Bulletin Autumn 2019

staff magazine | Autumn 2019

Staff takeover!

Contents

| www.leedsth.nhs.uk 4 Over to you: Anne Melhuish - LIAT 6 Prime Minister visits pathology services 7 Over to you: Gillian Hodgson Hand hygiene, a history 8 Over to you: John Eveleigh – The quiet revolution of Health Records 10 Critical Care Unit refurb 11 Over to you: Tracy Campey - Wave of light 12 Over to you: Chris Edwards Riding the UCI Sportive 14 Organ Donation Month 2019

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Over to you: Anne Melhuish - LIAT

Prime Minister visits pathology services

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Meet your Junior Doctor Body

18 Over to you: Junior Doctors OPTIN overseas 20

My Job – Sophie Blow

5 Over to you: Hawa Bah supporting the victims of FGM 22

Farewells

24 Donations 6

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Record-breaking year for health research

Over to you: Chris Edwards - UCI round-up

25 Leeds Cares corner - Radiology water bottles 26 60 Seconds - Debbie Galindez

Bulletin is produced quarterly by the Communications Department.

Photography by Medical Illustration Design by Octagon Design & Marketing Ltd Send your feedback, ideas and suggestions for the next edition to communications.lth@nhs.net or call exts. 64303/66494/66244.

Copy deadline is 6th January 2020 For more news on a daily basis from LTHT please follow us on social media: 16

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Meet your JDB

Over to you: Junior Doctors overseas

search for ‘Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’

@LeedsHospitals

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News

Delight as the Government gives the go-ahead to build two new hospitals in Leeds There was delight all round after the Government gave the full go-ahead for our Trust to build two new hospitals at Leeds General Infirmary.

We were one of six Trusts that will be given a share of £2.7 billion new money in a first wave of funding from the Treasury for: • an adults’ hospital that will be stateof-the-art, with new theatres for day case procedures and added critical care facilities.

• a new children’s hospital bringing together services for children and young people in a building purposebuilt for their needs.

“This is amazing news. It will be a significant investment in health services for patients from Leeds and the wider region and a oncein-a-generation opportunity for the city of Leeds.”

LTHT Chief Executive, Julian Hartley, said it was “wonderful news.”

“This is an historic development in the future of patient care in Leeds and the wider region,” he said. “This investment will enable the Trust to take a huge leap forward in how it delivers care for patients from Leeds and beyond.

“The benefits of this funding will be farreaching. We will be able to develop

healthcare based on advanced medical and digital technologies, innovation and research.”

Many buildings on the LGI site are not fit for modern healthcare, and the Trust spends large amounts maintaining them.

The new funding allows the development of a modern, environmentally sustainable and efficient hospital site.

It also releases land and buildings to support the development of a new Innovation District for Leeds.

Linda Pollard, CBE DL Hon LLD, Chair of LTHT said: “This is amazing news. It will be a significant investment in health services for patients from Leeds and the wider region and a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the city of Leeds.”

A number of stages need completing before the Trust can start building the new hospitals, but construction is expected to take around three years once it is underway.

Welcome to the Autumn issue of Bulletin!

I always enjoy speaking to staff across our hospitals and hearing first-hand the passion they have for their patients, their work, and their profession. Whether it’s a project to reduce wasteful practices, improve the patient experience, make life better for colleagues, or by simply living The Leeds Way in everything they do, I’m constantly amazed by the effort and energy made by our staff day-in, day-out.

Which is why I’m very pleased that this issue of Bulletin is dedicated to you and your stories. This is about hearing the voices of our staff who are passionate about making change, and making a difference. It’s about hearing the tales of dedication, innovation, success, and the things that make people tick.

So read on to hear about overseas healthcare projects, the end of an era in our medical records library, lighting the wave of light, and more. I hope you find inspiration from what our colleagues are doing to reach their goals and help make their department, their profession, or indeed the world, a better place. Which just leaves me to say: “Over to you!”

Kind regards

Julian Hartley, Chief Executive

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Over to you: Anne Melhuish on ‘lab in a tube’, influenza, and healthcare economics Anne Melhuish, ST5 Virology & Infectious Diseases Trainee, spends half her time working in virology and the other half in a more patientfacing role with the Infectious Diseases team.

Here she tells the story of how a lab in a tube has been helping achieve rapid diagnosis of influenza, and how this is impacting on patient care. Anne, over to you…

“Influenza (flu) peaks every year during winter, and can make patients very unwell, particularly the young, vulnerable and elderly. It is important to diagnose flu for a number of reasons - it allows us to understand why patients are ill, and helps us to direct their treatment, such as prescribing antivirals whilst avoiding antibiotics. It also allows us to correctly isolate patients, limiting the spread of flu within the hospital.

“The best diagnostic test for flu is called PCR. It is a very accurate test but can take a while to perform. Normally, respiratory samples are transported to the Molecular Laboratory at the LGI where they are processed in batches.

Results can take up to 48 hours. During this time patients may be receiving unnecessary investigations or treatments, or kept in isolation when they don’t need to be. It’s clear a faster pathway would be helpful.

“This is where a new technology comes in. The cobas Liat “lab in a tube” point of care test (POCT) shrinks laboratory processes into a machine roughly the size

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of a videogame console. The patient’s sample is placed into a cassette which contains all the chemicals needed to perform a PCR test for flu. The cassette is placed into the machine, and a result is produced after 20 minutes. The accuracy is as good as the laboratory.

“On top of that, the machine is very easy to use. Whilst the normal laboratory route requires the work of highly skilled

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scientists, anyone can be trained to use the Liat in a few hours.

“Led by Dr Jane Minton, point of care testing using the Liat was introduced as a pilot programme in our Emergency Departments during the 2017-2018 flu season. The feedback was very good, but we were keen to demonstrate through analysis of the data that the POCT is an asset for patients, staff, and the Trust.

“I pulled together results from the first 204 patients to have a POCT in the emergency department, then compared them to 104 patients who had flu testing using the usual laboratory process.

This data was sent to Joe Selfridge and Mitalee Pisavadia from our Patient Level Information Costing System (PLICS) team who generated an individual cost for each of the 308 patients. The Health Economics department at the University of Leeds then ran a statistical analysis, the results of which were eye-opening – the POCT created a mean saving of about £1,500 per patient.

Labs of the future?

“Point of care PCR testing has the potential to be used for a whole range of pathogens, especially where a rapid result is desirable. For the upcoming winter season, we will be using Liat cassettes which test for flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) at the same time. RSV is a common but potentially serious virus which particularly affects babies and children during late autumn and early winter.

“Similar technology can be used to produce rapid results for high consequence infectious diseases. An example is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) - an uncommon but very serious respiratory virus. Usually, suspected MERS samples are sent to Birmingham for testing, creating a long delay which can be challenging to manage as the patient remains in high level isolation until the result is available.

Whilst any MERS test would need to be performed in the safety of the LGI molecular laboratory, the potential benefits of having a rapid diagnostic test on-site can be easily imagined.

“It’s a very exciting time, with machines like the Liat providing reliability and accuracy alongside portability and speed. They support doctors in making diagnoses and help patients receive the right treatment, in the right location, more rapidly. Furthermore, the savings potential - whether through patient length of stay, interventions or staff hours - is huge.”

Feature

Over to you: Hawa Bah on supporting victims of FGM in Leeds and across the North In September, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care announced the launch of new community-based clinics to support non-pregnant women who have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), with Leeds being chosen to host the clinic for the North of England.

The service is being delivered by LTHT, working alongside Leeds CCG and Touchstone who will provide mental health support and advocacy to women attending the clinic.

Hawa Bah, an FGM advocate who works at Touchstone talks about why the clinic is so important to women not only in Leeds but across the North. Over to you…

“For me it is about providing a voice for these women, and some trans men, who have been subjected to FGM but have not previously had anywhere they can go or anyone that they can speak to.

“My experience of FGM is horrible

“The clinic is important in giving these people confidence, encourage them to be strong against FGM. and I want to help ensure that we stop this practice. I am a survivor and know what it is like to go through the experience and the aftermath. For me, I found it excruciatingly painful. I was in pain when I went to the toilet, sex can be extremely painful and many women experience problems with childbirth. So I know exactly what these women and some trans men are going through.

“There are many health risks with the FGM procedure, with the same knife often being used to cut a number of girls. The pain

is unbearable with many victims bleeding for days afterwards.

Girls have also been known to die following the procedure, which is done without any anaesthetic or protection from infection.

Anything that we can do to support these women and educate people can only be a positive thing which is another reason that this clinic is so vital.

“The clinic is important in giving these people confidence, encourage them to be strong against FGM. It is important that we are socialising these women and trans men, offering them emotional and physical support so that the same thing does not happen to their daughters.”

Leeds is one of eight sites nationally that will be piloting the project. The success of the project, which will run for two years, will rest upon the outcomes measured at each of the sites in promoting health and wellbeing.

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Prime Minister visits Leeds pathology services Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the pathology services at Leeds General Infirmary in August where he met staff and heard about our plans for Building the Leeds Way including a new home for pathology.

The visit came on the back of the announcement by the Department of Health of £12m additional funding to develop a single Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) across West Yorkshire and Harrogate with partners in the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts.

During his visit the Prime Minister heard about the benefits this investment will bring for both staff and patients.

Staff gave him a tour of the Blood Science Laboratory where he heard from members of the laboratory team about

the great work they do which includes processing the many thousands of blood samples received from across the region every day.

The visit showcased the great work of the teams in Leeds as well as maintaining the Trust’s visibility at a national level.

The Prime Minister also joined a focus group of staff from a variety of professions and CSUs and heard a range of experiences about working in the NHS. He was also interested to hear about the Leeds Improvement Method and how it is used to improve the services for patients and bring about efficiencies across the Trust.

Record-breaking year for health research participation at Leeds Teaching Hospitals LTHT has broken its record for the number of people taking part in health research after recruiting nearly 21,000 people during 2018/19.

In the next year a new 18 bed state of the art Clinical Research Facility would open at St James’s to further increase dedicated research facilities in the city.

Figures from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) show that LTHT recruited 20,983 people in 2018/19, the 4th highest ranked NHS Trust for health research recruitment in the country.

“Furthermore, a refreshed fiveyear Research Strategy will focus on enabling our staff to be the most research-engaged in the country, ensuring patients receive every opportunity to take part in leading edge health research,” she added.

The Trust was also 8th in the number of research studies recruited to – supporting 453 studies in the last financial year. It was also the top NHS Trust in Yorkshire and the Humber for recruitment across all studies.

The results are a 66% increase in health research participation at LTHT since 2016/17.

Dr Jacqueline Andrews, Director of Research and Innovation (R&I)

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at LTHT, thanked those who took part and said the results were a tremendous achievement for all the R&I teams and patients who contributed over the last year.

Jonathan Sheffield, Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR Clinical Research Network said there is growing evidence suggesting that researchactive hospitals have lower mortality rates and better patient outcomes.

He added that the NIHR Clinical Research Network would continue to work closely with the NHS to ensure that research continues to be offered as part of quality patient care.

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Feature

Over to you: Gillian Hodgson on hand hygiene and the ‘saviour of the mothers’ corpses to examining patients without observing any kind of hand hygiene.

“Semmelweis’ work led to the introduction of hand hygiene practice on the maternity ward where he was the medical director; significantly reducing postpartum deaths among women and earning him the moniker ‘the saviour of the mothers’.

Hand hygiene is considered by many working in healthcare as the single most important tool in preventing the spread of healthcare-acquired infections. Gillian Hodgson, Head of Nursing and Deputy Director for Infection Prevention and Control, explains how it all came about.

Over to you...

“What most people don’t know is that this practice was first discovered nearly 180 years ago by a Hungarian physician called Ignaz P. Semmelweis. His work has undoubtedly saved millions and millions of lives worldwide ever since.

“Although initially ridiculed for his proposal, Semmelweis used vigorous statistical analysis to prove that women and babies on a maternity ward at Vienna General Hospital in Austria were being exposed to infections transferred on the hands of surgeons who did not scrub up before surgery or wash their hands between patients. In fact, doctors and medical students even moved from dissecting

“Fast forward to 2019 and hand hygiene is totally embedded in today’s infection prevention and control practice. Or is it?

“Despite the huge focus on IPC over the last decade, compliance with the practice has peaked and troughed leading to potentially serious consequences for patients.

“In Leeds, we’ve seen a steady decline in compliance and an increase in infections over the last year. Most recently we’ve experienced some cases of Carbapenemaseproducing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), which is a group of bacteria that are highly resistant to the powerful carbapenam antibiotics, extremely difficult to treat and can be fatal.

“One question we always get asked is ‘do I have to wash my hands between every patient contact or can I use hand sanitiser instead’? The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the following: • Clean your hands by rubbing them with an alcohol-based formulation, as the preferred mean for routine

hygienic hand antisepsis if hands are not visibly soiled.

• Wash your hands with soap and water when hands are visibly dirty or visibly soiled with blood or other body fluids or after using the toilet.

• If exposure to potential spore-forming pathogens is strongly suspected or proven, including outbreaks of Clostridium difficile, hand washing with soap and water is the preferred means.

“According to the WHO, a number of studies have identified that healthcare workers can pick up and transfer bacteria from even ‘clean contact’ such as taking a pulse, temperature or blood pressure as well as the more recognised routes such as wound care, intravascular catheter care and handling secretions.

“It’s easy therefore to see that even with simple patient contact there is a risk of cross contamination. In many cases, the bacteria that don’t cause harm to one patient can lead to serious illness for another and because you can’t see them, you don’t know that you’re passing them on.

“As more and more patients require monitoring and medical interventions, it is more important than ever that all healthcare workers and colleagues entering clinical areas wash their hands with soap and water and use hand sanitiser.”

HSJ Award wins for LTHT staff Leeds Teaching Hospitals, in collaboration with PA consulting won the 2019 HSJ Partnerships award for ‘Healthcare Analytics Provider of the Year.

This was a joint project with PA consulting using existing Theatre data from Wharfedale Hospital, David Beevers Day Unit, Chancellor Wing, and Chapel Allerton Hospital to create a Theatre scheduling tool dashboard. The dashboard uses surgical data by specific surgeons and elective procedures to help ensure lists are booked appropriately, maximising the use of available theatre capacity and resources, whilst reducing late starts and late finishes. The dashboard also supports schedulers by giving a direct link to surgical waiting

lists which shows the most appropriate patient to fill any remaining gaps within a theatre list. As a result of this work an additional 500 procedures have been undertaken through these theatres.

PA Consulting worked with the Trust, to develop, test and roll out the scheduling

dashboard with our surgical, anaesthetic, theatre, and administrative colleagues over a period of four months in 2018. In April 2019 PA Consulting were welcomed back to the Trust to support the further roll out of this technology within theatres at Leeds Children’s Hospital, where early results are equally encouraging.

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Over to you: John Eveleigh on embracing change, the end of an era, and the ‘quiet revolution’ of Health Records Behind each patient appointment and admission is a set of health records stretching back to the patient’s birth. These records have to be kept somewhere, and the libraries in the Trust have been the principle home for paper-based records since 1975. This year, the LGI Medical Record Library closed its doors for the last time, a milestone in a long-term plan to digitally scan each record in the Trust. John Eveleigh, Senior Manager, Corporate & Health Records, updates on the story so far. Over to you, John…

“The Trust’s Health Records Service is undergoing a quiet revolution. As the Trust embarks on its Digital journey – migrating from a predominantly paper-based record keeping system to a comprehensive Electronic Health Record – the service traditionally provided by the Health Records department has adapted.

“The department was one of the first to adopt ‘Lean’ methodology - with daily ‘start-up’ meetings and performance monitoring. Following this, we decided to focus on the quality of our service.

This led to our Quality Action Plan in which the team identified areas where service improvement was required. Our action plan is reviewed annually, with all areas of the department feeding into it.

Progress is tracked through our weekly performance meetings.

The Health Records department comprises: • Health Records Libraries, providing a comprehensive storage and retrieval service for wards and departments within the Trust.

• Acute Health Records Team - providing a 24/7 service to wards - supporting the provision of records for patients admitted acutely.

• Internal Scanning Team which provides a ‘pick-up and scan’ service to over 20 wards and several out-patient clinics - for those services on the ‘paperless’ journey

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Feature

that are still producing paper (if that makes sense!).

• Quality Team who manage significant health records related projects including the contract with Restore, our secondary storage partner.

“The transformation of our service, due to the focus on quality, has been significant.

The department was very proud to have this recognised when it received the Executive Team’s nomination, and subsequent award, at this year’s Time to Shine Awards!

So… what are we getting excited about?

“Plenty! We’ve reorganised all of our libraries, ensuring that we provide a better service - and ensuring that they are ‘closed’ libraries - meaning that access to staff from other departments is restricted.

All of this has been achieved without increasing the overall establishment of the Health Records department - which is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire team!

“We’ve removed over 315,000 non-current patient records from our shelves (a huge undertaking as every single record has to be handled, tracked, boxed and the correct retention period assigned).

“This September we reduced our libraries

from four to three - closing the Brotherton Wing Library, helping us to improve our productivity (a considerable effort as every record had to be individually tracked and re-filed within the library at St James’s).

standards - to ensure that records are legally admissible. At Wharfedale, Chapel Allerton, and Seacroft we have created staffed ‘scanning hubs’- ensuring that the ‘pick-up and scan service’ is delivered more efficiently.

“Earlier this year we re-established an Internal Scanning Team - who operate a comprehensive pick up and scan service to a number of wards and departments. So far in 2019 the team have captured over 2.5 million images (the equivalent of 2,500 reams of paper that would have otherwise been stored in medical records folders).

The scanning team operate to demanding

“Working with colleagues in the Referral and Booking Service we introduced the concept of ‘virtual’ records - so that ‘hard’ folders are only established for patients if they are entering a service that does not yet operate paperless/paper-light.

“We have also significantly reduced the number of temporary records in circulation by having a proactive approach to the amalgamation with the original record, ensuring that a full record is available at the point of consultation (each temporary record created requires approximately 15 minutes Health Records department time to re-unite with the original record).

“This year over 1,000 A4 boxes have been sent to our Scanning Bureau partners, helping reduce significant bulk in the medical records folders by removing and scanning historic nursing documentation (by carefully selecting the relevant documents one folder at a time).

“All of this has been achieved without increasing the overall establishment of the Health Records department - which is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire team! Moving forward we anticipate that we will be fully involved in implementing the Trust’s scanning strategy. We aiming to scan - to the new Alfresco repository - all historic records of current patients - with full optical character recognition searchability, viewable within PPM+.”

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Family areas refurbished in Critical Care Units stressful and worrying time.

Some of the family areas on the Critical Care Units at Leeds General Infirmary have been refurbished thanks to the Organ Donation committee at Leeds Teaching Hospitals with funding from NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).

“Critical Care units are a very different environment to a normal hospital ward and can be a daunting place to visit,” she said. “Having a dedicated and comfortable area for our families to spend time away from the clinical setting is invaluable and makes a real difference.”

It has helped to provide a warm, friendly area for relatives to rest and wait during what can be a stressful and emotional time.

The Critical Care Units at LGl look after nearly 5,400 patients every year and, due to the nature of critical care, families can spend a lot of time there as their relatives receive care.

The NHSBT has also funded furniture for staff to use during break times - a recognition of their efforts that go

above and beyond what is expected for patient and family care.

Dr Claire Tordoff, Clinical Lead for Organ Donation and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at LTHT, said having a loved one in intensive care is a

Simon Riley-Fuller, Head of Nursing for Adult Critical Care, said the donation of the furniture in the staff room has also had a huge impact on colleagues. “They are so pleased that the room is comfortable and refreshed. Everyone loves it and we’re so proud of how it looks.”

Leeds dietitian honoured with prestigious lifetime achievement award from the British Dietetic Association diabetes working group and was instrumental in developing a national education curriculum for paediatric diabetes dietitians.

Congratulations to Frances Hanson, a Leeds Children’s Hospital dietician who has been awarded a prestigious Lifetime Achievement award from the British Dietetic Association (BDA), the professional body for dietitians in the UK.

She still plays an important national role and in 2017 was the first paediatric diabetes dietitian to become a Diabetes UK Clinical Champion.

The Ibex Award is the highest honour presented to a member of the BDA and is only given to those who have made significant contributions to the profession. It recognises personal

It is the culmination of all this work that led to Frances being nominated for the Ibex award.

Said Frances: “There will always be a role for nutrition, healthy lifestyles and exercise management alongside technology. It’s a really exciting time to work in diabetes and we’re lucky enough in Leeds to be at the forefront of these developments.”

“It’s a really exciting time to work in diabetes and we’re lucky enough in Leeds to be at the forefront of these developments.” commitment of at least five years to the profession, being active in the work of the BDA at regional or national level, and promoting the highest standards in the science and practice of dietetics.

Frances trained to be a dietitian 29

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years ago at Leeds Polytechnic (now Beckett University) and for the past 17 years has been at Leeds Teaching Hospitals – 15 of them as a specialist in paediatric diabetes.

In 2007 she co-founded the BDA’s specialist paediatric

Chief Executive Julian Hartley said, “This is a fantastic recognition of Frances’ dedication and hard work.

With her support, hundreds - if not thousands - of children and young people have grown up with the tools and techniques to manage their condition and live their best life.”

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News

Celebration event to mark £420,000 raised in memory of Dr Kate Granger

Over to you: Tracy Campey on helping bereaved parents come together through the annual ‘Wave of Light’ Every year, thousands of people in the UK are affected by the death of a baby or experience pregnancy loss. For the past two years, the Trust has invited bereaved families to come together in a ‘Wave of Light’ during Baby Loss Awareness Week in memory of babies who have gone too soon. Here’s Tracy Campey, Bereavement Midwife and the organiser of this year’s event, on why this is important to her.

Over to you…

“Baby Loss Awareness Week is crucial in raising awareness as it helps towards breaking the taboo around baby loss.

Sadly the death of a baby is not rare.

Every day in the UK around 15 babies die before, during or soon after birth. That means every 90 minutes a family is faced with the devastation of the death of their baby.

“From speaking with bereaved families, they often tell me that they gain much comfort knowing they are not alone, but it can sometimes be difficult for them to find people to speak to who have been through a similar situation. This event, which we held outside St James’s chapel on 15 October, was a chance for families to come together to remember and acknowledge those babies who have died

during pregnancy or shortly after birth.

“The Wave of Light event is for anyone who has been affected by baby loss at some point in their life, whether that’s recently or many years ago - for some people grief can often last a lifetime and some may find it difficult to talk about their loss, therefore events like this provides bereaved families a valuable opportunity to come together, to share their stories, and gain mutual support from each other.

“This year more than fifty people came together to light candles for the hour and we had the chapel lit up in the twin pink and blue colours of the week – it was a really moving moment.

“As important as it is for families, Baby Loss Awareness Week is also a platform to call for tangible improvements in research, care and policy around bereavement support – which in many places is still lacking. Here in Leeds, we are constantly striving to provide a high standard of bereavement care, and the event this year was also provided staff with a valuable opportunity to reflect and adapt the care they provide to our bereaved families.

“I’d like to finish by saying a huge thank you to everyone who has helped in organising this year’s event, I could not have done this on my own– I’m already looking forward to next year!”

Leeds Cancer Centre hosted an event to mark International ‘Hello My Name Is’ Day, a campaign launched by the late Kate Granger, a doctor working in elderly medicine at LTHT. The 23rd July date was when Kate died in 2016 after a five-year cancer journey. It is also the date of her wedding anniversary with her husband Chris Pointon.

Treatment at the hospital where Kate worked gave her a new perspective on the NHS and prompted her to launch the ‘Hello My Name Is’ campaign focussing on compassionate care and improving the patient experience.

NHS organisations up and down the country have since adopted the principles behind the campaign, encouraging staff to introduce themselves to their patients by wearing the white and green name badges - now worn by thousands of healthcare staff in the UK and overseas.

The event also celebrated the fact that £420,000 has already been raised for the two charities close to Kate’s heart Leeds Cares (supporting the Leeds Cancer Centre) and St Gemma’s Hospice, where Kate was given incredible care at the end of her life.

Kate’s husband Chris attended the event along with Chief Executive of LTHT Julian Hartley and Kerry Jackson, Chief Executive of St Gemma’s Hospice.

“The ongoing support for the campaign across Leeds Teaching Hospitals is incredible and I truly feel proud of both the campaign’s affiliation with the trust and more so how they keep Kate’s legacy alive,” said Chris.

Julian Hartley said: “Each week, when I welcome our new starters to the organisation the first thing I do is introduce the Hello My Name Is initiative, tell them about Kate, the difference she has made and what it means for our relationship with patients.”

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Over to you: Dr Chris Edwards on riding the UCI Sportive The UCI Road Cycling Championships was an event to remember, with charity partner Leeds Cares the named charity for the Sportive race in September, during which 120 riders from LTHT took part. Dr Chris Edwards, Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, tells us what it was like cycling the Sportive and why he was invested from the start. Over to you, Chris: “It was an early start and really busy because there were 2,000 riders doing the Sportive. I was riding with the Leeds Children’s Hospital team, but as we were all doing it at different levels, we cycled as individuals.

“The first two hours were fine and I managed to get up a good speed. It was great to complete the first big climb to the top of Greenhow Hill and then shortly after that it started raining which meant the next two hours were a hard slog.

“Thankfully the weather improved and the last two hours I managed to make a good pace, finally completing the 150 km in just over six hours. We got a lot of support along the way too with people coming out of their houses to cheer us on.

“It was a nice sense of achievement to have done the Sportive which was the second-longest race I’ve ever done but probably one of the most gruelling as it had the most inclines - which in total was over 2,200m of climbing.

“I enjoyed riding on behalf of Leeds Cares as my son benefitted from care at Leeds Children’s Hospital after being born early, so I saw at first-hand how donations to the charity can make such a difference.

“At the finishing line neonatal consultant Chris Foster was there as he had finished ahead of me. It was great to meet my wife Jennifer and son Daniel, who’s now two years old, and his big brother who were there to welcome me back too.

“I’m so pleased I did the UCI Sportive.

Not only was it an enjoyable challenge, it was also good to be part of such a big event – and I’ve so far raised over £800 for Leeds Cares which will go towards helping the work we do for our patients.”

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Thanks to all our UCI fundraisers!

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Not all heroes wear capes This summer has been a busy one for our transplant teams.

In July, teams from both our adult and children’s services travelled to Newport for the British Transplant Games where both teams put in an impressive performance. Over 23 adult transplant recipients and 24 children from LTHT competed in a range of disciplines, from cycling to swimming and snooker to bean bag throwing. Ages ranged from three to 83 and all had received life-saving organ transplants here in Leeds. The athletes were cheered on by a dedicated team of supporters who travelled to the event including many of our staff who looked after the teams as patients.

After a successful British Games, there wasn’t much rest for our athletes who were then going on to compete in the World Transplant Games, held in Newcastle at the end of August.

Before the prestigious games started, there was a very special relay in memory of Tom Wilson, a talented hockey player who lost his life in December 2015 in a freak accident at the age of 22. After his death, his parents Lisa and Graham agreed for his organs and tissue to be donated. Lisa, who also lost Graham eight weeks later to a brain tumour and sepsis, has since become a passionate campaigner for organ donation.

“At the heart of all of these events is the Organ Donation message. The importance of having the conversation and ensuring loved ones know what your wishes are.”

Tom’s baton arrived in Leeds as part of the nationwide relay to Newcastle and received a fantastic welcome from members of our children’s and adult transplant teams as well as colleagues from Leeds Children’s Hospital, St James’ and LGI. Lisa received a warm welcome as she was greeted at the city’s Royal Armouries.

The baton was then transported by water from Leeds Dock to Granary Wharf, thanks to Canal & River Trust who supplied us with their work boat and skipper who were greeted by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Transplant team who then transported Lisa and the baton to LGI via an Amvale vehicle.

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It was here that the party was greeted by the Leeds Transplant Games team and their families. Also in attendance was the Be a Hero mascot who kicked off the hospital’s own relay from the bottom of the LGI with Lisa completing the last leg up to the Helideck from which she took in the fantastic views of the city. The event finished with a tea party hosted by the Trust’s charitable partner, Leeds Cares.

It was then on to Newcastle for another successful World Transplant Games where a number of Leeds patients participated as part of Team GB. At the heart of all of these events is the Organ Donation message. The importance of having the conversation and ensuring loved ones know what your wishes are.

It was this message that was at the centre of this year’s Organ Donation Week which ran in September.

This year, the Leeds team worked in partnership with the team from Manchester who organised a cycle ride that represented the transplant journey between the two organisations. A team of more than 40 cyclists travelled from Manchester to Leeds, completing the journey at the Thackray Museum where they were greeted by a welcoming committee.

There were a number of events held to celebrate donation, both from a recipient and donor point of view, all of which celebrated the journey, and the life changing difference that donation can make, not only to recipients but their families and to donor families as well.

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Feature

| www.leedsth.nhs.uk

Meet your Junior Doctor Body The Junior Doctor Body was set up in 2016 and is currently led by Chief Registrar Dr. Alison Tyas. LTHT employs around 950 Junior Doctors. There is a genuine culture of engagement in Leeds and real desire from the Trust leadership to work with, and hear from Junior Doctors.

The JDB meets monthly and works to: 1. STRENGTHEN the voice of the Junior Doctors in LTHT. Encourage junior doctor representation on trustwide committees/groups within the hospital e.g. digital informatics, learning lessons group, clinical guidelines group.

“The JDB are committed to making Junior Doctor training and wellbeing matter.”

2. SUPPORT Junior Doctors to participate in leadership, management and QI activities. The JDB set up and monitors a programme for shadowing senior managers – ‘Walk in my Shoes’. The JDB regularly communicate via an electronic notice board (the JDB Padlet) on trustwide leadership and QI opportunities.

3. ADVOCATE for the Junior Doctor Body experience. The JDB are committed to making Junior Doctor training and wellbeing matter. The JDB has close

links with Medical Education Leeds, Quality Improvement Collaboratives, and Improving Working Lives Group.

The Padlet page hosts information on a range of well-being initiatives, with the Children’s Hospital GR8X expected to expand across the Trust. In collaborating with Clinical Leadership Fellows the JDB worked on the Wayfinder campaign last year and produced a “You Said, We Did” guide for Junior Doctors - information on 24 hour study rooms and ongoing

work on mini-messes is all available on the Padlet. A cross-specialty padlet network is in development for Junior Doctor training information.

The group is sponsored by Yvette Oade, Chief Medical Officer. The meetings are also regularly attended by Stuart Haines, General Manager for Corporate Medical Directorate / Medical Education and senior leaders across the Trust are invited to attend meetings and offer their perspectives on issues relevant to Junior Doctors.

Your JDB Representative: Alison Tyas - Chief Registrar of the JDB and SpR in Respiratory Medicine.

Sarah Campion - Clinical Educator for Undergraduate medical students and supports the activities of the JDB.

Paul Underwood - JDB Representative for Anaesthetics and Critical Care. ST6 Anaesthesia.

Joshua Nwanazia – JDB Representative for Obstetrics and Gynaecology. FY1 trainee.

Ali White - JDB Representative for Anaesthetics and Critical Care. ST6 ICM/Anaesthetics.

Frederick Green – Core Surgical Trainee. JDB Representative for ENT.

Shefali Parikh - JDB Representative for Oncology. ST4 Clinical Oncology.

Many other fantastic JDB Members include: Jo Corrado and Heather Whitehouse (Dermatology/Rheumatology/Rehab Representatives), Ashley Wood (Elderly Medicine Rep), Louise Steel (Neurosciences Rep), Thomas Quinn, Jessica Morgan, Jonny Guckian (CMT Reps).

Katie Tran - JDB Representative for A&E. ST5 Emergency Medicine.

Noman Ali - JDB Representative for Cardiology. SpR Cardiology.

Felicia Tan - JDB Representative. Core Medical Trainee Year 2 Laura Atkins - JDB Representative for Gastroenterology/ Hepatology/Renal medicine. Core Medical Trainee Year 2

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Naeem Adam - Dental core trainee. JDB Representative for Dental.

We’re always building our team! Find the most up-to-date list of Reps and information about what we do on: www.padlet. com/mededleeds/JDB. Get in touch by email: leedsth-tr.JDB@ nhs.net or on Twitter: @JDBLeeds

www.leedsth.nhs.uk |

Feature

Joshua Nwanazia

Noman Ali

Naeem Adam

Frederick Green

Katie Tran

Paul Underwood

Shefali Parikh

Ali White

Laura Atkins

Sarah Campion

Felicia Tan

Alison Tyas 17

Feature

| www.leedsth.nhs.uk

Over to you: Leeds trainee doctors on helping improve healthcare in developing communities overseas Three LTHT trainee doctors have just returned from Africa after teaching healthcare in some of the world’s most deprived areas. Adam, Aoife, and Nguavese, used travel bursaries provided by the OPTIN (Overseas Partnering and Training Initiative) charity that supports educational and training visits to developing countries. Over to you…

Adam Jones, an academic clinical fellow in oral surgery at the Leeds Dental Institute, has just returned from two weeks in Tanzania, a country which has one dentist to 128,000 patients compared to one in 2,000 in the UK. “Pain and suffering from tooth decay is common, with some people going several years without any treatment. I was working with the Tanzanian Regional Dental Officer and colleagues from Bridge2Aid, a UK-based dental development charity, to train six clinical officers in basic oral surgery allowing them to offer painrelieving dental surgery in their own remote communities.

“One patient, a 63-year-old blind man, travelled for three hours to the special health centre set up by the charity for treatment where I was based. He was one of 700 patients treated and is now pain-free for the first time in five years.

“The programme was intense with the team working 10 hours a day in hot and dusty difficult conditions without electricity, with sterilisation carried out using pressure cookers.”

Another doctor, Leeds Children’s Hospital trainee paediatric registrar Aoife Hurley, spent six months helping and teaching at the Women and Newborns hospital in the Zambian capital Lusaka.

“My work was split between clinical duties, teaching and supporting the local team at the busy baby unit which has an average monthly death rate of 30% and often cares for 100 babies a day.

“I also introduced knitted squares to the unit - one which stays with the baby and one with the mum close to their skin to improve bonding between mother and child. These squares, which are used in UK neonatal units, were really

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www.leedsth.nhs.uk |

Feature

well received by mothers and the local neonatal team.

“Seeing patients die from preventable causes and not having the same chances as they would have in the UK has been challenging and difficult. However, the team in Lusaka are amazing - their dedication and ability to work with very little is inspiring.”

Nguavese Onoviran, another paediatrician at Leeds Children’s Hospital has been in Nigeria helping design a system for promoting better organized health care for children in a special school.

“As there is no formal school clinic or current public or private funding for school-based medical care, any assessments and reviews of goals can be challenging. I was involved in designing a new proforma for staff and parents to use as part of a pilot study – and then trained them how to use it.

“Creating personal medical records for each pupil that closely monitors each child’s health care now means that staff, parents and health care professionals work much closer together.”

Dr Helen Ford, a consultant neurologist in Leeds and director of the OPTIN initiative, said: “The work that all three doctors have done is really impressive.

The experience of working in resource poor healthcare settings can have a lasting impact on NHS staff.”

OPTIN plans to advertise a further round of bursaries later this year for Leeds Teaching Hospital staff.

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My Job

| www.leedsth.nhs.uk

Sophie Blow providing cover to our general cardiac and neuro ICUs. More recently I have been responsible for pharmacy provision to some of our surgical wards and pre-assessment areas.

Outside of work I sit on the UKCPA Surgery and Theatres committee and was heavily involved in the publication of the first edition of The Handbook of Perioperative Medicines. I have been lucky enough to attend a few conferences where I have been able to showcase some of the amazing work we do within pharmacy at LTHT.

What’s the best thing about your job?

Sophie Blow is a Clinical Leadership Fellow within Corporate Medical CSU and a pharmacist by profession.

How long have you worked at the Trust?

I joined LTHT in August 2009 - ten years this year!

Summarise the main aspects of your role?

•U nderstanding the perioperative optimisation pathways that are in place at LTHT and identifying areas where we can improve, work more holistically or more collaboratively across the primary and secondary care interface.

•U ndertaking a leadership course with the Kings Fund.

• L earning about management, leadership and quality improvement.

•O bserving and understanding how a large organisation is managed, the various roles and responsibilities within the organisation, and how effective leadership and management can lead to sustained change.

•W orking as part of an effective CLF team to support the Junior Doctor Body, the Junior Doctor Awards, advertising and interviewing for the next intake on the CLF programme.

What else have you done in your career so far?

As a pharmacist I have worked in a number of different roles at LTHT. I began as a resident, responsible for out-of-hours pharmacy services to all Trust areas whilst completing my junior training across a number of specialties. I later trained as an Independent Pharmacist Prescriber whilst being the pharmacist on the Intensive Care Units at the LGI,

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Prior to starting my CLF post I loved working on the wards and in clinics, being face-to-face with patients and working with them to resolve their concerns and optimise their medicines regimen. I really enjoyed working as part of the wider MDT, building relationships with clinicians from a variety of specialties. It’s great being able to build on that this year with CLF colleagues from different backgrounds and with different experiences.

As a CLF I have met so many people around the Trust who are working to improve patient care.

The opportunities around leadership, management and QI are vast and as CLF you have a chance to have a go at it all. It’s great to be able to step back and start to see the bigger picture of the work we do as a Trust and it’s exciting to think that during this year I have the time and focus to make sustainable changes, introduce new pathways and develop strategies that enable us to provide better patient care.

What is the one thing you would change at LTHT to help you do your job better?

For me personally I wish I could learn stop the clock.

We are a busy trust and sometimes that can mean it’s easy to keep going, as there’s always a job to do, a patient to see, and someone who needs to go home. It can be hard to make sure you eat, drink and take a brain break - that’s something we all need to find a way to do!

What’s your best advice to a new starter at the Trust?

LTHT is a big trust and it can be scary and overwhelming when you start. The people here are friendly and willing to help but the best thing you can do is find out about the team in which you work, where its sits in the organisation, who are your leaders and who are your support system. If you get chance attend a grand round, Team Brief, and read Start the week and InTouch as all of these will help you piece together the organisation and how you are a part of it.

www.leedsth.nhs.uk |

News

St James’s Hospital reaches out to those on its doorstep St James’s hospital is reaching out to the community on its doorstep in a partnership providing access to job opportunities for residents who live in some of the most deprived wards in the city.

St James’s receives prestigious European accreditation for women’s cancer service

LTHT came together with Leeds City Council, the universities, colleges and other NHS organisations to create an Anchor Institution Network supporting the health and wellbeing of people locally.

The Gynaecological Oncology department at St James’s Hospital has received Centre of Excellence certification in advanced ovarian cancer surgery, awarded by the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO). This distinguished certification is awarded to centres which provide the best available surgical approaches in ovarian cancer.

It’s a case of the Trust using its economic influence to improve the life outcomes of people in Leeds – particularly helping to address poverty which is a significant driver of ill health.

Working with the City Council and the charity Learning Partnerships, the Trust has been promoting health and care careers, access to employability skills and running English as a second language courses.

Over half of the 50 people who applied for jobs from areas closest to St James’s Hospital - like Lincoln Green, Burmantofts and Harehills - have already been offered roles, including five as nurses and clinical support workers.

Among those who have begun work at St James’s are John Kamure and his wife Bernadette Muthari who left Kenya for the UK after life became unsafe for them.

The couple, who have four children, now live in Harehills, Leeds. John, 46,

said the LTHT values enshrined in The Leeds Way were important in defining how staff work to deliver the best possible care and outcomes for their patients.

Another is Nigerian-born renal nurse Rashidat Busari, which shows how the project is helping to job match candidates in areas of need like nursing.

Michelle Stanley, LTHT, Staff Support Development Manager, said the project had allowed the Trust to extend and implement The Leeds Way values beyond the hospital walls to support people within local communities into employment.

St James’s Hospital joins three other centres in the UK and just 12 centres in the whole of Europe who have been awarded this title. The award reflects the robustness of advanced ovarian cancer surgery delivered in these centres. The role of Centres of Excellence is to highlight the quality assurance program and to offer leading roles in education, improving quality and to set the basis for a European network of Centres of Excellence. In the UK, St James’s Hospital joins The Hammersmith and The Royal Marsden in making up the country’s three recognised Centres of Excellence.

Mr Diederick de Jong, Consultant Surgeon in Gynaecological Oncology, said: “This is fantastic news for women in Yorkshire. The surgical team at St James’s plays a pivotal role in the surgery of women with ovarian cancer on a regional, national and international level. This achievement is the result of a huge amount of effort in improving the quality of surgery, teamwork and collaboration over the last three years.”

He added: “We are very proud of this certification, but this is equally a reflection of the excellent collaboration of our team with everyone we work with, including nurses, anaesthetists, and other surgical teams - this award is also an award for all people working at St James’s Hospital.”

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Farewell

| www.leedsth.nhs.uk

Elaine Dickinson

Christine Silburn Christine Silburn has worked for the trust for 48 years as a medical secretary. She is retiring after 48 years of outstanding secretarial support to the children’s Cystic Fibrosis and Respiratory unit. She has always been very calm, well organised and extremely kind. Christine started her secretarial career in the early 70’s at the age of 17. She came straight from college to work alongside Dr Jim Littlewood, who at the time was starting the first ever paediatric CF clinics in the North of England. She remained his support until he retired from the NHS in 1997.

Over the years she has experienced many changes within this service and the NHS. She has seen this, now large regional centre, move from its humble beginnings at Seacroft hospital to St James’s in 1980, where it then remained until it was relocated during the reconfiguration of children’s services to LGI in 2010.

All of her colleagues past and present, as well as the many families who have come to know and love her, want to send a massive thank you for her hard work and dedication to the respiratory team. We applaud you and wish you a fantastic, long and happy retirement. Christine will now enjoy spending much more time with her children and grandchildren as well as learning new hobbies.

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Elaine Dickinson has worked for the Trust for nearly 20 years starting as a ward assistant in December 1999 at St James’s Hospital. In May 2003 Elaine was successful in her application to join the Urology/Oncology team as an admin clerk for the Urology secretarial services.

Throughout the past 16 years Elaine has been committed in helping to support all the medical secretaries, being organised and always happy to offer a helping hand. Elaine has always been a valued member of the team and will be missed by her friends and colleagues who wish her a happy, healthy retirement.

Sue Hawksby Sue Hawksby one of the Trusts senior Cardiographers retired after working at Wharfedale for well over 35 years. The team had a celebratory lunch for her and she will be a very much missed by her colleagues and patients!

Eleanor Gleed Eleanor joined the maternity team at St James’s as a student midwife in May 1982, after qualifying as a state registered nurse in Oxford. After qualifying as a registered midwife in October 1983 she took up a post as staff midwife, working in all areas of hospital midwifery and the special care baby unit. Several years, two children and a fairly long period of working nights - mainly on the delivery suite at St James’s - Eleanor gained promotion to F grade sister in 1997, working full time on delivery suite and soon after G grade senior sister - later changed to band 7.

Eleanor remained in that post, with a short spell on delivery suite at the LGI in 2007, until taking the role of delivery suite team leader at St James’s in 2011.

Almost eight years later and having had two spells as acting delivery suite matron, Eleanor took the decision to retire from her full-time post having been working for the NHS for over 39 years, 36 of which have been in Leeds.

Throughout her career Eleanor has been a valuable member of the maternity, and specifically delivery suite, team. Midwifery has always been a passion for her, and her expertise and knowledge are greatly missed on the delivery suite at St James’s, although she has retired and returned in a new role and, as she says, ‘they don’t get rid of me that easily’!

www.leedsth.nhs.uk |

Farewell

A fond farewell to our long-serving staff Fiona Lambert Fiona Lambert, Staff Nurse has worked for LTHT since 2016. At the age of 18, Fiona started work as an Axillary Nurse.

Throughout her long nursing career, Fiona has had a varied and exciting career and spent some years working in New Zealand.

She is known for her caring, kind nature.

She has been a valued member of the Outpatients department at Paul Sykes Centre. She will be missed by all her friends and colleagues who wish her all the best for a long and happy retirement in Austria.

Zoe Kirk

Linda Baker Linda is retiring after 25 years at LTHT, undertaking both her nursing and midwifery training at Leeds, qualifying as a Midwife in 1998. She has been a valued core member of L44 for 14 years, mentoring many students into our now experienced Midwives along the way. She is leaving to enjoy life and finally getting a dog to join in her favourite walks in the countryside. She will be missed so much by all the ward staff.

Colleagues and friends gathered together at both Chapel Allerton Hospital and Wharfedale Hospital to say farewell to Zoe Kirk, Head of Nursing for Chapel Allerton CSU, when she retired at the end of July 2019.

Dawn Marshall attended Zoe’s retirement event at Wharfedale Hospital when she presented her with a bouquet of flowers and a crystal vase. In her speech, Dawn said what a pleasure it had been to work with Zoe and to have her as part of her team. She thanked her for the commitment and dedication she had shown throughout her career and wished her a happy retirement.

Zoe started as a Senior Nurse with the Trust in 1997 in Acute Medicine before taking up the role of ‘Modern Matron’ at Wharfedale Hospital in 2001.

She oversaw the move from the old buildings to the new in 2004 and was very much involved in the fundraising appeal for the hospital, taking an active role in choosing the interior colours and furnishings. She continued to promote and develop the services at

Wharfedale and added significantly to the reputation of the hospital.

Whilst continuing to keep Wharfedale Hospital as her responsibility, her Matron role expanded to include a variety of different specialities across the Trust in Breast, Vascular and Outpatients Services.

In 2012 Zoe took up the post of Head of Nursing for Chapel Allerton Hospital.

Since then, Zoe has been instrumental in establishing the CAH CSU and developing the Dermatology, Rheumatology and Orthopaedic Services.

Zoe was an extremely knowledgeable supportive, caring and kind colleague.

She will be greatly missed by her friends and colleagues. Her experience and guidance was invaluable and even when busy, Zoe was always approachable making time to sit down and help.

Her good sense of humour and always having a smile on her face made Zoe who she was - a fabulous colleague.

Staff at Chapel Allerton and Wharfedale Hospital all wish her well on her retirement and are sure she will make it as fun as it can be!

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News

| www.leedsth.nhs.uk

Donations

Thank you to everyone who has fundraised for Leeds Cares in support of patients at Leeds Teaching Hospitals.

New drip stands for cancer patients Roger Lowe and his daughter Sarah visited the Oncology Day Unit at Leeds Cancer Centre to unveil the fantastic new pink drip stands they have funded.

Roger’s wife Dot was treated on the unit before she sadly died and at her funeral it was decided that donations would be made to Leeds Cares. Thanks to these donations, four new drip stands have been gratefully received by the team on the unit.

Ultrasound navigation software for Leeds Children’s Hospital

£110,000 for cooling caps

Earlier this year Marilyn and Grahame Stowe donated £26,000 which has funded life-changing software for use in the paediatric neurosurgery theatre.

The software is making a real difference to young patients undergoing complex brain tumour surgery and allows the neurosurgical team to judge the progress of the procedure, avoiding the need to repeatedly stop to perform MRI scans. The equipment allows for live intraoperative imaging, leading to improved efficiency and a better outcome for patients.

Thank you to Jacqui Drake whose fundraising appeal Jacqui’s Million has funded ten cooling caps for Leeds Cancer Centre. Jacqui raised an amazing £110,000 for the cooling caps which can help to reduce hair loss for patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Jessica’s Rainbow Foundation

Privacy screens for PICU Thank you to Emma Thornton who ran the Ilkley Half Marathon to raise money for Leeds Cares. Emma wanted to give something back after her daughter Blossom contracted Bronchitis when she was 6 weeks old and was cared for on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Leeds Children’s Hospital. Emma’s fundraising efforts totalled £1,500 which was used to fund new patient friendly privacy screens on the unit.

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A huge thank you to Jessica’s Rainbow Foundation who recently donated a DVD lending library for young patients at Leeds Children’s Hospital. The charity was founded in Jessica’s memory after she sadly died from a rare form of cancer in 2018.

Jessica received treatment in the Renal Unit at Leeds so the charity was especially keen to give something back in her name.

The DVD lending library offers a huge amount of variety and entertainment for young patients on the Children’s Dialysis Unit.

www.leedsth.nhs.uk |

Leeds Cares funds water bottles for radiotherapy patients Reusable water bottles have been introduced into the radiotherapy department, helping to reduce the number of disposable plastic cups being used.

Prior to radiotherapy treatment, patients are required to drink three cups of water. Dave Rigby, a patient in the

“I’m really pleased that the Unit has taken the idea forward and will be supplying reusable water bottles to pelvic radiotherapy patients.” department explains about his idea of introducing reusable bottles: “It provides an additional advantage of not having to

stay near a water dispenser but having the freedom to move around the unit, visit the café, or get some fresh air in one of the garden areas. I’m really pleased that the Unit has taken the idea forward and will be supplying reusable water bottles to pelvic radiotherapy patients.”

As well as being made from sustainable materials, the bottles are the exact size for the amount of water needing to be drank by patients prior to treatment.

1,500 bottles have been funded by Leeds Cares, and patients are invited to make a donation towards the cost. All funds raised will go back to Leeds Cares, the charity partner of Leeds Teaching Hospitals, to fund bottles for future radiotherapy patients in the department.

News

Staff Lottery – what’s on your wishlist?

Did you know that, as an LTHT staff member, you could be in with a chance to win up to £1,000 every month? Did you know you can apply for funding to improve staff amenities in your workplace?

Join the Staff Lottery and you will be automatically entered into the monthly draw with the potential to be one of ten lucky winners.

Prizes range from £50 up to a jackpot of £1000!

Membership costs just £2 a month and comes from a salary deduction, so once signed up you don’t need to worry about a thing.

And if you fancy your chances you can increase your likelihood of winning by paying for multiple entries – for example, paying £10 a month will give you five entries into the monthly draw, making you that more likely to be a winner! Look out for special bonus prize draws also held throughout the year.

The Staff Lottery bidding process is a simple concept – your money, your projects. Funds are drawn from staff membership and allow any member of staff to apply for funds for an improvement to amenities in their work environment. This could be almost anything – from a new kettle or fridge, to outdoor picnic benches or rest rooms – the lottery team want to hear what’s on your wishlist.

For more information on how to sign up or on making a bid for funding, head over to the Staff Lottery Intranet page. Good luck!

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60 seconds

| www.leedsth.nhs.uk

60 seconds Deborah Galindez What do you do to wind down and relax after a hard week at work?

I usually go on long walks, cook up a storm and veg out on the couch either reading a good book or binge watching a TV programme.

What is your ideal holiday destination and why?

Deborah Galindez, Lead Trust Physician Associate has worked at the Trust for 3 years

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I wanted to be a Geneticist

What is your favourite film?

Mary Poppins- I could see it a million times, it just makes me smile.

I would have to say Spain is my ideal holiday spot.

Tell us something we don’t know about you …

I love the culture, food, and climate. When I am in Spain I feel a sense of calm and comfort, it feels like my home away from home.

I am a Science Fiction Geek.

What is your favourite food?

I have two actually, Aubergine Parmigiana and Fish and Chips (no mushy peas)

Reminiscence room and dress up day takes patients down memory lane at Wharfedale Hospital The Bilberry and Heather units at Wharfedale Hospital have introduced a number of reminiscence activities which are helping to improve the experience of older patients.

The team have worked together with Anne Hanson, a museum reminiscence specialist to create a unique room for patients, their friends and family to use and enjoy. There is a wealth of items for people to look at, discuss and touch including themes around ‘pictures throughout the time of the Queen’, ‘washing and laundry items’ and ‘other household items’.

Every month Anne visits the Bilberry and Heather units, providing a travelling museum experience, and bringing in different old items for patients to interact with. Anne heard of the team’s development of the reminiscence room and she compliments this work by providing items and changing the theme every two weeks. This has been well received, with a patient who celebrating her 89th birthday in the room recently.

The team also arranged a hats, scarves and coats dress up event, displaying clothing and fashion items from an age

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gone by. Patients enjoyed recognising items from ‘when they were young’ and staff joined in with the activity, walking around the ward areas and bays ensuring patients could have a look, have a chat and remember ‘when’.

By taking part in these activities,

patients were able to stimulate their memory and build better relationships with staff, family and friends. They may help to reduce any anxiety patients feel in a clinical setting and this has been shown in the great feedback the team have received from patients, families and visitors.

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