Welcome to my Chairman’s Blog. I am not usually a ‘blogger’ or ‘tweeter’ or ‘face-book’ contributor but I can see the potential opportunities that this particular blog will offer to me. It will provide the incentive to write a regular news piece about the Trust or more general articles that visitors to our website might find interesting, so here goes….
Latest Updated - 20/12/11
Lightning Strikes and Volunteers are Celebrated!
After a very benign start, Winter looks as if it has finally arrived with high winds, snow and hail storms! During the inclement weather on 13th December, Velindre Cancer Centre was hit by lightning for only the second time in 20 years. At around 2pm the Hospital was hit by lightning which is believed to have struck two areas of the hospital. As a result of the lightning strike, patients and staff were evacuated from the radiotherapy department and associated office areas.
The lightning strike affected the electrical supply, fire alarm system and a number of other electrical systems. Some staff reported feeling the building shake with the gravity of the strike. I visited the hospital site the following day to express my sincere gratitude to all staff for their handling of this incident which resulted in the continuation of services to all patients despite the major impact on the hospital systems. Despite a lingering smell of smoke in the Clinical Trials Office, all services were quickly being restored by our staff and engineers and no one was any the worse.
However, the recent inclement weather didn’t put the Velindre Cancer Centre Volunteers off wading through deep puddles and torrential rain on Monday 12th December to attend the annual Velindre Volunteers Christmas dinner which was hosted once more by Whitchurch Golf Club.
Both Velindre Hospital and WRVS volunteers joined myself and Simon Dean for a very enjoyable evening celebrating the important work of the volunteers, recognising the time and commitment the volunteers give towards improving the patient’s experience at Velindre Cancer Centre. Thanks to Carole and Julie for organising it all. We were also delighted to present the very first Vote of Thanks Certificate to Whitchurch Golf Club in recognition of their continued support to Velindre.
Finally, in the last minute ‘rush’ to get everything done by Christmas Eve, I hope we can spare a moment to think of those who will be spending their Christmas in Velindre, either as patients or staff. I am sure that everyone will be doing their best to ensure that they all have as enjoyable time as possible.
Nadolig Llawen a Blywddyn Newydd Dda.
Previous Blog
05/12/11
I recently joined the Velindre Cancer Centre Senior Management Team for their regular meeting. They covered a lot of ground, including considering 2 reports on VCC and the services we provide. The first was a report made on behalf of MacMillan, who jointly funded the Chemotherapy Unit at Prince Charles Hospital. It was particularly gratifying to read the comments from patients; the obvious benefits of receiving their treatment closer to home and in a very relaxed environment will help us to plan further services in other parts of South Wales, where patients can experience the same high quality care as they receive at VCC, without the trek to Cardiff. The second Report was from the Community Health Council, who view NHS provision from the patients’ perspective. It is always good to have a fresh pair of eyes and some of the environmental factors that they drew to our attention have come just at the right time, as we are already considering the outcome of an access and design audit.
Leslie Griffiths, the ‘new’ Minister for Health and Social Services spent 3 hours with us at Velindre Cancer Centre on 16th November. This was her first visit to meet the staff and patients and see for herself the range of services we provide. The Minister is very well informed and her obvious ease at being in a busy hospital environment no doubt stems from her time working some years ago, in Ysbyty Maelor. She heard about developments in cancer treatment and research from two of our leading clinicians, Prof Peter Barrett-Lee and Dr Tom Crosby and spent a long time ‘walking the patch’, visiting the Radiotherapy Unit, Chemotherapy Day Unit and on one of the wards. It was a great opportunity for her to hear, first hand, from patients and relatives in Out Patients and she also spoke to WRVS and Velindre Volunteers. The Minister was very open about the fact that she gains a lot from these visits and it will undoubtedly make our task a bit easier when we talk through some of the real pressures we have in managing ever-expanding services in a building that we have now outgrown.
Nov 2012
Appointment of new Independent Member for Velindre NHS Trust
Following the recent public appointments process I am delighted to inform you that the Minister for Health and Social Services has approved the appointment of Mr Rameshwar (Ray) Singh as the Independent Member (Legal) for Velindre NHS Trust for 3 years with effect from 1st November 2011.
Mr Singh has a long and distinguished career as a Barrister at Law and was Resident District Judge for Merthyr Tydfil Combined Law Courts until 2010. He has held several long standing public appointments with the Commission for Racial Equality, including giving advice following the Stephen Lawrence inquiry on racial harassment and violence. Ray was also a member of the National Assembly for Wales Committee on Drugs and Alcohol misuse and is a past Vice Chair of Gwalia PLC which provides social and care housing in Mid and South Wales and served as chair of its Audit and Finance Committee.
Oct 2012
I recently read a synopsis of a presentation given to the Association of Independent Museums by Michael Day, CEO of Historic Royal Palaces, about the survival of museums and heritage organizations in an ‘age of austerity’ . Until the bank crash of 2008, the cultural and heritage sector had received unprecedented levels of investment, but after that, the ‘squeeze’ was on and they had to consider how they would create a sustainable future. The similarity to the problems faced by Health Service after several years of high level funding, was not entirely lost on me.
Amongst his Ten Tips for Survival, Michael Day included creating a strong On-Line presence. He saw this as an essential requirement in our technological age. Although the impact of websites may be difficult to quantify, he states that there is sufficient evidence to know that giving serious attention to your website helps to communicate your vision and intentions and connect with ‘customers’.
With that in mind, we are using the occasion of our Annual General Meeting on 29th September to re-launch our refreshed Velindre NHS Trust website. Like many websites, it had not entirely kept pace with all of the developments within the organisation – a fact brought home to me when we were interviewing for our Chief Executive earlier this year. Candidates naturally went to the website to find out more about the Trust and its performance, but they reported that information was ‘thin’ and in some cases out of date. It wasn’t particularly user friendly either and so much of what we do was therefore going unnoticed.
This is further compounded by the fact that there are several websites that ‘pop up’ when you enter “Velindre” in the search engine – Velindre Cancer Centre; Velindre Fundraising etc, and many members of the public are not aware that the Trust itself includes Welsh Blood Services, so much of what this significant part of our Trust delivers is not immediately visible. With this new web page, you will now only be one ‘click’ away from those key sites, as well as including new and emerging sections such as an improved visitor information section. An important addition is our ‘strap line’ which runs along the top of the page and which we intend to be the maxim for our services.
It is important to us that this new website enables patients, the public and potential professional partners to easily access appropriate information about Velindre NHS Trust to satisfy themselves that we are doing exactly what we ‘say on the tin’ - ‘Deliver Quality, Care and Excellence’. Your comments would be welcome via our Feedback Page.