Heartbeat March 2020

More documents

Recommendations

Info

When is working from home the right thing to do? COVID-19 Doing what we can to reduce the risk of spreading the infection remains essential and we know that many colleagues have asked or been asked to work from home. Every employee is essential to this Trust and working from home does not mean that you are less important. The NHS is a team. With over 1800 roles in our organisation we can’t produce a list of everyone who should and shouldn’t be working at home so please consider the following guide: • If you work administratively, managerially or clinically in a patient facing area, we do not recommend that you work from home. • If you provide ancillary work, for example as a porter or driver, supporting patient care, including transporting samples or stock, we do not recommend that you work from home. • If you work in a corporate / backbone function, for example in finance, governance or HR, it may be possible for you to work from home. If you are able to work from home there are circumstances where we may ask you to return to site, and return to Some colleagues have asked or been asked to work from home undertake different work in support of the pandemic response. We cannot provide computer equipment for everyone working from home. Our priority is clinical areas for technology. But we have published on Connect simple guidance for how you can use technology which you can download to run or be part of meetings, and how you can potentially get access to drives and documents. If you wish to work from home and are covered by the bullet points above we would ask you to do four things: 1) Talk to your line manager and discuss this with them. Their agreement is required. 2) Send an email explaining your job role and the decision you and your manager have made to swbh.wfh@nhs.net. This will help us know who is away but well. 3) Download the myConnect App onto your phone so you can keep up to date with our guidance and stay in touch with the Trust. 4) Make sure it is clear on your Trust emails and Trust telephone extension answerphone that you are working from home due to COVID. Your role in supporting the social distancing and restrictions to travel are greatly appreciated and will help to slow down the spread of the virus. Changing your role and volunteering for the fight The Trust issued working from home guidance which expires on 7 April. The main reason for that timeline was to make sure we had organised the technology to support the changes that have to happen. We wanted to make sure that key computing resources were not being deployed mainly for non-clinical work. Those arrangements are in hand. The other factor is our need to create groups of colleagues, allied to medical students and other volunteers, able to collaborate in key non-clinical tasks, many in patient facing areas. Bank and agency arrangements are not going to be sufficient to manage a sustained pandemic response. Sickness including isolation means we are working to a plan that assumes a 30%+ absence rates. Chief Executive, Toby Lewis, told Heartbeat about the intentions now; “This is a truly difficult and unprecedented situation. With this in mind we are doing two things: Finalising the list of where we need help. There are obvious priorities like cleaning and portering. But there are other things that can be done remotely. “And completing an analysis of all roles beyond the clinical space to work which have to be maintained and who therefore is potentially available for other work for a temporary period. Our preference is for corporate colleagues to volunteer into new roles, but ultimately there is likely to be an insistence process which kicks off before Easter. Of course anyone returning to site for these roles would have access to isolation accommodation, like our hotels, alongside those working in existing clinical teams.” 10
Celebrating our stars of the week Star of the Week Tracy Weston Ward Sister Congratulations to Ward Sister, Tracy Weston who has gone above and beyond in supporting her colleagues to get to grips with Unity. Star of the Week Cath Price Labour Ward Manager Congratulations to Cath Price, Labour Ward Manager who has gone above and beyond in supporting colleagues to transition to her department. Cath was nominated for the weekly Star Award by her colleague Charlotte Duhig for Tracy Weston was nominated for the weekly accolade by Health Informatics Matron, Sharon Reynolds who was pleasantly surprised whilst supporting Tracy with some Unity training. Nominating Tracy for the award, Sharon wrote, “I have sat with Tracy today to complete her training on accessing live safety plan data. During the session we reviewed patients risk assessments and care plans. “Her staff clearly have a good understanding of Unity and the workflows as her patients all had care plans initiated and were being used to document nursing care. This is the first ward I have seen use the care plans in Unity really well.” the support she had given Charlotte as she began working on the labour ward. Nominating Cath for the award, Charlotte wrote, “I was very nervous and daunted about my new role as a band 7. Cath and the team on labour ward made the transition from working in low risk maternity care to high risk very smooth. “Cath took time every shift to make sure I was coping and ensure my learning was on track. The team on labour ward were so supportive and encouraging, giving me feedback and taking time to discuss problems I encountered. “Cath is a fabulous team manager with an open door policy. She always makes time to listen even though she has a large workload; she’s always smiling and constantly caring.” Well done Cath! Star of the Week Jessica Arnold Service Manager Congratulations are in order for Star of the week Jessica Arnold, Service Manager in the Mortuary Service. Jessica was nominated for the weekly award by Matron, Joanne Thomas, after supporting the ward with a rapid release. Nominating Jessica for the award, Joanne wrote, “Jessica helped support us with a rapid release from Priory 4, this was achieved within 40 minutes and was only achievable by the coordination of the ward and Jessica. However, not only was this an excellent achievement, following the rapid release – Jessica then spent time with a newly appointed band 7 explaining the procedure – teaching and giving the band 7 eLearning sites and reading material to facilitate an out of hours rapid release. “During this teaching, the mortuary was very busy with doctors and patients being received, however the compassion and dedication to both patients, doctors and teaching all at the same time was commendable. She truly went the extra mile.” Well done Jessica! Star of the Week Fran D’Souza Advanced Physiotherapist Congratulations to Advanced Physiotherapist, Fran D’Souza who went above and beyond the call of the duty in supporting a frail and elderly patient to be discharged. Fran was nominated for the weekly award by her colleague Hannah Jenns. Nominating Fran for the award, she wrote, “Fran went the extra mile to ensure a frail, elderly patient was able to be discharged home as planned, equipment needs changed at the last minute and it wasn’t possible for what was needed to go in on time. Fran kept everyone involved in the loop and reassured everyone. She went out of her way to collect and deliver equipment and then check in on the patient the morning after discharge to ensure all went smoothly. “The patient involved was very pleased to be able to go home that day and it also prevented another unnecessary few days in hospital.” Well done Fran! Well done to all of our winners. Keep a look out for March's winners in the next edition of Heartbeat. 11
Page 1 and 2: March 2020 Sandwell and West Birmin
Page 3 and 4: Our Trust’s plan to manage the pa
Page 5 and 6: Managing your health and wellbeing
Page 7 and 8: It’s not all about hospitals: Rea
Page 9: Supporting colleagues - swabbing fo
Page 13 and 14: GEMS - our valuable pieces of learn
Page 15 and 16: Milestone merger becomes reality as
Page 17 and 18: Mental health act administrator joi
Page 19 and 20: Year of the Nurse and Midwife Each
Page 21 and 22: Conference shares methods to improv
Page 23 and 24: Poo is no longer a taboo thanks to
Page 25 and 26: Inside the mortuary - taking care o
Page 27 and 28: Safer Sleep Week to help prevent un
Page 29 and 30: This month we say hello to Liam Ken
Page 31 and 32: Toby writes about… management by

Heartbeat March 2020

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?