Today (Friday 20 May) is International Clinical Trials Day. This is celebrated annually in commemoration of what was likely the first ever clinical trial, conducted in 1747 by Dr. James Lind and to acknowledge achievements and to raise awareness.

Our teams have been working extremely hard to see patients whose treatment has been delayed by Covid-19. They’ve reduced the number of those waiting for more than two years (104+ weeks) from 218 to 72 in just three weeks.

Like all trusts, we have been working hard to ensure we are compliant with the recommendations of the Ockenden review that was written in the wake of the failure of maternity practices over many years at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust. 

To mark International Nurses’ Day (Thursday 12 May) we spoke to Rosemarie Stewart, one of our newly qualified nurses, about why she got into nursing and her experiences so far.

This month we’re shining a spotlight on our networks as we celebrate National Staff Networks Day today (Wednesday 11 May). Paul, from our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion team, tells his story of being ‘neurodivergent’.

Barts Health NHS Trust and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust are delighted to announce that Shane DeGaris will be the first Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) leading the two organisations.

In light of the recent Ophthalmology Super Week, we spoke to Ayman Khaier, Clinical Lead for Ophthalmology, who shared the following.

We’re delighted Marta Phillips is starting work this month as one of our non-executive directors (NED) on our Board where she will oversee the running of our hospitals.

Syed Asif Ali, Associate Specialist in Trauma and Orthopaedic at Queen’s Hospital, was our recent winner of our You Made a Difference Award.

As Ramadan comes to a close and we look forward to Eid next week, we spoke to Rajoo Miah, Quality and Safety Advisor for our Cancer and Clinical Support division, about his reflections of Ramadan and how he’ll be celebrating Eid.