Monthly archives: October 2021

Do you need a disposable FFP3 masks?

If you require disposable FFP3 mask please call ext. 4938 (City) or ext. 2824 (Sandwell).

If you are in charge of a clinical area, please ensure you have an ample supply of these masks.

Note: We must remind colleagues they should not be reliant on their silicone mask only.

If you have not been fit tested for a disposable masks please book an appointment via ESR. If you have issues booking through ESR, please call ext. 5195.

Training needs survey – Building confidence in delivering effective remote consultations

NHS E\I are currently conducting a short survey to gain feedback from clinicians and improvement colleagues in the Midlands region to understand the type of training solutions required to build clinician confidence, knowledge and skills in delivering effective remote consultations, in particular video consultations.

Your feedback will be used to assess the current use, knowledge, and skills for undertaking remote consultations and where additional and more targeted training is required.

The survey can be accessed using the following link: Remote Consultations Training Needs Survey. Please complete and submit by the 18 October.

Heartbeat: Antibiotic resistance – a silent pandemic

The rise and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is creating a new generation of multi drug resistant organisms or ‘superbugs’ that cannot be treated with existing medicines. Antibiotic resistance is a scary yet very real threat the world is facing – with an ever-increasing number of resistant superbugs emerging and a severe lack of new treatment options.

It is now estimated 700,000 people die each year as a result of antimicrobial resistance, with this number predicted to increase to over 10 million deaths per year by 2050. The current COVID-19 pandemic appears to have accelerated the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), as many patients admitted to hospitals displaying COVID-19 symptoms are treated with antibiotics to reduce their chances of contracting secondary bacterial infections, making resistant bacteria more common.

Everyone needs to get involved to prevent antimicrobial resistance. The small changes that we can make in our daily lives, can add up to large scale change and help to avert this ‘silent pandemic’ – we too have a role, and we can make a difference.

Human actions in the form of overprescribing, overconsumption and a general complacency to use board spectrum antibiotics has got us to a situation where resistance threatens many aspects of our lives. We regularly see outbreaks of resistant bugs here in the Midlands, the UK and wider afield. There are bugs out there that are almost untreatable, and we are failing to keep up with developing new, effective antibiotics. Resistance anywhere threatens people everywhere, due to the ease of movement of people, animals and goods around the world (consider how quickly COVID-19 has spread around the globe). The threat of antibiotic resistance to modern medicine and the economy can directly affect us and our livelihoods, as well as the individual patient harm it can cause.

Again, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless, to criticise the pharmaceutical industry for not doing enough, blame prescribers for writing too many prescriptions and complain about the poor controls on antibiotics in many parts of the world which helps to drive resistance. All these things (and many more) need to be tackled, but like climate change, there is a lot that we as individuals can do and when we do them regularly and consistently, it all adds up.

There is requirement to reduce total antimicrobial consumption as part of the standard contract with the CCG, driven by the National Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance. Previous CQUIN targets have focused on reducing antibiotic consumption for key agents such as piperacillin/tazobactam and carbapenems, as well as increasing the proportion of agents used from the WHO ‘Access’ list of antimicrobial agents. Shift in focus from CQUIN targets, which have previously had a value of approx. £160,000 per annum per target, to the standard contract with CCG, where penalties can range from 1-3 per cent of the Trust’s total operating budget.

Data from the Define reporting system has indicated that total antibiotic consumption may be between 11 and 28 per cent above target, driven in the last 12 months by the pandemic; this is a trend across many NHS Trusts and is not unique to SWB.

So, how could we achieve this at SWB? Always:

• Send microbiology samples in the right container (e.g. red topped bottle for urine)
• Make a weekend plan for antibiotic treatment
• Ask the medical team if IV antibiotics are still needed after 48 hours of treatment
• Check if ultra-broad spectrum antibiotics are approved by microbiology or in line with guidelines
• Check that the duration of antibiotics on discharge is appropriate
• Ask if antibiotics are still required after 7 days of treatment
• Check microbiology results before prescribing antibiotics
• Check microbiology results to de-escalate board spectrum antibiotics to narrow spectrum antibiotics
• Use Start Smart, then Focus approach
• Do not start antimicrobials in the absence of clinical evidence of infection.

Imagine if every day at SWB, nursing colleagues asked the medical team to review if the IV antibiotics were still required for patients who are eating, drinking and taking other medication orally? Many patients could be switched to oral antibiotics, saving nursing time, saving precious money, making patients more comfortable and allowing them to go home sooner. Some patients might need a longer course of IV antibiotics, but no one has been harmed by at least asking the question. Everyone is busy and under pressure, so often we leave things like this for another time or rely on someone else doing it. The end result can be extra unnecessary days of treatment than can be harmful – all because no one thought to ask or question it. Striving for incremental improvement, and asking that question for just one extra patient each day could make a huge difference.

Apprentices shortlisted for Greater Birmingham Apprenticeship Awards

Huge congratulations to Paul Roberts who has been shortlisted for the Apprentice of the Year Award in the Health, Education and Care category as well as the Trust being shortlisted for the Large Employer of the Year Award at the upcoming 2021 Greater Birmingham Apprenticeship Awards!

The awards evening is scheduled to take place on Thursday 11 November.

Good luck to all those who have been shortlisted.

Use it, clean it, store it

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoYmVhk1vF7UWiEgODJ7XSUrZsrp9MPJL

The regular cleaning of shared patient equipment is key to reducing the risk of cross infection between patients and staff.  Patient and staff equipment can harbour potentially harmful bacteria that is unseen to the naked eye.

By performing regular cleaning of equipment and using the green ‘I am clean’ labels  this will help to give both patients and colleagues, confidence that equipment is clean and ready for use!

Remember that you need to clean patient equipment after every use and between each patient.

To keep equipment fully charged or to help to keep your ward or area neat and tidy, once you have cleaned, store it in the appropriate place.

So the next time you use a work station on wheels or a dinamap… clean it and store it….use it clean it store it!

Bleeps – out with the old, in with the new

A new mobile phone app is replacing the outdated pagers and bleeps.

From Monday 18 October our IT department will begin to contact colleagues who hold a bleep to exchange this for a Trust mobile phone if needed, and install the new Multitone Bleep App and show you how to use it. The app offers significant improvements in terms of coverage and audio quality of messages, critically, users of the new app  will have the means at hand to respond immediately to pager request using the mobile phone, rather than having the added issue of locating a Trust phone to return a call.

The roll out will take a few weeks, so rest assured the IT team will be in touch but if you have any queries please contact the IT mobile device management (MDM) team on ext. 5134 or the IT support desk on 4050.

Baby Loss Awareness Week this week

Baby Loss Awareness Week (BLAW) aims to give anyone touched by baby loss a safe and supportive space to share their experiences and feel that they are not alone. A loss of a baby is a very sad and life changing event for women and their families and by raising awareness we can continue to break the silence and remove the stigma that is attached to the loss of a baby.

On Monday, the maternity building was lit up blue and pink to mark BLAW. The lights were installed at the entrance into the maternity unit and delivery suite at City Hospital. We would like to say thank you to ENGIE, our estates facilities management provider for offering to fund this special occasion and helping us raise awareness of BLAW.

BLAW will finish with the global wave of light which is on Friday 15 October, 7pm. This event sees families who have lost babies to miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death pay homage to the memories of their loved ones by lighting a candle in their honour. We will celebrate this event outside the entrance to the maternity unit, with a member of the hospital chaplaincy team present and would welcome anyone who would like to join us.

For more information on BLAW go to https://babyloss-awareness.org/.

Midland Met PowerPoint presentation template now available

Are you working on a presentation related to Midland Met? Well, we’ve got just the thing for you.

Our dedicated Midland Met PowerPoint template is now available online for you to download. Be sure to use it for all of your presentations so that your content is consistent and on brand.

To download the template click here.

Office 365: Letting us know which network shares you have access to

As part of the move to Office 365 in the coming weeks it is important for the IT team to understand the network share folders that colleagues currently have access to. This is to ensure that all network areas including those outside of the commonly used S drive share are included in the migration.

Colleagues should take the time to complete the attached form to ensure that they have notified the IT department of all of the network locations that they have access to.

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Lymph alert to be switched off in Unity today

From today (Monday 11 October) the lymph alert in Unity (“Please note lymphopenia – Consider COVID-19”) will no longer display.

Previously, if a patient has a low lymphocyte count – the lab would send back a false “result” called Lymphopenia Alert. When a patient chart was opened, a rule scanned for a result and if it found triggers a discern alert (see image below) would appear to say that the patient had lymphopenia and to consider COVID as a cause. This function will be switched off Unity due to us now using  more accurate diagnostic testing.

Note: Though this function is being switched off, we encourage colleagues to still remain vigilant regarding presentations of COVID-19.