Nightingale News | 13.05.20

Today marks one month since we opened our doors to patients. I would like to begin by thanking you for all you have done over the last month; supporting our hospital in those early weeks and helping to make sure we provide the best possible care for our patients.

In the last month we have provided care for over 50 patients, as we opened our facilities slowly and safely. As we move into phase two of the pandemic response, hospitals across the North West are busy finalising their plans for increasing the volume of their non-COVID 19 related services. Our priority over the coming weeks is to work with the region’s hospitals to support the delivery of their plans – by providing additional capacity. Nightingale North West has a really important role to play in supporting the North West health system. We will have a more detailed understanding of what this will look like in the next couple of weeks.

We understand there are concerns amongst our workforce regarding the hospital’s future, and we want to make sure you feel informed and updated as things change and progress. On Monday we held our first face to face team briefing in the auditorium. This was an opportunity for the Executive Team to update colleagues on the latest hospital developments, as well as answering your questions and listening to any concerns. We have committed to delivering a face to face briefing every Monday at 4pm, in the auditorium. This will be open to all staff to attend – subject to observance of social distancing in the auditorium. We understand that not all colleagues will be able to attend – and will continue to cascade a slide deck following the session to support updates in team meetings.

Following the updated COVID-19 government guidelines that were issued this weekend, we are also undertaking a review of our non-clinical spaces to ensure we are maintaining a safe working environment. This review will be completed this week, and we will be in touch to discuss any changes we need to make. In the meantime, we must remind all colleagues to continue to work from home where possible.

This Tuesday we were proud to celebrate our fantastic nursing colleagues for International Nurses Day. Nurses are a key cornerstone of the NHS, and as our NHS faces its biggest challenge since its creation – we owe a huge thank you to nurses across the country. Many of whom have returned to their profession following a national call to arms during this time of need. It was great to see that appreciation displayed at the Nightingale yesterday – after all, the day marks the bicentennial of the birth of our namesake – Florence Nightingale. We celebrated with messages around the hospital, afternoon tea provided by Interserve and a showing of the surprise concert created by well-known artists such as Anne-Marie, James Blunt and Clean Bandit to show their gratitude. You can watch the concert here. Our Chief Nurse Juliette Cosgrove also led a special session with our nurses on induction. You can see lots of photos of our teams celebrating on our Twitter feed. On behalf of the Nightingale North West and our patients, I would like to thank all of our much-valued nurses for all that they are doing to support our hospital.

Best wishes,

Professor Michael McCourt
Chief Executive

Yesterday we celebrated International Nurses Day 2020, a day held to celebrate the skills, commitment and expert clinical care, that all of our nurses bring and the impact that nurses have had on so many people across the world. Many of you got involved in day by sharing pictures or short videos of why you are proud to be a nurse and also why you are proud to work alongside nurses. Our very own Jackie Bird, Senior Officer at the Nightingale Hospital North West also shared her appreciation and recorded a special message for our nurses, if you haven’t yet seen this yet you can access it by clicking here. We finished the afternoon with a socially distanced afternoon tea with lots of cake and refreshments, and a surprise online concert organised by Hospitality for Heroes. We hope you all enjoyed the #IND2020 celebrations and would like to thank you once again for the great job you do every single day!

We have a number of seating areas set up across the hospital, which have been set up for small team huddles and discussions. We also have the prayer room and wellbeing space– both of which are being well looked after. It is important that we keep these areas clean and tidy, and therefore we politely ask that all colleagues refrain from eating in these areas and observe the notices regarding social distancing.

We would like to invite all colleagues along to a social distanced Ramadan Iftan Dinner at 8.30pm on Thursday 14 May 2020, in the staff canteen. You don’t have to be fasting but you could #FastForADay to raise money for charity. If this is something that you are interested in attending, please email [email protected] so that we can include you in catering numbers. Ramadan Mubarak to all colleagues who are currently fasting.

Please can we remind all colleagues that if, for any reason, you are unable to attend your shift please call Absence Manager on 0330 808 0260. The system should be used by seconded staff, NHSP workers and agency contractors at Nightingale North West. G4S and Interserve staff should follow their own reporting process. You should report your absence as soon as you realise you will not be able to attend work. When you ring the phone line you will be asked to give your assignment number. MFT staff should use their usual assignment number, for all other staff this will be their mobile number. For more information visit the staff hub.

We now have a dedicated Wobble Room for staff to use whenever they need. This space has been created for you to use with peers and colleagues, when you need to have discreet chat or if a quiet moment is needed. This room is near the heavy don/doff area, and will keep evolving over the days to come. If you have any suggestions for how we can improve this space please email [email protected].

We have had some toiletries goods kindly donated to support staff wellbeing and these are being distributed across the site this week. There will be a toiletries box set up in each of the changing areas, which we will keep replenishing with shampoo, shower gels and feminine hygiene products as much as possible. Please can we ask that staff are considerate when they are accessing these and only take what you need. We want to make sure that all colleagues who need items are able to access them and we will try and keep this going as long as possible using the donations we have received.

If you are working at hospital and are looking to start cycling to work – we may be able to help you with the wheels! We are working with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Halfords to help you cycle to work. We have been offered 30 bikes on a bike loan scheme. They are available in a variety of sizes, and come with a lock, lights and helmet. The initial loan period is three months, directly with TfGM, who will discuss next steps at the end of the loan period. If you are interested, click here for more information on the scheme and how to apply.

The Staff Hub includes helpful information about the facilities on site, staff offers, how to access accommodation, useful information and contacts as well as previous copies of this newsletter. Please email [email protected] if there is important information you would like to see on the hub.

Finally, you may have seen in the news a new Banksy piece of artwork which appeared in a hospital corridor at Southampton General Hospital. The piece, called Game Changer, is on view at the hospital and was left with a note for hospital workers. The note read: “Thanks for all you’re doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if it’s only black and white.”