Winter 2010 - The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust

Winter 2010Simply click on the story you wish to view.To return to this page click the 'Return toContents' button at the bottom of the page.Christmas Message from the Chief ExecutiveAppointmentsNew appointment for Dr OdumAchievementsMRSA Record ContinuesStaff ShoutDonations Boost ServicesCarol Service a hitRetirement for A&E's PollyGreater Midlands Cancer Research NetworkStaff Shout continuedWant to Stop Smoking?Walker Coasts to £700 TargetVolunteer at 90!National Recognition for TrustInnovationKeyhole Surgery Success Rewarded with DonationInnovative Patient Safety Measure Launches at TrustInnovative Bra Design Aids Breast Cancer PatientsBreast Feeding Campaign Launched at TrustRadio Wulfrun opens new studioMRSAHave you got any stories for the next edition of Trust Talk?Then contact the Communications Department on 01902 695900 or email samanthaturner@nhs.netIf you require this magazine in another format please contact the Communications Team on: 01902 695900 or wouldlike to share your thoughts on Trust Talk.BackReturn to ContentsNext

New appointment for Dr OdumThe Trust has appointed a new MedicalDirector following the retirement of BrianMillar.Dr Jonathan Odum began his career herein the Black Country with Sandwell andDudley General Hospital and also spent twoyears working out in Australia.“I’m looking forward to supporting the Trustcorporately and developing services thatreflect what the Trust wants to achieve,”says Dr Odum. “I also want to help ourdirectorates deliver to a consistently highstandard whilst really allowing them toflourish.”He takes up his new role in the New Yearhaving been with the Trust for 17 years,becoming Clinical Director in 1995.Mr. Brian Millar retires in the new year“I’m looking forwardto supporting the Trustcorporately and developingservices that reflect what theTrust wants to achieve,”A graduate of Birmingham University DrOdum is a specialist in Renal medicine,conducting research and winning afellowship award for his efforts in this area.He designed and commissioned theTrust’s Renal unit and was instrumental inrestructuring the clinical directorate tohelp specialist areas to become moreindependent.Dr Odum also played a pivotal role in theintroduction of the new WolverhamptonCare Co-ordination Centre which openedrecently.New Medical Director Dr. Jonathan OdumBackReturn to ContentsNext

MRSA Record ContinuesA National audit, which monitors hospital stroke units, puts NewCross in the top half of Acute Trusts for its facilities and servicesin this specialist area.The National Sentinel Audit for Stroke report says an efficientservice is being provided at the Trust, and also identified areasfor improvement: “Several National initiatives have beenintroduced over the past year and these have changed thestandards we now need to meet,” said Chief Executive, DavidLoughton CBE.“The Acceleration Improvement Programme and brandnew stroke guidelines means all Trusts have been asked toincrease the number of direct admissions to the stroke unit. This,together with our need to increase capacity, and make surewe have stroke expertise here seven days a week, led us tocreate an action plan to improve what we can deliver here.”Plans include the appointment of a new Stroke Physician andexpansion of the Community Rehabilitation Team. Recruitmentand training for these enhancements should begin by the endof 2010.The Trust’s Acute Stroke Unit has 23 beds. It admitted 750patients between June 2009 and June 2010, including peoplefrom Wolverhampton, the South Staffordshire ‘fringe’ andreferrals from Stafford and Cannock.Number of days withoutMRSA bacteraemia24/12/2010547Always follow theNew Cross CodeDesktops throughout the Trust are updated with the new totals daily“Having identified what we need to become even better,we’re confident our stroke unit will develop into one that ourstaff and the local population can be even more proud of,”said David.BackReturn to ContentsNext

Donations Boost ServicesThe Wolverhampton Coronary Aftercare Support equipment for Corneal Graft surgery. This meansGroup provided £20,000 for a 3D camera for its 3D the Eye Infirmary is now the best equipped EyeTOE imaging System. The equipment was brought Hospital in the whole of the Midlands for thisearlier this year and will assist the cardiothoracic procedure. We also funded the provision of adepartment when assessing and treating patients. laser to enable a procedure for the treatmentThe Eye Infirmary League of Friends has helped of Glaucoma. and updated of equipment usedestablish a courtyard garden which has proved for Cataract patients. We bought new posturinga hit with both patients and staff. They were equipment for the Mary Jones Ward and specialinvolved in the planning with Estates and also toys for use in Children's Clinics. The money paidprovided benches and plants.into the Hospital Trust to fund these purchasesCash raised also bought new instruments and was in excess of £100.000.Carol service a hitChaplain, Craig Fullard, thanked everyone for theirsupport: “It was lovely to see such a huge turnout and so many different faces. Everyone was infine voice and there was a real sense of occasion.It was also nice to take this opportunity to remindpeople of the true meaning of Christmas.”A series of pictures set to music was shown as partof the service. Poignant images including troops inAfghanistan, family gatherings and child povertySt Giles School Choir served as a reminder of what’s important at thisOver 200 people attended this year’s caroltime of year.service in the Lecture Theatre. The popular event Youngsters from the Children’s Ward craftedfeatured performances from members of the St candle decorations which could be bought afterGiles School Choir and a reading from Director of the event in exchange for donations. The serviceNursing and Midwifery, Cheryl Etches. Organiser, was followed by tea, coffee and mince pies.Retirement forA&E's Polly3D Toe Imaging SystemPeggy Porter-Thompson recently retired, havingbegun in A&E at the Royal Hospital in December1971.Originally for three months, she then workedon the wards. She remained in A&E under thesupervision of her senior sister. It was SisterWright who started calling her Polly, a nicknameshe is still known by now.She came to Newcross in 1996 when A&E movedfrom the the Royal over to New Cross. Pollycontinued working in the department until herretirement in November at the age of 65.The Trust wishes you a long and happy retirementPolly!BackReturn to ContentsNext

Keyhole Surgery SuccessRewarded with DonationInnovative PatientSafety MeasureLaunches at TrustSmall is beautiful according to patient John Couch,who had his left kidney and ureter removed throughkeyhole surgery, in March 2009. John returnedrecently to present a cheque to the UrologyDepartment, led by Consultant Urological Surgeon,Peter Cooke. He wanted to thank them for the carehe received at New Cross Hospital and presenteda cheque for £1300, raised by the Patsull MasonicLodge at the Royal Hotel, in Dudley Port, whilehe was the Master of the Lodge. “I was keen toreturn my gratitude to the department, and also dosomething for the benefit of other patients,” said MrCouch.John Couch (right) and a member of thePatsull Masonic Lodge present a cheque for £1300to Consultant Urological Surgeon Peter Cooke (centre)The department plans to buy a portable bladderscanner to allow patients to be visited in thecommunity by the award-winning Urology Hospitalat Home Nursing Team.Laparoscopic (or keyhole)surgery has rapidly expanded in Urology to replaceopen surgery for most major procedures.Urologists are known for their ability to get intodifficult places with telescopes, but laparoscopyallows even major organs to be removed safely andwith minimal trauma to the patient. ConsultantUrologist, Peter Cooke has led the development ofurological laparoscopic surgery at New Cross Hospitaland performed 120 major laparoscopic cases in 2009.He has now removed over 100 kidneys and over100 prostates, and looks forward to extending itslaparoscopic services even further.“Patients are commonly discharged the morningafter surgery,” explains Mr Cooke, “But in selectedcases, the kidney can be reconstructed or removed asa day case. We recently removed a patient’s prostateand reconstructed his bladder as a day case. This isthe first recorded case within the West Midlands andone of the earliest in the country.”The department’s next big challenge is to removethe bladder. As an open operation this can be a majorundertaking involving a long hospital stay. Up to 30%of patients can have wound complications with opensurgery, but these are virtually eliminated by thelaparoscopic approach.The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust hasintroduced an innovative new tool which will helpto better track patient safety across the hospital.VitalPac is accessed via hand-held mobile devicesand is used by clinicians to record, monitor and trackpatients’ observations. It means that staff can moreeasily record and monitor observations, steppingaway from the paper and clipboard approach.“VitalPac is going to be hugely important for us,explains Chief Executive, David Loughton CBE.“It will help us to monitor real time events and alsodetect and alert us much earlier if there is a problemwith a patient.”The new device is portable and wireless and can beused anywhere and at anytime.As well as achieving a time saving of up to 40%, thepaperless system reduces the likelihood of any errorsand provides immediate access to data for all staff ina team. The handheld devices are encrypted whichmakes it ultra secure and requires a pin number foranyone using it.As well as more effective monitoring of pain, bloodpressure and night time observations it also helps toscreen for things like MRSA and VTE (blood clots).Thenew system has helped reduce mortality rates andthe number of cardiac arrests when used elsewhere.VitalPac will be rolled out across all medical andsurgical wards by the end of December.BackReturn to ContentsNext

Innovative BraDesign Aids BreastCancer PatientsThe Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust has introduced aninnovative new bra design which is helping patients with breastcancer to lead a better lifestyle. The post-operative bra, aninvention brought over from Australia, provides much more comfortthan a normal bra and also includes a small pocket to transportone of more drains.The Breast Care TeamThe underwear is being offered to patients who have had surgeryand has been found to be far less intrusive, allowing women to goabout their daily lives as normal. Having had a masectomy at NewCross, Faye Kerr found the bra far more comfortable and says itfitted really well:“I’m so thankful to the breast care unit for supplying me withthis bra. It’s helped me maintain my independence. I did buya bra especially, but it was so uncomfortable and it couldn’taccommodate the drains whereas this one can. It’s definitely takenaway some of the stress of having my breast removed – it’s one lessthing to worry about.”The hospital’s Breast Care Nurse, Charlotte Bradbury came acrossthe bra via the charity, Women Zone, after searching for a solutionto help women returning home after surgery.“Some women leave here needing anything from one to fourdrains. The drain pouch that comes with the bra makes it verydiscreet so that no-one knows they have the drain beneath theirclothes.Before this, we were having problems with drains falling out.They can now go about their daily activities as normal and withcomplete independence.”Patricia Lucas also had surgery and couldn’t believe the hospitalwas able to supply her with such a comfortable aid: “I searchedeverywhere for a bra I could wear post surgery, but couldn’t findanything I was able to tolerate. I was so happy with this and wrote athank you letter to the hospital telling them what a difference it hadmade.”The Trust is the only one in the West Midlands to supply this bra totheir patients and is the first in England to use the drain pouches.BackReturn to ContentsNext

Breast FeedingCampaignLaunched at TrustThe Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHSTrust has introduced a new campaignaimed at encouraging more women to trybreast feeding their children.New Cross Maternity Unit used fundingfrom Wolverhampton PCT to work with theWolverhampton Art Gallery to commissiona local photographer photograph localfamilies and their babies.Angela Tombs Head of Learning andOutreach at the Arts and Heritage Serviceworked closely with Amanda CostelloSpecialist Midwife Infant Feeding todevelop a brief and find a photographer.The brief was to provide images thatpresented breastfeeding as the normalway to feed a baby and as part of everyday activity that does not intrude ordisrupt the usual routine. Local mothersvolunteered to model for the pictureswhich were taken at various placesacross the City including the Art Gallery,maternity unit and delivery suite.The photos were also the focus at thegallery during National Breast FeedingAwareness Week back in June.Many of the mothers are also involvedas breastfeedin peer support volunteers,supporting pregnant women andmothers either in the maternity unit or atbreastfeeding support groups across theCity. Amanda Costello explained whybreast feeding is so important in a child’searly stages of development:“Babies that are breastfed have areduced risk of certain infections such asdiarrhoea and vomiting, ear infections andchest infections. If breastfed, then babiesare also less likely to have risk factors forMel Nelson, Jane Purchase and son Thomas,Amanda Costello and Angela Tombsheart disease such as obesity, high bloodpressure and high cholesterol levels.”Mother’s who breastfeed are also less likelyto develop breast and ovarian cancer orsuffer hip fractures later on in life.Jane Purchase is mum to four childrenincluding her youngest son, Thomas. “Atfirst I really struggled with breast feeding,but after my second child I really got onwith it. I would say to anyone expecting achild to try it. Having tried both bottle andbreast feeding it’s much easier to breastfeed and easy to do – wherever you are itcan be done discreetly and slot in as partof your daily routine.”The photographs that were taken are nowon display around the maternity unit.BackReturn to ContentsNext