Monthly archives: September 2018
Trust offers extra maternity leave for certain staff
Featured in the Birmingham Mail
on Thursday 13 September
For the first time in the Midlands, a health trust is allowing parents of premature babies extra time off.
Often, a parent whose baby is born prematurely can end up spending a large part of their precious maternity or paternity leave in hospital.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust has pledged to sign up to The Smallest Things ‘Employer with Heart’ Charter – which means that mums and dads will receive full pay until the point that their maternity or paternity leave was due to start.
Current NHS terms and conditions afford new mums whose baby has been born prematurely to split their maternity leave, allowing them to take two weeks leave immediately after childbirth, and the rest following their baby’s discharge from hospital.
Catriona Ogilvy, founder and chair of The Smallest Things charity, says that the move will help parents going through traumatic and stressful times.
She said: “We’re delighted that Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust has recognised the unique needs of families of premature babies and is signing up to our Employer with Heart charter.
“Giving birth prematurely and spending time on a neonatal unit for weeks, sometimes months, is terrifying and traumatic for parents.
“The last thing they should be worrying about is work and whether they can afford to spend time at the incubator or cot of their fragile baby.”
Paula Gardner, Chief Nurse, said: “We are pleased to become the first Trust in the West Midlands to offer this commitment to parents.
“Our staff are dedicated to their jobs and work hard to ensure their patients receive high quality care, so we believe that we should return that sentiment by looking after them when they need our help in their personal lives.
“By signing up to this charter, it means that we will be able to help new mums and dads who are facing a difficult and worrying time after experiencing premature labour.”
Read the full article here.
Royal College of Nursing seeking BME nurses for Black History Month celebration
As part of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Black History Month celebration, they have commissioned a poem which will feature 70 nurses in recognition of the 70th Birthday of the NHS and Windrush.
For eligibility purposes, RCN are seeking BME nurses or colleagues of Windrush descendants.
The RCN are also seeking photos of any participants in their uniform so that they could be displayed during the poem presentation.
If you are meet the criteria and would like to be featured in the poem, please contact d.mighty@nhs.net by the end of today (14 September).
Heartbeat: NHS Hero Kathryn Gill – Consultant Surgeon
Our organisation is full of remarkable, motivated people, who give a lot to the communities we serve. Since 2014, we have been recognising our quiet heroes who come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and do a wide variety of jobs across our organisation. Each week we shine a spotlight on one of those heroes, and following an interview by our press office the Sandwell Chronicle publishes these inspirational stories.
She is a leading medic who is dedicated to finding the best treatment for faecal incontinence, a condition that affects one in 10 people across the country.
Consultant Surgeon, Kathryn Gill, who is also the Deputy Director for Research and Development (R&D), has been working for SWBH for 10 years and for her, no two days are the same.
She said: “When I first came to the Trust, I was asked to set up the FINCH team (Faecal Incontinence and Constipation Healthcare) and now, it is one of the largest pelvic floor services in the country.
“I’m very proud of the team. We are a group of doctors and nurses who work together to provide specialist care to patients. The team has received a number of awards for its innovative approach in managing the condition safely within the hospital and community.”
She continued: “We work in a fast-paced environment where we make sure we give patients the best care possible. We regularly hold meetings to ensure we are up-to-date with patients’ progress and that they receive the right care at the right time in the right place.”
Beside her clinical work, Kathryn also focuses on carrying out research as she believes it is the key to improving patient care. She said: “I am certain that R&D helps us provide better care to our patients.
“Currently, I am leading the FINCH team to take part in an international study, called SUBSoNIC, which aims to determine the effectiveness of a new surgical treatment for faecal incontinence.
“Faecal incontinence is an inability to control bowel movements, resulting in involuntary soiling. This condition can lead to a social or hygienic problem.
“The new treatment, called sacral neuromodulation, uses a stimulator that sends electrical impulses to the nerves and muscles that control the lower bowel, which may improve continence.
“The results of the SUBSoNIC study will hopefully give us a clear understanding of how well the device works for patients. At the moment, we are recruiting patients to this important study.”
As the Deputy Director for R&D, Kathryn has a clear vision of how she would like to fulfil her role. She said: “One of our organisation’s priorities for R&D is to focus on improving the engagement with patients.
“We believe that patients play an important role in research and we want to engage with them more closely.
“We held our first research patient involvement group in July. The aim of this group is to provide a channel of communication through which patients and members of the public can help shape research at the Trust. Through their input, we, as healthcare professionals will have greater understanding of what the public want and how to deliver this.
“In addition, I’m very excited that we are going to open two research facilities at Sandwell and City hospitals later this year, where patients and researchers can work together.
“The places will also become central research hubs where researchers, from different professional backgrounds, can come together and collaborate.”
Outside work, Kathryn enjoys painting, a hobby that she picked up only two years ago. She said: “I have always appreciated art. So when my husband bought me some brushes and painting material, I started painting right away. And now, I’m a member of the Worcester Society of Artists.”
Kathryn’s new talent for art has earned the well-deserved fame, as she scooped the title Artist of the Year 2018 for Best Beginner animal and wildlife artist. She said: “I was shocked when I was told that I won the award. There were more than 2,000 submissions, so it was a pleasant surprise to receive the news.”
She added: “My hero would be Mohandas Gandhi. His peaceful approach in negotiation has a large influence on me.
“I find his work inspirational and I apply his philosophy in the work that I do every day, using communications to resolve differences and to achieve positive outcomes.”
If patients, who are suffering from faecal incontinence, would like to take part in the SUBSoNIC study, please contact consultant surgeon Kathryn Gill via email at kathryn.gill@nhs.net.
How are you quiz – NHS One You
Get a free personalised health score when you complete this short quiz through NHS One You.
Note: How Are You is only designed to point you in the right direction. It’s not a medical assessment. If you’re worried about your health you should speak to a health professional.
Heartbeat: Community contact centre leads the way in improving patient communications
Every year we send a colossal amount of post to patients who are eagerly awaiting appointments, results and referrals. However thanks to an innovation in the community contact centre, the team are leading the way in embedding the use of email in patient contact.
To learn more about what the team are doing, Heartbeat caught up with Lucille Hedges, Community Contact Centre Lead.
She said: “We are the single central point of contact for eight community services in and for a long while now have been looking to see what we could do to develop how we manage our patient correspondence.
“We take approximately 16,500 calls a month; processing referrals, booking and rescheduling appointments, many of which lead to notification being sent to the patient. Traditionally this has always been a letter being posted but since a high number of our patients now have a smart phone, we began looking into emailing our letters directly to patients.”
The community contact centre took the decision to embark on collecting patient email addresses as part of our organisation’s digital strategy for electronic communication to patients. This process also involved asking the patients to undertake an electronic verification process on the community patient administration system, SystmOne provided by TPP.
The service also lobbied TPP to enable attachments to be included in the email which means patients can receive their outcome letters electronically.
The new processes mean we’ll soon not only be saving time in not having to print, pack and post all of the letters we generate, but we’ll also be saving a significant amount of money spent on processing outcome letters.
To bring the new vision to life, the community contact centre team has pledged to ask each and every patient they come in to contact with for their email address, adding to their already healthy total of approximately 12,000 patients who will soon be moving from snail mail to email.
To find out more about the work that the community contact centre are doing, email Lucille Hedges on lucille.hedges@nhs.net
Payroll switchboard closure
Due to Payroll QIHD the Payroll department switchboard will close Thursday 13 September, 9am and will re-open at 2pm.
Note: The department will be closed for personal visits for Payroll queries.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Health and wellbeing support services on site this week
Kaleidoscope and Care first will be on site this week to promote health and wellbeing support services and share information including: Employee Health and Wellbeing Support Seminars, information on Employee Assistance Programme, 24hr helpline, wellbeing online and other health and wellbeing information services.
- Friday 14 September – 1st Floor, BTC foyer, City, 11am-3pm
Pop along to see how services can support you, your colleagues and your teams.
If you cannot attend, information on Health and Wellbeing Support Services can be obtained from Jenny Wright on ext. 3848 or email jenny.wright9@nhs.net
Caring for Carers – health and wellbeing support group
This three hour session provides you with information about what it means to be a carer, will highlight the pressures of being a carer, will look at what support is available for carers, the importance of self-care, making the most out of your time and relaxation techniques.
Delegates will be provided with information, participate in practical exercises and share personal experiences and will be provided with a work booklet. This approach enables practical skill development for future application and peer support.
Date: Tuesday 18 September
Venue: The Berridge Room, Sandwell Hospital
Time: 10am–1pm
For bookings or further information please contact Jatinder Sekhon or Emma Williams on ext. 3306. Future dates and alternative venues are available for all sessions.
Heartbeat: Drug allergy could just be ‘side effect’
Less than 1 in 10 patients who report a penicillin allergy actually have one when tested by specialists, research has shown.
Now a team from our organisation have joined a national study ‘DALES’ (Drug Allergy Labels in the Elective Surgical population), that evaluates how drug allergies are documented before surgery – in order to determine whether a reaction is in fact a side effect. The team has recruited 150 patients to the DALES project and has been praised by the study organisers – the Research and Audit Federation of Trainees.
Julia Blackburn, Anaesthetic Registrar, explained: “We are very proud to be part of this important national research study.
“Currently, any patient reporting allergy to penicillin is given an alternative antibiotic. This alternative may be associated with higher incidence of side effects, less cost effective and can lead to an increase in ‘superbugs’ such as MRSA, a group of bacteria that is responsible for difficult-to-treat infections.
“However, the reality is that in a significant majority of patients, the allergy is in fact a minor side effect which means that the medication need not be withheld.
“These are different concepts and they have significant implications on how we prescribe medications. For example, more than 90 per cent of patients who report that they have an allergic reaction to penicillin do not have a true allergy when tested in a specialist clinic.
“The results will provide a useful insight into how drug allergies are reported and documented, and improve the way in which clinicians record reactions – ensuring that patients ultimately receive the optimal medication.
“This was a fantastic opportunity to work together as a wider multidisciplinary team. Many thanks to all who contributed to the study, including the R&D team, data collectors including research nurses, midwives and anaesthetists, co-trainee lead Dr Melanie Sahni, Principal Investigator Dr Santhana Kannan, and of course the patients for their participation.”
Research Nurse Ashley Turner added: “We are delighted to be able to recruit such a high number of patients for this study within two weeks.
“It is a fantastic outcome. Patients were very positive and forthcoming when asked to be part of the study.”
There are 270 centres across the UK that are taking part in the project.
It is being sponsored by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust with the results published next year.
For more information visit https://www.raftrainees.com/project-summary.html.
Drop-in sessions for Unity digital champions
Are you a Unity digital champion?
The clinical informatics team will be hosting drop-in sessions providing advice, support and demonstrations of Unity to support the champions’ confidence with the system.
You are invited to visit any of the sessions that are being held weekly on all three sites. We know how ‘daunting’ being a champion can be and want to support. Attendance is tracked through a loyalty card and rewards for those who have attended will be given. In addition there will be a prize draw for those who have attended the most sessions.
Sessions will run from 3pm to 4pm with the next one taking place on Wednesday 12 September at Rowley Hospital.
See all the dates listed for Sandwell, City and Rowley below.
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