Gateshead Health weekly - 4 December

#GatesheadHealth Weekly Newsletter – 4 December 2023

Festive December at Gateshead Health December is here again. At Gateshead Health, we’re making “festive December” an opportunity to reflect on the past year, celebrate our wins and say thank you to our colleagues.

We launched our festive month with the “Light up a Life” event.

Read about the event on page 3 and on our website.

There is lots more to come throughout the month including: • Christmas decorating from tomorrow, Tuesday 5 December.

• Festive fayre from the catering team throughout the month.

You’ll also receive a free voucher to redeem against a festive meal. Look out for the full details later in the newsletter.

• Christmas Jumper Day on 7 December • NHS carol service. More on page 4 • Festive tour. We’ve invited some of our Gateshead health and social care system colleagues into the Trust to learn about the amazing work you are doing.

• Trust choir performance.

• Thank you week. More information about how to nominate your colleagues will follow.

Highlights Director update Joanne Halliwell, Chief Operating Officer – page 2 Congratulations to team supporting the ward 12 move for winning team of the week – page 2 Light Up A Life Event in remembrance of lost loved ones – page 3 Get your flu and covid vaccinations – page 3 Pre-order the charity pet calendar – page 3 Festive Fayre meal serving dates – page 5 NENC ICB in collaboration with VONNE for Disability History Month 2023 – page 6 Christmas breakfast and lunches – page 7

Get involved Join the next Facebook live Tuesday 5 December 6.30pm with Jo Halliwell, Chief Operating Officer and Neil Halford, Medical Director of Operations.

Continue reading this story

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

1 | #GatesheadHealth

#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter Director update Since the last time I had the opportunity to talk to you through Gateshead Weekly a few things have happened which I am really excited about. The first is that I was successfully appointed to the permanent Group Chief Operating Officer position at Gateshead Health. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who was involved in the recruitment process.

Colleagues gave up their time to be part of the stakeholder panels and discussion group and it was important that a wide group of colleagues representing all areas of the Trust were able to participate. I am really looking forward to the opportunities to come for colleagues and the people we serve and am incredibly proud to be your Group COO. Talking of opportunities, you may have seen from the announcements this week that Gateshead, Sunderland and North Cumbria have been successful in securing funding to develop services for women and girls through the development of health hubs. This is fantastic news for Gateshead and aa amazing opportunity to share our knowledge, skills and expertise to benefit women and girls. You will have seen and heard about our ambition to be a centre of excellence for Women’s health in the North and this is one more successful step on that journey. Expect more on this to come in future updates.

I was also privileged to both attend the Star Awards a couple of weeks ago and present an award to the Mortuary team for Excellence in Patient Experience and Engagement. They truly represented all of our values and exemplified how to put these in practice. I was extremely humbled by the compassion and thoughtfulness that they showed in very difficult circumstances. I took the opportunity to spend more time with the

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

team and look around the facilities last week which only further reinforced how critical they service they provide is and how well they do it.

Whilst I was out and about last week, I met with Claire Pounder, our lead Cancer Nurse and discussed ways in which we could develop and deliver our support to patients, their families and carers who receive a cancer diagnosis. Due to advances in early detection and treatment developments, three in every four people survive their cancer the first year after being diagnosed, with rates of survival at five years improving and child cancer survival rates being up to more than 86%. This is excellent progress, however, it also means that more people are living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis for longer. The support that needs to be put into place is therefore changing and we need to be in a position to respond to that. I look forward to working with Claire and the team to evolve this for the future.

Finally, the opportunity to participate in this years staff survey has now closed.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete this, but this is only one way in which you can provide your views, ideas and concerns. It is essential that everyone who works at Gateshead Health is empowered to share their experiences so please take the opportunity.

Joanne Halliwell Chief Operating Officer

Joanne Halliwell – Chief Operating Officer

Read the latest Chief E xecutive Update

Team of the week: chosen by the Executive Team Well done to the team supporting the ward 12 move for winning Team of the Week.

2 | #GatesheadHealth

#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter Light Up A Life Event in remembrance of lost loved ones

Pre-order your pet calendar We are thrilled to announce that our highly-anticipated pet calendar is almost ready!

Last week we had our first Light Up A Life Event outside the ECC entrance. It was a time to come together as a community and remember lost loved ones.

Featuring the cutest and most lovable pets from across the Trust.

Staff and members of the public had the opportunity to purchase memory stars that went up on the tree. We had the light turn on, performance from our choir and our chaplains lead the remembrance ceremony. It was a fantastic evening.

We are now inviting you to preorder a copy by emailing us at ghnt.charitablefunds@nhs.net.

They will be sold for £8.

Thank you to the charity, communications team, catering and QEF for making the event a success!

Read about the event on our website.

Christmas decoration guidance from 5 December The festive season is here and it is important to have some festive cheer in these challenging times.

To maintain our high standards of infection prevention and control we need to make sure any decorations we put up allow us to do this.

Find out more about the decoration guidance.

Festive December At Gateshead Health we’re making “festive December” an opportunity to reflect on the past year, celebrate our wins and say thank you to our colleagues.

As a thank you to all staff, you’ll receive a free voucher to redeem against a festive meal. This has been kindly funded by QE Charitable Funds We’ll also hold our annual thank you week. Which is an opportunity for patients to thank our staff and for us to thank your colleagues for the mazing work they do. Does your department have achievements you want to celebrate? We’re making a video to look back over the Trusts year. To get involved email ghnt.comms@nhs.net.

Read more on the festive December page on StaffZone

Get your flu and covid vaccinations The Occupational Health department is running additional clinics for staff to access their vaccines.

• Bensham: Wednesday 6 December 2.00pm to 3.30pm Workforce Room 1 (Old Occupational Health) • Blaydon PCC: Thursday 14 December 2.00pm to 3.30pm District Nurses If you can’t attend the clinics please call extension 5494, or email ghnt.occupational.health@nhs.net to book an appointment.

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

3 | #GatesheadHealth

#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter Children from Cedars NHS Colleagues invited School visit paediatrics to Multi-faith Carol A group of 12 children from Cedars School in Gateshead visited the paediatric department last week.

Renal clinic reopening

It’s Crohns and Colitis UK awareness week from 1 to 8 December.

The IBD nurses will be at the Hub on Wednesday 6 December and Friday 8 December to answer your questions and to raise awareness of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the role of the IBD nurses within the trust.

The Gynaecology research team

Service at Durham have been recruiting for the MCM5 Cathedral on 7 December commercial clinical trial which is a

NHS colleagues and their families are invited to the annual Carol Service at Durham Cathedral to celebrate the contribution health and care staff make The school is a specialist provision to improving lives. for children with additional needs.

They have recently been learning The NHS Carol Service provides an about ‘People who help us’. The opportunity for colleagues of all faiths children did the 15-step challenge and backgrounds, to come together in looking at the department from a an inclusive event at Durham child’s perspective.

Cathedral on Thursday 7 December 2023 from 7.30pm, with doors opening It was a great morning of learning at 6.45pm. Tickets are not required. and thank you to the team for facilitating!

Crohns and colitis awareness week

MCM5 study success

Our renal clinic on the Queen Elizabeth site will be back up and running on Thursday 14 December.

The service was paused during Covid and we are delighted to be restarting the clinic as it is a significant improvement for patients to have local access and to be able to have a nephrologist on site again after such a time.

performance evaluation study test to aid in the diagnosis of endometrial cancer.

The team recruited 400 participants and was the 4th highest recruiter in this International study which is a fantastic achievement for the team.

Well done!

This could not have been achieved without the support from the multidisciplinary teams including the wider research team, Point of Care, Sonographers, Rapid Access Clinic staff, and Cancer Pathway Navigator Rachel Sloan.

Mr Iain Cameron the Principle Investigator, working closely with Lorraine Pearce - Research Nurse and Wendy McCormick - Senior Research Data Manager would all like to thank everyone for their hard work.

All referrals should come through the usual Freeman referral pathway.

There is also our electronic Advice and Guidance system through which GP’s can request advice with a 2448 hour turnaround. Hospital inpatients can be referred through to the Freeman on-call service. Stay tuned for more updates on the clinic opening.

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

4 | #GatesheadHealth

#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter Festive Fayre meal serving dates Festive Fayre Meal servings will start from tomorrow at Bensham Hospital.

Next week (starting Monday 11 December), festive meals servings in The Hub will start.

There will also be an opportunity for night workers to enjoy a festive meal in The Hub on Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 December, while those working weekends will have the chance to collect a festive meal during the daily serving times on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 December.

Full timings are on page 7 Representatives from all teams throughout the Trust should now have been contacted to arrange collection of their vouchers.

There will be a dedicated collection point in The Hub between Monday to Thursday this week. If you are unsure if your team has been contacted or have any other queries, please contact ghnt.hwb@nhs.net. Or, for further information, please visit the balance website.

NHS pension webinars Clinical Skills and Trust Library A reminder that Northumbria Healthcare will be hosting a teams The Clinical Skills Centre and Trust presentation on Flexible Retirement Library will be a formal exam centre Options on the following dates and on Wednesday 6 December from times: 7am to 6pm

• 7 December 10.30am – 11.30am This is due to medical student exams • 9 January 2pm – 3pm taking place under exam regulations • 8 February 3.30pm – 4.30pm mandated by Newcastle University Medical School.

To reserve a place please email Sandra Burrell on As a result, no trust staff or visitors sburrell1@nhs.net will be able to access these areas during these times.

In addition to the above presentations, NHS Pensions have Please contact Vicky Bailey, Clinical been working with their pension Skills Manager, partners Isio to run a series of 90 victoriabailey1@nhs.net or on ext. min online webinars to help explain 8050 if you have any questions. the NHS Pension Scheme. They will be covering : • An overview of the NHS Pension Scheme • What your flexible retirements options are and how they might work for you • An overview of pension tax and what to do if you are affected • An overview of McCloud and what will happen if you’re eligible for a choice There will be plenty of time in the sessions to answer any questions you have about how the pension scheme works.

To book a session, visit: The NHS Pension Scheme Semina r Portal . If you have any questions about the sessions, contact: nhs01@isio.com

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

Registered Nurse Transition training

We are pleased to announce an expansion of our Registered Nurse Transition training program.

Originally designed for internationally trained nurses, it is now open to all new nurses joining our Trust.

This 5-day program is dedicated to preparing nurses for their roles on the wards and in various departments, with a strong emphasis on practical training Find out more about the program.

Managers interested in nominating their staff for this training, please contact: ghnt.international-nurse-recruitment-t eam@nhs.net or a.okereke@nhs.net.

5 | #GatesheadHealth

#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter NENC ICB in collaboration with VONNE for Disability History Month 2023 In collaboration with NENC Voluntary Community Social Enterprise Health partnerships the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board would like to invite all colleagues to celebrate Disability History Month (DHM) and join us for a special webinar on Thursday 7 December 2023 starting at 1.00pm - 3.00pm.

Book your place The theme for 2023 is ‘Children, disability and youth’ Guest speakers are joining from different organisation across the North East and North Cumbia to share their personal career journeys and time for questions and discussion.

Learning and Development Feedback week Learning and Development are always learning and we are always keen to hear how we are doing, but this week (4-8 December) we are focussing on our Customer Service even more.

The team have created a short and simple online survey for any member of staff who has contact with L&D during this week, to provide us with some feedback.

This could be contact by telephone, email or perhaps you have been to the eLearning Zone (Room 5, Education Centre).

We would love to hear your thoughts to help us ensure we are always delivering the best service and find out if there is anything we could do better!

ESR Please ensure, that any banding changes, hour changes or for any staff who have left or will be leaving the Trust on or before the end of December 2023, has been entered in ESR through Manager Self Service.

You can email the relevant detail forwarded to the People, Data and Information team (ghnt.peopledataandinformation@nhs .net) by close of play Monday 4 December 2023. This will give the team time to process any late changes before payroll shutdown on Tuesday 5 December 2023.

Timely information stops under or over payments for the employee in question.

Please still submit Manage Self Service notifications and change notes but they may not be able to be undertaken on ESR until normal input resumes regarding until Friday 15 December 2023.

An agenda of events will be distributed to colleagues who have registered, nearer the date.

Freedom to Speak Up pledges

For any enquiries, please contact nencicb.healthequityandinclusio n@nhs.net

The Board Development Day recently had a session with our new Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, Tracy Healy.

The day involved discussions about work streams moving forward. The Board members have signed their pledges for FTSU month.

Andy Beeby, Medical Director: Promote Speaking up from the Medical Director Office.

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

6 | #GatesheadHealth

#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter Christmas breakfast, Parking reminder Scheme 3 car park lunches and 12 days of Due to the on-going construction We continue to receive a significant porridge of the Bowel Hub Extension, four number of complaints from the public Join us for a festive breakfast at the Hub and Bensham 8.30am to 10.30pm from Friday 1 December for 12 days.

Porridge with a choice of toppings is available for just £1, the perfect way to start your day! There will be a range of toppings available: honey, Nutella, dried fruit, jam, banana and mixed berries Festive lunch will be available on the following dates: The Hub • Monday 11 December to Tuesday 20 December 2023 from 12pm to 3pm • Night service Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 December from 6.30pm to 9pm Park deli - Bensham (Woodside unit) • Tuesday 5 December and Wednesday 6 December from 12pm to 2pm Use your Christmas meal voucher for a free meal!

There will also be a cooked festive breakfast available on Friday 22 December 8.30am to 10.30am at the Hub.

parking spaces will be blocked in the scheme 3 car park from 28 November till 22 December.

about staff parking on neighbouring streets. If you are struggling to find a space and your working hours allow (i.e., 6:30am to 7pm), please do use the We are aware there are additional Park and Ride or the Park and Stride spaces being taken by car parks to maximise the number of contractors for essential spaces available for staff whose shifts maintenance works until 21 extend beyond these hours.

December and the inconvenience this may cause.

• First bus is 6:30am from park and ride car park If you find the carpark is full, we • Last bus is 7:00pm from ECC recommend using the staff car parks at Tranwell, Trust HQ or Windy Nook instead.

We have also received complaints regarding parking inside Windy Nook Methodist Church grounds which is causing obstructions and safety issues, please refrain from parking here.

• Park and Ride Park and Ride car park is located on Old Durham Road opposite Cardinal Hume School NE9 6RZ The Park and Ride car park is open from 6:30am through to 7:00pm with a bus service also available for these hours.

• Park and stride Park and Stride Address: Old Lyndhurst School, Easedale Gardens, Low Fell, Gateshead NE9 6TA. Open from 7am to 7pm.

For any queries on parking please get in touch with ghnt.carparking.admin@nhs.net

The breakfast menu is: • Traditional breakfast- £5.50 • Vegetarian breakfast- £5.50 • Sausage sandwich- £2.40 • Bacon sandwich- £2.60 • Sausage, bacon combo- £3.20 • Additional items - £0.50 Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

7 | #GatesheadHealth

#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter Information Governance Training The Information Governance Team have arranged for Information Governance training to be delivered at the QE, Educational Centre within the Lecture Theatre at 3pm on Tuesday 19 December 2023.

There are still places available on this specific date, but these sessions will run monthly for staff members who’s ESR training is expired or due to expire.

The Trust must ensure that all staff are trained in Information Governance annually, currently 87% of staff have completed the relevant training. The Trust needs 95% compliance.

Other dates include the: • 22 Jan 2024 , 3pm at the QE, Educational Centre – Lecture Theatre • 29 Feb 2024, 10am at the QE, Educational Centre – Lecture Theatre • 18 March 2024, 2pm at the QE, Educational Centre – Lecture Theatre

Freedom of Information Do you receive FoI requests for the same or similar information regularly? Would you be able to easily publish and keep up to date this information on the Trust website?

The Publication scheme is for you! Get in touch with the IG Team on what you have that you could publish and keep up to date. ghnt.ig.team@nhs.net This will allow the FOI Officer and you to refer any relevant requests to the already published information and help you in managing your FOIs. Read the ICO guide on what should be within a model publication scheme for your information

Learning from deaths Q2 Read the latest learning from deaths update for qu arter 2.

Some good practice identified:   

Scan the QR code to book:

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

Communication with family Handwritten documentation very clear and concise Documentation of DNACPR discussion with patient and family very thorough.

InPhase access To try and assist as many staff as possible to access their InPhase accounts and be able to report patient safety incidents easily, we have created a simple step by step: -Access the InPhase live site this can also be found via the intranet page (info services – systems InPhase) -Select ‘login using SSO’ – the system will then redirect you to the NHSmail login page -Use your NHSmail email address and password If you have forgotten you password, please follow the instructions on how to reset it.

We are able to audit how many staff have created InPhase accounts and know this number is not as high as we need it to be. We are also closely monitoring any dips in reporting. We encourage all staff to access their accounts and use the simplified report form in InPhase to tell us about both patient safety and non-patient safety incidents. To familiarise yourself with the reporting process, please watch this short video If you have any issues please contact ghnt.inphasegateshead@nhs.net

8 | #GatesheadHealth

#GatesheadHealth – Weekly Newsletter

Next tea and chat Thursday 4 January with Amanda Venner, Director of People and OD 1.00pm to 2.00pm.

Come along and have a chat and cup of tea or coffee.

Facebook Live

Tea and chat

Upcoming events

The next Facebook Live is tomorrow Tuesday 5 December 6.30pm with Jo Halliwell, Chief Operating Officer and Neil Halford, Medical Director of Operations.

Tea and chat is your opportunity to ask any questions to an Executive Team member, raise concerns and offer suggestions on how we can improve Gateshead Health for you.

• December – Festive December

We hope you can join.

Ask your question anonymously to be answered in the live.

Watch the latest Facebook live Upcoming sessions: • 5 December • 19 December

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.

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

The tea and chat sessions will now be weekly on a Thursday 1:00pm to 2:00pm in the Hub. The next session is with Amanda Venner, Director of People and OD on Thursday 4 January.

• 4 December – Medicine for Members event • 5 December – Christmas decorations can go up • 5 December – festive meals beginning • 7 December – NHS Carol Service • 7 December – Christmas jumper day

We hope you can come!

• 8 December – festive tour

Tea and coffee will be available.

• 15 December – Trust choir performance in the atrium 12pm to 1pm

Upcoming sessions • 4 January

• 18 to 22 December – thank you week

• 11 January • 1 February

9 | #GatesheadHealth