Keep scrolling down to view the heroes.

What’s a 15s30m hero?

15s30m heroes are people who have launched their own 15s30m mission and it has spread to other people so they are also running missions to help reduce frustration and increase joy.

Want to feature in the 15s30m Hero Hall of Fame below?

Heroes will receive a little cog to go on their ID badge or keyring and a badge so you can spot other heroes hiding in your organisation.

Just fill in the 15s30m-Hero-questions, email your answers and a picture of yourself along with a postal address for your cog to info@15s30m.co.uk and you’ll be uploaded so others can also get joy in work from your mission, and be inspired to launch their own missions!

Would you like to find some 15s30m heroes in your organisation?

We would love to help you launch 15s30m to reduce frustration and increase joy for your staff. Get in touch via info@15s30m.co.uk or via the contact form to book a call with us.

Here are some examples of our 15s30m heroes – see our heroes below

Meet Carrie

Team Administrator - Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT), School Immunisation Team

How did you find out about 15s30m?

The trust’s staff newsletter

What was your 15s30m Mission?

It’s a very small change I have made but it really has saved us time:

Within the School Immunisation Team we have always made use of waiting lists. If a parent/ carer called asking for a particular immunisation for their child but it was out of season (for instance, asking for catch up immunisations during the flu immunisation period) we would always take the child’s details and a phone number for the parent, calling the parent/carer back when clinics became available.

During COVID-19 it became apparent that our waiting lists were getting long. I proposed taking an email address for each parent/carer as well as a phone number. Once clinics resumed we would be able to email the list of clinics to each person on the waiting list and this has saved valuable time. With a telephone number we often have to leave  a message for the parent/carer to call back. Emailing the clinic lists direct to the parents has really saved us time and with our new ways of working, taking an email address has been necessary as we now email specific safety measures and procedures prior to the clinic appointment.

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

We had to temporarily suspend our immunisation clinics as our nurses were redeployed during COVID-19. We started a waiting list for parents with children wanting an appointment and it was getting long.

What has been the impact?

It’s not only saved us time but emailing parents the details they need instead of verbally confirming, means we are getting less return phone calls asking us to remind them of their appointment details. It looks like it is reducing our Do Not Attends (DNAs) because the details are to hand in their inbox to remind them. Also, they are more likely to let us know if they need to cancel (it’s so much easier – they can just reply to the email we’ve sent them)

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

Yes, we are working on a letter we send parents/carers too – with the aim of saving time and increasing efficiency.

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

This is a great initiative. It makes us stop and think about what small measures we take every day that really help to make a difference. Sharing these tips will be really beneficial to all of us.

 

More details of 15 second missions from KCHFT are on their website here: https://qi.kentcht.nhs.uk/ideas/

Also check out their general QI website too, amazing work in action from the Kent crew; https://qi.kentcht.nhs.uk/

Meet Tracey

Dental Nurse for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT)
Based at Greenbanks Childrens Centre, Margate, Kent.

How did you find out about 15s30m?                                    

I saw it advertised in the KCHFT staff newsletter

What was your 15s30m Mission?                                          

Everyday I send my work colleagues at Greenbanks a quote, for the day. As a Mental Health Champion I though it was a good morale boosting start for the working day. Everyone likes it, and it brightens their day. These are the sort of fun things I send. Thank You Notes for Colleagues: Quotes and Messages ...

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?              

Always be open, (if you can)  talking can be a greaqt healer, a problem shared as the saying goes.

 

More details of 15 second missions from KCHFT are on their website here: https://qi.kentcht.nhs.uk/ideas/

Also check out their general QI website too, amazing work in action from the Kent crew; https://qi.kentcht.nhs.uk/

Meet Sharon

Working for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust’s (KCHFT) Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP)

How did you find out about 15s30m?                                    

KCHFT staff newsletter

What was your 15s30m Mission?                                          

In our team we write the four week Key Performance Indicator (KPI) date on the proforma when we print them off. This way, if the baby needs an outpatient appointment, the screeners can see very quickly when the appointment has to be made before and this helps us to reach our KPI target.

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?                        

To bring awareness of, and improve on, the KPI target

What has been the impact?                                                    

Improved KPI target. Also makes screeners aware if additional appointments or clinics need to be arranged

Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?               

During beginning of COVID pandemic, an NHSP screener suggested double siding the blank ward list so one side used for the morning check and the other for the pm check which not only reduced the time printing further copies, but also helped reduce paper waste

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?              

Small changes can make a big difference

 

More details of 15 second missions from KCHFT are on their website here: https://qi.kentcht.nhs.uk/ideas/

Also check out their general QI website too, amazing work in action from the Kent crew; https://qi.kentcht.nhs.uk/

Meet Owen

Studying medical imaging (diagnostic radiography) at Exeter University, Devon

Owen’s 15 second mission is raising awareness about ‘invisible’ conditions, sometimes assumptions take control when the other person has got a lot going on ‘behind the scenes’

 

 

 

Owen found 15s30m via twitter, downloaded the 15 second mission pack off the website, wrote down his mission and launched it! We just had to share this brilliant mission so we’ve uploaded the mission pack for you to see how easy it is to launch a mission. Thanks Owen!

 

 

 

What will your mission be?

 

 

“it’s frustrating when people make assumptions of another person or situation”

Meet Andy

Head of Transformation at Colchester, Ipswich and West Suffolk Hospitals – Pathology department

How did you find out about 15s30m?

Twitter, Webpage

What was your 15s30m Mission?

To ask how I can support my teams in every conversation. So at the close of each discussion I ask “What else can I do to support your work?” It only takes a moment…

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

My teams are bright, committed and hard working. I want to support them as well as I can

What has been the impact?

It provides an early opportunity to escalate any problems to me. While I don’t have any data on the time saved their comment to me is that it makes them feel well supported; and demonstrates a direct line to me if they need help.

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

One of the hospitals I work at is having construction works in one of the car parks – so many more staff are using the park and ride. I want to encourage people to take advantage of seeing one another on the P&R bus to catch up saving them time later in the day/week

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

It is a great way to experiment with improvement, and is a straightforward way to get involved without needing to be familiar with tools such as Statistical Process Control, or Value Stream Mapping…

Annette's Dishwasher Logic

Transformation & QI Manager – Nursing, Clinical Quality & Workforce Transformation
NHS England and NHS Improvement - South East

Step 1: Please place this sign on the dishwasher at the time of turning it on.

If you see this sign on the dishwasher in the evening, please do not remove the sign.

This dishwasher was put on last night!

Step 2: Please empty the dishwasher.

If you have something dirty to add to the dishwasher, check it’s empty first. And if not, empty it please. Your tummy and ours will be grateful – we will know we will be eating from clean kitchen items.

Step 3: remove the sign, leave it somewhere handy, so we can use it again tonight.

This has been proudly shared with ‘15 seconds 30 minutes’

 15s30m aims to help identify how to spend a few extra seconds on a task now which will save

30 minutes or more later on. In doing so you will reduce frustration and increase joy.

So, what are you waiting for?

Download the diswasher logic sign here

Meet Claire

Healthcare Assistant at Bradford Teaching Hospitals (St Lukes)

How did you find out about 15s30m?

Emails, posters around the hospital

What was your 15s30m Mission?

To tidy the area after use, return all equipment to original space and ensure its plugged in, collect cups for hostesses, the list could go on…

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

Myself, as these are the things that are time consuming, finding bp machines, thermometers ect..

What has been the impact?

It has saved time for other members of staff

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

I encourage all staff on my ward to take 15sec to do something for the next team that arriving on shift

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

No all information is great

Watch our animated video of the ‘plug it in!’ mission here

Meet Caroline

Consultant in Geriatric Medicine, Lead for Clinical Governance at NHS Lanarkshire, University Hospital Monklands.

How did you find out about 15s30m?

Via Scottish Quality and Safety Fellowship

What was your 15s30m Mission?

Introduced mission concept to our frailty team, all of whom have developed mission ideas. We will meet every Monday .

Our initial missions are;

– Removing unneeded cannulas on Ward Rounds

– Ensuring we give patients access to call system every time we visit a patients bedside

– Removing duplication in communication mobility requirements

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

We are a new service and a new team, and trying to build teamwork, improvement capability and improve relationships between the team

What has been the impact?

We are just testing at present.

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

I hope that by meeting every Monday we will generate other ‘ missions’

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

How best to implement this across other team / sites

Meet Haydn Devereux-Childs

I am the Business Administration Apprentice for the Trust HQ Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust – Chief Execs and the Trust Board doing and helping out with whatever is needed.

How did you find out about 15s30m?

I found out about 15s30m through my induction session when I joined the RCHT site.

What was your 15s30m Mission?

My 15s30m mission was placing a communal compost bin in the outside nature area of Trust HQ, and smaller bins within the kitchens for the surrounding houses and our own. This is to collect kitchen waste that can naturally decompose such as; coffee groundings, vegetable and fruit waste and tea bags to help reduce the amount of waste from our general bins, and help increase our ‘recycled waste’,which in turn can help the site to have its own source of compost for the gardeners. Hopefully overall this we reduce the sites waste and help promote being more green in our work place kitchens.

My Father was a waste management manager for the three counties up country, so my childhood I was brought up on recycling and reducing our waste wherever we are able. When I started at the Trust, I found that we go through so much coffee/tea and other food products, that when I was looking down at the general waste bin, a massive portion was coffee groundings and thought ‘there’s a much better way to put this to use than filling our bins’

What has been the impact?

The impact will be obvious as a reduction in general waste will be noticed for those kitchens that have a sufficient amount of compostable waste. I would also hope that the impact for people will feel good about contributing what little they may have and knowing that it will benefit the grounds here for our site at RCHT.

Have you thought of any other Missions? 

I have thought of a couple of other 15s30m as well as:

1. Placing a sorting tray in our stock room next to the printer, so that when works have been completed printed they can be stored together and not mixed up for people to find them.
2. Refreshing our signs in the kitchen for the dishwasher to try and eliminate people leaving dirty items in the sink when the dishwasher is empty and can be loaded.

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

It can be anything, small or big, something you do daily that you don’t even feel is ‘a mission’. It doesn’t have to be a task, for you or anyone else, just things that you do that encourages and helps others. Remember it will help and alleviate frustration for not only yourself, but everyone around, so the more people do, the better everyone’s work environment will be!

Meet Jennifer

I am a Radiographer from Blackpool Teaching Hospitals. I am the CT Imaging Manager responsible for the operational management of the CT Scanning Service

How did you find out about 15s30m? Twitter

What was your 15s30m Mission? To arrange for a generic access fob that could be used by bank staff working in the department

What gave you the idea to do the Mission? The department needed to utilise bank HCA staff due to long term sickness and vacancies, but this meant that different staff could be working in the department each day and they didn’t have fob access to the department. This caused frustration to the bank staff as they were having to knock on the door to gain access and the radiographers were being distracted from their work because they were having to keep going to answer the door. There were also concerns about bank staff needing assistance in an emergency and not being able to gain access to the department.

What has been the impact? This has made a significant difference to both staff groups creating better workflow for both groups of staff with less interruptions.

Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission? I would like to plan a few workshops with groups of staff in our department in the future as I think this would work well with our department quality improvement and ongoing ISAS accreditation process. I will keep looking out for other ideas for future 15s30m missions.

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know? I would say just give it a try…. move the bin so that it is nearer to where you need it, sort out and label the cupboards so it is easier for everyone to find things! I hope to empower my team to carry out 15s30m missions for themselves 😊.

Meet Rachel

25+ years as NHS Hospital Clinical Pharmacist most recently Assistant Head of Department (Education and Training) within Teaching Hospital
Now enjoying portfolio career working in undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacy education

What is you main role?

Three main areas of interest:

  • Undergraduate placements supporting development of professional practice and competence (behaviours, knowledge and skills for a Day 1 Pharmacist)
  • Pre-registration pharmacist tutor support toolkit development
  • Educational supervisor to pharmacists working in General Practice and Care Homes

How did you find out about 15s30m?

I am passionate about staff health and well being and was wanting to learn more about how to develop joy in the workplace and develop strategies to encourage resilience and supporting change in a challenging working environment.

What was your 15s30m Mission?

Introducing concept of 15s30m to undergraduate pharmacists and multidisciplinary team in General Practice.

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

Wanting to develop concept of leadership in practice – which can be demonstrated at undergraduate level- amongst peers and colleagues and during placements- and in multidisciplinary teams in other areas of health care such as General Practice.

What has been the impact?

Encouraging staff to see the bigger picture and work as a team- feedback from one workshop participant:

What was the best part of the session: hearing other peoples frustrations and how we might be able to help.

Case study from undergraduate workshop of one student’s experience whilst on placement:

Staff off sick, stock needed to be put away, placement student asked to do it, (didn’t consider it their role at the time- (which generated a good discussion re professionalism and leadership- link to our professional standards)- but recognised 15 seconds putting stock in right place on shelves could save patient’s unnecessary 30 minute wait for prescription whilst staff try to locate their medication.

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

Revisiting the General Practice to celebrate their missions and get them to share with the wider team including nursing staff and partners

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

Don’t over think it- just have a go- a spark of an idea can lead to a flame

Meet Sarah

Senior Quality Lead at NHS Vale of York CCG

How did you find out about 15s30m?

Twitter/ Attendance at an IA event

What was your 15s30m Mission?

To remove my office tel. no from my email signature and replace with only my mobile.  I am rarely in the office and would find people had left voicemails I wasn’t aware of days before.  By only having my mobile in my signature it means people can contact me when they need me and reduces frustration of them waiting for a return phone call that I am unaware of and prevents situations unfolding unnecessarily.  Simple 15 second task but enables better communication and response and gives me peace of mind that I am in touch with people.

My second mission was to spread joy in the office.  The cutlery draw is always barren and so every time I go to get lunch I bring extra cutlery so that those who need a spoon for a yogurt don’t need to attempt to eat it with a fork!  Stops hangry colleagues J  I also make an effort to smile…  not in a creepy way!

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

The first mission was practical, gives me peace of mind I am contactable and can respond in a timely manner.  I felt guilty returning to the office after a number of days to old voicemails and people having wasted valuable time waiting for response or having to seek out help elsewhere.  I wanted people to be able to reach me when needed.

The second was born out of frustration I experienced each time I wanted to make a cup of coffee or eat food and having to walk to find cutlery from other office spaces or improvise, particularly after a busy morning.  It means I am less likely to skip meals if meetings are tight.

What has been the impact? 

People can contact me more easily, reducing time they wait and provides assurance that I can assist them and I know about issues in a timely manner.

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission? 

I have held 2 workshops with very different staff groups.  The first was within the CCG with colleagues from across different departments and the second was at a ‘Partners in Care’ forum.  This is a forum where care home managers and domiciliary providers meet with stakeholders from across different organisations and teams.  This was generated ideas different to the typical acute hospital frustrations.  There were ideas about restocking equipment, plug it in was well received, going for daily lunchtime walk was one, emptying the confidential waste before the bin got full.  I am returning to care homes to see what has happened since the workshop and to see if the homes would be willing to have a session themselves.  There was good attendance at both workshops- over 6o people in total.

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?
Keep it fun and simple and if you struggle with a group reversing the cogs helps- use a patient story and rewind the situation a bit like an rca to identify what might look like a simple task but might actually be the key to happiness J

Meet Carrie

Therapies Clinical Governance and Quality Lead at The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust and Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust

How did you find out about 15s30m?

Staff health & wellbeing, and empowering staff to be at their best at work matters to me. I found out about 15s30m through twitter whilst searching for an approach that enabled staff to think differently about the way they use their time in work that would improve their job satisfaction.

What was your 15s30m Mission?

Ooohhh so many missions! First two were

  1. To check and refill the stapler if less than a third empty
  2. To move actions and recommendations in reports to the front of the report


What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

  1. Frustration over completing a simple training sheet collation task to secure workshop packs. Five staplers and no refill staple packs later wasting 23 minutes to complete a 30 second task
  2. Staff starting reports but not having time to read completely. By starting with take away/what next actions if they only read the first 3 pages they have got the important bits to take away.

What has been the impact?

  1. I can get through my training prep in less time every time
  2. Staff know what I am talking about and have better expectations of things to actually be doing

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

Yes I have encouraged many others. We are growing a superhero squad with staff proud to join our Hall of Joy

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

  • Take a moment to really notice what you do and the way in which you approach it.
  • Identify your daily workplace niggles and use them as your frustration hotspots to turn into missions.

Stick to TARDIS!!

Meet Andrea

Head of Patient and Public Engagement at Wrightington Wigan and Leigh (WWL) NHS Foundation Trust

How did you find out about 15s30m?

At our Annual Quality Champion Conference were both Rachel and Daniel presented the 15s30m concept and the workshop.

What was your 15s30m Mission?

Filling the photocopier up with paper if the message comes up that the paper tray is empty.

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

Its frustrating when you go to the photocopier and it says tray 1 tray 2 are empty.

What has been the impact?

The photocopier is always full, you don’t have to go back to the paper stack and your documents are printed in a timely fashion. Simple isn’t it.

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

I introduced the 15s30m to my small team after our weekly comms cell. I shared some ideas of the missions and the staff came up with some of their own missions.

We even had one related to their home life which impacted on work.

When we see someone actually doing a mission we thank them for doing that mission.  We are going to introduce giving a mini hero chocolate ( dairy free chocolate buttons for our staff allergic to dairy) when the missions have been done.

We have changed some of the wording in the one of the mission boxes to include initials and the word “we”. As sometimes it isn’t just one person doing the mission. See below

I’ll put a tick or initials in this box each time I’ve (we) have done it:

The small quality improvement changes make the working environment much nicer to be around. I can honestly say there has been a lot of joy in the office and everyone is embracing the concept.

We currently have nine missions on the 15s30ms Mission Wall (thank you Sheena for the idea). One mission is to take 15 seconds to remove and shred deceased patients from the membership files when they come in. This will save them piling up and taking longer to remove them, saving time. It will also conform with GDPR and make the office environment more pleasant.

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

Spread the word and let your colleagues and friends know that you are doing this project. We have had great support from colleagues not only in the Trust but outside from all over the country.

We have personalised the Hero characters I think this makes each QI mission more personal. This idea came from one of the team. We have had lots of nice comments from people.

The 15s30m motivates your staff its surprising how improving something small can make a huge difference to everyone.

The small quality improvement changes make the working environment much nicer to be around. I can honestly say there has been a lot of joy in the office and everyone is embracing the concept.

Meet Yvonne

Admin Team Manager, Trauma & Orthopedics, Bradford Teaching Hospitals

How did you find out about 15s30m?                                   

From other colleagues within the organisation.

What was your 15s30m Mission?     

Improve staff morale, bring joy to work and VALUE the team members

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

There is evidence that having a happy workforce links to better patient outcomes, safety and experience (The Kings Fund 2012).  A happy employee encourages creativity, enhances satisfaction, increases productivity and improves working relationships.  This was an important aspect to focus on, the Trauma & Orthopaedic secretarial team involved were separated into different areas, the team meetings were predominately me talking when I first started in the role and so there was opportunity for the team to get to know each other better and I wanted to explore how to improve team morale.  I carried this out playing simple games revolved around communication, problem solving and linking the team and their tasks into the Trust’s Vision.  Problem solving game as an example in particular – solved 9 problems in two minutes of talking to each other – saved loads of people loads of time here!

What has been the impact?

The team agree they have come a long way in just six months that this approach was used (short quick fixes).  Feedback from the team is that they have a better team spirit and work better together.  There’s better team engagement at the monthly meetings which are now more conducive and productive and everyone contributing to the conversations.  Staff feel more confident and the team feel appreciated and happier coming to work.  What is also important is that there is recognition that as the manager I can’t fix everything, but having a manager who listens and is approachable is pivotal to change.

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission? 

Yes I have encouraged as many colleagues as I can to show appreciation to their teams.  One way to do this is to send a personalised thank you note to the home address of the staff member recognising their years’ of service – instead of making them wait for formal recognition after 30 years’ service.  A small thank you goes a long way on some many levels.

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

If you believe in your role then be a role model and encourage everyone to work as one.

Meet Gary

Senior Systems Support Officer for Livewell Southwest.

How did you find out about 15s30m?

 Through Colleagues who have attended workshops and via Twitter.

What was your 15s30m Mission?

 My mission was to send RA02 requests (Smartcard Access) myself in order to take the burden off my Line manager who was being inundated with requests on a daily basis. The aim was to reduce the overall waiting time for staff who call our clinical systems helpdesk and to ensure they don’t have to call back to find out progress and that our staff have the correct access they require in the shortest amount of time possible.

What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

 Frustration from me, colleagues and our staff in the organisation at having to repeat calls into our Systems helpdesk to query how far along in the process their smartcard RA02 access request is. This was all down to a process that was outdated and not efficient. After seeing the impact and benefits of the 15s30m social movement on twitter I was really keen to give it a try myself and share the concept with my colleagues.

What has been the impact?

 So far there has been a dramatic reduction in the overall flowtime for the Smartcard access process to be completed and a reduction in the calls coming through to the helpdesk.

My manager has also seen an impact in their day to day tasks and has provided this statement. “The time RA02 requests spend in a requested state has been reduced (so users get their smartcards updated faster enabling them to do their jobs more effectively). The reduction of RA02 requests to my inbox has been significant and as a result has saved me a great deal of time, which enables me to focus my attention on other issues.”

My team are also plotting their own missions after seeing the benefits of 15s30m first hand. The main impact that I have seen is Joy has increased in my team and also for helpdesk callers who no longer have to call back.

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

 I have thought of another mission that is aimed at communication with our staff ensuring they know who to contact for Data information, this will save our helpdesk acting as a signposting service and reduce time wastage and frustration for callers who are unaware of the correct channels to follow.

I have run a workshop for 8 of my Colleagues and have also presented the idea to Livewell Southwest’s employee engagement forum. I will be running more workshops moving forward. The word is spreading…….

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

 Embrace it and don’t be shy! It really is an opportunity to have your say and make changes to ensure you don’t get frustrated in work.

Meet Sheena

Senior Sister in Critical Care at Wigan, Wrightington & Leigh (WWL) NHS Foundation Trust

How did you find out about 15s30m?

WWL Annual Quality Champions Conference where Rachel and Dan presented their 15 seconds 30 minutes vision.

What was your 15s30m Mission?

My 1st mission was to always photocopy documents and never leave the drawer empty for others.  A laminated reminder is now in all relevant drawers.


What gave you the idea to do the Mission?

My own frustrations when faced with an empty drawer.  Interventions in critical care can be time critical, not having the relevant documentation readily available can impede upon safe and timely delivery of intervention/care to patients.

What has been the impact?

Awareness amongst staff and a continuous reminder that it takes significantly less time to photocopy the last copy in the drawer than it does to leave the drawer empty for others to restock.

Have you thought of any other Missions? Have you encouraged other people to do their own 15s30 Mission?

I shared 15s30m vision in our work group generating interest and enthusiasm from many members of the team.  I shared my 1st mission in our work group and team members spontaneously brought their own ideas and missions to the arena.

I support staff to undertake their own missions and any prompt cards/reminders specific to their missions have the staff members initials on them for all to see.  The positive feedback for their missions is then relayed directly back to them. This contributes to staff feeling proud, motivated and appreciated for the small changes they’ve made which have a greater positive impact for all.

ICU/HDU staff have completed 5 missions to date with more to come.

Anything else you think would be useful for someone new to 15s30m to know?

  • Anybody can join this social movement.
  • This allows you to make small changes which have a much larger impact/benefit for all.
  • 15s30m generates interest and motivation to make small changes within your workplace.

It supports positivity within your work environment.

Meet Lynda

Medical laboratory assistant in Histology at The Royal Cornwall Hospital

Lynda Jones is a medical laboratory assistant in Histology at The Royal Cornwall Hospital. She attended the workshop held by the Bradford Teaching Hospital and was enthused to make her department a better place as a result.

She has successfully achieved two missions so far.
The first one involves the photocopier which is shared by two departments and is a fair walk from Lynda’s office. She uses this every day and found it frustrating when it ran out of paper, causing her an extra walk to and from the office to get more paper. She stuck her mission on the wall by the photocopier suggesting users bring some paper with them each time so that it never ran out. Thus easing frustration and spreading joy in the workplace.

The second mission was centred on tidiness in the ladies staff toilets. It was disappointing that paper towels were dropped on to the floor instead of the bin provided. So a small sign was put up encouraging everyone to spend 15 seconds tidying up after themselves to save the cleaner an extra unnecessary job. This prompted another member of staff to think about why she was always mopping up the hand basin area with paper towels because they were so wet and it was found that the grouting around the sinks needed re-doing. Some of them were leaking and this could have caused more problems later.

Lynda’s little sign had encouraged others to thinks about their environment and to spread a little joy in the workplace.

Meet Malik

Notes Preparation Team Coordinator, Bradford Teaching Hospitals

Malik is one of the first wave 15s30m heroes!
Malik has plenty of ideas that he and his team have put into action to bring more joy in work.
Their 15s30m Mission has been to streamline how the notes are prepared before and after clinic, e.g. if a minipack is empty and has no paperwork in it, the team would send this back to the scanning bureau regardless, which just brought more frustation to the scanning team. Now Malik & team spend 15 seconds checking the mini-packs after clinic and if they're blank they recycle the mini-packs in that deprtament, instead of sending a blank mini-pack back to the scanning team. One small task which has brought joy to multiple teams; there are more mini-packs available within the Outpatient departments and the scanning team don't waste time processing a blank mini-pack.

Another recent exmple was when patients DNA their appointment but the clinician would like to re-book the patient urgently. The patients notes used to go back to the medical records library to be filed away, only to be pulled form the library a couple days later for the re-booked appointment. Malik and the team have now set up a dedicated DNA shelf and keep the records in the Outpatient area ready for the next re-booked appointment. Another small task bringing multiple joy for; secretaires, porters, van drivers, medical records clerks, clinicinas as the notes are guranteed available for clinic, well the joy just goes on and on!

Meet Carol

Bradford Royal Infirmary Receptions Senior Administrator

Carol loved the ethos of 15s30m from the very start.
Carol's had loads of ideas and has succesfully put 2 15s30m Missions into action.

The 1st mission was to reduce the frustration of the admin process for the Eye Casulaty service on a weekend. Patients would turn up on a weekend and the reception team would have to spend a long time registering the patient for the first time and book them in on the system. This is non-value added time for the administrator and even more so for the patient who has an urgent eye condition. Therefore the team would try and pre-book these patients in following the initial phone triage with the clinician. The patients were triaged and written down and therefore the reception team would utilise Friday afternoons to pre-book the patients in to save time when the patients attaned at the weekend. More joy for the patient (less waiting time) the receptoin team (easier admin process) and the clinicinas (clinic is not delayed) #JoyinWork

The 2nd Misison was during an unscheduled powercut and the reception team could not open the shutters where the patients check in. It would have been so easy just to ask the patients to sit and wait until the power cam back on, but no Carol jumped into action and reverted to a good old clip board and paper to manually check the patients in to make sure the flow of clinic still kept to time. A great thoughtful mission bringing more joy to work for all.

Meet Joanne

Receptionist, Bradford Royal Infirmary

Our August hero is Joanne. Joanne works as a receptionist in an outpatient clinic. She attended one of our workshops, having been nominated by a colleague. Joanne’s approach to her job aligns with the principles of 15s30m – she comes to work to do everything she can to make patient care as good as it can be. She sees herself as the face of the organisation, the first person a patient will meet, and wants to make the best impression she can. “I can see how nervous and worried patients are when they come to clinic, and I want to do what ever small thing I can to help them feel more relaxed.”
Even prior to the workshop, Joanne had made small changes herself – for instance, handing out colouring pages and crayons for children attending clinic when there is a long wait.
Joanne shared a story of a patient where she felt real joy at making a difference
“A patient came into the clinic because he was worried about his eye and the appointment was a long way away. He didn’t know who to speak to who could help him be seen sooner. I offered to send an email to the consultant to let them know the patient’s concerns, saying I couldn’t promise anything but I would make sure the consultant knew the patient was worried. I felt sorry that I couldn’t do more to help the patient, but decided that a few seconds to send an email was the least I could offer to reduce the patient’s frustration. The patient left feeling like someone had done something to help, and when they returned two weeks later for their urgent appointment, they were smiling and came across to thank me. The consultant thanked me too: she said that the email was really clear and gave all the information she needed to arrange an extra appointment.”

All too often we hear another version of this story: that the patient would be turned away being told “there’s nothing I can do: I don’t deal with appointments: you’ll have to just see your GP.” Joanne sees her role as much more than a receptionist: she explores ways everyday to make it easier for patients and staff to have the best day at work they can. And in the process, she feels a great sense of satisfaction at being able to make a difference.

Meet Karen

Cheif Nurse at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

15s30m really is aimed at all staff no matter what their job title, so we were keen to show staff that the 'golden thread' throughout the ranks really does exist! Karen helped champion the 15s30mMission to update your contact details as her mobile number was not available on her e-mail signature / outlook details. So Karen spent 15 seconds updating her contact details so that someone else wouldn't have spend 30 minutes and more ringing round other people trying to hold of Karen. Karen did a little video for us too which is on YouTube channel.

We then followed up with this by speaking to people on the hospital corridors to spread the message and published a little article in the hospitals staff newsletter. We then re-ran the data a few months later and a 60% improvement was achieved! #JoyInWork

Meet Andrew

Cheif Executive of Wigan Wrightinton & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

Andrew Foster has been our mentor after winning the Sir Peter Carr Award and has helped us launch 15s30m as a social movement. 15s30m has been over to WWL Trust to present at their Quality Champion Event. We're following up with their QI team in October and November so that WWL can launch 15s30m in their organisation.