Community update from our CEO - 8 March 2021

Posted Monday, March 8, 2021 3:15 PM

8 March 2021 – Update 15

An update to patients, communities and partners of Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS FT

Hello,

Thank you for the actions you have taken over the last fortnight to reduce the transmission rate of Covid. We now have a much lower number of patients in hospital with Covid, although it is clear we still have a long way to go. I know children returning to school today is an important indicator of where we are and another positive step is we are able to reintroduce limited visiting from today. We know how hard it has been for patients and for their family and friends. We will now be allowing booked visiting after a patient has been with us for seven days, as well as the end of life visiting and birth partner support we have offered throughout. Please speak to ward colleagues for more details.

Today is International Women’s Day and we will be celebrating the contribution women make at work and in the wider society, as well as recognising that as a society we still have a way to go before women reach gender parity. Please look at our social media feeds and website to see profiles of some of the women in our organisation talking about their experiences. Last month was LGBT+ History month and soon we will be unveiling our new rainbow pedestrian crossing, which is a visual representation of our support for our LGBT+ colleagues and the wider community. I want Sherwood to be a place where all patients, visitors, the wider community and people who work here feel included and welcome.

We have just finished our annual flu vaccination programme and 87.4% of colleagues have been vaccinated. This is our highest ever vaccination rate and it helps to protect colleagues, their families and our patients. I am proud we have reached this milestone together and I believe it is the highest vaccination rate of an acute hospital provider in the Midlands. This is a strong achievement.

Last week a Sherwood colleague, a patient and I gave a presentation to four judges about why we thought Sherwood should win the Health Service Journal Trust of the Year award for 2020. In the NHS, this is a big deal. The three reasons we gave were; the way we look after people who work here, the way we have worked with the community to respond to Covid and the improvements we have delivered over the last five years. We have a great case but the competition is extremely tough. We find out the results on Wednesday 17 March.

Finally – on Thursday 11 March, the national NHS staff survey results are communicated. I passionately believe that people, who are treated well, will provide safe care to patients and I look forward to finding out how our results compare to others.

Best wishes for the week ahead.

Richard Mitchell

Chief Executive Richard.Mitchell2@nhs.net