Posted on: 8 July 2022
Hello, my name is Foluke Ajayi and today I want to venture into sociology and discuss the link between geography and personalisation…
I’ve been in post for three months and am still very much in the discovery phase, learning and assimilating everything I can about this wonderful organisation. This includes refreshing my knowledge of this part of the world – I spent part of my early career at Bradford Teaching Hospitals as a Clinical Scientist in Audiology specialising in paediatrics and cochlear implants and it is great to be back in the Bradford District. For those of you who are about to turn to Google to find out where I am, let me start the geography lesson.
Where is Airedale? The River Aire starts in Malham Tarn up in the Dales, sinking underground at the majestic Malham Cove, beloved of walkers, potholers and twitchers. Wending its way down through Skipton it then flows through Keighley, Bingley, Saltaire and Shipley before passing through Leeds and joining the Ouse at Airmyn. The stretch between Malham and Leeds is Airedale. And yes, Airedale dogs were originally bred here, for hunting rats apparently…
Airedale Hospital is small district general hospital with around 350 beds, located in Steeton, a village between Keighley and Skipton. As well as our acute services we also have community services, operating across 700 sq miles, up into the Dales as far as Bentham, just 15 miles from Lancaster, and into the dormitory towns around our side of Bradford. We straddle both Bradford Metropolitan District Council and Craven District Council, the latter soon to be part of North Yorkshire Council. It’s a massive geography, one that I already knew to some extent from my days of travelling through to Morecambe Bay but am learning more intimately now.
It’s an area which also gives us a huge diversity of patients, as our patch includes some of the most deprived postcodes in West Yorkshire as well as some of the wealthiest. The electoral constituency of Keighley & Ilkley is often held up as one of the most polarised in the country.
It is too easy to associate serious issues solely with deprivation and poverty and to think of the Dales as the postcards portray them, verdant and picturesque. But we have significant issues at the Craven end of our patch: loneliness, isolation, mental health issues, boredom leading to antisocial behaviour and alcoholism, lack of affordable housing, few transport links, technology difficulties. Living and working in the Dales looks like the idyll, but the realities can be very different. Don’t get me wrong; it is a beautiful part of the world in which to live and work, but don’t be beguiled by the chocolate box image. Life can be messy and living in a beautiful landscape doesn’t preclude that. Our duty, both as a healthcare provider and together with our wider Bradford District & Craven Partnership, is to support our communities when they need us, wherever they are. And that is precisely what we do - and in a more joined-up way than ever before.
I am having a fabulous time getting to know Team Airedale. We have people who have worked here all their lives; in fact, we have many examples of three and even four generations of families working here, grounding the Trust strongly in its community, caring for family, friends and neighbours. By the same token we have employees from all over the world, creating a diverse, international workforce, bringing a richness to our services for communities we serve. My ambition and passion is personalisation of care for our patients and this diversity enables us to do exactly that. I am a big believer in celebrating our differences: we all have something to offer, we all have differences that define us, so it’s up to us to use those differences and perspectives, to create something amazing.
Personalised care is about recognising what matters to the individual and tailoring our service offer to meet their individual strengths and needs. We know that a one-size-fits-all approach does not meet the increasing complexity of people’s needs and expectations. This should give the individual more opportunity for choice and control over their mental and physical health. We are forming new relationships between people, professionals and the system to make the most of the expertise, capacity and potential that exists in people, their families and the community in which they live, work, learn or play. Ultimately, we want people to live healthy, happy lives and receive the best possible care regardless of their social status or geography.
It was the 74th birthday of the NHS earlier this week. I am proud to have spent my career working for this amazing institution, proud of ‘Acting as One’ with our place partners across Bradford District & Craven to support our communities, and proudest of all of the amazing people who make up Team Airedale, making a difference all day, every day.
Have a great weekend – come and visit Craven!
Foluke Ajayi
CEO, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust