Monthly archives: November 2018

Drayton Manor discounted tickets – 17 November-31 December

Drayton Manor have kindly offered Trust employees 20 per cent off Drayton Manor theme park tickets between 17 November – 31 December.

To book call 0844 472 1950 quoting “SAND2018” or click here.

Car parking is charged at a daily rate of £2 (subject to change at any time throughout the season). Please visit www.draytonmanor.co.uk for further information and T&C’s.

Note: These tickets do not include a Father Christmas visit. For anyone that wishes to book a Father Christmas visit, this can be arranged upon arrival. There is an additional charge of £10 per person and it is strictly subject to availability on the day.

Get your flu jab this week and help us reach 80 per cent herd immunity

As a Trust, we’ve done an amazing job so far getting our colleagues protected against the flu.

However, we still have 9 per cent to reach our herd immunity of 80 per cent.

We’re urging those who have not been vaccinated to get their vaccine this week so that colleagues can be protected against the deadly flu virus that still kills 8,000-14,000 people in the UK every mild flu season.

With this in mind, we’re offering the following additional drop-in sessions:

Sandwell

• Friday 16 November: Occupational Health courtyard gardens – 1pm–4pm

City

• Friday 16 November: Old foot health clinic – 9am–12pm

Our nurses will also be walking around both City and Sandwell sites at various times over the next few weeks, please ring them on the flu mobiles if you would like them to come to your ward or department.

• City phone – 07976 640187
• Sandwell phone –  07976 428284

Be sure to check out this video featuring Marian Cooper from theatres who has been ill with the flu in the past and is encouraging all to have their flu vaccination.

Note: The flu vaccine does not contain any pork or meat product or derivatives.

Treating early signs of diabetes risk may stave off the disease

Featured in The Jordan Times:

People who have slightly elevated blood sugar and other early signs of risk for type 2 diabetes may avoid developing the full-blown disease if they start taking medications or make lifestyle changes that are usually used to treat diabetes, researchers say.

The study team examined data on 422 adults in southern California with slightly elevated blood sugar and an intermediate or high risk for developing diabetes based on how well they make and use insulin. All of the patients were told to make lifestyle changes like modifying their diet and exercise habits; 141 people were also asked to take two types of diabetes drugs, and 81 patients were asked to take three types of diabetes drugs.

After an average follow-up period of almost three years, the annual rate of transitioning to full diabetes was 4.1 per cent among people who received only lifestyle therapy, and 1.7 per cent in patients on two diabetes drugs, the study found. None of the patients on three diabetes drugs developed diabetes.

‘Our study demonstrates that a personalised preventive strategy based upon physiology combining lifestyle modification and targeted medications can be extremely effective in preventing progression to diabetes,’ said lead study author Dr John Armato of the Providence Little Company of Mary Cardiometabolic Centre in Torrance, California.

‘It is always recommended that patients embrace regular exercise, targeted weight loss, limitation of alcohol intake and getting adequate sleep because, if implemented consistently and maintained, this may be all that is needed to restore ideal health,’ Armato said by e-mail.

The study findings also suggest that some patients may want to consider the targeted use of medications in addition to lifestyle changes, Armato added.

About one in three US adults have slightly elevated blood sugar that is sometimes called ‘prediabetes’ even though it is not high enough to warrant a diabetes diagnosis, researchers note in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Roughly one in three of these people will progress to full-blown diabetes within five to seven years, they write.

In addition to looking at current blood sugar, or glucose, levels, and a signature of long-term glucose levels known as HbA1C, the researchers added measures of risk for progressing to full diabetes based on how well insulin is working to help cells use glucose for energy, and how well insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are functioning.

All of the patients in the study who were prescribed two medications were given metformin, an older generic diabetes drug that has long been a mainstay of treatment for this disease and another diabetes pill, pioglitazone.

People taking three medications were given metformin and pioglitazone, as well as a newer injected diabetes drug in a family of medicines that includes exenatide and liraglutide.

Compared to people who only received lifestyle therapy, patients who took metformin and pioglitazone were 71 per cent less likely to develop diabetes, the study found.

Patients who took both of those drugs as well as medicines like exenatide or liraglutide were 92 per cent less likely to develop diabetes than those who only received lifestyle therapy.

One limitation of the study is that people who were given only lifestyle therapy received this treatment because they refused to take medications, so the treatment groups were not random, which might influence the results, the authors note.

It is also not clear from the study whether medications may have prevented diabetes from developing or helped to manage symptoms in people who did develop diabetes, they add.

Still, the results add to evidence suggesting that some people without full-blown diabetes may benefit from efforts to lower their blood sugar, Dr Robert Ryder of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust City Hospital in the UK writes in an accompanying editorial.

But not all patients with slightly elevated blood sugar need medication, or three different drugs, to achieve optimal blood sugar levels, Ryder cautions.

‘Many would consider intervention with three pharmaceutical agents, one of which is an injectable, to be excessive in this population,’ Ryder writes. ‘However, the complications of type 2 diabetes can be devastating and anything that can be done to avoid diabetes and therefore its complications is worthy of consideration.’

British Sign Language (BSL) Level 1 Course

British Sign Language Level 1 Training

As an organisation we are committed to both staff training and improving our patient experience, as such we are commissioning a Signature Level 1 Award in British Sign Language

This is a fully accredited course, designed to teach learners to communicate with Deaf people in British Sign Language (BSL) on a range of topics that involve simple, everyday language use. They will gain basic skills and confidence in production and reception of BSL.

The qualification is divided into three units, Introduction to BSL, Conversational BSL and Communicate in BSL about Everyday Life.

To achieve the full Level 1 Award in British Sign Language, candidates must pass all 3 units.

The course is scheduled to start in January and is planned for Wednesday Afternoons 15:00 until 18:00 and will be taking place at Sandwell Education Centre. The course runs for 22 weeks.

If accepted you will need to complete a Study Leave Form.

Should you wish to put yourself forward please contact swb-tr.SWBH-GM-EqualityDiversity@nhs.net and a member of the Equality & Diversity Team will be on touch.

Sepsis is our number one quality priority: Day 15 of our campaign

D17 Gynae Oncology Ward Manager, Tracy Weston has put her creative talents to good use and created a catchy and engaging poem to help us all remember what we need to do in the campaign to tackle and treat sepsis:

The sepsis screen is a main trust target,

And we have to ensure we don’t disregard it,

All our patients deserve the best chance,

And we can prove we are doing it at just a glance.

5

So if you get a five or above on the vitalpac mews,

Remember remember to share that news,

Follow the prompts on the computer screen,

And make sure you ensure that flag is seen.

World Antibiotic Awareness Week

World Antibiotic Awareness Week continues this week. Yesterday we covered antibiotic resistance and the threat it poses to human health and wellbeing.

Antibiotics are not harmless. They are medicines in their own right and can have serious side effects, as well as important drug interactions.

Always check a patient’s drug allergy status before prescribing or administering any antibiotics. When prescribing antibiotics, always check for drug interactions before prescribing them.

If you are prescribed antibiotics, follow the instructions on the label. Don’t share them with other people who might have similar symptoms to you, and don’t keep any for next time.

You can report adverse reactions to medicines via the Yellow Card scheme.

To celebrate World Antibiotic Awareness Week, on Friday 16 November we will be hosting awareness stands from 11am-1pm at both the BTC (1st floor by the escalators) at City Hospital and the main reception at Sandwell Hospital.

For more information please contact conor.jamieson@nhs.net.

If you can’t make it to one of the stalls, you can still be involved by becoming an Antibiotic Guardian.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats facing us today and the overuse or misuse of antibiotics is making the problem worse. Without effective antibiotics many routine treatments will become increasingly dangerous. Setting broken bones, basic operations, transplants, even chemotherapy all rely on access to antibiotics that work. To slow resistance we need to cut the use of unnecessary antibiotics.

Antibiotic Guardian is a campaign run by Public Health England and a range of partners. Health professionals, patients, health leaders and those who work with, own or treat animals are being encouraged to visit  www.antibioticguardian.com and choose a pledge that they can fulfil and play their part in protecting some of our most precious medicines.

Heartbeat: Continence support group thriving after 14 years

Our community continence team is a small, hardworking team of specialist nurses who provide professional advice, support and education to patients in Sandwell about promoting continence (controlling the bladder and bowels) and managing incontinence.

The team works in partnership with other health and social care professionals across the borough to provide care that is as sensitive as possible.

In 2004, the team thought that their patients may benefit from coming together to discuss their continence issues, with people who are going through the same thing as them – and the community continence support group was born.

The group meets four times a year at Greets Green Community Centre, and Heartbeat was invited to attend the September meeting.

Julie Hopkins-Budd, Clinical Nurse Specialist, was one of the team who was involved when the group was set-up 14 years ago.

She explained more about the purpose of the group to Heartbeat: “The group originated in 2004, when we brought a group of our patients together to discuss how they manage their continence problems.

“On average we have around 12 participants that attend, a couple who have been coming since we first started.”

The group provides a safe environment for patients to talk to the continence team and each other about any particular issues they may be facing. Patients have also been involved in tendering containment products for the service, trying samples and giving their feedback. They have also had input into the patient information leaflets which are used by the service.

Julie said: “Having the group’s input on things such as new products or rewording our leaflets is invaluable. They are living with continence issues day in day out, so there is no one better to advise us.”

In addition to talking amongst themselves and with the continence team, the support group also welcomes guest speakers from other departments within the Trust or external agencies such as, foot health, physiotherapy and Agewell.

At the September meeting, West Midlands Fire Service attended to talk to the patients about their safe and well service.

“The talk from the fire service was brilliant,” said Julie.

“They discussed all aspects of home safety and a number of our patients booked a free home assessment with them.

“We have a different external speaker each time we meet and the group decide between them who they would like it invite.”

The group has gone from strength to strength since its launch, but now the community continence team are encouraging colleagues to refer any patients that they feel may benefit from attending.

The next meeting takes place on 5 December, 10.30am at Greets Green Community Centre, Wood Lane, West Bromwich.

For more information please e-mail Julie on julie.hopkins-budd@nhs.net

12 days until the change over of the new pressure ulcer categories

Pressure ulcers can be painful and distressing for patients and they are largely preventable. Nationwide, we’re still seeing more than 1,300 new pressure ulcers a month and treating pressure ulcers costs the NHS approx. £1.4 million every day. Accuracy in pressure ulcer categorising is vital.

To find out more information about pressure ulcers, why not visit our roadshow today (Thursday 15 November) from 11.30am-2.30pm outside the pharmacy at City Hospital.

Basic Life Support drop-ins at City and Sandwell

Drop-in sessions for basic life support are available at our City and Sandwell sites throughout November and December.

The link below will take you to the mandatory training page.

https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/deteriorating-patient-resuscitation-team/basic-life-support/

Note: You must complete basic life support (theory) e-learning for health national modules on ESR before attending any drop in sessions.

For more information please contact swb-tr.SWBH-GM-Resuscitation-Team@nhs.net.

Sepsis is our number one quality priority: Day 14 of our campaign

Do you know how to record when a patient has been screened for sepsis?

Early detection and prompt treatment of sepsis is a key priority; however this can only be achieved if patients are being screened for sepsis regularly.

Every patient that is screened for sepsis must by flagged on eBMS when screening is carried out and a record kept regarding  whether treatment has commenced and justification where treatment has not.

If you are unsure on the process of flagging a patient on eBMS as having been screened for sepsis you can follow the attached guide.

Sepsis Guide