Latest news

A UHDB senior nurse has received a special award for going above and beyond for her colleagues and returning to work in our Intensive Care Unit throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Barbara Day, Head of Professional & Practice Development, was presented with the Trust’s Excellent Employee award after being nominated by a number of her colleagues who praised her excellent leadership and support that she had provided to them and to other departments throughout the pandemic.

Three wards at Royal Derby Hospital that were converted into COVID-19 wards during the peak of the pandemic have this week been recognised with a Team UHDB Award for their dedication and compassion.

The UHDB maternity service and the imaging service are pleased to announce that we are re-introducing partners of pregnant women, or their chosen birth partner, to attend the dating and anomaly scans from Monday 28 September 2020.

In addition, we are extending our visiting time on our antenatal/postnatal ward areas to invite partners to visit once a day up to two hours. This should be, where possible, one person from the same household or bubble. For women who are having a Caesarean Section, after transfer to the postnatal ward, they can have their partners stay for two hours following the transfer.

After weeks and weeks of voting, we are delighted to now be able to reveal the new identities of our two state-of-the-art disinfection robots!

More than 100 UHDB colleagues have had a go at naming the UV Disinfection (UVD) Robots and it’s fair to say that we’ve seen some very creative suggestions that have raised a smile or two.

UHDB is taking part in a national trial aiming to find out whether healthcare workers who have evidence of prior COVID-19, detected by antibody assays (positive antibody tests), compared to those who do not have evidence of infection (negative antibody tests) are protected from future episodes of infection.

Edward Oforka, Emergency Medical Consultant at Queen’s Hospital Burton, has spent 17 years saving other people’s lives, but in March 2020, he found himself fighting to save his own life after contracting COVID-19.

Our maternity teams know that childbirth is an incredibly important time for women, their partner and their families. During the pandemic we have had to reduce the number of visitors in our maternity services to keep women, babies, families and our staff safe. We want to support reintroducing partners to scan appointments, and to have more time on the ante/postnatal wards, but any changes must be done safely, after careful risk assessment, and when it is safe to do so for women, babies, partners and our colleagues.

The invaluable impact UHDB’s arts charity has had on improving our patients’ hospital experience has been recognised with a national award.

Air Arts was first set up in 2007 with the aim of creating a calm and welcoming environment for our patients, and the team have been behind countless different projects ever since that have all played their part in making Royal Derby Hospital what it is today.

We are now offering video consultations through NHS Attend Anywhere to some of our patients at UHDB.

A Derbyshire fire engine based at Swadlincote Community Fire and Ambulance Station is going to be wrapped to show support of the NHS Blood and Transplant Organ Donation campaign.

Outpatients receiving treatment at any one of UHDB’s five hospitals can now access a new online patient portal designed to make it easier for them to view information relating to their own care.

A UHDB respiratory service that has provided vital support to patients throughout Covid-19 has received national recognition.

ImpACT+ (Improving Adult Respiratory Care Together) has helped patients with lung conditions by bringing different services together to offer comprehensive support to patients throughout all points in their care pathway, both at hospital and in their own homes.

Our Eye Outpatients team at Royal Derby Hospital have been able to safely see more patients over the last few months – thanks to a high-tech piece of equipment that can detect one of the symptoms of Covid-19.  

A state-of-the-art thermal body imaging camera was kindly donated to the Trust midway through the pandemic and has been installed at the Eye Outpatients entrance in the Kings Treatment Centre to identify anyone who has a high temperature.

Crowds gathered outside Royal Derby Hospital this weekend to catch a glimpse of a very special tribute to our NHS .. from way up in the clouds!

We’d like to wish a very happy retirement to the fantastic Kay Fleetwood, who leaves the Trust today having made a huge difference throughout her 37 years in the NHS.

Derby born eight year old, Georgia has found a funky way to raise money for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit who cared for her when she was born 9 weeks early.

In October 2011, Georgia was born via C Section at 31 weeks at Royal Derby Hospital. After Georgia was born, she was taken to NICU for support with breathing and a number of infections.
 

Stillbirth rates at UHDB have fallen to their lowest level since the creation of the Trust two years ago and are now below the national average - thanks to the dedication and commitment of our maternity teams and supporting departments. Nationally, the average rate of stillbirths is 4.1 per 1,000 births, whereas the Trust’s stands at 2.2 per 1,000 births.

When I started my maternity leave early on 27 December 2019 due to the Alara’s sudden arrival, I could not have imagined how much the landscape of healthcare was going to change. COVID-19 has changed so much for so many and has provided the NHS with one of the biggest challenges in its history.

Tracey Homar, Renal OPD Healthcare Assistant, has penned a poem about the role of HCAs.

Johnny Buckley, Theatre Porter from Queen’s Hospital Burton, heard about Twycross Zoo's financial struggles after having to close due to the coronavirus outbreak and decided to do something to help.

Throughout the month of June, Johnny held a weekly virtual quiz for his colleagues to help raise money and support the zoo’s “Summer of Survival” fundraising campaign. In total, the virtual quiz managed to raise over £200.

The Parkinson’s Service at UHDB has been recognised internationally as providing ‘outstanding’ care by becoming one of 47 in the world to be designated as a Parkinson’s Foundation Centre of Excellence. This comes after an inspection by the Parkinson’s Foundation carried out in October 2019, and is the second time the service has been awarded this prestigious accolade.

The Healing Garden at Royal Derby Hospital is a place for people to come and plant a bub in memory of a loved one who has sadly died at our hospitals.

Painters, Porters, Domestics, Estates, Contractors and Infection Prevention Control all received a special thank you from our Burton Paediatrics Team for supporting the team to “move back home” after the they were temporarily relocated to the Royal Derby Hospital to support with the Trust’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

These unsung heroes have gone above and beyond to make sure the Queen’s Hospital Burton Children’s Department was immaculate before it started to admit our younger patients again. Each member of the different teams received a Team UHDB Thank You Card for the exceptional work they had carried out.

UHDB has been granted £4 million to increase capacity in our two A&E departments which will enable colleagues to continue to provide safe care to patients during the busy winter months.

The funding will be split equally between Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton, with each site receiving £2 million.

UHDB continues to encourage cancer patients to act if they have any concerns they may have symptoms. This follows the release of a survey that found previous and current cancer patients in Derby and Burton had given the Trust some of the highest scores in the Midlands for the care they received.

UHBD patients with arthritis in the knee are being helped to self-manage their condition at a rehabilitation group held at London Road Community Hospital.

The ESCAPE-pain programme is designed to help people with osteoarthritis to independently increase physical function and improve their quality of life – while offering an alternative option to surgery.

Jane Haslam, UHDB Director of Midwifery & Divisional Director of Nursing, will be retiring this September following a 38-year career spent caring for people in our hospitals.