Monthly archives: April 2022
Enhancing the care delivered to patients approaching end of life
The palliative care team are leading a Trust-wide quality improvement project to enhance the care delivered to patients approaching the end of life. This is relevant to colleagues in all specialties and an opportunity to see excellence in care become the consistent norm for our patients, whoever they are and wherever they are looked after.
Be sure to check out this short video featuring Richard Beeken, Chief Executive talking about providing a dignified death for people in their communities and their own homes as much as in our hospitals.
Please visit the palliative care Connect page for a whole range of resources that will equip you to play your part.
Sandwell Asian Mental Health Group seeking treasurer and secretary
The Sandwell Asian Mental Health Group, ran by Bally Barquer, Trust Volunteer, is a place for men and women within the Asian community to come together to talk abut mental health and wellbeing.
Bally is looking to expand the team and is seeking individuals to take up roles of treasurer and secretary. She is looking for people who could support projects and activities, administrative tasks including maintaining financial records, but most importantly she would like to meet people who are committed and passionate about helping others within the community. If this sounds like you, and you’d like to get involved, please email samhg171@gmail.com for further details.
Star Awards 2022: Prize for Transformation and Research
Do you know an individual or team that has introduced a transformation or participated in research activity that has made substantial improvements to services or systems and processes, resulting in the improvement of patient experience and outcomes?
Why not nominate them for the Prize for Transformation and Research at this year’s upcoming Star Awards!
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Nominations close on Friday 3 June.
If you have any questions, please contact the communications team on 0121 507 5303 or email swbh.comms@nhs.net.
Heartbeat: The history of Midland Met explained
Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) is currently under construction. Once open, it will be part of our established Trust, and our centre for acute care. It will include a dedicated children’s emergency department and assessment unit, operating theatres for both emergency and major planned surgery, and a purpose-built emergency department, to name but a few things.
This month we take you back to the beginning to explain the history of Midland Met. A lot has happened over the years, so we’re sharing our story to help colleagues understand the context behind MMUH and why making this change is necessary.
The MMUH business case was launched in 2004 and it was expanded on in the Right Care, Right Here programme, which outlined the need to transform care for our diverse populations in 2007. It explained the need to deliver improved prevention and early intervention, enhanced care for people with long term conditions, a more expansive range of services available locally, better access to specialist care in the community and improved specialist services through an improved estate and new models of care.
The vision focused on:
- The transformation of our estate, including developing primary care and community facilities and our new acute hospital – MMUH
- The development of technology to facilitate care pathways across healthcare settings
- A redefined workforce to deliver high-quality care across reconfigured services and in a range of settings
Since defining the initial vision, there has been a lot of external change that has impacted our Trust and the healthcare landscape, but our commitment to improving health outcomes remains as strong as ever.
Rachel Barlow, Director of System Transformation, explained: “Midland Met offers us a unique opportunity to make a direct impact in the areas we serve and for the communities that rely on our services.
“Over the past several years, there has been a lot of change and focus on Midland Met. We have seen the creation of STPs and ICSs, plus we have renamed our new hospital to reflect our collaborative partnership with local universities. This decision underpins our commitment to being a teaching hospital.
“We have navigated our way through each wave of the pandemic and responded professionally and with kindness. We cannot and should not underestimate the significant impact the pandemic has had on healthcare services and our colleagues.”
Rachel added: “SWB has and continues to achieve milestones on our journey towards opening Midland Met. These include things such as primary care integration and single point of access, virtual outpatient appointments and our work with partners to develop a new learning campus on the MMUH site.”
Our journey will help us transform our services before we open our doors. Our acute care model has 12 key transformation schemes based on clinical pathway improvements to streamline patient care. Several changes will happen before we move into our new hospital, and these improvements will continue once we open.
Dr Melanie Griffiths, Head of Improvement and Acute Care Model Programme Lead, explained: “We are working on 12 major transformation programmes that form part of our acute care model. The programmes focus on redesigning our emergency care pathways so that patients are seen and diagnosed rapidly, by senior decisionmakers, in the most appropriate hospital setting.
“We are also concentrating our efforts on delivering care for more patients away from the hospital setting, in their own homes or closer to home. Right-sizing our community bed facilities and home-based care services will help us achieve this.
“In preparation for the opening of MMUH, we’re proposing to provide general surgery day cases differently. MMUH will allow us to treat more day-case patients at our treatment centres away from the elective and emergency treatments, improving efficiency. A public conversation is underway, and we are keen to hear from our local communities about our plans.
Melanie added: “There is collaborative work underway between SWB, acute and community services, primary care, social care, mental health, ambulance and third sector partners. This would not be possible without the continued dedication of colleagues across all areas. We appreciate the collaborative approach to secure the most patient-focused outcomes.”
Drug safety notice: Supply disruption for sodium chloride 0.9% and water for injection plastic ampoules
We have recently been informed by manufacturers that there are currently supply constraints of sodium chloride 0.9% plastic ampoules and water for injection plastic ampoules (all sizes).
All colleagues need to take care when selecting ampoule sizes and ensure they have the correct volume of either sodium chloride 0.9% or water for injection for the task they are undertaking. This may require the use of part of an ampoule or multiple ampoules depending on the sizes available. For further details please see Sodium chloride water injection information sheet.
For more information please contact the pharmacy department on ext. 5263/3783.
Heartbeat: Service transformation and Midland Met – spotlight on day case surgery
Our Trust delivers care to a diverse local population with patients treated at Sandwell, City and Rowley Regis Hospitals, Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, Birmingham Treatment Centre, Lyng Centre and Leasowes Intermediate Care Centre. Plus, our community teams provide integrated services in GP practices and at home as well as for children in schools.
Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) is our new hospital, currently under construction, and once once open will bring together specialties from all areas of SWB, it will provide a hub for emergency care, acute medical wards, maternity, general and specialist surgery. This change means that care will be consolidated, ensuring that acutely unwell patients are able to be quickly assessed and treated under one roof at the Midland Met.
In preparation of the move to MMUH a crucial programme of work is being undertaken across several areas to transform our services, focusing on our acute care model (ACM). Our ACM comprises of several services such as cardiology, endoscopy and surgery.
As part of our move, we’ve identified a need to engage with patients and stakeholders around a proposal to change where we complete day-case surgeries. Jayne Salter-Scott, Head of Public and Community Engagement, explained: “The Trust has developed clinical pathways including a new theatre model that proposes to allocate surgical specialties to a single treatment centre. The new theatre model, if approved, will result in a change in location of day-case surgery for general surgery and trauma and orthopaedics (T&O).
“In practical terms it would mean a change in location of day-case surgery for general surgery (Birmingham Treatment Centre) and trauma and orthopaedics and plastics (Sandwell Treatment Centre) rather than carrying out all day case planned surgery on both sites.
“The proposal seeks to separate ‘hot’ acute services and ‘cold’ planned services. Planned day cases would take place on a ‘cold’ site where capacity can be planned, reducing the risk of postponing operations due to urgent cases or infection control implications. Outpatients would continue to be delivered from Sandwell, City and in community settings so we could deliver speciality day-case surgery from concentrated sites.”
Jayne added: “As this is a change in our original care model, we will be talking to patients and key stakeholders to get feedback on our proposals. We must do this as these are the people that will be using our services, and they need to have the opportunity to input into our plans.
“Working together with our colleagues, patients and the communities that support them, we will focus on improving quality standards, the patient experience and achieving better patient health outcomes across our services. It’s a collaborative process, and we want to hear views from colleagues too when our engagement programme starts.
“Our next steps involve liaising with stakeholders, commissioners, the public and launching a formal conversation externally. For anyone that would like some more information, please email swbh.engagement@nhs.net.”
Attitudes towards clinical trial involvement survey
Would you consider taking part in a clinical trial? If not, why not?
The University of Birmingham working in partnership with Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre want to find out your views about taking part in a research study.
For instance, would you consider taking annual leave or unpaid leave to participate in clinical trials and to attend clinical trial appointments?
If you would like to complete the survey please click here.
For more Information please email g.k.bansal@bham.ac.uk.
Women’s and Child Health listening events
Throughout the coming months, the Women’s and Child Health group will be holding listening events at City, Sandwell and Rowley. These sessions aim to listen to colleague feedback and ask how we can make changes to ensure we make our organisation a great place to work.
Please see details below for each event:
City:
- Thursday 9 June, 9am – 11am, parent education room in maternity
- Thursday 15 September, 9am – 11am, parent education room in maternity
Sandwell:
- Thursday 9 June, 9am – 11am, room 9, Sandwell Education Centre
- Thursday 15 September, 9am – 11am, room 12/13, Sandwell Education Centre
- Wednesday 14 December, 2.30pm – 4.30pm, Sandwell Education Centre (room to be confirmed at a a later date)
Rowley:
- Wednesday 14 December, 2.30pm – 4.30pm, seminar room
To book on a session or to find our more, please email Claire.wilson14@nhs.net.
Road closures due to Great Birmingham Run this Sunday
The Great Birmingham Run will be taking place this weekend on Sunday 1 May and is likely to have an impact on colleagues commuting in to and out of work due to a range of road closures in Birmingham City Centre.
Colleagues are advised to review the attached maps showing the affected routes and to plan accordingly ahead of time to ensure they are able to get to work.
Revised pay date for colleagues on Bank due to May Bank Holiday
Due to the May Bank Holiday, colleagues who work on Trust Bank will be paid Monday 9 May rather than Friday 6 May.
Please also see monthly pay dates up until March 2023 listed below:
- Thursday 28 April 2022
- Friday 27 May 2022
- Tuesday 28 June 2022
- Thursday 28 July 2022
- Friday 26 August 2022
- Tuesday 27 September 2022
- Friday 28 October 2022
- Friday 25 November 2022
- Wednesday 21 December 2022
- Tuesday 24 January 2023
- Tuesday 28 February 2023
- Tuesday 28 March 2023
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