Monthly archives: February 2024
PAT testing across SWB
PAT testing contractors will continue their work across Sandwell until Monday 11 March. Then, work will commence at City from Monday 11 March – Friday 29 March.
The contractor will initially focus on non-clinical areas and move to clinical areas during this period. We kindly ask all staff to make their electrical equipment available for PAT testing wherever possible (laptops etc.). Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated as it contributes to maintaining a safe environment for all.
Should you have any queries or require further assistance regarding PAT testing, please don’t hesitate to contact the Equans helpdesk on ext. 4444.
Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 23 February
Life as a CEO is naturally spent in lots of meetings, and in the world of “system working”, I often spend hours online, therefore, wherever possible, I try to ensure that there is space in my diary to get away from my desk and spend time talking to colleagues delivering services – this is where I gather my most important information, from you, our people.
This week I spent time visiting the team at City Emergency Department. Thankfully, for colleagues in the ED and for our patients, the department was safe and calm, however it still was a visit which starkly reminded me of two things:
- Our physical estate is shockingly poor in parts. I could not stop thinking that this is the 21st century and we are one of the richest countries on earth and yet we are providing healthcare for some of the most vulnerable in society, from buildings that should have been closed years ago. Our move to the Midland Met cannot come soon enough.
- The demographic we serve is, on average, both poor and ethnically diverse. I have had exchanges on social media this week with one of our senior medical colleagues, who is understandably distressed about the housing, employment and lifestyle challenges which often bring people to our EDs and we are often powerless to prevent them from being discharged right back to the conditions which drove their poor health in the first place. This is why doing everything we can to avoid chronic disease, with partners in primary care, social care and the voluntary sector, has never been more necessary.
I am also available on a Wednesday morning (weekly where my diary allows) for you to join me for a cuppa. This is your opportunity to ask me any questions, raise concerns, share good news, or simply stop by to say hello (I am always happy to talk about my favourite off-work topics – Wolves(!), rock n roll). I rotate these around Sandwell, City and Rowley and they take place in our catering outlets, from 8.30am-9.30am – my next couple of sessions are below. From April, I will be putting on some lunchtime sessions, for those who find it difficult to make the earlier slot.
- Wednesday 6 March: 8.30am – 9am, Hallam Restaurant, Sandwell
- Wednesday 20 March, 8.30am – 9am, Archers, City
Please do use these opportunities to come and speak to me, you can keep up to date with where I am on a Wednesday morning via Connect and the comms bulletin, and teams can contact my PA, Sophie Harris to arrange for me to visit their area. Her e-mail address is sophie.harris46@nhs.net
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the official opening of phase two of our live and work project, in partnership with West Midlands Youth Homelessness Charity, St.Basils.
For those of you who don’t know about this project, it utilises the old nurse’s accommodation in Hallam Close at Sandwell Hospital, which have been renovated to a very impressive standard. These flats, alongside affordable rent, are offered to young people, aged between 18-25, who are working in health and care.
We know that housing and employment are two of the wider determinants of health, and having access to quality housing and meaningful employment creates an environment in which young people can grow and contribute positively and healthily to society. I am incredibly proud of our involvement in this wonderful project and thank you to everyone who has been involved in getting phase two up and running.
This weekend sees the start of the latest round of industrial action by our doctors in training, who will be staging a full walk out from 7am on Saturday to 23:59 on Wednesday 28 February.
Whilst we are sadly well practiced with our planning providing safe care during these periods, I fully recognise the toll that continued action is having across our entire workforce, and your wellbeing is at the centre of our planning.
We are planning to maintain our elective surgery as much as possible and my thanks goes to colleagues in surgical specialities, especially anaesthetics, for exemplary planning during previous action. Medicine and Emergency Care colleagues have also done a sterling job of managing gaps in their rota, so a huge thank you to colleagues who are stepping in to make sure patients are kept safe, particularly overnight.
You can find out about our extended hours in our food outlets via Connect. I am on-call on Saturday so will be on both sites periodically during the day, and Rachel Barlow will be in on Sunday to support colleagues. We also have senior managers on site during the weekend as well, to oversee safe service delivery.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding our response to industrial action, please escalate through your line manager to feed into our tactical planning meetings.
Finally, phase three of our management of change formal consultation ( those changing base to Midland Met) officially launches on Monday. You should by now have had a conversation with your manager about the process and had an opportunity to watch our frequently asked questions video. If you haven’t, I would encourage you to talk to your line manager as soon as possible. The consultation will last for 90 days, until 27 May. This is your opportunity to ask questions and raise any concerns and work with your line managers to find solutions. It is not something to be feared, but please do speak up if you are finding the process hard and need support.
Even if you aren’t affected by the management of change, I would recommend giving the FAQs video a watch, it is very informative and really brings Midland Met to life and the ending will certainly bring a smile to your face.
You can find it here:
Do you know about the changes to inpatient dietetic services in Unity?
As you may already be aware, the process for referring your patients to the inpatient dietetic services has changed.
You are now able to refer directly to the appropriate team depending on the reason for the referral.
All staff will still refer to our service via ‘requests and care plans’ but will now have options for the following in Unity:
- Referral dietitian – adult
- Referral to nutrition nurse
- Referral dietitian – paediatric
Note: When searching for the above options, the Nutrition Nurse referral is accessible on the drop down menu when typing ‘nutrition’ in the search bar, whereas the others can be accessed searching ‘refer to.’
We require information from you about the ‘reason for referral’ and the type of input that you require from our service. We continue to require information about your patient’s height, weight, BMI and MUST score on your referral form. Please do not refer as ‘other’ without the addition of some clinical information about the reason for referral.
For more information please email sandwell.dietetics1@nhs.net or visit the team intranet page.
Upgrade affecting the HIE Portal: 29 February, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Please be aware that an essential IT upgrade will be taking place on Thursday 29 February, affecting the HIE Portal. The work is being carried out by Cerner/Oracle and is scheduled to begin at 6.30pm for approximately two hours and should be completed after 8.30pm.
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 6.30pm – 8.30pm. 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.
After this upgrade you will find that some of the HIE widgets have been renamed to more appropriate titles.
- “Visits” has been renamed to “Encounters”
- “Lab Results” has been renamed to “Blood Sciences”
- “Appointments” has been renamed to “Future Appointments”
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.
Pharmacy hub development has now commenced
The refurbishment works has now begun on the ground floor of Sheldon block at City Hospital (D43) to create a new pharmacy hub. It is in preparation for the opening of Midland Met and is part of our retained estate plans to reconfigure the City site.
The pharmacy hub will include a new dispensary area, reception, and drug automation system, and will also house essential pharmacy support functions.
The construction work will continue until late summer 2024. As a result, some disruption may occur, but we will work closely with any affected departments to minimise and manage this as much as possible.
For any further information please email vijay.droch@nhs.net
Do you know how to contact the inpatient think glucose team?
Our inpatient think glucose team are receiving an influx of referrals which are meant for the outpatient team. As a result, this is causing delays in the referral process as those referrals have to be forwarded on to the correct team meaning the referral process takes longer. With this in mind, when referring a patient to the inpatient think glucose team, please refer via Unity as per Trust guidelines.
Note: The team has a diabetes special nurse (DSN) and consultant at both Sandwell and City should colleagues require urgent support. These calls should be made via the switchboard and ask colleagues should ask for the on call DSN or consultant at Sandwell or City.
Prostate cancer awareness event this Saturday
There is a prostate cancer awareness sessions at Cape Day Centre, 453 Dudley Road, Smethwick, B18 4HE on Saturday 24 February, 10am – 4pm.
This particular session will include men wellness checks.
For more information call 0121 558 7548.
Key worker accommodation survey: We want to hear from you!
SWB’s strategic objective for people requires us to ensure we recruit and retain the right people. As part of that objective, we are looking at staff accommodation and how we can best support our colleagues in that area.
Before we can make any firm decisions we need to understand what the demand for accommodation might be.
We have some data, but by you participating in this short survey we will get a better understanding of what type of accommodation our staff want and what services they need within the vicinity of the accommodation. By completing our short survey, you could be helping your work colleagues of the future.
To complete the survey, please click the link below.
You can now use Unity to make an e-referral to Dermatology
There are many important benefits of using Unity to make referrals via requests/care plans including improved traceability, better visibility, easier reporting and safer follow up of patients due to clearer lines of communication between specialties, departments and teams within our Trust.
This helps reduce our reliance on paper referrals/forms and all their inherent associated clinical risks. Keeping all referrals in the patient’s record further reduces the risks of miscommunication and makes triaging of patients by the specialty much more straightforward and streamlined.
With this mind we must remind colleagues that to use referrals in Unity rather than contacting the team by telephone. The team should only be contacted by telephone for urgent requests.
For further details please see documents below:
- Patient Lists – Setting up the Multi-Patient Task List (MPTL)
- Clinical Documentation – Inpatient Referral to Specialist Service
- Clinical Documentation – Managing Referrals & Contacts via MPTL
For more information please contact Pam Towers on 0121 507 4153 or email pamela.towers@nhs.net.
Targeted malware campaign
The NHS has been targeted by a widespread malware-by-mail campaign.
Those who have been targeted will receive an email from an external sender with a customised targeted subject field (seen to be referencing NHS and NHS usernames), with an attached Excel spreadsheet.
Content within the spreadsheet prompts recipients to click a button resulting in a connection to a remote server triggers a malware infection.
400+ emails have already been seen across the NHSmail estate within the last 24 hours, and whilst preventative activity is taking place locally and centrally, it is expected that this attack is likely to be ongoing.
As always, you should remain vigilant around emails that you interact with – please be aware of any unexpected emails requesting usernames, passwords, or password reset links, and exercise caution when opening any attachments.
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.
← Older items Newer items →