May 2021
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| Council of Governors' Election |
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Have you got what it takes to be a Governor?
Enthusiasm and support for Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals are the requirements for any would-be Governor. Would you like to have more of a say in how Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust develops it services? If so, would you be interested in standing for election as a Governor of the Trust? We are holding elections this autumn for: Public Constituencies
How to apply Later this summer we will be sharing with you details on how you can nominate yourself for the role of Public Governor and you can apply as long as you live in one of the areas mentioned above. If you are interested and have any questions or would like to learn more about what the role entails, please contact Anu Sehdev, Membership and Engagement Manager, by email at asp-tr.foundationtrust@nhs.net |
| Reflections of the pandemic |
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For the National Day of Reflection on 23 March, ASPH held its own day of reflection with socially distanced events taking place at St Peter's Hospital, Ashford Hospital and Woking Community Hospital sites.
Staff from across the Trust joined the nation in observing the minute's silence following a service lead by Laurence Gamlen, Spiritual Care and Wellbeing Lead Chaplain, outside the main entrance at St Peter's. A small service was also held at Ashford and colleagues lit candles in the Multi-Faith Chapel before observing the minute's silence. Chairman Andy Field visited the team in the Bradley Unit at Woking Community Hospital to present them with a special piece of artwork in recognition of the amazing rehabilitative care they have given patients over the past year. The Trust also took part in the Shine the Light event that evening – where prominent buildings and landmarks were lit up in yellow across the UK to create a nationwide "beacon of remembrance". The main entrance of Ashford Hospital, and the Abbey Wing and Chertsey House – our vaccination hub – at St Peter's were lit up to pay tribute to those we have lost. In addition to the events held on the day, Suzanne Rankin, Chief Executive and Andy Field reflected on the challenges and highlighted the achievements of the Trust throughout the pandemic in a short video. |
| Vaccination Hub at Chertsey House |
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Areas of Chertsey House, St Peter's Hospital were transformed into a vaccination hub at the start of this year, where members of our team, volunteers and also furloughed airline staff supported with the roll out of COVID vaccinations to health and social care workers across the Surrey Heartlands area. Dr Ben Spencer, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, visited the vaccination hub in its first week to speak with staff and volunteers working in the hub. Since opening its doors on Thursday 21 January 2021, the vaccination hub in Chertsey House has given over 25,000 first and second dose vaccinations.
We were also delighted to receive a video message from Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, thanking Surrey health and care organisations and the team at St Peter's for supporting the community vaccination programme. Matt stated; "It has been such a huge effort and the team have done an amazing job.' It was fantastic to receive this recognition which was greatly appreciated and we are pleased to be able to have supported the community with such an important healthcare programme." |
| Developing our sites - St Peter's Hospital |
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Many new areas and facilities have opened or are due to be completed this year at our St Peter's site. In the last quarter of 2020, we opened up our new multi-storey car park to both staff and the public to increase the number of spaces available on the site.
The Retreat Café and EduKitchen at St Peter's opened in October 2020, providing a range of new meal options for staff and visitors at the hospital. The service is now provided in-house with the support of local catering company, Bartlett Mitchell. Staff and staff visitors can now order ahead and collect their order at a time that suits them using the PearPay app. First Steps Nursery at St Peter's has recently had a new playground installed for the children at the nursery. Created by Hand Made Places, the new playground includes a slide, climbing wall, fireman's pole as well as a seating area for stories and a gazebo. Work is well under way on our new two-storey unit which is currently being built in the old ED car park to improve emergency care provisions. The new unit will have 62 trolley or bed spaces across the two floors, with treatment and clinical support rooms, offices, staff rooms, and changing facilities on both floors. It has been designed by our Urgent & Emergency Care teams to be a flexible space that can be used for patient assessment, treatment, or inpatient care when required. A key part of this space will be a Priority Assessment Unit to enable patients to be safely discharged home within 24 hours, diverting patients from our busy ED. The new facility was built off-site in modular sections which have recently been craned into place. |
| Developing our sites – Ashford Hospital |
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It is an exciting time for Ashford hospital which is becoming more prominent in the provision of the Trust's outpatient, diagnostic and elective services. This month we have welcomed our first inpatients to the Eliot Ward, our new ring-fenced elective inpatient surgical ward at Ashford. When further works are finished, this ward will be complete with a four bedded Enhanced Care Unit (ECU).These facilities will enable us to undertake a wide range of elective general surgery, urology and gynaecology at Ashford hospital.
We have moved much of our elective surgery into new facilities at Ashford will help to ensure that patients operations are not cancelled during times of increased pressure, and that we are able to undertake elective work throughout the whole year. To support with this, we have built a brand new theatre, two modular theatres, and refurbished a further two theatres at Ashford Hospital. The result of these developments means that we now have ten elective theatres running at Ashford. Since last summer, when the first Covid peak ended, much of our face to face outpatient clinics have been located at Ashford. There has been significant building work at Ashford to help with this, through relocating some of our departments and units. Similarly in relation to diagnostics, the proportion of CT and ultrasound scans undertaken at Ashford have also significantly increased over the last year as we have focused their delivery at Ashford, which has been aided by a new onsite additional CT scanner, installed last August. This is an exciting time for Ashford Hospital, and the changes we have made are vital for the ongoing, safe delivery of our services. It is great to see Ashford Hospital once again playing such a prominent role to the local population and support Trust services overall. |
| Supporting the wellbeing of Team ASPH |
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The wellbeing of our staff has been a key focus throughout the pandemic and this continues as we move forward. Since March 2020, we have received immense support from our local community, through cards, letters and drawings from local children and donations from local organisations such as Nourish our Nurses and Help Your NHS.
These donations have included fresh fruit and vegetables, health and beauty products, and sweet treats for our staff. On Tuesday 6 April 2021, Mr Michael More-Molyneux, HM Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, visited St Peter's Hospital with Nourish our Nurses to donate boxes of fresh food. During his visit, Mr More-Molyneux, said: "What a privilege it is to be at St Peter's today to say thank you to the heroic staff who have done so much for all of us". Laurence Gamlen, Spiritual Care and Wellbeing Lead Chaplain, has been distributing some of the donations to staff at the Trust via the Wellbeing Wagon, an airline catering trolley which was donated to the Trust by the Project Wingman team. Project Wingman is a group of current and former airline staff who visit NHS Trusts and healthcare services to provide space for staff to relax before, during and after their shifts and to support with their wellbeing. The group landed at Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals towards the end of January, and has been providing a first class lounge service for staff to take time out of their day to relax, enjoy some refreshments and speak with the airline staff. |
| ASPH New Year's Honours 2021 |
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On Monday 1st March, we held our first-ever Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals (ASPH) New Year's Honours awards ceremony. Individuals and teams at the Trust were recognised for their hard work and effort with awards in categories such as "Passion for Excellence", "Unsung Hero" and "Inspiring Leader", and all of which were nominated by colleagues at ASPH.
The winners were presented with their awards and certificates in the vaccination hub at Chertsey House, St Peter's Hospital on Monday afternoon at a socially distanced ceremony. A short video which shares colleague's reflections of the past year, their reasons for their nominations and highlights from the ceremony can be watched back here. |