Weekly community update from our CEO - 1 February 2021

Posted Monday, February 1, 2021 11:00 AM

Weekly community update from our CEO - 1 February 2021

1 February 2021 – Update 13

An update to patients, communities and partners of Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS FT

Hello,

Like me, you might be breathing a sigh of relief today that January is over. It has felt like the longest month for so many reasons and whilst February is also set to bring its own difficulties, I hope that the lighter days help. We are inching ever closer to spring and that is always an easier time of year, no matter the other challenges we face. 

Last week the BBC news interviewed colleagues and patients from Sherwood. If you watched the interviews, you would have been moved by what the team here are doing and by the experiences of our patients.

Quite rightly, NHS colleagues have received a lot of recognition over the last 12 months. The care they give to patients has been extraordinary and I was proud to see that reflected on a national stage. I hope though, that for those of you in our local community, nothing you saw was a surprise. I hope you felt proud. You will already know we aim to care for patients as we would want our loved ones to be cared for, that we work hard as a team in incredibly challenging conditions and we continue to care for each other to get us through the hard days. 

This week I have written to colleagues to ask them to pass on a message of thanks to their loved ones. Next week’s community update will be a little bit different as I intend to film a message to share with those families and loved ones and to thank them for being part of our community. We really could not continue to do this without their support. 

The number of Covid positive patients at Sherwood has dropped slightly to 174, from a daily number of around 200 for the past weeks. Whilst our numbers have dropped, we may not have reached our peak yet, based on the pattern of community infections. We still need you all to support us by following the lockdown guidance, by washing your hands and by maintaining social distancing. 

Best wishes for the week ahead.


Richard Mitchell
Chief Executive Richard.Mitchell2@nhs.net