Our Chair and CEO's Christmas message to OneTeamOneOUH

Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery and Professor Meghana Pandit, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Oxford University Hospitals (OUH), have sent a personal message to staff this Christmas after a turbulent couple of weeks when the NHS has rarely been out of the headlines.

Jonathan and Meghana's message, reflecting on recent events and focusing on the importance of staff prioritising their own wellbeing, is replicated in full below:

Christmas message from the Chair and Chief Executive Officer to all OUH staff

This Christmas week, we would like to send you our very best wishes for the festive season and for the new year ahead.

Thank you

On behalf of the Trust Board, thank you for everything that you do to provide the best possible care for our patients, and for demonstrating compassionate excellence in all that you do.

In advance of the industrial action days, we wrote to remind you all that it is important that we respect our colleagues’ right to take industrial action and to continue to treat each other with kindness and respect.

We are very proud of the kindness and respect which you have shown to each other during the recent RCN industrial action and the operational pressures which we have faced in recent weeks.

As you have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, you rose to the challenge of not only caring for our patients but for each other.

While the political rhetoric in the media and on social media continues to intensify - not least yesterday during the first ambulance service workers' strike - it has never been more important that we all focus on patient safety and staff wellbeing during these testing times.

None of us can control the outcome in relation to national pay agreements and industrial action but we can control how we respond to this period of uncertainty as individuals, teams and as an organisation.

Thank you for staying true to our Trust values and for pulling together as OneTeamOneOUH.

Your wellbeing

Looking after your mental and physical health and wellbeing is always important, and never more so than now when we are all experiencing a very challenging period in our lives.

I would like to thank our partners Oxford Hospitals Charity, our Wellbeing team and colleagues who have worked together to deliver a little extra support to staff working across the Trust in the run-up to Christmas.

The Winter Support Programme includes staff room packs with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits, as well as wellbeing packages for staff rooms, and it will continue in the new year.

Don't forget that you can access a wide range of wellbeing support and resources available to all staff working at OUH.

More information can be found in our Guide to Health and Wellbeing on the Trust website.

And finally…

Thank you to all of you who are working over the festive period to ensure that our patients receive the best possible care.

Christmas is of course a time for rest, relaxation, and reflection - and we hope you enjoy spending time with those who matter most to you.

We look forward to working with you all in 2023.

Happy Christmas

Jonathan and Meghana