Monthly archives: April 2020

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 30 April

This is our every single day bulletin. Please use this bulletin and cascade arrangements within care and corporate groups to guide your actions. Remember KINDNESS is our watchword in implementing our plans. Throughout May we are determined to reduce avoidable harm and death in the people we are taking care of.

Huge thank you to the 625 folk who participated in our very short notice asymptomatic swab test study. We understand that next week we will learn what happens next.  It is clear that testing really does help with anxiety, both yours and those you live with.  We are expecting Occupational Health to be able to get the results out to you this weekend.  If you have not heard by Monday, email swbh.occyhealthcovid19@nhs.net

Numbers not statistics: Today’s totals (Yesterday’s totals)

1. Lilac comes to SWBH

This week we are setting up lilac wards – one at City Hospital, one at Sandwell and Westwood at Rowley Regis Hospital. These are for patients who had been looked after in a red COVID-19+ area, but have had a negative swab result, and there is low suspicion that the result is false. The PPE to be worn in these areas is a fluid-resistant surgical mask, disposable gloves, apron and a risk assessment should be completed for a face visor.

2. Get yourself on myConnect!

2,800 colleagues have now got the app.  We are about to launch our Thrive app.  MyESR is where you get your payslip.  The country will see tracing and prevalence tracked using one.  So now is the time to do your downloading.  Increasingly we will be posting unique content just on myConnect that is not available to you on other platforms.  That’s because we want you to use it as we can personalise content to you, your role and your team in a way we cannot on Connect or in Heartbeat.  So whether you are working from home, shielding, isolating, or here on site all the time, it’s still smart to be on myConnect.

myConnect is compatible with both iPhones and Android handsets, and is available to download from the Apple Appstore as well as the Google Playstore. Simply search for ‘SWBH myConnect’.

3. WFH WebEx announced: We need to learn from you

Over 400 colleagues have been working from home to date during COVID-19 and our guidance does allow other staff to do so, for example most medical secretaries.  As we consider how to take forward home working in the Trust for the future we want to learn from you about that experience.

Next week an anonymous short survey will come out about what works and what gets in the way.  Then on 14 May at 14.30 we will do some WebEx sessions specifically aimed at colleagues working from home to give you a chance to share thoughts and listen to some of the Trust’s ideas about this working model in the future.  Get involved and shape our restoration plans.

4. Hand hygiene next week: Get involved

If you have read local media or seen yesterday’s CEO briefing slides, you will know that hand washing remains a key part of the Trust strategy to manage the spread of the virus.  It is even more important, as testing becomes more freely available, that we focus on the role each of us can play.  The risk is that individual responsibility is lost as we see changes to lockdown and other measures.  Equally, we want to ensure that local residents have confidence that we are doing everything we can to make sure we fight back against COVID-19.

So next week is the Trust’s semi-official hand hygiene week.  There will be more details in daily comms but the simple ask is this – how many times have you washed your hands today? Let us know on Twitter @SWBHnhs or post pictures and videos of hand washing best practice (in line with our social media guidance please).  It only takes 20 seconds to save lives…

5. Mental health first aiders, wave one

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­We have now matched our “first wave” of mental health first aiders (MHFA) volunteers for each priority area, and colleagues will start to receive their letters from the L&D team by tomorrow. The letters set out the training dates, what you need to do, and the ask of your time for the next year. Every line manager and every colleague will be involved in promoting psychological wellbeing and has a role to play.

If you have not been chosen for the first wave you will still get the opportunity to be involved as we move through the year – your support is much needed and welcomed. The mantra of #kindness has been clear with the number of people volunteering, please continue to look after each other and yourselves. We will publish the list of MHFA on Connect once the names are confirmed.

Charlene Nelson is everywhere, and rightly so.  Her message that you need to get help if you feel unwell and are worried it could be COVID-19 is just what we need right now.  Here’s the link to her story following her appearance on the BBC Breakfast sofa!

Heartbeat: Mouth care pilot leads to magic in every smile

Patients across four wards at City and Sandwell hospitals have been all smiles during the pilot of a new campaign to improve the oral health of inpatients.

In January colleagues working on D11 D26, Priory 4 and Newton 4 started the Mouth Care Matters trial. This involved them receiving specific training and equipment to carry out effective mouth care on patients.

Colleagues have been ensuring that every patient cleans their teeth/dentures at least twice a day and those with complex mouth care needs are assisted with more frequent care.

Heartbeat caught up with Julie Thompson, Director of Nursing, Medicine and Emergency Care who told us more.

“Mouth Care Matters is a guide seeking to improve the oral health of inpatients. Poor oral health of a hospitalised patient can result in an increase in hospital-acquired infections, namely hospital and ventilator acquired pneumonia, as well as poorer nutrition. This can result in an increase in the length of stay and care costs, alongside poorer quality of life and dignity for patients.

“This pilot focuses on reducing the rates of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP). Evidence shows a clear link between a good individualised mouth care regime and the reduction in the development of HAP.”Colleagues have welcomed and supported the trial. Practice Development Nurse, Grace Omoleye told Heartbeat: “It’s important for patients to feel whole and to not feel uncomfortable about their mouths when visitors come.

“The products that we use keep the mouth and gums moist so prevent sores and infections. I really like the lip gloss for that reason. Some patients need to have their teeth cleaned whilst using the suctioning tool. This is so good because you use one tool that brushes, cleans and suctions the debris away at the same time.”

Grace continued, “The products are single-use only and are specially packaged so they can stay by the patient’s bedside and not a risk from an infection prevention perspective. It means that they are easily to hand when you need to perform mouth care as part of the patient’s routine. Mouth care really does matter for our patients and we should all be helping them to have healthy mouths.”

Since the project started, visitors have commented on the improvement of their loved ones mouth condition. One family member (a dentist) explained how his mother had a stark contrast of attitude towards mouth care while she had been in hospital on two different occasions. He said,

“My mother was admitted to a different hospital a few years ago. A few days after she was admitted, I noticed that her teeth had not been cleaned and the condition of her mouth had deteriorated significantly. Despite raising these concerns with staff, I had to buy several oral products and come into the hospital twice a day to clean her teeth and mouth.

“I was shocked that mouth care was not automatic and didn’t form part of a daily general hygiene routine. Mouth care is important because if my mum has poor oral care then she won’t be able to eat well and then can’t get well.

“The first thing I noticed when mum was admitted to Priory 4 was the mouth care posters promoting the use of the products with an appropriate care plan. I felt confident that my mum would receive a good level of care as a result.”

The results from HAP and other data will be analysed during April and recommendations and learnings will be shared with the executive team. The plan is to roll out the programme across the organisation.

Heartbeat: Farewell to Lorna Rowes

Recently we said goodbye to Lorna Rowes who retired after 30 years at our Trust. Having joined us in April 1990, Lorna began her career working in both adult and paediatric dietetics. She developed a keen interest in diabetes and went on to cover the paediatric diabetes clinic.

Diabetes became Lorna’s area of expertise. She undertook a course in the management of diabetes in the home and the community, which broadened her knowledge and experience. Working alongside Dr Agwu and the paediatric diabetes specialist nurses, she developed the service offering structured education sessions, home and school visits.

Speaking to Heartbeat, Lorna remarked, “I have had a rewarding career working at the Trust. Colleagues have become friends and I’ve watched my family grow as I developed a successful career. I recall being supported back into work after I had my first child. At that time, I completed the management of children with diabetes course too.

“Over the years, I worked on a lot of different projects. One of the things that I am most proud of is completing the certificate in diabetes care via the University of Warwick. As part of this, I produced a leaflet on carbohydrate counting which was used as a resource to support patients and their families.”

Looking to the future, Lorna said she will be enjoying spending more time with her family. “I plan to take life at a more relaxed pace. I’m planning to visit Scotland more regularly as that’s where some of my family live.”

Shabnam Bashir, Paediatric Dietitian said, “Lorna was an extremely invaluable member of the team, helpful at all times. She continually went above and beyond for patients and colleagues. We’ll miss her.”

Thank you for your contribution, Lorna.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 29 April

This is our every single day bulletin. Please use this bulletin and cascade arrangements within care and corporate groups to guide your actions. Remember KINDNESS is our watchword in implementing our plans. In the rest of April and throughout May we are determined to reduce avoidable harm and death in the people we are taking care of.

The Trust is working really closely with local care homes and has been doing from the start of the pandemic.  It looks as if outbreaks in local care homes are lower than in the region as a whole.  But there is much more to do.  Look out for revised guidance and plans in the days ahead.  We are ensuring PPE is available in local care homes and are supported our partners with both wellbeing and infection control advice.

Numbers not statistics: Today’s totals (Yesterday’s totals)

1. Next steps on COVID-19 and restoration

Our Chief Executive, Toby Lewis hosted two briefing sessions today for colleagues to hear an update on our Operation Mary Seacole response to the pandemic. Both sessions were hosted online and provided an opportunity ask any questions or raise concerns.

Thank you so much for participating!  Especially the colleague who had hand-washed 70 times so far today…

You can view the presentation slides here.

2. Testing asymptomatic colleagues

We have been part of a national pilot for the last few days undertaking swabbing on asymptomatic staff and patients within community services across the Trust. This pilot is to assist the national team to develop the future strategy for COVID-19 swabbing across the country to enable us to keep patients and staff safe and to work towards recovery of services within the NHS.

Thank you very much if you have taken part in this pilot and been swabbed. For staff, your results will be sent to you via the usual process via Occupational Health. They will contact you by telephone if you have a positive result and by email if you have received a negative result. This should be within 72 hrs of the swab test. If you have any queries, please contact Mel Roberts on 07969 228373.

3. Welearn from excellence during the pandemic

There have been a number of reports of excellence that recognise our colleagues contributions to their teams, groups, Trust and wider. These have ranged from contributing to national guidance, identifying how to reduce skin irritation whilst using PPE, to providing our patients with home comforts while they are away from their families.

welearn from excellence gives every member of our SWBH family the opportunity to recognise their colleagues everyday brilliance. Reporting is simple, you can either click here or go to Connect and click on the welearn from excellence logo.

Many of these excellence reports can also be used as welearn GEMS, as teams and individuals have been able to identify an issue, make recommendations or come up with solutions, and have been able to demonstrate a positive change. The GEMS certification form can be found by clicking here and once completed can be sent to swbh.welearngems@nhs.net.

If you would like more information on welearn from excellence or GEMS, please contact Claire Hubbard for more information.

4. Green brigade – part of rebuilding public confidence  

Our green brigades have been out in force this week cleaning the touchpoints in our communal areas with thanks to the colleagues who have been deployed into these teams to support our fantastic ward service officers. This weekend we will see deep cleaning in our Birmingham Treatment Centre as preparation for opening this for non-COVID-19 patients, carrying out surgical procedures that require less than a 24 hour stay. Pictured here are Sandra Cole, Sonia Arnett and Brinderjit Rai.

5. Managing transition to restoration – ‘downtime’ message from Toby Lewis and David Carruthers

Over the next month or so the Trust will be working through which services are restored where and when, whilst balancing that with the need to prepare for a second surge, and managing safely the care of over 100 inpatients with COVID-19.  This transitional period is bound to give rise to moments when we have more staffing than patients need.  Of course it will also give rise to moments where we have less staff than we need as sickness remains above historic levels.

A number of colleagues have themselves raised issues about SPA time, and other non-patient contact time during this transition.  Our current guidance is that senior clinical staff should be looking to assist in work on trial enrolment, support mortality reviews and SJR work, and contribute through the tactical cell to re-triaging patients waiting for future care.  In addition, the Trust will be completing organisational PDRs in May, June and July, and mandatory training requirements remain as is.  There is no expectation that in future lost SPA time will be paid back, and so it makes sense for local clinicians to use any ‘downtime’ both for personal recharging and for ensuring that teams are contributing to those organisational activities – and that individuals are entirely up to date with obligations on appraisal and training.

This weekend Toby took part in a YouTube broadcast to answer questions raised by people within our local black and minority ethnic communities about COVID-19. The film below shows you some of that interview.  If you do have questions on this topic do get in touch with Toby.

Heartbeat: Conference shares methods to improve dignity in care

Our medicine and emergency group played host to a dignity in care conference back in February.

The conference had over 120 delegates in attendance from both clinical and nonclinical backgrounds including nurses, midwives, portering and security.

Julie Thompson, Group Director of Nursing for Medicine and Emergency Care helped facilitate the all-day event at our Sandwell Education Centre. The aim of the session was to share methods to help improve dignity in care across the organisation. Presenters at the event included Dr Moe Thaw Oo, Consultant Geriatrician and Physician, as well as Helen Mallard, Lead Nurse.

Dr Oo believes that we must ensure that dignity in care is equally applied and consistent for all patients, in particular, our elderly and more vulnerable patients.

He said: “We face many challenges with our more senior patients, such as more complex needs and even language barriers.

Even with these challenges, we must ensure we offer consistency in care and make sure the dignity of our patients is at the forefront of our minds. This will ensure they receive the best possible care from us.”

Helen and her team have applied the ABCD model in our emergency department (ED) in regards to dignity in the care they offer. This method focuses on attitude, behaviour, compassion and dialogue. She said, “Every patient that attends ED deserves the same standards of care. I always encourage everyone to really think about behaviours and gestures as this can easily impact on a patient’s experience, especially in ED.

She went on to say, “Compassion and dialogue are equally important. This is why we think that one of the quick wins to this is caring, showing empathy and simply treating others how you would wish to be treated.”

Following on from the success of the event, the Trust has seen well over 200 people sign up to become dignity ambassadors. “I have been overwhelmed with the positive response after the dignity in care event. It’s amazing to have so many dignity ambassadors from a variety of multi-disciplinary teams,” said Julie.

She added, “A dignity ambassador is someone that upholds the standards for dignity which is treating people with respect. This involves being a patient advocate and feeding back within our dignity forums. To have such a large number of people in these types of roles will mean that our patients will be treated with kindness, respect and compassion. It will ultimately result in better care.”

Useful materials for teaching your children from home

Are you running out of lessons for your children? Why not try some useful resources for teaching your children from home.

You can access these resources by clicking here.

Check out our new wellbeing video and podcast library

A new wellbeing video and podcast library page is now available on Connect. The latest addition to the library is a video on the topic of ‘sleep.’

More videos will be coming soon in this series on the topics of exercise and shift patterns.

The library also includes the collection of one minute resilience videos by Richard Burnell and some breathing relaxation videos by yoga teacher Christopher Randall.

Alcohol support sessions available to colleagues via Zoom

Our alcohol team will be hosting online support sessions for friends and families of people who are dependent on alcohol via Zoom every Wednesday from 7pm. These sessions are open to everyone including colleagues at the Trust.

Note: You will need download the Zoom app in order to join the session. The meeting ID is 81498967810.

For more information and support, please contact arlene.copland@nhs.net.

Eye drops during Ramadan

We must remind all colleagues that patients should be encouraged to take their eye drops during Ramadan.

Muslims using eye drops during Ramadan will not break their fast as the medication does not count as food or drink.

Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions in which the main nerve to the eye (the optic nerve) is damaged where it leaves the back of the eye. As it becomes damaged, vision is lost, usually starting around the edge of the field of vision known as peripheral vision. There are no early symptoms of glaucoma, so up to 40 per cent of the peripheral vision can be lost without an individual noticing.

The most common treatment for glaucoma is to take eye drops. Depending on the type of eye drops, these may need to be taken every day and sometimes two or three times a day.

Mr Abdul-Jabbar Ghauri, Consultant Ophthalmologist, said, “Eye drops should be taken throughout the month. According to most legal schools, the medication is not considered to break the fast, even if traces of taste or colour reach the back of the throat. For those people who aren’t convinced and can still taste the drop, they can try punctal occlusion. Most scholars would agree that eye drops do not count as food or drink. Islam forbids any act which is harmful to an individual. All Muslims should take care of their bodies, entrusted to them by God.

“It is really important that we get the message out there that taking eye drops, or any medication for long-term illnesses is vital. Eye drops need to be taken every day in a range of eye conditions, including glaucoma and inflammatory eye disease. Even stopping the drops for a short time can cause permanent damage to a person’s vision and they may not notice any damage until their next check-up and field test.

“We know Ramadan can be a busy time, so we recommend that patients leave their drops in a prominent place, such as by their toothbrush. Putting a reminder on a phone is also a good way to remember to take them.”

Is your emergency equipment trolley full equipped?

This is a reminder that all emergency equipment trolleys in the Trust are due their full monthly check (no later than) on Thursday 30 April.

Monthly checks include:

• Full inventory check of all equipment
• Restocking any missing equipment
• Replacing all equipment due to expire in May with replacement equipment expiring no earlier than 1 June
• Sealing and documentation recording the staff member who made the full check and serial number of tag

Note: It is the responsibility of department managers (or shift lead in the absence of the manager) to ensure that the emergency equipment is safe and ready for immediate use and restocked after use.

Daily checks can be commenced for May providing the original seal remains intact.

Daily checks include: 

• Check all peripheral items are present and ready for use – defibrillator, oxygen, boogie andgloves
• Check tamper evident seal is intact and as per previously logged number if correct there is no requirement to open trolley seal daily
• Record seal tag number daily
• Sign daily check

For more information please contact swb-tr.swbh-gm-resuscitation-team@nhs.net.