Monthly archives: January 2022

LGBT History Month: events you can attend

As you may be aware, February marks the start of LGBT History Month and to celebrate the month, our LGBT Staff Network at the Trust have put together comprehensive list of events associated with the month which colleagues can attend throughout February.

Some of the events include:

• Celebrating our present – hosted by University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, Thursday 10 February 3pm – 4pm
• Creating Our future – hosted by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Thursday 17 February, 11am – 12pm
• Educate our prejudice – hosted by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, Wednesday 23 February, 12.30pm -1.15pm
• Educate Out prejudice – hosted by The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Tuesday 22
  February 12pm – 1pm
• Trans awareness training – hosted by Birmingham LGBT Centre,  Friday 25 February, 1pm – 3pm

The full list and attendance details can be accessed below in the LGBT History Month events list.

Scottish menu: 26 January

Hallam restaurant, Arches, Boaters and Rowley Coffee Pot will be offering a Scottish theme menu on Wednesday 26 January so be sure to drop by for a bite to eat.

Boost your immunity this winter – flu jabs and COVID-19 boosters available for colleagues

Get boosted today – Spread the word

Did you know our vaccination centres are open to all colleagues and members of the public? Anyone aged 16 and above can get their COVID-19 vaccinations at our walk-in vaccination hubs on site at Sandwell, City or Tipton. The dominant variant of COVID-19, Omicron is extremely transmissible, so act now and get boosted.

Here’s where you can get your vaccinations:

A clinic will take place at City Vaccination Hub on Friday 28 January (9am-2pm) specifically administering Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccinations. All attendees will be assessed prior to vaccination to confirm eligibility. To book your appointment, call the vaccination hub on ext. 4404.

Do you have a question? Click here to read the FAQ document.

Boost your immunity – get your flu jab and COVID-19 booster.

Daily vaccine confidence sessions hosted by clinical professionals

NHS England and NHS Improvement will be running daily drop-in vaccine confidence Q&A sessions from Wednesday 26 January 2022 to February 3, 2022. These sessions are for all staff to attend and will offer an opportunity to ask any specific questions you might have regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

Each of these drops-in sessions will be tailored towards a specific audience and hosted by a relevant clinical professional who will answer any questions and signpost you to any additional information. These sessions will provide a safe and supportive environment for you to ask any questions you may have about the COVID-19 vaccines. Dates and themes are:

• Wednesday 26 January: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – Primary Care
• Thursday 27 January: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Vaccines and Fertility
• Friday 28 January: 10:00am – 11:00 am – Vaccines and the Science
• Saturday 29 January: 7:00pm – 8:00 pm – Vaccines and Your Faith
• Sunday 30 January: 7:00pm – 8:00pm – Vaccines and Your Faith
• Monday 31 January: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – Vaccines for Nursing and Midwifery Staff
• Tuesday 1 February: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Vaccines and Fertility
• Wednesday 2 February: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – Vaccines for Healthcare Students
• Thursday 3 February: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Vaccines and the Science

To register, go to https://www.events.england.nhs.uk/events/staff-vaccination-daily-q-and-a

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 21 January

I want to focus today’s message on the mandatory vaccination legislation, meaning that by 1 April, all health care workers must have had first and second doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine.  You must forgive me if you find my message blunt, but the expectations of us are clear and the impact on services of colleague’s not being vaccinated, is grim and worrying.

In brief:

• These regulations will be enshrined in law. There is no opportunity for Trusts to opt out of or be flexible with the expectations on us. I am obliged, as accountable officer, to enact this policy. Over the past year, since vaccines were approved, this Trust has provided a range of opportunities to learn more about vaccination, get support if you have concerns, and provide access to these life-saving vaccines. As we near the critical date of 3 February (the last date by which you must have your first vaccine) our efforts are intensifying so that you all have the opportunity to make the choice that is right for you, with full understanding of the consequences.
• More than 80% of our entire workforce is now vaccinated with first and second doses. Thank you to everyone who has taken this step to protect yourselves, your colleagues and your families.
• Remaining colleagues will have received a letter asking you to confirm your vaccination status with us. We want to make sure that our records are accurate for each member of staff. If you are fully vaccinated and have received a letter please don’t worry – all you have to do is follow the instructions in the letter in order to confirm your status with the Workforce Hub.
• I know that there are people who have concerns. Please be assured that there are many experts within the Trust who are here to help and support you. You may wish to join some of the vaccine Q&A sessions taking place next week and raise any questions you have.
• Our Trust Board met today to confirm our approach to the roles that are in scope of the mandatory vaccination policy. The Board agreed that those in scope are staff working in our Trust who have face-to-face contact with patients or service users in their role. This includes staff entering areas that are utilised for the provision of a CQC-regulated activity which may result in incidental face-to-face contact with patients or service users. This is the vast majority of our workforce. It also applies to bank and agency workers, contractors and volunteers. There are a small number of agreed exemptions which include those under 18 years, those with a formal medical exemption (this will be a very small number) and a temporary exemption for pregnant women.
• Regrettably, those who fall within the scope of this legislation will no longer be able to continue in their roles unless they have been vaccinated. As the scope applies to the vast majority of colleagues there will be very little opportunity for redeployment into alternative roles – those roles simply will not exist within our Trust or within local NHS Trusts, who are all enacting the regulations in the same way.
• I am fully in support of the approach our Trust Board has agreed. Our new strategy priorities People (our workforce), Patients and our Population. What better way to demonstrate that we care about each of these groups than by ensuring that we can offer maximum protection against a virus that has, over the past two years, dramatically impacted on individuals, families, livelihoods and our way of life.

I hope you will join me in supporting our vaccination approach and ensure you are compliant by 1 April 2022.  I want to thank our Trade Union colleagues for their support and for the help and advice that they will be able to provide to individuals. They have shared a message today for all staff.

The government do not look likely to reverse this legislation.  The Trust does not have the authority not to comply.  The consequences for individual colleagues and their NHS careers if they choose not to be vaccinated, will be serious.  The consequences for the Trust, in terms of services we will NOT be able to support if the worst case scenario unfolds, will be catastrophic.

Thank you in anticipation of your cooperation.

Richard

A message from the Trade Union: Vaccination status

Staff may have been sent letters from the Trust requesting them to share their vaccination status via the COVID pass app, this has been to staff because their vaccination status has not been available to the trust to date.

Trade Unions encourage that staff share the information requested if they have already been vaccinated via the covid pass app as per the letter advises because this will become a condition of deployment to have the vaccinations unless you are exempt. If you are not vaccinated and don’t have a valid NHS covid pass for medical exemption or a temporary exemption pass and you think you may be eligible, the exemption criteria and application process can be located on the following link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-medical-exemptions-proving-you-are-unable-to-get-vaccinated

You may also be exempt if you are under 18 years old, or are participating in COVID vaccination trials.

Agreed appointed managers have been asked by the Trust to offer meetings to staff to clarify their vaccination status and intentions to uptake this if they have not already had it. Managers are being asked to offer these meetings to provide support regarding potential vaccination concerns and informing staff if they will be in scope as workers who have face-to-face contact with patients and/or service users and who are deployed as part of CQC regulated activity. Some examples of scoping as regards to face to face contact with patients who are deployed in CQC regulated activities can be found in appendix 2 towards the end of this document in this link. C1470-vcod-for-healthcare-workers-planning-and-preparation-guidance.pdf (england.nhs.uk)

Trade Unions would recommend that you attend the meetings with the manager, and if it is unclear or you have concerns about you being included in the scope please contact your Trade Union reps, who may be able to advise on this matter. If you are not a member of a trade union you can talk to staff side convenor and deputy about the process contacting them via the email address below. Please note that they won’t be able to give advice on your individual circumstances.

Contact details or Trade Union Representatives can be found on this link: https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/trade-unions/ or alternatively contact the staff side confidential email swbh.unioncollective@nhs.net with a brief summary so we can support you as best as possible.

We advise you to have your membership details available such as you name and membership number in readiness so the relevant trade union can provide advice.

We appreciate that this is a difficult time for many staff and we hope to respond to you quickly, but due to COVID related work priorities there may be a short delay, for which we apologise for.

Weekend fit testing arrangements

This weekend there are limited number of fit testing appointments available. Colleagues that want to book a slot should call the below numbers for the day which they wish to book.

Note: Fit testing will only be available at City

• Saturday 22 January – 07815020836
• Sunday 23 January – 07815020808

Get boosted today – spread the word

Did you know our vaccination centres are open to all colleagues and members of the public? Anyone aged 16 and above can get their COVID-19 vaccinations at our walk-in vaccination hubs on site at Sandwell, City or Tipton. The dominant variant of COVID-19, Omicron is extremely transmissible, so act now and get boosted.

Here are the latest opening hours:

A clinic will take place at City Vaccination Hub on Friday 28 January (9am-2pm) specifically administering Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccinations. All attendees will be assessed prior to vaccination to confirm eligibility.

To book your appointment, call the vaccination hub on ext. 4404.

Can you support cancer services in 2022?

Our cancer services team are still seeking unwanted gifts as well as used bras to recycle. Bras in good condition will be sold on with the money raised going towards supporting secondary breast cancer research.

Donated bras can be dropped off at cancer services who are based on the ground floor of the Hallam building at Sandwell Hospital or at the Breast Unit in the BTC.

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

Cancer services would also like to say a huge thank you to all colleagues who supported the Christmas shop during the festive period.

DID you know…? 66% of people state they would like to die at home, but only 25% do so

Use SPICT to help identify deteriorating patients early, and the SCP to support honest conversations and find out your patient’s priorities. Collect your quick reference guide from the education centre or use eCoach in UNITY to find out how.

At SWB we advocate using the Supportive Care Plan for patients likely to be in the last year of life, to guide and document open communications with patients about their future care and preferences. The care plan should be written in conjunction with the patient, after a sensitive and honest dialogue about your expectations for their health going forward, and can be used for people who are in the last months, weeks or days of life. It is vital that the information contained in the SCP is then shared with other teams looking after the patient, for example their GP or community palliative care team. A good place to document the discussion would be on the discharge summary, but if the patient is expected to die very quickly a telephone call to the patients GP is also very helpful.

In order to use the SCP at the right time for the right patients, we need to identify patients who could have a short prognosis. We advocate using the SPICT tool, which is also available on Unity, to identify patients who are deteriorating, and are likely to have increased care needs.

If we are able to have these conversations with patients in a timely manner we have the opportunity to shape their future care so that we meet their needs and wishes as they approach the final phase of their lives.