The first wave of the COVID19 pandemic asked a lot of all hospital staff. From doctors and nurses to porters and housekeepers, life on the frontline of hospital care took a rapid and unexpected twist in just a matter of days, but what of the other teams working behind the scenes?

Today is Clinical Engineering Day, so it seems only right to highlight how the work of this small but perfectly formed team supported frontline staff, enabling the carers to continue caring for critically ill patients while the techie bits were taken care of.

Professor Andy Beavis, head of medical physics for the trust, takes up the story:

“Every one of us working for the trust was impacted in some way by COVID19 back in the Spring, and many people stepped forward to contribute their skills in different ways.

“One of the great positives that came out of the situation was the spirit of how staff pulled together and worked to deliver services in the middle of the biggest challenge we have ever faced. For me, nowhere was this more evident than within our own clinical engineering team.”

Clinical engineer Dean Young tests a ventilator

At any given time, this team of 36 engineers has an enormous inventory of medical equipment to service and maintain, from equipment used in the care of premature babies right through to the care of older people. Among the items on their lists are heart rate monitors, thermometers, pressure relieving mattresses and ventilators, anaesthetic machines and ultrasound scanners, and the list is always increasing. Last year there were 22,000 pieces of equipment in the inventory, but with the arrival of COVID-19 came a growth in the amount of equipment being used, and that figure is now closer to 30,000.  The team must also ensure items don’t get stuck in the service cycle, and that equipment is freely available to wards and teams whenever and wherever it’s needed.

Towards the start of 2020, as the scale of the COVID19 challenge was becoming more apparent and as ventilators became the most sought after item of the year to date, the team soon realised that demand for their knowledge and skills within the trust would skyrocket.

“From the outset, the team was worried about the availability of equipment for frontline clinical teams such as ventilators and infusion pumps, and the associated implications for patient care; such items were considered essential in the initial management of the effects caused by the virus,” Andy continues.

“A significant part of the engineers’ work in the early weeks, therefore, was helping to source, locate, collect and transfer equipment from wards and theatres to those parts of the hospital which were most in need. The engineers made sure those staff on the receiving end were briefed on how to use the items and manage any risks, but it soon became apparent that there was still an unfamiliarity for some staff around using equipment in ways they may never have done before.

“At this point, this small team of engineers put their own convenience to one side and decided to establish 24/7 technical cover in order to support and reassure those staff working on the frontline of the coronavirus effort. This was not without its challenges as the team is ordinarily designed to work a ‘standard’ five day working week, but support for our patients and intensive care staff was central to all our discussions, and the engineers were really keen to step up and play their part.”

Andrew Mills sets about fault-finding on a humidifier

Almost immediately, the team agreed and put in place a split shift system, providing on-call cover throughout the night for more than 16 weeks.

“One of the other issues we had to overcome was that the team members each had different specialisms and areas of expertise, meaning not all of the team were familiar with troubleshooting or maintaining all types of systems. Before the on-call system was started, the team overcame this by developing service packs of information and cross-training each other to ensure they, and the staff they were supporting, could be confident that any given problem could be dealt with.

“While delivering this high level of support, the team also ensured that extra new equipment being supplied to the trust to support the COVID effort was brought into use as soon as possible, and kept more routine non-COVID equipment maintenance going.

“The team would say they simply provided what was expected of them at such a time, but what I saw was a genuine willingness to help and a real commitment to supporting others.

“Just like many other frontline workers, they too sacrificed their own personal or family time to support the COVID19 effort. The team underwent appropriate Fit testing and PPE training to be able to work in the most high-risk areas around our hospitals and ensure patients could receive the high quality care they needed. I’m incredibly proud of our clinical engineers.”

A piece of artwork created by world famous artist, Damien Hirst, will be displayed in Hull Royal Infirmary from November.

Reproduced on perspex the Butterfly Rainbow was created by Damien Hirst to show support for the NHS during the Coronavirus crisis and this is one of a number of donated artworks to several hospitals within the NHS.

The donation to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) supports the Trust’s commitment to the arts, outlined in Flourish – HUTH’s hospital arts strategy, which recognises that the arts and culture can keep people well, aid recovery, and help meet major challenges such as ageing, long-term conditions, loneliness and mental health.

HUTH Chief Executive, Chris Long, said: “There is overwhelming evidence that shows just what a difference the arts, creative thinking and creative projects can make to hospital environments, patients, carers, visitors and staff.

“We support arts and creativity in our hospitals, and we are committed to growing this work so that we can make the best of what creative approaches and professionals can offer to healthcare – alongside our medical treatments, doctors, nurses and other clinical staff. We are very grateful to Damien Hirst for giving us this opportunity and for acknowledging the contribution of the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Butterfly Rainbow is made up of bands of coloured butterfly wings, one of the artist’s best‐known motifs. A limited edition of the work was produced with all profits donated to NHS Charities Together, raising a total of £1,508,172.

Damien Hirst said: “I wanted to do something to support the many people who are risking their lives to help those in need during this time of crisis. The rainbow is a sign of hope and I’m so pleased to have released these prints to help fund the brilliant work being done by NHS staff across the country.”

Flourish – HUTH’s hospital arts strategy was launched at a Yorkshire and Humber regional event at Hull Royal Infirmary in 2018, attended by Lord Howarth of Newport, Co-Chair with Ed Vaizey MP of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing. Also present were key figures from the NHS, local authorities and arts organisation across the region.

David Haire, Project Director Fundraising at HUTH, said: “Our hospital arts programme is being recognised at a national level as good practice, as this latest donation illustrates. We are very proud of how far we have come since launching our strategy, and our projects are allowing the Hospital to really embrace the many ways in which creativity can enhance its work with patients, visitors and staff. Our programmes are highly valued by all who come into contact with them, because they make such a positive difference.”

Since then, the Hospitals Trust has been busy delivering several innovative arts and health programmes in its wards, corridors, waiting rooms and at patient’s bedsides. For example:

Talking Pictures: a set of 11 bespoke images, designed in a unique collaboration between HUTH speech and language therapists and illustrator Simon Crook – to stimulate patients and enable a more comprehensive range of assessments and treatments for adult stroke patients.

Dementia-friendly ward environments: a coordinated visual programme in HUTH’s elderly wards using bright colour stripes, large flower-images and corridor artwork to help patients with dementia orientate and find calm

Reading Rooms: in partnership with Hull Libraries, with funding from the James Reckitt Library Trust, this is a pioneering project using specially trained volunteers to read poetry and prose to patients and visitors – to inspire, uplift, stimulate positive conversations and spread moments of joy.

A new website has launched across the Humber, Coast and Vale area to help pregnant women stop smoking – with their loved ones also encouraged to quit at the same time to help them succeed in kicking the habit.

Humber, Coast and Vale, an area which includes the cities of Hull and York and large rural areas across Northern Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire, has one of the highest smoking at delivery rates in England with 14.4% of women in the area known to be smokers when they give birth, compared to a national average of 9.8%.

Smoking is harmful to your unborn baby so quitting is the best thing you can do to give your child a healthy start to life. It can be challenging to give up but it’s never too late to quit – even if you’re in the latter stages of pregnancy.

When you stop smoking you reduce your risk of complications in pregnancy and birth, and are more likely to have a healthier pregnancy and healthier baby. Stopping smoking also reduces the risk of stillbirth and sudden infant death syndrome, also known as cot death.

The Bump the Habit website contains lots of information and features to help pregnant women give up smoking, including a service finder tool which shows where their nearest stop smoking service is located to enable easy access and improve their chances of successfully quitting as you’re up to four times more likely to quit with their expert help and advice.

It also includes real-life stop smoking stories, a myth-busting section and an area for health and care professionals which contains guidance from national organisations.

There are also financial benefits to stopping smoking, with the average packet of 20 cigarettes costing £11.15, and the Bump the Habit website features a quitting calculator which works out how much money you would save if you were to give up.

A person who smokes 20 cigarettes a day could save almost £340 per month on average if they were to quit – which could pay for the redecoration of the nursery, or for a new television (for all those sleepless nights).

Beverley Geary, Chief Nurse at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Senior Responsible Officer for the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership’s Local Maternity System said:

“It can be challenging to stop smoking but it’s the single best thing you can do for your health and the health of your unborn baby. If your partner, friends or family members also smoke you could suggest you stop together so you can support each other to make the process that little bit easier.

“You’re more likely to stop smoking with the right assistance rather than willpower alone so speak to your midwife and local stop smoking services as they can provide effective non-judgmental help and support, while the Bump the Habit website contains lots of information and advice to help you with your journey to becoming smoke-free.”

For more information, please visit www.bumpthehabit.org.uk

A new GP referral service will be trialled at Hull Hospitals this winter to prevent patients having to make unnecessary trips to A&E.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is opening a new Acute Care Navigation Hub at Hull Royal Infirmary as part of a four-week trial.

GPs taking part in the trial will be able to use the hub to discuss patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week instead of sending them to Hull Royal Infirmary’s Emergency Department (ED) for assessment.

Stacey Healand, the trust’s project lead for the Acute Care Navigation Hub, said: “GPs will be able to ask our experts in specialties like elderly medicine, respiratory or orthopaedics for advice about their patients in a single phone call, at any hour of the day or night.

“We are hoping this new hub will prevent around 60 patients having to make unnecessary trips to ED by giving their GPs immediate access to the information, support and expertise they require.

“We expect this new system will give patients a far better experience, sparing often elderly people the inconvenience of having to come out in the cold and wait in our Emergency Department for long periods of time. We want to see if we can use the hub to turn emergency, unscheduled care into scheduled care at every opportunity.”

The new hub is part of the range of measures being introduced by the trust this winter to ensure patients continue to receive the best possible care over winter when pressure on services could increase because of the pandemic, bad weather and seasonal illnesses like flu, RSV and norovirus.

A new winter ward, additional nurses, admin and portering staff and three new additional wards behind Hull Royal’s tower block to support, assess and treat patients with respiratory illnesses or suspected Covid-19 are also among the measures.

Opening on November 2, the hub will run for four weeks initially. Results will then be analysed and if it proves a success, the hub will be extended to all GPs using our hospitals.

A national campaign will be virtually launched on Wednesday, October 7th at the Castle Hill Hospital to support recruitment to the health and care workforce in Hull and East Yorkshire.

Under the banner, East Yorkshhire: ‘the secret’s out’,  the new campaign will seek to attract more people to vital roles in Hull and East Yorkshire from around the country and beyond. Through a microsite, social media, street advertising, mini-brochure, and a series of short films, the campaign will be ‘confident and slightly mischievous’ in celebrating a ‘warm and wonderful, green and gorgeous, distinctive and diverse’ region that is ‘well educated, well connected and almost ridiculously affordable’.

John Skidmore, Director of Adults, Health and Customer Services, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, explains:

“Like most people who are lucky enough to live in this region, I happen to think that this place is something of a ‘hidden gem’. That’s why we have based our campaign around the stories of those people who came to work here, fell in love with it, and now want to let others in on the secret.

“We have always faced competition from major population centres for the best talent, but things are changing, heads are being turned and more and more people are looking at our region. This is the first time that every public sector organisation has got together to shout about our incredible patch, and I think we’re onto something!”

The unprecedented campaign has the support of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Hull City Council, City Health Care Partnership CIC, Hull CCG, East Riding of Yorkshire CCG, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, Humberside Fire and Rescue Services, Humberside Police, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Hull York Medical School, and the University of Hull.

It will feature those people who have come to live, work and play in the area from as far afield as Nigeria, Poland, India, USA, and every corner of the UK. One person behind the campaign, which will share information about the region’s schools, housing, standard of living, and quality of life, is former cabinet minister, Alan Johnson, who now lives in the area, and will be a keynote speaker at the launch event. John Skidmore continues:

“As a former Health Secretary, who has become ‘one of us’, we are thrilled that he has agreed to support the campaign, and become an honorary ambassador, one of many who have come forward to share their incredible and varied stories.”

Clare Killingback, Programme Director for Physiotherapy, University of Hull came to the region earlier this year from Bournemouth to start a physio department from scratch:

“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a blank slate. Everything has been brilliant. I’ve loved it. We couldn’t quite believe what we could get for our money. We were living in a one-bedroom flat in Dorset. Here, we have a fantastic house with a garden. I’m growing vegetables and (my partner) has got a music studio in the loft. It’s fabulous … but you do want to keep it a bit of a secret!”

Chris Long, Chief Executive at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, who will also speak at the event, said:

“Many regions claim to have a unique identity, but I have honestly never known anywhere quite like Hull and East Yorkshire. It constantly offers so much in a charming, funny, understated, warm and welcoming way.

Our trust alone has almost 10,000 employees from every corner of the UK, and over 80 nationalities. A shared experience for those new to the area is the quick transition from knowing little about it, to shouting about it from the rooftops. I really think this campaign captures that.

It may go a little against the grain, but it’s about time we let people know just what we have here.”

East Yorkshhire: the secret’s out will be streamed live on YouTube from 9-10am on October 7th and can be viewed through: www.tinyurl.com/thesecretsout2020

www.eastyorkshhire.co.uk

Birth partners will be able to join women for pregnancy scans from Tuesday (October 6) after measures were introduced to protect staff and patients from Covid-19.

Maternity and sonography teams at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital have worked together for months to find a way for birth partners to attend 20-week scans.

From tomorrow, partners will be able to attend the 20-week scan and see the unborn babies on a second screen, separate from scanning machines, in the same room as women and sonographers.

Janet Cairns, Head of Midwifery at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We have been working for months to look at how we can adapt our service to allow partners to attend scans.

“Unfortunately, our options were limited because of the size of our scan rooms and our waiting area. Space in our hospital has to be prioritized for patient care and we thank people for their understanding as we’ve worked to find a solution.

“Introducing a second screen in each room allows us to maintain social distancing, minimizing the risk of infection for the couple and our staff.”

Second screens have been installed for mums-to-be to view the scan in progress with their partner in scan rooms while the sonographer will continue to use the screen on existing scanning machines.

Janet Cairns said: “It’s not been quite as straightforward as people would imagine as we’ve had to fund the cost of additional equipment at a time when NHS resources need to be concentrated on the pandemic and its recovery.

“We’re very grateful that our trust has recognised the impact this has been having on women and families and have supported our work to find a solution.

“We understand how difficult it’s been for families and we’re grateful for their patience and understanding during this difficult time for them and our staff.”

The reintroduction of enabling partners to attend the 20-week scan is the latest easing of restrictions introduced in March at the start of the pandemic in line with national guidance.

Named birth partners can stay with women during labour and for a short time after the baby’s birth. Those same people can also arrange booked visiting slots with the staff on Rowan ward following the baby’s birth.

Other restrictions are under constant review by midwifery teams and will be lifted as soon as it is considered safe to do so.

A Consultant Vascular Radiologist in Hull has performed a world-first in keyhole surgery to save a patient with a life-threatening aneurysm.

Dr Raghu Lakshminarayan led a team including consultants, radiologists and anaesthetists along with Interventional nurses, radiographers, theatre nurses and ODPs, to save the patient by performing the world’s first fenestrated Altura graft at Hull Royal Infirmary.

With his patient, a man in his 80s, now back home after the procedure, Dr Raghu said: “My worry all the time is about the patient and how he is doing. I just wanted to see everything was right with the new device and I was relieved that it was.”

The patient developed an aneurysm – an abnormal bulge or swelling – in his aorta, the major blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body, around ten years ago but recovered after surgery.

However, he recently developed a second swelling close to where his previous surgery had been carried out, just below his right kidney. That previous surgery and the position of the second aneurysm meant conventional surgery was not an option this time.

Instead, Dr Raghu worked with Lombard Medical in Oxfordshire to create a special fenestrated (window) Altura graft, the first of its kind in the world, to save the man.

Normal fenestrated grafts are a single cylinder with two “windows” which the surgeon positions in front of the patient’s kidney arteries to keep them functioning. Altura grafts, on the other hand, come in two parts, without fenestrations, and have been used below the kidneys up until now.

However, Dr Raghu planned to help design windows in both grafts to create the “fenestrated Altura graft” – a two-cylinder graft with fenestrations over the kidneys – to save his patient.

Dr Raghu said: “The company had discussed this possibility with me about this time last year to see whether I would work with them. I made multiple trips there to use flow models and also tests on cadavers to see what worked well. However, Covid-19 came along and the work was paused. When this patient then came to us and I was able to put two and two together.

“It was explained to the patient that his options were not doing anything or performing the procedure with a completely new graft. If we did nothing, the aneurysm would have burst, although we couldn’t say when, and that would be life threatening.

“He was aware that what we were trying to do was a world’s first.”

Using a CT scan and 3D printing, Dr Raghu was able to evaluate the fenestrated Altura graft to his exact specifications in relation to the patient’s kidney arteries.

Surgery was then carried out by Dr Raghu and the team on the patient at Hull Royal infirmary. Working to dimensions of 6mm diameters for the windows, the whole procedure was carried out as keyhole surgery.

The team included Mr George Smith (Consultant Vascular Surgeon), Dr Vivek Shrivastava and Dr Saira Sayeed, both Consultant Vascular Radiologists, and Consultant Anaesthetist Dr Christopher Rigg,

Over four and a half hours, the graft with the two tubes to cover the aneurysm was inserted from the top of each leg with the fenestrations over the kidney arteries to allow the stent extension to be fitted from tubes inserted just below the man’s collar bone and moved into the kidney fenestration.

Dr Raghu said: “Knowing what you’re doing is the first in the world does add to the pressure during the procedure because you don’t know how the graft will behave.

“Even though you’ve practiced on flow models or cadavers before, you don’t know how it will behave in the patient or orientate itself. If you’re halfway through and the windows are at 2pm on a clock face and the patient’s kidney arteries are at 4pm, you know you’re in trouble. But it went well.”

The patient was well enough to go home after 12 days.

Dr Raghu said: “I’m very proud to have been able to perform this procedure here in Hull and be part of the evolution of grafts. This is possible only because of a fantastic team of professionals from various specialties willing to work together for the common good of the patient.”

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is hoping to receive more than £3m of government winter funding to help Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital this winter.

Seasonal illnesses like flu among an ageing population, falls caused by bad weather and viruses like RSV and bronchiolitis among children has resulted in major pressures on beds during previous winters.

Plans for this winter are already in place with the threat of a second spike of Covid-19 and hospital services already impacted by the pressures of the pandemic.

A flu campaign involving a large-scale vaccination programme to help every member of staff avoid the flu and a plan to manage potential problems with the EU exit are also in place.

Michelle Kemp, Deputy Chief Operating Officer

Deputy Chief Operating Officer Michelle Kemp said: “We have been working for months on plans to see us through winter, regardless of a second wave or not.

“We are doing everything we can to help you or your loved one if you need us and make sure our services and our teams are in the best possible shape.

“But this isn’t just about what we’re doing – you can play a major part in this by only coming to our Emergency Department (ED) with genuine emergencies so we can help those with life-threatening and serious illnesses and injuries.

“If you do this, our hospitals will be able to manage the relentless pressure of winter and whatever else comes our way.”

The trust’s winter plan includes

• A new winter ward opening in December with 22 extra beds
• Pathology services expanded for swift diagnosis, allowing treatment to begin
• A new contact and acute referral service for GPs
• Extra nurses and porters in ED to transfer patients who need admitted onto wards
• Additional admin staff on wards to speed up discharge for patients well enough to go home
• A new at-home IV service to give antibiotics to sick children, enabling them to stay at home instead of in hospital
• Extra clinicians including consultants, specialist nurses and surgical staff
• Seven-day services in the Cardiology Unit and Cardiac Cath Lab to help patients with heart conditions

In addition, we have plans for more than £500,000 to be invested in additional clinical support services including the flu campaign, pharmacy, diagnostic services such as MRI and CT and therapies to ensure patients get access to rehabilitation and support.

Extra nurses will also be recruited to work as part of the teams at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.

Work begins this week on the £60m transformation of Hull Royal Infirmary.

A new, three-storey entrance, an assessment unit, modern pharmacy, restaurant, shops, improved facilities for parents of sick children and a multi-faith area will be part of the major construction programme lasting two years.

Subject to both planning approval and business case approval, construction work is expected to transform the front of the tower block, a landmark building in Hull City Centre which has remained largely unchanged for more than 50 years.

Duncan Taylor, Director of Estates, Facilities and Development at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The aim is for us to have better use of more flexible space to deliver our services.

“Staff, visitors and patients will benefit from a fantastic facility at the front of the building with shops, a new restaurant and waiting facilities and overnight facilities for parents of children in our paediatric department.”

Wards 36, 37 and 38 have been created behind the ambulance bay for the Emergency Department with 52 additional beds in response to the pandemic.

Ward 36 opened this weekend as a 12-bed assessment facility which will be used to isolate and treat patients with confirmed or suspected cases of Covid-19, other infectious diseases and seasonal illnesses more common during winter, including flu.

The Acute Medical Unit and the Ambulatory Care Unit including the Surgical Ambulatory Care Unit have already moved temporarily to Wards 37 and 38, allowing construction work to begin on a combined unit for patients who require further assessment before admission onto a ward or discharge home.

Work on the new, much larger and self-contained assessment unit is expected to take around three months, providing better facilities for patients with views over the front gardens and natural light.

Pharmacy will move to the back of the ground floor, with a new robotic arm installed to pick prescriptions.

The “Yellow Brick Road” weaving through the gardens from Argyle Street to the main entrance will be closed off with eight-foot timber fences to protect people from the construction work over the next few weeks ahead of work on the new front entrance beginning in earnest in October.

Mr Taylor said: “There may be some inevitable disruption to allow us to carry out this major transformation but these facilities are long-awaited on this site.”

Frontline staff caring for patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 are being prioritised as part of a campaign this year to protect vital NHS services and patients during the pandemic.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is launching a major vaccination programme to offer the flu jab to all clinical and non-clinical staff at Hull Royal Infirmary, Hull Women and Children’s Hospital, Hull Eye Hospital, the Queen’s Centre and Castle Hill Hospital.

Last year, around 83 per cent of trust staff received the flu vaccine to protect them, their families and their patients from the virus.

As the trust prepares for a potential second wave of Covid-19 over the winter months, plans are also under way to ensure as many staff as possible are vaccinated against flu, with staff working on wards with Covid-19 patients or other clinically vulnerable patients prioritised.

Chief Executive Chris Long said: “This year, more than any other year before, it is essential that as many people as possible are vaccinated against the flu.

“We know health care workers are at greater risk of catching flu because of their increased exposure to illnesses so we want to do everything possible to protect our staff from what can be a very serious illness.

“We need our people to be fit and healthy, especially this year, so they are there to look after people when they need us most. Each and every one of us also needs to do everything we can to prevent spreading the flu to our patients, who are already seriously ill.”

Around 200 vaccinators have been trained by the trust’s Occupational Health team to deliver the vaccine in every ward and clinic across all hospitals. Vaccinators will be available to offer the jab to shift workers.

Non-clinical staff will also be able to attend special, socially-distanced clinics at both Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital to receive their vaccine.

Adults who are at most risk of flu are being urged to take up the offer of a free flu jab. They include includes pregnant women, those with a long-term condition like a heart problem, kidney disease, severe asthma or those with lowered immunity. People with a BMI of 40 and above, those with learning disabilities, neurological conditions, problems with spleens, diabetes or those who have had a stroke should also get a free flu vaccine.

The free jab scheme is also being extended this year to those on the NHS Shielded Patient List for Covid-19, health and social care workers employed through personal budgets to deliver domiciliary care and children aged 11 by December 31.

Later in the year, the free flu vaccine may be given to people aged 50 to 64. More information on this will become available over the next few weeks. However, if you’re aged 50 to 64 and in an at-risk group, you should not delay having your flu vaccine.

Mr Long said it was crucial that those eligible for a free flu jab took up the offer to protect the NHS this winter.

He said: “The public can help us by getting their own flu vaccine. If we all play a part in protecting ourselves, our families and our communities from the flu, it means we’ve got a better chance of ensuring hospital services can keep running even if we are hit by a second wave of Covid-19.

“Getting the flu vaccine means we’re less likely to be overwhelmed by severe cases of the flu at the same time as we’re trying to help people who may catch Covid-19 if there is a second wave.”