Monthly archives: February 2022

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, throughout this 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 Patricia Hunt, Volunteer Service Manager talking about the benefits of having an apprentice in her team.

Apprenticeship FAQs: Some colleagues have preconceptions about the word ‘apprenticeship’ so be sure to check out some of our myth busters to clarify any concerns you may have – Apprenticeship FAQs.

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.

Duty of Candour month

As you may be aware, throughout this month the patient safety team has been releasing communications highlighting the Duty of Candour (DoC) process and providing different tools to help colleagues to complete this process.

This week, the team have put together an easy to follow flow chart explaining what do if a patient safety incident occurs. Click here to access the flowchart.

In case you missed it, you access last week’s Duty of Candour month message by clicking here.

Heartbeat: Wellbeing duo to ensure voices are heard

Congratulations to Dr Huma Naqvi and Dr Vikranth Venugopalan who have recently been appointed as joint senior medical staff wellbeing leads.

The duo will be critical in driving the wellbeing agenda for our senior medical colleagues and ensure voices get heard.

Huma and Vikranth are delighted and honoured with their new roles so we decided to catch up with them to find out more.

Vikranth explained: “Huma and I are the strategic leads for ensuring the health and wellbeing of the senior medical staff including consultants, associate specialists and SAS doctors. This is a very important role as it provides a pastoral service for senior medical colleagues.

“Our aim is to improve the wellbeing of senior medical colleagues,” added Huma.

“Looking at the year ahead we want to ensure colleagues are aware of the wellbeing offer provided in our workplace and we also want to increase colleague engagement with wellbeing activities.”

Huma and Vikranth told Heartbeat they most look forward to engaging effectively with the senior medical body to improve their overall wellbeing as well as being that ‘voice’ for the group and ultimately help reduce burnout rates.

Commenting on Huma and Vikranth’s appointments Sarb Clare, AMU Consultant and Deputy Medical Director said: “The recruitment panel was really pleased and impressed with Huma and Vikranth’s passion and insights into what is needed and the how.

“They will be critical in driving the wellbeing agenda for our senior medical colleagues and ensure voices get heard – in particular during these challenging times as we work through recovery, continue to deal with COVID-19 and progress our move into MMUH.

“This is a new role and we are looking forward to being an exemplar for other organisations on how investing in our senior medical body wellbeing is critical in caring for our colleagues who care for our patients. This is a jigsaw piece of the SWB wider strategy on staff wellbeing.”

Star of the Week: Janet Jones

Our Star of the Week is Janet Jones, PPE Warden.

Janet has been working as the PPE warden for the last two years. She always works hard during her shifts, meeting and greeting colleagues and patients as they come through main entrance and outpatients at Sandwell, handing out sanitizer and masks and directing patients which way to go.

She is always very welcoming, kind, caring and goes the extra mile with ‘every person’ she is in contact with. She has had numerous compliments from both colleagues and patients alike for her kindness and commitment and people look forward to seeing her at the door as she always ready to meet them with a big smile. Nothing is too much trouble for her.

Janet is very dedicated to every role she does and she is always first to step in to help anybody. She is a is a real credit to the Trust.

Do you know someone in your team that has gone above and beyond the call of duty? Why not put them forward for Star of the Week by clicking here.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 4 February

Time to Talk Day took place this week which is a national campaign run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness and is about encouraging people to have conversations with family, friends or colleagues about mental health. If felt appropriate to refer to colleague wellbeing in this week’s message.

Every single one of us has been affected by the events happening over the past two years. The impact of COVID-19 on our organisation has been huge, with us being one of the most affected Trusts in the country, with some of the most deprived communities to support. When I first joined the Trust in February 2021 I was impressed by the range of support on offer to help with people’s wellbeing, including both preventive support, online resources, help with the basics such as food and drink, wellbeing packs, sponsored team activities and psychological support. Throughout the different waves of the pandemic various wellbeing activities have been stepped up and down and the Trust has responded to suggestions and requests in order to ensure that, corporately, we are doing all we can to support our people.

Our Trust has, for some time, had award-winning health and wellbeing services in place and this has been expanded over the past two years. I wanted to make it clear to all of you what our wellbeing offer is as I know this is an area which has created confusion in recent weeks. I know that many of you access resources outside the Trust and I am pleased to learn from many of you how important it is for you to look after your own wellbeing. What we offer at SWB may not meet everyone’s needs all of the time, but we will always aim to access the right support or signpost you appropriately, if you just ask for help.

Dr Masood Aga, who leads our Occupational Health and Wellbeing Service is working on a proposal to invest in our wellbeing provision which aims to provide a personalised occupational health and wellbeing offer for our people with an integrated and coordinated approach, ensure that everyone feels supported, safe and secure at work. More details on that provision will follow.

A range of wellbeing services are currently on offer.

1.Occupational health and wellbeing

This is here to support any colleague with mental and physical health needs. You can have individual consultations with clinicians and access advice, onward referrals or be provided with support that our own Trust provides such as physiotherapy. Free access to counselling is available for all colleagues. You can access this through occupational health in a totally confidential mannner. Occupational health will also support return to work assessments and help you with options to get you back to work safely if you have been away through ill health.

2. Psychological support

As well as the free counselling service you can also access coaching conversations, mediation, stress and mental wellbeing risk assessments, help from trained mental health first aiders and REACT practitioners and the Thrive app. And, of course, you can find other mental health support through your own GP, or from any of the national services that are available. These are all linked on our intranet’s wellbeing pages.

3. Food available 24/7

Many of you have asked if you can have access to hot food round the clock at our sites and frankly, you shouldn’t have to ask.  We need to provide better food options than we currently do. We were fortunate during the first COVID-19 wave that many local businesses donated food and drinks for us that we sold through the pop-up shop, distributed across all services or kept in freezers for night staff. Our catering services have remained open for staff and will continue to provide a range of food options at subsidised rates for you. We have also just arranged for some new smart fridges to be installed on a trial basis from Meals for the NHS. Good quality meals, drinks and snacks can be provided from the fridges 24/7 They are due to arrive soon on a trial basis so do let us know what you think of them. We are also looking to invest in vastly improved drinking water availability to ensure there is easy access for all.

4. Upgrades to staff rest areas

We know that having good places at work to take a break is really important and across a lot of our estate we fall well short. We are therefore happy to receive 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 completed the Staff Rest Room Refresh Request Form and email it to Dinah McLannahan, Chief Finance Officer – Dinah.mclannahan@nhs.net. Dinah will then get in touch to progress your requests.

5. Wellbeing services

The wellbeing team run a number of services to support colleagues including the Sanctuary (former Learning Works) and wellbeing hubs at City, Sandwell and Rowley. These facilities are available for every staff member. You can book treatments, access massage chairs, join a guided meditation or simply arrange to drop in for a coffee and a chat. Hundreds of staff may regular use of these facilities and have talked about the benefits to them personally. Why not try this out?

6. Supported team time-outs

We have made specific funding available for teams to hold their own recovery times together. Most teams have already benefited from this. The final date to access Trust funds for team time-out is 31 March 2022. Of course, many teams will continue to hold team time-outs and development sessions during the course of the normal year and this is for teams to arrange, organise and fund as you have done pre-pandemic. I know that managers and leaders will continue to develop and support plans for local teams to be together, learn together and support each other. The weekly wellbeing hour that we had in place in 2021 no longer forms part of our Trust guidance (meaning that we no longer expect everyone to do this). Some teams greatly benefited from this and have arranged, among themselves, to continue. For other teams, the logistics were challenging which is why it is no longer a universal expectation.

7. Annual leave

Additional days of annual leave has been raised as a reward that some people have requested. We have considered this, but have decided that this isn’t the right thing for all staff. So many of you struggle to take your annual leave. Over the last two years we have made arrangements to pay people for outstanding annual leave where people have clearly been unable to take it. It does not seem fair to provide such a perk that not all staff would benefit from. We want to ensure that firstly everyone does take their annual leave entitlement to ensure adequate rest and, where that isn’t possible, we will be launching another buy back scheme, very similar to that run last year. As long as colleagues take their statutory entitlement of 28 days, you will be able to sell back additional leave you are not able to take, or carry some into next year, or both. We will share details of the scheme shortly. As a day of annual leave costs around £1m we wanted to ensure we invested a similar sum in our wellbeing activities. (Don’t forget there is an additional bank holiday in 2022…)

Other requests for group specific support (eg new bags for community nursing, new scrubs) are being progressed and Dinah is happy to consider any other specific requests.

Access to wellbeing services both within and outside the Trust continue to be promoted in our staff communications channels and you can find all the information here. For ease, there are also key contacts so you can access the right help quickly.

My main message is for us all to make the time for our own health and wellbeing needs, and access support via the Trust or elsewhere as needed. For many that starts with creating the time to talk, and perhaps being the people to take the time to listen. Let’s make that a commitment to ourselves and each other over the next week.

Flexible Working in the NHS – a toolkit for individuals

Are you wondering whether flexible working can support your work-life balance? Colleagues are reminded of the new flexible working procedure available on Connect that was introduced in September 2021 which enables all employees to request to work flexibly from day one of their employment, regardless of the reason. If you are considering submitting a request, there is now a new toolkit that is designed to help you prepare to have a positive conversation with your manager about the possibilities. Whilst not every request will be workable and the Trust cannot guarantee to agree all requests, the toolkit aims to help you identify the best solution for you, your team and the service you work in. The toolkit can be found on the HR pages of Connect by clicking here.

Note: Flexible working applications are now made via ESR Self Service – for guidance on how to do this visit please click here.

Patient evaluation: continence products

The continence service will be implementing an evaluation of continence products involving our patients over a three week period in February. This will involve patients (adults and children) wearing and reviewing the quality of products supplied by two different suppliers.

If you are contacted by patients who are part of this evaluation who require further information or support, please contact the continence service on 0121 612 1599.

COVID-19 Bulletin: Thursday 3 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: Taking time out with your teams

We understand that due to restrictions over the past few months many of you were unable to take up the opportunity for time away as a team to refresh and reflect. If you had already booked time out and were unable to go, you will be able to reschedule that time to after 31 March should you not be able to fit it in before then. Any new applications for time out can still be made between now and 31 March.

Taking time out is important for both mental and physical health and wellbeing, particularly after the difficulties many of us have experienced during the pandemic. Away days can take a range of formats, but in order to help managers, the Trust is happy to consider centrally funding reasonable costs associated with these experiences.

This could include:

• Hire of an external venue
• Facilitator/external speaker costs
• Transport to external venue
• Refreshment costs (no alcohol)
• External team building activities
• Backfill costs

If an away day or something similar is of interest to you and you team, please visit Connect for further details. On site activities should be carried out in line with our Trust infection prevention and control guidance. If you are having your event off site, then please follow national guidelines.

2. New: SWB – the perfect place for your wellbeing: Don’t just take our word for it

Managing our stress and mental health is as important as our physical health and our Wellbeing Hubs and Wellbeing Sanctuary are the perfect places to do both.

Don’t just take out word for it – we recently caught up with Colin Beardsmore, Security Officer and Susan Paling, Rehab Support Worker who both used the wellbeing services.

Colin said: “This is my first visit to the Wellbeing Hub and I was not disappointed. A nice massage, which was needed and appreciated. All staff should take advantage of this amazing service.”

Susan said: “An amazing opportunity to look after your own wellbeing, mind and body. So nice to experience and very much enjoyed and appreciated. Would like to see the service to continue at Rowley. Staff are lovely and very accommodating and is a pleasure to see them and the benefit of the service weekly.”

The Wellbeing Hubs are an opportunity to have a relaxing massage, mediation or a confidential chat. These are all free services available to all our colleagues and you can book several sessions at once.

The Wellbeing Hubs are a regular weekly service across all the sites listed below between 8am – 4pm:

• Every Monday at Jayne Wright Therapy Room, Trinity House, Sandwell
• Every Wednesday at Rowley Regis Hospital – therapy room Archer, 1st floor, Rowley Regis Hospital
• Every Friday Wellbeing Hub, above Arches, 1st Floor, Corridor A (old physiotherapy corridor) Room B002/F/049 situated to the right of the corridor, City Hospital

At the Wellbeing Sanctuary we are here to support you with the following Monday – Friday:

• A confidential conversation – A totally private conversation to support you
• Relaxation hypnotherapy – a chance to unwind and work on improving unhelpful behaviour
• Single session therapy – a chance to work on something that concerns you
• Meditation– unwind let go and escape to exotic places to unwind
• Massage– Tracey really helps ease those tension spots to relieve stress
• Mindfulness– helps you to relax in the here and now and it’s a chance to let go
• Relaxation pod– massage from your head to the tips of your toes

The Sanctuary is only a 5 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. To book please call 0121 507 5886/3854.

3. Updated: Mandatory vaccination update

Colleagues will have seen information in the media about a review of the Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment legislation. The Secretary of State for Health announced in parliament on Monday that the legislation is being reconsidered. The Government’s decision is subject to a parliamentary process and will require further consultation and a vote to be passed into legislation.

At the present time we are continuing to confirm the vaccination status of all our staff. Please ensure that you confirm your status to the HR email advice line swbh.hr-advice-for-covid-19@nhs.net if we have written to you to say we have no record of you having 1^st and 2^nd doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Managers will also continue to have conversations with staff regarding their vaccination status.

We are expecting additional information on the review to come to the NHS in due course and we expect to take a consistent approach with other Trusts in the country, and particularly within the Black Country and West Birmingham Integrated Care System.

NHS England have advised all Trusts not to issue notice of termination of employment this week to those staff who are in scope of the legislation and are as yet unvaccinated.

Thank you to everyone who continues to step forward to be vaccinated which remains the best way to protect yourselves, our patients and your loved ones. Vaccination appointments and walk-in sessions remain available through our Trust hubs and also in locations across the region.

Thank you too for everyone who has been speaking to colleagues to confirm vaccination status and feeding that information into our workforce hubs, as well as the people working in our workforce hub, collating and reporting all of that information. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Still need to get your vaccine? Visit one of our vaccination clinics:

Note: Our Sandwell vaccination hub will be closed from Monday 7 February meaning the last day to get your COVID-19 vaccination at Sandwell will be Sunday 6 February. We will be running pop up sessions at Sandwell that will be advertised at a later date. Our City hub and the Tipton vaccination centre will remain open.

Vaccination Q and A sessions:

We held a number of vaccination question and answer sessions over the past two weeks providing a safe space for colleagues to raise concerns. Thank you to everyone who found the time to join in and ask questions. We want to continue to ensure you are supported as much as possible to enable you to make the decision about having the vaccinations. Do you think further sessions would be of use to you? What would you like to see covered at the events? Please let us know by emailing swbh.comms@nhs.net.

4. Reminder: Enhanced PPE requirements remain in place

At the start of the year we enhanced our PPE requirements having risk assessed COVID-19 infection rates and outbreaks within our hospital ward areas. At the time we said the requirements would remain in place until the end of January. After further assessment, it has been decided that the requirements should continue for the foreseeable future.

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.

Are you concerned about your skin whilst wearing PPE masks?

The tissue viability team is available to see colleagues who are concerned about their skin whilst wearing PPE masks. Please ensure that your ward ‘PPE skin protection stations’ has sufficient stock to care for your skin: barrier film, adhesive remover and duoderm.

Guidance on ‘preventing facial skin damage beneath PPE’ has previously been issued to all wards and can be accessed by clicking here.

You can contact the team as follows:

• Email: tissueviability2@nhs.net (you can send a message and/or photo of skin damage)
• Telephone: 0121 507 3278
• Mobile: Lesley McDonagh, Clinical Lead Nurse Tissue Viability – 07976 133 426 or Pat Flaherty, Specialist Tissue Viability Nurse – 07976 133 427

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

All colleagues must do a weekly LAMP test. 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. With this in mind, please ensure you have adequate stock levels. Need to order lateral flow tests kits? Click here to order.

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.

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:

We highly recommend all colleagues LAMP test once a week. If this is not possible, we encourage colleagues to do lateral flow tests twice a week. With this in mind, please ensure you have adequate stock levels. Need to order lateral flow tests kits? Click here to order.

Explore apprenticeships in health and care across the Black Country and West Birmingham: 10 February

Have you considered an apprenticeship opportunity in health and care? Why not join Healthier Futures for their digital event on Thursday 10 February, 2pm – 3.30pm. The event aims to explore the different opportunities and celebrate National Apprenticeship Week.

The virtual event will showcase a range of apprenticeship opportunities and roles within the health and care system. Attendees will also get the chance to hear from previous and current apprentices.

After the event, the co-ordinators will be on hand to chat to you in more detail about what’s available, your options and support with your job search, career advice and mentoring.

If you are interested in attending this event, please register your details via Eventbrite by clicking here.

Raising awareness of Female Genital Mutilation

On Sunday, the world will mark International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – and as a Trust we continue to support and treat women who are survivors of this cruel practice.

One of those women has bravely stepped forward to tell her story in the hope that it will urge others to seek the help they need after undergoing FGM.

Basma Medhat received care from Alison Byrne, Specialist FGM Midwife, at the clinic she runs for non-pregnant women, based at Summerfield Primary Care Centre, in Heath Street, Winson Green. She has praised the service told how it “changed her life”.

You can read Basma’s full story here.

She has also produced two videos, one in English and the other in Arabic for people to share. Both raise awareness of the treatment on offer at our Trust. As well as the clinic for non-pregnant women, there is also one for those who are pregnant. To find out more about the service go to https://www.swbh.nhs.uk/services/fgm/

Watch Basma’s video below:

For colleagues who will have contacts who speak Arabic, please be sure to share the following link with them to Basma’s video – https://youtu.be/Qm9cOVxAJWA