Monthly archives: March 2021

ENGIE goes live on 5 April

And just like that, the 5 April is almost upon us. In just a few days, we change to working with ENGIE. As you should now be aware, ENGIE will be our new estates facilities management provider for our current hospitals and the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.

Please remember that from Monday, 5 April, you can log your estates maintenance jobs in the same way you currently do. All you have to do is call 0121 507 4444, the service is available 24/7, 365 days a year. Alternatively, you can email the team at SWBH.Helpdesk.uk@engie.com or log a job through the jobs portal on Connect located under corporate systems. Details of the response and rectification times can be found here.

Throughout this whole process the team have engaged with stakeholders and held user groups, something they will continue to do throughout April. Further details of upcoming sessions and how you can get involved will be available soon.

In the run-up to the launch, Richard Beeken, Interim Chief Executive remarked: “My thanks to everyone involved in this transition. I recognise that the change has been unsettling for the many people who now have a new employer. May I assure you that the estates colleagues transferring over remain very much a part of the SWB Trust family as we are one team supporting and delivering care for our patients. And the ENGIE team have much to offer their new colleagues in terms of career and team development opportunities as well as bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge in the estates management field.”

Heartbeat: The only way is ethics

As astonishing as it is to say – let alone write – we have surpassed one year since we in our organisation (and the wider NHS) took our first actions in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. A situation which dominated 2020 and seems set to leave an indelible mark on the rest of 2021 as well.

With such a difficult task behind, as well as in front of us, it is important that those of us medically trained maintain our standards for ourselves as well as the benefits of our patients, even when we are faced with difficult decisions. In March 2020, the Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC) was set up, led by Dr David Nicholl as chairman. The committee is there to assist with – but not replace – clinical decision making. It’s a sounding board of medical peers within the Trust if you will.

“We realised at the beginning of the pandemic that we needed to set up a clinical ethics committee, which some, but not all hospitals have. It differs from a research ethics committee that will look at research trials. The clinical ethics committee reviews any controversial areas of clinical medicine where ethical issues arise, not just those concerning the pandemic. Areas that we have looked at recently related to treatment escalation pathways, resuscitation decisions and ethical issues about delaying the second COVID-19 vaccination in light of the worsening pandemic. We hope that we can provide support and education for all staff as ethical issues arise in their work.”

If you wish to submit an ethical issue for discussion, please complete the ethics committee referral form which can be found on Connect. This should then be submitted to both swbh.clinical-ethics-group@nhs.net  as well as david.nicholl@nhs.net.

For any informal queries colleagues are welcome to discuss with their concerns with Dr Nicholl, or any member of the committee.

All discussions will take place in a confidential manner although a copy of the submission with the CEC’s outcome will subsequently be included within the patient’s record for transparency. You will be contacted for more information if required.

Essential Maintenance affecting the HIE Portal taking place on Wednesday 31 March from 5pm

There is an essential maintenance taking place on Wednesday 31 March to the HIE Portal in order for a fix to be applied to rectify an issue with discharge letters showing as corrupted in HIE from Unity.

This will result in the HIE Portal that displays Unity and GP information being unavailable for up to 15 minutes from approximately 5pm on Wednesday 31 March. Please be assured GPs have alternate means to view this information via the ICE system. Trust clinicians only use HIE for supplementary GP information on occasions.

Please be assured the activity will be closely monitored and will be validated by the Trust once implemented to confirm successful implementation.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

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 we addressed questions around COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Plus, we’ve got all of this:

• International Women’s Day 2021
• HSJ Awards
• Using tech to help patients beat the booze

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

Do you need to contact the respiratory nursing team?

The respiratory nursing team have now returned from redeployment and will resume normal service. Please refer patients with Asthma, COPD, Brochiectasis and Interstitial Lung Disease by bleep 5740 (City) or Sandwell (6344). Alternatively you can call ext. 5953 (City) or 3981 (Sandwell).

Making the move to ENGIE and all you need to know

ENGIE is a leading service, business energy and regeneration company. As you may be aware, From 5 April, ENGIE will be our new estates facilities management provider for our current hospitals and the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.

But what will this change mean in reality for our organisation? Well, for starters you can expect to see ENGIE working closely with SWB, and colleagues in our Trust to not only look after our estate but to innovate, collaborate and actively seek ways to improve our working environment. From 5 April, the team will be responsible for looking after estates facilities management, reactive maintenance, programmed planned maintenance, lifecycle works, small works and some capital works.

A new intranet page will soon be available. You’ll find lots of useful information such as FAQs, contact details, a user handbook and staff profiles. Best of all, the phone number and the people you deal with will remain the same. To log an issue, all you need to do is call 0121 507 4444. There will also be a portal to log jobs from the Connect page just like there is now.

Urgent Treatment Centre – interim move on Thursday: How will it affect you?

On Thursday (1 April) the Urgent Treatment Centre (former Walk-in Centre at Parsonage Street) moves to Sandwell Hospital It will be based temporarily in Ophthalmology outpatients at Sandwell with patients accessing the service via the Emergency Department entrance.

Although the change is not anticipated to impact many departments in our Trust, please be mindful that there will be an increase in patients entering the ED entrance at Sandwell. Our Ophthalmology outpatient department will also move some of its services to Research and Development in the outpatient department.

Signage will be in place to direct patients to the new service and patients have also been made aware of the move by Malling Health.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Should you have any specific questions please email kawsar.miah@nhs.net or rachel.clarke10@nhs.net

Star of the Week – Luke Priest

Our Star of the Week this week is Luke Priest, HCA and Ward Liaison Officer at Rowley Regis Hospital.

Luke started as a HCA on McCarthy Ward Rowley at the end of October 2020, at a time when not many people would want to go and start in a new role with a new team. Luke came to the ward with much enthusiasm and professionalism and immediately just got stuck in like he has been part of the team for many years. In the short period Luke has been with the team he has proven to be incredibly caring and compassionate and has had lots of patients give positive feedback on his care given to them. All the colleagues on the ward enjoy working with him.

More recently, Luke has taken up some of the COVID-19 Liaison Officer shifts which can be very challenging. Luke has also supported the whole team in many different ways from facilitating patients daily contact with families and taking over some of the tasks on the ward to allow other staff to continue to care for our patients.

Luke is dedicated to his role and always shows great enthusiasm and willingness to support all his colleagues.

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.

Pharmacy bank holiday and Easter opening hours

The Pharmacy department will be operating with a limited service during the bank holiday and Easter.

City dispensary will process inpatient and discharge work for both sites, which will be transferred cross site as per current weekend procedures.

AMU on both sites will be receiving a full clinical ward service to help ensure patient safety at the front door. The Sandwell AMU Pharmacy team will be based on AMU A at Sandwell from 11am – 4pm and will be contactable via bleep 5752 to ensure that any clinically urgent requests needed at Sandwell are processed in an appropriate time period. We will also have a clinical pharmacy team based on AMU at City from 10am – 3pm.

Stock can be ordered through the ad hoc stock order form located on the intranet home under connect referrals (under the COVID ward status). CD orders should be dropped off by 1.30pm in the CD book dropbox in the Sandwell pharmacy out of hours room. Urgent issues should be referred to the onsite clinical team on bleep 5752.

All ward teams are strongly encouraged to assess patient needs and order any inpatient and/or controlled drugs needed to cover the bank holiday period.

Note: Pharmacy at Sandwell will remain contactable on weekends via bleep 5752 as above. Any queries outside of the hours stated above should be routed through the on call pharmacist via switchboard.

Walk-in staff vaccination slots available this week at Tipton Sports Academy

If you are yet to get the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, you can still get your jab at Tipton Sports Academy Vaccination Centre this week whilst they are offering walk-in staff vaccination slots.

Simply pop along to Tipton Sports Academy (Wednesbury Oak Rd, Tipton, DY4 0BS) between 8am and 7pm. There is no need to pre-book.

Please ensure you take your Staff ID with you when you attend your appointment as it’s important you’re able to confirm you are eligible for the vaccination.