Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 05 May 2024 at 03:22
Ukraine
As we are all aware, the terrible situation in Ukraine continues. If you have friends or family who are affected, then our thoughts are with you. Please remember there is support available for all our people for this or any other issues that may be troubling you.
We are in regular contact with NHS England who are working on a coordinated response and are alerting all trusts when support is required. You can find further details here.
If you would like to make an individual donation, the Disasters Emergency Committee has launched a collective appeal to provide emergency aid and rapid relief during the conflict. The Government also launched its Homes for Ukraine scheme this week, which means you can register your interest in supporting Ukrainians fleeing the war.
Welcome extension to pension benefits
This week, we received the welcome news that the Government will be extending the temporary pension benefits for recently retired NHS staff who wish to return to work. The benefits were first introduced back in March 2020 as part of the Government’s Coronavirus action plan to encourage people who had recently retired to return to the workplace to boost staff numbers, safe in the knowledge their pension would be unaffected.
Following a recent consultation, the Government has agreed to extend these temporary rules from 24th March 2022 to 31st October 2022. This means that if you wish to return to work after retirement, you will be able to do so without impacting your pension. For more information email: nhsi.nhsreward@nhs.net
COVID restrictions
In recent days we have seen a sharp increase in the number of positive COVID cases among our people. Currently we have 299 positive cases, which is the highest level to date – impacting on 5% of our workforce.
Over the past fortnight (from 1st-14th March), the COVID team has received 698 COVID referrals and dealt with 419 positive results. These figures are worryingly high compared to the previous month, where we had a total of 611 positive results for the whole of February.
I cannot stress enough how important it is that we, as NHS staff, remember that restrictions remain in place, whether that’s in terms of mask wearing, social distancing or hand hygiene. The risks are still there, and people are still getting sick. We need to be vigilant about our behaviour to ensure that levels of sickness do not continue to escalate and impact the service we provide for our patients.
If you are symptomatic and test negative on an LFT, please do go for a PCR test. As always, the COVID support teams are on hand for advice and guidance 07.00-22.00, 7 days a week. Please read the updated information on Need to Know for full details.
Local Q and A sessions
Thanks to those of you who attended the inaugural local Q and A sessions last week and asked questions. On the whole, they seemed to work really well, and I think they will become a really useful tool to bridge that local communications gap that so many of you have told us about. Please let your local managers know if you have ideas for improving them further.
If you missed the announcement last week, the Trust-wide Q and A sessions will now be held fortnightly instead of weekly and in the remaining two weeks there will be local Q and A sessions, led by the local Head of and an Executive Director. This means that each sector / directorate will receive one local briefing per month. As with the Trustwide sessions you will be emailed the joining information relevant to your sector. You will also be able to submit questions in advance - as well as during the event. In the meantime, you can find more details here.
Keeping InTouch
If you haven’t seen it yet, InTouch EEAST, is our stakeholder newsletter which is published every two months. The latest edition is out now and introduces Kate Vaughton, our new Director of Integration; provides updates from our charity and details of our new electric car trial. It’s well worth a read, and you can subscribe to receive future editions straight to your inbox.
Fit for the Future podcast
Our series of Fit for the Future podcasts continues, with a discussion around the Partnerships workstream and its impact on our people and patients. Thank you to Kevin Smith, Director of Finance and Commissioning and Gita Prasad, Director of Business and Partnership in the latest edition. The podcast runs alongside our monthly Fit for the Future update.
As ever, things are extremely busy. Please take care and look out for yourselves and your colleagues.
Marika Stephenson
Director of People Services
17th March 2022