Dear colleague,

Going for gold

One way we focus on excellence in care is through our ward accreditation programme, which helps to improve and standardise the quality of care given to patients. 

Each ward is assessed by nurses and subject matter experts, and looks at patient experience, safety, how efficiently the ward runs and how well it is doing on equality, diversity and inclusion. 

Our children's ward and labour ward at Queens Hospital have been awarded silver, taking our total to 90% of wards assessed having achieved silver or gold status – congratulations to the teams.

And our High Dependency Unit and Coronary Care Unit at Queen's will be assessed shortly for their gold ward accreditation.

Sleeping easy

We’re one of just four NHS trusts in the country to install an implant around double the size of a 50p coin to treat sleep apnoea, a condition where people stop breathing in their sleep, for up to ten seconds at a time in the most severe of cases.

A tiny device called the Inspire implant is installed in the chest wall and acts like a ‘pacemaker for the tongue’. It senses when the tongue has blocked the airway and pulls it forward from the back of the throat to restore breathing.

Sleep apnoea sufferers have a higher risk of diabetes, stroke, hypertension and heart attacks so it is important to treat the condition as early as possible.

A first for our Trust

Lauren Toomer, who was an Accident Department Assistant (ADA) in our children’s A&E at Queen’s Hospital, is the first in our Trust to qualify as a children's nursing associate.

The role bridges the gap between an ADA and a registered nurse, and we have three more ADAs doing the same apprenticeship. Congratulations Lauren. 

Lastly, I hope you enjoy the bank holiday weekend. Our ‘Get the right care for you’ page on the website will help you to choose where to get the best care for you or a family member should you need it.  

Best wishes,

Matthew Trainer
Chief Executive