I am sorry to have to start this update by sharing the sad loss of one of our long-standing agency nurses Onyenachi Obasi, who worked for our Trust for many years. I would like to offer my condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. Her family have set up a fundraising appeal for her funeral and to support her son – more details are available here.

The sad loss of Onyenachi Obasi will be even more poignant tomorrow when we mark International Day of the Nurse (Tuesday 12 May). We will be holding a service at 11am at both of our hospitals to thank all of our nursing staff for the fantastic care they continue to provide for our patients, alongside other celebrations across our Trust. So many of our nurses have retrained to support the management of Covid-19; we even have nurses who have returned from retirement to help us like Ian Norris. As always I continue to be incredibly proud of our team here at BHRUT.

I am reminded of this when I see stories of our discharged patients who are surviving the virus. The moment patient Sufiyan Ansari addressed our staff in an emotional tribute as he left our King George Hospital after recovering from Covid-19 - was captured on video.

And I am also delighted to share the story of our colleague, consultant surgeon and Divisional Director for Surgery, Thangadorai Amalesh, 49, who returned to work after successfully recovering from Covid-19. 

As you know there are concerns around the emerging evidence of the impact of Covid-19 on BAME people. Please be assured the Board and I are committed to doing everything we can to keep BAME staff safe and I have personally written to them to update them on how we are managing this.

As you will know, we are now over the first peak and we must now focus on managing the next peaks. This will be even more complicated as we must ensure we manage our hospitals and resources in the best way possible to care for both Covid and non Covid patients. You will also have seen new guidance from the government  which includes: 

• Stay at home as much as possible
• Work from home if you can
• LImit contact with other people
• Keep your distance if you go out (two metres apart where possible)
• Wash your hands regularly
• Self-isolate if you or anyone in your household has symptoms
• Please also share these updates within your networks too

It is important though that people who need to come to our Emergency Departments continue to do so, to avoid risking their long-term health. We are continuing to make changes to our services to prioritise our patients’ safety such as our Hand Therapy Service who have been offering patients video appointments for three weeks. I am delighted to share the recent experience of a 96-year-old patient, who was reassured by our staff after suffering a serious wrist fracture. She was concerned she would not receive the necessary treatment due to Covid-19 preventing her from coming to hospital. However she was offered a virtual appointment to demonstrate the exercises she needed to do to recover – she said she felt she had received the best care possible, despite the pandemic.

Other changes include the incredible story of the changes to services our Trauma and Orthopaedics department have made in a short period of time. Covid will continue to provide many challenges over the weeks and months ahead. However stories of the innovative new ways we are caring for our patients leaves me in no doubt that, whilst difficult, we will continue to deliver excellent care to our communities.

As always thank you for your ongoing support and I hope you and your families stay well.

Tony Chambers
Chief Executive