The man in charge of Harrogate District Hospital has been racially abused by England fans on his way home tonight.

Steve Russell, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, tweeted about the incident shortly after England’s 2-0 win over Germany.

He said that a woman shouted “I’m proud to be white and British because we’re better than people like you”.

Mr Russell is in charge of more than 2,000 staff who have been at the forefront of the fight against covid in the district over the past 15 months.

He has spoken about racism encountered in previous interviews, saying he had been told to “get back in my banana boat” while at school.

He has also said BAME colleagues deserve to be treated better.

Mr Russell’s tweet to his almost 4,500 followers prompted an avalanche of supportive responses.

One said the comment was “utterly vile”, another said “awful and just plain old barbaric” while another person said he hoped Mr Russell pointed out that most of England’s goals have been scored by Jamaican-born Raheem Sterling.

Nice. Just walked home in Harrogate. People celebrating the #EnglandvGermany win and a woman slurred ‘I’m proud to be white and British because we’re better than people like you’ at me.

Charming.

— #hellomynameis Steve (he/him) 💙 (@steve_r76) June 29, 2021

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A Knaresborough couple are continuing to campaign for change after an inquest found delays in performing a cesarean contributed to their baby’s death.

Whitney and Andy Pickup’s daughter died on July 12, 2018 at just nine days old as a result of a severe brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen.

Mrs Pickup had a difficult birth with her first child, Charlie, at Leeds General Infirmary. Matilda was born at Harrogate District Hospital.

She believes if the notes from Charlie’s birth had been requested by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust a cesarean could have been performed earlier and Matilda’s death could have been prevented.

This was confirmed at the inquest which found that intrapartum (medical intervention) delay contributed to Matilda’s death.

Since Matilda’s death her parents have campaigned tirelessly for “Matilda’s Law” which would make it mandatory for hospital trusts to share maternity notes if a mother changes hospitals.

The pair, who have since welcomed baby Isaac in April 2020, have said they plan to resume conversations with NHS England and their local MP Andrew Jones about the law.

Mr and Mrs Pickup are determined to keep campaigning in their daughter’s name.

Mrs Pickup said:

“I’m glad it [the inquest] is over it was difficult listening to it all again but we are ok we are now pushing for her law so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Sometimes we do still think ‘did it really happen?’. We are doing this for her, it’s Matilda’s legacy.”

The pair were keen to emphasise that the “service is great when it works” but improvements needed to be made.

During Matilda’s birth the inquest heard various opportunities were missed including delays in delivering Matilda via an emergency cesarean when her heart rate dropped.

Following an unsuccessful forceps delivery, Matilda was born by caesarean section with severe brain damage.

Mr Pickup said:

“Whatever we do it can’t bring her back but we just hope we can stop it happening to someone else. We had built momentum with the campaign but it was halted due to the pandemic. We respected the NHS needed that time to deal with covid. But now is the time to start again. We have a long way to go but we will keep going.”

He added:

“She’s with us everyday.”

Baby Matilda

Matilda was later admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary before being transferred to Martin House Hospice, where she died.

The Pickups subsequently instructed medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the care provided by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

Victoria Moss, the specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Whitney and Andy, said:

“The past few years have been very difficult for the couple who are continuing to grieve for their daughter while holding many questions over her death, but we’re pleased to have helped provide them with the answers they deserve.

“The findings over the past few days demonstrate the need for improvements, in particular regarding the sharing of patient notes, and we now urge that the hospital trusts work together to implement these fully.

“In the meantime will continue to support Whitney and Andy in their campaigning as they attempt to come to terms with their loss.”

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On behalf of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Jacqueline Andrews, Medical Director, said:

“We wish to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Matilda. Following Matilda’s death, the Trust carried out an in-depth investigation, the detail of which have been shared the family and HM Coroner before and during the inquest.

“Following this investigation and as part of our wider and ongoing commitment to providing high quality care to all of our patients, we have already made extensive improvements to our processes and training. This includes the process for requesting patient notes from other hospitals. These improvements were fully shared with the family and HM Coroner during the inquest.”

Today’s National Day of Reflection marks a year since the start of the first lockdown. Steve Russell, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, writes for the Stray Ferret about how the trust has responded. 

Today marks the one-year anniversary of our first national lockdown. This past year has been such a challenge for everyone – not just in the NHS but across our all of our communities. It’s impacted on absolutely everyone in a way that so many of us have never before experienced.

Last week, we also marked the one-year anniversary of our first confirmed inpatient with coronavirus. It’s important we reflect on what our teams have pulled together to deliver since the pandemic began a year ago.

A year on, we have treated just over 800 patients who have suffered with covid. Of those, 600 people have been supported through kind and compassionate care and have been discharged home, but sadly 183 patients lost their lives in the pandemic at our hospitals.

Our community discharge team has supported over 4,500 discharges home during this time, providing the equivalent of 7,000 bed days in patients’ own homes.

Our district nursing services adapted and continued to provide outstanding care to patients in their own homes. They have carried out over 113,000 face-to-face contacts and our specialist care teams have added a further 5,000.

Our 0-19 services (health visiting and school nursing) also had to adapt their ways of working but have continued to support 102,000 children and pregnant mothers during this time. They adjusted the type of support they offer as well as trying to safeguard against increasing levels of risk, which lockdown tragically caused.

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I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to all of my colleagues across the trust and our partner organisations for their incredible efforts over the past year.

It now feels like an opportunity to look forward. Spring is officially here, the weather is getting warmer, more and more people are having the vaccine and we are easing out of lockdown. We can be really optimistic about getting back to something that more resembles ‘normal’.

That said, we can’t become complacent and we have to bear in mind that covid isn’t just going to disappear.

We will be living in a world where it exists but will be much more manageable. We already know so much more about it than we did at this point last year.

Please, keep following social distancing guidelines, wear a mask, wash your hands. If we’re all still doing this, it’s the quickest route back to doing the lovely things that we really want to do in life.

Some frontline staff at Harrogate District Hospital have requested £150 refunds for being asked to pay for car parking during the pandemic.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust suspended parking charges for staff and visitors during the first lockdown but reinstated them in September.

The trust then wrote to staff last month saying it had decided to donate staff parking fees to Harrogate Hospital & Community Charity, where they would be put towards a staff health and wellbeing fund.

The monthly parking charge is £50.50, which means staff paid £151.50 to park on site during the last quarter of 2020.

Employees have now been given the choice to opt out of this arrangement or continue contributing to the health and wellbeing fund.

Most have chosen the latter, but a number have opted out and some are seeking refunds for parking charges incurred in the final quarter of 2020.

One frontline worker, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Stray Ferret they felt it was unfair to be charged for parking after such a demanding year, particularly with the risk of covid, or to be pressured into paying into the hospital charity, however worthy the cause. They added:

“It feels like a kick in the teeth after all we’ve been through in 2020. We were busy before Christmas but right now it’s manic and we feel we deserve this money back.”

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The person added £50.50 was a considerable monthly sum for low wage staff, including cleaners and porters, who paid for onsite parking to know their cars were secure when they worked overnight shifts rather than leave them on nearby streets, which can also annoy residents.

Harrogate and District Foundation Trust has been allocated £800,000 for hospital maintenance in a funding announcement from the government.

The Department of Health and Social Care has awarded £600 million across 174 health trusts aimed at tackling critical improvements for hospitals.

It comes as part of a wider £1.5 billion fund announced earlier this year, which also includes plans to modernise mental health facilities, expand A&E capacity and improve infection control ahead of winter.

A total of 1,800 projects have been funded, with six granted funding in Harrogate.

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The trust said the funds will help to tackle backlog maintenance work, including upgrades to the hospital’s water and fire systems.

Harrogate Integrated Facilities (HIF), a subsidiary of the trust which deals with the hospital’s estates, will carry out the work.

Jonathan Coulter, deputy chief executive and director of finance at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and chief executive of HIF, said: 

“We’re really pleased to have received these additional funds. They allow us to invest in backlog maintenance and improve the Harrogate District Hospital environment. It is much needed, and very welcome.

“The money is going towards vital upgrades to water systems, fire systems and lifts as well as the resurfacing of the goods yard.”

Matt Hancock, secretary of state for health and social care, said:

“Alongside delivering on our manifesto commitment to build 40 new hospitals and 20 major hospital upgrades across the country, this investment will help our NHS build back better.

“These crucial maintenance projects will deliver immediate benefits and provide NHS staff with the facilities they need to provide world-class care to their patients this winter, helping ensure the NHS is always there for you when you need it.”

In August, the trust also received £527,000 to help increase capacity at Harrogate hospital’s accident and emergency department.

Councillors have unanimously supported a plea for free staff parking at Harrogate District Hospital.

Staff pay up to £1,300 a year to park at the hospital, which suspended charges during the first lockdown.

Charges were reinstated on September 23 and have continued to apply since.

North Yorkshire County Council yesterday unanimously supported a Liberal Democrat motion calling for NHS hospital trusts to provide free parking for staff during the covid crisis.

However, this does not mean it will happen.

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The decision is down to Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital. It has not indicated that it plans to discontinue fees.

Liberal Democrat county councillor Geoff Webber, who represents Bilton and Nidd Gorge, moved the proposal, which said:

“That this council makes known to all NHS hospital trusts in North Yorkshire that this council supports and encourages free on-site parking for frontline NHS staff at their place of work for the duration that covid places a strain on the NHS.”

Cllr Webber said:

“I am delighted that this proposal has received unanimous and cross-party support.

“It is the least we can do to show our appreciation to the front-line NHS staff who daily put their lives at risk for the community.”

The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust whether it supported the motion or had any plans to suspend parking fees but had not received a response by the time of publication.

The parking fee situation in the Harrogate district is currently confused.

Harrogate Borough Council, which controls off-street parking, has suspended charges.

But North Yorkshire County Council, which controls on-street parking, continues to charge.

Preventing the NHS from being overwhelmed is one of the main reasons for today’s lockdown.

There have been some worrying stories about hospitals running out of beds in the coming weeks but Harrogate District Hospital is in a better position than most, according to the man in charge.

Steve Russell, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, told the Stray Ferret there was less pressure on critical care at the hospital than in the first wave and so far it was “managing reasonably well”.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Russell highlighted how relatively few covid patients the hospital has despite the Harrogate district’s soaring infection rate that is now above the England average. He said:

“Our wonderful staff in the hospital and community are doing a brilliant job. Other parts of the county have had more cases of us.

“We have had a lower increase in covid than areas around us and we are still running many routine services.”

Covid wards

Harrogate District Hospital has about 320 beds in total, and about 85 per cent are currently occupied.

There are two red wards — designated wards for confirmed or suspected coronavirus. The wards have about 60 staff. When one ward has more than 15 patients the second one is used. “We chose wards with the highest number of side rooms,” said Mr Russell.

He added that as part of the hospital’s surge plans, it would reduce other activities if the number of covid patients grew significantly and staff had to be redeployed. He said staff with the closest skill set for critical care, such as theatre staff, would be the first to be moved.

Mr Russell said the point at which this happened would be determined by a range of factors, including the overall pressure on critical care rather than a set number of covid patients and so far during the second wave the hospital had not reached it.

It currently has about 15 covid patients compared with 50 to 60 at the peak of the first wave. He said:

“The most important thing is how we are coping overall. And at the moment we are coping well.”

Critical care

The hospital’s base critical care capacity is seven. This can ‘flex’ to 10 and has the capacity for another six to eight patients.

Although there were far more covid patients at the peak of the first wave than there are currently, there were more beds available in spring because the hospital had cancelled most other activities. Mr Russell said:

“We didn’t know as much about the disease during the first wave. We now have new drugs, we manage patients better, we have non-invasive ventilators that allow patients to stay awake as well as mechanical ventilators. We have enough ventilators to cope.”

The hospital hasn’t redeployed any staff to treat covid patients during the second wave. Mr Russell said it ran training sessions to prepare staff for this during the first wave and it planned to run refresher sessions.

‘Right to lockdown’

Mr Russell described the decision as ‘a logical and understandable step’, adding:

“If we look at what’s happening across the NHS more broadly and the growth of pressure other hospitals are experiencing, I think it was a wise decision. The measures that we had in place didn’t seem to be slowing the pressure on hospitals as much as needed.”

Staff under pressure

The trust employs about 4,500 staff, of which about half are based in the hospital. Mr Russell said it had been one hell of a difficult year but he had never been prouder of being part of the NHS. He said:

“There is quite understandably a sense of anxiety. People are tired; they are anxious about what might come because winter is generally a busier time for the NHS. It doesn’t matter how well you prepare you can’t predict the future.”

He said the trust had put in place health and wellbeing support for staff. Currently absenteeism was only about 1.5 percentage points higher than usual, and six staff were off yesterday due to test and trace. Staff are only tested for covid when they display symptoms. Mr Russell said:

“Healthcare professionals are sociable animals. Lunchtime has always been a sociable affair. But staff now have to sit further apart, wearing face masks and goggles. It is’n’t nice. It’s uncomfortable. But they know it’s necessary.”

Visiting restrictions

The hospital is ending routine visits today. The only exceptions will be around vulnerable groups.  Mr Russell said this had been a difficult decision that had been debated this week, and the biggest dilemma was about allowing visits to terminally ill patients. He said:

“People find it distressing not being able to visit people at the end of life and so they will be one of the exceptions.”

Nightingale staff

Mr Russell is also chief executive of the Harrogate Nightingale hospital, which he describes as “an insurance policy we hope we never need”.

But if it is, Harrogate District Hospital may have to redeploy staff. Mr Russell said it had identified 10 or 11 staff of 12 or 13 that could be redeployed. Other hospitals in the region would have to do the same. He said this was part of the hospital’s escalation measures and could result in it having to pause routine work.

‘Difficult to switch off’

Many of us think we have stressful jobs but being in charge of a hospital during a pandemic is something else. “Switching off has been difficult,” Mr Russell admits. He had booked a family holiday to Africa next week. This changed to a trip to the New Forest when overseas travel became difficult. Now, with lockdown, he will be staying at home in Harrogate. He said:

“I get a lot of resilience from friends and family, and I’m lucky to have such a fabulous team around me.”

To recognise the hard work of NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic a Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity calendar is being released. 

Now on sale, the calendar is raising money for the Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT). 

The calendar showcases the winning entries of a photo competition run by the charity. The selection includes uplifting images of staff at work, as well as photos of the Harrogate district. 

The HHCC team with some of the new calendars.

Ben Windass, materials management procurement officer at HDFT, took the winning image on the front of the calendar. He said:

“I named this piece of work ‘Rainbow’ because of the general theme around national support for the NHS and I feel this picture really encapsulates this. Incidentally, these crocheted rainbows were kindly donated to the Trust, which also reinforces the theme of support and positivity towards HDFT, and the NHS as a whole.

“Any money raised by the sale of these calendars would be greatly appreciated. On a personal level, it feels warming that I have been able to contribute towards this project and hope that it will in turn contribute to supporting our fabulous Trust and all the communities we serve.”

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

“We are so proud to be launching the 2020/21 calendar. The images used to develop it are absolutely amazing and really capture the spirit of the NHS in the north and what it means to be a part of team HDFT.

 “It’s been a tough year for both colleagues and service users at the Trust, and we are really keen to raise as much as we can following the success of last year’s calendar in order to continue improving what the Trust can do for its local communities.”

The calendars are available for a suggested £10 donation, with all proceeds going to HDFT. This is thanks to sponsorship from Living and Home, a homeware store based in Manchester, whose director has strong ties to the trust after his daughter was born at Harrogate District Hospital. 

The Trust will use the funds to provide electronic tablets for patients to video call relatives while in hospital. It will also use them to improve its services, training and facilities. 

Harrogate District Hospital is to increase the number of coronavirus tests for staff amid concerns some NHS employees are being forced to miss work to self-isolate because tests aren’t available.

NHS Providers, which represents English hospital trusts, said today there were clear capacity problems with the testing regime.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said trust leaders from Bristol, Leeds and London had all raised concerns that a lack of testing availability had led to greater levels of staff absence. He added:

“The problem is that NHS trusts are working in the dark – they don’t know why these shortages are occurring, how long they are likely to last, how geographically widespread they are likely to be and what priority will be given to healthcare workers and their families in accessing scarce tests.”

A spokesman for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said it had its own staff testing facility and that any staff member required to have a test had received one. He added:

“We’re continuing to monitor demand for testing. In line with recent general increases in demand, we are in the process of extending our staff service to ensure we have capacity going forward.”

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Harrogate District Hospital has removed its coronavirus pods from the front of the building after half a year.

The hospital removed the assesment pods today and said they have not been necessary for several months.

A spokesperson said that they have been prominent but added that the hospital has been able to care for patients inside for a while now.

“Thank you to all colleagues involved in setting them up, and ensuring they’ve been safely removed.”

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It also comes a month and a week after a coronavirus patient last died at the hospital. The fact that the hospital has now removed the pods is a visual sign that the hospital is moving in the right direction.

The hospital reported its first covid-19 death on March 20 and the most recent – the 82nd – on July 19. That patient died four days earlier on July 15.