Monthly archives: August 2021
Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 20 August
In the upcoming August edition of Heartbeat, our Trust Chair, Sir David Nicholson, sets out his views about the possible consequences for our patients, our population and our Trust, as a result of the now confirmed shift of the Ladywood & Perry Barr area (“place”) of our Integrated care System (ICS) coming under the auspices of The Birmingham & Solihull ICS and Birmingham City Council. Like all trust chief executives, I am completely aligned to my Chair’s views on all matters! In all seriousness, however, David’s views on why this should not and will not have negative consequences for us or our patients, are the ones I hold as well. I would like to set out in more detail why I share the same view.
One of the big reasons why I consider this move of the west of the city’s health services into a different system to be relatively low risk, is because I firmly believe that the bulk of the mitigations to our problems in health, public health and social care, are to be determined more locally than at system level. I genuinely feel that the Pareto Principle applies here – 20 per cent of our issues can be solved or mitigated at system level; 80 per cent of them locally at place level, through our place based partnerships.
What are place based partnerships? I hear many of you ask. Why will they do anything in this space which we haven’t already tried and sometimes failed, to resolve? What are the problems we face and how will a more integrated, multi-agency approach solve them? Below, I set out the answers to those questions, which I hope will interest or even excite you about the possibilities and you will then start to be able to think through how you or your services might change to become better integrated and more proactive in the management of and ideally avoidance of, chronic disease.
We serve some of the most deprived and diverse communities in the country. As a result, our local residents have both an increased risk of developing chronic disease, developing mental health problems or needing social care support, than most. Our hospital services, community team caseloads and primary care services are overwhelmed – look at our current bed occupancy in summer, the pressures on acute medicine and ED and the pent up, un-serviced demand in primary care raining down on NHS 111 services at present. This is not sustainable. Despite poor resourcing and inconsistent strategy nationally for some years, which actually disinvested in public health and set our statutory organisations up in silos, focusing on contractual issues rather than how we work better together, we still have a huge opportunity to reverse that tide and the new health and care act going through parliament now, will help accelerate that. By using population health data/information, we are better able to see who most at risk of developing chronic or acute health or social problems. Moreover, by harnessing that data and working more collaboratively, not separately from primary care, social care and mental health, we can better marshal our slim resources to point towards getting ahead of the game, such that we rely far less on health and care services to pick up the pieces when people slip into crisis.
The nirvana I seek is our acute hospital specialists, working with primary care and specialist community teams in localities, to plan preventative interventions for those most at risk. Ideally, we will move to a world in which practitioners in the different agencies or organisations don’t refer to each other in that classic “hands-off” approach which has become the norm over the last 30 or 40 years. Instead, they are bold with their time and case conference planning for the most vulnerable patients or citizens. The unharnessed potential of that approach, combined with what the housing sector and voluntary sector can bring, should allow us to start to harness the full potential of the Midland Met and halt the most depressing trend of all in local healthcare terms – that the healthy life expectancy of people in the Black Country and West Birmingham, is actually going backwards. For this to be the case in the 7th richest nation on earth, in the 21st century, is nothing short of scandalous.
Our Trust vision remains an ambition to be renowned as being the best integrated care organisation in the country. We will not achieve that aim by being an island, organisationally. We must see our local place based partnerships (ICPs) in Sandwell and Ladywood & Perry Barr, as virtual organisations in their own right. As Sir David says, we are leading those partnerships effectively and in Sandwell, should shortly be named as the host organisation with a dedicated leadership team for the partnership. Our next step, is to develop a programme of work which standardises clinical pathways and clinical practice between primary, community and secondary care; to develop a programme of work which establishes locality, multi-agency teams into which our hospital and local mental health specialists input; to develop a programme of work which unifies the delivery of social care and health under one roof, with an unrelenting focus on admission avoidance and discharge facilitation and speed. This is what integrated care should look like. I hope this interests you, because it is the answer to very many of the unsustainable pressures you currently face in your services.
Still time to get your vaccination!
The City Hospital vaccination hub in Sheldon Block is open for those aged 18 or older who would like their first jab. Colleagues are able to walk-in to the City Hub for their vaccination.
The hub operates from 8am – 6pm daily. The hub is open for both walk-ins and bookings via the national booking website.
The hub will be administering both Pfizer and AstraZeneca. Pfizer will be administered to the under 40s and AstraZeneca to the over 40s as per the current JCVI guidelines.
Alternatively, to find a venue closer to your home, click here.
Star of the Week: Jacqueline Slater
Our Star of the Week this week is Jaqueline Slater, Matron.
Jacqueline has proven to be a fantastic Matron helping and supporting many of her colleagues across the Trust including Lyndon 2 and Newton 5. She has improved the standards massively on these wards whilst teaching and guiding her fellow nurses.
Jacqueline has demonstrated she is an inspirational leader and is now continuing her great work at SWB on Priory 4.
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.
Echo and Cardiac Catheter reports unavailable from 6pm today until Monday 23 August, 8am
Due to the Echo and Cardiac Catheter Lab system upgrade, official Echo and Cardiac Catheter reports will not be available on Unity from Friday 20 August, 6pm to Monday 23 August, 8am. Preliminary reports will be added to Unity, with official reports to follow post-upgrade.
Note: You can still request all procedures via Unity.
Disruption to traffic near City Hospital/A457
Please note that traffic towards City Hospital the A457 Dudley Road / Spring Hill is blocked both ways with slow traffic due to a road traffic collision between A4540 Ladywood Middleway (Spring Hill Circus) and Western Road.
Please take any needed steps and make sure you allow extra time for your journey if you are attending the City site.
Job of the week: Secondment opportunity – falls management nurse
We are currently seeking a registered nurse or Allied Health Professional to undertake the role of falls management nurse in this six month secondment post. The post is suitable for experienced band 6 nurses, AHPs with falls prevention experience who are seeking to broaden their knowledge and skills in falls prevention and management. You must have a minimum of 3 years’ experience; have an interest in falls management, committed to high standards of care delivery, clinical quality and continuous improvement in patient safety. The focus of the role is to assist in the delivery of a developed falls training programme across the organisation; therefore it is desirable for the successful candidate to have experience in the delivery of training in small groups and in 1:1 basis using a variety of methods to suit a wide range of staff and situations.
This is an exciting opportunity to gain valuable experience in all aspects falls management. There will be opportunity to join the regional falls network and complete on site visits to other falls services. This offers an ideal opportunity to broaden experiences, learn from others, share knowledge and skills.
You will be supported in the role by the falls specialist nurse who will guide and support you to develop key skills in all aspects of falls management.
Start date is scheduled to be Friday 1 October. Agreement must be sought from the applicants’ line manager to be released for this secondment.
Hours are 37.5 per week Monday – Friday (Negotiable between the hours of 8am – 6pm).
There is scope for flexibility in the post and job share would be considered.
Applications should be sent in the form of an expression of interest letter as well as a simple CV detailing your experience and suitability for the role to lesley.mcdonagh@nhs.net
The closing date for all applications is Sunday 22 August, 5pm. For further information please email lesley.mcdonagh@nhs.net or call 07976133426.
Aston Villa Foundation TeamWork open activity evening: 31 August
The Aston villa Foundation are hosting a TeamWork open activity evening inviting Trust colleagues to the academy building on Tuesday 31 August, 5pm – 8pm.
The evening will promote what TeamWork is and is an opportunity for the attendees to learn new sporting activities and for the attendees to learn what mental health provision there is around Birmingham. The evening is to support the TeamWork programme, the foundations newest initiative which aims to support football fans and the local community with their mental and physical health.
For further details please email teamwork@avfc.co.uk.
Heartbeat: Supported internships on track to return this year
SWB is restarting its bespoke supported internship programme in the autumn.
As an organisation, we initially launched our internship programme two years ago in 2019 alongside key stakeholders in the local area which included Sandwell College, Shirelands Secondary School, Sandwell Council (Disability section) and the Downs Syndrome Association all in a bid to offer placements to those the Trust felt were furthest away from the job market due to learning or physical disabilities and mental ill health.
“The programme was developed to support many people across the borough who we felt were falling through the net of the job market due to the difficulties they were facing,” said Nikki Smith, Widening Participation Project Support Officer.
“As a Trust we wanted to showcase our support towards these individuals and continue to follow our vision and ethos of being an inclusive, equal and diverse employer”.
From the outset the programme was an instant success as we welcomed eight people in a volunteering capacity as part of our volunteer service.
“The programme builds confidence, encourages basic communication skills and much more,” said Patricia Hunt, Volunteer Service Manager.
“Anyone on the programme would complete a full induction before starting any volunteering roles and would be given training and peer support until they were confident to do the role with less support.
“This built confidence in anyone who joined the programme which would help them long term and also aid them in an extended work experience placement which would last for six months.
Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the supported internship programme was halted, however the Trust is planning on bringing it back in September this year.
Nikki is delighted the programme is coming back and believes it will benefit all involved.
She added: “With the UK unemployment rate between December 2020 – February 2021 at 4.9 per cent, it is vital this supported internship programme returns. If all goes to plan, we hope to be able to support the many young people currently unemployed.”
Heartbeat: Seeing is believing at Midland Met
A community of half a million people is eagerly anticipating our brand new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH). The opening will be the beginning of a fresh chapter in our ambitious journey to be the leading provider of integrated care in the UK.
Currently, we have over 800 people on site daily building our flagship hospital. The inside is changing rapidly and looking more like a hospital every day. ED will be the first area completed; colour vinyl is going down on the floors, and oxygen and gas boards are up. You can now start to imagine what clinical spaces will look like.
Each Friday, clinical teams visit the hospital to look at the areas they will soon be working in to help them plan how they will work there. These visits allow clinical teams to start considering how they can redesign their care pathways to help transform services in our new hospital.
We caught up with the nuclear medicine team on their site tour to discover how they are getting ready to move to Midland Met. Looking around their new area, Jenny Thompson-Peters, Chief Clinical Technologist, remarked: “Moving to Midland Met is going to enhance how we provide care. We will have improved technology with three SPECT-CT gamma cameras. It will allow us to make some protocol improvements – we currently only have one camera able to perform the full range of our tests.
“Seeing this space helps us to envisage where equipment will go and, we’ve started to look at how we will work together. We will also be integrated more closely into the imaging department. That will be a positive opportunity to build upon relationships with our co-workers.”
Jenny added: “We are pleased to see from the floorplan that it will be fit for purpose and compliant with our regulations. It gives us lots of food for thought and we are planning for how we will use this as a fully functioning clinical space.
“There are lots of ongoing discussions around the equipment we have going into the new department and how to best arrange it to promote efficient patient flow. We have been involved in QIHD sessions looking at patient journeys into various imaging departments and movement within the new acute hospital. One such example is that we will no longer need to use patient transport for maternity patients. Currently, it’s only about 100m from our back door, but it requires an ambulance to move patients between the buildings. Having that closeness between areas will help massively with how patients will move around the hospital and, it will improve their overall experience.”
Jenny continued: “In our last two QIHD sessions, we’ve reviewed large scale maps of our areas and discussed how patients will access the various departments based on whether they are attending from ED, AMU, wards or as outpatients. Looking at ways to be efficient, imaging is hoping to be supported by dedicated porters to reduce delays. It is one avenue we are exploring, but there are lots more. Using our QIHD sessions for these discussions has been valuable. It has opened up the conversation to all colleagues instead of just managerial staff.
“There won’t be many departments running outpatient appointments from MMUH, so we are conscious that our directions for patients will need to be clear. It is still early days, and we will need to visit again. This initial visit has been most helpful to help us start planning and looking at ways we can be efficient in our new workspace.”
Leadership book club
There is a monthly leadership book club where colleagues can share their thoughts on books, talk about new skills and get to meet other aspiring leaders and managers across our workplace.
Everyone is welcome, you do not have to be a manager to attend!
The book club meets on the last Friday of each month, 2.30pm – 3.30pm via WebEx.
- You can come along and just listen if you haven’t read the book
- You can come along if you have only read some of the book
- You can read the book and not come along, it’s completely up to you!
All books are available at low prices in print, audio or e-book and our library also stock some copies of each title.
Find this month’s book on Connect by clicking here.
For more information and to join email richard.burnell@nhs.net.
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