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Monthly archives: November 2024

Next training sessions for Siemens Gas Analysers – MMUH

 

The Siemens blood gas analysers trainers will be in Room 501, Lift D, Level 5 on the following dates/times:

Monday 9 December –

  • 10am – 11am
  • 11am – 12pm
  • 12pm – 1pm
  • 2pm – 3pm
  • 3pm – 4pm

Tuesday 10 December –

  • 9am – 10 am
  • 10am – 11am
  • 11am – 12pm
  • 1pm – 2pm
  • 2pm – 3pm

Sessions will start on the hour.

Please contact Point of Care Testing to book your place via email: swb-tr.swbh-poct@nhs.net 

Security advice – Tailgating

 

Swiping people in could risk unauthorised access to patient data, staff across the Trust have the right to stop and ask someone for proof of staff ID before they enter your ward or department.

How to avoid tailgating tips –

  • Query the status of strangers, if safe to do so, especially if they follow you into staff-only areas.
  • Wear your Trust ID pass at all times when in the hospital and ensure it is visible
  • Challenge anyone not displaying an ID card If it is safe to do so.
  • Make sure to secure doors behind you and cabinets when not in use.
  • Maintain a clear desk policy when away from your workstation.
  • Know who to tell if you see anything suspicious or worrying.

Please see a video here for more information on this subject.

In some circumstances, staff are trying to be helpful but letting visitosrs/patients into areas but this means that if they do not take them where they need to go, they end up trapped in areas and we have had several fire alarm activations due to confused patients/visitors breaking the fire break glass to get through a locked door.

This also does not promote the prescribed routes that visitors and patients should be using to navigate through MMUH.

Security is the responsibility of everyone within an organisation.

Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 15 November

 

Dear colleagues,

Wow – what a week!

Midland Met has now been fully operational for five days and it feels great to have our clinical expertise under one (quite beautiful) roof. It’s a building which still takes the breath away, even when you go back, multiple times.

As we saw post the first move, I know there have been, and will be, teething problems, but please keep escalating them through the right routes and we will resolve them as quickly as possible.

We have seen fewer calls to both our Equans and IT helpdesks this week, which is positive, and we have seen an improvement in colleagues being able to navigate the building. We know that the signage and general wayfinding still isn’t where we want it to be, and in response, Rachel Barlow is leading a working group to develop and improve this quickly. Please do keep telling us what will help make things better for you, our patients, and our visitors.

Remember – there is a useful section on Connect if you are unsure of who you need to speak to regarding an issue.

To contact Equans call 0121 507 4444 or email your request to  SWBH-Helpdesk.uk@equans.com.

To contact IT call 0121 507 4050 or chat with the IT Service Desk.

We are currently in the process of documenting some lessons learned about the move and identifying things that we have done as part of the move, that we now want to see how we could incorporate into our business as usual. One example of this is the patient census. This ran during the week leading up to the move and was significant in driving increased patient discharges home and transfers into community-based locations. Our teams are now looking at how we could use this principle to support our patient flow moving forwards.  Our urgent care safety and experience has, numerically at least, marginally improved since our move, so lets keep improving that work every day.

If there are things that you have found worked well for you during the planning and move process, I would encourage you to talk to your leadership team about how you can embed them into your future working practices.

Wednesday saw our latest Trust Board meeting take place, which was in fact my last Board as Chief Executive of this remarkable organisation. If you missed my announcement earlier this week, I have made the difficult decision to step down at the end of December 2024. I have been incredibly proud to be at the helm for the last four years, but now we are in a new hospital, it is the right time for me to step aside and for another chief executive to bring fresh ideas to delivering our post-MMUH world, including:

  • Embedding a quality improvement system that works for all and improves our “standard work”
  • Improving our delivery against NHS waiting time standards in urgent and elective care
  • Investing further in team and individual leadership and management development
  • Defining what we mean by “community first” and driving further improvements in population health locally
  • Delivering on the “Fundamentals of Care”
  • Commencing further, strategic estates reconfiguration to improve our environment in all our healthcare locations

You can listen to more about my reasons for this decision by watching the video below.

The Board heard from our Elderly Care Service, who talked about their experience of the team effectiveness and leadership development interventions that they have been undergoing to support their transition to Midland Met.

The purpose of this intervention, which has been undertaken by a number of teams, is to ensure safe patient care, whilst also strengthening team dynamics and supporting staff wellbeing.

The move to MMUH has seen the Elderly Care team transition from five wards into four and merge different leadership styles. The team reported that the OD programme has enabled them to reset the culture of the team in a new environment and optimise clinical productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency.

This work will continue, with more teams benefiting from the work of our OD team.

Community-first is crucial to the Midland Met care model, and I am delighted to welcome our new Interim Chief Development Officer, Sian Thomas into the organisation. Sian joined us from The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, where she has been integral to developing their community pathways and out of hospital care. She has also played a pivotal role in the work of their place-based partnership. I think there will be some exciting developments in our community services and pathways in the forthcoming months.

Finally, we are now only two weeks away from close of the staff survey and yesterday, we are only sitting at a response rate of 25% – if you are yet to complete your survey, please ensure it becomes a priority over the next few days. The survey is sent to you via email and will come from Picker – you can simply search ‘Staff Survey 2024’ in your inbox and follow the link. It is really important that we hear the views of a wide range of colleagues, particularly at a time when the organisation is going through so much exciting change.

Thank you.

Have a good weekend.

Richard

Marks & Spencer’s is now open

 

On 14 November, we announced that the Marks & Spencer Food store at Midland Met is now open.

Special guest, Percy the Pig, made an appearance to commemorate the opening of our latest retail store at Midland Met.

Located on level 5, the store can be found next to lift core C and across from the Welcome Centre. You can now pick up your favourite meal deals, snacks and treats on the go, not forgetting the famous Percy Pigs too.

If you’re looking for more options, we do have other food and retail services available. You can try Greggs or treat yourself to a Costa coffee on level zero or visit level five where you’ll find another café serving Costa coffee alongside our wonderful Winter Garden Restaurant.

We also have vending machines on levels two and five and our 24/7 Market Express store will be arriving later this year giving you even more choices.

SWB Benefits portal upgrade

 

Our SWB Benefits portal has been upgraded. To access it please click here and log in using your existing username and password. If you use the SWB Benefits app, you will need to download a new version of the app to access the portal. Search ‘Hapi 2.0’ on the App Store or Google Play.

If you have any queries please contact the helpline on 0800 542 5930.

Updated shuttle bus timetable

 

We’re pleased to share some updates to the shuttle bus service timetable, which will take effect from Monday 30 September.

The new schedule will now include a stop at Midland Met as well as at City and Sandwell. Please take a moment to review the updated timetable and plan your travel between sites as needed.

Please note the pick up and drop off will now take place at the BTC at City.

There are two shuttle buses running in conjunction with each other. Please refer to the relevant departure point to see when the shuttle bus is leaving your location and be sure to arrive in advance as the shuttle bus will depart promptly.

The shuttle bus service is provided to support work-related travel between our sites and is not intended for commuting to and from work.

Should you have any queries, please contact 0121 507 3869 option 4 or extension 3869 option 4.

Reminder: Changes to drug test requesting in Unity

 

Drug screen requesting has changed in Unity to provide a streamlined, efficient and cost-effective service.

This mean users will need to request the specific tests that they require.

The options for requesting these and indications for testing are summarised in the Unity toxicology sheet.

Note: Other toxicology test requesting remains unchanged.  

For more information please email swbh.toxicology@nhs.net

Dementia inpatient training: 18 November

 

Dementia effects all of us, be it our patients, our own loved ones and potentially ourselves in the future as diagnosis rates soar. Across the NHS nationally people living with dementia populate 25% of inpatient beds on average and often sadly are leaving hospital with reduced independence and poorer physical and mental health outcomes. We must all strive to make the experience of people living with dementia using SWB services and that of their carer’s better.

All staff disciplines including nursing and allied staff, doctors and nursing and medical students are very welcome to attend dementia inpatient training.

Better understanding of dementia is key to providing the dedicated care to meet the needs of people living with dementia, and that of their carers.

  • Monday 18 November
  • 1pm – 3pm
  • Sandwell Education Centre – Room 15

To book your place, please email r.begum19@nhs.net

Emergency ICE IT maintenance: 15 November, 9am to 1pm

 

Please be aware emergency ICE IT maintenance will be taking place on Friday 15 November from 9am to 1pm by our Pathology partner to try to help stabilise the system following recent issues.

During this time colleagues using ICE may experience performance issues when utilising the system; however the ICE system should remain available throughout. 

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.

 

iPM maintenance: 20 November, 9pm – 10pm

 

Essential iPM maintenance on Wednesday 20 November from 9pm to 10pm

Please be aware an essential iPM maintenance will be taking place on Wednesday 20 November from 9pm to 10pm by our support vendor to ensure the Trust’s system remains up to date and stable.

During this time Unity and iPM will remain fully available, and any orders placed will still go to Radiology/Pathology and new results will still be visible in Unity.

However, the messages from iPM detailed below will be unavailable for up to 1 hour from 9pm to 10pm:

  • Brand new patients to the Trust should still 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 Medisight – full BCP required.
  • Inpatients transferred between wards will show on Capman and Unity but not on iPM until the messages are back up.
  • Inpatients discharged during this time will not show as discharged in iPM until the messages are back up.
  • Any new baby registrations will be able to be completed but the registration message will not go to Badgernet until the messages are back up.

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.

 

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