Hello all,
April was a busy month for our staff with the long Easter Bank Holiday weekend, industrial action by resident doctors, and a high number of Norovirus cases. We also launched our refreshed Green Plan, rolled out Paediatric Call for Concern, and welcomed two new Executive Directors to the Trust.
Our services
Norovirus
In April, the Trust managed a Norovirus outbreak at East Surrey Hospital, which led to significantly strengthened infection control measures across the site – including putting in place temporary visiting restrictions to our wards. This was to help reduce the risk of further spread and support patient and staff safety. While the number of beds affected has reduced, we will need to continue with our current measures until the outbreak is ended.
Paediatric Call for Concern
This month we launched Paediatric Call for Concern (C4C) – a new paediatric-specific arm of our wider Call for Concern service, which was introduced in 2024, also known as Martha’s rule. Similar to Call for Concern this new service enables our younger patients or their loved ones to call for urgent help and advice if they have serious concerns that their health condition or a relative’s/friend’s health condition is worsening and is not being adequately addressed by their healthcare team. You can find more information here.
Patient story
In our April Board meeting we heard the story of a patient who attended our Emergency Department last February following a significant fall, and how, thanks to the timely care provided by the ED, frailty Same Day Emergency Care unit and East Surrey Virtual Ward teams at SASH over eight weeks, his fall symptoms and pre-existing heart failure condition had resolved by the time of his follow up outpatient appointment – all without requiring a lengthy hospital admission.
It’s a brilliant example of the benefits our Same Day Emergency Care and virtual ward work have on patient care, as we work on expanding our services in the year ahead as part of our urgent care transformation programme. You can find out more detail on this story in our April Board papers.
Our partners
Green Plan refresh
Earlier this month we published our refreshed Green Plan, created with Care without Carbon. It sets out the next chapter in our journey to become a more sustainable healthcare provider and explores how we will continue to achieve our green ambitions over the next five years.
By making more sustainable choices, we can ensure we support patient care, reduce costs and tackle the impacts of climate change on our patients. Over the past three years, we have demonstrated real commitment to achieving our Net Zero target - delivering a 46% reduction in pollution from medical gases, planting a new 6.5 hectare woodland onsite, and installing a new rooftop solar farm at East Surrey Hospital – which will save the Trust more than £6.5m over 25 years and reduce carbon emissions by 454 tonnes a year.
As we move into our next phase of the Green Plan delivery, we’ll continue to progress some of our existing core areas of work around nitrous oxide and the estate. We’ll also see an increased focus in some key areas: sustainable clinical practice, switching from single use to reusables and understanding how to adapt our clinical services to our local effects of climate change. You can find out more about the refreshed Green Plan here.
Trust news
Executive leadership changes
In April we welcomed Alex Stamp, as our new Chief Operating Officer. He takes over from Karen Breen, who retired from the Trust this week. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her immensely for her dedication to SASH, and her NHS service over the last 42 years. It’s a huge achievement and her hard work since joining us in November 2022 has ensured that our clinical teams can focus on providing the best possible care for our patients and the population we serve. She also took on the Executive sponsor role for the Women's Network, a direct nod to her passion for supporting the careers of her fellow female colleagues. We wish her all the best for the future.
I am also pleased to welcome Sarah Burton, who joined the Trust this week as our new Chief Nurse. She takes over from Katrina O’Shea, who has led as our Acting Chief Nurse since November. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her hard work and commitment to delivering safe care to our patients whilst covering this role through a tough winter.
New SASH Medical Education website launching
In April the Post Graduate Medical Education Team launched a new SASH Medical Education website to better support those training with us. The website provides placement information for Undergraduates, Dental, Foundation, GP and Speciality Doctors in Training, as well as details of our Education Centre facilities, and the study leave process along with contact details for the team. A great new addition to our training support as a trust.