Membership Matters

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

February 2023

New hospital text messaging service to reduce missed appointments

The Trust’s new text messaging service, which goes live at the end of February, will remind outpatients about upcoming appointments and help them easily rearrange or cancel. Each missed appointment costs the hospital money and, more importantly, means a slot cannot be offered to another patients.

Karen Priestman, Associate Chief Operating Officer, said: “Through our new text reminder service, not only do patients get notified of their upcoming appointment, it also offers them the opportunity to cancel or rearrange if they need to, by simply replying which also stops patients’ frustration when not being able to get through to busy phonelines. This will help us to see more patients and it’s quick and easy.”

Find further information on text reminders.

Major boost for online interpretation services

Interpreting services at our Trust have taken a leap forward with the roll out of video interpreting tablets. Patients can now access an interpreter on demand for spoken languages and, importantly, British Sign Language (BSL).

Interpreters are usually booked ahead for face to face or telephone help, but this is unsuitable for BSL, the most frequently requested translation service.

The new service, provided by DA Languages, will enable staff to use a tablet to connect with a trained BSL interpreter via video at any time, improving communication with our patients.

JAG accreditation

Scarborough and Bridlington hospitals endoscopy units have once again achieved the country’s top accreditation after being subjected to rigorous scrutiny by a team from the Royal College of Physicians on the quality of clinical services, patient experience, workforce, and training.

The Royal College of Physicians awards this accreditation from the Joint Advisory Group (JAG) for high-quality gastrointestinal endoscopy services. They set the standards for competence in endoscopy and quality to ensure that endoscopy units have the skills, resources, and motivation necessary to provide the highest quality, timely, patient-centred care.

Accredited units must submit evidence annually to demonstrate that they are continuing to meet standards and have a five yearly on-site assessment carried out by a team from the Royal College of Physicians.

This accreditation provides independent and impartial recognition that a service demonstrates high levels of quality. I’m extremely proud of the whole team for once again reaching this standard.

Charity challenges in 2023

Do you fancy taking on a new and exciting challenge this year to help support your local hospital?

Our 2023 calendar is packed full of challenge events for every age, there is something for everyone from taking on a muddy challenge to a scenic walk on the beautiful Yorkshire coast. We’re looking forward to a year full of great fundraising events and creating great memories at the same time!

Visit the charity’s webpage for more information.

Beat The Tide - Saturday 20 May

Take on our Beat the Tide challenge for your local hospital. Hike from Bridlington to Filey with the choice of two distances in The Great Yorkshire Coast Walk.

This beautiful coastline walk offers great views of Thornwick Bay, Bempton Cliffs and Filey Bay. There will be five miles of sand walking with the challenge of getting across before the tide gets in; can you beat the tide?

Whether you feel up for testing yourself with 20 miles or want to get the family walking with a 10-mile hike, there is a route to suit everyone! There will be support along the routes on the day and our charity team will be on hand before the event with ideas to help raise your sponsorship and to motivate you to start your training!

Read more and sign up at www.york.nhs.uk/beatthetide.

Get involved

Public Council of Governors meetings

These meetings are held throughout the year and give you the chance to see first-hand the workings of the Council of Governors speaking up and representing the views of their constituents.

2023 meetings will be held at Malton Rugby Club during the below times. Each meeting will be preceded by a 30 minute 'Meet the Governors' session, starting at 10:00am

Thursday 16 March, 10.30am - 1.00pm
Thursday 15 June, 10.30am - 1.00pm
Thursday 14 September, 10.30am - 1.00pm
Thursday 14 December, 10.30am - 1.00pm

Public Board of Directors meetings

These are held every other month and give you the opportunity to observe the Board of Directors on how decisions are made and what the challenges are of managing a NHS Trust.

Meetings are held in The Boardroom at York Hospital. Upcoming dates are:

Wednesday 22 February, 9.00am
Wednesday 29 March, 9.00am
Wednesday 26 April, 9.00am
Wednesday 24 May, 9.00am

More details on Board of Directors Meetings can be found here.

If you're unable to attend meetings in person, you can watch the livestream by clicking this link. This will remain available to watch after the meeting has ended.

Star Award finalists

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.

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