Heartbeat August 2019

August 2019 

Sandwell and West Birmingham 

NHS Trust 

The pulse of community health, Leasowes, Rowley Regis, City and Sandwell Hospitals Issue 119 

Managers’ Code of Conduct – 

Setting the standard page 3 

Our new Managers' Code of Conduct has been launched this month alongside a range of animations that 

highlight the new standards 

Unity what you 

need to know 

ahead of go 

live 

page 4 and 5 

Six week plans to 

transform sickness 

absence 

page 12 

Announcing the 

shortlist for our 

Star Awards 

pages 16-17 

Energy pods 

recharge 

colleagues at 

City Hospital 

page 19

FROM THE CHAIR 

HELLO 

Leading the way on integrated care 

with our partners 

Welcome to our August issue of 

Heartbeat. We have launched our 

new Managers' Code of Conduct, 

read about the new standard and 

how it affects you on page 3. 

As we move closer to Unity go live on 

pages 4 and 5 we share with you some 

of key things you should know before 

go live and the timeline for when each 

department will switch to Unity. 

Also, be sure to read the centre spread 

where we are announcing the shortlist 

for the 2019 Star Awards. 

Contact us 

Communications Team 

Ext 5303 

swbh.comms@nhs.net 

Communications Department 

Ground Floor, Trinity House 

Sandwell Hospital 

Published by 

Communications Team 


Hospitals NHS Trust 

Designed by 

Medical Illustration, 

Graphics Team 


Hospitals NHS Trust 

Submit an idea 

If you’d like to submit an idea 

for an article, contact the 

communications team 

Ext 5303 

swbh.comms@nhs.net 

Stay updated 

We send out a Communications 

Bulletin via email every day and you 

can now read Heartbeat articles 

throughout the month on Connect. 

Don't forget you can follow us on: 

As we near the end of our summer and 

come to the middle of our NHS year, I 

wanted to highlight how well I think our 

teams are doing to work collaboratively 

with teams in partner organisations. Our 

2020 vision to be the best integrated 

care organisation in the NHS is wellknown 

and its definition, to wrap care 

around individuals and their carers 

delivering outcomes that are important 

to them, in practice, means we have to 

put aside our organisational or team 

boundaries. 

Whilst this goal seems straightforward, we 

know it is not easy – either at a strategic level 

(agreeing shared priorities), or an individual 

patient and carer level, for instance, a single 

assessment to understand someone’s health 

and social care needs. The two care alliances 

that we have established with partners for 

Sandwell and Ladywood & Perry Barr are 

working hard together to agree on the first 

few areas we should focus on to improve the 

outcomes for the populations that we serve. 

I am really pleased with the progress that is 

being made with local GPs, mental health 

providers and voluntary services. 

Working together we know we can 

deliver more than we can apart. Through 

collaboration with the Queen Elizabeth 

Hospital and the University of Birmingham 

we are part of ground-breaking research 

into leukaemia – that research would not be 

possible without partnership working across 

our Trusts, with clinicians teaming up in 

the best interests of our current and future 

patients, both here and across the world. 

Birmingham and Sandwell are well-served 

by a range of large and small voluntary and 

community organisations. Both Toby Lewis 

and the leader of our CCG, Andy Williams, 

have committed to understanding what we 

as health care providers and commissioners 

invest in these organisations and to ensure 

that we maintain an agreed level of funding 

year on year. Building up capacity in this 

sector makes sense – the voluntary sector 

can often work with an agility that large, 

statutory organisations like ourselves find 

hard. Also, their basis of being grounded 

in the local communities means that they 

often are best-placed to shore up the 

networks that help people stay healthy and 

well, reducing the need for acute care. The 

Sapphire service, originally funded by Your 

Trust Charity, that is run by Agewell and 

West Bromwich African Caribbean Resource 

Centre is a great example of this, whereby 

patients in our wards, at risk of social 

isolation, are identified by the Sapphire team 

who will support the individual once they are 

discharged home. Our community services 

are now doing follow-up calls to patients 48 

hours after discharge to see what additional 

help and support people need. 

GP practices are now linked into Primary 

Care Networks, each of which has been 

given funding for a social prescriber. Social 

prescribers will build up understanding of 

what’s on offer within a patient’s local area 

and ensure that, where a patient would 

benefit from doing activities, meeting people 

or exercise, they are given the “prescription” 

and support to do that. 

So, how does this all fit into the wider 

STP that you may have heard about? We 

are part of the Black Country and West 

Birmingham STP, which comprises all the 

health and care organisations within that 

region. The goal of the STP is to agree to 

work on what can be sensibly done jointly 

at an STP level. The Black Country Alliance 

was a great example of that collaborative 

work. It does not replace the partnerships 

and priorities that we have locally, nor should 

it. Our integrated care vision must work for 

individual patients and their families, which 

is why the work of the care alliances, the 

primary care networks and collaboration with 

voluntary and community organisations is so 

important. This collaboration is at the heart 

of the NHS’s national long term plan and 

our STP’s response to that. The difficulties 

we experience overcoming boundaries are 

well worth the struggle, because the goal 

for each resident is to live a happy and 

healthy life within a supportive community. 

Our boundaries, whether geographical, 

organisational, or service-specific, become 

smaller and less important when we keep 

that goal in mind. 

Richard Samuda – Trust Chairman 

Chairman Richard Samuda

Managers’ Code of Conduct – 

Setting the standard 

This month we launched the long 

awaited Managers’ Code of Conduct 

setting in stone the expectations 

from everyone in a management or 

leadership role. Acknowledging that 

these roles come with power, influence 

and responsibility, the code sets a 

simple set of duties and responsibilities 

to be followed by colleagues in 

leadership roles. 

Launching the Managers’ Code of Conduct, 

Chief Executive Toby Lewis shared his 

thoughts on the new standard. He said, 

“The original suggestion for the code 

of conduct came from our Freedom to 

Speak Up Guardians, this then led on to 

consultations and engagement through 

TeamTalk and Trust-wide polls, where we 

developed and refined the rules to where 

they stand today. In our latest poll, 97 

per cent of colleagues across the Trust 

wholeheartedly backed its development and 

introduction. 

The Managers’ Code of conduct aims 

to support the development of positive 

behaviours as well as identify when 

colleagues are not conducting themselves 

appropriately and is issued to be consistent 

with the employee charter that the Trust 

launched over five years ago.” 

Welcoming the new Managers’ Code 

of Conduct, Freedom to Speak Up 

Guardian and Clinical Team Leader 

for iCares, Sandra Kennelly said, “It 

is great to see a Managers’ Code of 

Conduct being introduced. The Code 

is clear and sets out responsibilities and 

behaviours managers need to live, breathe 

and role model. Creating healthy 

discussions around leadership behaviours 

will help to cultivate a culture of leadership 

through mutual respect and support. It is 

a big step towards creating a standard in 

leadership behaviours and responsibilities 

that over time could contribute to a really 

positive change in our organisational 

culture, which would ultimately make our 

As part of the new Code of Conduct, 

managers in our organisation should: 

1. Seek to actively listen to others’ 

views, especially from those 

who disagree 

2. Be honest about what has to 

happen, and own that direction 

and intention 

3. Focus most attention on 

outcomes and objectives, 

especially those in our 2020 

vision and associated plans as 

we work to improve quality and 

ensure safety 

4. Help others to choose well 

between priorities when we 

have more work to do than can 

be done at a given time 

5. Strive to speak well of all teams 

within the Trust and wider 

CORPORATE AND GENERAL 

NEWS 

Trust a better place to work, improve 

staff wellbeing and consequently the 

care we are able to provide to our 

patients.” 

system, and all individuals with 

whom we work 

6. Make sure that others 

understand what they are 

being asked to do and why, 

and encourage questions and 

suggestions 

The code aims to ensure that 

managers in our Trust do not: 

7. Ignore or neglect patient or 

workforce safety under 

any circumstances 

8. Create or tolerate an 

atmosphere of anxiety, fear, 

bullying or intimidation 

9. Discourage anyone from 

Speaking Up to anyone else 

10. Make or ignore disparaging 

comments about others 

For guidance on how the Managers’ Code of Conduct applies to you, watch the 

short animations that are available on Connect. 

Watch our new animations on Connect to understand the Managers' Code of Conduct 

3


NEWS 

What you need to know 

ahead of go-live 

Upcoming events 

Go-live clinics 

Go-live clinics are the perfect opportunity to 

find out more about Unity and how it will 

affect you, and also to ask any questions 

you may have about going live with our 

new electronic patient record. 

If you would like more information about 

go-live support, the cutover schedule, or 

anything else related to Unity, then please 

book a place and come along. You can do 

so via Connect. 

Date Time Location 

Tuesday 27 August 

Wednesday 28 August 

12.30pm-3pm 

9.30am-12pm 

Monday 2 September 10am-12.30pm 

Friday 6 September 

12pm-2.30pm 

Conference Room, Education Centre, 

Sandwell General Hospital 

Wolfson Lecture Theatre, 

Postgraduate Centre, City Hospital 


Postgraduate Centre, City Hospital 



Access Fairs 

To ensure that you don’t face any delays at 

go-live, the Unity team are running Access 

Fairs where you can check that your login 

details work and that you have the right 

level of access. 

It’s essential that everyone who will use 

Unity attends an Access Fair. If you can’t log 

in, or don’t have the right level of access, 

then the Unity team will get this sorted for 

you. 

Access Fairs will be running every day 

between 2-15 September, from 7am to 

8pm at the Coffee Pot at Sandwell, and 

D29 at City. You will need to book onto 

these sessions and can do so through 

Connect. 

There will also be several drop-in sessions 

taking place across the Trust, which you 

don’t need to register for to attend. Details 

of where and when these sessions are 

being held can be found on Connect. 

Collection of go-live 

communications material 

In the week beginning Monday 9 

September, ward managers and super 

users will be able to collect all the 

communications materials they will need for 

go-live, including posters, patient leaflets 

and pocket books. There will also be green 

Unity t-shirts for digital champions and 

super users. 

Please keep an eye on Connect 

and the Communications Bulletin 

for more information. 

Sandwell and West 

Birmingham Hospitals 

NHS Trust 

4

The go-live weekend 

The Trust will be going live in three stages: 

• Saturday 21 September – City Hospital 

• Sunday 22 September – Sandwell General Hospital, 

Rowley Regis Hospital and Leasowes 

• Monday 23 September – outpatient and 

community sites 

When your area is expected to go live 

City Hospital 

Time 

5am 

6am 

6.15am 

6.30am 

6.45am 

7.15am 

7.45am 

8am 

8.15am 

8.45am 

9.15am 

10am 

10.15am 

11am 

11.30am 

Area 

ED, AMU1, D5, NNU, Critical Care 

D7 

AMAA 

Labour Ward 

AMU2 

EGAU 

D11, D17, Serenity 

BMEC 

M1 

D43, CSU 

M2 

D47, D26 

D15 

BMEC Ophthalmic Unit, D19 

D21 (D16) 


Time 

5am 

Area 

ED, AMUA, SAU, Lyndon Ground, 

Critical Care 

6.30am Lyndon 1, Lyndon 2 

6.45am Lyndon 3 

7.45am 

AMAA 

8am Priory 2, Priory 5, Lyndon 4 

9.45am Priory 4 

10am Lyndon 5 

10.15am Newton 3 

11.15am Newton 4 

12pm Newton 5 

12.45pm 

OPAU 

Rowley Regis Hospital 

Time 

5.45am 

8.45am 

11.15am 

1.45pm 

Transcription 

Area 

Leasowes 

Eliza Tinsley 

Henderson 

McCarthy 

Go-live starts with transcription, the process of manually inputting 

patients’ drug charts into Unity. Transcription starts at 4am and is 

led by three teams of doctors, pharmacists and analysts who will 

go from ward to ward inputting the drug data. 

When this been completed they will put a green wristband on 

each patient whose information is now in Unity. A coversheet 

will also be put on their drug chart. The assurance team, which is 

made up of the chief clinical information officer, chief pharmacist 

and the clinical safety officer, declare the ward as live. 

Systems closure 

We will be closing some systems down while we go live. This 

means that for some clinical activity you will need to revert to 

using paper for a period of 24 hours. Refer to the go-live page on 

Connect for more information. 

Transfers during go-live 

Please see the policy document which is available via the go-live 

page on Connect. 

Support during go-live 

Don’t worry if you get stuck or aren’t sure what to do – plenty of 

help will be at hand. 

• If you cannot log in to Unity then call the informatics service 

desk on ext. 4050 

• If you have any other issue with Unity, please speak to a 

colleague wearing a green Unity t-shirt in the first instance. 

If your query requires urgent escalation, they can do this 

for you 

As well as digital champions and super users, there will be 

floorwalkers in your area to help resolve any issues. If you’ve 

forgotten how to do a particular task in Unity, there will also be 

pocket books that you can refer to. These simple guides will take 

you through the process step by step. 

For more information about going live with Unity please 

visit the go-live page on Connect or email swbh.unity. 

queries@nhs.net. 

5

New devices and improved Wi-Fi 

increase confidence in Unity 


NEWS 

As a major transformation project, 

Unity touches all areas of the Trust. 

While there has been a big focus on 

training and new workflows, a lot 

of work has been going on in the 

background to ensure that our IT 

infrastructure is ready to meet the 

demands of an electronic patient 

record. 

To support the introduction of Unity, 

hundreds of new devices are currently being 

rolled out across our sites. This process is 

being done in stages to make it as efficient 

as possible and the schedule for device 

delivery can be found on Connect. 

Lyndon 5 at Sandwell were the first to 

receive their new Unity devices at the end 

of July, with four workstations on wheels 

and two laptops on wheels arriving for 

the team to use. Vikki Howard, the ward’s 

senior sister, was pleased to see Unity move 

another step closer. 


NEWS 

Digital champions: Helping to move 

us to closer to Unity 

To ensure a smooth transition to our 

new electronic patient record, digital 

champions will be helping to guide 

their colleagues through the process. 

The extra training they’ve received on 

Unity means they will be well-placed 

to advise on issues that arise, or simply 

support people who are feeling under 

pressure. 

Anand Dhanasekaran, a urology consultant 

is one of more than 900 digital champions 

primed for go-live. 

Having assisted the Trust with similar 

projects, delivering benefits for colleagues 

and patients alike, Anand is looking to 

put his prior experiences to good use with 

Unity. 

“I’ve done the training and we’re trying 

to talk to each other like a team,” says 

Anand. “For example, maybe one of my 

colleagues might not be comfortable with 

a specific part of the system. There may be 

a problem with the system, or maybe their 

Lyndon 5 with one of their new devices 

“The Lyndon 5 team are looking forward to 

the arrival of Unity and the benefits that it 

will bring for our patient care,” she said. 

“Until cutover, the team focus will be 

on practising on the Play System to get 

everyone ready for Unity and make sure the 

changes are as seamless as possible. The 

arrival of the new equipment on the ward 

will enable all members of the team to have 

access to Unity as and when they need it.” 

Plans for deployment and sign-off of devices 

will be made directly with each department. 

If you encounter any issues please call the IT 

helpdesk on 4050. 

As well as the arrival of new devices, 

Digital Champion, Anand Dhanasekaran 

approach to it, but because we have digital 

champions in various departments we can 

talk to each other and discuss different 

techniques. There are little things you can 

do to make your life easier as far as the 

digital world is concerned.” 

Anand is realistic about the demands of 

moving to a new electronic patient record, 

but believes that, after that initial period 

of readjustment, there will be a number of 

clear benefits. 

another major priority for the Unity project 

has been to ensure that Wi-Fi works well 

across the Trust and can be relied upon to 

support our new electronic patient record 

ahead of go-live. 

We are pleased to confirm that the Wi- 

Fi signal across the Sandwell and the 

community sites has been upgraded and 

hopefully colleagues in these areas are 

already feeling the benefit. 

One area that has noticed a difference is 

critical care at Sandwell. Matron Amber 

Markham said: “We have had extra wireless 

access points installed on the unit and 

the Wi-Fi seems better. It has increased 

confidence in the system and it has allowed 

better working on the portable devices in 

our daily practice.” 

With the Sandwell and community 

improvements completed, the focus has 

shifted to City, where the work is scheduled 

to be finished during August. 

Thank you to all colleagues at Sandwell 

and the community sites for their 

patience and help during the survey 

and installation phases. The Wi-Fi 

should be working well but if you 

notice any issues then please call 4050. 

He said: “Patients will definitely be checked 

in for VTE prophylaxis. The sepsis scoring 

system is very robust so we can intervene at 

an early stage with patients who may be at 

risk. That will help colleagues on the wards 

to take some early steps and it will reduce 

the mortality rate for sepsis too. 

“It will be easy to reach the patient’s 

reports, and make sure that you’re 

acknowledging them and sending the right 

letters back to the GP. It should reduce 

the time it takes for patients to have a 

test, for that to be reported and reach the 

consultant so that actions can be taken. 

This will lead to better outcomes, especially 

for cancers. 

“It can also help us to improve utilisation. 

If there’s a clinic that’s under booked, or a 

patient who doesn’t attend, we should be 

able to spot that and fill the slots better. 

Resources will be used a lot better with 

Unity.” 

6

Optimising Unity: Making the most 

of our electronic patient record 

We all know that there are many 

benefits to Unity – safer prescribing, 

reducing duplication of entries in 

multiple systems and freeing up clinical 

time. But the test for us will be to what 

extent we can all use the new system 

as effectively as possible. This will 

mean that our patients get the best 

quality care because we are following 

standard best practice guidelines in 

clinical care. 

We will be measuring how well we use 

Unity from day one and continually. Every 

individual’s use of the Unity system can be 

tracked so we will quickly be able to see 

where people are using Unity in the best 

way and where people need more support 

to use the system effectively. A number of 

key measures will enable us to do this from 

the first day of implementation. 

Each directorate, team and individual will be able to see how your use of Unity compares to peers and to our standard. 

By March 2020 every one will be expected to hot the baseline standards which are set out below. 

Staff group Measure Aim 

All staff Time it takes to log on or access Unity Less than three seconds 

Doctors 

Nurses 

• Complete and sign clerking documentation within six hours 

• Prescribing 

• VTE assessments completed within six hours of admission 

• Overriding prescribing alerts 

• Administer medicines within the hour 

• Medicines administered without a barcode scanner 

• 100% 

• 5% maximum free text prescribing 

(not from catalogue) 

• 100% 

• Less than 10% 

• More than 85% 

• Less than 10% 

Therapists Time taken to respond to referrals Less than four hours 

Porters 

Pharmacists 

• Number of jobs accepted within 15 minutes 

• Number of declined jobs 

• Orders verified within 24 hours 

• Drug histories completed within 48 hours 


NEWS 

• 80% 

• 0 

• 80% 

• 75% 

Rachel Barlow, Chief Operating Officer, 

is excited about the focus we have on 

optimisation. “Our colleagues at Cerner, 

who have built Unity for us, tell us that we 

are the only Trust they know about that is 

focussed on optimisation in this way. That 

means we are certainly leading the way in 

this important area. Making the best use of 

Unity is vital as it ensures our patients and 

clinical colleagues benefit most from this 

investment in a new IT system. 

“The measures we have put in place, that 

we will be striving for, give us a clear view 

of where we are doing well and where we 

need to improve. We want every clinician 

to understand how well they are using 

the system and where they can learn 

from others. Of course, some of the key 

measures are about protecting the safety 

of our patients such as signing off care 

arrangements and ensuring that the right 

clinician responsible for each patient has 

been identified. These areas we need 

to get right quickly. Some of the other 

measures are more developmental and we 

expect to improve during the first three to 

four months. 

“Once we are comfortable that we are 

using the system well we will be able to 

innovate and look at the new areas of 

development within Unity but for the 

first six months after go live the sole 

focus will be in making the optimum 

use of the system as we have it. Teams 

wanting to develop Unity will need first to 

demonstrate that the system is being well 

used where they work.” 

7

Community fundraiser provides 

welcomed distraction 

YOUR TRUST CHARITY 

@SWBHCharity To donate 

to the Your Trust Charity text 

“SWBH16 £5” to 70070 

Kind hearted members of the 

community came together recently 

to hold a fundraiser for the Priory 

Ground ward at Sandwell Hospital 

to help purchase some much needed 

distraction play equipment. 

Patrons of the Horse and Jockey pub, led 

by Manager, Simon Hawkes took it upon 

Community and colleagues come together to enjoy fundraiser 

themselves to take on the challenge of raising 

the much needed funds both in an effort to 

bring the local community together and to give 

to a very worthy cause. 

In total, the fundraiser managed to raise over 

£1000 which will go towards equipment on 

the ward. 

Supporting the event from our Trust was Head 

of Your Trust Charity, Johnny Shah, he said: 

“We are very grateful indeed for the local 

Family's generous donation in 

memorial to colleague Julie Harris 


NEWS 

On the hottest day of the year the 

sun was burning bright in the sky 

over Rowley Regis Hospital, inside 

however staff and relatives were 

celebrating a different ray of light in 

their lives – that of former colleague 

Julie Harris who passed away last 

year while under the care of the 

Palliative Care team at the age of 54. 

Julie, who worked in domestic services, 

was a part of our organisation for 23 

years and only left in June of 2018 due 

to her illness before passing away in 

August. 

Since that time, the family has rallied 

together and hosted a charity night to 

raise money in support of the palliative 

care team, and as part of the lunch 

celebrating Julie they presented the team 

with a cheque for £3,900. 

“She was a beautiful woman, and will be 

sorely missed,” Julie’s husband Malcolm 

The Harris family present a cheque for £3,900 to 

the palliative care team 

Harris told the gathering in Rowley Regis 

Hospital’s Heart of Sandwell Day Hospice. 

“Julie would have appreciated this today. 

Because the team put so much into caring for 

Julie, we just wanted to give something back. 

It shortly would have been her 55th birthday 

and we’re trying to remember her as she 

would want to be remembered.” 

Funds were raised with a charity night, 

spearheaded by Malcolm, Julie’s two 

daughters and Malcolm’s future son-in-law 

who was a part of the band that performed. 

Sales from the tickets went towards the fund 

and Malcolm told Heartbeat that the family 

hopes to repeat the show next year, again for 

community rallying together as they did to 

help us fundraise for added value services at 

Priory Ground. These will really help children 

and young people when they come into the 

department, making their experience just that 

little better. It is the support of local people – 

many of whom have visited their loved ones 

at Priory Ground – that is so important to Your 

Trust Charity and will help us care for many 

more children and young people in the future. 

Thank you to all!” 

the benefit of the connected palliative care 

service. 

“The care that Julie received from the 

palliative care team was marvellous. We felt 

it was right to give something back.” 

The funds that have been raised by the 

Harris family will go towards improvement 

works at the Day Hospice, which will 

include the addition of an extra therapy 

room and a counselling room as well as 

updates to facilities like the kitchen and 

garden areas. All of which will benefit other 

patients on the road Julie travelled in the 

years ahead. 

Sue Law, Palliative Team Leader spoke to 

Heartbeat on the team’s amazement at the 

achievement. 

“We really want to thank Malcolm and 

his family today for the fundraising they 

have done. At one of the most difficult 

times of their lives they have spent their 

time fundraising for us, and we are very, 

very grateful for that. I can’t tell you how 

overwhelmed we are as a team that people 

like Malcolm and his family would do that 

for us.” 

8

Investing in SWB and delivering 

on integrated care 


NEWS 

It’s not all bricks and mortar, colleagues in 

imaging will also soon be taking delivery 

of a brand new state of the art CT scanner 

and MRI machine in the BTC as well as a 

new CT scanner on the main spine at City 

Hospital thanks to the Siemens Managed 

Equipment Service agreement. 

Artist's impression of the new £6m Carters Green Medical Centre being built at Sandwell Hospital 

Whilst work in Smethwick on our brand 

new Midland Metropolitan Hospital gets 

back underway, you might have noticed 

that building work across the rest of our 

Trust has stepped up pace. From multistory 

car parks and developments to 

critical care, extension to neonatal and 

the building of a brand new GP surgery 

at Sandwell Hospital, projects have been 

springing up across the estate to help us 

deliver on our integrated care pledge. 

Following the completion of the new Clinical 

Research Facility at Sandwell, refurbishment of 

Critical Care at City and Dartmouth House in 

Sandwell, We’re now in the midst of a £2m 

project to extend and refurbish our neonatal 

unit at City Hospital which will mean that we 

are able to provide care for more newborns in 

our high dependency cots as well as beginning 

work on a £6m project to build a brand new 

GP surgery and pharmacy on the Sandwell site. 

Together with the big build projects we’re also 

continuing investment in maintenance, our 

outpatient areas at City are getting a facelift 

as we develop our general clinic space in the 

BTC to relocate our fracture clinic and plans 

are in motion to look to co-locate paediatric 

emergency and assessment care at City. 

And over at Sandwell, colleagues will not 

be left disappointed with an investment 

of £6m in building the brand new Carters 

Green Medical Centre which is due to 

complete by summer 2020. The new 

purpose built medical centre will boast over 

20 clinical rooms and serve over 15,000 

patients. 

As you will have guessed, more patients will 

inevitably equal more parking, something 

which has for a long time been in short 

supply at both our acute sites. To ease this, 

an agreement has now been signed with 

QParks to develop a new multistory car 

park at Sandwell Hospital and another at 

City Hospital with a view to open both by 

2021. 

To find out more about capital 

projects, contact Tim Nash on email: 

timothy.nash@nhs.net 

Underway 

Investments in imaging 

• 2 new CT Scanners 

coming to City Hospital 

• Brand new MRI being 

installed in BTC 

Underway 

Multistory Car Park at Sandwell & City 

• 550 Spaces at City 

• 400 Spaces at Sandwell 

• Opens 2021 

Underway 

Midland Met Hospital 

• 665 Beds 

• 13 theatres 

• Opens 2022 

Underway 

Neonatal Unit Extension at City 

• £2m Investment 

• Opens Q4 2019 

Underway 

Carters Green Medical Centre 

• 20 Clinic Rooms 

• Serving 15,000 Patients 

• £6m investment 

• Opens Summer 2020 

Completed 

• Clinical Research Facility – opened May 2019 

• Critical Care Refurbishment at City 

• Dartmouth House refurbishment 

9

A prescription for a good night’s sleep 


NEWS 

The buzz of a busy ward with bright 

lights, beeping and bustle of nursing 

colleagues caring for patients might 

seem like the norm for most hospitals 

but feedback from patients and clinical 

evidence is showing is detrimental 

effect to rest and recovery. 

Most people would be forgiven for not 

knowing the extent of the effect of disturbed 

sleep on patients other than the expected 

tiredness but the physical and psychological 

effects are immense. Sleep deficit has been 

linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes as well as 

cardiovascular disease. 

However at our Trust, we’ve decided to turn 

the table on sleepless nights and tackle this 

issue with the introduction of the ‘Quiet 

Protocol’. 

Chief Nurse Paula Gardner shows one of the 

‘Good Night, Sleep Tight’ packs 

The new quiet protocol sets out to restore 

peace and tranquillity on wards and support 

rest and recovery through the introduction 

of a wind down period from 9pm, with the 

aim of all patients being settled and ready for 

sleep by 11pm. The protocol will ensure that 

lights are dimmed, beds are filled and noise 

kept to an absolute minimum. Wards will also 

be supported to ensure that supplies for sleep 

essentials such as pillows, eye masks, ear plugs 

and soft closing bins are replenished. 

Sharing her thoughts on the new initiative, 

Chief Nurse, Paula Gardner said, “The quiet 

protocol will give us the ability to plan and 

personalise the sleep habits of our patients, 

ensuring that we’re doing everything we can 

to support them to have a good night’s sleep. 

Whether the patient likes to have a drink 

before bed or a trip to the toilet, we will be 

in a much better position to understand and 

support. The quiet protocol will build on this 

and ensure that the environment supports a 

good night’s sleep. 

We understand that wards can never be 

completely silent but the work we are doing 

aims to make the patient experience better by 

reducing the amount of unnecessary noise to 

an absolute minimum and making sure that 

the sleep and recovery of our patients is kept 

high on our agenda.” 

The Sleep Protocol will be piloted and 

monitored on a single ward during September 

with a view to roll out more widely in Winter. 

Mandy Healy shines at Apprentice of 

the Year Awards 

Hard work and determination has seen 

Maternity Support Worker, Mandy 

Healy recognised at the apprenticeship 

awards. 

Mandy was runner up for the Outstanding 

Apprentice of the Year Award. Her 

recognition meant she got to visit 

parliament where she met the Minister of 

Skills to discuss with others how they felt 

about apprenticeships, how they could be 

improved and how to raise the profile of 

the apprenticeship scheme. 

Amanda or Mandy as she prefers to be 

called, first came to the Trust 13 years 

ago after being made redundant from her 

previous job in a bakery. She started work 

in domestic services and from the outset 

saw that there was an opportunity to gain 

training and develop herself professionally. 

Mandy said: "When I came as a domestic, 

I loved my job but I knew there was more 

that I could offer.” 

At first it wasn’t easy to gain the training 

she wanted, her requests were declined, 

but undeterred she took the initiative to 

approach Toby Lewis, suggesting that she 

could undertake the training in her own 

Mandy Healy (Left) with her assessor Julie Smith 

time. Her request was granted and soon she 

had started her Health and Social Care Level 

2 Apprenticeship. She quickly moved on to 

Health and Social Care Level 3 and kept on 

going with her development. 

Mandy has been on the apprenticeship 

scheme since 2016 gaining various 

qualifications including her Functional Skills 

Level 1 and 2. “I just thought, I want to learn 

the skills that are going to make me good at 

my job” she said. 

Mandy has been nominated for a 

number of awards and with the support 

and encouragement of the learning and 

development team, she has been pushed 

to go further with her development. All 

of this has been made possible through 

her PDR, in which she has consistently 

scored highly, prompting the learning 

and development team to ask her to 

really consider where she would like her 

career to go. She commented: “I’m so 

lucky, but it’s also because of my PDR. 

I’ve always told them that I wanted 

training and they’ve always taken it on 

board”. 

Mandy is grateful for the opportunities 

that have opened up to her through the 

pursuit of her professional development 

and is excited about where it will 

take her next. She is also keen to 

highlight the support and development 

opportunities that are available and is 

enthusiastic about colleagues accessing 

those resources. Mandy said: “People 

think apprenticeships are just for schoolleavers, 

but it doesn’t matter about age, 

the Trust will give you the training if you 

keep going at it”. 

10

Cancer patients enjoy annual 

wellbeing event 


NEWS 

Patients relax whilst flower arranging at Cancer Wellbeing event 

Hundreds of patients were pampered 

and entertained when they attended 

a special wellbeing fair held by our 

cancer support service. 

The annual event was held at the West 

Bromwich Albion ground where more than 

350 patients and their carers were invited to 

enjoy treatments from beauticians, massage 

therapists, meditation experts or to learn 

floristry skills. 

They were also there to learn more about 

the support available from the Living 

with and Beyond Cancer team, which is a 

programme delivering patient care, funded 

by Macmillan to the tune of more than 

£500,000. 

The event was planned and managed by 

Jenny Donovan, Cancer Services Manager. 

Jackie Cooper, Macmillan Living with and 

Beyond Cancer Programme Manager said: 

“This is a really great programme that aims 

to offer emotional and practical wellbeing 

to help patients live well with cancer. 

“It's a cause for celebration that more 

people than ever are surviving following 

a cancer diagnosis, but we know the 

impact of cancer doesn't suddenly stop 

when their treatment is over. 

“We are working in partnership with 

Macmillan and Sandwell and West 

Birmingham Clinical Commissioning 

Group to help improve the experience of 

people living with and beyond cancer. 

“Everyone diagnosed with cancer 

should lead as healthy and active lives as 

possible.” 

The pamper event has become a fixture 

in the calendar of many local people, 

and was originally set up as a means 

of providing extra support in addition 

to the medical treatment provided to 

cancer patients and their carers. 

The Living with and Beyond Cancer 

Programme will be providing more 

regular patient support events once it is 

fully established. 

New suite marks turning point for 

liver disease 

Priory 5 ward at Sandwell Hospital 

have recently opened our first ever 

paracentesis suite marking a turning 

point for liver disease patients. 

Clinical and non-clinical colleagues, from 

our Executive Team to the ward HCAs, 

were in attendance at the opening at 

Sandwell Hospital. 

Dr Saket Singhal, Consultant in 

Gastroenterology and Hepatology 

believes the opening of the suite will 

be beneficial for patients. He said: 

“Across the Trust, our liver team look 

after a huge number of patients with 

advanced liver disease. One of the main 

consequences of advanced liver disease 

is the development of fluid (ascites) 

in the abdominal cavity which often 

requires removal by insertion of a drain, 

this is called paracentesis and is usually 

done as a day case intervention.” 

“At City Hospital, patients can undergo 

day case paracentesis on the medical 

infusion suite (MIS), but no similar facility 

Colleagues on Priory 5 at the opening of our 

paracentesis suite on Priory 5 

existed at Sandwell. Therefore, until now 

patients requiring paracentesis at Sandwell 

were frequently admitted as an emergency 

via ED and required admission into a ward 

bed for several days instead of having the 

paracentesis done as a day case. This was not 

ideal for the patients and was an unnecessary 

use of valuable resources.” 

In recent years, neighbouring Trusts have 

set up day case paracentesis facilities. Clare 

Smith, liver CNS, visited some of these units 

and in conjunction with Dr Singhal, developed 

a business case for converting a disused side 

room on Priory 5 ward into a consultation 

room in which day case paracentesis could 

be safely performed. 

Dr Carol Cobb, Consultant 

Gastroenterologist hosted the grand 

opening of the paracentesis suite and 

thanked everybody for their hard work in 

making it a reality. 

She said: “I would like to say a massive 

thank you to Jo Thomas, Clare Smith, 

Nikole Hazeldine-Potts, Jacqui Moore, Saket 

Singhal and everyone else who made this 

happen!” 

She added: “We’re expecting this facility 

will significantly improve the care for 

patients requiring day case paracentesis 

as well as preventing unnecessary ED 

admissions and saving bed days. With this 

in mind, we will ensure we closely monitor 

and audit the activity of the suite at regular 

intervals.” 

11

Six week plans set to transform 

sickness absence support 


NEWS 

In July the Trust Board agreed to 

a turnaround plan to tackle rising 

rates of sickness absence in our 

organisation. The new plans offer a 

refreshed approach and aim to take 

on the underlying issues leading 

to sickness absence in an effort to 

return us to our 3 per cent sickness 

absence target. 

The new plan sets out a revised 

approach to supporting mental health 

related absence, offers early intervention 

support through coaching and includes 

support for musculoskeletal related 

absence through a fast track physio 

pathway. 

To find out more about the plan, 

Heartbeat caught up with Deputy 

Director of People and Organisational 

Development, Frieza Mahmood, she 

said, “At it’s core, the new plans aim 

to offer support to colleagues who are 

at risk of going off sick, whether that is 

• 6 weeks support plan 

• Mental health support 

• Musculoskeletal support 

• Mental health champions 

• Attendance coaches 

• 3% sickness absence target 

due to their physical health, mental health or 

otherwise. The wellbeing of our staff is our 

priority and it’s only through this that we’ll 

be able to see improvements in our sickness 

absence rates. 

We have colleagues at Kaleidoscope who can 

support colleagues struggling with mental 

health and likewise mechanisms in place to 

support colleagues who are struggling with 

their physical health whether this is work 

related or otherwise, if we can offer the 

right support at the right time we’ll be able 

to change the tide of our current sickness 

absence rates. 

Instead of writing off absence and simply 

looking to report figures, we are taking a 

holistic approach, looking at all of the issues 

that lead to it and offering support and 

interventions where possible.” 

Alongside offering support to affected staff, 

the Trust is also planning to offer further 

training and resources to managers to 

ensure that they have the skills and ability 

to identify colleagues at risk of absence, 

offer support and onward referral to 

specialist services where necessary. 

“Whilst we look to improve our support 

services for colleagues, we’re aware that 

our senior leaders need to develop their 

skills too so we are looking to launch 

mental health champion roles to work 

alongside our already successful staff 

networks and staff side as well as launching 

a range of emotional wellbeing support 

workshops," added Frieza. 

We believe that once these plans are in 

place and support is being offered and 

accepted, we will see improvements in 

our colleaguehealth and wellbeing and a 

reduction in our rates of sickness absence." 

Don’t take the pee! For older patients, 

urine dips are not the key! 

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a 

common diagnosis in community 

and inpatient settings in our Trust. 

The infection is caused by bacteria 

in the urine, and is treated with 

short courses of antibiotics. However 

evidence is now showing that 

clinicians should show caution when 

reaching for the dip sticks when 

diagnosing UTIs in older patients. 

The presence of bacteria in urine causing 

infection can be suggested by the 

symptoms that the patient has – for 

example pain, frequency and strong 

smell when passing urine, and is often 

confirmed by the use of a urine dip 

stick test which can test for blood and 

bacteria. 

However one fact that is often overlooked 

is that it is possible for patients to have 

bacteria in their urine, but not have an 

underlying infection. This occurs in up to 

50 per cent of patients over the age of 65 

years, and up to 100 per cent of patients 

who have a urinary catheter in situ. 

It is for this very reason that we advise 

that urine dip sticks should not be used to 

diagnose UTI in patients over 65 years old, 

or any patient with a catheter. 

The problem with antibiotics 

We all know that with antibiotic resistance 

on the rise, few new antibiotics coming to 

the market and we have to use the ones we 

have more carefully now. 

Antibiotics are not harmless medicines in 

themselves – they can have a whole host 

of side effects, they can interact with a 

patient’s existing medicines and they can 

cause upset stomachs, diarrhoea and worst 

of all, Clostridium difficile infection. 

For elderly patients with bacteria in their 

urine but no infection, it only takes three 

patients to be treated with antibiotics for 

one patient to be caused harm. Because so 

many elderly patients have asymptomatic 

bacteriuria, a misdiagnosis due to dip 

stick tests is likely to lead to the inevitable 

prescription for antibiotics, potential harm 

to the patient, driving the development of 

antibiotic resistance, and wasting money on 

unnecessary treatment. 

If you think an elderly patient (over 65 years 

of age) has a urinary tract infection, the 

decision to give them antibiotics should be 

based on the symptoms they have, or the 

results of a urine culture. Don’t dip their 

urine to check for infection. 

It is OK to dip an elderly patient’s urine to 

test for other things, such as protein, blood 

and so on, which are helpful to make other 

diagnoses. It’s just not helpful for working 

out if they have a UTI. 

If you want more information, follow 

the national campaign on Twitter 

#todipornottodip 

12

New assessment tool to help 

clinicians evaluate pain 

A pain assessment tool aimed at 

helping clinicians evaluate patient’s 

pain to decide upon appropriate 

treatment and intervention has 

been rolled out across the Trust and 

incorporated as part of Unity. 

The Abbey Pain Assessment tool is a quick 

and easy tool which is designed to be used 

with patients who are having difficulty in 

communicating for a variety of reasons. 

This could include because they have had 

a stroke, cognitive difficulties, Dementia, 

distress or even a simple language barrier. 

The assessment tool covers six areas which 

can be used to assess the patient, these are: 

• Vocalisation 

• Facial expression 

• Change in body language 

• Behavioural change 

• Physiological change 

• Physical changes 

Using these characteristics the patient is 

scored to determine the level and type of 

pain that they are likely to be experiencing. 

This method makes it easier to assess pain 

rather than, for example, asking where on 

a scale of 1-10 a patient feels their pain 

is, something which would be difficult 

Pauline Richards shows us the Abbey Pain 

Assessment Tool 

to explain when there are communication 

barriers and also something which is highly 

subjective. 

This scale allows appropriate analgesia to be 

prescribed and also prompts the clinician to 

return to the patient after an hour to reassess. 

Using the tool means that time is saved for 

the clinician, who can avoid having to try 

find ways to communicate in order to gather 

information, which in turn benefits the patient 

by limiting any potential frustration. 

The Abbey tool is named after Dr Jennifer 

Abbey who is the developer and innovator 

behind the Abbey Pain Scale (APS) which has 

been the standard pain assessment tool used 

for people who cannot verbalise in Australia 


NEWS 

and parts of the UK since 2004. 

Pauline Richards, Project Facilitator in 

Corporate Nursing Services said: “It 

makes it much easier for colleagues such 

as nurses and other clinicians, who can 

use their own knowledge of the patient 

to assess them. The tool then acts as 

a resource to guide them on how to 

effectively manage that patient’s pain”. 

Before the introduction of this tool there 

wasn’t a standardised template that was 

being used across the Trust to help with 

pain management. 

Pauline is about to go back and 

complete her first round of audits to 

check that the assessment tool is being 

used correctly and effectively, and that it 

is embedded within the system. 

Pauline said:“With the use of this 

assessment tool, it doesn’t matter which 

ward a nurse is on, or which discipline 

a doctor is working in, the patient will 

receive a standardised assessment of 

their pain.” 

Flu fighting force returns this autumn 

After winning two awards last season 

at the annual NHS Employer’s awards 

ceremony, our Stars Wars themed flu 

campaign will be returning in full force 

on 1 October, ready to take on the 

scourge of seasonal flu! 

“May the 4 be with you” is something 

you will soon hear throughout the hospital 

as the flu campaign gets underway. The 

vaccine provides four shields of protection 

against the virus as it successfully did last 

year. 

According to recent figures from Public 

Health England, it is estimated that an 

average of 8,000 people die from flu in 

England each year. 

Tracy Lees, Occupational Health and 

Wellbeing Nurse Manager, is urging both 

clinical and non-clinical colleagues to join 

the flu fighting force and have their flu jab 

this year. 

She said: “Many people spread the flu 

without even knowing it. Up to 50 per 

cent of confirmed influenza infections 

are subclinical which could mean infected 

colleagues pass on the virus to vulnerable 

patients, colleagues and family members. 

It has also been estimated that 1 in 4 

healthcare professionals may become 

infected with influenza during a mild 

influenza season, so having the jab can 

massively reduce the risks of infection. It’s 

important to get protected not infected.” 

The flu vaccination offers the only 

protection against the flu. The vaccine 

doesn’t cause the flu, which is one of 

many myths about the injection. The most 

common side effect of the injection can be 

slight bruising or localised muscular stiffness 

at the injection point but this soon clears up 

after a few days. 

In addition, the vaccination also helps 

protect women during pregnancy and their 

babies for up to six months after they are 

born, with one study showing that giving 

the flu vaccine to pregnant women was 

around 92 per cent effective in preventing 

the hospitalisation of infants for flu. 

Alison Pincher, Senior Occupational Health 

Nurse Advisor believes it is everyone’s duty 

to get vaccinated. 

She said: “As a colleague at this Trust, 

it is your responsibility to protect your 

patients, fellow colleagues and family 

members at home from the flu, which 

is why I think it is necessary to get the 

jab. Though it can take up to two weeks 

to give protection, the vaccine itself is 

very safe and doesn’t contain any pork 

products or latex so even colleagues 

with allergies or religious objections to 

these components can still have their 

flu vaccination. The flu vaccine can also 

be given to those who have mild egg 

allergies and we also have an egg free 

vaccine for those who have a definite 

egg allergy.” 

This flu season we would like to hear 

patient experiences regarding the flu 

and why they believe colleagues should 

have their flu vaccine. If you know of 

anybody who could help with this, or 

for more information about the flu 

vaccination, including becoming a peer 

vaccinator this flu season, please contact 

occupational health on ext. 3306. 

13

Payments recovered from over 

150 overseas visitors 


NEWS 

Our organisation has recovered 

payment from over150 patients 

who were overseas visitors since 

August 2018 when the overseas 

visitors team was formed, alongside 

significant savings from deterring 

health tourists from using our 

services. 

The team assess patients’ chargeable 

status and identifies patients who 

are ineligible for free NHS care. Upon 

receiving referrals from self-check-in 

kiosks, A&E or wards the team meet 

with patients to ensure they are eligible 

for free NHS healthcare. 

“Prior to August 2018, our legal team 

were inundated with queries regarding 

overseas visitors and charging visitors 

where possible,” explained Kiran Virk, 

Overseas Visitors Officer. 

“However since our team was formed 

12 months ago, there has been a 

Our Trust’s Overseas Visitor team - L-R Genevieve 

Southall, Overseas Visitors Officer; Saleem 

Mohammed, Overseas Visitors Manager and 

Shelly Klair, Overseas Visitors Officer 

significant improvement in identification and 

charging as this is what we solely specialise in 

and focus on.” 

The overseas visitor team use thorough and 

precise techniques to identify potential health 

tourists. 

Saleem Mohammed, Overseas Visitors 

Manager said: “Since our team was 

introduced, the Trust has recovered payment 

Get connected at your local 

cyber café 

As our Trust continues to embrace 

the digital revolution this month we 

are able to bring to you the next 

stage in our digital journey as we 

launch our new cyber cafés across 

our Sandwell, City and Rowley sites. 

The cyber café pilot scheme allows 

colleagues who wouldn’t usually have 

access to a computer, to download their 

latest payslips, find out about the latest 

goings on within our workplace and 

check shifts and emails, all at the click of 

a button. 

The bespoke computers are tailored for 

easy use and be accompanied with a 

user guide should novice users struggle 

with any of the basic functions. 

Paul Hooton, Deputy Chief Nurse is 

leading the scheme as he believes it will 

benefit the majority of colleagues long 

term. 

He said: “Many of my colleagues such 

as those who work in domestic services, 

estates, portering and the majority of 

ward based colleagues are often out 

Ward services colleagues test out the new 

Cyber Cafe 

of the loop as they don’t have consistent 

access to digital information like the rest of 

us. With the introduction of the cyber cafés, 

it will help close the gap and result in more 

effective communication across our sites for 

staff. 

“Though some may find it a little difficult 

to use the café to its full capabilities, I think 

over time and with the guidance of the 

basic user guide, our cyber cafés will be a 

huge hit with most.” 

for treatment from over 150 overseas 

visitors in just under a year. In addition to 

this, when our team identifies patients who 

should be paying for their healthcare, it 

means we’re able to free up appointments 

for patients who are entitled to free care 

thus reducing outpatient waiting lists. 

“On a daily basis the overseas visitor’s team 

run reports that show each patient who 

has checked in for their appointment or 

attended ED. These reports help identify 

possible overseas visitors and we then 

set up an individual case for the patient. 

Following this we call the patient and ask 

for the relevant evidence to assess their 

eligibility for free care. The same process 

is also used for patients who use ED and 

become in-patients. 

“The focus for our team is not only to 

invoice patients who are ineligible for 

free NHS care, but we also help and 

assist colleagues in their understanding 

and interpretation of the often confusing 

regulations on charging policies, to make 

sure that eligible patients are receiving the 

care they deserve in timely manner.” 

Janet Clarke, Head of Support Services 

is also playing a fundamental role in the 

project and said: “In 2019 it should be 

a given that everyone has access to a 

computer. We live in a digital age with lots 

of information being passed on daily, so 

for the Trust to make a conscious effort to 

identify this is a step in the right direction. 

“Given this is a pilot scheme, it will allow 

everybody in the cyber café working 

group to be able to learn what works and 

needs to improve, including security of 

the machines themselves, for the eventual 

planned go-live later this year.” 

Be sure to drop by and get logged on at 

your nearest café. 

Site 

City 

City 

Rowley Regis 

Rowley Regis 

Sandwell 

Sandwell 

Location 

Union Office 

BTC main reception 

Coffee Pot 

Staff Room 

(Laundry Room) 

Basement 

Hallam Restaurant 

14

Lupus clinic is centre of excellence 


NEWS 

Professor Caroline Gordon 

The lupus unit at City Hospital has been 

reconfirmed as a centre of excellence by 

national charity Lupus UK. 

Vice Chair and Trustee Yvonne Norton MBE 

commented: “The facility at City Hospital 

continues to fulfil all the criteria required to 

remain a Lupus UK Centre of Excellence. We 

are pleased that the relationship between 

City Hospital lupus unit and the renal lupus 

unit clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 

continues to work so well. 

“Considering the age and cramped 

conditions of the hospital building, you are 

doing an admirable job in conducting clinics 

and consultations and the harmonious 

relationship that is evident between all team 

members is far above that found in many 

more modern centres.” 

Lupus is a debilitating disorder of the 

immune system known as an autoimmune 

disease. Patients with lupus typically 

experience their immune system turning 

against parts of the body it is designed 

to protect, leading to inflammation and 

damage to various body tissues. Currently 

there is no cure for lupus, however effective 

treatments can ensure people with the 

disease can lead active, healthy lives. 

Birmingham lupus clinics (including City, 

Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Birmingham 

Women's Hospital) were appointed the first 

Lupus UK Centre of Excellence in 2005. 

Professor Caroline Gordon recalled the 

excitement that generated for staff. She 

said: “Patient safety is our number one 

priority, and all our staff were delighted 

then to be recognised as working for a 

centre of excellence, as much as we are to 

have our status reconfirmed today. We are 

proud to provide both an excellent clinical 

service and active research unit, aiming to 

improve outcomes of the disease. 

“Our patients always come first and with 

lupus being a lifetime condition, we are 

able to form lasting relationships with our 

patients as we see them through the highs 

and lows of their symptoms. As we work 

with them to continue our research into the 

condition we hope to improve treatments 

which will enhance quality of life for those 

living with the disorder.” 

“Following my retirement I am still 

providing support for research and 

clinical advice if needed as Emeritus 

Professor of Rheumatology whilst John 

Reynolds - our new Senior Clinical 

Lecturer - continues my routine NHS 

clinical work. 

“However there are many other 

people involved in the care of lupus 

patients (too many to name), and I am 

most grateful to everyone for all their 

contributions to clinical management 

and research and for making our lupus 

service such a success.” 

Rebecca Gilman, Lupus Research Clinical 

Nurse Specialist added: It's hugely 

important to be a Lupus UK Centre of 

Excellence because it matters to lupus 

patients. Our patients tell us it is difficult 

having an unpredictable condition, and 

so it is important that their condition 

is managed well. They tell us they 

want experienced clinicians using well 

established treatments in a logical and 

standardised way. 

“As lupus is not common it takes time 

to build up this experience, and patients 

tell us they want to be able to come 

to a centre that has been checked 

independently. Lupus UK do this with 

their Centre of Excellence assessment, 

and if awarded, this status independently 

validates that staff at the awarded centre 

really do understand the condition, lupus 

patients and they will be giving them the 

best possible care and treatment. 

“I'm proud that we continue to offer 

nationally and internationally renowned 

care locally to the Birmingham 

population, as well as to those patients 

who choose to travel from across the UK 

to us. I'm also proud to be working in a 

team that continues to offer best lupus 

practice and care, is at the forefront 

of research for care and treatments 

to continue to improve patients’ 

futures, and in teaching clinicians and 

practitioners of the future, as it has done 

since first receiving Clinical Excellence 

status in 2005.” 

Long-time patient Angela McNab 

who has lived with lupus for nearly 30 

years agrees, as she explained: “The 

experience of being treated at City 

Hospital is a positive one, because they 

allow me to be part of the management 

of my disease.” 

15

Introducing the shortlisted nominees 

for the 2019 Star Awards 

This year we had a wonderful 

turnout of nominees with 

colleagues and patients both keen 

to share their amazing experiences 

of care, kindness innovations and 

quality they had experienced 

from our staff and colleagues 

throughout the Trust. 

Judges definitely had a challenge 

this year whittling down the 560 

nominations to our final shortlist we 

are able to share with you. 

Leading the Star Awards judging 

panel, Chairman Richard Samuda 

said, “Congratulations to all of the 

nominee’s not just those that have 

made it through to the next stage. Star 

Awards is a wonderful opportunity 

to recognise all of the hard work and 

achievements of our colleagues.” 

On the pages opposite, there’s a 

description of each award category 

and – in alphabetical order – the 

names of the shortlisted teams and 

colleagues in each. 

Don’t forget that you choose the 

winners in four categories: 

• Employee of the Year 

• Clinical Team of the Year (Adults) 

• Clinical Team of the Year 

(Children’s) 

• Non Clinical Team of the Year 

You will be able to vote online through 

Connect in September. 

Amazing acts - Death-defying feats - Incredible people 

r e c o g n i s i n g outsta n d i n g commitment 

2020 vision prize for integrated 

care pioneer of the year 

Alcohol Team 

Bethany Smith 

iCares Directorate Leadership team 

Award for Equality and Diversity 

Champion 

Homeless Patient Pathway Team 

Joanne Simpson 

Nav Sharma 

Digital Leader of the Year 

Andy Churm 

Ilka Fisher 

Rachel Follos 

Distinguished Service Award 

Carroll Brashier 

Karen Mayo 

Kelly Redden-Rowley 

Excellence in education prize 

Apprentice Provider team 

Laura Taylor 

Manoj Sikand 

Excellence in research prize 

Ash Turner 

Sarah Clamp 

Clinical Team of the Year 

Adults) 

Critical Care and Critical Care Followup 

Homeless Patient Pathway Team 

SPA Single Point of Access 

Clinical Team of the Year ( 

Children) 

Children's Motor Management Clinic 

Domestic Abuse Team 

Paediatric Allergy Team 

Fundraiser of the Year 

Bristnall Hall Academy 

Jenny Donovan and the Cancer Wellbeing Team 

Sally Gutteridge 

Learner of the Year 

Jodie Earp 

Rakan Khalifa 

Security Team 

New Leader 

Asif Naveed 

Janice Barrett 

Jaqueline Slater 

Patient Safety Award 

Acute Oncology Team 

Karanjit Phanasan 

Sarah Oley 

Prize for Innovation 

Coronary Artery Disease Management Team 

Joanne Lloyd - CNS Diabetes 

Surgical Assessment Unit 

The ‘Green’ Award 

Amenities Management Team 

Cancer Service 

Occupational Health and Wellbeing 

Volunteer of the Year 

Catherine Groomridge 

Joan Devaney 

Manish Pandit 

Staff Voting Categories’ 

Quality of Care Award and 

Local Primary Care Award for 

the Most Valued Service in the 

Trust will be announced in the 

daily bulletin. 

Non-Clinical Team of the Year 

General Surgical Secretaries 

Medical Education Team 

Patient Access Team 

Employee of the Year 

Alison Annikey 

Corrine Dacosta 

Huma Naqvi 

Richard Burnell

Cigarette stubs get a good sweeping 


NEWS 

These are the road and path 

sweepers that are cleaning up 

Sandwell and City Hospitals – 

supporting the estates team to 

rid our sites of cigarette ends and 

litter following our move to go 

smokefree. 

The new move will help to create 

a much improved environment for 

patients, visitors and colleagues with 

the two mini-sweepers currently on 

hire. They can be seen early mornings, 

evenings and at weekends, driven by 

colleagues from our estates team. 

Andrew Mould, Estates Operational 

Manager (Engineering), said: “Bringing 

in these devices means that we are 

ensuring both our sites are thoroughly 

cleaned and assist to reduce the number 

of cigarette ends and litter. It sends 

out a clear message that smoking isn’t 

allowed on our sites and that we have 

pride in our estate and the environment. 

Patients, visitors and colleagues should 

move off our grounds if they wish to 

smoke and dispose of their rubbish by 

using the bins that we have positioned 

on the perimeter of our buildings. 

Jonathan Robinson, from estates, gets ready to do his rounds in one of the sweepers. 

“We will be monitoring how effective 

these sweepers are and if we satisfied that 

they are improving the general upkeep 

of the environment, then we will look at 

purchasing some of our own in the future.” 

Steve Lawley, Deputy Director of Estates, 

added: “Our team want to embrace and 

learn from new ways of working with 

different equipment so that we are able 

to develop our service and improve the 

perception of our Trust’s environment.” 

The Trust went smokefree on 5 July - the 

71st birthday of the NHS – and has banned 

smoking across all sites, including cars 

parked on our grounds. 

Two vaping shops have opened at Sandwell 

and City, and some smoking shelters have 

been turned into vaping areas. 

NHS England has instructed that all 

Trusts become smokefree by March 

2020. 

Donated fans help keep Priory 5 cool 

Carl Pinkerton, a regular patient on 

Priory 5 at Sandwell General Hospital, 

recently donated 10 fans to the ward 

to demonstrate his appreciation for 

the care he has received. His act of 

generosity couldn’t have come at 

a better time as a heatwave saw 

temperatures rising to above 30°C. 

“Over the last year or two Carl has been in 

quite regularly. They were long admissions 

because he’s been quite poorly. He knows 

the ward really well, he knows the staff 

and he knows how hot it can get. It was 

a gesture of goodwill for the care he’s 

received and to benefit other patients,” 

explained staff nurse Claire Williams. 

“He’s been in and out so many times, at 

different times of the year, and he knows 

how hot it can get. He knows that on 

respiratory wards the chest patients like to 

have the fan on them. That’s what he’s seen 

and that’s what he’s experienced while he’s 

been here so that’s what he thought would 

be most helpful for our patients.” 

When Carl went home following his most 

recent admission, he ordered the fans and 

brought them in to Priory 5 to say thanks. 

They were spread across the ward and came 

in handy during the hot weather at the end 

of July, helping staff and patients to keep 

cool. 

Maureen Jackson, Healthcare Assistant; Karen Berry, Ward Services Officer; Claire Williams, Senior 

Staff Nurse 

18

Energy pods recharging clinical 

colleagues at City Hospital 

Being tired, weary and worn out is a 

recipe for disaster and more so when 

the decisions you make can be the 

difference between life and death. 

However thanks to the installation 

of some innovative energy pods, 

colleagues now have the opportunity 

to rest, relax and recharge in a calm and 

comfortable environment. 

The energy pods, which can only be 

described as space age cocoons, are 

designed to support colleagues to take a 

20 minute rest and recharge sessions where 

they can recline in comfort, surrounded by 

soothing lights and the option of calming 

music. 

The innovative energy pods which are 

on loan as part of the three month trial 

were installed earlier this week at City 

Hospital have already proven popular with 

colleagues keen to gather their thoughts 

and recuperate during breaks and before 

they return home. 

To find out more about the novel new 

pods, Heartbeat caught up with Dr Sarb 

Clare, Consultant in Acute Medicine and 

Deputy Medical Director to find out more. 

She said, “Colleagues have for a long time 

balanced the need for rest with that of 

caring for their patients, more often than 

not putting the welfare of their patients 

before themselves. Time and time again, 

we learn of colleagues nationally who after 

a long shift, and a mind still focussed on 

their patients set out on their journey home 

and inevitably are injured in accidents. 

These pods are a welcome solution to a 

long standing problem, colleagues can now 

find a quiet relaxing corner to gather their 

thoughts, rest and recuperate before they 

head home or return to work after their 

break. 

“Research has proven that short periods 

of rest can help staff perform better and 

leading sleep scientists say a “power nap” 

of 10 to 20 minutes of rest during the 

workday can significantly improve alertness 

cognitive functioning.” 

MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY 

CARE 

Dr Eoin Dore, CT1 has been leading on 

work to tackle ‘burn out’ in colleagues 

and welcomed the new pods, which are 

currently available in the acute medical 

unit and anaesthetics at City Hospital. 

Sharing his thoughts, he said, ”We’ll be 

carrying out a tiredness survey amongst 

our colleagues and looking at welfare 

and burnout. We’re keen to ensure 

colleagues are well rested and able to 

tackle the challenges of their role and 

these pods go some way to providing 

that. Alongside the Energy pods, 

colleagues will find a renewed plan 

promoting self care and rest protocols 

outlining how staff can take time away 

from their duties whilst ensuring that 

patients are kept safe. ” 

To find out more about the new 

energy pod, contact, Dr Eoin Dore 

eoin.dore@nhs.net. 

Dr Eoin Dore, CT1 tests out the new Energy Pod in the Acute Medical Unit at City Hospital, alongside Deputy Medical Director and Consultant Dr Sarb 

Clare and medical colleagues keen to trial the new pod 

19

Odeena wins Shiela Lorimer award 

WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH 

Staff Nurse in Ambulatory 

Care, Odeena Gregory has been 

recognised for her nursing clinical 

excellence by winning the 2019 

Shiela Lorimer award. 

The awards ceremony was hosted 

in July at our ambulatory medical 

assessment area at City Hospital, and 

as part of winning the award, Odeena 

will be provided with financial support 

to attend the Society Acute Medicine 

Conference later this year. 

The prestigious award was launched to 

commemorate Shiela Lorimer, who was 

an acute medicine nurse practitioner 

and worked for the Trust for over two 

decades. Shiela was a pioneer in her 

field, being the first nurse to successfully 

implement nurse led discharge. This led 

to advanced nurses discharging patients 

out of hours on all medical wards, 

resulting in vastly improved patient 

journey and experience. 

Congratulating Odeena on her award, 

Acute Medicine Nurse Practitioner, Sarah 

Peyton said: “Odeena joins an illustrious 

group of winners dating back to 2015 

including Claire Chambers, Socorro 

Odeena Gregory celebrates winning the 2019 Shiela Lorimer award on AMU at City 

Rosaupan, Keeley Hopcraft and Tracy Ranford. 

“She is truly deserving of this special award 

and I’m certain everybody across the Trust will 

agree with me on this.” 

Dr Sarbjit Clare, Consultant Physician in Acute 

Medicine echoed these thoughts saying: “This 

award not only aims to salute Shiela but also 

recognises young nurses who always want to 

develop themselves and strive to be the very 

best they can be. I hope everybody across the 

organisation will join me in congratulating 

Odeena on winning the award.” 

Odeena was delighted when she heard she 

had won this year’s award. She said: “I was 

overjoyed to be announced as the 2019 

Shiela Lorimer award winner! I was also 

shocked as many of my fellow colleagues 

have worked very hard over the last 12 

months, so to be recognised in such a way 

is humbling to say the least. I would like 

to also thank my peers as without them 

I wouldn’t have been able to receive this 

recognition award.” 

To: Joanne Thomas 

Jo has been so supportive to me in my 

new band 7 role. She has helped me get 

through a very challenging couple of 

weeks and made my experience not only 

rewarding but enjoyable. Thank you so 

much Jo you have been so supportive 

despite your very busy schedule you have 

given me time and patience. 

From: Matthew Warner 

To: Terri Montford 

Thank you Terri for helping me and the 

community midwifery team in rolling out a 

new booking service. Your knowledge and 

skills are exemplary. 

From: Sylvia Owusu-Nepaul 

Shout out has been a regular feature 

in Heartbeat and it is fantastic to see 

colleagues regularly taking the time 

to give positive feedback to each 

other. 

We regularly receive positive feedback 

from our patients too, and this month 

we wanted to share some of those 

heart-warming messages which have 

been sent via our website and social 

media platforms. 

To: Sophie - Lyndon 3 

As a employee of the Trust, I write on 

behalf of my brother who recently had 

a hip operation. He said the care was 

fantastic on the ward but he mentioned 

Sophie in particular who always looked 

rushed off her feet and was always there 

to meet his every need. She definitely 

went the extra mile to make his stay 

comfortable. She was always friendly with 

a smile. 

From: Gerald O'sullivan 

To: Nav Sharma 

Nav is supporting 200 plus overseas 

Health Professionals on their journey 

back to work. Nav has developed a 

streamlined process that gives our 

clients swift access to education, 

clinical attachments and employment. 

Her passion and commitment to this 

programme is highly regarded amongst 

both our clients and network of staff 

who are engaged. Nav is knocking down 

walls and building bridges! 

From: Lawrence Kelly 

20

New triage system will lead to 

improved care 


Emergency care within maternity has a new triage system 

A new triage system will be introduced 

within our maternity department to 

ensure mums-to-be receive the right 

care according to their clinical needs. 

The Birmingham Symptom Specific Obstetric 

Triage System (BSOTS) has been developed 

by Birmingham Women’s and Children’s 

NHS Foundation Trust in partnership 

with the University of Birmingham and is 

being rolled out to trusts across the West 

Midlands. 

Our maternity triage team will implement 

the programme from next month after 

midwives attended a training course to 

ensure a full understanding of how it will 

work. It will replace the current triage 

system, standardising the way emergency 

care works for mums-to-be. 

Michaelene Cole, Triage Lead Midwife, said: 

“Triage systems are designed to ensure the 

patient receives the level and quality of care 

appropriate to their clinical needs and the 

resources available are used most effectively. 

“It involves a process of prioritising the order 

in which patients receive medical attention on 

arrival to the emergency department, guiding 

treatment according to clinical need. 

“It’s usually undertaken by a midwife and 

involves identification of the presenting 

problem; undertaking a standardised 

physiological assessment including vital signs 

and results in a clinical priority being assigned 

based on predictors of urgency of treatment 

and on-going care. 

“The need for a systematic approach to 

maternity triage has been highlighted 

recently by NICE Guideline for Safe 

Midwifery Staffing for maternity 

settings. It defined a delay of 30 minutes 

or more between presentation and 

triage as a ‘red flag event’ to enable 

monitoring of appropriate staffing levels 

within maternity. 

“We want to ensure that we deliver safe 

and effective care to our women coming 

into our unit for emergency care and by 

introducing the BSOTS system, we can 

do this.” 

Research has found that triage 

departments across NHS organisations 

have been identified as being less 

reliable and without standardised 

processes or pathways. They continue to 

expand in workload without appropriate 

organisational and clinical systems. 

Michaelene added: “This is an essential 

tool to provide excellent clinical care to 

the women who attend City Hospital.” 

Messages of positivity for new mums 

Girls representing 52nd Birmingham 

Guides and Brownies popped into 

our maternity unit recently to drop 

off ‘messages of positivity’ for new 

mums and maternity staff. 

Leader, Katherine Aguirre explained: 

“As part of the celebrations for Save the 

Children's centenary marked this year, 

the 100 Challenge is an opportunity to 

take part in themed activities around 

‘100’, and we are rising to the challenge 

by delivering 100 little wooden hearts 

that the girls have individually decorated 

and wrapped in cellophane with 

personal messages. 

“We chose City Hospital for our Save 

the Children Challenge because we 

wanted to spread our joy to patients and 

staff, being in hospital is always a mix 

of emotions, from tough times to really 

joyous times, so we just wanted to put a 

smile on people's faces.” 

“The girls had a wonderful time 

meeting brand new beautiful babies and 

spreading their joy about Girl Guiding 

and Save the Children's 100 year 

anniversary.” 

Girl Guides and Brownies share their messages of positivity 

21

Children have their say on service 

redesign 


Children from across the community 

gathered at a special event to share 

their thoughts and opinions on how 

to improve services as the Trust looks 

to co-locate paediatric emergency and 

paediatric assessment units at City 

Hospital. 

Dr Chizo Agwu, Consultant Paediatrician 

in Diabetes and Endocrinology, and chair 

of the project believes it’s vital the Trust 

engage with and seek the opinions of 

children from across the borough as any 

pathway changes are going to affect 

them. 

She said: “Children from across the 

region will be using these facilities in the 

coming years so it’s important we seek 

their input when making these kinds of 

improvements across our sites. It would 

be easy for us clinicians and the rest of the 

board to dictate what we feel would be 

(L-R) Dr Chizo Agwu, Dr Lorna Bagshaw, 

Suneeta Singh –HCA, Lisa Blunt – Student 

nurse 

most suitable but it will be local children who 

will be using the facilities so their feedback is 

invaluable to us.” 

Sharing her thoughts on the engagement 

event, Dr Agwu added: “The children that 

attended approved the model of co-locating 

the emergency department with paediatrics. 

They indicated that they wanted bright 

primary colours with a theme of animals and 

facts about them running throughout the 

department. With this in mind, our project 

team will ensure that their vision of the new 

unit is realised.” 

The consultation event was organised 

by Paul Hazle, Service Redesign Project 

Manager. He said: “It was discussed at the 

event, that the main drivers for wanting 

the redevelopment included strengthening 

resilience, essentially a single emergency 

front door and a more integrated model 

for children’s emergencies and reduced 

isolation of 24/7 children’s services on our 

city site, bringing together D19 paediatric 

assessment unit on the main spine with 

the paediatric emergency department. 

Explaining the benefits, Heather Bennett, 

Head of Women and Child Health Services 

added: “There will be multiple benefits 

from this expansion such as quicker 

specialist assessments, reduced admissions, 

a smoother flow, earlier discharge for 

patients and a more flexible specialist 

workforce in regards to caring for children. 

All of these benefits will result in a more 

improved patient journey for our younger 

patients and their parents/carers. It will 

also help the Trust continue to meet their 

commitment of improving services and 

outcomes for children.” 

Exceptional maternity care brings 

joy to colleague 

Aysha, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Anti- 

Coagulation, has worked within the 

Trust for approximately 10 years and 

wants to acknowledge and highlight 

the exceptional care and support she 

received from two colleagues during 

a particularly difficult, but ultimately 

joyful, time in her life. 

In 2005 Aysha was dealing with infertility 

issues and when a colleague, Dr Dawkins, 

saw the strain that she was under, she 

suggested that Aysha be referred to the 

care of Mr Baghadadi, who at the time 

worked at the Maternity unit at City 

Hospital. 

From 2006 Aysha was looked after by Mr 

Baghadadi, but it was far from being an 

easy, or quick, journey to motherhood. 

Aysha said: “I want to say thank you 

because he has been so persistent, it 

took from 2006 until 2012 for me to get 

pregnant with my first child. 

He was the first doctor who wanted to 

listen and didn’t just dismiss me, he did 

his best to make me feel better about 

everything.” 

Initially, Aysha went through Dr 

Baghadadi’s programme and when his 

programme didn’t work she went through 

Aysha enjoys a day out with her daughters 

IVF. Sadly, Aysha miscarried at 19 weeks, but 

Mr Baghadadi was there to provide help and 

support with an offer of counselling, which 

Aysha accepted. 

She said: “I could tell that he really did care. 

He said: ‘when you want to try again get in 

touch with me.’ ” 

When Aysha was ready to try again she did 

get back in touch with Dr Baghadadi, who 

agreed to help, even going so far as giving 

Aysha his mobile phone number so that she 

could keep in contact. It was decided that 

they would try IVF again, but before they 

could start the treatment, Aysha texted Dr 

Baghadadi with a surprising announcement. 

She had conceived naturally. 

“I texted to say ‘IVF is off the plan, I’m 

pregnant! What do we do now?’ ” Because 

Aysha was considered a high risk pregnancy, 

Mr Baghadadi referred her to the premprevention 

clinic. 

Mr Baghadadi made sure to keep a close eye 

on Aysha’s progress: “All the way through he 

was excellent. He kept saying we’re going to 

do everything we can to have this baby”. 

As a result Aysha gave birth to a healthy 

baby girl. Three months later, Aysha became 

pregnant again. Mr Baghadadi was there to 

care and support Aysha in welcoming her 

second daughter. In 2018 Aysha was able to 

add another daughter to her family. 

This time Aysha needed a c-section but was 

worried about who would be undertaking 

the procedure. She was scared about the 

potential complications and she knew that 

she would need someone very senior to 

perform her c-section. Mr Baghadadi was 

there again to reassure her that he would 

ensure she received the specialist care that she 

required. 

Aysha said: “I can’t thank them enough. 

I’ve had excellent care. Maternity at City is 

fantastic, just incredible. Now I have my three 

little miracles!” 

22

Out with the Bold(mere) as audiology 

clinic gets upgrade 

SURGICAL SERVICES 

The sound of progress for patients receiving audiology treatment 

Have you heard? There’s news in the 

world of audiology. A new custommade 

audiology clinic has officially 

opened in Sutton Coldfield offering 

patients improved hearing test 

facilities. 

The previous audiology clinic, operated by 

our organisation at Boldmere Health Centre, 

was replaced at the beginning of July by 

a new venue at the James Preston Health 

Centre in Holland Road. The move comes 

after the existing facility was deemed no 

longer fit for purpose having become 'old 

and tired'. 

“There is no loss of service and we will 

continue to see both adults and children at 

James Preston, offering drop-in hearing 

aid repair sessions.” Claire Lingard, 

Senior Clinical Scientist for Audiology 

told Heartbeat: “However, the service 

will now be provided in custom-made 

audiology rooms, which are part of 

a brand new facility and include a 

soundproof booth and consulting rooms. 

These changes provide both a better 

environment for patients and more 

accurate hearing test facilities.” 

The new clinic has taken over all the 

services previously operated at Boldmere, 

including the drop-in service for broken 

hearing aids, the hours for which remain 

unchanged. Patients can contact the 

clinic on 0121 507 5417 or check the 

Trust website for further information at 

www.swbh.nhs.uk. 

Free parking is available at the 

health centre on a first-come firstserved 

basis, with additional parking 

available at a nearby pay and display 

car park on Duke Street. 

After a new pair of specs? 

Try the optical dispensary 

Did you know that as well as providing 

a dispensing service for adults and 

children, the optical dispensary also 

provide a spectacle dispensing service 

for members of SWBH staff? Colleagues 

can take advantage of a range of stylish 

glasses and prescription sunglasses all 

with a 20 per cent discount. 

The optical dispensary at the Birmingham 

& Midland Eye Centre (BMEC) provides a 

specialist service to patients who attend 

BMEC and need ‘complex’ spectacle 

prescriptions. These are usually spectacle 

prescriptions which are high or there is 

an imbalance between the two eyes after 

surgery and special lenses need to be 

sourced. When patients experience double 

vision, prisms maybe required to help the 

two eyes work together. 

Dr Waheeda Illahi (Head of Optometry 

Services) said: “We are the only hospital in 

the region to have an in-house spectacle 

dispensary. This allows patients who are 

under the continuous care of consultants to 

have their spectacles dispensed at BMEC.” 

As a region wide referral centre they also 

receive requests for specialist devices such 

as Ptosis props. These are small devices 

attached to spectacle frames to raise the 

eyelids of patients who have had nerve 

damage and cannot open their lids; these 

are crucial where surgical options are not 

available and it is the only way patients can 

keep their eyes open. 

The optical dispensary was re-opened 

about six months ago after a short period 

of closure when Charlotte Scriven was 

appointed as the dispensing optician/senior 

optical dispenser. Charlotte brings a wealth 

of experience with her, having previously 

worked in the optical sector for over 20 

years. Charlotte Scriven has settled well into 

her role after the previous dispenser left to 

pursue a postgraduate PhD. 

Charlotte said ‘I love my job as there is 

so much variety. Patients are always very 

grateful and appreciative of the service 

as many of our patients have often gone 

through surgical procedures or have 

had concerns about their vision. I am 

looking forward to re-introducing staff 

dispensing. Please contact me on ext 

6727 to arrange an appointment.” 

Charlotte showcases a selection of 

sunglasses 

23

Pain management and outpatient 

therapies join forces 

PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES 

AND THERAPIES 

Pain management, outpatient 

physiotherapy (both paediatric 

and adult musculoskeletal) and 

outpatient speech and language 

therapy have moved from the main 

spine at City Hospital to Sheldon 

Block all in order to offer better 

patient care. 

The move took place in June, to the 

refurbished 3rd floor of Sheldon Block 

and is part of the retained estates 

project and service reconfiguration 

in preparation for the opening of the 

Midland Metropolitan Hospital. 

Lydia Jones, Director of Therapies 

explains the move will be of great benefit to 

patients. 

She said: “It’s fantastic to be moving, as 

this will mean that the team now have a 

purpose built facility, including bespoke 

clinic rooms for speech and language and 

the paediatric physio casting room. The 

move makes us more accessible for patients 

resulting in a better patient journey for our 

patients.” 

The move has created a first class 

multidisciplinary centre which will improve 

the patient pathway and provide a holistic 

approach to patient care. 

The new facilities include six clinic rooms 

which are used for assessments and 

treatment which includes acupuncture. 

Whilst the old space had become old and in 

need of some updating, the Sheldon block 

features rooms set up with demonstration 

models as a visual aid to explain to patients 

exactly what their MRI scans show, dual 

screens to work from and a plinth in each 

treatment room. 

Allison Rogers, from the pain management 

team said: “The new space is cleaner, 

brighter and more modern; it’s a lovely 

space to work in”. 

There have already been very positive 

comments from patients who are 

appreciating the more modern facilities, 

most have expressed how the new 

department is much more ‘bright and 

spacious’. 

Olivia Figgis a speech and language 

therapy patient said: “The area is much 

more spacious and welcoming whilst also 

being easier to find. The team are always 

extremely kind and helpful”. 

Musculoskeletal physiotherapy team at Sheldon Block 

24

Event helps to refresh patient 

enablement knowledge 

Members of the MDT, including nursing 

staff, HCAs and doctors, were invited 

to attend an afternoon of engaging 

activities, talks and games which 

focused on patient enablement. The 

workplace showcase was organised 

by Advanced Physiotherapist, Emma 

Hibbs and took place on 11 July in the 

Education Centre. 

Therapists from the rapid response and 

medicine therapy teams ran multiple 

stations which covered patient enablement 

subjects such as falls, frailty, Parkinson’s 

and the #endPJparalysis movement. Thank 

you also to those that presented from the 

Dementia, Delirium and Distress team, 

Jonathan Maddison on behalf of the 

volunteer team (HelpForce) and our Trust 

Falls Lead, Mary Parker. 

Emma said: “The afternoon served as a 

refresher of knowledge in terms of specialist 

topics. There was a great turn out at all 

levels from across the Sandwell site.” 

The afternoon aimed to be very interactive 

so that colleagues could gain hands on 

experience in an attempt to increase 

awareness and knowledge around a variety 

of topics, which could then be taken back 

to each of the attendees’ respective wards. 

The afternoon included an opportunity to 

see the interactive therapy seals, a new and 

innovative evidence based tool used to help 

calm distressed patients, which the Trust has 

taken on to help improve our treatment of 

delirium. 

A hoisting station provided colleagues 

with the opportunity to view equipment 

demonstrations, allowing them to build 

confidence in the use of aids that may 

be unfamiliar to them. The station also 

provided a forum for discussing why it is 

important to hoist patients out of bed. 

Emma said: “Having the seated and 

standing transfer aids was useful as these 

are pieces of equipment which maybe 

nurses may not use on a day to day basis.” 

Each station aimed to be interactive, with 

tasks such as using a time sensitive exercise 

on the Parkinson’s station to demonstrate 


AND THERAPIES 

the importance of Parkinson’s patients 

receiving their medication in a timely 

manner. The falls station simulated frailty 

using white noise and glasses to impair 

vision. The #endPJparalysis station was 

used to promote the national campaign 

and the importance of enabling patients 

to be in their own clothes. 

Emma added: “To my knowledge, this is 

the first event of this type that we have 

had. Our hope is that in the future we 

could run more and get more input from 

across City. If we could run events like 

this across site, that would be great”. 

There are multiple patient 

enablement projects running on 

wards such as OPAU, Lyndon 5 

and D26. Please contact your ward 

therapist for more information. 

(L-R) Amy Crumpton (OT), Siobhan Whitehouse (Staff nurse), Leeann Currie (Student nurse) on one of the interactive stations 

25

Kelly unlocks new role for Trust 


AND THERAPIES 

Trinity House on Sandwell General 

Hospital’s grounds has more than 

its fair share of departments and 

teams, from recruitment and Bank to 

informatics, the home of the team 

Unity not to mention your Heartbeatwriting 

communications department. 

However, it recently acquired a new 

member of staff in an equally new role 

for our organisation. 

This role, Transition Key Worker, is an 

exciting new position to the Trust within the 

acute and community paediatric directorate 

and will lead on transitions across the 

organisation, working with colleagues 

to support young people with chronic 

conditions to ensure a smooth transition 

from paediatric to adult services. 

Kelly Edie-Fisher joins us from Acorns 

Children’s Hospice where she worked as 

a transition worker for nearly eight years. 

As a qualified social worker, Kelly has 

also previously worked within a physical 

disabilities service. 

Kelly said: “Following meetings with 

key staff during my induction, it is clear 

colleagues already have the desire to 

improve outcomes for young people by 

supporting a “good” transition. I am 

looking forward to us working together to 

deliver a personalised, planned, coordinated 

and collaborative transition for our young 

people.” 

Kelly will work with the five ‘flows’ 

• SWB paediatrics transitioning to SWB 

adult services 

• SWB children transitioning to GPs 

• SWB children transitioning to UHB 

• Children external to SWB transitioning 

into SWB acute services 

• SWB SEND children 

Directorate General Manager of Acute 

& Community Paediatrics Jade Osborne 

said: “In response to the national agenda 

around transitioning young people into 

adult services, Children’s and Young people 

board identified a gap in the Trust for a 

dedicated transition key worker to drive 

forward the agenda. The Trust 2020 Quality 

Plan outlines transition as a key objective 

and the appointment of Kelly into the role 

of transitional key worker will be pivotal 

in achieving this objective. Kelly is an asset 

to the Trust with her experience and will 

be the driving force in ensuring our young 

people have the support they require when 

moving on to adult services.” 

Kelly's initial focus will be the young people 

transitioning from SWB paediatrics to 

SWB adults. If you are an adult xonsultant/ 

nurse specialist and receive referrals for 

transitioning children from outside of the 

Trust, please get in touch with Kelly so that 

she is fully informed of the service areas 

she needs to support in the future. Call 

07773053702, or email kelly.edie-fisher@ 

nhs.net. 

Kelly Edie-Fisher joins us from Acorns Children’s Hospice 

26

Colleagues research new ways use 

CT scanners 

The physics and nuclear medicine 

department is researching a novel way 

to improve the accuracy of radiotracer 

uptake measurements using a CT 

scanner. 

Greg James, Clinical Scientist Nuclear 

Medicine, is researching if it is possible 

to use a CT scanner in an innovative way 

to perform attenuation correction for 

2-dimensional nuclear medicine imaging. 

When a patient attends a nuclear medicine 

department for a scan, they are injected 

with a radioactive tracer. This tracer is 

taken up by various organs in the body, 

for example the thyroid, heart or kidney, 

depending on which area of the body the 

clinician is hoping to study. 

These tracers give off gamma radiation 

which is detected and used to create an 

image by a scanner called a gamma camera. 

Many of the gamma rays given off from the 

tracer are ‘stopped’ in the patient’s body 

before they reach the gamma camera to 

produce the image. 

This is called ‘attenuation’ and is 

problematic in nuclear medicine as it can 

give the clinician false information. 

It is therefore important to compensate for 

the gamma-rays that have been ‘stopped’ 

(or attenuated) in the body for accurate 

organ uptake measurement. 

The compensation technique used in 

nuclear medicine is called ‘attenuation 

correction’ where a CT scanner is used 

to get detailed images of the patient’s 

anatomy. Computer software can then 

perform the necessary corrections and 

produce images that represent the true 

uptake of the tracer in the body. 

However, this technique is only used in 

3-dimensional imaging and is yet to be 

widely implemented for 2-dimensional 

IMAGING 

imaging due to problems with outof-date 

techniques and a lack of 

commercial solutions. 

Greg said: “The research asks whether 

there is quantitative value in this 

black and white image for accurate 

quantification of radio tracer uptake 

in our 2-dimensional nuclear medicine 

scans and there is! 

“It is essentially an X-ray image 

using a CT scanner in a novel way. If 

successful, we will be able to accurately 

quantify organ uptake of tracers using 

2-dimensional nuclear medicine imaging 

when 3-dimensional imaging is not 

practical.” 

Greg James in front of a CT Scanner 

27

Pulse 

News in brief from around our organisation 

If you have a story you would like to appear 

on the Pulse page, please email a photo and a 

short explanation to swbh.comms@nhs.net 

It’s a #SWBHfamily affair for 

cardiology as doctor weds 

It really was a #SWBHfamily affair when 

Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Dr 

Derek Connolly married former Sandwell 

Senior Cardiac Physiologist Louise 

Fitzgerald last month. 

The pair celebrated their nuptials at 

Highbury Hall, in Moseley, the Grade II 

listed home of the 19th century "father of 

Birmingham" Joseph Chamberlain. 

The wedding, held on 21 July, was 

attended by many colleagues from across 

the Trust – including maid of honour 

Louise’s sister Laura Taylor who works as 

a professional development sister within 

cardiology. 

The best man was Dr Russell Davis, 

Clinical Lead in Cardiology and the ushers 

included Dr Leong Lee, Clinical Safety 

Officer and Dr Hugh Bradby, former 

Medical Director of the Trust. 

Ironically, Derek was on the shortlisting 

panel when Louise, born at Sandwell 

Hospital, was appointed in 2002. However 

it wasn't until over a decade later that 

Derek and Louise started dating. 

Louise is now full time mum to their three 

small children, Sienna, Olivia, and William 

and the honeymoon will be a family 

holiday to Disneyland Paris with their 

kids. Widower Derek also has two older 

children from his first marriage, Katrina 

and Fiona. Fiona is studying medicine 

in Cambridge having done her "work 

experience" following the Stroke team at 

our Trust. 

Dr Connolly with Louise on their wedding day 

Sun safety event raises funds 

for young people 

As young people and their families 

attended at sports day on Thursday 25 July 

under record breaking temperatures, they 

were thrilled to get free sun hats from our 

Friar Park health visitors. 

“When we heard Friar Park Children’s 

Centre; part of Action for Children were 

holding their sports day, we thought it 

would be a perfect opportunity to hold a 

health promotion event alongside,” said 

Irene Tickell, Health Visitor. 

“As it turned out it was one of hottest 

days on record. We spoke to children 

and their families about sun safety and 

gave away fun in the sun literature kindly 

donated by the White Ribbon Association. 

The free sunhats were generously provided 

by Healthy Living Sandwell. 

“We were also able to give a £57 

donation to Action for Children raised 

through a tombola we organised on the 

day. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and 

very hot day!” 

L – R Health visitors Joanne Rogers and Irene 

Tickell brave the heat to give sun safety 

advice to youngsters and their families 

28

Remembering Tony – 

the man behind the legacy 

Roger Stedman and Tony Waite taking part in the Birmingham Velo November 2017 

Many Heartbeat readers will be 

aware of the recent death of our 

Director of Finance Tony Waite and 

will have felt the loss of one of our 

valued #SWBHfamily members as it 

reverberated across our organisation. 

Dinah Mclannahan Acting Director of 

Finance, said: “Tony’s illness and now his 

passing has come as a huge shock to the 

finance and procurement team. I have 

personally worked closely with Tony since 

the Outline Business Case for Midland Met 

was approved in June 2014. I subsequently 

joined the Trust in October 2017 as Tony’s 

deputy. He was tremendously respected 

by local and national NHS finance leaders, 

the Trust having delivered consistently in its 

financial obligations and also for his work 

nationally helping other Trusts in financial 

distress. I owe him a huge personal debt 

of gratitude for the opportunity to work in 

such a great organisation, something for 

which I will be forever grateful. All of us in 

the finance and procurement know how 

proud he was of what we have achieved 

together. We are determined to carry on 

his legacy of strong finances to support 

improvements in quality of care provision.” 

Toby Lewis, Chief Executive commented: 

“Tony was a valued colleague and leader 

in our organisation, with a wide circle of 

friends both inside and outside the Trust. 

As one of the principal architects of our 

work on long term finance, on new estate 

including the Midland Met, and on public 

health, Tony was passionate about the NHS 

and placed the highest value on improving 

the quality of patient care. 

“I know that he remained fiercely proud of 

this organisation, clinically and in terms of 

our ambitious vision, and will be missed in 

all the organisations he served over a career 

with more than thirty years as a director, 

including his five years with us. 

“Our aim going forward in his memory will 

be to continue to try and deliver our 2020 

Vision – reporting back next year to local 

residents as we promised we would. Trust 

was such an important part of how Tony 

worked, and who he was, and I know he 

would want to try and build even more 

confidence from local people in the honesty 

with which we deliver change and improve 

care.” 

Richard Samuda, Chairman added: “Tony 

made a significant contribution to our 

Trust in his time here. He was thoughtful 

and highly professional - especially evident 

in steering the complex investment case 

for Midland Met through the necessary 

approval processes. We will miss him as 

a good colleague and team player who 

strongly represented the best values of the 

NHS. Our thoughts are with his family in 

their loss.” 

Personal tribute from close friend 

and colleague Dave Baker 

But there was so much more to Tony 

than his keen professional mind, as 

colleague Dave Baker, Director of 

Partnerships and Innovation explained: 

“I’ve known Tony for 20 years. From 

very early on I felt trusted by him and 

through that trust I was able to operate 

and innovate in new ways. We were 

always clear that for us to realise a 

financial benefit we had to have clarity 

around ‘line of sight’ which led us to the 

conclusion that a financial benefit can 

only be realised through one of three 

categories: pay, non-pay or income and 

that words like productivity were one 

step removed from the real benefit. 

“From an initial work relationship Tony 

and I developed a friendship that saw 

us, amongst other things, play golf 

each year at the Manchester Children’s 

Hospital golf day with the, then Finance 

Director of the Manchester Children’s 

Hospital and the now Chief Executive of 

Sunderland and South Tyneside NHS FT. 

This annual event saw us contribute to 

a very good cause whilst sharing ideas 

and having fun. As Tony moved to the 

Midlands to work at the Trust I got him 

to come to a Worcester City football 

game to break up his week, and through 

him I came to know his wife Lynn and 

his daughters Sophie and Charlotte, in 

whom he was incredibly proud. 

“A proud Yorkshireman, I know that one 

of Tony’s proudest work achievements 

was being the Director of Finance when 

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 

signed off and constructed the new 

Hospital in Wakefield. So this passion 

was replicated in the tireless work did 

on the development of the Midland 

Metropolitan Hospital for the people of 

Sandwell and West Birmingham. He 

was proud as we balanced the books 

two years ago and then reduced our 

underlying deficit by a third last year. This 

was all done whilst striving to remove 

the right cost rather than any cost. 

“Tony is a huge loss, but who he was, 

and what he stood for will live on 

in many of us, as will our passion to 

complete what we he started for the 

benefit of those who most need it.” 

If you wish to donate in Tony’s memory please go the Wakefield Hospice 

donation page https://www.wakefieldhospice.org/Support-Us/Fundraising/ 

Donate. Under “Reason for Donation” you can, if you wish, mention Tony and 

that you are a colleague from Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust. 

29

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 

Where do we stand on cars 

blocking each other in the car 

park? 

Every day I park within the hospital grounds 

and the majority of the time when I’m 

finished, my car is blocked in and I have to 

wait for someone to return or call security 

and wait for them to locate the records. 

Occasionally, someone will leave a note inside 

with their contact details on to speed up the 

process but this is still very poor. 

What if we have an emergency or we need 

access to our cars? Some of our teams visit 

patients in the community and this can cause 

a severe delay. Please can we have some clear 

guidance on this and whether its allowed or 

should be reported? 

Molly. – Connected Palliative Care 

Dear Molly 

Thank you for raising this question. The 

message on where we stand with this is 

very clear, and that is it shouldn’t happen. 

Our car parking notices that are on 

display around all of our sites stipulate 

that you should only park your car in a 

designated parking bay. Anyone failing 

to do this should expect to receive a 

penalty charge notice (PCN). There is also 

the question about showing respect to 

your colleagues. Deliberately blocking in 

someone’s car shows complete disregard 

for others and as you have pointed 

out, this could also delay patient care. 

If anyone finds themselves deliberately 

blocked in by another vehicle, you 

should report it immediately to security 

who will then not only trace the owner 

for you, but will also issue a PCN to the 

perpetrator. 

Kind Regards 

James Pollitt 

Assistant Director Strategic Development 

Saving cost and helping the 

environment 

Dear Heartbeat, 

Just a thought on saving costs and helping the 

environment, would you consider contacting 

teams to ask if each of their staff members 

ultimately need a copy of Heartbeat, or if for 

some teams feel it may be appropriate to have 

one or two copies staff can access? 

I am conscious that all staff need access to a copy 

whether online or in print, however it seems 

quite a waste when copies are sent out with 

wage slips to all. 

A lot of staff, albeit not everyone, can access it 

either online or a hard copy in their department 

easily. For those that cannot then a copy can 

continue to be sent personally. 

Might this be something that could be 

considered? 

Kind regards 

ANON 

Dear Colleague, 

Thank you for your letter. 

You will be pleased to know that Heartbeat 

will be going fully digital in the coming 

months, following the ending of paper 

payslips in October. 

Heartbeat has been an important means of 

sharing key information for colleagues across 

the Trust and as it has been distributed with 

payslips, it has ensured that every one of our 

colleagues has been able to stay up to date 

with developments in our Trust. 

We have been working hard to develop 

alternative methods to share our messages 

and as we move forward with the wider 

Trust’s digital agenda we are moving away 

from for the usual printed Heartbeat. Free 

Wi-Fi is currently being rolled out across the 

Trust and we have begun a trial of cyber 

cafés so there are now many more ways for 

colleagues to stay connected. 

Heartbeat will from October be available 

online through Connect and through our 

accompanying app myConnect (if you 

haven’t yet downloaded it please do – you 

can find it on both the Apple Appstore 

and in the Google Playstore) and we will 

maintain some printed copies for certain 

departments initially. 

Kind Regards 

Ruth Wilkin 

Director of Communications 

Three years in the SWB family 

My 3rd year of being with the Trust is coming 

up and I seem to forget how long it’s been. I 

technically haven’t been customer facing for all 

this time but today I have found that the majority 

of places already know what department I’m 

from. I still say hello I’m from and they usually 

nod and finish my sentence. 

I’m not sure if my memory is getting better or if 

the workplace as a whole is improving as we all 

seem to remember each other even if sometimes 

I can’t recall their names but I have seen their 

face and most often remember their department 

yet they always seem to already know me. 

I’m finding the general knowledge and 

atmosphere to be very good and the trust in our 

department or even confidence has improved. I 

dare say I feel somewhat of a celebrity once they 

hear my name or see my face they know what to 

expect or most often what I am here for. 

If there’s one thing I enjoy its seeing a friendly 

atmosphere with good communication and note 

taking so that we can all work together and sow 

the seeds of the future to make an effective, 

efficient, smooth working, well-oiled machine 

that protects and keeps people safe and always 

moving forward. 

By the way I work in IT and I hope we can keep 

making progress and make people’s lives easier 

and safer throughout this Trust 

Kind Regards, 

Jordan Harvey 

Informatics Support Officer 

Thank you for your letter Jordan, it’s great 

to hear you are enjoying your role and 

the friendly atmosphere at the Trust. Staff 

experience is very important to the Trust and 

we are constantly looking at ways we can 

improve this. 

As you’re well aware we are going through 

significant changes in IT as we move to be a 

digital organisation and the work you do is 

critical to that. 

It’s lovely to see the impact you’re having on 

the ground and for colleagues to welcome 

you in to their wards and departments 

knowing you are there to help them move 

forward. We very much value having 

someone of your passion and commitment 

working in the Trust. 

Congratulations on your third year at the 

Trust and we look forward to continuing to 

see you as part of the SWB family for many 

more. 

Kind Regards 

Frieza Mahmood 

Deputy Director of People and 

Organisational Development 

30

Toby writes about… recognition and reward 

TobyLewis_SWBH 

TOBY’S LAST WORD 

Our latest survey results from 

weconnect have landed. Encouragingly 

this is the third huge survey in a row 

where our ‘engagement’ score is above 

3.8, and is half way from our historic 

average score to our very ambitious 

aim. Of course, at any given time in 

my 25 year NHS career someone will 

explain to me that morale has never 

been quite so low. The figures do 

not rebut that idea, they measure 

something more enduring. Not just 

how we feel but what drives those 

beliefs. I know that every directorate 

surveyed so far is working hard on 

tackling actions to address those issues. 

It was weconnect that gave rise to our 

cyber cafes, to team charters and to 

work with our Pioneer teams whose 

details are listed below! 

Theatres, breast team, City 

ED, estates, health visiting, 

pharmacy operational 

management team, sexual 

health services, medicine 

therapy and rapid response 

therapy services and informatics 

service support team. Further 

information available on 

Connect. 

When we look across our weconnect 

results we continue to see lower ratings 

for measures of reward and recognition 

across most staff groups. Although 

many NHS Trusts see that picture, 

and it can reflect issues beyond our 

boundaries, like the current pensions 

dynamic, we want to try and tackle it 

if we can. We will be working through 

what works well to improve a sense of 

local recognition. As part of that our 

Star of the Week programme will again 

be re-launched. This sits alongside our 

Shout Outs, Long Service Awards, and 

a variety of local projects in specific 

departments, by way of projects that 

acknowledge individuals or teams 

going the extra mile. 

Star of the Week is our new 

recognition programme and replaces 

Compassion in Care Awards, allowing 

both clinical and non-clinical colleagues 

to be recognised for their amazing work 

on weekly basis. The Award looks to 

highlight those colleagues who go above 

and beyond in their role and demonstrate 

the nine Trust care promises. Nominate 

online through Connect and watch out 

for the winners in the staff bulletin on 

Friday’s. 

In November, we will publish details 

of the intention next summer to link a 

modest pay element to the PDR results 

that people receive through Aspiring to 

Excellence. This proposal has been agreed 

by the Board and the Remuneration 

Committee and we are working through 

with JCNC and others the mechanics of it 

to ensure due fairness in how we operate 

the scheme. 

Before that in October, we have our Star 

Awards. The centre spread gives you the 

shortlists that have come from the 500 

people and teams that you nominated. 

Next week we launch the voting process 

for our four biggest awards: Team of the 

Year – clinical for children, non- clinical 

and clinical for adults, and our Employee 

of the Year. Inevitably not everyone in the 

Trust will be at the ceremony, or know 

someone who is. But the gala awards 

are always a fantastic chance to reflect 

on what we are achieving. The Quality of 

Care award is nominated by our patients 

and their relatives and always showcases 

extraordinary examples of dedication and 

compassion. 

Saying thank you is not explicitly in the 

Managers’ Code of Conduct. But the 

tone of that launch, highlighted on 

Page 3, certainly reflects an intention 

to do even better at recognising the 

contribution that everyone can make to 

ideas and to improvement. Sometimes 

thank you is not said because it is 

‘someone’s job’. Yet the incredible work 

done by our gardeners in recent weeks 

on smokefree, or the extra work taken 

on by teams in our community contact 

centres to implement the 48 Bridge ‘call 

back’, are examples of individuals 

doing the job, but doing at a scale 

and in a manner that goes beyond 

expectations. 

Twitter and Facebook are full 

of examples of thank you cards 

and notes of appreciation from 

relatives. Though the post might be 

considered old fashioned, I received 

only yesterday a thank you card 

for our surgical teams and priory 

2; a card sent in appreciation of 

our palliative care for our attitude, 

awareness and consideration. 

Kenneth’s family wanted us all, 

especially Josie Butler, to be thanked 

for the work that we did and that 

we do. 

My thanks then to you, for the work 

you do, for reading this far, and for 

what you are going to do to make 

Unity a success over the next six 

weeks and the next six months. 

Reducing our reliance on 

single use plastics 

Part of my monthly column 

this year is focussed on our 

plans to change our use of 

Single Use Plastic. 

The next plastics reduction 

initiative is disposable cups. 

Using disposable cups is not 

sustainable and creates a 

huge volume of plastic waste. 

I would like to ask colleagues 

to only order disposable 

cups for patients or where 

they are clinically required. If 

you are able to, you should 

be using reusable cups for 

drinks. Remember, we offer a 

discount at the Costa outlets 

when staff bring in their own 

mugs. 

31

Events diary September 2019 

EVENT DATE TIME VENUE 

Public Trust Board 5 9.30am – 1pm Meeting Room 2, Rowley Regis Hospital 

Clinical Leadership Executive 24 2pm – 5pm 

SWB TeamTalk 25 

SWBH vs Local Primary Care Networks 

Cricket Match 

11am – midday 

1pm – 2pm 

1pm – 2pm 


Sandwell Hospital 

Committee Room, Rowley Regis Hospital 

Education Centre, Sandwell Hospital 

Post Graduate Centre, City Hospital 

8 11.30 - 4pm West Bromwich Dartmouth Cricket Club 

Speak up Day 11 Ongoing Trust-wide 

Unity go-live 23 Ongoing Trust-wide 

Retirement Seminar 24 9am – 1pm 


Post Graduate Centre, City 

Experiencing Grief and Loss 4 1.30 – 4.30pm Surgical Skills Room Postgraduate, City 

Sleep Hygiene and Relaxation 

Techniques Seminar 

12 1.30 – 4.30pm Berridge Room, Courtyard Gardens, Sandwell 

Mental Health Awareness for Managers 17 1.30 – 4.30pm Surgical Skills Room Postgraduate, City 

Assertiveness/ Confidence/Resilience 

Training 

1 st £190 

Dawn Jones 

24 10am – 1pm Berridge Room, Courtyard Gardens, Sandwell 

Name: ___________________________________________ 

August 2019 staff lottery results 

Name: ___________________________________________ 

________________ 

August Heartbeat 

August Heartbeat 

2 nd £114 3 rd £76 

Emma Collier 

August Hear 

Date: ___________________ 

Don’t forget that Your Trust Charity lottery costs just £1 a month and anyone 

who works for the Trust can join. Payment is deducted from your wages each 

month. To take part email amanda.winwood@nhs.net. 

Date: ___________________ 

Save the date – Your Trust Charity Carol Concert. All Saints Church, West Bromwich, 

Wednesday 4 December. Doors open at 5.30pm 1 Concert starts at 6pm. Tickets cost £8 for adults, 

free for under 14s refreshments included. 

3 

1 

4 

3 

1 

2 

Take a break: 

3 

in this month's Heartbeat 

2 

4 

5 

Test your knowledge of the news in this month's 

Heartbeat by completing the crossword below. You 

can e–mail your answers to swbh.comms@nhs.net 

and all correct answers will be put into a draw to 

win vouchers – good luck! 

5 

4 

Across 

Down 

3. What new facility has opened to help staff access the internet? 1. What 

4. Who won the 2019 Shiela Lorimer Award? 

Hospital 

5. What is the name of the new electronic patient record going live in 2. Which 

September 

Across 

3. What new facility has opened to help staff access the internet? 

5 

4. Who won the 2019 Shiela Lorimer Award? 

5. What is the name of the new electronic patient record going live in 

September 

Down 

1. What is the name of the new Medical Centre being built at Sandwell 

Hospital 

2. Which department has introduced a new triage system?

Heartbeat August 2019

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