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Monthly archives: August 2024

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 2 August

 

Yesterday, we celebrated a special birthday celebration at our very own Rowley Regis Hospital.  An integral part of the SWB estate, Rowley Regis Hospital opened its doors to patients on 1 August 1994 – 30 years ago, but it seems like only yesterday.   Not only does it provide a comprehensive range of community services, including rehabilitation care, but it is also the base for many of our community teams, who work with acute colleagues to ensure patients are getting their treatment and care in the right place for their needs.  I would like to thank all colleagues who work there for their contribution to great patient care. Those of you who regularly to Rowley will testify that is very much a family feel to the place and long may that continue.  Services at Rowley will be expanding soon – stroke rehabilitation services for Sandwell and Dudley residents are planned here, so it is going from strength to strength.

Moving onto to another new member of our SWB estate , Midland Met, I am delighted to share that earlier this week we reached a\ fantastic milestone. The Building Control Occupation Certificate has been issued. This document is issued by the Building Control Officer as a first step towards the completion of the building. The final Building Regulations Certificate – a sign completion – will follow when the final tasks have been done by Balfour Beatty in the coming days and weeks. These sorts of things showcase just how close we are to the opening of the new hospital in October.

Last week we had an excellent clinical and operational readiness away day – thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to such great conversations. The feedback I have received from this was very positive and shows how committed and engaged you all are at getting us over the final few weeks to opening. A highlight of the day was the closure of 100 of our interdependencies , the day started with 209 but after getting the right people together to talk this through , over 100 were resolved. It just shows the power of working and collaborating with colleagues and I urge you to continue to do so.

We also held operational readiness focused group reviews, which provided an opportunity to spend time with each of our clinical groups and look at what is still outstanding and where they need support.  Again – these were very positive conversations.

Our operational readiness continues to increase, but there are still some areas that the team and I ask you to focus on, including ensuring job plans are finalised and uploaded onto e-allocate and that you work with finance to ensure that contracts and service level agreements with third parties have been updated and approved.

Lastly, a reminder to both clinical and non-clinical staff who will be moving to and /or working at Midland Met. You are required to complete the online general induction which covers every aspect of working at the new hospital. This is delivered via Centric Cortex and you can easily register for an account ( details here ). For any queries about induction, please email  swbh.mmuhinduction@nhs.net.

Finally, a tougher note to end on, we ended our month three financial position £10K better than our plan, which is good, however, I don’t want you to lose sight of the £40m deficit plan that we must deliver against this year. As I have said before, this isn’t going to be easy, but we must all play our part in. We must all continue to keep a focus on improvement and efficiency, particularly through the workstreams of workforce, theatres, and outpatients.

We know that some of the best ideas for efficiency and improvement come from you,  so I  encourage you again to please engage in the financial improvement programme and come forward and share your ideas here.

Drug Safety Notice – Sodium Bicarbonate 1.26% Polyfusors (Fresenius Kabi)

 

Problem – 

Sodium bicarbonate 1.26% polyfusors are out of stock until further notice due to supply disruption.

Advice – 

  • Sodium bicarbonate for intravenous infusion is licensed for the treatment of metabolic acidosis and rapid urine alkalinisation.
  • The volume, strength and rate of infusion will depend upon the requirements of individual patients. In less urgent forms of metabolic acidosis, an average dose for adults and older children is 2-5 mmol of bicarbonate per kg bodyweight, given over 4-8 hours. Subsequent doses should be adjusted to the individual patients’ requirements.
  • Sodium bicarbonate 1.26% and 1.4% are suitable for peripheral administration. In non-emergencies, concentrations over 1.4% should be given via a central venous access device but in emergencies, higher concentrations (4.2% and 8.4%) may be given peripherally.

Alternative – 

  • Pharmacy has very limited short-dated stock of the 1.26% Polyfusors and will not be able to procure further supplies.
  • In the interim where sodium bicarbonate 1.26% solution is required, sodium bicarbonate 8.4% (bicarbonate 1mmol/mL, sodium 1mmol/mL) may be diluted as outlined below.

To see how to prepare a solution of sodium bicarbonate 1.26%, actions and further resources – see here for the full document.

For further information contact your ward based pharmacy team or the pharmacy department (City ext.5263 / Sandwell ext.3783)

Wake up Wednesday – Coffee Morning

 

The Trust Library and Knowledge Service is hosting a coffee morning on Wednesday 21 August in the Conference Room at the Education Centre, Sandwell.

Come anytime between 10am – 12.30pm and the team will randomly pair you with a person to sit down and have a chat with.

For more information contact: swbh.library@nhs.net

Please register at: swbh.welearnrandomisedcoffeechat@nhs.net

IT patching affecting web portals: 13 August, 10pm – 14 August, 2am

 

Please be aware essential IT Patching will be taking place on Tuesday 13 August to ensure the Trust’s Web server remains stable. The work is being carried out by IT and is scheduled to begin at 10pm for approximately 4 hours and should be completed by 2am on Wednesday 14 August.

During this time, the following web portals will be unavailable for up to 30 minutes affecting the following services:

  • 18wwAudits
  • ActiveServers
  • A&E Datacapture – this is the business continuity for FirstNet
  • BMEC Advice Line
  • ClinicalAuditAdmin
  • Default Web Site
  • DoctorsLeave
  • eBMStest
  • www_EDMonitor
  • equipAM
  • FTSU
  • HisCustServRota
  • icmmonitoring
  • ioshelp
  • ITWeb
  • Medical Examiners
  • PathResults
  • Pharmtrack
  • proxy
  • ReportsPortal
  • Rotawatch
  • SSNAP
  • Switchboard Emergency call log
  • TPRS
  • VIDS known as Discharge to Access – D2A

We would recommend that affected areas have their local business continuity plans in place during the above time.

Note: This timeslot has been chosen as a quieter time operationally to minimise impact.

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.

Drug safety notice – Kay-Cee-L (potassium chloride 5mmol/5ml) syrup

 

Kay-Cee-L (potassium chloride 5mmol/5ml) syrup will be out of stock from late September 2024. The anticipated re-supply date has not yet been confirmed.

The supply disruption is caused by an amendment to the manufacturing process, requiring re-formulation, and revalidation of the product.

For advice and alternatives, please see information sheet here.

For further information, contact your ward based pharmacy team or pharmacy department – City ext. 5263 or Sandwell ext. 3783.

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