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 has unveiled rainbow crossings to welcome LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and staff.

The hospital has painted three crossings so far and plans to add a further two crossings.

It hopes the crossings “act as a visual symbol of inclusion” and “enhances the work we’ve been doing” to better support LGBTQ+ people.

During the last year Harrogate hospital has launched three staff networks for LGBTQ+, BAME and disabled staff.

We’re delighted with our freshly painted rainbow Pride crossings (the first three of five) at Harrogate District Hospital.
They send a message that the hospital – and the Trust as a whole – is an open, inclusive and non-judgemental place for LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and staff. pic.twitter.com/z69vEUTmQo

— Harrogate NHS FT (@HarrogateNHSFT) October 11, 2020

Stonewall, which campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights, found that LGBTQ+ people face widespread discrimination in healthcare settings.

Some NHS trusts and national NHS bodies have made it onto Stonewall’s top 100 employers over the past decade.

Harrogate and District NHS Trust hope its launch of rainbow badges and the appointment of its first equality and diversity lead will help it make it on the list.

A Care Quality Commission inspection in 2019, which rated HDFT as good overall, found a lack of diversity at senior level and said senior leaders “were aware that they need to undertake more work”.

A spokesperson for HDFT said:

“We’re delighted with our freshly painted rainbow Pride crossings at Harrogate District Hospital. They send a message that the hospital – and the trust as a whole – is an open, inclusive and non-judgemental place for LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and staff.”

A pop-up shop inside Harrogate District Hospital has launched a craft and sewing competition to boost donations.

Volunteers run the Harrogate Hospital Pop-Up Shop five days a week to give donated groceries to hospital staff. It first opened in March to support those working at the hospital during coronavirus who were unable to get to supermarkets or found the shelves bare after long shifts.

Volunteer Fiona Ryan said:

“Since children broke up from schools we have had a drop in support. We reckon that at least 80 hospital staff come to us daily for groceries and we send parcels out to staff at home with covid symptoms. We also send boxes up to the covid wards.”

The Harrogate Pop Up Sewing Bee is asking for photographs of sewn or crafted clothing which represent this year’s pandemic.

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The competition is split into age categories and entries are to be submitted with a £2 donation. When the competition closes on August 30, all photographs will be arranged into a collage for Harrogate District Hospital.

Entries will be judged by Steve Russell, chief executive of Harrogate and District Foundation Trust, Captain Rummage (Chris Powell) from Bettys & Taylors recycling project The Cone Exchange, and Fran Taylor who set up the Harrogate Scrubbers group to address a national scrubs shortage through coronavirus.

All submissions have the chance to win one of multiple prizes donated by Harrogate businesses. These include a meal at The Fat Badger, a Neom Organics candle and other goodies from The Harrogate Cookie Company and Little Breads.

Ms Ryan said:

“People are starting to believe that covid has gone away, which isn’t the case. The hospital is busier than ever. This competition will really support us.”

To enter, donate £2 to the pop-up shop’s PayPal and send your photo to their Facebook group, or for non-Facebook users, email Fiona Ryan at fionaryan2812@icloud.com.

For the sixth day in a row, Harrogate District Hospital has not reported a coronavirus death.

It is a positive story for the hospital, where 64 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have died so far.

Meanwhile across England’s hospitals, a further 108 people have died, bringing the total number up to 26,722.

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Patients were aged between 29 and 99 years old. 16 of the 108 patients, who were aged between 48 and 94, had no known underlying health conditions.

On Thursday last week, the hospital reported a total of 109 patients had recovered from coronavirus and been discharged.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a “significant drop” in the number of people in the Harrogate district going to their GP with cancer symptoms.

The situation was “extremely worrying” said the district’s health professionals who urged the public to always see a doctor about any symptoms that may be cancer.

All patients with suspected cancer are referred by their doctors for an urgent appointment at Harrogate District Hospital, which can either rule out  the disease or pick it up early and allow for urgent investigations and treatment.

The hospital said it would normally expect to see 190-200 such urgent cancer referrals a week but during the past couple of months that had dropped to as low as 60 patients per week.

The numbers of patients being referred for appointments has started to rise again, but the concern is that not everyone is getting in touch with their GP.

Dr Charles Parker, NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s Clinical Chair, said:

“Finding cancer early offers the best chance to cure it. Ignoring potential problems can have serious consequences for people, something that nobody wants. Please, if you’re concerned, make an appointment with your GP. We are doing all we can to care for patients safely.”

People who are referred into Harrogate District Hospital for investigation or treatment, or who are already on a course of treatment, can expect the same quality of care; the way that care is delivered however may have changed in response to the pandemic.”

Noreen Hawkshaw, Macmillian Lead Nurse for Cancer and Matron for the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre at the hospital, said:

“Here in Harrogate district, the NHS is continuing to work hard to manage the coronavirus pandemic, but we’re also working hard to ensure patients can safely access essential services such as cancer investigation and treatments if needed.

“The NHS has had to change significantly to manage the impact of the pandemic but we want to reassure patients who are referred to Harrogate District Hospital for investigation that we are still providing the same high quality of care, just in a different way, ensuring all the appropriate measures in line with Government guidance are in place to keep you safe when accessing our services.”

Harrogate scrubbers made their final trip to Harrogate district hospital today to deliver homemade scrubs.

The group, which was set up just 6 weeks ago, has of 830 volunteers which have provided the town’s hospital with over 2,000 scrubs, 260 gowns, 550 scrub hats and 1,000 scrub bags.

Fran Taylor, the founder of Harrogate Scrubbers, told the Stray Ferret that it had been really humbling:

This started 6 weeks ago… it was about people wanting to help the NHS and I think we really have achieved that. It has also really helped people’s mental health as those that are stuck in the house isolating or on furlough have been able to have a focus and help others at the same time.

Charlotte Gannaway is a nurse at Harrogate Hospital. She was there today to receive the final load of scrubs:

“At the start we had a shortage of scrubs, but we now have enough to go round all the staff. Its made us a lot more comfortable at work, especially when we are working long hours.

We have come together as a team and we are definitely seeing a good number of patients getting discharged”.

Harrogate District Hospital has, for the first time in five days, reported that one of its coronavirus patients has died.

The total number of deaths is now at 55. The figures released today showed that the patient died on Thursday last week.

A further 122 people, who tested positive for coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of England’s hospital deaths to 24,739.

The number of deaths outside of hospitals will be released tomorrow. As of last week, ONS data up to May 1 includes 54 deaths.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust confirmed last Thursday it had discharged 97 people after treatment for coronavirus.

Family members of people treated in Harrogate’s Briary Unit say they are deeply concerned about the impact of closing the town’s only mental health inpatient facilities. 

With inpatients now set to be sent to York, and other support moved into the community, people who have seen their closest relatives go through very distressing episodes of mental illness want to help others understand why having the hospital nearby can ease the pressure on them. 

Rachael, who asked us not to use her full name, said she worried about the additional stress placed on families by the closure of the mental health treatment centre after her daughter was treated in Middlesbrough over Christmas. 

Her daughter, who turns 25 in May, has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times in the last six years. Now diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she was last admitted to the Briary Wing in December. 

“I had gone to see her at home,” said Rachael.

“She was behaving very worryingly – I was so horrified. She had been so stridently adamant that she didn’t want to go to hospital again. I felt completely paralysed.” 

It was a Saturday night, making it harder for Rachael to access the usual support services. Fortunately, her daughter eventually called the police. 

Rachael said the two officers who arrived had never seen anyone going through a psychotic episode before and were shocked by the reality of it, but stayed with them until an ambulance arrived. Her daughter was admitted to the Briary Unit, but transferred to Middlesbrough where she was treated for the next three weeks. 

“Partly they said it was to put her in more intensive care where they have got a higher staff ratio, but really I think there were no beds in the Briary,” said Rachael. “I never saw a consultant in all the visits I made. They said she might get transferred back but it never happened.” 

‘Triple unfamiliarity’

Now the Briary Wing has been closed, patients from the Harrogate district requiring inpatient treatment will go to the new Foss Park Hospital in York. Tees, Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) NHS Trust, which provides mental health services in the Harrogate district, says it will also step up community-based care to prevent people needing to stay in hospital and to cut down the length of time they are there.

The new Foss Park Hospital in York

 Rachael believes the extra travel to York – or further afield if beds are in high demand – will add unnecessary stress to very difficult situations for patients and families. 

“I was very lucky that it so happened the weather was amazingly calm. Doing that in the middle of the winter when you are stressed out and want to find your way around, it’s not great – being plunged into triple unfamiliarity.” 

For Jane, a combination of difficulties with travel and the current coronavirus limitations mean that she is unable to see her husband, who is currently being treated at Foss Park Hospital. Although it is a new hospital with modern facilities, Jane said the whole situation would be made much easier if he were still in Harrogate:

“I don’t drive, so even if I was allowed to visit him, I couldn’t get there. We’ve been together for 10 years and we haven’t left each other’s side. Not being able to visit is making him worse.” 

Structure and routine

Jane’s husband was sectioned for the first time last week, after six months of struggling with his mental health following difficulties with bullying at work. The coronavirus lockdown caused further strain, leaving him without the structure and routine that helps him to manage. 

After several days of treatment, he is now preparing to come back home and Jane is keen that he has enough support in place to stop him deteriorating again. He had been receiving outpatient treatment at the Briary Unit over the last six months, but it was when that support was removed that he became severely unwell. Jane added: 

“We really do need the Briary Unit. It’s so badly needed in Harrogate. Mental health is becoming more of a problem here.” 

For Rachael, the reducing level of care available is a constant worry too. Her daughter is inconsistent with taking medication and attending psychiatry appointments, so Rachael feels another episode of psychosis is inevitable – especially as she does not believe her daughter has yet accepted her diagnosis. 

Now, Rachael can only wait and see whether – or when – her daughter begins to show the warning signs again: 

“There’s nothing done. When you are afraid someone’s working themselves up into mania, there’s nothing to be done. You are sitting on the sidelines almost going mad yourself, waiting for it to become a crisis. 

“It’s incredibly distressing. Somebody who’s so talented and you try your best and it’s not enough. I can’t live her life for her.” 

Harrogate District Hospital has reported another coronavirus-related death, bringing the hospital’s total up to 17.

It is one of 92 deaths in the North East and Yorkshire region of 765 across England reported today. The total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England is now at 7,248.

The patient deaths reported today were aged between 24 and 103 years old. 43 of the 765 patients, aged between 33 and 99 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

North Yorkshire currently has 328 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Figures for the number of patients who have been treated in hospital and discharged are not currently available.

Meanwhile, the Nightingale hospital being created at Harrogate Convention Centre is expected to be complete by this weekend.

Harrogate District Hospital bosses have welcomed the government’s decision to write off its £4.8 million debt.

The hospital took out the multi-million-pound loan to pay back its suppliers more quickly but said the “reset of finances” was helpful going forward.

107 hospital trusts have an average of £100 million in revenue debt, with the two trusts with the highest debts reaching a combined total of over £1 billion.

In total, the government will write off £13.4 billion of NHS debt to ensure hospitals have the “necessary funding and support to respond to coronavirus.”

Under new rules, hospitals in need of extra cash will be given it with equity, rather than needing to borrow from the government and repay a loan.

Jonathan Coulter, finance director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“The loan we took out was to enable us to be able to pay our suppliers more quickly. In line with the rest of the NHS, we think this ‘reset’ of finances is helpful for trusts both at this point in time and going forward over the coming years.”

The government has said that while many NHS trusts manage strong finances, some took out loans to plug financial gaps in their day-to-day revenue or capital infrastructure budgets.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:

“As we tackle this crisis, nobody in our health service should be distracted by their hospital’s past finances. Today’s £13.4 billion debt write off will wipe the slate clean and allow NHS hospitals to plan for the future and invest in vital services.”