Heartbeat January 2019

More documents

Info

Letters, of less than 200 words please, can be sent to the Communications Department, Trust Headquarters, Sandwell Hospital or by email to swb-tr.SWBH-GM-Heartbeat@nhs.net YOUR RIGHT TO BE HEARD 26 Why is Leasowes forgotten? Dear Heartbeat, Just over 3 years ago I wrote a letter to you regarding the shuttle bus stopping at Leasowes to pick up staff when they need to go training. I did get a reply from Toby Lewis promising to look into this matter. Christmas of that year he came to Leasowes to wish us a merry Christmas, he saw me and said Neil I'm like a dog with a bone regarding the issue (he may have meant a dinosaur bone) to this day there has been nothing done about this matter. We at Leasowes feel that when it suits we are part of the trust, but when things are needed we are isolated and excluded which is frustrating us hugely. I look forward to hearing from you. Many Thanks Neil Smallman HCA at Leasowes Neil, Thanks for your letter and I well remember the conversation. At the time I looked into this and the time loss from diversion for occasional use was going to be problematic. The bus usually proceeds down to the roundabout by Warley Superstore, but in traffic diverts and misses that leg of the journey. What we could do is either have a dial-up divert when there is a user at Leasowes, or a limited run each day to help travel between sites. In addition, as part of the car park proposals we are looking at staff transit from major railway stations, and if getting to work is the main Leasowes need then that might be better. I am sorry you feel the site is not properly part of our Trust. I don’t feel that it is but once we have sorted out the IT in your site, and therefore communication reaches you more easily, I hope that the feeling you have will change. I was on the site just before Christmas, and although you did not win the Christmas decorating contest, I was really struck by the continued positive feel that you and the team have engendered for patients. Best wishes, Toby Lewis Chief Executive A waste of time and money? Dear Heartbeat, Can I ask why are patients are sent letters to make appointment then when they phone up to make the appointment to be told sorry the dairy is not open now we will send you out an appointment when the dairy is open, this defeats the objective of making appointment when it is convenient for both parties this has happened to my wife and myself over the last 6 months by different clinics. This has got to be a waste of time and money surly it would be better to send out the letters when the diary is open to take bookings. Thanks, Anon Dear Colleague, Thanks for the letter. At our Trust we run a partial booking system that aims to give patients more choice of the appointment date and time, allowing them to agree this nearer the time that the appointment is needed rather than several months in advance. The contact centre sends out letters to patients inviting them to ring to book their appointment if they are due to be seen within the next six weeks. Our aim is that all patients can get booked into one of those slots at the time of their choosing but this is not always possible. I am sorry that this appears to be the case for you and your wife and I am very happy to look into this for you if you contact me directly. We are constantly looking into ways to improve our booking arrangements by matching up the available slots with the numbers we invite to make an appointment. Kind regards, Liam Kennedy Deputy Chief Operating Officer How do we claim for EU settlement? Dear Toby, With great interest I read your recent message regarding the EU nationals in the trust. I am one of them. Me and my colleagues from the EU are happy to hear that the trust made the decision to pay / reimburse the £65 fee. However, it doesn't state how we have to claim it. We would appreciate if you or HR could advise how to the claim the fee. I am looking forward to hear from you. Kind regards, Anon Dear Colleague, Thank you for your letter. It was an easy decision for the Board to make to fund EU settlement claims; we want you to stay with us to continue to work to build a diverse care system, which reflects the rich mix of long standing and new residents in both Sandwell and Western Birmingham. You will need to apply via the government website (www.gov.uk/ settled-status-eu-citizens- families) and then claim back your settlement application costs. You will then need to follow this process: • Once you have gained settlement status/pre-settlement status will need to validate your claim. This will be done by you providing the relevant document to the recruitment team. • Claim your frees back via the Easy Expenses system – if you do not have an account you will need to set this up on Connect – it is quick and simple to do so. • Once validated, you will then be able to submit your claim which will need to be approved by your manager. If you need further guidance please do contact the HR team. Kind regards, Toby Lewis Chief Executive
Toby writes about… employment and learning TobyLewis_SWBH TOBY’S LAST WORD One of the proudest moments of my time as your chief executive has been involving myself, just a little, in the work we do to try and create employment opportunities locally. That endeavour is what this column is about. But starting at the beginning, what matters to improving health? What you do, what we do with partner GPs like Manir, Imran and James (who feature in Heartbeat this month) what is done by our colleagues in RAID, the Oak Suite and CAMHS is hugely important. But if we want to change the health outcomes and the wellbeing of families and communities, we know that healthcare is at best a third of the programme. The other two parts are housing and employment. Together they provide the security to live and the basis for fulfilment. That belief in housing, employment and care as a three part mission is what animates our local Healthy Lives Partnership. And what drives the priorities that we are trying to set alongside primary care network colleagues in the local system. The NHS Long Term Plan is an important and interesting document. We all know it needs a social care green paper and an NHS workforce plan to make it truly credible, but to change outcomes, we need to tackle housing poverty and income inequality. The plan is not as brave as it could be in that respect. So we have our now longstanding projects focused on homeless young people and care leavers, which work to create dedicated apprenticeships to support those most at risk of falling through a social safety net. I want to thank line managers who have worked to support these young people, as well as our Learning Works and learning and development teams. We continue to see those projects thrive, and we are investing more right now to expand them further. We have next step options around employment access projects for ex-service people, often at risk of homelessness and exclusion, projects for those who have had mental health issues, or still have mental health issues, and work too to ease a path to employment for local people with learning disabilities (led by colleagues in our theatre teams). Every step we take in these projects changes the cost to the health service of those we assist, and may too impact on the health and wellbeing of their loved ones and dependents. The cost of social exclusion and of poverty is one paid over the long term, and which we want to tackle with up-front investment. In terms of housing, our current focus is on the Infirmary Wharf development which will take shape at City Hospital when we move out, and provide over 800 homes for local people. Meanwhile, whilst the Hallam building at Sandwell is doing a job for us accommodating many colleagues, after 2023 we want it to be replaced by a housing project and are working with partners to secure that deal, which could add another 100 or more dwellings to the local area. Across the country you can see NHS land laid idle, for want of the vision to turn it into homes that are needed. Around Midland Met we are leading work to create the development vision which will see not only key worker housing, but a thriving community with economic activity established. This is our business, because health depends on it. We are not just a disease service. In 2018 we were one of only two Trusts in the Midlands to achieve the whole 2.3 per cent apprenticeship target set by the Government. That is a massive tribute to work by first line managers across our organisation. It means over 160 apprentices in our midst. 13 colleagues are our first to achieve the healthcare support worker apprenticeship standard, and three gained distinctions in their studies. Right now we have 25 colleagues on the new team leader apprenticeship programme at level 3. And later this year our first nurse apprentice roles will graduate, and we are working hard to be ready for the same programme in midwifery. What lies behind that drive is a desire to help shape careers not simply to recruit to jobs. Last spring we tried to launch our nurse escalator project. It relaunches this month. Later this winter, we will kick off work to formally create an escalator from band 2 to band 3 for HCAs. If you have not already joined up the dots we will have a programme from band 2 to 3, via the new band 4 role, and then one from band 5 to 6. We want to help high potential people locally to move into registered roles, and to progress their studies and their ambition as far as they want to go. Just as our director of therapies started many years ago in an apprentice role, there is no reason that a future chief nurse could not start work here as a HCA. To do that of course we need to make some changes to how we budget and manage jobs. That is why our PDR changes were so important, and we redo all our appraisals between April and June 2019. That process spots the high potential colleagues in our midst and looks to speed up their careers and match their ambition: Assuming of course you have done your mandatory training (see the letter with your payslip in January). If you are reading this and want to know more about the opportunities, talk to your line manager, get in touch with Bethan Downing, or contact me direct. The only ring-fenced protected budget in our Trust is the training budget and it will expand yet again in 2019-20. Our commitment to employment and to creating rewarding careers based in learning is one of the things that is distinctive about our organisation, one of the opportunities we will share as new partners like our GP colleagues join the SWBH family, and something that is a basis for asking people to work with and for us. Learning though is not just about careers or employment. It is also about how we share knowledge inside the Trust. Right now we are consulting on the welearn programme, which will be a big part of our 2019 efforts to share glimpses of brilliance from across the organisation and to make sure that we learn lessons when things nearly or do go wrong. Make sure in your February face to face team meeting you put forward your response to the TeamTalk topic and have your voice heard. If in February there is no team meeting where you work, do let me know, or contact Ruth Wilkin, and we will help you to have one! 27
Page 1 and 2: January 2019 Sandwell and West Birm
Page 3 and 4: Collaboration with local GP partner
Page 5 and 6: Apprentices reach new heights At th
Page 7 and 8: Robot has seal of approval from chi
Page 9 and 10: Get active at the FREE Sandwell Gym
Page 11 and 12: NHS Hero: Lead Chaplain, Mary Cause
Page 13 and 14: Lifeline support for addiction vict
Page 15 and 16: Journey to deliver a successful ful
Page 17 and 18: Leading professor joins AMU team fo
Page 19 and 20: New consultant midwife appointed WO
Page 21 and 22: Audiology share new ways to respond
Page 23 and 24: Speech & language therapists introd
Page 25: Emma Archer Associate Head of Pharm

Heartbeat January 2019

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?