Say Thank You!

Do you know a colleague who has done something that really made a difference, or has demonstrated our CARES values? Then send a thank you to them. Receiving a thank you lets you know your hard work has been noticed. Not only that, the thank you automatically goes into your PACE and the great news is that the system automatically notifies your line manager so they are aware of the great work you are doing.

Your Recognition - Home (sharepoint.com)

Here is ‘A Guide for Meaningful Appraisals’.

This document will help you prepare for an appraisal as a line manager and an appraisee and support your periodic reviews. It includes some great tools to support your ongoing development at the end of the document.

Appraisal Guide

Launch of the Costing Steering Group - November 2023

The inaugural Costing Steering Group (CSG) is taking place on the 29th November. The Costing Team, along with divisional leads, clinicians, and finance colleagues are working together to implement a programme which utilises and improves patient level costing data.

The team will provide insights into patient pathways and services, working with the divisions to improve data quality and to develop patient level dashboards prior to their release in early 2024.

We are looking forward to sharing the dashboards and further information with you all soon, but in the meantime if you want to know more about anything costing related, please reach out to the Costing Team.

Watch this space!

Greg

Greg King

Transformation & Insights Accountant

Update from SBS

As part of our ongoing improvement and maintenance programmes, we confirm the upcoming work plans and the potential impacts. This work includes:

Future systems access notice

Future release and maintenance work notice; these activities will require system downtime over certain weekends, meaning access to all our Production environments may not be available for certain periods:

December 2023

•           Saturday 16 December - from 18:00 Friday 15 & into Saturday 16 December we will be performing planned Oracle infrastructure maintenance work. All interfaces and file uploads will be suspended prior to this work commencing. We therefore strongly recommend that users ensure all relevant interfaces or uploads are completed as early as possible before 16:00 Friday 15 December. The overnight BI refresh will also be suspended Friday evening but resume Saturday 16 December.

•           Saturday 23 December - there is no planned maintenance or release work, therefore systems will be available for normal use.

January 2024

•           Saturday 13 January - we will be performing planned Interface Hub and Middleware half-yearly patching. During this work access to the Oracle E-Business Suite & Business Intelligence systems will remain available, but access to any Tradeshift images and the ability to use the File Upload facility will be unavailable between 08:00-12:00.

•           Saturday 20 January - from 18:00 Friday 19 & into Saturday 20 January the Oracle Business Intelligence system will have its half-yearly update patches applied (system unavailability times to be confirmed, but likely to be Friday 18:00 to Saturday 16:00). The overnight BI refresh will be suspended Friday evening but resume Saturday.

•           Saturday 27 January - there is no planned maintenance or release work, therefore systems will be available for normal use.

Upcoming Training

Our next sessions for the ‘Overview of the Business Intelligence Functionality‘ are planned for:

•           Thursday 7 December 13:30 – 14:30

Our next Pay Per Person Training course for ‘Business Intelligence (BI) Report Writing / Superuser’ is planned for:

•           Wednesday 17 January 2024 09:30 - 16:30

•           The schedule for 2024 is available on the Training Zone

We will have monthly free webinars throughout 2024, please find the full schedule on the Training Zone. For any further information please contact SBS-W.SBSTraining@nhs.net

We want to make you aware that we have renewed our subscription with HFMA (Healthcare Financial Management Association (hfma.org.uk)) (Bitesize Courses (hfma.org.uk)), and we now hold a number of licenses that need to be used throughout the subscription term.  

Click here to see a Poster

Examples of available courses for Free****
NHS budgeting (England) - how to use budgets to help manage services.
Personal health budgets (England) - how patients can commission their NHS care
Procurement in the NHS (England) - how NHS organisations buy goods and services.

Health economics (UK) - how best use can be made of the limited resources in the NHS.

Support

If you have any questions about accessing the free courses please email your training leads - Daniel.Williamson@merseycare.nhs.uk or Lee.Gough@merseycare.nhs.uk

HMFA Bitesize

Did you know you can gain access to HFMA bitesize courses through the following platforms?
 

Electronic Staff Record System

To access the HFMA bitesize free courses through the NHS Electronic Staff Record please log in to the ESR (Home - ESR Hub - NHS Electronic Staff Record) and go to my learning. You can then search for either the course title or the keywords healthcare financial management association.

NHS learning hub

If you do not have access to the Electronic Staff Record System you can access the free bitesize courses through the NHS learning hub (Learning Hub - Home). Once you have created an account search for the free courses using the keyword 'hfma'.  You will see the hfma catalogue – click on the catalogue and you will see the health inequalities course listed.

Recent Training

If you have attended any recent courses where you feel the wider team would benefit from attending or viewing any information that you received, could you please send to Alison Roebuck and the details can be shared on this page.

There is still time to vote in advance of the annual general meeting (AGM). Advanced voting closes at 9.00am (GMT) on Tuesday 5 December 2023.

HFMA members, associates and friends come together again for the biggest and most prestigious HFMA event of the NHS finance calendar. It's almost time to network with peers, get inspired by our on-stage content and learn about innovation and collaboration across the healthcare sector.

The focus of this year's conference will be working as one, and will include topics like the national virtual wards programme, social finance, international updates from HFMA across the world, the future of outpatient care, mentorships, digital technologies and dementia patient support.

We will be starting this event with a series of online leaning labs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning then, from Wednesday afternoon to Friday, we will be running hybrid from the Hilton Metropole in London.

Across the five days, we will hear from our keynote speakers, Brendan hall – global explorer, Chris Mason – BBC correspondent and Mary Portas – British retail consultant and broadcaster.

The thirty-eighth annual general meeting (AGM) of the members of the Association will be held on Thursday 7 December at 09.00am. If you wish to attend please register through the online voting site.

Key HFMA facts

HFMA News 

One NHS Finance

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for our Value Maker Annual Conference and Awards in London on Friday, it was fantastic seeing everyone connecting, networking and sharing best practice. We also had many of you watching our livestream resulting in lots of new Value Maker sign-ups! We would like to say a massive thank you to our fabulous chair, Suzanne Robinson for doing such an amazing job and to all our wonderful speakers and network exhibitors. If you missed it, you will be able to catch up on all the action on our YouTube channel shortly, so watch this space. You can also view all the official photos of the event here: https://we.tl/t-B1J0N8znOH

Event highlights included:

The Value Maker Network

In this session active members of the Value Maker network shared their personal perspectives on what it truly means to be a Value Maker. Whether you're considering joining the network yourself or seeking to promote it within your organisation, we hope you gained valuable insights into the various ways you can connect and engage with the Value Maker Network.

NHS Finance Careers

In this panel session, we were joined by Daryl Cockman, Head of Financial Development, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Hannah Belok, GMTS Placement, East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust and John Beswick, Chief Financial Officer, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust. Our panellists shared their different entry routes into NHS finance, insights into their career stories to date and the benefits they have enjoyed along the way.

Afternoon Highlights

The Making NHS Finance a Great Place to Work panel session kicked off after lunch, during this panel session we heard directly from three highly engaged organisations that have achieved Towards Excellence Level 3 accreditation. Discovering what sets these exceptional organisations apart and gaining valuable insights into what it takes to achieve and maintain this level of success.

The much-anticipated awards presentation followed, find out more details below. Closing the conference, we were lucky to be joined by motivational speaker and author Elliot Rae as he shared his story about his lived experience and the inspiring work he has achieved around men's mental health and fatherhood. 

Our National Award Winners:

• Champion of Change: Remone Williams, West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.
• EDI: Tahira Butt, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.
• Finance Education: Lucy Godden, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
• Finance Excellence: Cheryl Williams, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. 
• Rising Star: Sophie Ogden, County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
• Team Player: Graeme Holmes, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

Congratulations all! Find out more details about who made the award shortlists on our blog here.

Book onto the Value Maker Showcase Sessions

Interesting initiatives and projects that NHS organisations are delivering locally were also showcased and are now available for you to book -  

• December 13, 1-2 pm – Ward Volunteering Programme: St George's Univesity Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• January 10, 4-5 pm – Health and Wellbeing Strategy: Midlands and Lancashire CSU
• January 17, 12-1 pm – Educational Outreach - Promoting Careers in Finance: North East & North Cumbria SDN
• January 29, 2-3 pm – Making Data Make Sense: Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• January 30, 2-3 pm – Award Recognition Scheme: University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
• February 2, 1:30-2:30 pm - Celebrating Diversity at The Christie: The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Drive Cleanse

Are you G Drive ready?

Do you have access to the new “G/Finance and Procurement” shared folder? 

If not, please contact Lee Roberts for assistance - Lee.Roberts@imerseyside.nhs.uk

As you may be aware we have commenced a piece work to cleanse and migrate all the Finance and Procurement folders to the G drive in a standardised format.

Leads from each function are working on the format of the folder from Level 1 to level 4.

• Phase 1 was to move the old NWBH folders to an archive folder on the G drive – this was completed in September
• Phase 2 is to move the old LCH folders in a similar way to an archive folder on the G drive – this is due to be completed by the end of October.
• The 3rd and most complex stage is to migrate all live/current folders from the S drive to the G drive, with older folders being saved to archive folders in the same way as phase 1 and 2.

• The plan is to go live with Phase 3 from 1^st January 2024.

  Leads have been identified from each team to agree the file structures, help with the implementation and mapping and ensuring that everyone has access.

I really do want to stress that no files or folders will be deleted.

Although a lot more information will be shared in the coming weeks, you may wish to take this opportunity to start to cleanse local/personal folders to team folders to aid the mapping process.

Please also be reminded that the F drive is for personal files.

Please let me know of any significant issues or concerns that you may have, but please be assured that all timescales will be shared once agreed.

Thanks

Tasha

Natasha Lee

Community Care Division Strategic Business Accountant

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group Update

From the November ED&I Group a document was shared to show a draft Disability types glossary, shared from the Disabilities network group.

Disability Glossary

Unreasonable Adjustments Poem

On the national EDI conference in November, there was a superb disabilities and inclusion ‘unreasonable adjustments’  poem written and read out by Paul Deemer (NHS Employers) . 

Unreasonable Adjustments Poem

EDI Questionnaire

These are the final responses to the NWAS EDI questionnaire to help gauge the level of EDI understanding in NWA’s finance and procurement team and to anticipate possible questions. The NWAS response graphs are attached in the document below.

Charts

Merry Christmas!

The festive season has arrived, with sleigh bells ringing and hopefully the timely smattering of snow glistening on our streets.

Amid all the mince pies, carol singing and present buying, it might be difficult to take a pause and remember why the date is in our calendars.

What is Christmas?

Christmas comes every year on 25 December and is a Christian holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.
While many celebrate the holiday to honour Jesus's birth, it has also become a worldwide cultural holiday and is often celebrated by non-Christians alike.

The English term "Christmas" - a merger of Christ and mass - is of comparatively recent origin, dating from the time when it was celebrated with a mass in the Catholic Church. The older term "Yule" dates from when the period was a celebration of the winter solstice, according to Britannica.

In other countries, the day of celebration may be called "Navidad" in Spanish, "Natale" in Italian and "Noel" in French, deriving from the term "nativity".

Does everyone celebrate Christmas on 25 December?

While Protestants and Catholics celebrate on the 25th, a lot of countries and religious sectors may choose to embrace the festive period on a different day, this is in accordance with the Julian Calendar.
Advertisement Orthodox and Coptic Christians will celebrate Christmas on 7 January.

Here's how Christmas is celebrated around the globe:

Christmas in Poland – Breaking of bread

On Christmas Eve, families gather to share Oplatiki. This tradition began with a simple white wafer, baked from flour and water, and is designed with a display of Christmas images.
Traditionally, each person around the table breaks off a piece as they wish one another a merry Christmas.

Iceland - Book giving

Also known as "Jolabokaflod" which translates to "the Christmas book" is an Icelandic tradition of giving new books on Christmas Eve and reading them with family and friends.
After receiving a book to dive into, be sure to cosy up in bed or by the fireplace, with a hot chocolate for the night.

Mexico - Night of the Radishes

An annual event which is held on December 23 and is known as Noche de los Rabanos in Oaxaca City.
Radishes have always played an integral part in Oaxaca's Christmas cuisine, as an essential ingredient and a decorative garnish.
The yearly radish carving competition dates to 1897 and became a part of that year's Christmas market. The tradition continues to this day.

Japan - Kentucky Fried Chicken

In Japan, families gather around the dinner table to eat a bucket of fried chicken to commemorate the festive season.
Some say that the first KFC enterprising manager in Japan, by the name of Takeshi Okawara, told a white lie in 1970 and marketed fried chicken as a traditional American Christmas food to encourage sales at the time.
Okawara's venture set the tone for Christmas in Japan.

Austria – Krampus

Every year, children in Austria get ready for St Nicholas to visit them and as the traditions go, if the children have been well-behaved, he'll reward them. If the children have been bad, they'll have to face Krampus.
The half-man, half-goat is known to chase around naughty children and drag them to hell, according to ancient Austrian folklore tales.

United Kingdom - Christmas pudding

First introduced to the UK in the 14th century, many Britons still keep to the tradition of placing a silver coin in the pudding that is said to bring good luck
The pudding is traditionally made with raisins, currants, prunes, wines, and spices and is an all-time favourite in the UK.

Christmas Trees

Decorating Christmas trees has become a cherished tradition, but have you ever wondered why we bedeck these evergreen beauties? Let’s unwrap the history behind this festive practice:

Pagan Roots: The custom of bringing a tree indoors during winter dates back centuries to pagan faith. Fir trees and other evergreens were used by both pagans and Christians to celebrate winter festivals and the winter solstice. These trees symbolized life, resilience, and hope during the cold months 12.

Biblical Influence: The transition from being a mere wintertime decoration to a symbol of Christmas is believed to have originated from trees being adorned in biblical and nativity plays. As these plays grew rowdier and were eventually banned in the 16th century, people began decorating their homes instead. The Christmas tree took centre stage, representing joy and celebration 

Light and Colour: Initially, tree decorations served a practical purpose by bringing light and colour into often drab and dark houses. Over time, this tradition evolved, and now we decorate our trees because it evokes nostalgia and reminds us of our childhoods. So many of our Christmas traditions are followed without much thought—simply because that’s what you do during the holiday season. 

Eternal Life Symbolism: The evergreen nature of these trees, which flourishes all year round, came to symbolize eternal life through Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection. Thus, the Christmas tree became a powerful emblem of hope and continuity 2.

German Origins: Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we know it today. In the 16th century, devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes, and this practice gradually spread across Europe and beyond 5.

So, when you hang those twinkling lights and baubles on your Christmas tree, you’re not just decorating—it’s a delightful blend of history, symbolism, and festive joy!

World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who've died of the disease. The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. The HIV virus attacks the immune system of the patient and reduces its resistance to other diseases. Government and health officials, non-governmental organizations, and individuals around the world observe the day, often with education on AIDS prevention and control.

8th Dec 2023

Bodhi Day is a Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that Gautama Buddha (Shakyamuni) is said to have attained enlightenment. It is celebrated by meditation, carrying out kind acts and eating a traditional meal of cake, tea, and readings.

13th Dec 2023

St. Lucy's Day, which is celebrated on many European countries, but mainly in Scandinavia. It is a festival of light celebrated with a ceremony where a girl is chosen to represent the saint wearing a white dress and a crown of candles.

26th Dec to 1st Jan 2024

Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African heritage. It was created in 1966 to give people of colour an alternative to Christmas where they could celebrate their heritage and culture.

We were joined by Trisha Delves on 15 November 2023 for the All Staff meeting.

She talked through the Trustwide offer of Wellbeing and also provided the slides below:

Wellbeing Slides

It's December Kindness Month! 

Christmas and your mental health

Christmas and New Year are often associated with excitement and joy but it can also be a difficult time, straining us mentally, emotionally, physically and financially. There are many reasons why this time of year can be challenging. It’s okay if you’re not feeling full of joy during the festive season. You can find advice and information below to support during this time.

Christmas and your mental health

Here are 5 tips to help you cope with anxiety and other difficult emotions you might be feeling during the holiday period.

1. Say no to things you don’t want to do

Setting boundaries can be difficult, but your mental health is more important than anything else. You’ll need to find the right balance for yourself between socialising, social obligations, family time and rest time. And remember, you’re allowed to say no to things you don’t want to do. Boundaries enable you to prioritise your own needs and give at a pace that’s good for you. While it may be tempting to make excuses so as not to hurt feelings, being upfront will save difficulty in the long run. You can tell people that you’re anxious about making too many plans over the holiday period and that you need some nights off to rest.

2. Practice mindfulness

In times where we’re feeling particularly anxious or stressed, practising mindfulness can help to bring us back to the present moment. Mindfulness is about being in the here and now, without judgement. It can help to regulate our emotions and focus our attention.

 3. Sleep and rest

Be sure to take time to rest over the holiday period. You don’t need to be doing things 24/7. And if you have time off work this is a great opportunity to have a lie-in and catch up on some extra sleep. Sleep is important for our health as the body repairs itself when we rest. Not sleeping for long enough can have a big impact on our cognitive function, mental health and how we process emotions.

4. Manage people’s expectations

During the holiday period, there are often a lot of expectations, such as having to spend time with close relatives or friends. Whether it’s difficult relatives or challenging family circumstances, there are a whole host of things that can be going on in our personal lives which make fulfilling people’s expectations hard for us. The reality of Christmas isn’t like what we see on TV and in films, and that’s ok. You can spend time by yourself, or with people you actually want to spend time with!

5. Plan ahead

Try to avoid shopping for last-minute gifts if you find dealing with crowds or the pressure of gift shopping stressful. The same goes for entertaining – you don’t need to offer or agree to host anything if it means you’ll be anxious about it beforehand. If you know you’re going to be in a situation you find taxing, for example a work party or a social event, tell someone in advance how they can help if you begin to panic. Also, know that it’s ok to leave when you want to.

Financial Wellbeing

The Staff Wellbeing Hub on Your Space has a variety of financial wellbeing sections to help you particularly over this festive period with so many people struggle financially. 

Please see the following link to take you to the Wellbeing Hub: Your financial wellbeing

These are the the services available to you.

10 Days of Happiness is a free online program to boost your wellbeing, through daily actions for happier living.

It is designed for challenging times, based on the latest research from positive psychology, neuroscience, and behavioural science.

And it takes just a few minutes each day!

10 Days of Happiness

Menopause

These new group sessions developed by Occupational Health and Wellbeing Services are designed to compliment our existing menopause support. They purpose to provide information about how menopause can affect life, relationships and work, whilst also providing practical advice for the things you can do to help with symptoms.

Sessions are available to cover

• General information suitable for all staff
• Nutrition in Menopause
• Movement and Menopause
• Managing Stress and Menopause
• Sexual Health and Menopause

Detail of all the sessions can be found by following this link:

Menopause information and education sessions :: YourSpace Mersey Care

Mindfulness drop-in session (for staff new to mindfulness)

Event date:         7 December 2023, 4.00pm to 4.30pm

Event location: Zoom

Mindfulness is an innate human capacity. Children often meet their present moment experience with interest and curiosity.

As adults we can train ourselves to bring friendly interest and curiosity to the present moment - increasing our mindful awareness of our body, mind, senses and the world around us.

The mindfulness staff drop-in sessions are held via zoom and can be accessed on the staff wellbeing hub on YourSpace.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://merseycare-nhs-uk.zoom.us/j/99751829670

Meeting ID: 997 5182 9670

Passcode: Welcome1!

More information can be found on a range of subjects can be found on the Wellbeing pages of Your Space:

Your wellbeing :: YourSpace Mersey Care

Helping you to drink responsibly 

The next alcohol awareness webinar is taking place on 1 December and is designed to give you the facts about alcohol. Alcohol is a part of many of our lives, but when misused, it can cause health problems, financial worries, relationship breakdown and family difficulties. 

How much will you save? 

Health Service Discounts is a dedicated service for all healthcare workers, in any role, to help you save money through a range of discounts. It’s free to join and free to use and once you are a member, you can use any of the thousands of deals that are on the website.  

‘Tis the season to get vaccinated!

You will be able to combine your flu vaccination appointment with your COVID-19 booster until the 15 December; the flu vaccination clinics will continue until 31 March. The vaccines take two weeks to provide the required immune response and as such, should not be delayed unnecessarily. Book your vaccine using Simply Book today!

Ho ho ho, its nearly Christmas!!

The Finance and Procurement Christmas Party is Saturday 9 December 2023

It is being held at the Hilton Hotel in Liverpool city centre.

It includes –

• Three-course meal
• Arrival glass of fizz
• DJ and dancing until late

Enjoy! 

Ideas for Team Challenge

We’re looking for ideas for team event to raise sponsor money for the Mersey Care charity or a charity of choice. How about doing a 100k bike ride or a walk up Snowdon?

Any ideas are welcome. Please email Alison Roebuck with suggestions

Finance team event

With January always being solemn following the highs of Christmas, we are hoping to organise a fun team event to the Crystal Maze in Manchester – due to the likelihood of poor weather it is an indoor event!

The weekends under consideration are 21/ 22 or 27/ 28 January 2024 so if you fancy it, keep these dates free for a fun team trip!

If you'd like to be included in the numbers please contact Emily Owen, Carol Smith or Alison Roebuck.

Santa Dash

Don’t forget! Carol is taking part in this year’s Santa Dash to raise funds for The Vibe. Please get in contact with Carol if you can sponsor her for this great cause. Detail is on the main page of the Finance Updates section.

When is the Liverpool Santa Dash?

The Santa Dash kicks off in Liverpool on Sunday, December 3, at 9:30am.

The 5K route flows through the city centre passing through the Royal Albert Dock and back along the main waterfront roads before turning into the tightly packed streets to finish in front of the Town Hall.

Winter Light Trail 2023 – Walton Hall and Gardens (near Warrington)

A spectacular, illuminated trail, full of wonder and intrigue, to delight and enthral your senses. As darkness descends, join us on our enchanting journey, as we weave a captivating light trail through the stunning, grounds of Walton Gardens. Immerse yourself in our mesmerising trail, with stunning lighting elements and fabulous light play, all set to music.

A timeless experience to be enjoyed by all, young and old alike.

Tickets must be pre-booked online in advance.

The cafe courtyard will have hot food available at the start, on the trail you will find tasty treats, mulled wine and marshmallows for toasting on our fire pits.

The trail is open from 30 November 2023 to 24 December 2023

Entry times from 4.30pm to 8pm

The trail will take approximately 60 - 90 minutes

Luminate Cheshire Light Trail at Walton Gardens, Warrington

Christmassy theatre performances

Check out https://sneakyexperience.co.uk/ to see more detail on pantomines near you: 

The Light Before Christmas

After the huge success of last year's event, Luxmuralis are returning with a new Son et Lumiere to Liverpool Cathedral for Christmas 2023. Enjoy the most wonderful time of year as the magnificent Gothic interior of the iconic building becomes a canvas for a sequence of dazzling light and sound artworks.

Last year's sell out event wowed audiences and became a "must visit" Christmas event. This year, Peter Walker is returning with his award winning artistic collaboration Luxmuralis performing "Light Before Christmas: The Manger", the second of The Light Before Christmas series.

This beautiful, immersive experience will take visitors on an incredible journey through the Nativity story celebrating the true magic of Christmas. Festive food will be available to purchase from the Welsford Bistro throughout the event.

1st December to 8th December
4.30 – 8.30pm everyday except Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday when it finishes at 7.30pm
Home: Liverpool Cathedral

Leavers

We say Goodbye and Good Luck to Dan Hughes in FM - Trust Wide Support Services. He leaves the Trust on Friday 15th December 2023 to join the finance team at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital. 

"As most of you will already know, I will be leaving my position at the Trust, with my last day being Friday 15 December 2023. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and truly appreciate all the support that you have all given me over my time at the Trust. I am also grateful for the experiences and opportunities that I have had, which have been huge for my professional growth. Whilst I am excited for the new opportunity ahead, it is bittersweet having to leave behind the Mersey Care team.

Thank you all for everything. Please keep in touch, and I hope that our paths will cross again in the future!

Dan

P.S. hopefully see a lot of you for a drink at the Christmas Do 😊"

Goodbye to Karen Gerrard in FM - Secure Care Services, who is moving to Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Her last day is 30 November 2023.

Sending good luck wishes to Karen in her new role!

Exams

Congratulations to Nathan Hill who has recently passed his AAT L2 Introduction to Bookkeeping exam, scoring 92% overall!

Good luck to Dylan Ashton who will be sitting his ACCA SBL exam on Tuesday 5^th December!

Who's Who?

Existing Staff

Hi everyone.  I’m Catherine O’Neill and I started with Merseycare in June 2023 as the Income and Planning accountant.  I work for Anne-Marie in the Income, Planning and Reporting team alongside Alison, Helen, Kevin, Nick, and Jason.

Prior to joining Merseycare, I was at Cheshire and Merseyside ICB (transferred from the St Helens CCG finance team). I’ve worked in various NHS finance departments for the last 17 years and started my NHS career at NHS Direct in Bolton.

I live in Wigan with my husband, son and daughter.  They’re 19 and 17 so I seem to have spent the last 18 months taking one or the other of them out for driving lessons! Thankfully, my son passed in September. I also enjoy walking and try to get out every day even if it’s just taking a walk round the block after work.  I got into the routine during lockdown and I’ve just kept it going.

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone over the next few months. 

Some of my favourite things about Christmas are:

Favourite Song – All I want for Christmas

Favourite Carol – Silent Night

Favourite Film – Home Alone

Regards

Catherine

Best wishes to everyone with birthdays in the next couple of months!

December 2023

7          Emily Owen

14        Amy Zhang/Holly Garster

16        Alison Roebuck/Dylan Ashton

17        Karl Lee (60)

21        Holly Nichols/Diane Maines

27        Nathan Hill

29        Sarah Price  (30)

January 2024

6          Gill Mcketterick        

9          Andrew Bell             

11        Katharine Clarke                 

20        Sarah Waterworth   

29        Lee Gough