Sarah recognised in Regional campaign for ongoing support

Sarah Totten, Strategic Manager Early Intervention Contact and Hospital, at Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been recognised for her ongoing support to hospitals and care homes during the pandemic, as part of the West Midlands Employers (WME) #EverydayHeroes campaign.

Sarah and her 32-strong hospital team, including many social workers, have been working hard to get patients out of acute hospital beds, and community health services, and into a safe environment quickly when the clinical staff say they are medically fit to leave to enable the NHS to deal with Covid-19 cases.

Sarah, and her team, have been working closely with patients and clinicians to determine the best option, whether that’s going back to their own home, a nursing or care home or a community hospital depending on their care needs and circumstances. Sarah has had lots to deal with outside work, after donating a kidney to help her father survive following kidney failure and supporting her daughter through a difficult birth and post-natal depression, but she has not let this impact her work.

“Making sure patients are safe is our number one priority,” said Sarah. “We also wanted to support the care homes in our region as much as possible and make sure that they feel like they can ask us for help. We know this has helped vulnerable residents from going into hospital and lowered infection and mortality rates within our independent care providers.”

Local authority improvement body WME, owned by 33 councils across the West Midlands, launched the campaign this month to recognise #EverydayHeroes – council workers who are working around the clock to keep essential services running and keep us safe through the coronavirus crisis.

Councillor Abi Brown, leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “Throughout Covid-19, our staff have been completely amazing. Everyone has worked so hard to keep services on track and there have been many shining examples of excellence. Sarah and her team are exactly that – hard-working, passionate, committed and always looking to find solutions. Working alongside health partners, they have really helped to improve the circumstances for many of our residents in hugely challenging times. I’m incredibly thankful and extremely proud that Sarah has been recognised through this initiative.”

Rebecca Davis, Chief Executive of West Midlands Employers, said: “Our incredible care workforce is providing vital support to vulnerable people. Sarah and her team have been doing an incredible job to support patients and hospitals during an incredibly testing time.”