Monthly archives: February 2021

Latest edition of Heartbeat now online

Check out the latest edition of Heartbeat online now.

What can you expect to find inside this issue? Well, for starters our annual quality improvement poster competition was celebrated online in a socially distanced event earlier this month. Plus, we’ve got all of this:

• Midland Met update
• Cleaning with confidence
• COVID vaccinations

You can email famena.nawaz@nhs.net if you have an idea for an article or call us on ext. 5303.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Friday 12 February

1. New: Massage service is paused

Colleagues are asked to note that the massage service provided as part of our wellbeing offer has been paused due to concerns raised around social distancing. We recognise that this will be disappointing for many colleagues, but would encourage staff to make use of other wellbeing activities such as music therapy, mindfulness, counselling and online yoga – which you can access here.

If you had an appointment booked, unfortunately this will now be cancelled effective immediately. As soon as we are in a position to restart the massage service we will let you know.

The Sanctuary is at Learning Works on Unett Street, Smethwick, B66 3SY. Any queries please call 0121 507 5886.

2. New: COVID vaccine does not deliver superpowers

Colleagues will be aware that once vaccinated against COVID we must continue to maintain strict observance of the rules around hand hygiene, social distancing and wearing appropriate PPE. Being vaccinated DOES NOT imbue you with superpowers to repel infection. We need to be sensible and continue the precautions that we know will protect us and those around us. It is vital that all colleagues continue to wear the correct PPE on their wards, areas and departments whether in a patient facing or office environment. Should you be unsure of what PPE you need please see the PPE guidance.

Don’t forget: PPE is only part of what is necessary in order to combat Coronavirus and keep ourselves, our patients and the wider public safe.

• Regular and effective hand washing will help reduce the spread of the virus.
• Practicing social distancing by leaving 2 metres (6ft) between you and those around you.
• Wearing a mask when in communal rooms and are not alone for both clinical and non-clinical areas.

3. New: Call for message to our future selves from Sandwell Council

Our colleagues at Sandwell Council have asked for our involvement in their project – ‘A Message to Me in 2022’. The aim of the project is to encourage the communities of Sandwell to look forward to a time when life will be easier by writing messages to ourselves of things to do or remember post pandemic. They will share the messages prominently across Sandwell including projecting them onto large buildings, displaying them on banners in parks and across social media. The hope is that the people of Sandwell will feel encouraged, uplifted, hopeful and positive as they look to the future.

Not only will the messages and project be shared this year, but they will be repeated in 2022 to remind our future-selves of what we were thinking. The organisers are calling on Trust colleagues to participate with a brief message. They are looking for a mixture of poignant, humorous and sentimental messages, such as:

• “My colleagues are family, they’ve helped me through.”
• “Sometimes only a Snickers will do.”
• “She smiled and lit up the room.”
• “Is it wrong to have the takeaway on speed dial?”
• “What I’d give for the wind in my hair.”

Each message should be no more than 10 words ideally relating to your personal situation (i.e. as a healthcare professional etc.) The messages must be positive, not have any political intent and not liable to cause offence. To take part, please email your message, name, age, town where you live and a photo of yourself (in uniform if appropriate) to discover@sandwell.gov.uk by next Friday 19 February. If you are happy for your message to be shared across social media please also send a recording of you delivering your message.

Here are a few tips to help you with recording:

• Make sure that the filming phone is landscape, at eye level and you are fully in the frame.
• Put the phone on aeroplane mode so that there are no notifications during filming.
• Don’t try to hold the phone while filming, balance it on something at the right angle.
• Press play then take 3 seconds before you start to speak. Similarly, at the end, pause in your finishing pose for 3 seconds before you turn off the video. This will help when editing.
• Try to film in a reasonably quiet location with some natural light directed onto your face

4. New: Film Friday – ‘My view on the COVID vaccine’

Colleagues across the Trust may have different reasons for getting their COVID vaccine, so we asked Haematology Clinical Nurse Specialist Ria De Leon Casili what hers was. Here’s what she said:

5. New: Working from home tax relief

We would like to remind colleagues who have moved to home working during the pandemic that there is an opportunity to claim tax relief from HMRC on your work related expenses incurred from working from home. To check your entitlement please click here.

It is a simple process requiring two forms of ID to check your eligibility. You do not have to register for self-assessment to claim.

Encounters with grief

Encounters with grief is a conversation about the impact of grief on ourselves and our community. The Covid Pandemic has caused many of us to have significant exposure to grief – that of patient loved ones, colleagues and our own.

Watch here.

Many times such encounters have happened over the phone, without the benefit of physical presence. This conversation covers the impact of grief and how the wellbeing of all can be sustained through such experiences. We also heard from the trust bereavement service to report back on the follow up provided those who have lost loved ones in our care.

Panel:

• Jane Harris, Psychotherapist and Bereavement expert
• Sue Edwards, SWBH Bereavement lead nurse
• Anna Lock, SWBH  Consultant in palliative medicine
• Mike Blaber, SWBH Specialty Dr in Palliative medicine, Wellbeing lead for JDs

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 12 February

I am now nearing the end of my first week at the Trust.  Can I firstly say thank you to all the people I have met so far for their candid and honest answers to my questions and for making me feel so welcome. I write this blog on the evening of my birthday (you have to guess how ancient I am) after enduring another agonisingly mediocre defeat for my football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers. I know that is a brave thing to declare when one works in West Bromwich and Birmingham, but I’m nothing if not transparent…

You’ll no doubt be aware that this week the Trust has been promoting apprenticeship opportunities and highlighting some of the roles and people in the Trust who have progressed into careers in the NHS with the benefit of an apprenticeship programme. Apprenticeships are for people of all ages if you would like to further develop your knowledge or would like a change of direction. As we come towards the start of a new NHS year it is a good opportunity to consider how your development needs so do talk to your line manager or our apprenticeship team to find out more.

Last weekend was the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation which was designated by the UN as a day for people to come together across the world and act to end this practice. Many countries are experiencing an increase in FGM cases due to the pandemic. Lead specialist midwife, Alison Byrne, provides holistic care, support and advice for women who have experienced FGM and continues to work hard to raise awareness of the support that is available.

My initial reflections on this week so far are:

• We are now starting to see the tide turn from a pandemic response perspective, albeit with a long way to go before any kind of normality returns.  One thing that is clear is that the whole organisation has responded with commendable professionalism and hard work over the last few months, with no little discretionary effort from most of you. It’s also clear that we are all now exhausted, both physically and mentally.  I can assure you that both as a Black Country system and as a Trust leadership team, we are very much intending that the “recovery agenda” is not just about recovering waiting times and services, post-COVID. It is also about you and what we need to do to help you all recover.  That is about so much more than ensuring you can all take your accrued annual leave.  It’s about psychological support, professional development time and a realistic approach to stepping our services back up.  We will share much more on this agenda soon.
• As a result of seeing the turning of the tide on the COVID demand on our services, we will shortly start turning our attention to the longer term objectives we all need to achieve for our local populations.  With the new government white paper on the NHS published today, we can be confident that the thrust of that paper – integrated care and population health improvement as the key focus for the NHS rather than just treating people who are acutely unwell – is already at the centre of our Trust vision.  We want to be the leading integrated care organisation in the country and the changes in practice we need to deliver in order to make the Midland Met a success are central to that.  I’ve seen and heard about some really leading edge practice this week, particularly in urgent care and integrated community care.  The adoption of best practice in both these spheres needs to be a central focus over the next 18 months before the “big move” to the MMUH.
• Finally, all the above important and exciting stuff will have far less impact than it needs to, unless we can be confident that the fundamentals of good quality care are delivered to our local populations.  We need to ask ourselves, and I’d like you to challenge yourselves in your teams as we start to recover – are we delivering good quality care?

Is our service safe?  Are we learning from what has gone wrong and what has gone right, in our services?

Is our service effective?  Is what we do evidenced based and deemed best practice?

Is our service delivering compassionate patient experience that involves people in the planning of their care?

The key to any successful and innovative organisation which values its colleagues, is the delivery of the basics well and consistently.

Thank you again for a great first week.  I hope to meet more of you soon.

Richard

Temporary road closure at City Hospital this weekend

Essential road resurfacing work is due to commence Saturday 13 February at City Hospital. As a result, there will be restricted access along the centre road of City Hospital this weekend.

Temporary barriers will restrict access to all but essential vehicles for travelling up the centre road in the direction of Pathology Department and Maternity Department on both Saturday 13 February and Sunday 14 February.

Apologies for any inconvenience this essential work may cause.

For additional information on this work please contact Phil Foley, Deputy Head of Estates on ext. 6088.

Star of the Week – Lavinia Hines

Our Star of the Week this week is Lavinia Hines, Health and Wellbeing Lead Coach.

Lavinia was nominated for her excellent work at the Wellbeing Sanctuary.

Her nomination said: “Where do I start – Lavinia is fantastic at what she does! I have never been one for health and wellbeing and massages but she made me feel comfortable from arrival.

I felt welcomed by her and her team and as soon as I arrived I felt relaxed. I have spoken to other staff about the sanctuary in my team and they all love it and speak so highly of Lavinia. She was very professional whilst at the same time friendly. She made me feel at ease and if I was having issues I could mention them to her or her team. I also LOVE the atmosphere there and would recommend any staff whether they are frontline or not visit the sanctuary.

“She is a credit to the organisation especially during these difficult times and I will definitely be going to the sanctuary in the future.”

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.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 11 February

Numbers not statistics: This week (last week)

1. New: Ward Liaison Officers lend a hand across the Trust

Last month a new role was introduced to wards across the Trust in a bid to support clinical staff, freeing them up to focus on their clinical duties. To date more than 220 shifts have been supported, with the new role of COVID Ward Liaison Officer being deployed to areas where they are most needed. They work between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week, with an additional service in critical care at Sandwell overnight from 8pm to 8am. The staff are recruited from Trust Bank and volunteers and colleagues whose normal role has changed due to step down in services. If any colleague would like to volunteer to support clinical staff across our wards in this role, they can do so by contacting Trust Bank through the following:

Email: swbh.covidsupport@nhs.net

Call Trust Bank ext. 3600

Colleagues will be asked if they have been fit tested and if they need to be, they will be asked to book in before taking a shift.

The role is managed by the ward nurse in charge, and responsibilities include acting as a runner, collecting pharmacy drugs, helping with drink/snack rounds, helping patients keep in touch with relatives through technology, ward ventilation – opening and closing windows, basic admin and answering telephone calls. More information about the role is published on Connect here.

2. New: Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science    

Colleagues may be aware that today is the 6^th annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science and to mark it we’d like to pay tribute to the efforts of all our female colleagues working in scientific roles across the Trust. Of special note is Dr Tranprit Saluja, (Taran) Consultant Microbiologist and Trust Infection Prevention and Control doctor, who has made fighting infection her life’s work. In addition to leading Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust’s Infection Control Service as IPC doctor since 2017, the accomplished microbiologist is also deputy chair of the regional infection control forum, and an honorary senior lecturer at Aston University.

Her special interest is in the impact of infection on the body and how it can be fought off, antimicrobial stewardship and emerging antimicrobial resistance. When COVID hit last year Taran was at the forefront of the Trust’s response and has been splitting her time with a mix of clinical duties, on-call commitments, doing rounds and managing infection control. She is passionate about her role and using science to inform the path out of the pandemic.

She explained: “When a new virus comes along, science is essential to understand its battle plan, and it is the science which will determine our strategy to eventually beat COVID. Although it is inevitable we will experience set backs as the virus evolves, I am confident that our testing regime, sequencing  and robust infection control measures will ultimately win out over COVID as we understand more about it, and can therefore adapt our behaviour to prevent it spreading.”

3. Updated: Eat Well food vouchers

Further to our Eat Well message earlier in the week, we’ve had some queries about how the Eat Well vouchers are allocated.  On Mondays and Thursdays the food vouchers are distributed to all wards. Vouchers for departments are available on request by the departmental manager emailing the catering manager with the department name, contact number and quantity of food vouchers required. Once requested they can then be collected from the catering office. Details of all vouchers requested are maintained by the catering team and reconciled against the number of vouchers redeemed.

The scheme will be in place up to the end of March, when it will be reviewed. For any queries please contact:

Trust Catering Manager

• Jane Owen – jane.owen1@nhs.net

Sandwell site

• Ilona Petersen –  Ilona.petersen@nhs.net
• Jasbir Sangha – jasbi.kaur@nhs.net

City site

• David Calder – dcalder@nhs.net
• Kyle Ryan – kyle.ryan@nhs.net

Rowley Regis

• Andrew Worton – awroton@nhs.net
• Michael Best –  Michael.best@nhs.net

4. Updated: Still time to get your COVID-19 vaccine

Colleagues who have had their first dose of the COVID vaccine will be aware that on attending your first appointment your second appointment will be booked – you do not have to phone to book your second appointment. If you have an appointment with the Trust for your first vaccine and then are offered it elsewhere, please cancel your booked appointment to ensure we have as much notice as possible to rebook your slot. Unfortunately we have experienced a high number of DNAs recently which could potentially cause significant wastage.

The vaccine hubs at Sandwell and City will stop offering first doses after this week in order to support the allocation of vaccine supplies across the system so that priority groups are able to be vaccinated as quickly as possible. The facility will reopen in March to administer second doses. If you require a vaccine after this week please see more information about alternative vaccination centres on Connect by clicking here.

There are still slots available for first doses of the vaccine this week in the Vaccine Hub at Sandwell Hospital Education Centre and the Vaccine Hub at City Hospital which located in the Cardiac Rehab Gym in the Ground Floor of the Sheldon Building

To book please call 0121 507 4112 between 8am – 8pm.

Did you know this week is National Apprenticeship Week?

This week is National Apprenticeship Week. The annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships aims to shine a light on the amazing work being done by employers and apprentices across the country.

To celebrate the awareness week, throughout this week, we will be promoting and sharing content around out apprentices and their fantastic contributions and efforts.

Sajidah Valera, Maternity Clerk – Business Admin Level 3

“I am an apprentice who works as a Maternity clerk. I chose to join an apprenticeship with the Trust because I believe apprenticeships are a great way to access a career path in my chosen sector, which in turn enables me to work towards my chosen career goals. Not only does my apprenticeship provide me with a job and a national recognised qualification, it has provided me with experience, transferable skills and a boost in my confidence which I will carry with me throughout my career.

The apprenticeship I am enrolled in has opened many paths for me; having a chance to stay on after my apprenticeship into a permanent substantial role as well as giving me opportunities to progress in the Trust.

During my time as an apprentice I have received an immense amount of support from management and fellow colleagues, the positive feedback that I have received from them have motivated me to get as far as I can in my career. 

I would highly recommend joining an apprenticeship; it is a great way to start on the career ladder as well as gaining a substantial qualification whilst earning a wage. The experience and skills that are gained during an apprenticeship will always stay with you, regardless what you choose to do after completing it.”

In case you missed it: Apprenticeship awards ceremony 

In the weeks leading up to the back end of 2020 the Trust usually hosts an awards ceremony to celebrate the achievements of our apprentices over the last 12 months. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic we did things differently. With this in mind, a special awards ceremony video was put together showcasing or apprentices and their achievements over the last year.

If you are interested in any degree and higher level apprenticeships, please take a look at what is available by clicking here and if something is of interest please contact swbh.apprenticeship@nhs.net for the next steps.

BME coaching and health and wellbeing support

NHS improvement are currently offering BME colleagues 1:1 coaching, Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) as well as tailored health and wellbeing support.

For more information and to register for the 1:1 support please click here.

For more information regarding the health and wellbeing support please click here.

Breast Awareness Webinar: 8 March

Dudley, Wolverhampton and South West Staffordshire breast screening service are hosting a Zoom webinar around breast awareness and breast cancer on Monday 8 March at 12.30pm. Joining instructions can be found below:

• Zoom meeting ID: 861 8074 8677
• Zoom meeting passcode: 727829

For further details please click here.

For more information please email dudleywolverhamptonbss@nhs.net.