Monthly archives: May 2021

Calling all creative kids…

Is your child a whizz with art? Do they like to draw ‘til their heart’s content? If so, we have a creative competition to share with you courtesy of Balfour Beatty.

Balfour Beatty, our Midland Met construction partner, have launched a competition entitled ‘Your Thoughts on COVID-19’. They are hoping to see designs full of imagination and creative flair. If your child’s drawing is selected, they will win a £50 M&S voucher.

To enter, all you have to do is follow these simple steps:

• Scan your child’s drawing/s to sarah.fletcher@balfourbeatty.com including your name, your child’s name and age on the back of the drawing too. Entries also need to be scanned to Sarah as part of your entry. 
• Entry requires a £2 donation per drawing. Payment can be made via this link – https://bit.ly/3w200Tx. 

The Trust will receive all donations made via the Just Giving link, and children that enter will receive a certificate. As well as this, all designs will be laminated and displayed at Midland Met.

The closing date is Monday 31 May. Good luck and happy drawing!

Star Awards 2021: Excellence in Research

Do you know an individual or team who has participated in research which has made a demonstrable difference to patient experience and outcomes?

Nominate them for the Excellence in Research prize in this year’s upcoming Star Awards!

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Ways to nominate:

• You can complete a paper nomination form which you can download by clicking here.
• You can send in a video nomination for free to swbh.comms@nhs.net via www.wetransfer.com. Choose go to free. When doing the recording remember to state clearly who you are and the name of the person/team you are nominating.
• You can complete the online form by clicking here.

Be sure to check out last year’s award ceremony featuring last year’s winner for the award, the research and development team (timecode: 36 minutes, 32 seconds).

If you have any questions regarding the Star Awards, please contact the communications team on 0121 507 5303 or email swbh.comms@nhs.net.

For more information, please visit our dedicated Star Awards page on Connect.

Today is World IBD Day

World IBD Day takes place every year on 19 May each year and unites people worldwide in their fight against Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, known as inflammatory bowel diseases.

World IBD Day aims to raise awareness about this disease, urge governments and healthcare professionals to take action and to show support to the ten million people worldwide that live with IBD.

For more information please visit https://worldibdday.org/.

Circus Extreme free tickets for colleagues

Circus Extreme returns with brand new death-defying show at the Birmingham NEC. The organisers of event are offering a limited number of free tickets to a preview show for Trust colleagues. The preview show will take place at 7pm on Thursday 20 May. Trust colleagues will be able to attend free of charge with one guest (subject to availability). Any colleagues interested should call 0203 375 3970 to reserve their seats.

Note: Proof of NHS employment will be required upon entry.

For more information please click here.

Essential IT maintenance affecting Wi-Fi across all sites this Thursday, 1am- 3am

Please be aware an essential IT software upgrade to the Trust’s Wi-Fi controllers is taking place in the early hours of Thursday 20 May from 1am – 3am to help improve the performance of the supporting infrastructure. This activity will affect Wi-Fi on all our sites including City, Sandwell, Rowley and all remote community sites.

During this time Unity will remain fully available and colleagues that access computers/devices via a LAN network cable will be unaffected. 

However, from 1.20am – 3am each Wi-Fi access point will go offline sequentially for 10 minutes resulting in all devices that log to the network via Wi-Fi becoming unavailable. During this time any computers/devices logged on will automatically look for another WAP in your ward/department to connect to but this will take a few minutes. This will affect all wireless devices throughout Sandwell, City, Rowley and all our community Sites.

• We would recommend that colleagues save any work before 1am.
• If able to do so please use an alternative device that connects via a LAN network ethernet cable.
• If you are required to record clinical care and unable to do so during this time then please revert to your BCP and utilise your 724 machine; or contact the duty manager via (City bleep 5401 and Sandwell bleep 6216). for guidance.

Note: This will affect all colleagues working the night shift from 7pm on Wednesday 19 May.

The activity will be closely monitored throughout and desk top alerts will be issued from 11.30pm advising of the works and at completion.

Please do call the 24 hour IT service desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 if you have any further queries or experience any issues after the works have taken place.

Have you added assessor supervisor competencies to your ESR record?

The new NMC standards for student supervision and assessment continue to be rolled out with each new cohort of students The final large scale change we need colleagues help with is the recording of who is a practice assessor and who is a practice supervisor within the Trust.

If you have previously attended Trust transition training and are now a qualified practice assessor or practice supervisor under the new NMC standards for student supervision and assessment (SSSA) you are urged to link this competence to your Electronic Staff Record (ESR) account.

Instructions on how to do this can be found in the adding assessor supervisor competencies to your ESR record information sheet.

Note: All colleagues who attend future transition training will be required to add this competency to their ESR upon completion of the course and/or the relevant supervised practice.

For more information please call ext. 6149 or email swbh.nurse-education@nhs.net.

COVID-19 crisis in India: Here For You support webinar – 19 May

There are a significant number of health and social care staff across the UK including our own colleagues who may be affected by the current COVID-19 crisis in India.

Here For You is a webinar being hosted by Hertfordshire and West Essex Health and Care Academy for NHS colleagues. It aims to support with:

• Reflective discussion
• Identifying emotions
• Management strategies
• Support systems

This session will be held today (Wednesday 19 May) from 11am-1pm. You can access the webinar by clicking here.

Wellbeing Wednesday: Your mental health

Last week was mental health awareness week. Though the week has since passed, it does not mean we neglect our mental health and wellbeing.

Connect with someone: There are many options available to you from people who care about you.

• Connect with a colleague a family member or a friend
• Book a chat at the wellbeing sanctuary: The sanctuary gives colleagues a chance to de-stress and relax in a confidential safe place. Do you need time to chill out downtime over a tea/coffee and a biscuit, a listening ear or a chance to talk about anything in confidence, meditation, mindfulness, relaxation hypnotherapy or music therapy? The sanctuary is based at Learning Works on Unett Street, Smethwick, B66 3SY. There is free on site parking. To book yourself a free session please call 0121 507 5886. For further details please see daily sanctuary information sheet.
• Call the NHS counselling service available to you NHS colleagues on 0800 06 96 222
• Have a conversation with one of our REACT practitioners by calling 0121 507 5886

Take notice: Be in the present, explore your surroundings and find new places to visit

Learn: Why not try something new

Stay active: Being outside and being active can help lift our mood. If you fancy getting fitter why not take part in the couch to 5k or try out Dr Nick Makwana’s latest dance routine

Star Awards 2021: Patient Safety Award

Do you know an individual or team who has exhibited best practice in providing safe care, who has openly raised awareness of safety issues, championed transparency or introduced new ways of working to a service or treatment that has improved patient safety?

Nominate them for the Patient Safety Award in this year’s upcoming Star Awards!

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Ways to nominate:

• You can complete a paper nomination form which you can download by clicking here.
• You can send in a video nomination for free to swbh.comms@nhs.net via www.wetransfer.com. Choose go to free. When doing the recording remember to state clearly who you are and the name of the person/team you are nominating.
• You can complete the online form by clicking here.

Be sure to check out last year’s award ceremony featuring last year’s winner for the award, the learning from deaths committee (timecode: 34 minutes, 29 seconds).

If you have any questions regarding the Star Awards, please contact the communications team on 0121 507 5303 or email swbh.comms@nhs.net.

For more information, please visit our dedicated Star Awards page on Connect.

Execs present Midland Met floor plans

As we look forward to the opening of Midland Met, our executive team have been meeting some of the colleagues who will soon call Midland Met their new home.

In readiness for the move, we have begun presenting areas with floor plans so that they can see where their new home will be. Teams are being asked to create dedicated Midland Met Corners, similar to the Unity ones we used previously. These corners will be the go to places for colleagues to get the latest news and updates for their specific areas.

Angie Dudley, Matron, Priory 2 remarked: “We are all very excited – it’s starting to feel a lot more real now. We have talked about it for a long time, but now we’re starting to see what is happening. It gives staff reassurance seeing the plans.”

Angie Smith from Priory 2 echoed these sentiments and said: “We are very much looking forward to moving across.”

Be sure to keep a lookout for an exec visiting your area. Dr David Carruthers, Medical Director and Martin Sadler, Chief Informatics Officer, will be out and about visiting D25, D27, endoscopy and  pharmacy at City Hospital this week.

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