This week it was announced that Jo Williams has been appointed as the Chief Executive in Common of both our Trust and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust.
It is fantastic news and it means that we can continue to strengthen the work between our two trusts.
Jo has already made a huge impact in her 10 months as interim Chief Executive of our Trust and I know that she is passionate about working with and listening to patients, families and colleagues.
Colleagues have been leading improvements across both our hospitals with fewer patients waiting for planned procedures and appointments.
In the last nine months, we have reduced the overall number of patients on the elective care waiting list by 20 per cent by increasing the number of operations in our theatres and we have also increased the number of outpatient appointments.
We recognise that people are still waiting longer than we would want and we will keep going until we meet the 18-week referral to treatment national target, but thank you to staff who are working incredibly hard to increase the number of appointments we offer and reduce waiting times.
I would also like to thank you and my colleagues for the support we received during the latest strike action by resident doctors.
We expect our services to continue to be busy over the coming days following industrial action, and ask people to think about which service best suits their health needs as the safety of our patients and colleagues is our top priority.
If you have a life-threatening emergency, our emergency departments are open 24 hours a day, so please continue to come forward as normal. You can also visit NHS 111 online or call 111 if you need urgent medical help or consider visiting your local Minor Injury Unit in Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Oswestry and Whitchurch.
For further information about Think Which Service, which aims to help you to know where to go to get the right advice, support and treatment for your health needs as quickly as possible, visit: http://thinkwhichservice.co.uk/
We are always grateful to the public for their generosity and SaTH Charity’s Swan Fund recently celebrated a milestone birthday, turning 10 years old and raising over £100,000 in donations.
The fund was created in 2015 with a £500 donation collected at the funeral of the father of Jules Lewis, an End of Life Care Facilitator/Lead Nurse at our Trust.
Her father Harold died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and any money raised for the fund is used to support last hours and days care for patients and their loved ones.
To celebrate the fund’s birthday, volunteers and knitters were invited to a thank you café at Shropshire Education & Conference Centre to thank them for their ongoing support.
It was a lovely way to celebrate the volunteers and the knitters who donate knitted kindness hearts and thank those involved in the care of our patients.