#GatesheadHealth
in vaccine clinics
#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter
Director update
Hi everyone and welcome to this weeks Gateshead Weekly update
As you can tell the mornings are darker and the nights are drawing in and it is certainly getting colder (although shorts and t shirts still seem to be very fashionable in the North East) so this leads me to update you on the work being done in preparation for Winter this year
If you remember back to last year, we set up a number of winter groups both within the Trust but also involving our system partners We have taken the same approach this year and the Gateshead team met on Friday last week to go through our initial plans. The internal winter group has been meeting for some time. There are a couple of key areas which we really need your help on this year.
The first of these is in relation to flu vaccinations You will have seen the reminders being circulated across the Trust and the invitations to take up the opportunity to be vaccinated against flu this year It is really important that you are immunised against flu both from a personal perspective but also from a professional one This ensures that we are reducing the risks of flu as much as possible We are looking for innovative ways to deliver this programme so if you have ideas as to how we can make this as easy as possible for people to access please let the POD team know
Secondly, we are looking at how we manage patient flow across Gateshead to ensure that we are caring for patients in the place that is the most appropriate to meet their needs A focus on ensuring that the Sister Winifred Laver centre is working optimally, alongside work in regard to Emergency Health Care Plans
and how we use our internal facilities and beds is the key At the moment the length of time patients stay with us following an acute admission is longer than we would like and we need to reduce this in order to be able to ensure we can look after patients in the best possible way Teams are working through several ways in which we can ensure that we are in the best possible position going into Winter Linked to this is making sure that our structures and governance is set up for teams to succeed As you know we recently held a consultation across the Trust with some proposals as to how we could organise ourselves differently going forwards. The consultation has resulted in some teams moving within the Trust and may have different line management arrangements going forwards. As you can appreciate this is potentially a complex piece of work to ensure that all the underpinning systems and processes are aligned to the changes that we have agreed We will be contacting and working this through with the teams affected over the next few weeks
I would like to confirm that the national staff survey has launched As always we are really keen to understand your views of how it feels to work at Gateshead Health and your feedback really does inform what we focus on and where You will be hearing a lot more about this over the next few weeks so please do take the opportunity to contribute
Finally good luck to our team members who are presenting to the judges for the HSJ Trust of the Year Award tomorrow – fingers crossed
the
Board Update from 24 September
Well done to Dr Vish Bhattacharya and colleagues who organised the patient safety conference or winning team of the week!
Joanne Halliwell, Group Chief Operating Officer
#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter
What you need to know about the staff survey
Make your voice count
The annual staff survey is back and its time to make your voice count The survey is live from Monday 7 October and this is your opportunity to share your views about working at Gateshead Health
We would ask that staff take the time to complete their survey and make their voice heard and also support teams around the Trust to complete their survey
If anyone would like any further information please contact ghnt.staffsurveygateshead@nhs.net
Staff survey roadshow dates
The team will be holding roadshows on the following dates this week:
Monday 7 October 11:00am2:00pm The Hub Tuesday 8 October 11:00am - 2:00pm Park Deli Bensham Wednesday 9 October 11:00am-2:00pm FTSU Stand The Hub
Come along and find out more about the staff survey, why it’s important and ask any questions you may have
Your response is confidential
The staff survey questionnaire you receive will include a personalised log in or ID number and your responses will be submitted directly to the independent survey contractor (Picker)
Picker will use these unique reference numbers to ensure that reminder emails or letters are only sent to staff who have not already completed the survey.
The report that is sent back to the Trust does not reveal the identity of the staff surveyed and will not report on teams of less than 10, to protect anonymity.
#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter
Winter flu vaccines are back - get the jab!
Flu vaccine song competition
Are you a poet, and you know it?
Could you be the next Stormzy, or Andrew Lloyd-Webber?
Can you come up with a great idea for flu and vaccine themed song puns to help promote our annual flu campaign?
We’re running a staff competition to come up with ideas for social media and posters based on famous songs
Up to 10 winning ideas will be made into music themed posters for display around the Trust, so why not put your heads together and come up with a ‘flu’ ideas? We’re looking for particularly creative puns or plays on words…
The posters and social media will help make everyone aware of the flu jab and its benefits, including supporting your wellbeing and that of your patients.
We’d love to see or hear your entries, so why not record yourself, your team, your friends, or family (or pets?!) performing the song? Or if you’re not a performer, send your written lyrics Email your entry and supporting message to ghnt.comms@nhs.net
Drop in vaccine clinics start this week
We’ll be running drop in flu vaccination clinics for all staff from 7 October, delivered by qualified Trust nurses
Drop in clinics are running at the following times and locations, you don’t need to make an appointment
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
7 to 11 October between 9:00am and 4:00pm in Occupational Health
Bensham Hospital
24 October, between 1:30pm and 4:00pm
7 November, between 1:30pm and 4:00pm
Blaydon Urgent Treatment Centre
14 November, between 1 30pm and 4pm
Community Diagnostic Centre
21 November, between 1:30pm and 4:00pm
If you have been vaccinated somewhere outside of the Trust, please complete the vaccine status self-declaration form
Join the flu fighterspeer vaccinators needed
Be a peer vaccinator. As part of this role you will be trained to administer flu jabs to colleagues within your team
Please discuss with your manager if you are interested in volunteering and get their permission before completing the form
Visit the online form for more information and to register for the training
#GatesheadHealth
Staff notices
Turning the peaks pink national event
A fantastic group of critical care staff and members of the organ donation committee hiked up Scafell Pike as part of the NHSBT’s national ‘turn the peaks pink’ event.
The event involved healthcare staff, donor recipients, and the relatives of both recipient and donor families hiking up six peaks throughout the UK.
Why Gateshead Health should win ‘Trust of the Year’
As you know, we have been nominated for Trust of the Year at the HSJ (Health Service Journal) awards which is an outstanding achievement
We reached out to our team members, partners, and patients to share why they believe we deserve to win this award
Take a moment to watch this short video and hear firsthand how our efforts have made a positive impact on individuals
Orthopaedic team makes it to the front cover of the British Orthopaedic Journal
The Orthopaedic Team (Theatre 10), along with the Extended Clinical Team, have made the front cover of the prestigious British Orthopaedic Journal!
This remarkable article celebrates the transformative impact of collaborative working, highlighting how a diverse, multicultural team can deliver exceptional patient outcomes through seamless cooperation.
How to nominate a Team of the Week
To nominate a team please email a member of the executive team with:
• Name of the team
• Why you are nominating them
#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter
Staff notices
PACS system update and debrief
The incident management group met last week to review the position following the final fix of the PACS system earlier this week. We are pleased to report that the system has remained stable and have stood down the incident management approach
We are now concentrating on learning the lessons from this incident for the future Part of this evaluation is how we responded to the issues, what well and what we can do better.
We want to hear your thoughts on this too Please complete the debrief survey to tell us what you think.
Please continue to report any PACS incident-related issues using Inphase as patients continue their journey through inpatient or outpatient services.
Post room update
The post room is short-staffed this week, and as a result, the team is unable to collect post from departments
We kindly ask all staff to bring any outgoing post for collection directly to the post room to ensure that it is processed in a timely manner
Find out more on StaffZone
Update on Collective Grievance Feedback
Update shared via email on Friday 4 October
We wanted to provide you with an update following the meeting on 4 October with Unison about the collective grievance that has been raised on behalf of some Unison members who feel they have been working as Band 3 Healthcare Assistants for longer than the back pay period offered by the Trust (i e pre-February 2022)
Continue reading the update on StaffZone
Sign up for the next CEO roadshow
We recently held the first CEO roadshow where staff from all departments had the chance to hear directly from our CEO, get the latest updates, and ask questions.
The next roadshow is at Bensham Hospital, Monday 21 October, 11:30am to 12:30pm in the Committee Room
Please register your attendance and add to your diary.
#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter
Imprivata SSO update on your PC
From Tuesday 8 October you may see a popup on your PC stating that there is a new version of Imprivata SSO agent to install
If you click ‘yes’ to this the agent will install and you can go about your work, but at the end of the install process the PC will prompt a restart
Find out more on StaffZone
Planned Health Roster downtime
HealthRoster is being upgraded to the latest version on Tuesday 8 October.
The system will be unavailable between 6:00pm and 12:00am so please make any necessary changes to the rosters for that evening either before or after that time
This will not affect clocking in or out so please continue to do that as normal
If you have any queries, please contact x5727
Introduction of handover PINs to selected hospital wards
In the coming weeks, we will be introducing the need to log the handover of patients from the ambulance service to wards, as well as our emergency departments
This process has been extended to some other non-ED areas to meet the requirements for the Ambulance Quality Indicators At [HOSPITAL NAME] we will be implementing this at the following locations: [LIST HERE]
In partnership with the ICB and North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), we have agreed to use the same PIN process, as this is already in use at our EDs and therefore the systems to use it are in place
In order to help with this process, information for accessing the system is available on the NEAS website
Electronic whiteboard update17 October
From this update, patients' active resuscitation status will be indicated by a small triangle adjacent to their name on the whiteboard
This will coincide with changes in the recording options for resus status within Nervecentre
Find out more about the update on StaffZone
Updated policies
The following new and revised policies are now available on StaffZone, Policies and Procedures covering the Group (Trust and QE Facilities)
OP75a Group
Safeguarding Children Policy v 9 1
#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter
Freedom to Speak Up Month - wear green!
This year’s theme for Freedom to Speak Up Month is #ListenUp and Tracy Healy, our FTSU guardian will be at the Hub on Wednesday 9 October 11:00am to 2:00pm
Come along to find out more about FTSU, the importance of listening and how we can encourage a culture of speaking up
If you can, please wear green to mark FTSU month on Wednesday 9 October and share your photos in the staff Facebook Group
Lighting up the Millennium Bridge
The Great North Healthcare Alliance celebrated by gathering at the Quayside Millennium Bridge to light up the bridge green
Please take a moment to watch this brief video where colleagues share why FTSU month is important in our organisations
Find out more on StaffZone
My name is initiative
#MyNameIs is an empowering initiative that aligns with the theme of reclaiming narratives by focusing on the accurate pronunciation of individuals’ names
Here is how you can get involved:
Add phonetic name spelling to email signatures and other communication channels Foster open conversations about the importance or history of names and what it feels like when someone gets it right Ask colleagues to check if they are saying other people’s names correctly.
By getting names right, we honour each person’s narrative and contribute to a more inclusive environment, much like the positive impact of using correct pronouns.
Are you a manager but having trouble updating ESR?
To input your completed appraisal information into ESR you can click on the ‘click here’ link on the appraisal form.
To view the form and more information on updating ESR, visit StaffZone
DBS reminder
It is a contractual responsibility that you inform the Trust immediately if there is any change which may affect your criminal record, cautionary record, or information that the police hold on you This includes if you are arrested, under investigation, or charged with any new offence, criminal conviction or fitness proceedings in the United Kingdom or in any other country
More information on the ‘Disclosure and Barring Service’ can be found in the policy PP19 on Pandora
Leadership programme for women of ethnic backgrounds
Leadership programme designed for women from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, working across the North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care System
This fully funded programme is offered in partnership with North East & North Cumbria ICB
Find out more information
If you have any further queries about the training, please contact Uzma Hussain by emailing cddatr.NELAcademy@nhs.net
light up a life is back!
The event celebrates lost loved ones during the festive season with our tree of stars You can purchase one of our personalised remembrance stars which will be placed on our Christmas tree in time for the Light up a Life Service
The service will be held on Thursday 28 November 2024 6:00pm to 7:00pm with all proceeds going to our charity.
Order your stars below
1 star for £5.00
3 stars for £10.00
memorial garden ceremony
Gateshead Health Charity and Gateshead Health staff are working together to create a quiet, peaceful garden space for staff We will be linking with national charity Doctors in Distress to join it’s National Tree planning campaign on 10 October, this will be the first tree to be planted in the new garden area. All staff are invited to come along to the ceremony on Thursday 10 October 1:00pm to 1:30pm at the memorial garden.
1:00pm Welcome and introduction - Trudie Davies, CEO
1:05pm Opening remarks - Sarah Jones, Doctors In Distress Charity speech
1:10pm Reading by Paul Nichol & Joan Urwin, Chaplain’s
1:15pm Tree planting ceremony by Mr Andreas Hinsche
1:20pm Minutes silence
1:25pm Close
st bede’s
Children’s Halloween Party
Spooky disco with games and best fancy dress, face painting, sweet cart, raffle, tombola and much more!
Tickets are £5 each for children
The Wardley Club, Palmers bank, Sunderland Rd, Wardley, Gateshead, NE10 8AU
Gateshead Health Charity registration number: 1086145
Upcoming events #GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter
Tea and chat
Thursday 24 October 1:00pm to 2:00pm with Jo Halliwell, Group Chief Operating Officer
This is your chance to ask questions, voice concerns, and share ideas to help improve Gateshead Health for you
CEO roadshow
The next event: At Bensham Hospital, Monday 21 October, 11.30am to 12.30pm at the Committee Room
Please register your attendance and add to your diary We look forward to seeing you there.
Dates for your diary
October – Women’s health focus
14 October - AHP day
October - Black History Month
October - Freedom to Speak Up Month
October – First patient in the Community Diagnostics Centre
Get involved
The communications team work with departments across the Trust to share good news stories, patient testimonials and raise the profile of your work
Please get in touch with the team via email ghnt.comms@nhs.net if you have anything to share or would like to do a blog about your role or department