Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 22 January

January 22, 2021

The focus of our Trust this week has continued to be on our Covid-19 response where we remain dealing with extremely high numbers of patients with Covid-19. My sincerest thanks once again for the professional way you all continue to support our patients, stepping into unfamiliar roles and supporting each other where you can. Community cases are starting to fall (but are still high) and inpatient admissions are beginning to stabilise. And yet, our critical care teams are still caring for more than double the amount of patients they would normally look after. Sadly, too, the number of people dying with Covid-19 on a daily basis has increased. Looking after your own resilience in the face of these extremely difficult circumstances must be paramount.

We have featured consistently within our daily Covid bulletins the support that is available to each and every one of you. It doesn’t matter where you work or what role you carry out. You don’t need to feel unworthy of the help if you are not as pressured as someone else. Everyone can benefit from taking time for you, talking to colleagues and seeking professional help. Please take the opportunity to do that this weekend or into the week ahead.

The Covid threat remains real and I want to thank our lead clinicians who have been before the media this week emphasising how important it is that everyone continues to follow lockdown restrictions and that the vaccine is the real way out of this pandemic. Our vaccination programme is going well but we must all get behind the message to our communities that the vaccines are safe and effective. Dr Chizo Agwu’s film message this week describes why it is vital that people take up the offer of the vaccine when they are contacted. Don’t delay. Slots are available for any staff member this weekend by contacting our booking line.

The debate continues about the timing of the second dose of the vaccine. I have said in this blog previously why I am in support of the new national guidelines. The first dose offers good protection three weeks after your first dose. The best protection we can give you is to reduce the number of Covid-19 patients you need to look after. I want as many people as possible in our communities to be vaccinated. That will give all of us good protection which, combined with our individual vaccine, will make us safer in the long term.

Thank you for continuing to pull together for the benefit of our patients who are relying on us. This weekend we are hoping to see an expansion in the number of colleagues who are out supporting our clinical teams in areas they wouldn’t normally work. This willingness to step in and help out has long been a feature of our Trust and remains the way we will continue to get through the days and weeks ahead.

I wanted to use this opportunity to share the details of our executive team due to a few recent appointments and changing roles. Please remember that all of us are here to support you so please get in touch if you would like to raise anything or have a suggestion on how we can do things differently to make your lives easier. We want to listen and do all we can to help and I am hoping that over the coming weeks we are better able to be accessible and available to hear your stories understand your concerns.

David Carruthers