Thursday 23 March marked the start of Ramadan for our Muslim colleagues and patients, with the first fast taking place on Friday 24 March. Mark Chapman, Senior Communications Officer in our Communications team, shares what this important time means for Muslims. 

Tracy Brace was discharged from Queen’s Hospital yesterday (Thursday 23 April), and after fearing she wouldn’t make it following a two-week battle with Covid-19, she was most excited about cuddling her cat Rolo, and chatting to her two-year-old grandson Caleb on the phone.

Coral Bailey is a healthcare assistant who usually works in Sexual Health. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Coral volunteered to join a new team at our Trust called ‘Helping Hands’. The team are made up of nursing staff who usually work in areas such as Outpatients and Day Surgery. They have volunteered to help ward staff by giving hands-on patient care. The support has been hugely appreciated by ward staff. We spoke to Coral to find out more about her role in the team. 

Fighting Covid-19 requires a whole team effort; as well as the hard work of our fantastic clinical staff, many of our administrative staff have completely changed job roles to other areas where they are most needed.

One person who has seen their day job transformed is Callum Oubridge. He has moved from a desk-based role at our Education Centre to a very active one in the Supplies department, keeping our clinical teams stocked with PPE every day. We spoke to Callum about how his role has completely changed in such a short space of time.

The Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly changed the way our hospitals deliver services for patients. While we care for patients with Covid-19, treatments for patients with cancer, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, along with other critical services, still need to go ahead.

There is a very proud dad at our Trust this week! Daniel Madden’s son Keelan, five, won a national competition in the Daily Mirror which saw his rainbow poster in support of the NHS published in yesterday’s newspaper.

A letter of thanks has been sent to the households of all our staff from Chair Joe Fielder and Chief Executive, Tony Chambers.

Konda Mbwaki, 60, was discharged from Queen’s Hospital yesterday (Wednesday 15 April) after spending almost three weeks in hospitals and half that time in intensive care, battling Covid-19.