Sue and Sara's keeping in touch blog: Christmas

Read the latest blog from Chair Professor Sue Proctor and Chief Exec Dr Sara Munro

This time of year is steeped in traditions. Positive ones include family, food, celebrations and gifts. But it is also a time for many where stress, pressure, loneliness and financial hardship come to the fore. As we keep hearing, this year ‘Christmas will be different’ because of the limitations and consequences of Covid. For some of us, this will cause an inconvenience, that plans we have made to see family and friends may have to be postponed. For others, the ‘festive season’ will bring back difficult memories of those they loved and who have died this year.

Many of us will be glad to see the back of 2020. It has certainly been a year like no other. In previous blogs, we have written before about how teams adapted quickly to the new demands, to different ways of working, to Zoom and digital based consultations, to social distancing, to PPE, and to what has become ‘the new normal’.

We will all look back on 2020 and reflect on what we have learnt. Sara and I will also look back with gratitude and pride in respect of so much that has been achieved by the teams across LYPFT. Some highlights include

• We have been inspired and heartened by the sustained compassion of staff for service users, and for each other during the highs and lows of this year;.
• The creativity and imagination by colleagues in our in-patient wards, community teams and supported living to help morale, to inspire, to get through lockdown. Ward Olympics, gardening, music, cake baking, physical activity – and much more – just terrific!
• The response across the Trust to the terrible toll Covid had on BAME communities was amazing. Similarly the work since the summer led by the WREN to confront racism and improve diversity and equality within the Trust has been exceptional;
• The often unsung heroes of the IT support teams, Communications, HR, estates and finance – for keeping us all going so efficiently whether working remotely or on site;
• Special mention must go to the endurance of the Infection Prevention and Control Team, who have worked their collective socks off, not only helping us minimise the risk from Covid, but also in delivering flu vaccines in record time and volume during the autumn;
• Clinical teams, such as those at The Mount, who worked through the most pressured times when the needs of their patients and services users threatened to overwhelm them;
• For those staff who even stayed local to their work base and didn’t see their family for weeks. For your sacrifice, we are so grateful; and
• Few of us have been untouched by the impact of Covid on our professional but also our personal lives. The loss of colleagues hit us all hard. The response of teams who provided practical support, kindness and love, and just some space for others to grieve was beautiful.

We were unable to have the usual staff awards this year, or for there to be the annual visits from Santa’s helpers to give out gifts to teams. However, we do want to say thank you to every single member of the LYPFT team so we will be in touch with you directly to send out a token of our appreciation. We are also liaising with wards and teams to ensure you have access to resources and funds to support our service users over the festive period.

Our staff never stop giving, planning, and working out how we can adapt further to meet the needs of people in Leeds and York. Even as we moved from the first wave, into the tentative post-lockdown weeks in the summer, across the Trust, colleagues were keen to learn, keen to adapt and build greater resilience and determination to meet the needs of local communities, and to plan for an increase in the prevalence of the mental health consequences of Covid. This willingness to learn, to improve our services and to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities is an enduring feature of everyone in this Trust.

As we write this, the roll out of the first vaccines is taking place in Leeds and in hubs across the country. Again, many colleagues, and former colleagues are stepping up to become part of this programme of vaccination. The pandemic is still with us, and the physical, emotional and economic impact of the disease, will shape how we provide services in the future.

There are many challenges ahead, of course, but there are springs of hope that we will soon move towards a better, healthier and brighter future, together.

Whether you are working over the holidays, or having some precious down time, can we take this opportunity to wish you and your families a happy, safe festive season and a healthy, hopeful and joyous 2021.

Sue and Sara