Monthly archives: August 2018

Heartbeat: Hand Decontamination – lead by example – don’t be afraid to ask

Hand decontamination is one of the most effective means of preventing transmission of infection and we must all take responsibility to challenge our colleagues if we see bad practice.

We advocate and promote compliance with hand decontamination throughout our organisation. If you don’t think that colleagues are decontaminating their hands or using the hand sanitiser provided, please challenge them.

Hand wash basins are available in every ward and department and along the main hospital corridors on the City site. In addition to this hand sanitiser is available at the entrance to all wards and departments and at the patient’s bed side where safe to do so. In areas where it is not safe to have hand sanitiser at the patient’s bedside, colleagues are encouraged to wear and use individual hand sanitiser toggles.

Visitors should be encouraged to wash or use the sanitiser on entry to and exit from wards and departments and at the patient’s bedside.

Chief Nurse, Paula Gardner said: “Challenging colleagues who do not practice good hand hygiene is an essential part in our fight against spreading infection. It is not a case of telling tales, but of stopping colleagues in time and reminding them to decontaminate their hands before they potentially spread infection.

“Our hospitals should be safe spaces where the sick can be treated safely, and hand hygiene is one of the easiest and most basic ways for us all to contribute to keeping our environment safe for patients.”

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 24 August

Last week I wrote about our Midland Met certainty and the overwhelming efforts to resolve uncertainties over our IT.  That work continues – as Wednesday’s N3 outage showed – and more than 400 installations have now taken place to step up our WiFi capability.  600 computers are en route.  And we have finalised a schedule of planned downtime to allow external experts and our own team to sort out infrastructure issues which have partly responsible for recent difficulties.  All a step forward.  Next week, through Team Talk we will be asking everyone in our Trust to help prioritise some key priorities to make working in our Trust a little simpler or easier.  Part of work to build engagement and involvement.  Look out for next week’s special purple edition of Heartbeat for more details.

Informatics Dashboard 24 August 2018

We now know with moderate certainty that the Care Quality Commission will be on our sites during September.  This is very welcome.  It is a chance to showcase some fantastic work in BMEC, at Rowley Regis, across medicine and in theatres to improve standards. We can demonstrate the benefits of our safety plan.  And show efforts to tackle waits in emergency care and that Sepsis is our number one quality priority.  Of course we should be open about our challenges – not just IT, but gaps in teams and service specific issues like paediatric ophthalmology.  It would though be really disappointing if our incident reporting, risk registers and Speak Up processes have not already captured the key issues as you see them.  Staff comms this week has highlighted some staff meetings that the CQC asked us, this week, to organise as part of their preparation. (CQC We want to hear from you poster).  The well led inspection, which tests the Board and executive, will take place on October 9th, 10th and 11th.  I am sure that the unannounced service visits will happen before then – day or night.

This week saw the first formal Board meeting of our local Healthy Lives Partnership.  This is the Integrated Care, or accountable care, variant for Sandwell and the west of Birmingham.  Our two geographies will each have a provider alliance put in place, and the Trust will intend to take on long term care contracts, and some demand risk, in trying to move to a more coordinated model of care and one which targets more resource at a risk stratified population.  I have explicitly linked the good news about Midland Met with a commitment from our board that in the next decade we want to see a bigger proportion of local funds invested in mental health and primary care.  I do understand that many staff in our Trust are concerned to make sure that spend is wise and evidenced.  We can show in our End of Life Care model that we can add value coordinating the efforts of others.  That is a trailblazer for work we will do in other fields like alcohol, frailty and child health.

The great news about Midland Met does not mean we can or will keep everything the same.  Next year we will invest to make sure that our “retained” or interim estate is up to scratch at City.  But this week our quality and sustainability group met again to develop the final reconfiguration options for acute care.  This will see some services move from Sandwell to City, en route to Midland Met.  This is a bold step but one that gives us chance to begin to build the teams and care models that the new hospital demands.  It will also help us to jump forward work to make sure that a “Midland Met population” living across borough boundaries have access to the same quality of liaison psychiatry, community health, or care home access.  Everyone involved understands that the diversity and inequity of these services is a key risk to the functioning of the new build, and a key issue for us to address.  It must be possible for Birmingham led services to reach into Sandwell, and Sandwell services to deliver equally well either side of the M5.  The interim reconfiguration in 2019 will help to make sure that that happens.

Thank you to everyone working over the bank holiday weekend.  As we welcome back the CQC we should recognise that our Trust was rated Outstanding for Caring in 2017.  I see no reason that we cannot keep mantle, and that success is down to all of you.

#hellomynameis….Toby

Compound sodium lactate solution shortage

There is currently a shortage of compound sodium lactate solution (Hartmann’s solution) with the manufacturer only able to support 60 per cent of forcasted demand until mid-September.

Please use compound sodium lactate solution appropriately and regularly review the need for IV therapy as soon as is clinically appropriate. Wherever possible use alternative fluids.

You can access the compound sodium lactate solution – user notice for more information.

If you have excess supplies of compound sodium lactate solution that is not required for your clinical area, contact pharmacy on ext. 5259 to arrange for return so that it can be redistributed.

Children’s services summer party: 24 August – we need your support

Your Trust Charity are hosting a summer party today (Friday 24 August) from 12 – 3pm in the Education Centre at Sandwell Hospital for our children’s services but need your support!

Don’t forget to bring your loose change for refreshments and all the fun activities on the day – with all proceeds going towards the children’s department trust fund.  

For more information please contact Amanda Winwood on email Amanda.winwood@nhs.net

Heartbeat: What do our executive directors get up to?

What is the life of an exec director like? Do they ever visit patients or frontline colleagues? Well, now you get a chance to see where they have been each month. During August, Trust HQ has had a new whiteboard installed with space for each executive director to share where they have been out and about that month.

The idea was first seen at a different large NHS Trust, where it has been in place for some months.

Kam Dhami, Director of Governance, said: “We wanted to push ourselves to make sure we are being visible within our organisation and in the wider community. We all have ‘open door’ approaches so that colleagues can come and talk to us whenever they need to, but we also wanted to share where we have been. It will help us to clearly see where there are gaps: Are some teams or services overlooked by us? Are we meeting and hearing from colleagues and patients as frequently as we should?”

Paula Gardner, Chief Nurse, is enjoying marking down her visits on the new whiteboard. She said: “It’s helping me keep track of where I have been and where I need to go. It also helps us work better as a team so we can drop into different services at different times, or join up and go together.”

Adult safeguarding mandatory training at Sandwell: August-December

As you may be aware, adult safeguarding mandatory training is changing. With this in mind, please ensure you’re up to date with your level 2 and 3 training.

There a variety of adult safeguarding mandatory training dates available between August and December, with all training taking place in Learning and Development Seminar Room 7 at Sandwell Hospital.

Adult safeguarding mandatory dates

For more information please contact clarecotterill@nhs.net

Vehicle crime – Don’t become a victim!

Colleagues are reminded to please take appropriate precautions when leaving you vehicle, ensuring that all of the doors and windows are locked and that there are no valuables left on show.

By following the tips below you can prevent yourself becoming the victim of an opportunist thief.

• When you park, always lock your car and secure all windows, doors and the sunroof
• Never leave anything on display in your vehicle
• Never leave personal or work documents in your car
• Remove sat navs and mounts every time you leave the vehicle and wipe away tell tale marks.
• Don’t leave valuables in the glove box or the car boot.
• Do not leave your keys near windows or doors where they can be seen or reached by thieves

If you see someone acting suspiciously on site, call security and report the incident immediately.

Diabetes doctor interviewed about the condition

Dr Parijat De was interviewed on Unity FM about Diabetes. Host Muhammed Ali Pazeer asked questions around the condition, including how people live with it on a daily basis, prevention and treatment. To find out more about Unity FM, go to https://www.unityfm.net/pages/shows.

IT remedial work at City Hospital tonight

Dear colleague,

I am writing to apologise for another IT issue at City today and the inconvenience caused. Following today’s IT failure and intermittent problems, in conjunction with our network supplier BT, we are undertaking some remedial work this evening to rectify the problem.

At 1900 (7pm) there will be a short break in service to external services of approximately 1 minute. This will affect the following systems:

• Badgernet Maternity
• iPM (Lorenzo)
• ORMIS
• Internet access
• ESR

At 2100 (9pm) there will be a further break to external services of approximately 1 minute, to carry out further remedial work.

There will be no need to restart your PCs after the 1 minute breaks. You will however, need to remove your smartcards and re-insert them to authenticate and restart systems. In the case of Badgernet Maternity, you will need to close the application and start it again.

Sandwell site will not affected by this remedial work.

Thank you for your patience.

Best wishes

Rachel Barlow, Chief Operating Officer

Team leading apprenticeship now available

The team leading apprenticeship level 3 is now available through the apprenticeship team. This apprenticeship is designed for Level 3 managers (supervisors, team leaders and project officers) with operational/project responsibilities or responsibility for managing a team to deliver a clearly defined outcome. They provide direction, instructions and guidance to ensure the achievement of set goals.

Duration: 15 month programme.

Delivery: You will be required to attend one full study day a month for 12 months and have 20 percent self-directed study time each week to meet the “off the job” training requirement.

Entry requirements: The entry requirements for this apprenticeship are typically five GCSEs at Grade C or higher but individual without these will be assessed for eligibility.

Maths and English: Apprentices will need to achieve Level 2 in English and maths prior to taking their end point assessment.

Note: Study leave approval must be obtained from your line manager

Click here for the full Occupational profile

To register your interest and find out more please contact swbh.apprenticeship@nhs.net