Guest columnist: So proud of what hospital trust has achieved

Mike Pinkerton, chief executive of Doncaster & Bassetlaw Hospitals Trust

However, I am immensely proud of how we have worked together as Trust, making remarkable progress in the past 12 months.

We have had to make a number of savings and improvements this year.

And I’m happy to report that we are on course to hit our target of £11 million.

This means that we have recently reforecast our year-end position down from a planned deficit of £27.1 million to better than £20 million.

And while challenging, we hope to improve on that still.

Our approach to tackling our financial position was recognised in early December as our strategy and improvement team (the department tasked with delivering our cost improvements) were awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by the NHS Leadership Academy acknowledging our fantastic progress so far.

Despite our ongoing financial challenges, investment and development has continued at the Trust.

In November, we officially opened the Fred and Ann Green Eye Centre following an extensive seven-month building project.

And in December, the children’s outpatients department at Bassetlaw Hospital opened, following a £278,000 investment.

Despite financial challenges, we have maintained our focus on delivering quality care.

And for the fourth year in a row we have seen reductions in pressure ulcers, falls and hospital acquired infections.

Despite constant pressure, we continue to be one of the best performing trusts in the country for treating patients within four hours.

Also in the year, we were named among the best in the country for end-0f-life care by the Royal College of Physicians.

And our diabetes care was highly rated in the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit.

Finally, our research and development has also excelled for the third consecutive year, recruiting more patients to clinical trials than ever before (a 41 per cent increase on last year).

Recognising this success, our clinical research nurses were finalists in the Nursing Times Awards for the second year in a row.

None of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication from our amazing team.

And I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for going above and beyond each and every day.

From me and everyone at the Trust, happy new year.