Monthly archives: June 2019

Order an electric or hybrid car in June and get a free charge point and installation

Tusker and Chargedev are offering a free charge point including installation and three year warranty for all electric and hybrid vehicle orders placed in June.

Don’t forget – your fixed monthly amount covers insurance, road tax, replacement tyres, breakdown cover, servicing, MOT and maintenance meaning you won’t have any unexpected garage bills.

Click here for more information regarding Tusker’s benefit schemes.

Revised vacancy approval process – FAO all managers

The vacancy approval process has been updated with immediate effect.

For the revised vacancy approval process please see Vacancy approval process information sheet.

Note: The recruitment process should start once an employee gives intention to leave, or a new post has been established. We can only advertise a vacancy with an agreed job description, person specification and position number.

For more information please contact the recruitment team no ext. 5070.

Message from payroll: WL1 and call claim forms

Payroll have requested that anybody completing WL1 or on call claim forms must ensure that they they include payroll/assignment numbers.

For more information please contact ext. 6655.

Pain management clinics moving to Sheldon Block from 18 June

Thursday 13 June will be the last day that pain management clinics are held in corridor A at City Hospital.

After this date, they will be moving permanently to Sheldon Block 3rd floor with the pain management clinics resuming from Tuesday 18 June.

Medication safety update: June 2019

The medicines safety team based within the pharmacy department will circulate important medicines related information and updates using the banner ‘Did you know?’ Content on current drug alerts, drug safety and prescribing advice will also be added to the pharmacy Connect page  https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/pharmacy/.

‘Did you know?’ is in the form of quick bites of information and is a tool to use amongst your local teams to share learning and awareness of key medicines issues.

For details please June 2019 – did you know ward bulletin

If you require any additional information or support with the topics, speak to your local pharmacy team or contact the medicines safety team swbh.mso@nhs.net.

Symptom management event – a patient’s journey: 4 July

The palliative care team will be hosting a symptom management training event around a patient’s journey from diagnosis to end of life on Thursday 4 July from 9am-12pm in room 12 and 13 at the Sandwell Education Centre,

This session is available to all registered nurses, medics and AHPs. Places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.

For all bookings and information please contact paulroberts6@nhs.net or  call 0121 507 3611.

Heartbeat: Kiranjit Phanasan – face mask fit tester extraordinaire

D17 ward are breathing easy following the actions of a determined ward manager. On learning that her ward was particularly low on compliance with infection control face mask fit testing, Acting Ward Manager, Kiranjit Phanasan took it in to her own hands to make amends and bring the ward back up to standard.

Sharing the story of D17’s rise to IPC compliance, Acting Matron, Tracy Weston said, “D17 has had a number of staff changes and with this we found that there were quite a few colleagues who were out of date with their fit testing. As soon as I made Kiranjit aware of this she took charge of the situation, and leading by example she enrolled herself in to the fit testing course.

“Following completing the fit testing training, Kiranjit borrowed one of the fit testing machines and set to work testing every team member on D17 until they were all tested.”

Whilst most people would stop here, Kiranjit then went on to fit test other gynaecological areas including the emergency gynae assessment areas, the Macmillan CNS team, doctors in training, registrars, surgical care practitioners and anyone else she could get her hands on a fit a mask to.

Singing the praises of Kiranjit, Matron, Tracy Weston continued, “This was a tremendous effort and achievement by Kiranjit to not only ensure her own ward was safe but to then take the time to help other departments too.

Congratulating Kiranjit on her hard work, Infection Prevention and Control Nurse Advisor, Kas Aheer said, “Well done Kiranjit for taking the lead for ensuring the safety of colleagues, we’re continuing to train more and more fit testers so that we can ensure everyone has had the opportunity to be fit tested.”

If you would like to be a face mask fit tester, training is available through the infection control team, contact ext. 5900.

Volunteers week: Volunteer celebration evening

To celebrate Volunteers’ Week, we have been showcasing our volunteer service throughout the week.

Last night our volunteers’ service hosted a special awards evening to thank all our volunteers for their hard work and dedication to the Trust.

The recognition evening was hosted at Sandwell Education Centre with over 70 of our volunteers in attendance.

3 weeks left to nominate – Star Awards 2019: New Leader of the Year

There are only 3 weeks left to get your nominations in for the upcoming Star Awards.

Do you know a rising star who has held some leadership or management responsibility for at least a year and who has demonstrated outstanding ability, talent and leadership, showing great promise for the future?

Nominate them for the New Leader 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 these videos featuring last year’s joint winners Natalie Whitton and Sam Beck.

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.

Volunteers’ Week 2019: From ‘Bra Doctor’ to a different kind of support for NHS volunteer Amrit

A  mum-of-three has gone from being a well-respected seller of lingerie to one of our most valued volunteers for her work at Rowley Regis Hospital.

As we celebrate Volunteers Week, to give thanks to those members of the public who offer their time and support to help the NHS, in turn this week’s NHS Hero focuses on the work of 67-year-old Amrit Varma.

Amrit, from Walsall, has been volunteering at the Heart of Sandwell Day Hospice for two-and-a-half years, something that began from a very personal connection – that being her father.

“I used to look after my Dad who was in and out of hospital quite a lot. As a result I noticed that there were a lot of patients that didn’t really have friends or relatives visiting them a lot of the time. Many just used to lie there and as a result they’d sometimes miss out on that extra company. It used to make me so sad. There wasn’t a constant pair of eyes on them checking, like there was for my Dad with me. So, I began to keep an eye on others offering more direct help there.”

When her father passed away, Amrit decided that she wanted to continue acting as support for those in palliative care and contacted the Trust’s Volunteer service. She quickly found her presence was extremely beneficial to patients, as not only did they have an extra person to interact with but her presence provided an additional degree of routine.

A normal shift for Amrit involves interacting with patients, making sure they are refreshed, helping to support them with their exercises and daily health tasks throughout the day. She also supports the nurses in their efforts to bring comfort. As someone with a close-up view of the health service in action, the grandmum-of-six is very complimentary about the nurses she has come across.

“All the nurses there are really, really good. These nurses give everything – they’re relentlessly working hard to look after their patients.”

Volunteering is actually not Amrit’s first brush with assisting the NHS, as she has previously helped in a surprising way – which earned her an even more surprising nickname.

“I used to work in social services in Walsall, but one day I was given the opportunity to set up a small business in a unit where we would sell underwear.

“The community we served only ever needed two or three specific larger sizes, but they really struggled to get hold of something that wasn’t a bit ‘fuddy-duddy’.

“In time we had people coming from all over the place because I was able to tell what type of bra style and size would suit people on sight – I got the nickname the ‘bra doctor’. “

But Amrit also worked with the NHS hospitals from around the region and helped provide bras for maternity and mastectomy patients, assisting with fittings and sourcing bras for them. (“It was great to be able to do that.”)

Now of course Amrit helps offer a different kind of support with her volunteer role, but she herself has someone she can always rely upon. Her hero is rather nearer to home than most, that being her husband Surinder, also known as Steve.

“He is selfless in his actions, has always done his best to help any member of the family and has always supported me 100 per cent in anything I’ve wished to do, no matter how hard those tasks have been,” added Amrit. “He is the kindest man I’ve ever known. I’m so very lucky to have met him.“