Dear colleague,

As part of the work to transform our Trust we’re improving the way we run our hospitals. This is to help us better manage the challenges we’re facing with the flow of patients from A&E to a ward, and through to leaving hospital; and give us better oversight and ability to improve performance and quality.

To achieve this, we’re separating out the responsibilities for the daily operations from the longer term work. New site leadership teams will have dedicated responsibility for the day to day running of King George (KGH) and Queen’s hospitals; and we’re moving from seven clinical divisions to five new clinical groups who will focus on sustainable long-term strategy and workforce.

We’ll start to implement these changes from next month. I’m also looking forward to welcoming Louise Dark who joins us in early March as Managing Director at KGH. Louise is currently programme director for elective recovery at NHS London.

100^th robotic joint replacement

Last week I spoke about the accreditation of our surgical hub at KGH for planned (elective) surgeries and procedures, and our ability to perform robotic surgery sees us go from strength to strength. King George is one of just seven hospitals in the country to have a Mako surgical robot, specifically for carrying out hip and knee replacements, and the team recently completed an incredible 100^th joint replacement.

Robotic assisted surgery is a much better experience for the patient, with implants lasting longer and a shorter recovery time. As Catherine, who had her knee replaced in this milestone procedure said: “It was very impressive. The staff were amazing, and I was mostly mobile from the next day. I’m hoping this will give me a whole new lease of life”.

‘They made me feel I was worth saving’

I’ve spoken a great deal recently on the pressures we’re facing and how hard it is for our staff who want to come in and do a good job for our patients. So it’s motivating for all of us to hear from patients like 70year-old Kathleen who was diagnosed with lung cancer and referred to our
pre-habilitation cancer team who, she said, “made me feel I was worth saving and it was worth fighting for”.

The team supports vulnerable cancer patients to improve their health and wellbeing ahead of cancer surgery or treatment and after working with Kathleen, she was able to undergo immunotherapy treatment which has started to shrink her tumours.

It’s a nice reminder of the difference our staff make to our patients every day.

Best wishes,

Matthew Trainer

Chief Executive