The Chair and CEO of CUH have thanked all staff involved in the response to the Bedfordshire train crash on Friday evening, praising colleagues for demonstrating the “very best of CUH.”
In a note to all staff, Baroness Sally Morgan and Nicola Ayton said: "At a time of great uncertainty and distress for those affected, colleagues from across the organisation came together without hesitation to provide expert care, support patients' loved ones and help one another.
“We know that incidents like this place extraordinary demands on individuals and teams. Whatever your role, your contribution mattered. Across every service, colleagues stepped forward. From teams delivering direct patient care to colleagues in support and enabling services, those coordinating the response, and those keeping our site and essential services running, your professionalism, compassion and commitment shone through.
They added:
Colleagues across CUH acted quickly, calmly and effectively. Teams came in on their days off, offered additional support and worked around the clock to ensure we could respond to the emerging incident.
Baroness Sally Morgan and CEO Nicola Ayton
Sally Morgan and Nicola Ayton also recognised and thanked CUH’s partners across the NHS, alongside the emergency services and all organisations involved in the collective effort to respond to the incident. They said it demonstrated “the strength of those partnerships at a time when our communities needed us most.”
They recognised the impact an incident like this can have on colleagues and thanked them for supporting patients, their families and each other. They also thanked the public for their patience and understanding while staff responded to the incident.
Sally and Nicola added: “Events such as these remind us of the extraordinary expertise and compassion that exist across our organisation. We are immensely proud of the way colleagues came together in support of the victims and families of this shocking incident.
“On behalf of the CUH Board, thank you for everything you have done, and continue to do, in support of those affected.”
