Here's how Sheffield's dedicated health teams have been helping to look after us

Hundreds of patients diagnosed with the coronavirus have been nursed back to health by The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust team – including one woman aged 102.
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Here the team give us a unique insight into their work to keep us all safe and answer some of the questions you have been asking:

We are in unusual times and unsurprisingly that brings with it a level of anxiety and uncertainty for us all. As the City’s provider of adult hospital and community health services we wanted to update you on how we are managing the COVID-19 outbreak to provide reassurance and clarity.

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Since the beginning of March we have provided care for over 400 patients who have recovered and been discharged including one lady who is 102 years old. At the moment we have around 250 patients receiving care in our hospitals and of those around 30 are receiving intensive care. Very sadly despite our teams very best efforts over 140 patients have died as a result of the virus. Every one of those individuals was precious to their family and friends and our thoughts are with them at this awful time.

Health teams have been  working tirelessly to keep the public safeHealth teams have been  working tirelessly to keep the public safe
Health teams have been working tirelessly to keep the public safe

Last week we saw a drop in the number of patients in ITU and a slight decrease in the number of positive patients in general but we are not yet on a downward trend. The consensus seems to be that we are seeing a slight slowing of the virus spread as a result of social distancing, which makes it all the more important we all continue to stick to the current rules about not going out unless it is essential. Despite the slowdown we are mindful that we have still not hit the peak of the pandemic in our region and current predictions are that the number of positive cases coming into our hospitals will increase in the coming weeks. We had already planned for the numbers expected and so we are ready.

With this in mind we wanted to outline the plans we made several months ago to manage the outbreak and explain why we have taken some of the decisions we have about our services. As well as our magnificent staff working in our hospitals and community services whose dedication and sheer hard work has been beyond outstanding, we are very grateful for the support we have had from the City’s health and social care organisations, emergency services, voluntary sector, Universities and schools and the business community. Working together as a City has been a huge strength in ensuring we could respond in the best interests of our patients but also local communities.

One of the main areas we have focussed our attention, is ensuring we have sufficient critical care capacity for those patients who will require it. Usually, we would have approximately 35 critical care beds for the sickest patients (those requiring ventilation) and approximately 50 other types of high dependency beds.

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Our current plans take us to 250 ventilated critical care beds. For those patients who do not require that level of care, we have also planned to provide significantly more general care beds should we need them. We have also worked with city partners to ensure we have arrangements in place to provide a dignified response for patients who sadly pass away as well as ensuring support for their families and friends.

Outside of our hospitals, our community services teams are also playing a critical role in ensuring some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens continue to receive the care they need as well as supporting the appropriate discharge for those patients who no longer need hospital care. Day in and day out the teams are making home visits in challenging circumstances but they are doing this with the same smiles and kindness we have come to expect from this amazing team.

Of course we have had to make a number of decisions about services that will be reduced, or not be provided, whilst we respond to COVID-19. This may be because patients are social isolating or shielding and unable to access the service. Our clinical teams have reviewed all of our services and identified the safest ones to cease at this time. Likewise, they have reviewed patient caseloads and spoken to those patients who they feel required a review before the peak of the pandemic arrives. We will be continuing to run emergency services like A&E and services for heart attacks, strokes and trauma. Urgent services which support cancer, women during pregnancy and labour, patients on renal dialysis, essential diagnostics and district nursing are also continuing. We would urge anyone who thinks they may need urgent care or have symptoms associated with conditions such as stroke and hearts attacks not to delay in accessing care. We remain open for urgent and emergency care as normal.

We are also running an essential number of operating theatre lists daily which will be available for emergencies and urgent operating as well as key treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We are also aware of the impact of social isolation on our vulnerable and elderly and continue to provide services such as support to those with hearing impairment, psychological services and support to house bound patients where appropriate. We continue to receive referrals from GPs and review these to identify which patients need to be seen urgently and which can safely wait until after the COVID-19 outbreak subsides. We are writing to all patients on our outpatient and inpatient waiting lists, or who have planned care with us, to reassure you that, although your care may be being delayed during this time, we will be in touch in the future and until then you remain under our care and there are ways you can access services if your condition becomes urgent or an emergency.

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You will see that we have had to change our visiting arrangements, in line with social distancing and isolation recommendations, and we are working with patients and relatives to improve access to telephones and technology to allow them to keep in touch whilst in hospital. We are very grateful to companies who have donated iPads and other devices for patients to be able to use to stay in touch with their family and friends.

We were one of the first NHS Trusts to test staff for the virus as soon as they showed any symptoms. As a result of this the vast majority of our colleagues have been able to return to work safely and well within the isolation period because they tested negative for the virus. Our laboratories have worked phenomenally hard to provide the capacity to turnaround all patient results for South Yorkshire, Derby and Chesterfield within 24hours, as well as offering some staff testing to our Sheffield NHS colleagues and key clinical staff at Yorkshire Ambulance Service. We currently have capacity to undertake up to 1,000 tests a day for staff or patients if required and we are working hard to expand the capacity even further.

As well as our current 17,500 staff working to support patients in hospital and the community, we have been overwhelmed by the number of retired colleagues who have volunteered to come back to work. We are supporting them with training and orientation to return to work. Clinical staff who have moved to roles outside of frontline clinical duties and staff who work in outpatient departments have also been trained and supported to allow them to work within ward based teams. Furthermore, working with the Universities, final year nursing and medical and other health students, who have the appropriate skills, have volunteered to join our teams.

In parallel, we have worked within the guidelines set out by the Government and, wherever possible, have encouraged home working and reduced the need for travel. New software has allowed all meetings to become virtual, and the vast majority of our outpatient appointments have moved to telephone or video conferencing, to allow our clinicians to undertake these from home and prevent patients from travelling. From last week we also started running a “drive-thru” phlebotomy service from the Sheffield Arena which means patients who need routine blood tests can have them without needing to leave their car or enter the hospital.

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You will have seen in the press the national concerns around the availability of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for those staff caring for patients with COVID-19. Keeping our staff safe is our top priority along with patient care and we have been working with the NHS and national suppliers to ensure we have the equipment we need throughout the coming weeks and months. In line with national guidance you will see all our clinical staff wearing, as a minimum, gloves, a plastic apron and a surgical mask across our acute and community services. In our high risk areas you will see staff in additional protective clothing and face shields. In the last week alone we have purchased even more additional protective equipment for our staff and we are monitoring stock levels 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We cannot put into words how incredible every single one of our colleagues who work across the Trust has been in terms of going the extra mile to make sure we can deliver what is needed during this unprecedented time. Not just our clinical teams but the many thousands of colleagues working tirelessly to support the clinicians in the background. Every single person is making a difference which is invaluable in terms of how we respond to this pandemic. We are very aware how draining and stressful the ongoing crisis is for everyone and so we have put in place a number of practical support services to enable our colleagues to look after themselves as well as others. Reductions in public transport also have an impact on our staff and so we have commissioned a number of free buses on key routes to support staff getting to work and opened up free parking to all members of staff and the public. We are also very grateful to the local schools who have stayed open, often with extended hours and across the holidays, so our staff can continue to work. We have also extended our own childcare services to complement this.

The ‘frontline’ is so much more than those organisations directly providing care but the huge infrastructure we depend on – the shops selling food to us, the bus drivers bringing us to work, the lorry drivers bringing us kit, the refuse services keeping the place waste free, everyone in all of the sectors and more have been fantastic.

We are very grateful for messages of support, colourful rainbows in windows and the significant numbers of donations and gifts that are coming in for patients teams and staff. Whilst these are lovely, we often have difficulty identifying which ward or individual to hand these onto. We are therefore asking that companies and members of the public who wish to show their gratitude to staff consider making a donation to Sheffield Hospitals charity which we are then using to provide food and drink to those members of staff who are unable to leave their ward area for a break whilst wearing their protective equipment to care for patients.

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We are also mindful of the wider impact on our friends and neighbours across Sheffield who are struggling and ask that those wishing to donate also consider providing food and donations to local food banks and charities supporting the vulnerable individuals in our city.

Finally, we would like to say a very big thank you to those of you who are remaining at home and social isolating. The scientific evidence shows that this is our most powerful action in combating COVID-19 together and, whilst we know the impact this is having on you and your families, it really will help reduce the pressure on your local health and social care services over the next few weeks.

We really are doing all that we can to ensure we have the best possible response to COVID-19 for our city, whilst ensuring we are in the best position to return to providing you with your full range of healthcare services once this situation has finished.

Many thanks and please stay safe.

The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust team.