King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

🎉 Celebrating 76 Years of the #NHS!   As we mark this significant milestone, we want to shine a light on the incredible staff at King's College Hospital and what working in the NHS means to them.   Fester Ike, Clinical Nurse Specialist for Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia at King's, shares her passion for her work within the NHS: "I have been in this role for a decade and absolutely enjoy what I do for a living. I am deeply passionate about caring for patients with sickle cell because I come from a family affected by the condition, including one of my siblings. It gives me immense joy to see the positive impact I can make with my expertise." Read the article to find out more 👇 #TeamKings #NHS76 #NHS

🗳️ Our 2024 Governor Elections are now open. Governors play an important role in your local #HealthServices. Our Council of Governors helps to ensure that our key stakeholders – including patients, members of the public, staff, and partner organisations – have a say in shaping their local health service. Polls close on 5pm, 17 July 2024. To vote, you must be a Member of the Trust. Find out more by visiting: https://bit.ly/3xU42DY. #TeamKings

As part of #ArmedForcesWeek, we also marked #ReservesDay on 26 June to celebrate the incredible contributions of reservists within our organisation. Today, we share the inspiring story of Lance Corporal Izzy Adamson, a Combat Medical Technician, who recently returned from training the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF). At King's College Hospital, Izzy works as an Occupational Therapist in Critical Care. As an army reservist with the 335 Medical Evacuation Regiment, she spent three weeks in Uganda this January, helping train UPDF medical personnel. Izzy said: "At King's, we are proficient in serving a diverse patient population and collaborating with teams. My experience in Uganda further developed these skills, involving effective communication across language barriers and respectful observance of cultural traditions. "The individuals we trained encompassed a wide range of professions, including radiographers, nurses, dieticians, doctors, porters, pharmacists, and more. Our responsibility involved enhancing their skills and assisting in the transition of knowledge from their hospital context to frontline medical care." Izzy’s story showcases the unique skills and experiences reservists bring to our organisation. We are proud to support our reservists and honour their dedication and service. #TeamKings 

Windrush Day at King's!   Windrush Day was marked on Saturday, 22 June, and to celebrate this important day, our Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage (REACH) network, the Inter Faith & Belief network, and the Chaplaincy team held a thanksgiving service at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) on Friday, 21 June.   Among the attendees were Professor Clive Kay, Chief Executive of the Trust; Angela Helleur, Site Chief Executive for the PRUH and South Sites, Rantimi Ayodele, Deputy Chief Medical Director at King's; Bernadette Thompson, Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at King's; and Patsy Morris, a former midwife at King's with a remarkable connection to the #WindrushGeneration who also trained Angela on her journey to becoming a midwife at the Trust.   The event, which was held in the Chapel at the PRUH, offered the opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the past and present as we acknowledged the commitment and courage of the people who came before us.   #TeamKings #WindrushDay

A ransomware attack on pathology provider Synnovis is disrupting the delivery of NHS services in our hospitals, and across partner organisations in mental health, community and primary care services across south east London.    Staff at King’s - including Dr Oliver Long, Site Medical Director for King’s College Hospital and Dr Anneliese Rigby, Clinical Director for Theatres and Anesthetics at the Trust - spoke to ITV London and BBC London News on 12 June about our response to the incident, and the steps we are taking to keep patients safe. Read more here https://bit.ly/45pqp0H.     We are reminding patients that if they have an appointment, including with our maternity team, they should continue to attend hospital unless contacted. Our A&Es are open but there will be a longer wait than usual for blood test results.   More information here https://bit.ly/3VFCZFL    #Healthcare #NHS #Cybersecurity #CommunityCare

Last week, from June 3-9, we celebrated #VolunteersWeek2024 at King's by sharing stories from some of our brilliant volunteers who go above and beyond every day, providing outstanding care to patients and support to our staff.   We proudly have over 1,700 volunteers at King's who have contributed an incredible 66,818 hours of support. To mark this special week, we hosted events and stalls across the hospital to celebrate and honour our volunteers.   Thank you to all our volunteers for their unwavering dedication and hard work.   To find out more about volunteering at King's, visit: https://bit.ly/45A0XFp   #TeamKings #VolunteersWeek2024

Professor Francesco Rubino, honorary consultant surgeon at King’s College Hospital, and chair of bariatric and metabolic surgery at King's College London, has been awarded the Knighthood Order of the Star of Italy!    Presented at the Embassy of Italy in London on Tuesday, 4 June 2024, this prestigious Order honours Italians abroad who have excelled in the promotion of national prestige, fostering friendly relations and co-operation with other countries and ties with Italy.   Professor Rubino’s Order of the Star of Italy recognises his pioneering research work, his contribution to the development of international guidelines for diabetes treatment, his dedication to raising awareness of obesity stigma, as well as his commitment to improving patients’ quality of life.   Congratulations to Professor Rubino's remarkable achievements and his profound impact on the field of medicine.   #TeamKings

Former King’s patient celebrates seven years as a #midwife at King's! Community Midwife Victoria Larlham is marking a 45-year milestone since she and her mother both received care at King’s College Hospital, shortly before her birth. She explained: “In 1980, a few months before her due date, my mum was put on bed rest in one of the maternity units at her local hospital, which was King’s. One of the doctors who cared for her – and me – was Professor Kypros Nicolaides, who went on to become a world-famous pioneer of fetal surgery, saving the lives of some of the country’s sickest and smallest patients. My mum has never forgotten how he helped make sure I was born safely and often refers to me as one of Kypros Nicolaides’ babies!” Victoria qualified as a midwife in 2017, and has been working at King’s College Hospital ever since. In her current role she works in the Trust’s Lotus Team, supporting vulnerable women and parents through pregnancy and beyond. “I absolutely love my job, my fantastic colleagues, and the families and parents-to-be I see every day. It can be really challenging, but it is such a privilege to help support women through their pregnancy. I cannot imagine doing anything else.” Professor Kypros Nicolaides said: “How amazing that Victoria has decided to devote her life to helping pregnant women and unborn babies. She is an inspiration and I am delighted we are now both part of Team King’s.” Read more on our website: https://bit.ly/3K7tWqh #TeamKings 

Congratulations to Reena Mehta, who is the new Chair of the Learning Division for the Intensive Care Society. Reena took up the post with effect from 8th April, and is the first pharmacist to hold the role of Chair of the Learning Division within the Society. Reena said: “It is a privilege to be part of the Society and support its life-saving work to enhance our understanding of critical illness and deliver better care to patients.” "The intensive care community is made up of multiple professions, each playing a vital role within the critical care team, and I am extremely proud to be the first pharmacist appointed to this important role.” In her role as Chair of the Learning Division, Reena will oversee the content of the Society’s study days and be responsible for exploring new opportunities for the Intensive Care Society to provide training for our multi professional intensive care community. She will also act as chair of its Education committee. Reena added: “I am passionate about making sure learning opportunities are multi-disciplinary, and I look forward to helping the Society be the best it can be in advancing the care of critically ill patients.“ Society President Steve Mathieu said: “We are delighted to appoint Reena as our first Pharmacist Chair of the Learning Division. Reena brings a huge wealth of experience, talent and innovation with education and learning.” Sandy Mather, Chief Executive of the Society added “As the largest multi-professional intensive care organisation in the UK, we are able to use the breadth of knowledge of our members to develop and deliver quality education and short courses to advance our understanding and improve patient care and experience across all of our professional groups.” #TeamKings

This month, we started treating patients at our new respiratory support unit at the Princess Royal University Hospital.   The modern and improved facility, funded by NHS England, boosts the PRUH’s capacity for treating patients needing specialist #respiratory care, many of whom are admitted via the hospital’s Emergency Department.   The new unit is also equipped with advanced respiratory technology designed to meet the needs of patients with respiratory conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma, pneumonia, and respiratory failure.   Angela Helleur, Site Chief Executive for PRUH and South Sites, welcomed the new facility:   “Our teams work so hard to provide high quality care for patients, so its great news that we have a new, dedicated facility for patients requiring respiratory care.”   Read more on our website: https://bit.ly/4aqw9rO   #TeamKings #respiratory