This is a momentous day, marking 75 years of all the dedicated staff who decided to join the National Health Service, which was introduced to provide healthcare for all, no matter what their circumstances. This compassion and commitment to helping others is what all our staff have in common as NHS professionals.
Southmead Hospital Charity and Gloucestershire Cricket Club
Today we were visited by Will Brown, CEO of Gloucestershire Cricket Club, along with some key players, who presented our staff with a birthday card, which will remain in our Brunel atrium for staff and visitors to sign. Will gave a touching speech about his personal experience as a patient recently here at NBT, where our staff treated him following an accident where he broke part of his neck - you can read Will's story here. It is stories like Will's that make our staff so proud each day of the work we all do to serve our local community, and we are delighted to announce that Gloucestershire Cricket Club have chosen our Southmead Hospital Charity as one of their charity partnerships for this year. They have also supported the NHS birthday by providing their official mascot, G-Rilla, to offer happiness hugs to NHS staff and visitors this week, which has already had a great response!
Birthday cards have also been distributed to all our Trust locations, including Women & Children's, Pathology, Learning & research, Cossham, Bristol Centre for Enablement, Frenchay, Weston and South Bristol Dialysis Unit for people to sign.
We have created a video montage showing some of the activities from the week.
NBT colleagues represent the Trust at London events
Colleagues from NBT represented the Trust in London today at a service at Westminster Abbey and a reception at 10 Downing Street to commemorate the NHS turning 75.
The two events were held to celebrate NHS workers and volunteers who have contributed to NHS services as well as marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the NHS.
The reception at 10 Downing Street involved invitees being greeted by the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other political leaders of government, and was attended by Omar Bah, Facilities Team Leader.
Nida Digma, Practice Development Nurse for Stroke and Neurology; Volunteer Stewart Howes; Tony Hudgell, Director of Operational Estates and Facilities; Sandro Mangino, a Healthcare Assistant based on gate 33B Urology; and Sanjoy Shah, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, attended the Westminster Abbey service.
Colleagues have described being invited to attend the events today as a “great privilege” and an “honour” and how they felt “so proud” to represent NBT.
Stories of our staff and services
The NHS is all about the people, so this week some of our staff have been sharing their stories about their journey within the NHS, as well as their aspirations of the future of the NHS. You can see the first story from Owen Dunkley of Medical Records here, and we will be sharing more throughout the week. As well as sharing some of our history, we've also been highlighting some of the innovative practices that are taking the NHS into the future.
Innovation
The NHS has been a world leader in healthcare innovation over the last 75 years as it’s evolved to meet the needs of patients, and I’m so proud that NBT continues to be a part of this forward-thinking approach.
Robotics are being used clinically across our Trust, from procedures using robotic equipment to small pill-sized cameras being used to help detect pathology. Our three surgical robots, two of which were funded by Southmead Hospital Charity, have been used in cancer surgery, colorectal, urology and recently expanded to include gynaecology. The advantages of the robot are that we can offer treatment to our patients which is less invasive and means a shorter hospital stay post procedure which greatly improves outcomes. Our colorectal surgical team recently celebrated their 100th procedure (pictured) which is a fantastic achievement, meanwhile our Urology department has carried out over 3,000 procedures since 2014 – congratulations to everyone involved in reaching these incredible milestones. I’m so excited to see how we continue to develop our robotics surgery services in the future.
It’s not just clinical areas where robotics are being used, these innovations can also be seen in areas such as Facilities. Our 12 Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in Brunel carry out approximately 9,000 jobs per month, assisting our portering team and with manual handling tasks to help keep our hospital running behind the scenes.
These examples are just a few of the ways in which NBT continues to help lead the way in healthcare innovation. I know there is a range of work going on across NBT to help drive improvements in each area of our trust and I want to say a sincere thank you for these efforts.
Staff Experience EXPO and activities
We’ve been promoting different aspects of our staff experience offer, including our Staff Wellbeing Psychologists and Chaplaincy Team, as well as our Sustainability Team sharing information about our commitment to Carbon Net Zero by 2030. There have also been many musical performances from local performers, our volunteer pianists, and Horfield Primary School Choir. Our therapy dogs have also brought joy to staff and visitors, and our Women and Children's Health Division have held a garden party.