Monthly archives: September 2023

Organ Donation Week event

If you’re over at Sandwell Hospital today head to the Courtyard Gardens to find out more about Organ Donation.

The team is on hand to answer any questions – and there are refreshments available too until 3pm.

Thrombolysis in Stroke study day: 23 November

This full day course free is for SWB colleagues and is aimed at colleagues who are involved in the hyper acute management of stroke and stroke thrombolysis.

The topics covered will include an introduction to thrombolysis, NIHSS scale score, stroke mimics and chameleons, basic CT scan interpretation, pharmacy issues, nursing care, local protocol and complications of thrombolysis.

The course follows the national curriculum for stroke thrombolysis and BIASP (British and Irish Association of Stroke Physicians) training requirements and is fully accredited by the Royal College of Physicians.

The course will be held on Thursday 23 November, 8.30am – 4pm in room 9, Sandwell Education Centre.

To book a place, please email: lorena.chua@nhs.net or sambanwell@nhs.net.

World Menopause Day – 18 October

The Women’s Network is hosting an event to celebrate World Menopause Day on 18 October, 9am – 12pm at Wolfson Theatre, postgraduate centre.

The focus this year is cardiovascular disease in menopausal women, the event will include presentations from a variety of speakers around the different aspects of menopause and the support available to staff within the workplace.

To attend the event, please register here.

Organ donation week event at Sandwell: 19 September

Organ donation nurses will be raising awareness at Sandwell by hosting a special event in the courtyard gardens for colleagues to attend on Tuesday 19 September, 11am – 3pm. They’ll be sharing information, along with refreshments in the garden area.

GP direct access to cancer diagnostic services

To enable GP teams to directly order fast-track cancer diagnostic tests, NHS England guidance details how teams can directly order CT scans, ultrasounds or brain MRIs for patients with concerning symptoms.

General practice teams are currently able to directly access tests for patients in several imaging modalities, including ultrasound, X-ray, computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, variability in testing capacity and access to a convenient mechanism to refer for an imaging test directly has limited GPs’ use of direct referral in some areas of the country.

NHS England is working to open community diagnostic centres seven days a week so that they provide up to 9 million tests a year by the end of 2024/25. By combining this increase in diagnostic capacity, with existing diagnostic resources, we will ensure GPs have increased and swifter access to more diagnostic imaging tests and patients will be receive diagnoses sooner.

NHS England recognise that systems are facing workforce challenges. NHS England is supporting systems to mitigate those challenges as far as possible by creating opportunities to optimise the existing workforce. NHS England are providing funding to ensure that each CDC has the right workforce in place and supporting systems to make the most of CDCs and diagnostic networks.

NHS England are also working to ensure that GPs have digital tools to conveniently refer to appropriate diagnostic tests at local testing centres, and are enhancing digital connectivity across the NHS to enable results to flow more seamlessly.

For more information click here 

Occupational health department closed on Monday 18 September

The occupational health and wellbeing services will be closed on Monday 18 September due to staff training.  All needlestick injuries please report to A&E. Normal service will resume on Tuesday 19 September.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 15 September

Stakeholder visits to MMUH have really gained momentum over the summer and into autumn. In late August we shared an update and tour with Richard Parker (Labour Mayoral Candidate) and last week we welcomed HealthWatch Birmingham (and next week HealthWatch Sandwell) on site for a tour of progress.

Yesterday, I was delighted to host National NHS system partners in a visit to our new hospital.   In the morning I led a contingent from the Black Country ICB, CEO Mark Axcell and Chair of the Black Country Healthcare NHS Trust, Jeremy Vanes. Joining the tour were directors from NHS England – Matt Neligan who is Director of System Transformation, Adam Doyle, National Director of System Development and Steve Russell, Chief Delivery Officer and National Director for Vaccinations and Screening.

In the afternoon we hosted a visit from colleagues from NHSE Regional Team including Rebecca Fellows and Katrina Boffrey.  Both parties were taken on a tour of MMUH and were extremely impressed at the progress of the hospital to date and the momentum showing for completion of the build, ready for opening in 2024.

Both visits allowed also allowed time for a wider system leadership discussion.  It is really important that we host meetings like that as it allows us to provide not only an overview of the progression of MMUH but to also give feedback on what help that we need from them. In our discussions this included financial, operational, and political and we made good inroads in all areas.

I feel that our visitors left with a greater understanding of the support we need to get us over the finish line, and they were immensely impressed with progressive approach to population health, employment and regeneration as well as partnership working across systems. I would like to reiterate my thanks to colleagues for organising the tour and supporting presentations.

Yesterday,  we also held a volunteer taster session. I was delighted to hear that there were over 100 applicants for volunteer roles at the new hospital and our volunteer lead, Pat Hunt welcomed many of them to explain more about what their roles would entail and a look around MMUH and what is has to offer.

It is so exciting to get the opportunity to reach so many different stakeholders who are all imperative to the delivery and success of MMUH.

Our next opportunity to talk to internal stakeholders is at the Clinical Group MMUH Away Day on 26 September – if you are not in that audience don’t worry, there are plenty more opportunities to learn more about MMUH by attending one of the regular Lunch and Learn sessions, visiting the MMUH Community Bus, looking on Connect and on social media.

Finally, preparations are already underway for the next round of industrial action by our non-consultant and consultant colleagues. Consultants will strike on Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 September and non-consultant doctors will strike on Wednesday 20, Thursday 21, and Friday 22 September. For the first time during this pay dispute, non-consultant and consultant colleagues will undertake joint action on the same day (Wednesday 20 September), which means we will be calling on you even more to provide support where you can, so we are able to maintain safe, quality care. Whether you are helping out in a key admin role, providing a vital support function, or supporting colleagues clinically – thank you so much for everything you are doing. I appreciate and understand the pressure and challenges you are all facing and remind you that there is support available should you need it, either through your line manager or our occupational health and wellbeing team. The exec team and I will be doing wellbeing checks throughout next week – so please do let us know how we can better support you.

Thanks Richard

World Sepsis Day: prevention saves lives

Following on from World Sepsis Day on Wednesday, throughout the week we  have been sharing useful information and resources around sepsis. World Sepsis Day aims to remind people of the detrimental impact sepsis can have as it is one the top causes of preventable deaths worldwide.

Prevention is better than a cure – there are many actions which can be taken to try and prevent sepsis. These include:

• Staying up to date with all your vaccinations
• Clean water
• Hand hygiene
• Safe childbirth
• Preventing hospital acquired infections

Neonatal early warning system tool now adapted into e-learning

The new national Newborn Early Warning Track and Trigger (NEWTT2) tool has now been adapted into an interactive e-learning resource for maternity teams.

The current warning system supports maternal and neonatal staff to recognise early indicators of clinical deterioration in newborn infants and to improve outcomes with appropriate intervention.

The new programme, developed with NHS England and DEQ Quality Transformation, introduces NEWTT2 and features a structured guide on how to use the tool. It also includes several guided clinical case studies to illustrate how the tool works in a clinical setting.

It will enable midwives, obstetricians, and maternity support colleagues in all maternity units in England to support staff to learn how to use this new tool as part of the implementation process, supported by NHS England and your local Patient safety collaborative.

After completing the session, learners will have greater understanding of how to record physiological observations and understand whether escalation of care is required. Learners will also understand which members of the multi-disciplinary team need to be alerted and what timeframes are necessary

Learners can access the session here.

Today is World Sepsis day!

With today being World Sepsis Day, throughout the week we will be sharing useful information and resources around sepsis. World Sepsis Day aims to remind people of the detrimental impact sepsis can have as it is one the top causes of preventable deaths worldwide.

Be sure to check out this short video featuring Dr Chizo Agwu, Deputy Chief Medical Officer talking about the sepsis six.

Find out more about sepsis at Sandwell: We will be hosting a sepsis awareness stand on Wednesday 13 September, 11am – 2.30pm in the main reception area (by the lifts) at Sandwell for colleagues and patients wanting to find out more about sepsis. For more information please email yasmin.khan@nhs.net