Monthly archives: July 2022
Gangs and County Lines webinar: 10, 11 and 12 August
St Giles will be hosting digital webinars which aim to help attendees to identify the signs and triggers that a child or young person might be involved in county lines and gain an understanding of how to appropriately respond to such indicators.
The sessions will take place on the following dates (click the links for details):
If you wish to join any of the sessions or find out more, please email sosplusmidlands@stgilestrust.org.uk.
Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 1 July
This week we mourned the sad passing of our much loved former Chief Registrar Dr Vaishnavi Kumar; next Tuesday we will be hosting NHS Birthday celebration events across the Trust with a free ice cream; our POCUS team recently picked up the Excellence in Urgent and Emergency Care Award at the NHS Parliamentary Awards; and Louise Thompson, Infant Feeding Coordinator has been championing breastfeeding by offering our patients support and advice as part of National Breastfeeding Week.[/caption]
This week I had the privilege of speaking to Sandwell Council’s elected members about the work we are doing within the Sandwell Place-Based Partnership to join up services for our population. For many years, there have been pockets of good practice across the country, where working together in an integrated, collaborative way, with all organisations who support health and care, can improve patient experience, remove barriers to accessing care, and provide support to people at an early stage to maintain and improve their health and wellbeing. Our own organisation has led the way in some of this integration work, with our iCares team and Connected Palliative Care Service being beacons of excellence.
From today, that collaboration becomes more formalised for the NHS with the creation of Integrated Care Boards. This means that NHS organisations across the country are now mandated to work together, and must include key partners such as the local authorities and the voluntary sector. For our SWB populations, we have Place-Based Partnerships – one for Sandwell and the other covering Ladywood and Perry Barr. These local partnerships are where we are breaking down organisational boundaries and aiming to shift our services towards holistic patient care, doing as much as we can in the community rather than in acute inpatient beds.
The Sandwell councillors welcomed our approach and raised interesting questions for us to consider as we continue to develop the partnership. It was clear from their comments that they want to see evidence of change in practice. They have long been party to discussions about joining up support and with the new formalisation of these partnership we have a far better opportunity to make those changes than we ever did before.
I was delighted that the Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) initiative has been crowned the winner in the Urgent and Emergency Care category of the regional NHS Parliamentary Awards. Dr Sarb Clare is the champion of this innovative project that is taking vital diagnostic services out in the community to improve the patient experience and provide faster access to testing and treatment. This is a great illustration of how we are transforming care by taking what was traditionally only done in a hospital setting out to our communities. We wish the team luck for the national awards.
I know that many colleagues were deeply affected by the tragic news of Dr Vaishnavi Kumar who died suddenly. Her funeral took place this week where colleagues were able to pay their respects. Vaish was known as a shining light during her time with us. She was our Chief Registrar before moving on to a different Trust last summer. Her life and work touched many and she will continue to be an inspiration. Help is on hand for any colleagues who need support at this difficult time.
Next week we celebrate NHS Day – 74 years since the NHS was founded in 1948. We have a lot to celebrate as we reflect on the values of the NHS and how much it has changed since its creation. This year we are marking the day by wellbeing activities, raising a cuppa as part of the NHS Big Tea and sharing more information about our new hospital with you all, along with some free ice cream! I can’t think of a better way to recognise all that is great about our organisation and everything we have to look forward to. Please join in the celebrations and let’s thank all those who continue to support us throughout our NHS careers.
Daren Fradgley, Chief Integration Officer
Richard Beeken is away
Living with COVID-19 Bulletin: Friday 1 July
1. New: Rise of COVID-19 cases sees return of the mask to all wards
Following a risk assessment, we are with immediate effect, reintroducing the wearing of fluid-resistant surgical masks (FRSMs) in all inpatient wards (acute and community). This applies to all staff entering and working on our wards, visitors and patients who are able to tolerate mask wearing. This decision has been taken as a result of increasing numbers of patients testing positive in our hospitals, community cases and staff absences due to COVID-19.
It has been put in place to keep our patients, visitors and colleagues safe and to reduce the risk of transmission.
We continue to monitor the situation and this may mean that we extend mask wearing to other areas, for example outpatient clinics, but we will inform you if this decision is to be taken.
FRSMs must be worn in the following areas:
- Inpatient wards – acute and community.
- Emergency Department.
- Theatres.
- Maternity.
- Home visits.
You are reminded that you are welcome to wear a mask in any areas if you choose to do so.
2. New: Wearing face masks in community settings
COVID restrictions have been relaxed recently in line with the government’s Living with COVID plan. However, we would like to remind colleagues of the infection prevention control guidelines in community settings.
Face masks should be used by staff when providing care in people’s homes, irrespective of whether the person being cared for is known or suspected to have COVID-19. This helps to prevent infection spreading.
Patients may wish to wear a mask at home while receiving treatment, but this is not mandated.
Face masks should be changed and disposed of appropriately by colleagues:
- If they become moist.
- If they become damaged.
- If they become uncomfortable to wear.
- If they become contaminated or soiled.
- At break times.
- After four hours of continuous wear.
- Between different people’s homes.
SharePoint site owners education sessions
The Office 365 education team will be hosting SharePoint Site Owners Education Sessions in the Sandwell Education Centre (max capacity 8 people) and the City Postgraduate Centre (max capacity 12), 10am – 4pm on the following dates:
- Friday 1 July
- Monday 4 July
- Friday 8 July
The training is aimed at SharePoint Site Owners and will be limited to 1 hour sessions with a maximum of 8 delegates.
The session will include topics such as: navigation, document library management, understanding permission groups (owners, members, visitors), versioning how to setup SharePoint to keep track of changes to any document so that you can roll back and monitor when documents have been amended, understanding permission inheritance and creating custom permissions for individual users.
Note: There will also be one online session which will be available digitally, Monday – Friday from 11am – 12pm – click here to access the session.
Please email 365.chat@nhs.net and an Office 365 educator will book you in.
New chapter for the Black Country health and care system
Today (Friday 1 July), marks an exciting chapter for health and care services across the Black Country as we formally establish our Integrated Care System (ICS).
Our ICS will bring providers and commissioners of NHS services together with local authorities and other local partners to plan and deliver joined up services and to improve the lives of people who live and work in the Black Country.
The Black Country ICS will be made up of two key bodies – an NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) and an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP).
ICBs will take on functions from the current NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which have now been dissolved, and have greater strategic responsibility for setting healthcare strategies for their local system.
The new Black Country ICB, which has been formally established, will take on the existing responsibilities of the NHS Black Country and West Birmingham CCG, and will be responsible for planning and coordinating services on behalf of 1.26 million local people, as well as managing the local NHS budget.
Follow the Black Country ICS on Twitter @BlackCountryICS and the ICB @NHSinBlkCountry.
Rise of COVID-19 cases may see return of mask wearing
As you may be aware, there has been a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases within our community and we are seeing an increasing number of people testing positive in our hospitals.
For now we are keeping our current IPC guidance in place, but we will review this regularly based on the number of cases, outbreaks and staff absences with the virus.
This does mean that we may need to return to mask wearing for colleagues working within clinical areas to keep everyone safe.
If it is decided to take this course of action, we will alert all colleagues.
But in the meantime, please follow our current IPC guidance and remain vigilant. Colleagues are reminded that they can choose to wear fluid-repellent surgical masks (FRSMs) in all areas if they choose.
Below is a reminder of situations when masks are required:
- Masks still to be accessible for those who choose to wear them or when mask wearing is in-line with an individual risk assessment.
- Masks should be worn when caring for a COVID-19 confirmed or suspected positive patient alongside PPE appropriate to the task being undertaken. This includes within the side room where there is a COVID-19 positive patient (not within the rest of the ward if patients have not tested positive for COVID-19) and within a red ward.
- Respiratory care pathways/wards (including wards with outbreaks of respiratory infection).
- Areas where there are untriaged patients whose COVID-19 status is unknown such as A&E, Urgent Treatment Centre and primary care (GP practices).
- Haem-oncology wards such as SCAT, D12, Medical Infusion Suite.
- Renal wards.
- When undertaking an Aerosol Generating Procedure (AGP) and patient is of unknown status or COVID positive then a FFP3 fit tested mask should be worn.
- Where there are outbreaks of COVID-19 or respiratory outbreaks such as flu.
- Ensure appropriate mask/PPE selection in line with the task that is being undertaken or as required to support transmission-based precautions.
Masks no longer need to be worn in the following areas, unless it is the staff member’s preference or requested to do so by a patient or staff member:
- Clinical areas apart from those listed above.
- Non-patient facing areas such as laboratories, education centres and offices.
- Corridors and other public areas.
- Outpatients.
Wearing of masks – patients:
- Patients with no respiratory symptoms including in outpatient clinics and waiting areas are no longer required to wear a surgical mask.
- Suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients should be offered a mask if clinically able to tolerate on admission and on transfer to other clinical areas.
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