Monthly archives: October 2018
Informatics update: Start of recovery work at City Hospital
Dear colleagues
From this evening we plan to carry out essential repairs to the server at City Hospital to reduce the risk of future system failures. The repair work will be done overnight and we have moved our essential systems to a new recovery server so that, should the repair work impact on IT systems stored on the server, we can quickly switch to our recovery arrangements.
Services are prepared with their business continuity plans in the unlikely event that systems are adversely affected.
It is our expectation that services will be running as normal tomorrow morning.
Any issues overnight should be reported as normal via the duty manager and on call arrangements.
Best wishes
Rachel Barlow, Chief Operating Officer
Pride in Black History Month Launch
“Here to Stay” Black History Month 2018
The BME Staff Network at Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust are proud to be hosting our second year of celebrating Black History Month.
This year we held our launch on 1st October in the Education Centre at Sandwell. We had the Mayor of Sandwell, Joy Edis in attendance. The event served as the launch of our “Here to Stay” exhibition which is a by-product of the Windrush Tea Party we held on the 16th June.
We had a total of three photoshoots and have 25 images of BME nurses on display who have made a significant contribution to our wonderful National Health Service. Many of the individuals featured work for us or have at some point in their career worked for us.
The BME Staff Network are proud to have instigated and commissioned this worthy project that has received acclaim regionally and nationally whilst touring in London and Birmingham.
As a network we hope to share the exhibition with a wider audience. We will keep you posted.
Thank you to all the individuals involved in the project. We appreciate you.
If you haven’t already, please pop along to the Education Centre at Sandwell to view the exhibition.
Thanks to the support of our CEO Toby Lewis, we are pleased to announce that the exhibition will remain at the Education Centre on a permanent basis.
Blog written by Donna Mighty, Co-Chair BME Staff Network
Heartbeat: Trust goes green as finalist in two award schemes
Our Trust has recently been shortlisted for two prestigious awards – sustainable excellence and the water and energy award – as part of the Sustainable Health and Care Awards. These awards will highlight and celebrate the fantastic sustainable development work across the NHS, social care and public sector. The shortlisting is as a result of our continued efforts in making the organisation more environmentally friendly and a little greener.
We have become more environmentally friendly by implementing a variety of different changes over the last few years, for example upgrading to LED lighting across multiple sites which is more energy efficient, installing solar panels at City and Rowley Regis sites, installing electrical vehicle charging points and solar panels across out Sandwell and City sites, and recycling 100 percent of our general waste.
In addition, SWBH is soon to launch a new staff engagement programme called ‘Green Impact’. The programme encourages colleagues to take small actions that can collectively add up and can make a big difference in making the Trust greener whilst reducing costs. For more information and to join us, visit the intranet page: https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/estates/sustainability/green-impact-2/
Fran Silcocks, Sustainability Officer, is ecstatic about being shortlisted for both awards.
She said: “We’re delighted to have been recognised for both of these fantastic awards.
“We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to become more energy efficient whilst saving costs so to be acknowledged like this is amazing.”
Winscribe planned downtime 24/10/18
Winscribe will be unavailable from 9pm tonight (24/10/18) until 8:30am tomorrow (25/10/18) whilst essential maintenance is carried out.
We apologise for any disruption.
Marie Kenna fundraising event: 9 November
Colleagues have launched a campaign to help fund a trip to Disneyland Paris for staff nurse Marie Kenna and her daughter Poppy, after the mum was diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer.
Marie, who works on Newton 5 at Sandwell Hospital, was told she had the disease earlier this year and is currently undergoing chemotherapy.
The dedicated nurse, who has worked with cancer patients for more than 12 years, and Poppy are both Disney fans and colleagues decided they would like to do something for the mother and daughter by flying them to the theme park early next year.
There will be a fundraiser held on 9 November, at Charlemont Bowling Club, in West Bromwich, where there will be a disco, raffle and food. There is also a tombola currently running on the ward with a number of prizes up for grabs.
Emma Ward, Ward Manager for Newton 5, said: “Marie is an amazing nurse and you wouldn’t want a better ward sister working alongside you. Throughout this awful experience, she has been so strong and positive, and trying to figure out how she can be a better nurse for her patients.
“Marie is well loved and a respected member of the team – not only do we miss her but patients do too.
“She is currently receiving treatment in the hope that it will cure her.”
For tickets to the event, contact Emma on ext. 3527.
Flu vaccine – test your knowledge to be in with a chance to win £10 Love2shop voucher
There are many myths surround the flu vaccine, so let’s test your knowledge.
Can you tell the myths from the facts below?
E-mail your answers to swb-tr.SWBH-GM-Staff-Communications@nhs.net and all correct answers will go into a draw to win a £10 love to shop voucher.
Entries will close at 9am on 26 October
- Vitamin C can protect me against the flu
- Children can’t have the flu vaccine
- You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine
- You shouldn’t have the flu jab when you are pregnant
- Once you have had the flu vaccine, you’re protected for life
- The flu vaccine is for anyone who doesn’t want to be sick – not just for older people
- Flu can be treated with antibiotics
- The flu jab won’t protect me against swine flu
- Influenza strains typically change every year so last year’s vaccine may not protect you from this year’s strains
- I didn’t have my jab at the start of October so it’s too late now
Star Awards – Clinical Team of the Year (Adults and Children)
Our annual Star Awards took place on Friday 12 October, with over 350 colleagues in attendance. It was a fantastic evening, celebrating everything that is good about our organisation.
The year’s Clinical Teams of the Year for Adults and Children were the Out of Hour District Nurses and the Infant Feeding Team respectfully.
The Out of Hours District Nurses are a small team of dedicated nurses working throughout the night, between the hours of 7.40pm and 8.20am, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They are enthusiastic and steadfast ensure the community nursing service is available 24/7 providing the best care that is available to our patients.
Although challenging at times, they endeavour to help all those patients that require assistance outside of access to their GPs or district nursing teams.
They make a great team; they are always communicable, compassionate, caring, competent, courageous and committed to helping patients to remain at home.
Earlier this year, the Infant Feeding Team achieved full baby friendly reaccreditation for the first time ever. Baby friendly accreditation is a globally recognised bench mark of quality for infant feeding support. Attaining reaccreditation is incredibly challenging as it involves updating and reviewing all guidelines, and BFI assessors auditing staff and mothers through interview.
Working with the volunteer service nine infant feeding volunteers have been trained to support new mums with breastfeeding. This is the first time we have done anything like this at SWBH. Amongst the group were future doctors, nurses, midwives and maternity support workers as well as local mums who want to give back to their community.
Heartbeat: Lyndon 5 had a blast celebrating their first year of success
It’s one year since Lyndon 5 ward was opened and the important milestone was marked with celebrations.
The Lyndon 5 team have enjoyed a successful year – and it’s no wonder – colleagues working on the ward have achieved the highest number of ‘golden patient discharges’ (which means patients are discharged before 10am) and successfully implemented a new initiative which has resulted in zero falls with harm.
Heartbeat visited the team’s birthday celebration and spoke to Ward Manager, Vikki Howard to find out about the team’s journey.
“I’m so proud of my team for their hard work and dedication. During the year we have been open, we have established rhythm of the day, where staff know exactly what happens on their shifts, the processes in place, and the discharge plans,” said Vikki.
“One of our proudest achievements has to be the implementation of the ‘grab bags’ scheme. These contain all the necessary equipment for patients, such as wipes and towels, and they are placed outside toilets on the ward.
“This means that when a nurse takes a patient to the toilet, they have the right items to hand. Thanks to this simple and safe initiative, there have been zero falls with harms since June.”
Vikki has been credited for the team’s success. Her colleagues believe her determination has built a positive environment on the ward.
Dr Asim Majeed, Consultant Geriatrician, said: “I truly believe that Vikki’s leadership makes a big difference to Lyndon 5.
“It is no longer an extra capacity ward, but a substantive team now. Doctors feel more confident when working on the ward and have actively chosen to come and work here, as they see how the ward is safely run and well-coordinated.”
Helen Barners, daughter of patient Edward Griffiths, also praised the team. She said: “My father has been on the ward for six weeks and he has been treated so well.
“The nurses and healthcare assistants always give him extra help and spend time talking to him. We do feel that the clinicians are part of our family and I can’t thank them enough for the care that they have been giving to my father.”
Complete the Stonewall diversity survey by 2 November
As part of the Stonewall 2019 Workplace Equality Index, we have been asked to get colleagues from across the organisation to complete this anonymous survey.
The employee feedback survey is available online at www.stonewall.org.uk/index-survey-2019.
Our unique four digit code for survey is 2089.
Please complete this short survey to help Stonewall gain a snapshot of how we all feel and help us to make changes to improve our inclusive culture.
For more information please contact stuartyoung1@nhs.net.
Star Awards – Quality of Care Award and Non-clinical Team of the Year
Our annual Star Awards took place on Friday 12 October, with over 350 colleagues in attendance. It was a fantastic evening, celebrating everything that is good about our organisation.
The year’s Quality of Care Award was won by Lisa McFarlane, Health Care Assistant and the Non-clinical Team of the Year was awarded to Medical Records.
Lisa has worked for our organisation for 10 years; she started in ophthalmology before going on to work in x-ray. Alongside her work in imaging, Lisa took on bank shifts on D16.
She left to take a post at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, but continued to cover bank shifts on D16. After just four months way, she missed her SWBH family and returned to a full-time healthcare assistant post on D16.
She is now working towards completing her NVQ Level 3 and has also been put forward by her matron to do the trainee nurse associate course, which is an opportunity Lisa is very excited about.
Medical Records are probably one the departments in our organisation who have been through the most challenges and changes.
Earlier this year, they were faced with the tricky implementation of the electronic patient notes. The team went above and beyond in their commitment to ensure patient safety during the implementation phase – often attending late at night, early in the morning or changing working days completely, often at short notice.
However, through all of these challenges and changes the team have remained professional and engaged and have continued to provide the outstanding support to clinical departments that they have done for over 20 years.
Check out the videos below to find out why Lisa and Medical Records were recognised for outstanding commitment.
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