2021 was quite a year for NHSGGC and our staff. As the bells heralded the beginning of 2021, we all wished that we had come through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We looked forward to a year less affected by illness, loss and worry.
We had hope – that 2021 would be better and there have been real successes and moments of pride:
The amazing efforts of our vaccination teams as we worked so hard to protect the people we care for, and the fantastic support of the public, who have answered the call to roll up their sleeves.
The sense of family and mutual support that has become so evident in every hospital, in every specialty, from porters and domestics to consultants and lead nurses. Our staff have been there for each other, keeping their colleagues going when things were especially challenging.
And make no mistake, times have been tough – Delta came, then more recently Omicron. The pressures on our staff and our services remained.
But, despite the difficulties, the optimism remains – the expectation that things WILL get better is still keeping our staff going, keeping them focused on delivering the highest-quality person-centred care to our patients.
So we asked some of our hard working staff at the Vale of Leven Hospital to share their hopes and dreams for 2022:
Hannah Greenway, Specialist Occupational Therapist (above)
2021 was a challenging year for everyone and it has been great to see colleagues pulling together and adapting to the ever-changing circumstances in which we are living, which I am sure most of us would never have imagined.
Within the AHP (Allied Health Professional) team at the Vale we have used and developed our use of virtual technology to enable joint sessions with family and assist to facilitate discharge planning. This has been a valuable resource particularly during times where visiting has been restricted.
I am looking forward to the next year and all the new opportunities and challenges that may come along the way. For the year ahead, the AHP team and I want to build on our current service and utilise local volunteers who are keen to work with the AHP team to enhance patient rehabilitation and their experience while within hospital.
Over the last year our team has pulled together, showed great resilience and teamwork. We will continue to support each other and promote positive team morale during 2022.
This year the AHP team will continue to contribute to the excellent care provided by all staff at the Vale of Leven Hospital.
Dr Martin Perry, Clinical Director of Medicine in Clyde
Dreams are unreal. They take us beyond the ‘normal’ at times to what is in effect ‘super-natural’ – another dimension. And we all need to dream and think beyond ‘new normal’.
I sometimes wonder why I am doing all this – and I suppose that can be answered in different ways. However, working together with a team that has given time and again to provide the best care possible in the circumstances despite all that circumstances and COVID can throw at us has helped inspire me that we will find a way through the uncertainty and the reconfigurations that will no doubt follow.
Whatever the situation, working with others to improve health and wellbeing is something we can all do and will keep doing!
‘There is no sadder thing than a young pessimist’ – Mark Twain
Marie Whalen, Senior Charge Midwife in the Community Midwifery Unit
I have been in the caring profession for 39 years, 34 of them spent in midwifery.
Never have I seen or worked through anything like the trying times that the pandemic has caused.
My hopes for 2022 are that we can get back to some form of normality.
Midwife means “with woman” and the pandemic has put many barriers to this.
Our unit has an open-door policy to women and their families, but during the pandemic the restrictions have meant that the women need to wait for admission, there are restrictions to partners and children attending appointments.
The team has shown great resilience throughout this period. I am so proud of the CMU and all the staff in the care that we have continued to provide, adapting to every change with little fuss and the staff’s ‘can-do attitude’.
I realise that I am very fortunate to be in a job that I still love, with a great team working together for the welfare of our community.