Harrogate porter’s hands feature on new NHS coronavirus pin

A porter at Harrogate District Hospital has had his hands honoured as part of a new NHS pin to thank staff for their efforts during the pandemic.

Faisal Yousaf, known as Faz, is one of just six people who have taken part in the project to support NHS charities.

TMB Art Metal has developed an initial run of 5,000 of the special fundraising pins. A total of £10 from the sale of each £25 pin will go to NHS Charities Together.

The pins, which are cast in metal from a 1939 Spitfire that flew in the Battle of Britain, are available exclusively by clicking or tapping here.

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Colleagues of Faisal put him forward for the project. He was on the frontline in the emergency department and the admissions unit taking patients to and from the intensive care unit.

He works all around the hospital transporting patients, blood supply and equipment, as well collecting items from nearby villages and Leeds.

Faisal said:

“I feel overwhelmed to be a part of this project. I’ve been here for around two years, and to me, my colleagues are not colleagues but friends and family.

“I was seeing first-hand the doctors and nurses who’d been in full PPE for 12, 13 hours coming out of intensive care, their expressions, body language and the scars the equipment made.

“Then in the days and weeks that followed it became a really proud achievement to have all my colleagues around me and to be a part of that team.”

Sammy Lambert, business development, charity and volunteer manager said:

“I am delighted that we are involved in such a monumental project. Faz is an incredible colleague and a real asset to #teamHDFT.

“All of our colleagues across the trust are so grateful to be part of such a lovely initiative to thank the NHS.

“I see first-hand the difference the monies raised through donations from projects such as this can make – thank you.”

‘Extremely urgent’ action required to tackle NHS dentist shortage

Health bosses have insisted they are doing everything possible to attract NHS dentists to set up in North Yorkshire after admitting there is a growing backlog of patients awaiting treatment.

After grilling NHS bosses responsible for dentistry across the region, North Yorkshire’s scrutiny of health committee concluded the health service needs to take “extremely urgent” action to address dire access to services.

It comes as the Stray Ferret revealed in March that just two NHS dentists in the Harrogate district were accepting new patients — and both have a waiting time of at least two-and-a-half years.

At the time, Cllr John Ennis, chair of the health scrutiny committee for North Yorkshire, described the findings as “shocking”.

‘Residents demand explanations’

The health committee meeting heard that over the past 12 months, practices in North Yorkshire had started handing back NHS contracts and others had been terminated for failing to provide contracted services.

Of the 100 remaining dentistry NHS contracts in the county, some only take children as NHS patients if their parents pay for private treatment and others that do take adult NHS patients report waiting lists of more than 8,000 patients.

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Cllr Tony Randerson told the meeting that residents were demanding explanations as to why parents were having to take children as young as six to places such as Middlesbrough and face bills of £100 for check-ups.

He called on the county council to put pressure on the government to improve access to NHS dentistry.

Cllr Randerson said:

“The government has got a responsibility to look after not only the small few that can afford private treatment, but everybody. It is a duty of care.

“It’s absolutely criminal that these people are having to travel as far away as Hull or Leeds if they are fortunate enough to get an appointment, and not necessarily NHS appointments. This cannot be allowed to go on.”

The meeting heard access to NHS dentistry had been grave in some areas for many years.

NHS dentistry commissioner Debbie Pattinson said that due to nationally imposed pandemic restrictions practices were continuing to operate at about 60 per cent capacity. 

She emphasised practices had been asked to prioritise those in need of urgent care.

Ms Pattinson said: 

“We’ve got a growing backlog, a growing number of people who want a regular check up and cant get one.

“It is unprecedented. We’ve not known anything like it in North Yorkshire with the contracts coming back.”

Managing perceptions

However, she added NHS bosses were working to manage “public perceptions”. 

She said: 

“Dentistry isn’t free. It is a subsidised service.”

Ms Pattinson said finding replacement practices was proving difficult as due to covid restrictions “nobody wants to take on more activity”.

Nevertheless, she said the NHS hoped to have commissioned some out of hours urgent care appointments on Saturdays at a number of different clinics in bigger towns across North Yorkshire by the beginning of October.

To target inequality, North Yorkshire and Humber Local Dental Network chairman Simon Hearnshaw said the NHS was looking at introducing a dentistry programme for children linking a practice to a school, supporting supervised brushing, increasing fluoride, and supporting access to care.

He added the NHS was “trying extremely hard” to improve provision, which included examining incentivising practices to set up in areas of county with no NHS dental cover.

First covid death at Harrogate hospital in nearly two weeks

Harrogate District Hospital has reported its first covid death in nearly two weeks.

The death was reported on April 11, according to NHS England figures.

It’s the first death since March 29 of a patient who tested positive for covid.

It takes the total deaths at the hospital since the start of the pandemic to 179.

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Meanwhile, 11 covid cases have been recorded in the Harrogate district according to latest Public Health England statistics.

The number takes the total number of cases since last March to 7,596.

According to the government dashboard, the only areas to have had any infections in the last seven days are Killinghall and Hampsthwaite, Harrogate east and Hookstone.

WATCH: NHS takes down Nightingale hospital in Harrogate

Staff working on behalf of NHS England have dismantled large parts of the former Nightingale hospital in Harrogate, including the oxygen tanks that have loomed over the town for a year.

Construction workers started the job at 4am today, almost a year to the day since the temporary hospital started to take shape.

The stretch of Ripon Road immediately outside the Royal Hall and Harrogate Convention Centre was closed to traffic while cranes operated.

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We understand the CT scanners will also be removed later today.

The NHS confirmed last month it will dismantle all seven of the Nightingale hospitals across the country.

NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber, which was the Harrogate Nightingale’s full name, which never treated any coronavirus patients.

But it was used to provide CT scans to non-coronavirus patients.

Cranes in place to remove Nightingale oxygen tanks in Harrogate

Cranes are now in place ready to remove the oxygen tanks from the former Nightingale hospital in Harrogate.

Workers arrived at around 4am this morning to prepare the site and started by removing the concrete blocks.

Ripon Road immediately outside the Royal Hall and Harrogate Convention Centre is now closed to traffic heading towards the town centre. Crescent Road is being used as a diversion.

Construction workers have told the Stray Ferret that the oxygen tanks are set to be removed at around 7am to 8am this morning.

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We also understand that the CT scanners will also be removed from the former Nightingale hospital later today.

The NHS confirmed last month that it will dismantle all seven of the Nightingale hospitals across the country.

NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber never treated coronavirus patients. Staff did use it to provide CT scans to none coronavirus patients.

Harrogate district gets NHS scheme to help children sleep

A project to help young people overcome sleeping difficulties has been extended to cover the Harrogate district.

NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group initially commissioned The Sleep Charity to run pilot projects in Whitby, Scarborough and Ryedale.

The scheme has now been extended to families across North Yorkshire for 12 months, starting on April 1.

The free scheme uses behavioural therapy, sleep clinics and workshops rather than medication to aid sleep.

It also provides professional training to GP practice staff, health visitors and school nurses.

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Research by The Sleep Charity, The Sleep Council and Sleepstation found that since the pandemic began, 70% of children are going to bed significantly later than usual.

Vicki Dawson, chief executive of The Sleep Charity, which is based in Doncaster, said:

“Quality sleep is absolutely essential for a child’s growth and development.

“It helps children to concentrate on learning, allows them to react more quickly to situations, have a more developed memory and solve problems.

“Plus, it makes them less susceptible to colds and other minor ailments, less irritable and better behaved.”

Dr Charles Parker, NHS North Yorkshire CCG clinical chair, said:

“We know how debilitating, disruptive and distressing it can be for families when a child is struggling to sleep, and we see first-hand how it can lead to a number of physical and mental health issues which require treatment.

“It’s heartening to hear that The Sleep Charity’s work has already made a huge difference to many families in Whitby, Scarborough and Ryedale and I’m delighted these services are now available across North Yorkshire.”

Families participating in the project gain access to the Teen Sleep Hub, which contains links to twice-weekly live chats with professional sleep practitioners.

The service is available for people aged 12 months to 18 years.

For children and young people with a special education need or disability and/or education health care plan, the service is available from ages 12 months to 25 years.

Access to the scheme is available by self referral. Email support@thesleepcharity.org.uk for details.

 

Harrogate Nightingale dismantling begins

Work has begun to dismantle Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital – almost a year after it was built at a cost of more than £27m.

The temporary 500-bed site was set up at Harrogate Convention Centre in April last year to cope with a surge of coronavirus cases but it has not treated a single virus patient during the pandemic.

NHS England announced this month the emergency hospital would close at the start of April and a spokesperson has now confirmed contractors have started removing medical equipment from the venue.

“The phased dismantling of NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber has begun.

“The removal of some larger pieces of equipment will require road closures which will be advertised through the appropriate channels in due course.”

The emergency hospital was one of seven built in England and although it did not treat a single coronavirus patient, it was used for non-virus diagnostic tests and outpatient appointments.

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Earlier this month, the NHS described the network of Nightingale hospitals as the “ultimate insurance policy” as it announced each of the sites, apart from those in London and Sunderland which will stay open for vaccinations, will close next month.

Health officials also said it was a “success” that the Harrogate site was not needed but there are questions over how it would have been staffed, with councillors on the West Yorkshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee this week launching an investigation into why the facility was not used for covid patients.

Councillor Jim Clark, the Conservative chairman of North Yorkshire County Council, said there are “questions to be answered” and “lessons we can learn” around the Nightingale.

He told the health committee on Monday:

“We need to know how we would have staffed it, what capacity it would have been able to provide, where the staff would have come from and what effect that would have had on services within the rest of Yorkshire.”

It remains unclear how long the dismantling of the hospital will take and how much it will cost.

However, Paula Lorimer, director of the council-owned convention centre, previously said she was “confident” it will be ready for events to return on 21 June when all restrictions on social distancing are due to be lifted.

 

‘A costly PR stunt’: calls for an inquiry into Harrogate Nightingale

A senior politician from Ripon has described the Harrogate Nightingale as a “costly PR stunt”, amid calls for an inquiry.

Lord Newby’s criticism comes after NHS England said this week the hospital, which cost £27 million to set up, would be decommissioned at the end of the month.

It has not treated a single covid patient, prompting calls for an inquiry.

Lord Newby, the Liberal Democrat leader in the House of Lords, who lives in Ripon, said:

“The Nightingales were a costly PR stunt.

“They could never be used as planned because there was never the staffing for them. They were introduced because the government was desperate to be seen to be responding effectively to the pandemic, which at the time looked to be potentially out of control.

“The Harrogate Nightingale should have been closed months ago, in order to avoid the high cost of maintenance and so that Harrogate could begin to plan for its reopening.”

Jim Clark, a Conservative who represents Harrogate Harlow on Harrogate Borough Council, repeated his

call for an inquiry on BBC Look North yesterday.

He told the programme:

“It wasn’t an insurance policy in Harrogate because we didn’t have the staff to man it and I think it’s then been discovered that as soon as it was built it wasn’t essentially fit for purpose.”

The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones and Richard Cooper, leader of the Conservative-controlled Harrogate Borough Council whether they supported calls for an inquiry. Neither replied.

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Asked the same question on Look North, Cllr Cooper said the location of the Nightingale Hospitals was likely to be considered as part of a wider covid inquiry. He added:

“But we’ve been pleased to host the Nightingale and to host the thousands of diagnostic tests that have been carried out there.”

Pat Marsh, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Harrogate Borough Council, supported calls for an inquiry, adding:

“Over a decade of Conservative cuts has led to an NHS operating on a shoestring. Whether there was ever the staff to run such a Nightingale hospital, should it have been toward full capacity, needs to be made clear.”

Margaret Smith, chair of Harrogate and Knaresborough Labour Party, said the Nightingales were “a legitimate insurance policy” in the early days of covid when it seemed hospitals could be overwhelmed. She added:

“There seems little point in wasting any more public money on an inquiry at this stage.”

 

One more covid death confirmed at Harrogate hospital

Another patient who had tested positive for coronavirus has died at Harrogate District Hospital, according to today’s figures from NHS England.

The death, which was registered yesterday, brings the total number of deaths at the hospital to 167 since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, seven new cases of covid have been confirmed in the Harrogate district today by Public Health England.

The total number of confirmed cases in the district since the start of the outbreak now stands at 7,391.

The Harrogate district seven-day covid rate has fallen to 42 per 100,000 people. This is lower than the rate for England which is 60,

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NHS confirms Harrogate Nightingale to close

The NHS has confirmed that the Harrogate Nightingale hospital is to return to being a convention centre.

NHS England said in a statement today all seven Nightingales “will transition back to local NHS services” from next month.

It added the Harrogate site would continue to provide diagnostic testing “for as long it takes to return the building to it previous purpose”.

So it is not clear precisely when the building will revert to its status as Harrogate Convention Centre and begin hosting events again.

The hospital has not treated a single covid patient but has provided CT scans to non-covid patients.

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An NHS spokesperson said:

“Since the very early days of the pandemic the Nightingale hospitals have been on hand as the ultimate insurance policy in case existing hospital capacity was overwhelmed but, as we have learned more about coronavirus, and how to successfully treat covid, existing hospitals have adapted to significantly surge critical care capacity and even in the winter wave – which saw more than 100,000 patients with the virus admitted in a single month – there were beds available across the country.

“Thank you to the many NHS staff and partners who worked so hard to set the Nightingales up so swiftly and of course the public who followed the guidance on controlling the spread of the virus and helped to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed.”