Suzanne Rankin
Chief Executive

This week I’d like to talk about staff views on working at Ashford and St Peter’s. Last week we received the results of the 2019 National Staff Survey, completed between October-December 2019. The purpose of the survey is to collect staff views about working in their NHS organisation. The data is used to improve local working conditions and experience for teams, and ultimately to improve patient care.

The survey is completed annually so views can be monitored over time, allowing the NHS to compare the experiences of staff in similar organisations, and to compare the experiences of staff in a particular organisation with the national picture. I’m delighted that our response rate increased by 8% in 2019 and was completed by 2003 colleagues (350 more than 2018). It’s really important that staff share their views so we can get a better understanding of what is working well and where we can make improvements together.

Suzanne Rankin
Chief Executive

This week I wanted to talk about COVID-19 (Coronavirus). I’m sure you’ll all be aware of COVID-19; there has been a great deal of media speculation and much talk about how the UK will cope if the virus spreads.

A detailed overview of the background to the virus including epidemiology, virology, transmission and clinical features is available here.

This message is really to give an update on the current national picture and to share the steps that the NHS has in place to manage the situation, along with what we’re doing at ASPH.

Tom Smerdon
Director of Strategy and Sustainability

Following on from my message back in October - ASPH Transformation: Our Trust, Our Future – I’d like to update you on the progress we have made towards delivering the exciting plans to improve services and facilities across our Trust and local community.

This is all about delivering on our Together We Care strategy and aiming to provide the best possible experience and care to our patients, facilities with excellent amenities for staff, patients and visitors, and working with our local communities to improve health and wellbeing.

The work is complex and wide-ranging, and takes time to deliver but progress is being made all the time on individual projects. You will have seen the changes happening around our hospitals but not all of the progress is yet that obvious so I wanted to give you an update on just some of the work underway at present.

Suzanne Rankin
Chief Executive

I know last week was a particularly busy one for the Trust, dealing with norovirus on top of the usual winter pressures, the associated visiting restrictions and precautions. We will send a full update on the norovirus situation separately but it is improving and I would like to say a huge thank you to all. It’s been a supreme team effort, from those caring directly for patients on the ward, to those standing in the front entrances of the hospitals and car parks alerting visitors and encouraging hand washing. And of course all of the support ‘behind the scenes’, managing bed capacity, enhanced cleaning regimes, getting information to patients and visitors and keeping colleagues updated.

Dealing with events like this really does take a team and I’m proud that all of Team ASPH, including several volunteers, stepped up so ably and went above and beyond for the safety of patients.