Monthly archives: June 2020

Terracycle crisp packet recycling update

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the estates team are not accepting crisp packets for the Terracycle crisp packet recycling programme. We will keep you updated on any further changes.

For more information please contact francesca.silcocks@nhs.net.

IT Infrastructure maintenance taking place tonight

Urgent IT infrastructure maintenance will be taking place tonight (Thursday 18 June) from 8pm through to 2am where 17 servers will be systematically rebooted in a controlled manner to apply security patches.

Unity and other clinical systems will remain online and operational through this period, however colleagues may find that some services might be subject to short delays.

All services should be operating as normal as soon as the maintenance is complete at 2am.

If you experience any issues with Unity or any other systems during this maintenance please contact the IT Service Desk on Ext. 4050

The service desk is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Star Awards 2020: Volunteer of the Year

Do you know an individual who has made a significant impact to our Trust whilst volunteering or a person who has shown selflessness and determination to support the people around them?

Nominate them for the Volunteer of the Year Award in this year’s upcoming Star Awards.

Ways to nominate:

• You can complete a paper nomination form which you can download by clicking here.
• You can send in a video nomination for free to swbh.comms@nhs.net via www.wetransfer.com Choose go to free. When doing the recording remember to state clearly who you are and the name of the person/team you are nominating.
• You can complete the online form by clicking here.

Be sure to check out this video featuring last year’s winner Manish Pandit.

If you have any questions regarding the Star Awards, please contact the communications team on 0121 507 5303 or email swbh.comms@nhs.net.

For more information, please visit our dedicated Star Awards page on Connect.

IT update to NHS Smartcards: Wednesday 24 June – from 6:30 to midnight

The National Smartcard system is being updated and during the update we will not be able to reset passwords on smartcards or issue new ones but they will still be usable.

The work is scheduled to begin at 6:30pm and should be completed by midnight.

Should you have any queries on this please contact the IT helpdesk on ext 4050.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 17 June

    Numbers not statistics: Today’s totals (Wednesday 10 June’s totals)

1. Face masks – updated guidance for colleagues and patients

We now have some updated guidance on face masks and the areas where they should be worn. From Monday 22 June everyone entering the main entrances to all our hospital buildings where clinical services are delivered should wear a face covering. We will supply people with Fluid Resistant Surgical Masks if they do not have one. Our security team will monitor each entrance to ensure guidance is being followed and PPE wardens will track supplies.

In non-clinical office buildings, where clinical services do not take place, no masks or face coverings are required as long as your office is COVID-secure, meaning that you can safely work there and remain 2 metres apart from other colleagues. A health and safety squad are assessing all offices over the next fortnight and will advise on the number of people who can safely work there in line with current social distancing guidelines.

For more information see our FAQs here.

2. Improving care with research

Research has been at the centre of efforts to improve care for people with COVID-19 infection. At the start of the surge in the UK, there were a number of potential treatments, which were being tested around the world. The NHS is a particularly good environment for conducting research and Trusts around the country were able to quickly direct their research teams to opening COVID-19 studies and recruiting patients. Our Trust has opened a broad portfolio of studies for patients with differing severity of symptoms.

The RECOVERY study is a randomised controlled drug trial for patients who are ill enough to be admitted to hospital. To date 11,579 patients have been recruited in 179 Trusts around the country. The unprecedented speed with which this study has recruited has resulted in two of the treatment options reporting results. Last week it was announced that the hydroxychloroquine arm would stop recruiting as there was no benefit for hospitalised patients taking it. In contract dexamethasone, one death would be prevented by treatment of around eight ventilated patients or around 25 patients requiring oxygen alone. There was no benefit among those patients who did not require respiratory support. A press release with more information can be found here. We have recruited 108 patients to this study, this has been a team effort with recruitment taking place in most COVID wards and multiple teams.

3. Staff participation in COVID-19 research

The Trust is often approached to help facilitate researchers to reach out to NHS staff. There are two opportunities to participate in current COVID-19 staff research below.

Communication & Work Life Balance – Impact of COVID-19

Researchers from a collaboration group led by Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust would like to invite you to take part in a short questionnaire exploring the impact of work related communications on our staff wellbeing, before and during the coronavirus pandemic.

The aim of this study is to better understand how work life balance is being affected by newer forms of communication and potential communication overload as the coronavirus induces both more communication and has forced remote working. The study team hope to find out what may help staff during this time and in the future.

If you wish to know more about this study or want take part, you can do so by clicking this link.

STAT-STRESS COVid19 Staff Survey: The mental health impact of Covid-19 on hospital workers

A group of clinicians in Birmingham including Mr Chris Thompson have developed an online survey evaluating the incidence of self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression and post-traumatic growth amongst all NHS hospital workers (secondary, tertiary care, including mental health workers), from the county of West Midlands, UK, who were working during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Employees, volunteers and students on placement (clinical or non clinical) at a NHS hospital in the West Midlands, during the Covid-19 pandemic are invited to take part in this survey. For more information and to take part click here. 

4. Rainbows which mark stories of kindness

Many Trusts are creating memories of COVID-19 due to the far reaching impact that it has had on so many of our families, colleagues, teams and communities. People have made amazing contributions in extraordinary times. We would like to create a Rainbow of Kindness to reflect so many stories that have appeared throughout the past few months. It is really important to us that we get as many colleagues as possible to contribute to this. Your stories of kindness will be used to create a rainbow that will be displayed across our sites.

You can share your stories of kindness either by email or in writing. Postcards to capture these will be circulated shortly or in the meantime a sheet has been included in today’s QIHD pack that can be printed and written on.

Please send your stories to Claire Hubbard either by internal post to Trust HQ or email Claire.hubbard2@nhs.net. 

5. NHS staff convalescent plasma donation

Colleagues who have recovered from COVID-19 are being prioritised for convalescent plasma donation.

Convalescent plasma is the antibody-rich plasma of people who have recovered from COVID-19, which can be transfused into people who are still ill.

Dr Zahid Sarfaz, one of our A&E doctors based at Sandwell Hospital became one of the first to donate his plasma to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) after he had recovered from COVID-19. He said: “Everybody has been playing their part. I am hoping that by donating plasma I can help too, plus it’s easy to donate. NHSBT primarily contact potential convalescent plasma donors directly. It is important that potential donors have recovered and that they have had time to develop a good antibody response. If people have a confirmed positive test result and they are willing to donate, they can also provide details via a form on the NHSBT website.”

NHS colleagues should call 0300 123 23 23, say they want to donate convalescent plasma and explain they work for the NHS. They will then be given priority. They can also provide their details by going to www.nhsbt.nhs.uk

Many early convalescent plasma donors have been GPs, hospital doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and allied health and clerical professionals.

6. UV cleaning

We are now using a portable ultra violet light system to decontaminate clinical areas as part of our infection control programme.

The Ultra-V emits UV-C light and is proven technology for the reduction of biological contamination. The technology uses monitors and adjusts the process to ensure consistent results in the reduction of surface contamination. Areas will be deep cleaned first and then the machine will be used by trained operators from an external company.

Initially all rooms will be cleaned, including staff areas on the second and third floor at Sandwell Hospital to assess its effectiveness of deep cleans on occupied ward areas.

Initially all rooms will be cleaned, including staff areas on the second and third floor at Sandwell Hospital to assess its effectiveness of deep cleans on occupied ward areas.

Drug safety notice: Metered dose inhaler spacer devices

The currently stocked Able Spacer and AeroChamber device used at the Trust are not compatible with all MDI devices available today mainly due to the inhaler port design. These will be phased out and replaced with EasyChamber.

All prescribers are urged to review patients to determine if a spacer device is beneficial for medication compliance. Inhaler technique must be reviewed and appropriate referral made to the respiratory nurse specialists/ paediatric teams or ward pharmacists.

Please see Drug safety notice – metered dose inhaler spacer devices for further details.  

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

Hallam restaurant sandwich bar open every Tuesday and Thursday

Hallam restaurant’s crumbles sandwich bar has now reopened every Tuesday and Thursday, 11am-2pm.

Trust retail outlets opening days and times:

Please see opening days and times of our retails outlets below.

We are encouraging all customers to take away any products they buy rather than eat at the restaurants in groups of more than two people. Our outlets are also only accepting contactless payments.   

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Recharge Booth

This week the Recharge Booth will look at the impact of death during COVID-19.

“People dying is a part of working in healthcare, it’s something we all know. However, people dying without their family around them, having to use telephones and video calls to say their last goodbyes isn’t normal. It’s heart breaking to see loneliness in death and I don’t know if I can continue to work in the area I do, having to risk going through this again.

“The last few months have taken their toll on me and I want to feel mentally strong again.”

The Recharge Booth takes place every Thursday at 2pm. Email swbh.rechargebooth@nhs.net for your WebEx invite.

Smokefree survey

It is nearly one year on since the Trust implemented a total smoking ban across all our sites up to our external boundaries, so we would like to ask you for your thoughts on how you feel the ban has been implemented. If you are/were a smoker has it changed your habits, or if you are not, do you feel happier accessing our sites without walking through secondhand smoke? Would you be happy to challenge anyone you saw lighting up on site, or have you challenged this behaviour? Whether you are a smoker or not we’d love to hear your views.

Please complete the short survey below to help us learn from what went well, and what could be improved.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/smoke-free-2020

Unity tip of the week: Documenting bladder scan findings in Assessment and Fluid Balance

This week’s tip of the week comes from Rakan Khalifah , ED Specialty Doctor:

“Be sure to document bladder scan findings in Assessment and Fluid Balance under the Patient Care section”

We are encouraging colleagues at all levels across the Trust to suggest any quick wins or top tips they have for using Unity in their ward, area or department.

All suggestions are welcome so please get in touch! The best suggestions will be featured in our Unity Tip of the Week every Wednesday on Connect.

If you have a tip of the week please send it to  swbh.unitytips@nhs.net.