Members E-Newsletter - June 2021 

Dear Member,

I hope you have been able to take advantage of the fine weather over recent weeks.

The hospitals remain extremely busy, with our emergency departments seeing unusual numbers for the summer. We are performing well on getting patients the treatments they need, although the whole sector must keep working together to reduce backlogs. To highlight two departments of many, we have reached compliance with the 62 day cancer waits target, which has challenged most Trusts, and our Endoscopy department have so improved patient liaison they have reduced weekly Do Not Attends to single figures. 

We continue to play a key role locally in the Covid-19 vaccine programme. I urge you to get both doses of the vaccine and to encourage others to get it. You may have seen the coverage of the mass vaccination event at Twickenham Stadium. Hundreds of our staff, people from many other organisations,  and volunteers gave up their bank holiday to get 11,000 people their first dose. 

This month, we welcomed His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to our Chelsea site. The Prince met some of our apprentices – wonderful people who have been supported into work through the Prince’s Trust Health and Social Care programme. They were enthusiastic supporters of the opportunities we offer.  The Prince himself received a warm welcome from all our staff and he opened our memorial staff garden.  

I am pleased that we can extend Project SEARCH to the Chelsea site this year.  Young people aged 16-24 with learning disabilities are provided with a year-long supported internship to help improve their employment opportunities.  Some of the interns have gone on to secure jobs at the end of their placement.  This work really puts our compassionate PROUD values into action and we all learn alot from the young people.  

Annual Members' Meeting 2021

You are invited to join our Annual Members Meeting 2020/21 on Thursday, 22 July between 3:00–4:00pm.

The Members’ Meeting provides a unique opportunity to hear about the performance of the Trust over the last year and our plans for the future. It is also an opportunity for you to meet our staff, our Governors and our Board, and to ask us questions.

The meeting will include the following formal presentations:

• - Chief Executive's review of 2020/21
• - Annual Report and Accounts and external audit report
• - Lead Governor update
• - Research, Innovation and Community Engagement during COVID-19

You will be aware of the continued issues with COVID-19, and the need to comply with government guidance, including social distancing, to keep ourselves and each other safe. It is for this reason that our meeting will be held via the Zoom video conferencing platform to allow as many people as possible to be involved. 

Learn more on how to join. 

Please email [email protected] with any question you may have.

We look forward to welcoming you to our virtual Annual Members’ Meeting on Thursday, 22 July. 

Critical Care opening at Chelsea and Westminster

This month we celebrated the opening of our new world-class Adult and Neonatal Intensive Care Units at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.  This state-of-the-art expansion will enable the treatment of note than 2,000 critically ill adults and babies every year.

These new facilities were made possible thanks to the success of our charity CW+’s £12.5 million Critical Care Campaign. Overwhelming support from our friends, partners and the local community enabled us to reach our three-year fundraising target for the campaign in just two years. Find out more here.

COVID-19 Pioneer Study

The international PIONEER study, led by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and CW+, is trialling favipiravir for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 and has now completed recruitment with 502 patients.  We are collaborating with partners who are working across two continents on this all-important study to develop antiviral strategies to treat patients with COVID-19.

Partners include the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College, and Neat ID, and philanthropic funding has been instrumental in establishing the study, with generous support coming from independent medical charity LifeArc, XTX Markets and Ageas, and a broad community of individual donors.

Men's Health Week 2021

This is a time for men to feel more comfortable discussing their mental, physical and financial wellbeing.
 
In recognition of this vital event, Vivup have looked at the various health issues faced predominantly by men, and why it’s so important to seek help as and when these problems arise. The full blog is available here.

Cervical Screening Awareness Week

Cervical screening (a smear test) is the best protection against cervical cancer, yet over a quarter of those invited don’t take up their invitation.

The impact of COVID-19 on the programme, and reluctance of some to access primary care over the last year have provided further hurdles.  

HPV primary screening was recently introduced across England, Scotland, and Wales. This is a more sensitive test which looks first for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) the virus which causes 99.7% of cervical cancers.

This will help us identify, at a far earlier stage, those who are at greater cervical cancer risk. 

A lot of work has gone into removing the stigma from cervical screening and encouraging conversation about the test.

Jo's Trust wants to ensure that the move to HPV testing, a far superior testing method, does not undo this progress.

To find out more visit Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.

Hounslow Gurdwara

Our Chief Medical Officer, Roger Chinn, was a guest at the Hounslow Gurdwara recently. He was joined by Ajay Mehta, a non-executive director of the Board, and Resham Lall, a member of the community and employee of the Trust.

We wanted to give our thanks and gratitude to one of our key community partners who supported us during this terrible pandemic. Our thanks also to Satwinder Ahdan from the Gurdwara who arranged the visit.

The Sikh community stood by our side, providing meals which I know were very welcome, and scrubs for health and social care staff.  They showed leadership by making their Temple available as a vaccination site. Our thanks to those in all communities who helped us. 

National Volunteer Week

Our Volunteers have embedded themselves in so many aspects of our work. They enhance and complement the care we give and always remain cheerful, helpful, and compassionate. We were delighted to mark National Volunteer Week and wanted to share with you a few of the quotes received from our colleagues:

"The West Middlesex volunteer team are simply fantastic. They have the brilliant knack of always being in the right place at the right time, be that assisting on the wards, liaising with families, or simply taking time to chat and reassure everyone. All this and much more, with a proud ‘can-do’ attitude and a wide, welcoming smile!”Mark Titcomb

"You have been particularly awesome in supporting the COVID vaccinations as well as distributing food to all our staff during both COVID waves.”  Cathy Hill

"I love to see purple polo shirts in different places around the hospital, knowing I will be greeted with a smile even at the toughest of times."  Vanessa Sloane

"You always go the extra mile in everything you do: kindness and care given to often frightened and vulnerable older patients; making tea/coffee with a smile; wrapping up patients in blankets; phoning relatives; sitting with a frightened patient until transport; sitting on the floor singing while dressing the Christmas tree; finding me necessary stationery; putting order to my cupboard; helping with spreadsheets.

"You collect patients from the ward with such care and attention to detail and give me thorough feedback on each patient you meet. Each volunteer gives their own wonderful input and self in each situation whether you are still at college or retired from work."  June Walker

"Safe patient flow has been crucial especially in a tight department such as ours. However with our volunteers, we have successfully been able to reassure our patients that our pathways are safe."  Zivayi Tsvara

"Words cannot express our gratitude to all our volunteers for your help and support, especially, during the COVID-19 pandemic. You are angels and greatly appreciated. You are wonderful. Thank you very much."   Modupe Ogunniya

Read the special edition of the volunteers newsletter. 

The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
           

Thank you to volunteers at The Mulberry Centre for the work they do supporting our cancer patients at West Middlesex University Hospital.

Congratulations on being awarded The Queen's Award for Volunteering - the highest award given to volunteer groups in the UK.

As always thanks to our own volunteers for all they do.    

PROUD for Pride

As a Trust we are PROUD to support Pride Month. We are committed and passionate about the positive power of equality diversity and inclusion. We know that people from different religions, sexuality, age, disabilities, backgrounds and job experiences give us different perspectives and diverse ideas to inspire colleagues to bring their authentic self and go the extra mile and deliver our purpose.

This helps ensure we provide fair and equal access to services for our patients and the communities we serves and have a vibrant and diverse workforce. Over the month we will highlight and celebrate the contributions from our LGBTQ+ communities.

      You can find lots of great resources on our website. 

Congratulations

Congratulations to our team on Kew Ward in achieving GOLD for their ward accreditation. We are so proud of the team's continued hard work and on-going commitment to improving standards and the patient experience.

NHS Big Tea

The NHS Big Tea is coming up on 5th July, the NHS’s birthday. This year, it will be a national celebration for our NHS staff who have worked tirelessly during the pandemic to care for their local community.

We’re inviting you to get involved by hosting your own tea party with friends, sending us a message for staff, or donating to support our staff health and wellbeing (just select ‘NHS Big Tea’ in the drop-down menu).

New artwork installed at Chelsea and Westminster

As part of the CW+ arts in health programme, new artwork from British artist and Royal Academician Joe Tilson has been installed at Chelsea and Westminster. Originally commissioned by Swatch and installed at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, the flags depict enlarged details from Tilson’s Stones of Venice series of paintings.

We have also installed stunning, backlit Nature Displays from leading British landscape photographer Charlie Waite in the new Adult Intensive Care Unit.

Waite’s large light-emitting Nature Displays aim to bring the beauty of the natural world into the hospital, offering a sense of calm and visual distraction to patients, relatives and staff.

Find out more about the CW+ arts in health programme here.

Outdoor display on Fulham Road

CW+ has partnered with Kensington + Chelsea Art Week to bring the CW+ arts in health programme out into the community with a new window display on Fulham Road, next to the main entrance of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. The exhibit highlights artist Andy Burgess’ work to create a body of work for the new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, in partnership with the Cynthia Corbett Gallery. Find out more here.

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 our Membership Team via email at chelwest.[email protected] or alternatively by phone on 020 331 52885.