Heartbeat October 2019

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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 Smokefree should be better policed Dear Heartbeat, Whilst I am a strong supporter of the nonsmoking drive, I am less enthralled by the ongoing policing of the issue. I share an office that sits on an outside wall of ED where smokers gather all the time. Having an open window means a regular flow of nicotine and other herbal cigarettes drifting into the office and me having to step outside and politely ask the offenders to stop smoking or move off site. Thankfully most of the requests are met with a polite nod, and only the occasional unpleasant words. Can I ask how will further policing of smoking on the site be achieved and can we have a huge no-smoking sign about six feet high on the wall outside the office, or even a sprinkler outlet? Kind regards Dermot Reilly, City ED Staff smoking outside in uniform due to smokefree Dear Sir Whose absurd idea was this no smoking zone at City hospital? Since all smoking was banned on the hospital grounds we now have a situation where staff are sitting on the wall at the front of the hospital - in their uniforms in large groups smoking, drinking coffee and eating, leaving all their rubbish on the floor outside the hospital - including hundreds of fag ends, used coffee cups and empty plastic bottles. It also gives the impression to the general public that our staff have nothing better to do. I have also been nearly hit by discarded lit fag ends. This whole situation brings the hospital into disrepute and makes staff look lazy and reflects on non-smoking staff such as myself and the disgusting mess around the side of the hospital by A&E needs sorting. Non Smoking member of staff. Dear Colleagues The Trust Board took the decision on 5th July 2018 (the NHS 70th birthday) that the next anniversary of the NHS would be the moment our Trust sites went completely smoke free. We prepared for the smoking ban over the subsequent 12 months, by alerting staff, patients and visitors to the ban, informing them that there were alternatives on offer with help to quit and that fines would be in place for people who do not comply. We were well aware that having smoke free sites would lead to more people smoking across our boundaries, and, although unsightly, I am convinced, because of the large number of people who have told me, that the ban has encouraged more people to quit, giving them the best chance of reversing the damaging effects of smoking. This is a price I feel is worth paying to protect the health of our communities for the longer term. Our smokefree implementation has been praised by the national leader for public health in England, and many are coming to learn from us about our approach. I hope that you will continue to encourage your colleagues who smoke to access the right support that enables them to cut down or quit smoking that will give themselves the best opportunity of long-term health. Kind regards Toby Lewis, Chief Executive Unhelpful issuing of parking notices to staff Hi Heartbeat, I’m aware that spaces are short because of the changes and building of a new multi-storey carpark. However, the issuing of Parking Charge Notices to staff is wholly unhelpful. Especially as Parking Notices and are un-enforceable in law. When returning back to Sandwell Hospital after a morning QIHD meeting I was under time pressure to set up the outpatient department and clinic ready for the clinic start. I was unable to find a parking space and saw that there are deep gaps at the end of a parking bay where there are white hatchings for pedestrians only, with another car parked there already. While this wasn’t an official parking space my car wasn’t causing any obstruction. On my return from work I found a Parking Charge Notice. Now while I accept I wasn’t parked in an official parking space, I do work cross site several times a week. I do pay my monthly parking fee out of my wage and expected to arrive on time for work. I find it wholly unacceptable and quite arrogant for SWBH to enlist the help of a parking firm to pin these notices on our cars, requesting between £25 & £50 be paid. QIHD is mandatory so I have to try and park on return from City in the afternoon when spaces are few and far between. Parking in the morning isn’t a problem usually. It would be interesting to find out how many companies try to fine their staff while parking in a paid for car park which fails to supply enough spaces! We cannot park on the road as it is a nuisance for residents. I was advised not to park in New Square as I need to work across site and it will add an extra 15 minutes travel time every time I travel across. Using the Shuttle bus isn’t an option because it is over full at mornings and afternoons especially QIHD days. Needless to say I will NOT be paying the fine! Regards Anon Dear Colleague Thank you for your letter regarding car parking and the issuing of Parking Charge Notices (PCNs). As you point out car parking on our main hospital sites is under increased pressure at the moment due to the number of construction projects that are taking place across the trust. Additional car parking spaces have been introduced at City (70 behind Summerfield House) and 250 at New Square. With regards to the issuing of PCNs; our security team and smoking wardens will issue a PCN to any vehicle that is in violation of our car parking policy. This includes vehicles parked in places that cause obstruction to other vehicles or pedestrians. All of the signage across the trust states that vehicles are to be parked in designated parking bays, and by your own admission you state that you weren't parked in a designated bay. As such, you received a correctly issued PCN. There is a PCN appeals process. This process reviews all the information submitted and decides whether the notice is upheld or revoked. Details can be found on the back of the issued notice. Regarding your point about the legality of PCNs I refer you to the recent judgement at the court of appeal in the case of Beavis v Parking Eye. It stated that ‘Parking on someone else’s land is a privilege and not a right to be abused’. The judgment confirms that parking charges which are issued are legally enforceable. This judgement provides much needed clarity for motorists who receive a parking charge notice. It serves as a significant reminder to motorists that when parking on private land they do so in accordance with the conditions that the landowner is entitled to place upon them. Motorists should always take time to consider signage on public or private land to ensure they understand and comply with their obligations. Post appeal fines that remain unpaid will result in the suspension of car park access for the individual so that that permit can be reassigned to someone else. Kind regards James Pollitt, Assistant Director Strategic Development 30
Toby writes about… getting things done round here TobyLewis_SWBH TOBY’S LAST WORD Thank you to everyone who contributed to our Star Awards. This edition of Heartbeat is packed with comment on the ceremony and the teams involved. Our Employee, or Star, of the Week scheme kicks off in coming days with greater prominence. So please do nominate someone for that. We have absolutely loads of good practice, and extra milers, in our organisation and we are determined to do more to say thank you. Of course, these are precisely the projects that our weLearn programme, maybe through our QIHD posters, are trying to disseminate across our organisation. The theme of this month’s column is about making things happen. The Trust is a big place. We have almost 7,000 working here, and over 3,000 who have worked here a long time. Sometimes it can seem as if getting something done is like wadding through treacle. Sometimes it can seem as if you have to have worked here a while, and know someone who knows someone, to make change happen. I want to set out some of the ways in which you can influence how we work and how things work around here. Of course, that is precisely what the weConnect Pioneer programme is about: Teams working to make change happen local to them. The second wave of that programme is out to application now, so do please consider opting into that. Let’s start with the basics of change: You. It does not matter how long you have worked here, or even if you are on the payroll. As a student, volunteer, or employee, we absolutely want your ideas and suggestions. Most people who join us have worked somewhere else, often somewhere else in the NHS, and it is incredibly unlikely that that somewhere else did not have at least one thing better than our SWB version! Your line manager is a good place to start. Not sure who your line manager is? Let us know that, as your line manager will doing your PDR, but more importantly unlocks most of how change happens. Only met your line manager when you started? To be clear I am expecting every line manager to spend time with everyone in their team one to one not less than every month. None of us can work well at work without feedback. The Trust is organised into directorates. We have 23 of them. Each has a clinical lead and a directorate manager. Our corporate 7 have at least one director within them. The 16 clinical directorates are then grouped into 5 units, led by a group director, and supported by a director of nursing and of operations. That triumvirate sit on the Clinical Leadership Executive. The group directors attend the Trust’s Board. All of our plans, investments, risk registers, incidents, and complaints, are considered through the window of our directorates, our groups and our Trust. Often the question of getting things done comes down to a perception that there “is no money”. In the main that perception is complete nonsense. The Trust has its financial challenges, but each year we invest or recycle around £20m. So unless your idea is hugely expensive, chances are it is not money that stands in the way. Often ideas stall because of time; competing pressures or just the time to get things moving. That is why we have invested in Quality Improvement Half Days to create ring-fenced time to take forward ideas, talk about them, share them and make choices about them. But time matters in another way – timing. The NHS works, and the Trust is no different, on a cycle. In November and December 2019 and in January 2020, plans are being made for April 2020 to March 2021. In fact in our Trust we try and create a two year cycle – taking us to Midland Met, or thereabouts. It is in this cycle that we decide on things like: • How to spend our ring-fenced training budget • How to prioritise clinical equipment bids, both big and small • Which new jobs and roles and services we plan to create for the future • How to move money from one team to another or one expenditure to another • Where to put service improvement resources to support teams to deliver • How to deliver our Quality Plan, and other elements of our 2020 vision. That does not mean if your great idea misses that window all is lost, but it does explain why I am writing this in this edition of Heartbeat. Your directorate and group teams have huge budgets and support. They absolutely can make in-year decisions after April, especially if the team itself is in budget and inside establishment. But if you have a great idea now is definitely the time to be pressing it once again on your local management team, and I very much hope they are asking you for your ideas. Now, we spend a lot of time asking for ideas. Incident reports generate ideas and action. The risk register is absolutely central to how the Board and other committees work. Your feedback in weConnect, or in the current anonymous NHS staff survey, does drive decision making. The chairman will be determined to hold the executive to account for why changes are made and how they respond to these feedback loops, or those of Freedom to Speak up Guardians. Our trade union colleagues campaigned for many years on the issue of band 2 and band 3 jobs, and effective October 1st 2019 we have put in place a skills and pay escalator that allows individuals to progress in clinical areas from one to the other role. It’s a big place, SWBH, or SWB NHS, and it is easy to have your voice feel like it is echoing, or is met by a sense that nothing ever changes round here. Sometimes things change too slowly, or too quickly. But you absolutely can make a difference. If you have been scanning this article for a reference to Unity here it is. If you want to know how to change Unity, take a look at page 9. Reducing our reliance on single use plastics We need your help We are asking colleagues to collect empty crisp packets at work instead of throwing them into the general waste bins. You can collect in any receptacle (ideally re-use an empty cardboard box) then send to the estates department at City or Sandwell Hospital labelled ‘crisp packets for recycling’. Why are we recycling our empty crisp packets? Terracycle will collect the empty crisp packets free of charge and recycle them. The Trust receives points (the more crisp packets we send, the more points we receive) and these can be redeemed into financial donations to charity It reduces the amount of general waste we generate (and the associated costs) It’s the right thing to do environmentally. 31
Page 1 and 2: October 2019 Sandwell and West Birm
Page 3 and 4: Board members lead by example ahead
Page 5 and 6: Sharing is caring - new car scheme
Page 7 and 8: Free NHS Wi-Fi service helping conn
Page 9 and 10: Making Unity changes happen: A basi
Page 11 and 12: Shout out has been a regular featur
Page 13 and 14: Staying alive - Restart a heart goe
Page 15 and 16: THANK YOU to all our sponsors... A
Page 17 and 18: Stars in their eyes a look back at
Page 19 and 20: FGM survivor says clinic is “much
Page 21 and 22: Learning never stops for the surgic
Page 23 and 24: Shockwaves felt through foot health
Page 25 and 26: Digital transformation done the And
Page 27 and 28: The imaging team say a fond farewel
Page 29: Diane Halliley Interim Associate Di

Heartbeat October 2019

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