Monthly archives: February 2020

Free support for all colleagues 7 days a week: 8am-10pm

A Listening Ear – We are here to listen to you and are just call away! 7 days a week, 8am-10pm.

Have you had a difficult day? What can we do for you? A chance for you to off-load. We will listen and provide support.

At the end of a phone – someone to talk to. This is free and strictly confidential. Someone ‘nonjudgemental’ to support. you.

• Lavinia: 07970882108
• Chris: 07976499180

Note: If we are on a call, leave a message and we will call you back.

For more information please click here.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 14 February

Earlier today I announced the Board has decided to name our newest site as the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.  After contract signature last December, we joined community and academic partners in Grove Lane to commemorate the re-build work starting again in earnest this month. There is no change to opening plans for 2022. But from next month you can visualise the new hospital, inside as well as out, on our virtual reality headsets. Doing that conveys a sense of the scale and adjacencies we have coming. The next few months will see us intensify work to begin to plan seven day acute services with a therapeutic model focused on mobilisation and wellbeing. As I mentioned in the film we released internally this morning, crucially the university hospital has a place for you. By that I mean in particular that we have worked hard to create and preserve a design with space for colleagues to learn, to walk, and to talk.

When the Board next meets in March, the focus for much of our time will be on education. We are reviewing the detail of how the new Aston Medical School will integrate into the Trust this autumn, and how that will fit with our commitment to Birmingham. There will be time too to think about our pathways from band 2 to band 7 nursing roles, as nursing associates become part of our Trust in greater numbers. We have not finalised budgets for 2020-2021 as yet but I can be certain that our training spend will be ring-fenced and protected. PDRs are upcoming in the spring and that is absolutely the place to make sure that your needs are heard and that we do our very best to act on them.

Some people reading this message will have just had, or be about to get, a note about mandatory training. Most people who work for the Trust are 100% compliant with the national mandatory training obligations. Many of those obligations can be done online at work or home, and take minutes. Some of the training is necessarily face to face because the learning comes from interaction or simulation. There are now 7 weeks until the end of the public sector year. To move through pay gateways, to get excellence awards, to get a PDR score above good (2), you have to have completed by 31 March your mandatory training. I have finally got mine done. Please do yours.

Our latest Star of the Week is Jessica Arnold, Service Manager in the Mortuary Service who was nominated by Matron, Joanne Thomas after supporting the ward with a rapid release.

Thank you to everyone who contributes to our fundraising and charity work as a Trust. We gain greatly from the Your Trust charity. This week’s committee agreed funding for children’s sensory care. Each year we spend over half a million pounds on new projects. Our fund ambassadors do a fantastic job raising awareness of how to raise funds and putting forward projects for improvement.  Next month we launch a major public appeal associated with research, the arts and other special additions that we want to make to the new hospital. There is loads of information on Connect and Heartbeat gives us all stories and inspiration from around our organisation about what others are doing to raise funds and participation.

I am pleased that this week we confirmed plans to put the ‘late shift’ car park into Sandwell, near maternity services and Trinity. In addition we agreed some expansion plans for coffee and catering outlets as we look to make working here just a little easier. I know that the damage to the Birmingham Treatment Centre this Monday has caused huge difficulty and reorganisation. I want to thank everyone who has worked to move patients into new clinics or theatres. Liam Kennedy is leading our response to this and we will certainly be working to get the building back to standard and recover the costs of what has happened.

In a few weeks’ time we will have our new PET scanner arriving, next to the BTC. That announcement, alongside confirmation that specialist gynaecological cancer services are staying with us for the long term, confirms that the Trust has a specialist and complex care future, entwined with our work to better integrate care in home and community settings. What better encouragement could there be to get more involved now in our research work. We have a new leadership team heading up that effort, in Derek Connolly and Gina Dutton. Now is our time to make plans for trials, and make sure that trial enrolment is a whole specialty endeavour.

Of course, alongside these expansions, we need to make the usual every year financial savings. This means difficult choices. From April there will be changes to approval routes for the use of agency contractors in all professions. With 300 people currently under offer to join us, now is the right time to again look to reduce below £10m a year the agency bill we face. Every corporate/back bone service now has a balanced financial plan for the next twelve months. One of those plans changes cleaning regimes in office and non-clinical areas. During March the management team for hotel services will outline what will change to make that transition work well. It should be said that this is us doing what many, many NHS and other organisations already do. Our commitment to maintaining, and if possible increasing, cleaning availability in clinical areas is unchanged.

In the next few weeks we will obtain, we trust, final planning consent for our new car parks. Particularly at Sandwell, the construction of the car parks, will reduce further the available spaces while we build. We will make some choices before year end about how best to manage that, but I want again to highlight that parking in our New Square facility is entirely free. It is a short walk from site, and anyone who wants to volunteer to adjust their pass can do so via Diane Alford. In mentioning that can I also underline that, whilst when I get a car parking ticket at work or outside work, I am sometimes annoyed, none of us are entitled to take our personal frustration out on others who are trying to administer systems like our car parking system. The staff-led appeals process is designed to work on all of our behalf, and neither escalating to me, nor expressing oneself in aggressive terms to junior colleagues, will make alter the outcome of that process. I want to thank the staff networks, trade unions, and other colleagues who act on those panels.

The latest weconnect quarterly survey  is out and about. And our second wave Pioneer teams have started too.  t is really encouraging to see the effort going into, and the results being delivered, from this engagement work. Wellbeing is part of that work. Before the summer we will sort out our approach to hydration (and plastics), and our pods for resting are going well. The big impact so far from a lot of our team-based engagement work is improvements in trust at local level. At the end of February we will also have finished our survey work on face to face communications and which teams are missing out on that. A year ago the Clinical Leadership Executive collectively committed to everywhere in the Trust would have monthly team meetings and face to face briefings. Notwithstanding shift patterns, busyness and so on – please speak up if you are missing out!

#hellomynameisToby

Heartbeat: Second World of Work placement begins

A helping hand is being offered to the people currently out of work thanks to a new scheme that is being led by the volunteer service.

The programme, aptly named the World of Work aims to attract 150 unemployed or job-seeking residents within the Birmingham and Solihull catchment area, who will be trained over the next year. The scheme can take around 30 students at a time, over an eight week period, where they will be taught new skills and have their existing ones enhanced.

The students are being referred to the scheme by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), Job Centre Plus and it will also be offered to qualifying members of the volunteering team. The ultimate goal is to help attendees successfully apply for and secure jobs.

The first cohort has already benefitted from induction training, a work experience placement as well as interview and CV workshops. They are also given opportunities in accessing further education, training as well as the chance of an apprenticeship within the Trust.

Volunteer Service Manager, Liza Gill, who is leading the programme said: “We’re thrilled to see this programme launch. A lot of hard work has gone into it from all involved.

We’ve got a comprehensive training plan in place for all attendees. We are also offering tailored support to achieve the best outcomes.”

Eddie Edmead, Major Grants Manager for Your Trust Charity who secured funds for the project and also ran one of the very first sessions was equally passionate about the endeavour: “We are enthusiastic about this new and exciting venture. We’re looking forward to achieving some great outcomes with work placements within our Trust, as well as potentially with partnership service providers.”

Risk assessment training sessions

We are holding risk assessment training sessions to provide you with a better understanding of the purpose of risk assessment.

The sessions are aimed at:

• All ward/department managers
• Any colleagues that carry out risk assessments
• Any of the above that have not received risk assessment training in the past three years.

The dates and times can be found below. To book a place please contact jacque.calloway@nhs.net

Alan Deakin sadly passed away

We are sorry to report the sad death of Alan Deakin, who was our chief technologist until 2 years ago.

Alan was one of the most committed employees of the Nuclear Medicine department, who truly enjoyed his job.  Alan never had a cross word for anyone, and the only time anyone had a cross word for Alan was when he would turn up very early for work and do all the work.

Alan initially started out in Engineering , and got an HNC in Applied Physics. However in 1981 he decided to switch careers, and joined our nuclear medicine department as a trainee technologist.

He obtained the Higher BTEC qualification in Medical Physics in 1984, and continued in this career working through the grades with various promotions. He joined the UHB (QE then!) in 1987 and in 2001 joined Walsall Manor. However like a number of staff who have trained here and left , he came back to join us in 2002 as deputy chief technologist. Alan was always keen to take on the more complex studies such as brain imaging, and was our lead technologist for paediatric studies. Alan was also passionate about training new staff, keen to pass on his knowledge so others could also carry out the more complex procedures. All the senior Technologists in our department were trained in some part by Alan, including several, who like Alan joined as trainees and are still with us now. Everyone knew that Alan could always be depended on to help out if they had a tricky scan to process or needed help with a patient.

For the last two years with us Alan was Chief technologist until his retirement. However Alan still kept up his support for the department as he joined the Trust Bank, and helped out with the Cardiac Stressing for myocardial perfusion scans.

Alan was universally liked by all colleagues. He was much more than just a worker or colleague, he was a friend to all those who worked with him, and often had evenings out with his ‘work family’.  Alan was also a very keen cook and a good amateur guitarist. But in particular Alan was an excellent amateur photographer, in particular nature photography, and had been on photographic safaris etc . His annual calendars were always a highlight.

Late in 2019 Alan’s health started to decline , and he was admitted to hospital and passed away on 1 January.

Alan is sorely missed and this has been a devastating time for all the department.

Managing low mood and depression

This three hour session provides you with information about the symptoms of low mood/depression, suggestions of managing your response and ways to reduce every its impact on us.Learning outcomes include to understand depression, what causes it and what keeps it going, to recognize the physical, emotional and psychological effects of depression, to evaluate current depression management techniques, to learn constructive coping strategies for depression

Delegates will be provided with information, participate in practical exercises and share personal experiences and will be provided with a work booklet.  This approach enables practical skill development for future application and peer support.

• Date: Wednesday 18 March 
• Venue: The Berridge Room, Courtyard Gardens, Sandwell Hospital
• Time: 10am – 1pm

To book onto any of the workshops please contact Jatinder Sekhon or Emma Williams on 0121 507 3306 option 4. Other dates, sessions and venues are available.

Star of the Week – Jessica Arnold

Congratulations are in order for this week’s Star of the week Jessica Arnold, Service Manager in the Mortuary Service.

Jessica was nominated for the weekly award by Matron Joanne Thomas after supporting the ward with a rapid release. Nominating Jessica for the award, Joanne wrote, “Jessica helped support us with a rapid release from Priory 4 , this was achieved within 40 minutes and was only achievable by the coordination of ward and Jessica. However not only was this an excellent achievement , following the rapid release – Jessica then spent time with a newly appointed band 7 explaining the procedure – teaching and giving the band 7 eLearning sites and reading material to facilitate an out of hours rapid release.

During this teaching , the mortuary was very busy with Drs and patients being received , however the compassion and dedication to both patients , doctors and teaching all at the same time was commendable. She truly went the extra mile.”

Well done Jessica!

Do you know someone in your team that has gone above and beyond the call of duty? Why not put them forward for Star of the Week by clicking here.

Heartbeat: Major nursing recruitment event comes to Birmingham Treatment Centre

A new year means new opportunities, and this January the Birmingham Treatment Centre at City Hospital played host to a major recruitment event for nurses, nursing associates at Band 5 and above and student nurses.

The event took place on Saturday, 18 January with departments from right across our organisation on hand to discuss what they do and how they can help new joiners achieve their career goals and make a difference. Vacancies within medicine and emergency care, surgical services, primary care, community and therapies, and women’s and child health departments were all available with interviews taking place on the day for those who wished to apply. Successful candidates were given on-the-spot job offers.

As well as learning about the various teams, attendees were made aware of the array of additional benefits on offer for members joining our nursing team. These benefits include family-friendly flexible hours, bespoke training and accelerator programmes, fee support for newly qualified nurses, relocation packages and more.

Helen Cope, Associate Interim Chief Nurse commented: “A new year often means resolutions for a new you, new starts and new opportunities. We invited all nurses, nursing associates and student nurses looking for a first opportunity or a new start to join us to find out more about the work our dedicated nursing team does.”

A referral scheme is also available for existing colleagues and recommending of staff for roles could see both parties take home a cash reward.

January edition of Heartbeat available online

The January edition of Heartbeat is available online.

This edition features the Trust’s integrated partnership with a leading group of GP practices and work the alcohol team undertook during Dry January.

Sleep hygiene and relaxation techniques seminar

Problems sleeping?  Do you want to be able to sleep better and feel better for getting a good night’s sleep?

A seminar is taking place which will help you identify what can lead to sleep problems and understand the effects of insufficient sleep. We will look at how our sleep is affected when we are stressed and anxious, and how we can soon pick up bad habits and unhelpful associations.  We will create an individual sleep routine, whilst highlighting all the self-help of how to get that ‘Good Night Sleep.’  It will also involve practical techniques for relaxation and mindfulness.

• Date: Wednesday 11 March
• Venue: Surgical Skills Room, Postgraduate Centre, City Hospital
• Time: 10am – 1pm

To book onto any of the workshops please contact Jatinder Sekhon or Emma Williams on 0121 507 3306 option 4. Other dates, sessions and venues are available.