Chatterbox: 20 November 2020

20 November 2020

Mayor’s Award for Kevin: Page 7 Inside this issue: Government announcement on HTP money: Page 3 Flu Drive latest: Page 9 Super Tom is at it again: Page 11

Staff support: Pages 14-17

SaTH patients in national COVID study Five patients at PRH and seven at RSH have been given REGN-COV2 antibodies as part of the COVID-19 RECOVERY trial.

RECOVERY is a national trial led by the University of Oxford. The Trust joined the study in March and since then the team has recruited 86 patients into the trial. This study is currently trialling Azythromycin, Convalescent Plasma, REGNCOV2 and Tocilizumab as treatments.

In June, the national study team announced dexamethasone would no longer be offered as part of the trial as it had been proven to be effective; reducing death by a third in hospitalised patients with severe respiratory complications of COVID -19. This medicine is now offered routinely to these patients.

Kelly Hard, Research & Innovation Manager at SaTH, said: “We are seeing real time benefits for access to treatments with COVID-19. Implementation into practice from research can usually take years, but this is a prime example of how quickly it can happen.

“It has been a real joint effort with the research team medical and nursing staff from ITU and respiratory wards and pharmacy across both sites. Alongside the patients and families who have agreed to participate. As we are seeing increased numbers of positive cases it is even more important to be able to offer our patients access to these treatments.”

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Artist’s impression of the new Emergency Department at RSH

Under the HTP, the following services will be provided at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital:  24-hour Emergency Department

Trust welcomes HTP cash announcement SaTH has welcomed the announcement that Government funding is being made available to move forward with plans to transform hospital services for the people of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales as part of the Hospitals Transformation Programme (HTP).

Health Minister Edward Argar MP announced that £6m of funding has been approved in principle for SaTH to develop plans for the HTP and produce an Outline Business Case.

Louise Barnett, Chief Executive, said: “We welcome the announcement from the Department for Health and Social Care that £6m of funding has been approved in principle for the Hospitals Transformation Programme.

“We look forward to continuing to work with our partners and local MPs as we further develop our plans.”

Chris Preston, Interim Director of Strategy and Planning added: “HTP will transform hospital services for the people of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales.

“It will deliver safer care and better outcomes for our patients, reduce cancellations of planned care and also reduce the amount of time people stay in hospital.

“This is a really exciting development for the Trust and the population we serve. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the HTP team and all our colleagues across the Trust who have contributed to the programme so far.”

 Critical Care Unit  Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit  Emergency surgery and medicine  Complex planned surgery  Women and children’s consultantled inpatient services The following services will be provided at the Princess Royal Hospital:  Planned inpatient surgery  Day case surgery  Breast inpatient services  Medical wards Most people will still receive care and treatment in the same hospital as they do now, as the following services will be provided at both hospitals:  24-hour Urgent Care Centre (the majority of patients who attend our A&E departments will receive care and treatment here)  Adult and children’s outpatient services  Day Case Renal Unit  Tests (diagnostics)  Midwife Led Unit (MLU)  Antenatal Day Assessment Unit

 Early Pregnancy Assessment Service (EPAS)  Maternity outpatients and scanning *In October 2019, Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, accepted advice from an independent panel of experts that the reconfiguration should go ahead, with an enhanced A&E offer provided at PRH.

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Award-winner Kevin to Who was highlight plight of the homeless William Farr?

Dr Kevin Eardley, Consultant Physician and Nephrologist, has been presented with a Special Award by the Mayor of Shrewsbury for highlighting the work of Shropshire man William Farr.

Kevin was presented with the award by outgoing Mayor Phil Gillam, who attended last year’s William Farr Memorial Lecture.

This year’s lecture will focus on issues which impact on the homeless.

Kevin said: “Most know very little, if anything at all, about the man.

However, Shropshire born William Farr’s life and achievements are so remarkable they need recognition and celebration. To this end I have organised a number of events in his name, one of which is an annual lecture. In 2019, the Shrewsbury Mayor attended.

“This event highlighted Farr’s work with his close friend and collaborator Florence Nightingale. She was reliant on Farr for turning data she brought back from the Crimean War into information. This showed more soldiers were dying of hospital-acquired infections due to poor sanitation than of wounds sustained in battle.

“We also took opportunity to highlight work done in our communities and hospitals today in support of our veterans and serving armed forces personnel. The Mayor thoroughly enjoyed the evening and I recently received one of the Mayor’s special awards for which I am very grateful.”

Farr was an epidemiologist, regarded as one of the founders of medical statistics.

He was born in 1807 in Kenley, Shropshire, to poor parents. He was effectively adopted by a local squire, Joseph Pryce, when Farr and his family moved to Dorrington.

In 1826 he took a job as a dresser (surgeon's assistant) in the Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury.

Pryce died in November 1828, and left Farr £500, which allowed him to study medicine in France and Switzerland.

In 1837 the General Register Office took on responsibility for the UK Kevin said: “During his life, Farr was a social reformer and used statistics Kingdom Census. Farr was hired to handle data before securing a post to expose health inequalities, and in so doing help identify opportunities as the first compiler of scientific to improve the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable in society. abstracts (a statistician).

Farr was born into extreme poverty but thanks to the benevolence of Shropshire individuals, including clinicians at the Salop Infirmary and the Farr was responsible for the wider community, he realised his full potential. collection of official medical statistics in England and Wales.

“Shropshire people continue today in working to improve the health and wellbeing of the vulnerable in our society and this year we will have His most important contribution speakers from The Shrewsbury Ark, the Prince Rupert Hotel in was to set up a system for routinely Shrewsbury, Barnabas Communities Project and Food Bank, Riverside recording the causes of death. For Medical Practice, and national charity for the homeless, Pathway.” example, for the first time it allowed the mortality rates of different To join the virtual lecture, click here or visit Facebook occupations to be compared. (@ShropshireWilliamFarr) or Twitter (@ShropWillFarr) This year’s online lecture will take place at 7pm on 2 December.

DRIVE FLU

Nearly 3,800 colleagues have so far had their flu vaccination as part of the Trust’s DriveFlu. This year, due to social distancing requirements, colleagues are being invited to book an appointment for a flu jab to ensure that there is no queuing.

Karla Jennings-Preece, who is heading up the campaign for IPC, said: “We are delighted to have reached 62% of frontline staff now vaccinated. Thank you to everyone who has so far booked and had their flu jab – there has never been a more important time to have the vaccination which will protect yourselves, your families, colleagues and patients.

“Please do not turn up without booking an appointment; this is to ensure that there is no queuing and social distancing can be maintained. If you can’t attend your appointment for any reason, please cancel via your booking confirmation email or your reminder email.

“I would also like to say a very big thank you to all our vaccinators who have been working hard to vaccinate colleagues.”

As a thank you for having the flu vaccination, colleagues will receive a £3 voucher which can be redeemed in Caffé Bistro, and the Apley and Mytton restaurants.

Anyone who has had their flu vaccination elsewhere should still complete the consent form included in the invitation email, and a voucher will be sent.

This week is World Antibiotic Awareness Week. This national campaign raises awareness of global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to promote best practices and avoid further emergence and the spread of drug-resistant infections.

The theme for this year’s World Antibiotic Awareness Week at SaTH is urinary tract infections; looking at prescribing appropriately, requesting the right tests, reviewing of the antibiotics and IV to oral switching.

Rebecca Hawkins, Antibiotic Pharmacist at RSH comments: “We know that there is a lot going on in the hospital at the moment with COVID-19, but we really wanted to use this week to help highlight antibiotic usage, the importance of reviewing antibiotics and the need to accurately document the review in medication notes with a clear decision.

“By focusing on the importance of review, we can ensure that this is at the forefront of prescribers’ minds encouraging them to take more responsibility for the impact of antibiotic usage.”

Antimicrobial Resistance is a global problem but everyone can do their bit to improve the situation locally through good antimicrobial stewardship including review and documentation. World Antibiotic Awareness week encourages people to come together and unite to change behaviours.

To find out more, click here

Transgender Awareness Week This week’s Transgender Awareness Week is a time to show support for those who identify as trans or gender nonconforming.

As a way of marking the week and showing our respect and recognition of gender identity across the local health and care system, we are encouraging staff to take a simple action in your everyday working life by adding a line to your email signature that shares which personal pronoun you use.

Gender pronouns are words that a person prefers others to use when talking to or about them. For example:  He/him/his can be used by those who might identify as male.  She/her/hers are for those who might identify as female.  They/them/their are usually used by someone who might not identify strictly as female or male. These pronouns are not only used when referring to multiple people but also considered “gender-neutral.”

Adding pronouns to email signatures is an easy and simple way to let people know how to address us.

If you would like to make this change to your email signature, here’s an example with pronouns added: Name (she/her) Job title Phone: XXX Web:XXX Email: XXX To change your email signature all you have to do is create a new email, click on signature on the top of the email, click on signatures, make the change in your signature and click OK.

Super Tom is at it again

You might remember young Tom McIntyre, who has raised money for SaTH by competing in the UK Superhero Series.

Now, Tom has embarked on his latest fundraising mission by taking part in the Superhero Series ‘At Home Winter Wonderwheels’ challenge.

Tom, from Much Wenlock, was born with a rare condition called PFFD (Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency), which means his right femur is not growing correctly. At the age of one he had his foot and ankle amputated enabling him to have a prosthetic fitted - and when he was four he had part of his femur removed and his hip reconstructed.

Tom’s fundraising efforts began in 2019, when he competed in the summer Superhero Series Tri with Paralympians Menna Fitzpatrick and Jen Kehoe, the team that won gold in the visually-impaired slalom at the 2018’s Winter Paralympics. The nine-year-old then took part in the celebrity lakeside dash at Dorney Lake Windsor, alongside his mum and dad—and Invictus Games hero Dave Henson— donating all the money raised to SaTH and the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) in Gobowen.

The Superhero Series is the UK’s only disability sports games.

Creating fun, mass-participation sports challenges where people with disabilities call the shots and don’t have to worry about cut-off times or equipment restrictions.

A bucket collection for BBC Children in Need has raised £145 for the charity.

The collection was held at RSH last Friday by Marilyn Chitty.

Marilyn would like to say a big thank you to everyone who donated and who waved to her in the car park and kept her spirits high.

So far this year, the Children in Need Appeal has raised more than £41,000,000.

Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive, BBC Children in Need, said: “Friday was an incredibly special night for BBC Children in Need, it was an evening full of kindness, hope and generosity, which will go on to help children and young people across the UK at a time when they need us most.

Tom’s ‘At Home Winter Wonderwheels’ challenge will see him walk, scoot, run and bike, virtually, from his home to RJAH, then on to RSH, PRH and finally to his school in Much Wenlock – covering “We are absolutely a total of over 120km. He started on 5 November and aims to finish overwhelmed with the total raised so far and cannot thank by the end of the event on 6 December. our remarkable supporters for Caroline McIntyre, Tom’s mum, who works at SaTH, said: “There’s once again coming together to no stopping our superhero Tom. We’re so proud of him and all that help make a difference. Thank he’s achieved.” you so much.”

If you’d like to support Tom, you can donate at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tom-mcintyre8

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Staff Support

Staff Support

Peer-to-peer listeners In many situations, having someone to talk to can lighten our load; when we are listened to this helps us to feel valued.

Therefore we have trained a group of staff from across the Trust as Peer to Peer (P2P) Volunteers to help support colleagues. P2P are trained to provide confidential, non-judgmental peer support, signposting to other internal contacts where appropriate.

P2P listeners are trained in supportive listening skills but they won’t be acting as counsellors.

Teresa Love, Nurse and Workforce Project Office, P2P Lead Teresa.love3@nhs.net Charlotte Beirne, OD Practitioner, P2P Lead Charlotte.beirne@nhs.net Ella Collison, ITU Staff Nurse e.collison@nhs.net

Angie Lunt, Recovery Staff Nurse angelamary.lunt@nhs.net Sarah Thomas, Senior Corporate Education Advisor sarahthomas@nhs.net Nerys Cox, Pain Nurse Specialist nerys.cox@nhs.net Jules Lewis, End of Life Care Nurse Specialist jules.lewis@nhs.net Lucy Stanley, HCA SAU lucy.stanley3@nhs.net Nyree Porter, PA nyree.porter@nhs.net

Rachel Hanmer, TCI Administrator Rachel.hanmer@nhs.net Adam Anderson-Woods, Library Assistant, adam.anderson-woods@nhs.net Samantha I'Anson, Corporate Educator s.i'anson@nhs.net

Viv Orme, Radiographer viv.orme@nhs.net Maria Scenters, Library Assistant maria.scenters@nhs.net Erica Davies, Barista erica.davies@nhs.net Sally Roberts, Barista sally.roberts23@nhs.net Elaine Evans, Nurse, TBC Caroline Callister, Workforce Assurance caroline.callister@nhs.net Nick Robinson, Leadership & OD Coordinator nick.robinson5@nhs.net Jeanette Barnes, Specialist Nurse jeanette.barnes3@nhs.net Petro Hryziuk, Champlain petro.hryziuh@nhs.net Megan Griffith, A&E Sister megan.griffith2@nhs.net Mervyn Williams, Champlain mervyn.williams@nhs.net Kirsty Wagg, Specialist Nurse kirsty.wagg1@nhs.net Lynette Charles, Specialist Nurse lynette.charles@nhs.net Jules Lock, EOL Volunteer juleslock@live.com Rachael Maskell, Corporate Education Assistant rachael.maskell@nhs.net