Marking one year with Covid-19 Since early March 2020 the team at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) have worked tirelessly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, fundamentally changing and adapting to how we manage essential care, how we provide treatment and even how we access our sites.
Now, one year on, I want to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to all of my colleagues who have consistently delivered against all odds. It has been an extraordinary year, and at times we have all struggled to cope with the pressures and challenges, both in and out of work, and the fortitude and resilience needed to get through wave 1, wave 2 and wave 3 has been remarkable. To me, this pandemic has demonstrated, without doubt, the value of the NHS and NHS values. What has also been apparent is how much support there is for the NHS. In the midst of all these challenges we have been supported by our local communities in Doncaster, Worksop and Retford, and together we have worked through very difficult times and I must extend my thanks to the people of our towns for their commitment to following guidelines and helping to keep themselves, their families and others safe. During the peaks of this pandemic, we were able to cope as the staff and communities efforts meant that the number of Covid patients requiring hospital and intensive care was lower than the worst case predictions. We are also indebted to our communities for their generosity during this time. We have been overwhelmed by all of the donations we have received, whether these have been of a monetary nature, or the morale-boosting gifts that we have been able to hand out to our hard working colleagues. Local businesses have also been most generous in offering their support to DBTH throughout the pandemic. Many businesses who were closed throughout the periods of lockdown offered their services exclusively to NHS staff and here in Doncaster and Bassetlaw our teams were supported by various food and drink outlets who provided sustenance and cosmetics companies who donated hand creams for staff. Many of these businesses have also supported our charity appeal to fund memorial (Rainbow) gardens on our Bassetlaw and Doncaster sites. These gardens will provide a quiet, tranquil place for people to go to and remember those we have lost. Whilst the last 12 months have been an unexpected rollercoaster for all of us, it is these outpourings of support and community spirit that we will remember in years to come.
Where we are now As an organisation, we are continuing to see a steady decline in both new admissions related to Covid-19, and in Covid patients staying in hospital. Throughout February and the first
Richard Parker
few weeks of March, the number of patients being treated with Covid in our hospitals has been dropping each week and, at the time of writing, we have under 30 Covid active patients in our care. This update comes as our partners at NHS Doncaster CCG have just announced that the 100,000th Covid-19 vaccine has been successfully administered in the town. This means that almost one third of the entire population of Doncaster now has some level of immunity against this illness, a significant milestone of which we should all be proud.
Looking to the future Although at times I suspect we will have all wondered when the pandemic will end, I am now very optimistic that there is light at the end of the tunnel. As we push forward with the national Covid19 vaccination programme, we expect to see hospital admission numbers continue to fall
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and remain low into the future and we are feeling positive about the future. However, that doesn’t mean we can relax just yet – there is still some distance left to run in this pandemic, and as such we must continue to follow the relevant guidance outlined in the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown whilst looking forward to some of the restrictions being eased so that we can begin the process of recovery. I know that our ever-supportive communities will be behind us in this final leg and will do all they can to minimise any potential for Covid-19 to surge once again. As ever, we are extremely grateful for their commitment and so very proud of their efforts so far. Finally, I should take this last opportunity to thank the dedicated workforce here at DBTH and commend their efforts which have resulted in over 2,300 patients (at time of writing on 12 March 2020) returning safely home after being treated for Covid-19.
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