We're here if you need us - video message from Gavin Boyle
Staff at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton have been working hard to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and ensure the safety and quality of our services for all patients.
Just like the rest of the NHS, our number one priority for the last few months has been ensuring that all those who need urgent care, not just those with coronavirus, have been able to get it when they need it.
Combined with the need to avoid unnecessary contact to reduce the spread of the virus, this has meant that some non-urgent appointments and surgeries may have been postponed, and others delivered differently using technology.
Gavin Boyle, Chief Executive at UHDB, said: “We are now preparing to gradually increase some important face-to-face services, but only where this can be done safely. The virus is still circulating and we don’t want to put our patients, the public or our staff at greater risk.
“We’ve made some changes to our hospital sites and the way we work to help keep everyone safe.
“We will only invite you to come into hospital when it’s essential and are providing lots of services differently, including video consultations or clinics in the community. If you do need to come into hospital you will see that we’ve installed ‘keep left’ signs to encourage social distancing and in clinical areas all staff are all wearing personal protective equipment.
“We also have processes in place to test patients and have changed the way our hospitals work so we can achieve a separation between those who have Covid-19 symptoms and those who are requiring care for other reasons.”
We believe these measures for staff and patients will help to significantly reduce the risk of transmission of Covid-19 as we try to increase as many services as we can. Quality of care, patient safety and experience will continue to be our number one priority.