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Then there was
interim light
How many NHS managers does it take to
change a light bulb?
This is not the simple question it
appears. Have illumination needs been properly assessed? Have patients and
the public been consulted? Are stakeholders onside? Have roles and
responsibilities been discussed? Are resources available for another change
programme at a time of austerity?
All of these must be considered before
the question of numbers can be addressed, starting with the policy context
and implications.
The NHS is committed to providing appropriate
lighting to patients, the public and staff in all care settings now and in
future.
The five-year strategy Towards a Well-lit NHS: Lighting for All, 2014-19
clearly states that: “We will aim to provide illumination at the point of
need for all service users, with particular regard to older people,
minorities and hard to reach groups, children and young people, carers,
families, working people, the vulnerable and at-risk, the less well-off,
migrants, travellers, taxpayers, the worried well, NHS staff, their
friends, people they once met and anyone living with long-term dimness.”
The NHS Constitution adds that “decent
lighting is a basic human right without which the provision of basic health
services is impossible” and notes the role of lighting in all aspects of
healthcare from diagnosis of disease, prevention of falls, safe prescribing
and emptying of bedpans to the performance of complex surgical procedures.
As Lord Osram noted in his far-reaching
review of 2010, Beyond the Gloom: a
Strategy for a Brighter Future, “lack of sufficient light has
profound implications for patient safety, quality of care, workforce
productivity and the completion of far-reaching reviews such as this”.
Lord Osram concluded that “there is a
very real and urgent risk that the NHS could descend into complete darkness
unless I am commissioned to come up with a strategy for a fully integrated,
whole-system approach to sustainability of illumination for the foreseeable
future”.
The resulting regulations impose new
duties on NHS commissioners to make adequate arrangements for continuity of
lighting supply, including drafting of comprehensive resilience plans and
competitive tendering for change-leadership programmes. The regulations
also stipulate mandatory training for all staff in the rapid deployment and
safe use of secondary lighting devices (candles and torches).
For a full explanation of what to do if
you find yourself plunged into darkness, please see the 2014 draft guidance
Interim Transformational Procedures for
Standard Overhead Incandescent Light Emitting Units. Annex A
includes an Excel-based action planning tool for calculating how many of
your colleagues should be involved in the transition process.
Change-management
editor: Julian Patterson
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