Heartbeat December 2019
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<strong>December</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
Sandwell and West Birmingham<br />
NHS Trust<br />
The pulse of community health, Leasowes, Rowley Regis, City and Sandwell Hospitals Issue 123<br />
2020 Quality Improvement drive starts<br />
early with poster excellence on a<br />
grand scale: We’re Good! page 3<br />
Using PDSA to improve sepsis screening wins the top prize with Frailty at the Front Door and Nasal Photo Therapy<br />
worthy runners up, and an updated referral pathway for cancer patients taking the people's vote<br />
The devastating<br />
reality of flu<br />
Pioneer teams<br />
celebrate success<br />
Artificial<br />
Intelligence arrives<br />
in radiology<br />
CQC praise<br />
elderly care at<br />
City Hospital<br />
page 4<br />
page 5<br />
page 8<br />
page 19
HELLO<br />
Welcome to this festive edition of<br />
<strong>Heartbeat</strong>. This is the last one of<br />
<strong>2019</strong> and what a year it’s been for<br />
our workplace.<br />
This month we celebrate the<br />
achievements of our apprentices, say<br />
goodbye to Dr Chand and catch up<br />
with Staff Nurse, Agnes Mutia.<br />
A special thank you to everyone that<br />
has contributed a story this year.<br />
With your help we’ve celebrated your<br />
successes, showcased your<br />
accomplishments, innovations and so<br />
much more.<br />
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and<br />
a happy, healthy 2020.<br />
Contact us<br />
Communications Team<br />
Ext 5303<br />
swbh.comms@nhs.net<br />
Communications Department<br />
Ground Floor, Trinity House<br />
Sandwell Hospital<br />
Published by<br />
Communications Team<br />
Sandwell and West Birmingham<br />
Hospitals NHS Trust<br />
Designed by<br />
Medical Illustration,<br />
Graphics Team<br />
Sandwell and West Birmingham<br />
Hospitals NHS Trust<br />
FROM THE CHAIR<br />
New Midland Met contract<br />
brings new opportunities<br />
First and foremost, thank you to<br />
everyone who is and has been working<br />
over the Christmas and New Year period<br />
– especially in what are undoubtedly<br />
times of sustained system pressure and<br />
some pretty dismal weather. To our<br />
patients, you are indeed the heroes of<br />
the NHS who continually sacrifice your<br />
time with family and friends to look<br />
after those who are ill and in need at<br />
this time of year.<br />
During the last month of <strong>2019</strong> there has<br />
been much to celebrate. I was delighted to<br />
finally be able to sign the contract with our<br />
partners Balfour Beatty to complete Midland<br />
Met. This great hospital will provide state of<br />
the art healthcare facilities for many of you<br />
to work in. Patients will receive their care<br />
in modern, up to date environments and<br />
Midland Met will welcome in people from<br />
the surrounding areas with its ample range<br />
of community facilities - a very different care<br />
model to what we are able to offer currently<br />
and one in line with our drive for integrating<br />
services with our of hospital care.<br />
Although this is just a signature on a piece<br />
of paper, it should signal to all of us the<br />
restart of the work to bring teams together<br />
and prepare for the new pathways that we<br />
will need to put in place. I am excited about<br />
the new opportunities we have, in just two<br />
years, to get this right.<br />
I was also proud to see the quality<br />
improvement schemes that were put forward<br />
in the weLearn poster competition. 70<br />
fantastic entries – every single one has made<br />
a difference to patients or staff.<br />
The 13 finalists are to be congratulated<br />
along with the winners. As well as being a<br />
moment of celebration the real purpose is<br />
to use those posters to share what works<br />
well across our Trust. Do take a moment<br />
to view the posters on our digital screens<br />
and in the Education Centre at Sandwell<br />
and think whether you could incorporate<br />
some of that quality initiative into your own<br />
service area – a great way to plan your QIHD<br />
sessions possibly? This process shows the<br />
latent potential and drive which is there to<br />
be tapped.<br />
One of the privileges of being Chairman is<br />
constantly seeing areas of our services where<br />
teams are [perhaps too] quietly leading the<br />
way in improving and innovating services for<br />
patients – such as our approach to striving to<br />
change public health outcomes. Many staff<br />
say to me that it is this that motivates them<br />
especially when so many services are under<br />
pressure.<br />
I’ve enjoyed seeing the many religious<br />
celebrations across the Trust including Diwali<br />
and Christmas. So many people have been<br />
involved in taking part and sharing these<br />
special times of year with colleagues and<br />
patients.<br />
May I wish you a happy Christmas and a<br />
prosperous New Year.<br />
Best wishes<br />
Richard Samuda – Trust Chairman<br />
Submit an idea<br />
If you’d like to submit an idea<br />
for an article, contact the<br />
communications team<br />
Ext 5303<br />
swbh.comms@nhs.net<br />
Stay updated<br />
We send out a Communications<br />
Bulletin via email every day and you<br />
can now read <strong>Heartbeat</strong> articles<br />
throughout the month on Connect.<br />
Don't forget you can follow us on:<br />
Chairman Richard Samuda
weLearn – Innovation and<br />
improvement from around the Trust<br />
This month saw the finalists of<br />
our annual weLearn QIHD poster<br />
competition come together to share<br />
and showcase their shortlisted posters,<br />
all to be crowned the winner and<br />
get their hands on the grand prize of<br />
£5,000.<br />
From 70 posters submitted, 13 shortlisted<br />
finalists had the opportunity to present<br />
their poster to an audience of their peers<br />
and judges, highlighting how their work<br />
shows good practice, provide quality<br />
improvements, supports innovation,<br />
research or partnership working, and<br />
most importantly how it has resulted in<br />
improvements for patients, relatives and<br />
colleagues.<br />
After almost 500 votes from colleagues<br />
were cast, and weeks of scrutiny under the<br />
watchful eye of our judging panel. This was<br />
made up of:<br />
• Non-Executive Director -<br />
Mick Laverty<br />
• GP - Dr Paramjit Marok<br />
• Chief Operating Officer -<br />
Rachel Barlow<br />
• Chief Information Officer -<br />
Martin Sadler<br />
• Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon -<br />
Mr Kanthan Theivendran<br />
Each shortlisted candidate waited with<br />
bated breath to hear the results.<br />
Announcing the results of the staff voted<br />
for ‘People’s Choice Award’ fell to Rachel<br />
Barlow who awarded it to Dr Aftab Fazal<br />
and Dr Naveed Asif for their innovative<br />
approach to developing a new referral<br />
pathway for suspected cancer patients who<br />
present at ED. Presenting the award, Rachel<br />
highlighted how the work had transformed<br />
the pathway for patients who present with<br />
suspected cancer and provided clinical<br />
teams with a referral system they could rely<br />
on to safely progress patients onwards.<br />
Announcing the highly commended runners<br />
up fell to Mick Laverty who awarded Emma<br />
Hibbs for her poster titled ‘Frailty at the<br />
front door’ which highlighted the hard<br />
work of the rapid response therapy service<br />
in supporting frail patients who present<br />
to ED, ensuring that they can provide care<br />
and support at an early stage and reducing<br />
length of stay.<br />
The last highly commended award was<br />
presented by Dr Paramjit Marok to the<br />
paediatric allergy service for their poster<br />
entitled, ‘Nasal Photo Therapy for Difficult<br />
to Manage Perennial and Seasonal Allergic<br />
Rhinitis from a patient and nursing<br />
perspective’.<br />
The winner of the £5,000 grand prize<br />
was announced by Chief Executive, Toby<br />
Lewis and went to Martin Chadderton<br />
for his poster, ‘Using PDSA to improve<br />
sepsis screening’. Announcing the award<br />
Toby said: “Sepsis remains as our number<br />
one quality priority and this poster shows<br />
how we have used the Plan, Do Study Act<br />
principles to transform our sepsis screening<br />
and ultimately improve patient care.”<br />
If you haven’t yet seen the posters, they will<br />
remain on display in the Education Centre<br />
at Sandwell as well as on the digital kiosks<br />
around the Trust, enjoy viewing the posters<br />
and finding out about the great quality<br />
improvement initiatives taking place across<br />
the Trust, and encourage your colleagues to<br />
do so too.<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
For more information about the<br />
QIHD poster competition, contact<br />
Preeti Puligari on ext. 3587 or email<br />
preeti.puligari1@nhs.net<br />
Using PDSA to Improve<br />
Sepsis Screening -Winner<br />
A NEW referral pathway for<br />
suspected Cancer patients<br />
presenting to the ED<br />
-People’s Choice Winner<br />
Nasal Photo Therapy for<br />
Difficult to Manage Perennial<br />
and Seasonal Allergic<br />
Rhinitis from a patient and<br />
nursing perspective<br />
-Runner up<br />
Frailty at the Front Door<br />
-Runner up<br />
PReCePT (Prevention of<br />
Cerebral Palsy in Preterm<br />
babies) -Shortlisted<br />
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's<br />
the portable EEG Checklist<br />
-Shortlisted<br />
Improving patient safety<br />
culture in Primary Care<br />
-Shortlisted<br />
Sleep…..is the best medicine<br />
-Shortlisted<br />
The MAP Stop: Facilitating<br />
Difficult Conversations<br />
- A Paediatric Quality<br />
Improvement Project<br />
-Shortlisted<br />
How to facilitate team<br />
mergers with leadership<br />
-Shortlisted<br />
Purple Point -Shortlisted<br />
Say Hello to Me<br />
Initiative: breaking down<br />
communication barriers in<br />
the ED -Shortlisted<br />
Some of this year's weLearn competition winners and runners up. L-R Emma Hibbs - Specialist<br />
Physiotherapist, Martin Chadderton - Acting Head of Improvement and Faye Mathias - Allergy<br />
Nurse<br />
Safe Administration and<br />
Availability of I.M Adrenaline<br />
in treatment of Anaphylaxis<br />
for Paediatric In-Patients<br />
-Shortlisted<br />
3
The devastating reality of flu<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
A colleague who has been a part<br />
of our Trust for 10 years as a ward<br />
services officer has issued a heartfelt<br />
plea to his co-workers about getting<br />
their flu jabs. Speaking to <strong>Heartbeat</strong>,<br />
Roger Hackley shared his touching<br />
story in the hope that others do not<br />
go through anything like he has.<br />
Roger begins by telling us that he’s<br />
a family man. He has two adopted<br />
boys aged 10 and eight and his niece<br />
who he took in as a young girl. Family<br />
is incredibly important to him but<br />
the person that glued their home<br />
life together; his wife, sadly passed<br />
away this January within four days of<br />
contracting the flu.<br />
Having met Ruth over 20 years ago he<br />
describes her as “A beautiful lady. She<br />
was my soulmate, my best friend.” In<br />
January, Ruth became ill with the flu<br />
and neither she nor Roger realised just<br />
how serious it could be. He adds: “Ruth<br />
had the flu several times; she didn’t go<br />
the doctors, it was just the usual thing<br />
– taking paracetamol and lots of fluids.<br />
We didn’t realise how dangerous the flu<br />
was.”<br />
4<br />
Each year Roger has had his flu jab<br />
at City Hospital but Ruth hadn’t had<br />
hers. “I used to say to Ruth you need<br />
to get your flu jab, there’s nothing to<br />
worry about. Ruth caught the flu virus<br />
and had it over three days; she passed<br />
away on the fourth day.” Roger recalls<br />
how Ruth was rushed into hospital but<br />
went on to suffer a cardiac arrest before<br />
sadly passing away. “I think if Ruth had<br />
the vaccination it would have made a<br />
difference. If people get their flu jabs it<br />
will save lives.”<br />
Speaking candidly Roger comments:<br />
“The cause of Ruth’s death was<br />
Influenza A. It shut down her heart and<br />
her organs. There was nothing there to<br />
protect her. I hope that the nursing staff<br />
caring for Ruth had their vaccinations to<br />
protect other vulnerable patients.”<br />
It’s Roger’s experience that has prompted<br />
his appeal to colleagues. He doesn’t<br />
want anyone else to go through the<br />
heartache he is enduring. “The message<br />
I would give to staff is please, please get<br />
your flu vaccination. It not only protects<br />
you but it also protects others as well as<br />
your family and loved ones. I wouldn’t<br />
want anyone else to go through what<br />
I’m going through. I beg you – please,<br />
please get your flu jab.”<br />
Roger lost his wife because of flu<br />
Roger admits adjusting to life without Ruth<br />
has been hard in lots of different ways.<br />
Coming to terms with what happened<br />
has been difficult for him. “If I’d been a<br />
bit quicker, got her to the hospital the<br />
weekend before she passed away maybe<br />
she could still be here today. Part of the<br />
story is I blame myself because I didn’t<br />
realise how bad the flu virus was.”<br />
Financially it has also been hard-hitting<br />
for the family. Roger comments: “It’s been<br />
really bad, there have been debt problems,<br />
trying to keep the house together, having<br />
two children who want to know why their<br />
mom passed away. It’s a struggle.”<br />
Reminiscing about happier times spent as a<br />
family, Roger describes how they’d always<br />
do activities together. “As a family, we<br />
went out on day trips; we went swimming<br />
together, to the park together, shopping,<br />
holidays. Tenby, Wales was our favourite<br />
place to go with the children.” Since<br />
January the family have found it hard to<br />
adjust to life without Ruth. “I wish she<br />
was still with me now. The times we had<br />
together were absolutely fantastic. I miss<br />
her every single day.”<br />
Looking ahead to the family’s first Christmas<br />
without Ruth, Roger says he will be keeping<br />
her memory alive by buying her gifts just as<br />
he’d done every year they were together.<br />
“This is the first Christmas with me, the<br />
boys and my niece. I will buy Ruth a<br />
poinsettia as I bought her one every year. I’ll<br />
also buy her a Yankee Candle as she loved<br />
those. I’ll be lighting that for Ruth on 24<br />
<strong>December</strong>. I’ll try and make Christmas the<br />
best I can for us as a family. Ruth will always<br />
be in my heart, always.”<br />
It's not too late to get your flu<br />
vaccination. Find your peer vaccinator<br />
or call occupational health.<br />
If you’d like to speak to someone<br />
confidentially about bereavement,<br />
please contact occupational health via<br />
ext. 3306.
Midland Met construction deal<br />
is signed<br />
The deal to finish the Midland<br />
Metropolitan has been signed;<br />
promising the local community that<br />
the much needed hospital will be<br />
completed in 2022.<br />
Midland Met brings together acute<br />
healthcare services for the population<br />
of Sandwell and West Birmingham onto<br />
a single site in Smethwick, providing<br />
state of the art clinical facilities and<br />
equipment, serving over 600,000<br />
people.<br />
Signing the contract was Richard<br />
Samuda, Chairman of Sandwell and<br />
West Birmingham NHS Trust, and<br />
Chief Executive, Toby Lewis, who lead<br />
the organisation that will run the<br />
new facility, and Dean Banks, Chief<br />
Executive Officer of Balfour Beatty UK<br />
Construction Services whose company<br />
won the bid, and have been working on<br />
an early works contract on the emerging<br />
building for the past year.<br />
Richard commented: “The people of<br />
Sandwell and West Birmingham have<br />
been waiting for this hospital for too<br />
long, as have our staff who are doing<br />
an incredible job delivering health care<br />
services from some buildings that are no<br />
longer best suited for modern healthcare<br />
services. This news cannot come soon<br />
enough for those colleagues. Reaching<br />
this milestone is testament to the<br />
determination of Trust colleagues and<br />
leaders in partner organisations, who,<br />
with the support of cross party political<br />
leaders, have enabled us to agree this<br />
contract to complete the hospital.”<br />
Toby Lewis, Chief Executive added: “Today<br />
is about moving on and looking to the<br />
future, as we shortly welcome the return of<br />
all works and trades to the site to complete<br />
this vital facility. The Commonwealth<br />
Games come to Birmingham in 2022, and<br />
we would like to be in our new home by<br />
then, bringing our clinical teams together<br />
to deliver the best acute services for our<br />
patients and their families.”<br />
Dean Banks, Chief Executive Officer of<br />
Balfour Beatty UK Construction Services,<br />
said: “This is a key project for the Midlands<br />
and a long-awaited moment for healthcare<br />
services in the local community. Following<br />
the successful completion of the Early<br />
Works phase, we are pleased that we have<br />
been entrusted to deliver the final elements<br />
of the scheme.<br />
“Our wealth of experience and expertise<br />
will ensure that the Midland Metropolitan<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
Hospital will service future generations<br />
for years to come.”<br />
Midland Met replaces acute and<br />
emergency services at Sandwell and<br />
City Hospitals. Those sites will continue<br />
providing outpatient clinics, day-case<br />
surgery and routine diagnostics. Our<br />
community beds are already in place<br />
to support the new model of care. Our<br />
specialist Eye Centre (BMEC) and the<br />
Birmingham Treatment Centre (BTC)<br />
remain at City Hospital. A 24/7 Urgent<br />
Care Centre will be housed on the<br />
Sandwell Hospital site with intermediate<br />
care facilities at both hospital sites.<br />
Our facilities at Sandwell are being<br />
refurbished to provide similar quality<br />
accommodation to that of the BTC and<br />
Midland Met.<br />
L-R: Tom Edgcumbe - MD for North and Midlands Balfour Beatty, Dean Banks - CEO Balfour Beatty,<br />
Richard Samuda – Chairman SWBH Trust and Toby Lewis – Chief Executive – SWBH Trust<br />
View of the Winter Garden at Midland Met<br />
5
Pioneer teams celebrate<br />
engagement success<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
Following a six-month improvement<br />
journey, eight teams gathered<br />
together earlier this month to<br />
celebrate their successful completion<br />
of the weConnect Pioneers<br />
Programme.<br />
The weConnect Pioneer Programme<br />
which launched in June aims to partner<br />
teams with a specially trained connector,<br />
support from their HR business partner<br />
as well as an executive director sponsor,<br />
all with the shared aim of improving<br />
engagement within teams.<br />
Joining the programme in June, all<br />
eight teams took part in a survey to<br />
gain a better understanding of the levels<br />
of engagement in their areas. They then<br />
set about working with their connectors<br />
and teams to transform their department.<br />
After six months of hard work, the teams<br />
completed a final survey which showed<br />
how they had developed.<br />
Congratulating the teams on their hard<br />
work, Director of Communications, Ruth<br />
Wilkin said: “We began the weConnect<br />
programme as a Trust in 2018 and the<br />
pioneer programme builds upon that. Our<br />
organisation takes part in a quarterly survey<br />
and as a Trust; we have been scoring 3.8<br />
out of 5. Our ambition is to get to 4.0 out<br />
of 5.0 to be amongst the best in the NHS.”<br />
The medicine therapy and rapid response<br />
therapy services team were one of the<br />
highest-scoring teams. They showed that<br />
the working relationship was their strongest<br />
enabler with resources being their most<br />
enhanced areas during their improvement<br />
journey. Completing their final survey,<br />
members of the medicine therapy and<br />
rapid response therapy services team wrote,<br />
“Really enjoy my role within the team. The<br />
team I work for are very supportive of both<br />
work and out of work concerns.”<br />
Yew Tree and Hately Heath health visiting<br />
team were also amongst the highestscoring<br />
teams taking part and showed that<br />
clarity, work relationships and trust amongst<br />
their highest enablers with colleagues<br />
commenting, “Everyone in management<br />
or supervisory roles are very approachable<br />
and always support me when I feel unclear<br />
about practice.”<br />
Congratulations to the first cohort of the Pioneers Programme. Wave 2 pioneer teams will be selected in January to begin their programme<br />
Going ga ga for Radio SWB as it<br />
heads online<br />
Hospital radio has long been a friend<br />
at the bedside of patients at our<br />
organisation and has this month not<br />
only been revamped but also now<br />
has an international reach through its<br />
online stream.<br />
The newly rechristened Radio SWB will<br />
bring you the hits from over the years,<br />
feature length shows as well as hard hitting<br />
discussions.<br />
Station Manager Suzie Box spoke to<br />
<strong>Heartbeat</strong> about the changes and plans for<br />
the station: "<strong>2019</strong> hasn't so much been a<br />
year of change for Radio SWB but more of<br />
evolution. Getting the station broadcasting<br />
online is just part of many projects we're<br />
currently pursuing to get us where we<br />
want to be, a more effective, modern and<br />
efficient hospital radio station that serves<br />
the patients and public well."<br />
The new online platform will see shows<br />
streaming out to desktops, mobile phones<br />
and internet radios across the Trust. It will<br />
also allow relatives, former patients and<br />
new listeners find out more about what is<br />
happening at the station and in the Trust.<br />
With two broadcasting studios as well as<br />
a talk studio Radio SWB is now ready to<br />
take on their next challenge. Colleagues<br />
can listen in to the radio on Connect or the<br />
Trust website on www.swbh.nhs.uk<br />
6
Ground-breaking cements our<br />
care partnership<br />
Chief Executive, Toby Lewis (right), with (left to right) Nicola Plunkett, a patient at Lyndon Health<br />
Centre and Dottie Tipton, Primary Care Liaison Manager<br />
An official sod-turning ceremony<br />
marked the start of building work on<br />
a new £6 million medical centre. This<br />
will see two existing GP practices move<br />
onto the Sandwell Hospital site. The<br />
new facility will be built as part of a<br />
plan to streamline and improve medical<br />
care in the area, ahead of the opening<br />
of the new Midland Metropolitan<br />
Hospital in Smethwick.<br />
It will house Carters Green Medical Centre<br />
and Lyndon Health Centre, which are both<br />
relocating to the new facility. The Your<br />
Health Partnership Primary Care Network,<br />
of which the Trust is a part, will be the lead<br />
provider of services, for almost five per cent<br />
of the borough’s population.<br />
The changes are a result of a decade long<br />
promise, made during the consultation<br />
which looked at how services would change<br />
once the new multi-million pound hospital<br />
had been built.<br />
The Sandwell Hospital site will house<br />
an urgent care centre, which will work<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
alongside primary care colleagues to<br />
create a single menu of urgent care<br />
options for local residents in line with<br />
the NHS Long Term Plan. A pharmacy<br />
will be co-located with other facilities on<br />
the site to offer local people the right<br />
options for care.<br />
Welcoming the formal start of the<br />
development, Chief Executive, Toby<br />
Lewis, said: “When complex hospital<br />
services move or change, they are often<br />
replaced by services that it is more<br />
difficult for people to see, or know that<br />
they are there. This creates a sense that<br />
trust has been broken, and services lost.<br />
“I am delighted that, in addition to<br />
the 200 community based beds that<br />
we have opened since 2015, and the<br />
forthcoming care home development<br />
led by the local authority, we can now<br />
point to this purpose built GP practice,<br />
which opens before Midland Met and<br />
the acute care changes at Sandwell. We<br />
are keeping our promises to re-shape<br />
the local health service for 2030 and<br />
beyond. Doing that in partnership with<br />
Your Health Partnership, with whom<br />
we have an ever closer alignment, is<br />
a logical step for us towards a more<br />
integrated model of care across<br />
Sandwell.”<br />
We make the Inclusive Top 50 UK<br />
Employers list<br />
Our Trust is proud to be recognised in<br />
the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers list.<br />
We're featured in the coveted list of<br />
UK based organisations that promote<br />
inclusion across all protected characteristics,<br />
throughout each level of employment.<br />
We ranked 26th, recognised for our<br />
continuous dedication to diversity, equality<br />
and inclusion. As well as addressing areas<br />
of improvement, we have developed and<br />
delivered high impact initiatives to actively<br />
implement solutions.<br />
Donna Mighty, Assistant Primary Care<br />
Liaison Manager said: "It is good to receive<br />
recognition once again for the work that is<br />
being undertaken within our organisation.<br />
We must continue to strive and do what is<br />
right in the pursuit of equity for all.”<br />
The list is compiled by a dedicated panel<br />
of judges. Organisations featured have<br />
provided sufficient evidence on a range of<br />
topics including recruitment procedures,<br />
training and a host of diversity-related<br />
initiatives.<br />
Demonstrating the promotion of all strands<br />
of diversity including age, disability, gender,<br />
LGBT, race, faith and religion; the list<br />
focuses on representation at management,<br />
senior, executive and board level.<br />
To see the full list go to https://<br />
www.inclusivecompanies.co.uk/<br />
inclusivetop50/<strong>2019</strong>20list/<br />
Donna Mighty, Assistant Primary Care<br />
Liaison Manager<br />
7
Trailblazing use of artificial<br />
intelligence: First for the NHS<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
We have become the first Trust<br />
in the UK to incorporate artificial<br />
intelligence in the patient workflow<br />
within radiology, that will enhance<br />
the quality of our reports.<br />
The Trust is working with IBM to introduce<br />
the software, called Clinical Review 3,<br />
which will support our radiologists who<br />
analyse X-ray and CT imaging results.<br />
Fresh from presenting the programme to<br />
several hundred delegates at the prestigious<br />
<strong>2019</strong> Radiological Society of North America<br />
105th Scientific Assembly and Annual<br />
Meeting in Chicago, Dr Sarah Yusuf, Group<br />
Director for Imaging at the Trust, explained:<br />
“This is an exciting time for us, to work<br />
on an AI project, and the beginning of an<br />
exciting collaboration to work on other<br />
future projects, which aim to release expert<br />
clinician time to focus on reports which<br />
need specialist expertise.<br />
“Our radiologists analyse around 350,000<br />
imaging studies every year, and this figure<br />
is growing. Radiological diagnoses are not<br />
Dr Sarah Yusuf presents in Chicago at the<br />
prestigious <strong>2019</strong> Scientific Assembly and<br />
Annual Meeting<br />
straightforward and are subject to legitimate<br />
differences of expert opinion. We think CR 3<br />
will aid the quality of those reports, improve<br />
patient experience and safety.”<br />
“The clinical conditions we expect the system<br />
to identify across both X-ray and CT scans<br />
are in the chest and abdomen, including<br />
rib fractures, pneumothorax, emphysema,<br />
abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms,<br />
pulmonary embolisms and pulmonary nodules.<br />
“The technology uses AI algorithms to identify<br />
potential differences between what they would<br />
expect (based on data from similar tests) and<br />
what the radiologist actually reports. This is<br />
then reviewed by the radiologist who decides<br />
whether a second look is needed.<br />
“If the radiologist feels an addendum is<br />
Diwali celebrations<br />
To celebrate Diwali, our chaplaincy<br />
team hosted Diwali celebrations at<br />
Sandwell and City.<br />
The joint Hindu and Sikh Diwali celebrations<br />
took place at our chapels and all colleagues<br />
were invited to come along and join in the<br />
festivities.<br />
Both celebrations were opened with a<br />
short prayer from Rakesh Bhatt, our Hindu<br />
chaplain, where he gave blessings to all and<br />
wished good health upon our colleagues<br />
and patients. This was then followed by a<br />
thank you speech from Joga Singh, Sikh<br />
Chaplain, who expressed his gratitude to all<br />
those in attendance.<br />
The Diwali celebrations were then<br />
concluded with an array of traditional<br />
Indian and Desi style foods and sweets for<br />
all to try and enjoy.<br />
Rev. Mary Causer, Lead Chaplain, attended<br />
both events and believes they were a great<br />
way to bring colleagues together.<br />
She said: “Whether you’re Hindu, Sikh,<br />
or have another religious belief, the<br />
celebration was a fantastic way to unite<br />
staff. The Diwali celebration also educated<br />
everybody about Hindu and Sikh traditions<br />
Our chaplaincy team ahead of the Diwali festivities<br />
and gave everyone a better understanding<br />
of Diwali and why it is so significant within<br />
Indian culture.” Mary added: “It was also<br />
really nice to be able to indulge, again,<br />
in some of the delicious Indian treats on<br />
offer."<br />
Diwali usually takes place over five days<br />
between the end of October and November.<br />
Hindus celebrate Diwali as they believe it<br />
marks the return of deities Rama and Sita<br />
to Ayodhya after their 14-year exile. This is<br />
as well as the Goddess Durga destroying<br />
a demon called Mahisha. Sikhs celebrate<br />
appropriate, the report will be amended. Any<br />
clinical decisions are then made more promptly<br />
which will help minimise potential patient<br />
harm. Data identifying patients will not be<br />
shared with IBM or leave the U.K.<br />
“The main benefits of the trial will be to drive<br />
comprehensive reporting, help clinical teams<br />
support the quality of reporting and support<br />
informed care decisions.”<br />
Trust Chief Executive, Toby Lewis added:<br />
“This should be a game-changer for us. We<br />
are already in talks with suppliers to progress<br />
further developments in AI throughout next<br />
year including for prostate imaging, fracture<br />
detection in our emergency departments, and<br />
neuroradiology. These changes do not replace<br />
our expert clinicians, they help them to do their<br />
work, and release time to focus on the most<br />
complex patient needs.<br />
“We have an established relationship with IBM<br />
Watson, and whilst we are not tied in to one<br />
single supplier, that partnership is key to taking<br />
forward this project at pace. Meanwhile, we<br />
are talking to our neighbours in the region<br />
who have been researching this technology<br />
for some time and have expertise in it, such as<br />
colleagues at our nearby universities, and local<br />
primary care partners as well.”<br />
Diwali as it marks the release of the sixth<br />
guru, Hargobind Singh from prison in 1619.<br />
The foundation stone of the Golden Temple<br />
in Amritsar was also laid on Diwali in 1577.<br />
The word Diwali comes from the Sanskrit<br />
word “deepavali” which translates to a row<br />
of lightened lamps. This ties in with many<br />
traditions around Diwali which include the<br />
lighting of lamps in houses and fireworks as<br />
well as worship around the Hindu goddess<br />
of wealth, Lakshmi to bring blessings for<br />
the New Year ahead.<br />
8
SHOUT<br />
OUT<br />
Shout out has been a regular feature<br />
in <strong>Heartbeat</strong> and it is fantastic to see<br />
colleagues regularly taking the time to<br />
give positive feedback to each other.<br />
We regularly receive positive feedback<br />
from our patients too, and this month<br />
we wanted to share some of those heartwarming<br />
messages which have been sent<br />
via our website and social media platforms.<br />
To: Ground floor domestic team (Sandwell)<br />
Shout out for coming to our rescue in<br />
children's outpatients on 9 November<br />
when we had a huge flood! Fantastic team<br />
and a great help!<br />
From: Natalie Jones, Sarah Duflot, Adele<br />
Jepson<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
To: Karen Morsley<br />
Thank you so much for coming in on<br />
your day off to deliver manual handling<br />
training to a family in need, they were<br />
so keen to get their relative home and<br />
you helped make it happen.<br />
From: OPAU team<br />
To: Willow Team Midwives<br />
The introduction of the first continuity<br />
of care midwifery team has proven very<br />
successful for their patients on labour<br />
ward. The Willow team midwives are an<br />
amazing asset to the labour ward team,<br />
always more than willing to come in and<br />
care for their clients, showing enthusiasm<br />
and passion.<br />
From: Labour Ward Midwives<br />
To: Andrea Walker<br />
Andrea is an asset to Priory 4. I attended<br />
an EMRT she was so knowledgeable and<br />
provided a comprehensive patient history<br />
to the team. Reassured the patient at<br />
all times in a caring and compassionate<br />
manner.<br />
From: Joanne Cella<br />
To: Sandra Reid<br />
Stayed late and gave a helping<br />
hand when the ward was having a<br />
challenging week on Newton 5. She<br />
went beyond her duties. Big thank you<br />
Sandra - you certainly went the extra<br />
mile.<br />
From: Kim Smith<br />
To: Postgraduate staff at City<br />
Thank you so much for all your help to<br />
facilitate the HCA recruitment day. From<br />
sorting the rooms to photocopying and<br />
helping organise and direct 100 potential<br />
employees with a friendly smile and hello.<br />
From: Jo Thomas<br />
To: Dr Makwana<br />
Amazing Dance-a-thon, I couldn't get<br />
across to Sandwell but I have been<br />
watching all the videos. Amazing work. Go<br />
Nick and everyone that has joined in. I will<br />
be donating :). WELL DONE!<br />
From: Nikki Smith<br />
To: Everton Brown<br />
Big thank you to Everton for<br />
replacing a majority of PCs in medical<br />
engineering. It was a smooth and<br />
painless transition. The necessary<br />
software was preloaded onto the new<br />
machines causing little or no disruption.<br />
From: Gary Howse<br />
To: Kimberley Kitching<br />
Shout out to our new manager who is<br />
injecting new ideas to our department<br />
it's really made a significant change to<br />
our dermatology department. Things are<br />
so much more efficient more organised<br />
MASSIVE well done to her.<br />
From: Millicent Seville<br />
To: Lauren Weigh, Libby Marshall, Helen<br />
Colbourne, Emma Hill<br />
I want to thank all of these ladies for<br />
supporting me whilst completing my<br />
Business Administration Apprenticeship.<br />
They are all lovely and a credit to the team<br />
they work for. They genuinely care for all<br />
of their students and cannot do enough<br />
to help. An extra big thanks to Lauren my<br />
assessor who was so attentive and kind.<br />
From: Rachael Gallagher<br />
To: Stephen Shilvock and Anas Bhayat<br />
Thank you for picking up the phone and<br />
not ignoring me when I have jobs to chase.<br />
Both chaps are very helpful and always go<br />
the extra mile.<br />
From: Natalie Brown<br />
To: Alpha Suite – Gynaecology<br />
Thanks to the team who have been<br />
so committed and enthusiastic about<br />
introducing routine domestic abuse<br />
screening in their clinic. Well done!<br />
From: Carolyn Hawkins<br />
To: Rachael Gallagher<br />
Rachael is fun to work with but still very<br />
professional. She is always on hand if I<br />
need any help or advice.<br />
From: Natalie Brown<br />
To: Karl Baraks<br />
Thank you Karl for your amazing<br />
support and knowledge. Your advice<br />
and expertise aided me to remain at<br />
work and helped my recovery after<br />
months of being in immense pain daily.<br />
Keep up the great work that you do.<br />
From: Chan Sangha<br />
To: Amy Sturdy, Laura Sperring, Angela<br />
Gibson<br />
Well done for passing with flying<br />
colours the EPLS training, important<br />
enhanced skills development and<br />
contribution to delivering patient care.<br />
From: Cheryl Newton<br />
9
Ward competition highlights<br />
importance of medicines safety<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
During the last week of November,<br />
we celebrated International<br />
Medicines Safety Week across the<br />
organisation.<br />
International Medicines Safety Week<br />
focuses on safe use of medicines and<br />
reporting of adverse drug reactions,<br />
particularly in patients on multiple<br />
medicines. The awareness week is<br />
recognised across the globe every year and<br />
is usually celebrated during the last week of<br />
November.<br />
To help increase awareness of the safety<br />
week, our pharmacy department hosted<br />
a drop in session across Sandwell and City<br />
Hospitals around the topic of medicine<br />
in general. They also addressed medicine<br />
safety concerns of both colleagues and<br />
patients.<br />
“The events were a great tool for our team<br />
to inform our staff, patients and visitors of<br />
the importance of medicines and the yellow<br />
card reporting scheme” said Suki Tagger,<br />
Lead Pharmacy Technician.<br />
“Both our Sandwell and City events played<br />
host to a medicine safety quiz which gave<br />
anybody in attendance the opportunity to<br />
be in with the chance win a prize. The quiz<br />
was made up of pharmacy and medicine<br />
related questions which all aimed to increase<br />
knowledge around medicine and what we<br />
do whilst keeping everything fun. Also,<br />
congratulations to Dean Lavender who won<br />
first prize in the individual quiz.”<br />
Wards that were unable to attend any of the<br />
events were encouraged to participate in<br />
the ‘survival of the safest ward challenge,’ a<br />
medicine and pharmacy focused competition<br />
Suki Tagger, Lead Pharmacy Technician and Christopher Anton, Administrative Coordinator in<br />
Pharmacy hosted medicine safety drop in sessions across Sandwell and City during International<br />
Medicines Safety Week<br />
Patients breathing easy after<br />
relocation of respiratory hub<br />
targeted at clinical wards and departments.<br />
The completion was designed to bring<br />
colleagues together, all in massive effort to get<br />
everyone involved across the Trust.<br />
Christopher Anton, Administrative Coordinator<br />
in pharmacy believes the week was vital as it<br />
reminded people about implications of drugs.<br />
He said: “Clinicians should always be alert<br />
to the possibility of an adverse drug reaction<br />
in their patients and Medicines Safety Week<br />
is great at drawing attention to this, the<br />
existence of the regional yellow card centre<br />
in the Trust and the work of pharmacy in<br />
promoting medicines safety in general.”<br />
In November our respiratory<br />
service was transformed with<br />
the development of a respiratory<br />
inpatient hub which moved all<br />
inpatient respiratory care under one<br />
roof at City Hospital on wards D15<br />
and D17.<br />
The development of the respiratory hub<br />
at City Hospital has now meant that<br />
patients who have a respiratory condition<br />
that is expected to result in an inpatient<br />
stay longer than two days will stay within<br />
the newly formed respiratory hub.<br />
Outpatient clinic appointments remain<br />
running at both Sandwell and City<br />
Hospitals with specialist consultants<br />
and the respiratory team continuing to<br />
see patients who are admitted through<br />
to the assessment units or wards at<br />
Sandwell Hospital.<br />
Sharing his thoughts on the development<br />
Respiratory Hub nursing team<br />
of the new hub, Respiratory Consultant Dr<br />
Arvind Rajasekaran said: “The development<br />
of the new respiratory hub at City means<br />
that our respiratory beds are now together<br />
on one site so for patients who need to<br />
stay in hospital, they will be able to be seen<br />
more quickly and by the most appropriate<br />
clinician. Reducing delays in treatment and<br />
having specialists on hand will inevitably<br />
improve patient outcomes and also reduce<br />
length of stay.”<br />
“Reconfiguration of services of such a scale<br />
required careful planning and over the past<br />
several months we engaged and worked<br />
with several teams both within and outside<br />
of our organisation.<br />
This is a time to reflect on this hard work<br />
and acknowledge the impact of all of the<br />
colleagues who have made this possible.<br />
I would like the specifically thank the<br />
patient forums for their suggestions and my<br />
clinical colleagues who have changed their<br />
working patterns to make this a reality.<br />
Special thanks are also due to the<br />
Emergency Department team, Estates, West<br />
Midlands Ambulance Service, IT and the<br />
Respiratory Hub project team.”<br />
For more information about the change<br />
to the respiratory services, contact<br />
Dr Arvind Rajasekaran via arvind.<br />
rajasekaran@nhs.net.<br />
10
Occupational Therapy Week –<br />
small change, big impact<br />
iCares and social service occupational<br />
therapists joined forces to celebrate<br />
Occupational Therapy Week in<br />
November.<br />
During Occupational Therapy Week,<br />
therapists across the country held thousands<br />
of events and activities throughout the UK to<br />
promote the profession within a wide variety<br />
of settings.<br />
This year’s theme was ‘small change, big<br />
impact,’ with the aim being to celebrate<br />
and champion the impact of occupational<br />
therapy on services, people’s lives and the<br />
communities they live in.<br />
“To celebrate the special occasion in<br />
Sandwell we hosted awareness stands at<br />
Sandwell Council House as well as Rowley<br />
Regis Hospital," said Helen Bessant, Clinical<br />
Team Leader.<br />
Kirsten Cashford and Hannah Downey,<br />
occupational therapists in iCares hosted an<br />
awareness stand at Sandwell Council House to<br />
raise awareness of occupational therapy week<br />
“Our occupational therapists were on hand<br />
to answer any questions people had and talk<br />
about the client group they work with. In<br />
addition to this our therapists spoke about<br />
the little changes that have the biggest<br />
effect.”<br />
Feeling the heat at Sandwell<br />
Hospital<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
Deborah Eden, Occupational Therapist<br />
believes the joint collaboration of<br />
Sandwell iCares and social services<br />
occupational therapists was a fantastic<br />
way to generate awareness. She said:<br />
“The collaboration between the two sets<br />
of occupational therapists was gratifying<br />
to see as it showcased the great work all<br />
the therapists do in the local area.<br />
“If by us recognising Occupational<br />
Therapy Week brings the profession to<br />
the forefront of people’s minds for that<br />
one week, it will have definitely have<br />
been worthwhile in my opinion.”<br />
Picture this – the alarm is sounding<br />
and you realise there’s a fire engulfing<br />
the tunnels of our hospital. Would you<br />
know what to do? Luckily for us, we<br />
have dedicated fire safety, security and<br />
estates teams that know every inch of<br />
our estate and plan for such events.<br />
In October you might have thought you<br />
were seeing an emergency unfold before<br />
your eyes if you saw fire engines on-site<br />
at Sandwell Hospital. In fact, what you<br />
would have seen was a controlled fire safety<br />
exercise that had been carefully planned<br />
with West Bromwich Fire Station.<br />
Each year we work with the local fire<br />
station to help simulate a real-life<br />
emergency call out. This is very much a twoway<br />
exercise as it allows both the fire crew<br />
and our teams to check their procedures<br />
and practises are as efficient and effective<br />
as they need to be. Using the hospital<br />
provides a safe environment to prepare for<br />
complex situations that may arise in real-life<br />
situations.<br />
Taking the lead on our side was Sarah<br />
Ludlow, Specialist Fire Training Officer.<br />
Working with Dale Pound, Crew<br />
Commander and Pete Finazzi, Watch<br />
Commander together they planned the<br />
event from start to finish. This exercise had<br />
some unexpected twists and turns thrown<br />
in to really test those taking part on the day.<br />
West Bromwich Fire Station crew onsite at Sandwell Hospital<br />
This included the threat of chemicals and<br />
contractors that had been unaccounted for.<br />
Sarah commented: “Preparation for this<br />
event took over two weeks of collaboration<br />
with Dale and Pete. We went into great<br />
detail to ensure that we had every<br />
opportunity to fully test the procedures in<br />
place for both the Trust and the fire station.<br />
Lots of people lent their support and we<br />
all played various roles. This included<br />
everything from the police to ambulance<br />
crews. Santokh Sagoo and Phil Hanson from<br />
our security team even joined us as well to<br />
make this as realistic as possible. Overall it<br />
was a good exercise and both sides took<br />
learnings away from it.”<br />
Dale said: “The outcome from the exercise<br />
was that all the casualties located in<br />
the basement area of the hospital were<br />
found by crews. It took slightly longer<br />
than expected which we will review. Our<br />
biggest learning on the day was not to<br />
overthink and to deploy our crews quicker.”<br />
He added: “We’d like to thank everyone<br />
from the hospital for use of the excellent<br />
facilities.”<br />
11
Health watchdog highlights<br />
board rounds as “good practice”<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
Our Trust has been hailed by a<br />
leading health watchdog as having<br />
good practice when it comes to<br />
patient care.<br />
We were highlighted in the report<br />
“Caring for doctors, Caring for patients”<br />
for the General Medical Council. It<br />
looked at how better solutions around<br />
patient care can lead to the better<br />
wellbeing of doctors.<br />
Our “board rounds” are scheduled daily<br />
and are discussions held by doctors,<br />
nurses, physiotherapists as well as<br />
other clinicians. They are used to share<br />
information about patients so that they<br />
receive the best care possible.<br />
The report by the GMC found these<br />
types of initiatives could be a “model for<br />
the world” in how to develop workplace<br />
cultures that support doctors’ core work<br />
David Carruthers - Medical Director<br />
needs if these solutions were consistently<br />
applied.<br />
David Carruthers, Medical Director said: “This<br />
is one of the many ways we are working to<br />
support our junior doctors, not only in the<br />
direct provision of care to our patients but<br />
Shaping the future of NHS<br />
procurement<br />
also for their general well-being, reducing<br />
work-related stress and anxiety. These<br />
factors will all contribute to improving the<br />
quality and safety of care we provide to<br />
patients and maintain a supportive work<br />
environment for our junior doctors.”<br />
Other recommendations for health service<br />
leaders include improvements to teamworking,<br />
culture and leadership, and<br />
workloads.<br />
Charlie Massey, the GMC’s Chief Executive,<br />
said: “Medicine has always been a highpressure<br />
career, but doctors are telling us<br />
that the demands on them are now so great<br />
they risk becoming unmanageable. As a<br />
result, their health suffers, and patient care<br />
is compromised.<br />
“Solutions are not easy, but this report<br />
shows that there are already many examples<br />
of great practice to build from. As a<br />
regulator, we will use all our influence and<br />
powers to support doctors and medical<br />
students.”<br />
Clinical colleagues have once again<br />
stepped forward to share their expert<br />
knowledge on a national stage helping<br />
to shape the future of clinical NHS<br />
procurement.<br />
Recently, when NHS Supply Chain<br />
was tasked with developing their new<br />
framework for non-invasive sleep therapy<br />
they turned to non-other than colleagues<br />
in our respiratory physiology team at<br />
Sandwell and City Hospitals to help shape<br />
their specifications for Continuous Positive<br />
Airway Pressure devices.<br />
Sharing the news with <strong>Heartbeat</strong>, Head of<br />
Clinical Product Management at the Black<br />
Country Alliance (BCA) Elena Slater said:<br />
“I am so proud of the clinicians we have<br />
at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS<br />
Trust, this is only one example of many<br />
where our clinicians are helping to shape<br />
the future of NHS procurement and protect<br />
our patients by ensuring the national clinical<br />
specifications for the procurement of<br />
CPAP devices (in this example) are clinically<br />
acceptable and we not only that we get<br />
value for money on a national scale but also<br />
ensuring that patient care remains as the<br />
number one priority.<br />
"Mike Lang, Head of Respiratory Physiology<br />
and Amina Mohammed, Deputy Head of<br />
Respiratory Physiology, have been very<br />
helpful by facilitating visits from Walsall<br />
sleep service to show them how we can<br />
improve patient care, not only at our<br />
organisation, but across the Black Country<br />
Alliance by using remote monitoring of<br />
patients and adopting innovations in<br />
Mike Lang, Head of Respiratory Physiology<br />
practice. A fine example of how our clinical<br />
engagement programme is showing not<br />
only savings but clinical benefits across the<br />
BCA and nationally.<br />
Sharing best practice is the key and our<br />
clinicians at SWB are at the forefront<br />
of this nationally inputting on national<br />
specifications for many other clinical areas.”<br />
Amina Mohammed, Deputy Head of<br />
Respiratory Physiology<br />
12
<strong>Heartbeat</strong> set to<br />
go digital<br />
We’ll soon be relaunching <strong>Heartbeat</strong><br />
as an online magazine that will<br />
be available across various digital<br />
platforms. This is YOUR Trust<br />
magazine and we’re currently<br />
working on a redesign project to<br />
give <strong>Heartbeat</strong> a fresh new look.<br />
So, what changes can you expect to<br />
see? Well that depends on you. We<br />
want the revamped <strong>Heartbeat</strong> to be a<br />
reflection of what you want to see and<br />
read so your feedback will be vital to the<br />
look and feel of the magazine.<br />
Look out for the opportunity to give your<br />
feedback via the communications bulletin<br />
and there will also be a chance to take part<br />
in focus groups too. If you’d like to take<br />
part in a focus group or give your feedback<br />
please email swbh.comms@nhs.net with<br />
‘<strong>Heartbeat</strong> focus group’ in the header.<br />
You can expect to see the new look<br />
<strong>Heartbeat</strong> by Spring 2020.<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
Apprentices celebrated in<br />
awards ceremony<br />
In November, the apprenticeship<br />
provider team hosted their second<br />
annual awards ceremony. It was a day<br />
of celebration as people from across our<br />
organisation came together to collect<br />
their awards after completing their<br />
apprenticeships.<br />
Bethan Downing, Deputy People Director<br />
opened the ceremony. She commented: “As<br />
we change our workforce, it’s important<br />
that our people can develop into roles<br />
they’d like to move into.”<br />
This very much set the tone for the<br />
ceremony. Each apprentice had taken<br />
ownership of their development and was<br />
empowered by our organisation to do so.<br />
The awards ceremony recognised<br />
apprentices in the following categories:<br />
• Business and Administration<br />
Level 2<br />
• Customer Service Practitioner<br />
• Level 2<br />
• Health Care Support Worker<br />
Level 2<br />
• Team Leader/Supervisor Level 3<br />
To be considered for an apprenticeship<br />
certain eligibility criteria needed to be<br />
met. Where extra support was needed the<br />
apprenticeship provider team helped to<br />
upskill learners to improve and refresh their<br />
literacy and numeracy skills.<br />
All training was delivered in house. As a<br />
registered apprenticeship provider within<br />
Sandwell and West Birmingham, the team<br />
act as trainers, assessors and coaches.<br />
The class of <strong>2019</strong><br />
Together, they deliver apprenticeship<br />
standards across healthcare, business and<br />
administration, customer service and team<br />
leader programmes. They provided bespoke<br />
training and support to each apprentice<br />
throughout their learning journey.<br />
This cohort exceeded all expectations.<br />
In particular, all the team leader and<br />
customer service practitioners passed with<br />
a distinction. It was the first time as a Trust<br />
we’d put learners through these two new<br />
apprenticeship standards.<br />
Maxine Griffiths, Widening Participation<br />
Manager told <strong>Heartbeat</strong> how thrilled she<br />
was about this. “For us this was a first,<br />
extending our apprenticeship programme<br />
in this way had not been done before. Each<br />
learner put so much effort and dedication<br />
into their studies and achieving a distinction<br />
is wholeheartedly deserved.”<br />
Since completing their apprenticeships,<br />
eight individuals have gone on to<br />
secure higher banded posts, become a<br />
nurse associate or move on to a Level 3<br />
qualification.<br />
Libby Marshall, Apprenticeship<br />
Coordinator added: “It’s important<br />
for us to recognise each individual as<br />
we’ve done here today at our awards<br />
ceremony. They’ve all worked so hard<br />
and should be proud of everything<br />
they’ve achieved. As a team, it brings<br />
us great pleasure knowing that we’ve<br />
helped each person grow personally<br />
and professionally. We look forward to<br />
seeing what great things they all achieve<br />
in their careers.”<br />
If you’d like to find out more about<br />
apprenticeship opportunities, please<br />
contact the apprenticeship team on<br />
07976 683565. Alternatively, please<br />
email swbh.apprenticeship@nhs.net<br />
or visit Connect.<br />
13
DISCOVER<br />
WHAT<br />
YOU’RE<br />
MADE OF<br />
Proud sponsor of<br />
FIND OUT WITH US AT WLV.AC.UK<br />
14
Keeping our local communities<br />
safe and well<br />
Teaming up with West Midlands Fire<br />
Service, members of our inpatient<br />
therapy team have helped to bring Safe<br />
and Well Checks to our Trust. Working<br />
together, the two areas have been able<br />
to introduce a formal referral pathway<br />
that will help our most vulnerable<br />
patients.<br />
Safe and Well Checks are an initiative carried<br />
out by West Midlands Fire Service. Free of<br />
charge, they are designed to help people<br />
stay safe in their homes. As an organisation,<br />
we can also refer patients that are bedbound,<br />
have reduced mobility or that are<br />
limited to the upstairs of their property. This<br />
allows the fire service to flag individuals on<br />
their system as ‘at risk’ if a fire breaks out in<br />
their home.<br />
The visits are carried out by operational<br />
firefighters. Based at 38 community fire<br />
stations, the checks usually take around an<br />
hour. The fire service aims to complete these<br />
checks within 72 hours of discharge. Possible<br />
indications for a referral may include but are<br />
not limited to:<br />
• Smoking, alcohol, medication and<br />
drugs<br />
• Mental health<br />
Members of the occupational therapy team with<br />
West Midlands Fire Service<br />
• Cognitive, visual or sensory<br />
impairments<br />
• Mobility including slips, trips<br />
and falls<br />
• Hoarding<br />
• Loneliness and social isolation<br />
• Healthy eating and lifestyle<br />
• Home security/fire checks/monoxide<br />
detector and alarm fitting<br />
• Road safety<br />
The partnership aims to ensure vulnerable<br />
patients receive as much support as possible<br />
CORPORATE AND GENERAL<br />
NEWS<br />
when returning to their homes. Jannine<br />
Hall, Occupational Therapist explains:<br />
“This is the first time we’ve introduced<br />
the Safe and Well Checks to our<br />
organisation and so far it’s going well.<br />
Working closely with West Midlands Fire<br />
Service means we can further develop our<br />
links to the local communities in which<br />
we work. The service helps to make<br />
homes safer by preventing trips, slips<br />
and falls which otherwise may result in<br />
readmissions.”<br />
West Midlands Fire Service commented:<br />
“It was good to see the positive<br />
interaction between all parties in support<br />
of a common vision. Thank you all for<br />
your help – we look forward to working<br />
with you all more closely.”<br />
You can get a copy of the referral<br />
form from jannine.hall@nhs.net.<br />
Please send all completed forms to<br />
westmidlands.fireservice@nhs.net.<br />
Proud sponsor of<br />
15
'Tis the season - Trust celebrates<br />
Christmas throughout <strong>December</strong><br />
This year the festivities have got<br />
underway early as we've enjoyed lots<br />
of special events and visits to mark the<br />
festive season.<br />
With everything from Christmas carols to<br />
chairman's drinks, our Trust has gone all<br />
out this year to make <strong>December</strong> special for<br />
patients, staff and visitors. Our Christmas<br />
decoration competition has been embraced<br />
across the Trust with beautiful displays<br />
everywhere to be seen. The winners of this<br />
year’s competition will be announced on<br />
Connect and the daily bulletin shortly.<br />
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!<br />
A Christmas tree dressed by West Bromwich<br />
Building Society<br />
Ryders Green school carol singing at Sandwell Hospital<br />
Trust colleagues preparing the Christmas carol<br />
concert<br />
Sukhjot Kaur from Eaton Valley Primary<br />
School. Winner of the Your Trust Charity<br />
Christmas card competition with her winning<br />
card design.<br />
The team from West Bromwich Building Society decorating our neonatal department<br />
Our revamped chapel at Sandwell Hospital<br />
Operational Accounting from Birmingham HQ<br />
at HSBC decorating our chapel at Sandwell<br />
Hospital<br />
Bristnall Hall Academy helping to decorate<br />
Lyndon 1<br />
<strong>December</strong> <strong>2019</strong> staff lottery results<br />
1 st £192<br />
Mary-Ann Babaran<br />
2 nd £115.20<br />
Santosh Shekhar<br />
3 rd £76.80<br />
Hannah Goodwin<br />
Don’t forget that Your Trust Charity lottery costs just £1 a month and anyone<br />
who works for the Trust can join. Payment is deducted from your wages each<br />
month. To take part email amanda.winwood@nhs.net.
CQC City spot check praises<br />
elderly care<br />
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY<br />
CARE<br />
Elderly care at City Hospital has<br />
been praised as “safe and effective”<br />
following an unannounced<br />
inspection.<br />
The Care Quality Commission (CQC)<br />
carried out the spot check on City<br />
Hospital’s two elderly care wards, D26<br />
and D11.<br />
The inspectors praised the recently<br />
introduced “blue pillows” initiative<br />
which uses cushions to elevate patient<br />
heels, relieving pressure and reducing<br />
the risk of pressure ulcers. It also helped<br />
staff to identify quickly the patients on<br />
the ward who were at risk.<br />
The report highlights safeguarding<br />
training as an area for improvement<br />
Joy Walker is ward manager on D26, which was<br />
recently praised by the Care Quality Commission<br />
along with ensuring all patient records<br />
were completed and updated within the<br />
recommended timeframe. However, it also<br />
found patients at risk of pressure ulcers and<br />
pressure damage, were reviewed correctly<br />
by clinicians who could easily access special<br />
equipment to relieve symptoms.<br />
Those who were not able to eat properly<br />
received supplements in the form of<br />
readymade milkshakes and juices and<br />
were properly monitored. Colleagues were<br />
able to speak to dietitians and seek advice<br />
from tissue viability nurses when needed.<br />
It added that staff were competent in their<br />
roles and were supported by their manager,<br />
whilst they were also able to make decisions<br />
for those patients who did not have the<br />
capacity.<br />
Toby Lewis, Chief Executive, said: “We<br />
welcome this inspection’s findings which<br />
are consistent with our own assurance -<br />
that our staff are dedicated and caring.<br />
Mandatory training is something we<br />
complete annually and by the end of each<br />
fiscal year we are confident of complying<br />
with our standards.”<br />
SWBH Women’s Clinician Network-<br />
“Women Empowering Women”<br />
Following the success of the “Women<br />
Empowering Women” conference<br />
in May this year, there was an<br />
overwhelming demand for a clinical<br />
network. Colleagues who flocked to<br />
the conference felt so strongly about<br />
the empowering messages that they<br />
felt they should develop an ongoing<br />
network to continue their work and so<br />
the SWBH Women’s Clinician Network<br />
was born.<br />
Launching the network, <strong>Heartbeat</strong> caught<br />
up with Deputy Medical Director and<br />
Consultant in Acute Medicine, Dr Sarb<br />
Clare. She said, “When we launched<br />
the first Women Empowering Women<br />
Conference we knew there was a desperate<br />
need for women to be heard, empowered<br />
and encouraged to be the best that they<br />
can be. It wasn’t long in to the conference<br />
that we knew this couldn’t be a simple one<br />
off event, there needed to be an ongoing<br />
momentum to this work and before we<br />
knew it, the SWBH Women’s Clinician<br />
Network was born. “<br />
The network has four simple but powerful<br />
aims and objectives, to encourage role<br />
modelling, offering mentoring and career<br />
advice, promoting leadership and most<br />
importantly being a safe place to raise<br />
concerns.<br />
Founding members of the network include:<br />
• Dr Sarb Clare - Deputy MD and<br />
Consultant Acute Medicine Lead<br />
• Raffaela Goodby- Executive Director<br />
for People and Organisational<br />
Development<br />
• Dr May Yan - RCP Tutor and Consultant<br />
Acute Medicine<br />
• Dr Sarah Faloon - CMT2<br />
• Dr Christine Wright - Safety Guardian,<br />
Consultant Haematologist<br />
• Dr Alison Eastaugh - RCP Chief<br />
Registrar, SpR Elderly Care<br />
• Miss Mei Ju Hwang - Consultant Breast<br />
Surgeon<br />
Dr May Yan, Dr Sarb Clare and Dr Sarah Falloon<br />
• Dr Huma Naqvi - FY1 Tutor, Ortho-<br />
Geriatrician<br />
The network will also be launching sessions<br />
on positive thinking and how to manage<br />
inappropriate verbal and non verbal<br />
language in the New Year with the help of<br />
this year’s Star Awards Employee of the year<br />
and Organisational Development Specialist<br />
Trainer Richard Burnell.<br />
If you would like to join the network<br />
or simply raise a concern you have,<br />
you can contact them on email swbh.<br />
WomensClinicianNetwork@nhs.net<br />
where one of the team will be able to<br />
help, guide and support you with any<br />
issues raised.<br />
18
A special time to remember - critical<br />
care hold annual memorial service<br />
On Sunday 24 November critical care<br />
hosted their 14th annual memorial<br />
service. Held in our hospital chapels this<br />
year 104 people attended services at<br />
City and Sandwell Hospitals.<br />
The critical care bereavement team is<br />
made up of 12 nurses all of whom have an<br />
interest in ensuring excellent end of life care<br />
as well as providing ongoing support for<br />
families and friends. Working closely with<br />
the chaplaincy team they host a memorial<br />
service annually. It offers relatives and<br />
friends a chance to reflect and reconnect<br />
with those that looked after their loved<br />
ones.<br />
Reverend Mary Causer opened the service<br />
with a simple prayer. Speaking to <strong>Heartbeat</strong><br />
she said: “The service was open to all faiths<br />
and I talked about how grief becomes<br />
different over time. It’s important to look<br />
after your heart and soul when grieving and<br />
find ways to prepare for the next season. I<br />
think that was something everyone could<br />
relate to - the emotion in the room was<br />
powerful.”<br />
One attendee commented: “Heartwarming,<br />
made me feel closer to the person<br />
l lost” whilst another said it was “emotional<br />
but comforting.”<br />
Members of the critical care bereavement<br />
team<br />
Each member of the bereavement care<br />
team had a part to play whether it was<br />
sharing a reading, a poem or even a song.<br />
Catherine Beddowes, Senior Sister said:<br />
“The service was emotional. It wasn't,<br />
however, a sad occasion, it was about<br />
celebrating life. We read out the names of<br />
everyone that has passed away in the last<br />
twelve months as a sign of respect.”<br />
Jane Ulfig, Sister commented: “The service<br />
gives us as a team a chance to talk to<br />
families and see them months later as they<br />
are going through the healing process.<br />
It’s nice to keep that continuity. For the<br />
families, they’re able to talk openly about<br />
their own experiences with others who have<br />
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY<br />
CARE<br />
gone through something similar in a<br />
safe environment. We’ve also found that<br />
some families return year on year so they<br />
can maintain that contact with those<br />
that looked after their relatives.”<br />
Based on the theme of forget me not<br />
the service incorporated lots of special<br />
touches. Each attendee was given a bag<br />
of forget me not seeds that once sewn<br />
will flourish into a remembrance plant.<br />
A symbol of love and memories, this<br />
small but thoughtful gesture is a sign<br />
of just how much the team care about<br />
those they look after. Candles were lit<br />
and messages shared on our prayer tree<br />
allowing families to be actively involved<br />
in the service.<br />
Catherine commented: “Year on year<br />
relatives are surprised that we do<br />
a service like this but are always so<br />
thankful. Their appreciation makes it all<br />
worthwhile. Unexpectedly at this service,<br />
a family donated £1,500 as a thank you<br />
for how their relative was treated in our<br />
care. It makes you feel very humble.”<br />
Learning from deaths – making life<br />
and death decisions<br />
Death, it’s often a taboo topic, rarely<br />
spoken about and often veiled in<br />
statistics and mortality figures. However,<br />
death is one of the unfortunate<br />
inevitabilities that colleagues across the<br />
NHS deal with regularly.<br />
Making sure that life and death decisions that<br />
have to be made are done so respectfully,<br />
ethically and with the best interests of<br />
the patient puts a huge strain on clinical<br />
colleagues who carry the responsibility. With<br />
this in mind, Dr Alison Eastaugh in her role<br />
as Chief Registrar and Dr Sarb Clare, Deputy<br />
Medical Director and enthused colleagues<br />
from across the Trust gathered at City Hospital<br />
to learn more about what they can do when<br />
they need to make a life and death decision.<br />
The day covered acute care, challenges of the<br />
post take ward round, DNR decisions as well<br />
as great tales and anecdotes from Dr Angus<br />
Mackenzie.<br />
Dr Sarb Clare shared her thoughts, “Whilst<br />
we hope for the best outcomes for each<br />
patient often tough decisions have to be<br />
made and difficult conversations had, whether<br />
it is talking to a family about DNACPR<br />
Colleagues learnt more about the care Alfred<br />
Haden received at the learning from deaths<br />
conference<br />
or advanced care planning and palliative<br />
care. The burden of these tasks falls on the<br />
shoulders of clinicians and our decisions<br />
reverberate through whole families.”<br />
The 50 colleagues that attended the<br />
conference also had the opportunity to hear<br />
from Anna Whitehouse. Her father (Alfred)<br />
was admitted to hospital with a suspected<br />
urinary infection which later transpired to<br />
be a perianal abscess. Through a series of<br />
unfortunate events, Alfred later contracted<br />
C difficile and developed chest infections<br />
during his stay. Through her words, Anna<br />
described her father as a man who led an<br />
independent life and who through his failing<br />
health and illnesses went from someone<br />
who was very much able to do things for<br />
himself to someone who lost the ability to<br />
communicate.<br />
Shockingly, during Alfred’s failing health,<br />
the family were unable to speak to a<br />
consultant for almost two months. When<br />
the time came to discuss DNACPR, a doctor<br />
seemingly dropped the life-changing<br />
decision in the family’s hands without any<br />
thought or feeling. Whilst most of the<br />
care Alfred received was in a neighbouring<br />
hospital, Alfred was transferred to our care<br />
when on the supportive care pathway.<br />
“Alfred’s story was eye-opening. It<br />
highlights how a range of decisions,<br />
miscommunications and failings had a dire<br />
effect on the failing health of a man who<br />
until his hospitalisation was fit and healthy.<br />
Whilst clinicians didn’t conspire to provide<br />
poor care, a series of failings ultimately led<br />
to a significant decline in his health and<br />
ultimately to his passing.”<br />
If you'd like to learn more<br />
about upcoming acute medicine<br />
training conference, email swbh.<br />
acutemedicalsecretariesamu1@nhs.net.<br />
19
Joint working improves<br />
paediatrics care<br />
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY<br />
CARE<br />
The children’s emergency<br />
department at City Hospital<br />
successfully transferred into their<br />
new temporary home which will<br />
mean a temporary reduction in the<br />
cubicles and the space available to<br />
treat young patients.<br />
To support the children’s ED during the<br />
decant period the paediatric assessment<br />
unit (PAU) based on D19 has increased<br />
its capacity to facilitate a timely transfer<br />
from the children’s ED.<br />
The PAU now has nine-bed spaces and<br />
five chairs for children to be assessed<br />
and treated. The length of stay on this<br />
unit has been reduced to 18 hours<br />
to reflect the nature of a PAU, and<br />
in readiness for the new combined<br />
Children’s ED/PAU. The staffing<br />
establishment has been increased to<br />
reflect the changes, and we are working<br />
towards recruiting staff to meet this.<br />
Cheryl Newton, Group Director of<br />
Nursing Women and Child Health, said:<br />
“The transition has gone well. Close<br />
joint working will be needed to make<br />
sure we can still offer the best care to<br />
our children in the reduced space in ED.<br />
The team created a leaflet providing<br />
information to parents and carers about<br />
ED and paediatrics team work closely to support safe and effective care<br />
how their children will be cared for during<br />
their stay on the PAU.”<br />
The new paediatric PAU/ED unit is due to<br />
open in April 2020. Cheryl added: “The new<br />
unit will enable ED/PAU to work in a defined<br />
space created for children and young people.<br />
It will facilitate closer working and enable<br />
faster response by paediatric trained medics<br />
in emergencies.<br />
“The unit will present the teams with<br />
opportunities to develop and expand their<br />
skills and will be staffed 24 hours on both<br />
the ED/PAU areas. Currently, the children’s<br />
ED area closes at 10pm.”<br />
New FGM clinic is taking referrals<br />
WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH<br />
Clinicians can now refer to a new<br />
female genital mutilation (FGM)<br />
clinic, run by our Trust.<br />
Summerfield Women’s Clinic, based at<br />
Summerfield Primary Care Centre, in<br />
Winson Green, and is being led by FGM<br />
Specialist Midwife, Alison Byrne.<br />
Clinicians from our Trust and other<br />
neighbouring healthcare organisations<br />
can refer patients who will benefit from<br />
treatment and care from Alison and her<br />
team.<br />
She said: “We’ve had several referrals<br />
already which speaks volumes about the<br />
service. It is a much-needed clinic and<br />
Sarata Jabbi - FGM survivor<br />
is perfectly placed in the heart of the West<br />
Midlands. We will not only be expecting<br />
patient referrals from our Trust but from<br />
others across the Midlands.”<br />
<strong>Heartbeat</strong> told last month, how FGM<br />
survivor Sarata Jabbi had also praised the<br />
opening of the clinic. “It will give so many<br />
victims a safe and confidential way to seek<br />
help” she previously said. “There are many<br />
women from the Gambia, Somali, Eritrea<br />
and other African countries that have<br />
suffered and desperately need treatment as<br />
a result of FGM.<br />
“Summerfield Primary Care Centre is a<br />
well-known venue and is easily accessible<br />
for many women from the communities<br />
where FGM is practised so I believe it will be<br />
a well-used clinic.”<br />
To refer a patient to the clinic, email<br />
Alison at swbh.summerfieldfgm@nhs.<br />
net.<br />
20
Community midwife retires<br />
after 30 years<br />
After a 30 year career in nursing and<br />
midwifery, at the end of November<br />
Val Shilton said a final goodbye to her<br />
colleagues and friends as she retired<br />
from our Trust.<br />
In 1990 Val joined Sandwell Hospital and<br />
completed her nurse training. From there<br />
she completed her midwifery training at the<br />
University of Wolverhampton and went on<br />
to work as a community midwife.<br />
When speaking to <strong>Heartbeat</strong>, Val revealed<br />
that it was a very sad personal experience<br />
that drew her into the profession. Before<br />
that time she’d worked in office-based<br />
roles. On reflection, Val said this was a<br />
complete change of career but that her<br />
previous experience of the care she’d<br />
received stayed with her. “I wanted to be<br />
able to do that for others. Being allowed<br />
into that most intimate time, sharing the<br />
miracle of life with another woman is<br />
truly special. I remember shedding tears<br />
undertaking my first delivery and I’ve had a<br />
Val with colleagues and friends at her retirement<br />
celebration<br />
wonderful career as a midwife."<br />
Amanda Jowett, Midwife commented: “We’re<br />
all sad to see Val leave as we’re a close-knit<br />
team. Some of us have delivered each other’s<br />
children so we do share a special bond. Val<br />
thought she’d slip away unnoticed but we<br />
wouldn’t have that. We’ve got her some<br />
gifts to say thank you and we’ll be meeting<br />
up again soon for her leaving meal and<br />
Christmas.”<br />
WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH<br />
Looking to the future Val admitted it<br />
would take some getting used to not<br />
working with her colleagues that have<br />
become firm friends over the years. She<br />
said: “I’m looking forward to it, but<br />
naturally feel a little apprehensive about<br />
the unknown. It’s such an emotional<br />
time because we’ve shared so much<br />
together over the years, experienced<br />
each other’s life events and become a<br />
family. I'll miss everyone."<br />
One thing Val will be doing is spending<br />
some quality time with her 19-year-old<br />
daughter, Rhiannon. She’s also going<br />
to enjoy lots of relaxation as well as<br />
visiting family and friends. Having always<br />
enjoyed travelling Val is looking forward<br />
to revisiting the Caribbean too.<br />
Happy retirement Val!<br />
Practice development in health<br />
visiting service<br />
Our health visitors received<br />
recognition at a national conference<br />
after presenting posters showcasing<br />
innovations the service has been<br />
working towards.<br />
Randeep Kaur, Clinical Lead, along with<br />
senior staff Regender Athi, Gaynor Roberts,<br />
Practice Teachers, and Nina Rabadia, Team<br />
Leader, presented their findings in poster<br />
form at the CPHVA (Community Practitioner<br />
Health Visiting Association) Professional<br />
Conference.<br />
Regender Athi set up a health visiting<br />
prescribing development group to increase<br />
the number of prescriptions written as well<br />
as raising the profile of prescribing. This<br />
innovation won the Poster Prize for Practice<br />
Development.<br />
One of the issues identified by the<br />
prescribing development group was that<br />
there were delays in receiving prescription<br />
pads. Once a plan was in place to hand out<br />
the pads within eight weeks and introduce<br />
baby clinics, opportunities for health visiting<br />
prescribing increased. The ultimate aim is<br />
that GP attendances are reduced for minor<br />
ailments.<br />
Gaynor said: “It’s a great achievement and<br />
fantastic recognition for our team. The<br />
CPHVA Conference is a well-attended event<br />
The health visiting team with the winning<br />
poster at the CPHVA Professional Conference<br />
which attracts professionals from all over<br />
the country. We were thrilled to present<br />
our poster which showed our findings from<br />
an issue which affects health visiting teams<br />
both locally and nationally.”<br />
Regender added: “Within our team, we<br />
provided strong leadership to ensure that<br />
all health visitors received their prescription<br />
pad promptly and that they were updated<br />
to confidently prescribe.”<br />
Health Visitor Non-Medical Prescribers<br />
(NMP) make up the largest number of<br />
prescribers in our organisation. Other<br />
improvements included an increase<br />
in prescribers from four health visitor<br />
practitioners regularly prescribing, to 26<br />
who regularly prescribe.<br />
Gaynor also presented a poster at<br />
the conference around training to<br />
improve confidence in tackling difficult<br />
conversations related to poor home<br />
conditions.<br />
She added: “Both practice developments<br />
attracted a lot of interest from other<br />
professionals and put Sandwell and West<br />
Birmingham health visitors firmly on<br />
the map for service innovation. Several<br />
organisations nationally are waiting for<br />
the delivery of this programme which<br />
will generate income for our Trust. This<br />
innovation was as a result of local issues<br />
identified from learning reviews.”<br />
As well as recognition for the projects,<br />
the team has also been winning over<br />
followers on their Facebook page. They<br />
will be posting an advent calendar<br />
of Christmas activities and themes,<br />
educating the community about relevant<br />
issues.<br />
Gaynor explained: “As well as posting<br />
about safety, we will also be giving<br />
ideas to parents around things they can<br />
do with their children. We plan to ask<br />
members of our staff to take part as<br />
budding actors, singers and cake makers<br />
so watch this space.”<br />
Visit @SWBHhealthvisiting to follow<br />
the team and all their activities.<br />
21
Caring runs in the family for<br />
nurse Agnes<br />
SURGICAL SERVICES<br />
Agnes Mutia is a natural-born carer<br />
after following her mum’s footsteps<br />
into healthcare. It’s been a lifelong<br />
dream of hers to be a nurse and<br />
working at Sandwell Hospital has seen<br />
that become a reality. But she’s not the<br />
only one in the family who’s working<br />
within the NHS – both her brothers<br />
are also nurses.<br />
“There’s something in the family when<br />
it comes to caring for people,” laughed<br />
Agnes. “I remember that I always wanted<br />
to be a nurse from the age of seven. I’d<br />
see my mum in her uniform and I was<br />
impressed with the way she had cared<br />
for my grandmother. I used to help her<br />
too, and I think from then it was really<br />
something that I wanted to do.”<br />
Agnes works within the surgical ward<br />
looking after patients who are pre and<br />
post-op. She added: “It’s not only about<br />
the care they receive beforehand, but<br />
also afterwards. I want to ensure that<br />
they receive the best quality of care<br />
and that they gain their confidence and<br />
independence so they are well enough to<br />
go home.<br />
“Patient care is certainly what makes me<br />
want to come into work every day and do<br />
the best that I can. I feel as a nurse I am<br />
there to give them the help they need.<br />
They are the reason I am in this profession<br />
and they are my focus when I am in<br />
work.”<br />
The 27-year-old, from Walsall, has been<br />
working within the NHS since 2015.<br />
However her partner is from the West<br />
Midlands, and when they became<br />
engaged they decided to move back to<br />
the area, settling in Walsall. She’s already<br />
Agnes Mutia, Surgical Services Staff Nurse<br />
made an impression on her colleagues who<br />
have praised her dedication and hard-working<br />
attitude.<br />
“I love working here at Sandwell,” said Agnes.<br />
“It’s fulfilling to know you have done something<br />
for someone no matter what. I take time<br />
to talk to my patients when I’m caring for<br />
them and I like getting to know them. I enjoy<br />
patient contact. I think that does have an<br />
effect, especially if they are lonely or don’t<br />
have any relatives.”<br />
Star of the Week<br />
Is our new recognition scheme replacing the<br />
monthly compassion in care award.<br />
You can nominate colleagues for their contribution to delivering a high quality service.<br />
For further information and to nominate, visit Connect.<br />
22
School nurses ask students ‘what<br />
does mental health mean to you?’<br />
When it comes to social media you can’t<br />
go far wrong than asking a young person<br />
for the low down. So that’s exactly what<br />
school nurses Amy Wood and Diane<br />
Edkins did, as they represented their<br />
service at a school event ‘#UNFILTERED’<br />
organised and hosted by St Michael's<br />
C of E High School, as part of their 21st<br />
Century Child student voice programme.<br />
Amy explained: “The event was an amazing<br />
opportunity to hear directly from young<br />
people about how they navigate the complex<br />
world of mental health. It also looked at how<br />
their use of social media can affect it.<br />
“We heard first hand from the students about<br />
what it feels like to be them, and how they<br />
interact with and use social media and the<br />
pressures they internally face day to day by<br />
their own peers. They explained what they<br />
rank as good or bad in social media and<br />
made insightful comments on topics including<br />
male mental health, validation, popularity<br />
performance and self-worth.<br />
“The event was divided into three parts,<br />
including the student-led presentation,<br />
workshops facilitated by professionals and an<br />
interactive market hall which allowed students<br />
to engage with agencies and stalls.”<br />
She continued: “We hosted a stall with the<br />
hashtag ‘what does mental health mean to<br />
Students from St Michael's C of E High School<br />
taking part in the #UNFILTERED event<br />
you’ and invited the students to tweet us to<br />
start a conversation with us on this emotive<br />
subject.”<br />
Attending the event alongside the school<br />
nursing team was our library and knowledge<br />
service, and Service Development Librarian,<br />
Nicola Ager. The team attended to share<br />
PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES<br />
AND THERAPIES<br />
information on health by using interactive<br />
games. Information around peer support<br />
groups, activity clubs and self-help books<br />
was also shared so that children could<br />
continue to access these resources outside<br />
of school.<br />
Nicola said: “The event was thoughtprovoking,<br />
as the children had put a huge<br />
amount of effort and preparation into<br />
their presentation. The other students<br />
asked very challenging questions which<br />
meant the event was worthwhile both<br />
for the young people and the attending<br />
agencies.”<br />
Feedback left by the young people<br />
following the event included comments<br />
such as:<br />
“It made me realise how amazing and<br />
important I am.”<br />
“It was really good because it makes you<br />
feel good about yourself.”<br />
“A good experience for me because I’m<br />
struggling but it helped me.”<br />
“I think it was really good because it<br />
teaches people they aren’t alone!”<br />
Community nurses bring Christmas<br />
cheer to patients<br />
Christmas is a time for joy and<br />
happiness and thanks to donations<br />
from Barclays Bank, community nurses<br />
from our Trust will be bringing a little<br />
Christmas cheer to some of our most<br />
vulnerable patients on Christmas Day.<br />
To find out more about the plans, <strong>Heartbeat</strong><br />
caught up with Community Matron,<br />
Denise Owen, she said, “For most of us<br />
at Christmas we’ll be surrounded by our<br />
families with piles of presents to unwrap<br />
and a feast to eat. As nurses working out<br />
in the community, we know that this often<br />
isn’t the case for many of our patients.<br />
Often we go out to patients and are the<br />
only people that patient will see that day<br />
and sadly, this is the same over Christmas.<br />
“This year in the iCares directorate we<br />
decided to hold a charity raffle to use<br />
the funds raised to give patients seen by<br />
community staff on Christmas day a gift.<br />
We contacted Barclays Bank and told them<br />
about what we would like to do, and they<br />
jumped on board donating raffle prizes and<br />
helping us fill almost 100 Christmas gift<br />
bags.<br />
“The gift bags have a mix of items, from<br />
chocolates and biscuits to gift sets for men<br />
and women, there’s something in each for<br />
every one of our patients.”<br />
Beaming with pride, Denise explained how<br />
the community has joined in with their<br />
efforts, “When we’ve been out buying all of<br />
the gifts, people have been stopping us to<br />
find out what we’re doing and making their<br />
own on the spot donations. People often<br />
forget that behind the door of every little<br />
bungalow will likely be one of our patients,<br />
some have family and friends nearby but<br />
many don’t. Hopefully, our little gesture<br />
brings a smile to their faces when we see<br />
them.”<br />
If you’d like to join in with donating<br />
to a good cause, contact Your Trust<br />
Charity who can help you find<br />
a worthy cause, email Amanda.<br />
winwood@nhs.net or call ext. 4847.<br />
Amongst a sea of neatly packed gift<br />
bags, Barclays Bank Harborne Branch<br />
Manager Rose Turner and Community<br />
Banker Wendy Whitehouse pose alongside<br />
Community Nursing colleagues at Oldbury<br />
Health Centre<br />
23
Sally’s Sunshine Packs spread<br />
joy across Newton 5<br />
PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES<br />
AND THERAPIES<br />
In September, a group of 33 keen<br />
cyclists from our organisation set off on<br />
their annual cycle challenge. The team<br />
were as enthusiastic as ever and this<br />
year they were raising funds for Sally’s<br />
Sunshine Packs.<br />
Having set themselves a fundraising target<br />
of £2,000 they went on to smash it. So far<br />
they have raised over £4,000 and counting.<br />
This money is being put to good use in and<br />
around our workplace, all thanks to Sally’s<br />
vision to spread a little happiness with her<br />
sunshine packs.<br />
Sally has been working with Your Trust<br />
Charity for over two years to put together<br />
her sunshine packs. They contain items such<br />
as puzzle books, a patient journal, shampoo<br />
and tissues and are given to fellow patients<br />
undergoing chemotherapy treatment. It’s a<br />
small gesture that makes a big impact.<br />
Sally’s kindness, compassion and above<br />
all else solidarity with her fellow patients<br />
is what spurred on this year’s cyclists.<br />
We caught up with one of the riders, Ian<br />
Hawthorn, Estates Operational Manager.<br />
Ian took time out of his schedule to deliver<br />
Sally pictured with her mum at the Star<br />
Awards <strong>2019</strong><br />
some of Sally’s Sunshine Packs to patients<br />
on Newton 5. He said: “Doing the charity<br />
ride with co-workers and friends was a<br />
great adventure in itself. Being able to bring<br />
Sally’s vision to life and see what the money<br />
contributes to in our community and how<br />
much these packs mean to patients makes<br />
it all worthwhile.”<br />
The funds raised from the bike ride are<br />
helping Sally to continue to sprinkle a little<br />
joy. When delivering some of her latest<br />
packs to fellow patients on Newton 5 she<br />
commented: “I came up with this idea as<br />
I wanted to put a smile on the faces of<br />
people going through a challenging time.<br />
That’s half the battle being able to smile. It’s<br />
not an easy journey we’re on and I always<br />
speak to new patients on the ward<br />
when I’m undergoing treatment. Plus,<br />
everyone enjoys a freebie.”<br />
Sally was recently recognised with a<br />
Star Award for Fundraiser of the Year<br />
by our organisation. On her recent visit<br />
to Sandwell Hospital, she donated £500<br />
that was raised from a 50s themed<br />
fundraising event. When speaking to<br />
<strong>Heartbeat</strong> she said: “It means so much<br />
to me that I’m able to continue to host<br />
these events to not only raise funds but<br />
awareness. I’m pleased to be able to<br />
contribute something to the hospital<br />
that looks after me and to my fellow<br />
patients.”<br />
Vicki Evans, Chemotherapy Sister<br />
commented: “In my role, I have to share<br />
the clinical information and being able<br />
to give out one of these packs makes<br />
such a big difference. Patients like that<br />
someone has taken the time to think of<br />
them. It’s a thoughtful gesture that is<br />
always well received.”<br />
Thank you to everyone that<br />
contributed to this year’s charity<br />
cycle. Your support helped to make<br />
it one of the most successful to date.<br />
If you’d like to know how you can<br />
get involved with the cycling club,<br />
please email ian.hawthorn@nhs.net.<br />
Sally with fellow patient Mr O’Dell and members of the cycling and nursing teams in Newton 5<br />
24
Putting education at the heart of<br />
community nursing<br />
By Claire Stanier,<br />
Practice Education Lead<br />
We are all very excited to be in our<br />
new roles as part of the practice<br />
education team for the district<br />
nursing service.<br />
The team started functioning from 1<br />
October and includes practice education<br />
leads, Pamela While and Susan Knight<br />
and Andrew Churm, Practice Education<br />
Digital Lead.<br />
My role and that of Susan and Pamela’s<br />
involves working with the district<br />
nursing teams and colleagues at all<br />
levels including nurse associates, trainee<br />
nurse associates, student nurses and<br />
our new clinical leads. Some of the new<br />
clinical lead roles will be developed into<br />
specialist roles, focussing on areas such<br />
as tissue viability, continence, palliative<br />
care and diabetes.<br />
We have identified a number of priorities<br />
to help us support local teams. These<br />
priorities include:<br />
• Developing and improving<br />
competency frameworks to<br />
include all current skills used in<br />
the district nursing service.<br />
These new frameworks will be<br />
for all bands of staff and we<br />
will also be looking at the skill<br />
mix within the district nursing<br />
teams.<br />
Andy Churm is the new practice education<br />
digital lead<br />
• Looking at how we can make<br />
improvements to how colleagues<br />
access mandatory, compliance and<br />
personal development training.<br />
• Supporting the existing workforce<br />
to develop to a higher band and<br />
recognise their training<br />
requirements. We will be<br />
scheduling forums to support<br />
new colleagues in their roles.<br />
• Supporting teams to up-skill<br />
colleagues that are new, whether<br />
PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES<br />
AND THERAPIES<br />
they are newly qualified or new to<br />
working in the community.<br />
• Encouraging and motivating<br />
student nurses to consider a career<br />
in district nursing. We will be<br />
compiling a booklet to support<br />
their learning in placement.<br />
Andrew Churm is our new digital lead and<br />
his role involves working with new starters<br />
to ensure they are sufficiently trained on<br />
SystmOne and how to access our files and<br />
systems via mobile working. Andrew is also<br />
looking at how we can improve SystmOne<br />
to include care plans and making the<br />
system more intuitive and easy to use. He<br />
is further exploring how colleagues can use<br />
SystmOne to monitor KPIs and carry out<br />
audits.<br />
We are dedicated to improving our service;<br />
focus on patient centred holistic care<br />
and helping colleagues develop in their<br />
roles and future career aspirations. We<br />
would very much welcome any ideas or<br />
suggestions of anything you feel we could<br />
support or help with.<br />
You can contact the team at swbh.<br />
practice-education.team@nhs.net<br />
Pamela, Susan and I are based at<br />
Neptune Health Park and Andrew is<br />
based at the Lyng Health Centre.<br />
Aspiring to excellence in community nursing - left to right: Susan Knight, Pam While and Claire Stanier<br />
25
New portering arrangements help<br />
to cut waiting lists in imaging<br />
IMAGING<br />
More than just working better in<br />
isolation, Unity has also helped teams<br />
to collaborate. Porters link together all<br />
different areas of the Trust and their<br />
new working arrangements have had a<br />
particularly positive effect in imaging.<br />
“The inpatient waiting list for plain film<br />
– a normal x-ray rather than a CT scan<br />
or ultrasound – has significantly reduced<br />
because porters’ roles are more flexible<br />
and they can be utilised in different<br />
areas around imaging, depending on<br />
clinical need,” explains Lynn Chambers,<br />
Superintendent Radiographer.<br />
“The clear outlay of the Cap Man system<br />
also means that we get a live update of<br />
what patient transfers are happening<br />
and we know straight away if there are<br />
any delays. This allows us to alter our list<br />
accordingly.”<br />
The improvement from what went before<br />
is clear to see. “We sometimes had 40<br />
patients waiting on the list. There used to<br />
be a designated porter for each area and<br />
we were always designated a porter for<br />
inpatients but the list just kept growing and<br />
growing.<br />
“Now, because of the way the portering<br />
is organised within imaging – there’s a<br />
pool of porters and they get dispatched to<br />
whichever job comes up – it’s much better.<br />
SWBH<br />
Imaging and portering colleagues<br />
They could do a CT, then an ultrasound,<br />
then an MRI, then a plain film one. That’s<br />
just the way it works with Cap Man. From<br />
our point of view it has made a massive<br />
difference to the waiting times for inpatient<br />
x-rays,” says Lynn.<br />
“It’s working well. The waiting list is way<br />
down and it’s the same on the wards<br />
because we’re getting more people<br />
down during the day. We’re doing fewer<br />
outpatient scans out of hours because<br />
we get them all done during the normal<br />
working day. The porter system is working a<br />
lot better.”<br />
Zaheer Iqbal, the Trust’s Portering<br />
Manager, agrees. Changes were made to<br />
accommodate the introduction of Unity and<br />
to make the process more efficient. Porters<br />
are now assigned to a general zone, rather<br />
than one specific area giving more flexible<br />
support. It also ensures that all requests are<br />
dealt with in a timely fashion.<br />
“We’re working together and<br />
communicating better. We’ve been getting<br />
feedback, even when things haven’t been<br />
going so well and reacting to that. We’ve<br />
been tweaking things as we’ve been going<br />
along to make sure that imaging is getting<br />
the full benefits of the zoning system. That’s<br />
helped a lot,” says Zaheer.<br />
Mark Stankovich, DGM for Portering and<br />
Security, adds: “Opening the pool of porters<br />
up has helped too. Historically there used<br />
to be one person dedicated to each of<br />
the imaging areas and people were quite<br />
rigid about sticking to their areas. Now<br />
we’re getting them to work in unison, as a<br />
team. It’s helping our radiology colleagues<br />
get through their patient lists a lot more<br />
effectively.”<br />
Sandwell and<br />
West Birmingham<br />
NHS Trust<br />
intranet at your fingertips<br />
Do you find it difficult to stay up<br />
to date with everything that’s<br />
happening in our organisation?<br />
We have just launched a brand<br />
new app which aims to give you<br />
the ability to access information<br />
that would normally be found on<br />
the intranet from the comfort of<br />
your mobile phone.<br />
Download the app from Apple<br />
App Store or Google Play<br />
Store on to your Trust mobile<br />
phone or your personal mobile<br />
phone by searching for ‘SWBH<br />
myConnect’.<br />
For more information contact<br />
the Communications team<br />
on 0121 507 5303 or email<br />
swbh.comms@nhs.net<br />
26
Pulse<br />
News in brief from around our organisation<br />
If you have a story you would like to appear<br />
on the Pulse page, please email a photo and a<br />
short explanation to swbh.comms@nhs.net<br />
#HackTheHospital draws up<br />
a design for inclusivity and<br />
education at Midland Met<br />
The beginning of <strong>December</strong> saw<br />
colleagues join designers and community<br />
members in braving wind and rain to<br />
meet at the Sandwell General Hospital’s<br />
education centre for a special event.<br />
Comprising two workshops<br />
#HackTheHospital which, rest assured,<br />
was not an attempt to cause computer<br />
disruption – discussed ways that design<br />
elements in the upcoming Midland<br />
Metropolitan Hospital could be used to<br />
better engage and educate local people as<br />
part of a ‘Community Design Studio’.<br />
The first workshop covered the ‘cultures’<br />
of health - what people in local<br />
communities are thinking and feeling,<br />
hearing and seeing, saying and doing in<br />
regards to healthcare. The second session<br />
focused on the design of the Welcome<br />
Centre itself.<br />
Daniel J. Blyden, a designer, facilitator and<br />
design activist based in Birmingham was<br />
one of those helping to #HackTheHospital.<br />
He spoke to <strong>Heartbeat</strong> about the aims of<br />
the day and the importance of what was<br />
being done.<br />
“I work to involve people in design<br />
processes. We're working with Your Trust<br />
Charity and SWB as a part of that. Today<br />
is a day where people can come together<br />
and have an impact on how non-clinical<br />
areas at the Midland Metropolitan<br />
Hospital can be shaped to facilitate<br />
better discussion and awareness about<br />
health matters. People are bringing their<br />
ideas, experiences and perceptions into<br />
designing these areas and making sure the<br />
needs of all those in our community are<br />
represented.”<br />
“Involving lots of people from different<br />
cultural backgrounds to help design the<br />
various exhibits and spaces is something<br />
the hospital owners take very seriously.<br />
This way it truly becomes a hospital for<br />
everyone.”<br />
Colleagues took part in creative<br />
#HackTheHospital sessions<br />
Have you got a<br />
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY<br />
CARE<br />
story?<br />
We’d love to hear from you if you have…<br />
• An event or special occasion in your<br />
department<br />
• If you work with an inspirational colleague<br />
• Does your department do something that<br />
makes a real difference to our patients?<br />
Please get in touch if you’d like to be featured in an<br />
upcoming edition of <strong>Heartbeat</strong>!<br />
Email swbh.comms@nhs.net to submit your story idea.<br />
27
Pulse<br />
News in brief from around our organisation<br />
If you have a story you would like to appear<br />
on the Pulse page, please email a photo and a<br />
short explanation to swbh.comms@nhs.net<br />
Baggies bring joy to the wards<br />
West Bromwich Albion stars brought<br />
festive joy to the wards when they<br />
visited Sandwell Hospital handing out<br />
presents to young patients.<br />
Footballers Gareth Barry, Sam Johnstone,<br />
Matt Phillips and Charlie Austin met<br />
youngsters in both Children’s Wards,<br />
where they also signed autographs and<br />
posed for photographs.<br />
The event was organised in partnership<br />
with Your Trust Charity and serves to<br />
enhance the experience of patients, their<br />
families and staff.<br />
Striker Charlie Austin said: “We are here<br />
to give presents out and to lift spirits as<br />
much as we can and bring joy to the<br />
patients.<br />
“The reaction has been great and we<br />
were delighted to see the patients. They<br />
are going through a tough time. Being a<br />
parent, certainly, you know what it’s like<br />
when your child is in hospital, let alone it<br />
being at Christmas time, so to come and<br />
give gifts and see the smiles on their faces<br />
– well it means a lot to us. It’s fantastic<br />
that we can do something like this, just<br />
through football.”<br />
Avnash Nanra, Ward Manager for Lyndon<br />
Ground, one of the areas the footballers<br />
visited, said: “Our young patients have<br />
loved meeting their idols and it’s perked<br />
them up. Being poorly at this time of year<br />
is never nice, so a visit from the Albion<br />
players is well received. It was so kind of<br />
the team and staff to give up their free<br />
time in this way, to bring some smiles to<br />
their young fans.”<br />
West Bromwich Albion players with Gracie Mason as they visited our children’s wards<br />
Did you know that you can download<br />
treatment-specific patient information<br />
leaflets from the EIDO Healthcare<br />
website for FREE?<br />
EIDO has hundreds of patient leaflets for different procedures<br />
that are being carried out across the Trust.<br />
They are available in an easy-to-read format and<br />
in different languages.<br />
Visit Connect Clinical Systems EIDO PT Leaflets.<br />
For more information, please contact the Communications Team<br />
on ext. 5303 or email: swbh.comms@nhs.net<br />
28
Dr Maria Atkinson<br />
Clinical Director of Paediatrics<br />
Maria has recently taken over the role of<br />
clinical director after serving almost ten<br />
years as a paediatric consultant at our<br />
Trust.<br />
Joining our workplace as a senior house<br />
officer (SHO) in 1997 for a six-month<br />
rotation Maria enjoyed her time here so<br />
much that as soon as a position became<br />
available, she jumped at the chance to<br />
join the team here at Sandwell and West<br />
Birmingham.<br />
Sharing her experience, Maria said: “When<br />
I joined as a SHO back in 1997, the<br />
teamwork, patient group and community<br />
had a massive impact on me and as soon I<br />
had qualified I was looking to return.” Over<br />
her career, Maria has gained experience in<br />
Dr Deep Chand, a Consultant<br />
Radiologist is retiring from our Trust<br />
after a career that has spanned<br />
four decades. From 1977 – 1981, Dr<br />
Chand worked as a registrar and<br />
senior registrar in radiology at North<br />
Staffordshire Hospital. In 1982 he joined<br />
our Trust as a consultant radiologist<br />
and since then has gone on to have a<br />
distinguished career.<br />
Working as a consultant radiologist he has<br />
pioneered CT scanning. He’s also been<br />
pivotal in the introduction of ultrasound,<br />
MRI scanning and nuclear medicine as<br />
a whole. Dr Chand is the Chairman of<br />
the Division of Radiology and regularly<br />
contributes to the teaching and assessment<br />
of staff. He commented: “As a teacher, I’m<br />
extremely proud of my students. 75 per<br />
cent of my students are consultants, group<br />
clinical directors and presidents in the UK<br />
and overseas.”<br />
Outside of working at our Trust Dr Chand<br />
has had an equally impressive career. At<br />
43, he joined the Territorial Army as a<br />
private soldier and rose through the ranks<br />
to become lieutenant colonel. He said:<br />
“I joined the Territorial Army at 43 years<br />
old with my registrar and radiographers.<br />
Together we created a radiology<br />
department in the 202 Field Hospital,<br />
Birmingham.”<br />
Dr Chand served in both Gulf wars. During<br />
the latter, he ran a 200-bed military hospital<br />
a range of management roles that she has<br />
held alongside her clinical duties including<br />
risk lead, child death lead as well as a college<br />
tutor.<br />
Sharing her thoughts on her newest<br />
challenge and priorities as clinical director,<br />
Maria said: “Clinical director is a key role<br />
which will help define, develop and shape<br />
the department as we move to ready<br />
ourselves for Midland Met. Currently, we’re<br />
working hard as a management team to<br />
steady our department for the winter rush.<br />
Our priority is to streamline the department<br />
so that we’re able to continue providing<br />
safe and effective patient care through the<br />
busiest few months.”<br />
Looking forward to working closely with the<br />
Wave goodbye to…<br />
Dr Chand in the Imaging department<br />
over six months in Basra. Working on the<br />
front line Dr Chand and his colleagues<br />
provided life-saving care by introducing<br />
the use of ultrasound. This helped with<br />
the diagnosis and management of battle<br />
casualties.<br />
He added: “I had the opportunity to serve<br />
Her Majesty the Queen, country and<br />
mankind during my deployment in the first<br />
Gulf War. I am grateful to Sandwell and<br />
West Birmingham NHS Trust for releasing<br />
me. The team and I not only supported our<br />
soldiers, but we were also able to create<br />
another ward for local children and females<br />
to help save lives.”<br />
Dr Chand has received several awards<br />
recognising his outstanding career and for<br />
his service to queen and country. He has<br />
been admitted into the Order of St. John<br />
– a royal order of chivalry awarded by the<br />
wider team, Maria said: “My door is always<br />
open, I’d like to encourage anyone in my<br />
department to come and speak to me if they<br />
have any advice or concerns, whether they<br />
want to propose an improvement or report<br />
and issue, I’m here to work with you.”<br />
Dr Maria Atkinson<br />
Dr Deep Chand<br />
Consultant Radiologist<br />
Queen. He has also received the Territorial<br />
Decoration award for long service, as well<br />
as being appointed as a Fellow of the Royal<br />
Society of Medicine.<br />
On top of all this, Dr Chand supports<br />
several charitable works. He dedicates his<br />
time to many medical and humanitarian<br />
projects in deprived areas. One such project<br />
includes establishing a home and school for<br />
children in India.<br />
Dr Sarah Yusuf, Group Director of Imaging<br />
said: “Dr Chand has made an immense<br />
contribution not only to our department<br />
but to our country too. He’ll be leaving<br />
behind big, if not impossible, shoes to fill.<br />
We appreciate everything he’s done since<br />
joining our Trust in 1982. We’ll be sad to<br />
say goodbye to a much-respected colleague<br />
and friend.”<br />
After leaving the Trust Dr Chand won’t<br />
be slowing down. He’s looking forward to<br />
gardening, travelling, spending time with<br />
his family and attending the defence studies<br />
dining club. He’ll also be completing his<br />
autobiography. When asked why he said,<br />
"I'd like to inspire the younger generation<br />
from underprivileged backgrounds to have<br />
progressive careers as I have been able to."<br />
From all of us at the Trust, we’d like<br />
to thank you for your hard work and<br />
dedication, Dr Chand. We wish you a happy<br />
retirement.<br />
29
Letters, of less than 200 words please, can be sent to the Communications Department,<br />
Trust Headquarters, Sandwell Hospital or by email to swb–tr.SWBH–GM–<strong>Heartbeat</strong>@nhs.net<br />
YOUR RIGHT TO BE HEARD<br />
Heating going forward<br />
Dear <strong>Heartbeat</strong>,<br />
Every year since I’ve worked here the same<br />
thing happens at this Trust. The heating<br />
breaks come the start of winter. This problem<br />
can be solved so easily yet it happens every<br />
year! The simple solution would be to turn<br />
the heating on August for one day. Any<br />
heater which doesn’t work can be fixed come<br />
September/October rather than teams and<br />
departments going without heating.<br />
It’s a pretty simple concept and would mean<br />
the Estates team wouldn’t be rushed off<br />
their feet with people demanding portable<br />
heaters like this year, the year before and so<br />
on. Why can’t a simple process like this be<br />
implemented? My Nan does this every year<br />
to make sure her heating works as it should.<br />
Surely we can do the same thing right?<br />
Anonymous<br />
Dear colleague<br />
The estates department endeavours to<br />
prepare the heating systems in all of the<br />
Trust buildings for the onset of the cooler<br />
months. In Trinity House a number of<br />
planned maintenance tasks are carried<br />
over the summer to ensure that the<br />
heating system is working correctly and<br />
compliant with statutory legislation as it<br />
is heated by pressurised steam.<br />
This year significant alterations have<br />
been made to the system due to the<br />
building works that have taken place.<br />
Issues with balancing of the system have<br />
prevented a few areas from receiving<br />
the correct heating. This was not easy to<br />
identify until we could run the heating<br />
with a significant demand and this issue<br />
is now resolved. We apologise for any<br />
inconvenience caused.<br />
Kind regards,<br />
Malcolm Partridge<br />
Head of Estates<br />
Bells on wards<br />
Dear <strong>Heartbeat</strong>,<br />
Quite a few of the wards I visited recently<br />
have took a strangely long time to answer the<br />
doorbells. I totally get they are busy especially<br />
around winter months but to have to ring the bell<br />
numerous time just to get answer can be very<br />
frustrating, especially when lots of the people<br />
inside the ward see I’m waiting outside.<br />
Are only certain people allowed to open the ward<br />
and are they supposed to pretend I’m not there?<br />
I just think more from a patient perspective more<br />
than anything else, if I was coming to visit a<br />
friend or a family member in hospital and was left<br />
outside for so long it would be a very frustrating<br />
experience. It would compound the difficult<br />
experience of visiting a loved one in hospital.<br />
Please may I reiterate, this hasn’t happened on all<br />
wards I have visited in my time here, it just seems<br />
to be happening a bit more and I wanted to find<br />
out why.<br />
Anonymous<br />
Dear colleague<br />
Thanks for your letter. The bells outside the<br />
wards are important for security reasons so<br />
that the nurse in charge is aware of who<br />
is coming onto the wards. I can assure you<br />
that the teams don’t deliberately ignore the<br />
doorbell. Instead, they are more often busy<br />
with patients and relatives. I am sorry this is<br />
frustrating for you but thank you for your<br />
patience.<br />
Kind regards,<br />
Paula Gardner<br />
Chief Nurse<br />
Recycling computers<br />
Dear <strong>Heartbeat</strong>,<br />
Now that Unity is live and we’ve had shiny new<br />
computers I wonder what’s happened to all of<br />
the computers that were taken away. We all had<br />
ipods on the wards that we used with vitalpacs<br />
and with the introduction of Unity; we didn’t<br />
need to use these anymore so they were all<br />
collected in.<br />
Sandwell and West Birmingham is a particularly<br />
poor and deprived area and I would hope that<br />
as a Trust we would be doing everything we can<br />
to make sure that equipment that is no longer<br />
needed by the Trust could be donated to the<br />
community or reused in some way.<br />
I know there are projects in other areas of the<br />
country that refurbish and donate computers<br />
and equipment to community groups. Would<br />
there be an opportunity for us to do the same?<br />
Could we refurb and donate unused computers<br />
to colleagues who are still trying to get used to<br />
using computers at work?<br />
Appreciate there are data protection<br />
requirements but surely we can do something.<br />
This could be a significant sustainability and<br />
recycling programme if we’re able to tackle it.<br />
Regards<br />
Anon<br />
Dear colleague,<br />
Fortunately at our Trust we often use our IT<br />
equipment to its fullest and follow a regular<br />
replacement programme, this means that we<br />
have little in the way of unused equipment.<br />
The equipment we replaced to make sure<br />
that Unity could work to the best of its<br />
abilities has been repurposed within the<br />
Trust, in non-unity areas, for training staff<br />
and where possible reused for spare parts.<br />
When equipment is defunct and completely<br />
unusable, it is recycled appropriately. In the<br />
case of iPads, we are currently looking at<br />
options to loan these to patients now that<br />
we have NHS Public WiFi live across our Trust.<br />
Kind regards,<br />
Martin Sadler<br />
Chief Informatics Officer<br />
30
Toby writes about… why Good is good for you<br />
TobyLewis_SWBH<br />
TOBY’S LAST WORD<br />
If you turned to my article to look<br />
into 2020 and what lies ahead,<br />
best to dig out the back issue<br />
and review that in November’s<br />
<strong>Heartbeat</strong> (available online too).<br />
Safe to say that, as Richard sets<br />
out in his Chair’s column, there is a<br />
bright future for our organisation,<br />
not just in traditional fields,<br />
but as we work more and more<br />
closely with GPs, and build on the<br />
distinctive success of teams like<br />
our Sandwell health visitors, our<br />
integrated sexual health service,<br />
our alcohol liaison team, and<br />
our specialist community based<br />
paediatric teams.<br />
This article is about our upcoming<br />
Care Quality Commission<br />
inspection. When is it? Properly,<br />
I don’t know. It is likely in 2020.<br />
Probably our three new GP practices<br />
will be the start. Then our Requires<br />
Improvement services – read on below.<br />
And any teams being put forward to<br />
join our Outstanding elite: community<br />
children’s, critical care and end of life<br />
service. Teams demonstrating what we<br />
can achieve with all the pressures and<br />
constraints we tend to talk about.<br />
What I do know is that teams rated<br />
as Good or better are teams who<br />
find recruitment and retention easier.<br />
That might be because the rating<br />
gives cache. Recruits look online and<br />
seeking differences between us and our<br />
neighbours they set store by the CQC.<br />
More probably it is because the things<br />
we want and value at work are the<br />
same things the CQC look for:<br />
• A supportive boss<br />
• Team discussions<br />
• Fun but support when times<br />
are hard<br />
• A commitment to quality<br />
improvement (hold the<br />
front page)<br />
• Multi-professional working<br />
• Training and development<br />
• Getting the basics right<br />
• Having a plan for the future<br />
In 2014, 2017 and 2018 I approached<br />
the CQC inspection with a view that<br />
we should be as we are, and see what<br />
it brought. Good ratings might have<br />
overstated us, poor ones probably<br />
unfairly maligned us. I think on balance<br />
I have changed my mind. Having seen<br />
the huge boost to teams succeeding in<br />
the CQC process, I think now we need<br />
to work as one to get the prize. What<br />
prize? A Good rating, not just in most<br />
teams (we are 70 per cent there) but<br />
across our organisation. Only that prize<br />
will give us the flexibility to develop and<br />
adapt services freed from too much<br />
external bureaucracy, clear that we can<br />
work within a system, but innovate,<br />
invest and develop as you choose we<br />
should.<br />
We have just three Requires<br />
Improvement core services: I know how<br />
hard our children’s services team are<br />
working to get back to Good. Across<br />
emergency care and medicine there<br />
is real determination to see the quality<br />
of our cardiology service, the excellence<br />
of our stroke team, the respiratory hub,<br />
and our GI services, recognised for the<br />
specialist work that they do. Acute<br />
medicine and elderly care dominate<br />
QI awards. A&E stood out at our Star<br />
Awards. I know how hard “winter” is. I<br />
understand that “capacity” dominates<br />
and distracts. I also know that success<br />
brings rewards, mostly more success.<br />
And that is why we need to work<br />
together to show that firstly our<br />
Glimpses of Brilliance are actually<br />
most days. And secondly that we<br />
work together to tackle to genuine<br />
risk issues. Our Good and Outstanding<br />
services are not blessed with ease. They<br />
The way the CQC see us<br />
The domains five CQC are domains described by the CQC as follows<br />
Is it safe?<br />
Is it effective?<br />
Is it caring?<br />
Is it responsive?<br />
Is it well-led?<br />
where everyone matters<br />
too face tough times. They are rated<br />
highly because of how they face<br />
those problems.<br />
This festive season do not put the<br />
turkey down and read our last three<br />
CQC reports. But if you did, you’d<br />
see success, but you would also read<br />
about out of date stock, expired<br />
mandatory training, resus trolley<br />
checklist gaps, and drug errors.<br />
These are not functions of money<br />
or policy, they are symptoms of<br />
attention and detail. The very things<br />
the CQC look for and ones we can<br />
address.<br />
So we can get to Good. The<br />
challenge of 2020 is do we want<br />
to? Is it worth the hassle and worth<br />
setting aside whatever immediate<br />
frustrations exist, in pursuit of a<br />
bigger gain – public credit for what<br />
you do brilliantly, less external<br />
interference in what we want to do<br />
locally, and above all a chance to say<br />
to people not yet joining us – come<br />
here, we know what we are doing?<br />
Going into 2020 let’s think about<br />
resolutions. Please consider where<br />
our ‘rating’ sits in your plans. None<br />
of us come to work for any reason<br />
other than the patients we care<br />
about. They deserve the best. You<br />
deserve that the rating system that<br />
reflects your efforts. Only you can<br />
get us to Good. I think you will.<br />
Sandwell and<br />
West Birmingham<br />
NHS Trust<br />
!Safeguarding and protection from abuse !Managing risk !Safe care and treatment<br />
!Medicines management !Track record !Learning when things go wrong<br />
!Assessing needs and delivering evidence-based treatment !Monitoring outcomes<br />
and comparing with similar services !Staff skills and knowledge !How staff, teams<br />
and services work together !Supporting people to live healthier lives !Consent to<br />
care and treatment<br />
!Kindness, respect and compassion !Involving people in decisions about their care<br />
!Privacy and dignity<br />
!Person-centred care !Taking account of the needs of different people !Timely<br />
access to care and treatment !Concerns or complaints<br />
!Leadership capacity and capability !Vision and strategy !Culture of the<br />
organisation !Governance and management !Management of risk and performance<br />
!Management of information !Engagement and involvement !Learning,<br />
improvement and innovation<br />
swbh.nhs.uk<br />
31
What's on – January 2020<br />
EVENT DATE TIME VENUE<br />
Trust board 2 9am - 1pm Rowley Regis Hospital<br />
QIHD 8 Afternoon Trustwide<br />
CLE 21 2pm - 5pm Education Centre, Sandwell<br />
Teamtalk 22 11am<br />
1pm - 2pm<br />
Rowley Regis Hospital, Committee Room<br />
Education Centre, Sandwell Hospital and<br />
Post Graduate Centre, City Hospital<br />
WELLBEING EVENTS DATE TIME VENUE<br />
Pilates 7 4.45pm – 5.45pm The Berridge Room, Sandwell Hospital<br />
Pilates 14 4.45pm – 5.45pm The Berridge Room, Sandwell Hospital<br />
Pilates 21 4.45pm – 5.45pm The Berridge Room, Sandwell Hospital<br />
Introduction to Mindfulness 9 10am – 1pm The Berridge Room, Sandwell Hospital<br />
Support through the Menopause 14 10am – 1pm The Berridge Room, Sandwell Hospital<br />
Building Emotional Resilience 21 10am – 1pm The Berridge Room, Sandwell Hospital<br />
Assertiveness, Confidence<br />
and Resilience<br />
30 10am – 1pm<br />
Surgical Skills Room, Postgraduate,<br />
City Hospital<br />
TRUST-WIDE EVENTS<br />
DATE<br />
International Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020<br />
Blue Monday (Mental health campaign run by West Midlands<br />
Combined Authority )<br />
20