Monthly archives: September 2021

SurgiNet first day of go live proves huge success

Yesterday, parts of our Sandwell site went live with SurgiNet. Though there a couple of initial delays, the overall go live proved a huge success.

There are still certain elements that the SurgiNet team and Cerner are continuously working on to resolve in the background however should you need support with any of your IT equipment please call the IT service desk on ext. 4050.

We would like to say a big thank you to all the clinical and non-clinical colleagues who have worked brilliantly thus for during go live.

Still haven’t completed your training? It is essential that colleagues complete their SurgiNet training if they haven’t done so already. This includes ward staff, surgeons and anaesthetists plus colleagues who prepare patients for surgery using pre-operation checklists. For further details regarding training please click here. For colleagues who require a face to face training sessions please speak to your line manager.

Drug safety notice: Change of product – Enoxaparin injections

Due to a manufacturing problem with the supply of Clexane (enoxaparin) injections, the pharmacy department have sourced Inhixa, an alternative brand of enoxaparin, which has been approved for use within the Trust by the Formulary and Therapeutics Group.

Please see Enoxaparin information sheet for safety considerations and further details.

For more information please contact the pharmacy department on ext. 5263/3783.

Heartbeat: Birthing at home made comfortable thanks to new team of midwives

The home birth team called Birch is the next continuity of care team to be launched at the Trust which means women will be looked after by a dedicated team of midwives. Launched in August, they will ensure women receive antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care if they have chosen home as their preferred place of birth. This is a continuation of the provision which has been traditionally provided by our excellent community midwives, with the additional benefits of case loading.

Over the past 12 months there has been a growth in women requesting a home birth, which identified the need to expand. It will mean women can feel confident in the service and home births can be promoted as an option when considering where to have their baby. The Birch team will consist of eight midwives each looking after around 32 women at any one time.

Midwife Clare Williams, who is leading the team added: “We are delighted to launch the Birch team which will specifically look after women who choose to birth their baby at home.

“It’s part of the maternity plan to support women to have the birth they choose in the environment they feel most comfortable in to meet their baby.

“Our team members have a wealth of experience and will provide one-to-one care to the women they look after, preparing them for a home birth in a practical and emotional way.

“When compared to a birth on delivery suite, a home birth is as safe, women have fewer difficulties and the recovery time is better. They are less likely to have a caesarean section, have lower intervention rates and are more likely to use a pool in labour.

“Being at home in their own environment helps women’s bodies to labour better. The labour hormone, Oxytocin is naturally higher when the woman feels safe and therefore there is less need for interventions.

“Women have also stated the need to have their family close during labour as a reason for them choosing a home birth.”

To contact the team for more information or to refer women to the service email swbh.birchhomebirthteam@nhs.net.

Celebrating Pride 2021 at SWB today

Join the LGBTQ+ Staff Network to celebrate Pride Week tomorrow (Tuesday 28 September), 11am – 3pm at Sandwell Courtyard Garden.

Working towards equality is everyone’s business and building awareness through Pride, brings us together to educate, elevate and celebrate.

This year we’ll be focusing on our “Pronouns for Pride” campaign with LGBTQ+ network members on hand to explain why it’s an excellent idea to include your pronouns as part of your contact details and email signatures.

During this event we can also:-

• Sign you up to become a member of the LGBTQ+ Network.
• Show you how to update your gender/sexual orientation on ESR.
• Have some fun and be together as a network.

Please come and join us for Ice Cream, Cupcakes and Cocktails (Non Alcoholic of course).  Even though the event is outdoors, we will be maintaining social distancing and the use of face masks, so do come along.

Fuel disruption advice

Colleagues will be aware that there is currently an issue with normal supply and demand of vehicle fuel, caused by a nervous public who are panic buying more fuel than they otherwise would. Unfortunately this has the potential to affect some services, so we have taken steps to mitigate the effects where possible. We are advised that the situation is expected to return to normal in the coming days, as there is plenty of fuel at UK refineries and terminals.

Our expectation is that all staff who are required on site make every effort to get to work, using alternative means of transport where necessary.

We will be keeping a close watch on the situation but in the meantime we would ask colleagues to take the following actions where possible:

• If your line manager agrees it is appropriate to do so please work from home.
• Please consider whether you could car share safely, observing our current infection prevention and control rules such as:
  • Wear a fluid resistant surgical mask during the journey.
  • Share the transport with the same people each time where possible.
  • Minimise the group size at any one time.
  • Open the windows for ventilation.
  • Travel side by side or behind other people, rather than facing them, where seating arrangements allow.
  • Keep your bags on your lap if possible.
  • Wash/gel your hand before and after the ride.
  • Avoid eating inside the car while sharing.
• Use public transport, walk or cycle where you can.
• Escalate any issues you are experiencing to your line manager, to ensure they are fed back to the tactical team.

Colleagues should note that the Trust will not be booking taxis for colleagues so please do not ask our transport team to do so.

If our response changes we will issue another message to keep you informed of the actions you should take.

Changes to flexible working procedure

As you may be aware, Section 33 of the NHS Terms & Conditions Handbook changed to reflect a change in approach to flexible working.  This reflects the commitment in the NHS People Plan to support our colleagues to achieve a healthy work-life balance, to aid staff retention as well as attracting new and diverse talent to the organisation.  Research shows that there is an increasing demand for flexible working from colleagues across all age ranges and genders. Some of the advantages of flexible working are below:

We are in the process of working with our staff side representative to develop a revised flexible working policy to reflect the change in ethos and process within the NHS.

As atemporary measure, we have developed an Interim Flexible Working Procedure to reflect the key changes, which will act as an addendum to the existing Flexible Working Policy HR 033 to ensure managers and staff are aware of the key elements of the new process.

The key changes include:

• A stronger focus on creatively exploring ways to support flexible working wherever possible, whilst still supporting high quality, effective service delivery.
• The right for all employees to request flexible working from the first day of their employment regardless of the reason for the request, or the role/band or grade/area the individual is employed in.
• No limit on the number of flexible working requests that can be made in a 12 month period.
• A focus on normalising flexible working conversations through regular and informal discussions at induction, PDR, 1:1s and team meetings. The purpose of this is to explore the individual’s needs and wishes and what options might be available to help employees think about whether they want to make a request.
• All flexible working requests will now be made via ESR Self Service and the paper application form will be discontinued. (User guidance is available on Connect as follows: For Employee Self Service: https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/esr/employee-self-service/ For Manager Self Service use:  https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/esr/esr-service-guides/  (under Personal and Assignment Information)).
• A new formal procedure which includes the following stages:
  • Stage 1 – Initial Exploratory Stage: The employee and manager meet to work through what the employee wants to achieve and to identify, evaluate (and agree where possible) options for achieving it.
  • Stage 2 – Escalation Stage: Where the line manager has not been able to accommodate the request within the immediate team after full consideration of alternative options, they will escalate to the Group Director of Operations (or equivalent) who will nominate an appropriate senior manager to review other options, including consideration of whether the request can be accommodated outside of the immediate team.
  • Stage 3: Decision stage – The decision is confirmed in writing.
  • Stage 4: Appeal – There is an appeal stage within the procedure.

• There is a heightened expectation around the central monitoring of and reporting on flexible working requests.

There will also be some supporting resources for managers developed in due course.

If you have any questions about the interim procedure, please contact the HR department on ext. 6680.

For employees that need assistance with using ESR to make a flexible working request please liaise with your line manager in the first instance. You can also email the ESR Helpdesk via swbh.esrhelpdesk@nhs.net .

Further training materials on the use of ESR to make flexible working requests are in development and will be available in due course.

For more information please see Interim Flexible Working Procedure.

NHS Staff Survey coming soon – but is it confidential?

A common issue that arises about the staff survey is concern over confidentiality – often colleagues are under the misconception that their individual responses will be identifiable to the Trust.

Please be assured that SWB use Quality Health, an independent external contractor to ensure that individual responses are not visible to the organisation.

If you receive a paper copy of the survey you will notice it has a barcode – a random number generated by Quality Health’s systems and is used as a way of ensuring that no personal information has to be printed on the document. This means that responses can be logged against the right organisation and staff member, ensuring that reminders are only sent to those who do not respond.

If you were to scan your questionnaire barcode using a smartphone, you would see for yourself that it does not contain any information about you. The number is totally meaningless unless it is entered into Quality Health’s secure system.

Similarly, if you are completing your questionnaire online, you will have a unique link or log in details for the online survey, which is only useful if it is entered into Quality Health’s secure system. These references are redundant for any other purpose and could not be used within the Trust as a means to track responses.

Quality Health have developed some information and a short video that explains more.

Keep an eye out for your survey this week.

Trust parking to be funded until 31 March 2022

The Trust has received notice from NHSE that colleague car parking charges will continue to be funded from the central budget until 31 March 2022.

In order to assist Q-Park with administration of our car parks and permits to park, we must remind colleagues wanting to park on our sites that you still need to apply for the new car parking permit from Q-Park. This process does involve the setting up of a direct debit mandate, however the collection of car parking charges will not be debited from your bank account until 1 April 2022.

Those needing assistance with this process can drop in to the Q-Park lodges at Sandwell and City and Q-Park will guide you through the process.

Note: The old car parking permits will still be valid and continue to work in the short term, however they will be switched off once the multi storey car parks become operational.

Still need to apply for your Q-Park parking pass? Click here to apply.

Have you completed your parking permit application?

Despite the recently announced delays in the opening of the new Sandwell and City multi storey car parks, Q-Park continue their replacement of the parking barrier equipment. Trust colleagues are therefore being invited to complete an application for a Q-Park parking permit to ensure continued access to the parking facilities by clicking here.

Colleagues parking at New Square: You will not be charged by Q Park for your parking until April 2022. If you still believe you have been charged please contact sandwellpermits@q-park.co.uk  and you will be refunded. There is also no need to apply for a new windscreen permit. The original one will still be valid (as long as your vehicle registration number has not changed) as New Square have kindly agreed to extend the facility until we are able to bring you back onto site.

Salary sacrifice for parking permits is only available to Trust colleagues who are already a member of the salary sacrifice scheme. Colleagues who are not members of the salary sacrifice scheme (who were previously paying by standard deduction from their salary), new Trust colleagues and colleagues who joined the Trust after 1 April 2017 will have to pay using monthly direct debit. If you don’t know your employee number when completing your application, it can be found on your payslip which you can access through ESR. Please check whether you are a member of the salary sacrifice scheme before applying by looking at a payslip prior to April 2020 (when charges were temporarily suspended) – if your car parking charge is on the left hand side of your payslip, you are a member of the scheme, if the charge is on the right hand side of your payslip, you paid by standard deduction from salary.

Please see Q Park application process for permits for detailed instructions of how to apply for your parking permit.

We ask all colleagues to complete their application as soon as possible to ensure their application is processed on time as once the barriers are changed to Q-Park, they will not be able to access the car park with their old card.

As part of your application, if you are asked to complete a digital copy of your direct debit mandate with your application number on it, you can download a blank form by clicking here. Don’t forget to include the name of your bank in the address section.

Note: When completing your application, your Q-Park PermitSmarti account registration confirmation email may go into your junk inbox so please check your junk email before contacting Q-Park.

Daily value parking card: If you feel like a standard permit does not fit your current working pattern you can apply for a Daily Value Card for £3 per visit. For further details please click here.

For more information please email sandwellpermits@q-park.co.uk.

McCloud Judgement – removing age discrimination from the NHS Pension scheme

In 2015 the government made changes to reform the majority of public service pension schemes. These reforms did not apply to members within 10 years of their normal pension age on the 31 March 2012, who remained in their legacy schemes with ‘transitional protection’.

A court case determined that the way these schemes were introduced was discriminatory on grounds of age. It is often referred to as the McCloud judgment.

As a result of this ruling, HM Treasury are now implementing a remedy to remove the age discrimination issue.

What the judgement means for you

The intention is that the remedy will be implemented with effect from 1 April 2022, and it will impact on people differently, depending on their individual circumstances. Please review the separate flow chart for more information – McCloud example flow chart. There is no action to take at the moment.  Additional information will follow in due course, once the legislation has been finalised.

You may find it useful to read this glossary of the terms and phrases used.​ read our glossary (PDF: 159KB) You can find additional information on the NHS Pensions website using these links below:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/february-2021-update-government-changes-public-service-pension-schemes

Understanding if your NHS Pension is affected by changes to public sector pensions | NHSBSA

For more information please click here.