Monthly archives: May 2019

Unity 28-Day Challenge – Day 25, Tender Thursday

Check that everyone in your team has had the chance to practise patient scenarios on the Play System. Do what you can to support colleagues who aren’t as confident with using Unity.

No matter what your role is, or what team you work in, there will be many situations that you come across on a regular basis. It’s worth getting used to how they should be documented on Unity so that over time it becomes second nature.

Potential traffic disruption this weekend in Birmingham

There are large scale events taking place this weekend in Birmingham that have the potential to cause some disruption to traffic. Colleagues are advised to check their routes and plan ahead. Birmingham Pride 2019 is taking place on both Saturday and Sunday and the ‘Simplyhealth Great Birmingham 10K Run’ is taking place on Sunday.

Birmingham Pride assembles in Victoria Square from 10.30am on Saturday, following the opening ceremony the parade sets off at midday winding its way around the City Centre finishing on Hurst St, by the Hippodrome. A full route map can be found contained in the following link:

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/birmingham-pride-2019-tickets-parade-16303263

A detailed site plan and road closures surrounding the event are contained in the link below:

https://www.birminghampride.com/news/pride-site-plan-revealed

Simplyhealth Great Birmingham 10K Run, assembles on Colmore Row on Sunday with an approximate start just after 10am with later starts for various groups, details are contained in the attached timetable. Road Closure closure and re-opening times are also attached.

• Bham 10k residents info pack
• Bham 10k route closures list
• Bham 10k whole route closures map

New digital champions training course – soft skills

The first part of digital champions training focuses on soft skills and will help digital champions to deal with colleagues who may be struggling to use Unity, or finding the experience stressful.

The structure of this course is similar to the Accredited Managers’ coaching course offered by the Trust so anyone who has already attended that can be excused from this part of digital champions training. For everyone else the course is essential to attend in order to be effective in the role. Bookings can be made directly through ESR. Simply log in and search courses for ‘digital champions’.

The dates and times are as follows:

There will be more courses coming soon so keep an eye out for further details.

If you are interested in becoming a digital champion, or finding out more about the role and training requirements, please visit Connect or email swbh.unity-champions@nhs.net.

Microgrant scheme timescales 2019

We are thrilled to welcome our first cohort of members to the Microgrant scheme launched on the 24^th of April 2019.

Members are colleagues across the trust that give regularly  to the Trust charity (at least £2) and now have a voice in how charitable funds are spent at the Trust.  To sign up or find out more please visit our Connect page.

Preliminary timescales for the Microgant scheme for 2019 are tabled below. (Please note these are rough timescales for each funding round,  members can decide to postpone any date at short notice)

Should you need any assistance or have any questions or comments about the scheme, please feel free to contact us at 0121 507 5196 or email us at trustcharity@nhs.net.

Star Awards: Award for Equality and Diversity Champion

Do you know an individual or team that has demonstrated engagement internally or externally with a minority group or diverse groups from the Sandwell and West Birmingham community to deliver improved services for colleagues, patients or carers?

Nominate them for the Equality and Diversity Champion Award in this year’s upcoming Star Awards!

Ways to nominate:

• You can complete a paper nomination form which you can download by clicking here.
• You can send in a video nomination for free to  swbh.comms@nhs.net via www.wetransfer.com Choose go to free. When doing the recording remember to state clearly who you are and the name of the person/team you are nominating.
• You can complete the online form by clicking here.

Be sure to check out this video featuring last year’s winner Donna Mighty.

If you have any questions regarding the Star Awards, please contact the communications team on 0121 507 5303 or email swbh.comms@nhs.net.

For more information, please visit our dedicated Star Awards 2019 page on Connect.

Heartbeat: Trust leads the way at national conference

Success for the directorate of physics and nuclear medicine and radiopharmacy as the duo led the way at the annual British Nuclear Medicine Society (BNMS) conference.

Each year, the BNMS holds a prestigious three-day conference which attracts delegates from across the UK and overseas to share knowledge and wisdom on nuclear medicine.

This year’s BNMS conference again saw our team at the forefront, with 10 presentations. Dr Alp Notghi and Dr Bill Thomson were invited to give the Highlights lecture of the conference. This lecture traditionally ends the conference, and tries to give an overview of all the highlight presentations of the meeting. This is the first time that two people have been invited to give this lecture, reflecting the difficult task involved.

Also, Dr Pandit organised a masterclass session on the SeHCAT test, which measures bile acid malabsorption. This session aims to pass on expert knowledge of the key components, the do’s and don’ts of SeHCAT testing. Jenny Thompson-Peters also demonstrated was how the test could be completed in one hour instead of the normal three hour interval, significantly reducing the wait for the patient.

Sharing his thoughts on the conference Head of Nuclear Medicine, Dr Bill Thomson said, “Currently at our Trust we have two members of staff who hold roles within the BNMS, Jilly Croasdale is a member of the council and treasurer, and Greg James is a scientific and education committee member.

“I’m immensely proud of our colleagues who did a terrific job of presenting to their peers. This has been yet another successful conference, with SWB once again on the fore. Alp and I being asked to give the closing highlights lecture of the conference was a real honour, if a lot of hard work during the conference.”

Other presentations at the conference led by colleagues included:

• Joe O’Brien presenting an audit of variability between staff of the approaches to verifying SPECT/CT imaging immediately following a patient’s bone scan.
• Greg James presenting further analysis work on the large normal series of gastric emptying studies the department has carried out.
• Third year medical student and first time presenter, Darshana Jeyaruban presenting an audit on inconclusive CTPA / VQ SPECT studies who went on to have a second imaging investigation.
• Jilly Croasdale presented a paper on the impact of Brexit on the radiopharmaceutical supply to the UK.
• Jilly Croasdale also co-chaired the Radiopharmacy session, and Bill Thomson co-chaired the Radiation Protection session.

Installation of new paper hand towel dispensers at City

The contractors currently installing new paper hand towel dispensers at City will leave on 31 May.

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 with details of the location of the dispensers, a contact name and an extension number and it will be arranged for the them to re-visit your department.

For more information please call ext. 4938.

Green Impact awards and lunch: 3 June

We will be hosting the Green Impact awards and lunch open for all to attend on Monday 3 June, Anne Gibson Boardroom, 12.30pm-2pm. The awards will be recognising all the hard work colleagues have done in our inaugural year – most gaining ‘Getting Started’ and ‘Bronze’ accreditation. Those that have gone the extra mile will be entered into our special awards categories.

Our Green Impact programme involves colleagues working in teams to complete environmental actions online (https://www.greenimpact.org.uk/swb). We currently have 17 teams across our organisation that are registered and completing actions.

To confirm your place, or if you’d like to find out more about the Green Impact initiative, please contact francesca.silcocks@nhs.net.

Pulp wash bowls to replace single use plastic wash bowls from 1 June

From 1 June single use plastic wash bowls will no longer be available to order from NHS Logistics or by direct purchase via procurement. Following on from our commitment to reduce unnecessary use of single use plastic items an alternative has product has been sourced.

Pulp washing bowl will be available through the ward or department’s normal NHS logistic ordering process.

The codes for the pulp wash bowels are as follows:

• FSL118 – 3 litre pulp wash bowl
• FSL754 – 4 litre pulp wash bowl

For more information please contact dawn.hall@nhs.net.

Unity 28-Day Challenge – Day 24, Worry-free Wednesday

Use a WOW (workstation on wheels). When you’ve completed your usual paperwork, go onto the Play System and redo it using Unity.

Practice makes perfect so keep working on the Play System in short bursts whenever you get the chance. The more you use it the easier it will become.