Monthly archives: October 2023

Congratulations to all our winners at this year’s Star Awards!

Throughout this week, we will be celebrating all our award winners from the annual awards.

Today we feature:

Patient Safety Award – Emily Hobbs and Zeena Tudor: Zeena is a District Nursing Team Leader and Emily is a Practice Education Lead in District Nursing. They have led on the national community safer staffing tool rollout within district nursing, devising a plan to roll this out to the entire district nursing workforce and enabled the Trust to be one of the first organisations to introduce this and test the new national standards. This enables our community services to be safer for our patients. The safer staffing tool will tell us how many staff we require on a shift to perform safe care to our patients. This is so pivotal for our patients, ensuring they are seen in a holistic manner and get care delivered by the right staff at the right time. They have led this project with great enthusiasm and have ensured it has been a success.

Patients Choice Award – Ophthalmology Ward: The Ophthalmology Ward team at City Hospital were nominated by the family of a patient. They stated: “On the 31st of May 2023 our husband, dad and grandad presented at eye accident and emergency with what we presumed at the time was an infection. He was seen by one of the surgical team that felt he had an infection, but she wanted to take advice from a senior doctor. The doctor returned with what dad felt was the worst possible news, he needed to be admitted. As soon as we arrived on the ward at around 8pm the team were welcoming and friendly. They explained dad needed eye drops every hour. At this point he was exhausted; he hadn’t slept the previous night at all, but the team did all they could to make him as comfortable as possible. Once he had seen the doctor the next day his plan was to continue on the eye drops every hour. The nursing team were attentive with his medication but also tried to lift his spirts though his exhaustion. Nothing was ever too much for us or dad during his admission and they celebrated the wins when he started to improve and when his drops were reduced allowing him to get a few hours’ sleep. They made his room as dark and comfortable as possible. Dad was discharged home following a six day stay and has continued to receive exceptional care as an outpatient. We are truly thankful for the team on the eye ward for everything they did for dad, and we are quite sure that they saved his vision. We can’t express what this means to us as a family.”

Non-clinical Team of the Year – Chaplaincy Team: Our multi-faith chaplaincy team offer support to patients and colleagues alike and offer guidance equally to those with faith and those without. The team develop and maintain prayer spaces, allowing staff, patients and visitors to seek solace during difficult times after receiving a warm welcome from a member of the chaplaincy team.

Clinical Team of the Year – Cancer Hotline Team: The cancer hotline was established in 2022 to provide Sandwell residents with a dedicated resource they can call if they are concerned about symptoms of cancer. Facing funding and staffing issues, the team worked tirelessly to set up this unique service, working collaboratively with both NHS England and the West Midlands Cancer Alliance. They have seen more than 300 patients since they launched and have referred over a third of those to a two week pathway. The service is taking some pressure off primary care, triaging and returning calls within 48 hours. They provide reassurance to those patients not deemed urgent or who do not need further referral – and for those patients who require further investigation, they refer extremely quickly to the appropriate service without the need for the patient to visit their GP.

Emergency maintenance affecting Unity clinical systems and processes: 18 October, 9pm – 10pm

Please be aware emergency maintenance will be taking place this evening which will affect Unity clinical systems and processes. The work is scheduled to begin at 9pm this evening and should be completed by 10pm. Unity will remain available.

This maintenance will result in the systems detailed below being temporarily unavailable for up to one hour:

• iPM can be used as normal, HOWEVER, brand new patients to the trust should be allocated a prenumbered RXK label and iPM updated as per ED BC plans for new patients not already on iPM. The allocated RXK number will become the patients actual RXK number, and can be used immediately for ordering any diagnostic investigations via the BCP processes.
• Patients new to the Trust will not be visible in Medisoft – full BCP required.
• Orders placed in Unity will not go to Radiology/Pathology during this time but will be sent once the systems come back up – BCP required.
• New results will not be visible in Unity during this time but will be sent once the systems come back up.
• Inpatients admitted from ED will not show up in iPM until the systems are back up.
• Inpatients transferred between Wards will show on Capman and Unity but not on iPM until the systems are back up.
• Inpatients discharged during this time will not show as discharged in iPM until the systems are back up.
• Any new baby registrations will not be able to be completed until the systems are back up – BCP required.

Colleagues will need to ensure they revert to BCPs for blood tests and Imaging requests during this time. Other Unity functionality such as documentation and Meds Admin will not be affected by this activity. Desktop alerts will be issued advising colleagues about the planned downtime.

Freedom to Speak up – colleagues go green

Colleagues around the Trust have been wearing green to show support of Freedom to Speak Up #breakingftsubarriers

Our Guardians will be visiting different parts of the Trust on the following dates:

• Thursday 19 October, City

• Friday 20 October, the Lyng and Leasowes

• Monday 23 October, Sandwell

• Thursday 26 October, City

• Friday 27 October, Sandwell

• Monday 30 October, City

To find out more about how to speak up at SWB and our guardians, please click here

World Menopause Day

Today is #WorldMenopauseDay

Our Women’s Network hosted a jam-packed event to raise awareness of the menopause, highlighting symptoms & the support available. 

The network is actively seeking menopausal champions across the Trust, to provide a voice for those going through menopause and to be a support system to colleagues. If you would like to be a menopausal champion for your team or department, please contact Amber Markham 

If you would like to be a part of the network filled with like-minded women, please contact Amber Markham

Are you wearing it Green? Share your outfit on social media!

Today is wear it green where we are encouraging everyone to wear the colour green to show their visible support for Freedom to Speak Up. Are you wearing green? Why not get share your green outfit across social media using the hashtag #BreakingFTSUBarriers.

You can now also post your photos in our staff Facebook group! Joining is easy – you can search ‘Our SWB Family’ on Facebook or click here to join.

To find out more about how to speak up at SWB and our guardians, please click here.

Meet our guardians in your ward or area: Our Guardians will be visiting different parts of the Trust on the following dates:

• Thursday 19 October, City
• Friday 20 October, the Lyng and Leasowes
• Monday 23 October, Sandwell
• Thursday 26 October, City
• Friday 27 October, Sandwell
• Monday 30 October, City

Take a look at the Winter Garden at Midland Met

Do you know how to request for add-ons for blood sciences in Unity?

We must remind colleagues that they must follow the procedure in table one when requesting add-ons for blood sciences in Unity. The request will print in the laboratory if the procedure in table one is followed and a member of our team will process the request as soon as possible. Table one gives a step by step procedure for making add-on requests. The outlined procedure must be followed for the add on request to be received in the laboratory.

Please see screenshots below for further details.

Congratulations to all our winners at this year’s Star Awards!

Last Friday we held our 2023 Star Awards where a total of 13 awards were handed out to both clinical and non-clinical colleagues across SWB.

Our awards ceremony, which was held at Aston Villa Football Club, aims to recognise the hard work and dedication of our colleagues and volunteers, both on the frontlines and our supporting services.

Throughout this week, we will be celebrating all our award winners from the annual awards.

Today we feature:

Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Janice Nelson: Janice took on the role of procurement equality, diversity and inclusion lead in 2021. To the best of our knowledge, the role is the first of its kind nationally, and therefore Janice had to set the ambition for our service with a blank sheet of paper. She has implemented an EDI procurement strategy which set the aims, outcomes and key metrics for the next three years. As a result, our team are delivering improved EDI and social value outcomes, increasing BAME opportunity to access NHS spend. She has showcased her approach at an “ICS meet the buyer” event, engaging with small and medium enterprise businesses, supporting them to access contracts within the NHS.  Janice captures supplier diversity information, and EDI questions are now issued with all tenders. Results form part of the scoring process to ensure we place added value on SMEs that reflect our EDI principles.  Janice also works alongside Black Country Chamber of Commerce, understanding the barriers SMEs and BAME may have in accessing NHS contracts. Through her EDI work, Janice has significantly improved our score in the Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation assessment giving fair and equal opportunity to all.

Distinguished Service Award – Verna White: Verna has worked within the NHS for almost 30 years, starting as an auxiliary, progressing to a nurse and then later training as a midwife at SWB. Verna has undertaken many roles, her most recent being a delivery suite coordinator. During her years in midwifery at SWB, Verna was the ward manager of M2 at Sandwell, and antenatal clinic manager at City. Despite suffering her own tragedies and heartache, she is always positive and has the biggest smile and infectious laugh. It is always noticeable that Verna’s positive work ethic influences others around her, generally making the workplace and clinical environment a really kind and pleasant place to be. She is the ultimate ARC role model, with an added sparkling smile and infectious laugh that centres positivity and kindness as core components in how she coordinates and runs her shifts.

Sustainability Award – Cardiac Cath Lab: The Cardiac Cath Lab team have made several active changes this year to improve their approach to sustainability and are consistently at the top of the green impact points table.  They have now gotten rid of plastic cups, with all colleagues bringing their own ceramic mugs. They have also done away with plastic bed covers and the use of inko pads, began using plastic trays instead of cardboard dishes and focused on waste by using yellow bin bags instead of orange ones. They are also looking into how to recycle old or out of date equipment such as catheters, as well as reducing their use of single-use items. The team have made big changes in a short amount of time, reducing the Trust’s environmental impact overall and acting as a shining example of what we can achieve.

Prize for Transformation and Research – Training and Development Team, Breast Imaging: There is a national shortage of mammographers and limited training places at university. Last year the service had a 47 per cent vacancy factor, so the programme manager designed a concentrated immersive training programme which resulted in trainees gaining clinical competency at a greater pace (within 30 days) allowing them to work autonomously within six months instead of 12 months. The service is now fully established and could potentially be in a position to train mammographers for the Black Country Provider Collaborative moving forwards, to support their vacancy factors and generate income. Through zero vacancy factor the service has reduced the risk of missed round length KPI, as well as early detection and treatment of small cancers. The risk of staff burn out has also been reduced. The service has utilised this opportunity to research different methodologies to enhancing training practices and the student journey, collecting data with a view to publish in a peer journal and work towards academy status.

Reducing the risk of health deterioration for people with a learning disability

People with a learning disability can often be reliant on health and care staff, including social prescribers and non-clinical colleagues, to help them manage their needs and support them to access services. They also experience greater health inequalities compared to the general population.

Healthcare staff including those in non-clinical roles can now access the Caring for People with Learning Disabilities elearning – a free online training programme that aims to reduce preventable causes of ill health, as well as the health inequalities that people with learning disabilities face.

Developed by the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership in collaboration with NHS England, this training comprises four sessions which have been selected as important areas of learning:

1. Constipation
2. ReSTORE
3. Annual Health Check
4. Reasonable Adjustments

We are also pleased to advise that the elearning will soon be available for unpaid carers. We will share further information about this as it becomes available.

You can find out more by visiting the Caring for People with Learning Disabilities training pages on the NHS Learning Hub.

Research webinar for nurses, midwives and AHPs

Are you a nurse, Midwife, or other AHP with an interest in exploring how to get started in research?

If so, you are invited to an exciting free event on Tuesday 21 November from 1.30pm – 5pm featuring talks from some senior leaders from across the Birmingham Health Partners group, with national and international reputations in research.

Topics include:

• How to identify your research question
• How and where to find funding opportunities
• Perspectives from early career researchers at different career stages
• A networking buffet

The event is hosted by Professor Annie Topping, Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Birmingham / Strategic Academic Lead for the Integrated Clinical Academic Office at UHB NHS Trust, and is taking place in the Forum Lecture Theatre in the Centre for Lifelong Learning in the University of Birmingham Medical School.

To register for this free event please visit: https://forms.microsoft.com/e/AuwJpBRHEe

Enquiries to: Tim Giles t.giles@bham.ac.uk or Charlotte Maybury at c.maybury@bham.ac.uk.

The full programme is attached.

The event is the first of a series of workhops and events as part of a recent award from Research England to enhance Research Culture and aim to make routes into academia and clinical research more transparent.