Barts Health NHS Trust

Congratulations to Professor Rakesh Uppal, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at our Barts Heart Centre, who has received a Fellowship Ad Hominem from the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh in recognition of his major contribution to cardiothoracic surgery services in the UK. Rakesh, who is a Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at Queen Mary University of London and Director of Barts Life Sciences, was nominated for his outstanding clinical work and leadership roles within the specialty across three decades. The award is considered one of the College's highest honours. Reflecting on his career, Rakesh said: "I’ve learned over my 30 years as a consultant that teams are the backbone of excellence. I have absolute confidence in the perfusionists who run the heart lung machine, in my anaesthetic colleagues who are keeping an eye and manipulating physiology and my nursing colleagues who know what we need before even we do." https://orlo.uk/M65rH

As 2024 comes to an end, we celebrate the progress made as we continue to lay the foundations for the new hospital and the wider transformation of the current Whipps Cross site. We have new and exclusive footage — the last for this year — and we're proud to share: 👉 The car park foundations have been completed ✅ 👉 The arrival of pre-cast concrete sections manufactured by Huber in Cologne, Germany, which their team has been assembling ✅ We can’t wait to see what it will look like in the coming weeks. 👷♂️🏗️ #infrastructure #hospitals #construction #NHS #FutureWhipps #redevelopment #IHP #NHP https://orlo.uk/hhvID

For the 21st consecutive year, Frank Charles has been bringing festive cheer to the children at Whipps Cross Hospital's Acorn Ward. Their dedication continues to brighten the holidays for young patients. Frank Charles, inspired by his late son Ashley, has been delivering gifts to the hospital since 2004. Haslers, a chartered accountancy firm, has been a consistent supporter of this initiative for more than 10 years, contributing gifts and joining Frank in distributing them to the children. Their annual visits have become a cherished tradition, bringing joy and smiles to the children and their families. We deeply appreciate their unwavering commitment and generosity. To learn more about this heart-warming tradition, visit: https://orlo.uk/wH9O0

Delivering festive joy to Newham ❤️🎁 A huge thank you to West Ham United for their special visit to Newham Hospital this week. Players spent time meeting with staff and delivering gifts to our young patients. Our senior paediatric nurse, Vicky said: "it was brilliant to see the faces of our staff and patients light up when they met the players. Visits like this make such a huge impact on the children we care for, and as Newham's local team, we are so grateful to West Ham for their ongoing support to us and Barts Charity." Read more: https://orlo.uk/iO8lc

People who are homeless are four times more likely to be admitted to hospital🏥 (Pathway, NHS England) Pathway - Homeless and Inclusion Health Our Pathway Homeless team, based at The Royal London Hospital advocate for this vulnerable group by helping them find a safe place to stay after they have been treated in hospital. People without a home often have a complex mix of physical health problems, and can also be living with mental health and addiction problems. Once discharged from hospital, many will quickly deteriorate and be readmitted to hospital due to difficulty accessing care and support. However, the Pathway team are improving this by working closely with colleagues both inside and outside the hospital to improve communication between professionals. Watch them on Channel 4: https://orlo.uk/jhszc

The latest drone footage from the Whipps Cross construction site is here. 👷 🏗️ Have a sneak peek to see how the site has changed over the past few weeks. vinci #infrastructure #hospitals #construction #NHS #FutureWhipps #redevelopment #IHP #NHP

We’re transforming urgent and emergency care in North East London Yesterday, alongside NHS North East London, Health Navigator, and UCLPartners, we launched a new AI programme that will identify patients at high risk of requiring unplanned care. These patients will then receive direct support from trained nurse coaches, helping them to manage their conditions. Read more: https://orlo.uk/t0EZl Over the next three years we expect to see: 
🏥 13,000 fewer A&E visits/year 
🛏 26,673 unplanned bed days saved across North East London
 💙 Significant improvement in patient wellbeing

Our community paediatric matron, Jo Webster is a Queen's Nurse 👑 The Queen’s Nurse programme brings together community nurses to develop their professional skills and deliver outstanding patient care in the community. Only a few hundred nurses are selected from across the NHS each year and Jo is one of them. Having worked in Tower Hamlets since 1996, Jo has extensive knowledge and experience in caring for the children and young people in east London. On being selected, she said: 💬 "It is an honour to be chosen to be part a network that shares the same passions and works together to improve caring for patients. I look forward to collaborating and sharing expertise with others from across the UK."

Our Tower Hamlet’s Women’s Health Hub was set up to help reducing waiting lists for gynaecology care. The hub was featured on BBC Northern Ireland as proof that the model can be rolled out elsewhere. https://orlo.uk/q9Gye

Around a quarter of people in the UK who are married or in a civil partnership met their partner at work; a quarter of us admit to having had a romantic encounter at a work Christmas party. Pretty good for wellbeing, right? I met the man I went on to marry at a work do. This is the third year my team has run our Winter@Whipps festival of celebrations at the hospital, which culminates in our Winter Wingding. Check the dictionary if you thought wingdings was just a typeface! So, I must admit I was nervous about squaring this with the sexual safety work I’m involved in. I was worried about the idea of policing people’s fun. We’re all adults, aren’t we? I imagine some of you reading this might secretly have your eye on a colleague and might be hoping for a bit of a frisson at an event in the next week or so. You might be planning your outfit, wondering whether you’ll work up the courage to tell them how you feel. There might be mistletoe. Sadly, it’s not always fun. Last year’s NHS staff survey revealed that nearly 6% of Barts Health staff had experienced unwanted sexual attention from a colleague during previous 12 months. Alcohol, relaxed surroundings, and the absence of usual workplace rules could mean that this is more likely to happen in the run up to Christmas. But that’s not festive fun, that’s sexual harassment. Power dynamics can exacerbate the risks. Unwanted sexual attention from superiors can mean that victims experience fear, shame, and uncertainty about responding to the perpetrator and reporting incidents. That is not festive fun, and its impact can be devastating. The key to navigating this minefield is consent. The short film, Tea and Consent, from Thames Valley Police police is an oldie but a goodie. It reminds us that understanding consent in relation to sex is as simple as understanding whether someone wants to drink tea. It would never be OK to make someone drink tea if they didn’t want it. If someone said yes to a cup of tea yesterday, it doesn’t mean they want one every day; and no-one who is unconscious ever wants to drink tea. It really is very simple. If your advances are not reciprocated, stop. If the person you are with is too drunk for you to be confident about their consent, stop. There is a further risk. Drunk people are much less likely than sober people to be ‘active bystanders’ and take action that might stop a perpetrator from committing a sexual assault. They are also less good at protecting their friends when they are at risk of harm. Our winter events are an important opportunity to let our hair down and celebrate with our colleagues; for some people, they might even result in a new relationship. But we also need to check our own and our friends’ behaviour, remember that no always means no, keep our eyes out for our each other, and make sure that we all get home safely. Yes, we are all adults, but it’s only festive fun when we’re consenting adults.