As the nine-month tenure of cohort two in our Shadow Exec ends, it's time for cohort three to step up. To pass the baton, a special lunch was held, hosted by our Chief Executive Matthew Trainer and members of the Shadow Exec team, to allow staff from each cohort to share their experiences and aspirations.

The Shadow Exec is made up of staff from across the Trust who provide a fresh perspective on the decisions made by our Executive team, and an understanding of how these decisions impact on colleagues. The newest group is made up from 13 colleagues from a range of departments across our Trust.

Our charity, the King George & Queen’s Hospitals Charity, has launched a new website: https://www.supportyourhospital.org/.

Our AF (Atrial Fibrillation) Stroke Prevention Hub has been shortlisted in the HSJ Digital Awards, in the Optimising Clinical Pathways through Digital category.

Pouya Akhbari, a locum trauma and orthopaedic consultant at our Trust, completed the London Marathon on Sunday 21 April to raise funds for King George and Queen’s Hospitals Charity.

Clare Raven, a neuro ITU sister at our Trust, was selected as a UK UN delegate and panel speaker at the United Nations Women Event held at the UN headquarters in New York. The event was part of the annual UN Conference for the Commission of the Status of Women (CSW), dedicated to the promotion of gender equality. Clare, herself a victim of domestic abuse and gender-based violence, was a representative of End Honour Killings. This non-profit charity supports victims and survivors of gender-based violence worldwide.

Two maternity support staff from our Trust have been awarded Chief Midwifery Officer Awards, recognising excellence in caring for women and their new babies.

We’ve appointed a new Chair Designate for our charity, Lara Sonola.

March was our busiest month on record. We had more than 30,000 people coming through our A&Es and urgent treatment centres, an increase of over 100 patients every day compared with March 2019. Our teams have worked incredibly hard to care for this growing number of patients and meet the national recovery performance target. Despite this achievement, we know too many people are still waiting too long.

We’ve started a phased opening of the new SDEC (Same Day Emergency Care) at King George Hospital – treating 11 patients on the first day (Monday 8 April).