The new chair of the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Board and Governors' Council, Oke Eleazu, issued a first briefing to governors on 13th May 2025.
Dear Governors,
It was good to meet so many of you at the sessions in April. One of the points raised was in relation to communication and ensuring governors are kept updated in a timely fashion on Trust topics.
I know Graham used to do a monthly briefing. Ive listened to you and I propose to send a weekly briefing and this is the first one. Hope this works for you and do let myself and Caroline know if you have any feedback.
A few headlines below for this week.
NHS Providers financial reset survey
- Please find attached an interesting survey summary from NHS Provider regarding the NHS financial position which has received media attention today.
- As you can see there is consistency with our position with the challenges and tensions we face in maintaining the balance between service provision and the financial position.
Nursing & Midwifery Conference
- Last week and this week celebrates both International Day of the Midwife and International Day of the Nurse.
- The Trust has plans to cerebrate both days in many ways, one of which has been through a conference held in partners BD premises in Winnersh.
- This is a time to celebrate, recognise and value these large professional groups and reflect on their incredible contribution to our Trusts vision of delivery outstanding care to our communities every day.
- Steve attended the conference along with Katie, our Chief Nurse and Rachael Corser, ICB Chief Nursing Officer and the theme was embracing complexity and driving change.
CARE awards
- Our annual Staff CARE Awards are taking place next Friday evening..
- I understand that Sunila is attending to represent governors at this event.
Local elections
- There werent any local elections in the Trust catchment area last week so the political make up of our local councils hasnt changed.
- Wokingham by-elections for two seats has been confirmed for 5 June 2025.
Media
- The RBH was featured on ITV Meridian last night. They showed us taking part in the 2-minute silence to mark VE Day and our Neuro Rehab Units VE Day street party for their patients watch from 7.22.
- The Thames Valley and Surrey Secure Data Environment (TVS SDE) Programme Team has been working with the BBCs Radio 4 Broadcasting House team to showcase the benefits of the TVS SDE. Theyve alerted us that this is likely to be aired this Sunday 11 May between 9 and 10am, subject to the news cycle. You can listen in live on BBC Radio 4 or after the event at BBC Radio 4: Broadcasting House. TVS SDE will also share as a news story on their website following air: Health and care data Thames Valley and Surrey.
- Reading Chronicle: Royal Berkshire Hospital teams up with DKMS to save lives. Featuring our Haematology Dept. which has teamed up with DKMS charity to encourage more people to sign up as stem cell donors.
- Reading Chronicle: Royal Berkshire NHS nurse celebrates journey with trust - taken from our social media profile piece on Lola Pearce, Oncology And Haematology Practice Educator.
- We were sad to hear about the death of the President of the League of Friends of Berkshire Hospitals, Dr Christina Hill-Williams DL recently: Tributes paid as League of Friends president passes away Reading Today Online
Hope you have a good week
Oke