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Hello all, 

Over the last few weeks we have been working behind the scenes preparing for financial year end, planning for 2025/26, and continuing to respond to winter pressures on our emergency pathways. Since my last update we have however also launched a new Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) across the Trust to support faster and more accurate patient diagnoses, and rolled out a new patient booking system for blood tests and opened our new Phlebotomy unit. We have also celebrated Green Plan week, International Women’s Day and our 2025 Star Awards.

Our services

PACS

In February we finally launched a new Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) across the Trust – SECTRA. The new system replaced our outdated system, which has been a source of significant challenges, including frequent disruptions that have impacted both patient care. It’s a major step forward for us, allowing for faster and more accurate diagnoses – which is especially important during the winter months, when demand on our services increases. SECTRA also has 24/7 support, which will provide much needed assistance during out-of-hours and in emergency cases. The move to SECTRA has been two years in the making and our teams have worked so hard to make this project a reality and to deliver better Trust systems that really will make a difference to patient services.

Phlebotomy change

In March the Trust launched new online booking system for patient blood tests and on 10 March opened its newly refurbished Phlebotomy Unit at the East Entrance of East Surrey Hospital to help make the service more accessible for those who use it. The new booking system, which aims to improve patient experience and reduce waiting times, means patients will now be able to book blood test appointments in advance for the first time. SwiftQueue - which is now live across the Trust’s three Phlebotomy sites - East Surrey Hospital, Crawley Hospital, and Horsham Hospital, will replace the Trust’s previous walk-in model and significantly improve service efficiency. To help support a smooth transition, we continued to accept walk-in patients until Monday 31 March 2025. We are also continuing to offer on-the-day blood tests following an Outpatient clinic referral.

Norovirus

In March we had a significant surge in Norovirus at East Surrey Hospital which impacted our hospital operations, particularly through our Emergency Department. More than 90 beds were impacted and seven wards affected at its peak. We declared a Business Continuity Incident to help manage our response internally and with our partners. In addition to stepping up our infection control measures across the site, to keep our patient safe, we took the decision to temporarily restrict visits to affected wards, except in exceptional circumstances, and limit visitors in other areas to one per patient per day. This decision wasn’t taken lightly as we know how important visitors are to families and those recovering in hospital, but I am pleased to say that we have now been able to revert to our normal visiting guidelines for the vast majority of areas. We will be continuing to remind visitors not to visit the site if they have experienced any symptoms of diarrhoea or vomiting in the last 48 hours. As always you can find our latest visiting guidance on our website.

Our partners

Year end and planning for 2025/26

As we end the financial year, our teams have been hard at work on both our end of year finances and carrying out a huge amount of work, including with our system partners across our Surrey and Sussex, on planning for the delivery of services in the year ahead – including assessing priorities and challenges. There’s no doubt that it’s going to be a difficult year balancing all that we want to achieve for our local community with the financial constraints we face, but I know for sure that delivering safe, quality patient care will remain at the heart of our plans.

Move to urgent treatment centres

To increase choice, improve access to urgent care services, and reduce reliance on Emergency Departments (ED), minor injury units and walk-in centres will soon be re-designated as urgent treatment centres. This will help ensure more patients requiring minor injury and minor illness support get the access they need within their local community, avoiding the need for a visit to ED. The Trust will be working with both its ICS partners in Surrey and Sussex as this work progresses to help ensure it can keep its patients and local community updated on the best location for their service need.

Re-Launch of the Joint Mental Health Protocol

In March Surrey County Council and our other mental health partners including SABP re-launched the Joint Mental Health Protocol to support positive patient outcomes and improve discharge and flow in healthcare settings – including for individuals with housing and mental health needs. By supporting the protocol, we can proactively work with our partners to address housing-related delays in discharges, reduce unnecessary hospital stays, and ensure continuity of care. This approach will also support our Trust ambition of reducing local health inequalities.

Trust news

SASH Green Plan week

Delivering better healthcare and sustainability go hand in hand and as part of our Green Plan and the NHS’s goal to deliver a net zero health service by 2040, it’s important that we continue to do what we can to reduce our environmental impact and support the health and wellbeing of our communities. In February we held a green plan week to help share with staff and patients alike our progress on different areas and what changes we are making in real-time to help more people think about how they can play a part in a greener NHS - from green spaces and active travel, to evolving our care processes. Tackling climate change, which is the biggest global health threat is the 21st century, is everyone’s responsibility and we all have an opportunity to make improvements that we will see in our lifetimes.

Star Awards

This month we celebrated the inspiring and brilliant work of our teams at the annual Star Awards, which was held once again in at the Mayor’s Office in Reigate. It was a great opportunity to recognise the amazing work of SASH staff over the last year in categories such as patient experience, safety and quality, and innovation and service improvement. The awards are always such a Trust highlight so a huge congratulations again to all the winners and runners up.

International Women’s Day

In March we also celebrated International Women’s Day 2025 with the Trust’s first Women of the Year ceremony. Taking a few minutes out of busy workdays to recognise those who make such a notable contribution to our Trust and our patients is so important, and the nominations for our first year really showcased the amazing work the women of SASH do every day.

Trust leadership

In March Trust Board members Paula Swann – Chair of the Performance Infrastructure and Resources Committee, and Dr Yasmin Khan – Chair of the Charitable Funds Committee, will both be stepping down from their roles after almost six years. Their support and contributions to the Trust since joining in 2019 have been immeasurable, and while we wish them well in their next respective chapters, the Trust will be looking to recruit two new non-executive directors to take forward their work on security management and doctors disciplinary and the hospital’s charity.

Best wishes,

Angela Stevenson 

Chief Executive