Heartbeat March 2020

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Long service awards show dedicated NHS workers lead by example yet again CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS In the last few weeks we have been reminded of how important the National Health Service is and how grateful we are to have it. Not just as colleagues within our organisation but as a nation. We are indeed very lucky to have the service we do, and our organisation is very lucky to have the dedicated colleagues it does. Across the country we've seen a very genuine outpouring of affection towards the NHS and its staff. Before the Coronavirus became a pandemic, we ourselves at Sandwell and West Birmingham took some time to acknowledge those who have dedicated themselves to helping the community as part of the NHS and as a part our Trust. In February our Chairman, Richard Samuda hosted our most recent NHS Service Recognition Ceremony, where he acknowledged the dedication of well almost 150 colleagues who have served the NHS dutifully for 20 years or more. These included more than 80 Helen Whiles receives her award from Chairman, Richard Samuda staff hitting the two decade mark, with 50 at three decades whilst an astonishing 17 got to celebrate 40 years’ service as part of the NHS. Among the 17 includes Helen Whiles who has spent her career here. Working her way up from a student technician working in Stroke of good fortune at recruiting event the dispensaries, procurement and on the wards, all the way to Chief Technician for City Hospital - prior to the merging of the two hospital trusts at Sandwell and City. Emily Horwill spoke to Heartbeat about her friend, jokingly referred to within the management team as 'Aunty Helen' for her kind and caring nature to both staff and patients. "I have only known Helen for two years since joining the organisation and Helen has been really welcoming to me from my first day. She is currently embracing her new role as chief technician for medicines optimisation and can regularly be found on the wards liaising with ward staff about our Pyxis, Unity and Abloy systems to make sure we’re getting the best from them. "She always enthusiastically takes on board and participates in change within the department and has a brilliant work ethic - and her memory of the organisation is a brilliant resource. Not to mention a source of many stories and tall tales! We're very, very lucky to have her." Many congratulations Helen and to all our celebrated colleagues at 20, 30 and 40 years. MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE Valentine’s Day was a busy one for everyone at our organisation – but not all the action took place at the site of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. At the same time as our relaunch event at Midland Met, back over at Sandwell Hospital, members of our existing nursing team were welcoming people who may one day be a part of the team that works at our “super-hospital.” Members of the stroke services team were on hand to speak to prospective candidates as part of the Trust’s latest recruitment day. The event aimed to fill a number of roles across a team which has Members of the stroke services team an expansive development plan for 2020; as it reorganises and further develops the services it offers. One such project is the new SWAT team - thankfully not an armed response unit, but rather the newly formed stroke wellbeing activity team operating out of Sandwell. Over the course of the day, a number of the team spoke to nurses, students and HCAs that were interested in either applying for roles, or finding out more about the service. They also provided lots of information about flexible working practices, what the team does and its plans for the future. “I’m delighted to say we made a number of offers over the course of the day and are adding four band 5, nurses, to our amazing stroke services team”, Lead Stroke and Neurology Matron, Jo Thomas told Heartbeat. “Going forward we know there’s a lot of work to do. We have several projects that we look forward to working on over the year. It’s our goal to make the service and its staff the very best - this is just the first step towards achieving that.” 20
Conference shares methods to improve dignity in care Our medicine and emergency group played host to a dignity in care conference back in February. The conference had over 120 delegates in attendance from both clinical and nonclinical backgrounds including nurses, midwives, portering and security. Julie Thompson, Group Director of Nursing for Medicine and Emergency Care helped facilitate the all-day event at our Sandwell Education Centre. The aim of the session was to share methods to help improve dignity in care across the organisation. Presenters at the event included Dr Moe Thaw Oo, Consultant Geriatrician and Physician, as well as Helen Mallard, Lead Nurse. Dr Oo believes that we must ensure that dignity in care is equally applied and consistent for all patients, in particular, our elderly and more vulnerable patients He said: “We face many challenges with our more senior patients, such as more complex needs and even language barriers. Even with these challenges, we must ensure we offer consistency in care and make sure the dignity of our patients is at the forefront of our minds. This will ensure they receive the best possible care from us.” Helen and her team have applied the ABCD model in our emergency department (ED) in regards to dignity in the care they offer. This method focuses on attitude, behaviour, compassion and dialogue. She said, “Every patient that attends ED deserves the same standards of care. I always encourage everyone to really think about behaviours and gestures as this can easily impact on a patient’s experience, especially in ED. She went on to say, “Compassion and dialogue are equally important. This is why we think that one of the quick wins to this is caring, showing empathy and simply treating others how you would wish to be treated.” Following on from the success of the MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE event, the Trust has seen well over 200 people sign up to become dignity ambassadors. “I have been overwhelmed with the positive response after the dignity in care event. It’s amazing to have so many dignity ambassadors from a variety of multi-disciplinary teams,” said Julie. She added, “A dignity ambassador is someone that upholds the standards for dignity which is treating people with respect. This involves being a patient advocate and feeding back within our dignity forums. To have such a large number of people in these types of roles will mean that our patients will be treated with kindness, respect and compassion. It will ultimately result in better care.” AMU kicks off journey to be #proud During one week in February colleagues from acute medicine at City and Sandwell were given the opportunity to share their views and tell each other why they are #proud to be part of the team. The initiative was part of an ongoing programme to improve morale and engagement among colleagues. Senior Sister, Claire Obiakor told Heartbeat: “The event was the result of some work we have been doing in the AMU improvement group. It was aimed at helping colleagues to understand their roles and responsibilities and how each member of staff contributes to the overall objectives of the department. “The team thought a week-long event where colleagues could pop in would help create the right environment for colleagues to find out more about their roles and responsibilities, ask questions, and more importantly give us feedback about changes that could be made to improve colleague and patient welfare. “We were thrilled with the engagement across the two sites. We had colleagues from Sandwell managing stalls at City and vice versa. It was excellent cross site team working. Food and drink was also provided which is always a nice treat for everyone.” The AMU improvement group are now reviewing the feedback and identifying quick wins so that colleagues can start to see improvements immediately. “Any major change will be gradual,” added Claire. “One common theme was resourcing - we are currently recruiting but it will take time for new people to be in post. Communication was another theme – however I think the team will see a marked difference already. Certainly the #proud event was the start of making improvements to the way we communicate. Colleagues in AMU share their reasons for being #proud “We plan to ensure that we continue with these events so colleagues can continue to feel confident that they can have a say and contribute to the direction of our team. “And as we prepare for the Midland Met, we are offering cross site secondments for Band 6 colleagues and all new starters will be expected to rotate across City and Sandwell. It is a very exciting time ahead and our aim is to ensure everyone is happy at work which is essential for the team’s overall health and wellbeing. If the team are happy, our patients will be happy.” 21
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 and 10: Supporting colleagues - swabbing fo
Page 11 and 12: Celebrating our stars of the week S
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: Year of the Nurse and Midwife Each
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

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