I hope you were able to enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend with friends and family, and the fantastic weather was an additional treat.

Tony is taking a well-earned week off, so I am delighted to have the opportunity to share this update with you.

Latest news on children’s services

In March, we updated you on the temporary overnight closure of the children’s Emergency Department (ED) at King George Hospital and explained how we’d been busy successfully recruiting new specialist children’s doctors.

As a result of this, I can now confirm that as of Monday 7 June, the children’s EDs at both King George and Queen’s hospitals will be open 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week.

As we continue in our recovery from Covid-19, we’re also enhancing the children’s care we offer by opening a Children and Young People’s Assessment Unit (CYPAU) at Queen’s Hospital, which will also open on the same day.

The CYPAU is a purpose-built space to assess and treat children and is designed to stop them from being admitted unless necessary.

This unit brings us in line with national standards and will increase our capacity to deliver a more sustainable children’s service for our local people.

Our ongoing commitment to staff wellbeing

As Tony has said repeatedly, the wellbeing of our staff is a priority for us. While we’ve held successful events such as Thank You Week to help look after the wellbeing of our workforce, we know there is more work to do and we are working with our staff to continue to put in place the resources to help support them and schemes to reward them.

Guardians join the Board

That’s why I’m delighted that Caroline Roberts and Sandy Malone have been appointed as associate non-executive directors and as part of their role, they will be wellbeing guardians for our Board.

As wellbeing guardians, Caroline and Sandy will ensure that staff wellbeing is at the heart of what we do, while working with our Wellbeing team to understand important issues.

Football tournament for our staff

Focusing on staff wellbeing, we know that exercise can play an important role in improving our physical and mental health.

So as we enjoy this hot spell of weather, this week three teams made up of colleagues will represent our Trust and go against Barts Health in a football tournament organised by West Ham United’s Foundation.

Being held on two separate evenings, the men’s and women’s tournaments will be a great opportunity for some of our staff to get some exercise, interact with some of our colleagues at Barts, but most importantly have fun!

It’s been a super season for West Ham United. As an Ipswich Town season ticket holder I am in awe! Thanks to the Hammers for the positive role they play in our community.

I hope you all have a good week.

Best wishes. 

Ben Morrin
Deputy Chief Executive