Friday 12 March 2010

Friday again and nearly the end of another busy week. Before I start, could I say thank you to everybody who emailed me with their thanks and positive comments about last weeks Team Day. It's so heartening to get positive feedback from so many different and diverse service areas. I really appreciate it.

I was in Salisbury on Wednesday morning with Andrew supporting his sessions meeting staff in the south of the county. I also led the hub meeting where we went through the March Team Wire. There were lots of great questions covering all sorts of topics, and I would encourage others to join these sessions. It's very important for us to discuss the hot issues of the day and answer queries and worries that staff may have, be they related to IT, Harmonisation, Bourne Hill or any other subject.

Yesterday I was in Taunton for most of the day at the RIEP - the Regional Improvement & Efficiency Partnership. This is a group of officers from all over the South West charged with developing innovative plans and projects for improving innovation, improvement and efficiency of our services. Key items on the agenda were Housing, Total Place and of course the financial challenges that all of our organisations face at the moment and over the next 3-4 years. Wiltshire needs to be fully engaged in this to share best practice between our authorities so we keep ahead of the game. So that's what we'll be doing!

On Wednesday I attended the second Heath & Wellbeing Awards Ceremony in Devizes. This was a celebration of many public, voluntary and private sector initiatives in Wiltshire that seek to support and help make our communities and individuals healthier - both physically and mentally. I have to say that I was blown away by some of the people I met, their stories and what they do to help and support others. It was a very humbling experience.

Thanks for reading; have a good weekend and talk again next week.

Carlton