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York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Membership newsletter
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MembershipMatters
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| First Covid-19 vaccines for frontline staff |
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In early January, Scarborough and York hospitals joined the national effort to protect people most at risk from Covid-19 by starting to vaccinate frontline NHS staff.
Vulnerable staff and those who were shielding were prioritised, along with patient-facing frontline healthcare workers because of their heightened risk of exposure to the virus. As further supplies of the vaccine arrived all staff who wish to be vaccinated have been offered the opportunity.
Following Government recommendations staff will receive two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, up to 12 weeks apart. The Trust is currently vaccinating with the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine.
Polly McMeekin, Director of Workforce and Organisational Development at the Trust, said: “Getting vaccinated will help protect staff and those they care for. The vaccine should help reduce the rates of serious illness and save lives, and in turn reduce pressure on the NHS.
“Our staff are our most valuable asset and anything we can do to ensure their health and wellbeing is our top priority. The Covid vaccination programme is a positive step along with other measures already implemented across the Trust that will help to keep our staff safe and well, allowing them to do what they are brilliant at - looking after patients and continuing to be there for everyone who needs care.”
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| New cancer strategy launched |
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The Trust has published a new Cancer strategy.
The strategy describes how we will meet the national priorities for cancer; achieve the expectations of our patients and their families and create integrated services to meet the needs of our communities.
A strategy like this is essential for our Trust because it provides a clear explanation of our plans and shows where we would like to be as an organisation in the future. The strategy sets out how we will monitor and demonstrate we have made progress with set milestones in place to help us check we are achieving our plans and enable us to take further action if needed.
The strategy doesn’t detail every specific action we must take to meet our ambitions, but it does describe our broader plans and forms the blueprint from which the more specific actions are taken. The strategy is ambitious and being ambitious is important for our Trust, for our staff, but most importantly for our patients.
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| Trust contributes to landmark Covid-19 study |
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The Trust has contributed to a clinical trial to find out whether treating critically ill Covid-19 patients with drugs typically used for arthritis may significantly improve survival.
The REMAP-CAP trial, which evaluates the effect of treatments on a combination of survival and length of time patients need support in an intensive care unit (ICU), show that arthritis drugs may help reduce mortality and time in ICU for sickest Covid-19 patients.
A unique angle in the REMAP-CAP study meant that patients were enrolled within 24 hours of starting organ support and being hospitalised with either moderate or severe Covid-19 disease.
The findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, show that tocilizumab and a second drug called sarilumab - both types of immune modulators - have a significant impact on patient survival, reducing mortality by 8.5 percent. The treatment also improved recovery so that on average patients were able to be discharged from ICU about a week earlier.
Lydia Harris, Head of Research and Development, said: “We are very proud to have been able to contribute to such an important study. Due to the nature of this study, recruitment remains open and it has been a success so far, thanks to the hard work of different departments across the hospital working closely together. This is now supporting patients around the world, and giving them better treatment options. It’s a shining example of why we do research!”
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| Quality improvement priorities |
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All providers of NHS care are required to produce an annual Quality Account showcasing the work undertaken during the year to continuously improve the quality of our services, based on national policy drivers and patient, staff and stakeholder feedback.
As part of the Quality Account the Trust is required to propose at least three quality improvement priorities in relation to patient experience, clinical effectiveness and patient safety.
We would therefore, like to invite you to join us to develop our quality priorities for 2021/22. Given we are restricted due to Covid-19 we plan to hold an event on line. The event will be held virtually on Tuesday 2 February 2021 9am-12pm and we would be delighted if you could join us. As part of the event we will be able to facilitate group discussions to enable you to actively participate.
If you would like to attend please email [email protected] and we will send you a link prior to the event.
You can find our previous Quality Account through the following link https://www.yorkhospitals.nhs.uk/seecmsfile/?id=5375
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| Council of Governors |
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The next Council of Governors meeting is on 16 March 2021, 10am–12pm by Webex.
If you'd like to attend please let us know by emailing: [email protected]
Details of how to join the meeting will be sent to you nearer the time.
Please note that this will be a meeting held in public, not a public meeting so you will not be able to contribute to discussions or ask questions.
If you would like to submit a question to the Council of Governors, this can only be done in writing 10 working days prior to the meeting.
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| Can you donate plasma? |
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NHS Blood and Transplant need more people who have recovered from Covid-19 to register and donate blood plasma which could save lives. Stocks are low at the moment and new donors are being sought. People who became more ill with Covid-19 are more likely to have high antibody levels.
For this reason, men, people of middle age and over, and people from black and Asian communities, are priority potential donors. Anyone who has had Covid-19 or the symptoms can offer to donate at a donor centre by calling 0300 123 23 23 or completing the online form at www.nhsbt.nhs.uk
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| Meet the Governors
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The Council of Governors consists of 16 public governors and 5 staff governors who have all been elected by the membership of their constituencies. It also includes nominated representatives from the Local Authority, University and other partnership organisations.
Click here to meet our Governors
If you would like to contact any of the governors, email [email protected]
stating the name of the governor you wish to contact.
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| Star Award finalists |
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All our staff and volunteers deserve recognition - but there are many that go above and beyond the call of duty to make the Trust a better service - with hard work, exciting new ideas and simply by putting patients first.
Click here to read why they were nominated and learn how they made a difference.
If you would like to nominate someone for a Star Award complete the online form here.
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| Benefits of being a member |
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We hope you are enjoying being a member of the Trust and enjoying the benefits this brings, including receiving the members newsletter 'Membership Matters'; updates and invitations to get involved in events; receiving exclusive NHS discounts; attendance at 'Members Only' events and opportunities to stand as a governor for your local area.
Ask your family and friends if they are interested in becoming a member and direct them to our website at https://www.yorkhospitals.nhs.uk/get-involved/membership/ to join.
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