Monthly archives: October 2020

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 30 October

It’s the end of another week as we continue to see rising cases of COVID-19 within our hospitals. I know colleagues particularly felt the pressure when we saw a spike in cases at the beginning of the week.

This is now impacting our capacity across the sites and I thank the teams who are working round the clock to ensure we continue to provide safe care for our patients. We will soon share more about services we may need to pause in order free colleagues so they are able to support areas that are experiencing increased pressure.

You will have seen in yesterday’s COVID bulletin that in response to the changing environment we have made the decision to close our Lilac stream and revert to Green, Amber and Red wards. This reflects the fact that we are seeing a high number of asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patients in Amber areas and will help improve safety with improved flow from our busy ED and AMU departments.

To provide added assurance around our Lilac/Amber ward changes, all inpatients (with exceptions including children under the age of 12, patients with dementia or anyone with a medical or psychological reason who is unable to) will be asked to wear a fluid resistant surgical face mask while they are out of bed for any reason, including sitting in a chair at their own bedside.

This change means it is essential you follow infection prevention and control policy and procedures strictly to the letter, ensuring at all times you adhere to the correct PPE for the area you are in.

To help us reduce infection transmission and infection in staff, next week we will share new processes requiring staff to wear masks in non-clinical areas. We have to do all we can to reduce infection spread, and this is one extra measure we can take on top of the requests for patients to wear masks. This means that in offices such as at Trust HQ and Trinity House, as well as other ‘separate’ areas off the main hospital blocks, you will be asked to wear a mask at all times (where there is more than one person in a room). This is irrespective of and in addition to social distancing measures currently in place. More information will be provided early next week to confirm the processes.

There is much speculation in the press that our local COVID alert level will be moving to Tier 3 (very high) soon, so it’s highly likely Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell, Solihull and Birmingham will move into the highest level of Coronavirus restrictions, possibly next weekend. This is due to a rapid increase in coronavirus hospital admissions and community cases across Birmingham, which have made the case for more restrictions urgent. It is therefore imperative that all colleagues follow the rules to prevent transmission both within and outside of work.

To help keep us safe this winter our ABBA inspired flu campaign is well underway. Just over 3,300 colleagues have been vaccinated so far. To get your jab, see Connect for details of your Flu-Per Trooper. And if you are currently working from home, a special clinic is being held today and tomorrow from 9am to 4pm in the Berridge Room.

Earlier this week, Dr Avann, Paediatric Consultant and Prinith De Alwis Jayasinghe, Dietician hosted their very first virtual cook-along for young children who receive care under the paediatric team. The team usually host social events every year for the diabetic children they look after. As it’s a chronic illness, it can be hard to manage, so these events are not only fun but educational. Packs were given to the children in advance with all the ingredients they needed for the session, and together they all made healthy muffins. Next stop – The Great British Bake Off!

It’s always a pleasure to call out colleagues who have been recognised internally or externally.

Amy Wood, School Health Nurse is this week’s Star of the Week. Amy was nominated because she has been very supportive and instrumental in the development of the online training for school staff to manage medicines in school for children and young people. This training will allow the service to deliver sessions virtually with the teachers then being assessed regarding their competencies. Well done Amy.

Congratulations to Lead Nurse in Paediatric Diabetes, Lizbeth Hudson who has won the award for Outstanding Educator in Diabetes at the 2020 Quality in Care Diabetes Awards. The award recognises an individual who delivers excellence in education, in a specialist or community setting whether through developing innovative teaching tools or courses; providing mentorship for other educators; or delivering and promoting externally developed training.

And Lucille Hedges and her team in our community contact centre are finalists in the Smarter Working Live Awards 2020, in the ‘Best Use of a Solution’ category for work to develop electronic communications. We wish them well for the awards ceremony on 26 November.

Finally, I must remind you of the importance of looking after your wellbeing. As you know we offer access to a huge array of services. As we start to experience the pressure of dealing with COVID-19, you may want to watch again the one minute resilience videos produced by Richard Burnell. To see our full offer of wellbeing resources see the page on Connect.

David Carruthers, Acting Chief Executive

COVID-19 Bulletin: Friday 30 October

The end of the week is here and so is another COVID-19 bulletin. As you may have surmised, owing to the increased activity around the Coronavirus you’ll be seeing these bulletins from  Monday to Friday until the activity dips once more. ‘Numbers not statistics’ will remain a once a week update.

There’s a lot of change taking place at the moment so please make sure you catch up with the latest bulletins throughout the week, as even if some points seem familiar you may very well find the details have been updated a great deal.

As we head into the weekend let’s remember our vow of kindness in all cases and push forward through this latest challenge together. 

1. Scrubs. Again.     

Regretfully the situation with scrubs is becoming critical. People are still throwing scrubs away, stockpiling them or taking them home to launder – often wearing them outside the workplace. Please stop doing this.

Scrubs should, when finished with, be deposited in the blue trollies so they can be laundered and made ready for the next colleague that needs them. You may want to get home quicker, or even start quicker in the morning, but this is in every sense a case of “don’t take your work home with you”.

Managers and team leaders are asked to relay this message in the strongest of terms: Offenders can and will face disciplinary action if they do not follow Trust guidelines regarding scrubs.

2. Have you been fit tested for our current supply of face masks?     

As you know, it is going to be as important as ever to be as flexible as we can regarding our use of PPE.

Our stock of PPE is ever changing as in-use options are replenished and new masks become available. It’s critical that colleagues stay up to date with the availability of masks that they have been fit tested for.

If you have been fit tested for a mask that is now discontinued or is short on supply (currently the Alpha 3030V or 3M 1863 mask), please ensure you book into a face mask fit testing clinic as soon as possible by contacting 0121 507 5050 or ext 5050 internally. We have plenty of the 3M 1863+/9330 and half face silicone masks, there is no overall shortage of supply.

Testing is available at both Sandwell and City sites on Monday to Friday, 8AM to 4PM.

Protecting your skin from damage beneath PPE

If you are finding that your masks are uncomfortable or are causing you issues with your skin, please take the time to read the helpful guidance produced by the Tissue Viability team for colleagues to protect and treat skin from damage beneath PPE.

3. Personal Protective Equipment guidance

Please follow the guidance below in regards to donning, removal and disposal of PPE (personal protective equipment):

• Putting on PPE (Donning)
• Removal of PPE (Doffing)
• Quick guide – putting on (donning) personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Quick guide – removal of (doffing) personal protective equipment (PPE)

4. Have you visited the Wellbeing Sanctuary yet?

The mental health and wellbeing of our colleagues is paramount especially during this current pandemic which is why we are inviting colleagues to visit our Wellbeing Sanctuary – a place of calm.

The sanctuary gives colleagues a chance to de-stress and relax in a confidential safe place.

Do you fancy a free:

• Massage
• Chill out downtime over a tea/coffee and a biscuit
• A chat – a listening ear or a chance to talk about anything in confidence
• Meditation
• Mindfulness
• Relaxation hypnotherapy
• Music therapy

The Wellbeing Sanctuary is based at Learning Works on Unett Street, Smethwick, B66 3SY. There is free on site parking.

To book yourself a free session please call 0121 507 5886, or for further details please see the daily sanctuary information sheet.

Heartbeat: Virtual ward will treat COVID-19 patients in first for West Midlands

A unique project will see confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients monitored via a virtual ward by our clinicians in the community.

Patients referred to the Monitoring You At Home (MYAH) Service via their GP or from within the Trust, will be given an oximeter, to measure their oxygen saturation levels for early signs of hypoxia.

COVID mainly affects the lungs and causes a viral pneumonia that can lead to low oxygen levels. By measuring the oxygen levels using the oximeter probe that sits on the patient’s finger, clinicians are able to identify early when a patient’s health deteriorates and can recommend corrective measures.

The programme is for patients who have suspected or confirmed COVID-19, who are not unwell enough to be admitted to hospital but need to be monitored with oximetry for 14 days. Those under MYAH will be given instructions on how to record their oxygen saturation and their pulse as well as keeping a check on general symptoms.

All clinical data will be entered into the electronic patient record on SystmOne and the team will be in contact with them daily. The MYAH Service data will be collected by NHS Digital and will contribute to the national pilot and help to inform the future development of NHS Services.

The MYAH Service comes under the umbrella of PRISMM, an integrated approach to improve the care of respiratory patients across, secondary, community and primary care.

Dr Arvind Rajasekaran, Respiratory Consultant commented: “The front line clinicians have worked tirelessly over the past six months and we are now witnessing a steady increase of COVID-19 again in the community. Our Trust is making preparations for winter and a potential increase in both COVID and flu cases. MYAH is an example of such preparedness.

“We are the only Trust in West Midlands to be part of this national pilot. The community respiratory team has developed pathways of monitoring that will allow them to identify patients who are deteriorating. Working alongside the respiratory consultants, they can arrange early treatment interventions or transfer patients to specialist care in the hospital.”

Kelly Redden-Rowley, Service Manager for Community Respiratory and Heart Failure Services, said: “Our project is unique as it is the only one to include a rehabilitation and recovery phase following the 14-day monitoring as well as wellbeing follow up calls after the patient completes a rehabilitation programme.

“There are several benefits, which include providing essential monitoring to detect deterioration and provide the appropriate treatment and support sooner. It will increase capacity within the acute setting for those with severe COVID-19, whilst also providing safe and quality care to patients at home.

“It will also optimise limited resources within the community, acute and primary care, and reduce risk to staff by limiting face-to-face contact. There will be an admission and inclusion criteria for patients, who can be referred through a number of ways via the Trust, their GP and the community. The service will operate between 8 am-8 pm, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Are your contact details listed in your email signature?

With more colleagues working from home and unsociable hours it’s even now more important than ever that you list your contact details within your work email signature so people can get in contact with you. With this mind please ensure your extension and Trust mobile (if you have one) are clearly listed in your email signature for both new emails and replies.

If you’re unsure of how to change your email signature please click here for a step by step guide.

When you go on annual leave at any point, please remember to provide alternate contact details whilst you are away in the form of an automatic reply – whether that be a fellow individual team member email address or extension or your general team email address or extension.

If you are unsure of how to set-up an automatic reply please click here for a step by step guide.

For any other IT queries please call the 24 hour IT service desk on extension 4050 or 0121 507 4050 for home workers.

Important Tap and Go upgrade on Thursday 5 November from 10am

On Thursday 5 November Tap and Go (Imprivata) will be upgraded to the latest version to ensure the Trust is compliant and to enable us to add more applications to the system in the future to help reduce the need for colleagues to remember multiple passwords.

• The software will automatically install on your PC/laptop at next log on.
• You will be given a message about rebooting allowing you time to finish what you are doing and save your work.
• You will be allowed to postpone the activity twice a day before your PC/laptop automatically reboots.

As always, should you experience any issues during or after the updates then please contact the 24 hour IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 for home workers or log a call via the IT Service desk portal http://servicedesk.swbh.nhs.uk

Star of the Week – Amy Wood

Our Star of the Week this week is Amy Wood, School Health Nurse from the School Nursing Team.

Amy has been very supportive and instrumental in the development of the online training for colleagues to manage medicines in school for children and young people. This training will allow the service to deliver sessions virtually and then the teachers will be assessed regarding their competencies. Amy has played a key role in developing this training in preparation for the children and young people returning to school in September. She has supported the service in delivering peer sessions to ensure that everyone feels prepared to deliver the sessions online and to respond to questions and answers posed by the teaching staff. This has been an amazing achievement and so essential during the difficulties in delivering training impacted by COVID. Amy has gone above and beyond the call of duty.

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: Leading the way – Karen Jones joins imaging

Imaging welcomes Karen Jones as their new lead radiographer. Excited to hear about everything she has been up to since she joined the Trust, Heartbeat caught up with her for a chat.

Karen’s career began in 1983 when she qualified as a radiographer from the School of Radiography in Birmingham. She told us: “I was trained by the one and only Miss Muriel Chesney – she was a leading authority in teaching radiography.

“After qualifying, I went on to work at numerous hospitals both NHS and private. I was an x-ray superintendent at Royal Orthopaedic Hospital for several years and gained specialised knowledge of orthopaedic radiography. I have a great sense of gratitude to all of my colleagues that have helped me along the way since I started in my career.”

When asked what her most interesting place to work has been so far, Karen commented that it had to be the accident hospital in Birmingham which is sadly no longer standing. “A helicopter would land outside on Bath Row directly in front of the major injuries unit.”

Looking to the future here at SWB, Karen remarked: “My role here as clinical radiography lead enables me to support radiographers whilst ensuring the department improves to its optimum potential. I have introduced some quality improvements to the service and hope to work alongside colleagues to incorporate more of their ideas regarding improvement.

“I’ve hit the ground running with COVID-19 setting the pace of what we do and changing how we work. It’s been a great time to start in my new role as everyone has been so friendly and I felt like part of a family straight away.”

Outside of work, Karen enjoys playing golf and when the weather breaks; she puts her knitting skills to good use and makes bonding squares for the neonatal unit. She has passed an advanced driving course, holds an IAM roadsmart membership and is currently teaching her daughter to drive.

Speak Up Month: Just because October is coming to end doesn’t mean you shouldn’t speak up

This Speak Up Month we have been encouraging managers to use the opportunity for discussion with their colleagues and teams. Speaking up is an important part of a culture that focuses on safety and quality, and we would like you and your teams to play a part in encouraging these conversations to be part of who we are and how we work.

Be sure to check out this short video featuring Liam Kennedy, Chief Operating Officer talking about embedding a culture of openness throughout the Trust.

Our Speak Up Guardians are part of regional and national networks sharing ideas and experiences, a wealth of experience and information to help you Speak Up. You can see a list of Freedom to Speak up Guardians and their contact details on Connect.

Our staff network leads can also be contacted if you want to raise a concern. You can contact our staff networks using the details below.

• BME Network: swbh.bme@nhs.net
• Disability and Long Term Conditions Network: swbh.dlt@nhs.net
• LGBT Staff Network: swbh.lgbt@nhs.net

Click here to find out about all the other ways you can speak up.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 29 October 2020

Welcome to your Thursday edition of the COVID-19 bulletin. Today we are updating you on a number of pandemic response matters, including important changes so please make sure you read the bulletin thoroughly.

But before this the Trust wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your outstanding efforts which have seen us through this far. Please do not neglect your wellbeing, but take the time to explore all that we offer across our organisation to help you retain your equilibrium whilst we continue to respond to the challenges of COVID-19.

Your own wellbeing, and that of your teams, remains vital, particularly as we see steady increases in the numbers of patients who are positive for COVID-19. If there is any other support that you think we could provide to you or your colleagues please get in touch. We want to make sure that we do all we can to support each other throughout these challenging times.

Numbers not statistics: This week (Last week)

1. Farewell to Lilac and important changes ahead

In response to the changing environment and as we experience a significant upswing in numbers of COVID-19 positive patients needing our care, we have made the decision to close our Lilac stream and revert to Green, Amber and Red wards to ensure we can provide safe care for every patient, bringing us fully into line with general NHS classifications.

This reflects the fact that we are seeing a high number of asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patients in Amber areas and will help improve safety with improved flow from our busy ED and AMU departments. All Lilac wards will become Amber, with all Lilac COVID positive patients moving into Red streams. Every patient left in our Amber wards will be risk assessed and where there is a suspicion of COVID being present they will be nursed in an appropriate environment while rapid testing swab results are awaited.

What the closure of Lilac wards means for you is that it is essential you follow infection prevention and control policy and procedures strictly to the letter, ensuring at all times you adhere to the correct PPE for the area you are in. Enhanced PPE is available for any colleague whose risk assessment requires it. To remind you of your obligations see the guidance on Connect.

To ensure that all colleagues understand and are applying the policy correctly, we will be auditing compliance through the use of spot checks, as we are taking an extremely firm line on the appropriate use of PPE within our buildings, social distancing whilst at work and regular handwashing. We expect all colleagues to comply with our PPE policies, that includes wearing masks in all clinical buildings and being socially distant from one another. There is no such thing as a “work bubble”. Any repeated breach of our PPE guidelines will result in disciplinary action. We are sorry to have to take such a strong line on this but we owe it to each other and to our patients to do the right thing to protect each other and ourselves.

Please note: If you require new IPC classification posters for your area they can be collected from Medical Illustration at City or the Communications Office, Trinity House, Ground Floor, Corridor A at Sandwell.

2. Masks for all

Masks for patients

To provide added assurance around our Lilac/Amber ward changes, from today all inpatients (with exceptions including children under the age of 12, patients with dementia or anyone with a medical or psychological reason who is unable to) will be asked to wear a fluid resistant surgical face mask while they are out of bed for any reason, including sitting in a chair at their own bedside. Please promote patient hand hygiene as well. The reason for this is because of the rising number of asymptomatic patients that we are finding through our screening procedure. We simply must make every effort to provide as safe an environment as we can within our Trust. We will provide masks for patients which will be distributed to them along with an information leaflet on their admission to the ward.

You can see below the flow diagram for the escalation process, or alternatively click here.

Masks for colleagues

Due to the high and increasing rate of community infection, we must do all we can to reduce infection transmission and infection in staff. We are therefore looking at the processes needed for colleagues in non-clinical areas within our Trust – such as offices like those at Trust HQ and Trinity House, as well as other ‘separate’ areas off the main hospital blocks – to wear a mask at all times (where there is more than one person in a room). This is irrespective of and in addition to social distancing measures currently in place.

There will be more definitive information on this in the next day or two.

How to wear your mask

We have all seen people wear masks in an incorrect manner – sometimes even in truly bizarre ways. It is inevitable with the changes above that patients will need reminding of this, as well as colleagues. The instruction here is simple – your mask should cover your mouth and your nose. See our ‘dos and don’ts’ graphic below:

3. Lending your support to Critical Care – Join the ICU Reservists Team

Thank you to everyone who stepped forward and supported colleagues in Critical Care during the first surge in COVID-19 cases earlier in the year. We are now looking to welcome nursing and health care support colleagues from across the organisation in to our newly formed ICU Reservist Team.

With cases of COVID-19 beginning to once again increase, we may need to increase the size of our ICU service significantly at short notice to cope with the additional clinical needs. To cope with this, we need people like you to make sure we do it quickly and safely.

If you have previously worked in Intensive or High Dependency care, have other skills that you think you could offer or just a wish to be part of the Intensive Care response to COVID-19 then please register as an ICU Reservist.

Your contribution could vary from occasional Bank shifts to full redeployment for the duration of the pandemic and the team will work with you and your current managers to facilitate that. You will be offered training and support to help you become an essential part of our team.

Click here to complete a short form in regards to joining the ICU Reservists Team.

4. Swabbing guidance on issues and pathways

An increasing number of COVID-19 swabs are being rejected from the laboratory, due to a number of issues. This may include a specimen leaking, incorrect swab received, or duplication of samples.

Our Infection Prevention and Control team has put together a document which lists common issues and the relevant solutions. Click here to read the full document.

We have now increased the availability of urgent and rapid PCR sampling from 16 to 76 samples per day.

Routine samples: It has been agreed that COVID-19 samples will be collected by porters from all wards, ED and AMU every hour at City and Sandwell from 8am to 8pm.

Overnight samples (taken after 9pm) which are mainly taken in ED and AMU should be kept in these areas overnight to be collected by a porter during the early morning run at 5.30am.

Urgent samples: Please ensure that the ‘Urgent 2 Hour TAT’ sticker is attached to the outer blue transport bag and is hand delivered to pathology reception. DO NOT put urgent samples into the MediBins.

 Remember:

• Every patient MUST be swabbed on admission.
• Patients on Amber wards MUST be swabbed every five days.

Please refer to the following swabbing pathways for unplanned and planned admissions.

Heartbeat: Virtual walk through shows patient journey in theatres

A video which shows a patient journey when attending our Trust for surgery has been developed. The virtual walkthrough follows the pathway a patient would take when coming to the Birmingham Treatment Centre at City site, for day case surgery.

It takes into account the new infection control procedures that all those coming on-site have to follow and the new checking in procedures which have been put in place during the pandemic.

When a patient arrives they will be greeted by a security officer at the main entrance and a volunteer who will check their appointment letter. They will then go inside and be given a fresh surgical mask to wear and given hand gel. COVID-19 screening is carried out and they are then taken to the theatres, where they are given instructions on how to safely prepare for the operation.

Amber Markham, Clinical Lead Theatres, said: “We want the public to feel reassured that when they come into our hospitals for a procedure they will be in a safe environment and this video shows step-by step how we do this.

“There are several strict measures to ensure we are COVID-19 safe. These include screening, giving out a face mask, socially distanced waiting areas, as well as screens to protect colleagues and patients. The video also shows the process of going into theatre and what it’s like after your operation.

“It’s important that we can get this pathway out there for patients to see so they know what to expect.”