Monthly archives: July 2020

Holiday plays clubs for under 11’s: Limited spaces

The local organisations listed below have confirmed to the Trust that they will be operating holiday play clubs on a limited basis for children  up to 11 years of age.

Colleagues wishing to access their facilities should make contact with them directly as soon as possible as places are limited.

Note: As part of their risk assessment arrangements parents may be required to provide details of schools/childcare facilities children have attended during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable them to comply with current public health guidance and maintain consistent child groups or bubbles.

• The Gap Centre, Hargate Lane, West Bromwich. Tel 0121 525 4442, website: thegaponline.org
• Kaidrums Childcare, Yew Tree Estate, Walsall.  Tel: 07800 590 548, email: kaidrums2902@gmail.com
• Victoria House Holiday Playscheme,  Corbett Street, Smethwick.  Tel: 0121 555 6361
• Bright Lights Day Care , Great Arthur Street, Smethwick B66 1DH. Email: hickman@svps.sandwell.sch.uk
• Kings Camp – Birmingham (Blue Coat School and King Edwards Boys School). Website kingscamps.org

Further details of other child care facilities including childminders can be found by clicking here.

For more information please call 0121 507 3566.

Star of the Week – Catherine Morris

Our Star of the Week Award this week goes to Catherine Morris, Clinical Nurse Specialist.

Catherine has gone above and beyond the call of duty for the past few months. she has managed to juggle her professional role by working within the acute setting and within the community hospital (Leasowes). Catherine always remains approachable, bubbly, caring and professional despite the pressure from the pandemic. Cath has adapted well to the changes made within the team. She has had to put her new job role on pause to ensure that there is enough support for colleagues within both settings and for the patients. Catherine is very thorough in her role, values the points of others and ensures that others are informed at all times. She gets on well with everyone and has supported and guided the therapists within the acute setting and at Leasowes during the pandemic.

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.

Heartbeat: Serenity blows out the candles on 10th year!

Caring midwives at Serenity birthing unit have proved that it takes more than a pandemic to stop a birthday celebration. Marking 10 years of babies born on the same day as the International Day of the Midwife – 5 May – the unit was pleased to welcome baby number 12,274.

Taking to Instagram to share their big day, the team explained to their followers that although they had a much bigger party planned – before the pandemic – nevertheless they still wanted to mark the day with the age old tradition of tea and cake, to the sound of a newborn baby’s cry. Wellwishers were quick to add their messages of support on social media with one user congratulating the midwives social distancing party photo.

Sarah explained: “Originally we had planned a garden party celebration to mark our birthday but had to change our plans. We wanted to invite families who had used Serenity over the last 10 years, along with staff who have moved on and retired. However, we are hoping to reschedule later in the year or next year depending on when restrictions are eased, and it is safe to do so.

The 10th anniversary was a time to look forward to the future, and in so doing, to remember the past. In looking back to the very beginning and the first baby born in the unit, Lead Midwife Sarah Figg recalled baby Sakinah Mariam Yusuf, who was born to proud parents Donna Corbin and Abdur Yusuf. They were so impressed with their surroundings and the care they received they named their precious girl Sakinah (which is Arabic for Serenity) after the unit.

Speaking at that time, Donna said: “My first impressions of the unit were wow! It is such a special unit and I had a fantastic birth. The midwives allowed me to listen to what my body was telling me and the midwives on the unit have been incredibly supportive. Dad Abdur added: “I think the beautiful environment and positive attitude of the midwives here really makes a difference, which has led to Donna and myself having a very special birthing experience. As a dad, I have been made to feel very welcome and it is great to see a birthing centre like this that has been designed with dads also in mind.”

Serenity has been nominated for a number of prestigious awards including the RCM award for promoting Normal Birth in January 2013, Team of the Year via the British Journal of Midwifery in 2013 and, the BJM Innovation in Practice Award. The unit is also a beacon site for midwifery units.

Speaking of the team, Sarah told us: “Of the original staff from our launch in 2010, myself, Mani Bahia, Amanda Brown, Maike Lehmann-Sander, Helen Powell, Sue Wainwright, Jas Kaur, Anna Kipps, Amie McGovern and Anita Taylor are still here and loving the job we do. We have been joined by many more brilliant midwives and maternity support workers, some of whom went on to complete their midwifery training, in the last 10 years.

“Some of our midwives have given birth to their babies here as well (Jo, Gemma and Anja) and Lynne’s grandchildren were born here. Mandy has attended the births of over 1000 babies and our much loved Helen Giles retired this April after being a team leader for eight years.”

Are you working on a randomised clinical trial – complete our survey

The Good Clinical Trials Collaborative would like anyone who has actively working on a randomised clinical trial since the beginning of the year to complete a short survey of experiences of conducting research during the COVID pandemic including where you have had to make changes to your practice.

Note: A short introductory video and the survey can be found at the link below.

https://wellcometrust.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1TFNSoYOKQtNZrv

Blood collection (fridge) training – limited spaces still available

The transfusion practitioners will be doing training for blood collection on Wednesday 15 July at Sandwell Education Centre (Room 5). The team currently have nine appointments available.

Note: Training is by appointment only. 

To book please email swbh.bloodtransfusion@nhs.net or call ext 2494.

Heartbeat: Monica Quinlan – Mastering her destiny one step at a time

Supporting further education and advancement is a prominent part of our culture. So when Monica Quinlan completed her Masters in Advanced Clinical Practice at Birmingham City University (BCU), it took her on both a personal and professional journey that has changed her life. Heartbeat caught up with Monica who shared her heartfelt story with us.

“I completed my Masters in February 2020. It was a three-year part-time course funded by the Trust. Being able to join this course meant so much to me. I required the academic side to support and underpin my advancing role, and I was determined to complete the course. It involved combining practical work placements and classroom sessions.”

“I was due to complete my course in October 2019; however I took four months off from studying as I lost my husband, who also worked at the Trust, in December 2018. He took his own life and, as you can imagine, my world fell apart.

“My older son was at university at the time, and my younger son was completing his GCSEs – both were distraught. My eldest son did his best to support us through what was the most traumatic time of our lives.”

Looking towards a brighter future, Monica explained how her studies helped her to find the focus she needed to start rebuilding her life. “I found strength in focusing on my academic work; it gave me the distraction I needed to overcome some of my weakest moments. My studies helped me discover the strength, focus and determination to move forward during this painful time, and I am thankful to the Trust for that.”

Monica is also grateful to everyone that supported her over the last few months. She told us how the kindness and compassion of those around her made such a positive difference. “The Trust, my department, my late husband’s colleagues, BCU, my family and friends have all been a huge support to me. The wellbeing department has been on hand to help me navigate the different stages of my grief – their support has helped me to start looking ahead to the future.”

She added: “So many people cheered me on to help me achieve my goal of completing my course. I’d like to say a special thanks to all of those people and in particular the library staff. Nicola Ager and her team have been a huge help over the past three years. Having a resource like a library within our organisation is invaluable.”

COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 1 July

This is our weekly bulletin and will be issued every Wednesday. Please use this bulletin and cascade arrangements within care and corporate groups to guide your actions. 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.

Numbers not statistics: Today’s totals (Wednesday 24 June’s totals)

1. Swabbing patients – Do you know when and how often you should be swabbing?

It is vital that inpatients are not only placed in the right care environment (Red, Lilac , Blue ward) but also that swabbing is carried out appropriately and effectively in each environment.

Remember:

1. Every patient MUST be swabbed on admission.
2. Patients on Lilac wards MUST be swabbed every 3 days.
3. Patients on Blue wards MUST be swabbed every 5 days.

Alongside swabbing at the right time, it’s critical that swabbing is carried out using the right swabbing kit and collected in the right manner.

White\Green\Yellow swab kits should be used for all inpatient swabs and for retesting in blue and lilac areas. Black swabs are only for urgent testing in pre-agreed areas.

Guidance on how to collect samples is available in the linked document.

• COVID-19 Patient Swabbing Guidance

Where swabs are taken, colleagues must ensure that they are hand delivered to the pathology departments as soon as possible so that they can be tested and reported without delay. Samples must not be left on wards for extended periods of time as this significantly delays the time taken to report results and ultimately puts patients and colleagues at risk.

Triple bagging swab samples for safety

Remember 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.

2. Face masks and ID badges – it’s for your safety and that of your colleagues’

As with last week, we remind ALL colleagues that when entering the buildings where clinical services are being provided you must ensure you use hand sanitiser and put on a fresh Fluid-resistant surgical mask (FRSM). You are also required upon entry to show security colleagues your ID badge. This is so we can keep you, colleagues, patients and approved visitors safe and help reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Additional stations with PPE are now in place at entrances. You must not take more masks than you need or take any home for use outside work. We are monitoring stock levels closely and checking what is being taken using CCTV.

Our security team are on hand at all main entrances to our clinical buildings to remind you. Please ensure that you give these valued colleagues the respect they deserve when they are implementing this approach. Any occasions of disrespect or discourtesy will be not be tolerated. Incidents will be reported and investigated in line with our Trust policies.

For more information about face masks see our FAQs here.

3. Colleague risk assessments

Many of you have completed a risk assessment with the Occupational Health department that takes into account your individual risk of COVID-19, assessing underlying health conditions, age, gender and ethnicity. The occupational health team are continuing to carry out these risk assessments for people who request them and can be booked by calling 0121 507 3306 or emailing swbh.riskassessmentoh@nhs.net

We would now like to ensure that all colleagues have evidenced their own risk assessments by completing the risk assessment calculator and returning your completed assessment to the occupational health team via email who will be able to respond to you with actions required. For more information click here.

4. Visiting restrictions are staying in place – for now.

With the easing of lockdown and social distancing measures we are expecting to receive more enquiries about an easing of visiting restrictions, as well as members of the public thinking that the restrictions within our Trust space are likewise reduced.

To be clear for everyone, at this time our present visiting restrictions – those that have been in place for the past several weeks – remain in place.

We are ensuring that we keep a close eye on cases in the community and in hospital settings so that we can take a phased approach to changing visitor arrangements. It is especially important we take stock of both the local picture and what is being learnt elsewhere when it comes to our visiting restrictions and what happens immediately after July 4 will also certainly play a role.

Please continue to encourage the use of mobile devices/tablets for families to keep in touch with their loved ones. We recognise the challenges that are faced by colleagues whilst implementing these restrictions and we want to thank everyone for their support in enforcing the current visiting arrangements.

5. Working from home guidance extended

As we mentioned back in April, our Working from Home Guidance was originally proposed to take us through to the end of July, but this has now been extended to the end of August while we continue to evaluate what is best for you and the services we provide.

With that in mind, our safe office space review is continuing. There will also be engagement over long-term work from home arrangements during the summer. This longer-term strategy will reflect learnings from over the last three months and look to put arrangements on a firmer and more contractual footing that will carry the Trust through the period to 2023. This ensures fairness for existing and new employees and clarity about eligibility and decision making.  We expect this longer-term guidance to see more home working than prior to COVID-19, mindful of social distancing and the open plan nature of office accommodation in particular in the Trust’s estate from 2022. 

6. Handwashing is still essential, gloves are not an alternative

Wearing gloves does not prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Regular and effective hand washing is the best way to prevent the virus from spreading.

Colleagues are reminded that gloves are single use and  should only be worn  when they are needed as part of PPE for a particular procedure or task and should immediately be disposed of following this and hand hygiene performed.

Gloves should not be worn as an alternative to hand washing.

Gloves are not required for procedures where there is a minimal risk of cross infection between patients and staff and include the following:

• Basic care procedures without contact with blood and body fluids (including bathing/washing).
• Making uncontaminated beds/changing or removing patients uncontaminated clothing.
• Taking recordings of blood pressure, temperature, pulse.
• Moving patients around the hospital unless a specific infection control risk has been identified.

7.National Launch: NHSX Health and Care Video Library

NHSX aims to improve health and social care by giving people the technology they need. As part of the response to COVID-19, NHSX has secured a 6 month national licence for NHS clinicians to use the Health and Care Video Library of over 600 patient information videos with their patients, FREE OF CHARGE. The videos have been written by NHS clinicians to work within care pathways to help patients. They have been independently, clinically assured by multiple NHS Trusts.

NHSX evaluation programmes have already shown these results:

• Reduction in the length of appointments
• Removal of unnecessary appointments
• Patients better understand their conditions
• Patients enabled to manage their care at home

To help maximise the video library’s impact, they have created an online Resource Hub for NHS clinicians to access information and guidance on how to use and share the videos in clinical specialties and pathways.

8. Mental Wellbeing

The Trust has launched its Level 1 mental wellbeing training which focuses on supporting colleagues through the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic recovery. Part of the wellbeing support plan is the provision of training for all line managers, plus any volunteer colleagues, to have initial conversations with colleagues and, where appropriate, open the door to further services that may help. This is the Level 1 supervisor training which is in the form of e-learning material. Please follow the attached information on how to access the course.

e-Learning Registration – Level 1 Mental Wellbeing Supervisor Training

A range of other mental health support is on offer that can be seen on our Connect Wellbeing pages. The recharge booth returns tomorrow (Thursday 2 July 2020) with a story on isolation and working from home. To join please email swbh.rechargebooth@nhs.net. A WebEx invite will be sent to your outlook diary, and you will simply need to click on the ‘join’ button to enter.

Wellbeing programme 8 week countdown: Survey

An ambition within our Trust’s public health plan, primary care plan, and featuring in both integrated care partnership (ICP) plans, is to tackle the rising incidence of obesity. We are implementing a strategy to support improved wellbeing among:

• Our own workforce
• Our patients
• Our communities, with a focus on children

We have begun an 8 week countdown plan to launch the healthy weight element of our wellbeing programme with colleagues on 14 August.

We would like to ask you some short questions on the menu of options we will launch which will support our:

1. Mental wellbeing
2. Physical health (activity and exercise)
3. Nutrition (food and drink)

You can complete the survey by clicking the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ytc-health-and-wellbeing

Note: All of your answers will remain anonymous and will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 8 July

This is our weekly bulletin and will be issued every Wednesday. Please use this bulletin and cascade arrangements within care and corporate groups to guide your actions. 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.

Numbers not statistics: Today’s totals (Wednesday 1 July’s totals)

1. Don’t forget to complete your COVID-19 assessment

Our Trust is providing COVID-19 risk assessments for all of our colleagues to help categorise the level of risk to each individual person and enable managers to be provided with the actions they are required to take to keep colleagues safe at work. We launched the risk assessments a few weeks ago and colleagues to date have been able to contact occupational health to have their assessment completed.

Unless you have already had this assessment with occupational health please complete the form here: COVID Risk Assessment Form

Completed risk assessments should be sent to swbh.riskassessmentoh@nhs.net.

Thank you to the many colleagues (over 2000 of you) who have already completed and sent back their risk assessment form. Anyone who has responded so far should get a response letter from occupational health this week.

All the data is collated and aggregated within occupational health. As an organisation we are required to report nationally on the following:

• Number of staff risk-assessed and percentage of whole workforce.
• Number of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff risk assessments completed, and percentage of total risk assessments completed and of whole workforce.
• Percentage of staff risk-assessed by staff group.
• Additional mitigation over and above the individual risk assessments in settings where infection rates are highest.

For more information please call 0121 507 3306.

2. Red vs Blue: New ED streaming criteria

Changes to the red/hot and blue/cold ED streaming criteria, as agreed by the ED, acute medicine, respiratory and microbiology teams rolled out yesterday.

Patients presenting with following conditions should be streamed to the RED stream:

1. An influenza like illness or fever >37.8, with one of the following respiratory symptoms, which must be acute in onset: a new persistent cough (with or without sputum), hoarseness, nasal discharge or congestion, shortness of breath, sore throat, wheezing or sneezing.
2. A new loss of sense of smell or taste (anosmia) either in isolation or combination with any of the other symptoms.
3. A new onset of persistent cough.
4. A new and unexplained shortness of breath.
5. A recent COVID-19 positive test (within last 28 days) with any new systemic or unexplained symptom.
6. History of exposure to a COVID-19 positive patient within the last 14 days and symptomatic with any of the above symptoms (contacted by NHS Test and Trace).
7. Any patient in cardiac arrest, needing AGP ( Airway management/support in low GCS patients or conscious sedation), needing chest procedures (seldinger/surgical drain) should be streamed to the RED

The following patients can be streamed to the BLUE stream :

1. Patients known to have COPD/asthma or cardiac failure presenting with symptoms in keeping with exacerbation.
2. Patients with fever with clear alternative (non-COVID) explanation.

3. Swabbing patients – Do you know when and how often you should be swabbing?

It is vital that inpatients are not only placed in the right care environment (Red, Lilac , Blue ward) but also that swabbing is carried out appropriately and effectively in each environment.

Remember:

1. Every patient MUST be swabbed on admission.
2. Patients on Lilac wards MUST be swabbed every 3 days.
3. Patients on Blue wards MUST be swabbed every 5 days.

Alongside swabbing at the right time, it’s critical that swabbing is carried out using the right swabbing kit and collected in the right manner.

White\Green\Yellow swab kits should be used for all inpatient swabs and for retesting in blue and lilac areas.

Black swabs are only for urgent testing in pre-agreed areas. Pre-agreed areas include:

• Patients being admitted through the red stream in ED/AMU.
• Patients in blue or lilac wards. If they develop new or worsening symptoms, they must be promptly isolated and urgently swabbed for a quick 2hrs COVID PCR.

Please note, if samples are not appropriately packaged with three patient identifiers they will be rejected. Similarly, all lids on red and green tubes must be secured properly. Any leaking samples will be rejected to ensure our lab safety is not compromised. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

 Guidance on how to collect samples is available in the linked document.

• COVID-19 Patient Swabbing Guidance

Where swabs are taken, colleagues must ensure that they are hand delivered to the pathology departments as soon as possible so that they can be tested and reported without delay. Samples must not be left on wards for extended periods of time as this significantly delays the time taken to report results and ultimately puts patients and colleagues at risk.

Triple bagging swab samples for safety

Remember 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.

4. SIREN sounding out new R&D study

Our research and development team are pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new study called SIREN which is expected to open in the next few days. The principal investigator for the study is Dr Masood Aga, Consultant and Specialty Lead in Occupational Medicine. The overall aim of this study is to determine if previous COVID-19 infection in healthcare workers confers future immunity from having the infection again. It will also look at any new infection and therefore will involve both repeat swab and the antibody blood test every two weeks on average (variable from 1 to 4 weekly sampling), for one year. The study is not blinded and participants will know their results after each test.

The study is open to healthcare workers in a clinical setting where patients are present. If you are currently participating in any other research, the team would need to discuss this with you individually. As part of recruitment, the team will be offering consent conversations on a one-one basis or as groups via Webex or face to face, if you would prefer. Appointments will be made at a time that is convenient to participants and recruitment will be taking place at City & Sandwell Hospitals.

More information will follow in subsequent bulletins and will also be on Connect when the study is ready to accept participants.

The research team continue to work on a wide selection of urgent public health COVID-19 studies and three further patient studies will open in the next couple of weeks. One of these; FALCON is looking at different new diagnostic tests for COVID-19. Prof Dan Lasserson is the principal investigator and the study is expecting to recruit in the emergency departments.

Each week the COVID-19 bulletin features the number of patients recruited into research projects. This number (156 this week) only includes patients where there has been a consent discussion either with the patient, a family member or the treating team. There are six other studies where data is being returned by the research or treating teams, the data on more than 780 patients has been completed or completion is underway.

A number of clinicians within the Trust have developed their own COVID-19 research protocols and two projects are underway with several others being progressed. If you are planning on do this, please liaise with Zaida Khalil, RM&G Manager, early in your study development as she will be able to advise on HRA approval and completing the IRAS form.

5. PPE hub on the move at City

An important note for those at City Hospital regarding PPE and scrubs.

As of Monday 13 July the PPE hub presently on D18 at City will be relocating to the reception area outside the Foot Health and Diabetes Outpatients Clinic – on the first floor, just above Arches Cafe.

This area is sufficient for PPE but unfortunately cannot facilitate space for scrubs. Scrubs should therefore only be collected from the wards where they are delivered daily.

Are you wearing your mask correctly?

Speaking of PPE, it is important that masks are worn correctly over the mouth and nose to protect your airways – your chin and neck are not the areas in need of protection! A guide to putting on a clinical mask correctly can be seen on the right.

6. Domestic abuse and the ‘5 R’s of Enquiry’

As you may have seen in the news, there has been increasing concern during the pandemic at the prospect of an increase in cases of domestic abuse. Likewise due to COVID-19, victims of domestic abuse may struggle to get help or to access support services. Presenting for clinical care may be the only opportunity to offer support.

The ED independent domestic violence advisor service is still supporting victims that come through ED. They can be contacted on 07823 336964 (Sandwell) and 07989 843233 (City).

Alternatively, you can contact the safeguarding team on ext. 2844, Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.

Note: It may not be safe for the team to make contact with a victim once they have left ED or hospital. If this is the case and it is safe to do so, please give them any of the Black Country Women’s Aid contact details listed below:

• Text/WhatsApp referral option: 07384 466181 (messages checked Monday-Friday, 9am-9pm)
• 24-hour helpline: 0121 552 6448
• Email:  idva@blackcountrywomensaid.co.uk (messages checked Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm)

As well as women, the ED independent domestic violence advisor service and Black Country Women’s Aid also support men who are victims of domestic abuse/sexual abuse/forced marriage/same sex relationships/historic domestic/sexual abuse. Helplines can also be found listed below.

• Men’s advice line helpline: 0808 801 0327
• Mankind helpline: 01823 334244

 If you would like to learn more about learning how to spot signs of domestic abuse, as well as guidance on “The 5 R’s of Enquiry” that can be used when speaking with patients at home or online please click here.

7. Let your mental health Thrive

As always, we end with a note about your wellbeing. We continue to talk about this as it is not something the Trust takes lightly.

We know that sometimes it can feel like life is conspiring against you and that things start to get top of us. Negative experiences can linger far past the initial impact and it is important to address that. There are numerous projects around the Trust, such as the Recharge Booth but you may not be aware that we also have an app specifically for wellbeing.

The Trust have partnered with Thrive to give you exclusive access to an award winning mental health and wellbeing app that can help with managing depression, anxiety and stress.

The app tackles common stressors such as sleep, bereavements, work issues and more. It also signposts to external support services – with users able to seek immediate help directly from the app.

1. Go to https://swb.thrive.uk.com/ to create an account and claim your free access to Thrive.
2. visit the Google Play or App Store and search and download the Thrive: Mental Wellbeing app.
3. Log in using the email and password you created your account with and enjoy using the app

To find out more about how Thrive can help you, and how to access it, click here.

You can also access the full range of health and wellbeing support on Connect.

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.

Latest edition of Heartbeat now online

Welcome to the June edition of Heartbeat. Get ready to read all the latest news, updates from your area and lots of good news stories that are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.  Whether you’re on your break, taking five or putting your feet up after a long day at work, please enjoy.

This edition is an innovation and learning special and features our clinical research facility, critical care being at the forefront of COVID-19 research and caring for our elderly patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.