National leaders visit Plymouth
National and regional NHS leaders visited Plymouth today as a part of a wider visit to Devon. The leaders – a group of Non-Executive Directors and Directors from NHS England – met and talked with staff at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust as well as with partners from Livewell Southwest and Plymouth City Council.
The leaders who visited Plymouth were Andrew Morris OBE, Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chair for NHS England; Jeremy Townsend, Non-Executive Director NHS England, and Laura Wade-Gery, Non-Executive Director NHS England and Chair of Digital. They were accompanied by Mark Cooke, South West Director of Strategy and Transformation, NHS England and Sarah Wollaston, Chair of Devon Integrated Care Board.
The visitors spent time in the Emergency Department to understand the challenges there for patients and staff, before going on to hear about plans for a new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre. They spoke with GPs as well as with doctors and Associate Physicians in the Acute Frailty Unit at Derriford Hospital and learned about the new Patricia Venton Centre and the difference that is making for people leaving hospital.
In the afternoon, the national leaders were told about how UHP is working to better understand and meet the needs of local people as well as about our digital ambitions and they finished by visiting the Intensive Care Secret Garden, which is used by patients as part of their rehabilitation and by staff for their wellbeing. The garden has recently been refurbished and was in full bloom.
Chief Executive Ann James said: “This was a really good visit and the national leaders engaged really well with our staff and partners and appreciated all the great things our #1BigTeam and the wider health and social care team across Plymouth are working on. They left appreciating both the challenges facing our patients and staff and the work we are doing to address those – for example our plans to build a bigger new urgent and Emergency Care Centre which we are making good progress on.”
The visit was a chance to provide a realistic view of Devon’s challenges and opportunities, showcase the good work already underway, and look at future plans.
The visit was a chance to provide a realistic view of Devon’s challenges and opportunities, showcase the good work already underway, and look at future plans.
Across wider Devon, the tour also included:
- The NHS Nightingale Hospital Exeter
- Plans for a peninsula electronic patient record
- Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust including Torbay Pharmaceuticals
- Devon Partnership NHS Trust’s mother and baby unit
- Visiting the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to hear about Eastern Devon’s voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector work to support refugees and asylum seekers
