‘Normal service’ for hospital

A SIGNIFICANT drop in covid cases in the Royal Berkshire Hospital means it can now resume a more normal service.

The Reading hospital’s chief executive, Steve McManus, has expressed a “huge gratitude” from the level of support they have received from the community during the pandemic.

“We are in a good place now and we’re really positive about that being maintained,” he said.

“The team have coped really well with the second wave, even though that was more pressured with more patients coming through the hospital, particularly in certain areas such as intensive care, respiratory units and elderly care.”

Although it has been offering support for staff since the pandemic began last year, the trust will soon open a permanent wellbeing unit to cement that help.

This care has included providing meals, rest time, decompression sessions and psychological support.

The new unit, which will be on Craven Road opposite the hospital’s main entrance, was created from a donation made by a member of the community and additional funding from Royal Berkshire Hospital charities.

Mr McManus said that the plan for the new unit is to provide somewhere “quiet to support volunteers” and to create a “space for relaxation”.

He said: “We have learnt a lot from the first wave and we were able to bring that into a way that clinical teams were able to manage the patients and the way we were able to organise ourselves in a way to be able to deal with the second wave.

“The teams are now in a place where they are looking ahead for non-covid services to get back up and running.”

The hospital is encouraging patients to turn up to their regular appointments and treatments.

Mr McManus explained the staff have been working hard to offer a safe environment as they begin to run their non-covid services.

He added: “Our hospital is a really covid-safe place for the people in our community and we can’t wait to see people back in our hospital again for their regular appointments”.