Monthly archives: February 2024

National Apprenticeship Week: Meet Mandi Healy

At SWB, apprentices form an integral part of our workforce to maintain a highly skilled workforce. Through our Apprenticeship 1^st strategy, we support our people, patients and population and uphold our Trust values and strategic objectives to deliver excellent patient care.

Meet Mandi Healy – once an apprentice, Mandi now works as a maternity support worker in fetal medicine – and she can wholeheartedly recommend an apprenticeship. Here she shares her journey of how she began as a domestic, but with ambition and drive, completed a number of apprenticeships to achieve her career goals.

Meet the team: The widening participation team will be hosting pop up stalls from 10am – 2pm at the following locations should colleagues want to find out more about apprenticeships at SWB.

• Today (Wednesday 7 February), Hallam Restaurant foyer, Sandwell
• Tomorrow (Thursday 8 February), BTC, City

Digital Media Officer – Band 5 (secondment/fixed term until July 2025)

We are looking for a driven and experienced communicator to join the Communications team.

Reporting to the Internal Communications Manager, you will develop engaging content by using images, video, and written form, for the digital channels, both internal and external, including the website, intranet and social media channels, as well as regularly producing a staff newsletter sent out via email.

You will be able to think of creative ways to produce stand out campaigns across our channels and liaise with media in promoting the Trust.

To apply, please submit an expression of interest to emily.smith46@nhs.net by 5pm on Friday 16 February.

Pathology cellular bags

Pathology are falling short of green cellular pathology bags in the labs. Please can any clinics and theatres that use these check whether there are any stray bags that are not circulating in the system, and if so return them to pathology.

At City site bags received by pathology are collected by a driver and taken to cellular pathology lab at Wolverhampton New Cross. We receive empty bags back that are then distributed to their locations by a porter.

At Sandwell, the system is similar but the returned empty bags are left in the consumables hub where they are collected by staff from the units. There should be enough bags in circulation to support this system, but pathology do often experience a shortage.

If colleagues are collecting an empty bag to use for their unit, they must only take ones that are labelled for their area. If you do not have enough bags please email simon.brown8@nhs.net.

Emergency Pulse VPN maintenance today: 1.30pm – 6pm

Please be aware emergency Pulse VPN maintenance will be taking place this afternoon (Tuesday 6 February) from 1.30pm to 6pm due to an urgent NHS England security requirement to ensure the Trust’s VPN remote access remains secure and stable.

The work is being carried out by IT and is scheduled to begin at 1.30pm for approximately 4 and half hours and should be completed by 6pm.

During this time colleagues using Pulse VPN may experience a brief disconnection and may be forcibly logged off the system but will be able to log straight back in.

The activity will be closely monitored by our IT support teams.

As always, should you have any further queries please do contact the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 or via Chat with the IT Service Desk.

Clinical policy harmonisation- share your views to reduce difference in healthcare

NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) is asking people for their comments about proposals to reduce differences in access to healthcare services in the Black Country.

In July 2022, NHS Black Country ICB took over local healthcare planning serving the areas of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and Wolverhampton.

Since the establishment, the ICB have been reviewing its clinical policies. This includes:

• reviewing the four existing CCG policies to harmonise them into one new position for the ICB
• implementing new policies to take into account national clinical guidelines and best practice.

To address these differences, commissioning policies for treatments listed below are being reviewed to look at how they can be made the same for the places of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and Wolverhampton.

The clinical policy review will be carried out in stages. A public involvement exercise is now live to collect wider views and feedback from local people and staff to inform our final decision-making.

The closing date for comments is Monday 26 February 2024. Further involvement will be carried out over the coming month for the remaining clinical policies. Visit the ICB website to find out more information and have your say.

Right Care Right Person – assisting police with when to respond to incidents

Right Care Right Person (RCRP) is a new approach that launched from this week (Monday 5 February 2024) across all NHS Trusts in the Black Country.  

The approach is a process to assist police in making decisions about when it is appropriate for them to respond to incidents, including those which relate to people with mental health needs.

Please note, the threshold for a police response to a mental health-related incident is:

• to investigate a crime that has occurred or is occurring; or
• to protect people, when there is a real and immediate risk to the life of a person, or of a person being subject to or at risk of serious harm.

As healthcare providers we have been tasked in changing our practice and implementing due diligence prior to contacting police for support, and only to do so in the instances described above.

Advice and guidance can be gained by contacting

• Lee Hurst : 0121 507 2677 / 07977145610
• SWBH vulnerable adults team: 0121 507 2751
• Mental health liaison team City : 0121 507 6063
• Mental health liaison team Sandwell: 0121 612 8607
• Police Vulnerability’s desk via tel: 101

Raising awareness of female genital mutilation

Today, the world will mark International Day of Zero Tolerance against female genital mutilation (FGM) – and as a Trust we continue to support and treat women who are survivors of this cruel practice.

Alison Byrne, Specialist FGM Midwife who has been treating and caring women for 22 years. She runs specialist clinics for patients from across the West Midlands.

FGM comprises all procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights, the health and the integrity of girls and women.

Girls who undergo female genital mutilation face short-term complications such as severe pain, shock, excessive bleeding, infections, and difficulty in passing urine, as well as long-term consequences for their sexual and reproductive health and mental health.

Alison explains more about the effects of FGM in this video below:

Vaccination Update

Are you an AHP support worker thinking about obtaining English and Maths?

The Trust offer two routes to support you to complete English and Maths.

Option 1 

• Enrol with Halesowen College where you would receive training sessions with a tutor

Option 2 

• Independent learning using an electronic platform called BKSB

To express your interest or if you have any questions please email:swbh.apprenticeship@nhs.net

Job of the week: Overseas Visitors Officer, Band 4

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Overseas Visitors team as an Overseas Visitors Officer.

The successful applicant will be responsible for providing advice and liaising with internal colleagues and external agencies, regarding all matters concerned with identification, assessment and charging of Overseas Visitor patients, in accordance with national legislation and guidelines, as well as local Trust policies and procedures.

The closing date for this vacancy is Monday 12 February.

For further details and to apply, please click here.

For more information about the role, please email kieran.bolger@nhs.net or call 07977 147986.