Nightingale News | 27.05.20

This morning we held Team Brief in the Auditorium and also virtually via Microsoft Teams. Thank you to everyone who attended. It was a good opportunity to bring colleagues together to update you on the latest developments – and answer your questions. One of the biggest areas of discussion was the future of our hospital. As has every Nightingale, we have been asked to produce standby and reactivation plans to ensure the NHS can respond to changes as the pandemic progresses. This has been a huge task over the last week and I would like thank all staff who have supported this important work. Our plan sets out what would trigger our standby and reactivation plans – which include: the pandemic situation in the North West, acute hospital bed occupancy levels and the number of admissions to Nightingale. Any decision to activate these plans would be made by the NHS England/Improvement regional team, based on these triggers.

We appreciate the uncertainty many people are feeling. There is uncertainty for everyone working in the health service as we do not know how the pandemic will progress or continue to impact on our health and care system. But we can and will continue to work together and support each other to provide the highest possible standards of care for our patients, and operate the Nightingale for as long as we are needed.

In the meantime, colleagues will know that we have seen a significant increase in patients over the last few days. A number of hospitals have referred patients to the Nightingale as they begin to increase their non-Covid 19 related services and create ‘Covid-free’ zones. We understand the challenges this poses for our team. It is important to remember that our hospital is only six weeks old and while we have been using the last six weeks to test our processes and systems, this increase in patient numbers will provide further tests. It is important that we work together to support each other and care for our patients – and ensure any concerns are raised with your line manager.

You can see the full Team Brief on our Staff Hub here. We are working to improve this session so that colleagues are able to get the most from it. We would be grateful for your feedback on both the information covered and the format. Please email any feedback to [email protected].

Lastly – I would like to close by wishing Eid Mubarak to all colleagues who celebrated over the weekend. It is a difficult time for us all, not being able to see family and friends, and it must have been particularly difficult to mark this holy event in isolation.

Best wishes,

Professor Michael McCourt
Chief Executive

Nightingale North West is not yet two months old and given this, and the nature of operating in a pandemic, we face a wide range of uncertainties which we must understand and manage. As part of this process, it is important that we have a robust system for reporting and managing risks.

Risks are events that may happen that might stop us from reaching our objectives. They are not the same as issues –  which are events that have already happened.

It is important that colleagues raise risks as soon as they become aware of them. You must raise any risks with your line manager, who will then escalate to Senior Management.  Risks are reviewed and validated in Senior Management Team meetings. It is the responsibility of Senior Management to add these risks to Ulysses (our system for reporting risks) and then to support/ identify mitigations or actions that can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk. Your line manager will ensure you receive feedback on actions taken to mitigate risks. The diagram attached demonstrates this process.

The Risk Management Framework and Risk Appetite Strategy can be found on the Nightingale Intranet or by clicking on the image below.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact Paul Roberts, Head of Coperate Governance, on [email protected].

If you have any queries related to your pay, please email:

• Clinical staff (deployed to the Nightingale from another organisation) – [email protected]
• Non-clinical staff – [email protected]
• NHS Professionals –  [email protected] or [email protected]

Our OD and Wellbeing team have developed a fantastic programme of masterclasses – to help us share our knowledge and experience from such a diverse team. The latest programme is listed below.

Please speak with your line manager before booking and book on by emailing [email protected].

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.

We send this update by email every Wednesday and you can see previous editions here. Please email [email protected] if you would like us to use an alternative contact.