BHT Voice February 2021

Coming to the end of February, there is still good progress on local infection rates which continue to sharply decline. Rates in most of the county are now close to dropping below 100 per 100k of the population, which is bringing them closer to where they were in the autumn. This is feeding through in the corresponding number of hospital admissions, with 100 fewer current inpatient beds at Stoke Mandeville occupied compared to our peak on the 6^th of January - although it is still quite a lot more than our peak on the 7^th of April last year. This will take a bit of time to reduce down to a lower level, especially where our sickest patients are concerned, but every indicator is going the right way.

We have been addressing some of the myths about the vaccine, which are circulating in the community, by reiterating through posters and social media that:

The vaccine underwent all the appropriate clinical trials and is safe – it was not “rushed out”;
There is NO evidence that it causes infertility;
And it does NOT contain a microchip

Despite these myths, our partners in primary care have made significant inroads into the vaccination programme. Because of their efforts, the county achieved its target of the top 4 risk groups being offered a first dose by the weekend, with jabs now being offered to the next 3 cohorts. A mass vaccination site also went live in Aylesbury this month so more and more capacity is being set up on a weekly basis. 145,000 people have now been vaccinated in Buckinghamshire.

This means that we can start to think about what getting the Trust back to some semblance of normal looks like. This will be a complicated and gradual process and we are working closely with our system partners to agree a joined up approach to recovery. At the Trust, the safety and wellbeing of both our patients and workforce is at the heart of our plans focussing on several key areas:

How the Trust transitions back to business as usual;
the role the Trust will play in the overall health recovery of the county relating to the backlog of work to be cleared;
looking at the overall impact on children;
the role the Trust plays regarding mental health;
and ensuring our workforce is supported and able to recover from the traumatic impact of the pandemic

In other news Mo Girach, Associate Director of the University’s School of Medicine and Allied Health, has joined our Trust Board as a Non-Executive Director. His experience of working with one of the largest GP cooperatives in the UK will stand us in good stead as we continue to work closely with our health and care partners to build and develop services that enable patients to access health advice, support and care closer to their homes.

Sandra Silva, a team lead and physiotherapist in our adult community team, has been successfully appointed as our new Board Affiliate. Welcome Sandra!

Finally, we will also be welcoming Andrew McLaren, Consultant Surgeon and Deputy Medical Director, to our Executive Board. Andrew will be taking over as Interim Medical Director from Dr Tina Kenny, who will be standing down in March. Tina has been with us for over seven years and brought her own unique experience as a GP and medical director of a Primary Care Trust to help shape our how our organisation brings together acute and community care. I wanted to thank her for her determination and her leadership, which has made a huge impact on medical education and our medical examiners service over the last few years.

As always, please get in touch if you have any questions by emailing bht.communications@nhs.net

For my latest CEO report, please click here.