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Monthly archives: October 2019

SWB Brexit Bulletin – 25 October 2019

 

The EU Exit debates in parliament currently provide uncertainty over the date of leaving the EU. The NHS nationally and our organisation are continuing to prepare for the UK leaving the EU on 31 October with or without a deal.

Planning and monitoring

Our Trust has in place a planning group to check that arrangements are in place to ensure minimal disruption to supplies, food, fuel and medicines. This group reviews latest guidance that has been issued to the NHS in relation to data protection, arrangements for EU NHS staff, charging for overseas visitors, research studies and communication. From 31st October we will continue to monitor any disruption so that we can manage the situation and report issues to the regional and national NHS coordinating centres.

Managing the media during Brexit

Clearly, there is significant media attention on the impact of the UK departure from the EU. The impact on all public services, and particularly the NHS, will be subject to intense media scrutiny. Our media handling arrangements will continue to be followed as is current practise, and as a reminder:

  • Should you receive any requests from the media for information, or to attend our sites to talk to staff or patients you must refer this to our communications office via 0121 507 5303 or swbh.comms@nhs.net
  • We will all have personal views about the EU Exit and the media will be keeping a close eye on social media activity from staff in key organisations including NHS staff. Please be aware that views that you may consider personal, when put on social media, can receive significant attention and could receive wider coverage. As NHS employees, your views will be given wider significance and you must be clear that you are commenting in a personal capacity not on behalf of our Trust

Arrangements for medication supplies

At a national level, the Department for Health and Social Care has been working closely with the NHS, trade associations, pharmaceutical companies, suppliers of medical devices, and many others to help ensure medicines and medical products continue to be available after the UK leaves the EU.

What you should do:

  • Prescribe and dispense as normal: Doctors and pharmacists should explain to patients that they should continue to order their prescriptions as normal. Prescriptions covering longer durations than normally prescribed should be avoided. Prescription durations will be monitored and investigated where necessary.
  • Don’t stockpile locally: It is not helpful or appropriate for anyone to stockpile medicines locally – organisations stockpiling risks pressure on availability of medicines. Hospital stock levels will be monitored and over-ordering of medicines will be investigated.
  • There is also information for patients on NHS.uk/Brexit-medicine

Medical devices, clinical and non-clinical supplies to the NHS

Similar arrangements to medicine supplies are in place nationally for devices and other suppliers. Our Trust has reviewed all local arrangements and sought assurance over stock and transport so that any disruption is minimised.

if you have a concern about a consumable or device that your service relies on, please contact our Senior Responsible Office, Toby Lewis at tobylewis@nhs.net

NHS Workforce

Measures have been put in place to ensure EU staff are able to continue living and working in the UK after the UK’s departure from the EU. This commitment stands however the UK leaves the EU.

  • If you are an EU citizen legally resident in the UK at exit day, then your employment contract will not change and you will have no problem carrying on working as you do now. If you have not already done so, you are encouraged to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.
  • The EU Settlement Scheme is open to all EU citizens, including NHS staff, and can allow you to gain ‘settled’ or ‘pre-settled status’.
  • Legislation has been put into place that continues to recognise EEA and Swiss qualifications. If you are registered with the General Medical Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, General Pharmaceutical Council, General Dental Council, or Health and/or Care Professions Council, your registration will continue after the UK leaves the EU, regardless of whether a deal is agreed.
  • There will be no need for any change to existing employment contracts if the UK leaves the EU without a deal and therefore no question of EU staff needing to reapply for their own jobs because of EU Exit.

Reciprocal healthcare and cost recovery

If the UK leaves the EU with a deal, the current reciprocal healthcare arrangements should continue as now until the end of 2020.

Should the UK leave without a deal, then those EU citizens who are ordinarily resident in the UK remain entitled to the same access to NHS care as previously.

The core questions that are asked of all patients currently should continue to be asked and, where necessary, information passed to the overseas visitor team. For more detail please go to https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/governance/overseas-visitors-team/

UK nationals travelling to the EU and EU citizens visiting the UK, who may previously have relied on EHIC cards, should obtain appropriate travel insurance.

Do you have a concern or question?

Please contact our senior responsible office for the EU Exit, Toby Lewis, on tobylewis@nhs.net

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 25 October

 

Unity was down last night for an hour unexpectedly. Unity will have some downtime on Sunday at 00.45 for up to two hours in a planned way, as I explained a fortnight ago, to handle the UK wide change of hour. Why am I starting with this? We have made huge progress on IT over recent months. Reliability of systems is transformed, and we have 24-7 support now in place, as you have the right to expect. Our Pulse VPN solution works well. I do not want incidents to give the sense of a ‘slippery slope’ back to where we were, and Cerner are well aware of how seriously last night’s issue has been taken: In essence they made a no impact back office change nationally, which did have an impact. We have altered our protocol for agreeing business change with them with immediate effect, as this is the second occasion since go-live when this has happened. I apologise to those of you affected.

Next week I will be writing to all of our Unity Super Users to set out the arrangements for supporting them with their new responsibilities now we have gone live. And also to promote some roles for clinicians with interest in technology to form part of advisory groupings as we take forward the organisations digital plans for the coming five years. I am thrilled that our Artificial Intelligence project with IBM Watson in radiology is getting ready for launch in coming weeks. Today’s Board level digital committee reviewed future plans for the shape and role of the IT function in the Trust, and also confirmed future performance standards for our network, which will form the basis for the IT scorecard – in case you were wondering what had happened to that staple of these messages.  The other such staple, our Brexit bulletin, is attached as usual. It is probably likely that 31 October will not see exit. But with greater certainty I can confirm some things that will change on 1 November!

  1. The gym at City Hospital will be officially reopened as a free-to-use facility for employees. On Monday next (28 October) there is an open day to walk around and see what is now in place.  You will know from TeamTalk for November that we are consulting on our outdoor physical activity equipment as part of our grounds and gardens 2020 project.
  2. We start a new era on employee recruitment, in that from Friday 1 November, all roles to which we hire will receive a same day offer of employment. There is some minor conditionality, but the idea is to be in a place where someone offered the chance to join us can indeed resign with confidence from the prior role. Analysis of our recruitment work over the last 18 months shows that our delays on that offer, or caveating of it, have seen too many great people take another option. Daily bulletins next week will set out the roles of HR and line managers from 1 November.

Looking forward into November, I wanted to highlight some big stuff that is happening. Later in the month our long planned changes in respiratory medicine go into operation, moving inpatient services for adults from Sandwell to City. Thank you in advance to everyone working hard to make that happen to see the benefit from much closer working between acute and respiratory medicine.  Today the Trust’s Quality and Safety committee spent time discussing frailty, hospital acquired functional decline, and the work we need to do in coming months to move forward our service offer for older people. That is a cross Trust, in and out of hospital, discussion but with an initial focus on our Sandwell site. Ageing Well is very much the focus of NHS regional investment and planning and we will want to play a very full part in that work.

November is also the deadline for our flu vaccination and national anonymous staff survey returns.  Almost 2,500 colleagues have had the vaccine so far, and we want to reach over 5,000 colleagues, so thank you to peer vaccinators and others on our mobiles and in our clinics working to do just that.  Directorate-level data on survey completion is out and about, as we count down towards 29 November when the NHS-wide survey closes. There is no reason we cannot get a return of above 35 per cent or even reach 50 per cent. Our weConnect data shows clearly the enthusiasm we share to improve engagement and involvement across SWB. If you are particularly enthusiastic then you have one more week to register for our wave 2 Pioneer team project – which gives extra support to teams of around 30 people in developing how they work together and get the most out of being part of the Trust.

Lastly a massive Shout Out to the Sandwell A&E night team from Monday just gone, and Sarah Jones, for a whole shift with no patients going beyond a four hour wait. The NHS will shortly publish analysed data on the elevated mortality impact of a six or eight hour wait in ED across a population. A reminder if we needed it that wait times do have the potential to make a difference to outcome. The team proved what we can do, and I know there is work to learn from excellence across our A&E departments, as well as to make the changes needed in other departments to tackle the overcrowding effect of recent weeks. All of us have a part to play.

If you are working a night shift over this weekend please remember that the Hallam Restaurant is showing live rugby alongside a delicious and quite healthy breakfast.

SWB Brexit Bulletin – 25 October 2019

#hellomynameisToby

Optimistic about Unity optimisation

 

Please print this bulletin out and display in a prominent position in your ward/area and draw attention to it for all colleagues to read.

To help you get the best out of Unity we will continue to share top tips. Please take note of these helpful reminders as they may resolve an issue you have experienced.

Planned Unity downtime while clocks change

Starting at 12:45am on Sunday 27 October, Unity will be taken offline for up to two hours whilst the clocks go back before being brought back online.

This downtime will affect all colleagues who use Unity and are on shift overnight in the early hours of Sunday 27 October.

To prepare for this you must:

What do I need to do overnight on Saturday 26 October?

If you’re on shift, make sure you sign and save everything you’re working on in Unity before it is taken offline at 12:45am on Sunday 27 October.

At 11.15pm on Saturday 26 October, access your downtime box, ensure your 724 computer is turned on and connected to the network. You will need to log on to your 724 computers using the username and password for the 724 viewer, which will be in an envelope marked ‘Unity downtime 724 username and password’. You will only be able to view, not amend, patient notes through Unity’s 724 viewer on the 724 computers.

You will need to check the medication that should be administered during the downtime and observations that will need to be carried out. Print off any medication requirements.

You must record medication and observations on paper during the downtime, in line with your business continuity plan. All activities recorded on paper must be entered on to Unity when the system is brought back online.

Desktop notifications will be released 15 minutes before Unity is taken offline and subsequently on the 724 computers when the system becomes available again.

If a clinical action was scheduled to take place between 1:00am to 1:59am on Sunday 27 October, you may see the following message, highlighting an inconsistency in times.

Daylight savings time is due to come to an end at 2am on Sunday 27 October. If the scheduled action was due to take place between 1am and 1.59am before the clocks went back, select ‘Daylight’. However, if the scheduled action was due to take place between 1am and 1.59am after the clocks had gone back, then select ‘Standard’.

Once the scheduled downtime is finished, please follow the QRG for inputting downtime information back into Unity and then return to working on the system as normal. The time will have adjusted while the system was unavailable.

When you have completed inputting your information back into Unity you must report this to the IT helpdesk on ext. 4050, stating your ward/department. If you don’t do this, then the 4050 team will call your ward/department to check on your status.

If you need help please contact your department managers.

Addressing common issues with Unity

We continue to review how well we are using the Unity system to provide safe patient care:

  • Safe administration of medicines

The RXK barcode on the patient wristband (see picture) MUST be scanned when carrying out medication administration. This is the barcode next to the RXK number and not the square QR code in the centre of the wristband. If you do not scan the barcode, this will pose a risk to patient identification.

  • Completing VTE assessments in Unity

VTE assessments are critical to providing safe patient care. All patients who require a VTE assessment must have this completed within six hours of being admitted, in line with our Safety Plan. VTE assessments should be entered into Unity in real-time. Failure to process VTE assessments will result in a ‘hard stop’, effectively preventing a patient from progressing through to discharge home.

  • Endorsing results

It is important that all colleagues are familiar with the process for endorsing results in Unity, both for laboratory and imaging reports. This indicator is one that we all need to focus on in order to improve the safety of the care we provide.

The following QRGs on Connect can be referred to for help:

 

  • Documenting samples when collecting bloods in Unity

Remember that when you are collecting bloods you must collect samples first, mark them as collected in Unity and then print out labels. If you do not do this then  it is not possible to endorse the result when it is returned to the hospital from the laboratory. For more information, please see QRG RT06.

  • Save and sign – clinical workflow documents

Don’t forget to save your records if you are leaving your computer unattended.

Please see this flowchart to find out the correct pathway to follow when inputting documentation.

Meet super user Rachael Currie

Junior sister Rachael Currie is a super user in surgical services. Together with her colleagues she helped to overcome the challenge of implementing Unity.

“Go-live was fine. The things that we’d done in training went perfectly but we learned some of the other bits as we went along.

“Everyone pulled together. If one person knew something that the others didn’t then they’d teach everyone else. It went fine and there were no problems,” she said.

Although many end users knew a lot about the system, super users like Rachael provided a valuable reference point for any queries. “It was good to have someone who was supernumerary to ask any questions. We could help everyone rather than worrying about having to look after our own patients.

“As super users we managed to troubleshoot things a bit better. If one person didn’t know how to do something we could find the answer and cascade that back to everyone,” she explained.

For the Trust as a whole, the learning process continues over the coming weeks and months. There will be different elements of Unity to discover along the way.

“Every day you find something new on the system. I was working in a clinic on Saturday and in between his clinics the consultant was looking at the patients on the ward and checking that they’d had their medication at certain times,” said Rachael.

“He could see what was happening with them on the wards. That was something that I hadn’t realised.”

Remember – you can contact your super users for help and advice or call ext. 4050 if you have issues with your device or use of Unity.

Submitting SAP4 and Continuing Healthcare Checklists (CHCs)

 

The Complex discharge team have waved goodbye to their fax machine and are calling upon colleagues to ensure that SAP4 and Continuing Healthcare Checklists (CHCs) being sent by email.

Please see attached flow chart which details the referral process for positive and negative checklists.

CHC and SAP4 Referral Process (October 2019)

Planned Unity downtime while clocks change this weekend

 

Starting at 12:45am on Sunday 27 October, Unity will be taken offline for up to two hours whilst the clocks go back before being brought back online.

This downtime will affect all colleagues who use Unity and are on shift overnight in the early hours of Sunday 27 October.

To prepare for this you must:

What do I need to do overnight on Saturday 26 October?

If you’re on shift, make sure you sign and save everything you’re working on in Unity before it is taken offline at 12:45am on Sunday 27 October.

At 11.15pm on Saturday 26 October, access your downtime box, ensure your 724 computer is turned on and connected to the network. You will need to log on to your 724 computers using the username and password for the 724 viewer, which will be in an envelope marked ‘Unity downtime 724 username and password’. You will only be able to view, not amend, patient notes through Unity’s 724 viewer on the 724 computers.

You will need to check the medication that should be administered during the downtime and observations that will need to be carried out. Print off any medication requirements.

You must record medication and observations on paper during the downtime, in line with your business continuity plan. All activities recorded on paper must be entered on to Unity when the system is brought back online.

Desktop notifications will be released 15 minutes before Unity is taken offline and subsequently on the 724 computers when the system becomes available again.

If a clinical action was scheduled to take place between 1:00am to 1:59am on Sunday 27 October, you may see the following message, highlighting an inconsistency in times.

Daylight savings time is due to come to an end at 2am on Sunday 27 October. If the scheduled action was due to take place between 1am and 1.59am before the clocks went back, select ‘Daylight’. However, if the scheduled action was due to take place between 1am and 1.59am after the clocks had gone back, then select ‘Standard’.

Once the scheduled downtime is finished, please follow the QRG for inputting downtime information back into Unity and then return to working on the system as normal. The time will have adjusted while the system was unavailable.

When you have completed inputting your information back into Unity you must report this to the IT helpdesk on ext. 4050, stating your ward/department. If you don’t do this, then the 4050 team will call your ward/department to check on your status.

If you need help please contact your department managers.

Call to cut emissions near MMH

 

Featured in the Express & Star.

Chief Executive Toby Lewis has backed calls to cut emissions around Midland Metropolitan Hospital. He said: “Absolutely right, as we meet in West Birmingham and Sandwell Air Quality Forum respiratory diseases drive four in 10 emergency admissions.”

Read more here.

Open day at newly refurbished free gym at City Hospital: 28 October

 

We’re hosting an open day at our newly refurbished City Hospital gym (behind ED) on Monday 28 October, 10.30am – 2.30pm. The gym and its facilities are now free for all Trust colleagues to enjoy!

The gym will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days week and absolutely free for staff, however before you go are able to use the facilities you must have an induction.

If you’re interested in signing up, please complete the following forms:

Upon completion forward the application to jatinder.sekhon@nhs.net or post to occupational health and wellbeing service. If you have any questions, contact the occupational health and wellbeing team on 0121 507 3306 option 4.

 

On Yer bike! Femi is riding to fundraise for Your Trust Charity!

 

Caring Femi Kuforiji and the widening participation team will be cycling for success when they take part in a static bike ride from West Bromwich to London.  All the money raised will go towards supporting homeless young people and split between Your Trust Charity and St Basils.

Femi is a project support officer for the Live & Work NHS Apprenticeship programme. He’ll be taking on the 136-mile challenge in the main reception area at Sandwell Hospital. The exercise bikes have kindly been supplied by Sandwell Gym, owned by Jagdish Lal. The event takes place on 28 October and personal trainers from the gym will also be on site to show their support.

Femi explained: “Throughout the world, vulnerable young people live in constant fear. There are lots of triggers for homelessness such as troubled family dynamics, health-related issues, or being victims of circumstances.

“As temperatures plummet, cold weather can prove disastrous for young people sleeping on the streets. It can increase the risk of developing hypothermia and frostbite. Some have even been reported as dying due to sleeping rough in cold weather.

“In 2017/18 statistics from the Youth Homelessness Databank showed that over 100,000 young people were homeless or at the risk of being homeless. We’re passionate about alleviating homelessness in our society. We work collaboratively with St Basils on the Live & Work NHS Apprenticeship programme. This scheme provides apprenticeship opportunities and living accommodation within the hospital to young people who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness.

“There is so much we can do to support vulnerable young people. You can help by donating to this fundraising event.”

To donate please visit: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/liveandworkprogramme

 

 

Heartbeat: Siemens support state of the art scanners

 

Colleagues in imaging are excited with the imminent arrival of a brand new array of scanners thanks to the Managed Equipment Service partnership with Siemens.

City Hospital has recently taken delivery of a brand new state of the art CT Scanner to complement its current suite of equipment and in the coming weeks will also be taking delivery of another CT scanner and MRI scanner at the Birmingham Treatment Centre.

Welcoming the investment to the department, Imaging Director of Operations, Jonathan Walters shared his thoughts: “Resilience is key in this and the new scanners mean we finally have that, at City Hospital. We have two CT Scanners for emergency and acute care that will provide cover until the move to Midland Met. We will no longer suffer the risk of downtime associated with a single scanner servicing or need to transfer patients between sites simply for scans.

“Also, the new scanners are much more capable, with a far higher resolution and specification to help us cope with the speed and complexity of our current scans. This is a significant improvement for patients and the service and a very welcome sight as we move in to the winter period.”

 

Learning disability roadshows

 

Have you ever wanted to learn more about how you can better support patients with learning disability or difficulties? 

Join the learning disability team at one of their learning disability roadshows which will be touring our Trust through to the end of the month.

The roadshows will run from 10am – 2pm on the following dates:

  • Sandwell General Hospital Main Reception – 25, 28 and 29 October
  • Rowley Regis Hospital Main Reception – 30 and 31 October

Alternatively book your place on to the See Me Learning Disability Conference taking place on the 6 November. Details available on the following link.

See Me – Learning Disability Conference

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