On a visit to Yorkshire on Monday 19 February, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s Chair, Dame Linda Pollard, was delighted to welcome NHS England’s Richard Meddings to see first-hand the vital work we are doing and to hear about our plans for the new state of the art hospital and vision for health innovation.
In his role as Chair, Richard leads NHS England to help balance the national direction with local autonomy to secure the best outcomes for patients. This was an important visit to discuss the challenges the Trust faces with ageing buildings and to hear about the exciting opportunities for Leeds and the wider Yorkshire region.
Dame Linda and members of the executive team provided an overview of the Building the Leeds Way new hospital development and the Trust’s commitment to harnessing innovation before embarking on a wider tour of Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital where they met colleagues and patients.
The tour of the Trust included a visit to the Innovation Pop Up at Gillygate where Head of Business Development and Innovation, Richard Evans introduced a variety of Innovation Pop Up Members who could show some of the latest patient led innovations being developed.
This was followed with a tour of the Old Medical School to explore both the incredible history and future of health innovation in Leeds, with the building set to be the first phase of development in the new Leeds Innovation Village.
Going onto spend time visiting the chemotherapy day unit was a great way to put a spotlight on the excellent work being done to ensure patients receive their treatment in a timely manner despite increasing demand.
Richard then visited our new Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC), and Emergency Department to see how the patient pathway is managed. A new space for patients and staff, SDEC is making a difference in making sure people are given the care they need more quickly. He was also able to speak with Yorkshire Ambulance Service colleagues about the importance of timely handovers when they bring a patient to hospital by ambulance.
The tour culminated in a visit of the Trust’s new, state-of-the-art Centre for Laboratory Medicine to see how the Centre will house pathology services and help to deliver innovative testing and diagnosis for patients across West Yorkshire. Richard met with colleagues to explore our brand new facility and understand how the Centre will be operationalised.
Richard commented: “I thoroughly enjoyed the visit to Leeds Teaching Hospitals which offered a wonderful opportunity to hear about the strength of ambitions and how the Trust continues to foster an environment of innovation and collaboration to ultimately help improve patient outcomes.”
This was a great opportunity to impress upon Richard the strength of our ambitions and the progress we are making to provide world-class healthcare facilities for the Leeds City Region.