HELLO everyone.
Thank you all once again for your amazing efforts over the last few weeks for everything you are doing during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Once again, we saw a huge show of gratitude and appreciation for all key workers in last night’s clap. This is great to see and I am sure it will help us as we approach a very difficult period over the next couple of weeks. The claps reflect the continuing confidence in and appreciation of our services, and certainly help to lift our spirits further.
I am so impressed at the team spirit and the mutual support we all have at present and our community continues to amaze me with their generosity and the constant donations are so welcome.
One thing I have noticed during our response to COVID-19 has the been the speed with which we have introduced new ways of working to treat our patients and link in with our colleagues.
We have managed to set new services up in weeks that in the past have taken us months and in some cases years to do. For example we have talked about virtual consultations for a long time and now, because of the circumstances, we are doing it and it is working well in many areas.
We have spoken about how we can do more working from home in the past and we are now proving that in many
cases it can be done – and done well. Many of us are now holding virtual meetings with Microsoft Teams that are also working well, saving time and helping the environment with less travel etc.
My call this week is to keep on innovating and using the technology that is there to your advantage. The NHS needs to change to meet the needs of the service in the future and I really want to encourage that mindset.
As long as we do it in the correct way by consulting where necessary and following governance procedures where
needed, then change is a good thing. Quality Improvement is key to the future of the Trust so please keep putting the
ideas forward to help make us stronger in the future.
Please look after yourselves as well your mental and emotional health and wellbeing is just as important as your
physical health. I think most of you reading this would agree this is a pretty stressful time and is highly likely to get
more so and I am delighted to see that our Health and Wellbeing team is producing a number of initiatives to support colleagues.
Please be kind to one another and please be safe. Please do take any opportunities you have to rest, the coming
weeks are going to be difficult, but together, #TeamBTH can and will deliver.