Christmas staff magazine

Firstly I would like to thank you all for
your hard work in what has been a very
busy year where the NHS has seen a huge
and continued rise in activity. Despite this,
thanks to your continued efforts, we have
been able to maintain the high standards
of safe and effective care that our patients
deserve.
To maintain this high quality care in what we
expect to be an extremely busy winter, we have
taken the necessary step of temporarily altering the
opening times at our three urgent care centres and
changing four of our wards at The Northumbria
hospital. Making these changes will ensure that the
vital skills of our urgent and emergency care nurses
are concentrated where they are needed most and
will help with the flow of patients coming through
at times of increased demand - thank you all for
your understanding, support and help with this.
We mustn’t forget that even in our busiest periods
we are seen as a national healthcare leader. As
part of our vanguard work, we have now had 66
UK trusts and delegations from the governments
of China, India, Nigeria and Sweden visit us to see
our system of emergency and integrated care. This
is something to be extremely proud of as it shows
that you are all the best at what you do and our
visitors all want to learn from us and do things the
Northumbria Way!
As we approach the end of 2016, it is an excellent
time to reflect on all that we have achieved in the
last year - our ‘outstanding’ rating from the Care
Quality Commission, our first full year of delivering
our new model of emergency care, our 10th
anniversary as a foundation trust and achieving
gold level in the regional Better Health at Work
Awards. I am immensely proud of everything we
have achieved this year thanks to your hard work
and dedication.
Looking ahead to 2017, we have some exciting
developments in the pipeline through our
vanguard work which will continue to put
Northumbria at the forefront of developments in
the NHS and make sure we are in the best possible
position to meet the challenges facing health
services. Our new accountable care organisation
(ACO) model in Northumberland is the first of its
kind in the NHS - coming into place in April - and
will help us to better co-ordinate care and further
strengthen partnership working between all parts
of our health and social care system.
We are sharing this learning from our work in
Northumberland right across our trust and with
many others across the country.
That just leaves me to wish you all a happy and
healthy Christmas and all the very best for the
New Year. I know many of you will be working
over the festive season, however, I hope you have
the opportunity to enjoy some time with family
and friends.
David Evans,
Chief executive
ROLL YOUR SLEEVES UP!
Angela Forrest is a sister on Ward 9
at The Northumbria hospital. Here
she tells us why she has the flu
vaccination every year:
“I have my vaccination as it is
a simple and pain-free way to
protect me from the flu and its
complications - after all flu is
not just a heavy cold!
“The flu jab is really
important to me as three
years ago I had sepsis.
I went into multi-organ failure,
had bilateral pneumonia and
Time to
You can book your appointment by calling
01670 529214 ext. 33214
Or got a team meeting? Occupational health can come along
and vaccinate attendees – just give them a call to arrange.
Donʼt forget if youʼve had your vaccination elsewhere we still need
to know. Complete the quick form on the flu season intranet page.
after several complications I have
been left with a damaged left lung.
“I am a young lady in my 50s and have
many more years to enjoy my life, my
family and my job. If I caught the flu
I could become severely ill and it
could make my condition worse.
“There are many more people
like me for whom flu could be
life-threatening, please don’t
risk passing the virus on, protect
us and yourself by having your
vaccination.”
Angela Forrest
2
3