Monthly archives: November 2024

Getting ready to welcome City colleagues to Midland Met

This week, our maternity, neonates, and City ED teams will move into their new areas at Midland Met.

Throughout the week, final checks are being completed, so if you’re already on site, please avoid entering the wards and departments while they’re being set up.

It is essential that you do not enter or take any items from wards or departments that are being set up. Everything has been accounted for and items placed in those areas are for them specifically. If you need any supplies or equipment, please contact your management team to arrange this.

Are you interested in supporting the patient transport team?

We are currently seeking colleagues who want to support us in moving patients to MMUH on Sunday 10 November. You will need to be physically fit and have up to date patient manual handling training (this can be arranged if you are not to up to date).

If you’re interested, please discuss with your manager if you can rearrange your working week to cover this or alternatively you can book via the Trust Bank (given the timing you will already need to be registered on the Trust Bank for this).

You will be required to attend either City or MMUH sites (you will be informed ahead of time which site this will be) at 6.15am and will be asked to work until the patient transfers are complete at approximately 4pm.

For more information or to register your interest, please email kellythompson1@nhs.net by Monday 4 November.

Parking at Midland Met during the move period

Please note that these will be the parking arrangements during our phased moves to Midland Met.

Current barrier cards for City Hospital, Sandwell General Hospital and Rowley Regis Hospital will work at Midland Met with no additional action required.

The current barrier cards are in the process of being extended, so please do not worry if you receive a message on the entry barrier that your barrier card is due to expire – it will be updated automatically.

If colleagues require a car parking permit and do not currently have one, please apply here: Q-Park (swbh.nhs.uk)

Access to Midland Met car parks

• Access to the site for colleagues will be on level 1 of the car park with entrance from London Street. Please do not enter the car park on level 0 as this area is for patients and visitors and colleagues will be asked to turn around and enter via London Street.
• The staff car park will be restricted to clinical staff only on move days and the following day – if you are involved in the move, you should park using the Cranford Street entrance as normal.
• Once City moves are complete on 6/10 November, all support staff including MMUH Programme Company,  all IT support colleagues, Communications, those on tactical and operational rotas and in the move control centre, plus all Estates, Equans and subcontractor staff are required to park in the site office car park accessed via Cranford St, (former Balfour Beatty site entrance), until 2 December.

On call and special permits

• There are dedicated priority staff bays within the staff car park on level 1 adjacent to the lifts.
• On call consultants and other colleagues with special permits with a valid windscreen permit will be permitted to use these bays – the car sharing bays 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

Electric vehicle charging points

• There are 30 electric vehicle charging sockets at Midland Met located on level 0. To register to access these, visit https://www.geniepoint.co.uk/ds.
• Electric vehicle charging points and bays are available on a first come, first served basis. These spaces must only be used for vehicles that are on charge for up to half a day. The charging point parking area must then be vacated (and left empty) to allow the EV charging point to be used by another user.  Parking charge notices will apply for misuse of these spaces.

November is Islamophobia Awareness Month

This month is Islamophobia Awareness Month with the 2024 theme being seeds of change. Small actions can contribute to big changes whether that is starting a conversation about Islamophobia, being an ally or challenging Islamophobia head on.

The National NHS Muslim Network will be hosting sessions focussed on raising awareness, challenging Islamophobia and the impact this discrimination has on health outcomes for our most seldom heard from and underserved communities. Please see Islamophobia Awareness Month sheet for further details of these sessions.

A more user friendly Supportive Care Plan

Friday Message from Lesley Writtle: Friday 1 November

As we are in the midst of moves into Midland Met, I wanted to again share thanks from me and my Board colleagues, for all the hard work and commitment that has been shown in making this move happen and the continued work that is ongoing to for the Maternity, Neonates and Gyane move on 6 November and the rest of the City site to move on 10 November. The new hospital is certainly glowing and working well, but we must remember that we have these next moves happening so need to keep the momentum!

Recently, I met with some of the new leadership team for Integration, Community, and Primary Care this week , Lisa Maxfield, Associate Chief Integration Officer and Steve Phillips, Deputy Chief Integration Officer, with Sian Thomas who will be joining us next week as Chief Integration Officer.  Sian is currently Deputy COO at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, where she leads on all GP and community services, as well as being the lead for the Wolverhampton Place Partnership.

With this new focus, its feels like an invigorating and exciting time, as we refresh our work plan particularly focusing on our joint working at place and increased work with our primary care teams.  Sian will be the executive lead for all primary care and community service provision at SWB, as well as the lead director for the Sandwell Health and Care Partnership.  Sian will also assume this lead director role for the West Birmingham Locality Partnership. I look to seeing the work of Sian’s wider team develop.

Within my message I wanted to acknowledge and recognise the impact and ongoing delivery and support by our many PCCT who have worked tirelessly to enable the safe implementation of MMUH, by ensuring our patients are cared for within the community and closer to home.  We recognise that a lot of attention has been on the delivery of a new hospital and the staff who have been moving over to MMUH.  he delivery of the new hospital wouldn’t have been possible without the continued support of the community and primary care teams.

This week’s message is about recognising the unsung heroes of our workforce, who are working behind the scenes, connecting with our patients and maintaining care in the community along with partners.  In the forth coming weeks, we will be focussing on the Health Campuses at City and Sandwell, and ensure we engage and listen to staff who remain on those sites going forward. .

As I alluded to earlier in my message, the next set of moves are imminent into MMUH, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to talk with Helen Hurst, Director of Midwifery this week about how important this move is to staff and service users. Staff are really welcoming the fact that delivery suites, neonatal unit, midwifery led unit, and our regional gynaecological centre will be moving to state-of-the-art facilities which have been long awaited. We know that these facilities will support excellent patient care and will make a huge difference to our working practices. Again, tremendous thought has been put into moving our youngest patients and women in labour, thank you to you to all the teams involved in this.  With their birthing boxes at the ready and staff clear about their roles we are ready to go on Wednesday next week!  The enthusiasm and proactive thinking of the teams ensuring safety from the moment we open has been paramount. And of course, we also must thank our health partners in the system for their mutual aid support.

We are now into the second month of the NHS Staff Survey, and our response rate is just over 20 per cent – whilst we are making good progress, we are still sitting below the national average. We need a concerted effort to increase the response rate so please ensure that this is one of your priorities over the coming weeks. Now more than ever it is important that we hear from as many colleagues as possible as we continue to settle into Midland Met. The survey has been sent to you via email and will have come from Staff Survey 2024 – picker_surveys@picker.org.

Learning and development as SWB is vital to improve as an organisation. We all have preferences when it comes to learning skills. There are many 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.  Your Performance Development Review (PDR) is a perfect opportunity to explore this further and agree a plan over the coming year. Consider examples of the learning and organisational development opportunities to you that are showcased in our new brochure which can be accessed by clicking here. In fact, this new brochure and a focus on learning, is a direct result of your feedback in the staff survey – so it is worth filling it in, as we do listen and take your feedback on board.

Speaking of PDRs, being able to have great one to one discussion is a big part of any PDR. With this in mind, we have launched our new guide for holding great one to one discussions. This guide provides you with an overview of best practice to consider and enact when planning, holding, and concluding one-to-one conversations. SWB is committed to a culture of compassion and views ongoing one to one discussion as a key enabler of this. Consider your on-going learning and development needs that can be explored during your next one to one discussion. There is a whole range of learning opportunities available to you which can also be found in the new brochure.

Finally, City Hospital and its legacy remains a huge part of staff, patients, and the local community.  This week we wanted to honour our past,  and as part of what we are doing to say goodbye to City, we hosted a farewell gathering today in the dining room at the Postgraduate Centre. This was a chance to explore some memorabilia and historic items we’ve collected over the years the perfect opportunity to reconnect with our past before we step into the future at Midland Met.

Sad passing of Tanya Clarke

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Tanya Clarke, following a short period of illness.

Many of you will know Tanya, who had worked for the Trust for 19 years.

Tanya’s most recent role was as an Administrator in the Safeguarding Children department.

Tanya was a very valued member of the Team who will be greatly missed by everyone she worked with.

Our thoughts are with Tanya’s family and friends at this tragic time.

Happy Diwali to all SWB staff and patients

We would like to wish everyone ‘Shubh Deepavali’ – Have a happy Diwali!

Diwali or Deepavali is celebrated around the world and the five-day holiday is often called the Festival of Lights because “Diwali” is derived from “Deepavali,” which means “row of Deepas” (lamps).

During Diwali, families decorate their homes with Deepas, exchange sweets, perform Pujas (prayers), share meals with families and friends, dance, burst firecrackers, and wear new traditional clothes.

We hope that all staff and patients will share in the joy of Diwali and experience light in their lives.

Remembrance sale of poppies – 1 November

The Courtyard Information and Support Centre at Sandwell main reception are selling poppies today (1 November).

People wear poppies to show support for the services and sacrifices of our Armed Forces, veterans and their families. It represents all those who lost their lives on active service, from the beginning of the First World War right up to present day.

There are various colours of poppy available, please see below for what each colour signifies:

• Red poppy – remembrance and hope.
• Purple poppy – to remember animal victims of war such as horses, dogs and pigeons that were often drafted into the war effort.
• Black poppy – the contribution of black, African and Caribbean communities to the war effort, as servicemen and servicewomen, and as civilians.
• White poppy – remembers those who died in conflict with a focus on an end to war.