Monthly archives: July 2018

International #HelloMyNameIs day: Monday 23 July

Today (Monday 23 July), we will mark International #HelloMyNameIs Day to remember Dr Kate Granger MBE and the work she did to improve the lives of patients. Colleagues are encouraged to get involved by sharing their thoughts of Kate and the #HelloMyNameIs campaign on social media.

Kate, who was a registrar in elderly medicine and had terminal cancer, started the campaign with her husband Chris Pointon after she became frustrated with the number of staff who failed to introduce themselves to her when she was a patient. Sadly, Kate passed away at the age of 34 on 23 July 2016.

The #HelloMyNameIs campaign reminds us about the importance of good communications and how small, simple acts can improve the lives of our patients. For more information about #HelloMyNameIs, visit: www.hellomynameis.org.uk.

Heartbeat: AMU team present at Birmingham Medical Education Conference

The acute medical unit (AMU) team from City Hospital were invited present a piece of their work at the Birmingham Medical Education Conference.

The conference, which is an annual meeting held at the school of education at University of Birmingham. It is one of the biggest events of its kind in the United Kingdom and is hosted jointly by Health Education West Midlands, the Medical School and the Professional Education and Research Unit at the University.

The team’s presentation focussed on the introduction of a hub nurse role to empower the medical specialist registrar (SpR) and was presented by Dr Dom Goold, Cheryl Shepherd, AMU Sister and Dr Donna Best.

Acute Medical Consultant, Dr Sarb Clare, explained more to Heartbeat. She said: “Essentially the medical SpR is the workhorse of the hospital 24/7 and we need to reprieve them of as much duties as possible in order to maintain good patient flow.

“Due to the pressures they are under, there is a decline in doctors wanting to get into general and acute Medicine and it is a top priority for the Royal College of Physicians to address this matter.

“To address it locally, Senior Charge Nurse, Terry Byrne City created the hub nurse role who works alongside the AMU coordinator. After training and education, this nurse takes on the role of taking medical referrals from various sources, including A&E, GP surgeries and clinics.

“This role was traditionally done by the SpRs, which would take them away from the frontline and see them spending hours on the phone. The hub nurse role, has not only alleviated this and allowed them to spend more time with patients, but has also empowered our nurses and created more development opportunities for them.”

Sarb added: “It set an example for other units of better ways of working and we are aiming to deploy this to Sandwell AMU shortly.

“Credit for this must to go our amazing Terry for leading and delivering this project and to our nursing team who have taken on this role with real tenacity and professionalism.”

Suffering from shoulder pain: GRASP study

Are you suffering from shoulder pain and want to know more?

Speak to your doctor, physiotherapist, or clinic colleagues about the GRASP study.

If you are over 18 years of age, not currently receiving physiotherapy and are not being considered for surgery you may be eligible.

There are GRASP clinics at Rowley Regis, City and Sandwell Hospitals.

For more information please contact Neil Smith on 0121 507 2664 (option 4) or alternatively email sandwell.physio@nhs.net

Tissue viability training throughout September at Sandwell

We will be hosting a variety of tissue viability training courses throughout September at Sandwell Hospital which include:

• Wound care management: Medical education centre, clinical skills 1, Sandwell Hospital – 6 September, 9am-4.30pm
• Complex wound care management: Sandwell meeting room suite, activity hall, Sandwell Hospital – 12 September, 9am-4.30pm
• Pressure ulcer prevention and management: Medical education centre, clinical skills 1, Sandwell Hospital – 24 September, 9am-4.30pm

For more information or to book your place, please contact tissueviability2@nhs.net.

Are you securing your bike to prevent theft?

Our Sandwell and City sites are known to have been targeted by bike thieves in the past.

With this in mind, please ensure you lock your bike securely inside the bike sheds at Sandwell and City. If you have preference to using the cycle pods please remember to bring your own padlock.

For more information, including cycle parking maps please click the link below.

https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/estates/sustainability/cycling/

Colposcopy and gynaecology clinics moving to outpatients: 3 September

From 3 September all colposcopy and gynaecology clinics at Sandwell Hospital currently held in Alpha suite (formerly Women’s Health) will be moving to moving to outpatients, first floor, OPD, 6A, gynaecology.   

For more information about the move, please contact jean.whitehouse@nhs.net.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Update briefings for Unity digital champions

Are you a Unity digital champion? The Unity project team are running some sessions to update you on your role and how you can support your colleagues between now and Unity go-live.

Sessions have been revised and will now take place at:

• City – Wednesday 25 July
• Sandwell – Friday 27 July
• Rowley – Monday 30 July

There will be two sessions on each date at 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm.

If you are a digital champion and have not received an invitation email from the Unity project team then please email swbh.unity-champions@nhs.net

Please ensure you speak to your line manager before booking your place.

Scheduled Maintenance: Connect intranet maintenance complete

All scheduled maintenance on Connect has now been successfully completed.

Education projects at Sandwell: 19 July

The Education Centre at Sandwell hospital will play host to a variety of educational projects which have been taking place across the Trust this year on 19 July from 12.30pm. Topics to be covered include:

• Dr Alex Chaudhuri – Near-peer assisted learning in Undergraduate Education: Is it time for something more formal?
• Dr Nicole Whalley – Educating the educators
• Amardeep Singh – Interdisciplinary simulation at SWBH
• Dr Cathryn Bloomfield – Is low fidelity simulation as effective as high fidelity in undergraduate simulation
• Dr Helen Finegan – Debriefing the debriefer

For more information please contact louise.tomkins@nhs.net.

Heartbeat: Volunteers in a league of their own

Nearly half a million pounds has been raised by the dedicated volunteers group League of Friends over the past 13 years, it was revealed at its recent annual general meeting (AGM).

Chairwoman, Janet Dearn commended the volunteers within the service for their efforts in raising a staggering £485,994.54, before announcing that she would be stepping down from her position after 13 years in the role.

Paying tribute to her colleagues, she said: “This is my last AGM as chair as I think someone else should take over the reins. I want to thank everyone for all their time and hard work as well as their friendship. There is nothing in this world as big as the heart of a volunteer.”

She added: “It gives me great satisfaction to give something back to society and that applies to most of our volunteers.

“Even though I’m stepping down as chair, I will still continue my shift at the League of Friends shop every Tuesday and Friday.”

Mrs Dearn started as a volunteer around 20 years ago, and became vice chair in 1998. She took over the main job seven years later. “It was then that we started keeping tally of how much money we were raising,” she explained.

“We used to get requests for very basic things back then, like razors, hairdryers and TVs. But now that has certainly changed and we are buying much bigger pieces of equipment.”

At the start of the meeting Mrs Dearn revealed how the League of Friends had raised just over £45,000 in 2017/18, funding 15 projects in total.

Equipment purchased includes reminisce therapy software for patients treated on the Eliza Tinsley ward at Rowley Regis Hospital, voice amplifiers for the speech and language therapy department and arts and crafts material for the children’s ward.

“We provide such a wide range of equipment and it is a great achievement – none of this could have been possible without the time and dedication from our volunteers,” added Mrs Dearn.

“We still receive lots of thanks from the departments, and every single penny raised must be used for the benefit of the patients.”

During the AGM, Johnny Shah, Head of Your Trust Charity, presented Mrs Dearn with a bunch of flowers and a certificate of appreciation for the League of Friends’ fundraising efforts over the past year.

He said: “It’s the hard work of volunteers, their time and sacrifice, that helps the League of Friends fund essential equipment needs for our departments.

“I also want to say a personal thank you to Janet for her own dedication and commitment over the past 40 years, during her time as a volunteer and as chair.”