I will begin my blog this month with two pieces of positive news which came out last week. First that the Government has announced that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has been added to its New Hospital Programme and that the James Paget Hospital (JPUH) will receive full funding to be completely rebuilt by 2030.

Secondly the opening of the JPUH’s new concept ward where the ribbon was cut by Dame Ruth May (photo below), Chief Nursing Officer for England. This is the second time in as many months Dame Ruth has visited the hospital and it is great to have her support and leadership so visible in Norfolk and Waveney.

National spotlight and investment in our system will greatly benefit staff who work in our region, patients and local communities, now and in years to come.

Thank you to everyone who attended our event earlier this month to celebrate International Nurses Day and International Day of the Midwife which colleagues from right across joined. It was a pleasure to open the lunchtime webinar (photo below) and we had lots of interesting speakers reflecting on the professions. I found the session to be really uplifting, inspiring and motivating.

Our system remains very challenged when it comes to the length of stays people having in hospital, discharging people when they are well enough to continue their recovery at home, and ultimately flow through our system. I am grateful for the hard work and commitment health and care staff are putting in to deal with this on a daily basis.

There are some things that we know would help improve this area for both staff and patients quite quickly. One of these is having better systems to track patients who are going to be discharged on a single system which different parts of the system can link up on. We hope to have a new system rolled out in the next six months which will enable real time access to what is happening with a patient on their discharge pathway.   

We are also keen that we have a really strong integrated team of professionals wrapped around the patient and supporting ward staff to enable smooth discharge. There are also plans for additional community beds to relieve some of the pressure on the demand into next winter. This is all being overseen in a plan overseen my myself and colleagues and I will keep you posted on progress is we move forward. 

Finally, I just wanted to flag the Learning Disability Nursing CPD Award programme and save the date for the upcoming East of England Celebration and Recognition of Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Conference on 21 June.

Kind regards,

Tricia

Tricia D’Orsi

Executive Director of Nursing NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB and ICS