Chatterbox: 2 October 2020

2 October 2020

Year 4 and 5 Undergraduate Medical students from Keele University have been presented with goodie bags at the start of their placements with SaTH. The bags, which were paid for by the Trust’s Small Things Make a Big Difference fund, included various study aids and well-being items to welcome them to the Trust.

Students also received scrubs provided by Keele University which they collected at induction in scrub bags provided by the charity ‘Sewing for the NHS, Shropshire’.

Freedom to Speak Up Month This week marks the start of Freedom to Speak Up Month, something SaTH takes very seriously.

Freedom to Speak Up has three components: improving and protecting patient safety; improving and supporting staff experience; and visually leading and promoting learning cultures that embrace continual improvement.

We have currently two Freedom to Speak Up Guardians at SaTH. Chan Kaur is the Acting Lead Guardian, who is assisted by Teresa Carrington. The Trust is in the process of strengthening the team by appointing a full-time Lead.

The Guardians’ job is to act in an independent capacity to support and help drive the Trust to make it a safer place for patients and staff as well as a more open place to work. They offer support and advice to those that want to raise concerns to ensure that any safety issue is addressed and feedback is given to the member of staff who raised it.

They also ensure that there are no repercussions for those that have raised the concern either immediately or in the long-term.

Freedom to Speak Up Month To mark the start of Freedom to Speak Up Month, we spoke to our Freedom to Speak up (FTSU) Guardians – Chan and Teresa, to ask them more about their roles.

How long have you been a FTSU Guardian?

Chan: I have been a FTSU Guardian for 17 months - and I have been acting up as lead for the last three months.

Teresa: I’ve been a Guardian for 14 months now.

What did you do before your role as a FTSU Guardian?

Chan: My previous role in the Trust was SaTH2Home discharge Co-ordinator .

FTSU Guardians Teresa (left) and Chan (right)

What does a typical day as a FTSU Guardian involve?

with. We are here for support when staff do not feel comfortable to raise concerns with their manager and feel worried they are being disloyal or will get into trouble for raising a concern. The Guardian role is important so we can improve our patient care and staff experience by listening to concerns being raised and making changes.

Chan: Meeting staff to listen to their concerns, escalating concerns and following up to see what has been put in place to improve patient and staff experience. Encouraging staff to speak up. Learning from patient and safety concerns is key to make change so we can improve our patient care.

Teresa: It is important to have Guardians to encourage all staff that it is safe and right to speak up about any patient/staff safety issues to their manager or through the guardian. The Guardian will ensure that all concerns raised will be dealt with and managed appropriately and it will not be brushed under the carpet.

Teresa: A typical day might be a little admin to record data from concerns raised, check emails for concerns raised that need responding to and make plans to contact them, visits to wards and departments to listen to staff and how they are feeling, meet up or phone call with staff who wish to raise concerns. Escalate concerns to appropriate personnel either on phone, e-mail or face to face. No two days the same. We cover both sites and will go wherever we need to make contact with persons raising concerns.

What do you enjoy most about the role?

Teresa: I was Ward Manager of DSU/Escalation ward with background in surgery, theatres, Recovery.

Chan: Supporting staff to raise concerns and help to escalate concern on their behalf so we can improve and make it a better working environment for staff and patient care. When staff feedback saying they feel better just by talking to someone about their concerns.

Teresa: What I personally enjoy about the role is listening to concerns raised, advising where to go for information if required, escalating to the Why is it important for us to have Guardians? appropriate person and mostly getting responses that will prevent a patient or member of staff Chan: We are here to create an open culture suffering in any way unnecessarily. where any wrongdoing is addressed and dealt

Support for Freedom to Speak Up has been positive at SaTH, but we know we must do more to improve. That’s why we are using this awareness month to relaunch our Freedom to Speak Up Advocate role.

Freedom to Speak Up Advocates will work on a voluntary basis to provide informal and confidential guidance on how to raise a concern. They will fulfil this role in addition to their regular jobs within the Trust; and will be easily identified by their green lanyards and badges.

We want to recruit a diverse team of approachable Advocates from all areas of our Trust. To apply, click here.

The duties of an Advocate will include raising the profile of Freedom to Speak Up in your area of work; providing advice and signposting to staff who wish to raise a concern; and regularly feeding back to the Freedom to Speak Up Guardians.

Monthly meetings between the Freedom to Speak Up Advocates and Guardians will be held to provide an opportunity to share what is being said on the shop floor.

Freedom to Speak Up Advocates will help protect patient safety and the quality of care; improve the experience of workers; and promote learning and improvement by ensuring that workers are supported in speaking up; barriers to speaking up are addressed; a positive culture of speaking up is fostered; and issues raised are used as opportunities for learning and improvement.

This is to ensure SaTH has an open culture where concerns are raised and addressed as quickly as possible to ensure we offer the best quality service to our patients.

The alphabet of Speak Up. Try our word search

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SaTH has taken delivery of two new Sensory Carts to help relax and calm patients living with dementia and children with delayed learning - thanks to Captain Sir Tom Moore’s incredible fundraising.

Captain Tom’s fundraising for NHS Charities Together has enabled SaTH to buy the advanced soothing Sensory Carts - one for the Children’s Ward at PRH and the other for patients with Dementia at RSH.

projector, DVD player, TV and a Bluetooth speaker. With this new furniture, we can turn our patient’s rooms into a sensory room. Time spent in a sensory room can help patients, from babies to special needs children, to improve their visual, auditory and tactile processing, as well as their gross motor skills.

“The new Sensory Cart has the means to distract our patients and keep them occupied. This has helped them to remain calm and can assist them in adjusting to the unprecedented environment we are facing. We saw an improvement in our patients from the start.”

Julia Clarke, Director of “We are able to provide our Corporate Services, said: patients with extra sensory “COVID-19 has been stimulation and ensure we are challenging for all, in particular meeting the individual needs of our adults with dementia and those in our care. We have used children with delayed learning.

Designed specifically for older adults with Alzheimer's or other the trolley every day since it was They have been confused and delivered and we’ve had lots of unable to understand the forms of dementia, the Sensory Cart is used for sensory therapy; smiles and giggles on the ward.” constraints of the virus and to this also makes them beneficial Karen Breese, Dementia Nurse follow social distancing best practices. for children with learning Specialist, said: “Some of our difficulties, to reduce stress and adult patients living with “The Sensory Carts provide anxiety. By using lights, soothing dementia become anxious and comfort and reassurance and sounds, and distraction distressed in hospital under have a calming influence on techniques, the Sensory Cart normal circumstances. Add in these patients, which helps them can help patients to cope. the global pandemic and we to face change. Another have seen a significant increase wonderful donation from Captain Jodie Frost, Play Specialist, in them feeling even more Tom’s fundraising for NHS said: “The sensory trolley has a confused and agitated. bubble tube, sensory lights, a Charities Together.”

SaTH regularly hosts health lectures for members and volunteers, but due to the recent coronavirus pandemic we have been unable to organise and promote these sessions—until now.

The September winners in the SaTH staff lottery are:  Gary John Walles, Cleanliness Services  Lydia Griffiths, Speech and Language Therapy  Caroline Tanner, Estates

the subsequent month’s  Dr Cerys Burrows, Cellular payroll, and you will be entered into the following month’s draw.

Pathology  Jodie Simmonds, Ophthalmology Make sure you are in with a chance of winning by downloading a lottery entry form here. Completed forms should be returned to sath.charity@nhs.net.

Providing entries are made by the end of a calendar month, deductions will be made from

Tickets cost £1 and a maximum of 5 tickets can be purchased. Payment will be deducted from your salary (a minimum of £1 per month to a maximum of £5 per month). It is the responsibility of each employee to check that deductions are accurate.

For more information visit intranet/Charity/lottery.asp

These free events and have covered a variety of interesting topics in the past including sepsis, bariatric surgery, diabetes and the Trust's involvement in the 100,000 genome project.

Our next health lecture will be on Dementia in Acute Care Through COVID. The lecture is being coordinated

by Karen Breese, the Trust’s Dementia Clinical Specialist, and will take place online via Microsoft Teams on Thursday (8 October) at 6pm.

The health lecture is free to attend but booking is essential.

To book your place, please click here.

Long Service Awards The Recognition Team has now contacted everybody eligible for a Long Service Award. The Long Service Award is presented to all staff who have worked in the NHS for over 25 or 40 years. This does not have to be continuous service and is calculated by all NHS service not just service within SaTH. If you think you are eligible but have not been contacted, please email sath.awards@nhs.net with the following information: your name, your department, your length of service, your line manager’s name, your line manager’s email address.

Black History Month Established by Kal Parkash, Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Lead, our BAME network aims to provide important support to colleagues, increase employee engagement, challenge mind sets and influence policy.

Kal said: “Staff networks provide important support to colleagues. Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity doesn’t stand alone, it should be knitted into every area of our organisation. I’m looking forward to building on the good work that has already taken place amongst my colleagues to drive this forward at SaTH. Rhia Boyode, Workforce Director, said: “We’re proud to have a diverse workforce at SaTH and we believe that every person who comes to work should be respected and represented. The launch of our BAME network will further strengthen work that has already taken place to ensure a safe and nurturing working environment for every member of staff, regardless of who they are or what they look like.”

Nursing Whilst Black is part of a new podcast series being developed by the Royal College of Nursing. It aims to showcase the diversity of voices across nursing today.

West Bromwich Albion FC.

In this series the RCN asked nurses, healthcare support workers and students from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds to share their thoughts, reflections and insights on their lived experiences of working in healthcare and provide some recommendations about how we can all be better equipped to tackle issues of race and racism in the profession. You can listed the podcasts by clicking here.

Kuvy Seenan – Head of Equality and Inclusion (Midlands), NHS England and NHS Improvement

Keynote speakers will include: Mike Franklin – Joint Director of Equality and Inclusion, NHS England and NHS Improvement

Chris Turner – Consultant in Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust Grace Ononiwu CBE – Chief Crown Prosecutor, West Midlands Region

Louise Teboul – Operations Director, Common Purpose This year’s RCN West Midlands (Birmingham and Midlands) Black History Month conference The event will run using is being held online.

Microsoft Teams. You do not Hosted by the Royal College of need to have a Teams account to view the meeting, any Nursing’s Equalities Lead internet enabled device should Wendy Irwin and Birmingham work. performance poet Dreadlock Alien (aka Richard Grant), the You will be sent the link to the event will include welcomes meeting once you have booked from RCN West Midlands your place and prior to the Regional Director Lindsay meeting.

Meeks and Martin Swain, Director of Communications at To book your place, click here.

Remembering nurses of the Windrush Generation by Professor Laura Serrant Contrary to popular belief the increased migration to post-war Briatin was not solely the result of peoples from the Commonwealth wishing to seek a better life for themselves: In the case of nurses, midwives and other care staff, there was also an active invitation from the British government to come and help staff the newly formed National Health Service.

The NHS had been formed in July 1948 by Aneurin Bevan, who envisioned a high quality health service for all citizens in Britain, free at the point of need. However, it became clear very quickly that in the aftermath of WW2, there was a shortage of qualified health care staff to fulfil the ever increasing demands of the new NHS. The answer? To turn to the British Commonwealth, and its people.

African Caribbean nurses arrived en masse to Britain, alongside other skilled and unskilled workers with the arrival of the HMS Windrush and other ships from July 1948 – and have been major contributors to the British NHS since its inception. The arrival of nurses and new trainees to help bolster the workforce in the UK was crucial. Without their input, it is likely that the NHS would not have survived, failing before it really had time to be established. However, despite being invited by the British Government, no preparation had been made to receive them and the British people themselves were unprepared for the influx of large numbers of migrants. As a result, far from the welcome they expected, these, nurses, midwives and other workers were introduced into a largely hostile social and work environment. There are many stories of the challenges faced by black people of the ‘Windrush generation’ – experiences of racism, isolation and rejection as they tried to fulfil the duties they were assigned. Many found that their qualifications from the Caribbean were not validated in GB and had to work twice as hard to ‘regain’ the recognition and professional levels they arrived with. Sadly, many never did.

Earlier this year, Dr Arne Rose, Medical Director, joined sporting stars such as Gary Lineker, Monty Panesar, Chris Kamara, Wes Morgan and Andy Robertson to call for racism to be given the red card in the NHS.

Arne features in a video released by the charity Show Racism the Red Card.

The video, which can be seen here follows the stories of frontline NHS staff as they recount their experience of racial discrimination at work.

The charity is dedicated to combating racism in society through education, and utilises the highprofile status of football and football players to publicise its message. After survey findings showed that 11% of people have experienced racist behaviour at work, it knew it needed to take action.

white doctor ‘must be told no’, and that management ‘must and will always back you up.’ That is absolutely my stance and the stance of my colleagues at SaTH.” Yvonne Coghill, Director in the Workforce Race Equality Standard Implementation Team for NHS England, said: “Since its inception in 1948 the NHS has been dependent on its BAME workforce to deliver care and services to the population of this country.”

The project hopes to highlight that racism within the NHS remains an issue that cannot be ignored, with its survival dependent on its black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) workforce.

Yvonne added: “We are proud that the NHS is one of the most diverse organisations in the country, with one in five of the workforce being from a background other than white British. The contribution that this group of people makes to enable our NHS to be the best healthcare Arne said: “Racism is, sadly, an ongoing issue in the NHS. At this incredibly unusual time, dealing organisation in the world cannot be with coronavirus pandemic, we are all coming to underestimated, never more than now during the Covid-19 crisis. appreciate how much value immigrants and people from different ethnic backgrounds bring to “It is incumbent on all of us, whoever we are and whatever background we are from to stand up to the NHS. and call out any kind of discrimination or racism “Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told NHS staff that any patients wishing to be treated by a in our service.”

The Patient Experience Team has developed a survey to explore patient experience in BAME communities, following national data which shows people who describe themselves as BAME report poorer patient experiences compared to people who describe themselves as White (Reference: www.england.nhs.uk/ blog/reducing-inequalities-bme-cancer-care/).

Whilst it is acknowledged BAME is a term that covers a wide range of people with a very diverse range of needs, the survey aims to understand what the barriers to a positive patient experience are and what the Trust can do to best support our BAME patients.

Please encourage patients and carers who are receiving care within the hospital to complete this short survey. It can be accessed via Survey Monkey: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6PRH2QB

Caroline tackles London Marathon, virtually AMU doctor Caroline Jones will this weekend tackle the famous London Marathon—but will be nowhere near the Capital.

The gym, which was situated near the Transforming Care Institute (TCI) needs to be relocated as its old home is needed to site new buildings as part of a capital investment at RSH.

Three areas have been identified as a potential new home for the gym:

Caroline was awarded a place in the 2020 Marathon, which was cancelled as coronavirus took hold.

But on Sunday, thousands of people will take part in the Virtual London Marathon, and Caroline will join them to raise money for the NSPCC. She also hopes to take her place at the start line of the real London Marathon in 2021.

The outdoor gym at RSH and is on the move—and we need your help to decide where it should go.

 Option 1: The entrance to the Wildlife Garden  Option 2: The green space opposite Pathology “I'm determined to reach and exceed my fundraising goal as NSPCC do such wonderful work trying to keep our children safe.”

Caroline, from Shrewsbury, To support Caroline, go to said: “I'm still actively www.virginmoneygiving.com fundraising and as we all know, /Carolinejones66 charities have been struggling with fundraising this year.

However NSPCC has been busier than ever supporting children through their Childline service, and concerns over abuse in homes during the difficult lockdown period.

 Option 3: The green space opposite stores The gym was created following a £10,000 grant from the Tesco Bags of Help Scheme. The money was awarded to SaTH after a public vote.

The gym was chosen following feedback from the NHS Staff Survey, in which you told us you wanted more recreational outdoor areas.

To have your say on where the gym should go, email we.supportsath@nhs.net with header Outdoor gym by 16 October.

Coronavirus update….Coron Trauma Resilience Management (TRIM) Practitioner Network for health and social care staff A new Network of trained practitioners to support health and care colleagues experiencing potential trauma as a result of COVID-19 has been launched.

Coordinated by Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin’s Sustainability & Transformation Partnership (STP), the group includes psychological trauma specialists and coordinators of the psychological response to trauma, local NHS Trusts wellbeing leads, primary care, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Councils, Shropshire Partners in Care (SPIC) and Public Health England.

Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin STP brings together health and social care organisations from across the county. Our combined workforce plays a vital role in delivering excellent care that meets the continuing needs of our local population and supporting our staff’s health and wellbeing is an important part of this.

The new Network complements the wellbeing provision available from SaTH and is an important part of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin’s local system health and wellbeing approach and broader trauma-informed support. It is made up of local practitioners from a wide range of health and care organisations, coming together to support colleagues both during and beyond the pandemic.

TRIM Practitioners details are available via the new TRIM

Practitioner Register hosted on the STP website workforce pages.

The Register includes Practitioner profile and contact information to enable individuals to choose and contact a practitioner for support. The STW TRIM Central Hub provided in partnership with Shropshire Mind will oversee support for both Practitioners and individuals accessing TRIM support.

place. In addition we have been overwhelmed by the number of people who wish to train in the model, which shows the commitment to looking after our people.”

Clive Ireland, Shropshire MIND, said: “Shropshire Mind are delighted to be playing a significant role, supporting the delivery of the TRiM model to all areas of our workforce within Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, having the TRiM Central Hub located within the charity. The hub will allow instant access to To access the TRIM Practitioner the resources needed 24 hours a day from our dedicated staff.

Register on the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin STP website, “COVID-19 has had a real visit stwstp.org.uk/workforce and impact upon the professionals log-in with: within the health and social care sector, TRiM will give us tried Username: Welcome and tested tools to support Password: Workforce1! trauma at the earliest point and Victoria Rankin, Executive Lead provide the essential support needed to maintain our for People for Shropshire, wellbeing and resilience. ” Telford & Wrekin STP, said: “Health and Care teams from If you have any feedback about across Shropshire, Telford and the TRIM Practitioner Network Wrekin continue to deliver or would like to become part of fantastic care to our local the network, please email: communities. It is critical that we people@stwtogether.co.uk support them to continue to do this.

“This includes providing support for their mental health and wellbeing, particularly as we continue to collectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“By having TRIM practitioners across our system we can provide enhanced care to our people which is focused on their individual needs, we are delighted to have this model in

navirus update...Coronavirus

Staff COVID-19 Testing Eligibility for staff testing Staff COVID-19 testing is currently being offered to anyone who is showing symptoms of COVID-19. A whole household is not tested - only the person who is unwell and has COVID-19 symptoms should be tested.

We are following the national criteria to help identify staff or household members eligible for testing as follows:

up to a maximum of 5 days of the test online – this will ensure that on-set of symptoms. you can access local testing and 1. The staff member has COVID- If you have symptoms, have obtain your results quickly and, 19 symptoms tested positive or had an unclear contact tracing in the workplace can happen efficiently, helping to result you should self-isolate OR for at least 10 days . You should prevent an outbreak).

2. The staff member is selfalso self-isolate if you tested Individuals will be referred to the positive but haven’t had isolating due to an adult or booking team after reporting their symptoms. You should selfchild household member(s) absence to work. isolate for 14 days if you live having symptoms of COVIDwith (or are in a support bubble 19. In this instance it is the Managing challenges if with) someone who has children/household members household member(s) symptoms, has tested positive or are asked to self-isolate displaying the most acute had an unclear result or have symptoms of COVID-19 who If an asymptomatic child is sent tested positive but not had home from school, or a symptoms. should be tested, rather than household member is asked to the staff member themselves Reporting absence self-isolate because they have The symptoms of COVID-19 are: Please report your absence as been in contact with someone who has tested positive, the rest early as possible, including  high temperature over the weekend. The service is of the household is not required to isolate (unless the child or  a new continuous cough available 7-days-a-week, household member becomes  a loss or change to your sense including Bank Holidays. symptomatic). of smell or taste The process of accessing staff We recognise, if this is a child, it If you have symptoms and have testing is being managed by your may cause childcare challenges. not had a test, stay at home and line manager and the HR If this situation arises staff are get a test to check if you have advised to discuss this further Absence Reporting Line to with their line manager to identity coronavirus as soon as possible. support members of staff to the most appropriate solution.

To maximise the accuracy of the return to work if their test is COVID-19 test, the individual with negative and they feel well COVID-19 symptoms should be enough. *(Please do NOT book a ideally tested within 1-3 days and test via NHS 119 or booking a

Coronavirus update...

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