Published on: 7 August 2020

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Hello and welcome to this week’s blog.  

Who can believe that it is August already? I think many of us have lost all concept of the time of year what with the children being home-schooled for so long and summer holidays abroad being cancelled. This is definitely turning out to be the strangest year on record!

It is with real sadness that I must start this week’s blog with the news that one of our long-serving volunteers, Doris Iverson passed away in July.

Doris was a hugely popular and highly valued volunteer and member of the team at Pendle Community Hospital for over 25 years. Her dedication to the Trust was truly outstanding and she twice won a STAR Award in recognition of her contribution. Amazingly, she continued to work until she was 97 and was always proud of being part of the ELHT family.  

Doris was not only a colleague but a great friend to many at the Trust and in the wider community. She will be greatly missed by many and our heartfelt condolences go to her family and friends. Rest in peace Doris.

You will remember that we recently invited you to take part in the new national People Pulse Survey. Over 1000 of you responded and have provided us with a better insight into your needs and concerns, as well as providing lots of welcome suggestions. It is so important for us to listen to our colleagues, but this has never been more important than during the pandemic.

The responses showed that 84% of you feel informed and 67% feel supported during this time. This is vital to us all being able to carry out our roles successfully, so is a great starting point, but it tells us we need to do more. And we will.

Keep a lookout for the next People Pulse Survey launching next week for another chance to share your views. You can view the full report for July 2020 here on our SharePoint site.

Now that the school summer holidays are in full swing, we have launched our ‘Sign up to Summer’ fundraising campaign. The ELHT&Me Fundraising Team have come up with a whole host of exciting ideas for things you can do during the holidays to raise money for your local hospital charity. These range from a mini-marathon, to a movie night under the stars. And all are things you can do whilst keeping to the measures to limit the spread of COVID. You can find all the suggestions along with the downloadable materials to support you to do these activities on the ELHT&Me charity website. What are you waiting for? Start creating some fun today!  

Our charity has also successfully bid for £50,000 from NHS Charities Together (from the funds raised by Captain Tom and others). This money will all be spent on initiatives to improve staff health and wellbeing, so, watch this space for details of what we’ll be doing with the money and progress.  

Finally, we are approaching awards season and I would love to hear about your team, division or department’s projects or achievements so that they can get the recognition they deserve!  So much amazing work has been taking place within the Trust, both in clinical and non-clinical settings, I really do want to make sure that this is acknowledged within the Trust, and externally. The Communications Team are on hand to make sure you make the best of your opportunities to submit your areas for awards.  

If you have an achievement, a successful project, or any other update within your team, department or division, email communications@elht.nhs.uk and tell them more. If you have already submitted any awards entries, let the Communications Team know via the method above and keep them posted. Best of luck!  

Well, that’s it for this week. Have a great weekend everyone, and thank you, for all that you do.

Best wishes, Kevin