Hello and welcome to this week’s blog!
Normally, at this time of the year, many of us have enjoyed a summer holiday, and are preparing to get back to work and children are returning to school with a renewed energy. While this September may feel a little more unusual, it still feels like the start of a new chapter in the year. And how quickly we have fallen back into our familiar priorities, despite coronavirus still being present.
Back in late July/early August what is called the Phase 3 Planning Guidance was published by NHS England. It sets out three priorities for the NHS for the rest of the financial year: to return to ‘near normal’ levels of non-COVID-19 services, to prepare for winter and any potential COVID-19 spikes, and to take account of the valuable lessons we have learnt in our response to the pandemic.
Most of us in the Trust are now involved in the restoration of our services; part of this has involved the development of comprehensive capital bids to improve our Emergency Department, Critical Care and Endoscopy facilities and equipment. These have all had to be completed in a really short period of time and our teams have worked extremely hard to produce these high-quality submissions. Whilst the national funding for these areas is still a little unclear we are expecting, hopefully, positive news on the outcomes in the very near future. We have also begun the serious planning and preparation for this winter and a huge amount of work has been put into how we deliver our services safely but also differently. Thank you to everyone who has played their part in these very important pieces of work and as a result I think we are well placed to meet the requirements of the national planning guidance.
We are incredibly fortunate that currently, even though there are increased numbers of infection in the community, we have very low numbers of patients who are unwell with the virus in hospital and no cases where Coronavirus has been passed between patients. This is reassuring to know and shows our stringent hand washing, use of personal protective equipment and social distancing are working well. You are all playing your part in keeping our hospitals and patients safe, keep up the good work!
It’s not only services that are being delivered differently. Next week we are holding our very first virtual Board meeting in public. Joining details for the live streaming event will be on our social media platforms and website very soon, so please watch out for them. Holding the meeting in public gives everyone the opportunity to hear what is happening in and around the Trust but also to ask questions and provide feedback. We have a special email address (trustboardquestions@elht.nhs.uk) ready to receive your questions, no later than 72hrs before the start of the meeting. You can find more details on the Board Meetings page of our website. And next month we will be holding our Festival of Inclusion virtually too. We hope this will open up the awareness week for more people to get involved and to access the different events planned.
If you didn’t manage to get away for a well-earned break this year, you might be interested in taking part in the Big NHS Raffle. ELHT&Me, the Trust’s charity, has been donated an overnight stay for two at the luxury Crow Wood Hotel and Spa Resort. Not only are you in with a chance of winning a fantastic prize of dinner, breakfast and access to the exclusive Woodland Spa but you are also supporting a great cause. The charity has been instrumental in supporting both patients and staff through the hard months of this year, so this is a timely and appropriate prize for both our staff and the people in our community.
And finally, today is national fish and chip day! So why not treat yourself to a chippy tea and settle down to watch the switching on of the Blackpool illuminations by the very special COVID Heroes. We should be especially proud of this amazing group of individuals as, representing ELHT, will be David Anderson and Jasper, two very popular members of the #ELHTFamily. You can watch the event live here.
Thank you for everything you do to keep our hospitals safe, personal and effective. Have a great weekend.
Martin