Monthly archives: December 2018

Patients hit the right note

Featured in The Phoenix Newspaper:

Respiratory patients were full of Christmas joy when they took part in their first “Singing for Breathing” session.
The group of seven patients, who suffer from a range of lung conditions, gave tuneful renditions of Jingle Bells and While Shepherds Watched – led by Louise Blackburn, who has been trained as a Singing for Breathing practitioner by the British Lung Foundation.
The 45-minute session was organised by the Community Respiratory team from Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, to help patients improve their lung health.
Louise said: “I find that people with lung conditions benefit greatly from these sessions. The magic of Singing for Breathing is that it is not only good physically and socially, but also a huge benefit for those patients with lung conditions.”
Teresa Brigden, is a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who attended the session. She said: “This has been brilliant. It’s the first time that I have sang in public, I normally just sing at home behind closed doors.
“But I felt very comfortable in the session today and really enjoyed it. I will definitely be coming again as I feel it’s benefited my condition too.”
The sessions start with a warm-up to prepare the patient’s body for activity. This includes physical warm-ups, breathing and vocal exercises, such as rhythm and pitch games. They then go on to sing around two to three songs.
Alice Harvey, Respiratory Clinician, added: “It was a fantastic first session. The patients really enjoyed singing Christmas songs after some fun warm-up exercises.
“You can see straight away how it benefits their health, but also how it helps socially too. An added benefit is that our staff have really enjoyed taking part, learning new techniques to support patients in managing their breathlessness, and helping our own wellbeing.
“We have part-funded the sessions by using our Your Trust Charity funding.  It means that patients are able to enjoy this great benefit to their health and wellbeing.”
Over the last 10 years, researchers have looked at how the body and mind respond to music, and have explored ways of using music to help care for health. There’s increasing evidence that singing regularly as part of a group is good for a person’s general health and wellbeing.

Also featured in the Birmingham Mail.

 

Janice turns to the business of care

Featured in The Chronicle Week:
She’s gone from the fast-paced world of finance to investing in patient care.
Janice Barrett decided swap her life as a foreign exchange trader in Jamaica, to become a nurse. Now she works at one of the busiest NHS trusts in the West Midlands and is the first port of call for GPs who are referring patients needing urgent care.
The mum-of-two explained: “It’s definitely a very different role from what I did in Jamaica. When I came to the UK in 2000 I started working in a nursing home as a care assistant and I decided that caring for people was something I wanted to do, even though my background was in business.”
Janice, from West Bromwich, retrained as a nurse, and worked her way up to a Senior Sister role at Sandwell Hospital’s Emergency Department, where she was also Paediatric Lead Nurse.
Now she is leading a new initiative for GPs which has been introduced at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, called Single Point of Access.
GPs can call Janice’s team about a patient who then carry out a telephone assessment. They will then liaise with colleagues in specialty areas, to ensure the patient is seen in the correct department.
“Before the service was introduced in early November, these patients would generally arrive in our Emergency Department with a letter of referral from their GP,” said Janice.
“However, the Single Point of Access service is there to improve the patients’ journey ensuring that they access the appropriate care by the right teams in as timely manner as is possible.”
A typical shift for Janice starts at 7.30am to prepare for the day ahead. Janice added: “We open in line with the GP practices at 8am. We’ll take calls from the doctors and advanced nurse practitioners treating patients who they think may need urgent care.
“As a member of the community that this service provides care for, I have a vested interest in ensuring that our organisation is able to deliver a good standard of care for people in the area, as it’s what they deserve. It is also about that obligation as a care provider to make sure we are doing the right thing for our patients.
“I would say that without a doubt, working on the Single Point of Access is one of the main highlights of my career so far.
“Having that opportunity to be part of a new service which is already making a difference to the care of our patients is extremely rewarding.”
She added: “Now my focus is to make sure that SPA continues to be a worthwhile service and expands further to incorporate other areas within the Trust and the wider community. It’s a project that will benefit not only patients, and their families, but also our partners and other services within our area.”
So who is Janice’s hero? “I am a huge fan of Maya Angelou. I think the hardship she encountered as a woman and to have excelled in the way she did in spite of her situation is admirable.”

 

 

Heartbeat: Soundwaves blast away blockages in heart patients

Patients being treated for blocked arteries will benefit from a new potentially life-saving treatment using soundwaves to clear the clogged up vessel.

The cardiology team are now using the new Intracoronary Lithotripsy (Shockwave) technology to treat narrowings of the coronary arteries, to eliminate the heavy build-up of calcium.

It’s the same technology that is used to break down kidney stones. Dr Leong Lee, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist said: “Narrowings or blockages of the arteries are usually treated by stretching open the vessel with a balloon (angioplasty) before delivery of a stent which keeps the artery open long term.

“These narrowings can be associated with a heavy build-up of calcium which makes the artery very hard and impossible to stretch using a balloon. In these circumstances it would usually not be possible to deliver a stent to the artery without first eliminating the calcium.

“This is usually done using rotablation (a drill) but this technique is only performed by a limited number of cardiologists.

“Shockwave is a new technology that will allow the calcium to be eliminated by trained interventional cardiologists thereby allowing the delivery of stents. It utilises technology that has been available for over 30 years to eliminate kidney stones using ultrasonic waves (Lithotripsy).”

Dr Lee continued: “The soundwaves delivered by the balloon are very low energy and will disrupt calcium within the artery but not normal heart tissue. The delivery of these soundwaves is localised to that section of the artery. This is usually sufficient to allow stent delivery but very rarely rotablation will also be required.

“We have been awaiting delivery of the equipment and approval by our clinical governance team. This occurred in early November and we are aiming to begin performing the procedure for our patients very soon.”

The new procedure does not cause any additional pain or discomfort compared to a regular angioplasty procedure. However, some patients may feel some chest discomfort when the balloon is being used but this will be for a short period and is usual for any angioplasty procedure.

The risk of major complications is the same as with any angioplasty procedure.

Dr Lee added: “This technology is all about improving patient safety and it also means that more of our team are able to carry out the stenting procedure in patients with heavily calcified arteries.

“Our cardiology department is frequently at the forefront of using cutting edge technology and we understand that we are one of very few NHS organisations to introduce this procedure.”

Drug safety notice – Paracetamol 1g in 100ml solution for infusion

We have received an anecdotal report that a bottle of paracetamol 1g in 100ml solution for infusion contained a floating contaminant and appeared brown in colour.

The affected product is a DEMO S.A. Brand:

• Batch Number: 1803513
• Expiry: 05/20

Colleagues should be vigilant and observe for any discolouration of the product. If the solution is discoloured, then please do not use and select another bottle. The affected bottle should be quarantined and returned to pharmacy.

Note: There is no need to return unaffected stock to pharmacy.

For details please see Paracetamol memo 1G in 100ml solution for infusion

For more information please contact the pharmacy department on ext. 5259

Christmas decorating competition – entry deadline today

You only have until the end of today to enter our Christmas decorating competition!

So if you haven’t done so already, it’s time to get in the Christmas spirit, break out the bunting and baubles and set to work decorating your wards and offices. Along with the imminent arrival of Santa, our own merry band of judges will be out just before Christmas to find the best Christmas decoration displays in all of SWBH.

If you need to get some supplies to help you spruce up your space, you can claim up to £30 towards receipted cost of materials and your funds can be collected from the finance office, City Hospital or General Office, Sandwell Hospital.

Judging for the Christmas decorating competition will be on 20 December with the judging panel consisting of Debi Fretwell, Sally Bradberry, Toby Lewis and Richard Samuda.

£100 winner prizes up for grabs in the following categories:

• Gold Award for the most beautifully decorated ward or department
• Frankincense Award for the most over the top decorations
• Myrrh Award for the most imaginative or unusual decorations
• Star Award for the best environment for patients this Christmas

If you are planning on decorating your space and you would like to book in a visit by the judges, or you would simply like some more information, contact sue.bullock2@nhs.net.

Note: The deadline to request a visit from the judges is today (Tuesday 18 December).

New audio feature on connect – have a listen!

If you haven’t already noticed, all our Connect news articles are now available in audio format!

This means you are now able to listen to all the latest news and information from across the organisation.

To use the new audio feature, simply press the play button under the title when you load an article.

Alternatively, if you would like to keep up to date with what’s going on from the comfort of your own phone, you can also load all of our news and blog items as a podcast, all you have to do is search for ‘SWBH Connect’ in the Apple Podcast app.

Should you have any questions or queries regarding Connect, please contact the communications team on ext. 5303 or email swbh.comms@nhs.net.

Family leave policy updated

We have now launched the updated version the family leave policy. SWBH is committed to supporting employees with children to balance their work and family lives and recognises the positive impact this can have on an employees work performance.

The updated policy outlines the various forms of family leave available to Trust employees to support them to take time off work to care for their children. (NB this policy does not cover carer leave, compassionate leave or any other time off for domestic reasons).

Entitlements in regards to the following areas are covered:

• Maternity Leave
• Paternity Leave
• Adoption Leave (Surrogacy Leave)
• Shared Parental Leave
• Ordinary Parental Leave
• Child Care Choices
• Supporting Employees dealing with Premature Births

For detailed information please click here

Our family leave policy have recently been updated. The policy is available via the main policies page on Connect.

The appendices/handbooks associated with this policy are contained within the relevant sections with the main family leave policy.

Think Pink! – Time to review IV antibiotics

In September, data from a pharmacy snapshot survey showed that 21 per cent of our inpatient population was on an IV antibiotic, and over half of the patients on antibiotics were on an IV antibiotic for more than 48 hours.

Think Pink! is a new initiative from the pharmacy department to raise awareness of IV antibiotics and prompt a review to see if they are still needed. Think Pink looks to engage nursing and medical colleagues in helping to ensure that IV antibiotics are only used when required.

IV antibiotics are vital, life saving medicines but we overuse them, and give them to patients for many days, when they could take an oral equivalent, usually because we forget to review if they are still needed.

As part of Think Pink pharmacy colleagues will use pink highlighters to draw attention to patients who have had 48 hours of IV antibiotics. We hope that nursing colleagues who are signing an administration box on the drug chart which has been highlighted in pink, will then ask the medical team to review the need for the IV antibiotic to continue.

IV antibiotics are also usually at least 10-20 times more expensive than their oral equivalent, are much less convenient, and take up a huge amount of nursing time to prepare and administer – time that could be better spent on other aspects of patient care.

If we could encourage an environment where everyone involved in the patient’s care (nursing, medical and pharmacy staff) feels empowered to ask – ‘Do they still need IV antibiotics?’, we could improve safety, save time, money and most of all improve patient care all at the same time.

If you would like to find out more about the Think Pink campaign, you can read more in the below briefing.

Think Pink

If you have any questions, please contact Conor Jamieson – Pharmacy Team Leader – Antimicrobial Therapy, conor.jamieson@nhs.net.

Unity roadshows continue this week

Unity roadshows focussing on clinical safety will be touring our acute sites throughout December. The roadshows will initially concentrate on the themes of sepsis management within Unity and how Unity can further support the safety plan.

The roadshows will also provide key information including the Unity play system, support networks via social media and training.

Pop along to the roadshows throughout December on the following dates from 11am-1pm:

Date	Site	Venue
18 December	Sandwell	Main Lifts
19 December	Rowley	Main Reception
20 December	City	Pharmacy

For more information please contact swbh.informaticsnurses@nhs.net.

 

Your Trust Charity single – still time to get your copy

As you may be aware, Your Trust Charity recently teamed up with Bristnall Hall Academy in Oldbury to launch their debut Christmas single, ‘O Holy Night.’

We still have a limited amount of physical CDs of the single left – they make excellent stocking fillers at only £5 each!

For those of you who want to go digital, to download your copy, click on the following links or search “The Heartbeats Choir” on Apple iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal or Napster.

Remember, every single bought will help raise vital funds to enhance the experience of patients at our Trust.

If you want to buy one of the limited edition CDs contact Amanda Winwood, ext, 4847 or email amanda.winwood@nhs.net.

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