Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 19 June

June 19, 2020

By David Carruthers, Toby Lewis is away.

Only two weeks to go to get your star award nominations in! The deadline for nominations is 3 July and I want to stress how important it is, perhaps more so than any other year, that teams and individuals are nominated for the outstanding care and commitment that they have provided this year. The awards are not just about our response to COVID-19, although that will certainly feature highly, I’m sure, as you consider who you want to nominate. There are countless colleagues within our workforce who, through small acts of kindness, or leading large-scale transformations, deserve a few minutes of your time to complete our simple nomination form. Don’t leave it too late. Although our awards event may be different in 2020, winning the award will be no less special than every previous year – valued recognition for the commitment you and your colleagues have shown.

Our COVID-19 response to continues to evolve as the pandemic does and we continue to monitor patients in our hospitals and in the community. As non-essential shops re-open and bubbles are formed it is vital to remember the importance of social distancing and handwashing. This applies to all of us working in the NHS just as much as those families and individuals in the community. After reviewing carefully the government guidelines on face coverings we have decided that from Monday 22 June, the Trust buildings where we provide clinical services will have a requirement for all to wear a fluid resistant surgical mask (FRSM) on entry. Our fantastic security team will be advising patients and staff of this on entrance to the buildings. Please ensure that you give these valued colleagues the respect they deserve when implementing our approach. FRSMs will be given to everyone on entry and people will be required to remove their own face coverings. It is vital to ensure we have adequate supplies in place so you must not hoard your own supplies or take masks home for personal use when not at work. Our stock levels are closely monitored.

Making sure we care for our patients in the right way means properly recording the information in Unity. We are experiencing some issues with samples not being marked as “collected” in Unity which means our pathology labs do not receive the request message in their system and consequently you won’t receive the test results. You must also correctly affix the labels to the samples as shown here. Having the discipline to follow our processes carefully means speedier access to the right care for our patients.

Next week marks World Wellbeing Week which is now in its second year and is a fantastic opportunity for us to consider our own health and wellbeing and make the most of the Trust’s wide range of wellbeing activities and resources. We have always had a strong wellbeing offer for staff and during this pandemic, the wellbeing support has been expanded even more. Do take the time to look at the resources on offer as highlighted on Connect and pop into the Sanctuary which has been developed in our Learning Works building in Smethwick. So many people have accessed this facility and found the help they needed, even if it was just the chance for a chat with someone else who has been able to give their time to listen and share.

I was delighted to see the images from the opening of our Children’s Emergency Care Unit at City Hospital. This new facility, co-located with the emergency department, provides much improved care for our young patients and something we can be rightly proud of. Thank you to all the teams who have worked so hard to bring this service to life and to the care you are giving to children and their families.

Yesterday we bade a fond farewell to our Chief Nurse, Paula Gardner. Paula has been a valued friend and colleague to me and many others over the past two years. I know she was touched to see many people yesterday who popped in to wish her well in her retirement. Her commitment to put patients first, strive for high standards of care and support our frontline staff shone through in everything she did. We are a more caring organisation because of her leadership and she will be much missed.

David Carruthers, Acting Chief Executive