A massive thank you to all

HELLO everyone and welcome to this week’s Executive blog. We  know we are currently in a really challenging situation. Despite the efforts of government, local authorities, ourselves in the NHS and indeed the local community, Covid infection rates remain very high, throughout the North West. This then impacts on our services, and of course, our staff. We are extremely busy in our hospitals.

We do understand how hard this is for everyone, but especially those in our wards, intensive care units and our A&E. We want to say a massive thank you for everything you are doing and please keep up the fantastic work. But also, do look after yourselves and protect your resilience too. You matter, and we care about you.

We are providing support through our Health and Wellbeing team. Please use what’s available and tell us if there is anything else practical that would help.  But also remember to take your breaks, stay hydrated, rest and take your leave. And importantly, keep yourselves safe while at work – stick to the social distancing rules; wear all appropriate PPE. Honestly, ourselves and the rest of the Board of Directors cannot thank you enough.

Bobby Ball

We were really sorry to hear about the death of Bobby Ball this week. He was an entertainer that many of us were brought up with as part of our Saturday night TV.

He was a genuinely funny man but also amazingly kind hearted and he was a force of good for the Trust with his lovely wife Yvonne. They played a massive part in the fundraising for the dementia garden at Clifton and last year both became patrons of our Blue Skies charity, spearheading the campaign to make sure every patient in the hospital on Christmas Day got a present.

We are sure you will all join us sending all our sympathies to Yvonne and the rest of Bobby’s family.

Pathology development

We’ve been working for some time with partners across Lancashire and South Cumbria on pathology collaboration with the aim to improve streamlining of services and efficiency right across the ICS. It’s a big project with lots of  implications especially for staff.

After a significant engagement process we have reported that a preferred location for a Pathology Hub (in the event that a hub and spoke model is eventually opted for) has been identified as Leyland. Our staff have been involved in this process and informed about this outcome although we fully realise there is still some way to go with an Outline Business Case to be considered next year.

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