Monthly archives: May 2020

Drug safety notice – neuromuscular blocking agents: atracurium, cisatracurium and rocuronium

On 20 April a supply disruption alert was issued for neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) which advised there were limited supplies of atracurium injection (all strengths) and cisatracurium injection (all strengths) remaining due to the recent increase in demand.

As the supply position on rocuronium has improved this can now be used as a first choice neuromuscular blocking agent (NMBA) in all scenarios, unless there is a contraindication.

Please see Neuromuscular blocking agents supply disruption alert sheet

For more information please contact the pharmacy department (City ext. 5263, Sandwell ext. 3783).

Heartbeat: Rainbow brigades provide a kaleidoscope of vital assistance

If you were to mention rainbows at present you might end up having a conversation about some of the many wonderful drawings, paintings and other pieces of art visible in the windows of homes across the region. However, rainbows are also connected to the newly created COVID-19 brigades.

Back in April, our organisation asked volunteers to join our brigades. Three days later following the release of updated working from home guidance, colleagues were asked to consider whether their role was needed full time during the next ten weeks of the pandemic. Of those not needed full time, volunteers were then sought to take up temporary redeployment into key support functions.

Red – clinical administration

This includes, along with purple, colleagues shielding and working from home.*

This brigade supports ward teams and emergency care services with clinical administration duties. This also involves keeping in touch with patients whose care has been delayed or deferred by the focus on COVID-19.

Yellow – PPE wardens

This brigade has two key roles. Firstly, making sure that everyone has the right PPE and wears it as required. Secondly, this brigade will be supporting areas as runners to ensure that teams stay in PPE in their affected departments.

Green – Cleaning

This focuses on communal areas, door handles and other risk touchpoints. Most of the work will not be in clinical areas.

Blue – Portering and transport

Colleagues work within portering supporting the existing experienced teams. Some individuals might also be involved in driving duties.

Purple – Specialist projects

This involves an evolving series of pieces of work including projects on wellbeing, isolation and the recovery programme.

Unity – TTOs prescribing issue resolved

The issue affecting the prescribing of TTO’s identified yesterday has now been resolved.

Colleagues do not need to request TTO’s using the ‘Convert to prescription’ workaround and can return to prescribing using the ‘Reconciliation by discharge’ prescribing method as usual.

If you have any further issues prescribing medication, please contact the Pharmacy EPMA team on ext. 3579 or Informatics on ext 4050.

Heartbeat: New volunteer role launched at the Trust

With the outbreak of coronavirus across the world, our volunteer service has seized this opportunity to offer a helping hand.

Our hospital sites may have gone into lockdown in recent weeks, but that hasn’t stopped us in wanting to be caring and kind and more importantly, ensure our patients are still our number one priority.

With visiting restricted due to the outbreak of COVID-19, our volunteer service decided they wanted to turn this negative into a positive by launching a new role for the service – a 2020 response volunteer.

“The role of a 2020 response volunteer is to assist the organisation during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Patricia Hunt, Volunteer Service Manager.

“All our response volunteers will be flexible and able to take on a variety of duties from distributing information leaflets, posters to helping us with the many donations from the community and wayfinding. The role is designed to help support our frontline colleague whilst they care for our patients.”

Kamal (Kay) Deep has taken up this new volunteer opportunity and is thriving in her new role. She told us: “It always feels good to be able to give back to people in my local area and help others, especially during such difficult times. If by me wayfinding or carrying out any of my other duties helps our patients and key workers, then it is a job I am proud to be doing.”

Liza Gill, Volunteer Service Manager believes the response volunteers will make a significant difference across all our sites. She said: “Our response volunteers encapsulate our strapline of ‘giving time to care’ and will most definitely have a positive impact across the whole Trust.

“Since the national call out from the NHS encouraging volunteers to help the most vulnerable, we have had a massive influx of potential volunteers wanting to offer their time to help us.”

International year of the nurse and the midwife: Dominic LeGros

This year marks International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, a campaign by the World Health Organisation in honour of the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.

Nurses and midwives play a vital role in providing health services in our workplace. They devote their lives to caring for mothers and children; giving lifesaving immunisations and health advice; looking after older people and generally meeting everyday essential health needs. They are often the first and only point of care in their communities. Throughout the year we will be highlighting some of our nurses, HCAs and midwives who are making a difference to our patients.

Today we feature Dominic LeGros, Business Relationship Manager – Unity EPR.

Dom qualified as a nurse in 1998 at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow and started working in the emergency department. He joined our organisation in 2001 as an E grade senior staff nurse on the West Midlands Poisons Unit, where he worked until 2004, in when he moved to Selly Oak Hospital to return to emergency nursing.

He re-joined us in 2008 at City Hospital A&E, where he trained as an emergency nurse practitioner and qualified as an independent prescriber.

In 2018, Dom took the opportunity to combine a lifelong interest in technology with a passion for delivering quality care, when he joined the Unity team as an informatics nurse.

Dom would go on to win the Digital Leader of the Year Award at the 2018 Star Awards.

Do you now a nurse, HCA or midwife who is gong above and beyond to deliver quality care? Contact the communications team swb-tr.SWBH-GM-Staff-Communications@nhs.net

welearn from excellence

We have launched welearn from excellence across the Trust through our QIHDs. It is a way to recognise colleagues for their everyday brilliance and show appreciation for their hard work, achievements and improvements to quality or safety.

Positive reporting is quick and easy.  Simply click here or on the welearn from excellence logo on the Connect homepage.

welearn from excellence story:

Providing patients with home comforts – medicine therapy team

When visiting restrictions were put in place, the medicine therapy team noticed an increase in anxiety among our patients. When speaking to patients, Maureen Badger, Physiotherapy Assistant Practitioner noticed that they were missing home comforts that would usually be brought in by relatives or friends. Maureen said: “We put out a local plea and started to collect donations of products that met infection control standards and could be shared across all ward areas.”

Hannah Jenns, Advanced Physiotherapist added: “We are incredibly proud of the way the team have considered the patients’ holistic and emotional needs, and coordinated everyone’s goodwill into practical methods to benefit some of our most vulnerable patients.”

For more information on welearn from excellence please contact swbh.welearnlfe@nhs.net.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 28 May

This is our seven days a week bulletin. Please use this bulletin and cascade arrangements within care and corporate groups to guide your actions. Throughout May and June we are determined to reduce avoidable harm and death in the people we are taking care of. Kindness remains the guiding principle of all the actions in our work to tackle the virus – kindness in how we look after patients, visitors, and one another.

Tomorrow we expect to issue redeployment release letters to most folk who have been moved as part of COVID-19.  Not everyone will be returning to their prior workplace at the same time, and different arrangements will apply to Brigades.  Liam Kennedy chairs the tactical group overseeing this work.  Any movement back is clearly contingent on future C-19 demand in June and July.  With that in mind, we are in the process of reorganising red and lilac wards on three sites to try and ensure clear differentiation where we can between blue and red streams.  If next week you have not received your news on redeployment release please get in touch with Liam.

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

1. Antibody testing

Antibody testing for staff will be available from Monday 1st June. It is a blood test to assess whether you have antibodies for COVID-19. If you do have antibodies then it is likely that you have probably been exposed to the virus and your body has produced antibodies to fight it. This does not mean you are protected against catching COVID-19 again. If you do not have antibodies then it is likely that you either have not had the COVID-19 virus or your body has not developed antibodies to fight the virus. There is currently no evidence to show that having antibodies means someone cannot be re-infected with the virus, or pass it on to others, or have long-term protective immunity.

The test result will not currently influence where you work in the Trust. To book a test please call 0121 507 6104 and select option 2 when prompted Mon – Friday 8:00am – 16:30pm.  Results of your test will be e-mailed to you from Occupational Health within 72 hours of having the test. You can find out more in this questions and answers document. For more information please click here.

Whatever the result, you must continue to follow the infection prevention and PPE guidance in full. Observe strict hand hygiene at all times, keep social distancing two metres from people outside your household and wear PPE according to guidelines when seeing patients in clinical areas. You will also need to follow Occupational Health guidance on self-isolating and testing if you develop symptoms of possible COVID-19 in future.

2. Yellow Card – Reporting adverse reactions to COVID-19 treatments

The Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory Agency (MHRA) have launched a new portal for reporting problems with anything to do with treating COVID-19: trial drugs, ventilators, CPAP machines and other devices  such as syringes and pumps, PPE, diagnostic tests, and eventually vaccines. Anyone can report to this scheme.

Please report suspected side effects to medicines or medical device and diagnostic adverse incidents used in Coronavirus treatment to ensure safe and effective use: https://coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

3. It is important that all of us take annual leave.      

Colleagues are reminded that there is no annual leave ban in place at the Trust, so everyone’s encouraged to take a break. Please have a think about your leave plans for July, August and September and try and confirm them with your line manager.

We want to put in place security of service supply so that patients who have been waiting for some time are able to be booked in for care. Numbers may not be huge but it is important any bookings we make are honoured. In July we will publish guidance on spreading leave over the period to March 2022. So we are encouraging everyone to make plans now for the summer. That helps your wellbeing and ensures we do right by our patients.

4. Patient swabbing

There remains a degree of concern and confusion over swabbing that has resulted in issues with testing so here is a reminder of some critical points on the subject we have previously covered here:

• Patient PathwayEvery admitted patient must be swabbed.To ensure that we are able to safely admit patients and have a plan on their route through our hospitals and services we have devised the Patient Swabbing Pathway. Patient Swabbing Pathway to illustrate the points at which patients will be swabbed and how they will be supported through our services. It is important the policy is applied as appended.  That may vary from historic practice but it must be our standard approach.
• Oropharyngeal swab kitsIf you require details on the process of utilising oropharyngeal swab kits for COVID-19 sampling please see the attached poster. Please ensure the process is followed carefully as failure to do so will result in samples being rejected and discarded.
• Triple bagging swab samples for safetyRemember when you are bagging your swab sample, you must ensure the red topped bottle is first put in a clear specimen bag, this should then be placed in a clear zip lock bag and finally packaged in a blue specimen bag alongside any paperwork.

5. The Wellbeing Sanctuary

 As we’ve been reminding you throughout the week, your health and wellbeing is of paramount concern and the Trust offers a range of support for health and wellbeing should you need it. Another option that you may want to consider is the COVID-19 wellbeing sanctuary based at The Learning Works, Unett Street, Smethwick. The Sanctuary is accessible to all colleagues and offers a range of health and wellbeing activities. You can also pop in for a coffee and chat, or just to relax. Daily sanctuary sessions include:

• Deep Relaxation and Breathing through Soundscape – Travel from the peaks of the Himalayas to the depths of the oceans of Bali relaxing in harmonious tranquillity.
• Music Therapy – A time to find inner stillness through the tranquillity of relaxing sound vibrations.
• Restorative Clinical Supervision (Health and Wellbeing Lead) –  A safe and confidential space to explore the impact of work pressures.
• Unwind with Mindfulness – Breathe and Relax. Enjoy the power of connection and self-kindness.

Many colleagues are already taking advantage of the services on offer. A ward services officer who has been visiting the Wellbeing Sanctuary on a regular basis told us. “I have been off work with anxiety and the help I am getting here is really helping me to get my mind ready so I am able to return to work. The colleagues here are wonderful, I would definitely recommend it.”

Sessions last between 20 and 40 minutes. See the full timetable here. You can book a session by calling 0121 507 5886.

The Connect Coronavirus page is continually being updated with the latest news and guidance regarding the virus, please take the time to read and familiarise yourself with the available guidance.

Heartbeat: Nice two metres, two metres nice – the importance of social distancing

It may sound simple; wash your hands more often and for 20 seconds or longer. How many of us in reality though do that regularly throughout the day? There may be a temptation to give your hands a quick wash after the 10th time or perhaps squeeze past someone in the supermarket, but with COVID-19 cases increasing, we must observe the social distancing guidelines set out for us by the government.

Done properly social distancing is in place to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Across the UK we are being asked to:

• Avoid contact with someone who is displaying symptoms of COVID-19.These symptoms include high temperature and/or a new and continuous cough.
• Avoid non-essential use of public transport.
• Maintain a distance of two metres from those around you when in public places.
• Work from home, where possible. This is something you should have already had a conversation about with your manager if this applies to your role. If not, speak to your manager to clarify if you can do so.
• Use telephone or online services to contact your GP or other essential services.

Following these guidelines is particularly important if you:

• Are over 70
• Have an underlying health condition
• Or are pregnant.

Other ways you can help prevent the spread of infection include:

• Washing your hands more often. Alternatively, use a sanitiser throughout the day, when you blow your nose, sneeze, cough or eat or handle food. Clinical colleagues, in particular, are reminded of the five moments of handwashing.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in a bin and wash your hands
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces in the home.

Bike storage – remember to remove your lock

Please can colleagues be courteous to other users and remove their lock from the bike pods at the end of the working day. We’ve had numerous reports of locks being left on certain bike pods for a extended period of time.

Free access to bikes for colleagues

Sandwell Council is offering Trust colleagues free access to their bike fleet. The council’s public health team are working in partnership with Cycling UK to enable colleagues to have the opportunity to cycle to and from work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme is open to anyone who still needs to commute or travel for work on a regular basis during the lockdown.

To register your interest please email staffbike_pool@sandwell.gov.uk or call 07976 556676. For more details go to www.sandwellbikehire.com.

Yellow Card – Reporting adverse reactions to COVID-19 treatments

The  Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory Agency (MHRA) have launched a new portal for reporting problems with anything to do with treating COVID-19: trial drugs, ventilators, CPAP machines and other devices  such as syringes and pumps, PPE, diagnostic tests, and eventually vaccines.

Anyone can report to this scheme. Please report suspected side effects to medicines or medical device and diagnostic adverse incidents used in coronavirus treatment to ensure safe and effective use.

https://coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/