Our Clinical Director, Martin Griffiths OBE, gave the keynote speech at Together for London’s Children, a Summit arranged by The London Innovation and Improvement Alliance, on 9 February, held in the Guildhall. This was a packed meeting with senior leaders and councillors from local government, NHS organisations, Ofstead, MOPAC and many others.
The Summit heard from national government, from partners and different parts of our local authorities. In setting out the government’s Care Review Implementation plans, Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education reminded us that “leaders are dealers in hope” who need to come together to deliver the plan for children: “it’s just a piece of paper, now we have to make it happen.”
In speaking of this collective responsibility, Martin reminded the audience that “Humility, openness and listening are the key elements to meaningfully engaging children, families and their communities. They have the expertise and solutions to what works for them. We all need to listen to them more.”
“We must be humble, to listen and to remember when we were younger, we had passion, we asked questions and we listened to the answers.”
