Heartbeat September 2019

September 2019 

Sandwell and West Birmingham 

NHS Trust 

The pulse of community health, Leasowes, Rowley Regis, City and Sandwell Hospitals Issue 120 

Optimistic about Unity Optimisation 

page 3 

As the go-live fortnight started in the early hours of Saturday 21 September, colleagues worked round the 

clock to ensure that patients received the highest levels of care even as huge technical and operational changes 

were being made in the background. 

City ED team 

leading the way 

on engagement 

page 5 

May the Four 

be with You 

page 7 

Join Dr Nick 

Makwana in 12 

hour dance-a-thon 

page 10 

Meet the team that 

keeps our sites 

running after dark 

pages 21 and 22

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 

HELLO 

Welcome to the October edition 

of Heartbeat. As the Unity go-live 

fortnight continues, read all about 

the go-live weekend and top tips 

on pages 3, 16 and 17. 

For the first time this year all colleagues 

are being invited to take part in the 

NHS Staff Survey, find out more on 

page 7. On the same page you can 

also read about the new flu campaign 

which kicks off on 1 October. Be sure 

to get your jab! 

Ext 5303 


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: 

FROM THE CHAIR 

Colleagues must feel engaged and 

supported 

I was pleased at the last Trust Board 

meeting to hear the full results from 

the three weConnect surveys that we 

have carried out since last November. 

Encouragingly our overall engagement 

scores remain moderate to high. 

However, we want to become one of 

the best Trusts in the NHS for having 

high numbers of engaged, supported 

colleagues who are satisfied with 

their job roles and feel valued and 

involved, as well as positive about the 

Trust when talking about it to other 

people, be that patients or potential 

future colleagues. There is extensive 

international evidence that an engaged 

workforce is a key ingredient of 

healthcare systems leading to improved 

patient care including reduced clinical 

incidents, greater patient experience 

and improved productivity. As a result, 

it directly affects how other people, 

including regulators such as the Care 

Quality Commission (CQC), view us. 

The weConnect programme is evidencebased, 

and was developed by Wigan, 

Wrightington and Leigh NHS Foundation 

Trust, who have managed to significantly 

improve and sustain their staff engagement 

over a ten year period. We are one of many 

other Trusts who are following their lead 

and adapting the programme to fit with our 

organisation. 

Your feedback does make a difference. I 

know that many of you make every effort to 

complete staff satisfaction surveys whenever 

you receive them. For some of you it is 

difficult to make the time but I really want 

to encourage you to do this. This October 

every single employee will be invited to take 

part in the national NHS staff survey. This 

survey takes place every year and gives us 

the opportunity to see how we compare to 

other, similar Trusts. This is different to our 

weConnect survey that only allows us to 

compare internally within the Trust. 

In previous years the national staff survey 

has taken somewhat of a back seat in our 

internal communications profile. But this 

year that will be different. Everyone has a 

chance to have their say and I want you 

all to ensure you do this. In somewhat 

traditional style we have prizes to be won 

– up to £200 for a few lucky folk within 

our workforce. That’s a pretty good early 

Christmas present. I know that people’s 

time is precious, none more so now that 

we are in the midst of our Unity go-live 

fortnight. But the survey only takes about 

10–15 minutes to complete and is well 

worth doing. 

So, what do we do with the results? 

Well, the results show us where we are 

doing well and what we need to fix. Every 

response and comment you make is read 

and considered by your senior leaders. We 

then develop, with your input, some key 

things we need to do to make things better. 

That is often refining what we already 

have in place, such as more obvious career 

development opportunities, clearer training 

offers and better recognition schemes. Or, 

it can be setting up a new programme or 

initiative that will bring about improvements 

and there are many examples of that type 

here such as our dedicated training budget, 

the development of our staff networks 

for support and advocacy, healthier eating 

options, staff wellbeing schemes and 

everyday discounts through SWB Benefits. 

Where certain services, directorates or 

groups have low scores in response to 

certain questions, we are then able to 

understand what is going on within that 

area, and what support needs to be put in 

place. 

So, take the chance to have your say, 

possibly win a prize, and see how you can 

shape the future of our Trust by sharing 

your views. 

This month I am putting my full support 

behind your colleague Dinah McLannahan, 

Acting Director of Finance, as she continues 

her training for the 34 mile Ultra London 

Marathon on 5th October raising valuable 

funds for Your Trust Charity. Dinah is 

intensively training for this endurance run 

so please donate and find out more at 

https://givepenny.com/ultra-london 

Richard Samuda – Trust Chairman 

Chairman Richard Samuda

Our Unity go-live fortnight begins 

Following months of preparation Unity 

has been launched across the Trust. 

The switchover to the new electronic 

patient record started in the early 

hours of the morning on Saturday 21 

September at City Hospital. All sites 

were fully live two days later. 

The go-live fortnight runs up to 7 October 

with Unity experts called floor walkers 

assigned to each area to help out. 

Additional staffing is scheduled as well as 

a reduction in the planned clinics to give 

colleagues the best chance to familiarise 

themselves with the new system. 

These floor walkers are joined by team’s 

digital champions and super users, who 

have all been specially trained in the new 

Unity electronic patient record. 

Colleagues worked round the clock to 

ensure that patients received the highest 

levels of care even as huge technical and 

operational changes were being made in 

the background. It was a tireless effort 

from all concerned, which chief clinical 

informatics officer Ash Sharma was keen to 

recognise. 

“We were really impressed by the immense 

levels of cooperation and patience from 

all departments as the City site rolled out 

Unity. There was a tremendous amount of 

hard work from all the transcribing doctors 

and pharmacists and great patience was 

shown from members of staff in utilising 

Unity on real patients for the very first 

time,” he said. 

The go-live fortnight is a two week window 

to allow colleagues to become familiar with 

the new system and to begin using Unity 

effectively by 7 October. We then progress 

our optimisation focus to ensure we 

monitor how Unity is best used in coming 

weeks and months. 

It has taken us almost five years to reach 

this point, and we now have six months 

to optimise our use of the system. From 

2020 our digital journey will then focus on 

more developmental systems. To reach that 

we need a foundational system, which we 

hope Unity can be. Everyone in our Trust, 

volunteers and porters, trainee doctors and 

radiographers, have worked hard to begin 

implementation. Leong Lee, our clinical 

informatics safety officer, and consultant 

cardiologist, called it a “new dawn for the 

Trust”. 

Colleagues have been learning 

from each other through the go-live 

period and a series of top tips have 

been shared through our regular 

Unity updates. 

Completing VTE assessments in 

Unity 

VTE assessments are critical to providing 

safe patient care. All patients who require a 

VTE assessment must have this completed 

within six hours of the patient being 

admitted, in line with our Safety Plan. 

VTE assessments should be entered into 

Unity in real-time. Failure to process VTE 

assessments will result in a ‘hard stop’, 

effectively preventing a patient from 

progressing through to discharge home. 

Recurring issue with barcode 

scanning 

The RXK barcode on the patient wristband 

MUST be scanned when carrying out 

medication administration. This is the 

barcode next to the RXK number and not 

the square QR code in the centre of the 

wristband. If you do not scan the barcode, 

this will pose a risk to patient identification. 

Results endorsement 

It is important that all colleagues are familiar 

with the process for endorsing results in 

Unity, both for laboratory and imaging 

reports. 

Documenting samples when 

collecting bloods in Unity 

Remember when you are collecting bloods 

you must first print the label then take the 

blood sample and finally, mark the sample 

as collected within Unity. If you do not do 

this it is not possible to endorse the result 

when it is returned to the hospital from the 

laboratory. 

Initiating discharge care plans 

It is essential that the suggested discharge 

care plan is commenced within six hours 

of admission. This drives a conversation 

around discharge planning and EDDs 

(Estimated Dates of Discharge). This will 

enable us to safely manage our sites based 

on the capacity available to us to admit our 

patients. 

Save and 

sign – clinical 

workflow 

documents 

Don’t forget to save your records 

if you are leaving your computer 

unattended. See the flowchart on 

Connect to find out the correct 

pathway to follow when inputting 

documentation. 

Please use Message Centre to identify 

(and complete) relevant outstanding 

actions: 

1. Documents that may not yet have 

been signed (and thus not visible to 

anyone else) 

2. Results that have not yet been 

endorsed 

Booking patient transport 

Colleagues are reminded that to book 

patient transport they should call 

ext.5444. 

Please do not press the ''transport'' 

button in Unity as this is for use by 

porters only and will not secure transport 

for your patient. 

3

Speak up Day focuses on the 

Managers' Code of Conduct 

CORPORATE AND GENERAL 

NEWS 

Wednesday 11 September marked our 

second Speak up Day of the Year with 

the theme around the recently launched 

Managers' Code of Conduct. 

On the day we also hosted our first live radio 

debate in the Sandwell Hospital radio studio 

around the topic of speaking up. Guests 

included Toby Lewis, Chief Executive, Donna 

Mighty, Chair of the BME Staff Network, Chris 

Rickards, Trust Convenor, Kam Dhami, Director 

of Governance and Speak up Guardians Harpal 

Tiwana and Sandra Kennelly. In case you 

missed it, you can check it out on Connect. 

Ruth Wilkin, Director of Communications 

hosted the radio debate, she said: “It was the 

first time that we have held a live debate on 

the hospital radio station. It was great to see 

senior leaders and colleagues come together 

to discuss the importance of working in a 

place where speaking up is encouraged. The 

panel gave their views on the managers’ 

code of conduct, sharing how they thought 

we could best ensure that managers abide 

by the standards. Listeners got involved by 

posting questions throughout the show and 

responding to live polls.” 

Speak Up Day also saw managers from across 

the organisation open their doors to team 

We held our first radio debate on Sandwell Hospital Radio 

members, holding drop-in sessions allowing 

individuals to raise concerns confidentially 

without fear of repercussions. 

Marie Perry, Non-Executive Director responsible 

for speaking up, held drop in session on the 

day. She said: “(Speaking up) is important as 

we want staff to feel they are able to raise 

concerns, be they personal circumstances, 

about patient safety, or any issue that affects 

them and the workplace.” 

Our Trust has a strong track record in 

encouraging people to speak up and there 

are a range of ways that you can do this 

including talking to your manager, contacting 

a Trade Union rep, raising an incident, writing 

to our Heartbeat letters page, talking to a 

Trust specialist such as Counter-Fraud, ringing 

Safecall (our confidential whistleblowing line), 

or getting help from a Freedom to Speak up 

Guardian. 

All of our Speak up Guardians have received 

specialised training and are well placed to listen 

to issues and guide concerned colleagues on 

the best way to resolve those problems. This 

gives colleagues the avenue to be able to turn 

to Guardians if they want to talk about any 

issues they feel need addressing. 

Find out how you can speak up and who 

our Freedom to Speak up Guardians on 

Connect. 

“Trust” and “working relationships” 

rated highest in latest weConnect survey 

Results from the most recent weConnect 

survey, issued over the summer 

demonstrate high scores for positive 

working relationships and trust within 

our organisation. Through the survey 

people have reported that they feel 

trusted to do their jobs and they are 

satisfied with the support they get 

to enable them to do their role, with 

colleagues in nursing services scoring 

particularly highly on ‘trust’. 

Director of Communications, Ruth 

Wilkin explained more: “It is really 

encouraging to see ‘trust’ and ‘working 

relationships’ continue to score highly 

across different surveys over the past year. 

This demonstrates the positive change 

that is taking place within teams at a local 

level. 

“However, it is disappointing to see that we 

continue to score less well on recognition 

despite the vast array of recognition 

schemes that are available across the Trust. 

It is clear that more needs to be done for 

colleagues to feel fully valued within their 

teams. Our nine weConnect pioneer teams 

are certainly working to change this, and in 

this edition of Heartbeat you can read about 

the fantastic engagement programme 

taking place in City ED. We are confident 

the pioneer teams will also help increase 

the ‘influence score’ which determines how 

colleagues feel they can make decisions 

within their teams.” 

Our overall Trust engagement score remains 

roughly the same at 3.84, down slightly 

from 3.86 on the last survey. We are aiming 

for a score of 4.0 which would put us 

among the best in the NHS. Unfortunately 

our overall response rate went down to 

29 per cent down from 36 per cent on the 

last survey but there are some highlights 

where directorates have done really well 

in responding. The nursing services team 

in particular are to be congratulated for 

achieving a fantastic 87 per cent response 

rate – our highest directorate response rate 

to date. 

Teams that took part in the latest survey 

are medical director’s office, nursing 

services, admitted care, emergency 

care, iBeds, maternity, paediatrics and 

specialist surgery. 

We have postponed the next scheduled 

survey until January 2020. This will allow 

us all to contribute to the national staff 

survey that runs from October to end 

of November 2019. Every employee in 

the Trust is invited to take part so please 

fill in the survey when you receive the 

email or letter. Prizes of up to £200 are 

available for those who complete the 

survey within the first two weeks. 

4

City ED team takes steps to 

impact change 

Nine teams have embarked on a six 

month journey to improve engagement 

locally with their colleagues. 

The teams are part of the weConnect Pioneer 

programme which launched in June this year. 

The pioneer teams are receiving dedicated 

support to drive up engagement in their local 

areas. Each team is being supported by an exec 

sponsor and a specially trained connector. 

It is a real opportunity for the teams to make 

an impact and significant change in their area 

and the emergency department at City Hospital 

are doing just that. 

In less than four months they have seen 

engagement increase across the department 

which Senior Sister, Zoe Crookes says is down 

to making small changes to ensure colleagues 

feel valued. 

Heartbeat caught up with Zoe who explained 

more. “When we first learned of the pioneer 

team programme we thought it would be 

an excellent opportunity for us to reflect on 

the good work that we do and acknowledge 

that on a daily basis. We have been delighted 

with how the entire team has embraced our 

engagement programme." 

Zoe has worked closely with fellow Senior 

Sister, Danielle Scott to develop a plan and 

encourage participation from colleagues across 

all the professions. 

“When we first started out some people were 

initially sceptical but they came round when 

they started to see that things were changing 

and that we were acting on feedback,” said 

Zoe. 

City ED have implemented a wide number of 

The appreciation board in City ED is on display 

for colleagues, patients and visitors to see 

initiatives but Zoe says the three schemes that 

have had a huge impact include a positivity box, 

an appreciate board and team member of the 

month. 

“The positivity box is about the team focusing 

and appreciating what we do well. The process 

is simple, we provide coloured post it notes on 

which staff can only write something positive 

about another member of the team.” 

"When the positivity box was launched 20 

comments were received in the first four weeks. 

Now that number has more than doubled,” Zoe 

told Heartbeat. “It’s great to see all the wonderful 

comments coming through from porters and 


NEWS 

ward services right through to senior 

clinicians. Even the paramedics have been 

taking part and have commented on how 

great the initiative it is.” 

All the comments from the positivity box 

make it to the appreciation board where 

the individual comments are displayed (for 

up to a month) for colleagues, patients and 

visitors to see. The positive comments then 

form part of a process to select the team 

member of the month. 

“Colleagues can put forward their 

nominations for team member of the 

month and at the end of each month the 

nominations are reviewed together with 

the positivity comments and a winner 

is selected. The winner gets a £10 gift 

voucher and a certificate and their photo 

goes up on the appreciation board. 

“We are delighted to have embarked on 

this journey as it has made a real difference. 

We have always been a close knit family 

here at City ED but the environment is 

generally much happier now. You can 

really see that morale has been lifted 

and everyone is feeling more engaged. 

This is because everyone has embraced 

the programme and they are all doing 

their bit for the various elements of our 

programme.” 

The team are City ED are embracing the weConnect engagement programme 

5

We hold “secret” to successful 

smoke free NHS 


NEWS 

England’s head of Public Health 

hailed our Trust “as an exemplar” for 

our campaign to ban smoking from 

hospital grounds. 

During the visit Duncan Selbie, Chief 

Executive for PHE, said the organisation had 

the “secret” formula to making a smoking 

ban work. 

He spoke to colleagues at Sandwell Hospital 

about the campaign which was launched 

on 5 July. 

We have introduced a £50 fine for anyone 

caught lighting up and have employed 

smoking wardens to patrol the grounds. 

Two vaping shops have also opened up 

- one at Sandwell, and the other at City 

Hospital. 

Mr Selbie said: “I visited the Trust to learn 

about how it has gone smokefree and will 

pass this on to other NHS organisations. It’s 

such a powerful thing to see and it’s going 

to make the biggest difference to people’s 

health. Smoking is still the biggest killer and 

today alone in this country, 220 people will 

die early because they smoke. 

“I have also heard how the wards are 

giving people support through nicotine 

replacement therapy and also e-cigarettes, 

which for a smoker is a sensible alternative 

choice. The way the Trust is approaching 

this is an exemplar - there is something here 

for everyone within the NHS to learn from.” 

He added: “As a hospital chief executive 

in my previous life we put a lot of effort 

into this, but we never quite succeeded, 

because we didn’t go at it with every 

possible thought and involvement from 

every member of staff. Here, that is what 

you are doing. There are posters and big 

signs but there are also people here to help 

or point you in the right direction – and this 

Duncan Selbie CEO of Public Health England visited Sandwell Hospital on 9 September 

is the secret to your success that we all need 

to take on board. If you want to learn how to 

be smokefree come here and see how it can 

be done.” 

Fikirini Ramadhani Paediatric Trainee 

Advanced Nurse Practitioner with Duncan 

Selbie CEO of Public Health England 

Dr Arvind Rajasekaran, Respiratory Consultant, 

added: “It is an honour to welcome Mr Selbie 

to our Trust. He has been able to see firsthand 

how well our smoking ban has worked 

and speak to some of those people who have 

benefitted from it being introduced. 

“Since the ban, we have heard some fantastic 

stories from members of staff who have quit 

smoking because of the ban and this has 

brought them tremendous health benefits. 

“The smokefree initiative is one step of our 

bigger campaign of ensuring clean air for 

patients, staff and visitors. to paraphrase what 

Mr Selbie said, we wouldn’t drink dirty water 

so why should we accept to breathe in polluted 

air.” 

Fikirini Ramadhani, Paediatric Trainee Advanced 

Nurse Practitioner, shared his experience with 

Mr Selbie. He told him: “The windows within 

the waiting area in our children’s ward had 

to be kept closed because smokers would 

congregate outside the building. However 

since the ban, they have been able to open 

them without worrying about young patients 

breathing secondhand smoke.” 

Star of the Week 

Is our new recognition scheme replacing the 

monthly compassion in care award. 

You can nominate colleagues for their contribution to delivering a high quality service. 

For further information and to nominate, visit Connect. 

6

Take the chance to have your say as 

national staff survey comes your way 

NHS National Staff Survey 

– take part for a chance to 

win £200 worth 

of vouchers 

October will see the launch of the 

annual NHS Staff Survey where millions 

of colleagues across the country 

feedback on their services and how 

they feel about working for their 

organisations. 

The national survey is mandatory for all 

NHS organisations and the results inform 

national initiatives that can help support 

improvements in staff experience and wellbeing. 

It allows our Trust to see what issues 

people raise and understand how to make 

improvements. Importantly we are also 

able to benchmark our results against other 

organisations. This helps see where we excel 

comparted to other, similar organisations 

and also where we are not as good as some 

other Trusts. Looking at those Trusts that 

score more highly than us in certain areas 

will provide a good way of us to learn from 

other high performing organisations. 

The results are also used by NHS England 

to support national assessments of quality 

and safety. The Care Quality Commission 

uses the results to inform their Intelligent 

Monitoring work to help to decide who, 

where and what to inspect. 

While every year at SWB we have only 

sampled a quarter of the organisation 

to take part in the survey, this year, 

every member of staff will be given the 

opportunity to have their say. 

Heartbeat caught up with Ruth Wilkin, 


NEWS 

Director of Communications who told 

us more. “The national staff survey gives 

everyone in our workplace the chance 

to have their views heard by the people 

who develop national policies on health. 

“Surveys will be distributed 

predominantly through email with a 

small number of colleagues receiving 

papers copies through the post to 

their home addresses. I urge everyone 

to take part as the survey is a unique 

opportunity to see how we compare 

to other Trusts on things like working 

environment, staff morale, job 

satisfaction, and management support. 

“The results will be reviewed and acted 

upon so we can make our organisation a 

great place to work. There are fantastic 

prizes on offer too, with £200 worth 

of shopping vouchers up for grabs – 

absolutely ideal as we now approach the 

festive period.” 

The survey will be distributed from early 

October and will be open until the end 

of November. 

“May the 4 be with you” is something 

you will soon hear ringing throughout 

the Trust as our award winning flu 

vaccination campaign gets underway 

on 1 October for a six week period. 

After winning two awards last season at the 

annual NHS Employer’s awards ceremony, 

our Stars Wars themed flu campaign will be 

returning, ready to take on the scourge of 

seasonal flu with a quadrivalent vaccine that 

provides protection against four strains of 

the virus as it successfully did last year. 

Susanna Niblett, 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: “It’s important that colleagues get 

their flu vaccination as soon as possible as 

the vaccine can take up to two weeks to 

take full effect. 

It 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.” 

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. 

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. 

The flu campaign will run 

form 1 October for six weeks. 

Attached with this edition of 

Heartbeat is a leaflet with all 

the vaccination dates, times 

and locations. 

If you have your jab between 1 

October and 11 November then 

you could win: 

• £200 worth of shopping 

vouchers 

• 7 inch fire tablet 

• Amazon fire TV stick 

• Echo dot 

• Tassimo coffee maker 

7

Angela to run for paediatric diabetes 

YOUR TRUST CHARITY 

@SWBHCharity To donate 

to the Your Trust Charity text 

“SWBH16 £5” to 70070 

Angela Ruiz Morales, medical 

secretary in the paediatric 

department is planning on pushing 

herself to absolute limits all in an 

effort to raise funds for the Your 

Trust Charity Paediatric Diabetes 

fund. 

Angela started her running journey back in 

February of this year when she joined her 

local running club and since then has really 

wanted to push herself. 

Angela Ruiz Morales and her husband Tony 

Sula preparing for the Simplyhealth Great 

Birmingham Run half marathon 

She said: “Since I started running at the start 

of the year, I really felt like I wanted to make a 

difference and what a better way to make an 

impact than to challenge myself to complete 

my first half marathon whilst dedicating my 

efforts to the paediatric diabetes team.” 

The vital funds will allow the paediatric team to 

continue to organise events for children with 

diabetes such as Christmas parties, bowling, 

woodlands adventure days and education 

sessions. 

She added: “I have had the pleasure of 

working with the wonderful team for the past 

two years and I feel proud to be part of team 

with such passion and care for their patients 

and their families which is why I want to help 

them any way I can.” 

Your Trust Charity has always been close to 

Angela’s heart having previously organised an 

array of fundraising events for them. 

Johnny Shah, Head of Your Trust Charity is 

urging all donate whatever they can to support 

this fantastic cause. 

He said: “We need everyone’s help so we can 

ensure that the children can continue to enjoy 

fantastic events in the future. We would be 

very grateful if you could donate anything you 

can spare as every little bit counts.” 

Angela will be running the Simplyhealth Great 

Birmingham Run half marathon on Sunday 13 

October. Her husband, Tony Sula will also be 

running the marathon and his own company, 

T.S Plumbing & Heating have kindly offered to 

match the amount raised up to a maximum of 

£500. 

If you wish to donate to this great cause, 

you can visit Angela's donation page by 

visiting the link below. 

https://www.justgiving.com/Angela-and- 

Tony-Paediatrics-Diabetes-Fund 

Your Trust Charity 

Carol Concert 

‘Bringing our community together’ 

Join us at All Saints Church, All Saints Way, West Bromwich B71 1RU for our first charity 

carol concert and evening of festivities, raising funds for Your Trust Charity ‘Sing it Better 

appeal’ and our Chaplaincy Service. 

On Wednesday 4th December, we will be joined by local schools and choirs to 

welcome in the festive season. 

Doors open @ 5.30pm 

Concert starts @ 6.00pm 

Tickets are available from the link below 

https://ytccarolconcert2019.eventbrite.co.uk 

or from 

amanda.winwood@nhs.net donna.mighty@nhs.net 

For more information, please email 

trustcharity@nhs.net or call 0121 507 4847 

**Please note you will still need to order your free ticket but will not be charged when 

placing your order 

Tickets cost £10 for adults, free for under 16s** Refreshments will be available. 

8

Thin Lizzy star honoured at place 

of birth 

More than 50 fans from across the globe 

came to Sandwell Hospital to watch the 

unveiling of a tribute to rock star Phil 

Lynott in the form of an emerald green 

plaque. 

The Thin Lizzy singer was honoured at the site, 

formerly known as Hallam Hospital, with H, the 

lead singer of cover band Dizzy Lizzy doing the 

honours. 

The plaque inscribed with the words “The 

boy is back in town. Phil Lynott 1949-1986. 

Musician, Poet, Songwriter. Born here Hallam 

Hospital” will be fitted at the entrance to the 

Antenatal Clinic. 

Sadly his mother Philomena, who was 

delighted to learn that the hospital intended to 

honour him, died on 6 June this year. Money 

for the plaque has been raised by the local 

community and singer H, along with writer 

Sean Meaney who spearheaded the campaign. 

Phil’s daughters, Sarah and Cathleen said 

ahead of the ceremony: “It is particularly 

poignant timing that his place of birth is being 

honoured in what would have been his 70th 

birthday year. 

“There was obviously something in the water 

at that time as Robert Plant was born on the 

same day in the same town a year earlier. We 

(left to right) H from Dizzy Lizzy with Non- 

Executive Director, Harjinder Kang, Chief 

Informatics Officer, Martin Sadler, Director of 

Midwifery, Helen Hurst and former journalist and 

campaigner Sean Meaney 

are really proud of all our dad achieved and are 

so grateful for this recognition and to everyone 

who keeps his memory alive.” 

Fans from Japan, Sweden, Scotland and Spain 

came to see the unveiling along with Trust 

colleagues and others who cheered when the 

tribute was unveiled. 

Helen Hurst, Director of Midwifery said: “It is 

very fitting that a plaque to honour Phil Lynott 

is here at his birth place. He was extremely 

talented and we are proud to be associated 

with Phil, who made a huge difference to 

the lives of so many through his music. It is 


NEWS 

fantastic to know that Sandwell Hospital 

was the place of birth to one of the most 

iconic singers from the 70s and 80s.” 

Phil, who died aged 36, lived in Smethwick 

for a short time with his mother Philomena 

before she moved to Manchester. She 

finally returned with him to her native 

Ireland, where he spent the rest of his 

upbringing before he went on to form Thin 

Lizzy 

Sean, who was also at the event, added: 

“We lost Phil far too soon and it is sad that 

his mother wasn’t able to see this day. 

“Despite her failing health, the devoted 

88-year-old had told friends it was her 

dream to travel back to West Bromwich 

one final time to see her late rock star son 

honoured in the place of his birth. She was 

very emotional and felt that life had now 

come full circle. 

“She sadly passed away just 10 weeks 

before the ceremony was due to take place. 

It has left us all shocked and tinged with 

sadness.” 

Laughter is the best medicine as 

FINCH celebrates ten years 

The Faecal Incontinence and 

Constipation Healthcare group – best 

known as FINCH, hit a major milestone 

this last month with the service 

celebrating ten years of assisting 

patients deal with some very lifechanging 

circumstances. 

To mark their decade as part of our 

organisation, the team banded together 

to host a special charity night, which was 

also held in memory of former patient Phil 

Stephens who passed away in February 

2017. 

Taking place at Churchill’s bar in 

Wednesbury, over 100 patients, 

staff, friends and family got to enjoy 

performances from the venue’s resident 

DJ Spencer as well as and his partner, soul 

and Motown vocalist Helen James. The 

dance floor was full, drinks were flowing 

and a great night was had by all. Comedian 

and singer Jonny Cole was also on hand, 

resulting in a number of admissions to the 

bar suffering from teary eyes and split sides. 

Thanks to ticket sales, as well as a raffle 

that was also held and the generosity 

of those offering their services for free, 

£1,042 was raised during the night, which 

was opened by FINCH service lead nurse 

and former RCN Patient’s Choice winner 

Kelly Stackhouse, whose hard work and 

dedication has helped build the service to 

what it is today. 

“Patients expressed their joy at seeing 

us out of uniform and having a good 

time, and we felt the same about them,” 

FINCH’s Jodie Butler told Heartbeat. “It was 

humbling to know that not long ago they 

wouldn't have been able to partake in such 

an occasion, due to their bowels rendering 

them housebound. In the meantime we will 

continue our quest in breaking the taboo 

by talking about poo, with funds raised 

helping towards purchasing new equipment 

as well as publicising and promoting the 

service and treatments available.” 

The FINCH team as a whole would like 

to thank everyone that helped make the 

night a success and who has continued 

to show their support. 

Here’s to the next 10 years! 

The FINCH team dressed to impress as 

they marked a decade of improving 

patients' lives 

9

Move over Bruno Tonioli – Nick 

is strictly dancing for charity 


NEWS 

So you want to raise much needed 

funds for charity and are scratching 

your head for what to do. Well if 

you love music and dancing, you 

take part in a 12 hour dance-a-thon. 

It’s a no brainer according to Dr Nick 

Makwana, Group Director of Women 

and Child Health. 

Heartbeat caught up with Nick to find 

out more about why he is taking on this 

challenge on Friday 15 November and what 

he is doing to prepare. 

Why have you decided to 

undertake a 12 hour dance-athon? 

Because I am mad. Also I wanted to do 

something for charity that was a little 

different and help me get fit, but also 

highlight the importance of regular 

exercise on physical and mental health for 

colleagues and patients. 

What music will you be dancing 

to? 

I will be dancing to a variety of music 

spanning the decades from the 70s to the 

current charts with a variety of genres, as 

well as some Bollywood and African beats 

to reflect the diverse population we serve. 

Dr Nick Makwana, Group Director of Women 

and Child Health 

Why have you selected three 

charities, what do they mean to 

you? 

I really thought that doing this on Children 

in Need day would be a great way to raise 

awareness of the good work they do and 

also would mean a doctor dancing in the 

hospital reception would not look too random! 

Your Trust Charity has been making a huge 

difference to the lives of patients and staff 

locally which I really wanted to support, and 

finally I am a professional panel member of the 

encephalitis society and I have seen first-hand 

the great work they do in raising awareness of 

encephalitis and supporting families affected 

by this devastating disease. I felt I wanted to 

contribute to all three charities which work 

hard to make lives of the individuals they 

support better. 

Who is your dancing idol? 

I really enjoy watching all forms and genres 

of dance and it is difficult to pin down one 

person. In my top five is my dad, who at the 

age of 75 can still give me a run for my money! 

the adults in the evenings with whatever skill 

they had. I decided I would copy the Bollywood 

moves and that was where it all began. 

Have you ever taken dance 

lessons? 

Never - maybe I should have! 

What do your colleagues think of 

your dancing? 

I think you will have to ask them - no one has 

said that I am terrible yet! 

If you weren’t a doctor, would you 

have been a dancer? 

Difficult question. I really love my job as a 

doctor and the variety it brings. Whilst at 

Birmingham University Medical School I 

choreographed two musicals and two fashion 

shows. So I think if I was not a doctor, then 

maybe a West End Choreographer and 

ultimately judging Strictly Come Dancing! 

What is your favourite dance 

style? 

I like watching good Latin dance - particularly 

the Argentine Tango and the Paso Doble. 

Who do you like to dance with? 

I don’t get out much these days, but when I do 

then it has to be with family and friends – even 

if my children are totally embarrassed by my 

moves! 

When did your love for dancing 

start? 

As a first generation south Asian, we were 

brought up on Bollywood as children. As many 

of the readers would be aware, Bollywood 

movies are musicals full of song and dance. 

When our extended families used to get 

together the children ended up entertaining 

1. We have 7,000 employees - if 

you all give £3 each then that 

would be £21,000 - £7,000 per 

charity? Help support Your Trust 

Charity, Children in Need and the 

Encephalitis Society 

2. Do we have any secret dancers 

out there who would like to 

support Nick during his 12hour 

dance-a-thon? If so get in touch 

and sign up for an hour or two! 

For more information contact 

Amanda Winwood on amanda. 

winwood@nhs.net or ext 4847. 

10

THANK YOU 

to all our sponsors... 

A Smarter Approach to Healthcare IT 

instant intelligence 

11

Colleagues saddle up for Sally’s 

Sunshine Packs 


NEWS 

From 5-8 September, a group of 33 

keen cyclists from our organisation 

set off on their annual cycle 

challenge. This was not just any 

cycling event though. This one was 

particularly special as it marked the 

group’s 20th anniversary of riding 

across the UK to raise money for 

charitable causes. To date, the team 

have raised over £25,000 which has 

helped to make a positive difference 

to a number of local good causes. 

Consisting of friends of the hospital 

and, colleagues past and present, the 

group began their ride in Hull heading 

for Norfolk. The weather was kind to 

the cyclists and in total the team cycled 

over 184 miles all in support of Sally’s 

Sunshine Packs. Spurred on by the 

selfless work of cancer patient Sally 

Gutteridge, the group set a target of 

£2,000 to help Sally continue to support 

fellow patients. 

Sally has been working with Your 

Trust Charity to put together bags that 

contain items such as puzzle books, a 

patient journal, sweets, non-fragranced 

wet-wipes, shampoo, and tissues. 

A chemotherapy patient on receiving the 

bag said: “I think it’s a very good idea – 

there’s a good selection of stuff in here. 

It’ll keep me quite busy. Even the bag is 

very useful.” 

On the road again! This year’s cyclists on their 20th anniversary cycle from Hull to Norfolk 

Since Sally launched her initiative she’s had 

a stroke. Wheelchair-bound that hasn’t 

dampened her commitment to helping others. 

Her work was recognised with a Pride of 

Birmingham award as Fundraiser of the Year 

and rightly so. 

The funds raised from the bike ride will help 

Sally continue to spread positivity and joy to 

patients at a difficult time. Mark Aylett from 

IT who has previously taken part commented 

“The cycle challenge is a great way to raise 

funds for charity and connect socially with 

colleagues outside of work. It’s a fun way 

of giving something back to worthwhile 

causes.” 

It’s not too late to donate. A massive 

£2,027 has been raised so far. If you’d 

like to contribute you can do so via 

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ 

Team/SWBNHSCycleGroup2019 

SWBH 

Sandwell and 

West Birmingham 

NHS Trust 

intranet at your fingertips 

Do you find it difficult to stay up 

to date with everything that’s 

happening in our organisation? 

We have just launched a brand 

new app which aims to give you 

the ability to access information 

that would normally be found on 

the intranet from the comfort of 

your mobile phone. 

Download the app from Apple 

App Store or Google Play 

Store on to your Trust mobile 

phone or your personal mobile 

phone by searching for ‘SWBH 

myConnect’. 

For more information contact 

the Communications team 

on 0121 507 5303 or email 


12

Do you know how to safeguard our 

vulnerable patients? By Sabina Price-Hickman, Adult Safeguarding 


NEWS 

What are restraints and restrictions? 

• Chemical – the use of sedation or 

other medication that controls/ 

manages behaviour e.g. 

Lorazepam 

• Physical – holding a person or 

moving them somewhere e.g. 

from their home to a nursing 

home in their best interests 

• Restricted access – locked doors 

or escorted when outside 

• Restricted choices in terms of 

lifestyle – activities, clothing, 

food, where to live 

• Covert medication – 

administration of medication 

without the knowledge of the 

patient e.g. in food 

Sabina Price-Hickman, Adult Safeguarding Nurse 

It is the responsibility of all colleagues 

to educate themselves about 

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards 

(DoLS). 

DoLS were introduced as an amendment 

to the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It is 

legislation that governs the care, treatment 

and finances of adults who lack capacity to 

consent or make decisions in these areas. 

DoLS are designed to legally authorise 

restrictive care situations for people who 

lack capacity to consent to them. 

An acid test needs to be completed to 

determine whether a patient meets the 

requirement: 

• Does your patient lack capacity to 

consent to the specific decision in 

question? 

• Are they subject to continuous 

supervision and control and are they 

free to leave? (Deprivation of liberty 

should be applied irrespective of 

whether they are trying to leave). 

The power to implement DoLS must meet 

all of the following criteria: 

• They are not subject to the Mental 

Health Act 

• They are 18 years old or over 

• Do they have a lasting power of 

attorney? Then ensure you seek 

advice from the safeguarding team as 

DoLS may not be applicable. 

• Restriction is being applied to a state 

controlled organisation such a 

hospital or care home. 

A vulnerable adult checklist is available on 

the back of the SAP1 to help support your 

decision. To determine capacity; a formal 

assessment should be recorded. It should 

be clear what decision the patient is being 

assessed against, examples include diagnosis, 

treatment and discharge destination. 

Documentation must demonstrate that the 

principles of mental capacity have been 

considered: 

• A presumption of capacity 

• Individuals are being supported to 

make their own decisions 

• People are allowed to make unwise 

decisions 

• Actions taken must be in the person’s 

best interest 

• Least restrictive option 

Once it is recorded that a person lacks 

capacity we need to consider what restrictions 

are necessary to maintain the person’s safety. 

Restraints and restrictions are important as it 

means that a person who lacks capacity is not 

left without necessary treatment because they 

don’t understand what is happening. 

• Restricted movement – poesy 

mittens, hi-lo bed chair alarm, 

denied access to certain places 

• Freedom to leave 

- If a patient attempts to 

abscond would you allow them 

to leave? If they are a risk to 

themselves and do not have 

the capacity to understand why 

– then they are not free to 

leave? 

- If you have locked the ward 

doors to stop a patient who is 

‘wondering’ from leaving then 

they are not free to leave. 

- If a patient asks to go home 

and you tell them they need to 

stay in hospital, then they are 

not free to leave. 

- Even if a patient is not 

attempting or asking to leave – 

would you let them if they did? 

If the answer is no then they 

are not free to leave. 

When the DoLS are submitted a 

consultant psychiatrist and Best 

Interest Assessor will visit the 

patient to assess if the DoLS will 

be granted. Please make them 

welcome and provide them with 

as much information as you can. 

Check out the safeguarding pages 

on Connect for further information 

and guidance. Training is available 

throughout the year, call 2751 to 

book onto a session. 

13

Live & Work – unleashing potential 

in the community 


NEWS 

Making a positive change in the 

local communities in which we live 

and work is something close to the 

hearts of many people within our 

workplace. Whilst we all know there 

are countless projects taking place in 

and around our hospitals, you may 

not be familiar with the positive 

work being done by the widening 

participation team. 

Live & Work is an established 

programme taking an innovative 

approach to tackle youth homelessness. 

It has been running for over four years 

in collaboration with St Basils, a charity 

dedicated to working with young 

people. The programme offers practical 

support to 16-25 year olds that are 

homeless or at risk of being homeless by 

providing apprenticeship opportunities 

within our Trust. Roles can range from 

administration to clinical or maybe 

even maintenance – the possibilities are 

endless. 

On a practical level, young people 

under 25 years old are housed in old 

nurses’ quarters close to Sandwell 

General Hospital and work on-site. If an 

opportunity is identified further afield 

at City Hospital, apprentices can take 

advantage of the free shuttle bus to 

travel to work. Plus, they receive food 

vouchers. All in all, this progressive 

programme is designed to help 

young people make a confident and 

constructive start to their working lives. 

HRH Prince William is an ambassador 

of St Basils and has previously met 

apprentices in Sandwell. Those who 

successfully enrol onto the Live & Work 

NHS Apprenticeship Programme will 

receive a recognised qualification and a 

guaranteed job role at the end of their 

courses. 

Upon successful completion of each 

apprenticeship, help is given to find 

accommodation and ongoing tailored 

support is also offered. The success of 

the programme means there’s a need 

to refurbish three blocks of flats on-site 

to create a youth village. The long term 

plan is to allow successful apprentices 

to transition to living within the youth 

village. The programme has been so 

successful that some of the previous 

participants have even gone on to study 

at university. 

Paulina Lapinska went from being an apprentice 

to a full time member of the organisation 

development team 

Paulina Lapinska is part of the Live & Work 

programme. She works as an administrative 

apprentice and is thriving in her role. She’s 

been nominated for a Star Award for 

her dedication, professionalism and for 

completing her level 2 apprenticeship. 

Paulina commented: “My apprenticeship 

lasted 12 months. It was just the opportunity 

I needed. Having the support of the Trust and 

affordable rent made it possible for me to 

succeed. I’m pleased to now have a full-time 

job and live independently.” 

Femi Kuforiji from the Widening 

Participation team works collaboratively 

with St Basils to ensure the programme 

runs smoothly. Along with the team he is 

working to raise awareness and advocacy 

for Live & Work. He commented: “The 

contributions of the widening participation 

team have helped to create a talent pool of 

future employees which if utilised properly 

may help to address the shortage of skilled 

employees. The creation of apprenticeship 

opportunities will also help to integrate 

young people into our workforce.” 

Lawrence Kelly, Widening Participation 

Project Manager added “The Live & Work 

Programme demonstrates the true benefits 

of working innovatively with local partners 

to make a real difference. The Trust along 

with St Basils remove barriers such as 

affordable, secure accommodation and 

access to NHS career planning, whilst 

addressing personal challenges many of our 

young people face. 

“The success of the programme has 

enabled us to further expand our 

engagement with a new development set 

to launch in 2020. Live & Work relies on the 

commitment and vision of every colleague 

to support, nurture and inspire the future 

local workforce of health professionals.” 

The widening participation team 

are continuing to actively consider 

ways to support young people in our 

communities. If you’d like to find out 

more, please call 0121 507 5886 and ask 

to speak to Femi. Alternatively, you can 

email olufemi.kuforiji1@nhs.net. 

Live & Work Ambassador Femi Kuforiji is working tirelessly to drive awareness across the Trust 

14

New AA service for inpatients 

Alcohol team with teams from Healthy Sandwell and charity CGL at the Alcohol Awareness Event at 

City Hospital 

A new service has been launched for 

inpatients to find out more about 

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). 

Two representatives from the organisation 

meet patients every Thursday at City 

Hospital to offer them insight and 

information about AA and what to expect if 

they were to attend an official meeting. 

Jim, a member of AA and one of two 

people leading the informal meetings said: 

“It’s not your usual style of AA meeting where 

people sit around talking about the issues 

they have with either drugs or alcohol. 

“Instead inpatients are flagged up to us by 

the alcohol team and we are able to have an 

informal chat with them about the service and 

how it could help them. It’s about planting a 

seed. 

“It’s an opportunity for them to ask questions 


NEWS 

too. Already we have seen positive 

outcomes with one patient attending 

an official meeting after having a 

conversation with us about AA. 

“If staff feel they have a patient who 

would benefit from this service then we 

would urge them to contact the alcohol 

team to find out more about how we 

can help.” 

Arlene Copland, Lead Alcohol Nurse, 

said: “I am very excited that AA is 

coming into the hospital to talk to 

people who have issues with alcohol. 

“It can be very hard to address alcohol 

misuse on your own, so support from 

AA can make such a difference. There 

are many misconceptions about AA 

so this meeting gives opportunity to 

find out what this service can offer and 

what benefit it can make to a person’s 

recovery.” 

For more information about how to 

access the service, contact Arlene on 

extension 5074. 

Elderly care welcomes new blood as 

team hosts recruitment day 

As part of our organisation’s ongoing 

recruitment efforts, City Hospital 

hosted a recruitment day this month 

looking for additional Band 5 staff 

nurses to join a team which has a focus 

on dealing with the needs of more 

elderly patients. 

The weather was more than a little 

confused on 12 September. Blue skies or 

overcast? Rain or shine? Luckily inside the 

Postgraduate Centre there were plenty 

of bright and breezy colleagues ready 

to welcome curious newcomers or the 

intrigued but unfamiliar looking to find out 

more about what makes the acute elderly 

care team tick. 

It is an exciting time in elderly care as our 

team are at the start of putting a focus 

on frailty, introducing new competencies 

for our staff nurses with the Clinical Frailty 

Scale in mind. As well as incorporating new 

training to challenge and enhance their 

skillsets. Frailty is a featured part of the NHS 

It’s an exciting time in elderly care as our team 

are at the start of putting a focus on frailty 

long term plan and a subject that will become 

ever more important within our ageing 

population. 

Amir Ali, Head of Engagement, Retention 

and Nurse Recruitment, told Heartbeat that 

there was interest from the moment the doors 

opened. 

“We had people waiting for us at the 

door, which was great to see and as we 

speak there are potential candidates 

speaking with colleagues and getting 

interviews.” 

And, by the time we had finished 

discussing the matter with Amir, the 

team had acquired their first new staff 

member on conditional offer. 

“I came to this event and it was literally 

amazing,” future colleague Seena told 

Heartbeat. “I got to meet the sister 

in charge and managers who were 

very welcoming. They gave me exact 

information about how the elderly ward 

is run at City Hospital and Sandwell 

Hospital and gave me a run down on 

what to expect in the future. I’m happy 

I was able to come here today and be 

accepted.” 

Seena will join other newcomers on 

D11 and D26 wards at City Hospital 

or Lyndon 4 and 5 at Sandwell. 

15

And so it starts – the go-live fortnight 

As the go-live fortnight started in the 

early hours of Saturday 21 September, 

colleagues worked round the clock 

to ensure that patients received the 

highest levels of care even as huge 

technical and operational changes were 

being made in the background. 

D5 were the first ward to go live at 7am 

and were joined shortly afterwards by ED 

and AMU1. Ward clerks Victoria O’Sullivan 

and Emma Ward shared their experiences 

on AMU1. 

“It’s been fine,” said Victoria. “It hasn’t 

been as busy as normal so it’s enabled us 

to get on and work out the system. We’ve 

had help from the Unity team who’ve been 

down as well. We’ve had good support 

from them.” 

“I think now that we’ve got on and started 

using Unity it’s not as scary as we thought 

it would be,” added Emma. “We had 

someone with us going through some of 

the steps this morning.” 

It was a similar story on D11, where 

persistence and team work were paying 

off. “From my perspective we’ve got a true 

team spirit going on with all the nurses, the 

floorwalkers and the Unity people. We’re 

getting there together,” said ward matron 

and super user Debbie Fretwell, who was 

also helping out as Sandwell General 

Hospital went live on Sunday. 

On Lyndon 1, ward manager Jo Wright was 

feeling positive. “We went live at 8 o’clock 

this morning and it has gone extremely 

well. There were a few teething problems 

but we’re just working our way through it 

with the support of the floorwalkers,” she 

said. 

And in the community the launch of Unity 

couldn’t have gone any better. This is what 

Matron, Justine Irish had to say. “The 

community wards across all three sites 

Rowley, Leasowes and City Hospital were 

amazing, they supported each other by 

helping fill gaps in the rosters and generally 

just calling each other with hints and tips. 

Many staff were referring to the quick 

reference pocket guides which proved 

a life saver in many situations, we felt 

well supported as a whole team with the 

operational lead WhatsApp group and floor 

walkers, super users and volunteers. 

“We had a GP come in from home on the 

first Sunday of go-live so he could hit the 

ground running and he too passed on hints 

and tips onto our other GP colleagues. It’s 

been a tough and long weekend and staff 

are tired but the enthusiasm and smiles are 

a delight to witness, Natalie (Whitton) and I 

are the proudest matrons I would say!!”

Colleagues are already expressing the 

benefits of the new system as they become 

more familiar with using Unity 

“22/9 unique morning at work; not using my 

pen anymore! A challenging session plenty 

to learn but many gains! big thanks to who 

came in to support us! To those transcribers 

who worked from v early hours to help our 

workload.” 

Dr Huma Naqvi 

"Excellent start. Impressed with Unity in 

outpatients. Looking forward to developing 

it for Research." 

Kanthan Theivendran, Consultant Orthopaedic & 

Upper Limb Surgeon 

“First proper day of seeing our patients 

on Unity - the whole pharmacy team are 

enjoying getting to grips with no more drug 

charts!” 

Pharmacy team


NEWS 

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: Anuji Evans 

I would like to give a shout out to Anuji 

Evans who has been helping our new 

living with and beyond cancer team 

in filming a series of short informative 

videos. Anuji’s professionalism, insight 

and advice assured the clips were 

promptly produced and ready to go 

on time. Always willing to help with 

a friendly smile, Anuji has been a 

pleasure to work with and made the 

filming experience enjoyable for all 

involved. She has really gone the extra 

mile in fitting in with our needs and 

timescales. Thank you Anuji! 

From: Emma Hunstone 

To: Simon Wilkinson 

Simon has been very helpful in sorting 

out IV antibiotics for a patient in 

community, post discharge. He went 

out of his way, polite and caring 

attitude and arranged transport over 

the weekend so treatment could be 

safely administered. 

From: Shehnaz Mohammed 

To: Zoe Goncalves 

Many thanks to Zoe Goncalves from IT. 

She sorted out our IT problems with the 

logins for porters at Sandwell. 

From: Paul Hocknull 

To: Ruwijda Nuur 

Ru was my mentor during placement on 

Newton 3. She was a fabulous mentor. She 

was kind, friendly and helpful. She made 

me feel very welcome and at ease on the 

ward. She's a brilliant nurse and mentor 

and I just wanted to say a huge thank you! 

From: Amy Harris 

To: City Paediatric Emergency Department 

Marie Kent and Kirstin Southern - thank 

you both for your support over my time in 

ED you are both wonderful nurses and it’s 

been a great start to my nursing career. I'll 

miss you! 

From: Louise Styles 

To: Sarah Gammidge-Jefferson 

We ran into a difficulty with getting a 

sufficient number of printer labels for 

Unity testing. Sarah stepped in and was 

really positive and helpful. One of the 

suppliers she put me in touch with could 

fulfil our requirements. Once the solution 

was agreed, Sarah helped again by getting 

the purchase order generated very quickly. 

Thanks Sarah, you went above and beyond. 

Much appreciated. 

From: David Byrne 

To: Laura Sperring 

Laura is a very caring knowledgeable 

and support nurse. Her presence in the 

emergency department and assistance 

and support with sick children overnight is 

always a welcome sight! You are a credit to 

your ward and speciality and I hope to see 

you in resuscitation on my next night shift! 

From: Michael Brennan 

To: Danielle Finazzo and Jamil Johnson 

Jamil and Dani are two of critical care's 

super users they have been very supportive 

to their colleagues spending time showing 

them how to navigate Unity. Their 

dedication to the project is fabulous, they 

are an asset to the service and will help the 

go-live run smoothly - thank you both very 

much. 

From: Amber Markham 

To: Jagdeep Kalay, Dave Warren and TJ 

Singh - patient transport 

I would like to thank these three lovely 

men who went out of their way to help 

me with a patient and his wife on the car 

park at City Hospital. Their kindness and 

thoughtfulness was so refreshing. 

From: Tracy Morrod 

To: Sukky Kaur 

For being such a friendly and helpful 

person and making me as an agency staff 

nurse welcome. 

From: Maria Fewtrell 

To: Sandwell Emergency Department 

Domestics Team 

Thank you to our wonderful team for 

looking out for staff and patients. Your 

constant hard work and help keeping 

high standards of care in our ED is greatly 

appreciated. 

From: ED 

September 2019 staff lottery results 

1 st £193.25 

Peter Lowe 

2 nd £115.95 

Marcell Fisher 

3 rd £77.30 

18 

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.

New era for hospital radio 

The list of famous names who started 

their careers in hospital radio is 

long and illustrious, including Philip 

Schofield, Scot Mills and Chris Moyles, 

amongst others, and new station 

manager for our own hospital radio 

station - Suzie Box - wonders if one day 

a new name will be made courtesy of 

Radio SWB. 

The station has recently undergone a 

transformation under Suzie’s management 

with a refreshed line up of music and chat 

designed to bring joy to patients at their 

bedside. 

Suzie explained: “We have a great vibe 

at the station, with new presenters keen 

to share their love of music with patients, 

and patients making requests to hear their 

special songs. 

“We’re close to delivering on our plan to 

broadcast online, bringing our unique blend 

of music and chat to a wider audience, and 

ensure those patients who first heard us in 

their hospital bed can still listen when they 

go home. 

Suzie Box is Radio SWB's new station manager 

“As well as entertainment, we see our 

role as contributing to pushing out vital 

messages to improve public health, and 

have an exciting diary of health related 

discussions planned to engage patients in 

making healthy choices. Alongside our two 

presenter studios we have a talk studio 

which can accommodate up to five guests 

in a lively discussion. This is a new departure 

for us, and we were delighted with our first 

event held on 11 September, which was a 


NEWS 

live streamed debate on ‘Speak Up’ day 

hosted by Director of Communications 

Ruth Wilkin. 

“Working closely with the 

communications team we are very 

excited about the future, and would 

encourage anyone with an interest in 

helping us achieve our vision come 

forward and volunteer to work with 

us. There are many volunteer positions 

available, from managing our social 

media, to fundraising, radio presenting 

to marketing, we’ve also got a new 

buddy system which is proving popular. 

“If you are interested in getting involved 

or would like a tour of the station please 

email me on suzie.box@nhs.net or call 

the radio station on 3244. We’re based 

in our own purpose-built building in the 

courtyard at Sandwell Hospital.” 

Keeping the thin blue line 

The role of a security officer is as 

varied as any role dealing with the 

public, and education plays a pivotal 

part in having the right skill set to 

ensure colleagues, patients and 

visitors to the Trust feel safe. 

Mark Lee explains: “Working in our 

security team brings a whole host of 

challenges on a daily basis, with no two 

days ever the same, so it is important 

for us to maintain our professional 

development and never stop learning. 

“My skills are quite varied as I enjoy 

learning new things. Most recently 

having undertaken qualifications in 

mental health and have just completed 

the Trusts Accredited Managers Program. 

In recent weeks I have undertaken 

an information technology course in 

which I hope to achieve the European 

computer driving license qualification 

(ECDL) and Microsoft office expert. 

Previously, I have achieved level 5 award 

in leadership and management with the 

Institute of Leadership and Management 

(ILM) – training that was provided by the 

Trust. 

“I love using technology and fixing 

things, so I enjoy working with the CCTV 

and electronic security systems. 

Mark Lee is keeping the thin blue line 

“But now I’m proud that following a 

rigorous study programme I have just 

become a Certified Security Management 

Professional (CSMP ® ) having completed the 

course and received a distinction overall.” 

The Certified Security Management 

Professional (CSMP ® ) is an advanced-level, 

internationally-focused certification 

and accredited diploma in corporate 

security management, offered by the 

International Security Institute and 

underwritten by the University of 

Leicester. 

The course covers a number of security 

related topics over 12 units including 

crime prevention, access management 

and protection of information. 

Mark continued: “The course involved 

a massive time commitment often 

involving 40/60 hours per month study 

with an assignment due every month. 

Each unit is marked and assessed 

twice, once by international security 

professionals – all considered experts 

in their fields - then by internal verifiers 

who are also professional security 

professionals. 

“But the hard work paid off, and I am 

very pleased with the result. But it won’t 

stop there, for as everyone knows, the 

world of security is always changing 

with new threats being recognised all 

the time, and as the Trust’s first line of 

defence, it is our role to stay on top of 

developments and help keep everyone 

who uses our sites safe from harm.” 

19

Garden party makes a real “ 

Green Impact” 

MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY 

CARE 

The sun was shining on the annual 

Sustainability Garden Party – with 

many colleagues and visitors going 

along to find out more about how 

the Trust is going green. 

The event was held at City Hospital’s 

Memorial Gardens on 29 August and 

offered those who attended a chance to 

find out about our plans to reduce our 

impact on the environment. 

Fran Silcocks, Sustainability Officer, said: 

“The event was held to celebrate all the 

things we are doing to be sustainable. 

“We were able to talk to colleagues 

about the different ways to reduce 

energy, our waste output, and use less 

water, as well as how to travel more 

sustainably. 

“The event also marked the launch of 

our second year of Green Impact - an 

environmental accreditation scheme 

with an awards element designed for all 

colleagues to be involved in. 

(Left to right) Ernie Holmes, James Shearer 

and Pat Orwin, from Warm Earth, at the 

Sustainability Garden Party. 

“It is a programme which supports the 

workforce to make sustainable changes 

to their department. Even the smallest of 

changes can make a big difference. 

“Earlier this year we held an awards event 

which recognised those departments and 

colleagues who had made a real change.” 

Those attending the garden party had a 

chance to sign up to Green Impact. Fran 

added: “There was a real interest in the 

scheme.” 

As well as promoting Green Impact, 

the event featured stalls from Halfords, 

encouraging people to take up the Cycle 2 

Work scheme, waste providers SRCL, and 

Castle Water. 

Visitors were also able to find out more 

about the Warm Earth programme, 

a community enterprise based at the 

greenhouses at City Hospital. 

Ernie Holmes from the group said: “The 

whole purpose of the enterprise is to 

encourage more people to grow more 

flowers, vegetables and plants. We have 

a wormery, do composting and we also 

support local groups that have their own 

plots. 

“The greenhouses at the hospital gives 

people who want to grow their own 

produce a really good start.” 

If you would like to find out more 

about Green Impact and be involved 

please contact Fran on Francesca. 

silcocks@nhs.net. 

A suite reward for smokefree Jane 

Our organisation has now been 

enjoying the benefits of being 

smokefree for a couple of months, and 

as well as cleaner air, those who have 

recently moved away from cigarettes to 

vaping or quitting entirely are happy to 

tell how the change has impacted their 

lives in big and small ways. 

Heartbeat headed over to Leasowes 

Intermediate Care Centre to speak to Ward 

Clerk, Jane Ashmore who shared her own 

story of how giving up cigarettes prior to 

the introduction of smokefree around our 

organisation had benefitted her. 

Jane, who has been with the Trust for 22 

years, the last three of which she has spent 

at Leasowes, explained that she used to 

smoke 15 to 20 cigarettes on a stress free 

day. A habit that cost around £50 a week, 

she was encouraged (both the act and some 

subsequent persuasion) by her husband to 

giving up three years ago. 

“He kept on to me about it, and my dad kept 

on to me about it and in the end I decided 

to give it a go,” said Jane. “Something I 

really didn’t ever think I would – no one did – 

Jane smoked for over 40 years before quitting 

because I did like my cigarettes. But it’s never 

bothered me, even if I’ve had to keep an eye 

on eating too many sweets as a distraction 

instead now!” 

Jane gave up via a combination of nicotine 

patches and an inhalator, which she got after 

visiting her GP to discuss quitting. And 

while there’s been some additional benefits 

like a bit more energy than previously, the 

big benefit to Jane has been monetary. 

“I decided that I was going to stop 

smoking, save money and buy the things 

that I wanted to buy – which has proven to 

be quite a lot. I’ve a new three piece suite 

coming my way, a beautiful brown leather 

suite – a Chesterfield. I’ve always wanted 

a Chesterfield. Now I can have them. It’s 

cost £3,500 and it’s all come out of money I 

would have been spending on smoking.” 

The family have even been able to do some 

improvement work on the house thanks to 

their saved money. 

“I would say if you’re considering quitting 

smoking go for it. I do feel better in myself, 

I feel less tired, I feel okay. I’ve got a little 

bit more energy and now I can get the 

things I’ve always wanted.” 

20

Meet the team who keep the hospital 

running in the darkest of hours 

MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY 

CARE 

Paul Goodman, Clinical Nurse Practitioner, and Matron, Rebecca Bloore from the Hospital @ Night 

team in the City Hospital main spine 

It’s just past midnight and it’s eerily 

quiet on the main spine at City Hospital, 

with no sign of the usual hustle and 

bustle of the day. 

Yet there are two colleagues who continue 

to go about their business to ensure patient 

safety is maintained during the later hours 

of the day and into the night. 

Matron, Rebecca Bloore, known as Becky 

to her colleagues, and Paul Goodman, 

Clinical Nurse Practitioner, are both from 

the Hospital @ Night team and have the 

responsibility of keeping things running 

from both a clinical and site management 

perspective. 

I join the team at the start of their twilight 

shift – beginning at 6pm in the capacity 

office - to find out how their roles work. 

From the onset it sounds like it’s going to be 

a busy night. 

Two of their colleagues are already over at 

the Sandwell site, doing the equivalent job. 

They are able to maintain communication 

with them via a video link so that they could 

run things past each other throughout the 

shift. 

At the 7.15pm capacity call, the team are told 

about a mental health patient currently in the 

emergency department who has been waiting 

a while to be seen. Paul is able to organise an 

assessment for the patient so that he can be 

treated by the right team. 

Afterwards, the number of beds available is 

totted up – and it sounds as though there 

maybe a shortage if patients aren’t treated 

and discharged. 

“It’s a common issue,” says Becky. “The 

bed count carried out identifies if there can 

be a shortage. This can be due to patients 

not being discharged in the day or because 

information isn’t recorded during the day and 

passed onto the capacity team. We are often 

chasing discharges and transport for patients 

in the Medically Fit for Discharge (MFFD) 

wards. 

“When needing to book transport out of 

hours we review the requirements of both 

the emergency departments first, we then 

review any patients waiting for discharge or 

transfer to MFFD wards from the base wards. 

We need to prioritise the work load for the 

Elite transport crew. “We are here to work 

out what can be done to try and ease 

the situation and make sure patient 

safety isn’t compromised.” 

And this is also the case when it comes 

to staffing levels. 

After the 7.15pm capacity meeting 

Becky and Paul are met with an influx of 

calls from wards experiencing a common 

theme – staff shortages. 

“This is an astonishing amount of calls,” 

Becky tells me. “We have had contact 

from seven wards in total saying they are 

short staffed and in total we are being 

asked to find 11 extra staff. 

“It’s going to be difficult as that’s quite a 

high number.” 

Paul and Becky set to work to solve the 

issues and a few seconds in, she receives 

a call from a healthcare assistant who 

had turned up for a bank shift – only to 

be told the ward was fully staffed. 

“She wants to work a shift tonight, so 

I’ve assigned her to one of the wards 

where there is a shortage,” adds Becky. 

“We will work through and plan the 

safest options to staff the wards and 

department also using cross-site links 

with our colleagues at Sandwell. Paul 

will then continue to work through 

the plan to plug the gaps to ensure 

we have safe staffing levels against 

the activity demand on the wards and 

departments.” 

Soon it’s time for the clinical handover 

where colleagues from outreach, 

medical registrars and SHOs - both 

incoming and outgoing - pass on 

information about seriously ill patients 

who will need to be monitored 

throughout the night. These patients 

should have been flagged up to the 

Hospital @ Night referral system earlier 

but are only coming to light in the 

meeting. 

During the meeting six patients are 

mentioned by the registrars, including a 

woman who has been diagnosed with 

breast cancer, but may now have a brain 

abscess. 

Meanwhile a 70-year-old man has 

suspected encephalitis, a deadly 

condition that needs diagnosing and 

treating urgently. “He had been driving 

his car and communicating very well just 

six weeks earlier,” one of the registrars 

tells the meeting. 

21

Rebecca Bloore and Paul Goodman work to resolve staffing issues flagged up during their shift 

“However there has been a huge change 

in his behaviour and is showing signs of 

dementia and delirium. We have started 

treatment for encephalitis.” 

Other patients also with concerns include 

one with oedema and another with COPD. 

“Most of these patients are on D21,” Becky 

says. 

And so after the meeting our next point of 

call is to check on them and ensure they are 

receiving the right care, in the right place at 

the right time. 

Becky is well known by the night shift 

across both sites, having worked in the role 

for nine years. But it is also part of her job 

to know her colleagues. 

“I will know the skill set that nurses have 

which is really important,” she said. “I will 

be able to determine if they are able to 

carry out certain treatment for patients or 

whether this is something my team or I will 

need to support them with.” 

The Hospital @ Night team don’t just 

fit catheters or cannulas – they are the 

first point of contact for all wards (and 

specialities) for unwell or deteriorating 

patients. They are able to perform a full 

clinical assessment, prescribe medication, 

lead on response to and recovery from a 

violence and aggression incident, assess and 

clear patient falls, order and interpret blood 

tests and take on the duties of speciality 

doctors to allow them to support the clinical 

needs on the acute medical units. 

“Even if we are not bleeped our aim is to 

attend every ward or department overnight 

to ensure there are no concerns. This is 

especially so if staffing has been a cause for 

concern. We like to ensure all the staff feel 

supported out of hours.” 

Becky adds: “We have quite a few 

responsibilities within our site management 

and clinical roles. Clinically we are an 

integral part of the EMRT/cardiac arrest 

team. Whilst within our site management 

role, we would assume the position of 

tactical commander for major and critical 

incidents, look after patient flow react to 

complaints and deal with staffing shortages 

- both nursing and medical staffing. 

“It’s safe to say that no two days are the 

same.” 

And with that Becky receives a call to tend 

to a patient who needs cannulating. “Duty 

calls,” she tells me. It’s 2am and it’s coming 

to the end of my shift but Becky and Paul 

will continue to ensure our hospital at night 

remains safe for all our patients and staff 

into the early hours of the morning. 

Rebecca Bloore, Matron, takes a call about 

staffing 

Paul Goodman during the capacity meeting 

Rebecca Bloore and Claire Bingham, Senior 

Staff Nurse on D21 

22

New team of midwives ensure 

mums-to-be receive continuity of care 

WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH 

The Willow team will ensure new moms are cared for by the same professional throughout 

pregnancy 

A new team of midwives will ensure 

mums-to-be are cared for by the same 

health professional throughout their 

pregnancy. 

Following the publication of Better Births 

in 2016, a report into the maternity 

provision in England and Wales, it was 

identified that when a woman is cared for 

by the same midwife, or by another from the 

same small team, the outcomes of pregnancy 

are greatly improved. 

Sarah Figg and Clare Williams have taken on the 

roles of continuity leads at our organisation to 

lead the Willow team, which consists of eight 

midwives, so that care will reflect the report. 

They will each focus on the care of 36 to 

HSBC lend a helping hand 

38 women a year from the B67 area, 

providing antenatal, postnatal and 

intrapartum care. They will also be 

supporting births at home as well as in the 

midwifery-led unit, Serenity Suite, and the 

Delivery Suite, which are both based at 

City Hospital. 

Clare said: “This group of lovely, 

enthusiastic midwives have totally 

embraced the concept of providing care 

for women at every step of their journey 

and are eager to promote the benefits 

of continuity to anyone who is willing to 

listen. 

“Sarah and I are currently working on the 

next model which will provide care for 

women with uncomplicated pregnancies 

who will be giving birth in Serenity. 

“This will also be a team-based approach 

with women allocated to a named 

midwife who will provide most (above 

70 per cent) of their care, with midwives 

known to the patient, caring for them 

during labour and birth. This is due to 

launch in September and will cover both 

the Sandwell and West Birmingham 

areas.” 

Volunteers from HSBC’s internal audit 

team descended on our workplace 

once again to lend a helping hand 

in transforming some key patient 

areas. Ditching their spreadsheets 

and calculators for dustsheets and 

paintbrushes, the intrepid band of 

DIY painters and decorators set to 

work transforming Priory Ground at 

Sandwell Hospital and the garden at 

Leasowes Intermediate Care Centre. 

Leading the charge from HSBC was 

Kundai Madamombe who said: “Last 

time we were here we transformed 

Lyndon Ground and Lyndon 1 and 

we loved making the area bright and 

colourful for the children, we also took 

on the challenge of transforming the 

reminiscence room on Lyndon 4 for older 

patients. This time, we’re bringing a bit 

of calm to Priory Ground with some calm 

pastel colours.” 

Coordinating the makeover was Your Trust 

Charity’s Membership and Fundraising 

Paint brushes at the ready, the HSBC audit 

team get ready to take on Priory Ground 

Manager Amanda Winwood who shared 

her thoughts on the work: “We’re absolutely 

delighted to see the HSBC team back again, 

they did a fantastic job at transforming the 

children’s wards and the reminiscence room, 

this time they’re taking on Priory Ground 

with the aim of making it a more calming 

environment for children returning from 

surgery, as well as taking on the cinema 

room and garden at Leasowes for our older 

patients.” 

Sharing her thought on the transformation 

at Leasowes, Matron, Natalie Whitton said: 

“The renovation is amazing. It has made the 

cinema room at Leasowes a vibrant, warm 

and welcoming environment for our patients 

to enjoy their favourite movies, the style we 

chose also helps our patients to focus on 

times in their lives which will trigger happy 

memories. 

“The garden is a family friendly environment 

where our patients can sit outside with their 

children/grandchildren to enjoy the sunshine 

and fresh air, it also gives them more space, 

so they don't feel confined to their rooms. As 

Leasowes is a rehabilitation unit the garden 

will help the patients and their motor skills, as 

we will also be encourage to plant new seeds 

and shrubs, ready for spring.” 

If you have a patient area in desperate 

need of a spruce up, get in touch with 

Amanda Winwood on email: Amanda. 

winwood@nhs.net 

23

Neonates await the opening of new 

improved unit 

WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH 

If you’ve been to City Hospital lately 

you will have surely seen the long 

awaited extension to the neonatal 

unit which magically sprung up 

overnight thanks to some ingenious 

engineering and a colossal crane. 

The neonatal unit cares for premature 

and acutely unwell new-born babies and 

is situated on the ground floor of the 

Maternity Building at City Hospital. The 

unit has slowly but surely over the years 

outgrown its current home and was in 

desperate need of space. 

Thanks to a £1.6million investment, the 

plans moved forward recently as City 

Hospital took delivery of a bespoke set 

of modular units which when bolted 

together form a brand new high tech 

wing of the neonatal unit with enough 

space to house 6 intensive care spec cots 

for the most unwell babies, providing 

increased room for our existing cot 

spaces. 

Welcoming the new units to the site, 

Heartbeat caught up with Neonatal 

Neonatal colleagues eagerly await the completion and opening of the new neonatal extension 

Matron, Rasekhuta Phil Velempini to find out 

more, she said: “Our unit is able to care for 

29 babies and although with the extension 

we retain that capacity, the key thing is that 

we’re now able to add in that extra room 

between cots so that we have more space to 

deliver care. Previously our cots were quite 

close together not compliant with the ever 

changing national guidance and standards 

which placed an increased burden on nurses 

and doctors to maintain our high standard 

of infection control practices. With this 

improvement we will be able to work freely 

and safely in the knowledge that babies 

in our care are in the safest surroundings 

we can provide.” 

Whilst a move in any other department 

would simply involve a removals van, 

the staff in the neonatal unit had the 

unenviable task of moving babies to 

their temporary bases in Maternity 1 

and D16 to allow construction work to 

continue without disturbing care. 

The refurbished unit along with the 

new extension is due to reopen in 

mid-December. 

Theatres eye up new ophthalmology 

recruits at Open Day 

SURGICAL SERVICES 

Our organisation has recently 

been on the hunt once more for 

candidates to help fill our theatres 

team, as the scope and reach of 

theatres increases. The search 

comes at the same time as some eye 

procedures come out of Sandwell 

theatres and into the wider 

community facilities, such as Tower 

Hill Medical Practice. 

A recent open day taking place at the 

cataract unit at the Birmingham and 

Midland Eye Centre welcomed a number 

of candidates looking to become a part 

of BMEC and the expanding regional 

ophthalmology centre as well as those 

who had an interest in our theatres team 

beyond this. 

Those looking to capitalise on the new 

opportunities provided in senior theatre 

practitioner and theatre practitioner roles 

at our organisation were able to take 

The recent Open Day welcomed a number of 

candidates looking to become a part of BMEC 

part in mini tours around our theatres, have 

discussions with colleagues about the role 

theatres plays in the wider organisation and 

even take part in interviews on the day. 

Lead Practitioner for Theatres, Lesley 

Hodgkinson told Heartbeat: “It’s was great to 

see people coming in today to see us not only 

about our roles within the ophthalmology 

team but about what our theatres 

department as a whole can provide for 

them in terms of career opportunities and 

we’re delighted to be welcoming a number 

of new colleagues to our organisation as a 

result.” 

The open day was also widely advertised 

in a highly visible advertising campaign in 

the Metro newspaper throughout the West 

Midlands in the two weeks prior to the 

event, as well as other appearances in both 

print and social media. 

“As part of our combined work within 

recruitment with the communications team, 

we have been looking for opportunities 

to increase our outreach. As a result the 

communications team are now developing 

a relationship with Mail Metro Media,” said 

Head of Engagement, Retention and Nurse 

Recruitment Amir Ali. “It is a relationship 

we’re keen to build moving forward as 

we look at new ways to attract health 

professionals into the SWB family, in what is 

- especially as with theatres in the region - a 

very high demand area.” 

24

It’s such a perfect week in theatres 

During the first week of August, our 

Sandwell theatres team trialled an 

innovative programme known as 

perfect week. 

The perfect week is a national initiative 

designed by the emergency care intensive 

support team to help us improve patient 

experience and our performance. 

The programme was designed to run 

a perfect week across our elective 

orthopaedic pathways. During the week, 

a number of changes were tested in our 

theatres, wards and departments that were 

intended to improve patient outcomes, 

experience and overall productivity. 

“In collaboration with surgeons, 

anaesthetists, ward colleagues, theatre 

and booking teams we have developed a 

theatre safer flow bundle to support our 

service improvement work,” explained 

Diane Eltringham, Group Director of 

Nursing for Surgical Services. 

The safer flow bundle consisted of: 

• Scheduling – All lists were 

optimised and patients were 

given a date for surgery within 

14 weeks. Lists were then 

booked to the production plan 

activity at least 4 weeks in 

advance giving time to prepare 

equipment and other enabling 

support e.g. anaesthetic preassessment 

before the day of 

surgery. 

• Achieve safer staffing – 

Ensuring theatre teams had the 

right amount of colleagues, 

with the right skills in the right 

place at the right time. Safer 

staffing was monitored daily at 

8.40am at team brief. Team 

rotas were visible 4 weeks in 

advance so the multi 

professional team knew 

who they were scheduled to work 

with. 

• Flow – An average 15 minute 

turnaround time per patient per list 

(the completion of one surgical 

procedure and the start of the next). 

• Early Starts – Every list had an 

identified Golden (first) patient. 

• Resources – No patient 

experienced an avoidable on the 

day cancellation due to lack of 

equipment, colleagues or capacity. 

Diane added: “We established a command 

structure to support rapid escalation and 

resolution. The perfect week team was 

built up of a theatres team which included 


surgeons, anaesthetists, theatres, ward 

colleagues and the Trust scheduling team 

and operational leads for each theatre 

to support with the identification and 

resolution of issues, delays and constraints.” 

Jane Parkes, Senior Theatre Practitioner 

played a pivotal role in the perfect week 

in theatres programme at Sandwell and 

firmly believes it benefited our patients and 

colleagues. 

She said: "Perfect week allowed us to 

work together as a multidisciplinary team 

to improve our patient’s surgical journey. 

As a result we were able to use the ‘safer 

flow bundle’ for our patients and maximize 

theatre usage time. This week was a great 

learning opportunity for us all, as we we’re 

able to perfect our processes, and help the 

Trust going forward.” 

Vishal Paringe, Consultant Trauma and 

Orthopaedics echoes these thoughts and 

said: “Perfect Week has resulted in positive 

experiences and outcomes for our patients 

visiting our Trust for procedures without 

comprising safety and care.” 

Our Sandwell theatres team ahead of Perfect Week 

25

Mum-of-four reveals how sight-saving 

transplant has changed her life 


A mum-of-four is urging people to 

join the donor register – after two 

corneal transplants have given her 

the gift of sight. 

Joanna Garvey, of Sutton Coldfield, has 

been able to see her children graduate 

and watch her son get married since she 

had her operation at the Birmingham 

and Midland Eye Centre (BMEC). She 

also praised the care she has received 

from colleagues at the unit. 

The head of sixth form was speaking 

during Organ Donation Week (2-8 

September) to raise awareness around 

the subject. 

Alison Morris and David Cumpston, 

both specialist nurses for organ donation 

also held roadshows at both Sandwell 

and City Hospitals during the campaign 

week. 

Joanna, 48, was suffering from a 

condition called Keratoconus, a corneal 

disorder which can result in blurry and 

double vision, and eventually lead to 

blindness before she underwent two 

transplants – the first in her left eye, and 

the second in her right. 

She said: “After the first transplant 

when I was aged 29, I had a number of 

issues with my left eye because I had a 

squint as a child. My right eye was also 

deteriorating because of the condition 

Joanna Garvey who has spoken about how two 

corneal transplants have been “life changing” 

and I was relying solely on it. 

“By December 2012 my vision became worse 

and I was registered blind. I couldn’t drive and 

things became increasingly difficult. In April 

2013 I had my second corneal transplant in 

my right eye. 

“The care at BMEC was brilliant and they 

looked after me really well. Without my 

corneal transplant I would be registered blind 

and wouldn’t be able to drive and do my job. 

But more importantly, I wouldn’t have been 

able to see my children grow up, graduate 

and get married. 

“All four of them play hockey up to a regional 

and county level, and without the generosity 

of my corneal transplant I wouldn’t have 

been able to see that. I can’t thank my donors 

enough. 

Because I’ve been a recipient of a transplant 

we have been really open about organ 

donation in our house. All of my children 

have signed up the register and we’ve 

had the difficult conversation that should 

the worst happen, they can still benefit 

somebody after their death. 

“Ultimately you are giving the gift of life, 

and whilst my gift isn’t life-saving, it is life 

changing and without the generosity of 

the donors I wouldn’t have been able to 

experience all the things I have.” 

Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon Anil 

Aralikatti, said: “Corneal transplant surgery 

(also called corneal graft or keratoplasty) 

involves replacing the damaged or diseased 

cornea with a healthy donated corneal 

tissue. 

“This surgery provides a precious gift of 

sight, and is life changing for patients 

with visual impairment. Following surgery, 

people are delighted to be able to see their 

loved ones, while many others are happy 

to be able to get back to work and live an 

independent life. 

“At BMEC, we undertake around 60 

to100 corneal transplant operations per 

year. Unfortunately there is currently a 

shortage of donor corneal tissue in the UK. 

If more people joined the organ donation 

register, a lot more could benefit from this 

sight restoring surgery. There are no age 

restrictions for eye donation, and no need 

for tissue matching of the donor cornea 

with the recipient. Many people who are 

unable to donate their organs can still 

become cornea donors. With more donors, 

we can change more lives.” 

Blooming marvellous garden unveiled 

for dementia patients 

PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES 

AND THERAPIES 

A group of staff from West Bromwich 

Building Society visited Rowley Regis 

Hospital in August to work on a special 

garden project. Funded by a £10,000 

Lottery grant, the garden has been 

designed especially for dementia 

patients and their families to use. 

The team of volunteers rolled up their 

sleeves and got to work creating a unique 

space within our Trust that will be enjoyed 

by countless people. Painting furniture, 

cutting shrubs and planting bulbs – nothing 

was too much trouble for the volunteers. 

The garden build has been a collaborative 

process supported by Westminster School. 

Students with additional learning needs 

have taken a practical, hands-on approach 

to designing the garden. 

They’ve worked with dementia patients 

actively seeking feedback on what plants 

they’d like to see and their favourite smells. 

Everything in this dedicated space has been 

created with patients in mind. It’s hoped 

that a smell or maybe even a sound will 

evoke fond memories from times gone by. 

Amanda Winwood, Fundraising and 

Membership Academy Manager said: “This 

project has really flourished. Our team of 

volunteers and school children have risen 

to the challenge and are working hard to 

create something exceptional. We can’t 

wait to have the students back with us 

after their summer break and look forward 

to seeing what new plans they have. We 

couldn’t be more pleased.” 

The team from West Bromwich Building 

Society get set to work on a special garden 

project at Rowley Regis Hospital 

26

First nursing associates join the 

ranks at SWB 

Some of the very first nursing 

associates to join the Nursing and 

Midwifery Council (NMC )register take 

up roles in our Trust. 

Nursing associate is a new nursing role 

developed and designed to help bridge the 

gap between health and care assistants and 

registered nurses and recently we welcomed 

some of the newest recruits to the role. 

To find out more about the new role and 

the recruits joining the Trust, Heartbeat 

caught up with Anita Kaur, newly registered 

nurse associate to find out more. She said, 

“I along with my colleagues Dawn Baker, 

Karen Kilminster, Yvette Cooper, Andrea 

Walker and Anne-Marie Hunt were on a 

pilot project from SWB for the new nursing 

associate (TNA) role. We all qualified from 

Wolverhampton University in January 2019 

and were some of the very first nursing 

associates to join the NMC register as 

nursing associates. 

“This new role is about supporting senior 

clinicians with patient safety first and 

foremost. The training brings to your 

attention measuring patient outcomes and 

the importance of clinical audits - this was 

very valuable learning for me. In my role as 

a nursing associate in the diabetes team I 

also support diabetes education for patients 

and colleagues.” 

Recounting her training, Anita shared the 

work she and her new colleagues undertook 

to take on the new role: “We had eight 

domains to achieve throughout our training 

Anita Kaur is part of the first cohort of nursing 

associates 

at university - these included professional 

values and parameters of practice, duty of 

care, candour, equality and diversity, person 

centred approaches to care and also research, 

Siemens support state of the 

art scanners 

PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES 

AND THERAPIES 

development and innovation. We also 

had clinical placements over both years. 

“Since qualifying and supporting senior 

clinicians and managers in my service, 

their feedback has been brilliant. I truly 

feel valued and supported. I have also 

supported many HCAs and support 

workers to apply for this role in their 

teams. 

“Our Trust really does have some 

diamonds among its staff and senior 

leadership team, and it was these 

members of staff who with their 

help and support got me through my 

training. 

“I would encourage all HCAs to talk to 

their senior managers about this role. 

It may be that the HCA may have to 

be innovative to bring ideas to senior 

clinicians of how their role could change 

to them becoming a nursing associate 

and show how it would support patient 

safety and outcomes in their service. 

“We were all very supported by – Cath 

Greenaway, Lin Hobbs and Helen Cope 

from the nurse education team. My 

fellow TNAs were very supportive to me 

throughout the course - so I would like 

to take this opportunity to thank them 

all. “ 

IMAGING 

Colleagues in imaging are excited 

with the imminent arrival of a brand 

new array of scanners thanks to 

the Managed Equipment Service 

partnership with Siemens. 

City Hospital has recently taken delivery of 

a brand new state of the art CT Scanner to 

complement its current suite of equipment 

and in the coming weeks will also be 

taking delivery of another CT scanner and 

MRI scanner at the Birmingham Treatment 

Centre. 

Welcoming the investment to the 

department, Imaging Director of 

Operations, Jonathan Walters shared his 

thoughts: “Resilience is key in this and the 

new scanners mean we finally have that, at 

City Hospital. We have two CT Scanners for 

Colleagues in imaging are delighted with their 

new CT scanner 

emergency and acute care that will provide 

cover until the move to Midland Met. We 

will no longer suffer the risk of downtime 

associated with a single scanner servicing or 

need to transfer patients between sites 

simply for scans. 

“Also, the new scanners are much more 

capable, with a far higher resolution 

and specification to help us cope with 

the speed and complexity of our current 

scans. This is a significant improvement 

for patients and the service and a very 

welcome sight as we move in to the 

winter period.” 

Keep an eye out in the coming 

weeks as we welcome the arrival 

of a brand new MRI and CT at the 

Birmingham Treatment Centre. 

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 

Rita muscles her way to UK 

bodybuilding champion 

Huge congratulations to Capital 

Projects Manager, Rita Brown who 

bagged the coveted title of UK 

bodybuilding champion at the UKBFF 

(Ultimate Beginners Stars of the 

Future Masters Bodybuilding and 

Fitness Federation) show this year. 

Rita took home the title after muscling her 

way through tough competition to win 

first place on her first attempt. 

The competition was held near Kent and 

was open to anybody who had never 

been on stage before. 

Reliving her spotlight moment, Rita 

shared her motto ‘Hard work beats talent, 

when talent doesn't work hard,’ which 

was reflected in her preparations for 

the competition. Rita embraced a strict 

shredding focussed clean diet plan over a 

12 week period so that she would be in 

peak condition for her competition. 

“To become a UK Bodybuilding Ultimate 

Beginners Stars of the Future Masters 

champion takes a lot of hard work 

dedication,” explained Rita. 

“You have to be committed about the 

goals you want to achieve both inside 

and outside of the gym which includes 

the food you put in your body and the 

Rita is Ultimate Beginners Stars of the Future 

Masters Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation 

UK champion 

amount of recovery and rest you take 

after your workouts. It isn’t for the faint 

hearted, you have to be a highly driven 

and motivated individual.” 

She added: “Bodybuilding is a solo sport 

so you have to be willing to give it your 

all if you want to have any chance of 

succeeding. There is no off season in 

bodybuilding meaning you have to really 

embrace the grind if you truly want to be 

the best.” 

As part of her disciplined training regime, 

Rita works out on a daily basis from 

3.30am for two hours. Her training 

programme is broken down whereby 

each session she will target and a specific 

muscle group (whether that is biceps, 

triceps, chest, back, shoulders or legs) 

with focus on definition and growing 

her muscles. Her exercises involve both 

compound lifts and isolating specific 

muscles. In addition to this, Rita follows 

a strict cardio programme which aims to 

burn fat without losing muscle mass and 

strength. In order to reach her maximum 

capabilities, she has a bodybuilding coach 

who puts together her training schedule 

and diet plan. 

Winning the UKBFF Ultimate Beginners is 

just the start of the journey for Rita as she 

is hopeful of taking part in at least three 

more bodybuilding competitions in 2020 

all with the end goal of getting coveted 

invite to Olympia – the most prestigious 

bodybuilding competition which is held 

annually in Las Vegas. 

Well done Rita and good luck with 

everything bodybuilding in future. 

28 

Trust beaten by GP cricketers 

for second time in six years 

An eight wicket defeat does not 

truly reflect a high quality encounter 

at Dartmouth Cricket Club on 8 

September, as two teams battled for 

the annual Midland Met Cup. 

On a slightly overcast Sunday morning, the 

Trust’s very own cricket team prepared to 

take on the might of local GPs, in a battle 

second only to the Ashes. Winning the 

coin toss, our team took to batting first in 

a bid to set the target. 

Restricted to a woeful 107 runs over 

25 overs in the first innings, the Trust 

had a mountain to climb after lunch. 

Only Consultants Asim Majeed and Ajai 

Tyagi offered much resistance, despite 

some later order energy from our chief 

executive, and a not out performance 

from tail-ender Dave Baker. GP colleagues 

took almost 18 overs over their reply for 

the loss of just two wickets, with Asim’s 

spin bowling, and good overs from Arvind 

Rajasekaran and Masood Aga beating 

the bat without claiming victims. Farooq 

Wandroo hit useful runs and was himself 

hit, but kept on. 

Presiding over the annual event this 

year was a professional umpire who had 

taken on the unenviable responsibility of 

The annual cricket match took place earlier this month 

overseeing the proceedings, and whilst 

children enjoyed themselves nearby on 

a bouncy castle the game ended in the 

disappointment of defeat. 

Toby Lewis, captaining our side, 

congratulated our GP friends and 

presented them with the trophy to keep 

for just the one year!

Welcome to Head of Legal Services, 

Davinder Rana who started in April. 

Davinder has had a varied career as a 

solicitor for nearly 20 years. Her first role as 

a qualified solicitor was with the Treasury 

Solicitors Department in London. This was 

an interesting role which exposed her to 

contentious public sector work. Following 

this, she worked for several different local 

authorities as an in house solicitor as well as 

for a number of private practices. Davinder 

also ran several businesses, two of which 

were law firms. In 2015, she won the 

Outstanding Business Woman of the Year 

award through the Asian Business Chamber 

of Commerce. The ABCC is part of the 

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group 

and specialises in supporting the needs of 

businesses across the West Midlands area. 

Davinder said: “To receive such a prestigious 

award was an amazing accolade which gave 

me a more solid foundation to continue 

with my career not only as a lawyer but as a 

business woman.” 

More recently she joined NHS Birmingham 

and Solihull Mental Health Trust as trust 

solicitor before her current role with SWB, 

which she sees as an opportunity to expand 

on her current skills and knowledge. 

As our head of legal services, Davinder 

manages a legal team of approximately 

eight staff including the overseas visitors 

team. Her role is to provide sound legal 

advice to the Trust. The legal team handle 

a variety of legal work including clinical 

negligence, inquests and employers and 

public liability work: “No one day is the 

same, it’s very busy, very fast paced and I 

am enjoying it” she said. 

Her vision is to make legal services more 

innovative and accessible to colleagues. 

Davinder said: “I am keen to make a real 

difference by improving and building on the 

existing services and deliver future strategic 

changes as the Trust evolves.” 

One of Davinder’s aims is to move the 

department forward by raising the profile 

of her team and how they can support 

colleagues. She would like to encourage 

colleagues to get in touch with the legal 

team in the early stages of any potential 

issues, before there is a problem, but maybe 

there is a concern. Then colleagues can 

be given support and guidance before it 

escalates into a more serious incident. 

Wave goodbye to… 

Davinder Rana 

Head of Legal Services 

Davinder said: “I am hoping to help staff 

to be more proactive, to feel comfortable 

in approaching us. We want to be resident 

in people’s minds. We want colleagues to 

understand that we are here to support 

them, that we are an extension of what 

they do”. 

In her spare time, Davinder likes to keep 

fit, running, swimming and attending the 

gym. She also likes to cook, trying out new 

recipes. In between keeping fit, cooking 

and looking after her family, she regularly 

attends networking events, forging new 

relationships.” 

Davinder Rana - Head of Legal Services 

Mary Molloy 

Specialist midwife for bereavement support 

Ahoy Molloy – over 40 years of 

dedication to the Trust 

Mary began her career with us back in 1978 

when she started at a student nurse at 

Dudley Road. Three years later she qualified 

as a state registered nurse (SRN) and 

worked on the surgical and female medical 

ward. Not soon after this, Mary started 

her midwifery training, delivering her first 

baby in 1983 and then in 1986, became a 

midwifery sister on the antenatal ward. 

In 1992 Mary was part of a small team 

involved in putting in place the corner 

stones of our first day assessment unit 

which aimed to provide bereavement 

support to bereaved families. In 2005 the 

bereavement support was further developed 

at City Hospital and this is where Mary 

would play a key role as a specialist midwife 

for bereavement support up until today. 

Mary has had many highs and lows across 

her 40 year career. She said: “While nursing 

and midwifery are very rewarding careers 

you should never forget the main reason 

Mary Molloy celebrating alongside her 

colleagues, friends and family 

you do the job which is to provide care 

and support to families facing difficult 

and challenging times in their lives. In my 

role as a bereavement lead, it never gets 

easier emotionally supporting families who 

unfortunately lose their babies but it is a 

part of the role. With this being said, we 

also do many positive things and this was 

capped off when our team were recognised 

as the clinical team of the year at the Star 

Awards in 2016.” 

Caring and looking after people is 

something Mary always wanted to do, 

even from a young age, “Since I was a little 

child I only ever wanted to be a nurse and 

I have been so fortunate to have spent the 

majority of my life doing a job I love.” 

She added: “I have had the privilege 

to have been able to play some part 

in developing and delivering a much 

needed bereavement service as well as 

the opportunity to support many families 

at the most devastating time of their life, 

following the loss of their babies. It has also 

been very fulfilling to have played my part 

in introducing measures to help enhance 

our ability to reduce perinatal mortality.” 

Ann Minto has worked alongside Mary for 

many years and has learnt a lot from her. 

She said: “Mary is a very dedicated and 

compassionate midwife, always going the 

extra mile with the women and families she 

has looked after. It has been great working 

with her in the bereavement team over the 

past six years.” 

As part of her retirement, Mary plans to do 

some charity work in her local community 

and is planning on travelling to Peru, 

Vietnam and Thailand. 

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 

It feels like we’re working in 

a cage 

I am not sure what we have done in Trinity 

House but it feels like we are being detained 

in our own offices! 

The window guards we were told were put 

up as someone ‘planked’ on a windowsill a 

few years ago and fell out. What I wonder is 

if it was such an issue then, why has it taken 

until now to deal with this? 

I totally understand the need to have safety 

restrictors put on the windows as they are 

there for a reason but whoever chose the 

guards that have been installed make it feel 

like you are a prisoner in your office and 

doesn’t make it a pleasant place to work. 

If the mesh grids that cover the windows 

were a little different and maybe the holes 

in them wider, it wouldn’t be so bad bit it 

just feels very enclosed and like you are a 

criminal in the office! Can the mesh covers be 

changed with something else? Plus, why have 

only trinity house staff had these fitted and 

nowhere else? Are we the naughty people of 

the Trust, because that’s how it feels! 

On a side note, if we were intending to plank 

on a window sill and throw ourselves out of 

the window at any point of the day, we could 

still do it as there are no guards on the toilets 

or the landing windows. Just seems rather 

bizarre that it is only the offices that have 

these fitted. 

Can something be done to make it a little 

more pleasant for those staff who work in 

Trinity House as not only do we walk an extra 

15 minutes to and from work each day we 

cannot park on site anymore, but now it 

feels like we have been very naughty and are 

caged in our own offices? 

Kind regards 

A number of annoyed Trinity House staff. 

Dear Trinity House colleagues, 

Sorry that the installation of the window 

solution has given you the perception of 

being detained. 

They have been installed through 

engagement with some Trinity House 

representatives, Trust health and safety 

and estates building leads following 

concerns that had been raised over: 

• Inability to open windows more 

than 100mm openings due to 

previously being a clinical / 

patient area 

• Room/area temperatures 

• Lack of fresh air 

• Risk of objects falling from window 

sills to ground below 

A risk assessment was completed and the 

installation of the proposed solution was 

trialled for a number of weeks on the first 

floor and discussed at a Building User Group 

meeting with finance and HR before we 

proceeded with the remaining installation. 

We appreciate the identification of missing 

areas for works and will review with our 

contractor to remediate. 

Trinity House now has a number of building 

user representatives and we would value 

attendance or engagement to improve 

the service provided by estates and the 

environment. Please do not hesitate to 

contact me directly. I am happy to engage on 

this or any other building issue . 

Kind regards 

Steve Lawley, Head of Estates 

I want to be able to buy fruit 

and veg at work 

How is it possible in 2019 to purchase a share bar 

of chocolate in nearly every shop on the hospital 

site, but I can’t do the same for a portion of fruit? 

I’d like to think that we are an organisation which 

promotes health, however Sandwell is the only 

site without a greengrocer on site in comparison 

to City Hospital! 

It baffles me knowing we have vape shops 

popping up but nowhere to buy fresh fruit and 

veg alternatives on our lunch breaks. 

Is there hope that we will see a little green grocer 

appear on our map soon? 

Thanks 

Anon 

Dear Colleague 

Thank you for raising this important issue, 

and for your interest in a range of healthy 

food choices across our sites. 

Unfortunately our original fruit and veg 

supplier could no longer continue at the 

Sandwell site. 

We are currently approaching a number of 

suppliers about providing a fruit and veg 

stall at Sandwell. I am sorry the process is 

taking longer than we would like. Our aim 

is to have a supplier in place early next year. 

In the meantime, there is a range of fruit 

and salads on offer in our staff canteen at 

Sandwell. 

Kind regards 

Raffaela Goodby 

Director of People and Organisation 

Development 

Park appropriately – surely that’s 

not too much to ask 

I am very disheartened to think we are working 

amongst dishonest people. Parking at BTC/City is 

unbelievable! 

People are blocking people in, parking over two 

spaces and people are parking on double red 

lines in the car parks very close to other cars. I 

myself have recently suffered damage to my car 

from someone parking on red lines and catching 

my car and not reporting it or leaving me a note 

which I have now got to fund out of my own 

pocket for someone else's ignorance. 

Also what are we paying car park fees for if the 

cameras on the car park stay situated at the 

entrance/exit to the car park all-day and don't 

move? This is allowing people to commit such 

crimes and get away with it! 

What are your plans to provide a safer car park 

system to make users feel a bit more at ease 

leaving their cars parked whilst they work? 

Kind regards 

Anon 

Dear colleague, 

The very first point in the ‘Staff Must Dos’ 

of our Trust Car Parking Policy is that we all 

should park considerately. Blocking other 

vehicles in, parking on double red lines 

and parking over two bays are all examples 

of inconsiderate parking and our security 

colleagues are tasked with patrolling all our 

car park sites, issuing parking charge notices 

to those in contravention of the car parking 

policy. 

Parking is a limited resource. Good parking 

discipline ensures that our car parks are 

utilised in the best way possible, and that 

our sites are safe for both vehicles and 

pedestrians. 

The Trust is working with a car park 

management company who will take over 

the day to day running of the car parks next 

year. 

Kind regards 

Jim Pollitt 

Assistant Director Strategic Development 

30

Toby writes about… using Unity to improve 

patient care over time 

TobyLewis_SWBH 

TOBY’S LAST WORD 

The fortnight for Unity go-live has 

started. And so far, it’s not as bad as 

you thought. That is tribute to your 

hard work getting ready. Remember that 

training resources remain in place, and as 

we go through October and November, we 

will begin to share details of individuals and 

teams whose use of Unity is leading the 

way – by which I mean showing how the 

technology is helping to make us safer and 

taking less time than the way we used to do 

things. 

For some teams in the Trust Unity has the 

potential to be completely transformative. 

I am thinking for example of our portering 

teams. Their work is now requested and 

booked via the system, making a very direct 

connection between their efforts and our 

patients. For pharmacy too, the system, 

with inpatient electronic prescribing, 

makes all the difference. Not just measured 

in fewer misplaced drug charts, but 

eliminating transcribing errors. The system 

works best if you do not override the bar 

scanning when giving medications! By 

1 November we would expect any such 

override to be considered an incident 

because it creates an avoidable error risk. 

EMPA will help us to create a health system 

with better continuity around medication, 

capability to reduce antibiotic overreliance, 

and an approach to addressing the needs 

of patients with multiple medications, 

especially in older adults, offers us a real 

opportunity to improve outcomes. 

Of course, Unity does not do everything, 

nor does it replace everything we had 

before. By phasing out ICM we replace 

our most commonly failed IT system of 

the last twelve months. By moving away 

from relying on CDA, we put more trust in 

IT systems hosted off site and configured 

according to accredited protocols. The 

system does connect to many of our other 

sources of clinical data, which is why we 

have invested heavily in device integration, 

and in linking resources in endoscopy, 

cardiology, labs and imaging into the 

record. I am convinced there is more we can 

do in coming months to use the HIE to give 

both GPs and our own community teams 

better visibility, and alerting capability, from 

Unity. It must be feasible to know when a 

patient has been admitted or discharged 

if they are on a colleagues’ community 

caseload – at school or at home. 

You will start to hear much, much more 

in the weeks ahead about Optimisation 

of Unity. I wrote about this here two 

months ago, and the Clinical Leadership 

Executive has advanced our planning since 

then. Key data will be available to show 

you how your use of the system compares 

to others in your team and in the Trust. 

That should give you a clue on who to 

chat through, peer to peer, your use of the 

system with. Data on “undifferentiated 

clicks” should help us to see who needs 

help from our retained team to Cerner 

experts. Before we start to develop Unity 

much further we want to make sure that 

the whole Trust is using what we have well. 

We believe that that should take up to six 

months. The biggest step you can take on 

reading this to be someone who signs your 

entries. That means everyone else can see 

them in the clinical record, and act on them. 

3,000 unsigned entries a day means wasted 

work for you, and someone else, and risk to 

a patient. 

There is a small list of improvements to 

Unity that we deferred until after go-live, 

and we know too that installation into 

theatres, as well as our Patient Portal, is 

phase two. These things together will 

happen before April 2020. Having used 

the system you will have all sorts of ideas 

about further improvements, including 

paper processes that you want on the 

system. Priority will be given in developing 

the system to teams that can demonstrate 

best performance on the Optimisation 

scorecard! The better you are at using the 

system, the more say you will have as a 

team (not an individual) in developing it 

further. To be explicit, the Unity system will 

not be developed by Unity experts, but by 

high performing teams – our best results 

endorsers, VTE assessors, care plan users 

and document signers. To coin a phrase you 

have to be “in it” to win it. Unity, that is. 

One of the big changes with Unity is the 

inclusion of task-lists, and an expectation 

that that is how work is identified and 

prioritised within teams including ward 

teams. When we link that to staffing gaps, 

we can see very clearly where some of 

our pressures are. Handover becomes an 

important place then to use the system 

to ensure continuity of care. For families 

with expectations of what they were told 

by last night’s staffing team, Unity is a 

vital resource to help us to understand 

what carers think is happening next for 

our patient and their loved one. More and 

more work is asked of ward clinical teams, 

and for the first time Unity will provide a 

quantified insight into work at the bedside, 

alongside expectations like equipment 

cleaning that falls on professional teams. 

We wanted to put in Unity, and other IT 

like our upgrade of PACS, and our leading 

edge artificial intelligence projects, to help 

release time to care. I can imagine you are 

reading this and thinking about how much 

longer a specific process takes you than it 

did before, on paper, or on EBMS etc. That 

is why we need to work through during the 

fortnight your favourites, and the very best 

practice that the system can offer. Time, for 

everyone working in our organisation, is the 

currency we need to think in terms of if we 

are to get the very best from our efforts. 

In 2020 we will be looking to reduce time 

spent on mandatory training, reduce time 

spent on cross site travel, reduce time spent 

on management meetings, and reduce time 

spent on forms and paper: All with a view 

to getting more into our working lives not 

just for patient care, and conversations with 

carers and other professionals, but to give 

more time for learning, peer support and 

development. 

Optimising Unity is the short term aim, 

with all its metrics, but the strategic 

aim is to use technology to make us 

more reliable in our work, and to free 

time to undertake the things that make 

working here rewarding and caring 

here more and more possible. So Unity 

is not about tech, it’s about you and 

your patient – where everyone matters. 

Reducing our reliance on single use 

plastics 

We are thinking of starting a scheme where 

you bring your own lunch boxes to work 

to stop the use of disposable take-away 

containers. Do you think this is a good 

idea? Email francesca.silcocks@nhs.net 

31

What's on - October 2019 

EVENT DATE TIME VENUE 

Public Trust Board 3 9.30am – 12.30pm Midland Met 

Clinical Leadership Executive 22 2pm – 5pm 

Conference Room, Education Centre, 


SWB TeamTalk 23 

Star Awards 11 

11am – midday 

1pm – 2pm 

1pm – 2pm 

Evening 

(by invitation only) 

Committee Room, Rowley Regis Hospital 

Education Centre, Sandwell Hospital 

Post Graduate Centre, City Hospital 

Aston Villa Football Club 

WELLBEING EVENTS DATE TIME VENUE 

Introduction to Mindfulness 3 1.30pm – 4.30pm Surgical Skills Room, Postgrad, City Hospital 

Suicide Awareness 9 10am – 1pm 

Berridge Room, Courtyard Gardens, 


Introduction to Managing Anger 

and Frustration 

17 1.30pm – 4.30pm 

Surgical Skills Room Postgraduate, City 

Hospital 

Workplace Stress Management 22 10am – 1pm 



Mental Health Awareness for 

Managers 

31 

Mental Health 

Awareness for Managers 



TRUST-WIDE EVENTS 

DATE 

Flu campaign launch 1 

Black History Month 1 - 31 

National Staff Survey Launch 7 

Pioneer Teams Wave 2 applications open 1 - 31 

National Speak Up Month 1 - 31 

World Sight Day 10 

Stoptober 1 - 31

Heartbeat September 2019

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?