Monthly archives: September 2021

Staff Side event for colleagues regarding NHS pay this Thursday

An event organised by Staff Side is taking place on Thursday 9 September, 9am – 2pm outside the BTC at City where colleagues are being encouraged to use their ballot regarding the new NHS pay offer. All colleagues are welcome to attend.

You can also have your say about the NHS pay offer here: https://www.nhspay.org/

Cancer services cake sale: 14 September

Our cancer services are hosting a cake sale on Tuesday 14 September from 10.30am in the conference room in the Education Centre at Sandwell. There will also be a tombola and raffle with plenty of fantastic prizes on offer plus much more.

All funds raised from the cake sale will go towards Macmillan cancer support and Your Trust Charity to support cancer patients wellbeing.

Note: Please ensure you follow social distancing, hand washing and PPE guidelines at the cake sale.

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

Heartbeat: Cardiology keep up the pace through COVID

COVID-19 has completely reshaped the landscape of how services have been delivered, bringing with it a unique set of opportunities alongside the very obvious and real challenges. One of the biggest changes that has transformed services has been remote consultations – being able to see, support and consult with a patient over the internet. Whilst this new approach was at first seen as a temporary measure, there is growing evidence to support the long term benefits as a sustainable and patient focused operating model.

The cardiology department has experienced significant challenges in achieving the 18 week ‘Referral to Treatment’ target. With a steady rise in demand coupled with the complexities of the service pathway, leading to longer than acceptable waits for patient care, it was clear that given the challenges from the pandemic, and without intervention would have deteriorated further. However, for cardiology the COVID-19 pandemic has seen steady improvements over the last 12 months, culminating in the speciality achieving their 18 week Referral To Treatment (RTT) for May 2021 – for the first time in over two years.

Sharing his thoughts, Directorate General Manager, Chander Sharma said: “There is no magic bullet that has enabled us to suddenly meet our targets. It’s been the hard work, tenacity and flexibility from all colleagues. Virtual working has its limitations and always will, however it has offered the speciality a moment of pause and reflection, to appreciate new ways of working and the corresponding benefits it can provide for both patients and clinicians. Historically cardiology has been a diagnostic-heavy service, with multiple tests being undertaken to diagnose conditions.

Whilst this has, and remains, a good approach for completeness of care, the pandemic has encouraged clinicians to think differently. ‘Does this patient genuinely require a test?’, ‘Is there an alternative route for treatment out in community or via GPs with specialist interests?’, – these are just a few of the kinds of questions that the clinicians have been asking themselves and of their teams.

“The new way of working really has benefitted patient experience and has led to a reduction in potentially unnecessary hospital interventions. This change in approach, which has been spearheaded by the cardiology support team of Josephine Johnson and Lisa Bate, has led to patients often being given a clinical outcome far sooner than before – leading to a significant improvement in the RTT performance. Virtual appointments have also helped maximise clinical efficiencies by reducing ‘Did not attend’ (DNA) rates as patients find it much easier and convenient to access their appointment.

“Whilst there are the occasional technical difficulties with virtual working, overall the system works and will, as part of a package of innovation and reform, help support the Trust restoration and recovery plans.”

Would you like to become an antibiotic champion?

We are currently seeking clinical colleagues who want to become antibiotic champions. This could be nurses, junior doctors, ward managers, registrars, pharmacists, consultants, matrons and pharmacy technicians – anyone who is interested in helping to improve the use of antibiotics at the Trust to improve patient care and limit the spread of antibiotic resistance.

If this is something of interest to you, please see the antibiotic champion information sheet for further details.

Star Awards 2021: Non-Clinical Team of the Year – vote now!

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.

Non-Clinical Team of the Year is a team that has provided consistently excellent performance whilst meeting financial and operational targets.

The nominees this year are:

• Bereavement Care Team
• Medical Engineering
• Performance and Insight
• Ward Services

Voting will stay open through to Friday 17 September. Please take the time to think about who has gone the extra mile and submit your votes.

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

Click here to cast your vote now!

See the full awards short list: You can see the full of colleagues who have been short listed for this year’s awards on Connect. Congratulations and good luck to all.

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

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Office 365: Housekeeping before the big move to the cloud

As part of our move to Office 365 the IT team are busy creating new Sharepoint shares for all departments to migrate their files to. This change means that instead of saving files to network shares, colleagues will have a brand new space online to store their documents, allowing much more flexibility to collaborate and work together without the constrains of needing to be on the Trust network.

As part of this move there are a number of tasks that colleagues must carry out before the move:

• Ensure that all essential files are saved securely to the network shares and not locally on desktops.
• Files and folders should be organised clearly ready to be transferred to our new cloud solution.
• Documents that have exceeded their retention period and are no longer required for our records should be securely deleted.
• Each department should by now have nominated a lead to support their move to Office 365, please ensure the name of this person has been forwarded on to penina.chiweshe@nhs.net
• Colleagues who would like some support with getting to grips with the new system can access training online here: Office 365 – eLearning Quick Start

Join in the Pride in the NHS Week and NHS Virtual Pride

NHS England will be hosting the first ever national Pride in the NHS Week and NHS Virtual Pride event which will take place within an always-on, virtual festival arena from Monday 6 September – Friday 10 September.

The Pride in the NHS Week and NHS Virtual Pride will take place in the NHS England online People Promise festival arena, combining insights from the domains of philosophy, cognitive science, gaming, architecture and performing arts, to make an accessible, memorable and engaging experience. For further details and to sign up, please click here.

Drug safety notice: Gentamicin/Hydrocortisone ear drops

We have been informed there is currently a short supply of Gentamicin/Hydrocortisone ear drops until November. Betamethsone/Neomycin drops have been sourced as an alternative.

For further details please see Gentamicin Hydrocortisone information sheet.

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

National Inclusion Week event: 30 September – Memorial Garden, City, 11am – 3pm

To celebrate National Inclusion Week, we are inviting all colleagues to a special event on  Thursday 30 September in the Memorial Garden at City Hospital, 11am – 3pm. Why not visit the stalls and grab yourself a few freebies. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided throughout the day.

Stalls at the event will include:

• Staff Networks
• Cultural ambassadors
• Speak Up Guardians
• Learning Works
• Health and wellbeing

All colleagues are invited to visit the stalls for advice and information.

National Inclusion Week aims to raise awareness of inclusion in the workplace. Now in its ninth year, the 2021 theme for National Inclusion Week is United for Inclusion. It is about bringing people and organisations together to share learning and best practice so we can work together to reach our shared goal of making inclusion an everyday reality.

The last year has really brought the need for inclusion into sharp focus. Many of us have spent the past twelve months working remotely so we hope that the United For Inclusion 2021 theme of National Inclusion Week, brings colleagues closer together.

For further information please email swbh.swbedi@nhs.net or call 07814 302387

An introduction to mindfulness: 9 September

Are you currently struggling to find a work/life balance? Are you finding it difficult to focus on the here and now, or living life on automatic pilot?

The Black Country Staff Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub we would like to invite colleagues to participate in a one-off mindfulness session on Thursday 9 September, 12.30pm – 1.30pm.

This is for anyone who wants a structured, practical, and highly accessible introduction to mindfulness. Skills introduced will help to improve wellbeing and resilience to stress.

The session we will follow a compassionate body scan. This will be a simple guided meditation focusing on gratitude and kindness toward every part of the body, moving from the feet to the head. This meditation is intended to allow you to feel a greater sense of comfort in your body, and a strong compassion towards yourself.

If you would like to attend, you can either do so by clicking here or emailing Samuel.skelding1@nhs.net for a calendar invite.