Significant snowfall affected the area overnight and into the early hours causing travel disruption, rail and bus service cancellations or postponements, limited taxi services, school closures and power cuts in some areas.

Across Walsall Healthcare and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trusts, teams of staff who need to clinically support patients had arranged vehicle sharing, lifts for colleagues who rely on buses, made plans to stay near their workplaces overnight and night shift teams stayed past their finish times to give day shift workers more travel time.

Across community services staff left their vehicles parked some distance away and walked to patients’ homes to ensure they received the care they needed, and many set out in the early hours today to walk several miles to work. Other staff went to areas they don’t usually work in to offer help.

Joe Chadwick-Bell, Group Chief Executive, said: “I want to thank our staff for their determination and commitment both in the run up to, and aftermath of, this terrible weather which has created extremely challenging conditions.

“Our Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) Teams spent much of this week getting vital plans in place with our senior managers and I’ve heard so many accounts of staff setting out at 4am to walk several miles to get to their workplace, or rallying round to collect others who have no transport, or staying past their shift to allow their colleagues more time to make it in.

“Estates teams have been working round the clock to clear snow and organise gritting too and our support services staff have been helping each other out wherever possible.

“Our staff have done everything they can to keep disruption to a minimum for our patients, enabling them to continue to receive high-quality care and I want them to know how much it is appreciated by our Executive Team as well as among the communities we serve. The team spirit has been amazing to see.”