Monthly archives: January 2022

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 20 January

Numbers not statistics: This week (last week)

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

1. New: Revised guidance for self-isolation of NHS staff

Following an advisory letter from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) our isolation guidance has now been updated.

In summary, all staff who test positive will be able to leave self-isolation and return to work, if they test negative via a lateral flow device (LFD) on days 5 and 6 after the date of their initial positive test, providing they are medically fit. The negative lateral flow tests on days 5 and 6 must be taken 24 hours apart.

Following this, and to mitigate any potential increased risk of transmission, all staff must then continue to test daily up to and including day 10 after their initial positive test and stop at day 10 if they are asymptomatic and not had any further positive LFD tests.

The Trust guidance can be found in full here.

Ordering Lateral Flow Devices

Colleagues can once again access LFDs via the gov.uk portal and we are encouraging staff to order a supply to enable testing via lateral flow as part of the requirement to end isolation.

2. New: Face masks and moving away from Plan B

As you know, the Government are making moves to take the country back away from its ‘Plan B’ and returning it to its pre-Omicron state – ‘Plan A’.  This includes the relaxation of various rules relating to face masks in public places.

Please note that face masks are still mandatory within healthcare settings and in our organisation from next week. NHS guidelines have not changed on this matter, and so we will continue to maintain this across our organisation to keep both patients and staff safe.

3. New: Clearing up cleaning

There has been some confusion on what the cleaning requirements are during COVID when cleaning bed spaces and wards of COVID-19 positive patients.

Below is the table put together in an earlier wave to remind everyone of current requirements.

There is an expectation that all bed spaces are cleaned post discharge ready for the next patient, this has always been in place and should be as per the guidance above.

4. Update: City wellbeing hub and massage service – change of venue

 The City Hospital wellbeing hub has now relocated to above Arches, 1st Floor, Corridor A (old physiotherapy corridor), Room B002/F/049.

Focusing on ensuring that colleagues have a good day every day, the new hubs aim to help improve mental health, relieve stress, build resilience and restore balance.

Recognising that colleagues need to be able to access services easily, the new hubs will provide much needed Health and Wellbeing for colleagues closer to their work base.Services in the new wellbeing hubs include:

• Confidential chat – an opportunity for colleagues to offload and talk about anything which is troubling them
• Meditation
• Relaxation POD (massage chair)
• Back, Hips, Leg Massager

The wellbeing hub is completely confidential. All services and treatments are free of charge for Trust colleagues and delivered by trained wellbeing coaches.

The wellbeing hubs will be a regular service weekly across all the sites listed below between 8am – 4pm:

• Mondays – Jayne Wright Therapy Room, Trinity House, Sandwell
• Wednesdays – Rowley Regis Hospital – Therapy room Archer, 1st floor, Rowley Regis Hospital
• Fridays – Wellbeing Hub, above Arches, 1st Floor, Corridor A (old physiotherapy corridor) Room B002/F/049 situated to the right of the corridor, City Hospital
• Monday – Friday – The Sanctuary, Unett Street, Smethwick B66 3SY

If you would like to register your interest and book in to one of the sessions contact the wellbeing team on 0121 507 5886 or 0121 507 3854. Alternatively, you can email Jatinder.sekhon@nhs.net.

5. Reminder: Time is ticking to get your first jab

Legislation about mandatory vaccination for NHS staff means that individuals undertaking CQC regulated activities in England must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no later than 1 April 2022 to protect patients and other colleagues. This means that unvaccinated individuals need to have had their first dose by 3 February 2022, in order to have received their second dose by the 1 April 2022 deadline.

Vaccination is a condition of deployment. If you have received a letter stating that the Trust does not have a record of your vaccination status then you must contact the workforce hub.

Questions and answers sesssion – Join a COVID-19 vaccination Q&A session

Raise your vaccination questions at a vaccination Q&A session hosted by a panel of senior clinical leaders. This will also be a safe space for colleagues to have an opportunity to understand and ask questions about the potential impact of the new legislation, Vaccination as Condition of Deployment (VCOD) which has been enacted as of Thursday 6 January 2022. Session dates and times are below:

6.    Reminder: Don’t forget to test regularly

As you know, it is mandatory for all staff to undertake regular testing. Colleagues attending site more than once a week are expected to sign up to our LAMP testing programme and bring in a LAMP sample once a week. This is our preferred regular testing programme for all staff with no symptoms because of the accuracy of the test. To register for LAMP please call 0121 507 2664 (Monday- Friday, 8am-6pm) and select option 6 to register and book a kit collection slot.

If you are not registered for LAMP you must do a lateral flow test twice a week. This is the national requirement and all staff must comply. These are available to order online or to collect from a range of services in the community. LFT results should be reported to the national website whatever the result.

Here is a reminder on how to carry out your LAMP test:

The latest LAMP data by group is below:

Important changes to blood collection at Sandwell

Porters will be starting to collect blood components for clinical areas at Sandwell. The changes have started to be rolled out gradually by clinical area, with a planned trial which has already commenced on AMU A.

The transfusion practitioners will support both the portering team and the clinical areas during this transition.

We need to emphasise that clinical areas must not request porters to collect blood until their agreed change date. This is because it will cause potential delays as the porters have been instructed not to collect from a clinical area unless informed to do so by the transfusion practitioners.

The transfusion practitioners will be available to assist the clinical areas in the use of CapMan to request blood components, along with a Quick Reference Guide, posters and other resources that are available on the blood transfusion section on Connect. There is also a video for staff to watch in the Unity e-learning module.

Once a clinical area goes live with requesting porters to collect blood components, team members already trained in blood collection will have their barcodes disabled and they will no longer be able to access the blood issue fridge.

Clinical colleagues will still be required to collect albumin and anti D from the blood transfusion laboratory (blood bank).

If emergency O negative blood is required for a patient, a member of the clinical team will be required to go to the blood transfusion laboratory (blood bank) and the lab team will issue the blood directly.

For more information please email swbh.bloodtransfusion@nhs.net.

Dry January raffle

The alcohol care team are currently hosting a Dry January raffle to help raise funds for a Fibroscan van which will enable our Trust to perform liver scans on patients in the community, helping to identify early stages of liver disease and improve health and wellbeing.

Prizes available on the raffle include:

• 4x Adult tickets to West Midlands Safari Park
• Paintball voucher for 10 people
• 2x Glee Club Tickets
• 1x family ticket (2 adults, 3 concessions) to Botanical Gardens
• 1x bungee jump
• 1x signed wall decoration from West Bromwich Albion.
• 1x golf session at Dartmouth golf course
• 2x main meals with hot drinks at boston tea party.

Raffle tickets are just £2 per ticket – click here to buy raffle tickets and for more information.

Want to get involved in with Dry January in 2022? – Join our alcohol staff support meetings from 1pm – 2pm via the Microsoft Teams platform every Friday (21 and 28) by clicking here.

Fraud Notice: COVID vaccination calls

Colleagues are advised to be aware of NHS staff receiving calls from an 0300 number purporting to be from the ‘NHS Vaccination Hub’ stating that the recipient of the call is unvaccinated and asking for personal information to update records.

Colleagues are advised to be on alert for calls of this nature and to not supply any personal information to the caller.

If you feel you may have been targeted by a fraudulent caller, please notify our Local Counter Fraud Specialist Sophie Coster (Tel: 07436 268747), or alternatively Chief Finance Officer Dinah McLannahan; or NHSCFA via 0800 028 40 60.

NHSmail: Set yourself up with self-service

Save yourself from getting locked out from your NHSmail and having to wait in a call queue to get your password reset – sign up to NHSmail self-service.

Getting ready to use self-service password reset and unlock

In order to use the self-service password reset and unlock function you need to first review your security question information and ensure that you have a mobile phone number populated within your account profile. Your mobile number can be hidden and will only be used by NHSmail to issue your temporary account password as part of the reset process. Your mobile number will still be required to be populated if you wish to unlock your account without resetting your password.

To check that you are ready, if you are not already logged into your account go to the NHSmail portal at https://portal.nhs.net/ click on ‘Login’ in the top right-hand corner of the page and login using your current NHSmail email address and password as you would do normally.

	Click on Profile
	Enter your mobile number in the field provided and tick the box if you wish to have your mobile number hidden
	To review your security questions, click on the Security Questions tab within the Profile page and if you wish to change the questions and answers displayed, please follow the on-screen instructions.
	Once you are happy, please click on the Save button and you are all set.

Once you have saved your updated contact details and security questions, you will be able to reset your NHSmail password yourself, without the need to contact the IT Servicedesk.

For any other IT support query, you can log a ticket online at http://servicedesk.swbh.nhs.uk/ or contact the ServiceDesk on 0121 507 4050 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Job of the week: Black Country Provider Collaborative Project Manager (Band 8a)

The Black Country and West Birmingham Integrated Care System (ICS) are currently recruiting for a Black Country Provider Collaborative Project Manager.

As a project manager  you will work across the clinical services and enabling workstreams to progress plans for each area, working with colleagues across the four trusts to deliver the vision and ambition. You will work with a range of clinical, nursing and managerial colleagues to develop speciality networks, plan programmes of work and implement change through clearly defined projects as part of the Provider Collaboratives Acute Services Reconfiguration programme.

Note: This role is an 18 month fixed term contract.

To apply and for further details including the person specification and job description please click here.

Demystifying NHS finance online events: 8 February and 8 March

Demystifying NHS finance online events are being hosted on Tuesday 8 February and Tuesday 8 March with the sessions aimed at clinicians and non-finance managers.

Topics covered at both events include:

• Introduction to NHS finance
• Introduction to commissioning in the NHS
• Introduction to NHS Costing and PLICS – acute
• Introduction to NHS Costing and PLICS – mental health
• Business cases
• Introduction to clinical coding
• Understanding budgets and spreadsheets
• Introduction to funding in general practice
• Introduction to the model health system – a data driven improvement tool that enables benchmarking of quality and productivity

To register for either event or for more information, please see links below:

Demystifying NHS finance – Tuesday 8 February

Demystifying NHS finance – Tuesday 8 March

Wellbeing Wednesday: Men’s health and wellbeing

Many men have common health concerns however, it is recognised that men are often less likely to talk to someone. Male colleagues are urged to consider some of the many ways to support their wellbeing.

Here are some useful ways for men to make a start:

1. Connect with someone “Let’s Talk”

• How are you? How are YOU really? There are many options available to you from people who care about YOU.
• Connect with a colleague or friend, your friends are important, stay connected.

2. Book a Confidential chat

• Book a chat at the Wellbeing Sanctuary and Wellbeing Hub – call 0121 507 5886
• Counselling available to you via occupational health – call 0121 501 3306
• Have a conversation with one of our REACT Practitioners – call 0121 507 5886

3. Stay active, being outside and being active can help lift your mood. Do you fancy getting fitter? Try this link:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/get-running-with-couch-to-5k/

4. Learn something new. Check out the free courses in the link below

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue

5. The Peter Crouch mental health podcasts are a good listen

https://www.headstogether.org.uk/the-duke-of-cambridge-joins-a-special-episode-of-that-peter-crouch-podcast/

6. Helpful support and resources for men’s health and wellbeing

https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/five-ways-wellbeing

https://people.nhs.uk/

7. Improve your health and fitness in just 12 weeks

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/12-week-fitness-plan/

8. Useful links

Men’s Sheds
Beating Eating Disorders
The Male Menopause
Male specific cancers
NHS Health Check
The campaign against living miserably
Mental Health for BAME and POC
LGBTQ Foundation
Men’s Advice Line
Drink Aware
Sexual Health
Quit smoking
Kickstart your health
Risk factors for heart health

The Live and Work Programme needs you

The Live and Work Programme is an award-winning partnership programme developed between the Trust and St Basils. The programme provides apprenticeship opportunities and affordable living accommodation to young people (16 – 24) who are keen to develop their career prospects.

The programme was designed to break down walls and build bridges with young people of our local community to benefit from the additional support the package offers. This is a unique programme offering safe affordable accommodation, access to professional development and support into a career for vulnerable young people.

The programme relies on the commitment and vision of all our staff to support, nurture and inspire the future local workforce of health professionals through the creation of apprenticeship opportunities.

Could you help to support young people in our communities by creating apprenticeship opportunities for them? The widening participation team would like to hear from you. Please contact the team by emailing swbh.liveandwork@nhs.net or olufemi.kuforiji1@nhs.net.

For further details please see Live and Work Programme poster and Live and Work Programme information sheet

Help us improve outcomes for people with learning disabilities and autism

As part of this year’s NHSEI National Learning Disabilities benchmarking audit, clinical colleagues who have had contact with patients who have learning disabilities are required to complete a short survey.

This forms part of the National Learning Disabilities Improvement Standards programme which will help us to improve the experience and outcomes of people with learning disabilities and autism.

The information is designed to be helpful to our patients and colleagues in terms of service improvement.

To complete this survey please click here.

Note: All responses are anonymised.

This survey closes on Monday 31 January.