Last week we welcomed the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to our hospitals to undertake a well led review. Inspectors visited the Emergency Departments (ED) and medical care at Queen’s Hospital and King George Hospital (KGH) and diagnostics at KGH.

I was pleased to hear how welcoming our staff were and the praise from our patients about the care they were receiving. We are waiting for their full report, however, one area we know we do need to focus on is KGH ED, following on from the work we’ve done at Queen’s.

In the last year I’ve told you about our investment to improve the environment at KGH, with our £5m state-of-the-art ED and our upgraded Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU).

I’m pleased that we’ve now had further government funding for a £14m Surgical Hub at KGH, which will see us expand and build two new theatres, upgraded staff facilities, improved storage, and double the number of recovery beds.

Work is due to get underway on the expansion at the end of this month and it is due to finish around spring 2024.

Local mayors visit Queen’s Hospital

Alongside our visit from the CQC, we also welcomed the mayors of our three boroughs to Queen’s Hospital recently, to showcase the positive impact Macmillan Cancer Support has on our patients.

We were joined by Barking and Dagenham Mayor Faruk Choudhury, Havering Mayor Trevor McKeever and Redbridge Mayor Thavathuray Jeyaranjan and colleagues from Macmillan, to show them around our Oncology and Radiotherapy departments.

This year Macmillan has provided us with funding for a personalised cancer care nurse and support worker, which make a huge difference to our patients being treated for this disease and we’re grateful, as always, for their support.

Supporting our staff

As well as improving our hospitals for patients, it’s crucial that we also continue to support our staff, especially with the rising cost-of-living.

Following the success of the two marketplaces we held over the summer, which benefitted more than 450 families with the cost of school uniforms, I’m delighted to confirm that we are holding two more before Christmas, which will include toys, clothes, household items and food.

The hike in mortgage repayments has been added to the list of things colleagues are concerned about as they deal with the cost-of-living crisis.

My colleagues and I continue to seek ways of supporting our staff and these marketplaces in the run up to Christmas will provide some help to those concerned about managing this festive season.

Best wishes.

Matthew Trainer
Chief Executive