Welcome to this edition of Link magazine

In this edition we celebrate 75 years of the NHS and its founding principle of free, high-quality healthcare for all. At STH we are proud to have been at the forefront of many developments and innovations over the years, and that continues to this day. Indeed, in this edition you can read about some of the cutting edge research that is currently taking place into using artificial intelligence to identify heart damage, DNA repair to treat brain tumours and a supplement derived from tomatoes to help men with fertility problems. Of course, none of this would be possible without the incredible knowledge, skills and experience of our staff, and we feature one family that has given three generations of service to the NHS and another colleague, Malcolm Littlewood, who has given an incredible 55 years of NHS service and was born in 1948, the same year as the NHS was founded. Happy Birthday NHS! Also featured in this edition is Horatio’s Garden, an accessible garden designed specifically for the needs of spinal injuries patients at the Princess

Royal Spinal Injuries Centre. The garden was displayed at Chelsea Flower Show, where it achieved the incredible accolade of Best in Show. This is a remarkable achievement and I can’t wait to see it in full bloom at the spinal injuries centre, where it will be relocated to in 2024. We are also very fortunate to have opened another beautiful outside space thanks to the support of our charity. The Secret Garden at the Northern General Hospital will be officially opened on the 75th birthday of the NHS but colleagues can enjoy the space now. We are also looking for a suitable space to develop at the central campus. There is also an update on our new electronic patient record system (EPR) to replace Lorenzo, and I am pleased to say that progress is continuing at pace.

The STHConnect2024 programme represents one of the biggest investments the Trust has made in 20 years, and the EPR we are purchasing is a tried and tested product supplied by Oracle Cerner.

We are now at the stage where we are working to configure the system to our requirements and there will be lots of opportunities for all colleagues to be involved with this exciting change over the coming months and I would encourage you to take full advantage of this where you can.

I will finish by saying thank you to all of you for your professionalism, compassion and commitment even in the most challenging of times. I know a huge amount of work has been done over recent months to make progress on our recovery work, despite the disruptions we have faced from industrial action and the ongoing challenges of catching up with care that was affected by the pandemic. We still have more to do, but your efforts are making a difference.

Best wishes

Kirsten

Kirsten Major Chief Executive