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CHATTER BOX

Your fortnightly bulletin for SaTH colleagues and events

Cavell Star for nurse Doreen

Doreen Bates, a nurse for more than 53 years, has been presented with the Cavell Star for the expertise and care she has given to patients over the years.

She was presented with the Cavell Star award by Louise Barnett, Chief Executive, and Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing.

Doreen celebrated her 71st birthday recently and will be retiring at the end of next month.

Hayley said: “Whilst we would

want to wish her all the best, there is no doubt the Trust will lose a very experienced professional who is very well known and loved within the hospital. Doreen has a warm smile and a cheerful persona, and we will miss her.

“After such a long and dedicated career if feels right to honour Doreen with the Cavell Star, and it gives me great pleasure to make the presentation.”

Doreen said: “It has been a pleasure to work in the NHS and each day has never been

the same. I love nursing and to receive this award is such a shock – you do not know what this means to me.

“I am so proud of this hospital and everybody in it.”

An inspiring national awards programme, Cavell Star Awards are given to nurses, midwives, nursing associates and healthcare assistants who shine bright and show exceptional care to their colleagues, their patients or patients’ families.

Turn to page 2 to read more.

Friday 21 July 2023

Doreen was nominated by Rachel Armstrong, Head of Non-medical Education, for the positive impact she has had on patients over many years at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

She started as a pupil nurse at Royal Shrewsbury Infirmary and later took a break of seven years to raise a family and travelled the country with her husband at the time who was a Royal Navy submariner.

She came back to Shrewsbury to help out as a nurse during the flu pandemic in the seventies and worked around Shropshire.

Doreen spent the latter part of her career on the Stroke and Rehabilitation unit at RSH, where she looked after and supported many hundreds of patients and their families and carers with expertise and care.

When she retired from this post she returned as a bank nurse, working in general outpatient clinics.

NHS75 parkrun

We had a brilliant morning supporting the NHS75 Shrewsbury parkrun on 8 July –it was the perfect way to round off a week of birthday celebrations!

There was a great atmosphere in the Quarry and we gave out 300 bottles of water (kindly donated by Wenlock Spring), 300 running buffs, as well as bananas and NHS75 biscuits to the runners.

We also managed to raise funds for SaTH Charity at the event.

Jules to feature in Extraordinary Portraits to mark NHS75

Jules Lewis, Swan End of Life Care Facilitator and Lead Nurse, is to feature in a special BBC series of Extraordinary Portraits to mark the 75th birthday of the NHS.

Comedian and actor Bill Bailey is presenting the six-part series which pairs up Jules and other inspiring NHS staff with leading British artists to create specially commissioned portraits.

Jules is matched with magical realist painter Belinda Eaton for the programme. As part of the journey, Belinda and Bill find out how Jules and her team make patients’ last hours or days as pleasant as possible.

Her episode will be featured at 8.30pm on BBC One on Monday 7 August.

She said: “The whole experience has been both surreal and amazing. Bill, Belinda and the rest of the crew were so incredible and sympathetic to the work that we do. It was so great to be able to share with them what we do here at

our Trust and for them to meet some of those bereaved relatives who have experienced our care first hand.

“Never would I have imagined that I would ever have a portrait painted and it was both nervewracking and exciting. Every step of the way was emotional.”

Other NHS staff featured included Scotland’s first Asian paramedic, a porter who joined the NHS during the pandemic and a family from three generations who span 60 years of dedicated NHS service.

The series started on Monday. The first episode was on inner-city trauma surgeon Martin –please click here to watch. Episodes will go out on BBC One on Mondays at 8.30pm.

To read the full story, please click here

Jules Lewis pictured with Belinda Eaton.

South Asian Heritage Month

South Asian Heritage Month takes place from 18 July to 17 August and seeks to commemorate, mark and celebrate South Asian cultures, histories, and communities.

South Asian culture continues to have a positive impact on us in many ways, including food, clothing, music, language, and even our NHS.

To find out more about the history of South Asia and Heritage Month, as well as details on how we’re celebrating, click here

If you would like to share your experiences of your South Asian heritage, please contact sath.

Open day for those affected by cancer

commsteam@nhs. net

Visit our stalls which will celebrate South Asian stories, artifacts and food:

• Monday 31 July, RSH

• Friday 4 August, PRH

Our restaurants will be serving curry dishes on the following days:

• Mytton Restaurant, RSH: Monday 31 July

• Apley Restaurant, PRH: Friday 4 August

Talks, demonstrations and music will be part of an open day being held in Shrewsbury for those who have been affected by cancer.

The Personalised Care Team who support those living with and beyond cancer at SaTH is encouraging anybody who is affected by cancer to go along to the open day on Tuesday August 8.

The event will be held between 10am and 4pm at Palmer’s, Claremont Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1QG.

Jessica Greenwood, Head of Cancer Services & Lead Cancer Nurse at SaTH, said: “This is a chance to talk about the amazing opportunities for people affected by cancer to get involved in. You are welcome to come along, ask questions, take away information and hopefully reach out to any services that could be of a benefit to you.”

Open Harmony, a community music group, will be there on the day, providing music and talking about the chance for people to get involved with their group, and there will also be the opportunity to have a hand massage.

Members of the team will be talking about personalised care, what the different aspects are within that area and how they could benefit those living with and beyond cancer, including health needs assessments, personalised care and support plans, Living Well Sessions, the award-winning Cancer Information and Support App and treatment summaries.

For more information, contact the Personalised Care Team on sath.lwbc@nhs.net or 01743 492424.

Pictured: Katey Evans, Personalised Care Navigator and Leah Morgan, Personalised Care and Cancer Improvement Facilitator.

Leadership Conference

This week we hosted our Leadership Conference, bringing together leaders from across the Trust and providing an interactive, thought-provoking, and educational event with a number of keynote speakers.

The conference looked at the topics most relevant to today’s leaders and delegates had the opportunity to network and take inspiration from peers and other leaders.

The conference will equip our leaders with the skills and confidence they need to support their teams across the organisation on our improvement journey.

Keynote speakers included Darrell Woodman, a trainer and coach from Art of Brilliance, Jess Wall, a psychological skills mentor, Ian Rose, resilience trainer and Professor Damian Hughes, an international speaker and author.

Inese Robotham, Assistant Chief Executive, said: “The Leadership Conference has been an absolutely fantastic opportunity for teams to take time out and get equipped with the skills that will

make them better leaders and deliver benefits for patients, colleagues and the communities we serve.”

Will Parry-Smith, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Consultant, said: “It’s really important in the NHS to consider wellbeing and resilience at work. Today has focused on teamwork, improving wellbeing and improvement – and this will all benefit patients and colleagues alike.”

Thank you to the OD team who helped to deliver the session.

Birthday celebrations for Swan Fund

About 20 people helped the Swan Fund celebrate its eighth birthday with a lovely coffee morning and raffle.

Jules Lewis, Swan End of Life Care (EOLC) Facilitator and Lead Nurse, set up the fund in 2015 after her dad sadly passed away. It raises money to support people at end of life and those important to them.

It was also a time to give a big thank you to the EOLC volunteers and knitters of ‘kindness hearts’ (the hearts are gifted to a person in their last hours and days of life and an identical heart gifted to loved ones) who were invited along to the event at SECC.

A raffle was also held. The first prize of a signed painting by Roy Lilley, health writer, commentator and artist, was won by Matt Taylor, of SECC, and Sarah Thomas, Senior Education Business Partner, won the second prize of two bottles of Tanners wine. There were many other winners of other lovely prizes.

Jules Lock, Swan Lead EOLC Volunteer, baked an amazing swan cake for the coffee morning and can be seen cutting it with Jules Lewis.

Jules Lewis and her friend Becks also walked 15 miles from Welshpool to Newtown in MidWales to also raise cash for the Swan Fund’s birthday and to mark NHS75.

“Thank you to our amazing Penny, Deb and Miriam for helping and supporting the event it was a real team effort, it was so lovely to meet the knitters and see our Swan EOLC volunteers to say thank you for all they do,” said Jules.

“The raffle raised £160 and the walk £400, which I am so pleased about and it’s rather lovely that it’s a similar amount to what we started the Swan Fund with eight years ago£500 from my dad’s funeral donations.”

The Swan Fund has raised almost £78,000 in eight years.

10-year long service award

Jules Lock, Swan Lead EOLC Volunteer, was presented with her 10-year long service award at the birthday celebrations.

She is in her 10th year of volunteering at the Trust with almost nine years with the Swan Team.

Jules Lewis, Swan End of Life Care (EOLC) Facilitator and Lead Nurse, said: “Jules joined me as a volunteer. I was working across both sites part-time alone for the first few years and Jules was such a support in the launch of the Swan model of care, the Swan EOLC volunteers’ service, taste for pleasure

and many other amazing improvements with the whole team since.

“She has become not only a great colleague to work with but a dear friend to us all. Not sure what we would do without her, her passion and determination is something to be proud of as we only get one chance to get it right for every person every time. She lives and breathes this message every day.”

Her proudest achievements are being one of the authors of the bereavement book with Jules Lewis and Roy Lilley; the taste for pleasure work; Dundas Medal; the Swan EOLC volunteers and Swan model of care and the staff bereavement support work.

Julia Clark, Director of Public Participation, presented Jules with her award.

Charity skydive for daredevil swim buddies

Fundraisers Karen Breese, Dementia Care Clinical Specialist, and her friend Helen Edwards, both pictured, are taking to the skies for their first ever skydive tomorrow (Saturday 22 July).

They are hoping to raise more than £500 for the Dementia Appeal and are doing the skydive at Tilstock Airfield, Whitchurch.

Karen said: “I met Helen through wild swimming and gym classes at Love to Stay. She is an amazing support and undertook the cold swim a day in November alongside my other fabulous swim buddies.

“I always said to my friends and family ‘I will never jump out of a plane’, but thought it needs to be something to push me out of my comfort zone. “I

am scared already. Helen is always up for a challenge so is a super support.”

Karen added: “A hospital admission can be a distressing and/or a boring place at times for people living with Dementia or cognitive impairment. We use activities for psychological support/distraction/comfort as part of our strategies to try to deliver good dementia care in environments that are far removed from what people in our care are used to.

“These activities range from colouring, dominos, word searches, playing cards to soft toys, therapy dolls, fidget items. Any money we raise will help towards these costs.”

If you would like to donate through their JustGiving page please click here

Suppliers drop in to Meet the Buyer event

About 70 potential suppliers popped along to a drop-in event to find out information about doing business with their local NHS.

Shropshire Healthcare Procurement Service held a ‘Meet the buyer – do business with the NHS’ event on Friday at Shrewsbury Town Football Club.

The service, which is part of Shropshire, Telford

and Wrekin Integrated Care System (ICS), represents The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust.

Suppliers had the chance to chat with some of our staff from Estates, Catering, the Hospitals Transformation Programme, Workforce and Recruitment departments.

Alert over change in passport rules

Lisa Rowley, a clerical officer at SaTH, would like to alert colleagues to a change in passport rules which meant she was unable to travel.

She said: “I recently went to go on holiday and had checked in with my passport the day before, which accepted my passport details. On arriving at the airport, I was told that my passport was no good for an EU country (I had few weeks prior been to Montana, USA - no problems).

“Although I had eight months left on my passport, it was all to do with the issue date that had to be 10 years by the time you return.

I was unable to claim on my insurance and have lost hundreds of pounds and would not want my colleagues going through the same.

“This was not only upsetting for myself, but also friends I was going away with. After I put this announcement on Facebook thinking I was the only person not to know, I certainly wasn’t and had lots of people contact me, either saying they were not aware or they were due to go and were in the same situation!”

The guidance states that if your passport is more than 10 years old on the day of entry, you will not be allowed in.

SaTH prepares to welcome talented young interns

We are preparing to welcome talented young interns via the DFN Project SEARCH Transition to Employment Programme, which launched earlier this year.

This new and exciting programme is for young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). It is aimed at students with learning disabilities and autism with ambitions to get 10,000 young adults with learning disabilities and autism into full-time paid jobs over the next decade.

We are working with Shrewsbury Colleges Group, Shropshire Council, Enable Supported Employment Provider and the DFN Project SEARCH to deliver the programme. The interns will be enrolled at Shrewsbury Colleges Group and receive their lessons on site from a college tutor whilst benefitting from total workplace immersion. The interns will be learning competitive and transferable skills for a variety of roles and will receive an employability curriculum each day to develop their work-based skills.

More than 1,600 young people with learning

disabilities and autism have now graduated through DFN Project SEARCH programmes in the UK. Typically, 70% of interns secure employment against the national average of just 5.6%.

The programme starts in September, but we have hosted a welcome day for the interns. We will be welcoming: Lauren, Hannah, James, Emily, Gina, Harvey, Dan, Arron and Elliot.

We already have confirmed placements in Education, Pathology and Therapies, but are seeking further opportunities at RSH. If you would like to get involved and support these young people, please contact Tracy Newbold at t.newbold@nhs.net.

New display to put spotlight on Clinic 7

Patient feedback from the Friends and Family survey has made up a new display in the waiting area of Clinic 7 RSH Maxillofacial and Orthodontic Department.

Positive comments such as staff are welcoming, informative and reassuring and super efficient were some of the comments included on the display board.

The department’s care of patients includes teeth straightening, wisdom teeth, facial trauma, as well as mouth cancer.

It also takes on complex orthodontic cases which need multi-disciplinary team input and treatment, which can take up to three years.

Pictured are Gemma Reid, Hannah Mitchell, Tammy Walker and Vanessa Rhodes-Jones with the display board.

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Join

To

Short introduction to Medical Terminology

This training session is an introduction to medical terminology for non-medical staff. It covers the components of medical terms, using prefixes and suffixes, and the Greek and Latin origins of medical words.

Thursday 3 August 2.30—3.30

Via Microsoft Teams

Book on LMS search for ‘Short Introduction to Medical Terminology’

For more information contact Sarah Rochelle at Telford Health Library on ext. 4440 or sarah.rochelle@nhs.net

STAFF LOTTERY

This month ’s winners

1st £400

Shannon Poole, Pre-Op Assessment

2nd £200

Jane Tench, Maternity Screening

2nd £200

Gilda Cordero, Ward 25

3rd £100

Claire Gonnelly, IBD/Gastro

3rd £100 Chloe Dodd, X-ray PRH

Why not join our lottery?

50% of profits are given out in prizes and the other 50% is adding to our Small Changes Make a Big Difference Fund which is all spent on items for staff.

The SaTH Small Things Make a Big Difference Fund aims to improve the working environment and amenities for all employees. Click

My sister, brother, father and I would like to send a huge thank you to all the staff who work on Ward 16. We are grateful for your compassion and kindness. Nothing was too much trouble and it meant the world to us.

You looked after our 92-year-old mother following a fatal stroke during the last three days of her life. While we sat at her bedside, you offered us food and drinks and kind words of comfort - even sitting and holding mum’s hand through the night so that we could get some sleep. Thank you for your dedication to your work and patience, you are true professionals.

We would also like to extend our thanks to the Dementia Team. The personal touches were hugely appreciated.

Thank you for your time and your caring.