Monthly archives: June 2019

Did you know that you can now recycle your old and unused inhalers?

The community respiratory service are promoting a UK-wide recycling scheme for inhalers.

73 million respiratory inhalers are prescribed in the UK every year, and 58 per cent of people claim to put them in their domestic waste bin.  When disposed in landfills, old inhalers pose a risk to the environment not just in a material waste but in greenhouse gas emissions.

Local pharmacies are now participating in collecting most inhalers to ensure safe and responsible recycling.

Further information can be found by clicking the link https://uk.gsk.com/en-gb/responsibility/our-planet/complete-the-cycle/

BME Staff Network meeting: 19 June

Our next BME Staff Network meeting will take place on Wednesday 19 June, 2pm-4pm, Sandwell Education Centre – Room 9. Richard Burnell will be hosting this session with the focus on interview skills, so if this would be beneficial for you, please make every effort to attend.

Managers should encourage their staff to attend the meeting.

Note: The BME Staff Network are working with the learning and development team so if you think you would benefit from having a mentor, please contact d.mighty@nhs.net.

Stepping up Programme – The next cohort is scheduled to be held in September.  This is a development opportunity for bands 5 – 7.  If you would like to be considered, please email  swbh.bme@nhs.net.

Find out more about transport discounts: 17 June

To mark Clean Air Day next week, National Express will be on site at Sandwell on Monday 17 June, 10am-1pm outside the Hallam Restaurant.

Pop along to see what public transport discounts you are entitled to including bus, metro and local trains.

There will also be more information about our new car sharing app we are planning on launching soon.

Note: Those that pop along will get a free ‘Day Saver’ to use on National Express buses. Just bring along your phone so you can download the app.

Please see information sheets below for further details regarding travel discounts

• Save money when you give up your parking permit discounts
• Bus and Metro card discounts sheet
• Network card discounts sheets

For more information, please contact francesca.silcocks@nhs.net.

Star Awards: 2020 vision prize for integrated care pioneer of the year

Do you know an individual or team who has demonstrated integrated care, either by working in partnership with local healthcare / social care / voluntary services, or in their daily work to ensure that their patients “can plan my care with people who work together to understand me and my carer(s), allow me control, and bring together services to achieve the outcomes important to me”?

Nominate them for the 2020 vision prize for integrated care pioneer of the year!

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 Lawrence Kelly.

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 page on Connect.

Heartbeat: Youth Health Champions have super sidekick in SWB library service

For a lot of the students at St. Michaels Church of England High School in Rowley Regis, the focus of the Easter holidays may well have been chomping some chocolate and relaxing. But for the school’s Youth Healthcare Champions there was much more to discuss and our colleagues were able to assist.

Our library and knowledge services partnered with the 21st Century Child Coordinator for Sandwell Council, Lydia Dunn, to deliver a training session to a group of 16 young people at St Michael’s High School on how to find the best ways to search for and source health information.

The session came as part of the student’s work on promoting healthcare matters for people in their own age groups. Nicola Ager, Service Development Librarian and Preeti Puligari, Library and Knowledge Services Manager were on hand to give tips and answer questions for the groups whose projects included topics such as body image.

Preeti said: “This training has equipped the school children with the right knowledge to research reliable health information and cascade health message to their peers in the borough. The library has also bought some educational board games that these school students could use to deliver this training in the community.”

Nicola added: “The students engaged in the discussions well and were very receptive to the information we were giving them. We talked to them about finding good quality health information for the topics that they will be delivering information about to other students.”

Star Awards 2019: New Award – the Green Award

Do you know an individual or team that has made simple changes to reduce our environmental impact. They will have made changes within their area of work (even small changes can make a big impact) with enthusiasm and inspired others to get involved.

This could include changes that have potentially:

• Saved energy
• Saved water
• Led to less waste
• Changed travel habits to more active and sustainable modes
• Any other sustainability related topics that you feel passionate about.

If so, nominate them for the Green 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 Fran Silcocks, sustainability officer talking about the inaugural award.

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 page on Connect.

Unity super user training dates announced

Super users are colleagues who will be an extension of the Unity support team at go-live and will have an enhanced end-to-end knowledge of the system. They are a step above digital champions.

Training for super users will comprise the following:

• Both parts of digital champions training (1.5 days) – please see the digital champions section of Connect for more information and links to book this training
• Three further individual training days looking at patient journeys in inpatient, outpatient, ED and BMEC. Each super user should attend the sessions applicable to their areas. Please see Connect for high-level details of what is included in the individual patient journey sessions (3 days).
• A half-day CAP MAN course (where applicable to role/area supported)
• Total = 5 days

Separate arrangements will be made with maternity, pathology, NICU, imaging, porters and CNPs. Please contact swbh.unity-champions@nhs.net to discuss alternative arrangements or if you have any queries about super user training. For more information and links to book super user training, please visit Connect.

Transporting packages on the shuttle bus

Over recent months there have been a large number of parcels/packages on the shuttle buses that have been left uncollected.

As a result, from now on transport will only accept A4 sized envelopes or packages on the shuttle buses.

The letter/package/bags must have the contact name and extension number of the sender and the recipient.

If you require anything moving from each site then please contact transport on ext. 3869 option 5 or alternatively email j.akbar@nhs.net.

Note: All colleagues travelling on the shuttle bus must wear their ID badges at all times, if you are unable to provide ID you may be refused travel.

Updated mask and hood ordering codes

For information regarding updated mask and hood ordering codes please see Mask and hood ordering codes sheet.

For further details please call ext. 5900.

Heartbeat: Safety is at forefront of fun kids’ books

Children’s books which aim to prevent accidents and teach youngsters and parents about keeping safe were launched at our organisation earlier this month.

The range of stories feature the escapades of Dog, Duck and Cat, with a strong message about how children can stay safe in a way that is fun and age appropriate.

The event took place within paediatrics outpatients and the emergency department at Sandwell Hospital but the books will be available in all areas across our sites where children are treated.

The books have been produced by the Dog, Duck & Cat Trust, and funded by Your Trust Charity, after Consultant Paediatrician, Dr Maria Atkinson ran the Birmingham Half Marathon to raise money to pay for the printing costs. She had heard about the series through her work as the child death lead.

Dr Atkinson said: “I took over as the child death lead for our organisation last year. Part of this role involves sitting on the Sandwell Child Death Overview Panel where all paediatric deaths are investigated with an emphasis on learning and preventative work to address any themes which emerge. “Through that work I was told about Dog, Duck and Cat – a great resource developed by Jon Bull, Head of DECCA and Debbie Brown from Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group Child Death Lead.

“These stories and online resources address preventable causes of child death such as drowning, choking and safe sleeping.

“I ran the Birmingham Half marathon for the first time last year and raised £500 for Your Trust Charity for the printing of books and posters to launch the books within our workplace. Volunteers will carry out regular story time sessions in our paediatrics areas to promote this important preventative work.”

The books will be freely available within the paediatric areas for patients to take home and read. A cake sale also took place at the event to raise further funds to pay for more books to be printed, and regular fundraising drives be held in future.

Eddie Edmead, Major Grants Manager for Your Trust Charity, added: “This is an excellent initiative which we are proud to be supporting. The charity funds various projects which are focused around young people and our aim is to enhance the patient journey. These books will be an invaluable resource for youngsters and their parents and prove a great educational tool.”