Monthly archives: November 2020

Recruitment workshop: Trac training sessions

Do you want training on using our new recruitment system Trac? We are now offering sessions to enable you to use our new recruitment system. To book please email michelle.jarrott@nhs.net.

Note: All sessions will take place via WebEx.  There will be a maximum of 10 attendees per session, and will be offered on a first come first serve basis. Joining details will be sent from Michelle Jarrott once your place has been booked.

Session times and dates:

• Tuesday 1 December – 10am – 1pm (6 spaces left)
• Wednesday 9 December, 10am – 1pm (7 spaces left)
• Thursday 17 December, 10am – 1pm (10 spaces left)
• Monday 21 December, 10am – 1pm (10 spaces left)

One-to-one or smaller group sessions are also available. Please email michelle.jarrott@nhs.net.

NIV awareness month – NIV/CPAP training session: 20 November

The Respiratory Hub are encouraging colleagues to join them during “NIVember” for an update on national and local developments regarding the administration of advanced respiratory support therapies of NIV and CPAP.

The team will be hosting two teaching afternoons including presentations by the MDT on best practice BTS and local guidelines, case reviews and practical demonstrations of the kit used at the Trust.

Note: It is essential to have completed the Acute NIV training on e-learning for health ( https://portal.e-lfh.org.uk/Component/Details/433051 ) prior to attendance and to bring certificate of completion to the session.

The sessions will be taking place on 20 November, 2pm-5pm at the Postgraduate Centre, City Hospital.

Please email a.ali5@nhs.net or ziaudeen.ansari1@nhs.net for further details and bookings. Places are limited due to social distancing measures and all attendees are required to wear face masks.

Drop in practical sessions are also held in AMU1 every Tuesday and Thursday, 3pm-4pm throughout November. For more information about these please contact sarah.hart3@nhs.net.

Heartbeat: A labour of love

With so much going on in the world, it’s easy to overlook the positives. We’ve all become used to dealing with multiple tasks at once as we juggle everything 2020 has had to throw at us. One person that knows what it can be like balancing priorities is our very own Infection Prevention and Control Nurse Advisor, Gemma Charles.

At the start of 2020, Gemma found out that she was going to take on a whole new chapter in her life as a new mum. As the Coronavirus pandemic began to unfold, she saw first-hand the nervousness of expectant mums who were unsure of what pregnancy would be like during a pandemic. She told us: “My experience as an inpatient has been extremely positive. I began this journey in antenatal at the start of 2020 and, nine months later, I have given birth to my daughter, Dawson, on the serenity suite at City Hospital. Every member of staff I encountered was a credit to the Trust. I can’t speak highly enough of my experience, especially in the situation we find ourselves in at the moment.”

After giving birth, Gemma had to return to the hospital. She recalled: “My encounters with colleagues extended beyond the birth of Dawson. I had to visit accident and emergency as she became unwell after returning home. She was transferred to Lyndon 1 at Sandwell where all of the staff were fantastic – they couldn’t have done enough for us. She was an inpatient for two nights there. When we returned home, we had visitors from midwives and health visitors who were incredibly helpful.”

Gemma added: “I have worked for the Trust for ten years and I was a student here before that for three years. I can honestly say the care we have received on every step of this journey has been outstanding. It made me feel very proud to work for the organisation. In a time where a lot is uncertain, I felt very safe and secure in the hands of colleagues and within the Trust. Thank you to everyone that has helped me along the way.”

Helen Hurst, Director of Midwifery commented: “We are delighted that Gemma has shared her positive experience with us. We strive to deliver woman, baby and family centred care of the highest quality. We value feedback from our ladies and families as they are integral to shaping our service.”

Fraud Awareness Month

Throughout Fraud Awareness Month we will be highlighting the most reported frauds across the NHS, providing some guidance on preventing these and identifying when you should report your concerns.

Theft and misuse of NHS resources:

The NHS strives to deliver services from a finite budget. Anyone who takes NHS resources for private purposes has a direct impact on the care provided as they detract from our valuable resources. Fraud against, and theft of, NHS resources can be a hidden problem that can come in many guises.

Any use of NHS resources should be approved. We are not asking people to count every paperclip, but NHS equipment and resources should not be diverted from their intended use to provide financial gain to others.  It is therefore important that NHS organisations have appropriate measures in place to effectively prevent and detect this type of fraud.

What resources are at risk?

These can be the very basic office supplies which we all take for granted, or something much larger and obvious.

• Using NHS photocopiers and printers to print private documents – in one example a member of staff was printing programmes for their Sunday league football team, selling them on match days and using the proceeds to fund the team,
• Using NHS vehicles for private journeys – a Trust mini-bus was used to ferry another football team to away matches at the weekend, with the Trust picking up the bill for the fuel and wear and tear,
• Mailshots for private business or other private correspondence added to the outgoing post with the NHS organisation picking up the bill for postage,
• Mishandling petty cash with surplus items purchased and retained, and multiple receipts presented,
• Items of PPE being ordered then taken for use outside the NHS or sold on platforms like eBay,
• Large scale expensive items (plant machinery and components) reported as broken and replaced, but the original items being stolen and sold on,
• Medical equipment being used privately without the appropriate reimbursement to the NHS and the staff member collecting the cash,
• NHS equipment passed to patients for their use, being sold instead of returned when they are no longer required.

How can you prevent this from occurring?

• Ensure appropriate policies and procedures are in place so that staff know what is expected of them and what is acceptable,
• Try and avoid ‘one off’ exceptions to the rules as these can easily creep into wider and wider flouting of the rules,
• Ensuring all equipment purchased is signed for and accounted for,
• Ensure equipment reported as faulty, is returned for repair and review or formally disposed of,
• Audits of sundry and basic supply ordering data for unusual patterns, high value or multiple purchases.

Anything you believe could constitute fraud and should be reported to your Local Counter Fraud Specialist (LCFS). If you require any further information regarding fraud or bribery within the NHS, please contact the organisation’s LCFS. 

IT Service Desk at City Hospital has moved

The IT Service Desk at City Hospital has now relocated to the main Hospital building at City Hospital in an effort to provide closer support to colleagues.

Colleagues who need IT support will be able to find the new Service Desk now on the first floor of City Hospital alongside the Pain Management and Diabetes department.

If you need IT support you can call the Service Desk at any time, the service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on ext. 4050.

Heartbeat: Inclusion Day gives colleagues opportunity to speak and be heard

Monday 19 October saw us hold our first Inclusion Day – a virtual event that included a Q&A panel and a series of talks. Kicking off the event was an ‘Ask the Panel Event’ chaired by Nick Bellis, HR Business Partner and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead.

The panel consisted of:

• Richard Samuda, Trust Chairman
• Frieza Mahmood, Joint Acting Director of People and OD
• Donna Mighty, Chair BME Staff Network
• Andrew Mould, Chair Disability and Long Term Conditions Staff Network

The event was also a chance for colleagues to hear from external speakers around the topics of disability, trans awareness and inclusion.

Speakers on the day included:

• Dean Eales from AccessAble who develop detailed access guides to places for those with mobility needs. The Trust has partnered with them to provide access guides to our sites, departments and wards so that patients, visitors and staff can check out accessibility before arriving. The aim of the project is to help alleviate anxiety when visiting the hospital, as a patient you are likely to be anxious about your appointment, but imagine also worrying about whether the service you need is accessible or not. Find out more AccessAble.co.uk.
• Nesta Williams, a leading consultant in equality and engagement. Nesta’s work supports organisations such as Health Education England, Royal College of Nursing, and NHS England and NHS Improvement. Through her commitment to equality and inclusivity, Nesta developed the HEARTS© to Hearts leadership model – 6 steps to sustainable leadership, organisational transformation, employee engagement, equality, diversity, civility and inclusion and is a member of the working group, Coalition for Action on Racial Equity & Justice (CAREJ).
• Katie Neeves, who shared her own journey on being transgender. Katie formed Cool2BTrans to support and inspire other trans people and also to educate the general public on trans issues. She helps organisations with diversity and inclusion by providing trans awareness training in an entertaining way by using her infectious sense of humour.

Heartbeat caught with Nick Bellis, who told us: “It was fantastic that we were able to bring a wide variety of people together who were able to share their experiences.

“The feedback from colleagues and the questions they raised will really help inform our work and potentially revise our equality, diversity and inclusion plans going forward. There was a clear message that colleagues want to be able to speak and be heard and for any actions to be shared more widely. There is also certainly a need to resource the work we are doing with equality, diversity and inclusion, therefore a paper will go to December’s Board looking at how we achieve that given the number of actions we need to deliver.

“We have a big equality, diversity and inclusion agenda over the coming year as we continue to strive to be a more inclusive health provider and employer. The plan is to run a quarterly event and would welcome ideas of the issues to cover in future events.”

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! The flu jab…drop in clinics available now

This week our Flu-Per Troopers have set aside dedicated times for colleagues to visit them and have their flu jabs.

We are asking everyone to please step forward and protect themselves, their patients, colleagues and loved ones from the flu this year. As you may have seen in the news, there is good news about a potential COVID vaccine which may be available in the weeks and months ahead. It is likely that there will need to be a break between receiving the flu vaccine and receive the COVID vaccine so we need to ensure our staff are protected from flu over the next two weeks.

Now, more than ever, colleagues need to take advantage of the free flu vaccination on offer so that we can tackle winter safely together. Over 4,500 colleagues have had their jab already, and if you are one of those people, thank you.

We need colleagues to be protected from the flu and will shortly be closing off our flu vaccination programme for 2020 so that we can focus on preparing for a COVID vaccine, should the effectiveness and safety trials prove successful.

You can take advantage of your free flu vaccination at the following times and places. Please attend on your own where possible and observe social distancing guidelines at all times.

Fraud awareness online sessions for colleagues

RSM are inviting colleagues to attend a fraud awareness session specifically designed for people within the NHS. This will be an interactive session providing you insight to current themes of fraud across the sector and provide you with the opportunity to meet one of our counter fraud specialists.

Please see sessions details below:

• HR: Wednesday 18 November, 10am – 10.45am (click here to join session)
• All colleagues: Wednesday 18 November, 1pm – 1.45pm (click here to join session)
• Procurement: Friday 20 November, 11am – 11.45am (click here to join session)
• All colleagues: Tuesday 24 November, 2.30pm – 3.15pm (click here to join session)

For more information please email Ollie.Jones@rsmuk.com.

Pharmacy tracking system uprgrade

From today (Monday 16 November) pharmacy will be upgrading the pharmacy tracking system.

There is no action required from ward users and usernames and passwords will remain the same. The upgrade brings enhanced functionality for pharmacy and a more modern feel for ward users.

A quick guide has been produced to help ward users familiarise themselves with the system which can be accessed below:

PTS upgrade information sheet

For more information or if you are unsure of your wards username/password please call ext. 3283 or 5260.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Friday 13 November

To keep up to date with the pace of change we will be sharing a bulletin on a daily basis. 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.

During this second lockdown restrictions, we must ensure we look after ourselves and others within our community. Make sure you keep in touch with those you love and your neighbours. People may well be feeling anxious, lonely and scared at this time. Thank you for looking out for one another.

1. New message: Enhanced Bank rates

We would like to thank everyone who has undertaken additional bank shifts to help maintain the consistency of patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that you will continue to support our workforce needs through the winter period, whilst also ensuring that you get sufficient rest and recuperation after what has been a very testing year.

In recognition of the value of the Bank service the Trust has reviewed and increased the hourly pay rates for band 5 nurses and specialist nurses (working in ITU, neonates, theatres, ED and NIV). The new rates are as follows and will come into effect immediately:

There is no longer a requirement to book five shifts with the Bank to be entitled to an enhanced rate. If you would like to sign up to the Trust Bank there is a fast-track process in place. Call 0121 507 3600 or email swb-tr.trustbankrequest@nhs.net for a pack.

2. New message: Use purple bags for urgent swabs

Starting Monday 16 November, wards and departments will have access to purple bags which can be used to place urgent rapid samples.

The bags have been introduced to replace the urgent stickers. But don’t worry if you use the urgent stickers, your samples will still be processed.

One of the key issues experienced is swabs being sent for routine rather than rapid testing due to the correct labelling not being used. The introduction of purple bags will be clearer and easier for all to use and will also help the lab to identify any samples that need to be processed urgently thus improving turnaround times.

If you need these bags out of hours they can be collected from D18 at City Hospital and the Bryan Knight Suite at Sandwell. Please note that rapid swabs are not processed overnight but will be done the following working day.

In other news, we have now temporarily increased the availability of urgent and rapid PCR sampling to 158 tests per day for two weeks only until 29 November. Urgent respiratory PCR including COVID is also now increased to 30 tests per day.

We will be running a pilot in ED and AMU for the next two weeks when all patients who come through this route will receive a rapid test.

For further information see the test allocation table on Connect by clicking here.

If you have an urgent sample:

• Place the correctly labelled specimen into a clear specimen bag and seal.
• Place into the second larger clear zip locked specimen bag.
• Place this doubled bag specimen into a purple urgent COVID sample bag
• The purple urgent bag can now also be posted into the COVID drop off box.

Further information on processing samples can be found on Connect by clicking here.

3. New message: Waste disposal during COVID-19 – waste streams (clinical, offensive and domestic)  

The Trust is currently experiencing high volumes of waste that has not been segregated correctly and cardboard which has not been broken down.

This is having a major impact on collections and disposal of clinical and offensive waste in particular; not only within the Trust but also for our waste contractor.

Within the orange bags there is evidence of plastic bottles, packaging and general domestic items going into the incorrect waste stream. Cardboard is being left on the floor of cupboards and not broken down, and  is not only causing a health and safety issues but preventing staff accessing the bins to dispose of waste correctly.

Domestic waste including packaging and office waste should not be placed into Orange/tiger bags.

All cardboard boxes should be flattened and either placed into the domestic waste bins or in a cage to await collection.

Waste disposal should always follow the rules of segregation:

• Healthcare infectious clinical  (Orange bag)  this includes COVID waste
• Offensive (Tiger bag waste) healthcare non-infectious including PPE when not on a Red ward
• Domestic (Black bag waste and cardboard).

Failure to follow segregation will result in waste not being collected and disposed of correctly.

PPE in offices should go into black bag domestic waste.

Sharps bins should remain in the wards and departments until collected. Under no circumstances should these be placed into the waste cupboards or left outside of wards.

For further details regarding waste segregation, please see waste descriptions information sheet.

For more information please contact dawn.hall@nhs.net.

Disposal of Masks:

We must remind both clinical and non-clinical colleagues when leaving work it is essential that masks are disposed of safely when finished. In non-clinical areas they can be disposed of in a black bag waste bin. PPE disposal process in clinical areas remains unchanged. Remember to maintain frequent handwashing/ sanitising at all times. Please do not attempt to flush your used mask down the toilet as this will cause a blockage in the drainage system.

4. Updated message: Your health and wellbeing is important to us – have you visited the sanctuary yet?

Would you like to take 30-90 minutes to look after yourself? We very rarely take the time, so why not book now!

Have you heard about the Wellbeing Sanctuary?  

The sanctuary cares about you and it could be beneficial if you were to visit as it is place of calm for all colleagues.

Also, the Wellbeing Sanctuary gives you the chance to de-stress and relax in a confidential safe place.

The sanctuary has a variety of offerings including:

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

Note: Social distancing measures are in place and PPE and sanitisation is provided on site.

To book please contact the wellbeing team on 0121 507 5886 to book your free session.

The sanctuary is only a 5 minute drive away from City Hospital and a 10 minute. drive away from Sandwell Hospital (Learning Works on Unett Street, Smethwick, B66 3SY) with free secured parking right outside.

For further details please see daily sanctuary information sheet.

Repeat message: Sweet treat scrubs amnesty next week at Sandwell Hospital

Next week we will be encouraging colleagues at Sandwell to ‘Scrub in’ and return scrubs that may have made their way in to their lockers or home. No questions will be asked, each and every staff member who returns scrubs will earn themselves a delicious chocolate bar.

Currently we do not have sufficient sets of scrubs to meet the increase in demand as many have been stored and stockpiled by individuals, contrary to Trust policy.

On the 17, 18 and 19 November a drop off point will be available in the main reception at Sandwell Hospital where returned scrubs can be deposited and once laundered will return back in to circulation.

The systematic supply and laundering of the scrubs is dependent on staff returning them at the end of their shift pattern, when people take scrubs home or store them in their lockers they remove them from our stock and deplete the numbers available for circulation, putting a strain on supplies and our ability to provide scrubs where they are required.

Please support us by taking scrubs to the drop off point at Sandwell Hospital main reception next week, and earn yourself a tasty treat for your journey home.

No Scrubs rules:

• No scrubs should be stockpiled in lockers – they must be laundered regularly on site
• No scrubs should be worn in undesignated areas
• No scrubs should be binned, they should be deposited in to the blue trollies situated on the links and in departmental areas
• No scrubs should be worn outside the hospital or while travelling to and from hospital or taken home for laundering. By doing so you are putting yourself, your family and the public at risk.

Remember, when the amnesty is over, managers and colleagues alike will be challenging colleagues they see arriving or leaving work in scrubs.