Important Message from Paul Cooper, Director of Finance and On Call Director on rota

Published: 3 March 2018

Firstly, I’d like to thank all staff for their amazing support over the last couple of days; it is at time like this when the true spirit of our fabulous organisation shines at its very brightest. Staff have been stranded on site, worked extra or longer shifts, fought their way through the weather to get here; in doing so you’ve made sure that patients continue to receive a fabulous standard of care. Thank you all so much.

I’d also like to say a special thank you to the army of 4×4 driving volunteers, our own estates staff and colleagues from the military and police who have been driving the snow covered roads of Devon bringing staff and patients to and from hospital and community sites. You have kept everyone safe as they travel, and I really can’t thank you enough.

Whilst the Internal Critical Incident remains in place, conditions are improving rapidly, with no adverse weather warnings in place for the Torbay and South Devon area. I am pleased to say that the vast majority of staff have been able to make their own way into work this morning, and we’ll be trying to ‘return to normal service’ during the day today – we expect to lift the Incident by lunchtime. To relieve the burden on our volunteers, all staff travel are expected to come to work in their normal fashion wherever possible. In the exceptional cases where this really isn’t possible, we’ll continue to have limited access to specialist transport. Staff needing this support should ring the control room on 01803 654001.

Thank you again to everyone; as a staff and local community you’ve been fantastic. Team Torbay and South Devon at its very best.

See our video below – Thank you to all our staff who have responded to keep vital services open.