenge for me has probably been balancing the requirements of my job with the requirements of the programme. My colleagues do their best to support me for which I am grateful and keeping things on my calendar at all times ensures I am where I need to be when I have to be.

The Library on our Newham site has undergone a thorough refurbishment. It is now fresh and  open plan with new furniture, equipment and Barts Health colours. After lots of moving, weeding and planning, it has really come together. I was based on-site during the refurbishment and this meant I was tasked with doing a lot of the normal day to day stuff. It was a very useful exercise as I got to know a lot more users, I got to brush up on some of the skills I hadn't used in a while, and it gave me a greater appreciation for the amount of work the frontline staff do in so little time. I salute them.

Literature searches requests seem to be on the rise because it feels like there are no breaks in between. I have also had my share of information skills training, inductions and exhibition stands. I appear to be adapting a switch on/switch off mode when moving from one task to a completely different one. I must confess that it is keeping me sane. I have also been liaising with my colleagues from Partnerships in Health Information (Phi) on developing the blog. Do follow us for interesting updates to and from Africa.

I find the new proposed CILIP membership model a welcome development. I also await CILIP's Royal Charter of Registered Practitioners and wonder what sort of impact this combination will have on registration figures and the profession as a whole. It would be great if job descriptions and remuneration could also be policed to demonstrate the value of trained professionals. I guess we'll see.