It continues to be a busy time as we seek to re-instate more and more services that we paused or limited during the peak of the pandemic.

I’m very pleased to let you know that last week we reopened our frailty unit at King George Hospital, providing fast access to specialist medical teams for our frail, older patients. NHS community workers can refer patients directly, so they no longer having to wait in our busy Emergency Departments, and get the care they need promptly. The team on the unit work in partnership with community teams to arrange any on-going care needed, so wherever possible, patients can go home that same day. 

And today we’ve restarted endoscopies at Queen’s Hospital, which is the first ‘green’ pathway at the site. Endoscopy is a national concern due to the increased waiting lists and reduced capacity due to infection guidance, such as new decontamination processes. As others are doing across the country, please rest assured that we are working together across north east London so that we can maximise our capacity for our patients.   

We are also finalising our plans for the delivery of our gynaecology services. As I have mentioned previously, new guidance means that some services will be delivered in different locations than prior to the pandemic. Moving forward, our planned gynaecology procedures - hysteroscopies and colposcopies - which previously took place at Queen’s Hospital, will now be delivered at King George. Emergency gynaecology, complex elective inpatients and general non-procedural outpatients will take place at Queen’s. 

Over the next couple of weeks we will be ‘zoning’ Queen’s Hospital, as we did at King George recently, and are expanding our staff screening to cover all staff at Queen’s.  We will continue to keep you updated – visit our service updates page regularly. 

Hopefully you will be keenly following what we’re up to on our website and through social media. In today’s daily message we share a blog from Farukh Hussain, one of the co-chairs of our Ethnic Minority Network. We’re working closely together as we look to hold a range of conversations with our BAME staff, whether that’s about the current political landscape, their lived experiences in our Trust, or understanding their concerns around a second peak of Covid-19.

Those of you following our latest news will also have noticed how many of our staff are keen to continue to share their positive experiences from recent months.

The pandemic offered a unique opportunity for more than 100 second and third year nursing students after it threw the future of their nurse training programmes into doubt.  We recruited students as healthcare assistants and advanced healthcare assistants on many of our wards. Those in the final six months of their training were given the chance to take up roles as student nurses and student midwives. This innovative approach provided invaluable support in strengthening our frontline with skilled future nurses and keep their nurse training on track with minimum disruption – read more about their experiences and how it’s really supported their learning.

Sophie Broyd, pathology pathway co-ordinator, joined the mortuary team, an area she had been hugely keen to experience for a long time. Whilst her pathology colleagues who joined her have now returned to their regular roles, Sophie is still supporting the team as much as she can, and is very grateful she has the flexibility to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds.  

Ray Goto, a staff nurse from the Philippines working at King George, talks about his experiences of nursing in a new country, Covid-19 and taking part in the Chief Nurse Fellows Programme.  

And who could fail to be moved by the incredible story of Dr Kantha Niranjan, our clinical lead for geriatrics at King George Hospital.

On a final celebratory note I’d like to share Kathryn Halford, our Chief Nurse’s recent ‘thank you event’ for our Helping Hands team. The team was made up of up to 90 nurses, healthcare assistants and orderlies, all of whom played a vital role by providing hands-on care to patients during the pandemic. At the socially distanced event in the Lavender Garden at Queen’s Hospital, members of the team were presented with a certificate of recognition, a goodie bag including pampering goods, and a thank you cupcake.

These stories of our phenomenal staff constantly fill me with confidence that whilst the next 12-18 months will undoubtedly be incredibly challenging, their dedication and commitment, and the innovative new ways of working and training that have brought everyone together, see us as best placed as we possibly can be.

Best wishes,

Tony Chambers
Chief Executive