The idea behind RCTs is to get people talking to each other again. Participants register to take part and are paired up at random with someone else in the organisation to have an informal conversation. Participants meet and have a chat for about 15 minutes or so. RCTs help us connect with our colleagues, learn from, and about each other, and help break down silos. It’s easy and informal!

When is it?

We are planning to run it from Monday 13 May to Sunday 19 May 2019 to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, although meetings don’t have to take part in that week

How do I sign up?

email: library@christie.nhs.uk before the 1 May 2019 giving your job title and location and name if not included in your email address

What happens then?

1. We will pair you at random with someone else at The Christie. It could literally be anyone from a clinical colleague to a volunteer to the Chief Executive., depending on who signs up.
2. We will email you before 3rd May to introduce you to your RCT partner.
3. It is then up to the two of you to get in touch with each other and organise a 15-30 minute chat over coffee (sorry you will have to provide your own drink).
4. It would be nice if you can meet up during mental health week (13th-19th May) but it is not essential.
5. It need not be coffee – it can be any drink or refreshment, whatever works best for you.
6. If the two of you are on different sites, you can have a virtual RCT, say over Skype or the phone, still with a cup of coffee.
7. After the RCT, we will send you another email asking how you found the experience.

Comments from our last RCTs in May 2018 & Oct 2018

This worked well. Good to connect with colleagues for personal well-being, as well as learning about other aspects of the Trust and broadening our network to help us work effectively in our roles.

Great insight into what someone else in the hospital does, even though we had very different roles we had a few people/projects in common. We also found we had other random things in common which was a funny highlight. We are from quite different generations and we’re by no means best buddies but I think if we saw each other around the hospital we’d say hi, we’ve not had contact since but it was still a positive experience.

I learnt about her role in a different team than I work in and I thought my partner was a fascinating and inspirational woman

Very good idea in addressing loneliness/individualistic culture. I introduced the idea within my workplace but it was very close to the deadline. I think repeating the event regularly would encourage more people to get involved

I found the meeting to be very interesting as it allowed me to discuss how I felt within my Job with my partner. We both spoke in depth about our journey’s so far at the Christie and our plans for further/future development within our respective roles.

As part of the activities to support World Mental Health Day, we are going to run our 2^nd randomised coffee trial (RCT) and would like to invite you to take par. One of the five steps to mental wellbeing is to be connected and another is to learn.

The idea behind RCTs is to get people talking to each other again. Participants register to take part and are paired up at random with someone else in the organisation to have an informal conversation. Participants meet and have a chat for about 15 minutes or so. RCTs help us connect with our colleagues, learn from, and about each other, and help break down silos. It’s free, easy and informal!

I want to take part – what should I do?

Register your interest by emailing mary.hill@christie.nhs.uk  by 1^st October 2018.  Sorry but it is only available to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust staff but this does include our satellite sites.

After that this is what will happen:

1. We will pair you at random with someone else at The Christie.
2. We will email you before 8^th October to introduce you to your RCT partner.
3. It is then up to the two of you to get in touch with each other and organise a 15-30 minute chat over coffee (sorry you will have to provide your own drink).
4. It would be nice if you can meet up in the week commencing 8^th October but it is not essential.
5. It need not be coffee – it can be any drink or refreshment, whatever works best for you.
6. If the two of you are on different sites, you can have a virtual RCT, say over Skype or the phone, still with a cup of coffee.
7. After the RCT, we will send you another email asking how you found the experience.

So what did people get out of the previous RCT?  

These are just some of the feedback comments we got from those who participate in May

“It was lovely to meet X, we didn’t really talk all that much about work. We found out that we had a lot in common and ended up talking about well being and the well being champion scheme at the hospital. I am waiting for X to send me information about the well being group she is part of at the hospital, and I have sent her over some details of the offer for free yoga/meditation sessions we have had from a supporter.”

“Having never done this type of thing before I found this a very positive experience.”

Felt nice to meet someone who I ended up having some things in common with, feels like a friendly face around

” Chance to get to know someone from another department but turned out to be a health professional who would be involved with the same patient group. So we had lots to talk about! My coffee partner has asked to visit my department in the future so hopefully we can continue information sharing”

And even if something doesn’t work out, people felt positive about the idea.  100% of the people who responded to the follow-up survey said they would do it again include some who didn’t meet up.

We weren’t able to meet but I would be open to the experience of doing this again, I think it’s a wonderful idea and I’m still happy to be involved