Monthly archives: November 2023
Nursing associate apprenticeship programme
The nursing apprenticeships team is looking for new recruits to join their course.
Job requirements are:
- Evidence of achieving required numeracy and literacy standard functional skills level 2 in Maths and English. Or, GCSE C/4 or above.
- Conformation of support from your line manager
- Contracted to work 30 hours a week minimum.
- 6 months experience in healthcare.
If you would like a job application, please contact swbh.nursisingassociates@nhs.net
Application deadline, Friday 1 December 2023
West Midlands Maternal Medicine Network – Midwives Training Day
West Midlands Maternal Medicine Network invites NHS staff to join an upcoming MBRRACE Update webinar – part of a regular series of webinars on Thursday 7 December 2023 6.30pm – 7.30pm.
This webinar is for GP’s, Midwives, Amu Staff; Ed Staff; Hospital Staff Inc: All Clinical Staff Who Engage With Women Who Are, Would Like To Be, Or Have Recently Been Pregnant And Who Have Pre-Existing Conditions Or Who Present At Amu/Ed With Symptoms That May Not Be Pregnancy Related.
For More Information Contact : carole.edwards9@nhs.net (project manager)
Pressure on our EDs and wards: How can you help?
Critical Incident
Thank you for all you have done and are continuing to do to ensure patients are safe and continue to receive high quality care.
We are all feeling it at the moment – these are tough times so do please remember that we have a range of health and wellbeing initiatives available should you feel you need them – please link this to the health and wellbeing page on connect.
Pressure on our EDs and wards: How can you help?
We have very ill patients within our beds and also we have patients across our hospitals who could be discharged but whose discharges are delayed for a number of reasons, this in turn affects our ability to admit those who need acute care from our EDs.
We all need to work as one team at this critical time to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our patients and take the necessary actions to do so. If in doubt, please refer to your action cards for level 4 and critical incident situations.
Supporting timely discharges
Safe and effective discharges are critical to maintaining good patient flow through our services.
Please consider why every single patient needs to be in hospital and what we can do to safely support them to get home or to a community facility. As soon as someone no longer requires hospital-based intervention it is usually a greater risk to keep them in hospital than to discharge them.
Our community services offer a range of health and care interventions to support discharge, for example:
- IV antibiotics
- Oxygen weaning
- Nebuliser care
- Remote monitoring
- Blood tests and associated medication changes
If people need care packages at home, temporary or permanent placements to a care home or end of life care, there are also several options in the community. The Integrated Discharge Hub will offer advice and support – you can contact them on extension 3147.
Could your patient be admitted to our virtual ward?
If your patient has past the acute stage of their illness, but still needs a level of intervention to support their recovery, they might be able to be discharged into the care of our virtual ward – these are consultant led and allow patients to continue their recovery in the comfort of their own home, but with constant monitoring and medical input. If you are unsure about what a virtual ward is, please watch the short video below:
What is a Virtual Ward | PCCT – YouTube
You can also contact the virtual ward on extension 2664 (option 4) to discuss your patient with them.
At every board round and safety huddle, please consider the following:
What is keeping this person in hospital?
Could they go home? Could that be today?
Could their treatment be continued in the comfort of their own home?
Are they waiting for investigations? Could these be done as an outpatient?
Are they waiting on repeat blood tests? Could these be done in the community?
Please escalate within your clinical groups any issues that you cannot resolve locally, no matter how small they may seem. Every small thing will make a difference to our patients.
Essential Unity maintenance: Thursday 16 November from 10.30pm to Friday 17 November 1.30am
Please be aware essential Unity maintenance will be taking place on Thursday 16 November to ensure the Trust’s EPR system remains stable. The work is being carried out by Cerner and is scheduled to begin at 10.30pm for approximately three hours and should be completed by 1.30am on Friday 17 November
During this time Unity should remain fully available; however, Unity Reporting (PI Explorer)/Business Objects Reporting will be unavailable for up to three hours from 10.30pm.
As part of this activity, the Trust will not have any resilience in place for all Unity services if an unexpected issue were to occur and we go into unplanned Unity downtime. We would therefore recommend that all areas have their business continuity plans and 724 Unity downtime computers on standby during the above time.
The activity will be closely monitored by Cerner and IT support teams and will be supported by desktop alerts which will be issued from 9pm.
As always, should you have any further queries then please do contact the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 or via Service Desk Live Chat Chat with the IT Service Desk
Surgical Management including Skin Flap Reconstructions for Vulval Cancer- Friday 8 December 2023
This is a course organised by our team at the PanBirmingham Gynaecological Cancer Centre (PBGCC) and is aimed at anyone with an interest in the management of vulval cancer. This will be an interactive day with lots of videos and talks from various members of our multidisciplinary team. This will take place on Friday 8 December 2023 from 9.30am till 4.30pm.
They have a discounted rate for SWBH colleagues (Consultants and trainees £50, free for other staff members).
Venue: Institute of translational medicine, Heritage Building, Mindelsohn Way, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TH. For directions, please visit https://www.itmbirmingham.co.
Hospitality: Lunch and refreshments are provided throughout the course.
If you have any questions or if we can be of any assistance please do not hesitate to contact us via email at gynaeonc.bham@gmail.com.
Registration: https://forms.gle/eWizoWE8UsVLbTKB7
Payment: Payable to:
Birmingham GynaeCancer Education (HSBC)
Account: 71878395
Sort Code: 40-11-13
Please include your ‘name@date’ in the reference on the payment.
Update: New closing date for 2023 QI poster contest submission
In response to requests from colleagues who need more time to finalise their posters due to service pressures, the closing date for this year’s poster contest has been extended to Thursday 30 November 2023.
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony attended by Trust board members on Wednesday 13 March. Details of this event will be released to the shortlisted entries nearer the time.
For more information please see the quality improvement poster Contest guidance on Connect.
Healthcare Relocations return to SWB
Transgender Awareness Week 13 – 19 November
Here at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust we celebrate Transgender Awareness week.
The 13 – 19 November marks Transgender Awareness Week for 2023. The week’s purpose is to celebrate transgender joy and all members of the trans community, whilst also highlighting the struggles the community faces and elevating the voices of gender non-conforming people. Monday 20 November this year marks Trans Remembrance Day, dedicated to memorialising transgender people who lost their lives to transphobic violence.
Sandwell and West Birmingham support our Transgender colleagues and patients. Please support them to be their true selves and to feel comfortable.
If you are struggling with your identity or gender, the following link may be of use: https://www.seventeen.com/life/a41916157/transgender-awareness-week/
Your LGBTQ+ Staff Network are here to support all members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community.
Only 10 days left to complete your staff survey
The 2023 staff survey is still open and you should have received your invitation to have your say.
By taking part in the survey, your views will be heard by not only SWB but by the region, and key decision makers nationally and used to inform policy and improvements around your priorities such as safety, wellbeing, working decisions and pay. By completing this survey once, your voice will be heard by numerous data users.
As a result of your feedback in surveys, we developed our SWB People Plan, which sets out how we will deliver on our People objective – to cultivate and sustain happy, productive, and engaged staff. It is a three-year plan which focuses on staff morale, satisfaction, and wellbeing. It is not a workforce plan which focuses purely on numbers and recruitment.
Our wish is for SWB to be a workplace in which colleagues can realise a healthy work/life balance, to feel safe and respected and to feel fulfilled. A place where people seek to work, in which they feel a sense of pride and a workplace in which everyone thrives.
Please do take 15 minutes of your time to complete the survey when it arrives – for many of you this will be via e-mail, but for those who don’t have regular access to a computer (porters, ward services and catering) it will be delivered to your home address.
For the first time, the survey will also be sent to bank only staff, who play a vital role in supporting our organisation, so it is only right that they are given the opportunity to have their say too.
Be sure to check out this short video featuring James Fleet, Interim Chief People Officer talking about how the staff survey helps us see how we are measuring up against the NHS people promise.
← Older items Newer items →