From Maggie Oldham, chief executive, IW NHS Trust:

I WANTED to share a heartfelt thank you to our patients, carers, volunteers and staff.

The NHS on the Island has faced many challenges in recent years and — without the support of our community — it would not have been possible to improve our services.

Across the country, health and care services face difficulties in recruiting and retaining people with the right skills and there is significant financial pressure to manage.

Dealing with those national challenges, at the same time as improving the quality of services we provide, is what my team and I are focused on.

We set the goal of ‘Getting to Good’ in 2020, which means significantly improving our rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and leaving special measures.

I am pleased to tell you that, in many areas, we are making real progress.

We expect the CQC to publish its report in the coming days and it will help us see exactly where we need to focus our energy.

We know there is a lot of work still to do.

Before the inspection, we self-assessed and predicted some of our services would be rated ‘good’ and the trust’s overall rating would improve from ‘inadequate’ to ‘requires improvement.’

We won’t know for sure until the report is published, but I am hopeful it will reflect the progress we have made over the last year.

I am sure it will identify areas where we need to do more to improve and you have my commitment to do so, along with everyone working at the IW NHS Trust.

Whatever the final report says, I want to thank the people of the IW for their continued support and trust staff for their dedication and hard work.

Together we will continue to improve health services on the Island and make sure they are sustainable for future generations.