Connect Spring 2019

Your Magazine, Your Hospitals

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Communications

Celebrating Christmas across our hospitals A huge thank you to all of our staff who went above and beyond this year to make Christmas a special time for those spending it in our hospitals! From parties to presents and visitors on the wards; you all made a fantastic effort and made a huge difference to our patients!

#LancsHospAdvent This year, we created our very own #LancsHospAdvent, with a video each day from various teams across our hospitals on how they are celebrating Christmas together.

If you didn’t see the videos, search for the hashtag on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. We hope to get even more of our wonderful staff involved this year!

Kind donations to our children’s ward Scooter clubs and solo riders from across Lancashire joined together for the Preston and District Selection Box Ride this Christmas. The team came from all across Lancashire to bring over 280 selection boxes and to spread some festive cheer. Thank you to everyone involved with this ride, and to everyone who donated items to our children’s ward this Christmas to ensure that all of the children had the best Christmas possible in our hospitals.

National Elf Day

ENT Christmas raffle

Several of our teams got involved with National Elf Day over the holidays to spread festive cheer across our hospitals. Our MAU elves also raised money for the Alzheimer’s Society – don’t they all look fantastic!

Thank you to staff in our ENT team who raised a fantastic £374 in their Christmas raffle!

The money raised will go to the Royal Cross Primary School and Preston and Chorley Districts Laryngectomee Association.

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Annual food banks to help those in need A huge thank you to everyone who donated items for our annual food banks this year. Both Living Waters in Chorley and the Salvation Army in Preston have been overwhelmed by the generosity shown by our staff, patients and communities!

Preston North End visit our children’s ward Children spending Christmas on our children’s ward were excited to receive a visit from the Preston North End football players, who gave out chocolates and gifts to put a smile on their faces. The players and management made their annual visit to the children’s ward to bring presents and spread some festive joy to the children on the ward. The team spent time speaking with and playing with the children, and brought gifts for everyone too.

Celebrating our volunteers We held special lunches this Christmas to celebrate all of our hard working and dedicated volunteers. The days held at both Preston and Chorley hospitals included a presentation of Long Service Awards; with awards given out for 10, 20 and, in one case, even 50 years’ service to voluntary work with us.

Christmas dinners were also given out to volunteers from members of the

executive team, as well as hospital governors and members of staff. Karen Partington, Chief Executive, said: “It was our pleasure and privilege to serve our volunteers for a change. I want to say a huge thank you to all of our volunteers for everything that they do to contribute to the care that we provide to our patients.”

SMRC Christmas party Patients and staff at the Specialist Mobility Rehabilitation Centre celebrated the holidays with a Christmas party this year for all of the patients being treated at the centre. The party included many activities for both the patients and staff to get involved with, and enabled children to meet and connect with other children at the centre.

What a great way to spread some festive cheer!

Advent of activities on ward 4 Staff on ward 4 at Preston launched their own advent of activities to ensure that there was plenty going on to improve experiences for patients and staff around the holidays. Activities included their very own Christmas lights switch on, board game evening, a staff Christmas party; as well as Christmas celebrations to end the advent on the 25th.

Wigan Warriors spreading festive cheer Members of the Wigan Warriors rugby league club made their annual visit to the Ribblesdale Ward to spend time with patients over Christmas, and bring some festive cheer during a difficult time to be in hospital. Their visit left the ward buzzing, and brightened patient’s days as always!

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

Together we achieve Significant contributions to library services Emily Hurt, Clinical Librarian, has been awarded with the Director of Health Libraries North Award; an award given to a member of the Library and Information Health Network North West who has made a significant contribution to library and knowledge services in the North West. Emily has been recognised on multiple occasions for her work to encourage staff to be research active. Great work, Emily!

Accredited Awards Our annual Accredited Awards presentation took place in October; with certificates presented

by Karen Partington, Chief Executive; Tony Gatrell, Non-Executive Director; and the Chair of Education for the Training and Research Committee. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Championing safety for our patients

Commitment to patient safety Chorley Hospital has been named as a National Joint Registry (NJR) Quality Data Provider for 2017-18 for commitment to patient safety after successfully completing a national programme of local data audits. This is the second time that we have achieved this accolade.

The NJR Quality Data Provider certificate scheme is designed to offer hospitals a blueprint for reaching standards relating to patient safety and reward those who have met registry targets in this area.

Congratulations to Connie Sharrock, Medicines Safety Officer, who was awarded Pharmacy Professional of the Month in November by The Clinical Pharmacy Congress for her work to promote medicines safety, promoting error reporting and establishing a network of medicines safety champions.

Anne Tucker and Sophie Laker were recently named as the “Employees of the Month” within their team! This is a fantastic and simple initiative by our occupational therapists to ensure our staff are recognised for their hard work; and feel valued in their roles!

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Dr Ian Schofield, Consultant Cardiologist, has been named as a finalist for the British Junior Cardiologists’ Association (BJCA) Trainer of the Year Award 2018 in a national nomination scheme, which reflects his high standards of work and commitment to training. Well done, Ian!

Consultant radiographer honoured for lifechanging work

Patient centred care Valuing our staff

Finalist for national cardiology award

Jennifer Dawber, Parkinson’s Disease Nurse, was awarded with the Newcomer Award at the PDNSA Awards for her management of medication training and audits; and for increasing awareness of the team and what they do.

The Parkinson’s disease nurse specialist team were also shortlisted for Team of the Year for their continued commitment to patients and enthusiasm in educating all staff about Parkinson’s disease across the hospitals.

Tracey Ellis, Macmillan Consultant Radiographer, was recognised at the annual Macmillan Excellence Awards 2018 for the fantastic work that she has been doing to support local people living with cancer. Tracey was nominated for the Innovation Excellence Award, and also received a Macmillan Fellowship, which are awarded to professionals who have set the highest standards in their area of work.

Tracey’s visionary approach, combined with her strong leadership style and positive outlook, has led to many successful innovations that are improving patient experience. Tracey took on the pioneering new post of Macmillan Consultant Radiographer to give patients a real choice between surgery and radiotherapy as treatment options.

High standards in obstetrics training National award win for fantastic nursing team

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has formally recognised the achievements of our obstetrics and gynaecology team by placing them within the top 10 performing hospital sites in the UK in the categories of obstetrics training and in overall performance for 2018.

Congratulations!

Excellence in radiotherapy research

Congratulations to Tracy Earley and the nutrition nursing team who were awarded with the Patient Safety Improvement Award at the national Nursing Times Awards!

Rachel Norris, Principal Medical Physicist, has been awarded with the best poster presentation award at the annual UK SABR Consortium meeting. Rachel’s poster looked at using oxygen to reduce breathing amplitude in lung cancer patients, as an alternative to using a compression method on the patient’s stomach to reduce the extent of their breathing. Rachel now hopes to take this study forward to test within a larger cohort of patients.

The team has developed a whole systems approach to improving safety with the use of nasogastric tubes; including the implementation of an e-learning tool, which reinforces the correct way to insert and confirm the position of nasogastric tubes. This work has been shared as a free resource, which a large number of other NHS organisations have now implemented. Health Education England has also adopted it as a national programme of education.

Members of the cancer research and Clinical Research Facility teams were also shortlisted for the “Technology and Data in Nursing” Award in recognition of their work using telemedicine to provide patients with a consistent, efficient and local service.

Double recognition for our midwives Congratulations to our midwifery team who have been shortlisted for Midwifery Service of the Year in the annual Royal College of Midwives Awards for all of their work to provide the highest quality service for women, babies and families.

Community midwives across our hospitals and Liverpool Women’s Hospital have also been shortlisted for the Johnson’s® Award for Excellence in Maternity Care in the annual awards. The team have been shortlisted for their work on the STRAWB2 research project, which aims to look at the effectiveness of self-help material given to women in preventing posttraumatic stress symptoms. Congratulations and good luck to the teams!

Excellence in marketing Our library team has been awarded with the Marketing Excellence Award for their work in developing their project entitled “Summer reading journey – escape with a good book” by the Chartered Institute of Information and Library Professionals (CILIP). The project encouraged users to engage with the hospital library via their fiction collection. The project was awarded with the bronze award for effective use of resources and well-designed promotional materials. Fantastic work!

Workforce and Education Thank You Awards We recently held our first ever Workforce and Education Thank You Awards; based on the use of the new thank you tool. Presentations were given to share achievements and successes over the past year; followed by an awards ceremony.

A range of awards were given out to the most thanked and thankful, and the Directorate Shield was presented to the Health Academy management team! Congratulations to all of the winners and please keep using our thank you tool to show your appreciation to your colleagues.

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

Together, we make amazing things happen

International presentation of innovative work

Award win for our outstanding midwifery team Our caesarean section team has won the Team of the Year Award in the annual British Journal of Midwifery (BJM) Practice Awards. This award is presented to a team that has demonstrated an excellent contribution to midwifery; and showcased collaborative working and innovation. The whole team were there to collect the award; including the midwives theatre team, consultant anaesthetist and consultant obstetricians.

The caesarean section team has won this award for their outstanding work to enhance the experiences for women and their birth partners when they undergo a caesarean section. They have demonstrated how team working can not only have a positive effect on the outcomes for women and their families but on the whole working environment creating huge job satisfaction for every member of the team.

Championing research Nichola Verstraelen has been successful in her application to join the 70@70: NIHR Senior Nurse and Midwife Research Leader Programme. The programme has recruited 70 outstanding senior nurses and midwives who are committed to championing and embedding a research active culture across nursing and midwifery within the organisation. The programme will run for a period of three years and will enable applicants to share best practice and learnings in order to drive real change across research systems and strengthen the research voice and influence of nurses and midwives in NHS provider organisations. Fantastic news, Nichola!

Unique presentation at national conference Saeed Umar, Head of Technical Services, has presented at the annual conference of the Institute of Medical Illustrators. This was the first time that a speaker outside of the medical illustration profession was invited to speak at the conference – a great achievement for Saeed. Saeed presented to the group on challenges in cybersecurity and the impact of cyber security for medical illustrators within the NHS aligned to medical systems, devices, and third party systems.

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Jeremy Ward, Consultant Surgeon and Chairman of Health Exchange Nepal (HExN), Professor Satyan Rajbhandari, Consultant Physician and General Secretary of HExN, and Dr Martin Myers, Consultant Clinical Biochemist, were recently invited to attend a conference on the Britain – Nepal Medical and Health Co-operation at the Nepalese Embassy in London.

Jeremy spoke to an audience of around 100 people on the work of HExN since its establishment in 2008. HExN was set up by Jeremy and Satyan around 10 years ago. In that time, the charity has set up and supported numerous health education projects in Nepal across a range of medical specialties including diabetes, care of new-borns, radiology, anaesthetics and laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery.

The recent conference was held in London and was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister of Nepal, Mr Upendra Yadav, and was arranged by Dr Durga Subedi, the Nepalese Ambassador to the UK. Representatives of the Nepalese Doctors Association, Nepalese Nurses Association and Britain-Nepal Medical Trust also attended the conference.

Our unsung heroes Congratulations to Venkata Padala, Head of Enterprise Wide Applications, who has won the IT Leader of the Year Award in the national Unsung Hero Awards.

The Unsung Hero awards are the only national awards for non-medical NHS staff and volunteers who go above and beyond the call of duty in their roles. Congratulations to Lauren Mooney, Recruitment Apprentice who was also shortlisted within these awards, and to everyone across our hospitals who was nominated for these awards too.

Annual Research and Innovation Showcase

Recognition for excellence in research and innovation Congratulations to Andy Nixon, Clinical Research Fellow in Renal Medicine, who has been shortlisted for the Clinical Research Rising Star of the Year Award in the North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards 2019! Andy has delivered original research projects, engaged patients and public in research design, and established new collaborations with researchers.

Congratulations also go to Christian DeGoede, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist, who has been shortlisted for the prestigious Clinical Research Practitioner of the Year Award!

Christian has built fantastic collaborations with local universities to develop ground breaking work into areas such as seizure detection and bed wetting.

Congratulations to our qualifying nurses The next cohort of students on our BSc Nursing (Adult) Programme have come to the emotional end of their three-year course. BNAP is an adult nursing degree that runs as a partnership between ourselves and the University of Bolton; which focuses on the importance of practical learning.

In order to celebrate their achievements and look back on a fantastic three years; an event was held at Chorley with all of the students, their families, mentors, ward staff, University of Bolton lecturers and other senior members of the hospital. There were smiles, tears and lots of laughter as the students celebrated the end of their course. Congratulations to all of our qualifying students!

Highest recruiters in the country for innovative cancer trial We have recruited the highest number of patients in the UK into an innovative kidney cancer trial; making us the sixth highest site globally for recruitment into this trial currently.

Pharmacy Together Conference Victoria Heald, Suhail Kaba, Laura Barnes and Jon Kwok from our pharmacy team were awarded with the Patient Safety Award from the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association at the annual Pharmacy Together Conference in London.

The team were awarded for their commitment to patient safety in the work that they have been conducting to pilot the provision of a pharmacy service to the emergency department at Preston.

The pilot proved to be a success; providing evidence that patient safety was positively impacted through access to a pharmacy service.

This trial, entitled CheckMate 914, is looking into the use of a combination of treatments to stimulate the body’s immune system in kidney cancer patients in order to fight cancerous cells and prevent the return of a tumour following surgery. The trial hopes to answer the important question of whether immunotherapy treatment after surgery for high risk kidney cancer patients (those whose risk of cancer returning is about 50%) reduces the risk of this cancer coming back and increases the chances of curing the cancer altogether. Immunotherapy has already shown to have benefits in the risk of other cancers such as melanoma after surgery and there have always been similarities in the way in which these cancers are managed.

As well as being the top recruiter in the UK for the study, we were also able to recruit the first patient in the UK into this trial. This is testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved!

The research and innovation team recently held their annual Research and Innovation Showcase Day, to showcase the importance of research, and highlight how they are at the cutting edge of contributions to furthering medical knowledge.

More than 120 doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and research staff from across the region came along to the special event to find out more about the great work that takes place within the Centre for Health Research and Innovation (R&I) and its NIHR Lancashire Clinical Research Facility (CRF), and find out more about how they can get involved.

The day included presentations by Professor Pierre Martin Hirsch, Director of Research and Innovation; Paul Brown, Head of Research and Innovation; Dr Christian de Goede, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist; Alison Birtle, Consultant Oncologist; and more members of staff who have been involved with practice changing and ground breaking clinical research work.

Sharing best practice in national journal publication Jane Crowther, Clinical Placement Facilitator, has had her article published on MedEdPublish, an e-journal sharing best practice and ideas.

Jane’s article discusses enhancements to medical students learning by combining problem based learning and human patient simulation.

The article is written in collaboration with Dr Eleanor Nash from Health Education East Midlands and looks at problem based learning and human patient simulation as a means to actively involve and engage students in their learning. The article is based on the principle that learning is enhanced when students are provided with the opportunity to apply their theoretical learning into a real life context.

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

Continuous Improvement

Flow Coaching Academy: our journey of continuous improvement We are delighted to announce that we have been selected to become a Health Foundation Flow Coaching Academy - an important step in our continuous improvement journey that will help us work towards delivering outstanding care for our patients.

This will build on the considerable progress we have already made to drive change using continuous improvement methodologies, and will give staff the skills and support needed to transform patient pathways across organisational boundaries.

Our Flow Coaching Academy, Lancashire & South Cumbria, will be one of a network of ten in the country and allow our teams the opportunity to take part in a 12 month action learning programme aimed at developing the combination of coaching skills and improvement science.

Karen Partington, Chief Executive, said: “This accreditation recognises the considerable expertise we have in our organisation to transform services through continuous improvement. As part of the flow coaching academy programme we will have access to even more knowledge and support to help us tackle the long standing patient flow challenges at a pathway level that we have experienced in our hospitals. As a flow coaching academy we will also be able to offer support and training to other hospitals locally and share our learning

The aim of the Flow Coaching Academy is to learn how to apply team coaching skills and improvement science at care pathway level to improve patient flow and experience through a healthcare system.

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and knowledge nationally, and so help improve standards and performance.”

Thank you to everyone who made an expression of interest in participating in the programme and proposed clinical pathways for improvement in year one.

We are pleased to share with you the four pathways that we will focus on in year one: • Colorectal • Frailty • Inflammatory Bowel Disease • Sepsis

We would also like to introduce our first wave of coaches to you!

Arnab Bhowmick, Upper GI and Colorectal Consultant Faculty Chair

Ailsa Brotherton, Director of Continuous Improvement Flow Coaching Academy Strategic Lead

“The Flow Coaching Academy is a hugely exciting opportunity for us to join a learning network of like-minded colleagues, highly committed to delivering improvements. We will have a unique opportunity to define our clinical models of care at a pathway level and be supported to redesign our processes to deliver impressive levels of improvement for patients.

I am excited to be leading this programme as the Faculty Chair and look forward to leading the establishment of our Lancashire and South Cumbria Flow Coaching Academy. “

“The approach adopted by the Flow Coaching Academy to bring together clinicians with improvers to develop their coaching, improvement science and social movement skills in a network of equal partners is delivering impressive results. We are keen to learn from organisations who are current members, share our learning as we progress through the programme and make a positive contribution to the scale up and spread strategy of the Flow Coaching Academy programme.”

Catherine Silcock, Divisional Head of Nursing Non-Clinical “I have previously undertaken Quality Improvement (QI) training in lean methodology and have examples of implementing change that result in a positive impact on patient care.

I have improved timeliness and efficiency of patient pathways and focused on what adds value for patients to enable the best possible experience of care as well as best outcome.

This is an exciting opportunity and I am looking forward to working alongside teams to design and implement improvements.”

As part of this programme we will be establishing four ‘Big Rooms’ where teams will come together weekly to design and deliver the improvements. We will be inviting a wide group of colleagues to join this work. Please keep an eye out for more information on this."

Paul Barrow, Upper GI and Colorectal Consultant Clinical - Colorectal “I met with the team from Sheffield during their visit and was impressed by the philosophy and rationale behind the flow coaching process and continuous improvement methodology. I have been in contact with the Sheffield colorectal team about how they went about setting up their “big room” and have been invited to visit one of their discussions. I am excited that colorectal surgery will form one of the streams included in the flow coaching academy.

I am looking forward to pulling together a team who can effect change to improve patient care. “

Chandbi Sange, Research Nurse Non-Clinical

Jonty Kenward, Placement Support Manager Non-Clinical

“I have a service improvement and research background and am very committed to applying my skills. I am a team player and looking forward to supporting others in the big room.”

“When I received the chief executive's news bite communication and noticed the Flow Coaching Academy programme, I decided to apply straight away. I feel that my knowledge and skills in coaching will be well suited to the programme and I am keen to learn the QI techniques.”

Moira Roberts, Head of Continuous Improvement Flow Coaching Academy Lead

Catherine Roberts, Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Clinical - Sepsis

“The Flow Coaching Academy will give us an agreed and robust approach to continuous improvement, which we can use to inform all of our improvement programmes across our organisation.”

“The multi-speciality and multi-professional nature of sepsis care is one of the reasons that I believe that holding a ‘big room’ centred on the early recognition and management of sepsis would help us to deliver impressive improvements in sepsis care. I am keen that we replicate the fabulous results that Imperial has delivered in their sepsis big room.”

Wadi Gashau, Gastroenterology Consultant Clinical - Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Elizabeth McMullin, Associate Director of Allied Health Professionals Clinical - Frailty

“We want to build a higher quality, increasingly efficient and more patient centred/triggered IBD pathway compared with our existing processes."

“I am delighted to be participating in the Flow Coaching Academy, and ensuring that Allied Health Professionals contribute to the improvement work in the Big Rooms.”

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

Charity work and fundraising Improving patient experience with charitable fund The Governor Patient Experience Charitable Fund is managed by governors and strives to help teams to purchase non-clinical items and support improvements to enhance the experience of both patients and visitors across the hospitals.

New collecting boxes have been installed at the entrances to both Preston and Chorley hospitals, to urge people to donate their loose change to the fund.

Since its launch, the fund has contributed towards a range of items to benefit patients.

This has included televisions in patient areas, armchairs and footstools for the therapy

treatment area, and activity blankets and memory boxes for patients with dementia. Most recently, it funded the launch of the ICU-Hear initiative which offers live music to critically ill patients on the intensive care unit, provided by a charity group called Music in Hospitals and Care.

Staff, patients and the general public are encouraged to apply for funding from the charitable fund by completing and submitting the application form on the intranet (https://intranet.lthtr.nhs.uk/ governors-charitable-fund).

Trekkers scale new heights for Rosemere A team of 17 trekkers took on the Great Wall of China in October. The team flew to Beijing, but then immediately headed north into the countryside to follow the wall for between four to seven hours a day. They walked over 70km to complete this monumental challenge, navigating thousands of steps and obstacles along the way. As a team they created an amazing bond, along with memories for life, and in the process raised over £25,000 for the Rosemere Ribblesdale Ward Appeal.

Plans are already afoot for another similar challenge in 2020. If you would like to join team Rosemere on this next adventure, please contact Dan Hill to express your interest in joining the team at daniel.hill@lthtr.nhs.uk

Dancing into first place!

Barbara Unsworth, Clinical Physiologist, is taking on a Strictly Come Dancing style competition to raise money for Bolton Hospice.

She has just 12 weeks of training ahead of her to learn the social foxtrot, quickstep, and one of four specialist dances – which will be rock and roll! If you would like to donate to this cause, please visit http://bit.ly/2RLz7na.

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Kind donation for digital post-mortem service A number of mosques from across Lancashire have made a hugely generous donation towards our digital CT scanner at Preston.

Recognising the benefit that the new scanner has brought to people across the county, the Preston Muslim Society coordinated a fundraising effort as an appreciation for the service, raising over £20,000. A huge thank you to everyone involved with this fundraising.

The scanner, which is used to perform digital post-mortems, was officially opened in May 2018 and is the first of its kind in the North

West – as well as being one of only a small few throughout the rest of the UK. Developments in CT scanning and research now allow a digital post-mortem to be performed without the need for the traditional invasive procedure - unless further investigation is required to clarify the cause of death. This method also preserves the dignity of the deceased person and is of particular importance for deaths where the deceased person is of certain faiths. Such is the capability of the digital CT scanner that a cause of death is identified in around 97% of all the autopsies carried out in this way.

Success for our Bereavement Support Group The Bereavement Support Group charity is thrilled to have been awarded £1,815.06 from the Co-Op Local Causes Fund. The group was successfully chosen by the Ribbleton store to be one of their locally supported causes.

The Bereavement Support Group runs on the first Thursday of the month at Preston and Chorley. The group helps adults, young people and children who need support through bereavement. The group plans to spend the funds on volunteer training and recruitment, promotional materials, venue hire, refreshments for the attendees and arts and craft materials for the children’s groups. For more information on the group or to become a volunteer call 01772 523730.

Raising funds through Bra Bank Staff in our therapy department have joined forces with the charity Action Against Breast Cancer to support the “Bra Bank” initiative to collect unwanted bras.

of affordable bras; and the recyclable bras are donated to the charity to raise funds. Against Breast Cancer receives a donation based on the weight of the bras collected.

Against Breast Cancer collects unwanted or unloved bras to raise vital funds for pioneering breast cancer research. The usable bras are sent over to Africa where there is a short supply

To donate unwanted bras, you can drop them off in the therapy department at Preston or e-mail Rachael Moses for more information.

Raising funds for neonatal units Supporter of Baby Beat and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Lynsey Cotton, recently organised a 13 mile sponsored walk from the Knowles Arms pub in Blackburn to Preston Hospital in order to raise money for the neonatal units at both Preston and Burnley, where she gave birth to her daughter, Katie.

Lynsey has raised a fantastic £5,200 so far, with donations still coming in. Thank you, Lynsey!

Fantastic achievement for business intelligence Mubean Patel, Zuber Ismail and Mubarak Patel from the business intelligence team completed the Dubai marathon recently to support the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. 75% of the population of Yemen need humanitarian support and 17.8 million people in the country don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

The group have already raised over £3,000 – a fantastic result, congratulations!

#WorldCOPDDay Congratulations to our fabulous team in yellow on ward 23 who have raised £500 from their fundraising on World COPD Day.

A huge thank you from the SMRC Congratulations to two of our patients at the SMRC; Malcolm Charlton and Pauline Doyle, for their fantastic fund-raising efforts in 2018. Malcolm has completed several triathlons since he became an amputee, always in aid of the SMRC and has raised hundreds of pounds over the last six years, whilst on 10th September 2018 Pauline completed a sponsored sky dive and raised over £700. These courageous and generous individuals have contributed massively to the SMRC’s Patient Trust Fund, without which we would be unable to fund some of the items which hugely improve our patient’s experience when they attend our centre. A huge thank you to Malcolm, Pauline and all of our fundraisers on behalf of all SMRC patients and staff.

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

Awareness days

Celebrating our occupational therapists We recently celebrated our occupational therapists as part of the national Occupational Therapy Week! The week is a yearly celebration of the occupational therapy (OT) profession and an opportunity for OTs to share what they do and the difference that they make.

Anne Tucker, Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist for Trauma Orthopaedics, said: "I am passionate about occupational therapy and how we provide practical solutions to everyday living. I am proud to be an advocate for my patients recognising ‘what matters to them’ not ‘what’s the matter with them’. My biggest achievement has been leading the development of the integrated rehabilitation team - nurses

and occupational therapists working together to facilitate the best outcome for our patients.”

I am proud to be part of the team and love my job as an OT at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals."

Leanne Topcuoglu, Advanced Occupational Therapist and Team Leader for Hand Therapy, said: "Working as an OT in hand therapy means that I can use my knowledge of hand anatomy along with my creative and problem solving skills to help treat hand conditions and enable people to return to independent function.

Injuries and conditions affecting the hand can have such a significant impact on every day function and the skills of an OT are vital in a patient’s recovery. The best part of the job is supporting patients to reach their full potential and knowing that you helped them get there.

Jane Niven, Specialist Occupational Therapist, said: "I have worked here for 23 years, and work with two other OTs at Chorley on the acute medical wards. I love working with patients who are all unique. We always treat patients holistically and listen to what is important to them. We will work with the patient and their family to gain a full preadmission history, to help us to visualise how a patient was managing at home and then guide them to an effective discharge plan."

Raising awareness on World Stroke Day World Stroke Day aims to emphasise the serious nature and high rates of stroke, raise awareness of the prevention and treatment of the condition, and ensure better care and support for survivors.

The cause is very close to the hearts of married couple, Sharon and Shaun Dickinson. Back in 2017, Shaun started to experience some dizzy spells and attended the doctors for an ECG to establish the cause. When Shaun returned to discuss the results, he took a turn for the worse, resulting in him being sent to Preston Hospital.

Sharon said: “Without the medical attention that my husband received that day from staff at Preston Hospital, he would not be alive today. When we arrived, I was introduced to Anu Thomas, Stroke Specialist Nurse, who explained that my husband may have had a stroke. Anu gave Shaun a clot busting injection and explained that if there was a blockage then this would hopefully disperse the clot.

Anu then introduced me to Dr Sulaiman Sultan,

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Stroke Consultant, who ensured that a CT scan and MRI scan happened quickly, and confirmed that Shaun was indeed having a stroke. It was then confirmed that Shaun had a blood clot in the artery to the rear of his skull, which was quite large and resulted in him being sent straight into theatres.”

“The operation went ahead and Dr Siddhartha and Dr Hemant Sonwalkar did the surgery by removing the clots which had blocked the artery and narrowed with time. They then widened the artery making sure that good blood supply was going to Shaun’s brain who by this point was in an induced coma.”

“Shaun that day suffered a catastrophic stroke and without the staff I have named and the service being available then, for sure, Shaun wouldn’t be here. Shaun has indicated that when he feels better he will shake the hands of the staff that certainly saved his life that day. Once again, thank you all at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.”

Improving your health and wellbeing Swan Rescue

Beating the blues away, by getting active every day Several members of staff from across our organisation made a fantastic effort to participate in RED January this year to support mental health and wellbeing. Lorraine Kelly from the communications team took on a 7.2 mile hike up Fair Snape and Parlick Fells on New Year’s Day, Louise Davitt and Lynn Sime from the emergency department completed a 2.1 mile run, and Jo Best from the mandatory education team went on a 5 mile walk to name just a few!

Congratulations to everyone who got involved for this fantastic cause!

A team of staff have created a Wildlife Action Group (WAG), to care for the cygnets on the pond at Preston Hospital as they are unable to leave the pond area to forage for food.

This team, supported by a range of other people including students, patients and many others, has provided nutritious food for the birds, and has given up time at weekends and bank holidays to ensure they have been fed properly and have the best chance of maturing into adults.

The WAG would welcome any contributions or support towards providing the correct food. Please contact Jo Best or Kerry Hemsworth if you wish to make a donation or to support proper food provision for our beautiful wildlife.

Incident support for staff If you or your team have experienced a work-related incident, you can contact the Psychological Wellbeing Service to access further support from our clinical psychologist and the staff supporters.

Group and individual support is available. This support provides the opportunity to share experiences related to the incidents, information about common experiences, and when to seek further support. We can also come and tell your team about this service generally rather than supporting a specific incident. Please see further details on the intranet health and wellbeing pages, email us at PsychologyandCounsellingforStaff@LTHTR.nhs.uk or ring extension 2252. Information about the full service can be found on the intranet.

Staff Ambassador Forums

Promoting diversity, inclusion and equality in the workplace

We have created some staff ambassador forums to support colleagues in our organisation. These forums can be used to support colleagues from a number of perspectives; providing our people with a voice, giving support, discussing issues, reviewing policies/procedures but also educating colleagues and helping us to really embrace and celebrate difference. The first forums took place in January; with plans to roll out more in the future.

Staff within the musculoskeletal physiotherapy outpatient departments are undertaking a project to gain further understanding of what the team do well to promote diversity, inclusion and equality; as well as what could be done to improve the services offered, to challenge staff to think differently, and to promote the importance of diversity, inclusion and equality.

If you have any questions please contact Mandy Davis or one of our equality champions; Jono Grisdale, Helen Williams, Barrie MorganScrutton, Caddi Ranyard and Nita Desai.

The first stage of this project is a collaboration with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). This will involve a group of physiotherapy students in their second and third years working alongside members of the

hospital team to work through a number of scenarios in order to review services offered with respect to diversity, inclusion and equality.

The second stage of the project would then be to look at inviting and supporting patients to review the services that the departments offer with respect to celebrating diversity, promoting inclusion and supporting equality.

Finally, the third stage of the project would be to invite members of the musculoskeletal physiotherapy outpatient departments to review the workplace in respect of diversity, inclusion and equality.

Join our 10 week running course Julia Rolfe regularly leads a 10 week running course for staff.

Julia direct to book their place at

Julia is one of our health and wellbeing champions and is also a qualified leader in running fitness. Julia aims to organise three 10 week sessions for staff who are new to running which will take place at Preston and Chorley. The course is based on the NHS Couch to 5K challenge and costs just ÂŁ10.

Julia.Rolfe@lthtr.nhs.uk.

As well as gaining fitness it is a great social outlet for having some fun and developing new friendships. Staff can contact

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

Improving patient experience Critical care expansion We will soon be starting work to refurbish our critical care unit at Preston, as well as expand the space so we can meet demand. The refurbishment will create a lighter and brighter unit, to provide a much better environment for patients, families and staff. A new reception area will provide a better welcome for families, and we are creating more rooms to maintain privacy during discussions.

We will also be improving facilities for families including a new waiting area, kitchen, toilets, bathroom and locker room. There will be better facilities for visitors who are disabled, and a new outside space for patients and families.

The refurbishment will also improve the working environment for staff, who have been providing high standards of care in less than ideal conditions. The refurbished facility will create more workspace around beds to enable better movement and flow, and the air conditioning will be improved. The staff room and rest facilities will be expanded, locker and changing rooms improved, and staff toilets moved to a more convenient location. There will also be a dedicated clinical skills and teaching room to support staff develop and keep up to date with training.

New ophthalmology centre We have invested £7m to build a new Ophthalmology Unit at Chorley which will improve patient experience and outcomes, reduce waiting times, and provide a better environment for both patients and staff.

The new unit which we are aiming to open at the end of 2019, is being co-designed with patients, governors and visual impairment charities.

Some ophthalmology services will continue to be provided at Preston Hospital so that people can still receive care close to home.

Major Trauma Rehabilitation Care Pathway and Prescription Our Major Trauma Service is very pleased to announce the launch of the new ‘Major Trauma Rehabilitation Care Pathway and Prescription’. The newly designed document will enable a multidisciplinary team approach in the delivery of patient centred care to our most severely injured patients. The document is designed to follow the patient throughout their journey to recovery; providing a fluid multidisciplinary assessment with the main purpose of improving the functionality, health and psychological wellbeing for those patients who survive their traumatic injuries, increasing their quality of life.

For more information please contact Karen Haworth, Major Trauma Clinical Manger or follow @MajorTraumaRPH.

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Video messaging service launched on NICU Neonatal unit staff at Preston Hospital have launched a new secure video messaging technology called vCreate, which has now been embedded into the service. The technology allows clinical staff to record and send videos and photo updates to parents whose babies are on the neonatal unit. Parents can access these updates via the vCreate app whilst they are away from the unit and will have reassurance of their baby’s wellbeing and in turn reduce separation anxiety.

The service is safe and secure and all updates are stored on the vCreate platform. A secure video diary builds up over time which parents can access 24 hours a day. Once the child has been discharged from hospital, parents can download the videos to keep forever. The videos are then permanently removed from the system.

Innovative follow up clinics for head and neck patients Brand new, innovative follow up clinics have been introduced to improve patient experience and ensure that patients are receiving the best care possible for them.

The clinics are for patients treated for head and neck cancers, and aim to provide holistic care for the more ‘low risk’ patients. The traditional practice is that, following treatment, consultants review the patients for five years to ensure that they remain free of cancer. However, in the third, fourth and fifth year following treatment, the risk of cancer returning is significantly reduced. The Macmillan clinical nurse specialists in head and neck at Preston Hospital have the skills necessary to monitor patients in this way, and also to assess the unmet/undiagnosed needs of these patients, and help patients to self-manage the long term consequences of treatments. Head and neck cancer patients can experience significant symptoms which continue to have a huge impact on their everyday lives such as difficulties with eating, breathing and drinking so the team are able to provide additional, specialised support for these concerns.

Service User Involvement Celebration and Education Event A festive Service User Involvement Celebration and Education Event was staged at Preston to share the successes of the Living With and Beyond Cancer programme.

New team developed to improve patient care We now have an innovative, dedicated, regional tracheostomy team based at Preston Hospital which is a unique and ground-breaking collaboration - the first of its kind in the UK! This role has been developed after a hugely successful pilot looking at the tracheostomy decannulation potential of patients across Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Increasing numbers of people are being identified who have survived neurological injury and have been discharged into the community with the assumption that they will always need a tracheostomy (an opening created at the front of the neck to allow a tube to be inserted into the windpipe to aid breathing). However, with

optimal specialist care and review many of these tracheostomies can be removed. The recent pilot study demonstrated the ability to remove tracheostomies in five patient cases over a number of months following specialist therapy programmes; improving patient outcomes and quality of life.

If you would like further information please contact the trache team via email trache. team@nhs.net. The team are also looking for suitable patients with long term tracheostomies that need to be reviewed and accept referrals from all clinicians.

During the session, attendees heard all about the future of service user involvement with ourselves and the Cancer Alliance, the experiences of people involved, what has been achieved and what the future holds.

Guest speakers included service users: Frank Farrell, Pauline Mills and Ian Smith; Liz Jennings (Macmillan Service User Involvement Coordinator), Anne Tomlinson (Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse), Scott Alker and Julie Edwards (from the Cancer Alliance), Gail Naylor (Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals) and Pav Akhtar (Governor).

Service user involvement is a vital part of service improvement. Anybody who is interested in service user involvement can contact the Cancer Information and Support Centre cancerinfocentre@lthtr.nhs.uk 01772 523709.

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

News and information #KeepHeartsBeating Thank you to everyone who promoted our #KeepHeartsBeating campaign this Valentine's Day to raise awareness of organ donation, and encourage people to talk about their wishes to become an organ donor. Becoming an organ donor takes a few minutes online at organdonation.nhs.uk, and can bring a lifetime of health and happiness to those waiting for a transplant.

Our hospital radio

Success for DESMOND team

We would be very grateful if all staff could continue to promote our hospital radio stations to patients. The stations provide live programmes which offer a wide selection of musical styles across many decades; perfect for all of our patients.

The Central Lancashire and North Lancashire DESMOND team has won the Team of the Year award in the Celebrating DESMOND Annual Awards Programme. The awards are to reward excellence in the DESMOND community and also to highlight, champion and celebrate good practice. Congratulations to everyone involved with this programme.

New menu launching in our retail outlets We have launched a brand new menu in our retail outlets. We also currently have several offers within our retail outlets including the £2 breakfast meal deal at Charters and Café Maison, sandwich meal deal with four items for £3.80, and any soup and a sandwich for £3.80.

Did you know - we also have a new range of dairy free coffee and chocolate drinks in Tempo made with soya, coconut and almond milks, as well as a new, wider choice of vegan meals? Make sure you pick up your salad bar loyalty card too which is available in Charters and Café Maison.

What matters to me We now have "what matters to me" boards by beds to improve patient safety and care provided to our patients. The boards show the individual who is looking after them that day, as well as including important information about the patient's individual needs and what matters to them.

Raising awareness of organ donation Ben Armstrong is our Specialist Nurse for Organ Donation. Hear from him below about the importance of organ donation and how colleagues can work together to support organ donation.

What my role involves: In my role, I identify, assess and approach families, and coordinate patients in our Critical Care Unit and emergency departments to become organ and tissue donors as part of their end of life care.

How we can work together: Staff in high care areas such as our emergency departments and critical care can work with me by identifying potential patients that can become donors and 16

informing the North West Organ Donation team by speaking with me in person or by ringing the Organ Donor referral line.

Why organ donation is so important to me: It amazes me how a person coming to the end of their life can then go on to help others through organ and tissue donation. The fact that a single donor has the potential to save up to eight lives and a single tissue donor may enhance the lives of up to 50 people truly keeps me motivated to do my job.

Contact for any further information on: 01772528101 or email me ben.armstrong@nhsbt.nhs.uk.

Preston Hospital Radio includes live sport and sports discussions programmes, classical music, 50’s and 60’s music, live bingo, a youth show and a religious programme. Chorley Hospital Radio has a similar range, as well as including jazz funk, the blues, soul and camp classics.

The stations are free for every patient to listen to from their bedside. Outside the hospitals, their families can listen into the programmes via www.prestonhospitalradio.org and www.chrweb.org.uk. The listening figures compare very favourably with some of the professional broadcasters!

Armed Forces Support Group Are you ex-Armed Forces or do you have family or loved ones currently serving? If so, would you find it useful to have some support or a chance to share experiences? Maria Shattock, Staff Nurse, is creating a support group as her son is a serving soldier. If you’re interested in helping to set up or would like to partake then please contact Maria.

Maths and English qualifications We have the opportunity to provide our healthcare support staff with the chance to gain core qualifications in Maths and English - needed for professional and career development. The qualifications are free and completed online. Just enter your details at www.jm1qual.com/ eoi or e-mail info@jm1qual.com for more information.

Achievements

Going for gold in the 2020 Paralympics Huge congratulations to Gregg Stevenson, Physical Training Instructor at the SMRC, who has qualified to be part of Team GB at the Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, in 2020! Gregg will be competing in the 2,000m rowing event within the games. He has now commenced a two year break from his role in order to concentrate fully on his training.

What’s more, Gregg recently achieved a British Record at the British Rowing Indoor Championships in London in the Para Men 2000m race earlier this month – just six seconds away from achieving a world record, an absolutely fantastic result!

We wish Gregg all the best with his training and the best of luck for the Paralympics in 2020.

High standards in library and knowledge services Our library service has been recognised for high standards in library and knowledge services, achieving a 100% rating for the fifth year running in the national Library Quality Assurance Framework (LQAF).

The LQAF assesses library services against five key domains: strategic management, finance and budgets, staff structure and skill mix, infrastructure and facilities, and library/ knowledge services delivery and development.

A self-assessment is then completed with accompanying evidence which is then verified by the Health Care Libraries Unit North.

Congratulations to our library team!

Kidney transplant going strong for 50 years!

Staff in our renal department recently held a celebratory event to mark the fiftieth year since a patient received his kidney transplant. This is possibly the longest surviving current kidney transplant on record in the UK.

average lifespan of a kidney transplant from a living relative is 10-16 years, with an average of six years longer if from a live donor. Harry has now had his transplanted kidney for a fantastic 50 years.

Harry Turner, 70, from Millom in Cumbria underwent kidney transplant surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1969. This amazing kidney and gift of life was kindly donated by his brother, Victor. The

Staff organised a special event to celebrate this fantastic milestone; with fellow transplant patients, members of staff, and members of the executive team attending the event to celebrate.

High praise for our maternity services Our maternity services have received positive feedback in an annual, national survey for 2018; demonstrating significant improvements from the year prior.

The National Picker Maternity Survey 2018 is aimed at women, aged 16 years or over who gave birth at the hospitals in February 2018.

The purpose of the survey is to understand what women think of the care they have received ranging from antenatal care, labour and birth, and postnatal care.

The results received demonstrate a significant improved position for our maternity services

Extending advanced practice radiographer team working in radiology Two of our advanced practitioners radiographers, Diane Hogg and Carol Swift, have been undertaking formal clinical reports on MSK x-rays for a number of years and have now successfully completed a further 12 month post graduate certificate at Canterbury Christ Church university with extremely high accuracy marks.

This will enable the pair to be the first allied health professionals/radiographers at our hospitals to undertake formal clinical reports on chest x-rays and become part of the reporting team for chest radiology.

They will now be able to independently report on chest x-rays undertaken from all referral sources enabling the radiology department to reduce the reporting time for all chest x-ray reporting. The addition of these skilled reporting radiographers to the chest reporting team will support the introduction of the National Optimal Lung Cancer Pathway to reduce time to diagnosis, by ensuring chest x-rays, performed for patients with suspected lung cancer, are reported within a day of attendance.

compared to the last national Picker survey and also the one prior to that. We ranked 12th out of 69 hospitals nationally compared to the 2017 survey where we ranked 36th out of 68 surveyed; a huge improvement!

High profile, national position for anaesthetic consultant

Notable positive feedback for the services included being offered a choice of where to have the baby, being given the help they needed by midwives, having their partner able to stay with them as long as they wanted, being able to see the midwife as much as they wanted, and receiving support or advice about feeding their baby during evenings and weekends.

Congratulations to Dr Emma Baird, Anaesthetics Consultant, who has been appointed into the role of Acute Pain Representative for the Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Anaesthetists. This role will enable Emma to build on our network of professionals and share best practice to improve the services and care that we provide.

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

News to know from the Exec Team Huge improvements to our emergency department We have now made huge improvements to our emergency department at Preston, thanks to a £1.9m funding boost to improve facilities and increase capacity. Improvements made include a new rapid assessment triage space to enable ambulances to handover patients without delay, extra cubicles to treat patients with serious conditions, upgraded high acuity cubicles, a new space for frail or elderly patients, extra surgical assessment capacity, a mobile x-ray, and IT systems to improve bed management.

Karen Partington, Chief Executive, said, “We know that our ED staff have raised the challenges of providing the highest standard of care in the current facilities, and the CQC too has identified the same issues, so we are pleased that we have been successful in securing a significant investment to improve the working environment, and create a better space for our patients.”

“We are delighted that our bid was successful and we have been able to invest this much needed money into a number of schemes to reduce ambulance handover delays, and ensure our emergency department patients can be seen and admitted promptly. This investment is particularly welcome when capital funds for the NHS have been restricted in recent times.”

“On behalf of the board, I would like to thank the ED team for their patience in getting to this point. It has been a long journey. I would also like to thank the wider team who have made this happen; it has been a real team effort involving the ED team, managers, estates and facilities staff, IT and our contractors. Thank you also to the staff who have moved offices and clinics to enable the building work to happen.”

“We are confident that this investment will improve patient experience within our emergency department and vastly improve the standard of care which we are providing.”

These changes are part of a wider programme designed to improve flow throughout the hospitals, and ensure patients are transferred without delay to the most appropriate setting for their needs.

The redesign has been led by our emergency department clinicians, to ensure that the changes work well in practice.

Lynn Sime, Matron, said: “This has been a real team effort from all of the staff within our emergency department, our domestic and estates staff, project management team, and IT staff, as well as local contractors D&G builders.”

“Staff have been working so hard in less than ideal conditions with great commitment to provide the highest standard of care. This investment provides a much better environment and has really boosted morale, which is fantastic to see.”

Staff car parking update We fully recognise that the current staff car parking arrangements are a source of concern and frustration, and regrettably affect employee satisfaction, recruitment and retention. We have been working on new criteria for parking to make the situation fairer, and this has proven to be very difficult because whatever the arrangement, there simply isn’t enough space for everyone who wants to park onsite.

Many staff have made their views known, and said very clearly that we should prioritise onsite parking for those for whom offsite parking is more burdensome. We are mindful that the consequence of that is some staff who currently park onsite would no longer be able to do so. In response to your concerns, we have been developing new criteria that will prioritise onsite parking for staff who have blue badges, staff who work shifts, staff who work on-call, and staff who work long days.

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In January we said that we were revising the staff carparking criteria, to create a fairer arrangement that prioritises onsite parking for staff who have blue badges, who work on call, or who work unsocial hours. We will be sharing the draft criteria for your comments in the coming weeks.

Please also look out for a staff carparking survey, we need to get your views about both short and longer term solutions to our carparking challenges.

We are also actively looking for additional nearby offsite parking at both Chorley and Preston as well as considering options for funding the building a multi-storey carpark at Royal Preston Hospital.

Full details about the new criteria and permit allocation process will follow shortly.

Share your views with our Big Conversations We are holding several Big Conversations to enable you to share your views about what it is like to work for our organisation, and how we can make it a great place to work.

It is really important that you come along and tell us about your experiences of working here. We use your feedback to inform what we do so we want to hear your views. Please book onto one of the sessions by e-mailing Emma Glynn.

24 Hours in Theatres Following the hugely successful first series of 24 hours in Maternity; the second series takes us behind the theatre doors to hear from the people behind the care. This in-house mini series gives you a unique glimpse into the world of our theatres teams. Get to know Sue, Janet, Clare, Munisa, Tarek and Zara - just a few of our talented theatre team and stars of the show!

The team talk about how they make decisions in high pressure situations, how they support each other and learn from mistakes, and about the things that make their jobs really special. You can view all the episodes of 24 Hours on View, on the intranet home page.

If you would like your team to be in the next series of 24 hours, contact Fiona Yates to discuss how your team could get involved

Clinical Nurse Specialist gets published Marianne King, Clinical Nurse Specialist, has had an article featured within a book entitled “Treatment of Dystonia�, which looks to give an overview of the current and emerging treatment options for these conditions.

Marianne is a specialist nurse in dystonia and migraines so has great knowledge within this field. Her article speaks about the role of a specialist nurse in neurology and the importance that this role plays in the treatment and care of patients with conditions such as dystonia.

Connect Magazine Spring 2019

Celebrating our long serving staff Thank you for your hard work, Gill!

Memorial bench for sorely missed team member A memorial bench has been created for Julie Oakes who sadly passed away on 13th July 2018 after a protracted fight against cancer. Julie was well known throughout our hospitals and within pathology around the UK. She had 40 years of steadfast service to our organisation, starting as a junior staff member at Preston Infirmary. Julie’s working life was dedicated to haematology and blood transfusion services.

“Following surgery, nine months were taken off work recovering; it’s been hard work but I have been determined to get back to a ‘normal life’, back to full health and full time work.”

Got a story?

Got something great going on in your department and want the rest of your colleagues to know about it?

If you have a story for Connect magazine, please email: Amy.Jones@lthtr.nhs.uk

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“With the support of good family and friends and lots of determination, sweat and tears I’m now back in good health and just completed my first 5K Glow in the Park fun run for charity.

I am living proof that life does not stop, but goes on after heart surgery.”

The pharmacy team have planted a tree and put a plaque in the grounds of Chorley in Toni’s memory.

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Julie is sorely missed by members of the team and as a mark of respect the bench was unveiled on the anniversary of what would have been her 60th birthday. Outside of work, Julie enjoyed travel and was a real sun worshipper; so this seemed a very fitting tribute from her colleagues. Staff in the department wish to thank all colleagues who contributed to this tribute.

“From quietly eating healthily, and looking after myself by exercising three times weekly, to being rushed for emergency heart surgery can only be described as horrifying. I had no symptoms that day apart from a little heartburn that would not go away after taking heartburn remedies.

After putting up with it all day, I finally gave in and visited Urgent Care at Chorley. I was taken by ambulance to Preston, and told that I had had a mild heart attack. Overnight the changes were getting worse so I was taken to Blackpool, whist being attached to a defibrillator.”

Toni always provided person centred care and supported her colleagues. She was caring and compassionate, taking the time out to help them with any problems or queries they may have had. Toni’s commitment and achievements were recognised when she won the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Pharmacy Services in the Workplace’ award after being nominated by her line manager Diane Taylor. The celebration event was hosted by NHS England to recognise and award those who consistently go above and beyond their role.

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Janette Atkinson, Pharmacy Assistant, has recently returned to work following a period of long term sickness. Janette has shared her experience below and praised the support she received to return to work.

Toni Hargreaves sadly passed away in September following a battle with cancer. Toni began working as a pharmacy assistant in the stores distribution team and in 2016 was successfully appointed as a pre-registration pharmacy technician. Toni showed true professionalism and acted as a role model to other pharmacy students and staff.

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Returning to work

In memory of a caring and compassionate team member

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Over the years there have been many changes but Gill has remained constant in shaping and developing our services to what we have today.

We would like to thank Gill for all her hard work, dedication, support and commitment.

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Sister Gill Nixon joined our organisation in 1983 when she worked on a surgical ward prior to joining the Critical Care Unit as a Nursing Sister in 1988. In 1992, Sister Nixon then became Matron of Critical Care. In January 2003, she joined the acute pain team where she has been the lead for the last 17 years. Gill retired in November from her role as the lead in the acute pain team, but has returned to work with us part-time.

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