In Your Shoes - Stuart Storrie

Stuart Storrie is the Executive Director of BMI Fernbrae Hospital. He is responsible for the smooth running of the hospital and ensuring that they provide excellent care to their patients. Stuart and his team are passionate about the quality of service provided at the hospital which includes flexible appointment times, personalised care and fast access to treatments. In his spare time Stuart loves to take off on his motorbike and spend time with his family.

KICKING OFF THE WEEK

I start the week off with a meeting with my PA to go over my diary for the week looking at what we know will be happening and the meetings I need to attend. It’s then onto our daily communications meeting with all the heads of departments where we share an overview of the day and colleagues highlight anything that the rest of the team needs to be aware of. Some time to catch up on emails before a meeting with the medical advisory committee chair who is the lead consultant for the hospital and ensures I am kept up to date about medical advances, new consultants and any new equipment needed. It was then on to the Sports Injury GP educational event at the hospital arranged by the marketing team, where some of our Orthopaedic Consultants and Physiotherapy team provided interactive presentations and discussions around sports injuries assessment, diagnosis and referrals in primary care to a group of GPs.

ANOTHER BUSY DAY IN THE OFFICE AHEAD!

Early morning catch up on emails and sorting out a few operational challenges before our daily all departments’ communications meeting. My next task is to meet with our Theatre Manager to go over theatre schedule and staffing issues and then on to an oncology strategy meeting where we are putting the final touches on to our plan for the coming year. Just in time to grab something for lunch before the next meeting! Next is a meeting with our Outpatient Department Manager and one of the Ear Nose and Throat Consultants to finalise the referral pathway for patients troubled by sleep apnoea, sleep disorders or snoring. An appropriate way to end my day… before rushing to the airport to catch a late afternoon flight down to London for The BMI Healthcare Annual Quality Summit and Regional Meeting. “Fill her up!"

FOCUS ON QUALITY TOUCH!

Today is day one of the BMI Healthcare Annual Quality Summit.  Quality is paramount in our business and all Senior Executives, Directors of Operations and Directors of Clinical Services from across the UK business attend this annual event led by our Chief Executive.  It is an interactive and informative day with a review of where the company is and what we want to achieve followed by workshops on quality and risk scenarios, facilities, maintenance and engineering and developing and maintaining a culture of quality.  An opportunity for me to catch up with people in the business that I don’t see often too! 

FOCUS ON OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Today is the regional group meeting where we cover all areas of operations management. We have some healthy debate around clinical governance, human resources and operational reporting and agree what we need to focus on as a region to further improve performance.  Home time! Well… four hours of travelling until I get home! Although two days is a lot of time away from the business I always leave the summit feeling inspired and motivated and this year has been no exception. Can’t wait to get back to the office and put the ideas into practice… watch out team… here I come!

WHERE DID THE WEEK GO?

Friday? Never! Already? A lot to fit in today starting with a walk around the hospital to meet and talk to patients and staff.  Always a good way to find out how the hospital is performing.  I love to talk to patients and find out how they are feeling about their stay with us… They seem to appreciate having a chat too! Next I lead our daily communications meeting followed by a meeting with our Physiotherapy Manager to go over plans for a new sports injury service – very exciting being able to provide the whole patient journey from diagnosis, scans and if needed treatment.  A lunch time meeting with our senior management team to update them on the main points from the Quality Summit and regional group meeting and a quick sandwich to fuel the rest of the day. Now it’s on to a meeting with the Nursing Managers to discuss our partnerships with Robert Gordon University to provide nurse development and training. My last task of the day and by no means of least importance is my weekly conference call with the Finance Manager where we review next week’s forecasts. Where on earth did that week go?