Monthly archives: February 2024

Industrial action continues today

As you will be aware, our non-consultant doctors will be taking part in industrial action until Wednesday (28 February) 11.59pm.

IT support: Through the period of industrial action, IT will be offering extended support across both Sandwell and City. During the weekday, floorwalkers will be available until midnight (12am). The IT helpdesk (ext. 4050) will also be extending their opening hours and will be available until midnight during the industrial action.

Planning a hospital discharge early: It’s vital we plan ahead especially during industrial action. The integrated discharge hub can support you with this from 8am – 8pm, seven days a week. You can contact them on ext. 3147.

Be sure to check out this short video below about planning discharges early and the top three tips for planning a discharge.

https://youtu.be/zuHd6uW10kU

The frequently asked questions for junior doctors as well as around pay have recently been updated – please see below:

• Junior Doctor Industrial Action FAQs 19 February 2024
• Pay Medical staff FAQs Industrial Action February 2024

Costa enhanced opening times Sandwell and City:

Upgrade affecting the HIE Portal: 7 March, 4.30am – 6.30am

Please be aware that essential IT maintenance will be taking place on Thursday 7 March affecting the HIE Portal. The work is being carried out by our support vendor Cerner/Oracle and is scheduled to begin at 4.30am for approximately two hours and should be completed after 6.30am.

During this time Unity will remain fully available. However, the HIE Portal that displays Unity and GP information will be unavailable for up to two hours from 4.30am – 6.30am. Please be assured GPs have alternate means to view this information via the ICE system. Trust clinicians only use HIE for supplementary GP information on occasions.

The activity will be closely monitored by our Cerner/Oracle and our IT support teams.

As always, should you have any further queries then please do contact the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 for home workers or via service desk live chat.

Industrial action continues until Wednesday

As you will be aware, our non-consultant doctors will be taking part in industrial action until Wednesday (28 February) 11.59pm.

IT support: Through the period of industrial action, IT will be offering extended support across both Sandwell and City. During the weekday, floorwalkers will be available until midnight (12am). The IT helpdesk (ext. 4050) will also be extending their opening hours and will be available until midnight during the industrial action.

Drop in for medics today: We will be hosting another wellbeing drop in session for senior medics today between 12.45pm – 2pm at both Sandwell and City. The drop in sessions will allow attendees to grab themselves and drink and a samosa as well as connect with fellow colleagues.

The Sandwell drop in will take place in the Berridge room, occupational health (near the courtyard gardens) and will be hosted by Dr Huma Naqvi and Dr Mike Blaber.

The City drop in will take place in the senior doctors rest space, wellbeing hub, Arches, 1st floor, corridor A (old physiotherapy corridor) Room B002/F/049 situated to the right of the corridor and will be hosted by Dr Vikranth Venugopalan.

For more information please call Dr Huma Naqvi on 07976 499360

Planning a hospital discharge early: It’s vital we plan ahead especially during industrial action. The integrated discharge hub can support you with this from 8am – 8pm, seven days a week. You can contact them on ext. 3147.

Be sure to check out this short video below about planning discharges early and the top three tips for planning a discharge.

https://youtu.be/zuHd6uW10kU

The frequently asked questions for junior doctors as well as around pay have recently been updated – please see below:

• Junior Doctor Industrial Action FAQs 19 February 2024
• Pay Medical staff FAQs Industrial Action February 2024

Costa enhanced opening times Sandwell and City:

Industrial action planning: 24 – 28 February

As industrial action continues across the NHS our planning to accommodate it whilst providing safe care for our patients is becoming increasingly well practised. That is not to say we are complacent because clearly, we are not. We fully recognise the toll that continued action is having across our entire workforce, and we keep that in mind whilst planning our response to continued industrial action.

Since the announcement of a full walk out of doctors in training from 7am on Saturday 24 February to 11.59pm on Wednesday 28 February, we have been working towards ensuring the safety of patients and wellbeing of staff whilst providing emergency care over the period. We have already stood up tactical meetings to oversee risks and prepare for the action and these will continue at 8.30am, 4.30pm and 10pm during the week, and 8am, 4pm and 8pm at the weekend over the strike period. If you have any questions or concerns regarding our response to industrial action, please escalate through your line manager to feed into the tactical group.

IT support: Through the period of industrial action Saturday 24 February – Wednesday 28 February, IT will be offering floorwalker support across both Sandwell and City. On the weekend floorwalkers will be available until 4pm and during the weekdays until midnight (12am). The IT helpdesk (ext. 4050) will also be extending their opening hours and will be available until midnight during the industrial action

Meeting arrangements

Group management leads will judge whether pre-planned meetings go ahead, and where they do, it is expected that their service has enough operational cover to maintain business as usual. Corporate meetings in the diary during this period which will go ahead with condensed agendas are:

1. PMG, Monday 26 February
2. Trust Management Committee, Tuesday 27 February
3. Quality Committee, Team Talk and People Committee, Wednesday 28 February

Staff welfare and on call arrangements

To support staff on site, senior on-call managers will physically attend more site safety (previously called capacity) meetings before commencing walkabouts to check in with those on the front line. During the weekend, the senior on-call manager and additional senior manager will attend the 1pm site safety meeting and remain on site until 4.30pm, potentially later if required until they judge the sites to be safe. On weekdays the senior on-call manager and additional senior manager will be on site from 4pm and remain on site until 7.30pm – or later if required.

The executive directors on-call over the weekend (Richard Beeken on Saturday and Rachel Barlow on Sunday) will also attend site for a couple of hours to support colleagues.

The frequently asked questions for junior doctors as well as around pay have recently been updated – please see below:

• Junior Doctor Industrial Action FAQs 19 February 2024
• Pay Medical staff FAQs Industrial Action February 2024

Costa enhanced opening times Sandwell and City:

Homeless referrals to be prioritised for ED and Urgent daily discharges

Due to staff shortages within the Homeless Team, all referrals from ED and urgent dial discharges will be a priority, and all non – urgent referrals will be responded to as soon as possible.

Note, that these restrictions are in place until further notice.

If you have any further questions regarding the referral process please visit here.

Changes to the referral process for the homeless patient pathway

Referrals for the homeless patient pathway are changing from Friday 8 March. Please view the document here to see the updated referral process.

For more information please email swbh.homeless.team@nhs.net.

Future prescribing: Videos and QRGs

Be sure to checkout the below videos and QRGs for future prescribing for support.

Note: All of the below content can also be found in eCoach where the learning resources for Unity are available.

Freestyle precision pro (FPP) glucose and ketone meter training sessions

Freestyle precision ( FPP) glucose and ketone meter training sessions are available to all staff.

Sessions will run on Wednesday 28 February, pathology seminar room, City

Session times are as follows:

• 10am -11am
• 11am – 12am
• 12pm – 1pm
• 1pm – 2pm

If you would like to book a session please email POCT on swb-tr.swbh-pcot@nhs.net

ITV drama ‘Breathtaking’

You may be aware of a particularly hard-hitting drama that has aired on ITV this week which has caught some viewers unawares, as it portrays the pandemic in a format which many colleagues will immediately recognise. Whether you have already watched it, plan to watch it or will definitely avoid watching it, we would like to ensure you are aware of the support offered should you feel affected either by watching it or by the subsequent media coverage and widespread public conversation ongoing across social media at the moment.

All of us lived through the pandemic and will have dealt with our response to it in different ways. It is still far too early for many to relive any traumatic experience and this drama may well trigger an unexpected response to what you endured. Reliving those days may bring back both professional and personal memories and induce feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, loss, bereavement and moral distress.

During the pandemic, it was a sense of togetherness and team that was most protective in the face of the distress and uncertainty.  The same is true now.  We still face daily pressures in an over-stretched system that can lead to moral distress.  For some of us, a TV series like this and the resulting commentary on social media could bring certain emotions to the surface and it may be that you need a safe space to talk, process and share your story.

There are many sources of support to access, so please make use of them if you need to. If there is anything further, you feel we can do to support you please raise through your line manager.

Here are some available options:

Locally: 

Counselling services at SWB

Mental Health is a conversation that can be hard sometimes, especially finding the right person to talk to. That’s why here at the trust we have a free counselling service for our staff.

If you are feeling worried, anxious, or simply need some support then the occupational health team are here for you.

To contact the Trust’s counselling service, call 0121 507 3306, option 1.

Nationally:

NHS Practitioners Health (confidential, professional, prompt support for doctors in mental distress or struggling with addiction)

Web: Practitioner Health Tel: 0300 030 3300. Text for Crisis support on 85258

Doctors in Distress (Charity that protects and promotes the mental health of all healthcare professionals)

Web: Home – Doctors in Distress – Support For Healthcare Workers (doctors-in-distress.org.uk)

BMA Wellbeing Support Service (no membership requirements. Open to all).

Telephone: 0330 123 1245

Massage sessions at Sandwell

Seated acupressure massage session is just one of the ways to de-stress and is available to all staff in the Trust.

A full consultation is completed with the therapist prior to the session and the massage is carried out safely over your own light clothing.

• Relieve back, neck and shoulder pain.
• Improve your mood.
• Reduce your stress and anxiety.
• Lift your energy.
• Increase circulation.

Alternate Tuesdays at Sandwell:

Dates: Tuesday 27 February, Tuesday 12 March, and Tuesday 26 March

Time: 9am – 4pm

Location: Berridge Room, Courtyard Gardens, Sandwell

Please call the occupational health and wellbeing service at 0121 507 3306 for to book an appointment between 8.30am -1pm Monday- Friday.