Monthly archives: September 2020

COVID-19 vaccination survey

A survey has been developed with the  aim of helping the clinical research network better understand the views of people in the West Midlands and across the country in relation to vaccines.

To complete this survey please click here.

Take advantage of the staff benefits scheme today!

We are delighted to bring you Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust local offers. The Employee Benefits team work with local businesses to set up exclusive discounts for our staff so that they can benefit from real, in the pocket savings and make their £££s go that bit extra, as well as being a responsible employer who supports the local economy!

The most up to date discounts can be seen by clicking here.

If you have used any of the discounts and would like to feedback on your experience or you know of any discounts that you would like for us to set up, please email amir.ali1@nhs.net or call 0121 507 6148.

To make use of the discounts, show your SWBH NHS Trust ID pass or payslip before placing your order, or use the discount / promotional codes where specified.

Note: For any information on these offers, please contact the company directly.

Other discounts and benefits can be found at www.swbhbenefits.co.uk

Server upgrade affecting operational reporting taking place tonight (8/9/20)

There is a planned upgrade of the server infrastructure hosting operational reporting taking place from 6pm tonight (8 September 2020).

The planned maintenance will not affect Unity or other clinical systems, however may delay the generation of some operational reports tomorrow.

The activity will be closely monitored. As always please call the 24 hour IT service desk if you experience any issues on ext 4050 or 0121 507 4050 for home workers.

Speak Up Day: 9 September

Tomorrow (Wednesday 9 September) is Speak Up Day. Speak Up Day gives you the opportunity to find out about the different ways to speak up if you have a concern about safety at work. You can find out about our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and you also have an opportunity to book a confidential conversation with one of our Trust leaders. Their availability will be published on Connect so that you can book an appointment. Our Trust has a strong track record in encouraging people to speak up and there are a range of ways that you can do this including talking to your manager, contacting a Trade Union rep, raising an incident, writing to our Heartbeat letters page, talking to a Trust specialist such as Counter-Fraud, ringing Safecall (our confidential whistleblowing line), or getting help from a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.

Building up to Speak Up Day, each day we will be profiling one of the ways in which people can speak up. Today we are profiling Whistleblowing.

Our whistleblowing policy is on Connect if you want to formally raise a serious safety issue or concern. You can also call Safecall, the independent 24 hour phone line on 0800 915 1571.

Click here to book in to have a confidential conversation with one of the directors. You can also choose an executive director/group director and book a slot to have a conversation on Wednesday.

Heartbeat: Alcohol care team report rise in referrals during lockdown

Lockdown has seen an unprecedented rise in the number of referrals to our alcohol care team (ACT), with national figures showing 22.2 per cent more people reaching for the bottle during the pandemic.

Arlene Copland, Lead Alcohol Nurse, and her team have continued to support patients throughout lockdown, offering a seven-day service. They work with Cranstoun Sandwell to identify those who need further help.

One patient told Heartbeat how lockdown caused him to relapse and drink more than a bottle of gin a day. The dad-of-two revealed how the pandemic rules had left him lonely which led him to drink again. It was only when his son’s girlfriend spotted the signs that he was able to seek the help of the ACT.

The award-winning service had previously provided an elective hospital detox to the patient in January 2020. Following his relapse, he was able to stop drinking with the support of the team and he hasn’t consumed alcohol for two months.

“I can say that if it wasn’t for lockdown, I wouldn’t have relapsed,” said the patient, who had been made redundant last year. “I live by myself and I wasn’t coping very well.

I had been sober since January, but then two weeks into lockdown, I cracked one night and downed half a bottle of gin. When I woke up the next day I felt disappointed with myself, but before I knew it, I was drinking a bottle and a quarter a day.

“I would wake up in the morning, go downstairs and pour myself a gin and coke. I thought nothing of refilling my glass when it was empty and before the end of the day, I would have polished off one bottle and started on the next one. I felt that the world had become quite dark, very quickly and I didn’t cope well in lockdown. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had been on the verge of finding another job, but the situation put a halt to that.”

Two weeks later he was visited by his son’s girlfriend who noticed a change in him and confronted him about his drinking. The patient was first referred to the alcohol team in October 2019 after he realised he had a problem.

He was put on a reduction programme then underwent detox where he was admitted to hospital for three days. “I was very nervous at the time, but it worked well. The team were fantastic and they don’t judge you at all.

“I would say to someone who thinks they have a problem, to go to your GP and seek help. Lockdown has been difficult for many, and there have been people who have been turning to drink. But it’s about recognising if you have a problem and making that first move to help yourself.”

Arlene added: “We have supported several people who have relapsed back to excessive drinking during lockdown because of anxiety, uncertainty, feeling low or isolated.

“There is a widespread belief that alcohol helps to reduce stress and anxiety, improves mood and sleep, but this is not the case. In reality, alcohol is a depressant which increases anxiety and prevents deep sleep; we need to remind ourselves that alcohol is a toxic substance which has no benefits, despite what we want to believe.

“People who develop an addiction to alcohol do not do so because they like the taste of their chosen drink, but because they believe that it is helping them cope with life. Alcohol does not have this ability, and there are many more positive ways we can deal with emotional issues other than drinking alcohol.”

Natasha Simpson, Borough Manager for Cranstoun Sandwell, said: “At the start of the pandemic Cranstoun saw a drop in referrals from people asking for support with their alcohol and drug use compared to the same time last year – we believe this was due to people starting to adjust to being at home.

“Since April we have seen a 229 per cent increase in referrals from people wanting support to make positive changes to their alcohol use and a 139 per cent increase in people wanting help to change their drug use.

“Sandwell residents can also access a free and confidential app to help reduce the amount of alcohol they drink. The app helps to identify how much you drink and offers safe advice on how to cut down. The Lower My Drinking app can be downloaded through Google Play or iTunes. The team at Cranstoun Sandwell are also available to offer advice and support on 0121 553 1333.

Systematic reviews webinar – What are they? Where are they? What do they include?

The systematic reviews webinar takes place on Tuesday, 22nd September at 2pm.

Systematic reviews are the informational backbone of evidence-based medical practice. Initially, systematic reviews focussed predominantly on the effectiveness of a clinical intervention – as indicated by randomised controlled trials. However, today’s researchers are confronted by a wide range of questions for which they also need to review literature systematically, and not only through the lens of clinical effectiveness. Using practical examples run on Ovid MEDLINE and Embase, this webinar will demonstrate the variety of systematic reviews currently under discussion. It will show how to locate them using different search techniques, such as limits, search filters and free-text searching. In conclusion, we will consider what, aside from randomised controlled trials, constitutes a systematic review.

If wish to join this webinar please click here for details.

Speak Up Day this Wednesday – do you know how to raise a concern?

As you may be aware, this Wednesday is Speak Up Day. Speak Up Day gives you the opportunity to find out about the different ways to speak up if you have a concern about safety at work. You can find out about our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and you also have an opportunity to book a confidential conversation with one of our Trust leaders.

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Our Trust has a strong track record in encouraging people to speak up and there are a range of ways that you can do this including talking to your manager, contacting a Trade Union rep, raising an incident, writing to our Heartbeat letters page, talking to a Trust specialist such as Counter-Fraud, ringing Safecall (our confidential whistleblowing line), or getting help from a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.

General signage review

Thank you to colleagues who have highlighted issues they have seen regarding signage across our sites. A project to review general signage is taking place to ensure that departments and services are correctly represented.

There is still time to contact the team with anything you have spotted that is inaccurate.

Please email victoria.williams20@nhs.net by Friday 18 September, stating where it is and a photograph if possible.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 4 September

Hi everyone, it has been an absolute privilege to stand in as Acting CEO this week. It has been a busy one!

As well as the many positive things to highlight this week, I wanted to directly address concerns that some of you may have about leadership absence and rumours of changes to organisational structures and forms locally.

Firstly, please be assured that arrangements are in place that ensure we can continue effectively with what we are here to do, which is to provide a high quality service to our patients and their families. I also want to assure you that we continue to have robust governance systems in place with clear areas of responsibility set out among the executive team and group leadership, held to account by our non-executive colleagues. These arrangements will be further strengthened in the coming weeks, whilst we continue to wish Toby well in his recovery. If you have any specific concerns, as always, please get in touch with me.

The NHS is always full of rumours about the disbanding of one organisation or another.  It is true that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape, and as we restore and recover services, clinical collaboration is more important than ever. This does not mean a merger, or a disbanding of our Trust. Our Trust Board met yesterday and confirmed that our number one priority remains our local population, and we do not believe that a change in organisational form is required to act in the best interests of our patients, or the wider NHS. Our primary focus remains as becoming the best integrated provider of care in the NHS, in our Sandwell and West Birmingham places, and in the successful delivery of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital – which as we all know, isn’t “just” a new hospital – it is a new model of care for our Trust.

In this context the Board discussed our involvement in the Black Country and West Birmingham STP –  the partnership of all health and social care organisations across the patch. I want to therefore assure you clearly that any discussion of a merger with any other organisation is complete nonsense. NHS Midlands have asked for our plans on collaborating with acute care providers and you will know that for some time we have been at the forefront of such collaborations, being founders of the Black Country Alliance. The Board made it very clear that our position remains that we are not choosing any shared governance arrangements with others, but we continue to collaborate where it makes evidenced, clinical sense to do so, and where we can see a benefit to our patients. Our focus on integrated care, the Sandwell and West Birmingham ICPs and delivering transformed services in line with the Midland Met programme, led by Rachel Barlow as Director of System Transformation, remain our priorities.

Further on Midland Met, your input is needed into one of our proposals for arts and heritage in the new hospital. We have always been clear that this is “more than a hospital” with significant opportunities for regeneration of the local area. Part of the programme around Midland Met is to introduce a number of visual and performance arts schemes as well as see how we can use education and learning to best effect within the building. We would like your views on the importance of recognising the heritage of our hospitals and healthcare in the local area so would be grateful if you could complete this survey. Your comments will help develop what we do within the building and how we engage with local partners.

The Board also had important discussions yesterday about COVID recovery plans, our Digital Ambition (built on the improved resilience of our IT infrastructure), our, “why weight?” campaign, recruitment plans, and a CQC progress update. It’s really encouraging to be able to report to the Board good progress on all of these areas.

With Speak Up Day coming up next week I’d like to encourage you all to use the day to make sure you know how you can raise a safety, or indeed any serious concern, at work. I, along with many of my leader colleagues, will be making myself available for anyone to speak in confidence who wants to raise something that is worrying you or is of concern. Please take this opportunity to talk to us so we can changes things and make a difference. I am not just saying this, I mean it, and would love to see and hear from as many of you as possible. Details of everyone’s availability on Wednesday will be on Connect.

Last week in the Friday message, David wished good luck to Kelly Stackhouse who had been shortlisted for the British Journal of Nursing Awards. I’m absolutely delighted to say that Kelly won in her category and we are so very proud that she is the Continence Nurse of the Year – congratulations Kelly!

Remember to cast your vote in our very own star awards. The voting form is available here. All the shortlisted entrants deserve your consideration so please take the time to vote.

This week’s star of the week is Critical Care Deputy Matron Esther Barron who was nominated by a member of her team for being an outstanding manager and role model. Esther has provided encouragement, support and inspiration which has been greatly appreciated.

Finally, today marks the first broadcast of Dr Nick Makwana’s dance exercise class. It is great to see this feature of our ‘why weight?’ campaign and something I would encourage you all to join in with. You can share your moves and pictures using #Dance4Wellbeing. What better day for a boogie than a Friday? We are aiming for a Friday weekly join in at 12noon and 8pm so if you missed the earlier slot why not try for 8pm tonight? You can join in here.

Thank you for your hard work as always, I am really proud to work with you.

Dinah McLannahan
Chief Finance Officer

Star of the Week – Esther Barron

Our Star of the Week this week goes to Esther Barron, Deputy Matron.

Esther has worked tirelessly especially during the the current pandemic. She is described by her colleagues as amazing and highly motivated but more importantly, easily approachable and easy to speak with whilst having the ability to listen and support her fellow colleagues.

She always offers fantastic care to all her patients and puts them first and is a true role model to clinical colleagues across the Trust.

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.