CEO acknowledges staff on National Day of Reflection
Message sent on behalf of Mel Coombes, Chief Executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT)
Dear colleague,
As we continue to manage the demands of coronavirus (COVID-19), I am taking this opportunity to reflect on the extraordinary response of our teams across Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT) over the last year.
Our colleagues have gone over and above in delivering care to our patients – or supporting those who are delivering care – and have met the challenges they have faced with energy, effort and above all, dedication to our patients and their families or carers. I know I speak for everyone across the trust when I say that we are all truly grateful for the support we are giving to each other in these unprecedented times.
We have transformed the way that we provide care, to ensure the safety of our patients and our people. Walking through the buildings now is a completely different experience to what we would have expected a year ago. We have suspended or limited visiting, which means there are fewer people moving around the sites. We understand how important visitors are for the holistic care of our patients, so we have responded to meet this need and are offering the Message to a Loved One service to complement personal video and phone calls, where families and friends can email or phone in with a message.
We have changed how we offer our outpatient services and assessments with appointments carried out over phone and video using our Attend Anywhere service since March 2020. We remain in contact with our patients and service users across all our teams to ensure that all our patients and their families or carers have the opportunity to discuss plans for their care with their clinician during the present time.
Our crisis mental health services and safeguarding teams have continued to operate during the pandemic supporting those with urgent mental health needs and to ensure the welfare of the people within our communities.
Our corporate staff have now been working from home for a year, who have had to adapt to agile working, balancing both work and personal lives from their homes. With the introduction of Microsoft Teams, who knew the phase of 2020 would be ‘you’re on mute’.
Our health and care professionals continue to follow national guidelines for Hands. Face. Space and wear their personal protective equipment (PPE) when working across all our sites. At CWPT, our teams are working tirelessly to ensure we have the supplies we need to care for our patients safely and have carried out a fantastic job in ensuring that we continually replenish our stock. We also have our Infection Prevention Control team who have offered colleagues advice on the latest guidance from Public Health England, updating this when it changes, advising on how to ensure they are wearing PPE appropriately to protect themselves, and offering other assistance required including discussing any particular concerns. We have had feedback that this has really helped to give our staff additional support during this challenging time.
I also absolutely want to acknowledge the vital role of our other support staff, from the hard work of the IT, estates and facilities teams who keep our buildings and equipment well-maintained. Also, the sensitivity and kindness of psychology consultants and our Chaplin in their support of colleagues who have lost colleagues, family and friends during the pandemic. Our housekeepers are providing a fantastic service in keeping the trust clean and safe; and our administration colleagues in ensuring the effective running of the hospital.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge the COVID-19 staff teams. From the first day we opened our Incident Management Team in March 2020, both clinical and administration teams have taken on the additional roles to support both our staff, patients, and communities during the pandemic. Also, I must recognise the hard work and dedication of the COVID vaccination team, the immunisation staff, operational staff, volunteers and administration. Coventry and Warwickshire are the leading area in the whole of the UK for the delivery of the COVID vaccination programme and this is truly amazing. The team spirit is nothing quite like we have seen before. It is truly awe-inspiring, and I am extremely proud and honoured to work with every single one of you.
Every day, our amazing people work to provide high quality care and treatment for our patients and service users. While coronavirus (COVID-19) remains at the forefront of the national consciousness, we are also looking to the future. We continue to progress our COVID vaccination programme and are about to start rolling out the second COVID vaccine dose to our staff and we continue to support the community vaccination programme across Coventry and Warwickshire with health and social care partners. We also continue to strengthen our relationships with other health and care organisations through the Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Care Partnership. Our next steps is to look at our priorities for the next year and the full restoration of our services.
We are proud of the professionalism and compassion of our amazing staff who after a year continue to go above and beyond to protect our colleagues, patients and continue to serve the local community. As we pass one year of the first national lockdown we will take this day of reflection and remember those who we have sadly lost during the pandemic and take the time to reflect a year like no other, both the bad days and the good.
We should acknowledge the resilience of our colleagues and teams, our patients, service users and their families including those who have been shielding throughout the pandemic; those who have adapted to new ways of working and finally our team spirit. Coming together through the pandemic doing everything we can to help and support each other. We are ‘Team CWPT’ and we will continue to serve, protect, and support. There is light at the end of the tunnel and this time next year I am sure will again look very different.
Best wishes,
Mel
Chief Executive