Monthly archives: October 2024

There are so many ways to learn and develop

We will all have our preferences and styles when it comes to learning new skills. There are many ways and opportunities across the Trust to support this. This could be from personal reflection, weLearn activities, conversations with colleagues and peers, attending a course or webinar, projects, self-directed learning, shadowing others or having a coach or mentor. There are so many different ways to enhance your skills, knowledge and experience.

We would encourage you to reflect on the ways that you can learn and develop in your role and discuss opportunities with your line manager. Your Performance Development Review (PDR) is a perfect opportunity to explore this further and agree a plan with your manager over the coming year. Remember all staff PDRs for this year should be actioned by the end of December 2024.

Consider examples of the learning and organisational development opportunities to you that are showcased in our new brochure here. If you have any questions about this, contact the Learning and Development and Organisational Development Team by emailing swbh.landd@nhs.net.

HCA vacancy (band 2) – Acute Cardiology

Acute Cardiology is seeking a band 2 healthcare assistant for Acute Cardiology at the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.

The 32 bedded coronary care unit has patients with a variety of acute cardiac conditions, also caring for patients pre and post cardiac procedures such as angioplasty/pacemaker insertion.

Committed to delivering first class care to patients and their families, Acute Cardiology can offer dynamic and enthusiastic practitioners the benefits of working on a busy Coronary Care Unit, caring for patients with a variety of acute and chronic cardiac conditions.

As a band 2 healthcare assistant, you will be required to support the registered nurses in caring for acute cardiac patients. This will include assisting patients with activities of daily living, performing and recording vital signs and performing ECGs. There will also be an opportunity for you to complete your care certificate and to undertake venepuncture & cannulation training. You will be supported in your new role within your ‘mentor team’.

If you are a motivated individual who would like to join our team, Acute Cardiology would love to hear from you.

The job is available to internal applicants on Trac jobs here where you can also view the full job description and person specification.

The closing date for this vacancy is 29 October 2024.

Update: MMUH ID badges

So far we have handed out over 6,700 badges and with our next moves only three weeks away, it’s important that staff at City, who will be moving to Midland Met on either Wednesday 6 November or Sunday 10 November get their ID badge.

The team are in the BTC reception, Monday – Friday, 8am- 3.45pm should you want to collect your badge from City.

On the following days there will be a reduced service:

• Monday 21 October: 11am – 7pm
• Service closure between Wednesday 23 October until Tuesday 29 October. The service will then reopen on Wednesday 30 October, 8am,

You can also get your badges from the security office, level 2, Midland Met, 7am – 3pm each day.

Important update: Safeguard incident reporting system

Following the successful move of Sandwell into Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH), Safeguard has been updated to reflect the new wards and the combined Emergency Departments (ED). Please note the following key dates and details regarding incident reporting:

Key dates to remember:

Sandwell departments move after Sunday 6 October: As Sandwell has now moved to MMUH, any new incidents must be logged under the relevant MMUH department in Safeguard. However, for incidents that occurred before Sunday 6 October, you will have a 14-day grace period (until Sunday 20 October) to log these under the name of the ward where the incident occurred at Sandwell

City department move: From Sunday 10 November onwards, new incidents must be entered under the relevant MMUH department Incidents that took place before Sunday 10 November can still be logged under the name of the ward where the incident occurred at City Safeguard until the Sunday 24 November.

After these respective dates, all new incidents (after Sunday 6 October for Sandwell and Sunday 10 November for City) should be logged under the correct MMUH department on Safeguard.

Thank you for your cooperation as we make this important transition.

October is Black History Month

Black History Month began as an effort by Carter G.Woodson to recognise the valuable contribution made by people of African origin and was formally adopted into the UK in 1987.

People from African and Caribbean backgrounds have been a fundamental part of British history for centuries, however, many believe their value and contribution to society is often overlooked, ignored or distorted. With this in mind, the awareness month aims to recognise and celebrate black history.

Black History Month event at City: Unison will be commemorating Black History Month one last time before staff move to MMUH by hosting a special event at City in the Postgraduate Centre dining room on Friday 25 October, 10am – 4pm with food served from 12pm. For more information please email jodie.brown9@nhs.net or raydownie@nhs.net.

Exploring black history through the BBC: The BBC have put together a fantastic library of free programmes and resources exploring black history and culture which can accessed by clicking here.

Exciting films from cutting-edge black filmmakers: Channel 4 have a library of innovative and engaging short film pieces from upcoming black filmmakers which can be accessed by clicking here.

Take a look through time: Celebrating Black Cinema with Naomie Harris on Sky, also available on Now TV (This may require a subscription). A brilliant rendition of the best black films, both classic and modern with Naomie’s invited famous faces. Click here to access.

Get moving to: The Evolution of Black British Music on Netflix (This may require a subscription). Delve into the best tracks spanning the eras and the takeover of black sounds into mainstream British music by clicking here.

University of Birmingham events: the University will be celebrating the culture and histories of our Black communities with a comprehensive programme of events throughout the month which you can access by clicking here.

Other events across Birmingham: There are a variety of other Black History Month events taking place across Birmingham and the surrounding areas. For a comprehensive list please click here.

Online events around Black History Month: The Black History Month website has an array of digital events – should anyone be interesting in attending, please click here.

Interesting read: Mollie Hunte (1932-2015) was an essential part of the Black parent’s movement and the education movement in the UK during the 1960s onwards. Mollie was a vocal advocate for the betterment of young black children and their families and viewed education as a necessity and encouraged higher academic attainment for the black community where she worked. To read the full story, click here.

World Menopause Day: 18 October

Friday 18 October marks World Menopause Day and here at the Trust we have a range of resources to help you manage your menopause symptoms, as well as tips on start the conversation with those who experience the Menopause and how you can support them.

Menopause is defined as a biological stage in life that occurs when hormones change and eventually menstruation stops. Usually, it is defined as having occurred when someone has not had a period for 12 consecutive months (for those reaching Menopause naturally).

Menopause usually occurs between the ages of 45-55. The average Menopause age in the UK is 51, however it can be earlier naturally or due to surgery, illness or other reasons.

To learn more about the Menopause, you can access the guide here

Alongside a fact sheet – Menopause-Self-Care-Factsheet.pdf (swbh.nhs.uk)

Menopause policy can be accessed here 

We are pleased to have staff across the organisation who are specially trained to support those going through the Menopause.

Your Menopause champions are:

For line managers:

As a line manager, we have created a guide to help you to talk to members of your team who may be going through the Menopause and the support that is available to them. To access this guide click here – Line-Manager-Guide-Supporting-Colleagues-through-Menopause.pdf (swbh.nhs.uk)

If a member of your team is off sick and you need guidance to record their sickness on ESR, click here – Recording-Menopause-Related-Sickness-Absence.pdf (swbh.nhs.uk)

Online training:

To help improve awareness of Menopause, NHS England have developed a 30-minute Menopause awareness e-learning session.

This is available to all colleagues. It gives an overview of what the Menopause is, the common symptoms associated with it, and scenarios which will help our people better understand the ways in which they can support themselves and each other.

Whether you are a person going through the Menopause, or if you are looking for information to help you support a colleague, employee, friend or relative who is experiencing symptoms of the Menopause, this session may help you.

Training is accessible via the NHSE Learning Hub or via ESR. More information is available here:

Menopause Awareness– elearning for healthcare (e-lfh.org.uk)

Unity clinical systems and processes affected by clock change: 27 October, 12.45am BST to 1.30am GMT

Clocks are set to go back this month on Sunday 27 October, please be assured Unity will remain fully available and electronic orders and results will continue to flow. 

However, please be aware that colleagues may see the following message if a clinical action was scheduled to take place between 1am to 1.59am on Sunday 27 October, highlighting an inconsistency in times.

Ambiguous time message

This dialog could appear for some users after the time change occurs. Please note this is not an error and perfectly normal.

If a clinical action is scheduled to occur during the duplicate hour (from 1am to 1.59am) a user could potentially get this popup.

Select “Daylight” if the action is to take place in the FIRST 1.00 to 1.59 hour

Select “Standard” if the action is to take place in the SECOND 1.00 to 1.59 hour

Please be assured the activity will be closely monitored at all times.

Should you have any further queries then please contact your line manager in the first instance or the IT Service Desk on ext. 4050 or by contacting the Chat with the IT Service Desk.

Black Country Provider Collaborative Clinical Summit: 29 November

Work across the Black Country Provider Collaboration is happening at pace and there is plenty of fantastic work going on.

To hear all about the latest projects and updates please come along to the next clinical summit on Friday 29 November, West Bromwich Albion Football Club (The Hawthorns, Halfords Lane, West Bromwich, B71 4LF), 9.30am – 4pm.

The purpose of the summits is to bring clinicians and operational managers from across all four organisations together to drive the programme forward.

Registration is free, on a first come first serve basis, with priority given to clinical network members.

To register click here.

The registration will close on Wednesday 20 November. Itinerary and further details will be shared closer to the meeting date.

For any further enquires please contact ellie.hadlington@nhs.net

Storing your departments physical documents ahead of your move to MMUH or another site

With staff moving to MMUH or moving to other sites, we have had a number of issues raised regarding paper documentation and where these should be stored or destroyed.

With this in mind we have put together guidance for Trust colleagues who are moving.

The guidance covers topics such as:

• Leavers files
• Personal files for current staff
• Patient records
• Storage of documents for those working on retained estate and agile working

You can access the guidance by clicking here.

If you have any specific queries regarding storing your physical documents, please email nick.bellis@nhs.net, lynn.keightley@nhs.net or laura.bennett59@nhs.net

Mental Health First Aid training available for SWB staff

The Trust is committed to supporting our colleagues to maintain good health and wellbeing at work. To support better mental health at work, we are developing a cohort of trained Mental Health First Aiders within the Trust.

Mental Health First Aid is a two-day training course, delivered by internationally recognised experts, ‘Mental Health First Aid England’. It teaches people how to identify, understand and help a person who may be developing a mental health issue.  You will learn how to recognise those crucial warning signs of mental ill health, understand the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues, provide help on a first aid basis and effectively guide someone towards the right support.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about how to support colleagues’ mental health in the workplace. Anyone can become a Mental Health First Aider, whether or not you have experienced mental health issues yourself.  Please click here for further information to help you decide whether this training is right for you.

Training dates are available on Monday 25 November and Tuesday 26 November (“cohort 2”) and Tuesday 3 December and Thursday 5 December (“cohort 3”). You must be able to attend both days of the relevant cohort. You must also have your line manager’s support to attend.

This training is aimed at colleagues who are primarily based on-site. We are aiming to train a range of people from different areas to maximise accessibility to mental health first aid support. If we are oversubscribed, you may not be selected straight away but can be added to the waiting list.

To apply to join the training please complete the application form by clicking here.