Monthly archives: September 2021

COVID-19 Bulletin: Friday 17 September

Numbers not statistics

No. of our patients confirmed with COVID-19	No. of positive COVID-19 patients who have been discharged	No. of COVID-19 positive patients who have died in our hospitals	No.of COVID-19 positive current inpatients	No. of COVID-19 research trial participants to date
7,756 (7,660)	7,858 (7,733)	1,296 (1,284)	60 (88)	1,168 (1,167)

1. New: Don’t switch off from LAMP

We start off with LAMP testing as we so often do. There is of course a very good reason for this as the weekly testing programme, available to all colleagues, allows you to get reliable results on COVID testing through a completely pain free and non-invasive test.

Recently we’ve seen a drop in numbers of tests, which in the last few weeks could be attributed  to school holidays but it’s unlikely to be just that and it’s a trend that’s been going on for some time now. If you’re back from some annual leave make sure you get back in the flow (not the lateral kind – well, at least in this instance) and do your weekly test. Especially as despite the reduction in the number of people doing their LAMP test the actual number of positive results being seen by BCP Labs has gone significantly UP over the last few months.

LAMP has caught 11 such positives so far in our Trust, so make sure you feel safe and confident. You may have even caught an article in our most recent edition of Heartbeat by Community Podiatrist, Khabiba Ghulam about this very subject:

“As I work with some of the most vulnerable members in the community I feel more safer and confident going into work knowing that I am frequently tested.

[caption id="attachment_342108" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Khabiba Ghulam is encouraging colleagues to take part in the weekly saliva testing[/caption]

“This test is a perfect fit around my busy schedule as I can complete it whenever I have time to do so and the results are received within 24 – 48 hours albeit that I have to ensure that I have not had any food or drink for at least an hour before I do the test. This has saved so much time for me as I no longer have to book and attend a COVID-19 test centre.”

Visit Connect to read Khabiba’s full article.

Start today!

You can register for LAMP testing and book in to a kit collection slot for the weekly test, which requires you to spit into a tube in the morning before you brush your teeth or an hour after you have eaten. When you arrive at work, you can deposit your sample into a red collection box. Many of these are positioned around our acute and community sites. And within 24-48 hours you will get a text message confidentially sent to you alerting you to your results. For a full list of drop off points and for details on how to register, click here.

During the last two weeks the phlebotomy team have approached colleagues at City ED to encourage the uptake of lamp testing. This approach will continue in the next few weeks at Sandwell ED.

This week’s LAMP data group breakdown

2. New: Managing our capacity to provide safe care: getting prepared

We have been seeing a steady increase in the number of patients being admitted into our care. This means we need to have plans in place and ready to expand our critical care beds when required.

The decision has been made to pause planned orthopaedic surgery for the next two weeks. All affected patients have been contacted and will have their procedures re-booked as soon as possible.

Theatre colleagues will therefore be released to support critical care as reservists starting from Monday. The arrangements will be closely monitored and reviewed as necessary.

3. New: Drug safety notice: Sarilumab – for intravenous administration in COVID-19 patients

Sarilumab is a human monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to interleukin-6 receptors and blocks the activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Sarilumab is typically given via the subcutaneous route, however for COVID-19 patients Sarilumab must be administered intravenously.

Note: Sarilumab is ONLY to be administered by nurses who are trained to administer monoclonal antibodies.

For further details please see the Sarilumab information sheet.

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

4. Reminder: Allowances for visiting during COVID-19: Ensuring vulnerable patients are able to see loved ones

We’d like to remind colleagues that although visiting restrictions remain in place for most inpatients, there are exceptional circumstances where limited visiting is allowed, for example for young patients, those who lack mental capacity and patients who are at the end of their life.

For these patients it is really important – not least as an act of kindness – that we are able to safely facilitate limited visiting rather than adopt a blanket ban, so please if in doubt ask your group for advice.

There are also arrangements in place to allow limited visiting on postnatal wards, a partner to accompany scanning appointments and an additional birthing partner and paediatrics.

It is essential to note that even for these groups visiting is NOT ALLOWED by anyone who is self-isolating, regardless of the circumstances.

5. Reminder: Are you compliant with your FIT Testing?

One of the things we’ve learnt and tried to implement during this COVID-19 pandemic is that there is strength in flexibility. This is especially true when it comes to the use of PPE as whilst the Trust has been constant in making sure that there is PPE available the stock levels of specific types of masks in particular does fluctuate.

In short: The more you’re fit tested for, the more options you have.

Colleagues can access FIT testing by logging on to ESR and searching for ‘fit testing’ under ‘my learning’ and book an appointment to be fit tested.

• FIT testing is a mandatory role specific requirement
• FIT Testing is held in the Old Security Bungalow, City Hospital

You can find a step-by-step guide of how to book in ESR here.

 

6. Reminder: Consultation on mandatory vaccination for frontline health and care staff

A consultation was launched earlier this month on protecting patients by mandating vaccination for frontline health and social care staff in England. It seeks to consult on whether vaccination should be made a condition of deployment for frontline workers in health and care settings.

The government is seeking views on plans for staff in health and care settings in England to be required to have COVID-19 and flu vaccines to protect vulnerable people.

The six-week consultation is looking at whether requirements should apply for health and wider social care workers: those in contact with patients and people receiving care. It would mean only those who are fully vaccinated, unless medically exempt, could be deployed to deliver health and care services. The consultation will also seek views on whether flu vaccines should be a requirement for health and care workers.

For more information please click here

7. Reminder: Visit the Sanctuary

Would you like to take 30-90 minutes to look after yourself? We very rarely take the time, so why not book now!

Our Wellbeing Sanctuary gives you the chance to de-stress and relax in a confidential safe place.

The sanctuary has a variety of offerings including:

• Massage
• Chill out downtime over a tea/coffee and a biscuit
• A chat – a listening ear to hear anything you want to talk about in confidence
• Meditation
• Mindfulness
• Relaxation hypnotherapy
• Music therapy

Dr Michael Blaber, Wellbeing Lead for Junior Doctors is one colleague who recently attended the Sanctuary:

[caption id="attachment_342111" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Dr Michael Blaber is encouraging colleagues to use the Sanctuary[/caption]

“The staff were exceptionally friendly, though not at all intrusive. Colleagues were enjoying guided mindfulness and music therapy, learning de-stress techniques and benefiting from skilled listening and clinical supervision. Whether I wanted to offer my ‘expert analysis’ of the football or discuss the difficult situation I had just encountered on the ward, there was freedom to simply unwind… I highly recommend it to you.” 

You can read Dr Blaber’s full article on Connect.

Note: Social distancing measures are in place and PPE and sanitisation is provided on site.

To book please contact the wellbeing team on 0121 507 5886 to book your free session.

The Sanctuary is only a 5 minute drive away from City Hospital and a 10 minute drive away from Sandwell Hospital (Learning Works on Unett Street, Smethwick, B66 3SY) with free secured parking right outside.

For further details please see daily Sanctuary information sheet.

Additional support, if you need to talk to someone in confidence:

• Counsellors: The NHS direct counselling service: 0800 06 96 222 (7am – 11pm, 7 days a week).
• Bereavement support: 0300 303 4434 (8am – 8pm).
• Trouble sleeping: Click herefor help and guidance.
• Just need a confidence conversation?  Book a one to one at the wellbeing Sanctuary by calling 0121 507 5886.
• REACT practitioners: Talk to colleagues who have been trained to have a confidential conversation with you near to where you work. Emailwellbeinghub@nhs.net to find out who is your nearest REACT practitioner.
• SHOUT service: Text SHOUT to 85258 confidential TEXT support.
• Chaplaincy team: All our chaplaincy team are trained listeners and people who care for you. You can email causer@nhs.net or call either 0121 507 3552/4055 or 07972 572854 to get in touch with the team.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 17 September

I would like to thank all those colleagues from a wide variety of roles across our Trust, who have congratulated me on my appointment as the substantive CEO of the Trust.  Those messages of congratulation and best wishes have meant a great deal to me and have confirmed that my decision to apply for the role of leading our organisation, was the right one.  As I have said before, the welcoming nature of our Trust, the quality of our clinical staff and leaders and of course, the Midland Met development, make the prospect of leading the Trust an exciting and humbling one.

It is now beholden on me to set my stall out with regard to the direction of travel for the organisation and how we will govern ourselves to achieve our new strategic goals.  To set this out, I will be following the principles of the Sandhurst Military college definition of the responsibilities of a leader – those being that a leader only has two responsibilities – to set strategy and maintain morale.  In public services, I would add a third, that being to provide assurance on progress and being accountable to the public for that.  But hopefully you can see what I mean – keep it simple.  Focus on priorities.

We have a good first opportunity to set out our new thinking on Trust strategy at our annual leadership conference which is coming up on Tuesday next week.  I’m delighted we have decided to hold the conference in person, rather than virtually.  At the conference, we will be seeking our Trust leaders’ views on:

1. Our emerging new strategy – focused on 1.  People – better recruiting, developing and engaging our staff.  2.  Patients – being good or outstanding in the delivery of the fundamentals of care.  3.  Population – to improve life chances and health outcomes by delivering proactive, better integrated care
2. Maintaining and improving morale – exploring what the last, hugely difficult and emotional 18 months has meant for colleagues and how our people plan can ensure that health and wellbeing, together with recruitment, retention and engagement/involvement can ensure team SWB can drive our objectives

Whilst we won’t be exploring the drier issue of assurance and governance changes at our leadership conference, we will be pursuing this work in parallel.  Changes will be made to how the executive team and our wider clinical and management leaders make decisions and hold each other to account.  The watchwords for the changes will be simplicity and clarity.

Heartbeat: Be an ally, don’t bystand but upstand!

A ground-breaking workshop organised by The Women’s Clinician Network (WCN) brought together colleagues from across the Trust with one purpose in mind, upskilling and enabling colleagues to stand up for themselves and each other when they face discrimination.

Opening the event, Deputy Medical Director and Acute Physician Dr Sarb Clare addressed the audience: “Stand with me, not by me, be an ally, don’t bystand but upstand”, setting in motion the narrative for the afternoons events.

The training workshop arranged by Sarb and her WCN colleagues sought to support clinicians facing discrimination, addressing unconscious bias and self-awareness whilst also encouraging colleagues to be an ally and upstand.

Sharing her thoughts on the workshop, Sarb said: “Every day NHS colleagues face discrimination and we have clear demonstrable national data that shows this. Whilst some colleagues have the resolve and will to stand up, we know that many more will not for several reasons ranging from fear from line managers, being too upset and concern about career progression.

“Our work in the WCN has shown that women are often the victims of discrimination, whether that’s intentionally or through unconscious bias, and whilst we have it drummed in to us across the NHS that discrimination will not be tolerated, these practices continue, and the victims continue to pay the price.

“Our workshop today has set in motion a challenge to every single one of the attendees, to stand up to their detractors, their bullies and their oppressors, not just for themselves but for each other. We can no longer bystand and watch as colleagues are unfairly treated, tormented and abused simply because we are not the target. This discrimination not only comes from colleagues and line managers but also our patients, patients we are treating and caring for.

“Often the bullies and tormentors will skate a fine line between humour and hurtful comments, relying on their excuse of ‘it’s just banter’, but the skills that we have been able to acquire thanks to our resident conflict trainer, Richard Burnell mean that we are all able to challenge, stand up and step in if we see anything we don’t feel is fair or just.”

Colleagues at the workshop also had the opportunity to hear from Deputy Medical Director and Responsible Officer Dr Mark Anderson who shared the formal escalation processes available for colleagues who feel behaviour need formal reporting.

Today is World Patient Safety Day

Today (Friday 17 September) is World Patient Safety Day. This year the focus is on maternal and newborn safety.

To celebrate the day, the maternity unit are holding an event to introduce the maternal and newborn safety champions to you. We will also watch the national presentation from the National Maternity Champions: Matthew Jolly, National Clinical Director for Maternity and Women’s Health and Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE, Chief Midwifery Officer.

Our aim is to ensure that safety is heard from floor to board and that safety is the golden thread that runs through all our services.

Your maternal and newborn safety champions at SWB are:

• Obstetric: Dr Mausumi Ghosh
• Neonatal: Dr Sheilah Kamupira
• Midwifery: Posy Bidwell
• Patient safety lead: Rachel Tennant
• Trust Board: David Carruthers

Objectives of World Patient Safety Day 2021:

• Raise global awareness on the issues of maternal and newborn safety, particularly during childbirth.
• Engage multiple stakeholders and adopt effective and innovative strategies to improve maternal and newborn safety.
• Call for urgent and sustainable actions by all stakeholders to scale up efforts, reach the unreached and ensure safe maternal and newborn care, particularly during childbirth.
• Advocate the adoption of best practices at the point of care to prevent avoidable risks and harm to all women and newborns during childbirth.

The Sanctuary may be just what you need for your wellbeing

By Dr Michael Blaber, Wellbeing Lead for Junior Doctors

Sustaining wellbeing in healthcare is not a simple, quick fix. Resilience is more a function of systems and teams than a quality some individuals possess. There is strong evidence demonstrating that delivering excellent care requires professionals to feel cared for themselves.

This means being known, valued, connected to others, part of something bigger than yourself and equipped to deliver the high standards that we aspire to. So, how does ‘The Sanctuary’ fit into this?

As the name suggests, ‘the Sanctuary’ is designed to be a place of rest and refreshment, away from the pressures and demands of our everyday work. It intends to be a physical space that embodies the message “you matter.”

In healthcare we frequently go above and beyond the call of duty, sometimes doing extraordinary things. Yet, we are nonetheless ordinary human beings with ordinary human needs that cannot be ignored. We need food, drink, rest, encouragement, connection to others and safe places to process life in the NHS. The Sanctuary is one such provision and it has been greatly enjoyed by many of our colleagues from all disciplines and departments.

When I visited the Sanctuary at the Learning Works on Unett Street, I was struck by the warmth of the welcome and the calm of the atmosphere. Hot drinks always go down well with me and they are made available to all visitors.

The staff were exceptionally friendly, though not at all intrusive. Colleagues were enjoying guided mindfulness and music therapy, learning de-stress techniques and benefiting from skilled listening and clinical supervision. Whether I wanted to offer my ‘expert analysis’ of the football or discuss the difficult situation I had just encountered on the ward, there was freedom to simply unwind.

I opted for a shoulder massage (apparently my muscles really needed it!) and the opportunity to talk through experiences of the first half of this year – the highs and the lows.  It was enjoyable, relaxing and affirming. I have since recommended the service to many colleagues and will certainly be making return trips myself.

Perhaps a visit to the Sanctuary would do you good too? It’s not the panacea to work related pressures and stress – but it is a really important and highly valuable component of the Trust’s firm commitment to be a place in which its people can flourish. I highly recommend it to you.

 

Regular testing makes me feel safe and confident

By Khabiba Ghulam, Community Podiatrist

I work as a community based podiatrist and after contracting COVID-19 myself with minimal symptoms; it made me recognise the importance of my responsibility to carry out continuous testing as many people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic.

As I work with some of the most vulnerable members in the community I feel more safer and confident going into work knowing that I am frequently tested. This test is a perfect fit around my busy schedule as I can complete it whenever I have time to do so and the results are received within 24 – 48 hours albeit that I have to ensure that I have not had any food or drink for at least an hour before I do the test. This has saved so much time for me as I no longer have to book and attend a COVID-19 test centre.

I feel proud to work for our organisation and I feel the Trust has been proactive from the start of the pandemic to protect both staff and patients. Now through the trust wide access to vaccinations and the asymptomatic testing regime for COVID-19 we can feel safe to integrate back into society and move forward with confidence.

These are some of the many advantages for using the COVID-19 saliva test – LAMP tests:

• It is reliable asymptomatic test for the COVID-19 virus.
• The test is completed within minutes
• If you forget to collect your sample on waking you can take the kit with you to work and do it on arrival as long as it has been an hour since your last food or drink intake
• No need to book for tests as it can be completed around your working day
• Multiple drop-off points in the community
• Test results are received quicker than the PCR resting results
• The results usually received via SMS message within 24 – 48 hours
• The results are valid for up to 72 hours as proof of a COVID-19 test result to use when visiting care homes or nursing homes
• A pack of 12 tests are provided which is sufficient for twelve weeks
• If you test positive a further PCR swab test is not required to confirm the results.

So join in and be ahead of the game with early testing to help prevent the further spread of this virus.

For more information contact kulwinder.johal@nhs.net.

Star Awards 2021 – voting is still open

This years’ Star Awards will once again look to recognise those colleagues who go above and beyond the call of duty to help us provide great care and support to our patients.

This year we need your help in four of our colleague voted for categories which are:

• Employee of the Year
• Clinical Team of the Year (adults)
• Clinical Team of the Year (children’s)
• Non-clinical team of the Year

Hurry and get your votes in – you have until 5pm tomorrow (Friday 17 September).

Remember, you can only vote once for each category so make your vote count.

[gravityform id=”154″ title=”true” description=”true”]

Are your hypoglycaemia boxes kept on top of your emergency trolley?

Teams are being urged to store hypoglycaemia boxes on top of emergency trollies in wards and clinical areas in order to reduce the risk of patients experiencing low blood glucose levels.

Contents of boxes should include:

• 1-2 bottles Glucojuice (available from stores – code AZB178)
• 2 packets Dextrose energy tablets (available from pharmacy)
• 1 box of 3 tubes of Glucogel (available from pharmacy)
• IM Glucagon kit stored in ward fridge. (Ward pharmacist to routinely check expiry date)
• Mini pack of three biscuits (available from catering)

Note: Boxes should be checked daily and replenished if necessary.

For more information please email wyn.burbridge@nhs.net or contact the Think Glucose Team.

Did you know this week is Hypoglycaemia Awareness Week? The awareness week was first celebrated in 2012 but is now nationally recognised by NHS Diabetes annually. The aim of the week is to raise awareness of hypoglycaemia to healthcare professionals in the UK and Ireland.

Office 365: Extending the deadline and supporting teams to migrate safely

Thank you to everyone who has already made a start at getting their shared drives ready to be moved over to Sharepoint. This change is much needed, long awaited and will benefit everyone in the long-term.

However, it’s clear that this is a significant change to our way of working and we need to support teams and departments to migrate confidently and safe in the knowledge that we minimise any impact to service delivery and assure there is no data loss. Therefore, we have taken the decision to extend the migration deadline to 10 December, allowing teams time to prepare for the move and to access the support that is available through the IT Servicedesk. 

It’s important however, that with this extension teams and departments push through and work to try and migrate their data as soon as possible.

Remember, support is available for all teams and departments, simply contact the IT Servicedesk and colleagues can either guide you through the migration remotely or make time to support in person.

To ensure you are able to migrate smoothly, please ensure you have done the following:

• Each department should by now have nominated a lead to support their move to Office 365. This will be a named person in each department who will lead on supporting the migration of data. Please ensure the name of this person has been forwarded on to penina.chiweshe@nhs.net, with details of the department and the network share they will lead the migration on.
• Colleagues who would like some support with getting to grips with the new system can access training online here: Office 365 – eLearning Quick Start
• Please ensure you have carried out some housekeeping on your network shares, ensuring that files and folders are organised and ready to be transferred.
• Colleagues should begin organising and transferring their personal documents out of their h drives and in to their new OneDrive share areas.

If you would like further support and guidance on migrating files, please contact the IT Servicedesk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050.

Missed the cancer services cake sale? Limited cakes still available!

Our cancer services a hosted a cake sale earlier this week however they still have a limited number of cakes available until this evening (Thursday 16 September)! If you are interested in buying a cake and supporting the service, be sure to drop by the cancer services department on the ground floor of Hallam building at Sandwell.

For more information please call ext. 2776 or email jennifer.donovan@nhs.net.