The amazing new ways this Hartlepool health team has been getting patients treated during lockdown

The Holdforth Unit at the University Hospital of Hartlepool has transformed the way it handles patients.

The unit has normally been used in the past by patients who have to stay in hospital and receive rehabilitation.

But under a complete transformation, it has now become a community hub.

It has become a base which is used by patients who are treated in their own homes and who are treated in care homes.

Those patients are only being invited into the unit when the treatment they need can not be performed outside of the hospital.

Because of all the changes, the number of patients being treated by the unit has doubled but the service has performed so well, it has become the latest winners of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust’s Team of the Month initiative.

Community matron Bronya Bennison, who was the person who made the nomination, said: “This team has gone from being a ward-based team to being a community out-of-hospital team.”

She added: “This is a service that has been set up in a matter of weeks to meet the needs of patients and other health care workers.”

Bronya praised everyone on the unit for ‘working relentlessly within the community hub and around people’s own homes and care homes providing care and compassion in these worrying times.

She described how the staff had worked hard to ‘start a new service with previously no experience and have adapted areas of skills and knowledge to have this service developed in such a short space of time, showing dedication and putting the patient’s needs first’.

She added: “They have taken on this challenge and have continued to provide support for all. As well as this, they have also still had patients visit the hub to have care managed professionally when needed.

“The team has flourished and shown great determination and concern for those in their care. They have been absolutely outstanding.”

The team has worked with patients, with families, and with community matrons. They have also worked with district nurses and the community rapid response team to help and support others.

The Holdforth Unit staff have also worked across the Tees Valley with the respiratory team and have made sure that high-risk asthmatics, who are self-isolating during the coronavirus pandemic, have been given vital injections.

Director of planning and performance Lynne Taylor visited the Holdforth Unit last week to present them with a certificate to mark their award.

She also handed over a personal thank you note which came from the Trust’s chief executive Julie Gillon.

Lynne told the team: “Congratulations for the way you have responded to this unprecedented situation. You truly are deserving winners of this month’s team of the month award.”

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