Coronavirus

CORONAVIRUS continues to monopolise the headlines in the news and we know that will continue to do so for some time.

We realise this is difficult time for many. We are monitoring national guidance in real time and working with colleagues across the Fylde coast and Lancashire to localise our responses and we will update staff regularly on the updates that we receive.

We have a special co-ordination centre set up which is managing and implementing all our plans, processes and procedures and everyone is working really closely. This unit is headed by Berenice Groves, Director of Operations, supported by clinical and non-clinical staff, ensuring a robust and coordinated approach is in place. All updates are available on our BTH Coronavirus SharePoint site.

Things are changing on a daily basis and the pressure may increase greatly on certain areas. If that is the case please make sure you are understanding of the fact that there may be changes to the way departments work for some time and you may be asked to do jobs outside of your normal responsibility or have to wait longer for responses than you are used to. Please make sure you are understanding of that possibility and are supportive of each other.

Again, the single most important thing we can all do to stop the spread and to prevent catching the infection is to maintain good hand hygiene and follow the principles of catch it, kill it, bin it! Let’s all do our bit to keep healthy and please look after yourself and your colleagues.

Partnerships are supporting patients

THE last couple of weeks has seen us begin two major pieces of work to look at how we can improve patient flow and develop a more effective service for frailty patients with the development of a frailty assessment unit.

These pieces of work have involved a lot of work from a lot of people across several departments in the Trust and a number of our external partners such as Blackpool Council and this partnership work has been excellent. The early feedback has been promising with some good feedback from everyone involved. We can’t under estimate the work that has gone on and it’s really good to see people working together so effectively.

Praise in Parliament

THIS week the Trust received praise in the House of Commons from Blackpool South MP, Scott Benton and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, for the improvement the Trust has made in its A and E waiting time performance over winter.

Mr Hancock said he wanted to “congratulate everyone at the Trust for doing such a fantastic job into looking at how best to make sure people get treated as soon as possible. They have improved their systems and have learned from what works and are doing brilliantly.”

You can see his comments on here. To see the Trust mentioned so positively in Parliament is a huge achievement and I am delighted that the hard work of so many people has been recognised in such a way.

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