Shropshire hospitals boss: 'Please think about what you do over Christmas'
Read the latest column from Dr Arne Rose, medical director at Shropshire and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
With Christmas on the horizon, we are still getting regular reminders not only that the coronavirus has not gone away, but also that it is still virulent in our communities.
As we head towards a temporary easing of the lockdown rules over the festive period, we have seen parts of the country including London moved into the highest Tier 3 restrictions because of a rise in cases.
We have also learned of a new variant of the virus, which is growing faster in some parts of the country.
While there is no suggestion that this new variant is more potent, or that it will impact on the effectiveness of vaccines, it is something we need to be wary of as we monitor infection rates.
Closer to home we, sadly, are still seeing people with coronavirus in our hospitals lose their lives.
So again, I make this plea: please think about what you do over Christmas.
I know how hard it is to be away from loved ones at this time of year, but it is important to differentiate between what you can do and what you should do.
I don’t want to sound like the Grinch, but please think if mixing households over Christmas is the safest thing to do for your loved ones, especially those most vulnerable to coronavirus.
It is worth remembering that as many as one in three people with coronavirus have no symptoms. If you do go ahead and form a “Christmas bubble”, please continue to follow all the guidelines.
In Shropshire, as I’m sure you will have seen by now, our coronavirus vaccination programme is well underway.
Boost
Colleagues from across health and social care are working day and night to get this running as smoothly as possible and to iron out the inevitable teething problems for a project that has been rolled out incredibly quickly.
Colleagues across our hospitals have been through the mill during this pandemic, and we are constantly looking for ways we can give them a bit of a boost as a small way of saying thank you.
This week, Project Wingman landed at our Trust, initially at the Princess Royal Hospital.
Today it will arrive at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Project Wingman is an incredible scheme, through which healthcare workers and support staff are treated to a ‘first class lounge’ experience by cabin crew and pilots who have been furloughed or made redundant due to the pandemic.
I would like to say a huge thank you to the volunteers who have come to our hospitals – it really has provided a great morale boost.
