Monthly archives: November 2020

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 13 November

Thank you! My message today is one of thanks to all of you. Many of you are continuing to battle the impacts of the second surge and it is causing intense pressure, whether that is because you are seeing increasing numbers of patients test positive, your ward may have changed to “red” and you may be being deployed to support our services whether this is the most immediate needs. Equally, you may be having to shield or work from home, or not been able to do your normal job because we have had to postpone some surgical procedures. Regardless of who you are and your role within the Trust, you will be feeling the impact and there has been a significant change to your work and home life.

So, thank you. I know I say this every week in one form or another, but I do want you all to know that your contribution is valued and recognised by your managers, the Trust Board and really importantly, the patients and community. Later this month you will be able to see our star awards ceremony (details in the communications bulletin) where we celebrate some of the stars within the Trust. I am really looking forward to recognising the winners and all those shortlisted for their outstanding commitment that has been carried out before and during the pandemic. But of course, you are all stars, and we are one team, so the success of the award winners is all of ours to share.

The COVID picture may seem gloomy but I know many of us have been buoyed by the news of a potential COVID vaccine that we hope will pass the required effectiveness and safety tests and be made available. We are, like the rest of the NHS, preparing for a vaccine programme, so that we are ready to vaccinate the relevant groups of staff and members of the public. This will, without doubt, be a huge logistical operation and we will be playing our part along with other health and social care organisations in whatever form is required. This does mean we need to get our flu vaccination campaign done well ahead of our COVID vaccine plans. There is likely to be a requirement for a break between the flu vaccine and the COVID vaccine so it is important that you get your jab now if you haven’t already. Clinics are advertised in the Communications bulletin today so if you have missed your peer vaccinator when you have been at work, please make your way to a clinic as soon as possible.

Some further welcome news I hope for some of our nursing colleagues who are doing additional bank work, and for those who exclusively work on our Trust Bank. Your support is invaluable and in recognition of that we are increasing our bank rates for specialist and band 5 nurses, which are areas that are often hard to fill. We want to avoid having to go to agencies where possible, as our own staff know our patients, colleagues and Trust systems better so we are confident in the quality of care we provide. Details of the increased rates are in today’s COVID bulletin.

Some further good news is that we have been recognised for our sustainable travel plans as part of our efforts to become a greener organisation, reducing our impact on the environment. Congratulations to Fran and the team for their work. We have some exciting developments ahead as we consider how our sites can become carbon neutral in the years ahead – something I’m sure we would all be proud to support. I want to also single out the City ED team who were shortlisted in the changing culture category of the patient safety awards for their pioneer team approach as part of our weconnect programme. Although they were not the winners on the night, their achievement in being shortlisted is fantastic and demonstrates their significant achievements in engaging colleagues.

The Star of the Week is this week awarded to Shakila Rasool who has been working hard to coordinate the reservist list supporting our critical care services. Shakila was overwhelmed with her award and her colleagues highlighted the way she has worked closely with colleagues, supporting them individually and seamlessly working across the group to put the rota together. Thank you, Shakila.

Finally, I would like to wish all our Hindu and Sikh colleagues a happy Diwali for the weekend. We know that celebrating Diwali will be very different this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions, but I hope that you can find ways to safely celebrate and connect with family and loved ones.

David Carruthers, Acting Chief Executive

Star of the Week – Shakila Rasool

Our Star of the Week this week is Shakila Rasool, professional development sister from critical care.

Shakila has stepped up in the absence of her line manager to co-ordinate the reservist list for CCS. She has gone the extra mile consistently and has worked extra hours to ensure that every colleague identified on the list had a personal phone call to discuss any concerns and organise rosters.

As part of this work Shakila sign posted colleagues to support services and ensured their concerns were listened to and addressed. She has also worked seamlessly with the group director of nursing for surgery, CCS management team and HR to manage the reservist workforce displaying excellent communication in a constantly moving organisation.

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.

National discounts for Trust colleagues

There are discounts and priority shopping times available to NHS colleagues to ensure they can access essential items and to say thank you for their hard work during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s important that NHS and social care workers display their NHS ID when visiting stores to gain access and/or discount.

Note: We will continue to update and add to the list but please note that offers will be subject to change.

NHS England and NHS Improvement has launched an NHS staff offers list which details offers from a wide range of companies.

Supermarkets offers:

Many of the major supermarkets have reserved time for NHS workers to do their shopping outside of busy periods.

• Sainsbury’s – Monday – Saturday, 7.30am – 8am
• Tesco – If there’s a queue, NHS colleague can go to the front with a valid ID.
• Co-operative – Monday – Saturday, 8am – 9am and Sunday, 10am – 11am.
• Marks and Spencer – Tuesday and Friday – the first hour of opening.
• Morrisons – 6am – 7am, Monday – Saturday, and 9am – 10am on Sundays.
• Aldi – open 30 minutes early on Sundays for NHS, police and fire service.
• Booths – Monday – Saturday, 7am – 8am (excluding Media City).

Restaurants and takeaways offering discounts: 

• YO! Sushi – 25 per cent off all food with a Blue Light Card. Get a code from the Blue Light card website or app.
• WHSmith – 20 per cent off all food and drinks in hospital stores.
• LEON – 30 per cent off takeaway food.
• Las Iguanas – 50 per cent off at locations that remain open for takeaway.
• Mindful Chef – 30 per cent discount on recipe boxes and ready meals. Email hello@mindfulchef.com from your NHS email account to get a code.

High street shops:

• Superdrug – 10 per cent discount in store when using a Superdrug health and beauty card and a valid NHS ID card.
• SoleCup – 25 per cent off in its online shop that sells long-life premium reusable cups and other related products.

Cars and bikes

• Halfords is offering 7.5 per cent discount. Staff need to show their ID card at any Halfords or Halfords Autocentres.
• Green Flag is offering NHS staff an additional 10 per cent discount on top of their regular online discount, for any new breakdown policy.

Health and wellbeing

• Fiit Premium is offering three months free premium membership to all NHS colleagues. To redeem this offer go to tv/nhs and fill out the short form.

For more information regarding all the staff benefits across the Trust please contact amir.ali1@nhs.net or call ext. 6148.

Important notice: Body bags

Some body bags are in use within the acute Trust and the community (see picture below) that should not be used as they are made from a nylon ‘tarpaulin’ like material which is not fluid resistant.

At this stage we are unsure where these have originated from. It is a possibility they were donated to the Trust due to the COVID-19 crisis but these bag have not been approved by the Trust for use.

Please check to see if you have any of these body bags, and remove them from use if you find any.

The procurement team can then replace any bags you need replacing with approved PEVA body bags.

To contact the procurement team or for more information, please call ext. 4938.

Heartbeat: Hello my name is… Mike Carr

We say hello to Mike Carr, our new Group Director of Operations, PCCT. Joining us from Shropshire Community Health Trust as the Deputy Director of Operations, Mike brings a wealth of experience into his new position.

Speaking to Heartbeat, he said: “I started my healthcare career when I was 18 working in the medical staffing team of a mental health trust. After that, I worked as a mental health support worker for a charity in Stafford whilst I was at university.

After graduating, I joined the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme. My placements were in Derby, which is where I spent several years as the general manager for cancer and palliative care. That was a fantastic and rewarding job – one of the major projects at the time was overseeing the merger of those services when Derby and Burton’s hospitals merged to form University Hospitals of Derby and Burton.”

More recently, Mike’s career has had more of a community focus. “My last job in Shropshire was my first role working predominantly with community services. Since starting that role, I’ve become excited by the opportunities that exist within community services to help keep people well in their own homes for longer and get people back home as soon as possible. This takes the pressure away from busy acute services and allows patients to live the lives they want to. Coming to an integrated organisation such as this one, I hope there will be even more opportunities to achieve these goals.

“The ambition of this Trust to be the best integrated care organisation is what attracted me to this role. There is a buzz about this place, a desire to develop the services of the future – that’s a journey I wanted to be part of.

“My interests are focused on creating patient-centred services with an emphasis on the holistic needs of our patients, ensuring their physical needs are met to the highest standards, as well as focusing on their psychological and social wellbeing to keep them well. Equally, with a background of working in the charitable sector, I’m keen to ensure we develop effective partnerships between the NHS and charitable organisations who I know can provide excellent, value adding services to our patients. As a newbie to the organisation, I’m always open to offers to go and spend time with services and similarly, if people want to get in touch with me to discuss ideas then I’d be happy for them to do so.”

Outside of work Mike enjoys playing rugby. “I’m fairly new to the area, but I have played rugby for my team Eccleshall against local teams such as Wednesbury and Handsworth on many occasions.”

Be sure to give Mike a warm SWB welcome if you see him out and about!

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 12 November

Welcome to your Thursday edition of the COVID-19 bulletin.

Many of you have been and may over the coming weeks be approached to take part in temporary redeployment to support key functions across our organisation. We would like to reassure you that we will listen to your concerns and ensure that any work you are asked to do or the area you are asked to work in is suitable for you. If you have any concerns please feel free to contact any of the executive team who are ready to support you

Numbers not statistics: This week (Last week)

1. Contacted by NHS track and trace? Do not give details of your work contacts if you have complied with our IPC guidelines

Many of you will have downloaded the new NHS contract tracing app designed to help the NHS understand where and how quickly the virus is spreading, so we can respond quickly and effectively.

On the chance that you are contacted through NHS track and trace stating that you are considered a contact of a case of COVID-19, it is important that you ONLY give your personal/community contacts if you have been complying with PPE and infection control guidelines whilst at work. You should then contact your line manager, who will complete a risk assessment with you to understand the occasions where you may have been in close contact with a patient or member of staff who has tested positive for COVID-19.

As the app is anonymised, it will not be apparent whether your contact occurred within or outside the Trust setting. Where there are cases of transmission of the virus within the Trust we will carry out our own contact tracing processes.

Remember to pause the app when at work

You must pause the app when:

• You are at work following infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance.
• You are wearing correct PPE at work and maintaining 2m social distancing in clinical and non-clinical areas.
• You are working behind a fixed Perspex (or equivalent) screen and are fully protected from other people.
• You store your phone in a locker or communal area.

You can read the latest government guidance for healthcare workers by clicking here.

2. Don’t delay, get fit tested today  

Do you wear the Alpha Solway, or 3M 1863 mask?

If so, due to a change in our stock, it is important you act NOW to get fit tested for a replacement. It is critical that colleagues stay up to date with the availability of masks that they have been fit tested for, so if you wear the Alpha Solway, or 3M 1863 mask please ensure you book into a face mask fit testing clinic as soon as possible. If you need a fit test, for a silicone or disposable FFP3 mask in stock (3m 1863+ or 9330+ mask), these are your options:

Non-urgent – please call ext.5050. There is currently a wait time of approximately one week, you will be asked when your next shift is and your appointment will be offered to you on that basis. Please ensure you book in good time, and please attend your appointment – we have too many DNAs!

If you need urgent on the day testing, contact the IPC team on 5195 and they will facilitate the earliest possible test for you or your staff member.

There are two machines in the bungalow behind City ED. If you have a fit tester in your team, you can book out the machines via the IPC team on 5195 to fit test your teams.

Fit testing has changed at Sandwell. You will now be seen in the Hallam Restaurant in the room to the right as you enter the building.

Please help us to ensure that a lack of planning does not become someone else’s emergency, by planning ahead as much as possible and ensuring you attend all booked appointments. If you cannot attend the appointment you have been given for your fit testing, please ensure you cancel your appointment in good time.

3. Siren Study is still seeking new recruits

Interim Chief Nurse, Kathy French is the newest recruit to the SIREN study, which focuses on NHS workers working within the hospital setting.

SIREN (Sarscov2 Immunity & REinfection EvaluatioN) specifically looks into the impact of antibodies that fight the virus which causes COVID-19. The study is open to anyone working in a hospital building where there will be contact, and those participating may have had the virus, or tested negative.

Colleagues taking part in the study are regularly asked to complete a questionnaire and nose swabs. Blood samples are taken every two/four weeks for up to 12 months. Whilst SIREN focuses on healthcare workers only, there are also many other R&D projects being undertaken by the Trust that the public can join. By taking part in research projects we help to speed up the fight against Coronavirus. For information on the SIREN study and details on how to join click here.

For information on other COVID-19 studies currently ongoing within the Trust click here.

4. Set an example – wash your hands, wear your mask, practice social distancing  

It is vital we continue to abide by social distancing measures ensuring you keep two metres between you and those around you at all times including during handovers and MDTs and when you go for breaks and lunch. There are clear floor markings at all catering outlets and seating areas highlighting the necessary spacing. It is important that staff take breaks and social distancing should be maintained whilst you are taking a break.

Colleagues and patients are also required to ensure they wear a face mask inside any of our buildings, both clinical and non-clinical.

Alongside practising social distancing and PPE, it is important to remember that you need to continue to wash and sanitise your hands thoroughly at regular intervals and for a minimum of 20 seconds. Alcohol gel dispensers are often within arm’s reach of all clinical areas and additionally are available from the procurement team if you feel your department is lacking any. Ensure that the dispensers are topped up and that your team know where the hand gel is and how to refil.

Fighting COVID-19 is a team effort, it needs the cooperation of everyone at our Trust to ensure we keep the virus at bay, keeping us safe and well and ensuring we are able to continue safely caring for our patients.

Set an example, wash your hands, wear your mask, practice social distancing and play your part in keeping yourself and those around you safe.

5. Your mental health and wellbeing is paramount

Your mental health and wellbeing is vital to us. We’d like to remind you that we offer a variety of health and wellbeing resources available for you. These include:

• Access to the Thrive app. Go to https://swb.thrive.uk.com to create an account and claim your free access to Thrive.
• Our recharge booth takes place every Thursday. It offers a safe space to come together with others, reflect, recharge, decompress, and join a safe and confidential discussion. For more information please contact Richard Burnell on 07747 144874 or Angharad MacGregor on 07976 322893. Alternatively, drop an email to swbh.rechargebooth@nhs.net.
• The wellbeing sanctuary offers a chance for colleagues to de-stress and relax. You can take advantage of a free massage, meditation, music therapy and relaxation hypnotherapy. It is located at the Learning Works on Unett Street, Smethwick, B66 3SY with free onsite parking.

Click here for a detailed list of health and wellbeing resources available to colleagues.

There is also, for both colleagues and patients, a 24/7 mental health helpline available operated by the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. If you are feeling low, having difficulty sleeping due to things on your mind, suffering from anxiety – anything that is bothering you – if you feel unable to cope and need to speak to someone urgently please dial 0800 008 6516.

Hallam restaurant closure: 20 November – 27 November

Due to essential maintenance work, Hallam Restaurant will close at 2pm on Friday 20 November for one week with normal service resuming on Saturday 28 November.

We will be offering a hot and cold reduced take away service for breakfast, lunch and supper from the catering foyer.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Wednesday 11 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. Reporting hospital acquired COVID-19

We are now required to report all incidences of hospital acquired COVID-19 as a patient safety incident both locally and nationally. The aim is to share any emerging understanding on how and why infection has occurred.

Please see the pathway which details the process to follow for reporting, reviewing and investigating hospital-onset COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 deaths. You are also encouraged to read the guidance provided by NHS England and NHS Improvement.

The Root Cause Analysis tool is available on Connect.

We must all continue to do what we can to reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19 infection in hospital by following the well-publicised infection control processes.

2. Face masks to be worn in all Trust buildings at all times

Alongside social distancing and stringent hand hygiene, there is now a requirement to ensure you are wearing a face mask in all Trust buildings at all times whether in a clinical setting or office.

 Steps for all colleagues to take:

1. All colleagues will need to wear a fluid resistant surgical face mask while inside all SWBH buildings. Masks are available at the welcome stations in the main entrances to each clinical building. Alternatively departments can order and collect masks from stores.
2. A mask needs to be worn throughout the duration of the time spent in the SWBH buildings.
3. 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.
4. Face masks must be worn at all times unless you are working in a room on your own. If you leave that area for any reason or someone else enters the room, you MUST immediately wear a mask. This includes corridors and communal areas.

Patients are also asked to wear a mask when they are moving about in the ward or sitting in the bedside chair. Please continue to inform and encourage our admitted patients to wear masks when possible during their stay.

Wear your mask properly

Masks only work if they are worn properly, we have all seen people wear masks in some truly bizarre ways.

The instruction here is simple – your mask should cover your mouth and your nose.

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. 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.

4. Microbiology – change of routine test provision

Due to the pandemic, Black Country Pathology have temporary reduced their test repertoire. They have now ceased processing samples of limited clinical value, with the caveat that they retain the ability to test individual samples if, after discussion between clinicians, it will have impact on the patient’s clinical management.

1. Mycology – toenail clippings and skin scrapings will not be processed for microscopy or fungal culture. Treat patients on clinical grounds.
2. Sputum samples – these will only be processed for specific locations such as critical care, respiratory wards/clinics and immunocompromised patient areas such as Haematology/Oncology. Please manage other patients clinically.
3. Urine microscopy and culture – The majority of BCPS sites had to suspend microscopy early in the pandemic. They now need to suspend culture of clear urine samples. These will be reported with a comment “Urine clear. Infection unlikely. Consider repeat or empirical treatment if symptoms change.” They will only continue to process pre-operative urology urine samples where it is clearly stated in clinical details that the urine sample is pre-operative.
4. Genital swabs – (except where clinical details specifically state STI or pregnant) will no longer be processed.
5. Swabs from chronic wounds – (e.g. ulcers) will not be processed.
6. Catheter specimens of urine – will not be processed unless specifically discussed with a microbiologist that this will change management.
7. Parasitology – stool samples will no longer be processed unless there are specific clinical details of travel dates and destinations outside of Europe (unlikely now due to COVID-19) or that the patient is immunocompromised.

For more information read the notice in full by clicking here.

Whilst the general principles above apply across the BCPS laboratory sites, we appreciate that some local detail to clarify acceptance/rejection criteria is required. The laboratory on the SWBH site will continue to process the above sample types providing this information is clearly included in the clinical details of the accompanying request. Please see further detail on the last page of the notice.

5. Managing patients who have returned from Denmark  

You will have heard in the news about wide scale out breaks of SARS-CoV-2 in mink farms in Denmark. SARS-CoV-2 is known to cause clinical disease in various domestic and wild animals, in particular, mink.

Five clusters, comprising 214 people, of different mink-variant SARS-CoV-2 viruses have been identified in Denmark, primarily in the North Jutland region. On 4 October 2020, Danish authorities reported that sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates from affected mink farms had identified seven unique mutations within these mink-variant viruses.

The Department of Health and Social Care have recommended that any patients who present at our hospitals are treated using the MERS pathway. If a patient presents with COVID-19 symptoms and has travelled from Denmark in the last 14 days they must go to single room with en-suite facilities. If they test positive for COVID-19, they should be immediately transferred to a specialised infectious diseases centre which can be arranged by contacting NHSE Regional EPRR/First on call who will arrange the transfer to the commissioned units.

Here is a summary of the guidance:

• Patients must be admitted directly to single/negative pressure/HBN04 rooms wherever possible; avoid admission via ED and AMU.
• Patients who present in ED must be placed in a single room whilst awaiting assessment. Staff must wear protective clothing. Rooms to be appropriately decontaminated before being used again.
• Patients must be nursed in a single room with negative pressure/HBN04 facility. If this facility is not available then a neutral pressure single room, preferably with en-suite facilities should be used. Room doors must be kept closed.
• Positive pressure single rooms must NOT be used.
• Suitable information must be placed on the isolation room door indicating the need for isolation, though there will be a need to respect patient confidentiality.
• Essential staff only must enter the isolation room.
• Should numbers of affected patients be such that single room isolation is not possible patients may be cohorted together in a bayed area. The above recommendations should still apply. A risk assessment to be carried out with the infection prevention and control team.
• Rooms/areas that have air conditioning systems must have them turned off and not restarted until patient discharged and decontamination performed.

More information is available in the guidance.

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.

What is payroll fraud?

Payroll fraud is when payments are made to employees which are not due. There are four core areas of payroll fraud;

• Falsely adding extra hours or including hours not worked to timesheets or other time recording systems,
• Working elsewhere whilst in receipt of sick pay from the Trust,
• Excessive, false or duplicate claims for travel and subsistence,
• Ghost employee – someone that is recorded on the payroll system but does not work for the Trust, a fictitious person invented by a dishonest employee.

Payroll costs account for a significant percentage of the total NHS annual budget and any fraud means that there are less funds available to provide treatment or pay for additional colleagues.

Everyone can assist in preventing payroll fraud by following a few basic steps when completing their own, or authorising other peoples’, timesheets and expenses;

• Only claim for the specific hours worked,
• Deduct any meal breaks that should be unpaid,
• Ensure timesheets are legible,
• Verify the details before authorising, and sign and date the agreed form,
• Remove electronic access to systems when colleagues leave.

Any deliberate overclaims 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. 

Reduced lift capacity across our sites

Due to the current pandemic, the Trust has received instruction from NHSE to reduce capacity in our lifts so that social distancing can be maintained.

Please see below new lift capacities:

For more information please contact randeep.degun@nhs.net.