It’s hard to reflect on the year without conjuring negative thoughts. 2021 has brought us challenges, unique problems and an ever changing landscape to work in. It would be easy to write about the difficulties and the impact COVID has had upon every department and every single member of staff here at QE Facilities, but instead we’d like to focus on the achievements we have made over the last year despite COVID.
During 2021 we continued on our mission of sustainability, we introduced E bikes and electric vehicles in transport and we moved to renewable green energy for our electricity supply. Our efforts were recognised when we were presented a Green Apple Award for environmental best practice in November.
We’ve continued to develop our departments throughout the year. QEF Pharmacy has partnered with the North East Ambulance Service to provide a medication supply service. QE Transport has offered its support to Newcastle and Sunderland, as well as creating a Mobile Vaccination centre. We’ve also launched our Warehousing facility Spire House, which has conferencing and training facilities, including a bespoke padded PMVA training suite.
QE Facilities have led the way in being the first NHS body in the country to produce FFP 3 masks with an added layer proven to inactivate the Covid-19 virus. We have involved staff in the design process and the trail of the masks, as we know comfort and usability are important factors too.
This year we introduced the Real Living wage because we understand the pressures of everyday life, especially with the recent increase in fuel and energy costs. This meant that many of our staff experienced a pay rise. It’s something we are really proud of and arguably our biggest achievement of 2021
We have recently restructured our services and our management to strive to continually develop and provide a high quality service. We hope as a team we can shape the company for the future.
One thing we want to stress is we couldn’t have done any of it without you. All our staff have shown great resilience in times of such uncertainty. So this is our chance to say ‘Thank you’.
A ‘Thank you’ to those who have worked from home, to those who have covered extra shifts and those who have continued to do their job under extreme pressure. It has been a hard year, but your support, flexibility, professionalism and determination is exceptional and genuinely valued by the senior team. So as we say goodbye to 2021, I hope you look back and see the many achievements we made in the face of adversity and carry that positivity forward to 2022.
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