This week I am determined not to talk about Covid and the impact it continues to have on everyone’s lives and instead I want to focus on two really positive things – progress and people.
I think it goes without saying that both are very closely linked with everything the NHS stands for and their importance in the support and recovery of our patients is huge.
JOIN US AND CELEBRATE PRIDE
I hope it also goes without saying that the Trust values each and everyone, but I do want to concentrate on colleagues, patients and families who are working across the Trust or accessing our services who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Queer (LGBTQ+).
This group of people is in focus across the country as part of national Pride month which runs throughout June and aims to celebrate diversity, as well as continue to throw a spotlight on some very serious issues such as discrimination and hate crime that sadly continues to feature prominently in the lives of this community.
This week we showed our support for LGBTQ+ colleagues, patients and their families. We have put out our rainbow flags and I hope it sends a clear signal that everyone is welcome here, we value people equally and we license you to be yourself safe in the knowledge we will support you.
To many people Pride is a time to wear bright colours, be upbeat and energetic and embrace their own sexuality or show support for those who identify as LGBTQ+ around them. In ‘normal’ times we would be able to get involved in the wonderful, lively and vibrant events such as the Pride marches in towns and cities, as well as festivals and other events which raise up this community with messages to be confident and proud.
This year, as with so many of our plans, we’ve had to think of different ways of doing things and we have raised flags, encouraged people to wear rainbow colours and invited Pride selfies on our social media channels.
I love it when people get involved and show their support. It becomes clear that we outnumber people who have outdated and archaic views about sexuality and I hope we help to raise awareness, challenge attitudes and ultimately change minds.
It is a difficult concept for me to understand those people that still carry, harbour and, at times, demonstrate negativity towards LGBTQ+ people for no other reason than sexuality.
I would like to be clear the Trust has zero tolerance on this. We’re perfectly clear: whether you’re a colleague, patient or visitor we won’t stand for any type of verbal or physical abuse, be it overt or in the form of any micro aggression. It’s not welcome and we won’t stand by and allow it. This Trust welcomes and values everyone equally. We encourage people to be themselves and be proud of who they are. We also license colleagues to call inappropriate behaviour out and stand up to people when they see injustice. I am most definitely proud of that.
AMAZING VACCINATION TEAM
I also want to share some well-deserved recognition for the ongoing and just simply amazing work of the vaccination teams.
In particular, this week the team at the mass vaccination centre at Blackburn Cathedral have administered their 100,000 dose. Together with everyone working across all vaccination centres in Lancashire and South Cumbria, this is an incredible achievement.
It seems a very long time ago since I visited The Crypt at Blackburn Cathedral on its opening day in January, when it was one of the first mass vaccination sites to open in the UK and I was completely blown away by the work that had gone on to get it up and running so quickly, as well as the logistical challenge to keep them running as effectively but safely as possible too
Since then, the hard work as a team to support people from across our communities to access their first and second doses of the vaccine has never stopped. I know you have supported each other – across the most diverse range of people and organisations – through some very difficult days, when the queues were long and the vaccine could be in short supply.
But the programme is the NHS at its very best and your hard work and relentless determination to succeed has made that happen.
To everyone who has been part of that time, nurses, vaccinators, administrators, security guards, volunteers or marshalls fro the Trust, wider NHS, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, St John’s Ambulance, the military…. Thank you so much for everything you have done.
I have no doubt it will go down in history as the first and most magnificent step to reducing deaths and infections as well as moving the country out of the pandemic and back to our much missed ‘normal lives’.
COVID
I said I wouldn’t mention it, but I will sign off with some positive news. This week the Trust has seen a reduction in the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid and this is reflective that community prevalence rates in East Lancashire are reducing too.
This is welcome and we hope it continues to decline. Please carry on doing everything you can to support this:
- Follow Government guidance and restrictions – including the national ones and those introduced specifically for Lancashire
- Wear a face mask on our premises and in public spaces
- Social distance wherever possible
- Wash or sanitise your hands as often as you can
- Get your vaccine – it is now open to everyone over 18
If we work together we can beat Covid and enable our lives to return to normal. Thanks for everything you are doing.
Take care,
Kevin