Welcome to this week’s edition of My Download – your go-to round-up of all the latest news and updates. Got something to share with colleagues? Send it our way by 5pm on Thursday: dchst.communications@nhs.net. Next week's My Download will the last one of 2025, so if you have something to share which is time sensitive please get it to us by this Thursday, 18 December.

Flu hits healthy people too: Flu doesn’t just affect older or vulnerable people - every year, young, healthy and active adults are also taken seriously ill and even hospitalised. And even when we feel well, we can catch flu and spread it without realising. By getting your flu jab, you’re helping protect yourself, your team and the people who rely on our services every day. Please take a few minutes to get vaccinated and support a safer, healthier winter across DCHS. Find your closest vaccination clinic here.

As we enter this season of celebration, we’d love your help to bring some joy to our social media channels! We’re on the lookout for fun, festive photos from across our teams – whether you are celebrating a faith event or simply finding ways to lift your mood at this darkest time of the year. Share with us:

A favourite festive recipe or bake
Your seasonally decorated workspace or team area
Festive jumpers or outfits from you and your colleagues
Your four-legged festive friends.

Anything that shows how your team is celebrating this time of year is welcome. Please send your photos (with a short caption or description) to dchst.communications@nhs.net

#FestiveDCHS

Christmas decorations: It’s important for staff, patients and visitors that we celebrate significant festivals of all faiths/beliefs. Doing so gives us all a nice boost, but we must remember to do so safely. That's why for Christmas we've drawn up some guidance which can be accessed here.

Early Christmas present arrives at Walton Hospital: Five new modular building blocks for a £7.5m extension to Walton Hospital's Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) arrived by special delivery earlier this week.

The extension is due to be ready in Spring 2026 to provide dedicated space for static MRI and CT scanners within the main diagnostic centre, along with a new waiting room, toilets, changing rooms, a recovery room and a cannulation room. Click here for the full story and images.

Point of care testing (POCT) open day: Find out more about the use of POCT testing equipment at a drop-in session on Thursday 22 January from 10am - 2pm, hosted at Walton Hospital's POCT room, in the community diagnostic centre

This is open to all DCHS clinicians who may require use of the POCT equipment to aid their clinical decision-making. There will be a chance to discuss POCT and its uses with healthcare professionals. The open day will include live demos of equipment, information for tests available, potential pathway development and conversations about potential utilisation. Any questions? Email: eleanor.ringland@nhs.net

Please can you help strengthen STI and HIV screening in primary care? DCHS integrated sexual health service is working on a new project funded by the Women’s Health Hub to improve opportunities for routine and opportunistic STI and HIV screening in primary care. Early detection is vital and GP practices and health centres play a crucial role in improving outcomes for our communities.

Women and anyone with a cervix continue to face disproportionate sexual health harms, including the greatest impact from untreated STIs such as chlamydia and higher rates of late HIV diagnosis.

We’re inviting all primary care staff to complete a short 5-minute survey to help us identify what support, tools or training would make screening easier and more effective in your Primary Care Network (PCN). Your insight is essential in helping us understand what works well in your surgeries – and what gets in the way. Please complete the survey by Friday 16 January 2026

If you would like to get in touch about the project, please email Rachel Coulton, sexual health promotion operational manager at dchst.yoursexualhealthmatters@nhs.net.

Oliver McGowan training course: 29 additional Oliver McGowan Tier 2 sessions have been created between now and march 2026, which staff can access via the website if you haven't completed this already and scroll down the page.

Quality Improvement: The latest edition of your Quality Improvement news is now available here! Take a look to see examples of the Quality Improvement work that is taking place in DCHS, find out about upcoming Quality Improvement training and links to the most recent QI community meeting.

New for 2026 – bespoke QI and audit training for your team: IIET now offers tailored training sessions designed to fit around your team meetings, away days, or as standalone sessions. What we can cover:

Introduction to Quality Improvement
How to turn audits into real improvements
Practical tools like process mapping, sustainability tool, driver diagrams – and more!

Email dchst.cet@nhs.net to book your bespoke session!

Our ‘Having better mental health conversations’ training focuses on practical skills to help you:

Start meaningful conversations about wellbeing and mental health
Recognise when someone may be struggling
Respond in supportive and helpful ways.

You’ll learn mental health conversation skills that can make a difference both in your working life and beyond it. Whether you’re supporting colleagues, service users or loved ones, these tools can help you feel more confident and better prepared. You can book onto one of our December dates here.

Clinical supervision sessions: Find out how to access and record clinical supervision, or how to become a clinical supervisor, by booking onto one of the in-person or virtual training sessions on offer between January and April. Dates and details here.

This week’s leaders' and managers' update includes a new and improved format, which you can see here. Contact the leadership development team with any queries.

Click here for the current wellbeing timetable for 2025, which runs until 31 December.

To find out more about the diverse range of wellbeing support available visit the website or contact the team: dchst.yourwellbeingteam@nhs.net.

Internal vacancies: Each week the latest vacancies will be advertised on the NEW internal vacancies bulletin. Click here to see the full list.

A massive congratulations to Jake Collins in the finance team, who recently passed his Level 7 - accountancy professional apprenticeship. This is one of the most challenging programmes, so a huge well done for this accomplishment! If you feel inspired and wish to find out more about apprenticeships, please log into the Intranet and visit the page.

Congratulations to Karen Tennant, who received her 20 years NHS long service award at one of our latest #DCHSTTT parties. What an incredible achievement!

Thank you for your service, Karen.

#TeamDCHS

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