The pandemic has delivered challenges and opportunities – both at work and at home. Read Tim and Tom’s reflections.
Tim Herriman
Like many people, Tim Herriman, Group Laboratory Director, found the pandemic delivered challenges and opportunities - both at work and at home.
“I have found the pandemic to be oddly surreal”
Doing what we do, at work, you get a unique insight into the testing challenges, and the acute situation in hospitals. You then go home and hear the Prime Minister describing the same thing using data that you provided only hours earlier. It really brought home how quickly the country was changing and adapting.
At work, we’ve really had our challenges! We had to expand our testing volumes at a pace we have never been able to previously - during a time when there is massive global demand for the same products - that was new. But, it’s meant that we, as Sonic Healthcare, have had to work closer than ever.
“It really has enabled me to build relationships with other Sonic colleagues I previously didn’t know, to share valuable data on products and suppliers”
We have also established relationships with other key London Trusts, that we might not have thought possible. All five London Networks worked collaboratively throughout. There were numerous occasions when we all assisted each other with supplies of products or offered testing to each other. I’m sure that breaking down these former boundaries will have benefits for many years to come.
Transport travails
From a personal point of view, the biggest challenge has been transport. With the network virtually shut down, travelling to and from work has been more difficult. Trying to navigate this, and working the hours we have all had to, has forced me to work more ‘on the go’.
It’s also been a challenge to manage the current workload with our young child. They’ve recently started nursery, where the staff are also struggling to understand the rules and regulations, and manage their business safely in such ever-changing times.
I think the pandemic has, however, forced us all to become more adept at using videoconferencing and other technologies. I’ve found it’s a good way of still being able to see and interact with other people - not just at work but family and friends, too.
I know I’m not alone in having found elements of this pandemic extremely challenging - but am now looking forward with renewed hope to the future, not least because of the combined effort and achievements from everyone at HSL.
Tom Amies
Keeping the lights on during the pandemic. HSL’s Chief Financial Officer, Tom Amies, explains how the finance team not only had to cope with working off site but take on a rapidly increasing volume of activity.
Rightly during the past year, much of the focus at HSL has been on what the labs have been doing, and how their teams have adapted to deliver during the pandemic.
However, the labs couldn’t operate without the close and detailed support provided by the teams in IT, HR, Health and Safety and Finance. While essential laboratory staff had to be on-site, all non-lab staff had to comply with government instructions to quickly redeploy and work remotely. From a practical standpoint, the 40-strong team all needed laptops and the means to communicate effectively. Tom is keen to pay tribute to the IT team for rapidly sourcing and setting up a lot of equipment, and making off site working possible in a very short time.
Thanks also must go to the payroll team who have ensured our staff keep being paid on time, HR issuing and renewing staff contracts and providing important guidance, Health and Safety implementing safe working practices, and the finance teams; ensuring suppliers are paid, customers invoiced so the laboratories can be resourced with all the materials they need.
Tom explains some of the practical challenges his finance team faced.
“We had to partner with our NHS Trusts customers in a new way, and adapt our working relationships. Trusts struggling to contain the pandemic suddenly also needed to know how to access new testing equipment and where to source supplies. They looked to HSL as their pathology provider. On top of this, the NHS required numerous and frequent reports on test volumes and costs. So, at the same time as having to work in different ways, our workload was growing exponentially.”
A great team effort
It’s taken a massive team effort to keep on top of vast amounts of new and rapidly changing legislation that affects a host of issues - how and when people are allowed to work, changes in tax law and tax rates, and the Government’s Covid - related financial regulations.
Tom adds,”While new contracts are part of our everyday function, we had to make a lot of big changes in a short time; not least was converting the ninth floor of the Halo building into a surge lab. Behind each operational change are the legal, contractual, governance and financial pieces of the jigsaw to be fitted together. Leases signed with landlords, and the Department of Health and Social Care and their legal teams consulted as we bring them in as an important new user of HSL’s service.
I’m very pleased that our systems have proven to be robust and scalable - but there is still a great deal of human interaction that needs to be factored into what we do.”
What lessons have we learned?
“In these last 15 months it feels like HSL has been widely recognised and accepted as a really important part of public healthcare provision - particularly in North Central London” He adds that one of the most profound experiences of the pandemic has been the deepening of HSL’s relationships with customer Trusts.
“We’ve really had each other’s backs during the worst of times, and we are really looking forward to continuing to build on those closer bonds in the future”.
Tom and his team are looking forward to being back together in the office as soon as the government permits, though he observes that video meetings can be a great leveller: “At times they have encouraged greater interaction from all members of the team, and I think we’re more deeply connected as a result. That is something we’ll work to maintain when we’re back in the office.”
Tom Amies is a member of The Doctors Laboratory’s Executive Team with overall responsibility for the financial strategy and structure of the UK group.