Monthly archives: June 2023
Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 23 June
By Daren Fradgley, Deputy Chief Executive – Richard Beeken is away.
On Wednesday we had a debrief of how we managed last week’s industrial action. When I, along with other execs and senior managers did our walk arounds at City and Sandwell during the 72-hour strike we witnessed staff working together to deliver care to our patients whilst being respectful of the right of colleagues to take industrial action. I was immensely proud to see the commitment of our teams across the Trust working to support each other and our patients whilst under the added pressure of the current weather conditions.
It was great to see strong partnership working with local authority partners as well – support from NHS and Social Care collegues meant we were able to discharge those who no longer needed to be in our care a lot quicker than we would normally.
It’s inevitable, industrial action will be with us for a long while so there is always something we can do to make things even better next time round. The feedback has been generally positive across the board and included:
- Early decision making helped keep everything on track
- Presence of IT and pharmacy to support on wards kept things moving
- Patients seen in a timely manner
- Clinic cancellations communicated well so no reports of patients arriving for cancelled appointments.
There are still areas to improve on including ensuring:
- Colleagues understand the role or pathways associated with services such as SDEC to be able to make good use of them
- Clinical groups have good strong leadership attending tactical to be able to make use of them.
We will take this feedback away and work with the clinical groups to make improvements. If you have any other feedback to share, please speak to your managers. Thank you for pulling together to care for our patients, while supporting colleagues who chose to take industrial action.
While we may not have an influence on national pay negations, we are committed to investing in every one of you through our new People Plan. It is a very detailed commitment about what we will do to give you a great experience as a member of our team here at SWB, including keeping car parking charges free for as long as we can and allowing you the opportunity to develop through the new ARC Leadership programme.
We are also committed to making sure you have adequate and comfortable spaces where you can take a break away from the working environment. Our programme of rest area improvement continues apace with 52 areas identified and works started in 41 of these. We have decorated the rooms, installed items such as new shelving or blinds and also ordered some furniture to enable colleagues to have comfortable places in which to rest.
I know we have been waiting for the provision of water coolers for many months now and I apologise for the time it has taken to resolve this for you all. I have been assured by our estates team that the purchasing process is underway to get water coolers to you as soon as possible. We should be able to share an update with you very soon.
This week we are proud to celebrate and honour the Windrush generation, who arrived in this country 75 years ago only two weeks before the establishment of the NHS. The legacy of this generation can’t be ignored, and the numbers, stories and history tell a clear truth: the Windrush generation has been essential to the function of the NHS.
I leave you with a video from Richard talking about Windrush, and its significance to the NHS and wider society.
Have a good week.
Calling all nurses – we need your input to improve our medicines management
To support our High Impact Objective, to deliver Harm Free Care, we have recognised that there are opportunities for improvements to be made within Medicines Management. Using our move to MMUH as a catalyst for improvement, we are seeking feedback from frontline nursing staff to gain insight to your day-to-day experiences specifically around managing medicines at SWB.
We’d like to know about current practices that work well, the challenges to providing safe, optimal patient care and using resources (including your time) effectively.
Please take a few minutes to fill in our online survey to improve the services we deliver, for our patients.
For further information please contact emma.archer@nhs.net or lauren.prior1@nhs.net.
Responses are welcomed before Monday 3 July.
Improving the Mental Capacity Act application and patient rights
We are hosting sessions to develop knowledge and understanding of when and how to apply the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). This is aimed at healthcare professionals that not only wish to improve their knowledge and application of MCA but wish to champion it in their clinical areas in order to uphold patients’ rights.
The sessions will be taking on Monday 17 July at the following times:
- 9am – 12pm, Surgical Skills Room, Postgraduate Centre, City
- 1pm – 4pm, Conference room, Sandwell Education Centre
For booking details and information please email r.begum19@nhs.net.
Filming of patients across Trust sites
We have been advised that patients have been seen to be filming other patients across our hospital sites, especially in A&E. All inappropriate filming should be stopped by a colleague as soon as its spotted. It is Trust responsibility to protect vulnerable patients.
If person filming refuses to stop, then take action to limit what they can see. We ask staff to ensure they deal with this politely and firmly as footage may end up in public view.
We do not have the right to confiscate phone or delete footage.
The key to this is to stop it as soon as we spot it. All our staff should feel empowered to do this.
If the patient continues to film and is not cooperating with you or you feel threatened, please contact Trust Security immediately.
To contact security at City call ext. 4133 and at Sandwell call ext. 3163.
In case of emergency call ext. 2222
Note: The Trust security team can only attend to incidents at City and Sandwell.
Free upcoming Psychology Associates training events – book your place
Psychology Associates are hosting two free virtual training events, one dedicated to supporting schools to support children and young people impacted by domestic abuse and menopause and mental health.
- Tuesday 26 September, 3.30pm-4.30pm | supporting schools to support children and young people impacted by domestic abuse – Click here to book
- Wednesday 18 October, 12.30pm-1.30pm | menopause and mental health webinar – Click here to book
To see further information regarding supporting schools to support children and young people, please click here.
To see further information regarding menopause and mental health, please click here.
Marking Windrush Day at Sandwell and West Birmingham: 22 June
In June 1948, HMT Empire Windrush stopped in countries including Jamaica, Trinidad and Bermuda, before docking at Tilbury Docks in Essex. 1027 passengers disembarked from the ship, over 800 of whom gave their last country of residence as somewhere in the Caribbean. It’s no coincidence that the NHS launched just two weeks later, on 5 July 1948.
As we celebrate the NHS’ 75th year, we are marking Windrush Day 2023, celebrating the contribution of the Windrush generation themselves and their children and grandchildren. The legacy of this generation can’t be ignored and the numbers, stories and history tell a clear truth: the Windrush generation has been essential to the survival of the NHS.
Be sure to check out these two videos below about Windrush. The first is SWB celebrating the Windrush generation and their children and grandchildren who have also joined our Trust to deliver compassionate care to our patients. The second is Richard Beeken, Chief Executive talking about Windrush, and it’s significance to the NHS.
Midland Met More Than Awards – Zurvad Hussain
Congratulations to Zurvad Hussain, Second Line IT Team Manager who is our latest winner of the Midland Met More Than Award.
Zurvad has been hard at work making sure that the planning and delivery of our IT kit is on track for our brand new hospital as well as leading a team of 16 engineers who look after our IT systems.
Do you know someone who has done “more than” their role to deliver our Midland Met vision or support our objectives? Well, nominating them for a More Than award is the perfect way to highlight their contribution to bringing our new acute hospital to life.
The More Than Awards recognise those who have gone and beyond in making a significant contribution to the Midland Met project. Whether the individual works directly for the Midland Met Programme Company or SWB, nominations are open to all colleagues who meet the criteria. It is your opportunity to showcase the fantastic work happening across our organisation as we gear up to open Midland Met in 2024.
Individuals who demonstrate outstanding commitment to Midland Met will be chosen as winners by our senior management team.
Click here to make your nomination today.
Windrush75 tribute on news tonight
Colleagues are advised that ITV Central news is running a news piece tonight at 6pm about an exciting project to mark #Windrush75. The project is a musical composition created by Kyle Corbin, entitled ‘Sons and Daughters’ and recognises 75 years of service in the NHS by people from the Caribbean, both the original settlers from Windrush and their descendants who work in the NHS today.
A son of the Windrush generation himself, Kyle was selected by the Trust to compose the music to accompany a story of hope and determination. The finished composition is a permanent celebration of their service and recognition of the fondness in which they are held by colleagues and patients alike.
Senior medics coffee and chat
We are encouraging consultants, senior doctors and medics to get together, meet one another and talk about your experiences and challenges.
Note: This is a drop-in session and no booking is required.
Sessions will be taking place on the below dates at the following locations:
- Time: 4.30pm – 6.30pm
- Venue: Berridge Room, Sandwell, 29 June
- Time: 4.30pm – 6.30pm
- Venue: City Hub, Arches, first floor, corridor A, room 52, City, 13 July
For further information please email syeda.naqvi@nhs.net or vikranth.venugopalan@nhs.net.
Sandwell Council want to hear from you!
Sandwell Council are hosting an array of drop in sessions throughout June and July across the borough and want to hear from local residents.
To find out more including where and when the nearest session to you is happening, please click here.
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