Pamela Russell

RN,BSc (Hons) @ulsteruni /Practice Education Facilitator/@setrust/#QIFellowship /Professional account. Retweets not endorsements.

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

Practice Education Team have had a
busy couple of days supporting the development of our staff

*OU Cohort 2022 ready for 1st placement @setrust

*SET midwives Practice Assessor/Supervisor Training to support students

@kempson2005 @rosydevlin @JoanneFitzsimo1 @DrDSRobinson

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

Important to have your say on practice learning……..👇

[NIPEC @NIPEC_online]

🎙️Have your say on the future of nursing and midwifery education. Join an upcoming webinar on the NMC Practice Learning Review Consultation.

🔗To register visit - https://t.co/FeOCyOGWwF

@Lindak973 @maryfrancesmcm3 @McilgormM @ck565 @Kieranpmccormic

[NIPEC @NIPEC_online]

🎙️Have your say on the future of nursing and midwifery education. Join an upcoming webinar on the NMC Practice Learning Review Consultation.

🔗To register visit - https://t.co/FeOCyOGWwF

@Lindak973 @maryfrancesmcm3 @McilgormM @ck565 @Kieranpmccormic

[NIPEC @NIPEC_online]

Today is International Day of the Midwife. NIPEC recognises & thanks midwives across Northern Ireland for their skill, leadership and commitment to safe, high‑quality care for women, babies and families. @Fiona57061071 @Lindak973 @ck565 @McilgormM

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

✅Structure learning huddles as a change team to focus on “What are we learning? What needs to change in our approach? What should we stop?”.

✅The first rule of being an effective change agent is that “you can’t be an effective change agent on your own”.

[South Eastern Trust @setrust]

We are delighted to partner with Queen’s University Belfast to launch a new Clinical and Academic Homes Framework, also supported by the University of Ulster and Open University, strengthening opportunities for research and innovation across Nursing and Midwifery.

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

Amazing! 👏

[South Eastern Trust @setrust]

A ‘run-derful’ achievement!! 🏅

Our Communications Intern Molly Higgins, her MumJulie from Finance, her Auntie, Health Visitor, Clair Kennedy, smashed the London Marathon raising an incredible over £21,000 for Marie Curie ❤️

What an amazing Trust Trio! Congratulations 🙌

[South Eastern Trust @setrust]

Do you know where to go when you need Urgent & Emergency Care in the Trust❓

It is important you get the right care, in the right place, at the right time 🏥

Here is all you need to know about the services that are here for you👇

In an emergency always call 999 🚑

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

Well done Sonia, very proud of you and your achievements! 🎉 Our @QUBNSOC and @OUBelfast students are benefiting from the great work you are doing in #LaganValley @setrust

[NIPEC @NIPEC_online]

Sonia @SetNursing presenting her QI project “Seeds of Care” supporting Bereaved Families @roisincoulter @DrDSRobinson @rosydevlin @Lindak973 @Kieranpmccormic @maryfrancesmcm3

[NIPEC @NIPEC_online]

Webinar 1pm 27 March find out about New Regional Standards for Person-centred Nursing and . Midwifery Documentation. Webinar with Linda Kelly, Chief Executive, NIPEC,;Gary Cousins, Senior Professional Officer, NIPEC; Dullaghan, Assistant Director of Nursing, Safe and Effective Care, SEHSCT and Fiona O’Neill, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer,NHSCT @Lindak973 @Cousins_Gary
https://t.co/drFmUZcHph...

[South Eastern Trust @setrust]

Our Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists are a lifeline for patients and families navigating cancer ❤️

Patient Stewart Rainey describes them as “completely invaluable.”

Thank you for the care, guidance and support you give every day. 🫶 #CancerClinicalNurseSpecialistDay

[South Eastern Trust @setrust]

Huge congrats to our Healthcare in Prison team & partners in the @NIPrisons 🎉

Our ‘Ask HIM’ project has won the Patient & Community Engagement Award at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Forum…. selected from 256 global submissions! Outstanding 🏆⭐️

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

@setrust Happy retirement Niamh….well deserved💕

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

@NIPEC_online Thank you @NIPEC_online…….all very passionate about delivering their best for patients and those they support 😊

[Ulster Rugby @UlsterRugby]

Doing us proud 🙌

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

When focusing on development consider the aspect of ‘unlearning cultures’ during times of uncertainty - competence (doing things well) vs capacity (staying present when action will not resolve tension)

Don’t rush for quick answer’s - take time to pause and reflect 💡

[Helen Bevan @HelenBevan]

To thrive and survive as a change or improvement leader in a big system, we need to be competent. We need to be able to redesign processes, apply improvement methods, analyse data, mobilise teams & achieve outcomes.

A February 2026 HBR article by Annie Peshkam (“To lead through uncertainty, unlearn your assumptions”) says that this isn’t enough. She distinguishes between “competence” (doing things well) and “capacity” (staying present when action will not resolve the tension). As change and improvement leaders, we have invested heavily in competence: QI methods, governance, pathways, PMO disciplines. We have invested far less in capacity: the inner steadiness, emotional regulation and shared sensemaking that allow us to hold complexity with our teams. Capacity is the ability to pause instead of jumping to solutions; say out loud what is difficult about a change; keep conflict in the room and work with it rather than pushing it into the “meeting after the meeting”.

The systems we work in are in sustained uncertainty: financial pressure, workforce depletion, reform agendas, unrelenting demand. Deloitte's Global Human Capital Trends survey of 14,000 leaders found that, in this context, we must look beyond efficiency and predictable results and instead elevate resilience, adaptability, and human connection. Yet our improvement/performance approaches still reward leaders who give quick answers, project confidence and absorb team anxiety. These assumptions shrink rather than expand our capacity to lead.

How can change and improvement leaders build capacity?
1) Embed personal practices of pause and reflection into our leadership routines, especially in "high‑stakes" meetings.
2) Start key conversations by naming the tension in the room and giving people time to speak to it before moving to plans.
3) Design our improvement structures (huddles, steering groups, programme boards etc) as “holding environments”, where disagreement and emotion are legitimate data, not distractions.
4) Stop carrying the burden alone: share sensemaking work with our teams, service users and communities, and make that sharing visible.
5) Invest in development focused on emotional steadiness, presence and curiosity, alongside the technical disciplines of QI and "change management".

We talk a lot about learning cultures. This article challenges us to cultivate unlearning cultures in addition. The shift from competence to capacity is not a “nice to do”; it is central to our ability to lead change and improvement in the face of relentless uncertainty.

https://t.co/nViMIBVw6N

[The Center for Leadership Studies @sitlead_CLS]

Psychological safety is built moment by moment.

It grows when people consistently feel heard, respected, and valued.

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

✅Structure learning huddles as a change team to focus on “What are we learning? What needs to change in our approach? What should we stop?”.

✅The first rule of being an effective change agent is that “you can’t be an effective change agent on your own”.

[Helen Bevan @HelenBevan]

Being able to walk away from a change initiative (often something we have invested huge personal effort in and feel passionate about) is a defining capability for leaders of change.

In change work, we celebrate the leaders who “push through resistance” and “never give up”. We talk less about the leaders who know when to stop – or walk away – from a change initiative altogether.

Sometimes that decision is about the work itself:
- The initiative is no longer aligned with organisational priorities.
- The context has shifted so much that the original case no longer holds.
- The effort required now far outweighs any likely benefit.

But sometimes, the decision is about the toll on the person leading the change:
- Sponsors are absent, inconsistent or obstructive, leaving us carrying the risk but not the authority.
- We’re repeatedly asked to “spin” the story or sidestep hard truths in ways that clash with our values.
- The behaviours rewarded around the initiative (blame-shifting, pressurising, tolerating poor behaviours) are the opposite of the culture we’re trying to build.

Walking away will rarely be applauded. It may look to some people like a lack of resilience or loyalty. Yet it can be an act of deep responsibility: to our own wellbeing, to our credibility, to the people we lead & to the people we are seeking to create better outcomes for.

Actions to reduce the risk of having to stop or walk away:
1) Name the conditions we need (sponsorship, resourcing, psychological safety) and pay attention when those conditions are chronically missing.
2) Build regular check‑ins with sponsors to test commitment, reset expectations and surface misalignments early, rather than absorbing them alone.
3) Set the change process up from the start as a series of “experiments” with clear hypotheses and time‑boxes, so we can make decisions about what to do next based on real data, not assumptions.
4) Hold structured learning huddles as a change team, focusing on “What are we learning? What needs to change in our approach? What should we stop?”.
5) Invite voices from outside the core project team (frontline staff, service users, partner organisations) into periodic reflection sessions to test whether the change still makes sense in their reality.
6) Create reflective space with others (coaching, mentoring, peer support) to notice when the work is eroding your own energy, integrity or wellbeing. The first rule of being an effective change agent is that “you can’t be an effective change agent on your own”.

As leaders of change, our legacy isn’t just the initiatives we drive to completion. It’s also the ones we have the courage and strategic insight to stop. Sometimes the best move is not to push through, but to step away.

See, for instance, @AdmiredLeaders on reactive quitting versus strategic quitting: https://t.co/piWZNM7DoA.

The graphic is by the brilliant @milanicreative.

[Pamela Russell @pamrustweet]

@NIPEC_online @setrust @DrDSRobinson @CathyMcCusker2 @ck565 Well done Sonia on delivering this QI project showcasing the great work that’s happening within Lagan Valley @setrust around multi-cultural approaches for bereaved families #Teamwork

[Prof David Robinson @DrDSRobinson]

A much anticipated delivery at the Ulster Hospital @setrust.

Well done and thank you to everyone who it possible! 👏👏👏