The Operating Theatre Journal November 2020

Perfect Week restores
health and mobility to
250 NHS patients
Practice Plus Group Hospital Ilford and the
Barking, Havering & Redbridge University
Hospital Trust (BHRUHT) have carried out
250 orthopaedic procedures in one week in a
programme designed to reduce waiting times
for orthopaedic surgery across the three
London boroughs.
Nurul Ahad, medical
director at PPG
Hospital Ilford
and the Group’s
national orthopaedic
lead, said: “This
was an incredible
collaboration over
seven consecutive
days, across several
sites including four of
the theatres at Ilford
Hospital.
“As we all know lockdown has led to longer
than usual waiting times for elective surgery,
leaving many in considerable pain for
prolonged periods. By opening up four of our
operating theatres and by collaborating with
BHRUHT, our teams have managed to lift 250
people out of pain, enabling them to go back
to the jobs and the lives they love. Some of
our patients include those working on the
front line of care, and we know they are glad
to be back and serving their communities.”
Operations carried out during the week –
named Perfect Week – included 135 joint
replacements of which 10 managed to
successfully and safely return home on the
same day! Professor Briggs from GIRFT had
attended to give his own seal of approval and
to encourage further collaboration with the
sole focus on serving the local population.
More collaborations are expected between
PPG Hospital Ilford and BHRUHT in the future to
further support the patients within the London
boroughs of Barking, Havering and Redbridge,
and the six Practice Plus Group hospitals and
three surgical centres nationwide are working
hard to support the NHS and patients to tackle
the issue of extended waiting times.
NMC
Caring with Confidence:
The code in Action.
We know that nurses, midwives and nursing
associates have been facing difficult decisions
in unprecedented circumstances over the
last few months. That’s why we’ve launched
Caring with Confidence: The Code in Action.
Caring with Confidence is a series of bitesized
animations about key aspects of nursing
or midwifery professionals’ roles, and how the
Code can support them.
Please share Caring with Confidence in your
organisation, to help us support as many
nurses, midwives and nursing associates as
possible to feel confident about the care they
deliver in these challenging times and beyond.
Find out more: http://bit.ly/OTJ35YHAYC
New accommodation scheme for NHS and
Government key workers launched by
short term rentals industry body
The UK Short Term Accommodation Association
(STAA) has followed up its successful
nationwide NHS Homes initiative with the
launch of a new scheme to offer NHS staff
and key government workers discounted safe
and clean accommodation near their places of
work, to help protect them and their families
as the UK’s COVID-19 infection rates rise.
The STAA, the short-term rentals industry
representative body, is launching the
TrustedStays scheme this week, after close
consultation with Government representatives.
Over the last six months, its NHS Homes
scheme has been hugely successful in offering
NHS workers free accommodation, which has
led to a significant number of professional
short term rental companies collaborating to
launch the Trusted Stays scheme. The new
scheme is offering discounted accommodation
to any government worker, including those
who need to relocate, to support them in the
fight against the second wave of COVID-19.
The association has developed the scheme
to make it more convenient for the UK
Government and NHS to book appropriate
accommodation for its staff. The main
elements of the scheme are:
• It will provide the Government and NHS
with one single website on which to book
accommodation in accredited homes across
the UK
• All bookings will receive discounted rates
on the standard commercial rates
• All TrustedStays member companies follow
the single set of industry cleaning and
safety protocols introduced in June*1
• It is only open to STAA members who have
accreditation from Quality in Tourism’s
Safe, Clean and Legal scheme*2
• Property management companies upload the
information about their available properties
onto the website to enable Government
officials to search for accommodation in
their area or near to specific hospitals
• Enquiries from customers will go directly
to the company responsible for the home’s
rental and payment can be arranged by
invoice or debit/credit card
Around 1,000 properties in London,
Manchester and Edinburgh are available now
for bookings through 11 different short term
rental partners in the UK. The scheme will be
rolled out to towns and cities across the UK in
November.
The NHS Homes scheme, which launched
in March, involved more than 30 property
companies donating accommodation with
a value of more than £20m, providing over
10,000 nights’ free accommodation. The
scheme has experienced a spike in demand in
recent weeks as COVID-19 infection rates rose.
TrustedStays will now effectively replace it
and be available to a wider audience of key
workers on a long-term basis.
TrustedStays has partnered with some of
the major players in the UK short term
accommodation industry including Sykes
Cottages, who represent thousands of
properties around the UK, Guest Ready who
cover Edinburgh, Manchester and London
and UnderTheDoormat who provide luxury
homestays throughout London. The other
partners are Altido, CityRelay, Air Peace of
Mind, A Place Like Home, Way of Life, Seven
Living, Urban Stays and Mason & Fifth.
Merilee Karr, Chair of the STAA, said, “The
huge success we saw with the NHS Homes
scheme illustrated to us that the authorities
needed our support in housing their staff as
they continue to work through this pandemic
and beyond.
“We took many learnings from setting up
that scheme and because we already have
the infrastructure, cleaning protocols and
accreditation in place, the Government
and NHS workers trust us to provide the
appropriate accommodation.
We recognised the need went beyond NHS
workers and we were challenged to produce a
more sustainable version.
“We put a huge amount of effort in over
the summer months to deliver this and I’m
delighted with what has been achieved. This
offer isn’t just confined to NHS workers.
We can also support the Government to
accommodate people who need to shelter from
COVID-19 for health reasons and for other key
workers such as MPs, who have to be at their
place of work, need flexible accommodation
and prefer to stay in a professionally managed
home setting.
“By staying in safe and clean accommodation,
key workers won’t have the worry of a daily
commute on public transport and will be
able to protect vulnerable family members
by staying in a separate, self-contained
property.”
Graham Donoghue, CEO of Sykes Cottages:
“Sykes Cottages are proud to participate in
TrustedStays and with our strong network of
properties across the UK, we are in a position
to provide quality accommodation in homes
for NHS and other key workers as their needs
arise.
As a company that works to contribute to the
communities where we operate, this is a great
way for us and our owners to play an active
role in providing homes to the people who are
working so hard to support us all.”
Richard Bridger, COO of UnderTheDoormat:
“NHS Homes demonstrated that there is
a real lack of options when it comes to
accommodation for professionals and key
workers in this current environment.
By opening up the option of safe, clean and
comfortable homes to Government workers
we can provide a long-term sustainable
solution for them in the current environment
as well as in a post-COVID world.”
For more information visit: trustedstays.co.uk
8 THE OPERATING THEATRE JOURNAL www.otjonline.com