Hospital staff back the way trust has coped with Covid-19
1,000 1000WORKERSCOMPLETESURVEYWORKERS COMPLETE SURVEY
THE majority of staff at the area’s two main hospitals say their trust’s response to the arrival of coronavirus pandemic earlier this year was effective.
Almost 1,000 staff at the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust completed a recent survey asking their views on how trust coped during the first wave virus.
Many have been in the frontline against the virus since then and are now coping with a second wave going into the winter months.
Since March, a total of 221 patients have died at the trust’s two sites at Hull Rotal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham after testing positive for coronavirus.
Over 65 per cent of the staff who responded to the survey felt the trust’s overall response to the crisis had been effective with only three per cent strongly disagreeing.
According to the survey’s results, the areas that went well included good communication with regular updates from senior trust bosses, the rapid reconfiguration of hospital services including the redeployment of staff and the discharge of patients, strong team working and a well-organised rollout of personal protection equipment (PPE).
Support for staff, including the introduction of free parking and the provision of free meals and free childcare also scored highly.
Areas of concern included nonCovid areas having to wait for PPE supplies, the belated introduction of mandatory mask-wearing inside both hospitals and an initial lack of enforcement around social distancing in busy areas with many saying this should have done more rigorously.
Some staff also complained that protocols and guidance kept changing too often.
Looking ahead, the top five measures which staff want to see kept in place over the winter include virtual clinics, free car parking, video conferencing, restrcitions on visitors at the two hospitals and continued flexibility around working from home.
A recent report to the trust’s board also reveals changes have been made in the way people with coronavirus are treated after high number of pressure ulcers were reported among patients.
In June alone 18 Covid patients suffered skin damage during treatment with 11 cases in critical care.
A subsequent investigation found the ulcers were the result of facial pressure being applied by tubes to patients kept in a prone position for long periods.
The report says: “A chin support had been used which had inadvertently contributed to the pressure damage developing. Immediate learning was undertaken and chin supports were not used going forwards.”
In the following month, only one case of device-related pressure damage was reported.