Over the past week, our NHS Group has been celebrating all that our staff do to make a difference to our patients and their loved ones as part of International Nurses’ Day and International Day of the Midwife.
It is the ideal opportunity to recognise the dedication, compassion and teamwork of our Nurses, Midwives, Healthcare Support Workers, Nursing Associates, Registered Nurses and Student Nursing Associates – all 3393 of them across the Group.
We’d like to take a moment to thank them for everything they do. During life’s challenging times, our skilled nursing staff are saving and changing patients’ lives every single day.
This year’s celebrations are especially meaningful as we come together in our first year as a Group. Working as a Group strengthens our nursing voice, supports collaboration across hospital and community services, and helps us deliver safer, more joined-up care for our communities.
Our nurses are at the heart of this, working together to support patients and each other.
Whatever the setting, wherever the location, whomever the patient, the one thing they have in common is their unwavering commitment to make a difference to people’s lives.
We recently asked colleagues to nominate their nursing hero and there were so many nominations, which is a testament to the amazing work that our nurses do.
Having read through the nominations, certain phrases embody what it is to be a nurse. ‘An exceptional nurse who goes out of her way for patients and colleagues’, ‘A natural kind and caring attitude’ and ‘Dedicated and compassionate’ are just some of the themes that run through these nominations.
Reading these make me proud to work within our group, but above all proud to be a nurse.
This week we are also marking Improvement Week across the Group. It’s a chance to share the great work taking place to improve care for patients and make things more efficient for colleagues.
Teams have been testing ideas, solving problems and working together in new ways, and this week is about raising awareness and celebrating that progress.
A range of activities are taking place, including drop-in sessions and our Group Sharing Showcase.
During a Dragon’s Den drop-in session earlier this week a range of ideas were brought to the table, with colleagues sharing challenges and turning them into simple improvements to test in their areas.
We are also extremely grateful to the Friends of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital who have gifted more than £80,000 to benefit patients needing prostate surgery – meaning they will now be able to have their care closer to home.
The generous donation has been used to buy specialist urology theatres equipment to treat patients with an enlarged prostate.
The new equipment will enable surgeons at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to undertake a procedure known as holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP). It means that patients will no longer have to travel out of the county for this type of urology treatment.