Monthly archives: March 2019
SWB Brexit Bulletin
Welcome to the first weekly Brexit bulletin for SWB colleagues to keep you up to date with the latest news and guidance about NHS national and local preparations.
As you are no doubt aware, at this point there is still no final deal agreed with the EU on arrangements and, as we draw closer to 29th March, contingency planning for a ‘no deal’ scenario has been stepped up.
At our Trust, a group of key individuals are meeting regularly to ensure we have sufficient plans in place.
This bulletin focuses on workforce and overseas visitors. Future bulletins will describe our preparedness for medicines, supplies and equipment.
EU citizens who work with us
- The Home Office has outlined the arrangements for EU citizens in the event of a no deal Brexit, which set out the rights for EU citizens to live and work in the UK depending on whether they have come to the UK before or after 29th
- EU staff currently working in NHS trusts are eligible to apply for the EU Settled Status Scheme at no cost. Applicants can gain settled status if you have been living in the UK for five years, or pre-settled status if you have been resident for a shorter period. The application deadline has been brought forward to December 2020 in the case of no deal. If EU citizens come to the UK after 29thMarch they will be automatically eligible to work in the NHS for up to three months, but need to apply for European Temporary Leave to Remain status if they wish to stay for a maximum of three years.
- The future “skills based immigration system” will be implemented from 2021 and will clarify the status of EU healthcare staff in the long term. The government is consulting with stakeholders on proposals set out in the Immigration White Paper last December, which aim to standardise rights of EU and non-EU citizens.
Professional regulation (recognition of professional qualifications)
- Health and care professionals (including UK citizens), whose qualification has been recognised and who are registered in the UK before 23:00 on 29 March 2019, will continue to be registered after this point.
- Health and care professionals (including UK citizens), who apply to have their qualification recognised in the UK before 23:00 on 29 March 2019, will have their application concluded under current arrangements.
- Health and care professionals (including UK citizens) with an EU/EEA or Swiss qualification, who apply to have their qualification recognised in the UK from 23:00 on 29 March 2019 will be subject to future arrangements.
Reciprocal arrangements and overseas visitors
- In a ‘no deal’ scenario, UK nationals resident in the EU, EEA and Switzerland may experience limitations to their access to healthcare services. The Government is therefore seeking to protect current reciprocal healthcare rights through transitional bilateral agreements with other member states.
- Advice will be issued by the Government to UK nationals living in the EU, to UK residents travelling to the EU and to EU nationals living in the UK. It will explain how the UK is working to maintain reciprocal healthcare arrangements, but this will depend on decisions by member states. It will set out what options people might have to access healthcare under local laws in the member state they live in if we do not have bilateral agreements in place, and what people can do to prepare. We will update you as more information becomes available.
- As is currently the case, if UK nationals living in the EU face changes in how they can access healthcare, and if they return permanently to the UK and take up ordinary residence here, they will be entitled to NHS-funded healthcare on the same basis as UK nationals already living here.
The important message for all colleagues is that, until we are given any different instructions, our existing arrangements apply, in that we must continue to ask the three questions as patients present to our Trust:
- Are you a UK citizen? (if ‘yes’ go to Q4)
- Are you a EU, EEA or Swiss citizen? (only if answered ‘no’ to Q1)
- Do you have a valid visa or permission to remain in the UK? (only if answered ‘no’ to Q1 and Q2)
- Are you living in the UK permanently?
- Do you have a valid EHIC (European Health Insurance Card)? (only if answered ‘yes’ to Q2).
If an EU citizen you must take a copy of their EHIC and send to the overseas visitors team. If the patient answers ‘no’ to any other question they should be referred to the team at swb-tr.SWBHOverseasVisitors@nhs.net or on 3420. For more details see https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/governance/overseas-visitors-team/
If you have any concerns or comments please send them to tobylewis@nhs.net who is our Senior Responsible Officer for Brexit preparedness.
Women Empowering Women Conference launched today
Today is International Women’s Day and we are proud to launch an inspirational one day conference entitled “Women Empowering Women” which will be held at City Post Grad on the 22 May 2019.
To find out more about the conference we caught up with Deputy Medical Director Sarb Clare to find out more,
“After spending significant time and energy supporting/counselling female and male juniors, peers and seniors and a middle of the night, a lightbulb moment told me it was time for a movement and the West Midlands Women In Medicine was born.
This day is to empower and inspire the future generation of female physicians! We will show them ‘You can be what you see!!”
[su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/JuPf7C4ntSQ" width="300" height="200"]We aim to get juniors, CMT’s into high acuity specialties such as acute medicine, cardiology and intensive care and demonstrate and share that the experience of the Medical SpR role is the highlight of a physician’s career!
We have multiple workshops ranging from management and leadership to becoming a Med SpR to LTFT working and having babies to self- care!
We are honoured to have Prof Henrietta Bowden Jones OBE President Of the Medical Women’s federation and Dr Emma Vaux who is RCP Senior Censor and Vice President in Education and Training speaking as well as an amazing regional female faculty including Lieutenant Col Ngozi Dufy and Dr Liz Sapey from QEH !
To book your place contact Irene Bayliss on email: Irenebayliss@nhs.net
It’s International Women’s Day
Happy International Women’s Day to all our female colleagues who make up 78 per cent of our workplace.
International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women – while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender balance.
This year’s theme is #BalanceForBetter. A balanced world is a better world. Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive.
Be sure to check out the short video featuring a variety of clinical and non-clinical colleagues from across the Trust talking about the importance of International Women’s Day and why they believe in its significance.
Revised BME staff network meeting dates 2019
The BME staff network have changed some of their upcoming meeting dates, times and locations for 2019:
- 10 April, 12pm-2pm, City Hospital, Anne Gibson Board Room
- 19 June, 2pm-4pm, Sandwell Education Centre – Room 9
- 28 August, 12pm-2pm, City Hospital, Anne Gibson Board Room
- 16 October, 12pm-2pm, Sandwell Education Centre – Room 15
For more information please contact d.mighty@nhs.net.
Hospital turns to HeartFlow’s AI software to fight heart disease
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the second most common cause of death in England and Wales and a condition that afflicts around 2.3 million people in the UK, but diagnosis of the disease is often complex and invasive.
Birmingham City Hospital has found an effective and safer alternative using deep learning software developed by US healthtech HeartFlow.
The Californian company has created a tool that uses deep learning algorithms to analyse cardiac CT scans and build personalised, three-dimensional models of the heart and connected blood vessels that illustrates the impact that blockages will have on blood flow. Physicians then assess the results to decide if enough blood is reaching the heart.
CHD diagnosis typically involves an invasive angiogram, which is used to check the blood vessels by inserting a catheter through an incision in the groin, wrist or arm, and up to the affected artery. A thin wire is then guided down the catheter to deliver a balloon to the affected section of artery, where it’s then inflated to make the blood flow more freely. Dye is then injected to see how the blood flows. Sometimes the doctor will also insert a permanent stent, a wire-mesh tube that keeps the artery open. Common side effects include bleeding or bruising, but there is also a chance of allergic reaction, artery damage, heart attack, stroke or death.
HeartFlow substitutes the angiogram for a CT scan, a cheaper, safer and faster procedure that uses an X-ray machine to creates detailed images of the inside of the body. If the scan shows disease, the data is securely uploaded from the hospital’s system to the cloud and sent to HeartFlow’s headquarters in California, where the software analyses the image. It then creates a digital, color-coded, 3D model of the patient’s blood flow that is sent back to the doctor who uses it to determine the best course of treatment.
Read the full article here
Stroke survivor praises research at conference
As featured in The Birmingham Mail:
A former Sandwell Hospital patient and staff member is helping to spread the word about the value of research following her recovery from a stroke.
Shena Davidson suffered a stroke in 2016 whilst working as a healthcare assistant at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust. Her stroke left her at first unable to walk, talk or carry out simple daily tasks.
Despite initially feeling isolated and alone, Shena was approached by the Clinical Research Network (CRN) West Midlands about taking part in their activities. She enjoyed it so much she decided to throw herself into becoming a fully-fledged Patient Research Ambassador, working closely with CRN.
Recently Shena, who has made a full recovery, helped organise the ‘I Am Research’ conference held at Pannel Croft Village in Birmingham, where she is a resident and leads the village’s community choir, which consists of and supports stroke survivors. They hold regular fundraising concerts.
The conference featured presentations from experts and case studies from beneficiaries of research, as well as a performance from Shena’s choir.
Don’t be spaced out of our car parks!
Exciting developments to improve our estate and help us realise our vision to be truly integrated are going to commence in the spring. However we are going to have to adapt our travel habits to accommodate the changes.
When building work starts on multi storey car parks at Sandwell and City and the GP surgery at Sandwell, we expect to lose over 200 car parking spaces on both sites for the duration of the build (approximately 18 months). Once complete the new car parks will provide a significant number of additional spaces for both colleagues and visitors.
We recognise that this temporary loss of capacity will be of concern, hence the need to change our travel habits for this period.
If you are a car park user you may have already seen a flyer posted on your windscreen advertising our travel survey which invites you to give us your views on a number of options that will enable us to manage the limited spaces available.
To fill in our short survey, including information about your usual travel arrangements please go to https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SWBHStaffTravelSurvey2019
Heartbeat: Colleagues come together to tackle pressure ulcers and falls
Earlier this month colleagues from across our organisation gathered at the Education Centre at Sandwell Hospital to learn how best to prevent pressure ulcers and patient falls.
Launching the event Chief Nurse, Paula Gardner, introduced the aims and objectives of the exhibition highlighting the impact that patient falls and pressure ulcers can have on the recovery and experience of patients in our care.
“The first of our falls and pressure ulcer summits has had an amazing turnout by colleagues eager to learn and hopefully through our interactive workshops and engaging presentations, we have shared some invaluable knowledge that they can take back and put in to practice.
“Invariably patients will fall in hospital, but what we have to do is put all of the risk assessments in place to mitigate any falls to keep our patients safe. If our patients fall, we don’t want them to come to any harm. Today we’re doing this by enlightening colleagues on the different aspects of falls risk assessments, post fall huddles and ensuring we work in a multidisciplinary approach.”
Falls facts:
- An 800 bed hospital will have on average 1,500 patient falls a year
- SWB averages 1,000 patient falls a year
- Average cost to the NHS per patient fall is £2,600
- Approximately 1,400 deaths a year across England are due to falls in hospital
- 1 in 4 patients who suffer a broken hip following a fall die within six months
Alongside presentations from both colleagues in the tissue viability team and the falls prevention team, attendees had the opportunity to test a brand new bed that has the ability to highlight exactly where a patient is likely to suffer pressure related injuries through its cutting edge sensors.
To find out more about the summits or to get some information on patient falls and pressure ulcers you can contact the tissue viability team on ext. 3278.
Heartbeat: Bring your ambition to life with new transfer scheme
This year sees exciting new changes to the popular staff nurse transfer scheme, as it provides more flexibility for colleagues to broaden their experience.
The scheme, which launched two years ago, has so far helped 37 nurses to move to their preferred specialities. To ensure its continued success, the programme will now allow nurses to move to the new speciality after being in their current post for six months, instead of having to wait for one year.
Speaking about this new change, Stephanie Cowin, HR Business Partner said: “We are glad that this scheme has been welcomed by nurses. It has also been an effective tool to help us retain our workforce.
“After receiving feedback from final year students and newly qualified nurses, we have made this formal change where nurses can move to a different team after being in post for a minimum period of six months.
“We hope that this new change will make it easier for our nurses to be in the right team that can support their ambition.”
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