Monthly archives: September 2022

Cancer services football boot collection

Cancer services have joined forces with the Football Rebooted scheme by Utilitia and have organised a football boot collection point within the cancer services office. ‘Football, Rebooted’ is a national environmental campaign that has been created to save at least one million pairs of football boots from landfill, by getting them onto the feet of player’s right across the UK.

Football, Rebooted aims to rehome one million pairs of ‘pre-played’ football boots and AstroTurf trainers, saving families a fortune, as well as 136,000 tonnes of carbon – the same as taking 7,000 cars off the road for a year or turning the energy off in one million medium-sized houses for a week.

Anyone with a spare pair of football boots, please bring them along to Cancer Services, Hallam Building, Sandwell.

For more information please call ext. 5204.

Essential upgrade affecting Unity downtime viewer application: 29 September

There is an essential upgrade affecting the Unity 724 downtime viewer application (this is the business continuity for Unity) planned to take place on Thursday 29 September between 8am and 4pm.

During this time Unity will remain fully available. Between 8am and 4pm the Unity 724 downtime viewer application will be available but the data available will be from 8am and prior. Changes made in Unity will not reflect in 724 until the essential upgrade has been completed.

To ensure that the Trust can deal with any unforeseen unplanned downtime to Unity during this time the following steps must be taken by all colleagues to ensure that:

• All 724 boxes (the supporting paperwork that is used during a downtime) are fully stocked and available and staff know what to do with them.
• Prior to 8am, please print off a handover sheet for your patients and make sure you keep this up to date, annotating any key changes to the care and mediations for your patients throughout that day. These annotations will be needed in case of Unity downtime during the period that 724 is also down.

Desktop alerts will also be issued from 7am advising colleagues of the upgrade and as it progresses throughout the day.

Should you have any queries on this 724 activity then please liaise with your line manager or contact the Senior Capacity Manager Rob Reynolds on 4880 in the first instance or contact the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 for home workers.

Chat with the IT Service Desk

Diabetes learning week across our acute medicine wards

Throughout this week we will be hosting a diabetes learning week in our acute medicine wards (AMUA, AMSSU, AMU1 and D30).

There will be learning tools, quizzes and lunchtime snacks as well as experts on hand to answer questions all which will go towards improving the care we give to our patients with diabetes.

The team will be on wards listed above from 11am – 2pm throughout the rest of this week.

For more information please email christina.ronayne@nhs.net.

How to report a fault with electric charging points

Did you know that from Saturday 1 October, you can report a fault with an electric charging point via Equans? To report a fault with one of the EV charging points, you can call the team on 0121 507 4444.

Equans will be the first port of call for faults only. Any other issues should be reported via the Estates Helpdesk using the same phone number or via the estates helpdesk online located under corporate services on Connect.

Issue affecting Imaging PACS system now resolved

The issues that have affected the Imaging PACS system have now been resolved and services have been restored.

Colleagues can now step down business continuity plans and return to business as usual workflows.

If you are experiencing any other issues, please contact the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 for home workers, or alternatively you can Chat with the IT Service Desk 

Free help with planning travelling to and from work

Are you bored of being stuck in traffic in the car? Could there be a faster and cheaper alternative to get to work and home? Help is here! We are working with Sustrans, a local charity, to support colleagues with planning travelling to/from work. Sustrans will provide a personalised travel plan for you to help getting to and/or from work with ease.

For more information please email Francesca.silcocks@nhs.net.

Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS) stakeholder development workshops

Over the next few months, the ICS will be hosting a series of virtual workshops, to keep everyone informed of the way that they are working together.

All colleagues both clinical and non-clinical are welcome – click here for further details and to book a place.

This week is organ donation week

Organ donation week aims to raise awareness as approximately 6,000 people across the UK are waiting for an organ transplant currently. The campaign aims to encourage people to talk to their families and friends (no matter their age) about organ donation and its importance as well as the benefits of donating organs when you die.

Please be sure to check out this short video featuring patient Joanna Garvey, who has had two corneal transplants and how it has changed her life for the better.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 23 September

Next week, over 200 colleagues from the Trust will meet together at our annual Trust Leader’s Conference. This event has been hampered in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, we were able to hold the conference last year, with some COVID-19 restrictions and we are confident that this year’s event will take place with no such limitations. We have come a long way.

This year our conference is themed around one of our three strategic objectives: People – to cultivate and sustain happy, productive and engaged staff. This means that we are focusing all of our attention on how we can improve the wellbeing and experience of our workforce. I make no apologies for putting all colleagues front and centre at this event, where the Trust’s top leaders will jointly learn how to best support staff, encouraging them in their potential as well as with their own health and wellbeing. We know from the latest evidence that not only does investment in the workforce pay dividends in terms of quality of care for patients, but it also fosters a culture that is enjoyable, where work is fun and all staff feel valued.

Later in the year, we will be running conference follow-on sessions for all colleagues to participate in – the responsibility for looking after our co-workers is all of ours, no matter your role or position within the Trust.

Among the busy and fulfilling conference there are for me, two stand out items…one is the launch of our Trust Values accompanied by a clear behavioural framework. The values are now settled (and thank you for all those who contributed…) as Ambition, Respect and Compassion. The missing link is a description of the behaviours that exemplify the values. You have had an opportunity to select which of these behaviours most describes our values and these will be shared widely over the next few weeks. The other strong theme throughout the day is “inclusion” and we can often not be clear about what this means. Our “Respect” value is perhaps the one that best aligns with inclusion. It is about listening to others, walking in their shoes, valuing everyone’s contributions and ensuring that everyone has a voice. Holding up those who need extra support and building an environment where truly everyone matters, which has long been a core strapline of this organisation.

The event attendees also have an opportunity to learn from different parts of the Trust and our Research and Development department will be showcasing their service as part of the exhibitions during the day. Our R&D team play a key role in our organisation, supporting us to be leaders in research which contributes to improving health care treatment and care worldwide. Some of the research done here at SWB has led to changes right across the world, particularly in the fields of cardiology and diabetes. But of course, research opportunities cross all specialities and disciplines. The R&D team are holding their second Research Forum on 30 September at City Hospital. This free event is aimed at anyone interested in research and covers a range of talks and workshops including engaging patients in research, the journey from NHS staff into academia, how to get funding for your research and navigating the regulations. The closing date for registrations is Monday so please don’t delay in booking your place or talk to Kelly Hard, our Head of Research and Development for more information.

Finally, a reminder to be on your guard. Our NHS email accounts are being more frequently compromised by a number of hacking attempts where emails that look very genuine invite you to either click on a link or download a file. Please be alert. These are dangerous security risks and will often come from a Trust email account that has been infected. If you have any doubts DO NOT click on the links or downloads. You may not be expecting to receive an email from that individual so check with them first if they have sent you something to make sure it is genuine. You can talk to our IT Helpdesk for support by contacting them on ext 4050 or via live chat on MS Teams – type “swbh.4050” in the “To:” in the chat function and you can get instant help and advice.

Have a good weekend.

Richard

Job of the week: Band 6 or 7 (dependent on experience) Acute Heart Failure Clinical Nurse Specialist (maternity cover for 12 months)

There is an exciting secondment opportunity for a band 5 or 6 nurse or allied health professional who wants to further develop their skills within cardiology and heart failure. The secondment is within the Acute Heart Failure Team and is for 12 months, commencing November 2022, working cross-site between Sandwell and City. The heart failure pathway is multi-faceted and involves admission avoidance strategies, in-patient advice and management, facilitated discharges and arranging community heart failure care where appropriate.

The patient journey encompasses a variety of transitions; therefore the ideal candidate requires both excellent clinical and communication skills. The job is rewarding and there are lots of opportunities to make a difference to the heart failure patient journey.

This roles offers:

• Great development for anyone with an interest in heart failure/cardiology.
• Close mentoring from the heart failure multidisciplinary team.
• Clear objectives to demonstrate your competencies in managing heart failure patients.
• Opportunity to focus on our acute heart failure pathway and work collaboratively within the wider Cardiology team in both primary and secondary care.

Essential requirements for the Band 6:

• A minimum of a years’ experience in Cardiology.
• Demonstrable evidence of autonomous practice and excellent communication skills.

Essential for the Band 7: As above plus recent experience working as a Heart Failure Nurse.

If you feel this is a role you are enthusiastic about and have the right skills please send your expressions of interest to swbh.acuteheartfailurenurses@nhs.net in no more than 500 words.

If you wish to understand more about the role before applying please email swbh.acuteheartfailurenurses@nhs.net for a time to talk.

Note: Please ensure you have permission from your line manager before applying.