Latest news

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton is to reintroduce visiting restrictions. The Trust has seen a significant increase in admissions for patients who are Covid-19 positive and expects the number to rise further. From today the Trust is asking visitors not to attend the hospitals, unless:

• Accompanying a child
• Visiting a patient undergoing end of life care
• Accompanying a pregnant partner
• Accompanying a vulnerable patients, specifically those with learning disabilities, dementia, mental health or complex needs, as well as those who are unable to make decisions for themselves.

Mrs Katharina “Ineke” Anwar retires today after almost 20 years as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Burton.

Ineke graduated 1986 in Utrecht, Holland and initially came to the UK the following year intending to stay just six months. Whilst working in general surgery she met her husband to be, and the following year she enjoyed her placement as a GP trainee in obstetrics and gynaecology so much that she changed plans and career path, settling as an O&G trainee in the West Midlands.

A number of UHDB specialties are set to be relocated from Royal Derby Hospital to London Road Community Hospital from Monday 19 October.

UHDB’s arts charity has received a helping hand in the form of a Government grant that will allow these colleagues to carry out their invaluable work during the winter months ahead.

UHDB’s Respiratory Infection team has been crowned the Respiratory Team of the Year at the 2020 British Medical Journal (BMJ) Awards.

The team has been recognised for their outstanding work in improving the quality of care for patients admitted to hospital with pneumonia, as well as both reducing the length of time patients remain in hospital with the condition and improving support during their recovery.

Allied Health Professionals (AHP’s) are often the unsung heroes of the NHS; they are the people who work with the medical and nursing teams to diagnose, treat and promote the rehabilitation of patients in a variety of settings.

The Trust held a minute’s silence earlier today for UHDB colleague Donna Cook, who has sadly passed away following a long illness. Donna joined the Trust in 2007 and worked as a support secretary in the UGI department at Royal Derby Hospital.

A brand new bereavement room for families to spend precious time alone with their child has been officially opened in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Royal Derby Hospital.

The Friends of the Baby Unit (FOBU) charity has raised £8,000 to help create a ‘Forget Me Not Room’, where families can create some priceless memories with their little ones in complete privacy, without having to leave the unit.

Four 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.

Our Medical Assessment Unit, Ward 305, Ward 206 and our Nightingale Macmillan Unit were all presented with their awards by Chief Executive, Gavin Boyle and Chief Nurse, Cathy Winfield.

The fantastic lengths a Royal Derby Hospital Senior Sister went to in order to help and support a colleague and their relative have been recognised with a Making a Difference Award.

Rachel Kirby, Senior Sister on Ward 311, truly went above and beyond what was expected when her ward became a ward that cared for elderly Covid-19 patients at the start of the pandemic.

Paediatric services at Queen’s Hospital Burton will soon reopen following a temporary relocation to Royal Derby Hospital during the pandemic. In response to Covid-19 the Trust combined inpatient services, bringing together its skilled workforce at Royal Derby Hospital, to maintain safe staffing levels and provide safe care to children across Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

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.