Pictured: Chief Executive Kevin McGee joins Assistant CEO Les Stove and Smokefree Service Lead Claire Jones for a 'smoke free walkabout' at Royal Blackburn Hospital
Hello everyone, hope you are well.
May 5 is International Day of the Midwife #IDM18, a day celebrated around the world for highlighting the work of midwives. This year’s theme – midwives leading the way with quality care – is something we see every day from ELHT’s 300+ midwives whose amazing professionalism and care we all admire. Not only are our midwives specialists in their chosen profession, but our patients also benefit from specialist midwives in bereavement support, research, drugs liaison, diabetes, safeguarding, mental health and more. To show your appreciation for an inspirational, caring ELHT midwife, why not vote for them in our NHS Heroes competition. It’s International Nurses Day on 12 May (more about that next week) and to mark both of these special days, we are asking you to share your thoughts, give thanks or praise to that special midwife or nurse by emailing their name to nhsheroes@elht.nhs.uk. Be quick - nominations close on Tuesday 8 May at midday - and ten midwives and nurses, chosen at random, will receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
ELHT is a smoke free zone and yesterday I joined our Smokefree Service Lead, Claire Jones, on one of her regular walkabouts at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital. I’ve written a number of times that one of the most regular complaints I receive is about people smoking on our grounds and by our entrances. We are a health promoting hospital and it is absolutely right that we reduce smoking on our sites. We must also take every opportunity to promote the policy, make people aware of the support available to them whilst in hospital and shout about the benefits of becoming smoke free. I, and senior team colleagues, will be making regular walks of our sites to support Claire’s efforts and create a healthier environment for patients, visitors and staff.
As you no doubt know, last Friday, we had our STAR Awards presentation ceremony. What a great night! Everyone who was there had a fab time and it was, as always, most humbling to witness just a sample of our fantastic staff being recognised for doing a great job; doing a little more than is required; making a massive difference to our patients. Thank you so much to everybody involved – the organisers, the judges, the nominees, the audience. A special thank you to the 2,600 of you – yes, that’s right 2,600 – who watched it on Facebook!!
On a much more serious note – you’ll be aware of a national issue with regard to final breast screening invitations. Any women who are concerned should seek advice by calling the (free) Public Health England helpline on 0800 169 2692. Public Health England have issued further information for anyone affected by this error: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/women-offered-nhs-breast-screening-after-missed-invitations
Breast screening NHS organisations will be working in partnership across Lancashire and South Cumbria to co-ordinate the missed screens and, at the same time, ensure that routine screening is not affected.
Finally, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend and for once, it looks like the weather might be good. If you are off, have a great weekend and enjoy it. A special thank you to everyone who is working over the Bank Holiday providing safe, personal and effective care for our community. It couldn’t happen without you!