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I'm Mark Yates, Chair of Herefordshire and 
Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. Each quarter we produce 'Connect', a newsletter sharing exciting news and updates from our services across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Subscribe and receive this newsletter direct to your inbox each quarter.
Alternatively, browse previous editions by clicking the links below.
Useful contacts
Available 24/7 our urgent helpline supports people of all ages experiencing a mental health crisis/emergency.
Provides a range of help, support and treatment for those of use experiencing things like stress, worry, anxiety or low mood.
If you live in Worcestershire and think you need physio support you can use our self-referral form on our website.
Our CAMHS website has lots of information and links to a range of teams and resources which support a child/family experiencing mental health difficulties.
January 2024
Like I’m sure many of you have done, we have begun the year by refocussing on priorities and planning for the future. Our Strategic Priorities continue to underpin our ambitions for 2024 into 2025 along with a real commitment to make improvements following our CQC Well Led inspection, which was held February to June 2023, with the report published in mid-January 2024. Some of the content of the report was disappointing and very concerning but the Trust’s Board is absolutely resolute in owning the report and the necessary improvements – the responsibility for the quality of our services and the well-being of our staff starts and finishes with the Board and we won’t be shying away from this fact.
That aside, I look forward to sharing future updates on our progress around exciting projects we have planned such as; working on embedding our Clinical Strategy which will help us to achieve truly clinically led healthcare services; improving access and capacity in some of our services experiencing very high levels of demand; and redesigning our Mental Health Inpatient and Rehabilitation pathways through the Getting it Right First Time (GiRFT) programme to ensure they are still fit for the developing needs of our population and eliminating Mental Health dormitories. Of course, this is just a flavour of the things we will be working on, and we will be further guided by the national NHS planning process in the coming months and feedback from both staff and patients.
I am also delighted to be able to share that we are also well underway with some work around improving our culture. Hundreds of staff have contributed to developing these plans so that we can ensure our Trust is a fantastic place to work and we can achieve our goals together, providing the best possible services for the people of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Below are some of the highlights from the last quarter, including some of the work we have undertaken to address health inequalities for women with learning disabilities and recognition for the fantastic work our teams are delivering across the trust.
I hope you find this useful, but as always please come back to us using the contact details provided if you would like further information or would like to share any feedback.
Many thanks,
Mark Yates, Chair, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust
Celebrating Christmas across HWHCT
Donation set to make an impact on patient experience
Staff at Evesham Community Hospital we’re delighted to receive a donation of a vein finder from the Tracy Sollis Leukaemia Trust. 
The vein finder uses infrared technology to display veins hidden under the skin on a digital screen, helping clinicians locate them when taking blood or inserting an intravenous cannular.
Sue Sollis, founding member of the Leukaemia Trust said, “We are delighted to be able to donate a second vein finder to Evesham Community Hospital and are pleased to hear the difference it is making to staff and patients.
“We would like to encourage other community hospitals to get in touch if they are interested in a vein finder donation”.
Promoting breast screening to women with learning disabilities
In December, the Worcestershire Community Learning Disability Team ran the annual ‘My Breasts and Me’ event to promote healthy habits amongst women with learning disabilities.
The event focused on raising awareness of the importance of attending routine mammogram appointments.
The event was an opportunity to meet with mammographers and staff at the Worcestershire Breast Unit in a relaxed setting, to find out more about how breast screening is carried out, and how to check breasts for changes or abnormalities
Therapy dog visits patients at Evesham Community Hospital
Patients and staff at Evesham Community Hospital welcomed Maisie, a therapy dog to help boost their health and wellbeing.
Evesham Community Hospital, home to the Worcestershire Stroke Rehabilitation Centre provides a range of specialist therapy and support for patients recovering from a major stroke.
Maisie, together with her owner Karen, started visiting the hospital eac h week in December, spending time on the wards and chatting to the patients whilst they stroke Maisie and feed her treats.
ECT team receives highest accreditation
Our ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) service in Worcestershire has been awarded commendations for excellence across all four standards in their latest review. The service received a 100% compliance rating across all accreditation standards in an evaluation carried out by the Electroconvulsive Therapy Accreditation Service (ECTAS) – an external body under The Royal College of Psychiatrists.
The review is a comprehensive process, involving evaluation of all aspects of the service such as safety, patient experience, and everyday procedures. It includes dedicated interviews with patients who have used the service and is based on the feedback received from them.
Kay Fisher, the Lead Practitioner for the service said, “To achieve all 4 has never been done in Worcestershire before and is also an uncommon achievement within the ECTAS network as a whole, so I am absolutely over the moon, as is the rest of the team”.
Ready for a career move? Join Team HWHCT!
Throughout February and March we’re heading to events across Herefordshire and Worcestershire to highlight our fantastic opportunities.
- On Monday 11th March from 9:30am til 4pm, we’ll be at the RCNI Careers fair in Birmingham. You can register for the event on the RCNi website.
- Our Out of Hours Urgent Dental Community team are also holding a drop-in on Saturday 10th February, 10am - 2pm at Moor Street Clinic in Worcester for dentists looking to enhance their emergency and urgent care skills. Email Senior Dental Officer, Mutahir Rahman to hear more: whcnhs.communitydental@nhs.net.
- To inspire the future generation we are visiting Herefordshire Skills Show in February and Worcestershire Skills Show in March. For the Worcestershire Skills Show on the March 6th, parents and carers can attend between 5pm to 8pm with their young person (year 7 to 10 students) to discover local opportunities and understand how they can support them with their next steps.
View our latest opportunities here!
Celebrating our staff
In November, we came together to celebrate the outstanding work of our staff at our annual staff awards and long service events. During the day, we celebrated 32 members of staff with a combined 905 years NHS service at our long service awards. This recognised those who had achieved 25 years and 40 years service to the NHS.
Later that evening we welcomed a further 200 staff to Stanbrook Abbey as we announced this year’s winners across 13 categories including Team of the Year, Patient Choice and Special Recognition.
Thank you to our sponsors The University of Worcester, Speller Metcalfe and VerseOne without whom the event wouldn’t have been possible.
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
The first week of February (5th – 11th) marks Children’s Mental Health Awareness week. The theme for this year is ‘My Voice Matters’ and allowing children and young people the opportunity to express themselves to ensure their voices are heard.
Keep any eye out for our social media campaign which will be launched across relevant channels including, Facebook, X, and Instagram to promote the range of help, support, and guidance available for children and young people to access should they need it. We’ll also be sharing advice on what parents and carers can do to help support their child’s mental wellbeing.
