Introduction
Health and care staff across Surrey have been working tirelessly to care for patients during this Covid-19 pandemic and continue to do so. On a personal level, I have been truly humbled by the fantastic work and collaboration from colleagues in the face of this virus; from staff working flat out on the frontline, the support workers behind the scenes who are keeping things going, to the determination of people to make seemingly impossible things happen. More about our response is included below.
The way we have worked as a partnership, particularly through the Local Resilience Forum which includes our borough colleagues, the Police and Surrey Fire and Rescue, has also been remarkable and has paved the way for even closer collaboration in the future. One great example is the work we’ve done to create a new temporary rehabilitation hospital, the NHS Seacole Centre, at Headley Court in Leatherhead, see more below.
There is no doubt this has been a tough few months and, as we begin to move past the peak of this current outbreak, we cannot forget the impact it continues to have on so many of us. In particular I would like to pay tribute to all those health, care and other key workers who have tragically lost their lives to coronavirus, which sadly includes partners across our system. I’m sure we will all have been touched by this in some way which is why it continues to be so important to follow the latest guidance to ensure we prevent spread and protect our communities.
At the same time, we are starting to think about recovery and restoration; NHS England/Improvement wrote to system leaders and chief executives of organisations last week asking us to start to restore non-Covid 19 urgent services as soon as possible over the next few weeks. This includes urgent outpatient and diagnostic appointments and urgent surgery, maintaining screening and immunisations, ensuring access to mental health services and crisis support and scaling up the digital/virtual services we’ve put in place across hospitals, GP practices and other settings. As we do this our full attention will be on infection prevention and control to ensure a safe restart.
It’s also really important people continue to seek help for other health worries when they need it; I’ve been particularly concerned with reports that suggest people are not coming forward when they are worried or experiencing symptoms in the way they would have done before Covid-19. As a GP I have seen the evidence of this first-hand, with patients presenting who have delayed seeking help when they really needed to. The NHS has launched a new campaign to stress how important this is and you can read more about it below. Please help to spread the word.
Finally, on behalf of the whole leadership team across Surrey Heartlands, our continued thanks not only to health and care staff, but to all keyworkers and those caring for others across our system.
Dr Claire Fuller, Senior Responsible Officer, Surrey Heartlands Health & Care Partnership
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