Monthly archives: September 2018
Trust VPN upgrade – 18 September – 7pm to 9pm
During the evening of Tuesday 18 September the informatics technical team will be moving the Trust’s VPN (Virtual Private Network) to a new IT infrastructure which will provide faster VPN connections for staff working from outside the main sites on devices and enhance security features.
Trust laptops and iPads will not be able to connect to the Trust network from non-Trust locations between 7pm and 9pm while this work is carried out.
The following IT systems and services that depend on a Trust VPN connection will not be available from non-Trust locations:
Badgernet (iPads and laptops)
CDA
eBMS
ESR (via Smartcard)
iCM
iPM/Lorenzo
JAC
Medcon
Medisoft
Network drives (e.g S:, H: and Y: drives)
Oracle Financials
ORMIS
PACS
Patient First
SystmOne
The following services will continue to available from Trust laptops connected to the internet:
NHSmail
ESR (via Internet username and password
Speak Up Day – 19 September
Our third Speak Up Day will be held tomorrow (Wednesday 19 September) across our Sandwell, City and Rowley sites as well as in the community to raise awareness of the different ways to speak up if you have concerns about safety at work.
Our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, exec directors and others will be on stands on the day where you will be able to talk to them in confidence. You will also have an opportunity to vote on your priority areas for making working life easier. Please feel free to drop by at the venues below:
- Sandwell – Hallam Restaurant Foyer
- City – Arches Café
- Rowley – Reception
Heartbeat: Sun shines on the annual sustainability garden party at City Hospital
Our colleagues, visitors, and patients soaked up the sunshine when they attended a special garden party at City Hospital, which encouraged people to be more environmentally friendly.
More than 100 people came to the event which was praised by colleagues for its informative and engaging activities.
Francesca Silcocks, Sustainability Officer said: “We organise the sustainability garden party every year to showcase to our colleagues and visitors our great work in making our organisation become more sustainable.
“At the event, people have the opportunity to meet with representatives from different organisations and have a discussion around cutting down on waste and their transport options.
“Over the past few years, our organisation has carried out many initiatives to reduce our impact on the environment. For example, our general waste is no longer sent to landfill, but instead to a local materials recycling facility where it is either recycled or reprocessed. We have also saved £16,000 a year, thanks to having two food waste digesters at Sandwell Hospital, helping us to dispose of food in an environmentally friendly way.”
Colleagues who attended the event were treated to free food and had the opportunity to ride smoothie bikes. Their energy from peddling powers a blender and at the end of the work out they can reward themselves with a glass of fresh juice.
Dawn Hall, Waste Manager, added: “It is very important that everyone knows how to dispose of waste correctly. Not only is that action good for the environment, but also it helps the organisation save a lot of money.”
Jorena Bell, Ward Service Officer, said: “I really enjoyed the event and I found it very useful. I have learned more about ways to be more sustainable.
“I have also been made aware of the new bus routes and I also now know how to use a bus application on my phone, which I find very useful for my commute to work every day.”
Cake sales at City and Sandwell in aid of Macmillan’s and Your Trust Charity: 26-27 September
In aid of Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning and Your Trust Charity, the cancer services department will be hosting two cake sales from 10am-1pm.
- Wednesday 26 September, BTC, City
- Thursday 27 September, outside the Courtyard Centre. opposite Costa Coffee Sandwell
Note: No coffee or tea will be sold at either event.
The cancer services department are also seeking cakes and biscuits to sell so if you would like to bake a cake or donate some sweet treats please email jennifer.donovan@nhs.net or call 0121 507 2776.
Support groups for family or friends of people whose lives are affected by addiction
The alcohol team are introducing a new group for friends and families of people whose lives are affected by addiction.
This group provides support and tools for people who are affected by the addictive behaviour of someone close to them. You will learn more effective ways to cope with this situation which will help you and in turn will then help your loved one.
The groups will be run on the first and third Wednesday of the month, 6pm–7.30pm in the diabetes seminar room at City Hospital.
The group is free and confidential and open to all. Light refreshments will be provided.
For more information please contact the alcohol team on 0121 507 5074.
Mexican theme menu – 27 September
Hallam restaurant, Arches and Boaters will be offering a Mexican theme menu on 27 September so be sure to drop by for a bite to eat.
| Mexican bean soup | £1.05 |
| Mexican beef chilli | £2.95 |
| Smoky Mexican meatball stew | £2.95 |
| Chicken enchiladas | £2.95 |
| Mixed bean enchiladas | £2.65 |
| Mexican bean burgers | £2.40 |
| Mexican tomato rice | 95p |
| Corn on the cob | 45p |
| Mexican potatoes | 67p |
| Mixed vegetables | 45p |
| Creamed potatoes | 35p |
| Chips | £1.63 |
| Rice pudding with raisin and cinnamon syrup | £1.15 |
| Pumpkin pie flan | £1.15 |
A world of words – Bilingual event
“A world of words” is an event about bilingualism, being organised by the Speech and Language Department on Tuesday 25 September.
Do you speak a language other than English at home or with friends? Have you got links to any community organisations which work for and with specific language communities?
We would love to invite groups to have a stall at our event, to showcase their language and culture. The event will be held in the Postgraduate Centre, from 10am-3pm – please contact kate.palser@nhs.net for further details or to ask about booking a stall.
Heartbeat: Joy Haywood retires after almost 40 years
Joy pictured at her retirement party, organised by her colleagues in paediatrics[/caption]
Paediatric Ward Manager, Joy Haywood will be retiring after over 39 years with the NHS.
Joy started her career at St Margaret’s Hospital in Great Barr, until she was able to start her nurse training at 17 years old. She trained at what was then known as Dudley Road Hospital in 1980 – Joy attended the school of nursing which was situated where D41 and D42 are now.
Joy undertook children’s nurse training in Stoke-On-Trent in 1984 before returning to Dudley Road, where she progressed from staff nurse, to a sister and then to a clinical nurse specialist.
After a brief return to adult nursing, Joy realised her heart lay with paediatrics and managed the moving of the seven day surgical ward to the day-case unit in the Birmingham Treatment Centre.
She retires from a position where she is responsible for looking after children’s outpatients and the surgery/medical day units across site.
Heartbeat caught up with Joy to get an insight into her last 39 years at our organisation and to find out more about her plans for retirement.
HB: What are the biggest challenges you have faced while working here?
JH: The challenges of all the health reorganisation under different governments, and the decisions where paediatrics would be. Building a great team who go cross site and maintain great standards, with the changing services during the merges and re-configuration.
HB: If you hadn’t have worked for the Trust, what would you have done instead?
JH: I would still been a nurse somewhere I think.
HB: What career advice would you give to your young self?
JH: Go for it, it’s been a challenge to be a nurse over my entire career. But well worth it with the patients and staff that you meet along your way.
HB: Any special plans now that you are leaving?
JH: Just to enjoy shorter days and spend time with my family. I plan on going to do some traveling as well as decorate my house from top to bottom and may do a little bank work.
Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 14 September
https://youtu.be/djjt_QWdBU0
I have had the privilege of ‘holding the reins’ this week whilst Toby takes a well deserved break. I have really been struck by how much is happening in the Trust, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That might be emergency care flow, improving our approach each day to a good and speedy discharge for our patients, responding to families and carers when things haven’t been up to scratch, or our daily meetings and to hold each other to account and ensure we are spending our money wisely. I want to say a huge thank you and well done for working so hard, for giving us your energy, and for finding solutions and ways to move forward to deliver fantastic patient care, even in the face of seemingly unsolvable issues.
Colleagues will know we welcomed the CQC back on site on Tuesday morning, for the second lot of unannounced inspections to visit children’s services, maternity and neonates. As one in six of our patients is a child, this visit is far reaching, and involves teams in all groups. We have so much good practice to share, and I know that the CQC were pleased by the welcome they received. Thank you for being eager to share the improvements made, and tell our CQC visitors how we are constantly improving.
During the weekend we marked our 300 day countdown to going Smoke Free on all our sites. As the video above shows, there is plenty of support on offer to you, if you wish to take this opportunity to quit, or cut down.
This week we launched wemind with roadshows on site, which offers all colleagues 24/7 support to deal with any situation that might be causing them distress or anxiety. There are trained counsellors available on 0800 174 319 to proactively support all of our 7,000 colleagues. wemind is delivered in partnership with Care First and Kaleidoscope. You can also download the free Stress Free Island App from the App Store or Googleplay. All of this will be part of the Winter Wellness event on 3 October at City Postgrad, where we launch our annual flu jab campaign. If you could be a peer vaccinator, please sign up with Tracy Lees on 3306. The four highest vaccinators will again receive a bottle of champagne, and every vaccinator receives an additional half a day annual leave for 50 vaccinations.
Please see weekly IT statistics here. We continue to monitor this closely.
We were delighted to commit to the “Employer with Heart” charter this week, which offers additional maternity and parental leave to colleagues who have a premature baby. This was inspired by the stories from our neonatal colleagues, who see, first hand, the difficulties that new parents experience. We hope that the additional leave helps them to spend precious time with their new borns, without worrying about paying the bills. We have already inspired other organisations to consider doing this, which is great for our neonatal patients of the future.
On Wednesday 19 September we are hosting ‘Speak Up Day’, which will take place across all of our sites. This will give colleagues the opportunity to talk to our Speak Up Guardians, executives and each other about any issues you face, and gain help on resolving problems together. I look forward to meeting with many of you next week and talking about how, together, we can make working life easier, to deliver the best possible care to our patients.
Hellomynameis…Raffaela.
Raffaela Goodby is acting Chief Executive this week, while Toby Lewis is on annual leave.
Dress rehearsal of Unity in focused areas starts today
17-19 September will see a focused dress rehearsal of Unity taking place in a number of clinical areas. The dress rehearsal aims to identify any issues ahead of go-live.
This is the second Unity dress rehearsal and is an opportunity for our operational teams supported by our digital champions and the Unity project team to use the electronic patient record and prepare for go-live. This focused dress rehearsal will measure the functionality of:
- User engagement
- Devices
- Reporting
- Unity activity scenarios
- Management of issues
Any issues identified during the dress rehearsal will be resolved to ensure the smooth launch of Unity.
The focused dress rehearsal will take place on the following dates and times:
- 17 September (9am – 5pm) – Sandwell ED, Sandwell inpatient wards
- 18 September (9am – 5pm) – City Hospital ED, City Hospital inpatient wards, community inpatient areas
- 19 September (9am – 5pm) – Outpatient areas
Further information is available on Connect or you can email
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