Monthly archives: April 2019

CQC report expected Friday (5 April)

We are expecting the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to publish their findings following the September 2018 inspection this Friday (5 April). We will publish a summary of their findings and briefing sessions will be held across our sites on Friday and the following Monday. Colleagues are welcome to attend any of the briefings, although some will have a focus on particular groups / directorates as follows:

Friday 5 April sessions

• 8am -9am – Room 9, Education Centre, Sandwell (general briefing)
• 9am – 10am –Training Room 2, Rowley Regis Hospital (focus on community services)
• 11am – midday – Academic Training Room, BMEC (focus on BMEC / surgical services)
• Midday – 1pm – Parent Education Room, Maternity Building, City (focus on paediatrics / maternity)
• 2pm – 3pm – Education Centre, Sandwell (focus on medicine and emergency care)
• 3pm – 4pm – Education Centre, Sandwell (general briefing)

Monday 8 April sessions

• 8am – 9am – Anne Gibson Board Room, City Hospital (general briefing)
• 1pm – 2pm – Room 9, Education Centre, Sandwell Hospital (general briefing)

If you are unable to attend you will be able to view a summary and short film that will be released on Friday.

Caring for our Patients living with a Learning Disability or Dementia

The Palliative Care Team are pleased to announce an upcoming training event ‘Caring for our Patients living with a Learning Disability or Dementia’.

The following date is available for this training –
Tuesday 28 May 2019 – 1:30pm – 3:30pm. Room 12/13, Education Centre, Sandwell General Hospital

This session is available to all registered nurses, medics and AHPs. Places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. Please see the attached poster for more details.

For all bookings, please contact Paul Roberts on paulroberts6@nhs.net or 0121 507 3611

National Walk to Work Day – Friday 5 April

This Friday marks National Walk to Work Day.

The awareness day aims to increase awareness about the importance of exercise and health as well as encouraging people to help the environment by reducing their emissions when travelling to work by a motor vehicle. Taking simple steps to improve your health could pay dividends years down the line.

Be sure to take part in National Walk to Work Day and encourage your colleagues to do so too!

Don’t forget we also host lunchtime walks

Lunchtime Walks at Sandwell: Meet every Wednesday prompt at 12.30 to 1pm from Hallam Restaurant Entrance to Dartmouth Park.

Also, we are offering colleagues a free healthy lunch voucher when you ditch the car as part of our ‘Get Active, Eat Free’ campaign. Join us for 5 of our lunchtime walks or cycle a return journey to work 5 times and get a free healthy meal (value up to £3).
 
Please register your interest with Jatinder Sekhon /Emma Williams on ext 3306 before your first walk and you will also receive  a free pedometer.

For more information regarding anything Sustainability across the Trust, please contact francesca.silcocks@nhs.net

Installation of new paper hand towel dispensers at City

Please be advised that contractors will be installing new paper hand towel dispensers at the City site from 8 April.

The contractors will be supplied with appropriate ID and paperwork and the full installation will take several weeks. The new dispensers have been installed at Sandwell and have resulted in an average reduction of 18 per cent in wastage/usage.  The new paper hand towels will be on a roll instead of loose towels, and will be provided by the domestics team.

A further communication will  be sent out once we have more information including installation details at Rowley Regis and Leasowes.

The contractors currently fitting dispensers at Sandwell will leave the site this week. If you have any loose leaf paper hand towel dispensers that have not been changed to the new roll version please contact lisa.southall1@nhs.net.

For more information please call ext. 4938.

Tusker cryptic car quiz – be in with a chance to win a car

Test your knowledge of popular cars throughout the ages, find all 50 answers within the fastest time and you could win a brand new car!

To give the quiz a try and test your car knowledge, visit tuskercars.com and click ‘Play the quiz’ on the home page. Also, to get a no obligation quote and see the full range of cars available simply login and create an account.

All clues are within the image on the website. You’ll need to be accurate and provide the manufacturer name or both car model and manufacturer where appropriate (e.g Toyota or Toyota Aygo).

Did you know, when you get a vehicle through Tusker, your fixed monthly amount covers insurance, road tax, replacement tyres, breakdown cover, servicing, MOT and maintenance; so there are no unexpected garage bills.

Also with Tusker, there are mo big deposit to pay and no checks on your credit history either, so you can order today and soon be driving a brand new car.

For help, advice and more information, call Tusker on 0333 400 7431 or email EET@tuskerdirect.com.

To find out more about all of our employee benefits throughout the Trust please contact amir.ali1@nhs.net.

Hydrocortisone sodium succinate – drug safety notice

There is currently a delay in supply of hydrocortisone sodium succinate 100mg injection.

Normal stock supplies are expected to resume by mid April.

Please see Hydrocortisone memo – April 2019 for further details.

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

Heartbeat: Changes to organ donation team as David comes back ‘home’

It’s all change within the organ donation team, with two new members joining our organisation.

David Cumpston and Alison Morris will jointly take over as specialist nurses for for organ donation (SNOD) as we wave goodbye to Judith Martin this month. Both started at the beginning of March and have a wealth of experience.

For David he will be returning back to his roots after he started his career at SWB as a healthcare assistant and went on to complete his nurse training, working across both sites.

“It feels like I’m coming back home,” said David. “I saw an opportunity to return to the organisation and I took it. I really like it here and I’m glad to be back again.

“The key message from organ donation continues to be the same,” he told Heartbeat. “Both myself and Alison will look after City and Sandwell, as well as Birmingham Children’s Hospital. “We will continue Judith’s good work here and will work with colleagues in identifying families of patients who could be referred to us.

“It’s about giving those loved ones the opportunity to know about organ donation and how it can help other patients.”

David and Alison are encouraging clinical colleagues to speak to them about potential families. He added: “Once a patient’s family has been identified, we are able to spend time with them and talk to them about organ donation. It is a difficult conversation, but we have the time to do this. We just need them to be referred.”

SWB Brexit Bulletin – 29 March 2019

Welcome to our fourth Brexit bulletin, our weekly guide to the arrangements in place for the NHS as the UK prepares to leave the EU. This week we are introducing our jargon buster relating to healthcare issues.

EU Settlement Scheme: This scheme allows EU citizens who have been in the UK for five years to apply for settled status. EU citizens can apply for pre-settled status if they have been here for less than five years. This will ensure the rights of EU citizens are protected in the UK after EU Exit, and guarantee their status and right to work. The application process is fully open this month and will remain open until 31 December 2020 if the UK leaves without a deal, so there is plenty of time to register. You can find out more here – https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

Reciprocal healthcare: This is an arrangement in place allowing health care services to be available for UK nationals living in the EU, EEA or Switzerland and vice versa. In a ‘no deal’ scenario current reciprocal healthcare rights would need to be protected via transitional bilateral agreements with other member states. These are being sought by the Government and further advice will follow.

Overseas visitor patients: These are people who need healthcare whilst in the UK but who are not usually resident in the UK, and are not entitled to free NHS treatment. Our overseas visitor team assess people’s eligibility for free treatment. Our existing policy remains in place and you are required to ask patients the established questions and refer as appropriate to our overseas visitor team. For more information view https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/governance/overseas-visitors-team/

NHSBT: The NHS Blood and Transport service who are co-ordinating the planning for blood, blood components, organs tissues and cells.

Stockpiling: Stockpiling of medicines, equipment and supplies is being co-ordinated at a national level and all NHS organisations are required to confirm that no local stockpiling is taking place. We are assured by NHS England that arrangements for sufficient supplies of essential items are in place and robust.

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and European Medicines Agency: The Department of Health and Social Care analysed the data from these two agencies to identify products that had a manufacturing touch point in the EU or wider EEA countries. Plans are in place to ensure that medicines and vaccines continue to flow to the UK in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario.

PHE: Public Health England (PHE) is leading a separate UK-wide programme ensuring the continuity of supply for centrally-procured vaccines and other products that are distributed to the NHS for the UK National Immunisation Programme or used for urgent public health use. In addition to the national stockpiles that PHE has in place to ensure continued supply to the NHS, PHE continues to work alongside contracted suppliers on their contingency plans to ensure that the flow of these products will continue unimpeded in to the UK after exit day.

ORC: The Operational Response Centre that has been set up by the Department for Health and Social Care with the support of NHS England, NHS Improvement and Public Health England, to co-ordinate EU exit-related information flows and reporting across the health and care system. The Operational Response Centre will also work with devolved administrations to respond to UK-wide incidents.

Sitreps: These are reports that we are required to submit to NHS Digital who collate responses from all NHS Trusts. We report on a daily and weekly basis to identify any issues arising as a result of the EU Exit.

If you have any concerns or comments please send them to tobylewis@nhs.net who is our Senior Responsible Officer for Brexit preparedness.