Heartbeat August 2019

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A prescription for a good night’s sleep CORPORATE AND GENERAL 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 CORPORATE AND GENERAL 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
Page 1 and 2: August 2019 Sandwell and West Birmi
Page 3 and 4: Managers’ Code of Conduct - Setti
Page 5 and 6: The go-live weekend The Trust will
Page 7 and 8: Optimising Unity: Making the most o
Page 9: Investing in SWB and delivering on
Page 13 and 14: New assessment tool to help clinici
Page 15 and 16: Lupus clinic is centre of excellenc
Page 18 and 19: Cigarette stubs get a good sweeping
Page 20 and 21: Odeena wins Shiela Lorimer award WO
Page 22 and 23: Children have their say on service
Page 24 and 25: Pain management and outpatient ther
Page 26 and 27: Kelly unlocks new role for Trust PR
Page 28 and 29: Pulse News in brief from around our
Page 30 and 31: Letters, of less than 200 words ple
Page 32: Events diary September 2019 EVENT D

Heartbeat August 2019

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