Monthly archives: August 2020

Star of the Week – Carl Bellamy

Our Star of the Week this week goes to Carl Bellamy, e-Learning Manager.

Carl has made a huge contribution to the Trust with his amazing technical skills and direction in particular with the filming and editing of wellbeing content during the current pandemic.

He has also filmed numerous other videos to support and disseminate important information and contribute to medical education with many being at short notice all whilst maintaining a supportive and positive attitude throughout.

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.

Working From Home arrangements extended

Our Working From Home policy will remain in place until 15 January 2021, as we continue to evaluate what is best for colleagues and the services we provide.

This includes a safe office space review, which is now close to conclusion. As a result the Health and Safety team has written to managers in areas where this has been completed. If you have not yet responded please ensure you do.

There will also be engagement over long-term working from home arrangements over the coming months. This strategy will reflect learnings from over the last five months and look to put arrangements on a firmer and more contractual footing that will carry the Trust through to 2023.

This ensures fairness for existing and new employees and clarity about eligibility and decision making.

A further survey of working from home arrangements will be undertaken in September to help to inform our decision making.

If you do not have the correct IT or other equipment for working from home you should raise this with your line manager in the first instance.

If you require any information on the safe office space review then please contact Jacque Calloway on ext. 4118 or Allison Binns on ext. 4121.

You are able to read the working from home policy in full by clicking here.

Important message: Pharmacy processing inpatient medication requests issue in Unity

The issue identified with pharmacy processing of inpatient requests on Unity has now been resolved. Colleagues working in all clinical areas should revert back to ordering in-patient non-stock medication requests via Unity.

If ward colleagues have ordered any non-stock inpatient items and are concerned that they have not been delivered, please check the pharmacy tracker or call pharmacy to confirm that the order has been received.

The pharmacy department is open until 5pm and the on-call pharmacist is available and can be accessed via switchboard after this time for advice on any further clinical issues. Please note that ward stock lists and pharmacy emergency room stock lists are available on-line and the majority of urgent items can be accessed directly via this route when pharmacy is closed.

Heartbeat: Praise for maternity colleagues as Amy shares her story

Amy Village-Free joined the public Trust Board meeting on Thursday 2 July along with her happy baby, Joey, to talk about her experiences of giving birth at City Hospital. Amy actually lives in Walsall but chose City as her maternity unit when she found out she was pregnant.

Amy told Board members: “Although I am from Walsall, I receive my diabetes care at this Trust so knew this was where I wanted to give birth. I am a type 1 diabetic so understood the risks associated with pregnancy and felt I would be well looked after here.”

“I had regular appointments with the maternity team and at my check-up at 35 weeks, my baby was measuring large, which was a cause for concern. They basically said I wouldn’t be going home until I gave birth!

“I can honestly say that everyone I came into contact with was absolutely wonderful. The care I received was brilliant. Being on M1 was like being on holiday – I was so well looked after.

“There were a few scary moments and I had to have an emergency C-section in the end, which all happened pretty quickly, but even then I felt really safe and that I was in good hands.

“Having baby Joey was amazing. Although quite traumatic because it was an emergency, I still think it was the best experience of my life.

“My partner was able to stay with me as I was lucky enough to have my own room. That really helped.”

Board members were able to ask Amy questions about her experience and asked whether she had good continuity of care from seeing the same staff. Amy was pleased that on the whole she was able to see the same clinicians.

Amy continued, “I was told regularly at my diabetes checks that it would be a good idea to inform them if I was considering having a baby due so that I could be well prepared. I talked to my team for about two years before I became pregnant which helped me get ready and take the decision.”

“I want to thank all the staff, everyone who supported me for the care they gave.”

Updated guidance on the usage of fans

In view of the extremely warm weather, we have some updated guidance on the usage of fans in non-clinical and clinical areas. Conventional, bladed fans can be used and may be beneficial where there is poor air circulation, moving air towards windows.

Fans should not be directed towards doors, driving air into other rooms, or from sources of aerosol generation, directly towards other patients in a COVID-19 environment.

Please note that fans will not cool staff wearing water repellent PPE, so they will be of limited practical value in ITU settings and are therefore not advised.

Colleagues should ensure maintenance and cleaning of fans and their blades should continue as all fans need to be clean and free from dust.

Note: Dyson fans must not be used.

Unity Maintenance taking place on Thursday 20 August from 8pm: Action required

As we prepare to go live with the upgrade of Unity on 26 August; IT will be carrying out an essential upgrade to the Unity supporting infrastructure on the evening of Thursday 20 August. This may result in Unity being unavailable for a few minutes at 8pm.

Colleagues will need to ensure they have saved their work and logged out of Unity at 8pm to avoid being automatically disconnected and losing unsaved worked when the maintenance takes place. Desktop alerts will be issued from 7pm reminding all colleagues about the planned downtime and reissued when work is complete and colleagues can log back in to the system.

Please be assured the activity will be closely monitored at all times.

Do call the 24 hour IT service desk if you experience any prolonged issues during this time on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 for home workers.

Heartbeat: Junior doctor’s children’s book about lockdown praised by Harry Potter star

A frontline junior doctor has written a children’s book which helps to explain lockdown and coronavirus to youngsters.

Oh! What a Lovely Lockdown! focuses on the experiences of twins, Lily and Leo, who are initially told how their plans to have fun with family and friends, as well as go on holiday, are cancelled because of the pandemic. However, their parents refuse to let this spoil their fun and the family think of ways they can entertain themselves at home. It has already been given the thumbs up by Harry Potter star Oliver Phelps, who has written the foreword.

Author Vijaytha Murali, aged 27, who works in AMU at Sandwell Hospital, explained: “I hope this book will inspire children and their parents to get in touch with their creativity. It shows how Lily and Leo think of ways to have fun at home, having the space and time to invest in their creativity and imagination.

“The book is intended to help parents and children to reflect on what has just happened. The core message of the book is that you can create your own joy and happiness at home, no matter what the circumstances are. Although it is a children’s book I do hope it appeals to adult readers as well.”

As well as being a trainee medic, Vijaytha has always been a writer. She added: “Writing is a way that I de-stress, reflect and process things. I’ve been a creative writer from a young age, but this is my first official book.

“There were a couple of things that inspired me to write it. I heard a lot about the experiences of children in my family and how they were coping throughout lockdown. I have also been involved in wellbeing initiatives during the pandemic which made me think a lot more about what families with young children are going through.”

Vijaytha, who is a British Medical Association representative, continued: “It’s exciting to have this book published and to see where it goes. The feedback I’ve received so far is that children love it. They like the images and the concept of the story.”

Vijaytha, who is a British Medical Association representative, continued: “It’s exciting to have this book published and to see where it goes. The feedback I’ve received so far is that children love it. They like the images and the concept of the story.”

The book costs just £6.99 and you can buy it by clicking here. All proceeds generated from the book will be donated to WellChild, the national charity for sick children.

More online friends and family alcohol support sessions available via Zoom

Dave and Tina from the friends and family support group are now offering extra Zoom meetings to support those who are effected by a loved one’s alcohol use. This will run every Monday at 10am. This is in addition to the weekly Wednesday group which runs between 7pm – 9pm. If you can’t make the Wednesday evening group, you may be able to attend Monday morning session, or both.

The Monday Zoom meeting link is the same as our Wednesday evenings group which is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81498967810  and the meeting ID is 81498967810.

Full details are be available on the website, https://www.alternat-i-ves.org. Please contact Dave or Tina for further details on 07982 815 783.

For more information and support, please contact  peter.marple@nhs.net.

Sad passing of Cecilia O’Brien

It is with the greatest of sadness that the cardiac rehabilitation team announce that a valued friend and colleague of the Trust, Cecilia O’Brien sadly passed away on Friday 14 August.

Cecilia had worked with the team for over 20 years as a dedicated and compassionate clinical nurse specialist. Her commitment and passion for her work and her determination to improve outcomes for patients following heart attack and surgery, shone through.

Cecilia had recently retired and was looking forward to new beginnings. She will be missed by all at the Trust. Our deepest condolences go out to her friends and family at this difficult time.

Community Midwives roll out new Continuity of Care Model

In line with Better Births, the community midwives’ vision was to create kinder, personalised, family friendly care in the community, so they have developed a model that encompasses just that!

To ensure women receive continuity during their pregnancy and after the birth of their baby the team have created smaller pockets of ‘Midwife Families’ across the whole of Sandwell and West Birmingham. Each ‘Family’ will include a select number of midwives and support workers who will offer antenatal and postnatal care to women in a geographically smaller area.

Women will therefore get to know their named midwives and support workers from the start of their pregnancy and be welcomed into their families for their care. Not only will women receive the high standard and personalised care already given here at SWB but each woman will know who their midwife family is, have easier access to them and will have a familiar face throughout their care. By including literature and our Maternity App in a number of languages, the team can continue to offer personalised care to our community.

For more information please contact nicola.tomkins@nhs.net.