Monthly archives: May 2024

Mitel phone system maintenance: 5 June, 10pm – 1am

Our telephone provider will be carrying out essential maintenance to the Trust’s Mitel phone system at City on Wednesday 5 June from 10pm overnight to 1am.

During this time colleagues may experience a minor disconnect to incoming or outgoing calls from City for a few minutes. This will not affect the analogue phones used on the wards, the Bleeps application, mobile phones or emergency red phones utilised in our A&E, Maternity and Cardiology Departments.

We would recommend that this information is included in Ward handovers and that business continuity is put in place including all ward mobile phones charged and actively manned by ward leads during the times stated.

In the unlikely event of issues with the phone system, radios are located in both security offices at Sandwell and City as well as and Rowley reception which will be fully charged and available for collection.

Action required following the maintenance: In the unlikely event colleagues experience an issue with black Mitel phone handset following the maintenance, then please unplug the network cable from the wall outlet and reconnect to the same outlet, this will force the handset to reset and continue operating. The handset will be operational after two minutes.

Please be assured the activity will be closely monitored by our IT support and telephony teams.

As always, should you have any further queries then please do contact the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050. Alternatively you can live chat with the IT Service Desk.

Book Sale at Sandwell main reception: 17-21 June

Macmillian Cancer Services are hosting a book sale from Monday 17 June – Friday 21 June, 9am – 3pm outside Costa, Main Reception, Sandwell.

So, if you like getting lost inside a book or fancy a quick read, head down to the book sale where you can find a variety of books from fiction to non-fiction, classic stories and children’s books.

All proceeds from the sale will go towards supporting cancer services for staff and patients.

If you have any questions, please contact Nicole via ext. 3788.

Important update regarding PPE stock

Deliveries of the government-funded PPE stock ceased at the end of March 2024. There are a number of items that will now need to be ordered via NHS Supply Chain as stocks are reducing.

Below are the NHS Supply Chain ordering codes:

If you are in a materially managed area, a member of the Scan4Safety Team will be in contact regarding adding these items to your catalogue and discussing current stock levels.

Colleagues are required to ensure they have enough stock of these items at all times.

If you have any questions or require any further information, please contact Lisa Southhall on ext. 4938.

SWB at Birmingham Pride

Sandwell and West Birmingham Staff were in attendance at the Birmingham Pride Parade on Saturday 25 May 2024 flying the flags for the NHS.

It was a wonderful day for all who were celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community.

The next network meeting will be held on Thursday 18 July, 10am – 12pm at City Dining Room.

If you would like a link to a Teams Meeting please contact: thomas.devaney@nhs.net.

Join us for Midland Met Matters

Payroll timetable for Spring Bank Holiday 2024

The payroll timetable for the Spring Bank Holiday can be found below.

Spring BH 2024

If you would like further information about pay dates during this time or throughout the year, please contact the Payroll team on 0121 507 6655.

Carers Team market place

Sandwell Carers Team are holding a marketplace event as part of their Carers Week 2024 celebrations. 

The event will have stalls with carer support services across the borough, including stalls from the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital team.

This year’s Carers Week has a theme of  ‘Putting Carers on the Map’ and the team hope this event will help with highlighting the carrying support services available to those in Sandwell.

The event will take place: Thursday 11 June, 9.30am – 12.30pm at Bristnhall Hall Road, Oldbury, West Midlands, B68 9TY.

If you would like more information please contact babyta.kaura@nhs.net 

LGBTQ+ Domestic Abuse Support Service

It is widely recognised that health professionals are often the first point of contact for victims/ survivors of domestic abuse.

There can be additional barriers to disclosing abuse for some victims, including those who are LGBTQ+. Domestic Abuse is a pattern of controlling or coercive behaviour (including but not limited to) emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and financial abuse. It includes being forced into marriage without consent, being threatened because family members believe an individual is bringing shame or dishonour to the family and community.

Abusers may threaten to ‘out’ their victim, prevent them from expressing their gender identity. It is important that staff receiving disclosures of domestic abuse listen, take a non-judgemental approach and are able to respond with support and sign posting to specialist advice and services. The same approach should be taken whether supporting a patient/client or a member of staff.

Please see the IDVA (Independent Domestic Violence Advisor) leaflet here.

For advice and support: DA Lead Nurse 0121 569 7223/0121 507 2844, Hospital IDVA 0121 507 4829 (City), 0121 507 3787 (Sandwell).

Galop LGBT Domestic Violence Helpline: 0800 999 5428

Going abroad this summer? Travel Health Pro is here to help you

Travel Health Pro is your one-stop shop for health this summer, working with the United Kingdom Health Safety Authority ( UKHSA).

TravelHealthPro is the website comprising the travel health resources of the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC).

NaTHNaC was set up by the Department of Health in 2002 with the broad aim of Protecting the Health of British Travellers. It aims to seek to improve the quality of travel health advice given by GP practices, travel clinics, pharmacies and other healthcare providers. Also providing up-to-date and reliable information for the international traveller, travel industry and national government.

So whether you are visiting the hot warm beaches abroad this year, or soaking up the sun on your next city break, then head to the Travel Health Pro website.

Healthier Futures News – May 2024

Dear colleagues, 

Welcome to the May edition of our Healthier Futures Newsletter.

Here you will find stories sharing the success from across our place-based
partnerships, our NHS provider collaboratives and our frontline health and care staff.
In this edition we are recognising the increasing role of community pharmacy
in supporting our community’s health needs, we have some great reminders
of our achievements through recently acquired awards and we showcase the
work of our collaboratives and place-based partnerships.
As we enter a new financial year, I am reminded of our challenges across
health and care, including:

• Restoration and recovery from COVID-19 – whilst significant progress has
been made to reduce waiting list backlogs, we need to ensure that we continue
to recover services and address existing health inequalities in access.

• Urgent and emergency care pressures – whilst we are one of the better
performing systems for delivery of the four-hour accident and emergency
target, urgent and emergency care remains our most pressured area. The
demand for services at peak times, particularly in the colder months, is
exceeding the capacity which we have.

• Out of hospital care demand – whilst we have improved access to out of
hospital services, the demand for out of hospital services including primary,
mental, community services and social care is continuing to increase as a
result of a growing ageing population and chronic disease.

• Workforce – we know that we have significant challenges including an ageing
workforce, recruitment and retention challenges, and that looking after the
health and wellbeing of staff is a key priority.

• Finance and efficiency – our system is facing significant financial challenges
which can only be addressed by partners working together to deliver
increased productivity, transforming and redesigning services to drive
improved outcomes and make better use of resources. It is key that we
focus on being financially stable so that we have the resources needed to
focus on prevention to address the health inequalities affecting our most
disadvantaged people and communities.

Despite these we have much to be proud of and together we remain
committed to driving forward our plans for integrated care that meets the
needs of our diverse population. NHS partners have recently published a
refreshed Joint Forward Plan and as an Integrated Care Partnership we
are refreshing our Integrated Care Strategy. We recognise that there are still
challenges to be overcome, but we are confident that by working together,
we can continue to make progress towards our shared goals. The future
opportunities are limitless as we continue to strengthen our relationships
across the health and care sector and across a broader perspective, with other
public services that benefit the Black Country population, we are confident we
will see these opportunities delivered.

Finally, on behalf of the partnership, I want to express our best wishes
to Professor David Loughton CBE, Group Chief Executive for The Royal
Wolverhampton and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trusts, who retired at the end of
April.

Professor David Loughton CBE has dedicated much of his life to improving
health services locally and his success can be put down to his passion, drive
and ability to deliver. His leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and
the work he has done to transform local services such as pathology are just
two examples of the immense contribution which he has made. I’m sure you
will join me in wishing him a long, healthy and happy retirement as he has
more than earned it.

To read May’s newsletter, click here.

With best wishes,

Jonathan Fellows

Chair, Black Country Integrated Care Partnership
Chair, Black Country Integrated Care Board