Monthly archives: June 2023

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 9 June

As you know research is explicitly referenced in our Trust Strategy and in this year’s annual plan.  It is at the heart of all the services we provide for our patients and local communities. Not only does it allow us to offer our patients and communities access to the latest treatments and advances in health care, it also provides our staff with opportunities for training and development, so our clinicians and managers of the future are better prepared for the more complex and less linear world we now see.

Research was the shared learning topic during the month of May, alongside International Clinical Trials day,  over 19 areas committed to engaging more in research as part of their commitment to research. This is timely with the national #redforresearch day being on Friday 16 June. This is a day whereby we are all encouraged to wear something red to celebrate the advances in research and say thank you to all those involved. The breadth of commitment and pledges across the Trust from procurement to IT to community services, to neonatal and surgical care demonstrates that we can all contribute to research regardless of our roles. Whilst we made significant contributions to the COVID portfolio of research our research portfolio is much wider than this for example; Prof Sundha is leading on a national project looking at the diagnosis of gynaecological cancer in primary care. Dr Trudgill is exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence to improve endoscopy outcomes as well as algorithms for detecting missed cancers. Our allied health professionals are also leading on numerous projects with Dr Burgess utilising national data to improve outcomes and guide service delivery. This is to name but a few instances of the fabulous work we are undertaking. On average over 2,500 of our patients contribute to research on an annual basis and we offer multiple opportunities for them to contribute in numerous forms. The advancements in care provided to our patients from research that we have contributed to range from cardiovascular treatments, first line treatments for haematology oncology patients, changes in service for recurrent miscarriage and newborn screening tests to mention but a few.

You may not be aware that we have our very own Clinical Research Facility at the Sandwell site, where patients considering taking part in research are seen and counselled. This hosts clinical rooms, laboratory space, a specific paediatric room, and an array of equipment. Very few Trusts have this facility and I am proud that we are able to offer this space to contribute to the advances in the care of our patients. Our R&D department have been hosting a number of events via a network they have established in the last 12 months ‘Clinical Research Forum’, this has been highly successful in providing support, training and networking opportunities for anyone across the organisation interested in research. I would encourage you all to sign up and see how you can get involved, this can be done via ‘knowledge hub’.  We have also recently joined Birmingham Health Partners, a research partnership with the University of Birmingham, UHBFT, Aston University, ROHFT, BWCFT, BSolMHFT.  The reach and potential of that partnership is huge, when combined with the diverse population which we serve.

Please join me and the rest of the research team in wearing red on Friday 16 June and sharing your pictures via our social media channels to thank everyone for their contributions to research and also celebrate all that you have achieved in advancing the care and service available to our communities through research.

Do look out for further details of how you can get involved in #redforresearch day on 16 June.

Carers Week

This week we have been celebrating Carers Week, an annual campaign to raise awareness, highlight challenges faced by unpaid carers and recognise their contributions to families, communities and healthcare environments throughout the UK. The week can also serve to assist those people who don’t consider themselves to have caring responsibilities to help them to identify as carers and access much-needed support.

As noted by Carers Week, a carer is someone who provides unpaid care and support to a family member or friend who has a disability, illness, mental health condition, addiction, or who needs extra help as they grow older.

Within our Trust, carers make an invaluable contribution to patient care and wellbeing, assisting our colleagues with their understanding of our patients and helping to communicate and nurture their loved ones. We would like to extend a thank you to all those who act as carers for their loved ones, both within our hospitals and to those colleagues who balance work with their caring responsibilities.

Mel Roberts, Chief Nursing Officer: “Carers provide support, encouragement, and of course, care, to patients across our acute sites and in our communities. It’s crucial that we recognise their vital contributions to the patient journey at SWB and provide the necessary support and understanding when their loved ones are under our care.

“We do, of course, have many working carers here at the Trust, who juggle their roles here with unpaid caring responsibilities outside of work. For Carers Week, I would like to say thank you to these groups; we recognise and value your strength, compassion and care.”

Nominate an AHP colleague for the National Chief AHP Officer Awards 2023

The national Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) awards are an annual opportunity to recognise and celebrate the vital contribution and impact that Allied Health Professions (AHPs) make towards improving health, care, and wellbeing, of the people and populations they serve. This year, the awards take place virtually on the Thursday 12 October.

Nominations for the awards can be made until Sunday 11 June and are open to all 14 of the allied health professions from all parts of the AHP Community. As the third largest clinical workforce in the NHS, you can find AHPs across all health and care settings, working collaboratively in multi-disciplinary teams, delivering impactful and essential services across England.

If you are an AHP or work closely with an AHP or a team of AHPs this is an opportunity to celebrate AHP excellence, acknowledging and sharing examples of innovation, improvement, and best practice across a range of award categories. You can read more about the awards and a description of each category on the AHP team web pages.

To nominate your team or an AHP colleague for an award, you can submit a nomination here.

For any queries relating to the awards email england.cahpo@nhs.net.

Sustainable school swap shop

The sustainable school swap shop is intended to help families manage the cost of new school uniforms by rehoming preloved uniforms as well as reducing the number of good quality clothing items that are unnecessarily discarded.

Annually, over 1.4 million school uniforms are thrown away as children outgrow their blazers, dresses and PE kits. The sustainable school swap shop aims to offer colleagues in our Trust an opportunity to donate their school uniforms, swap them for a bigger size or simply support a sustainable way of life by sourcing their uniforms from the swap shop.

Please consider donating to avoid waste and help some of our colleagues in this time of financial crisis

Donation points are available at:

• City: Old management block (ground floor)
• Sandwell: Trinity House entrance
• Rowley: Ask at reception

Colleagues wishing to donate to this scheme should ensure that all donations are in a clean and presentable condition. For further details please see sustainable school swap shop poster.

School uniform items now available: The swap shop now have an range of uniform items that colleagues may be interested in. For a full list of the current stock and sizing see below.

For more information please email christopher.spencer7@nhs.net.

Sandwell multi-storey car park closure: June 9-12

Due to essential maintenance the multi-storey car park at Sandwell will be closed from Friday 9 June and will reopen the morning of Monday 12 June.

We encourage colleagues to utilise the vacant staff spaces on Hallam Street and Hallam Close while the works take place.

Note: Please be advised that this closure does not give permission for colleagues to park on visitor car parks.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this closure.

Are any of your emails being directed to your junk folder?

On Tuesday 6 June, NHS England were alerted to an issue which resulted in emails from external domains being incorrectly identified as spam and moved from the recipient’s Inbox to their junk folder. Further information is available here.

What was the impact to users?

As a result of the issue identified, more than 2.5 million legitimate emails were incorrectly identified as spam and moved to the junk folder of impacted accounts.

What action do you need to take?

It is good practice for NHSmail users to check their junk folder on a regular basis regardless, to ensure that any emails identified as spam which are legitimate can be dealt with, marked as ‘‘not spam’’, and are not missed.

As always, should you have any further queries regarding IT then please do contact the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 or via Chat with the IT Service Desk.

Safeguarding Children Level 3 training: Writing statements for court

We’re facilitating Safeguarding Children Level 3 training: Writing statements for court (court report writing) for health visitors, midwives, community children/staff nurses,  nursery nurses, paediatric ward colleagues, BSP, and allied health professionals who work with children on Friday 14 July, 9.30am – 1pm, Sandwell Education Centre, room 15.

The course aims to:

• To improve competency in promoting the welfare of children through provision of succinct, analytical and timely reports.
• To contribute to the process of making the right decisions for children in the legal system.
• To have clarity regarding roles and responsibilities within a legal context of providing a factual report and giving evidence in court.

To book your place please contact swbh.TeamsChildrenSafeguardingAdmins@nhs.net.

Did you know the heat-health alert service begins in June?

The heat-health alert service provided by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in partnership with the Met Office begins in June. The service forewarns of periods of high temperatures, which may affect the health of the public and is aimed at health and social care professionals and any with a role in reducing the harm extended periods of hot weather can have on health. Should conditions for an alert be reached, a heat-health alert will be issued and stakeholders are advised to take the usual public health actions as recommended in the adverse weather and health plan.

In summer 2023, the heat-health alerts will transition to an impact based alerting, which will provide users with information over and above the fact that hot weather is likely to occur. It will give an indication of the impacts likely to be observed as a result of the temperatures via a colour system.

• Green (summer preparedness) – no alert will be issued as the conditions are likely to have minimal impact on health. However, during periods where the risk is minimal it is important that organisations ensure that they have plans in place and are prepared to respond should an alert (yellow, amber or red) be issued.
• Yellow (response) – these alerts cover a range of situations. Yellow alerts may be issued during periods of heat which would be unlikely to impact most people, but those you are particularly vulnerable (E.g. the elderly with multiple health conditions and on multiple medications) and are likely to struggle to cope and where action is required within the health and social care sector specifically.
• Amber (enhanced response) – an amber alert would represent a situation in which the expected impacts are likely to be felt across the whole health service, with potential for the whole population to be at risk and where other sectors apart from health may also start to observe impacts, indicating that a coordinated response is required.
• Red (emergency response) – a red alert would indicate significant risk to life. Several impacts would be expected across all sectors with a coordinated response essential.

A full overview of the new heat-Health alert system is available from UKHSA, and individuals can register to receive the alerts.

We ask colleagues familiarise themselves with the new alert system and the Adverse Weather and Health Plan for England.

Drug safety notice: Glucagon

GlucaGen 1mg powder for injection kit will be unavailable from June until to middle of July at which point normal supply is expected to resume.

We  advise Ogluo 0.5mg and 1mg pre-filled auto-injector pens be used for the treatment of severe
hypoglycaemic episodes though it is not suitable for treatment of beta blocker or other drug overdoses. Please keep in mind Ogluo stocks will be shortdated after 31 July and Glucagen are to be used after this date.

Please see Glucagon information sheet for further details.

For more information please contact the pharmacy department on ext. 5263/3783.

Basic life support sessions now available every Friday

Basic life support sessions are now available every Friday from 7.45am – 8:45am on ward D43, Sheldon Block at City.

Please book your place by clicking here.

Note:To participate in this course, you must have successfully completed and have a valid certification for ELFH Level 2 BLS eLearning. Proof of completion is required on the day.

You must attend on the time stated otherwise you may be turned away.

For more information please email swbh.resuscitationtraining@nhs.net.