Heartbeat July 2020

David talks about: Public health priorities
Professor David Carruthers, Medical Director and Acting Chief Executive
Toby Lewis is away
DAVID’S LAST WORD
Wellbeing
MIDLAND
METROPOLITAN
UNIVERSITY
HOSPITAL
This month we celebrated the NHS
birthday with thank you messages to
our communities who have supported
us during the pandemic. So many
individuals, businesses and community
groups have stood with us over the
past few months that it is only right
that we should give our thanks and
support back. The impact of the
lockdown is being felt right across
the country and more so in our local
deprived communities. With job losses
increasing and many local businesses
struggling to survive, our challenge lies
not just in how we manage a potential
second surge, flu and winter, but in
how we shore up support for those
communities who most need it. Public
health must be as much a priority for us
as bed planning, safe patient care and
sound financial management.
At the time of the last NHS birthday on
5 July 2019 we launched perhaps one
of our biggest public health campaigns
to date – introducing smoke free sites.
This was a whole Trust effort and has
largely been a success with minimal
need to fine smokers, free access
to nicotine alternatives and record
numbers of staff accessing support
to stop smoking. Going into the
campaign, we knew that we were likely
to hear concerns about people seen
smoking on the boundaries of our site,
but felt that was a price worth paying,
if more people were encouraged to
quit. The stories from people who have
managed to be smoke free for a year
are testament to that.
Our public health campaign this year
will focus on being a healthy weight
which is perhaps more important than
ever as obesity carries an increased risk
of a poorer outcome with COVID-19.
The campaign is not about urging a
change in appearance, but it is about a
healthy approach to nutrition, physical
activity and mental wellbeing. Staff will
be able to access a range of healthy
options such as team challenges, smart
scales and apps to track progress and
access to wellbeing coaches. Once we
have the staff activities under our belts,
excuse the pun, we will see how we
can best play our part in supporting
local communities to become healthier,
linking up primary care, community
services, social prescribing, voluntary
services and public health colleagues. We
have a developing relationship with the
Sandwell Leisure Trust that will continue
to grow as we plan for Midland Met and
the opportunities that this provides for
healthy spaces within and outside the
new building and on our retained
estate.
The countdown to the Midland
Met clinical model is outlined in this
issue which has brought home to
me the importance of getting our
preparation and service change well
underway. When we look at the
series of milestones in the lead up to
2022, the new hospital seems just
around the corner. Through the next
few weeks a series of engagement
activities is planned with clinical
teams which needs to be the restart
of our programme development.
Midland Met offers more than a
hospital and the opportunities for
regeneration to improving the public
health of the communities it serves
are there, if we have the vision and
courage to take them forwards.
The NHS's 72nd birthday saw us say thank you to the communities and businesses who have
supported us during the pandemic
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