Monthly archives: December 2023

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 15 December

I would like to start my message with a thank you from the Board and Executive Team.  Thank you to those colleagues who are preparing and planning operationally to cover the traditionally busy festive period which is now even more challenged with the pressure initiated from the industrial action which begins next week. I know there are so many people who are going the extra mile focussed on patient safety and staff wellbeing as we finalise our plans for the next few weeks.

We know our patients, who are able want to be home for Christmas , so let’s work together as a team to ensure we can make this happen safely whilst maintaining good patient flow and working together as a team .  Over the course of this year we have seen a number of strike periods and what myself and the Board has often reflected on is resilience and commitment of staff even under immense pressures, often going on and above their normal duties to ensure a safe and harm free environment can be maintained for our patients.  As well as clinical and operational staff, that includes our valued support staff who on a day-to-day basis provide those essential services, such as portering, ward services, waste and catering staff.  Our catering staff have committed to run outlets late at night over the strike period to provide nourishment and a place to rest for staff working out of hours.

As a reminder the first of two periods of industrial action by our non-consultant doctors takes place from 7am on Wednesday 20 December to 7am on Saturday 23 December and then again from 7am on Wednesday 3 January to 7am on Tuesday 9 January. We will provide further updates as needed via Connect so please ensure you are keeping up-to-date.

Against a backdrop of Industrial Action, we continue to see sustained pressure on our urgent and emergency care services.  Regrettably this is not  uncommon across the Black Country or indeed throughout the country. We must ensure we focus on patient safety, and we know that this is your top priority. Our immediate focus to help support colleagues is our investment in ED staffing medical staffing, Acute Medicine and Discharge Teams.  In early December we held ‘Winter Ambition Focus Weeks’ at both City and Sandwell Hospitals. Here members of our improvement ream integrated into our medicine and emergency care teams to identify how we could sustainably improve some of our basic practice on the wards regarding patient flow. This is very much a ‘team sport’ both in our hospitals and Place based community services.  The evaluation of those Focus Weeks will inform a further recovery focus over the next 8 weeks to embed consistent and sustainable changes, to improve patient flow and implement improvements to ensure we provide the very best patient experience.

Earlier this week, Sir David Behan, who is a non-executive director at NHS England and chair of the joint Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England Discharge Taskforce, paid a visit to Sandwell Hospital, to learn more about the discharge hub and the work we are doing within Sandwell Health and Care Partnership – our place-based partnership.

Sir David spent time with the place senior leadership team, including representatives from SWB and Sandwell Council, before heading over to the hub to talk to some of the team. He described the model as ‘brilliant’ and he was very impressed with the how staff from health and social care work together to get the very best outcomes for people leaving hospital. Congratulations to everyone involved in that visit, it was clear that our Trust values of ambition, respect and compassion were on full display.

It really is a wonderful asset for us to have and we need to make sure that we make full use of it to get our patients home more efficiently. If you would like any more information about the hub and how they can support with discharge, please contact amy.crumpton@nhs.net .

Last week,  were we were pleased to welcome Lord Markham, CBE who is the Undersecretary of State for Department of Health and Social Care and Minister responsible for the New Hospital Programme (NHP).

I was delighted to take him on a tour around the site alongside executives from NHP, Balfour Beatty and Lesley Writtle, Deputy Chair of the Trust. The Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) is one of the largest schemes to open in the new hospital programme portfolio and Lord Markham was keen to view progress and meet with partners involved. He was extremely impressed with build and level of enthusiasm and commitment being shown by all involved to get Midland Met open in 2024. The focus on the Midland Met as a benefit to the community was evident, be it through increased local recruitment, improvement to local transport connections, the onsite Learning Campus as well as the transformation in our care pathways.

In the afternoon we were joined by local MPs., Shaun Bailey and Nicola Richards, for a tour around the site. The connection with our local community leaders is essential to ensuring we make the best opportunity that the new hospital can bring to improving health outcomes and life chances. They were both also hugely impressed and remarked on what an asset that new hospital would be for their constituents and as a landmark for Sandwell and West Birmingham,

And finally, I would like to leave you with a thought and hopefully some inspiration, that we have approximately 14 weeks to go until we have the MMUH building handed over to us and start a period of what is called ‘ activation ‘. This is a 26-week period of where the hospital building is transformed into a functional , workable space for our patients to receive care and a safe, well-equipped environment for our staff to perform their duties.  This time next year the doors to MMUH will be open to patients and the community and your support to achieve this over the coming months will be invaluable in making this happen.

Thanks sincerely for all that you do at work.

Have a good week

Rachel

Supporting Employees and Clients with the Menopause in the Workplace

Psychology Associates are hosting training sessions for educations staff at all levels, social workers, family support workers and mental health professionals.

This is to gain useful understanding of the symptoms of the Menopause and impact on mental health, as well as of systemic support strategies to support your team and/or clients.

This will be delivered by Suzzane Bryant at 9.30am – 11.30am on Monday 15 January 2024 and will cost £60 + VAT (£75 INC VAT).

Click here to book onto our Supporting Employees and Clients with the Menopause in the Workplace virtual training

For more information please visit https://www.psychologyassociates.org.uk/training/

Understanding ACEs and Childhood Trauma Virtual training

Psychology Associates are hosting training sessions for educations staff at all levels, social workers, family support workers and mental health professionals.

This is to gain theoretical underpinnings to understanding the effects of ACEs on the developing brain behaviour and capacity to learn, as well as practical support strategies.

This will be delivered by Dr Rhianne Hanbury at 10am – 3pm on Thursday 11 January 2024 and will cost £75 + VAT (£90 INC VAT).

Click here to book onto our Understanding ACEs and Childhood Trauma virtual training

For more information please visit https://www.psychologyassociates.org.uk/training/

Bon Appétit: Explore the culinary delights that await at Midland Met

We get it – a well-fed team is a happy and effective team!

Join Jane Owen, our passionate Head of Catering Services, for an exclusive tour of our top-notch restaurants, coffee shops, and kitchens. We’re committed to serving you quality meals that not only satisfy your taste buds but also fuel your energy for the day.

Look forward to a dining experience as exceptional as the care you deliver.

Grant available for the support of medical research

Mason Medical Research Foundation has opened applications for £20,000 grant.

Applications are invited from United Kingdom registered Medical practitioners for non-recurrent grants up to a total of £20,000 in any topic. Special consideration will be given to ” pump-priming” work. Staff support is precluded. Funding is restricted to projects carried out outside of the United Kingdom.

If you would like to apply for this grant and would like to complete an application form, please email janice.botting@rsmuk.com

or you can visit the link here to complete the form online.

Application forms must be submitted by Thursday 1 February 2024.

New elearning on thyroid eye disease now available

A new elearning course on thyroid eye disease is now available within the Eye-Site Ophthalmology programme.

This course will educate learners in the diagnosis and management of thyroid eye disease.

Developed by NHS England elearning for healthcare, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, and the Thyroid Eye Disease Charitable Trust, it aims to improve the experience of patients with thyroid eye disease. It covers the natural history, features and diagnosis of the disease, as well as medical and surgical management.

The course is aimed at specialist trainees in ophthalmology but would also be of interest to other ophthalmologists and eyecare professionals, as well as endocrinologists and GPs who may have patients with this condition.

To access the course, please visit the Eye-Site programme page.

Christmas decoration competition

Christmas is fast approaching, the charity has been busy making plans for the festive season. We’ll be putting up our Christmas trees at the Birmingham Treatment Centre on the City site, and at Sandwell General Hospital and Rowley Regis Hospital.

We are also encouraging colleagues to get involved again in our Christmas decorating competition for wards. Each ward/department is able to claim up to £30 once, which will be available up to 12pm on 20 December, before judges visit on 21 and 22 December.

Wards/departments need to provide receipts of their expenditure along with their ward/department name, to their nearest cash office. Wards/departments will need to ensure they have not experienced a COVID-19 outbreak in the last seven days before entering the competition. If they do experience a COVID-19 outbreak whilst decorations are on display, these will need to be taken down and disposed of safely.

To help fund this ongoing support during the festive season, Your Trust Charity would like to invite you to participate in their virtual Santa Dash this year. You are welcome to do a fun run in festive fancy dress, with your colleagues, friends, or family up to 25th Dec, and post your photos on the charity’s social media @swbhcharity and anyone raising a minimum £100 will have the opportunity for their name to be printed in Garden of Gratitude at the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. To find out more the page below and click on the ‘events’ tab for more information and to sign up! https://www.swbh.nhs.uk/charity/fundraising/.

How could we support your wellbeing through the upcoming industrial action?

As you may be aware, the BMA has recently announced new dates for non-consultant doctors to take industrial action.

These strikes are to commence from:

Applications for the Health & Care Research Scholar Scheme and Personal Development Awards now open!

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Clinical Research Network West Midlands Health and Care Research Scholars (HS) and Personal Development Award programmes for 2024-2026. These programmes are aimed at future Chief Investigators and Principal Investigators.

For more information on the programmes, timelines and to download the guidance document and application forms please visit our site here (also attached below) and view our flyer about the scholar scheme here.

We welcome applications from your West Midlands organisations from any NHS and social care research active individuals for either of these programmes.

The closing date for application is 5pm on 31 January 2024 (late applications will not be considered), please send completed application forms to training.crnwestmidlands@nihr.ac.uk .

Please do not hesitate to contact jane.willcocks@nihr.ac.uk if you have any questions.

Important message from BCPS

Blood tests for latent tuberculosis (TB) are time-limited meaning that we cannot store the blood to test at a later stage as they need to be processed within a specific time frame after being taken. Some are performed in Immunology (Quantiferon Gold) and some Microbiology refer on to ODL (TB T-spot).

Due to reduced staffing over the holiday period ODL who process TB-T spots have asked that the last day for blood tests for them will be Thursday 21 December 2023. They will re-open to testing on Tuesday 2 January 2024.

Quantiferon Gold processing in Immunology will be available on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 December 2023.

Please bear this in mind when taking samples for latent TB to avoid patient disappointment.