Hospitals in East Yorkshire have launched the healthcare careers of well over 100 apprentices in just over three years.

From those working with older people and those making sure patients get the right nutrition, right through to those working in pharmacy and caring for the bereaved, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has really thought beyond the traditional when it comes to developing new roles and new talent.

And the success of the Trust’s programme speaks for itself, with 93% of the 108 apprentices taken on by the Trust to date going on to gain employment or further study.

So what better time to put those healthcare workers of the future in the spotlight than National Apprenticeship Week (6 to 10 March 2017)? This national celebration is designed to promote apprenticeships as a fast track to a great career, and raise awareness of the benefits amongst employers and the wider community.

Beth Walker (20), a Student Healthcare Scientist from Cottingham, was one of the first clinical apprentices to be taken on by the Trust. She says:

“I always knew I wanted to work in healthcare, but I wasn’t really sure where or doing what. I didn’t want to go to university, so being a doctor was out, but I was keen to do an apprenticeship, so when I saw the advert for an apprenticeship in clinical physiology, I jumped at the chance.

“I finished my apprenticeship last summer, and I enjoyed it so much that I am now working towards a degree through a combination of workplace-based training and online study. After three years, I will qualify as a Clinical Physiologist; not something I would ever have thought about while I was still at college.

“I love the variety that working in the Department of Neurophysiology brings; every day is different, I’m helping different patients every day, and I work within a really supportive team.”

Debbie Elton, Education and Development Advisor for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says:

“We know that college or degree level study is not for everyone, so apprenticeships offer a great opportunity for local people to find an interest, develop a set of skills, and start to build a career around workplace based training.

“By helping local people to find their niche, whether that’s in direct patient care or in one of the support functions such as health sciences or estates which help to keep our services going, apprentices will play a vital part in helping us to deliver great patient care.

“Recruitment within the NHS is only going to get harder and more competitive in the coming years, so it’s also a great way of providing training and development opportunities for local people and of growing our own workforce for the future.

“From the outset, we have been keen to try and create roles which are that little bit different, so one of our first apprenticeships was in the mortuary, for example, and more recently, we also created what we believe to be the first Recreational Coordinator post in an acute hospital setting in the country. Without the help of those staff members who have acted as mentors and made it possible for apprentices to train and progress within our hospitals, none of this would be possible; their willingness to help us foster new talent has been exceptional.”

Debbie continues:

“We also work with a number of locally based education providers to ensure our apprentices are able to study towards relevant qualifications at the same time as gaining hands-on experience. More than 9 in every 10 apprentices we have helped to develop have gone on to employment or further training, which makes us really proud and, more importantly, it means jobs and prospects and great patient care.”

For the third year running, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been more formally recognised for its work on apprenticeships by Health Education England through the NHS Yorkshire and Humber Talent for Care Awards. The 2017 awards ceremony will be held at Hull’s Guildhall on Friday 10^th March to tie in with the City of Culture celebrations, and will see eight people from across Hull Royal infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital competing against their peers for awards. The Trust is also one of three NHS organisations vying to be named ‘Employer of the Year’.

The full list of award nominees is as follows:

Job offers have been made to more than 130 local nursing students who are set to qualify this summer.

A total of 132 people who are in their final year of study at the University of Hull have just been offered permanent roles working at either Castle Hill Hospital or Hull Royal Infirmary.

Interviews have taken place over three days, following a highly successful recruitment event held at the University back in January. Job offers have now been made to the student nurses subject to successful completion of their nursing degrees later this year.

Simon Nearney, Director of Workforce for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says:

“Hospitals across the region are competing for a limited number of newly qualified nursing staff each year, so to have interviewed and be in a position to offer jobs to more than 130 of those is fantastic.

“We have worked really hard in the last year or two to improve the image of our hospitals, to create a better culture within the organisation, and to promote some of the amazing work, research and developments which take place here day after day.

“All the signs seem to indicate that this work is starting to pay off, as this is the second year in which we’ve been able to offer permanent roles to such a high number of final year nursing students, and it is certainly good news for our patients.”

Over the coming weeks and months, the Trust will continue its drive to attract newly qualified nursing staff by developing further links with educational providers. In addition to the work already carried out in Hull, the Trust has also been asked by a number of providers across the North of England to attend other recruitment events, as they have heard such good things about Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Meanwhile, Mike Wright, Chief Nurse for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, is delighted to see so many people who have trained locally now looking to continue working locally. He says:

“I am delighted with the level of interest shown in working for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust at the university recruitment fair. This was really encouraging, and my colleagues and I have been extremely impressed with the calibre of the nursing students we’ve met so far, so it’s great that this has now translated into real job offers for people living and studying locally.

“We know each of those nursing students that has been offered a job will have a particular passion or area of clinical interest, so where we can, we have offered people roles in their preferred areas of work. There has been a high level of interest in emergency care, cancer and elderly care, for example, so these are just three of the specialties which are likely to benefit from additional staff in the coming months.

“All in all, this is a really fantastic result for local hospital care and for our patients and service users, and we look forward to welcoming our next cohort of newly qualified nurses in the autumn at the start of what I hope will be an amazing career for them.”

Professor Julie Jomeen, Interim Dean for the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Hull, said: “We are delighted that the recruitment fair for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been such an overwhelming success.

“A key aim of the School of Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University is to provide a high quality workforce for our region and we are working hard with our partner NHS organisations to realise this aspiration.

“This outcome is therefore extremely positive and an indication that the University and NHS organisations are working together successfully to support the future provision of local healthcare.

“This excellent news comes at a time when the University is investing heavily in its facilities for our healthcare students with a £28 million health campus set to open later this year meaning our students will be better equipped for the working environment than ever.”

CASE STUDY: Gemma Ansel (pictured aboved)

Gemma enrolled on the University Certificate in Health and Social Care Practice, which provides a qualification-free route into higher education for health related subjects at the University of Hull.

After completing the Certificate, Gemma progressed onto a specialist child nursing degree. Then, during her final year, Gemma secured a job as a children’s ward nurse at Hull Royal Infirmary.

Now fully qualified and putting her skills into practice, she is loving her new career.

She said: “It’s really rewarding. When you have a poorly child come onto the ward and you spend time caring for them it’s really good to see them going home healthy and happy.

“My studies really laid the foundation for my job and are put into practice every day.”

The icing on cake was discovering she got a first in her degree.

Gemma said: “I was the first person in my family to go to university and as a mature student I am doubly proud to have got a first. Balancing studying and family life can be tricky but if it’s something you love it doesn’t feel like hard work.”

The mother of the first baby born in Hull during the City of Culture year returned to the Women and Children’s Hospital earlier today for a very special occasion.

Charlotte Marshall and her baby son, Lincoln, watched as the first of 12 ‘tiles’ containing  footprints taken as part of the ‘Born into a City of Culture’ project was installed this morning.

Since 1^st January 2017, footprints have been taken from babies born in the city with a view to creating a large scale artwork over the course of the year, depicting trees throughout the seasons. Baby footprints will form the leaves, while midwives’ handprints will form the supporting trunks.

A total of 381 baby footprints were taken during January, and these have been used in the first tile, which was mounted within the entrance to the Women and Children’s Hospital earlier today. The artwork will now be added to, tile by tile, month on month, before the full picture is expected to be complete in January 2018.

The imaginative design has been worked up by Hull-based marketing and design company, Jenko.

Colin Wilson, Creative Director from Jenko says:

“This has been an incredible project to work on from the outset – we have had such amazing feedback to this most personal of subjects. We are so proud our humble contribution has connected with the people of the region and that everyone can feel part of honouring the new births, new mums and excellent, professional care from the midwifery team.”

Sallie Ward, Community Midwifery Sister for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says:

“Our midwives have been busy collecting footprints over recent weeks, and we’re all delighted with how the first piece looks now it’s in place. It was also lovely to be able to invite Charlotte and baby Lincoln back to see the first tile, which includes his footprint, being installed.

“The project has met with such a positive response, and parents are really keen for their babies to be a part of it, which is just fantastic.”

‘Born into a City of Culture’ has been supported through the 2017 Hull City of Culture Creative Communities programme.

Investment in apprenticeships and a commitment to growing the local workforce is paying dividends for two East Yorkshire hospitals and their patients.

More than 100 apprentices have been taken on by Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust since the summer of 2013, and for the third consecutive year, the team features heavily in an awards shortlist published by Health Education England (HEE).

Eight individuals working across Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital have been shortlisted in six award categories of the 2017 NHS Yorkshire and Humber Talent for Care Awards, including Apprentice of the Year, the Support Staff Learner Award, and Rising Star. The Talent for Care Awards are designed to promote support staff learning opportunities and highlight the many benefits that investment in training and development makes to organisations and communities.

Now Laura Marks, Samantha Hewitt, Charlotte Robinson, Samantha Tranmer, Christine Charlton, Elaine Hua, Michael Duke and Beth Walker are set to compete against leading learners from the likes of Sheffield, Leeds and York Teaching Hospitals Trusts in their respective award categories.

Meanwhile, the Trust itself is one of just three organisations vying to be named ‘Employer of the Year’, a title the Trust’s Education and Development Team also received back in 2014.

Laura Marks (pictured in turquoise above, with ward staff ) works with older people on wards 8, 80, 9 and 90 at Hull Royal Infirmary, and took up what is believed to be the first ever Recreational Coordinator role in an acute NHS hospital. She is now one of three people competing to be named Intermediate Non Clinical Apprentice of the Year. Laura says:

“I’ve been working at HRI for around a year now, and I love my job. I’ve been doing all sorts of things and leading different activities to help older people stay physically active and mentally alert whilst in hospital, and it’s so rewarding.

“It’s great to have been recognised for the work that I’ve done, and to have been shortlisted for this year’s Talent for Care Awards; I just hope I bring home the award for Hull and for elderly medicine on the night!”

Anne Burdis, Education and Development Advisor for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says:

“Recruiting and retaining talented people from within the local community is a vital part of our workforce strategy and, in the past few years, we have helped over 100 people into apprenticeship roles. We’re extremely proud to see that the work we’re doing, with support from our training partners, is paying dividends and we now employ some incredibly talented, caring and committed young people.

“It is not just apprentices who will be celebrated at the Talent for Care Awards, however; those people who have acted as mentors and made it possible for apprentices to train and progress within our hospitals will also be in line for recognition, as without their willingness to foster new talent, none of this would be possible.”

The team from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will attend the Yorkshire and Humber Talent for Care Awards on the evening of Friday 10^th March; timed to coincide with National Apprenticeship Week. For the first time, the event will be held in Hull, at the Guildhall, to coincide with Hull’s 2017 City of Culture celebrations.

Those Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust staff shortlisted for the 2017 Talent for Care Awards and their respective award categories are as follows:

Hospital staff in East Yorkshire will be showing how they have been responding to the drive to improve dignity in care this week.

To tie in with national Dignity Action Day, staff from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will be celebrating with their own special Dignity Day event at the Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology in Cottingham.

Running from 9am to 4pm on Wednesday 1^st February, the event will bring together examples of how staff have been working to ensure patients are treated with both dignity and respect, as Janis Hostad, Lecturer/Education and Development Coordinator at the Trust explains:

“This is the seventh consecutive year in which we’ve marked Dignity Action Day with an event of our own, showcasing the lengths which staff are going to in order to provide care and develop services which are suitably respectful and considerate of patients’ needs and feelings.

“Patients can naturally feel quite vulnerable when they’re coming into hospital and that can be for a number of reasons, for example because they’re elderly, because they don’t have friends and family around them, because they don’t know how their illness will affect them,  or even because the environment they find themselves in isn’t suited to their particular needs.

“In response to this, health staff from across the Trust have been looking at ways of reducing these anxieties and ensuring patients feel they are given choice and control in the way they are treated, no matter how long they’re in hospital for.”

Throughout the day, the main reception area at the Queen’s Centre will play host to numerous information stands explaining how services such as Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, Haematology and many of the Trust’s wards have gone about this task. Examples of the projects on show include a type of radiotherapy gown designed to protect patients’ modesty whilst undergoing radiotherapy treatment, whilst the nursing stands will focus on their roles and specific treatments, and how they continually endeavour to improve dignity for patients.

On the day, patients will also be asked to take part in a special Dignity Survey to find out how they feel about the care they are given, and three lucky members of staff will receive a special Dignity in Care Award, following patient nominations, for going above and beyond in the care of their patients.

Janis continues:

“The day for us is not just about sharing information, it’s about being proud of our achievements and really celebrating the strides we’ve made in promoting dignity in care and making it the norm across our wards and departments.

“To remain in-keeping with the spirit of the day, our staff have once again gone the extra mile and have been busy making homemade cakes and buns to share with visitors on the day. A number of staff are so keen to promote their work that they are planning to come in to host their stands in their own time too.

“We consider dignity in care not just as a ’nice to have’, but as a cornerstone of delivering great care to patients, and we hope that by joining us on the day and finding out how far we’ve come already, our patients and visitors will share their views and help us to improve still further.”

Meanwhile, over at Hull Royal Infirmary, patients and visitors will be invited to share their views on dignity in care with staff within the Patient Experience Hub, just inside in the main tower block. Members of the Patient Experience Team will be in attendance throughout the day to take feedback, offer advice, and discuss expected standards of care.

Children across Hull will rub shoulders with some of the country’s brightest singing stars this year when they perform live on the City Hall stage in celebration of Hull 2017 UK City of Culture.

‘A Song for Hull’ is a joint project between Hull Children’s University, HPSS, and the Hey! Let’s Sing Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust staff choir. In September last year, it was announced that the group’s bid to stage the performance had been successful, and that the team would receive a grant from Hull 2017’s Creative Communities Programme, which is being delivered in partnership with the Big Lottery Fund, to help get it off the ground.

Now planners can reveal that around 240 children from eight schools across the city will have the chance to perform alongside Jonathan Ansell, who found fame on X Factor as part of classical group, G4, in one of the city’s most iconic venues.

As well as Jonathan and around 60 hospital staff, the children will also step on stage with Hull-based rapper, Nineties Boy (aka Luke Chambers) and the Garnett Family, who also shot to stardom last year when they reached the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent.

Helen Garnett, Director and Founder of All For One Choir/member of The Garnett Family, will serve as the musical director for A Song for Hull and coordinate the show, whilst Nineties Boy will pen the lyrics for the finale based on poems written by the children.

Martin Gore, a member of the Hey! Let’s Sing choir and former Chair of Hull Children’s University (HCU), explains how the idea came about:

“The Hey! Let’s Sing choir had its own Britain’s Got Talent experience last year, when we travelled down to Birmingham to perform for Simon Cowell and the other judges in the magnificent Hippodrome. It was at that moment, when I was on stage, that it struck me; shouldn’t every child in Hull be able to have a similar, awe-inspiring experience?

“Upon our return, we got our heads together with members of Hull Children’s University (HCU) and HPSS to develop the idea as a way of showcasing local talent and giving youngsters in Hull a unique and exciting experience.”

Linda Cressey, Managing Director of HPSS Events, brought in G4 frontman Jonathan Ansell and Nineties Boy to the project. She says:

“Jonathan agreed to take part immediately. He has a real desire to support educational causes, and of course Luke is not only a talented musician but also a qualified teacher, so he understands how beneficial this will be to the children.”

For Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, A Song for Hull provides staff with another opportunity to showcase their musical talents and place healthcare at the heart of the local community. Martin continues:

“The Trust is one of the region’s biggest employers, and local children are our next generation of staff, so this partnership is a wonderful way for us to demonstrate our commitment to them and to promote the health and wellbeing benefits which singing brings. I’m just so thrilled that we are now able to make this idea a reality.”

Helen Garnett says of her involvement:

“I am delighted to be supporting A Song for Hull through arrangements and co-writing the piece that will be performed. It has been a privilege to lead the Hey! Let’s Sing choir for the past two years and to guide its members during the many experiences they have had.

“I am passionate about providing people with opportunities to get involved in singing, and it’s wonderful to be working with G4’s Jonathan Ansell again and with Nineties Boy for the first time. It’s going to be an exciting year and I can’t wait to work with both the children and the Hey! Let’s Sing choir on this project.”

But of course, the real stars of the show will be the children themselves. Natasha Banke from HCU says:

“We’ve been careful to involve a cross section of schools throughout the city, and the funding we have received from the Creative Communities Team will help us to prepare the children for their performance and offer discounted tickets to their immediate family, who I’m sure will be bursting with pride.

“Ahead of the performance, all of the children will be asked to write about what Hull means to them personally and the kind of future they want to see for our city, and these thoughts and aspirations will feature heavily on the night.”

Martin Green, CEO and Director of Hull 2017, says:

“This is exactly what Creative Communities is all about – showcasing local talent while giving young people an opportunity to develop that talent by working with national artists. Not only will the children be sharing the stage with a multi-platinum selling artist but they will be performing a song specially written for them based on their own words.”

Work is now underway to agree some of the finer detail of the concert, which will take place on Friday 20^th October at Hull City Hall. Tickets for the show, which will feature a mix of pop music, classical, rap, rock and blues, will go on sale in the coming weeks and are expected to sell fast.

Over 150 student nurses are set to be interviewed next month in a bid to boost the ranks of two local hospitals.

Efforts to improve staffing levels at two of East Yorkshire’s biggest hospitals continue to bear fruit, as Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s ‘Remarkable People, Extraordinary Place’ recruitment campaign continues.

Scores of third year nursing students nearing the end of their degree programmes made a bee-line for the Trust at a recent Hull University recruitment fair, where they spoke to hospital representatives about their areas of clinical interest and plans for their future. As a result, the Trust has secured interviews with 154 final year nursing students out of a total of 183.

The students are set to qualify in September, but will be interviewed next month for permanent roles at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, subject to successful completion of their studies.

The Trust, which provides hospital care at both Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, has been working hard in recent years to revitalise its image and create a better place to work.

Simon Nearney, Director of Workforce for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says:

“We are really excited to be interviewing such a large proportion of this year’s cohort of student nurses. It’s really humbling to see so much talent coming through our local university and even more so that they choose to work for us.

“Hull is not alone in experiencing nurse staffing issues; this is something which hospitals and NHS organisations across the country have been facing in recent years.

“In the past, we have perhaps suffered a little bit from people completing their clinical training in Hull, and then wanting to move on to bigger cities like Leeds, Manchester or London, where they feel there is more going on.

“We knew we had to think and act differently to attract people to the city, and even more so to get the people who have trained in Hull to stay in the area once they qualify. The City of Culture celebrations this year have certainly helped with that by putting Hull on the map and making it an even more attractive proposition.

“It does feel that the tide is turning; I’m delighted to have so many student nurses interested in working with us and we’ve all been really impressed with the calibre of the people we’ve met so far and they cannot wait to get started. The students have filled us with such confidence and I know they will be a great addition our nursing workforce when they qualify this year.”

Patients can get condition specific information at the touch of a button, thanks to one small but significant change made to hospital leaflets.

Scannable square barcodes, commonly known as QR codes, have now been added to all patient leaflets published on Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s website.

This means that, simply by scanning a leaflet’s code with a QR reader installed on a mobile phone or tablet, a person can download a copy of the information straight to their device whilst they are still in the clinic.

Jackie Wileman, Senior Patient Experience Officer for the Trust, explains:

“Patient information is vital in helping people who are receiving hospital care to not only understand their condition, but to give advice on self care and preparing to come into hospital, for example.

“We have largely relied on giving out paper leaflets in the past, but now we have added these special codes to our online information, it means getting your own electronic copy is as simple as just tapping a button.

“This type of instant access means it’s easy for patients or their loved ones to always have information to hand, but it’s also helpful when staff are seeing patients in clinic, to be able to go through the contents with them and then for the patient to be able to take away a copy with a simple scan of the barcode.

“Once downloaded, the leaflet content is able to be changed to large print or translated into one of 100 different languages, meaning it becomes more accessible to a much larger audience. Working in this way should also help to reduce our printing costs over time, too.”

QR scanners can be downloaded via the iStore or Google Play. The full list of leaflets featuring QR codes can be found at www.hey.nhs.uk/patient-leaflets/

Research, prevention strategies, and why migraine tends to affect women in particular, are just three of the topics for discussion as headache and migraine experts from around the world descend on Hull this week.

Guests and speakers from as far afield as Denmark, Norway and the United States will attend the seventh Biennial National Meeting on Headache, organised jointly by the British Association for the Study of Headache (BASH), Migraine Trust and the Department of Neurology at Hull Royal Infirmary.

Dr Fayyaz Ahmed, Consultant Neurologist based at Hull Royal Infirmary, says:

“For a long time, Hull has held a reputation as one of the leading centres for headache and migraine research and treatment in the country. In what is a very special year; our UK City of Culture year; we are proud to be able to bring world renowned experts in headache and migraine to Hull, not only to learn about the advancements we are making here in Hull, but to showcase the wider city and region, and all it has to offer.

“The meeting will give our local Neurologists, Neurology trainees, GPs and general physicians, the chance to hear about some of the latest advances in international headache research, as well as emerging treatments for migraine and other primary headache disorders including cluster headache.”

The two-day summit for professionals, which will also mark the 25^th anniversary, ‘Silver Jubilee’ of BASH, takes place on Thursday 26^th and Friday 27^th January at Lazaat Hotel and Restaurant, Cottingham. The event will comprise case presentations and interactive discussion sessions on topics such as unusual headaches, innovative treatments, and the science behind headaches.

To supplement the BASH professionals’ event, a public information and awareness session will also be held there on Saturday 28^th January. This informal event is being held to enable members of the public to better understand their headache or migraine, to meet the experts, hear about latest treatments and research, and understand when to seek help. The event has been organised in partnership with the Migraine Trust.

Dr Ahmed continues:

“In many respects, Hull is leading the way in the field of migraine and headache treatment, so this week is all about shining a light on the subject, and our city, and getting people talking.

“To have global experts in this field here in Hull is very exciting. We hope they will not only bring expertise and knowledge which can be applied to the care of our patients across East Yorkshire and beyond, but that local people suffering from headache or migraine will also be encouraged to come forward and seek the advice and support they need.”

The 7^th Biennial BASH National Meeting on Headache will be held from 26^th to 28^th January at Lazaat Hotel and Restaurant, Cottingham. The event will consist of a two day conference for professionals on 26^th and 27^th, followed by a public event on 28^th designed to help local headache and migraine sufferers.  For more information and to book on to the public event, visit www.migrainetrust.org/events

People who are unwell are being urged to look at alternatives to Hull Royal Infirmary’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) as winter pressures begin to bite.

Over the last week, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has seen bed occupancy exceed capacity as local hospitals deal with an increase in the amount of sick people admitted through the A&E Department at Hull Royal Infirmary.

Hospital managers are now urging people not to come to A&E unless it is a genuine emergency. The Trust is appealing to the public to use local minor injuries units, visit their GP or pharmacist or call NHS 111 for telephone advice.

In order to free up beds and consultant time to ensure those with more urgent care needs can be accommodated, the Trust will be postponing some routine elective operations and clinics.
Kevin Phillips, Chief Medical Officer for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says:

“Hospitals regularly come under pressure at this time of year, and we do have plans in place to deal with these, but over the last week we have seen a volume of patients been admitted in to our hospitals which is over and above what we would predict for this time of year.

“Many of these are very poorly people who are then being admitted to hospital, but there are still some which could be treated elsewhere.

“We are urging people to exercise common sense and to look at alternative treatment options unless they are seriously ill or a person’s condition is considered life-threatening. This will allow us to concentrate our efforts on the very poorly people who are within our hospitals at the moment.

“The decision to postpone any operation or clinic is not one we take lightly as we are mindful of the impact this can have on a patient and their family. However, to ensure those who require more urgent care needs, we are going to have to postpone some routine elective operations and clinics. Those who are affected will be contacted directly and reappointed at a later date.

“I would personally like to pay tribute to the doctors, nurses and therapists who are helping our services keep going at this moment by ensuring a flow is maintained through the hospital and the limited space we do have is being utilised to its maximum potential.

“We are continuing to work extremely hard with our partners who are playing a huge part in creating additional capacity in the community to allow us to safely discharge those patients who are medically fit to leave our hospitals.”