An impressive ‘perfect week’, led by our orthopaedics team

I’m delighted to be able to start this week’s newsletter by telling you about a project led by our Trauma and Orthopaedics team, which took place over the last week, culminating on Sunday 04 October.

It started as a challenge to help tackle our backlog following the Covid-19 pandemic, and get as many of our patients the care they needed within a seven day blitz - aiming to complete up to 100 joint replacements, 80 day case surgeries and 25 spinal procedures.

Well, they smashed that expectation - completing 135 joint replacements and 81 day case surgeries (and these are just a few headline figures – I’m sure there will be more when the team finishes their full report). Not only that, length of stay for patients having joint replacements was halved to less than two days – for example, on the first day of the week, a patient was able to safely go home after a hip replacement, on the same day!

It started of being known as a ‘perfect week’ and the most recent name I’ve heard is the Bones project; no matter what they call it, it was awesome.

And I’m not the only one to be impressed. Last Friday (02 October), Tim Briggs, the National Director of Clinical Improvements for the NHS, visited us to find out more about how we did it. Read more about Tim’s visit on our website.

The most important factor was teamwork, not just across our Trust, of which countless teams were involved, we also worked in partnership with the North East London Treatment Centre (Care UK) to make it happen.

King George Hospital selected as surgical hub

This leads me nicely on to share that King George Hospital has been chosen as one of several surgical hubs for north east London. These have been introduced to get patients the care they need and reduce our waiting lists and will focus on high volume, low acuity work.

There will be two dedicated hubs for each other the following specialties across north east London:

• Ear, Nose and Throat
• General surgery
• Gynaecology
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopaedics
• Urology

At King George we’ll deliver all six specialties, covering a range of surgeries such as hysterectomies, tonsillectomies, and hip and knee replacements. So our orthopaedics’ ‘perfect week’ was part of the work we’re doing to help us prepare.

Anil finally discharged after 149 days with us

I’m delighted to share with you that Anil Patel, who spent almost six months in our care after contracting Covid-19 earlier this year, has finally been discharged.

He’s moved into a residential rehabilitation facility to continue his recovery and is aiming to be home next month to celebrate his daughters’ birthdays with them. I really hope he achieves that.

He’s thought to have had one of the longest hospital stays following Covid-19, and spent four months in intensive care alone, two of those under sedation.

As well as praising our team for saving his life and becoming part of his family, Anil, 63, also had a serious warning. He said: “I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what I have so everyone should wear a mask and take all the precautions they can. I get really annoyed when I hear people aren’t doing what they should; they would change their minds if they saw people like me suffering.”

If that doesn’t make those not adhering to the guidelines think twice, I don’t know what will.

You can listen to Anil's story on BBC News Radio 4 – and please share his important message across your communities.

New assessment unit for children and young people

We’re delighted that we’ve opened a new Children and Young People’s Assessment Unit (CYPAU) at Queen’s Hospital.

The aim of the unit, which is open 24 hour a day, seven days a week, is to help reduce the number of children needing admission into hospital. A dedicated team of paediatric staff will look to assess, treat and discharge young patients home within 24 hours, meaning only the sickest children will be admitted.

It will initially care for up to eight children at a time, increasing to 15 over the coming months.

Non-executive director vacancy

Our vacancy for a non-executive director to join our Trust Board closes this week, on Thursday 8 October.

We need someone committed to putting patients first and providing excellent healthcare – and it’s always a bonus if they have a link to the areas we cover. If you, or anyone you know, fits the bill, find out more details on how to apply on the NHS website.

Celebrating Black History Month - and our own Rising Stars!

We’re marking Black History Month across both our hospitals with a range of events and activities, including: a discussion on white fragility; Janine De La Rosa, NHS London, talking about the new Race Strategy for London and the seven As of allyship; Myths of an Angry Black Woman with Samantha Uwadiae; and a Black History Month Quiz.

To ensure as many people as possible can get involved, most of these events are being held virtually.

And I’m so proud that not one but two of our nurses have been awarded BAME Rising Stars of 2020 by the RCN as part of their Black History Month celebrations. They are Angela Simiyu and Lola Smith. I hope to be able to share more with you about them in a future edition.

Increase in capital funding this year

As we reach the mid-way point of the financial year, I’m pleased to share with you that we have been given a significant increase in financial support by NHS London this year to help us catch up on our investment in estates and technology.

Over the next few months we’ll be carrying out building work in both our hospitals to make improvements to help us this winter and beyond. We’ll also be investing in new IT systems.

We’ll be doing everything we can to ensure we get good value from these investments so we can secure further funding in the future to support our strategy and help us serve our rapidly growing population.

£11.5k funding boost thanks to Adam’s ‘Cycle for Hazel’

In other funding news, our charity has benefited from a huge £11.5k for our Neuro Rehab team after Adam Shinebroom completed a 100km fundraising cycle with five friends.

Adam was inspired to do something as his mum, Hazel, has been our patient at Queen’s Hospital for five months. Both Adam and Hazel had Covid-19 in March, however, while Adam fully recovered, Hazel was never quite herself afterwards.

I’m delighted that it gave Adam something positive to focus on at such a difficult time for his family. Adam said: “I felt really helpless. This gave me something to focus my energy on and I hope it will help mum and others. The stars really aligned and people donated with their hearts.”

Adam and his fellow cyclists did a fantastic job, and we’re hugely grateful they raised so much for our charity. The plan is to spend the money on a hoist to aid our team when moving patients, so will make a big difference for patients like Hazel. Read Adam’s story on our website.

Our Spire partnership continues

Working with our partners in the independent sector proved key to ensuring many of our vulnerable cancer patients continued to get the care they needed during the peak of the pandemic.

So I’m pleased that we’re continuing to work with Spire Healthcare to help us to reduce our waiting lists over the coming weeks. This is another way, in addition to what you’ve read above about our ‘perfect week’ and surgical hub, we’re working to reduce the backlogs the entire NHS face, built up during the pandemic.

Read more about our partnership with Spire Healthcare on the website.

As always, take care and stay safe.

Tony Chambers
Chief Executive