Monthly archives: May 2023

National Pay Award – Considerations for colleagues receiving Universal Credit

The NHS Staff Council has endorsed the agreed-upon pay offer between the government and trade unions. This will now be implemented for staff employed on the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service. This offer includes two non-consolidated additional payments for the year 2022/23 that eligible staff can expect to receive as part of their pay in June 2023.

It is recognised that it may be preferable for some individuals to receive these payments in multiple instalments (i.e. paid across several months) rather than together in a single lump sum. An example of this might be when individuals receive Universal Credit payments, where any changes to monthly income will directly impact the value of these payments.

Step 1: Staff would need to consider the potential impacts of spreading the payments across multiple months. For example, if an individual claims Universal Credit, any lump sum or backdated earnings may affect how much Universal Credit is received in the month they are paid. Please see this Universal Credit guidance for further information.

Colleagues should access appropriate advice before submitting a request (for example, through the Universal Credit helpline or Citizens Advice) to understand how receiving these payments in multiple instalments may impact their situation.

Step 2: Consider the timeframe over which payments should be spread based on advice received at step 1 on their situation, subject to a maximum of 10 instalments (maximum ten based on the end of the tax year). Once selected, this cannot be amended.  If you leave prior to the end of the instalment period, all outstanding instalments will be paid in the final salary payment.

Step 3:  Any colleague wishing to take up this option must complete the details in the pay award spreadsheet and email across to swb-tr.swbh-gm-payroll-offmgr@nhs.net, requests should be made as soon as possible and by Thursday 1 June 2023 to ensure payroll deadlines are met.

For more information on the NHS Pay Award, please read these FAQs: NHS pay deal in England – frequently asked questions | NHS Employers

Note: This guidance refers to substantive staff only, Bank staff will not receive the non-consolidation payments.

Due to the tight timescales and additional work required, requests received after this date will not be actioned. Only complete spreadsheets will be accepted.

Black Country formulary launched

The Black Country Integrated Care System has been developing a joint formulary, so that all patients across our region will have equal access to medicines in both secondary and primary care (swap round). The new Black Country formulary is available at www.blackcountryformulary.nhs.uk

This will mean that at SWB there may be some gradual changes to our formulary, with drugs being added or removed in line with the Black Country.  You can still check current formulary status on Connect.

The gastrointestinal chapter has been the first chapter to be updated so please check formulary status before filling in a non-formulary request form, as you may find it is no longer needed. Additions to formulary include, cimetidine, nizatidine, sucralfate and bisacodyl, where non-formulary request forms will not be required. Removals to formulary include famotidine.

If asking GPs to continue to prescribe medication in the community, then the Black Country formulary site will advise on this using a traffic light system.

Black – Non-formulary, not prescribable in either secondary or primary care

Red – Hospital prescribing only. If a patient needs to continue on medicines, they will need to continue to receive supply from the hospital, either via an FP10 or hospital outpatient prescription

Amber (recommended) – GPs can prescribe as long as recommended by a hospital specialist

Amber (initiated) – GPs can prescribe as long as started and stabilised by a hospital specialist

Green – can be prescribed by primary and secondary care

For more information please email Emily.horwill@nhs.net

Wellbeing Hubs at Sandwell and City

Focusing on ensuring that colleagues have a good day every day, the wellbeing hubs aim to help improve mental health, relieve stress, build resilience and restore balance for colleagues closer to their work base.

Services in the wellbeing hubs include:

• Confidential chat – an opportunity for colleagues to offload and talk about anything which is troubling them
• Meditation
• Relaxation POD (massage chair)
• Back, hips, leg massager
• Seated acupressure massage
• Hypnotherapy (sanctuary only)

The wellbeing hubs are completely confidential, all services and treatments are free of charge for Trust colleagues and delivered by trained wellbeing coaches and holistic therapists.

The wellbeing hubs are a regular weekly service across all sites which are listed below, 8am – 4pm.

• Wednesday and Thursday, Jayne Wright Therapy Room, Trinity House, Sandwell
• Monday, Tuesday and Friday, Wellbeing Hub, Arches, 1^st Floor, Corridor A (old physiotherapy corridor) Room B002/F/049 situated to the right of the corridor, City Hospital

Wellbeing events are available to book for group bookings of 16 staff +. Our wellbeing events programme will help you to look after your mental health and wellbeing. Please submit your interest to christine.rickards@nhs.net.

For more information on the wellbeing hubs, please contact the wellbeing team on 0121 507 3306 or email swbh.ohreferrals@nhs.net.

Reminder: Please exercise caution when receiving scans

The scanning service for Ricoh Printers, which experienced a recent outage has now been restored. Going forward, please note the following disclaimer included in the message body:

“This message originated from outside of NHSmail. Please do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.”

We kindly request that you exercise caution when opening any emails accompanied by this disclaimer.

Additionally, please verify that the scan in question originates from the email address swbh.scan.to.me@swbh.nhs.uk.

Note: Due to routing changes, scans are now being sent from @swbh.nhs.uk instead of @nhs.uk.

Should you have any further queries then please do contact the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050. Alternatively, you can contact the team via chat with the IT service desk.

Seated massage at the Sandwell and City hub

Are you thinking of relaxation and unwinding after a long week? A seated acupressure massage might be just the thing for you. A full consultation is completed with the Therapist prior to the session and the massage is carried out safely over your own light clothing.

• Relieve back, neck and shoulder pain
• Improve your mood
• Reduce your stress and anxiety
• Lift your energy
• Increase circulation

Appointments last 30 minutes and are available on the following days and times:

• City Hospital: Tuesday, 9am – 4pm, Wellbeing hub, Arches, 1st Floor, Corridor A
• Sandwell Hospital: Wednesday 9am – 1.30pm, Berridge Room, Courtyard Gardens

For further enquiries/bookings please contact the Wellbeing Hub on 0121 507 3306 or email swbh.ohreferrals@nhs.net.

Star Awards 2023: Volunteer of the Year

Do you know an individual who has made a significant impact to our Trust whilst volunteering or a person who has shown selflessness and determination to support the people around them?

Why not nominate them for Volunteer of the Year at this year’s upcoming Star Awards!

Please complete the nomination form by clicking here with as much detail as possible about your nominee. The closing date for all nominations is Friday 23 June, 5pm.

Last year’s winner of this prestigious award was Michael Reay. Michael has been a volunteer at SWB for many years. Visitors to City Hospital can never miss his welcoming smile and his willingness to help patients, visitors and staff. This could be either helping at the PPE stations or walking with and helping very frail patients as they attend their outpatient appointments. Michael always goes out to do whatever he can to be helpful to everyone he meets. 

Be sure to also check out this short video showcasing last year’s glitzy awards event.

If you have any questions regarding the Star Awards, please contact the communications team on 0121 507 5303 or email swbh.comms@nhs.net.

TeamTalk feedback topic – reducing spend across SWB

As you may remember from the last TeamTalk session in April, you would of heard of about the financial pressures facing SWB and the NHS as a whole. As part of the session, attendees were asked to review any ways in which they could cut expenditure.

There is still time to provide feedback so if you wish to do so, please email anil.patel11@nhs.net by Wednesday 17 May.

For further details regarding the TeamTalk feedback topic, please see TeamTalk May slides 2023 and go to slide 25.

Don’t forget, the next TeamTalk session takes place Wednesday 24 May – for further information including joining details please click here.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 12 May

My Friday message this week is focused on you – our People.

People are our priority here at SWB and as you know, are a key part of our new five-year strategy, centred around our three Ps: our Patients, our People, and our Population. Earlier this year we launched our People Plan which sets out how we will deliver on the People objective – to cultivate and sustain happy, productive and engaged staff. Our new People Plan supports that strategic objective by focussing on improving staff satisfaction and experience in order to support a positive organisational culture to thrive.

We want you to feel part of the SWB family, from recruitment to retirement and our new values are an important part of this. They should reflect what is best about us and what matters most to us, the people we care for and the wider community we serve.

As a reminder – our values are:

• Ambition: We’re ambitious for our communities. We want to make a difference, improving life chances and health outcomes. We’re ambitious for our people. We want them to be happy here, to feel supported to achieve their own goals and ambitions. We’re ambitious for our Trust, open to new ideas, developing new technology and treatments to provide the best possible care. Working together, and alongside our partners to continually improve.
• Respect: We are a place of inclusivity. We value, celebrate and draw strength from the diversity among us, and in our communities. This is what makes us special. Our people and our patients feel listened to. Everyone’s voice counts. We’re a place where people feel safe to speak up knowing their voices will be heard. Respect and dignity for everyone.
• Compassion: We’re a welcoming, friendly Trust. We have care, kindness and compassion at our heart. For us, everyone matters. We’re a place where compassion is not just for our patients and their families, but a right for all of us. Our people are amazing, meeting challenges head on. They put patients first, day after day, to deliver the best care they can.

We don’t want the values to just be written down in a strategy document or on Connect, we want them to be right at the heart of everything we do. They are underpinned by behaviours which help us all to live the values each day, from the newest person in the organisation, right up to the Board.

Over the coming months we will be looking at how we can bring the values to life across the whole organisation, so if you have any ideas on how we could do this, or how you are already doing it in your area, please do let me know. As a start, we will be using them in recruitment and in appraisal. We must use them to guide our approach to speaking up. There will be many others and I really do want to hear your views.

Our values are also a key part of our annual Star Awards, which I am delighted to announce have launched today. It’s one of my favourite things about being chief executive of this organisation – I take great pride in reading all the nominations and seeing the amazing range of stories of teams and individuals who have done exemplary work, work which should be focused on our three objectives and which lives our values.

This year, we have made it easier than ever for you to nominate your colleagues and teams that have gone above and beyond to make a difference to our Patients, our People, and our Population. You don’t have to be logged into the network to make your nomination and you can use any device – simply click here to complete the form.

You can find out more about the categories here.

We have lots to be proud of at SWB, so please do have a think about those people around you who showcase ambition, respect and compassion and consistently make a difference to our Patients, our People and our Population and put them forward for a Star Award.

International Nurses Day 2023: Friday 12 May

Today Friday 12 May will see us celebrate International Nurses Day 2023. The awareness day is an annual celebration of the nursing profession, held on Florence Nightingale’s birthday.

Be sure to check out these short videos from Mel Roberts, Chief Nursing Officer and Richard Beeken, Chief Executive thanking our nurses for their hard work and dedication over the past 12 months.

Our acute medicine team are hosting a educational celebration day in the conference room today at Sandwell Education Centre until 3pm to celebrate International Nurses Day.

There will be a bake off, eyebrow threading and massages, tombola, thickened mocktails, tissue viability and bowel care “hook a duck” plus much more so be sure to pop along.

This Sunday is National ODP Day

This weekend sees us celebrate National ODP Day. The special day aims to raise awareness of the operating department practitioner profession. Click here to find out more.

Be sure to check out this short clip from from some of our ODPs at SWB wishing everyone a happy ODP Day!