Monthly archives: December 2021

Signposting homeless patients during festive period

Homeless patients can be signposted to Birmingham Christmas Shelter between 24 December – 28 December as our homeless patient pathway will not be operating during this period.

The Birmingham Christmas Shelter details are listed below.

St Georges Hub, Great Hampton Row, Newtown, Birmingham, B19 3JG.

www.birminghamchristmasshelter.org

Note: The Christmas shelter is open 24 hours a day from Friday 24 December – Tuesday 28 December.

Other support available:

SIFA Fireside Homeless Hub, 48-52 Allcock Street, Digbeth, B9 4DY. Please call ahead to check opening times on 0121 7661700
Rough Sleepers Outreach Team – 0800 8807157
Washington Court Direct Access Hostel – 0121 2265832
Streetlink – 0300 5000914
For out of hours service please contact the emergency duty teams: Birmingham City Council – 0121 3032296 / 0121 6754806 and Sandwell Council – 0121 5696883

Pharmacy opening times throughout the festive period

Please see pharmacy opening hours information sheet for our pharmacy departments across our sites during the festive period.

Note: The emergency rooms will be restocked on a daily basis and the pharmacist on-call service will be running outside of these hours.

For more information please contact the pharmacy department (City ext. 5263, Sandwell ext. 3783).

Latest edition of Heartbeat is online

Check out the latest edition of Heartbeat online now!

This month we talk about the benefits of both the flu jab and the COVID booster during the festive period.

In addition we covered:

Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Mission to a greener NHS
New technology in BMEC
Children’s therapies offering vital training in schools

You can email lauren.jones104@nhs.net if you have an idea for an article or call us on ext. 5303.

Delivering nMABS – COVID-19 treatment for non-hospitalised patients

Neutralising monoclonal antibodies (nMABs) are a new type of COVID-19 treatment which are usually administered intravenously.

Access to monoclonal antibodies as a treatment for COVID-19 has now been extended to non-hospitalised patients who are PCR positive, aged 12 and above and who are considered at highest risk of progression to severe disease, hospital admission or death. Eligible patients may receive antiviral therapy if an nMAB is contraindicated.

What are Neutralising Monoclonal Antibodies (nMABs)

nMABS are synthetic monoclonal antibodies that bind to the spike protein of the COVID-19 virus, which prevents entry into the host cell and replication.

Eligibility Criteria

PCR positive covid test result received within last 72 hours.
AND onset of symptoms within last 7 days.
AND a member of a highest risk group
aged >12 years and >40kg

The high-risk group include patients with downs syndrome, sickle cell disease, solid cancer, hematological malignancy, renal and liver cancer, decompensated liver disease, primary immune deficiencies.

Eligible patients will be contacted directly by the newly formed COVID Medicine Delivery Unit (CMDU) triage nurse and receive their treatment in the new unit in the Sheldon Building at City Hospital.

If however, you come across suitable patients who have been missed, please ask them to contact 111 or phone their GP.

Further details about the new treatment can be found in the following guidance document: COVID Medicine Delivery Unit

Please continue to use the pathways in place for hospitalised patients as described here: Neutralising Monoclonal Antibody (nMAB) (Casirivimab and Imdevimab) Ronapreve in Hospitalised Patients

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 17 December

This week we have been reviewing our surge plans as the latest data and forecast on COVID-19 looks likely to have a significant impact on our services. I am sure that all of you are rightly concerned about the rapid escalation of cases that we are seeing across the country and wondering how we will cope with the latest surges, both in terms of COVID admissions and those without COVID too. In respect of this there are two key messages I want you to take away.

This Trust’s response to the pandemic has been outstanding and I know that, like in previous surges, we will manage the challenges thrown at us because of the way we have all pulled together, with kindness, supporting those colleagues and patients most at need. Your flexibility in changing your usual practices including working in unfamiliar areas may well be required once more, and I thank you in advance for your willingness to step forward. At each surge we have been better prepared than previously and this time around is no exception. The treatment and management of COVID-19 patients is better than ever, our IPC guidelines are well-embedded along with our stock of PPE, regular testing and access to rapid tests.
The toll that the pandemic takes on you as individuals is considerable and recognised. We heard at our Trust Board meeting this month, the experience from one of our surgical wards which has had to adapt and move, often at short notice, coping with considerable disruption and supporting patients and families in very difficult circumstances. We must manage colleagues with compassion when we ask them to work in other areas. Please share your concerns if this is not being handled as it should be. We must all ensure that we look after ourselves and each other through these times. The range of wellbeing support on offer for all colleagues remains extensive. If you need help, advice or just a chat, please, please make use of the support available.

As the drive for COVID-19 boosters continues in earnest you will see additional clinics opening up for you to get your booster if you have not yet taken up the opportunity. The booster is our best chance of reducing the impact of the Omicron variant. Sandwell will once again host a clinic starting on Monday in the Berridge Room, Courtyard Gardens. You can still walk in at Sheldon block at City and Tipton Sports Academy too. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to be vaccinated so do pop along – first and second doses are also available. Our communications campaigns will continue to use different people and techniques to get this vital message across to all in our communities and our colleagues.

And, in respect of staff vaccination, we will in the new year be crystal clear with you all around our Trust’s expectations for the roles that require vaccination as a condition of employment, following this passing into UK law this week. We will take a consistent approach with Trusts across the Black Country, in partnership with staff side colleagues, with a transparent process that covers existing employees and new starters.

As ever, if you have particular concerns or worries please do get in touch.

Richard

Recording of Annual Leave for Non-Medical Staff

The Trust continues to work on improving its wellbeing offering to staff. An integral part of peoples wellbeing is the use of annual leave, and intelligence around that usage is a vital tool in the Trust’s support to individuals and teams.

It is therefore important that information systems are used to record taken and planned annual leave, allowing the Trust to analyse trends and areas where support may be required.

A significant number of staff are currently on E-Rostering, and this is used to collate their annual leave. If your staff are on E-Rostering, please continue to use this system. For the rest of the Trust’s staff, we ask that you use ESR and ensure that your team’s annual leave is up to date. It is important that annual leave for the financial year 2021/2022 is recorded before the 31^st March 2022. Medical Staff will be addressed in a separate exercise.

The system is easy to use, records actual and future leave, and individuals or managers can enter the information into the system.

As managers, therefore, please will you assure yourself of:

The system your team’s annual leave is recorded on. If on E-Rostering no changes or actions are required, other than continued recording of Annual Leave on the system.
If your team, or any of your staff are not on E-Rostering then ensure you work through a plan to capture all annual leave on ESR, and if necessary, approach your HR team or the ESR team for support.

HR teams will begin to discuss this at Group meetings, and monitor ESR to ensure progress is being made. Regular information will be provided, via HR Business Partners and Group Senior Finance Managers, to Clinical Group Management Teams and Corporate Directorate Management Teams to support monitoring.

Information on annual leave is important as we work as an organisation to ensure the wellbeing of our staff and teams.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Frieza Mahmood Dinah McLannahan
Chief People Officer Chief Financial Officer

COVID-19 Vaccination webinar hosted by BME Strategic Advisory Group

The Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Midwifery Officer heading the BME Strategic Advisory Group are holding an urgent webinar for NHS staff to hear from experts working directly on the front line to answer questions they may have.

The webinar will be taking place on Microsoft Teams on Monday 20 December from 5pm through to 7pm.

Click here to join the meeting

Agenda

Vaccination as a condition of deployment for healthcare workers VCOD regulation planning and preparation. – Felicia Kwaku OBE Chair CNO CMidO BME SAG
Pregnancy – birth & experience on the front line of unvaccinated EM mothers – Natasha Stringer, Deputy Head of Midwifery for Quality and Governance Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA)
How the immune system works, how the body protects itself from infections – Dr Donald Palmer Associate Professor of immunology Royal Veterinary College London
Update of Covid and variants of concern – Dr Malur Sudhanva Consultant. Virologist Kings College National Lead
What to expect in vaccination centres pop ups. Initiatives to increase uptake in ethnic minority communities. – Jennifer Pearson, Midlands Regional Lead
Trusted messenger model; Engaging Afro-Caribbean communities – Rudi Page Chief Executive Making Connections Work
Keeping Well – Byron Batten Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion University Hospitals Birmingham
Q & A – Miriam Coffie Associate Director of Nursing & Quality Standards NHSEI Midlands

COVID-19 Bulletin: Friday 10 December

Numbers not statistics: This week (last week).

Colleagues who have received COVID-19 1^st Vac.	Colleagues who have received COVID-19 2^nd Vac.	Colleagues who have received COVID-19 booster Vac.	Current number of confirmed COVID-19 inpatients	COVID-19 inpatients not vaccinated against COVID-19	Total number of our patients who have died from COVID-19
83.88% (84.21%)	79.52% (79.80%)	37.40% (35.11%)	55 (51)	51.7% (63.64%)	1,373 (1,369)

(Note: Percentages may decrease due to changes in the number of inpatients and in the number of staff members (starters and leavers).

1. New: Trust guidance following government Plan B announcement

Colleagues should now be aware of the government announcement on Wednesday night to bring “Plan B” into effect to aim to slow down the transmission of COVID-19 and particularly the Omicron variant.

With this in mind, colleagues are expecting to follow the below in order to keep themselves and others safe:

Working on site: When we are working on site it is absolutely essential to ensure we adhere to our infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance which means wearing a mask at all times in shared spaces and keeping a distance of 1m+. The only exception to this is when eating and drinking. I expect everyone to take responsibility for yourselves and challenge your colleagues and others who are not complying. We need to all work together to keep safe.

Work from home: Essentially, if you can work from home, please do so. We know that most of our clinical roles will require on site working on a full-time basis and your ability to continue attending on site to support colleagues and care for patients is greatly appreciated. We expect all managers to make an extra effort to keep in touch with team members who are working from home more frequently.

Face to face meetings: Any face to face meeting from Monday 13 December should be changed to a virtual meeting unless it is actually essential for this to be face to face (such as clinical huddles). 1:1 meetings are acceptable between colleagues who are on-site.

Christmas get togethers: We must emphasise that there should not be any on site Christmas parties this year. We know there are risks of transmission when people meet together and it is easy to lose sight of our restrictions when socialising together. Please ensure that you don’t attend or arrange Christmas get togethers within our healthcare environments. Where you have work events outside of our premises please ensure that you are cautious and follow the national guidance. As NHS employees we have a duty to set an example and ensure we don’t put ourselves or others at unnecessary risk.

Visiting: Our current visiting arrangements remain in place and will continue to be assessed weekly based on our risk assessment of numbers of cases in the community, number of COVID-19 patients in our hospital beds and any outbreaks. See visiting item below for the arrangements that are in place for safe visiting

2. New: Have your passport at the ready ahead of Plan B

As you are aware the Government have enacted Plan B in response to the rapid rate spread of the Omicron variant in the UK.

In order to slow the spread of Omicron the following actions will come into force:

From today, face masks will be required in more public settings – including theatres and cinemas
From Monday 13 December, people will be asked to work from home wherever possible
From Wednesday 15 December, the NHS COVID Pass will be required for a series of different types of public events and meeting places

In order to help you to continue with any plans you have ahead of the Christmas period, like visiting the theatre, going to panto or attending an event etc. where you will now need to show proof of your vaccination status, see below details on the NHS App which you can download to view and share your NHS COVID Pass.

The NHS App is free to download and register and is available on the App Store or Google Play.

You can also use the NHS App to get health advice, book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, view your GP health record and more. Please encourage and help any friends or relatives to also download and use the app, a short video on how to do this can be viewed here

Note: that criminals are using the NHS COVID Pass as a way to target people by convincing them to hand over money or financial details to access their pass. The NHS App is free and you COVID Pass free! The NHS will never ask you for money or financial details to access either of these, please ensure you also share this with friends and family.

For more information go to www.nhs.uk/nhsapp.

3. New: Changes to wellbeing hour from 1 January

Following the implementation of wellbeing hour, we have received feedback from both colleagues and managers that this approach isn’t working for all teams. Ongoing operational challenges have made it difficult to facilitate this time in a regular and consistent way across the Trust. As such, we have reviewed the feedback and suggestions received and will be taking a refreshed approach to supporting staff with their wellbeing from January 2022. We recognise that services remain under significant pressure in dealing with increasing rates of COVID-19 and the challenges that the winter season brings. It is ever more important that we all remain focused on our own health & wellbeing and the following approaches are intended to support with this:

From 1 January 2022, the weekly individual hour for wellbeing will no longer be part of our Trust wellbeing guidance. We recognise that for those staff that have managed to utilise this time, this may come as a disappointment. However, to support all teams to allocate appropriate time to focus on wellbeing, we will be looking at creating structured time within existing team forums for this purpose.

Investment in the improvement and refurbishment of staff rest areas to ensure that colleagues have a restful environment in which to unwind during their breaks. The process will begin with discussion of the scope and process with Estates and Engie colleagues next week. There will then be further information about how you can access funds to refurbish and refresh your rest areas.

Continue with our strong focus on recruitment and retention to improve staffing levels to relieve pressure on existing colleagues.

Allocate funding from our training & development budget to support training in health & wellbeing.

Exploring ways in which to support staff with their nutrition and hydration whilst at work.

In the meantime, please do continue to access the wide range of wellbeing support available in the Trust. If you need support in being released to access any of the services we offer to support your wellbeing please liaise with your manager.

4. New: The Coronavirus Act and the end of temporary suspensions for retire and return employees of the NHS pension scheme

From Wednesday 25 March the UK government’s emergency legislation had temporarily suspended some of the regulations governing the administration of NHS pensions, which allowed employees who had retired and returned to increase their working hours without having their pension benefits suspended or reduced.

This included the temporary suspension of:

The 16-hour rule for retire and returnees
Abatement for special class status holders in the 1995 Section
Draw down abatement in the 2008 Section and 2015 Scheme

You can read more about the temporary suspensions on the NHS Pensions website: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pensioner-hub/covid-19-guidance-support-retired-members

These temporary suspensions will end on Thursday 24 March 2022.

The Department of Health and Social Care has informed NHS Pensions to ensure employers and employees are prepared for an end to the temporary suspensions and a return to normal arrangements from Friday 25 March 2022.

This is when the 16-hour rule in the 1995 Section, abatement for special class status holders in the 1995 Section and draw down abatement in the 2008 Section and 2015 Scheme will come back into force.

5. New: Don’t get caught out – COVID-19 fraudulent PCR test alert

We have been informed that fraudsters have circulated posts on social media, purporting to be from the NHS, advising about availability of a newly developed PCR Test that detects the Omicron variant. The post includes a link to order the test. Attempts are being made to remove these posts, a copy of which can be seen below:

If you would like to report any instances of the above information being used in similar fraud attempts please email them to intel@nafn.gov.uk and the details will be forwarded to the relevant teams.

All suspicions of fraud or bribery should be reported to the Local Counter Fraud Specialist Sophie Coster (Tel: 07436 268747), Chief Finance Officer Dinah McLannahan; or NHSCFA via 0800 028 40 60.

6. New: COPE-WM study follow up survey

The University of Birmingham would like to thank everyone that took the time to complete the COPE-WM study baseline survey.

If you completed the baseline survey and this was more than 4 months ago you should have received an email asking you to complete the follow up survey for the study. The email was sent to the email address you provided when asked for your personal email address when you completed the baseline survey. Thank you to everyone who has already completed their follow up survey.

Please be aware that for some participants the COPE-WM study emails have been filtered to their spam/junk folder – please check there if you think you should have received an email

If, however, you received a request email but have not yet completed the survey we would encourage you to do so to ensure your follow up data contributes to the study outcomes. Survey completion should take no more than 20 minutes of your time.

If you took part in the study more than 4 months ago and either have not received an email request to complete the follow up survey or remember receiving one but are no longer able to access it and would like to complete the survey please contact the study research team by email: cope-wm@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

If you took part less than 4 months ago, please keep an eye out for the email about the follow up that you should receive in the next few weeks.

The higher the number of participants who complete their follow up survey the better the study will be able to understand the impact of COVID-19 on people working in healthcare settings.

Please be aware that for some participants the COPE-WM study emails have been filtered to their spam/junk folder – please check there if you think you should have received a follow up survey email but don’t recall having seen it.

If you were unable to join the recently held COPE-WM study public involvement webinar that started to communicate some of the initial findings from the study and would like to see it, keep an eye on the on the COPE-WM study website (www.birmingham.ac.uk/COPE-study) where a link to a recording of the event will be available.

7. Updated: It’s not too late to get your jab!

Just over a year ago the United Kingdom became the first place in world to deploy an approved COVID-19 vaccine with 90-year-old Margaret Keenan becoming the first person to get the jab. Since then, the vaccination programme achieved phenomenal success with 120 million doses administered across the country, saving many lives and reducing the pressure on the NHS.

Vaccines are the best way to protect yourself, friends and family from winter viruses so you can enjoy the festive season safely. You need to get your flu jab and COVID-19 booster vaccination for maximum protection while spending time with loved ones this festive season.

When and where to get your jabs:

City: The City vaccination hub in Sheldon Block is open seven days a week between 8am – 6pm for walk-ins.

Sandwell: The next pop up clinic will take place on 16 December at the Berridge Suite between 9am – 4pm.

Note: You can also book a vaccine on the national booking website.

Be sure to also check out this sort video featuring colleagues and a patient from across the Trust talking about facts around the COVID-19 booster.

Add video thumbnail here of all the people talking about the facts regarding vaccine.

8. Reminder: Visiting to wards

At present we are keeping our visiting arrangements in place and will continue to risk assess this weekly based on the case rate in the community, numbers of COVID-19 patients in our hospital beds and any outbreaks.

Due to confirmed cases of COVID-19 on D11(Winter bay) and Lyndon 5 (bay 4), there are now bay closures in effect on both wards. Visiting on Lyndon 5 and D11 is now limited to end of life patients and exceptional circumstances only.

We are aware that there is some inconsistency in the advice colleagues are giving people who wish to visit inpatients, so would like to be very clear about what our rules are. Please read and understand what visitors are expected to do to ensure they can visit their loved ones safely. Visitors given conflicting advice can understandably get very upset in what is already a situation of high emotion being separated from their friend or family member. Please be kind and ensure you give them the correct information below to allow them to visit safely.

The following points summarise our rules and are for those wards where visiting is allowed. Red and green areas, (D17, D21, D25, L2 and L3) and some community wards where visiting is not allowed due to infection prevention and control measures, should ensure robust systems remain in place to support communication between patients and their loved ones.

To visit a ward:

Visitors must prove either photographic evidence of a negative lateral flow test (done the same day they wish to visit) or provide evidence from the government website where they uploaded their results. Their evidence will be checked on entrance to the site, not the ward.

If prospective visitors cannot evidence a negative lateral flow test they will not be permitted to visit.

Colleagues should be aware that enabling someone to tailgate behind you as you enter the building through a staff only entrance is a breach of IPC rules, and could cause transmission of the virus. Do not hold the door for someone to enter without a staff ID card.

The Trust cannot provide lateral flow tests or accommodate visitors who wish to do a lateral flow test on site.

Visiting restrictions allow inpatients in amber areas to receive one visitor for up to 30 minutes per day. Patients can nominate two individuals who can visit for the duration of their stay, ideally from the same household.

Visitors must use hand sanitiser and wear a face mask on entry.

All visits must be booked in advance by telephoning the ward to allow wards to limit the number of visitors on a ward/bay at any one time.

All visitors must be free of COVID-19 symptoms, and must not attend if they are a household contact of a COVID-19 positive case. We regret children (under 16 years) or those who are immunocompromised are not allowed to visit at this time.

The current visiting arrangements for paediatrics, maternity and ICU remain in place. Our usual exemptions apply for inpatient children, those at end of life and people who lack mental capacity. We will review visiting arrangements weekly based on a risk assessment taking into account COVID-19 case rates in the community and numbers of COVID-19 cases in our hospitals.

9. Reminder: Celebrating Christmas safely

Christmas will soon be upon us and whilst we’re not going to take on the role of the Grinch, we do need to remind colleagues to please remain mindful that we are still operating in an uncertain time where COVID is still rife in the community and we are still battling to protect our patients.

For now our rules regarding masks, social distancing and limitation to visiting remain in place.

We want to be in a position where we can enjoy Christmas so there are a few basic rules we need to ensure we all follow when getting wards and departments trimmed up for Christmas:

Christmas trees can be displayed
All decorations and trees must be flame retardant
All decorations, including lights, must be wipeable and cleaned before being displayed
Decorations cannot be in any area where clinical procedures take place, e.g. bays/side rooms on wards
Decorations should be limited to a single area on wards to ensure effective cleaning can take place
Decorations attract dust – do not suspend them from walls and ceilings
If a ward is closed due to an outbreak of an infection, e.g. Norovirus, you must dispose of all decorations

We ask that colleagues use their common sense and their skills as clinicians to avoid risky environments. Continue to wear masks in all shared areas and remember to wash and sanitise your hands regularly.

We regret that this year there should be no Christmas get togethers on our premises.

Any further queries should be directed to the IPC team on ext. 5195.

10. Reminder: Join the saliva testing programme to protect your patients and loved ones

Did you know saliva testing (known as LAMP – Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification) is a speedy and less invasive way of detecting COVID-19?

You can book 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.

You can find drop off points and more information by clicking here.

If you are still unsure how to complete your LAMP test, be sure to check out the step-by-step guide in the video below:

Even if you are vaccinated it is vital that you register and carry out the weekly tests as they will help identify if you’re asymptomatic. Your saliva sample is ONLY used to test for COVID and is disposed of after testing.

The weekly saliva test is an easy way to help us all ensure we are remaining safe and playing our part in the battle against COVID-19.

Uptake of the weekly saliva test is monitored to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect our patients, the public and each other.

The latest data by group is below:

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 16 December

Numbers not statistics: This week (last week).

Colleagues who have received COVID-19 1^st Vac.	Colleagues who have received COVID-19 2^nd Vac.	Colleagues who have received COVID-19 booster Vac.	Current number of confirmed COVID-19 inpatients	COVID-19 inpatients not vaccinated against COVID-19	Total number of our patients who have died from COVID-19
84.49% (83.88%)	79.96% (79.52%)	38.59% (37.40%)	81 (55)	72.84% (51.7%)	1,378 (1,373)

(Note: Percentages may decrease due to changes in the number of inpatients and in the number of staff members (starters and leavers).

New: Christmas parties – caution advised

As the UK has moved to ‘Plan B’ and Omicron has been identified as the latest, highly transmissible variant of COVID-19, we must remind colleagues of the need to be cautious and follow appropriate infection control practices, both at work and when you are outside of work.

Please consider during the festive period how you can best protect yourselves and those around you to reduce the risk of catching COVID-19 or passing it on.

If there are Christmas parties and events arranged, please consider:

Can these be postponed to another date when COVID-19 cases in the community are lower?
If you are going to attend, can you keep a reasonably safe distance and use additional precautions such as face coverings?
Can you do a lateral flow test before attending and encourage others to do so?

The Trust advice is to avoid large, indoor gatherings where there is high risk of transmission of COVID-19.

New: Booster rollout – know where to grab your jab

As you can imagine, vaccination remains our priority to combat the rising rates of COVID-19 that we are seeing and expect to see with the arrival of the Omicron variant.

To ensure we are supporting our colleagues and communities, we are expanding our capacity at our vaccination hubs from Monday, 20 December 2021. Walk-ins and appointments will be available at all sites. Appointments can also be booked through the national booking service.

You can get your first and second doses too – not just boosters. If you have not yet had either dose please do so now.

We know that the vast majority of colleagues stepped forward and received their first two doses, when the vaccines were first released, but to stand a fighting chance against the Omicron variant, we are asking colleagues to ensure they book their booster vaccination as soon as possible.

When and where to get your vaccination this week:

City: The City vaccination hub in Sheldon Block is open seven days a week between 8am – 6pm for walk-ins
Sandwell: The next pop up clinic will take place on 16 December at the Berridge Suite between 9am – 4pm.

This is where you can get your vaccinations from next week at our Trust vaccination hubs:

Tipton: Walk-ins from 08.00 – 20.00 every day including weekends from Monday. Booked appointments from 08.00-21.00
City Hospital: Walk-ins from 08.00 – 19.00 every day including weekends from Monday. Booked appointments from 08.00 – 20.00
Sandwell Hub: Opening to staff from next week with additional pop-ups planned.

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has also released an open letter to all NHS colleagues thanking them for their unwavering commitment and hard work but asking for their help and support to get Britain boosted.

New: Lending your support to Critical Care – join the ICU Reservists Team

Thank you to everyone who stepped forward and supported colleagues in Critical Care during our previous surges of COVID-19 cases in the last 18 months. Many of you will have stepped in several times and we are very grateful to you for doing this.

As you are all aware cases are increasing across the country and in light of this we need to ask you again to support us. We are now looking to welcome nursing and health care support colleagues from across the organisation into our ICU Reservist Team.

With cases of COVID-19 beginning to once again increase, we are likely to need to increase the size of our ICU service significantly at short notice to cope with the additional clinical needs. To cope with this, we need people like you to make sure we do it quickly and safely.

If you have previously worked in Intensive or High Dependency care, have other skills that you think you could offer or just a wish to be part of the Intensive Care response to COVID-19 then please register as an ICU Reservist.

Your contribution could vary from occasional Bank shifts to full redeployment for the duration of the pandemic and the team will work with you and your current managers to facilitate that. You will be offered training and support to help you become an essential part of our team.

Updated: Trust guidance on working from home

As of this Monday, (13 December 2021), those who can have been advised to work from home. This approach will help to reduce the risk of infection to the wider workforce and our patients, while maintaining core functions and supporting ‘at-risk’ colleagues.

Colleagues are now expected to follow the below in order to keep themselves and others safe:

Work from home:

Essentially, if you can work from home, please do so. We know that most of our clinical roles will require on site working on a full-time basis and your ability to continue attending on site to support colleagues and care for patients is greatly appreciated. All managers are expected to make an extra effort to keep in touch with team members who are working from home. You can read the latest working from home guidance here.

Face to face meetings:

Any face to face meeting should be changed to a virtual meeting unless it is essential for this to be face to face (such as clinical huddles). 1:1 meetings are acceptable between colleagues who are on site.

Working on site:

When we are working on site we must adhere to our infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance. This means wearing a mask at all times in shared spaces and keeping a distance of 1m+. The only exception to this is when eating and drinking.

Reminder: Don’t let your guard down now

Colleagues should ensure they stick to the infection control practices that we have established, follow social distancing of 1m+ and respectfully challenge colleagues and patients who fail to adhere to them to keep themselves and those around them safe, both at work and outside work.

Seven rules of infection control:

Hand hygiene: Make sure you take the time to practice good hand hygiene, this means make sure your sleeves are rolled up, rings and watches are off and you take the time to carefully wash your hands.
Wear your face masks: It’s critical to ensure that when you are in shared areas and in clinical spaces you wear your face masks and ensure you take the time to put them on properly, ensuring a good seal around the masks.
Bare below the elbows: Good hand hygiene and safe care can only be achieved by being bare below the elbows. This means that you must not wear watches or bracelets or jewellery that interferes with your ability to effectively wash your hands. This also includes removing ties, and accessories that pose a cross contamination risk moving from patient to patient. Please remember lanyards should not be worn.
Right PPE in the right environment: Make sure you take the time to wear the right PPE suitable for the task you are undertaking.
Test yourself for COVID-19 regularly: Weekly LAMP testing for COVID-19 is available for all staff which involves a painless saliva sample being submitted. This can provide you with proof and assurance that you are COVID-19 free and proof that your infection control practices are successfully keeping you safe from harm.
Regular patient swabbing is critical to providing the right care: It’s important that colleagues involved in the delivery of clinical care take the time to understand the swabbing pathways in use. These documents describe in details the schedules of swabbing that should apply to each patient depending on their circumstances. Swabbing ensures we are able to provide the right care to patients as well as ensuring that we are able to protect colleagues and patients around them. See the guidance on Connect.
Clean equipment is key to being able to provide safe and effective care: Follow the rules of the Use it, Clean It, Store it programme to continue providing safe care to our patients.

6. Reminder: Prioritise your wellbeing by visiting the Sanctuary

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

As we head towards Christmas, and news of Omicron arriving on our shores, now may be the time for you to take stock of the year we’ve had and take some time out for yourself to visit the Sanctuary.

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.

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

The Sanctuary is a five 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. Please note, social distancing measures are in place and PPE and sanitisation is provided on site.

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

Counsellors: The NHS direct counselling service: 0800 06 96 222 (7am – 11pm, seven 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.

Reminder: Keeping us safe is between you, me and the LAMP post

With the growing concern about the Omicron variant, we are, of course, reminding you once again of the importance and ease of the LAMP (Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification) test.

The saliva test is a speedy and less invasive way of detecting COVID-19. You can book 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.

You can find drop off points and more information by clicking here.

Here’s a pictorial guide on how to package your swab:

Uptake of the weekly saliva test is monitored to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect our patients, the public and each other.

The latest data by group is below:

IT Incident update: 5

Dear colleagues,

Work on the restoration of our IT systems has continued over the weekend and we thank you for your patience as we progress through our restoration and recovery plans.

Systems recovered

We are pleased to report the following systems are now back online:

ChemoCare
ICE
McKesson.

Our priority remains to recover and restore the systems that have risk to patient management and care as agreed through our tactical forums.

You can see a list of all affected systems along with status of recovery on Connect

Trust reports

Trust reports are now available and colleagues can run them as they’ve done previously.

Should you wish to automate any reports, please email: swbh.biu_requests_swbh@nhs.net. In your request, please explain what report you would like automating, the frequency, the format (excel, PDF, Word), who needs to receive it and at what time.

Door access system

Please be aware from today (Monday, 13 December) for approximately two weeks we will be undertaking essential maintenance on the door access system controlling fob and swipe access to wards, departments and buildings at Sandwell, City, Rowley and Leasowes.

During this time, colleagues who have been issued with swipe access cards and fobs since May 2021 may find that their fobs/swipe are deactivated and do not function.

If colleagues find their fob/swipe access is affected, then please inform the security or admin teams on site at City or Sandwell who will endeavour to get this reenabled for you. If colleagues are based at another site or are unable to physically get to the security or admin teams at City and Sandwell then please call the team by ext. 4133 (City) or ext. 3163 (Sandwell).

Medisoft

Medisoft is the system we use to provide electronic medical records for ophthalmology. Work is currently ongoing to restore this system and associated data.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Current System Status

Service	Vendor	Server Built	Service Status	Latest update
Medisoft	Medisoft	Yes 02/12/21	In Progress	Est date unknown more detail to follow
ChemoCare	CIS Oncology Ltd	Yes 02/12/21	Live	System is back online
Immunlink	Immucare	Yes 03/12/21	Live
Medcon/Trust reports	N/A		Live	Service now live, some users will have to re-subscribe to reports once again
ICE	Clynisis	Yes 03/12/21	Live	Service is live with some remaining issues with GP interface
McKesson	Change Healthcare	Yes 03/12/21	Live	Service now live with some follow up actions
Powergate	GHX	Yes 03/12/21	Live	Service back online
Auditbase	Audidata	N/A	Live	02/12/21 – Application appears to be live and operational
Circle	Circle CIC	Yes 02/12/21	Live	Service is live and awaiting clinical signoff
Unipoc/Aegis	Abbott		Live
InTouch	InTouch	Yes 02/12/21	In Progress	Server built pending vendor completing configuration
Equitrac – Follow-me printing on large Ricoh printer/scanners	Ricoh		In Progress	Colleagues struggling to print should contact IT service desk on 0121 507 4050
SWBHFS01 Y drive, comms share, Diabetes share, wheelchair data (Other areas affected aswell)	N/A		In Progress	OnTrack data recovery and restoration complete, awaiting validation of data
Telecare	Mil systems		Live *
S drive	N/A Internal Infrastructure	N/A	Live	02/12/21 Service Restored
Viewpoint	N/A		Live	No actions required
SCSM	N/A		Live
Heidelberg Images -SW-VM-ARCHIVE1	N/A		Live	Server live and service restored
Philips patient monitoring system			Live	Server live and service restored
Security Sandwell			In Progress	Server built, vendor begun work 13/12/21
Harlequin			Live	Service restored

← Older items Newer items →

Monthly archives: December 2021

Current System Status

Sidebar