The RCHT Podcast

(0:40) Last week we spoke about October being Black History Month, and Stoptober, a national campaign encouraging people to quit smoking, but among many other things, October is also Cyber Security Awareness Month,  We have Martin Price back on the show to remind us on how to keep safe online!  (14:08) Thanks to £400,000 raised by the Sunrise Appeal, our brand new linear accelerators at RCHT are n...

The Quit for Life team (aka The Pink Ladies) join us in the studio to tell us all about Stoptober - the national campaign encouraging people to quit smoking, as well as the amazing work they do supporting people on their journey to becoming smoke-free. October is also black history month and this month’s theme is  standing firm with power and pride . Our chief executive Steve Williamson met with t...

(0:40) Our voluntary services manager, Verity Barker, will be joining us live in the studio to talk about her experiences as she bids farewell after 11 years in the role.    (18:30) We’ll be finding out what the priorities of our trust board are here at Royal Cornwall Hospital as Chair, David Allen joins us in the studio.    (36:56) Martin Clunes was at our brand new outpatient department’s unveil...

Today is World Patient Safety Day and to mark the occasion we’ll be joined by Naomi Burden, our patient safety specialist, who will tell us how we’re supporting this year’s focus of child safety.    We’ll also be hearing from our director of nursing, Berni George and the work she does to support patient safety across our hosptials.   

This week, Collette Henry and Alan Lamberton from the Homeless Hospital Discharge Team join Charlie to talk about the incredible work they do in supporting the homeless patients we see coming through our hospitals. And Carolyn Garman tours our estate with head of estates, Richard Parris as they discuss how the estates team manage the maintenance of our hospitals.

(1:18) Marie Therese House, Cornwall’s specialist inpatient neuro-rehabilitation unit, has celebrated the opening of its newly transformed garden with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by patients, colleagues, and Friends of St Michael’s Hospital. Our chief executive Steve Williamson attended to celebrate such a great achievement. (3:32)  In April, the Care Quality Commission, also known as the C...

(0:12) We’ve now seen 1000 patients come through our new medical rapid assessment and treatment unit and we’ll be hearing from some of our colleagues on the unit what it means to them and their patients.  (3:49) We have a new plan for our Women and Children’s hospital, it’s going ahead but in a different location. Programme director, Roberta Fuller, will be telling us where it’s going and why we’r...

(0:47) We're joined by regular guest Em Dixon to talk about the rainbow of spirituality. Spirituality has many traditions, paths, and perspectives but they all have something in common - ways people try to make sense of life and connect with something bigger. (12:08) Also, in August of 1942 Truro was struck by a bombing raid that hit the old Royal Infirmary, claiming ten lives and injuring many. C...

(0:51) Improvement lead Rick Strang, and our Chief Executive Steve Williamson spent time walking through our urgent and emergency care areas to take a look at how months of work by teams from across the hospital has significantly improved our ambulance handover time and allowed our teams to focus on the right patients, in the right place, at the right time. (21:01)  Colleagues on Eden ward have ma...

(0:23) This summer, Breastfest is coming to Newquay which is a lively one day event dedicated to raising funds for cancer research at RCHT. The festival was inspired by Jemma Sleeman, a breast cancer patient currently participating in a clinical trial at RCHT who will be joining us to tell us all about it!    (7:46) Improvement lead, Rick Strang, takes us on a tour of the emergency department and...

Investment in Robotic Process Automation  has saved over a £1 million across Royal Cornwall hospitals. We find out what Robotic Process Automation is and how it’s been able to save so much money across departments at RCHT. Our Sterile services department disinfects and sterilises 3.3 million pieces of equipment every year and after almost 40 years of operation, their facility at the back of the Ro...

(0:32) We’ll be hearing about a new therapy that uses an implant placed in the muscles in the spin that’ll help reduce chronic lower back pain.  (8:45) The chair of Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust will be joining us in the studio to talk about some of the topics discussed at our latest board meeting and what it was like for him to spend the evening with our emergency department team.  (27:21) Cath...

(0:50) New Outpatient Building at West Cornwall Hospital We mark the opening of the new outpatient facility with insights from our chief executive and the West Cornwall team on its impact for the community. (3:53) Prostate Cancer Awareness Charlie visits Lanjeth Nurseries to chat with Dave and Pete about their prostate cancer journeys and the power of speaking openly to raise awareness. (14:54) Fi...

(0:35) Today, we're joined by Matthew Clarke, who will be sharing his personal journey with cancer and how he's been documenting his experience. He’s partnered with Cancer Support UK to raise awareness through different platforms, including a recent film he created and a podcast. We’ll be talking to him about the responses he's received, his motivation behind these projects, and what he has planne...

On this week's podcast, we’re celebrating Estates and Facilities Day by shining a spotlight on the incredible people who keep our organisation running smoothly. From Head Gardener Steve to Post Room Assistant Raymond Kelly, we explore the wide range of roles within the department and gain insight into the day-to-day work that often goes unseen.  We’re also joined by Brian Johnson, Director of Esta...

In this epsiode, we revisit our interview with Kelvyn Hipperson about the importance of cyber security and the role it plays in our organisation. Kelvyn is the Chief Information Officer of Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board.

(0:45) This week is National Blood Week – we’ll be hearing from Nesa from the blood transfusion service about a “know your blood type” event running in the new wellbeing hub today. (4:19) We recently celebrated 25 years of service with number of our colleagues from Royal Cornwall Hospital – we’ll be hearing from some of them about their roles when they started their careers and what’s changed over...

For volunteer's week this year the theme is ‘Volunteer to Career.’ We’ve spoken with a number of volunteers across our hospital, some who previously worked here and now volunteer, and others who started as volunteers and went on to build careers in healthcare. Angela, Kirsten, Daniel and Tabi are four of our volunteers who are about to share their stories and what volunteering here at the hospital...

(0:33) Helen and Nick will be talking to us about a new digital patient food ordering system we’re introducing across our wards to help improve the patient meal experience and patient safety.  (5:10) Pete joins nurses Lorraine and Stephanie as they talk about their new trial at Royal Cornwall Hospitals to offer decaffeinated drinks to patients as standard as evidence suggests will help to reduce f...

(0:25) We'll be hearing from two of our patients about their experience of being diagnosed and treated for brain tumours. (20:27) It’s International clinical trials day and we have Bianca Mills, head of research and development at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust to talk about the new Commercial Research Delivery Centre. (27:27) Our colleague Amanda will be speaking to Nicole Thomas about patient an...

In this episode, Head of Unplanned and Intermediate Care Louisa Forbes explains Strata Referrals, Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist Amanda Davis highlights the importance of National Insulin Safety Week, and Improvement Lead Rick Strang and Clinical Matron Natalie Keogh introduce the Same Day Medical Assessment (SDMA) unit.

Royal Cornwall Hospital's bi-month public board meeting was held on 1st May so as a follow up to that meeting, Chair, David Allen and Chief Executive, Steve Williamson met with Peter in the studio to talk through some of the topics discussed in the meeting. These include: Our latest staff survey results The value of encouraging colleagues to speak up Breaking even financially over the past year An...

(1:01) It’s Dying Matters Awareness week and we’re joined in the studio by Healthcare Chaplain Em Dixon and Palliative Care Nurse Todd Harris to discuss the occasion and why it matters, their roles here at the hospital and what a normal death looks like.  (20:00) And as Monday was International Midwifery Day, to mark the occasion I spoke with Consultant Midwife Sarah-Jane Pedler about the vital ro...

On Monday 28 April, we officially opened a new Changing Places facility at West Cornwall hospital and will be hearing what this news meant to Rachel and her son Adam. We also find out from Therapy Lead, Michelle Hague what impact our therapies team had on ensuring we had a good easter bank holiday weekend.

This week on the RCHT podcast we speak with Nye and Alex from Royal Cornwall Hospital share their insights on what effective nutrition and hydration looks like in the hospital and the impact it can have on a patient’s recovery and rehabilitation. They also share some signs and symptoms to help spot malnutrition.