News just in - our CQC inspection will start on March 8 2016 and is expected to run for several days. There will be lots more communcations about the visit between then and now.

This was among the key updates at this week's two Big Brief sessions hosted by Associate Director of Community Service and Operations, Helen Barker at CRH and Executive Director of Planning, Performance, Estates and Facilities, Lesley Hill at HRI.

Helen told CHFT Weekly that the two key points to take away this month are that we need to get better at patient flow to keep on top of our Emergency Care Standard and that we are behind plan financially so we really need to claw back the £2m we are behind budget.

Helen added:  "I've been at the Trust since May and I'm really impressed at how proactive our colleagues are, especially when trying to find ideas for saving money. I've never worked in an organisation with so many plans in place for the future - that just shows your committment".

Matron Janette Cockroft, said "This is my first Big Brief and it's been brilliant. It's got just the right amount of information for me to share with my teams without bogging them down in too much detail. I'll be back again!".

Other items covered included a Trust-wide overview of our performance, a divisional update, information about how our CQC inspection fits with our four behaviours and, of course, the all important start of our flu vaccination progamme.

You can find the slides on our Big Brief page - please share the information with your teams.

The next Big Brief takes place on Tuesday 3 November at 8.30am in the lecture theatre at HRI and CRH. Save the date!