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Congratulations to the Team Orkney Award nominees
Today we announce and congratulate the 106 individuals/teams who have been nominated for our 2024 Team Orkney Awards. Each nomination tells a unique story of our dedicated teams and staff, and it makes us enormously proud to hear of the many ways that colleagues have gone that extra mile to deliver exceptional care to our patients, kept our services running, and worked hard to improve our services. We are delighted to be working in partnership with The Orcadian for our staff awards – which have been reintroduced in direct response to staff feedback. The categories for our 2024 awards are…
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Yellow Winter Weather Update
There is a Yellow Weather Warning in place for snow and ice across Orkney. Currently, all our sites remain open and appointments are going ahead as scheduled, unless you have been contacted directly. Staff are working hard to contact those affected by the weather conditions. If you are concerned about coming in for any appointments today due to the winter weather, please feel free to call us and we will do our best to reschedule your appointment. If you know the department you are visiting, please call the department directly. Although the sites remain open, we are experiencing some staffing…
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Chief Executive Fortnightly Blog to NHS Orkney Staff – 5 February 2024
Message for All NHS Orkney Staff Dear Team Orkney I want to start with an honest reflection on the last few weeks. I feel a different vibe in the organisation and a sense of angst that I want to acknowledge. I have spoken to a number of colleagues as I have been out and about to understand the source of this and what has changed, other than our financial position, which I understand is cause for concern and is contributing to how many are feeling. Whilst we cannot ignore our financial challenge, I absolutely accept that we must balance what…
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Our Chief Executive and Board Chair want to hear what matters most to you
We want to hear about what matters most to our patients and community so we can continue our exciting improvement journey. Your feedback will help us to develop our future strategy and focus. Our survey will be open until Friday 16 February – please have your say by visiting this link: NHSO Corporate Strategy – Community Survey. The next step is for us to get out into the community and hear your feedback first hand. Laura Skaife-Knight, Chief Executive and Meghan McEwen, Board Chair will be hosting in-person listening sessions across the county and online so you can share your feedback,…
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Chief Executive Fortnightly Blog to NHS Orkney Staff – 22 January 2024
Message for All NHS Orkney Staff Dear Team Orkney Firstly, recognising we had lots of weather challenges here last week thank you to you all for ensuring disruption to our services was kept to an absolute minimum for our patients and local community. There were so many examples of teamwork at its very best and I’d like to say an extra special thank you to you all. I’d also like to say a big thanks to our external partners, including Coastguards, the Police, Orkney Islands Council and members of our community, for their help and response to the snowy weather…
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Friday 19 Update – Winter Weather
Although we are beginning to see the winter weather improve, we remain in a yellow weather warning for snow and ice throughout today. Our sites remain open and we’re continuing to strongly urge all patients to reschedule their appointments if they are not clinically necessary. If you can attend your appointment safely, and you feel it is urgent, please do so with extreme caution. To reschedule your appointment, please get in touch, if you know the department you are visiting, please call the department directly. We do have significantly reduced staffing across all of the organisation due to the weather…
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Update on Services – Amber Weather Warning
Further to the Amber Weather Warning put in place for more snow across Orkney, our sites continue to remain open. However, we are strongly urging patients to reschedule their appointments if they are not clinically necessary. If you can attend your appointment safely, and you feel it is urgent, please do so with extreme caution. To reschedule your appointment, please get in touch, if you know the department you are visiting, please call the department directly. We will have reduced staffing in some departments due to the weather so if you are calling to reschedule appointments, please bear with us…
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Flu and Covid Vaccination Programme – Autumn/Winter – January 2024 – New Clinic Dates Added
We are continuing to vaccinate against both Flu and Covid, recognising both can be serious, even for healthy people. If you are eligible for vaccination and have missed your appointment, or you are a household contact or carer and haven’t yet had your vaccine, please come along to one of the drop-in clinics at The Balfour below: If you require more information regarding your eligibility please call the team on 0300 303 5313, or visit: NHS Inform Winter Vaccines. You can also find information on our dedicated Vaccination Programme page.
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Have a say on our future Corporate Strategy
We’re developing our future Strategy, and we want to listen to the views and feedback from our patients and local community so it’s shaped by you, for you. Central to our journey of improvement and next chapter is developing a 2024-2028 Corporate Strategy and with this a new vision, set of values and strategic objectives that reflect NHS Orkney now and where we want to get to in the future. Once developed, our Corporate Strategy will become our ‘compass’ and will, with our Clinical Strategy, determine every decision we make moving forward as an organisation. A short survey is open…
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Chief Executive Fortnightly Blog to NHS Orkney Staff – 8 January 2024
Message for All NHS Orkney Staff Dear Team Orkney, Happy Monday and Happy New Year all. A big thanks to those who were working over the holiday period to care for our patients. To those who have had a well-earned break and time with your families, loved ones or those closest to you, I hope you enjoyed your down time and family time. On 22 December 2023 it was the Winter Solstice, which means from now the days will begin to grow longer and the journey towards Spring and more daylight has begun. On this theme, as I look ahead…
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Flu and Covid Vaccination Programme – Autumn/Winter – Update January 2024
We are continuing to vaccinate against both Flu and Covid, recognising both can be serious, even for healthy people. If you are eligible for vaccination and have missed your appointment, or you are a household contact or carer and haven’t yet had your vaccine, please come along to one of the drop-in clinics at The Balfour below: If you require more information regarding your eligibility please call the team on 0300 303 5313, or visit NHS Inform Winter Vaccines. You can also find information on our dedicated Vaccination Programme page.
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CEO and Chair Message for NHS Orkney Staff – Looking back at 2023 – Thank you Team Orkney
Message for NHS Orkney Staff Dear Team Orkney Re: Looking back at 2023 – thank you Team Orkney As we near the end of 2023, it’s important that we look back on what has been an incredibly busy year, but one you can all be proud of. This year we have begun to put the necessary foundations in place that will enable NHS Orkney to move forward positively and to have a sustainable future. Whilst we have a long way to go, our improvement journey is underway, and we have started to take the first of many positive steps that…