Heartbeat July 2019

Say hello to me – Identifying
new starters
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY
CARE
A new initiative in the emergency
department aims to combat new
starters feeling isolated and welcome
them to the team.
After being made aware that a number
of new colleagues were feeling isolated
during the first days and weeks at our
Trust, Annabel Bottrill, ED Matron and her
team decided to come up with a scheme
to help discreetly identify those who may
need some help to feel welcome. The
“Say Hello to Me” initiative was created,
a system of coloured dots which are
added to name badges.
The dots let colleagues know that the
member of staff is new and encourages
them to take extra time to engage and
Catherine Witton, Staff Nurse sports the
green dot showing she has worked in the
department for a year or more
offer support if needed. Each coloured
dot represents a different amount of time;
pink means that they have never worked
in NHS before, maybe because they are
newly qualified or have joined from abroad,
orange means that someone is new to the
department but has previously worked for
the NHS, green signals that they have
worked in the department for a year or
more and finally, light blue shows that the
person is bank, agency or locum staff.
Prior to this system being introduced
new starters were simply introduced
during handovers which meant that
they saw everyone as a large team and
during various shifts. The dots allow easy
identification of any colleagues that are
new, which pulls the team together and
builds a more collaborative team.
Annabel said: “This has helped build the
team and ensures that all new colleagues
are recognised which helps support them.
It has helped the new starters by making
them feel identified and part of a team.
We would like to develop this further
with silicone surrounds for name badges
and potentially roll it out across the whole
Trust.”
Single point of access shows
patients are receiving the right care
Figures have revealed that our single
point of access service (SPA) has seen a
total of 4,528 patients avoiding a trip
to our emergency departments since its
inception.
The initiative was launched in November
and is for patients being treated by their GP
who require emergency care.
GPs can call a special phone line linking
them to a team of nurses who will carry
out a telephone assessment and triage the
unwell person.
As well as thousands of patients bypassing
emergency departments at both Sandwell
and City Hospitals, our data shows a total
of 449 have completely avoided coming
into our hospitals, receiving the right care
through other pathways. The total number
of referrals during the period it has been
operating is now at 5,437.
Janice Barrett, who leads the team of nurses
said: “We have seen a phenomenal number
of referrals to the service and we have been
able to triage the patients so that they
receive the right care in the correct setting.
“This is what we set out to do when the
initiative was launched and we are very
pleased with the data so far. There are
still a number of GPs who are not using
the service and I would appeal to them
to contact SPA when they have a patient
requiring emergency care. It means that
they will be dealt with efficiently.”
Dr Simon Butler, a local GP from
Handsworth Wood Medical Centre said::
"The SWB SPA has been a really useful
Sister Jesiamma John, one of the SPA advisers
service to help manage my patients when I
need a specialist opinion.”
SPA does not replace the two week patient
pathway, urgent pathway referrals or single
point of access initiatives currently operating
for other Birmingham healthcare trusts.
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