Skip to content Skip to main menu Skip to utility menu

Monthly archives: October 2019

Our first apprentices of the month: Christopher and Emily

 

The healthworks team, which covers SWB recently introduced an apprentice of the month award.

Competition has been fierce for the award with two apprentices winning the apprentice of month.

Christopher O’Hara is the first of the two winners. Chris joined the healthcare support worker apprenticeship programme back in July 2018 working on AMU A at Sandwell and was nominated for showing such a fantastic attitude towards his studies but also for his commitment, enthusiasm and compassion for the patients in his care.

The second winner is Emily Berry. Emily joined the Trust as an apprentice associate physiologist in December 2018 and has shown a fabulous attitude towards what can be a very demanding, fast paced job that she performs day in day out with a positive attitude.

Congratulations to both Chris and Emily!

Should you want to nominate an apprentice for this award you can do so by completing the form below.

Apprentice of the month nomination form

Please return all completed signed forms to maxine.griffiths@nhs.net.

Star Awards 2019

 

Last Friday we hosted our 2019 Star Awards ceremony at Aston Villa Football Club. The awards ceremony celebrates the remarkable achievements of our colleagues across 20 awards categories including our new Green Award.

From the 20 award categories, the alcohol team won the 2020 vision prize for integrated care pioneer of the year and Joanne Simpson won the Award for Equality and Diversity Champion.

Be sure to keep checking connect throughout the coming days for everything Star Awards 2019 including more pictures our winners as well as videos from the evening of celebration. 

Congratulations to all of our winners and nominees on the night!.

 

AHP Day

 

As you may be aware, today is Allied Health Professionals (AHP) Day. The awareness day aims to raise awareness of all the allied professions across SWB and recognise the achievements of local services and their impact on patient care and population health.

To celebrate the day, throughout this week we will be showcasing different AHPs from across the organisation and finding out what AHP day means to them.

Today we meet Alice Harvey, respiratory physiotherapist who believes AHP Day is vital in raising the importance of AHPs across the Trust and NHS.

Be sure to check out the short clip below featuring Alice.

Don’t forget: To celebrate AHP Day, we will also be hosting a special bake off competition on today from 11am – 2pm at the Lyng Health Centre, room 3. Entries are encouraged from both teams and individual master bakers. 

Meet super user Emily Bradley

 

Midwife Emily Bradley (left) is a super user on Maternity 2. She’s been giving guidance and support to colleagues as they get to grips with Unity, starting with the lead-up to go-live.

“I was making sure that everyone was going on the Play System, they’d had their training and they felt comfortable. I had extra training to make sure I knew what I was doing when Unity went live and I distributed the pocket guides out to people,” she said.

As with most areas, there was some initial stress and uncertainty involved with adapting to new ways of working but things have settled down over the last couple of weeks and some of the benefits are coming through.

“The first day of go-live wasn’t great, but the next day was better. We found a few issues as we went along but any time we’ve reported anything it’s been fixed,” said Emily.

“Unity seems quicker when we’re doing bloods for mums and babies. We’re not having to fill out a form, we can literally just put on a label and send it across. That seems to be saving a bit of time.”

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 11 October

 

Thank you to everyone who took part in last week’s #getMMHdone social media comment. I am very sure that we are making progress. The capital funding to complete our respiratory reconfiguration and installation this winter of our new Children’s A&E at City is in place. Next week the Board will determine the preferred facilities management supplier for Midland Met. In November, we will do the same for our wider estate functions for 2022. And the work to get a deal by the end of October with Balfour Beatty continues. With an announcement anticipated in coming weeks from Treasury, we do finally seem set to get back on track after the collapse of Carillion in 2018. Let’s be optimistic and begin to turn our minds to the kind of preparation that we kick off in 2020 to make the new hospital truly remarkable.

I know very well that it has been a really tough few days, not only in our emergency departments but across community wards, and hospital teams like Lyndon 4 and D5/7. We are looking after a lot of extremely unwell people and our ability to get people safely unloaded from ambulances much faster than our neighbours can mean we end up feeling overwhelmed. I hope that everyone working and managing these situations night and day feels supported, appreciated and valued. If you do not, do get in touch as I want to see what more or what differently we can do to take care of one another, with the same spirit of togetherness with which we approached Unity.

Unity was not a weekend or a fortnight, but is a way of working with our technology, and our patients’ data, that has the ability to help us to improve what we do. This week has seen continued focus on making sure every call logged since 21 September has been dealt with. We are down to fewer than five queries from September now (and almost 5,000 dealt with), and a few dozen enquiries from this month so far. This has been our first week back working at full clinic volume and without floorwalkers, and it seems to have gone pretty well. We have more to do to make sure every medication we prescribe is scanned, and every handover is from our computer. More work to do to book portering jobs on the system and to use Capman as intended. Optimisation, as we cover on the cover of Heartbeat, is a six month trip. But there is nothing to suggest we should stop or turn back – and when the hour changes in October the brief planned outage of Unity is just that, a planned outage that Cerner’s next upgrade will sort out UK-wide.

In November, we will do some engagement work around our future plans for grounds and gardens.  One of the by-products of our smokefree work, has been a renewed pride in the outside space we own and use. Our frontline gardening teams have put forward some proposals for 2020 and 2021 across all our sites – I want everyone to have chance to comment on your environment. On first look we are taking the opportunity to concentrate planting into fewer more beautiful spaces, do our bit with more trees, as well as introducing community vegetable gardens on our sites, and some outdoor exercise equipment ready for spring next year.  I know that the teams are doing to a great job cleaning up butts and debris, but let’s all play a part in tackling litter on our sites and using the huge number of bins we bought to make our place just a little bit smarter and more welcoming.

This month, the big push is now on for flu vaccination. Done mine – have you done yours? And the anonymous national staff survey. Have you done yours? I filled mine in on Monday! Remember you have to enter quickly to be in the prize drawer, and it really does take just a few minutes at home or work to fill it out online. The Chairman’s blog in Heartbeat writes about engagement and involvement, and our second wave of Pioneer applications are out now as we look to help teams to work well together and to influence how our organisation operates. The work of our City ED team on involvement and participation is a feature in Heartbeat this month.

Tonight, Des Coleman hosts our biggest ever Star Awards (#SWBHawards19). Thanks again to everyone who nominated someone. And well done to everyone nominated and shortlisted. There are lots of reasons to celebrate the successes of what we do every day. The awards are a chance to reflect on excellence without pretending that every day is without frustrations. The Trust is a successful place within our region’s NHS, and I think we should all take pride in what is being done – whether that is through new services like our FGM clinics, longstanding outstanding ones like our children and young people’s therapy service, or teams like complaints, second line or catering who keep our frontline service going. On Monday, our infection control and cleaning services face their annual inspection. Of course hygiene, cleanliness, and tackling infection is a job we all do. So good luck getting ready for the inspection and let’s make sure our standards stay high through the winter.

I suspect the Brexit bulletin may be out of date by the time you read it, but nonetheless, with a few weeks potentially to go, I would ask everyone to find a moment in coming days to consider your team’s readiness for those changes too.

#hellomynameisToby

Heartbeat: New AA service for inpatients

 

A new service has been launched for inpatients to find out more about Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

Two representatives from the organisation meet patients every Thursday at City Hospital to offer them insight and information about AA and what to expect if they were to attend an official meeting.

Jim, a member of AA and one of two people leading the informal meetings said: “It’s not your usual style of AA meeting where people sit around talking about the issues they have with either drugs or alcohol.

“Instead inpatients are flagged up to us by the alcohol team and we are able to have an informal chat with them about the service and how it could help them. It’s about planting a seed.

“It’s an opportunity for them to ask questions too. Already we have seen positive outcomes with one patient attending an official meeting after having a conversation with us about AA.

“If staff feel they have a patient who would benefit from this service then we would urge them to contact the alcohol team to find out more about how we can help.”

Arlene Copland, Lead Alcohol Nurse, said: “I am very excited that AA is coming into the hospital to talk to people who have issues with alcohol.

“It can be very hard to address alcohol misuse on your own, so support from AA can make such a difference. There are many misconceptions about AA so this meeting gives opportunity to find out what this service can offer and what benefit it can make to a person’s recovery.”

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.

When to create an inpatient encounter:

The only time that an inpatient encounter in IPM should be created is when patients are directly admitted to our inpatient bed base for example, for elective surgery or to wards with direct access pathways.

AMAA, SEAU, ADAU are classed as outpatient areas and therefore should only create outpatient encounters, not inpatient encounters.

When a patient is transferred to a ward:

When a patient is transferred to your ward, you must complete the transfer in CAPMAN so you can see the patient on Care Compass or within the doctor worklist.

Help using CapMan:

The quick reference guides (QRGs) to Unity including how best to use CAPMAN can be found here – https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/trustindigital/unity/qrg/

Help, I’ve made a mistake!

If you make an error in CAPMAN when transferring a patient from ED or any other ward, don’t panic, you don’t need to register the patient in IPM.

For help if you have transferred a patient to an incorrect ward follow this guide: http://myconnect.swbh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HELP-Patient-Assigned-to-Wrong-Ward_Bed.pdf

For help if your patient isn’t on the transfer list follow this guide:  http://myconnect.swbh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HELP-My-Patient-isnt-on-the-Transfer-List.pdf

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.

Inductions for free gym at Sandwell Hospital

 

Inductions are taking place for colleagues to use the free gym at Sandwell Hospital on following dates at 5pm, 6pm and 7pm:

  • Wednesday 23 October
  • Wednesday 20 November

If you are interested in booking a place please ensure you have completed the following:

Upon completion forward the application to jatinder.sekhon@nhs.net or post to occupational health and wellbeing service.

Note: The gym will be closed whilst inductions are in progress.

Please ensure all forms are signed and contact Jatinder Sekhon/Emma Williams to arrange an appointment on 0121 507 3306 option 4.

Heartbeat: Rita muscles her way to UK bodybuilding champion

 

Huge congratulations to Capital Projects Manager, Rita Brown who bagged the coveted title of UK bodybuilding champion at the UKBFF (Ultimate Beginners Stars of the Future Masters Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation) show this year.

Rita took home the title after muscling her way through tough competition to win first place on her first attempt.

The competition was held near Kent and was open to anybody who had never been on stage before.

Reliving her spotlight moment, Rita shared her motto ‘Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard,’ which was reflected in her preparations for the competition. Rita embraced a strict shredding focussed clean diet plan over a 12 week period so that she would be in peak condition for her competition.

“To become a UK Bodybuilding Ultimate Beginners Stars of the Future Masters champion takes a lot of hard work dedication,” explained Rita.

“You have to be committed about the goals you want to achieve both inside and outside of the gym which includes the food you put in your body and the amount of recovery and rest you take after your workouts. It isn’t for the faint hearted, you have to be a highly driven and motivated individual.”

She added: “Bodybuilding is a solo sport so you have to be willing to give it your all if you want to have any chance of succeeding. There is no off season in bodybuilding meaning you have to really embrace the grind if you truly want to be the best.”

As part of her disciplined training regime, Rita works out on a daily basis from 3.30am for two hours. Her training programme is broken down whereby each session she will target and a specific muscle group (whether that is biceps, triceps, chest, back, shoulders or legs) with focus on definition and growing her muscles. Her exercises involve both compound lifts and isolating specific muscles. In addition to this, Rita follows a strict cardio programme which aims to burn fat without losing muscle mass and strength. In order to reach her maximum capabilities, she has a bodybuilding coach who puts together her training schedule and diet plan.

Winning the UKBFF Ultimate Beginners is just the start of the journey for Rita as she is hopeful of taking part in at least three more bodybuilding competitions in 2020 all with the end goal of getting coveted invite to Olympia – the most prestigious bodybuilding competition which is held annually in Las Vegas.

Well done Rita and good luck with everything bodybuilding in future.

Good luck to all of our Star Award nominees tonight

 

Tonight’s Star Awards are set to be the highlight of the year as we recognise the exceptional care, compassion, hard work and innovation shown by our colleagues, volunteers and members of the local community. The awards ceremony is set to take place later this evening at Aston Villa Football Club and celebrates the remarkable achievements of many of our colleagues across 20 awards categories including our new Green Award.

We have had a wonderful turnout of nominees with colleagues and patients both keen to share their amazing experiences of care, kindness innovations and quality they had experienced from our colleagues throughout the Trust.

Judges definitely had a challenge this year whittling down the 560 nominations to our final shortlist which we are able to share with you below:

2020 vision prize for integrated care pioneer of the year:

  • Alcohol Team
  • Bethany Smith
  • iCares Directorate Leadership team

Award for Equality and Diversity Champion:

  • Homeless Patient Pathway Team
  • Joanne Simpson
  • Nav Sharma

Digital Leader of the Year:

  • Andy Churm
  • Ilka Fisher
  • Rachel Follos

Distinguished Service Award:

  • Carroll Brashier
  • Karen Mayo
  • Kelly Redden-Rowley

Excellence in education prize:

  • Apprentice Provider team
  • Laura Taylor
  • Manoj Sikand

Excellence in research prize:

  • Ash Turner
  • Sarah Clamp

Fundraiser of the Year:

  • Bristnall Hall Academy
  • Cancer Wellbeing Team
  • Sally Gutteridge

Learner of the Year:

  • Jodie Earp
  • Rakan Khalifah
  • Security Team

New Leader:

  • Asif Naveed
  • Janice Barrett
  • Jacqueline Slater

Patient Safety Award:

  • Acute Oncology Team
  • Kiranjit Phanasan
  • Sarah Oley

Prize for Innovation:

  • Coronary Artery Disease Management Team
  • Joanne Lloyd
  • Surgical Assessment Unit

The ‘Green’ Award:

  • Amenities Management Team
  • Cancer Service
  • Occupational Health and Wellbeing

Volunteer of the Year:

  • Katherine Groomridge
  • Joan Devaney
  • Manish Pandit
  • Karamjit Kaur
  • Pat Dursley
  • Reeka Kapoor

Clinical Team of the Year (Adults):

  • Critical Care and Critical Care Followup
  • Homeless Patient Pathway Team
  • SPA Single Point of Access

Clinical Team of the Year (Children):

  • Children’s Motor Management Clinic
  • Domestic Abuse Team
  • Paediatric Allergy Team

Non-Clinical Team of the Year:

  • General Surgical Secretaries
  • Medical Education Team
  • Patient Access Team

Employee of the Year:

  • Allison Annikey
  • Corrine Dacosta
  • Huma Naqvi
  • Richard Burnell
← Older items Newer items →