After the excitement of our Royal Visit covered in the Blog last month by Liam Kelly the Chair of the Board of Trustees we have returned to our more normal routine pattern of life and behaviour at both of our Centres. When I write that things are routine that does not mean dull, slow or boring, in fact far from it, because there is always lots going on at both of our Centres and the whole team remain completely focussed on delivering the very best care and treatment to all of our police patients when they arrive for treatment.
It can sometimes be tempting for our patients to look to our clinicians and credit them with all of the success for their improvement whilst with us, but the PTC is much more than that. The clinicians are reinforced by a huge team of operational support staff some of whom are obvious such as our, Reception Team our Chefs, our Dining Room staff, the Donor Recruitment and Charity Engagement team and the Housekeeping team, and some who are less obvious such as the Finance and accounts teams, Maintenance, HR and a myriad of other logisticians and administrators who are absolutely critical in making the PTC what it is. We genuinely spend a great deal of time and effort in the recruitment of our employees and make sure that we get the right people to come on board with the PTC, and then once they arrive, we work hard to ensure that they buy in to the PTC culture and ethos. We do not of course always get it right, and there are some false starts, but once we have good people, we work hard to ensure that we retain them.
I genuinely believe that we really do have an excellent team of people at both our Centres and that view I am pleased to say is endorsed by the many comments that I get from visitors and patients about the quality of the food, the cleanliness of the building, the standard of the real estate, and the cheerful, dedicated enthusiasm and commitment of the whole PTC team. Despite the stresses, pressures and strains that all of us feel on occasion and that includes me as CEO as well, I am personally always uplifted by the whole team approach at both our Centres, and there is never a day that goes by without all of us managing to have a laugh about something that has happened, and to enjoy the moment.
If I was being picky I would question why whenever I am away from the PTC for any length of time and then walk back in the door, my Dog Lily who I am lucky enough to bring into the office with me, is immediately surrounded by groups of staff who make a fuss over her and tell her how much they have missed her, whilst I seem to slip unnoticed by everyone back into my office, mind you I would not expect anything else, or indeed have it any other way! All of that makes the PTC a fantastic and happy place to work, and I hope that this is reflected in the atmosphere in both Centres where are patients both benefit from treatment and enjoy themselves.
In terms of what else has been happening since the last Blog, the Donor Engagement team have attended well over 250 events so far this year with plenty more in the diary to come, and I am very pleased to say that we have already exceeded the number of patients that we treat at both our centres as of 1st November than we treated in the whole of 2022. I often say that I do of course want and need people to donate to the PTC because that is how we generate the bulk of our income, but once they do so, I then want them to apply for treatment and to attend one of our Centres as I know how much benefit that this brings.
We seem to have had a growing number of visitors to the centres in recent months, and noteworthy amongst these have been an Occupational Health (OH) Conference that we hosted at Harrogate in October to raise awareness of the charity and our work amongst the OH teams in all our constituent Forces, and later in that same month we hosted the Police Charities UK Meeting for one of its twice yearly meetings where as many of the Police Charities as possible attended the event to talk about some of the challenges that we currently face in support of policing, and how we might work better together to resolve these challenges.
I have also had a busy time externally, where I have been bouncing around a bit and that included attending and presenting at the annual Police Chaplain’s Conference in Staffordshire in October, attending the North East Legal Service in York Minster where we are one of the charity beneficiaries, and attending the Thin Blue Line Ball in Liverpool to support the Thin Blue Line Charity who continue to grow and develop, and are working hard to raise awareness and treat mental health issues in UK policing.
Overall, it has been a hectic and productive period of time, but one of enormous satisfaction and it is inspiring to see the difference that we make to many of our patients who I often see limping up to the entrances at our centres on their first day, and then walking out with a spring in their step at the end of their stay with us. It is also great to see how much our patients enjoy themselves whilst they are with us. It remains a tough time in policing with police officers and staff under pressure and criticism from many quarters, and we like to think that we provide a mini sanctuary here at the PTC for individuals to come and benefit from our treatment, but also relax and recover from some of this stress, whether it be meeting one of our new Therapy Dog Puppies such as Banksy who popped in to our Harrogate Centre in October, or just seeing our patients taking their time over their meals in the dining rooms at both centres whilst chatting to each other and sharing some of their experiences.
That is all for this month’s blog, safe stay everyone and thank you for your support.
Patrick Cairns
CEO PTC and TPCC
<<Back