Monthly archives: June 2020

Heartbeat: All roads lead to BMEC – but there might be a slight detour

The coronavirus has had a fundamental impact on how we go about our working lives. Colleagues will be aware of discussions about how our organisation is tackling working from home and other matters of performing daily tasks whilst maintaining social distancing.

It has not just had an impact on colleagues and services, it has even had a knock-on effect on how we utilise our facilities and welcome patients into our buildings in the first place. One area that is meeting this challenge head-on is Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre (BMEC), where the flow of patients into and through the building has been reviewed.

“When it comes to the entrance ways of BMEC there are several obstacles that need to be overcome now that we are dealing with COVID-19.” Hilary Lemboye, Directorate General Manager for Ophthalmology and Deputy Group Director of Operations for Surgical Services explained.

One of the major messages going out from the Trust throughout May – in particular with the deep clean work undertaken at the Birmingham Treatment Centre, Rowley Regis Hospital and BMEC itself was that we are #openforbusiness. BMEC, as mentioned in last month’s Heartbeat, has been at pains to emphasise this. “Part of being open for business is being open for business safely, for both colleagues and patients. Leading up to COVID-19, we had one very busy entrance to our building; we’ve had to rethink this in support of social distancing. As part of our improvement plans, patients now travel in and out of exits specific to outpatients and urgent/ emergency care respectively. They also queue in a manner that reflects current restrictions.” Inside the department, we’ve decommissioned some waiting spaces and have created others to better protect our patients.

To better support social distancing:

• We are strictly monitoring the number of patients that we see per hour to reduce the number of people in outpatient waiting areas.
• Relatives that are not allowed to enter (barring those allowed under current organisation guidance) will be asked to wait in their cars.
• Some of our teams are implementing one-way traffic routes on busy days.

“Supporting patients to reach their outpatient and surgical destinations quickly as an interim measure to getting our new signs is essential in avoiding congestion That’s why we’ve now deployed our staff, and volunteers to BMEC’s front entrances Hilary continues, “We’ve improved our emergency department advice line to reduce the need for some people to attend and wait in queues. Where attendance (and queuing) is necessary, estates have created a shelter to shield patients as much as possible from the weather. We know that not everyone will get it at first and so we’re looking into ways to get the message out there to patients about the new routes via letters, telephone calls and social media.

“Our message continues to be that if you need to be seen for your eye care you should attend. Do not put your eyesight at risk.”

We are asking people to follow these guidelines:

• Outpatients: the need for a face to face review in outpatients will have been assessed by a senior clinician. Should you have any concerns, call our advice line on 0121 507 4440.
• Urgent/ emergency eye care: please call the above number and talk to one of our clinicians who will provide advice, for many of our patients we can offer a booked urgent appointment.”

Heartbeat: The fracture clinic gets plastered for a good cause!

Orthopaedic Practitioners, Stephanie Craig and Steven Hackett-Cann have recently led a project at City fracture clinic to create a children’s corner in the plaster room. As anyone who’s ever broken a bone or had a fracture will know the thought of getting yourself put back together is a daunting prospect.

The colourful play area was created to make children’s experiences within the clinic more welcoming. Equipped with everything from a portable DVD player to watch films on, to books, bubbles and colouring in posters, the area has been designed to ensure our young patients are entertained. It also means that children are distracted from thinking about the procedures they are about to undergo.

Pleased with how the transformation has gone, Stephanie said: “We felt collectively as a team that we could make our area more inviting for children. Steven and I have taken the lead on this project, but it has been a team effort. We couldn’t have made this happen without the support of our colleagues. We have enjoyed working on a project that we know makes a real difference to the children we look after.”

Steven added: “It’s a pleasure to see our young patients enjoying the area. It’s turned out just as planned and, we couldn’t be happier with the results. It brings a smile to your face knowing that you’ve done something that makes a hospital visit that bit more pleasurable.”

Denise Gnosill, Sister in the fracture clinic, told Heartbeat: “Stephanie and Steven have worked incredibly hard to create an area that children find friendly and where they can relax. These changes mean that they have something to divert their attention. It also makes the experience of visiting the hospital less scary and overwhelming.”

The transformation of the children’s corner has been so successful that Sandwell Hospital is in the process of creating their very own child-friendly area.

welearn from excellence

welearn from excellence 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 critical therapy – the critical care therapy team

Anne Hill, Consultant Physiotherapist nominated the critical care therapy team who have rapidly expanded from being a team of 9 to one of 22. She said: “Despite being a newly formed team, they have worked very well together with much flexibility. Their determination and dedication has been remarkable. There has been an awful lot of learning from both COVID-19 and also from bringing people together from different teams and backgrounds.”

Well done to Marion Brookes, Quivon White, Gemma Fitzgerald, Tom Buckroyd, Lauren Killner, Dan Barrett, Steve Semple, Vanessa Van de Bovenkamp, Lucy Styles, Emily Caiger-Smith, Julia Cooper, Sophie Baggott, Liz Holiday, Izzy Sawyers, Issy Higgins, Naomi Rowden, Lauren Brookes, Aaron Donaldson, Heather Stephens, Sam Miller, and Nicki Heys.

Star Awards 2020: Excellence in Education Prize

Do you know an individual or team who can demonstrate excellence in providing and supporting high quality education?

Nominate them as the Excellence in Education Prize at 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 winners Manoj Sikand.

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.

Have you had your wellbeing pack?

Over the past few weeks wellbeing packs have been handed out to support colleagues during the pandemic.

If your ward or department has not had their wellbeing packs, your manager should contact Amanda.winwood@nhs.net so this can be arranged.

Essential hardware maintenance affecting Unity Reporting: Tuesday 16 June – 7pm

As part of our ongoing work to improve Unity and as a prerequisite for the forthcoming upgrade, there is planned maintenance taking place today (Tuesday 16 June) affecting Unity Reporting (PI Explorer). The work is being carried out by our support vendor Cerner and is scheduled to begin at 7pm and should be completed by 9pm on Tuesday 16 June.

During this time Unity reporting will be unavailable; all other aspects of Unity remain unaffected.

Please note as part of this activity Cerner will be moving the existing Business Objects reports from SWBHUKBO01 to a new server SWBHUKBO07 so from Wednesday 17 June you will be required to update your “System” to SWBHUKBO07 when you first log in to PI Explorer after the maintenance to ensure you can continue to utilise this functionality.

Star Awards 2020 – Clinical Team of the Year (adults)

Do you know a team that has provided consistent, high quality care for adults whilst meeting financial and operational targets, a team that has demonstrated best practice or has driven forward improvements in patient care or has pulled together through particularly difficult circumstances?

Nominate them as the Clinical Team of the Year (adults) at 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 winners critical care.

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.

Children’s ED and Assessment Unit opens at City Hospital

Our new-look children’s emergency and children’s assessment unit (CECU) has opened today – and it will lead to more efficient and streamlined care for our young patients

The £1.2 million development has taken eight months to build and is based at City Hospital and is officially called the Children’s Emergency Care Unit (CECU).

All children will be seen in one area which will mean patients will have access to paediatric and ED colleagues in a more timely manner.

The area is separate from the emergency department where adults are treated – so it will be safer and more child friendly in décor and ethos.

The updated facility boasts an animal theme with facts about each one in the cubicles and waiting areas making it a more comfortable and interesting environment for youngsters.

Your Trust Charity has funded and sourced wall sensory toys and table bead toys for the area along with smart TVs for six cubicles.

The Trust invested in the new facility to ensure the best care is delivered in line with national guidelines.

It replaces a separate paediatrics assessment unit (PAU) based on D19 at the end of the main hospital spine and children’s ED which was co-located within the main accident and emergency department at the front of the hospital.

The unit will be led by nurse Marie Hinks and it is estimated that 18,000 children, aged from birth to under 16, will use the facility each year.

Star of the Week – Reena Patel

Star of the Week goes to Staff Nurse, Reena Patel who has been commended for her work in supporting patients to stay in touch with loved ones thousands of miles away.

Nominating Reena for the award, Clinical Education Sister, Hayley Griffiths wrote, “A nursing colleague I trained with 15 years ago contacted me last week to say her mom had been a patient on Lyndon 4 for the last five weeks. Her mom had her mobile phone but wasnt able to facetime her daughter who lives in Sydney Australia. With the current outbreak I was unable to go to Lyndon 4 but I contacted Staff Nurse, Reena Patel who agreed she would help. Reena took the reins and in no time at all had shown mom videos of well wishes from her daughter and grandchildren. Reena has also managed to setup video calling so they can get in touch with each other whenever they want to.

“Reena truly went the extra mile in helping this family stay in touch at a very difficult time.”

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.

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System maintenance taking place on Wednesday – to affect pathology

Essential system maintenance is taking place on Wednesday 17 June between 9am and 10am affecting the pathology service at City and Sandwell.

During the maintenance, Unity will remain online at all sites; however colleagues will need to revert to requesting pathology tests on paper forms as well as on Unity.

Paper requests will be required to process the pathology sample during downtime and as soon as the maintenance is complete, orders will be booked in electronically and reported through to the message centre ready for endorsement.

Urgent results will be phoned.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.