Energy for change

In order to meet the Climate Change Act’s targets we need to transform clinical services which will then enable greater levels of sustainability.  There is a need for clinical leaders to be part of the driving force for this transformation, as they are the ones who see the waste on a day to day basis.

So there is a need to change our current models of care in order to reduce waste in the system and improve how we target our resources. The trouble is that often, staff are resistant to change and have change-fatigue. We need to learn how to manage this resistance, to ensure this crucial transformation towards sustainable models of care occurs. This very helpful document called ‘Building and aligning energy for change’ by the NHS Change Model Team is aimed at furthering our understanding about the energy and motivation that healthcare staff have for change. See link:

http://www.changemodel.nhs.uk/pg/cv_content/content/view/40202/network?cindex=65

Sustainable development in healthcare has in the past looked to reduce emissions and waste, but the NHS SDU amongst others, are calling for transformational change of services. How can we impose these changes on staff when there is no energy for change in the system?

So often, staff groups develop ‘change-fatigue’ because they have experienced multiple changes to their working environment and are often unaware of why the changes have occurred and are also unaware of the potential improvements these changes have had on the wider healthcare system. This lack of knowledge as a frontline staff member is both fatiguing and frustrating.

This paper proposes a model that can assess the energy that individual staff and staff groups have for change. It proposes that energy exists in five domains; physical; intellectual; psychological; spiritual and social. We need to assess for energy to change in these domains and then seek to address energy depletion in order to maximise the chance of achieving success in our sustainable service improvement strategies.