Members eNewsletter - September 2021

 

 

We have a lot to celebrate this month. We had a glorious celebration of the end of West Middlesex's 100th anniversary year, including some stands explaining our plans for the future. We are planning to expand our capacity to treat local people and ensure they do not have long travel times for the services they need. Our Innovation Week showed how we are working across the Trust to improve care for our patients. For example, various projects allow people to be monitored from home rather than needing to stay in hospital.

 

It was good to take time to celebrate because our hospitals are extremely busy. Our emergency departments are seeing numbers more typical of the depths of Winter. Covid-19 remains an issue but other respiratory diseases play their part. Our staff are also working hard to address backlogs in elective care.

 

If you need medical help but it's not an emergency, remember that you can use 111 online.  NHS 111 can book you into an A&E or direct you to an alternative service if it's more appropriate.

 

We know detecting cancer has been delayed in some cases, although we have continued to offer screening through much of the pandemic, and some tests can be posted to your home. Please keep attending screening appointments and raise any symptoms of concern with your GP.

 

The Covid vaccine programme moves into it's new phase. Those aged over 50, and adults with underlying conditions will be eligible for Covid-19 booster: you will be called by the NHS if eligible and this will be delivered locally, not through hospitals like ours. Vaccination for children will be through schools.

 

We need to fight flu this winter, which can cause serious illness. If eligible please take up the flu jab. Our own staff will be offered both jabs to protect themselves, their patients, their colleagues and their loved ones.

 

At the Trust we continue to have a range of quality and safety measures in place to protect our patients, visitors and all of our colleagues.  These include best practice infection prevention control guidance such as hand sanitising, the wearing of face masks, lateral flow testing for our staff and our state of the art ThermaFY temperature checks for all visitors to our site.  We ask that you comply with these measures while visiting with us.

 

Thank you to our staff and volunteers for their work, and thank you for your support.

 

 

Council of Governors Elections - 2021

 

Our Council of Governors represent different communities, patients, staff and key partner organisations such as Local Authorities. Our Governors help to shape our services and our future, provide important feedback and perspectives on our services, help us to improve the care that we offer and also hold some critical roles such as the appointment of Non-Executive Directors on our Trust Board of Directors. Our Council of Governors hold our Board of Directors to account and ensure that the services we provide reflect the needs and priorities of our patients, staff and local communities.

 

Members registered in the constituencies below are invited to nominate themselves to stand for election.  For more information please visit the election section of our website. The deadline for nominations is 5pm on Friday, 8 October 2021.  

 

 

 

Elections are being held in the following constituencies:

 

Patient constituency

  • 5 seats

 Public constituency

  • London Borough of Hounslow  -  2 seats
  • London Borough of Ealing  -  1 seat
  • London Borough of Wandsworth  -  1 seat
  • London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames  -  2 seats
  • Staff constituency - Nursing and Midwifery staff  -  1 seat

If you are a Foundation Trust member, you can have your say in the future of your hospitals when voting opens.  Ballot papers for all contested constituencies will be distributed to qualifying Foundation Trust members on Monday, 1st November 2021.

 

To become a member of our Trust please visit our website.

 

 

 

West Middlesex University Hospital - 100th year celebrations

 

 

On Friday 17th September 2021, we celebrated the conclusion of West Middlesex University Hospital’s centenary year with a church service in Isleworth and a BBQ at the hospital to honour its 100th birthday. Staff and volunteers both past and present enjoyed the festivities, and we received a welcome visit from Sir David Sloman, NHS Regional Director for London, to celebrate the hospital's heritage and its exceptional place in the community it serves.

 

Learn more about the history of West Middlesex Hospital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CW Innovation's two-year anniversary

 

To celebrate CW Innovation’s two-year anniversary, we launched our first Innovation Week, 20th to 25th September, to recognise the achievements and unprecedented acceleration in innovation at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. It was also an opportunity to look forward to a future of ongoing transformation not just at our Trust but across the NHS.

 

As part of the Innovation Week, The Rt. Hon Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, participated in a CW Innovation two-year anniversary webinar, alongside keynote speaker Professor Tony Young, National Clinical Lead for Innovation, NHS England.

 

The CW Innovation programme was launched in 2019 as a joint initiative between the Trust and CW+ to formalise our growing portfolio of ‘test and scale’ innovation projects that improve patient care and the way we run our hospitals. Learn more about CW Innovation here.

 

 

Invitation to 10 Downing Street

 

Danielle Kok, Volunteering Manager, Ella Winter and Nina Littler visited 10 Downing Street to talk about our very successful Youth Pathway Programme. The programme was set up last autumn and has seen over 100 young volunteers give their time to support our patients and staff. Our team met with Dan Rosenfield, Chief of Staff and Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer during a tour of 10 Downing Street.

 

Ella was one of the very first youth volunteers recruited to the programme last year aged only 16. She has volunteered over 500 hours to the Trust working on our wards and at our Vaccination Clinics. Nina Littler has been instrumental in training the Youth Pathway volunteers onto wards and was the first volunteer onto a Covid ward during the pandemic. Well done to all involved in this fantastic initiative.

 

             

 

 

World Mental Health Week 2021

 

To mark World Mental Health Day on Sunday, 10 October, Thrive LDN is holding a festival of activities between 27 September to 10 October, co-developed with young Londoners called Never Alone LDN. The activities look at how young Londoners can come together to overcome the challenges we face and reflect on the experiences of young Londoners during the pandemic.


Young people are encouraged to come together for a range of film screenings, live music performances, creative workshops, and panel discussions, all held at Rich Mix, east London. The programme will see four separate free-to-attend events and highlights will also be streamed through Thrive LDN’s YouTube channel on WMHD.

 

For all information and the latest line up, visit Thrive LDN’s website.

 

 

 

 

Congratulations

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to all of our international nurses who have successfully completed their OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examination).  Since 2018 more than 500 nurses at our Trust have completed these exams. A celebration was held at West Middlesex University Hospital this week to mark this milestone.

 

We are proud of each and every one of our students, and value the diversity they bring to the Trust.

 

 

 

             

 

 

New indoor garden opens at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

 

 

 

Our new indoor botanical Sky Garden at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is now officially open. Designed by award-winning landscape designer and CW+ Artist in Residence, Jinny Blom, the garden will bring the outdoors inside, supporting the cognitive function, wellbeing, and rehabilitation of patients in intensive care.

 

The Sky Garden is part of the recent redevelopment and expansion of the Adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on the top floor of the hospital, and has been installed adjacent to the ICU, with Jinny creating a transformative experience for both patients and staff, where they can escape into nature and feel transported away from the clinical environment. Find out more here.

             


 

 

Hugo Berman's limited-edition photobook

 

 

London-based photographer Hugo Berman has created ‘London in Silence’, a visual memory of London during a year of lockdown, which tells the story of our capital in stillness, from famous landmarks to lesser-known corners of the city.

 

Hugo is kindly donating 50% of his book and related print proceeds to CW+, which will be used to fund essential ICU equipment at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Find out more here on how to purchase a limited edition of London in Silence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Experience Matters

 

We want your time at Chelsea  and Westminster and West Middlesex Hospitals to be the best possible.

 

Learning of your first-hand experience of the hospitals' services would provide valuable insights and help us improve our performance.

 

If you would like to share your experience to make a difference, please contact the Membership team on [email protected], or alternatively call us on 0203 315 6725.

 

 

Meet A Governor Sessions

 

 

Our Council of Governors are elected by you. They play an important role in making sure your views as members, and those of the wider public are represented by the Trust.

 

If you would like to speak to a governor directly, please join our upcoming Meet a Governor session on 1st November 9:00 - 10:30am.

 

For further information visit our website.

 

 

 

Staying in touch

 

Your next e-newsletter will be out at the end of October. In the meantime, keep safe and well and thank you for your continued support.

 

There are several ways for you to keep in touch. We love to share information about our work, and you will find lots of stories about us on social media.

  • Instagram:  Trustwide
  • Twitter:       Chelsea and Westminster - West Middlesex
  • Facebook:  Chelsea and Westminster - West Middlesex

 

For any queries or to notify us of any changes to your contact information, please email the Membership team at [email protected] or alternatively call us on 020 3315 6725.


To unsubscribe click here. Please note this will just take you off our email list, you will still be a member of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.