Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Nicola Adams
opens Unit that cares for her Coach
Page 8
ng C e le b ratairs
Jessop Fertility Winter 2013
65 ye of the
Page 10 A magazine for staff and patients
Welcome to the Winter edition of LINK magazine. I am always incredibly proud to tell people I work for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and this edition of LINK demonstrates exactly why I feel that way. As well as the usual packed pages of news, we also feature the winners of this year’s Thank You Awards in which over 120 teams and individuals were nominated. This is the highest number we have ever had. Every single nomination was worthy of being a finalist and the extent to which our colleagues have gone above and beyond their paid roles to ensure we continue to provide safe, high quality, efficient care was staggering. Innovation played a key role in this year’s awards and indeed STH colleagues have also scooped the prestigious Medipex awards for Innovation in 3 of the 6 categories. New ways of working and increased partnership working between acute, community and social care colleagues was also very evident at the Thank You awards. This will be critical as we move into the winter period with all the challenges it brings and the need to ensure we can keep patients flowing through our services with limited delays. This will ensure we have the capacity to treat the increase in emergency patients we know we will see. Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your work so far this year and assure you that we will be doing everything possible to ensure we have robust plans in place to manage the winter pressures. But of course I am only too aware that the plans will only be successful with the support of you and your colleagues. I hope you enjoy reading the rest of the magazine.
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Recognising those behind the scenes
H
otel Services are one of the largest directorates within the Trust and provide a range of essential services that support the day to day running of the hospitals for example catering, domestics, laundry, security, portering, transport, car parking, accommodation, waste management.
Many of the 1800 staff in Hotel Services are dedicated employees that consistently provide outstanding levels of service or continually perform above and beyond expectations. However, due to the nature of their work this dedication can often go unoticed. As a result, the Hotel Services Management team have decided to introduce an employee of the quarter scheme. Below are the Hotel services colleagues who were nominated at the end of June this year:
Peter Mullins – Laundry
1st Place
Andrew Purvis – Domestics
2nd Place
Chris Peat – Transport
3rd Place
Adam Hinchcliffe – Portering
Merit
Craig Stevenson – Domestics
Merit
Emma Hague – Domestics
Merit
Frank Greathead – Catering
Merit
Jackie Morton – Catering
Merit
Katie Paterson – Domestics
Merit
Margaret Nelson – Domestics
Merit
Mark Owen – Domestics
Merit
Tracey Hague – Domestics
Merit
Peter Mullins was recognised for his prompt actions when he discovered a major steam leak in the laundry on a weekend. Peter quickly moved the other staff in the department to a safe environment, contacted Estates to get the steam shut and avoided thousands of pounds worth of potential damage to machinery. He then contacted a member of the management team to make them aware of the issue and cleared up any water caused by the leak. Peter said “I think the awards are a brilliant idea and I was honoured to have been nominated and very proud to receive first prize, both for myself and the department”. Second place went to Andrew Purvis. Andrew’s substantive role is that of supervisor at Firth Park Clinic. However, his flexibility and support is invaluable to the Domestic Management team. Andrew goes above and beyond the call of duty on a continuous basis to make sure services in the community are maintained and in many ways is our first stage contingency plan. Third place went to Chris Peat, who managed to keep services running despite the Waste Compactor breaking down for 3 days. Chris emptied all the black household
bins by hand, thus preventing waste backing up on the Wards. I’m sure most people can appreciate just how much waste is produced across the NGH in a single day and how busy Chris must have been. All nominees were extremely pleased with being nominated and the recognition received for their continued efforts.
Winner Peter Mullins with Director of Hotel Services Kevin O’Regan
Patients give Hospitals top marks for cleanliness, dignity and food standards
The Trust has received praise for ward cleanliness, respecting patient’s dignity and the quality of food from independent inspectors as part of a new national set of assessments to ensure high standards are met.
W
e were a pilot centre for the innovative Patient Led-Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) which give staff and patients the opportunity to be inspectors in a bid to drive improvements in care settings. The inspectors looked at four key areas which were scored out
of 100%. The Northern General, Royal Hallamshire (which includes the Jessop Wing) and Weston Park Hospitals as well as Beech Hill Intermediate Care Unit all scored over 99% for cleanliness, over 93% for privacy, dignity and wellbeing, over 90% for condition, appearance & maintenance and ranged from 87% - 96% for food. Kevin O’Regan, Hotel Services Director, said: “These assessments are a fantastic way to give patients
and the public a voice that can be heard in any discussion about local standards of care. Our staff have worked extremely hard to deliver good standards in the four key domains of PLACE in all our Trust facilities. We work in partnership with ward staff and infection control specialists to enhance cleaning standards and introduced rapid-response and deep clean teams as part of the ongoing drive to prevent infections. This has already helped
to reduce infections including a 40% reduction in Cdifficile cases compared to 2011/12. Ward refurbishments/upgrades have also improved environmental standards on an ongoing basis and we continue to provide good nutrition and hydration, with a greater choice of food for our patients. This will improve further by 2014 following completion of our £7+ million catering infrastructure investment. Whilst we have posted an excellent set of results we will continue to make every effort to sustain and improve our scores, wherever possible, to deliver our key objective to provide high quality services for our patients.”
Cancer patients praise care in Sheffield A comprehensive review of NHS cancer care by the Department of Health has found that our patients receive excellent care. The 2013 National Cancer Patient Experience Survey rated STH within the top 20% of Trusts in various areas, including: • Staff always treating patients with respect and dignity • Staff giving complete explanations of what would be done
• S taff doing everything they could to control pain 91% of patients rated their overall care as ‘excellent’ or ’very good’ which is higher than the national average of 88%. The Trust did not score in the lowest 20% of Trusts for any of the questions in the survey, which was designed to monitor national progress on cancer care and to provide information that could be used to drive local quality improvements.
Chris Morley, Deputy Chief Nurse, said: “I am delighted that the 2013 National Cancer Patient Experience Survey has rated our services so highly. This survey is an excellent way for us to review our care and I am pleased to say we have seen improvements from last year’s positive report. All of our staff are passionate about the care that they give to patients and we pride ourselves on giving a professional high quality caring service.” Page 3 • Link - Winter 2013
Tell us what YOU think
For the first time, EVERYONE who works for the Trust has the chance to tell me where we are doing well and where we could do better. As you know we recently introduced the Friends and Family test to see how many of our patients would recommend our services/care. I feel it is equally important to know how the people working in our hospitals and community services feel too.
W
e have therefore decided to use the NHS staff survey to enable ALL staff to give their views and as a result have the opportunity to be part of future improvements. Usually only around 850 staff are randomly selected to participate in the survey which I do not feel gives a full picture of you and your colleagues views. Taking part in the survey is also important because the results often determine whether or not we achieve the national targets we are set each year. These impact on our funding, the amount of monitoring we are put under and the reputation we have with patients. I know the survey is long and you may feel you don’t have the time, but I would be very grateful if you could complete it. You can do it in work time or at home if you prefer. It can also be completed by phone on 0800 587 3115. The last date to post the survey is 30th November 2013. Your responses are confidential and no-one at the Trust sees them because they are collected and analysed by the survey provider Page 4 • Link - Winter 2013
Capita. If you require further information about the survey please contact Rhian Bishop, Staff Engagement Coordinator on ext 14453 or Rhian.bishop@sth.nhs.uk. We will tell you the results once we have them and more importantly about some of the suggestions received and actions planned. Thank you and I look forward to hearing your views.
All completed surveys will automatically be entered in to a prize draw (through Capita) where you have the chance to win one of three tables for two to enjoy a festive lunch. The prizes have been kindly donated by The Rutland Hotel in Sheffield.
Chief Executive
Your feedback makes a difference Through previous surveys and adhoc suggestions we have been able to act on your ideas. This has made a huge impact in many cases for the benfit of colleagues throughout the Trust:
You Said
We did
Senior managers could be more visible
-Andrew Cash, Chief Executive has held more ‘let’s talk’ road shows across the Trust and in departments. -Senior managers are now doing clinical shifts and can be identified in a navy uniform with red piping.
The Trust could do more for our health and well being
This year we have: - Held Health and wellbeing festivals - Introduced initiatives such as health checks/ walking to work with the breakfast club - A fast track muscoskeletal service for staff has been piloted. The service is designed to help staff who suffer back or other musculoskeletal ijuries or conditions. This acces to treatment has already been proven to reduce the amount of days colleagues have had off sick.
We want to be more involved in suggesting improvements
- More focus groups to get staff views are being held across the Trust - Microsystems coaching has been introduced - Some areas such as Hotel services have introduced suggestion boxes
We want a good quality appraisal and the right training and development for our job
A new appraisal system has been introduced based on the PROUD values. That more than 3,000 staff suggested.
We want more shuttle buses to be provided at peak times
This was investigated with the bus company but unfortunately as this would mean hiring another bus for a whole day it wouldn’t be cost effective.
There is a lack of car parking
In the last two years, 424 additional car parking spaces have been provided at the Northern General Hospital of which 55% are designated for staff.
We want staff at all levels to have their views listened to
This year everyone at the Trust has received a staff survey questionnaire at work. This can be filled in during work time or taken home as you prefer – please complete it and return it to our survey provider Capita as soon as possible.
Outcome
Australian transplant patients visit our facilities
Team Australia paid a visit to staff and patients at the renal and dialysis units at the Northern General Hospital during their time in Sheffield for the international Transplant Games. They were very impressed with the facilities and all the dedicated team work they witnessed.
SOHWS Recognised for Supporting Staff The Sheffield Occupational Health & Wellbeing service (SOHWS) has recently achieved accreditation following two years of preparation and a full days audit. The Service is now formally recognised as having the required high level of competence to deliver against
the measures in the Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Services (SEQOHS) standards. The SEQOHS auditors were highly complimentary about the high quality of the service and requested that several initiatives are shared throughout the country as exemplars of best practice. For more information visit http://www.seqohs.org/
Ten by Ten A new initiative called ‘Ten by Ten’ has been launched in an attempt to free up acute beds earlier in the morning. All NGH wards have been asked to identify two patients a day to be brought down to the Discharge Lounge by 10am, so each ward will be sending 10 patients a week. Staff from the Discharge Lounge will help facilitate this by visiting wards late in the afternoon to meet and greet the patients identified for discharge the next day and explain to them what will happen in the morning. Chris Hayden, Deputy General Manager Clinical
Operations, said: “We appreciate that some wards may find it difficult to identify two patients a day but we would encourage them to identify as many as possible. Any increase in the number of beds available earlier in the day would go a long way in improving the care experience of our patients.” The Discharge Lounge is fully staffed by qualified Nurses and Support Workers and can take both seated and patients requiring beds. If you have any questions about this initiative please do not hesitate to contact the Discharge Lounge Sister, Tricia Purnell on 15066. Page 5 • Link - Winter 2013
Annual Thank Y ou
recognises amazing staff
A
physiotherapist who has reduced the time many cystic fibrosis patients spend in hospital, a house keeper that has made a remarkable difference to a cardiology ward and a Community Matron who has inspired colleagues with her passion for patient care
are just a few of the stars awarded at the Trust’s annual Thank You Awards. Among the winners were Anne Clegg who collected the Lifetime Achievement Award for her 35 years hard work at the Trust. Anne, a Macmillan Lung Cancer Nurse specialist represents
North Trent as the Network Lead Mesothelioma nurse. In this role she participated in the development of the national mesothelioma guidelines which ensure patients receive optimal treatments. The Award ceremony was a great send off before her retirement next year. Anne said: “It was a great shock when I realised
my name had been announced as the winner, considering the competition! Thank you to everyone who was involved.” Sir Andrew Cash presented the Healthcare Hero award in which the winner is chosen by the readers of the Sheffield Star. The public voted for the A&E Team for their 24/7
And the winners are…
Gift of Time Award
Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner Diabetic Foot Team Highly Commended Charlotte Hinchliffe Physio Technical Instructer Highly Commended MAU Highly Commended Margaret Glaves Community matron
Winner Richard Allcroft ASPIRE Volunteer Highly Commended Kaye Meegan and Jo Bishop Highly Commended League of Friends
Winner Anne Clegg Highly Commended Chris Bryer Highly Commended Prof. Wes Vernon
Innovation and Service Improvement Award
Behind the Scenes Award
Value for Money
Winner Dr Peter Metherall Highly Commended L Floor Neuro Team
Winner Linda Jackson Highly Commended Ian Battey Highly Commended Goura Kudesia
Winner Pharmacy Team Highly Commended OSCCA Supplies Team Highly Commended RHH Orthopaedic Theatre Team
Quality Care Award
Highly Commended Plastic Surgery Outpatient Team
Healthcare Hero Customer Care Award Winner Susan Hurst Highly Commended Podiatry Services Highly Commended Radiology Admin and Clerical Team Page 6 • Link - Winter 2013
Winner A&E Team Highly Commended Kathryn Hogg Highly Commended Specialist Nurses Organ Donation Highly Commended Rachel Walker Nurse Specialist Highly Commended Ann Riley Housekeeper
Awards dedication to delivering the best emergency care for 1000’s of people every year. Celebrity entertainer Shaun Williamson hosted the evening, to celebrate the achievements of staff from across the Trust. Over 240 members of staff attended the event with teams and individuals nominated by
their colleagues and managers for awards ranging from quality care to behind the scenes. This year’s awards ceremony was made extra special with performances from Seven Bar Bridge, the Primary Care Addiction Service’s recovery band and also the award winning Voice of the Jessop Wing Choir.
Over 200 new car parking spaces
Two new car parks have opened at the Northern General Hospital. The largest of the two at the north of the site will provide 160 extra spaces designated for staff. To ensure that the new spaces also benefit patients and visitors, an existing staff car park located in a prime location for accessing clinical services has been converted to public parking. The Trust is also taking this opportunity to provide a number of spaces that will be protected for those staff working unsocial hours. This additional capacity will also have the added benefit of reducing congestion caused by vehicles searching for spaces and provide a safer environment for pedestrians. Planning permission has also just been granted for an additional sixty two spaces in the central part of the hospital campus and work will start on this development imminently.
Health and Wellbeing Winner Kirsten Johnson Jessop Wing Choir Highly Commended Claudia Westby Travel Plan Co-ordinator Highly Commended Orthopaedic Morale Committee
Centre celebrates
being LGB and over 50
T
he Centre for HIV and Sexual Health (CHIV) celebrated Sheffield’s older Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) community as part of national Older Peoples Week. CHIV launched a photo exhibition featuring local LGB models alongside a new booklet ‘LGB@50plus’ which includes health and wellbeing information
for older LGB people alongside the captivating photos from the exhibition. The exhibition and booklet were kindly funded by.... The exhibition at the Circle Building on Rockingham Lane is open until 22 November and aims to raise awareness of the thousands of LGB people aged fifty plus in our area and celebrates their journey as individuals and as a community.
Leadership Award Winner Dr Fionuala Creagh, Diabetes Consultant Highly Commended Peter Blair Highly Commended Matron Jane Coates Chief Executive, Andrew Cash said: “I am very proud of all our staff and their tremendous achievements, which are the basis for this organisation’s success and for the excellent quality of care provided to patients. This is the ninth year that we have held our Thank you awards and as ever the standard of nominations was exceptionally high. The individuals short-listed for the Thank you awards have worked above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that the needs of our patients are at the core of everything we do.”
Steve Slack Director for HIV at the launch Page 7 • Link - Winter 2013
Olympic Gold Medallist Officially Opens Unit that Cares for her Coach London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist Nicola Adams MBE joined patients and staff to officially open the clinical Immunology and Allergy Unit (CIAU) which provides treatment for her Coach, Alwyn Belcher.
A
lwyn, 78, from Burncross, Sheffeld suffers from a condition which lowers his immune system. He has been receiving treatment in Sheffield for the past 45 years and comes to the new CIAU every three weeks to have an infusion (drip) to give him the antibodies his body needs to fight infection. Last year saw the relocation of the clinical Immunology and Allergy Unit (CIAU) at the Northern General Hospital. The new Unit offers a larger capacity day case area, more consulting rooms, and improved facilities and comfort for patients and staff.
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Alwyn said: “My care has been fantastic and given me the strength to do the job that I love. The new unit is an absolute dream for us patients, the facilities and staff are brilliant. Before I started to have treatment for my condition I was ill a lot of the time and regularly suffered with things like pneumonia, septicaemia and bronchitis. These days I feel great and I only have to go in every 21days whereas it was once a week before.” Alwyn has taught the likes of Amir Khan, Naseem Hamed, and has been training Nicola Adams who won the first ever Olympic Women’s Boxing Gold Medal, since she was 15.
He added: “By keeping healthy I have been able to train some of the world’s top Olympic boxers and Nicola’s success is the icing on the cake, so it’s great that she is coming to support the unit.” Nicola joined a guided tour of the new Unit and spoke to staff about the work the Unit does to help improve hundreds of patients’ quality of life. Anna Shrimpton, Consultant Immunologist, said: “We were delighted to welcome Nicola Adams to come and show her support for the unit that keeps her coach, Alwyn, fighting fit. We have a
multidisciplinary group of dedicated staff providing a high quality, specialised allergy and immunology service which is going from strength to strength. We see adult patients from Sheffield and surrounding areas, including Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Chesterfield. We offer outpatient appointments for assessment, diagnosis and advice on treatment of allergies, along with education and training, immunotherapy injections and challenge testing. We also offer an outpatient and day case service for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with immune deficiencies such as Alwyn. The new location of the Unit allows easier access for patients and a new patient kitchen allows for preparation of allergy food challenge tests, the large kitchen/ meeting room and offices on site allow for flexibility of care, better and faster communication within the team and whole team meetings.”
Bev Stoke Day Unit
Top Marks for Day Surgery Staff at the Bev Stokes Day Surgery Unit perform operations and procedures for patients that are able to go home later the same day.
O
ver 3400 operations were carried out at the Unit at the Northern General Hospital between April 2012-2013. Day Surgery provides a wide range of orthopaedic, vascular, renal, pain management general surgery and neurosurgery day case operations. Anna Hayes, Lead Practitioner at the Unit, said: “Day surgery is an exciting speciality which constantly moves forward. The team are ever responsive to the demands of the service and the needs of the patients.” The unit has space for 16 patient trolleys. There are two theatres with anaesthetic rooms, a minor operation room, 1st and 2nd stage recovery areas and consulting rooms that are also used for pre-operative assessment. Anna added: “The team have
the philosophy that the patient is always at the centre of everything that we do. We build strong relationships with our patients from the minute they arrive in the unit concentrating on their psychological well being as well as their physical recovery. Effective post operative information relating to advise and care following discharge from the unit ensures the patient continues to recover at home surrounded by their family and friends.” Trust Public Governor, Mrs Joyce Justice, experienced the excellent level of care first hand when she attended the Unit in August for facet joint injections (steroids) into her back. Joyce said: “All the staff were very friendly and helpful and despite me being very nervous, I was made to feel at ease. I thought the large poster on the wall in the waiting area
that showed in pictures, what happens to patients on their visit , stage by stage, was an excellent idea as it was very informative. Also the TV that was on bbc1 in this area certainly helped to take my mind of the procedure I was going to have.” “Because I was so nervous I requested some sedation to help relax me from Dr Gupta, my consultant who performed the injections. After the procedure I was wheeled into another area along with other patients. The nurses could not do enough for us, despite them being very busy, they were very attentive making us cups of coffee and toast and checking that we were alright. I asked some of the nurses if they were happy working in the unit and one in particular I spoke to said she would not want to work anywhere else.” “All in all I give all the Unit
top marks for their caring and friendly approach to patients and working well together. They made the atmosphere in the unit feel informal which in my opinion does help to break down barriers and takes that clinical aspect away. Dr Gupta came out to check on his patients including me before we went home after the procedure. He is always very approachable, friendly, caring and easy to talk to and always has time to listen.”
Lead Practitioner Anna Hayes with Joyce Justice Page 9 • Link - Winter 2013