Monthly archives: February 2019

Marion Reed development programme

The West Midlands branch of Infection Prevention Society is pleased to confirm that the Marion Reed development programme will be running again this year from 9am-4pm on the following dates at these locations:

• 11 April – lecture theatre, Moseley Hall hospital
• 2 May – lecture theatre, Moseley Hall Hospital
• 5 June – the Manor learning and conference centre, Walsall Manor Hospital

The programme is aimed at junior infection prevention control nurses or those with infection prevention control in their role i.e. Matrons, facilities co-ordinators.

The course will be interactive and aims to provide practical infection prevention control knowledge and application. Topics include basic microbiology and emerging organisms, water safety, sepsis, outbreak management and waste management.

Note: The cost of the course is £180 and payment will be required for the course prior to attendance.

To reserve a place or for more information please contact Joanna.peasland@bhamcommunity.nhs.uk.

Dr Prabir Banerjee retirement celebration: 4 March

Dr Prabir Bandyopadhyay (known to most as Banerjee) will be retiring on Monday 4 March and to celebrate his 18 year service at the Trust, we will be hosting a special celebration at the Diabetes Centre at Sandwell Hospital from 12.30pm. Light refreshments will also be provided on the day – all are welcome to attend.

Dr Banerjee has played a vital role in education at our Trust over the last 18 years, especially in the diabetes and endocrinology department.

For more information please contact nadine.rodney@nhs.net.

Heartbeat: Hello my name is… Emma Archer Associate Head of Pharmacy Operations, Business and Projects

It’s not only a ‘hello’ but also ‘welcome back’ to Emma Archer, who has joined as our new associate head of pharmacy operations, business and projects.

Emma trained as a pharmacy technician following two years training at the General Hospital Birmingham. She had a short stint at George Elliot Hospital, before arriving at Sandwell Hospital (pre the Trust merge) where she enjoyed seven years working in dispensary, aseptics and ward based services.

Emma moved to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham as dispensary manager, where she stayed for 13 years.

“During this time, my role progressed to encompass Selly Oak dispensaries and crosssite ward based services,” explained Emma.

“I was appointed to the role of associate director of pharmacy by my then boss, Dr Keith Ridge CBE, who is now the chief pharmacist for the UK.”

In 2013, Emma moved to Birmingham Children’s Hospital for a better work/life balance as she looked to start a family.

“My husband and I have twin boys who are now four and will be starting school this year,” said Emma.

“After working part-time managing the pharmacy homecare team, I felt it was the right time to step back into full-time work and I was delighted when the opportunity to return to Sandwell Hospital came up.”

Emma’s role as associate head of pharmacy operations, business and projects means she is responsible for dispensaries, procurement and distribution cross-site.

She said: “I will be working with Pun (Sharma, Chief Pharmacist) to lead new projects which include the outsourcing of outpatient dispensing and the further roll out of Pyxis medicine cabinets across the organisation.

There will also be a lot of work to prepare the service for the move to Midland Met.”

So what is Emma most looking forward to about her new role?

“I was happy working at Sandwell before and I already feel I have returned to a friendly, positive organisation,” smiled Emma.

“I am looking forward to using the knowledge and skills gained through my time working in hospital pharmacy to improve services and support colleagues in their development.

“It’s an exciting time to join the team with Midland Met on the horizon.”

Initiative unearths medical talent in community

Featured in The Guardian: 

When Horani Othman fled Syria with his Kurdish family in 2012, he arrived in the UK not knowing how he would make ends meet. Sent to live in Birmingham by the Home Office immigration authorities, he and his family were granted indefinite leave to remain last year. Now Othman, 54, is keen to get his career back on track. A pilot project in the Black Country is not only giving him valuable work experience in the UK, it could offer a solution to the growing crisis in NHS staffing levels.
Latest figures show that there are more than 100,000 vacancies for doctors and nurses. Brexit threatens to exacerbate the shortages: 9% of licensed doctors in the UK come from the European Economic Area, while in the West Midlands alone, EU nationals account for 10% of all nursing staff.
In 2017, Lawrence Kelly, widening participation project manager, at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust set up the Use-It programme to help unemployed, medically qualified refugees and migrants in Sandwell and west Birmingham find work in the NHS. The project offers participants free English language classes and work experience in a clinical environment. In little over a year, Lawrence and his team have recruited almost 200 people to the programme. Many of them have been referred by the nearby Brushstrokes community project.
“This far exceeds our initial target of 60 when we set up the programme,” says Kelly. “The feedback from those we are helping has been amazing. People who chose medicine as a career did so because they want to help people. It is frustrating not to be able to practise, due to being displaced from your home country. As they rebuild their lives here, it is good to be able to offer them the tools to improve their English and get back to work.”
Othman, a trained pharmacist, is working at the pharmacy in Sandwell hospital as an assistant for 12 weeks. He works there as an assistant under supervision two days a week and is being shown how the systems work and the hospital’s prescription processes. “I work in the store, assisting with the booking, ordering and checking supplies,” he says. “And on the wards, observing the clinical pharmacist at work reviewing patients’ medication. The practice is different from Syria and I learn more about the patients here.”
The aim of the work placements is to support participants’ registration with their relevant professional medical body. They earn no money during these attachments, but Othman says it’s still worth it. “It’s unpaid but it’s really good as I feel I am back in my field.”
But before Othman can apply to join the General Pharmaceutical Council, he needs to pass the international English language testing system with very high marks. The IELT is a standardised test of English language proficiency for non-native English speakers, covering speaking, reading, writing and listening skills. Othman needs to get high marks in each element to apply to register with the GPC and look for a permanent job. Like many of those on the Use-It programme, he struggles with the written and reading elements of the language course and feels the subject matter isn’t always relevant to his professional needs.
“I understand when the texts are on science and medicine but struggle when it is on subjects like insects, animals and dinosaurs,” he says. When I tried the test later, I struggled with it too. So for now, Horani plans to look for assistant work in a pharmacy or dispensary until he’s ready to sit the IELT.
Even when the participants pass the language test, there are still numerous hurdles to getting a permanent job. Everyone on the programme has their professional qualifications vetted by the National Recognition Improvement Centre. They then often have to complete a practical test for the relevant professional body.
Nikhat Iftikhar, 46, a genito-urinary physcian, specialising in sexual health and HIV, fled Karachi, Pakistan, in 2013, following attacks by Sunni fundamentalists. She has passed the IELT. To meet the requirements of the practical elements of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test set by the General Medical Council, she needs to brush up her medical skills. So as part of the Use-It programme, she has been shadowing sexual health doctors for the past three months. “After five years I’m a little bit rusty,” she says. “I need to be in the work environment again. The placement helps to familiarise me with the system here. And I’ll see the protocols of consulting with patients.” As the next step on her return to work, Use-It is arranging for her to return to GP practice on a two-year foundation training contract with all her further professional studies and registration fees paid. Similar arrangements are in hand for a further two doctors.
Now, senior managers plan to roll out the Use-It scheme beyond Sandwell and West Birmingham to the rest of the Black Country. The Black Country Transformation Partnership’s new £300,000 “health overseas professionals” programme is being introduced this year in Dudley, Wolverhampton and west Birmingham, as well as Sandwell, with the aim of recruiting scores of unemployed medically qualified migrants to the scheme and then into permanent NHS jobs. “Finding skilled clinicians in our communities from around the world and helping them to polish and share their expertise is a programme we are committed to for the long term,” says Toby Lewis, chief executive of Sandwell. “The investment is dwarfed by the return, with talented people joining GP, mental health and hospital services locally.”
For Mariam Darman, a senior obstetrician and gynaecologist from Kabul, getting back to her job is vital to her self-worth. “I saved people’s lives before. I’d like to do it again. I lose my identity without work.”

Fizz Free drive backed by health trust

Featured in the Express & Star:
A West Midlands healthcare Trust will burst the bubble on sugar-packed fizzy drinks by backing a national campaign.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust is supporting Fizz Free February by urging patients, staff and visitors to ditch sugary drinks for 28 days.
The campaign is a great way to reduce intake of the substance and is the brainchild of Southwark Council. It is also being supported by the Labour Party’s Deputy Leader, and West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson, who recently revealed his battle with diabetes.
Sandwell Council is also asking residents to sign a pledge committing to go fizz free for the month of February.
Dr Nick Makwana, Consultant Paediatrician, spoke about the link between obesity and sugar consumption. He said: “Through my work I know that one in five children are obese when they hit primary school, whilst one in three are when they reach secondary school.
“We also know by 2020, 50 per cent of our children will be obese. I know that obese children are stigmatised and bullied more and are also absent from school, which affects their education.
“As they get older they have pre-diabetes issues and bone and joint problems. As they move into adulthood they are more likely to suffer heart attacks, high blood pressure and strokes.
“Anything we can do to reduce this problem is a positive move in tackling these issues. That’s why I am fully on board in supporting Fizz Free February.”
Dr Derek Connolly, Interventional Cardiologist explained: “This initiative is a great idea, because we know that sugar is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
“It does that through a number of mechanisms, including obesity and diabetes. People should look at the labels and go for no added sugar drinks and cut it out of their diet.”
Latest data Public Health England on the nation’s diet shows that sugar now makes up 13.5 per cent of four to 10 year-olds and 14.1 per cent of teenagers daily calorie intake respectively, while the official recommendation is to limit sugar to no more than five per cent.
Toby Lewis, Chief Executive of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, added: “We are absolutely fully supporting Fizz Free February. It’s really important to tackle obesity and promote health in our community, especially for people growing up in the borough.”

Professor Liz’s donation of appreciation

Featured in The Black Country Mail on Monday 18 February: 

When Professor Liz Hughes, a consultant at Sandwell Hospital, found herself an inpatient at the hospital, she decided to say thanks in her own way.
Liz, who has been with the Trust for 29 years, has donated £400 to the Critical Care Unit after undergoing emergency surgery in January 2018, which involved a two-week stay.
She said: “I came here because I wanted to be looked after by my colleagues. They took care of me fantastically and I appreciated all the support they gave me.”
Liz has donated the money to Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust’s Your Trust Charity and it will go towards equipment that will make a difference to other patients in the unit, such as fans or televisions.
Matron Amber Markham said: “Thanks to Liz for her kind donation and it will go a long way towards making a patient’s stay more bearable.”

Neurophysiology fax switch off: 31 March

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock has ordered a complete phase out of faxing in the NHS by April 2020.

NHS organisations will be required to use modern communication methods, such as secure email, to improve patient safety and cyber security. Information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/health-and-social-care-secretary-bans-fax-machines-in-nhs.

With this in mind, neurophysiology will be switching off their fax machines on 31 March and from 1 April fax will not be monitored.

Referrals for EEG and NCS/EMG are available on the connect homepage.

Note: There will be no change to this process once Unity is live as orders for neurophysiology are not part of the system. Neurophysiology reports are available via clinical systems, web portals and prism.net and currently IP reports are uploaded to CDA.

Please see Neurophysiology fax help sheet for more information or email swb-tr.SWBH-GM-Neurophysiology@nhs.net.

Heartbeat: WeAllGetInvolved drives improvement in nuclear medicine and radiopharmacy

Medical imaging is a complex but important part of any hospital and it’s no different here. Nuclear medicine uses radioactive radiopharmaceuticals to create images of how different organs function in the body to help diagnose medical conditions and the process involves many colleagues, including radiopharmacists, physicists and technologists.

When so many different roles are working together, good communication and teamwork is essential and it was this communication strategy that was the topic of the poster that Bill Thomson, Consultant Physicist and Clinical Director submitted for the welearn poster competition.

The ‘WeAllGetInvolved’ communication strategy has seven stages; WeThink, WeWrite, WeMeet, WeDiscuss, WePlan, WeEmail and WeChat – Heartbeat caught up with Bill to find out more.

He said: “All the team are encouraged to come up with new ideas on how to enhance the existing service. They are then given freedom to share their ideas on a whiteboard, deliberately positioned in our staff room, for discussion at our QIHD meeting. This simple concept of the whiteboard drives our meeting agenda. So all colleagues are directly involved in setting the discussion points for our meetings.

“We meet and discuss the ideas at our local QIHD. Following on from these discussions we put together action plans on how we were going to take forward ideas we all thought were beneficial, usually through a small team.”

Bill and his directorate have already been able to make many improvements through this scheme.

“We’ve been able to achieve a lot as a result of getting everyone involved and feeling that they are directly able to make a difference.

“This has included introducing an automatic text messaging reminder service for outpatients to reduce DNA rates, developing an inventory of equipment that can be easily transferred to Midland Met when we move, standardising image protocols across the three gamma camera systems and researching a new meal recipe choice and normal range for gastric emptying which could become a UK standard procedure going forward.

“These changes made within the directorate have also helped contribute towards positive scores on latest ‘Your Voice’ survey with a 68 per cent response rate, 90 per cent involvement and 80 per cent motivation. All from a simple white board!”

Unity targeted coaching programme

From today (Monday 18 February), the clinical informatics team will be out visiting ward areas to provide 1 to 1 coaching for clinical colleagues and ward clerks.

The themes for the week will be:

• Nursing – how to document the insertion of an intravenous cannula and how to complete the VIP assessment.
• Ward clerks – how to complete transfers on “capman”, this will include, bed swaps, ward transfers, cross site transfers and the use of chairs.

The clinical informatics team will be wearing green unity t-shirts. Please stop and ask them to show you how Unity works and how it supports patient safety.

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

Training available for qualified nurses between February-March

Training is now available for all qualified nurses between the months of February-March.

There are a variety of training locations and dates available – please see the training dates document below for full details.

February-March Nurses Training Dates

Note: All sessions are booked through ESR

For more information please contact swbh.nurse-education@nhs.net.