Monthly archives: February 2022

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 10 February

Numbers not statistics: This week (last week) 

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

1. New: The correct PPE will help to curb infection rates

It remains important that all colleagues continue to follow the Trust’s PPE guidance as the number of patients with community acquired COVID-19 who become positive on admission remains high.

We all need to play our part in ensuring the correct equipment is worn, whether you are working within a red, amber or green clinical area, or in a non-clinical space.

As you may recall we enhanced our PPE requirements having risk assessed COVID-19 infection rates and outbreaks within our hospital ward areas. This guidance continues to remain  in place.

Here is a reminder of the requirements:

For all inpatient areas where there is direct patient contact (in both red and amber/green wards), clinical and non-clinical staff who are having patient/bed space contact should wear as a minimum:

• A silicone mask/FFP3 mask – these can be sessional use. Single use gloves and aprons (please ensure you have been fit tested for an FFP3 mask before use). Visors may be necessary in some clinical circumstances as per risk assessment for each individual patient.
• You should wear a fluid-resistant surgical face mask if you do not have direct patient contact. Non-direct patient contact includes walking on a ward area, clerical staff, estates and facilities staff. Disposable gloves/aprons should be worn for contact with patients/immediate environment. Porters who are transferring patients should wear FFP3/silicone face mask when transferring patients to red and amber wards.
• If you are visiting the ward from another area, a minimum requirement when entering the unit will be to wear a fluid resistant surgical face mask.

We have also made the wearing of surgical masks mandatory for all inpatients and outpatients. This means that all patients must wear fluid resistant surgical masks whilst they are under our care. Masks do not need to be worn whilst patients are sleeping, eating or drinking. Exceptions are for patients who are under clinical exemptions. Other exceptions include women in labour, patients without capacity, including those who are not able to put on or take off their own mask, and for children under the age of 12.

Staff must follow their individual risk assessment for PPE. Occasionally this will recommend a higher level of protection depending on your individual assessment.

We will continue to risk assess our infection prevention and control guidance regularly in light of changing COVID-19 restrictions, hospital rates, outbreaks and community infections.

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.

2. New: Keeping the channels of communication open between patients and their loved ones

Whilst visiting restrictions still remain in place, colleagues should continue to ensure that patients on their wards are given support in communicating with their loved ones.

You can do this by using the available iPads and mobile phones. If you don’t have this equipment, then please contact IT on ext 4050 to request devices.

Keeping the channels of communication open between patients and their relatives is an important element in helping to aid their recovery and also in supporting with their mental health whilst they remain in our care.

Visiting restrictions remain in place to protect patients and staff and is reviewed on a regular basis.

The current guidance is below:

• Visiting remains in place for vulnerable patients, those patients who are at the end of life, those with limited mental capacity and a parent/guardian supporting their child.
• Birthing partners are allowed to accompany a woman who is in established labour. The partner will need to provide evidence of a negative lateral flow test taken that day. Once a negative result is obtained they will be allowed into the Delivery Suite. Partners can currently continue to accompany the mum-to-be to any appointments and scans. Visiting on inpatient wards in our maternity department is limited to partners or birthing partners only for one hour a day. Loved ones should call the ward to arrange their visiting time.
• Vulnerable patients attending our emergency or outpatient departments can be accompanied by one person.
• Where visiting is allowed in exceptional circumstances, please ensure that this is agreed with the ward, is limited to one visitor and crucially that they are able to evidence a negative lateral flow test from that day and do not have any COVID-19 related symptoms.

3. New: COVID-19 vaccines: read up on the facts

Vaccines against COVID-19 have been developed quickly – but they have been developed with great care.

Working together, doctors and scientists have analysed the results of trials. Yet still there remains a great deal of misinformation around the vaccines – whether it’s shared through social media, WhatsApp groups, or through the media.

It’s important that we help to educate those around us with the right information about the vaccines which are there to protect us against this deadly virus.

Imperial College London has developed an informative document which details the facts about vaccines, including information around immunity and pregnancy.

You can read the document in full by clicking here.

4. Updated: Drop-in vaccination clinic at Rowley Regis Hospital

A drop-in vaccination clinic will take place at Rowley Regis Hospital on Thursday 17 February, 9am-4pm on the Westwood ward. The vaccination hub will be administering first, second and booster does of COVID-19 vaccines plus third doses for individuals aged 12 years and over with severe immunosuppression. The clinic is open for all colleagues and members of the public. You can also get your flu jab – it’s not too late.

If it’s more convenient for you to access City Hospital or Tipton Sports Academy, the vaccination clinics are open every day between 8am-6pm for walk-ins. You can also book an appointment between 8am-7pm by calling the vaccination hub on 0121 507 4404.

Act now and keep yourself safe. Visit a vaccination hub or drop-in clinic to get your flu jab and COVID-19 vaccinations.

5. Reminder: Supporting your wellbeing at work – Does your staff rest area need a refresh?

You will have seen in Tuesday’s COVID-19 bulletin, the many services offered to support your health and wellbeing. Having a comfortable place to relax and rewind during our breaks at work is just one of the areas we are looking to improve.

So, does your staff rest area need a refresh? If it’s looking a little tired or could do with a fresh lick of paint or a furniture upgrade, let us know. We are happy to consider requests for new furniture or equipment to improve rest areas and also requests for minor works such as painting and shelving. If your rest room needs a freshen up, please complete the Staff Rest Room Refresh Request Form (Word) and email it to Dinah McLannahan, Chief Finance Officer (dinah.mclannahan@nhs.net). She will then get in touch to progress your requests.

6. Reminder: Be a cleaning champion

The Cleaning for Confidence campaign, led by the Midlands’ Nursing and Workforce team, helps to stop the spread of COVID-19 by encouraging colleagues to become cleaning champions with a 20-minute e-learning programme designed to further their knowledge of good cleaning practice.

Keeping NHS premises safe and clean for our patients is a key and shared commitment, and this has never been more important than now. A clean workplace is our first and best defence in stopping the spread of COVID-19 and other infections. Every person within the NHS family has a part to play in maintaining that commitment to keeping people safe.

Take a few minutes to access the Cleaning for Confidence e-learning programme here. The programme promotes further knowledge of good cleaning practice and the personal precautions needed to ensure the risk of environmental transmission both for patients and staff is reduced. This aims to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and, as always, reinforcing other behaviours that can help minimise the outbreak of other infections.

7. Reminder: Regular testing is still important

Although restrictions may have eased, working within the healthcare sector still means we may come into contact with vulnerable people, colleagues and the general public. It’s important we do our bit to keep everyone safe from COVID-19, and we can do so through regular testing. Thank you to all colleagues who continue to do a weekly LAMP test. 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-19 and is disposed of after testing.

If you are not registered for LAMP you must do a lateral flow test twice a week. This is the national requirement for all staff. With this in mind, please ensure you have adequate stock levels. Need to order lateral flow tests kits? Click here to order. There are seven lateral flow tests per box, per order, to your household address.

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.

Please be aware that as of 14 February, any colleagues registering for LAMP testing or those who are collecting new kits, will get labels rather than a request form.

The latest data by group is below:

Cross-site network issue now resolved

Please be aware the cross-site network issue that affected messaging between some clinical systems this morning has now been resolved and all system should be returning to normal operation.

Business continuity plans which were enacted can now be stood down. 

We apologise for any inconvenience this outage may have caused.

Colleagues are advised to return to normal operation and ensure they report any further issues that may arise to the 24 hour IT service desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 for home workers

#CheckWithMeFirst: Supporting survivors with trauma-informed care

Survivors of sexual abuse and violence have said time and time again that one thing that would really help them get through their medical appointments would be for healthcare professionals to let them know what they need to do and why, and to ask for consent, for every step of the procedure.

This is the core principle of the #CheckWithMeFirst campaign – understanding that taking a moment to consent, discuss and support a patient goes a long way to supporting them to have a positive experience.

#CheckWithMeFirst aims to encourage NHS professionals to make small but crucial adjustments in their approach, for example, explaining what will happen and asking the person under their care if there is anything that makes them feel anxious about the procedure before and during it, enabling the person to feel more in control. It also aims to empower survivors to let their practitioner know what might help them to better cope with their appointment, whether or not they choose to disclose recent or non-recent abuse.

If you would like to take part in the training workshops, please find the booking instructions here: Training and support to become a trauma informed champion supporting survivors of sexual abuse

The workshops will be accessible to Trust colleagues and will cover trauma-informed practice, the prevalence of sexual abuse and how this impacts the way that survivors access healthcare services, handling disclosures, and how to refer survivors to specialist support.

Job of the week: Departmental Secretary, Band 4 (secondment)

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated individual to join the Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) team at SWBH. The team are looking for an enthusiastic and reliable individual to join the team and help to shape our EPRR processes for the future.

The post is ideal for an ambitious individual with strong administration and organisational skills. The ideal candidate will be well organised and have a systematic approach, with the ability to use their own initiative, work unsupervised to prioritise workloads and escalate as appropriate. Excellent communication skills and the ability to work with multiple stakeholders is essential.

The successful candidate will work under the direction of the EPRR officer and will act as an initial point of contact for enquiries regarding EPRR. The role will include provision of administrative support to the EPRR team in arranging meetings, developing agendas, producing minutes/action notes and a variety of other tasks to support the delivery of the EPRR work plan. The post holder will also be involved in maintaining our core EPRR records and systems, as well as supporting the management of our On Call rotas.

If you have secretary and admin experience, have initiative and have an understanding of EPRR please discuss this secondment/development opportunity with your current line manager and forward your expression of interest to philip.stirling@nhs.net by Monday 21 February stating why you want this opportunity, your relevant experience and how this fits in with your career development plans.

Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022: Batonbearer nominations

Do you know somebody who is ready to step forward, make a change, and take it on?

The organisers of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games are looking for looking for individuals that meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Always willing to take on a challenge and has a unique and inspiring story
• Has made a meaningful contribution to sport, education, the arts, culture, or charity
• Is a figure of inspiration that positively challenges others to achieve their best
• Has taken on a challenge or cause and made a positive impact within their community.

Nominations close at the end of February, ready for a panel review in March 2022.

The Queen’s Baton Relay will travel to every region in England, before arriving at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on Thursday 28 July.

To nominate a person and to find out more, please click here.

Drop-in vaccination clinic at Rowley Regis Hospital

A drop-in vaccination clinic will take place at Rowley Regis Hospital on Thursday 17 February, 9am – 4pm on the Westwood ward. The vaccination hub will be administering first, second and booster does of COVID-19 vaccines plus third doses for individuals aged 12 years and over with severe immunosuppression. The clinic is open for all colleagues and members of the public. You can also get your flu jab – it’s not too late.

If it’s more convenient for you to access City Hospital or Tipton Sports Academy, the vaccination clinics are open every day between 8am-6pm for walk-ins. You can also book an appointment between 8am-7pm by calling the vaccination hub on 0121 507 4404.

Act now and keep yourself safe. Visit a vaccination hub or drop-in clinic to get your flu jab and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Corporate PowerPoint template

Are you looking to create a PowerPoint presentation? Perhaps you’ve been tasked with presenting to your team, your mangers or external contacts.

You might need a structured way to pitch an idea, some important information or a new service.

There is a corporate PowerPoint presentation template available to use for internal and external presentations. Please click here for the link to the template.

National Apprenticeship Week

This week is National Apprenticeship Week. The annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships aims to shine a light on the amazing work being done by employers and apprentices across the country.

To celebrate the awareness week, we will be promoting and sharing content about our apprentices and their fantastic contributions and efforts.

Be sure to check out this short video featuring Amy Thompson, HCA talking about why she recommends and apprenticeship.

Want to get in touch with our apprenticeship team? This week each member of the team will have a dedicated timeslot where you can catch up and have an informal chat about anything apprenticeship. Also be sure to get involved with the theme of day!

If you are interested in any degree and higher level apprenticeships, please take a look at what is available by clicking here and if something is of interest please contact  swbh.apprenticeship@nhs.net for the next steps.

Heartbeat: Managing end of life patients in critical care

By Dr Jon Hulme, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine

There are moments when as clinicians we need to have difficult conversations with our patients and their loved ones about planning for end of life. This can be very challenging for the patient, their family and us as healthcare professionals.

How do we have such conversations when the feeling can often be that our purpose is to do everything we can to save our patients?

As professionals we might be very aware when our treatment plans are simply not working for our patients and however difficult it may be, we need to instigate those conversations early and appropriately. Sometimes, this will be when a patient is able to communicate and understand; other times this will be with someone representing them because they cannot do so themselves. This is usually a close family member.

On intensive care, palliative care most often means stopping treatment that has been keeping a patient alive and making them as comfortable as possible at the end of life. We very much aim that we stop such life sustaining treatment, or do not increase the amount of life support to these levels, with the agreement of the patient and family members.

It becomes complicated when the patient is incapacitated. Very often, the possibility of end of life would have not been discussed prior to the patient getting ill, leaving family members in a difficult position as to what to do. Ultimately it is about explaining to families that life sustaining interventions have failed and they need to prepare for end of their loved one’s life.

Sometimes families will seek a second opinion, which we are happy to accommodate. In very rare occasions we have to seek a judgement from the Court of Protection in cases when the healthcare multidisciplinary team believes that continued life sustaining treatment is not in the best interests of the patient. Thankfully, this is an extremely rare occurrence.

Such conversations, explaining and discussing treatment escalation plans and end of life considerations, have been made even more difficult during the pandemic when we have to had to speak to family members on the phone or a video call – naturally we would prefer to do this face to face.

When end of life is planned well, it is a more dignified process for the patient. We (including the patient and family) are able to plan for the event and ensure the patient is as comfortable as they can be. Sometimes, they are able to be discharged home or move to a hospice from critical care if that is their wish.

Planning end of life is not easy. Everyone involved in the patient’s journey needs to have these conversations including the GP, admitting teams and those providing longer term care in hospital. Ultimately, it is about talking with people on a human level and understanding what their understanding, expectation and wishes are. When we take time to ask, we may be very surprised at how different this is from what we think is best for the patient.

Training for medics to have these conversations is now much improved. Trainee doctors are now trained and assessed by taking part in various scenarios. But for those of us who qualified years ago, this is did not happen. Many have learnt by experience and, just like after passing your driving test, bad habits and techniques can creep in. Even for those who do it well and frequently, some situations can be still very challenging.

If I had a piece of advice to give, I would encourage you to talk to your patient about what they want. And ask them, don’t tell them.

Ask yourself: is there a point when life would become unacceptable because you cannot do those things you hold most dear to you? And that is the core of what we ought to know about our patients’ wishes.

Join the fight against antibiotic resistance

So what can individuals do to help tackle antibiotic resistance? It might seem to be an overwhelming problem, like climate change, that individuals are powerless to do anything about, but that is not the case. Simple actions can help protect you, your family and loved ones. Not taking antibiotics when they aren’t needed is a great way to avoid the side effects they cause; antibiotics can alter the balance of bacteria in the gut and can have longer term health implications that we are only beginning to realise.

• Vaccination: Ensure you are up to date with any vaccinations you or family members require (e.g. pneumococcal vaccine, MMR). Vaccination is one of the most effective ways of preventing infectious diseases.
• Antibiotics cannot kill viruses, so they are no good for colds and influenza. If you have a cold, take care, not antibiotics. Make sure you get your flu jab, and make sure any family members who are eligible for a flu vaccine get their jab every winter.  Visit your community pharmacist for help with self-care when you have a cold or sore throat. Ear infections are usually caused by viruses and evidence shows most get better with painkillers alone.
• Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats facing us today and the overuse or misuse of antibiotics is making the problem worse. Without effective antibiotics many routine treatments will become increasingly dangerous. Setting broken bones, basic operations, transplants, even chemotherapy all rely on access to antibiotics that work. To slow resistance we need to cut the use of unnecessary antibiotics.

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.