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Monthly archives: October 2020

October is Speak Up Month

 

October is Speak Up Month, take a few minutes to watch this short video from David Carruthers, Medical Director and Acting Chief Executive regarding the importance of speaking up and how freedom to speak up must become a part of who we are.

This Speak Up Month, the National Guardian’s Office is drawing up an Alphabet of Speak Up. There are 26 letters of the alphabet and 26 days to explore the issues, the people, the values, the challenges – everything which goes into what Freedom to Speak Up means in health. When things go wrong, we need to make sure that lessons are learnt and improvements made.

This year we will be supporting the National Guardian’s Office looking at the alphabet of speak up, with each day identifying a word and what that means to colleagues across the Trust.​ We are encouraging managers to use this as an opportunity for discussion with your colleagues and team. 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.

Today’s letters are provided by Ian Galligan, Capital Equipping Manager, Medical Engineering and Speak Up Guardian

M is for managers

As Guardians we were instrumental in introducing the ‘Managers Code of Conduct’, please take a look by clicking here. Being able to speak up to your manager is really important, but we realise at times this can’t be done, and as Guardians we are always here to support you.

N is for Networks

As Speak Up Guardians we are part of regional and national networks sharing ideas and experiences, a wealth of experience and information to help you Speak Up. You can contact our staff networks using the details below.

You can see a list of Freedom to Speak up Guardians and their contact details on Connect.

Postgraduate Centre closure: 19 and 20 October

 

Postgraduate Centre at City Hospital will be closed on Monday 19 October and Tuesday 20 October due to hosting the Royal College of Physicians PACES exams. This mean colleagues will not be able to access the Postgraduate Centre on these two days.

We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.

Our flu campaign is underway – make sure your get your jab this flu season!

 

Mamma Mia…Here we go again! Our flu campaign is officially underway with our all new ABBA inspired campaign. This year we’re doing things differently to ensure we are all protected and ready to tackle winter safely together.

Flu-Per Troopers (our peer vaccinators) have been recruited across the entire Trust to ensure everyone has the opportunity to have their flu jab. We will be coming to you in your areas and for those of you working from home we will be setting up dedicated days for you to attend and have your flu jabs. We will be taking a phased approach and rolling vaccines out over the coming weeks to different areas of the organisation.

We are asking all colleagues to play their part and take advantage of the free flu vaccinations on offer. It’s important to be protected early, to give your body time to build up its defences and to generate some antibodies.

Gemma from occupational health recently had her flu jab from Flu-Per Trooper, Raji. When asked why she had her jab, Gemma said: “I want to play my part to help keep myself, my colleagues, patients and loved ones safe this winter”.

Find your nearest Flu-Per Trooper on Connect.

Restart a Heart Day 2020: 16 October

 

In the UK, there are approximately 66,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests each year and cardiac arrests haven’t stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, early data shows they have increased, meaning learning CPR is more important than ever. Around 1 in 10 of these patients survive and about three quarters of these cardiac arrests happen at home. If someone you are with has a cardiac arrest, would you know what to do? Every October, hundreds of thousands of people across the UK, and many more worldwide, learn CPR as part of the restart a heart campaign.

This Friday 16 October, the deteriorating patient and resuscitation team will be providing socially distanced sessions for all non-clinical colleagues to learn or update their skills in Basic Life Support. For more information and to get involved please contact swbh.resuscitationtraining@nhs.net.

Non clinical colleagues are also are invited to drop-in and attend BLS training:

  • Sandwell, OPD – 9am -12pm
  • City, D18 – 1pm – 3pm
  • Rowley Regis, committee room – 1pm – 3pm

COVID-19 BLS guidance:

For further details regarding level 2 and level 3 COVID-19 BLS guidance please click here.

Heartbeat: Nurse scoops top award for work with incontinent patients

 

Congratulations to Kelly Stackhouse who leads our FINCH Service, delivering care and support to patients who have bowel dysfunction, regardless of cause, including patients who have undergone bowel surgery.

The lead nurse has scooped Continence Nurse of the Year in the prestigious British Journal of Nursing Awards. Kelly is recognised for devising a specialist treatment pathway for patients with faecal incontinence, constipation and those who have undergone an anterior resection – a surgical procedure to remove the diseased portion of the bowel and rectum.

Kelly set up the FINCH Service (Faecal Incontinence and Constipation Healthcare) 10 years ago, which offers intervention to all patients undergoing this nature of surgery providing support, advice, treatment and peer support.

Kelly said of the win: “I am so honoured to have received this prestigious award. It shows how important a service like this is, as it has provided invaluable support for patients who have had this nature of surgery and who also suffer from other bowel-related issues, improving their quality of life.

“This is a very unique pathway and other NHS Trusts are now beginning to adopt this as a result of the work we have been doing and the recognition it has received.

“I hope that this will provide a further platform to assist us in our mission to ‘break the taboo and talk poo’ which in turn will help more people who are suffering in silence.”

The service has received national attention. In March, Kelly and her team were the focus of the Radio 4 programme Inside Health interviewed by Trust Me I’m a Doctor presenter, Dr Saleyha Ahsan.

The programme is known for discussing health issues which people struggle to understand.

A message from Staff Side

 

A Message on behalf of Staff Side:

Dear Trade Union Members, hopefully you have been made aware of the recent staff side dispute by your respective trade union. Staff side want to share progress made to resolve this dispute to help alleviate any concerns members may have.

 Staff side met with representation from the Trust, and ACAS senior conciliators on 30 September 2020.

 Staff side can confirm that progress is being made to resolve the dispute, and the Trust have been open and constructive in their response, although it is too early to give Trade Union members a likely date when resolution has been completed, but both parties are working hard to resolve this as quickly as possible. Staff side are happy with how the Trust are responding to concerns that have been raised so far, and we hope that once the dispute is resolved all parties can work closely together, with a greater understanding of staff sides role enabling staff side to represent member’s needs.

 In the meantime, staff side will continue to communicate with the Trust and our Trade Union members to work as a collective to represent members so if you have any concerns you wish to raise please contact your respective workplace representatives.

October is Speak Up Month

 

October is Speak Up Month and this year, the National Guardian’s Office is drawing up an Alphabet of Speak Up. There are 26 letters of the alphabet and 26 days to explore the issues, the people, the values, the challenges – everything which goes into what Freedom to Speak Up means in health. When things go wrong, we need to make sure that lessons are learnt and improvements made.

This year we will be supporting the National Guardian’s Office looking at the alphabet of speak up, with each day identifying a word and what that means to colleagues across the Trust.​ We are encouraging managers to use this as an opportunity for discussion with your colleagues and team. 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.

L is for Listening, Learning and Leaders

Today’s first letter is provided by Ian Galligan, Capital Equipping Manager, Medical Engineering and Speak Up Guardian

We as Guardians will always listen, we will endeavour to defer any judgement, respond accordingly and provide feedback.

Today’s second letter is provided by Richard Burnell, Organisational Development Trainer

Speaking up starts with seeing change that needs to be made. We can only see where change needs to happen when we listen and pay attention to what is going on around us. In order for speak up to work both the Trust and the individual have to listen. The Trust provides many different routes by which people can speak up both on and off the record and the Trust will always listen to anything that is raised. At the individual level we should also listen to our colleagues, what do they tell us about their experiences? What do we hear? What do patients say? Sometimes people with less experience or who are from outside of the NHS may not see a problem or the opportunity for change that you do.

By listening carefully to what we are told by others we can see where change is needed and bring it to the attention of the organisation.

When we speak up we are not being  disloyal to our team, we are not being disloyal to the Trust, we are not ‘getting someone in to trouble.’ Speaking up can lead to a level of scrutiny that some individuals may dislike, however, we should remember that we don’t speak up to make enemies, we don’t speak up to make friends, we speak up to make change.

Change can only occur after lessons are learned, learning can only take place when we know what we are getting wrong. Speaking up highlights where there are blind-spots in our organisation and ultimately it helps us to remove them. When we remove these blind spots we improve the care we give to the vulnerable, the sick and the people in our society who needs us most. 

Be a speak up hero and help us to learn where we can improve.

Leaders contribute so much to speaking up and perhaps nothing does this more than a leader who shows humility. Leaders who openly apologise for making mistakes teach their teams a very valuable lesson; it’s not a weakness to be wrong. Once a team recognise this, they can openly speak up about problems and find solutions without fear of hostility towards them. 

When leaders lack the humility to apologise and seek to blame others instead, a culture develops where speaking up leads to accusations of ‘rocking the boat’ and the person speaking up is seen as the problem.

In order to create a speak up culture leaders should show their teams that instead of putting their energy in to denying there is a problem, it is much better to put the energy in to fixing it. Staff who speak up are a vital part of creating strong teams and providing safe care, leaders who demonstrate humility promote speaking up in everything they do.

Heartbeat: Live and Work programme gets a VIP visit from Andy Street

 

Andy Street, the West Midlands Mayor, visited the Live and Work programme to find out more about how it will progress to the second stage.

The project is a partnership between the Trust and homeless charity St Basils and aims to provide apprenticeship opportunities and living accommodation to young people. Disused buildings, situated at the foot of the Hallam Street staff car park at Sandwell, have been revamped and turned into homes for those taking part in the scheme.

Now the Trust and St Basils are looking to transform another building so that the project can be expanded. The Mayor visited to see the work that has already been done and hear about how the project will be developed further.

Raffaela Goodby, Director of People and Organisation Development, said: “We were delighted to invite Andy to our Trust site and to share our vision for the Hallam Youth Village. The Live and Work project remains important for us as a Trust as we work with St Basils to provide a home and a job for young people who may be at risk of becoming homeless. We look forward to welcoming the Mayor back when the accommodation is revamped and ready to welcome the new residents’.

Lawrence Kelly, Learning Works Co-ordinator, added: “During his time here, the Mayor was able to speak to an apprentice who has first-hand experience of the Live and Work scheme and learn about how it has helped her, both in a professional and personal capacity.

“She has been able to complete her apprenticeship and has had a safe and comfortable place to live which is also convenient for her work. She has gone on to secure work through Trust Bank whilst she studies at university. This is a shining example of how this scheme is doing exactly what it set out to do. The apprenticeship team led by Maxine Griffiths have given this young person a fantastic platform to build upon for her future journey ahead.”

Maternity department lights up to mark baby loss

 

The maternity building has been lit up in pink and blue to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week (BLAW).

The lights were installed on Monday (9 October) at the entrance into the maternity unit and delivery suite at City Hospital, Birmingham and are switched on between 7pm and midnight.

Ann Minto, Bereavement Support Midwife, said: “Baby loss is a very sad and life changing event for women and their families, by raising awareness we can contribute to breaking the silence.

“BLAW culminates with the global Wave of Light on 15 October at 7pm, by lighting a candle and letting it burn for at least one hour. This is in memory of all the babies who lit up our lives for such a short time.”

The lights were arranged by Randeep Degun from the estates team and funded by refurbishment and maintenance firm CLC Group.

For more information on BLAW go to https://babyloss-awareness.org/.

October is Speak Up Month

 

October is Speak Up Month and this year, the National Guardian’s Office is drawing up an Alphabet of Speak Up. There are 26 letters of the alphabet and 26 days to explore the issues, the people, the values, the challenges – everything which goes into what Freedom to Speak Up means in health. When things go wrong, we need to make sure that lessons are learnt and improvements made.

This year we will be supporting the National Guardian’s Office looking at the alphabet of speak up, with each day identifying a word and what that means to colleagues across the Trust.​ We are encouraging managers to use this as an opportunity for discussion with your colleagues and team. 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.

K is for Kindness

Today’s first letter letter is provided by Ian Galligan, Capital Equipping Manager, Medical Engineering and Speak Up Guardian

Kindness, compassion and empathy make us human. Being kinder to ourselves where we can, showing kindness to each other, our families, neighbours and colleagues matters more than ever, it reduces stress and can improve emotional wellbeing.

Today’s second letter letter is provided by Melanie Roberts, Deputy Chief Operating Officer

For me kindness starts at home. It’s about living with integrity, knowing what your principles are and what right and wrong means in your life. It’s also about treating others how you expect to be treated. Kindness is a deeply personal value one that should always be shared with others in how you behave and speak.

Today’s third letter letter is provided by Siten Roy, Group Director of Surgical Services and Orthopaedic Consultant 

‘Kindness’ may be the ‘buzz word’ at the moment in the middle of this pandemic with so much uncertainty and stress around. However, it is all about understanding people, their contributions and their views, which encourages us to appreciate and accommodate them in our day to day dealings. It also allows a certain degree of tolerance about shortcomings, habits, practices and cultures. ‘Kindness’ creates space for people to open up and express their views without the fear of rejection and ridicule. It encourages people to stand up and ‘speak up’, knowing that their views will be heard and counted.

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