Monthly archives: June 2024

My part in Midland Met – Marc Ros Cisa, Clinical Change Manager

How long have you been at SWB and what is your current role?

I have worked at SWB for almost two years, previously in the clinical nurse practitioners’ team and now as a clinical change manager.

What part does your role contribute to the Midland Met project?

I am a clinical change manager who works in partnership with Dionne Mullings. Our primary objective is to standardise work processes across the Trust to provide the best possible care to our patients and their families.

To achieve this, we collaborate closely with various ward personnel, including nursing staff, healthcare assistants, doctors, physiotherapists, discharge coordinators, and matrons. We’re working to transition to Midland Met with a new rhythm of the day and high-quality ward and board rounds. We are confident that this will positively impact the level of care we provide to our patients and their families at Midland Met.

How are you preparing for the opening of Midland Met in your team?

We are very enthusiastic about moving to Midland Met. As clinical change managers, we are going into the wards and speaking with colleagues to see what we need to change to make their work easier.

We are addressing any doubts and queries about the new hospital. Plus, we’re encouraging teams that haven’t visited Midland Met to do that, so they are familiar with their areas before moving.

In what ways will our new hospital help to shape your role for the better?

My priority is to ensure that patients receive the best possible care and that we continue to be innovative in our approach to patient care. To support this, we are currently implementing changes that will enable us to achieve our goals related to the fundamentals of care and hospital standardisation when we move into Midland Met.

By improving our care processes before we relocate, we will be able to experience the benefits of these changes right from the start when our new acute hospital opens.

The biggest benefit that Midland Met will bring in your opinion is…

Innovation. Our new hospital will have a single emergency department equipped with larger assessment units and modern technology to improve the patient experience. The innovative approaches will also positively impact our colleagues, so I’m ready to move in 2024.

Have you been on a site tour?

Yes, and I loved it! I visited Midland Met and found it spacious, with logically located departments. The Winter Garden is beautiful, and the space will make a positive difference for colleagues and the communities we serve.

A site for sore eyes – colleagues praise Midland Met after site tour

Last week, we welcomed colleagues who enjoyed a tour of the spiritual care centre at Midland Met.

Senior Arts Manager, Amy Campbell, was impressed to see the space, particularly the hospital art gallery. Located on level 5, the gallery will be a pleasant feature in the Winter Garden. Amy was interested to see the space for new art commissioned by a local artist.

Amy commented: “We’ve commissioned local artist, Caroline Jariwala, to produce a brand new mosaic for our spiritual care centre. The space has lots of natural light, and we’ve decided where the piece will go. This piece will celebrate all the different faiths that we have in our community. The rest of the hospital is fantastic. It was great to have a look around.”

Changes to mouthwash availability with immediate effect

Chlorhexidine mouthwash is no longer available to order.

This product is not part of the Mouthcare Matters pathway and should not be routinely used for all patients.

This mouthwash is now only available for Oncology patients. If an individual patient requires chlorhexidine mouthwash as part of their individual care pathway it can be prescribed for them following the normal process.

Stryker mouth moisturiser is available to order as stock and is a minty fresh moisturiser for patients with a dry mouth.  It should be used to compliment twice daily brushing with toothpaste for patients identified as requiring additional mouth care.

To place a stock order use order number: FPA665 via NHS Supply Chain.

The gel tube looks very similar to toothpaste so please store it separately.

Please inform your teams of the above change.

For any clinical queries please contact: sarah.bone3@nhs.net

Are you interested in a leadership qualification?

Arden University is offering two NHS Leadership Academy leadership programmes, the Mary Seacole and Rosalind Franklin as part of apprenticeship standards.

• Level 6 Chartered manager degree apprenticeship (Health & Care) with Mary Seacole
• Level 7 Senior leader apprenticeship (Rosalind Franklin)

There will be a series of webinars throughout July, that colleagues can access. To register your interest – click here.

The webinars will cover:

• A Programme Information Session
• A try before you buy – Impact Workshop (live learning experience)
• Line Manager information session – for all line managers who have someone interested in applying for an apprenticeship. The attached guide provides an overview of what is discussed in the session.

The ‘try before you buy’ taster sessions is to help those interested in enrolling onto an apprenticeship to fully understand what is entailed, what commitment is required and what learning is like with a digital-first university.

The 90-minute taster sessions offer first-hand experience of the virtual interactive impact workshops that apprentice learners will attend every month on the programme with them.

They also have Line Manager information sessions to help line managers understand what’s involved with supporting an apprentice. Line Managers play a key role in an apprentices’ success and experience throughout their learning journey as they link their education with on-the-job application.

In addition to this, they are also hosting apprenticeship programme sessions for more specific insight into each of their courses.

Note:  All apprenticeship programmes of study, require study leave approval by your Line Manager (complete a Trust Study Leave Form).

Please contact swbh.apprenticeship@nhs.net to secure a place on a programme, so appropriate levy funds can be made available.

Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist secondment – July 2024

We are currently seeking a registered nurse to join the Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist team on a 9 month secondment to cover maternity leave as a Band 6.   The post is suitable for nurses who are seeking to broaden their knowledge and skills in managing patients with asthma, COPD, Interstitial Lung Disease and Bronchiectasis. You must have an interest in respiratory medicine, patient education, health promotion and managing patients with complex chronic respiratory illness. You should be committed to high standards of care delivery, clinical quality and professional development.

This is a valuable opportunity to work within the respiratory Nursing team and alongside a wider team of respiratory Consultants, respiratory physiologists, Lung Cancer/TB CNS’s and respiratory Hub.   You will gain experience in managing patients with both acute and chronic respiratory illness. The successful person will be able to develop confidence and expertise in clinical assessment, interpretation of spirometry, FENO, arterial blood gases, CXR’s and CT scans.  They will ensure management of patients is in keeping with the BTS/NICE/GOLD guidelines as well as the local hospital policies. They will make recommendations ensuring treatment is optimised and ensure that discharges are safe. The role will predominantly be inpatient assessments with the opportunity to participate with supervision in nurse led clinics such as asthma and bronchiectasis clinic. The secondment will include opportunities to gain a wider understanding of management of respiratory disease in the community and will require referrals to be made for pulmonary rehabilitation and to palliative care.

You will be working alongside our experienced clinical nurse specialists who will guide and support you to develop key skills in all aspects of management of airways disease, ILD and Bronchiectasis.

Note: Experience within respiratory medicine or acute medicine would be highly desired.

Start date for this role is July 2024 but this can be negotiated. Agreement must be sought from the applicant’s line manager to be released for this secondment.  Please note this is a 7 day service so rotations onto weekends are expected. Working day would be 8am – 4pm however we can be flexible.

Applications should be sent in the form of an expression of interest letter as well as a simple CV detailing your experience and suitability for the role to t.mytton@nhs.net. For further information please call 0121 5053/3981 or bleep 5740 or 6344.

New employee benefit – Free mortgage advice service

No cost, no catch, no hassle

Mortgage advice specialists at Dunham McCarthy are able to offer you free guidance to help you navigate the homebuying or remortgage process. With access to over 90 lenders they can secure the best mortgage deal for your unique situation.

Dunham McCarthy have been working with our Trust for many years, providing our colleagues with access to a free will-writing service.

For more information and to book your Mortgage appointment, click here.

(Not available to bank staff)

NHS service finder: struggling to contact a GP or local NHS service?

NHS Service finder allows colleagues to contact NHS organisations such as GPs using a non-public phone number.

You can register here with an NHS email account and then enter a postcode and find any local NHS service.

Be sure to check out this short video below to find out more or click here.

Respiratory internal e-referral launch

We are pleased to announce the launch of the respiratory internal e-referral system via Unity, effective Tuesday 18 June. This new process is designed to ensure prompt processing of referrals, thereby reducing waiting times and enabling real-time tracking of referral statuses. This provides both the referrer and specialists with up-to-date information on each case.

With the implementation of e-referrals, respiratory services will no longer accept paper referrals. Please refer to the guidelines below for using e-referrals to Respiratory in Unity:

1. Access and open the record for the patient for whom you want to request an eReferral to respiratory.
2. Click on “Request Careplans” in the Menu (left-hand side of the screen) and click on the “Add” button.
3. In the search field, type “Referral to respiratory.”
4. Upon selecting the order, the Ordering Clinician window will appear. Fill in the details and sign.
5. A reference text box will appear upon signing the order. Read and sign.
6. Fill in the form with the appropriate information as prompted, then sign.

Important notes

Do not use this form for the following requests:

• Respiratory CNS review: Please bleep the respiratory CNS through the switchboard.
• Review for initiating inpatient NIV: Please bleep the NIV nurse/respiratory registrar (9 am-5 pm)/medical registrar (out of hours) for review, through the switchboard.
• Additions to Lung Cancer MDT: Please email the lung MDT coordinator at swbh.lung-mdt-coordinator@nhs.net.
• Pleural clinic review: Please email the pleural clinic at swbh.pleuralreferrals@nhs.net.

Urgent Referrals

Fill out this form for conditions requiring inpatient respiratory review. If the patient is clinically deteriorating or unstable, also contact the respiratory registrar (9am – 5pm) or the medical registrar (out of hours) through the switchboard before completing this form. Referrals submitted through this request will be reviewed within 24 hours of submission (during weekdays), unless advised of escalating clinical urgency warranting more urgent review.

Non-Urgent Referrals:

Fill out this form for conditions requiring respiratory review within 24 hours. A phone call is not required unless the patient becomes unstable.

Thank you for your cooperation in implementing this new e-referral system. We are confident that it will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our respiratory referral process.

iPM maintenance: 20 June, 8.30pm – midnight

Please be aware an essential iPM maintenance will be taking place on Thursday 20 June from 8.30pm to midnight by our support vendor to ensure the Trust’s system remains up to date and stable.

During this time Unity will remain available; however, the systems detailed below will be unavailable for 30 minutes from 8.30pm to 9pm:

• Brand new patients to the trust should be allocated a prenumbered RXK label and iPM updated as per ED BC plans for new patients not already on iPM. The allocated RXK number will become the patients actual RXK number and can be used immediately for ordering any diagnostic investigations via the BCP processes.
• Patients new to the Trust will not be visible in Medisoft – full BCP required.
• Orders placed in Unity will not go to Radiology/Pathology during this time but will be sent once the systems come back up – BCP required. Paper requests will be required to process all pathology samples during downtime.
• New results will not be visible in Unity during this time but will be sent once the systems come back up. – The laboratory will prioritise urgent requests from ED, ITU/CCS, AMU, coronary care and paediatrics/neonates during this period. Urgent results will be phoned to the requestor.
• Inpatients admitted from ED will not show up in iPM until the systems are back up.
• Inpatients transferred between wards will show on Capman and Unity but not on iPM until the systems are back up.
• Inpatients discharged during this time will not show as discharged in iPM until the systems are back up.
• Any new baby registrations will not be able to be completed until the systems are back up – BCP required.

Colleagues will need to ensure they revert to BCPs for blood tests and imaging requests during this time. Other Unity functionality such as documentation and meds admin will not be affected by this activity. Desktop alerts will be issued from 6pm advising colleagues about the maintenance.

The activity will be closely monitored by our support vendor and 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.

Job of the week: Junior Sister/Charge Nurse Paediatrics Band 6

Are you a highly motivated, dynamic and flexible Registered Children’s Nurse ready to join our Paediatric Emergency Department?

An opportunity has arisen for a Junior Sister / Charge Nurse within the Paediatric Emergency Department. We have an excellent team of healthcare professionals dedicated to Emergency Care provision. We currently have vacancies for the role of two Paediatric ED Sisters/Charge Nurse within the Children’s Emergency Department.

You will need to have significant experience in an acute paediatric nursing or A&E setting. Ideally, you will have completed the triage assessment, PILS, and mentorship and will be able to provide evidence of professional development. We can provide a proactive learning environment with access to a professional development nurse within the department as well as many supportive in-service learning opportunities.

You will be expected to work cross-site at City Hospital and Sandwell Hospital within the role of Sister/Charge nurse.

For more information about the role can be found here.

The closing date is Friday 14 June at 11.59pm