Monthly archives: November 2018

Toby’s Friday Message

Each Friday, Chief Executive, Toby Lewis writes a message to all colleagues, which is published on the front page of Connect. He discusses important topics or events that have occurred during the past week and addresses future issues.

On Friday Toby spoke about the pride in working for an organisation that works had to conduct itself in an open, public and transparent manner. He also spoke about the delight in seeing Balfour Beatty on site at Midland Met restarting the development of the new hospital.

He also covered:

• The work we need to do locally to ensure we have what we need to sustain services, medicines, and the supply of equipment following brexit negotiations and the agreement at the board that both settlement and pre-settlement fees for EU nationals from our existing staff seeking to remain in this county would be borne by the Trust.
• The need for all clinical colleagues to ensure they have completed Basic Life Support training and the plans for roll out of Paediatric Life Support training in the new year.
• Confirmed that the Christmas decorating competition judging will take place on 21 December.

You can read the full message here.

You can also view archived messages here

Support for the Windrush generation and Commonwealth citizens

The Home Office have issued new guidance and support on the Windrush scheme for Commonwealth citizens and others who have been in the UK for a long time and are worried about their immigration status.

Further information can be found here www.gov.uk/windrush or you can read the Windrush factsheet.

Windrush factsheet UK

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 9 November

Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice from the First World War. I know that many colleagues have taken the opportunity already to mark this important occasion which is a tribute to public service and sacrifice. As best we can on Sunday at 11oclock I am sure we will all seek to take a moment of silence in our day to remember all who served and, in particular, all who did not return.

Last Sunday, Chairman Richard Samuda and I had the opportunity to attend the unveiling of a unique memorial in Smethwick which pays tribute to Sikh solders who have served in conflict, particularly in the two world wars. This memorial is also a recognition of the enormous contributions made by the Sikh community in so many ways within our local care system. I believe that this is the first such memorial of its kind anywhere in the UK.

You may have seen in the local Express and Star a number of stories over the last week about the Trust. One of the things that I am proud of about our organisation is the way in which we seek to manage our affairs in public and transparently. One example is that our risk register is discussed  openly at our board, just as it is available for you to view within our organisation. In that context I want to be clear that I have every confidence in our ability to find an outstanding contractor to finish the construction of the new hospital by 2022. Indeed just this week, as our picture shows, Balfour Beatty have begun in earnest, construction work on the fabulous winter garden that will be the main amenity space in Midland Met. There is every reason to expect that we will be able to proceed with the construction and that the construction market will support this exciting project. At the same time our risk register discusses the challenges of recruiting and retaining skilled and outstanding staff into our emergency departments in order to maintain two such departments until Midland Met opens. To be clear, it is our firm intention to seek to maintain those two emergency departments until that time, however, we do need to build contingency plans in the unlikely event that this is not possible. We should make no apology for seeking to plan for unlikely but difficult events.

The board of course also discussed the process of Brexit negotiations and the work that we need to do locally to ensure we have what we need to sustain services, medicines, and the supply of equipment. We also agreed at the board that both settlement and pre-settlement fees for EU nationals from our existing staff seeking to remain in this county would be borne by the Trust and details of how to reclaim that cost will be published over the next few days.

I have written a number of times in these messages about our QIHD poster competition. You will remember that this carries a headline prize of £5000. It is also part of a broader strategy for organisational learning under the welearn banner. We have received 57 posters to consider at the start of December and they will become visible in the trust over the next few days for you to look at. In the week beginning 18 November, for one week only, you will have the opportunity to give your view on the best posters as part of this contest.

I know next week we have our latest Quality Improvement Half Day and within that there will be an initial opportunity to reflect on the feedback from the CQC visit in September and to make sure that we are taking the steps necessary to address the concerns raised as part of that process.

One of the most important issues that we have been seeking to address over the past few months, and one that features with our conversations with CQC, is to ensure that everyone who needs their Basic Life Support training undertakes it before the end of 2018. If you are one of the very few employees who is yet to undertake that training, I must urge you to do so in coming weeks. At the same time we are working through, and will decide at the beginning of December which employee must undertake mandatory paediatric life support training over the first part of 2019. Increasingly, as we go through 2019, we will be looking to ensure that mandatory training is indeed mandatory and that the responsibility to be fully compliant each year sits with each of us as part of our contractual obligations as an employee.

Without wishing to start our Christmas celebrations while we are still celebrating Diwali, I should confirm that the Christmas decorating competition judging will take place on 21 December and details will be published next week on how to obtain funds to support your entry.

Attached are this week’s IT statistics: IT Performance Stats 9 November 2018

#hellomynameis…toby

Are you Pressure Ulcer ready?

A Trust wide training programme on new guidance on the identification, management and treatment of pressure ulcers will be launching soon with roadshows taking place on all sites and community bases

Come and find out the two new categories for pressure grading and how you can play a part in preventing pressure ulcers.

To support the rollout of the new guidance, the Tissue Viability team have arranged a training programme which launches on Monday 12 November with training being delivered on wards and in the community.

Note: All clinical colleagues are encouraged to attend their relevant training sessions to ensure they are aware of the changes.

Dates, times and locations of the training can be found on the following link: Pressure Ulcer training programme

Further training events will take place in the coming weeks, if your area would like an alternative date please contact the tissue viability team on tissueviability2@nhs.net

Scheduled maintenance at Linkway Practice and Lyng – Expected service outage

SWB CCG have some IT works planned to take place on Saturday 10 November (between the hours of 8am – 6pm) at Linkway Medical Practice that may also affect our services to the Lyng Health Centre. The planned IT works are likely to affect access to the Trust network from users on desktops at the Lyng Health Centre and Linkway Practice during the maintenance period.

Users on laptops will be able to continue to access the Trust network by using personal hotspot or tethering from mobile phones.

Heartbeat: Trust tops the regional research league

Our researchers have been named as the best in the region – after scooping a prestigious award for their dedication and hard work.

The research and development team were given the Best Overall Performance accolade in the Clinical Research Network (CRN) West Midlands awards ceremony held on 4 October.

Professor Karim Raza, Director of Research and Development (R&D), said: “This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of R&D staff and other researchers at SWBH. The Trust Board has been particularly supportive of our department recognising the enormous benefits that a vibrant research environment has for the patients we serve and for our colleagues – we look forward to building on this success and developing further over the next few years.”

Zaida Khalil, Research and Governance Manager added: “We were nominated by the CRN senior leadership team and this in itself was an honour. To win the award is a real privilege and it acknowledges the brilliant work that the research and development team and our investigators are carrying out here. This raises our profile not just within the West Midlands but also nationally. We intend to continue with this work and are grateful for the recognition we have received.”

The award is described by the CRN as a special one and a very difficult one to judge, which is there to acknowledge the organisation which has worked most closely with the network in terms of contribution to its overall joint objectives, and engaging with the teams.

The citation said of SWBH: “This organisation has been consistently meeting both their recruitment targets and their activity based funding targets, and is one of the best at keeping its data up-to-date, despite staff changes and shortages. They are very engaged with the network’s teams and work well with the study support team in the network to ensure that the studies are set up quickly and efficiently.”

Professor Jeremy Kirk, Clinical Director for the CRN, said: “These awards showcase the commitment of individuals and teams throughout the region to giving people the opportunity to take part in research. We received many outstanding nominations this year and offer warmest congratulations to all our winners.”

Flu vaccine awareness drive at NHS Trust

Featured on Dunya News on Friday 2 November:

Senior Occupational Health Nurse advisor Susanna Niblett and Councillor Waseem Zafar, who is a Non-Executive Director at our organisation, were featured on the news channel to raise awareness around the flu vaccine.

Watch the video below to find out more: 

https://youtu.be/ibhP72uCPj0

Work has restarted at Midland Met

Featured on Central News, ITV
on Tuesday, 6 November:

Work has restarted at the Midland Metropolitan Hospital.

Quit smoking drive at hospital

Smokers who want to kick the habit will be able to use a new service which will offer them support at Rowley Regis Hospital.

The sessions will be available for both staff and patients from 3 November and will run every Saturday over a three month trial period.

Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has organised the course as an incentive to quit, as the organisation prepares to go smokefree on 5 July, 2019.

Those using the service will be able to book a 30 minute appointment slot with either Caroline Kenny or Stephanie Morris, who are both Health Exchange Stop Smoking Service Coordinators.

Stephanie said: “This is a brand new service to help both patients and those working at the organisation quit smoking in time for the 5th July deadline.
“Both employees and patients will be able to call the Health Exchange service to book an appointment. During the one-to-one sessions, we will be able to talk about how much they smoke, their motivation behind quitting and the health benefits of giving up.
“We will also provide 12 weeks’ worth of Nicotine Replacement Therapy at no cost to employees.”

A wide range of support is already available for staff wanting to kick the habit. At Sandwell Hospital, Stephanie runs an appointment-only clinic every Monday between 8.30am and 1pm.
Meanwhile every Tuesday, Nadia Al-Sohaini, a Stop Smoking Advisor, holds a drop-in session at Sheldon Block, City Hospital, between 9.30am and 1.30pm.

When the ban comes into force, the workforce, patients and visitors will still be able to vape outside, away from entrances.
Latest figures from Public Health England show that, although not risk-free, e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking. There are currently 1.2 million vapers who have now quit smoking. Statistics show that smokers are four times as likely to quit using a combination of behavioural support than no help or over the counter Nicotine Replacement Therapy.
To book an appointment with the new Rowley Regis Hospital Stop Smoking Service, call 0121 663 0007.

Fit testing – ordering codes for masks

As you may be aware, the ordering method and codes for masks has been updated across the Trust.

With this in mind, please familiarise with below update:

• 3M FFP3 masks: £2.66 each (including VAT) per box (20) stock code BTP121 – order from NHSSC (our stores department)
• Alpha Solway S-3V: £10.65 + VAT per box (5) stock code CG.S-3V – order via IPROC. Orders to be sent to rainham@ess-safeforce.com
• Alpha Solway 3030V: £12 + VAT per box (5) stock code CJ.3030VFFP3 – order via IPROC. Orders to be sent to rainham@ess-safeforce.com

When to wear a mask

Respiratory Protective Equipment at Work Masks may be necessary if a suspected or confirmed infection may be spread by an airborne route e.g. mulita-drug resistant tuberculosis or other high -risk infections transmitted via the respiratory route.

Have you been fit tested?

Face fit testing is a method of checking that a tight fitting face piece matches the wearers facial  features and seals adequately to their face. It will also help to identify unsuitable face pieces that should not be used.

For more information about fit testing face masks contact Kasmiro Aheer in Infection Prevention and Control on ext 5193.