Creating a better experience for our patients is one of our key priorities, and securing funding for an ambulance hub and to increase the size of the Discharge Lounge at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford is supporting us to do this.
Our Trust secured £1.2 million to create the freestanding ambulance hub, which opened in April, providing eight spaces to enable patients to be moved from ambulances and assessed.
A further £114,000 was secured to increase the size of the Discharge Lounge which is for patients who are due to be discharged that day and who are waiting for medication or transportation.
With both the ambulance hub and extension of the Discharge Lounge, it increases our capacity and reduces our waiting times.
Our Emergency Department team is working with colleagues at West Midlands Ambulance Service and the Welsh Ambulance Service at the hub to care for patients within the hospital rather than on ambulances, releasing them to respond to new emergency calls.
If you would like to find out more about our hospitals, we are holding a series of online About Health events over the coming months.
Topics to be covered include an update on waiting list recovery following the pandemic, the new national Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, a conversation with retired nurses from One Voice, the Windrush Caribbean Community in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin as part of our Windrush and 75th birthday of the NHS celebrations, as well as an update on our Hospitals Transformation Programme (HTP).
The events are free and open to everyone living in the areas served by our hospitals.
The first event for this summer is tomorrow (Thursday 29 June) which is an operational update. You are welcome to attend the event on Microsoft Teams from 6.30pm-7.30pm and can register for all our events through Eventbrite here.
Last Thursday marked the 75th anniversary of when HMT Empire Windrush arrived in the UK carrying over 1,000 passengers from the Caribbean.
Mainly former service personnel, this was the first wave of post-war immigration with many passengers taking up roles in the NHS, which launched just two weeks later.
The 75th anniversary is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the Windrush generation and their significant contributions to the NHS, which will also mark its 75th year on 5 July.
From the Windrush generation of 1948, the south Asian arrivals in the 1960s and 70s, to today’s workforce – NHS workers are made up of over 200 nationalities.
It is a powerful reminder of how much the NHS is founded on the talents and dedication of our colleagues from diverse communities, and how this has led to better experiences for patients.
Our About Health event in conversation with Windrush nurses will be held on Thursday 6 July between 6.30 and 7.30pm.
Retired nurses from One Voice Windrush Caribbean Community will be taking part in the event and you can register on the link above.
This week our Muslim patients, visitors and colleagues will be celebrating Eid-ul-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice).
Eid-ul-Adha is one of the highlights of the Islamic calendar and is the second and the larger of the two main celebrations for Muslims, marking the climax of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah. This year, it is due to be celebrated from today (28 June) to Sunday 2 July.
I would like to wish our Muslim colleagues and those in the community a very happy Eid.