Monthly archives: June 2018

It’s a star for research and development

Our organisation has achieved the Star rating for the excellent work in supporting a national stroke study.

The rating was awarded by the PLORAS (Predicting Language Outcome & Recovery after Stroke) research team for the outstanding work that the research and development team (R&D) have been doing to support the study.

PLORAS is a national study which is carried out at the University College London and there are 59 clinical research network sites that are currently taking part in this trial. The study looks into the speech recovery in stroke patients and in particular how long it takes and how much better they can get.

Our organisation joined this study in 2014 and to date we are one of the highest recruiters.

Stroke Research Nurse, Anne Hayes, said: “Since joining the PLORAS study four years ago, we have recruited around 70 patients to participate in the research, exceeding our initial target of 35. We are delighted to learn that we are a PLORAS Star site. It is a very special recognition for the work that we have been doing to support the trial.

“As part of our role we ensure that patients are fully informed about the trial and the options they have. For patients that do not wish to travel to London, the trial offers the option to use the MRIs they had at Sandwell. However, for those patients that would like the opportunity to travel to London, we complete the safety screening questionnaire thoroughly and always advise the trial centre if we have any queries or concerns.

 “Every year, we treat approximately 600 stroke patients, and we have seen how significantly their lives have been changed as a result of their stroke. By facilitating this type of research, we truly believe that clinicians will be better equipped to help their patients through their recovery from stroke.

“At the moment, we recruit patients for another five stroke studies, which cover many aspects of the stroke pathway. We are also excited that we will soon open another three studies which span from looking at the progress of silent mini strokes through to testing a new clot busting treatment”.

In the letter that was sent to the team, Professor Cathy Price, PLORAS Chief Investigator, wrote: “We have found your site to be exceptionally engaged and supportive over the years, in addition to being one of our highest recruiters.”

 Dr Sissi Ispoglou, Speciality Lead for Stroke and Principal Investigator for this study said: “This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the true integration of research into the clinical pathway, the support of everyone on the stroke wards and the hard work of Anne Hayes, Rachel Evans and everyone at R&D”

The PLORAS study continues to recruit participants until 2022 and has recruited more than 1,500 patients across the country.

Windrush 70th Birthday celebration

Our BME Staff Network are proud to be hosting a Windrush 70th Birthday Tea Party on Saturday 16 June in partnership with the University of Birmingham BAME Staff Network, University of Birmingham School, RCN West Midlands, Unison West Midlands and Recognise Black Heritage & Culture.

As a collective, we wish to acknowledge and celebrate the Windrush generation and thank them for their contribution to our National Health Service.

For more information please contact d.mighty@nhs.net.

Yankauer suction tube – ordering code change

With immediate effect the ordering code for yankauer suction tubes from NHS Supply chain has changed:

All materially managed wards and departments will automatically start receiving the new coded items.

For more information please contact Lisa Southall on ext. 4938.

Five Ways Health Centre subject to temporary closure

The Five Ways Health Centre is subject to a temporary closure following a notice from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The Five Ways Health Centre was rated as ‘Inadequate’ by the CQC in February and subsequently placed into ‘special measures’.

NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been working closely with both the practice and CQC.

As a result of the CQC inspection and subsequent notice, the Five Ways Health Centre closed at 8pm on Friday 8 June.

The CCG are reassuring patients that their health care needs will continue to be met, and have arranged for care to move temporarily to the Broadway Health Centre, Cope St, Birmingham B18 7BA from Saturday 9 June.

The Broadway Health Centre (0121 456 7420) is expecting Five Ways patients and patients of Five Ways will not need to register as a patient there.

• Personal records will be available securely to health care professionals at Broadway.
• A dedicated entrance has been arranged at Broadway for Five Ways patients.

Patients might have lots of questions about these developments and the CCG’s Time2Talk team have been briefed to answer as many of these questions as possible. You can contact them on 0121 612 4110 or by email at  SWBCCG.Time2Talk@nhs.net.

E-roster system maintenance: 22 June

The e-roster system will be unavailable from 9.45am-3pm on 22 June for essential maintenance and systems upgrade.

Please ensure that the system is maintained daily prior to this date, and that you have made provisions to capture who is on duty, so the rosters /system can be updated once available.

You must be logged out the system by 9.45am on 22 June.

Should the ‘downtime’ of the system change communication will be sent to roster managers.

For more information contact the e-roster team on 3600 option 5.

Making the most of charitable funds – fund managers workshop

As part of our ongoing induction and training for new and existing colleagues involved in overseeing charitable funds, we’re pleased to invite all fund managers and administrators to the next round of Your Trust Charity’s fund manager workshops.

These workshops – designed as drop-in sessions – are held quarterly across City and Sandwell, to ensure that we have an opportunity to hear from you, and provide you with any updates first-hand.

The next workshop is taking place today (Tuesday 12 June 2018) at City, meeting room 1, management block, 10am-2pm.

Our agenda will include:

• Any recent changes in process and developments in the charity sector
• Sharing success stories and best practice from your charitable funds
• How to make Oracle work for you – updates from the procurement team
• Q&A session
• One-one –one advice and support

For further information please contact Ola Odubanjo on ext. 5196 or by email at olabimpe.odubanjo@nhs.net.

Don’t ignore the test that could save your life

All eligible women aged 25 to 64 are being urged to take five minutes to have a cervical screening test (previously known as a smear test).

Every year in the UK, around 3,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women aged 35 and under.

• Cervical screening saves 5,000 lives a year in the UK
• Cervical screening is free and you should receive your invitation to attend for regular screening from your GP surgery
• Having regular cervical screening offers the best protection against developing cervical cancer

For more information please click here.

Halal dishes introduced from Monday

With effect from Monday 18 June, Hallam Restaurant, Arches Café and Boaters Café will be offering Halal dishes as part of their menus.

Click here for more information about the Halal options available.

Re-register as radiology referrers by 13 July

With the loss of some services over the past couple of years, it has come to the attention of the IRMER committee that some of you who are approved non-medical radiology referrers do not currently have either professional or medical/surgical leads. Whilst it is part of your duty to inform us of any changes to your current referral application, we realise that this is very easy to over-look.

We therefore need all of you who currently are approved radiology referrers (as individuals or groups) to re-register with us, providing us with up to date information about your professional and your medical/surgical leads, those who are named in your group (if applicable) along with any other changes to your current referral criteria that you may be aware of. The closing date for re-registering with us is Friday 13 July. If we have not heard from you by that time, your electronic requesting rights will be removed.

By re-registering we will ensure your names are transferred over to Unity as approved referrers.

For more information or to re-register, please contact either j.courtney@nhs.net or Claire.keaney@nhs.net

ID badges and PAC key revised opening times at City

Please see below for ID badges and PAC key revised opening times at City. For more information please call ext. 6424.