Monthly archives: March 2020

Heartbeat: Estates achieve accreditation for quality and environmental management

The estates team at our Trust have recently been awarded two ISO standard certifications that show a commitment to continued monitoring and improvement of quality standards in service delivery as well as most importantly a commitment to manage the environmental impact of work.

Amongst the teams of tradespeople who move from building to building solving problems and delivering development projects to meet our needs, the team has also demonstrated a commitment to quality improvement and environmental monitoring.

To find out more, Heartbeat caught up with Head of Estates, Steve Lawley, he said: “It’s often assumed that the job of the estates team is simply limited to ensuring that the buildings and infrastructure we all rely on are kept in good working order, but as well as this, there is a lot of work that goes on to ensure that the service we deliver is of a high standard and the services we deliver from it are kind to the environment.

“Our pledge to provide a quality service works in tandem with our commitment to monitoring the environmental impact. We are one of the only in-house estates teams in the region to hold both ISO 9001 and ISO 140001 certifications.”

Sharing his thoughts on the achievement, Project Support Manager, Randeep Degun said: “The certifications couldn’t have been done without the team working together. As part of the ISO 9001 re-certification

in approximately 12 months, we’ve identified additional areas of process improvements such as improving the contractor induction process and creating a catalogue of standard operating procedures to ensure consistency. ISO 14001 has enabled us to set objectives for working more sustainably including more efficient use of fuel across the estate for both the buildings and vehicles, as well as upgrading the lighting to be more efficient and effective.”

The team who worked on the accreditation included Fran Silcocks – Sustainability Officer, Rachael Gallagher and Hayley Bagley – Estates Administrators, Anas Bhayat – Team Leader, Steve Lawley – Deputy Director of Estates and Randeep Dugan, Project Support Manager.

Muslim Friday prayers cancelled at the Trust until further notice

Due to the COVID-19 and following national, Trust and Islamic guidance, all congregational prayers have been suspended until further notice.

This includes all Muslim congregational prayers, daily and Friday Juma’ah prayers in the BTC Prayer Room and in the Sandwell Meeting Room.

The prayer rooms and chapel will remain open for individual prayers.

Please ensure you follow the washing guidelines and keep your distance from each other during prayer or meditation in the prayer rooms.

If you require any further information then please email swbh.mlg@nhs.net or contact Chaplaincy Department through switchboard.

Essential maintenance affecting community sites on Saturday 21 March

The Lyng Centre for Health and Wellbeing will be closed on Saturday 21 March as essential electrical work takes place between 7.30am and 7pm. This will mean that services located in the building will not be available and any clinics due to take place on Saturday at the Lyng cancelled.

The electrical maintenance work at The Lyng will also affect services being delivered at Neptune, Victoria, Glebefields and Oldbury Health Centres as whilst network services are offline at the Lyng. During this time all affected sites will be required to initiate their business continuity plans.

Colleagues are reminded to ensure they have planned in advance and made alternative arrangements to work from other locations where possible.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Free hot drink and 50 per cent off at Pret

Pret are kindly offering NHS colleagues a free barista prepared hot drink and 50 per cent off your total transaction in their UK shops until Tuesday 31 March when you show your NHS ID card at the till.

Note: Offer applies to any barista prepared hot drink including added syrups, hot chocolates and whole-leaf tea.

Poison Prevention Week

Every year in the UK there are around 160,000 NHS emergency department presentations as a result of poisoning; this could be due to self-harm, drug misuse, medication errors etc. Therefore there is the need for healthcare professionals to access up-to-date information about the effects of these substances and their clinical management.

The National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) provides this information via the internet database TOXBASE as well as a 24-hour telephone advice line manned by specialists in poisons information, supported by consultant clinical toxicologists. The Birmingham unit of the NPIS is located at City Hospital with 10 specialists in poisons information and two consultant clinical toxicologists.

Poison Prevention Week aims to raise awareness of poisoning and highlight the dangers of poisonings for people of all ages.

To celebrate the week, each day we will be offering tips around poison prevention and staying safe.

Today’s tip is:

Learn about products and drugs that young people use and speak to your children about these.

Recreational drugs can be readily available and come in many forms from powders, liquids, tablets etc. For some drugs, a very small amount such as one tablet can cause serious toxicity or death. Try to be aware of the various slang terms for recreational drugs and try to educate children about the risks of using such products.

For more information or if you would like assistance with the use of TOXBASE please do not hesitate to get in touch with michael.beech@nhs.net or e.moyns@nhs.net from the national poisons information service.

Counselling Support

We are offering a free confidential service if you are worried or anxious. All our counsellors are accredited counsellors.

If you would like counselling support please contact occupational health on ext. 3306 to book an appointment.

Note: You do not need to leave your name if you do not wish to but you will be required to leave a contact number.  A counsellor will contact you by telephone.

We are also offering face to face, telephone counselling and video link counselling for all colleagues 24 hours, 7 days a week. If you wish you use this service please call 0800 783 2808.

COVID-19 bulletin: Wednesday 18 March

The Trust is now publishing a daily bulletin. This will take all guidance and information and tell you which changes we are implementing when and how. Please use this bulletin and daily cascade arrangements within clinical groups to guide local action.  Remember KINDNESS is our watchword in implementing these changes.

1. We continue to implement our plans to seek to separate query Covid and asymptomatic patients – the details will evolve this week

We have explained before that we have separated our wards.  We have now also separated Sandwell theatres.  Attached is initial guidance for any staff member going into such areas.  We know that some staff, other than nurses and doctors, may not have had access to all the PPE that we wish them to have.  Please read this guidance.  Meetings with ancillary staff are taking place tomorrow and Friday to make sure that this guidance is implemented.

Discharging patients with suspect or confirmed Covid is important where that is possible.  Attached is a simple guide to how to do that into our community based services in both Birmingham and Sandwell.

2. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stores have been established on both hospital sites

The guidance on PPE has been issued, and single use products should be used in line with that guidance.  In particular your duration of use of an item should reflect that guidance.  Please avoid wearing PPE in communal areas other than when looking after a query Covid patient being transferred in your care.

The PPE stores are on D18 at City Hospital and Bryan Knight Suite at Sandwell.

3. We attach Trust interim guidance on attendance at work for some groups of staff

Interim Staff Guidance on Absence from Work – 19 March 2020

Further guidance on home working will follow tomorrow morning.  People needing to stay off work to look after loved ones, including children, can take their first day off as carers’ leave.  Please make arrangements as best you can to support your family.  If you are concerned about exposure through co-habitation with friends or family we will make arrangements to help you to get hotel accommodation at our cost.

From Thursday 19^th March we will have open an HR queries line for you to ask workforce professionals about staffing matters related to this pandemic.  This is separate from Occupational Health.

If you need to self-isolate please do so and inform your line manager.  You can obtain Occupational Health advice but you do not need to report to Occupational Health that you are self-isolating.

4. Our staff swabbing services are open

We did not manage to open both site swabbing services as promised today, but both our bungalow at City and our drive through in the Little Lane car park at Sandwell Hospital are open tomorrow.  If you have been experiencing symptoms for three days and are self-isolating  you can book an appointment for a test by calling the community contact centre on 07817  397 533.  Please do not just turn up!

You will then either be given an appointment over the phone or you will receive a text with your appointment details. Appointments are available 7 days per week 9am – 4pm on the Sandwell site and Monday – Friday 9am-4pm and 9am-1pm on Saturday mornings at the City Hospital bungalow.

For any staff who are unable to attend our sites, arrangements can be made for you to be swabbed at home via the community van.

5. All staff survey

Thank you to all the colleagues who have completed our survey telling us what carer responsibilities you have, whether you have an underlying health conditions and what your clinical experience is for people currently working in non-clinical roles. We are reviewing all the results to help inform:

• The likely impact on our workforce if there are school closures and as staff need to self-isolate
• The number of people who could be redeployed into different areas with the right training
• Provision we may be able to set up to help with childcare arrangements

Tomorrow we will publish details of:

• Frequently asked questions arising from today’s Chief Executive briefing sessions and
• Details of the clinical queries email line to provide specific patient pathway support

Poison Prevention Week

Every year in the UK there are around 160,000 NHS emergency department presentations as a result of poisoning; this could be due to self-harm, drug misuse, medication errors etc. Therefore there is the need for healthcare professionals to access up-to-date information about the effects of these substances and their clinical management.

The National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) provides this information via the internet database TOXBASE as well as a 24-hour telephone advice line manned by specialists in poisons information, supported by consultant clinical toxicologists. The Birmingham unit of the NPIS is located at City Hospital with 10 specialists in poisons information and two consultant clinical toxicologists.

Poison Prevention Week aims to raise awareness of poisoning and highlight the dangers of poisonings for people of all ages.

To celebrate the week, each day we will be offering tips around poison prevention and staying safe.

Today’s tip is:

Make sure you have a working carbon monoxide alarm in your home.

Carbon monoxide can be a silent killer, you can’t see it or smell it.  It can be released by faulty boilers and gas fires, and even released by burning candles in enclosed spaces.  Having a carbon monoxide alarm can detect the gas in your home and help save lives.

For more information or if you would like assistance with the use of TOXBASE please do not hesitate to get in touch with michael.beech@nhs.net or e.moyns@nhs.net from the national poisons information service.

Heartbeat: National staff survey shows strong results for line manager support

Over 2,700 colleagues completed and returned the national staff survey in 2019 and our results highlight improvements in some key areas. Every NHS Trust in England takes part in this national survey which is an opportunity to see how we compare to other organisations as a place to work.

Improvements were seen on last year’s results in the quality of appraisals, where more of you reported that your PDR definitely helped you to improve how you did your job and helped you agree clear objectives for your work. Responses to questions about team working were positive although we scored less well than other organisations on teams having a set of shared objectives.

The NHS Staff Survey is just one of the methods we have to gather feedback from colleagues to support improvements within our workplace. Our quarterly weConnect survey has just launched to a quarter of the organisation. If you have been approached to complete the survey please ensure you do so. Your feedback really is making a difference. Our wave 2 pioneer teams as part of the weConnect programme have just begun looking at their engagement activities and will be sharing how they get on in future Heartbeats.

Changes made as a result of your feedback will be shared over coming months including your suggestions for how to improve our organisation as a place to work. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete this survey.

Wound management training cancelled

The wound management training scheduled for Thursday 19 March with the tissue viability team has been cancelled.

Note: Those who were due to attend will be given priority for future training courses.

For more information please contact tissueviability2@nhs.net.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused.