Monthly archives: August 2022

Join the Abundance closing celebrations this Saturday

This Saturday marks the close of Abundance at City Hospital. Since June, the team at Spectra have welcomed colleagues and visitors to the garden space they’ve created to enjoy a moment of calm.

Filled with flowers, fun and fantasy, Abundance has provided activities for everyone to enjoy. Artists in residence have shared their expertise and encouraged everyone to get involved to help shape the garden space.

Well, the time has come for us to say goodbye to Spectra, who brought us Abundance. This Saturday, 3 September, the team will be hosting a closing celebration from 12pm – 3pm. Everyone is welcome to visit for an afternoon celebration with games, food, drink, and music.

Find Abundance outside Birmingham Treatment Centre until Saturday 3 September.

Black History Month – My journey, my story: We want to hear from you!

As part of Black History Month, we are urging any colleagues of African or Caribbean heritage to come forward and share their journey as part of our new initiative throughout the month of October, ‘My journey, my story.’

What we need from you? All we want to know is where you started, where you are now as well as any challenges you may have faced on this journey and how you overcame those. It doesn’t need to be long, but a photo would also be great! You are also welcome to send in a short video telling your story.

If you wish to share your story or find out more, please email trina.bme@nhs.net by Thursday 29 September, 5pm.

Process regarding medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD)

If you are unsure of the process regarding completing a medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) please see medical certificate of cause of death flowchart. Remember: If a doctor hasn’t seen the patient or been the attending doctor in their last illness they cannot sign these documents. It is the absolute legal requirement to find a doctor who has been attending the patient in the last illness – if not, it is a coroner’s referral.

Colleagues are reminded that next of kin/bereaved family members are not required to come to the hospital to collect the MCCD. To obtain an MCCD, the next of kin will need to contact the CARES office the next working day, ideally after 11am. The CARES team will take their contact details and provide information regarding next steps.

The CARES office can be contacted on ext. 4638 (City) and ext. 3464 (Sandwell).

Note: The completed MCCD will be sent over electronically to the register office, who will then contact the next of kin to make an appointment to attend and collect the MCCD.

For more information on the MCCD process please call ext. 3228 or email  k.kandola@nhs.net.

Star of the Week – Olive Johnson

Our Star of the Week is Olive Johnson, Senior Theatre Practitioner.

Olive is an extremely valued member of the BMEC theatre team, who also has a unique role within the Trust as being a ‘Person Designate’ to support our Human Tissue Authority (HTA) license compliance to use human tissue within ophthalmology for a broad range of patients with complex eye health needs. This includes the use of donated eyes for corneal and sclera grafts, amniotic membrane and pericardium.

BMEC is required to demonstrate its adherence to strict licensing requirements to maintain our ability to store tissue for our patients and we had our biennial review with the HTA on Wednesday 10 August. Olive worked tirelessly since our last inspection to ensure our colleagues have the knowledge and skills to act within the license, that our tracking and paperwork delivers the need to effectively track tissue from donor to recipient and be an integral member of the HTA Sub Committee, overseeing the HTA activities within BMEC.

By the end of July 2022 BMEC had used 154 tissues (predicted to use 462 by the end of the year). As with all transplants, the gift of an eye is precious and can make the world of difference to our patients and their quality of life. Olive has gone the extra mile time and again to make sure BMEC is able to continue to provide transplants under this license.

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.

HMRC tax payment notifications

We have been made aware that a number of staff have received letters from HMRC regarding underpayment of tax due to earnings on bank positions that is causing some understandable concern. We have looked into this issue and are advised that it has come about because HMRC have automatically updated the ESR Payroll system with tax code changes, primarily linked to bank work.

Our advice is to contact HMRC to discuss these calculations as our own payroll team are not best placed to assist in this matter. Please note that:

• The ESR Payroll system is automatically updated for any tax code changes issued by HMRC, the SWB payroll team do not see these before they are applied
• HMRC are in receipt of all of the required earnings information, for all staff. Information is sent to them each month, in a nationally agreed format that includes (separately listed) substantive and bank employment values and tax paid
• HMRC have used the earnings information provided to calculate any potential underpayments of Tax.

We entirely sympathise and understand these concerns. On contacting HMRC, they will be able to agree a process and timescale with you to repay any tax due in a manageable way and some colleagues have already been able to arrange this in recent days. For issues of financial hardship as a result, where you have not been able to arrange an affordable way forward with HMRC, please email our Chief Finance Officer Dinah McLannahan on Dinah.mclannahan@nhs.net who will be able to see if the Trust can offer any support. Additionally, the Trust is looking urgently at how we can best support colleagues in light of the significant increases in cost of living.

We urge all staff to check your payslips to ensure that the correct tax code is applied to all your posts with the Trust.

For clarity the usual tax code, which allows you to earn £12,570 each year free of tax can only be attached to your main employment. Any additional bank and secondary posts should have a tax code of BR attached to them. Please note that the £12,570 figure relates to the tax year 21-22 and is usually updated each year by HMRC. The figure £12,570 translates to a tax code of 1257L therefore unless HMRC have contacted you directly regarding any change to your free pay allowance, this is the tax code you should see on your payslip for the main post you hold only.

We therefore ask that you check your payslips for all secondary or bank posts you hold, to ensure it shows a tax code of BR. If it does not, you will need to contact HMRC directly to advise them of this.

When contacting HMRC, please ensure you have your National Insurance number. This is shown on any of your payslips.

HMRC main telephone:

0300 200 3300

Unison events: Pledge yes for the NHS

Unison is preparing a ballot for any colleagues wanting to vote to take industrial action following the recent government NHS pay rise offer of approximately £1,400.

If you wish to sign a pledge card or find out more, you can attend any of the Unison events below:

• City (bottom of escalators in the BTC) – Thursday 1 September and Wednesday 14 September, 11am – 2pm.
• Sandwell (outside Hallam restaurant) – Tuesday 13 and 20 September, 11am – 2pm.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 26 August

Today, many of us had the opportunity to pass on our sincere thanks to Dr David Carruthers for his contribution to the Trust as Medical Director. David is stepping down from his post but continues to be part of our Trust family, as he builds up his clinical work within rheumatology.

During his celebration event today I reflected on his long career with this Trust and all of the reasons he is such a valued and respected leader and a SWBH legend. David took up a consultant rheumatology post here in 2000. He helped developed the service which is the clinical academic centre for rheumatology in Birmingham, with a strong research base for arthritis and lupus as well as providing care for the broad range of musculoskeletal conditions to local residents. David’s clinical work in vasculitis means SWBH is recognised as a regional centre for vasculitis and he contributes to our national centre for Bechet’s disease. He led the Trust’s medical education programme as Director of Medical Education and became Medical Director in 2018. He acted into the Chief Executive role for nine months, during Toby’s absence, during some of the most difficult times for our Trust, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Everyone who meets David is struck by his integrity, his consideration of others and his desire to always do the right thing by our patients.

Our new Trust values have now been agreed which are:

Ambition

Respect

Compassion

These values will run through everything we do, and we will launch them in a big way within the Trust as we finalise the list of behaviours that are the accompanying living examples of how we should act.

I can think of no better example of someone who lives these values, day to day, than David. He has always been ambitious for our Trust, leading the education programme of our medical colleagues as Director of Education and spearheading our ambitious Research and Development strategy. Our Trust is a stronger place because of the fantastic teaching provided to trainee doctors, and the pioneering research being carried out right now in Sandwell and West Birmingham.

No-one is more respectful than David. He is considerate of others, loyal and dependable, respecting other people’s opinions and thinking carefully about the consequences of our actions. We will miss his considered, reflective approach that carries much wisdom into our collective decision-making.

David holds compassion for others at the centre. He is an extremely dedicated clinician who always goes the extra mile for his patients. He listens to patients and family members in distress and knows how to walk in other people’s shoes. He offers support to all his colleagues, whether that is new consultants, junior doctors, peers and those in the wider NHS family. Many people have expressed how much they have valued this support as they have continued to develop their careers here.

So, thank you David, for your dedication and commitment to our patients, people and population. We look forward to continuing to work with you in your new endeavours.

Lastly, I wanted to mention the significant impact that rises in energy bills, food prices and fuel costs is having right across our Trust and within our communities. This is a huge concern to everyone and we are committed to seeing what we can do to best help people in these difficult circumstances. Additionally, some people have received tax underpayment notifications from HMRC that could not have come at a worse time. Pay rises for all staff is unfortunately not within our gift, however we are looking at things we can do to help with those in severe financial distress as well as support with cheaper food, discounts on transport and other schemes.  We will communicate our approach with you all on these issues, very soon.

Sandwell pharmacy closure: 8 September

On Thursday 8 September the pharmacy department at Sandwell will be closed for the day. All medication requests and TTO’s will be processed by the dispensary at City. The temporary closure is to allow essential estates works to be completed resulting in a planned loss of power.

To aid with closure some changes to normal process and cut-off have been put in place:

Sandwell:

• Outpatients
  • Outpatients clinics to prescribe on FP10’s unless prescribing hospital only medication
• Inpatient prescriptions
  • Will be dispensed from City and transported back to Sandwell
  • All requests must be requested by 4pm
• Discharges (TTO’s)
  • Will be dispensed from City and transported back to Sandwell
  • All TTO’s must be prescribed by 4pm
• Controlled drug discharges (CD TTO’s)
  • Must be ordered by 1pm
• Controlled drug stocks
  • Controlled Drug stock orders will be processed by the Pharmacy ward based team prior to the closure. Add link to order schedule
  • No Controlled Drug stock order will be placed on 8^th September
• Stores and distribution
  • AMU, ED & ITU top-ups will be processed as normal
  • Adhoc (Urgent) Stock requests will be processed at Sandwell
  • IV Fluids will be distributed as normal
  • Ward Top-ups will be conducted on alternative days – Affected wards will be informed

City

• Inpatient prescriptions
  • All requests must be requested by 4pm
• Discharges (TTO’s)
  • All TTO’s must be prescribed by 4pm
• Stores and distribution
  • AMU, ED & ITU top-ups will be processed as normal
  • IV Fluids will be distributed as normal
  • Ward Top-ups will be conducted on alternative days – Affected wards will be informed

In order to support the closure some office-based teams will be moved into supportive roles/to alternative locations and therefore not available via normal ext. numbers. Please use email or MS Teams as preferred method of contact.

During the closure duty Dispensary numbers in use will be:

• Sandwell: 5257
• City: 5263

Any questions or concerns around the closure should be emailed to simon.plant@nhs.net

Check out the latest edition of Heartbeat!

In the latest edition we announced the 2022 Star Awards nominees for the upcoming awards ceremony scheduled for Friday 7 October.

We also covered:

• NHS 74th birthday
• Shine a Light Festival
• Our contributors at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games

Do you have a submission for Heartbeat? Email isobel.hunter1@nhs.net with your news, stories and achievements to feature in a future edition or call us on ext. 5303.

Star Awards 2022 – shortlist announced

Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a colleague or team this year as part of the Star Awards.

The Star Awards serves to recognise the hard work, determination, innovation and improvements colleagues have been able to deliver to patient care and experience.

This year has seen another wonderful turnout of nominations for colleagues and teams from every ward, specialty, department and directorate, with testimonials that share an insight in to the fantastic care and service delivery that we pride ourselves on.

This year’s nominations naturally reflect the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and service pressures faced, but also all the other fantastic work that has taken place throughout the past year.

Our judges have worked hard to whittle down the nominations down to our finalists. Congratulations to everyone who was nominated for an award and join us in celebrating the announcement of our finalists.

You can see the full shortlist on Connect.

Voted for categories

This year we need your help in three of our colleague voted for categories which are:

• Employee of the Year
• Clinical Team of the Year
• Non-clinical team of the Year

Hurry and get your votes in – you have until Friday 2 September, 5pm.

Remember, you can only vote once for each category so make your vote count – click here to vote. Note: You must be logged into Connect to vote.

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Having issues logging in to Connect? To log in to Connect please visit https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/login. Your username should be your forename.surname (e.g. john.smith) unless you have specifically had it changed. Your password should be the password you use to log into your machine and not your Outlook email password unless you have had it changed. Should you have any issues logging into Connect and submitting your nomination, please email anil.patel11@nhs.net.