We recently made the difficult decision to suspend visiting to our hospital until further notice except in the below exceptional circumstances, to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Read more information about restrictions…
We recognise the impact that a long stay in hospital can have on families and the importance of maintaining strong communication. Our ward staff are keeping in touch with patients’ next of kin directly and our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) can help pass on personal messages from family and friends.
We recently made the difficult decision to suspend visiting to our hospital until further notice except in the below exceptional circumstances, to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Read more information about restrictions…
We recognise the impact that a long stay in hospital can have on families and the importance of maintaining strong communication. Our ward staff are keeping in touch with patients’ next of kin directly and our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) can help pass on personal messages from family and friends.
The Queen Alexandra Hospital is located just on the hill slopes of Portsdown Hill overlooking Portsmouth. It is conveniently situated for both the M27 and A3M.
Family members and carers play an important role in supporting patients during an episode of ill health. We are committed to the active involvement of family members, friends and carers during a hospital stay. Family members and carers play an important role in supporting patients during an episode of ill health.
More information on visiting hospital for an appointment.
If you've had experience of using our services and would like to make a comment then please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). Your views are very important to us and we would like to hear where you think improvements are needed or where things have gone so well that you would like to share your thanks or gratitude with the staff involved. When things have not gone so well then you can be sure that we want to hear from you, so please get in touch with PALS.
During your stay in hospital you will meet a number of different members of staff. All members of staff wear name badges, but if you are not sure who someone is or what they do, please feel free to ask them to introduce themselves and explain what they do.
If you have any questions about your treatment, please ask a doctor or a nurse.
There are lots of opportunities for you to get involved with the Trust, from volunteering to attending our public meetings, our Annual General Meeting or our hospital open day which is held every year.
We welcome and value your feedback and use the views you share with us in a number of ways to learn and make improvements as well as sharing best practice. Feedback can be provided in a number of ways.
Date: 16 December 2019
Dear colleague,
As you may recall from last week’s message, we recently launched a programme of activities across PHT and Portsmouth and SE Hampshire (PSEH), to prepare us for the peak winter period which lies ahead. Throughout the past 10 days, we’ve seen a number of improvements in flow across the QA site, resulting in:
None of this would have been possible without the support from many departments and teams across the Trust, or without the support from our partners. There’s a lot of learning to be taken from this exercise and we plan for this to drive a number of improvements to how we work day-to-day across PHT and with our partners. Thank you to all involved, as you really have made a significant difference to the experience and care we provide to our patients.
We are also making good progress on our wider plans to transform emergency care across PSEH. On Friday I was delighted to join a clinical summit with partners from across the local health and care system to seek their input on plans for our new emergency care facilities on the QA site.
The £58m capital investment we were allocated provides an opportunity for us to develop a new clinical model for emergency and unscheduled care and to purpose build our new facilities to match. Teams from across the hospital have been working together to explore opportunities for new pathways and ways of working to improve emergency care and to inform the best size, configuration and location for the new facilities.
I know I talk a lot about the importance of Flu vaccinations at this time of year, but now is the time to ensure you’re doing what you can to protect yourself, your loved ones and our patients. The incidence of flu is on the increase and is evident in other regions, so it is a matter of weeks if not days until we see the first peak of the flu season. If you’re in doubt about how to be vaccinated, please speak to your line manager without delay.
This week we welcomed Paula McGowan to the Trust to share the story of her son Oliver, who had cerebral palsy, focal epilepsy and mild autism. He died tragically in 2016, aged just 18. Paula has campaigned nationally and internationally to raise awareness of the needs of those who have learning disabilities and the importance of healthcare professionals being sufficiently trained to understand how to make reasonable adjustments to respond to those needs. We also heard compelling stories from two of our patients who have learning disabilities describing their experience of receiving care from us. It was clear that we get a lot of things right, but there is more we need to do to make sure we individualise the care we provide with greater consistency. It was wonderful to see so many of you attending the event, demonstrating our commitment to provide even better care to our patients, their carers and loved ones.
Throughout the week it has been fantastic to see everyone getting into the festive spirit. As ever, we have been helped by the kindness and generosity of our local community. Each day this week we’ve had choirs performing, special guests visiting and numerous deliveries of gifts for our patients. This included a visit from our very own Portsmouth FC who visited a number of departments, bringing joy and plenty of smiles from those they met, patients and staff alike. There are many more activities planned for the week ahead, but I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who supports us, particularly at this time of year.
Finally, we have already received a number of entries to our Christmas decorations competition and I look forward to judging the entries next week. If you haven’t yet entered and would like to do so, please email photographs of your festive ward or department to communications@porthosp.nhs.uk or tweet a photograph to @QAHospitalNews including that hashtag #PHTatXmas by 4pm on Monday. Be warned, there’s some fierce competition!
Thank you for all you do to make a difference for those who rely on us most.
Mark Cubbon
Chief Executive
