Monthly archives: October 2024

Focus on pharmacy

The pharmacy departments at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH), Sandwell and City sites are now all fully open and offer a range of services across all sites. They can be found at the following locations and can be contacted using the numbers below:

NB: When City wards move to MMUH, City inpatient pharmacy and stores will remain on the main spine, the City outpatient pharmacy will be located temporarily within the BTC, until Sheldon Block Pharmacy opens in early 2025.

The way the pharmacy team works is changing, so the following information may be helpful.

Fluid deliveries

Fluid deliveries will be managed by the pharmacy team, until Baxters take over management of stocks (early 2025) who will deliver directly to all ward areas. Fluids will be delivered to the blue shelving units in the clean utility rooms and other allocated areas. The shelving units are the property of Baxters and MUST NOT be used for storage for any other items.

Fluid stock checks will be carried out as follows:

• Further details of current scheduled fluid deliveries at MMUH can be found on the Pharmacy Connect page here.
• If you require urgent fluid stock requirements outside of these delivery times, please use the on-line ad-hoc order form here. 

A small stock holding of fluids is kept at MMUH pharmacy, however the majority of our fluids will be stored at the main City pharmacy stores. We will endeavour to deliver urgent requests within 4 hours. If your request is more urgent than this, please find alternative stock in a nearby Omnicell ADC/Clean Utility or contact pharmacy directly.

Stock Deliveries

Please see the Pharmacy Connect page for more details.

Monday-Friday

ADCS for all clinical areas will be topped up daily by a member of pharmacy staff. They will load stock directly into the ADC, so please note you may see pharmacy assistants working at ward level within your clean utilities.

Saturday, Sunday & Bank Holidays

ED, AMU and Critical Care will receive an Omnicell ADC top up which will be loaded into the ADC by a member of pharmacy staff.

All other areas can continue to order stock via the ad-hoc order form here.

Please note that you can also check locations of stock in other ADCs across the Trust using your own ADC. If you are unsure how to do this, then please speak to the superuser in your area.

Cut off times

Monday-Friday

Cut off times for routine work are as follows:

MMUH, City and Sandwell

• Medidose TTOs and CD requests – 1pm
• TTOs – 4pm

Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays

Midland Met 

• Medidose TTOs and CD requests – 1pm
• TTOs – 3pm

City

• Medidose TTOs and CD requests – 1pm
• TTOs – 3pm

Sandwell 

• Closed

Omnicell ADC queries

For all enquiries, your Superuser at ward level should be contacted in the first instance, as they can help solve most common issues. If you have a simple query, the ward based pharmacy team may also be able to help with simple enquiries e.g. how to source and fill more printer rolls, general stocking etc.

If needed, the pharmacy team or superuser will escalate to the Pharmacy Informatics team for support where required.

If the problem is still not resolved, then the details for the Omnicell 24/7 query line can be found on the side of your machine and they can be contacted at any time.

Please note the on-call pharmacist is not able to help with Omnicell enquiries out of hours. The CNPs are superusers, so can also help to support overnight.

On-call Pharmacist Service

There is no change to the on-call pharmacist service, which covers all SWB sites, and they can be contacted via switchboard. The on-call pharmacist is not on site overnight and will attend for calls from home. Please therefore ensure that before you contact the on-call pharmacist for stock enquiries, you have checked for stock across the Trust via your ADC and the pharmacy out-of-hours room at City and MMUH.

Find out more here. 

BVT02 Bladder Scanner Training Videos

Source Medical have shared how to access and download bladder scanner training videos.

To access the training videos for the BVT02 bladder scanner, please click here.

This page prompts for a password, please use: bladdertrain119

Mindful employer: two free webinar’s this October

Mindful employer are offering two free courses throughout October, open to SWB colleagues.

• Overcoming Imposter Syndrome  with Anna Croucher on Wednesday 16 October – 2pm – 3pm – you can register here
• Battling Adversity with Nigel Owens, on Wednesday 16 October, 11am – 12pm – you can register here 
• Building the Gap, Supporting Grief at Work – Faith Holloway, Thursday 17 October 11am – 12pm – you can register here

Are you using the electronic notice of death form within Unity?

As you may be aware, with the move to MMUH we are no longer as a Trust using the carbon copy notice of death forms. We have now moved forward to an electronic notice of death form which can be found in Unity.

Please see notice of death documentation for details.

Note: The QRG for this can also be found in eCoach within Unity should staff need further details.

Should you need any support or have any specific issues with the electronic notice of death form, please email lauren.wood19@nhs.net, sedwards17@nhs.net or annie.williams1@nhs.net. Alternately, you can call 0121 507 2703.

Would you like an MMUH pin badge?

Special permit parking – What you need to know

Now that we’ve moved in it is crucial it is for colleagues to get around easily. For those with special permit parking, we’ve compiled some important facts you need to know:

• On call, car share and special permit parking is located on level 1. Temporary signage is in place to highlight where this is.
• On call consultants and other colleagues with special permits with a valid windscreen permit are permitted to use these bays. The car sharing bays (on level 1 next to priority parking) may be used as overflow if all other priority bays are occupied. To utilise these bays, you must display your valid windscreen permit and, in the case of on call staff, not be attending your normal shift. Parking charge notices will apply for misuse of these spaces.
• If you need to obtain a special window permit, please contact sandwellpermits@q-park.co.uk.

Supporting you at Midland Met

To help everyone get settled at Midland Met, we’ve put together a handy guide featuring key contact numbers that colleagues may find useful.

National Education and Training Survey 2024

The National Education and Training Survey (NETS) is the voice of the healthcare workforce.  The results drive forward improvements in the clinical learning environment and underpin our work to eliminate inequalities in education and training. The survey takes just 10 minutes to complete and your feedback is vital in ensuring that all learning environments are safe, inclusive and support healthcare professionals to work together to deliver the highest standards of care.

Every survey response, across every profession and location, counts and helps to improve the experience of the current and future workforce. Your experience matters. Please take the time to complete the NETS and make sure your voice is heard by clicking here.

The survey closes on Tuesday 26 November.

Are you interested in playing football every Tuesday?

Colleagues at SWB host weekly 5-a-side/7-a-side football sessions every Tuesday from 6pm – 7pm at George Salter Academy, Davey Road, West Bromwich, B70 9UW. Each session costs £5.50.

Reminder: We kindly ask that for the safety of all players, you make sure to remove any objects such as rings, bracelets, necklaces, or any other accessories before the match. If you are unable to remove any of these accessories or they cannot be covered up fully with a plaster, tape or any soft edged material, you won’t be able to participate going forward.

If you are interested in joining this weekly football session or want to find out more, please email bhavesh.patel8@nhs.net, anil.patel11@nhs.net or mujahid.sabir@nhs.net.

Pathology: What you need to know

Thank you for your patience whilst we iron out a few teething problems around pathology sample logistics following the opening of Midland Met on Sunday.

The following information aims to address some of the issues that we have seen over the last couple of days.

Ward staff at Midland Met – POD system

If you are in ED or Acute Assessment Areas on level 2, the number on the pod should be 0101.

Other areas should use 0808 or 3434.

For immediate life threatening or critical test, then use 0101.

Sample drop offs and community bloods

Due to the relocation of the City and Sandwell pathology labs, some samples will need to be transferred to be processed at Midland Met.

Samples that will need to transfer between sites are as follows:

• Blood cultures from both City and Sandwell Health Campuses will need to be transferred to Midland Met
• Outpatient pathology samples from Sandwell will need to be transferred to Midland Met
• City will remain as it is now until the move to MMUH on Sunday 10 November – we will update any changes in the lead up to this move

Samples will be collected seven days a week at both sites by the logistics service:

Monday to Friday – 7.45am hourly until 7.45pm
Saturday to Sunday – 7.45am hourly until 2.45pm

Community Bloods

There are drop off points for community bloods at Midland Met, Sandwell, and City. These will be collected on an hourly basis and transported to the lab at Midland Met. Sample collection from the community sites remains unchanged.

Urgent community samples will need to be delivered into the drop box in the Emergency Department at Midland Met.

Where staff need to wait for the result (i.e. INR) these can be dropped off at the Pathology Sample Reception on Level 4 at Midland Met.

Routine samples can be taken to one of two locations:

Sandwell: Samples can continue to be dropped off to the drop box in Sandwell Pathology reception until 7pm. Anything after 7pm will need to go to the drop box in ED at Midland Met. 

City Pathology Lab Sample Reception: This is until 10 November – following this there will be a drop off point in Sheldon Block.

Ordering consumables

Pathology consumables are ordered via the logistics services.

How do I get my consumables order?

Departments should complete the form here on an SWBH device.

If you have a problem with this form, please email swbh.logistics.management@nhs.net

When will I get my order?

Logistics will deliver the consumables to your department the next day at MMUH or the next working day at Sandwell.

When do I need to complete my order form?

Orders placed for MMUH before 6pm 7 days a week will be delivered the next day. At Sandwell, orders placed before 6pm Monday – Friday will be delivered the next working day. Orders placed after 6pm will be delivered the day after the following day at MMUH or following working day at Sandwell.

Please note that Formalin could be subject to an additional delay.

Any abnormal or urgent results will be telephoned as normal.

For routine queries please contact:

Blood sciences – 0121 507 5162

Blood Transfusion – 0121 507 3110 Bleep number 5251

During this transfer phase please be advised that there may be a delay to the turnaround of results.

Your support and cooperation will be most appreciated.