This week we will be celebrating our wonderful colleagues at our Trust and I would personally like to thank them for all that they do.
Tomorrow (12 May) is Nurses’ Day and Saturday (14 May) is Operating Department Practitioners Day (ODP) and as a Trust we’ll be making every effort to recognise and celebrate them.
I want to thank each and every nurse and ODP, for their compassion, selflessness, and for going over and above to provide excellent care for our communities.
As a nurse, I know how challenging the role of a nurse can be, and that’s without the added pressures of working in a global pandemic!
The last couple of years have been extremely tough, and throughout this time our nursing and ODP colleagues have shown incredible resilience and dedication.
Thursday and Saturday will be days to celebrate, reflect, and show our appreciation for the huge contribution our colleagues and those nursing and ODP colleagues from across the county’s health and social care system make every single day.
You also may not be aware that an ODP is the person who will provide skilled care for you or your loved one from the moment you arrive in the operating theatre department to when you are discharged from the recovery room.
They aim to build up a rapport with patients when they arrive at theatre at probably one of their most vulnerable times and they work to ensure that all goes smoothly with their care. The day is an opportunity to spread the word far and wide about the role of ODPs.
Last Thursday was also International Day of the Midwife and at the Trust we recognised our dedicated midwifery team, who do such an incredible job for the thousands of women, babies, and families we care for every year.
I hope you managed to see some of our social media channels on the day where we carried videos of colleagues talking about why they choose to become midwives.
Look out on SaTH’s social media channels on Thursday and Saturday to find out about our fantastic nurses and ODPs (Twitter – @sathnhs / facebook – The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust / Insta – sathnhs)
Whilst we are celebrating our colleagues, it is also crucial to recognise how important the views of our patients and carers are in improving our care and shaping our future services.
There is an exciting opportunity for those who have used our services to become part of Speciality Patient Experience groups at our Trust and share with us their valuable insight and perspective.
The areas covered include medicine, emergency, surgery, women’s health, maternity, and children and young people, support services and corporate services.
Representatives of these groups will work with our services across the specialities to represent the voice of hospital patients. Any patient or carer who has accessed services within the Trust during 2021/ 2022 is invited to apply.
We would love to hear from you if you can commit approximately three hours a month to support the work. For more information on the role and recruitment process please email sath.patientexperience@nhs.net or contact 01743 261000 ext 3032. The closing date for applications is Thursday 30 June 2022.