Issuu

July 2021

Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

The pulse of community health, Leasowes, Rowley Regis, City Hospital, Sandwell General and the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital

Issue 143

73rd birthday celebrations for our wonderful NHS!

Pages 8-9

Dancing doctors, creative students and colleagues across the Trust came together to join in on the 73rd birthday celebrations for the NHS.

Meet our cultural ambassadors

Kindness starts with you!

You said, together we did

Dr wins £100k scholarship to study at Harvard

Page 3

Page 13

Pages 16-17

Page 24

FROM THE CHAIR HELLO Welcome to your July edition of Heartbeat. This month we introduce some of our cultural ambassadors, update you on the actions that have taken place as a result of the staff survey results, and reflect on the NHS 73rd birthday celebrations. But that’s not all, we catch up with Dr Nick Makwana on reasons for doing the Your Trust Charity zip wire challenge to raise money for Midland Met University Hospital and we celebrate Dr Harun Kahn’s scholarship achievement to study at Harvard University.

 Ext 5303  swbh.comms@nhs.net  C ommunications Department Ground Floor, Trinity House Sandwell Hospital

Published by Communications Team Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

Submit an idea If you’d like to submit an idea for an article, contact the communications team

Sir David talks about…the troubling rise in COVID-19 vaccine misinformation! I make no excuses for borrowing the theme of our latest annual report when I describe the last 12 months and more as ‘a year like no other’, for it has pushed us all in different ways. Out of comfort zones, into harm’s way, to new ways of working and delivering services. I recognise all that you have endured and achieved and continue to do so. None of us have been untouched by the effects of the pandemic as lockdown has separated us from those we love and spend quality time with, whilst the virus has irrevocably changed lives as we witness and grieve the loss of friends and family members. During the recent hot weather I have been thinking especially of all colleagues who have braved the discomfort of PPE as essential to caring safely for our patients. I can appreciate the endurance of a long shift wrapped up in extra layers in boiling temperatures, and hope the measures we have put in place to give you brief respite with cold drinks and snacks have helped in some small way.

vaccinated before succumbing to the virus. I have been appalled of late by the rise in misinformation regarding the COVID vaccination, and perturbed to read that in America just twelve anti-vaxxers are responsible for almost two-thirds of antivaccine content circulating on social media platforms. The situation is so troubling and the U.S. surgeon general so concerned that he’s calling for a war against "health misinformation". Dr Vivek Murthy described it an "urgent threat" that continues to put "lives at risk" and prolong the pandemic. Simply put, those spreading disinformation about the #COVID19 vaccine are killing people.

Closer to home I am deeply concerned by reports from our clinicians of a rise in abuse of our front line colleagues, as they merely seek to do the best they can to treat patients. Deputy Medical Director Dr Sarb Clare advises that she herself has been on the receiving end of rude offensive behaviour from patients ill with COVID, who are denying the virus exists. Such is Last week NHS Providers sent a letter to the power of digital misinformation, and government setting out a combination of the desperate need for our population to pressures which many say match the strain the believe it. Let me reassure you, that as a NHS was under at the start of the year. The Trust, and a wider NHS, we will not put letter warns that these pressures will probably up with abuse of our colleagues, and we intensify in the coming months as the will do everything in our power to educate service contends with continuing COVID-19 those who are lashing out in fear. infections, the challenges of extending the vaccination programme, organising boosters and the expanded flu campaign, and dealing with what is expected to be one of the most difficult winters the NHS has ever faced. But already we are feeling this pressure as the virus is resurging in our communities, and we recognise there is work to do to encourage the vaccine hesitant to get protected. You will probably have seen media coverage on this as we sadly hear the stories of our patients who ran out of time and opportunity to get

 Ext 5303  swbh.comms@nhs.net Stay updated We send out a Communications Bulletin via email every day and you can now read Heartbeat articles throughout the month on Connect. Don't forget you can follow us on:

Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE, Chair

Meet our cultural ambassadors Research demonstrates that NHS staff from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds often experience inequality, discrimination and prejudice in the workplace. To address these issues, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) designed an innovative programme in collaboration with the West Midlands Black and Minority Ethnic Stakeholder Group – the Cultural Ambassador (CA) programme.

Khalil Miller, EDI Manager “When I started in my EDI post back in April that was the first time I’d heard about the cultural ambassador programme. I had a fair idea of what it entailed but was a little unsure about its usefulness. However I was encouraged to participate by my managers as it would certainly compliment my role within the Trust. “All of the questions and reservations I had about the course were immediately answered from the first day and it got more beneficial and more interesting as the subsequent days followed. “I learned about effective use of verbal and non-verbal communication and useful ways to pose questions to potentially controversial observations. “There was a good blend of theory and practice, personal thoughts and group participation. There were many breakout sessions which allowed us to discuss more nuanced issues as a small group and then we’d nominate one person to feedback the discussion, we’d then unpack it as a whole group. “I have found it a useful toolkit that will and has already complimented my job role.”

Their role as cultural ambassadors is to identify and explore issues where staff may be being treated less favourably, potential discrimination and unconscious or conscious cultural bias. 14 SWB colleagues undertook the programme in June. Following completion there is ongoing support to enable ongoing learning and to support implementation and

Estelle Hickman, Equality and Diversity Advisor “Myself and the other cultural ambassadors experienced a programme of study which included structured workshops, self-reflection, exploring conscious and unconscious bias, alongside providing the opportunity to question assumptions whilst also sharing lived experiences of the cohort of attendees. “I thoroughly enjoyed the four days and think the role will enable me to have a positive impact on the experiences of colleagues across the Trust.”

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS progression of cultural ambassadors within the organisation. Heartbeat caught up with some members of the cultural ambassador programme to hear about their experiences:

Cheryl Newton, Group Director of Nursing, Women’s and Child Health “When I started my nurse training, I wanted to make a difference and within this strive to work in an environment which recognises and celebrates equality and diversity. I have become increasingly aware that this is not everybody’s lived experience particularly over the past few years. I started to explore what was available to support this agenda and became aware of the cultural ambassador programme and the positive impact this had in local organisations. “I thoroughly enjoyed attending the programme, it challenged some of my previous thinking and provided an opportunity to hear from BAME colleagues about their lived experience both of which have supported my ongoing ambition to contribute to creating a fair and just culture.”

To find out more about the CA programme visit, https://www.rcn.org.uk/ professional-development/professionalservices/rcn-cultural-ambassador

Pop-up plan to battle Delta COVID-19 As you know, the vaccination battle against COVID-19 continues and whilst we’re thrilled to have helped deliver 11.5 million vaccines across the Midlands, we all know that the job is not yet done. This is particularly true given the concern as we see an increase in the number COVID-19 cases, in particular with the rise of the Delta variant. Both our organisation and the Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group have made moves to increase the availability of COVID-19 jabs to the general populous - especially now that everyone over the age of 18 is able to have their first jab. You may have seen that we reopened the vaccination hub at Sheldon Block, City Hospital on 21 June to administer first and second doses to colleagues and patients. The hub will be administering both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, with Pfizer administered to under 40s and over 40s receiving AstraZeneca as per the current JCVI guidelines. The Sheldon Block hub is open seven days a week for walk-ins from 8am

The vaccine bus could be coming to a location near you. Check out @SandwellCouncil for the latest bus timetable

– 6pm. Bookings can also be made via the national booking website. But if you, friends or family live in the black country region and you can’t make it to either of our sites, then there are a number of other venues across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, West Birmingham and Wolverhampton which are also offering walk-in or pre-booked sessions. Details for these venues change regularly, but you can find the latest information on the Black Country and West Birmingham CCG website at https://www. blackcountryandwestbirmccg.nhs.uk/ your-health-services/health-advice/covid19-vaccination, or by going to the SWB website and clicking on the yellow and black ‘COVID-19 Vaccination’ banner.

There’s also a roving pop-up vaccination hub, courtesy of the Sandwell COVID-19 Vaccine Bus which has been stopping in a number of locations including Smethwick Library, Rounds Green Library in Oldbury, Friar Park Millennium Centre in Wednesbury, Jamia Masjid in Smethwick, the Cradley Heath Community Centre, the Hawthorns and more. The latest timetable can be found on the @SandwellCouncil Twitter account. Please note: Second jabs will only be administered to people if it is eight to 12 weeks since their first.

COVID-19 cases on the rise restrictions remain Whilst the rules and regulations on COVID-19 have been relaxed by the government, it’s by no means time to relax and think we have beaten COVID-19. It remains a very real risk within our Trust and the wider NHS. Colleagues are reminded that we will continue to follow national guidelines for the NHS and social distancing and mask wearing will remain with us for some time. Community cases are on the rise in our region as documented by public health teams, likewise our inpatient numbers have seen a steady growth which for now we have been able to manage. But it’s clear that as summer breaks allow people to move around, we spend

more time with friends and extended families enjoying the warm weather, we will without a doubt unknowingly be spreading COVID-19.

• You can still spread the virus to others, even if you have been vaccinated.

We need to continue to be careful, carry on with the practices that have served us well over the past year and a half and keep ourselves, our families and those around us safe. So, please make sure you do the following:

• Make sure you regularly complete your weekly COVID-19 saliva test (LAMP)

•

You should continue to follow the COVID infection protection rules, even with colleagues you work alongside regularly in your wards and departments. There is no such thing as a ‘work bubble’. The virus can still spread between colleagues, so it is important to wear a mask and maintain social distancing when on breaks and outside of work.

• If you see something, say something – it is ok to gently remind colleagues, patients, and visitors to make space, fix or change their PPE, or observe other measures appropriate to your setting. We’re all in this together – it has been a challenging year and taking care of each other is important. If you need help, ask for it.

Wellbeing boost on board the Heart Bus COVID-19 Dr Masood Aga, Consultant and Specialty Lead in Occupational Medicine told us: “We have a huge wellbeing offer at the Trust and we are always looking for ideas and suggestions on how we can improve what we already have available. The Heart Bus was ideal as it gave the opportunity for colleagues to access wellbeing right at their door step – a perfect way to bring calm and connection during a busy day.

The Heart Bus was a welcome boost for colleagues at City Friday 9 July saw the Heart Movement Bus descend on City Hospital providing a welcome wellbeing boost for colleagues.

UK and creating opportunities for people to experience the benefits of mindfulness, listening spaces and the technology of heart intelligence.

The Heart Movement Bus is an openaccess community space travelling the

When approached, our occupational health and wellbeing team jumped at the offer of the bus for colleagues at City Hospital.

“A number of colleagues accessed the service during the day and gave us good feedback. We will now take this on board and will continue to work out how to support colleagues who may not be able to easily visit the Sanctuary. A model like the Heart Bus may be just one of the ways in which we do that.” For further information about wellbeing, please contact the team at swbh.wellbeinghub@nhs.net.

The Sanctuary may be just what you need for your wellbeing By Dr Michael Blaber, Wellbeing Lead for Junior Doctors

The staff were exceptionally friendly, though not at all intrusive. Colleagues were enjoying guided mindfulness and music therapy, learning de-stress techniques and benefiting from skilled listening and clinical supervision. Whether I wanted to offer my ‘expert analysis’ of the football or discuss the difficult situation I had just encountered on the ward, there was freedom to simply unwind.

Sustaining wellbeing in healthcare is not a simple, quick fix. Resilience is more a function of systems and teams than a quality some individuals possess. There is strong evidence demonstrating that delivering excellent care requires professionals to feel cared for themselves. This means being known, valued, connected to others, part of something bigger than yourself and equipped to deliver the high standards that we aspire to. So, how does ‘the Sanctuary’ fit into this? As the name suggests, ‘the Sanctuary’ is designed to be a place of rest and refreshment, away from the pressures and demands of our everyday work. It intends to be a physical space that embodies the message “you matter.” In healthcare we frequently go above and beyond the call of duty, sometimes doing extraordinary things. Yet, we are nonetheless ordinary human beings with ordinary human

Dr Michael Blaber is encouraging colleagues to use the Sanctuary needs that cannot be ignored. We need food, drink, rest, encouragement, connection to others and safe places to process life in the NHS. The Sanctuary is one such provision and it has been greatly enjoyed by many of our colleagues from all disciplines and departments. When I visited the Sanctuary at the Learning Works on Unett Street, I was struck by the warmth of the welcome and the calm of the atmosphere. Hot drinks always go down well with me and they are made available to all visitors.

I opted for a shoulder massage (apparently my muscles really needed it!) and the opportunity to talk through experiences of the first half of this year – the highs and the lows. It was enjoyable, relaxing and affirming. I have since recommended the service to many colleagues and will certainly be making return trips myself. Perhaps a visit to the Sanctuary would do you good too? It’s not the panacea to work related pressures and stress but it is a really important and highly valuable component of the Trust’s firm commitment to be a place in which its people can flourish. I highly recommend it to you.

SIREN study proves huge success analysed further by the study team.

COVID-19

The study is already publishing results https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/ article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00675-9/fulltext and will continue to do so with the help of our staff participants.

Our Trust has officially been congratulated by the Chief Investigator (National Study Lead) Dr Julie Hopkins from Public Health England on our successful recruitment on SIREN study and for being an exemplar for diverse participants on all measures including ethnicity, gender and job role. Dr Masood Aga, Principal Investigator, and the Trust have received a Certificate of Achievement for successful recruitment of 547 SIREN participants. The SIREN study focuses on healthcare workers who have overcome COVID-19 or those who are in a patient-facing role. SIREN (Sarscov2 Immunity & REinfection EvaluatioN) specifically looks into the impact of antibodies that fight the virus which causes COVID-19. The study was open to anyone working in a hospital building where there will be incidental contact. Colleagues taking part in the study were asked to continue to complete

Patience Domingos, Clinical Research Nurse plays a coordinating role in the SIREN study at our Trust and believes it is hugely beneficial to SWB.

Dr David Carruthers, Medical Director taking part in the SIREN study their two weekly questionnaires when they get the reminder and provide nose swabs and blood samples regularly. The sampling schedule has changes since the study first started and has been adjusted to allow for routine Trust testing, such as the LAMP tests. (Changes to the schedule are emailed to all participants and can be found on Connect https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/research-anddevelopment/siren-study/.) If you did test positive the schedule increased in frequently and behind the scenes that laboratory arranged for samples to be

She said: “By taking part in research projects such as the SIREN study we help to speed up the fight against coronavirus in the local area. “I feel honoured to have played my part in helping the Trust tackle COVID-19 through recruitment of well over 500 people to the study.” Gina Dutton, Head of Research and Development echoes these thoughts and is grateful to all those who have taken part in the study so far. She said: “On behalf of the Trust I would like to say a huge thank you to all participants in study as well as all colleagues from research and development, laboratory services, phlebotomy and occupational health who have ensured the success of the study.”

YOUR TRUST NEEDS YOU! …to do your weekly LAMP test It is vital that we continue to test despite colleagues having had the COVID vaccination and infection rates starting to drop. LAMP testing (to detect COVID-19) is open to ALL colleagues, regardless of your role, so please sign up today and start testing. Call 0121 507 2664 and press option 6 to be prioritised in the booking queue. 6

Full details are available on Connect, just search LAMP testing.

Seeing is believing at Midland Met CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS massively with how patients will move around the hospital and, it will improve their overall experience.”

Views of our local communities from the Winter Garden

A community of half a million people is eagerly anticipating our brand new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH). The opening will be the beginning of a fresh chapter in our ambitious journey to be the leading provider of integrated care in the UK. Currently, we have over 800 people on site daily building our flagship hospital. The inside is changing rapidly and looking more like a hospital every day. ED will be the first area completed; colour vinyl is going down on the floors, and oxygen and gas boards are up. You can now start to imagine what clinical spaces will look like.

Jenny added: “We are pleased to see from the floorplan that it will be fit for purpose and compliant with our regulations. It gives us lots of food for thought and we are planning for how we will use this as a fully functioning clinical space. “There are lots of ongoing discussions around the equipment we have going into the new department and how to best arrange it to promote efficient patient flow. We have been involved in QIHD sessions looking at patient journeys into various imaging departments and movement within the new acute hospital. One such example is that we will no longer need to use patient transport for maternity patients. Currently, it’s only about 100m from our back door, but it requires an ambulance to move patients between the buildings. Having that closeness between areas will help

Jenny continued: “In our last two QIHD sessions, we’ve reviewed large scale maps of our areas and discussed how patients will access the various departments based on whether they are attending from ED, AMU, wards or as outpatients. Looking at ways to be efficient, imaging is hoping to be supported by dedicated porters to reduce delays. It is one avenue we are exploring, but there are lots more. Using our QIHD sessions for these discussions has been valuable. It has opened up the conversation to all colleagues instead of just managerial staff. “There won't be many departments running outpatient appointments from MMUH, so we are conscious that our directions for patients will need to be clear. It is still early days, and we will need to visit again. This initial visit has been most helpful to help us start planning and looking at ways we can be efficient in our new workspace.” Please email mmuh.projectoffice@ nhs.net if you would like to arrange a clinical site tour.

Each Friday, clinical teams visit the hospital to look at the areas they will soon be working in to help them plan how they will work there. These visits allow clinical teams to start considering how they can redesign their care pathways to help transform services in our new hospital. We caught up with the nuclear medicine team on their site tour to discover how they are getting ready to move to Midland Met. Looking around their new area, Jenny Thompson-Peters, Chief Clinical Technologist, remarked: “Moving to Midland Met is going to enhance how we provide care. We will have improved technology with three SPECT-CT gamma cameras. It will allow us to make some protocol improvements - we currently only have one camera able to perform the full range of our tests. “Seeing this space helps us to envisage where equipment will go and, we’ve started to look at how we will work together. We will also be integrated more closely into the imaging department. That will be a positive opportunity to build upon relationships with our co-workers.”

Members of the nuclear medicine team enjoying a site tour at Midland Met

Dancing doctors, virtual teas and more – Happy Birthday NHS! CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS A birthday celebration can be many things but few indeed contain dancing doctors, virtual teas, royal awards and more. Britain’s NHS came into being on 5 July 1948 and it was established with the aim of providing a comprehensive range of health services to all citizens of the UK, financed by general taxation and free at the point of use. It is one of the largest public health services in the world and often heralded as the counter argument to eye-wateringly expensive privatesector/insurance run healthcare around the world. It’s been the subject of books, movies, more TV shows (fictional and otherwise) than you could count and was even a key segment in the opening of the London 2012 Olympic Games. When it comes down to it, 73 years is an awfully long time. So the NHS is doing pretty well as it continues marching further into its 80th decade. Whilst last year’s 72nd birthday was very much in the shadow of COVID-19, this year was celebration was one filled of greater hope for the future and the whispered promise of ‘normality’ being close by. NHS colleagues across SWB stepped out (or stayed in) to celebrate with a number of activities.

NHS Big Tea Your Trust Charity was out in force to encourage people to take a break and support the NHS during the returning NHS Big Tea, which this year partnered with the supermarket chain Morrisons. This “national outpouring” of love (as well as the nation’s

favourite brew) raises money and a mug in salute to NHS staff. This year the nation’s biggest tea break encouraged people to host their own tea party, either virtually or in person within their community or with colleagues at work.

The doctor dances one more time Throughout the pandemic, colleagues from around the Trust as well as members of the public have been kept active and entertained by Dr Nick Makwana, Group Director, Women & Child Health and Consultant Paediatrician. His monthly Dance 4 Wellbeing videos, promoted staying both mentally and physically healthy as well as proving a fantastic distraction for those self-isolating or otherwise being stuck at home. The series reached its end in spectacular fashion with one final dance becoming the centrepiece for the Trust’s NHS birthday activities – albeit with a rather big difference.

Dr Nick Makwana and his flash mob team dancing one more time to celebrate the NHS's 73rd birthday

ITV Central was on hand to capture the final dance, which featured a large number of individuals, young and young at heart coming together flash mob style at Sandwell Hospital’s courtyard gardens. Throwing in some mean shapes and strutting their stuff to Fatboy Slim’s Rockafeller Skank and a few other favourites, again to help raise some funds for Your Trust Charity.

Tividale Community Primary School Your Trust Charity’s birthday activities also involved an invitation to Tividale Community Primary School along with Councillor Karen Simms, Cabinet member for Best start in life and Major Sylvia Parkin, Queen Alexander Royal Army Nurse representative. The children had a fantastic week as they learnt about the core values of the NHS, jobs that are involved in its running, the history and how important the NHS is to the country and more. Mrs Burnell told Heartbeat that ‘everyone loves a party at Tividale’ and what better reason to have one than to celebrate the NHS.

Students presented the visitors with not only the amazing artwork, but a cake and performed songs ‘Lean on Me’ and ‘Hero’ – as well as Happy Birthday of course! On speaking to Moriah, aged 10 in year 5 after her amazing performance of ‘Lean on Me’ she told Heartbeat: “The NHS means a lot to me and I have enjoyed learning all about it. When I grow up I want to work in the NHS and bring a smile to people’s faces”. Amanda Winwood, Fundraising Manager for Your Trust Charity said: “I didn’t know what to expect on arrival to the school but I was amazed, the artwork is so beautiful and fantastic that every child in the school in 2021 created a part of it, the singing

bought tears to my eyes (in a good way) as the children put their all into what they were doing. I am so thankful for Headteacher Mrs Burnell and all her staff for pulling together an amazing week and also raising funds for the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital campaign to support our youngest patients at such a difficult time for them”. Councillor Karen Simms said: “Thank you to Tividale Primary School for inviting me to share their celebration of the NHS birthday. It was a pleasure to attend and be part of this celebration. Credit to the head teacher and staff for all their hard work to make this event take place and children are a credit to the school”.

Students from Tividale Community Primary School created some fantastic artwork highlighting the core values of the NHS

Students learnt about the history and importance of the NHS

Thank you NHS cards created by local students

Shout out has been a regular feature in Heartbeat and it is fantastic to see colleagues regularly taking the time to give positive feedback to each other. We regularly receive positive feedback from our patients too, and this month we wanted to share some of those heart-warming messages which have been sent via our website and social media platforms.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS To – The placement team - Rob Kemp, Dave Yates, Paul Smith and Gareth Trumper Over the last year the gynaecology ward has moved several times back and forth from the medical infusions unit. Hoping this was the last move as we look forward to moving to the MMUH. The placement team have been fantastic with the removal of equipment and furniture, and always going that extra mile. Nothing was ever too much trouble. Whatever furniture or item was requested they would do their best to fulfil. They do a great job and certainly are great team players. From – Kuldip Manak

To – Neonatal team Big shout out for the neonatal team for continuing to provide excellent care for all of our babies during the flooring repair on NNU. From – Helen Scott

To – Lauren Weigh

To – Bernadette Harris

I would just like to say a massive thank you to Lauren in our apprenticeship team for helping me today with Microsoft Teams. Lauren was so calm and solved my problem ready for my Health Education England presentation.

Where to start... Berni as she is fondly known is one of our D11 ward service officers is kind courteous and more than helpful when patients are in need of drinks and snacks she endeavours to help whenever and wherever she can. We just want to say hey Berni we love and appreciate you.

From – Helen Colbourne

From – Vanessa Badjie

To – Dale from IT services Helping sort out all the printers in anticoagulant services. Much appreciated, thank you very much for going the extra mile! From – Rachael Blick

To – Stacey Collins Big shout out to senior sister Stacey for being a great team leader and always supporting your team.

To – Godfred Hanson

From – Team ED

To – Sean Beswick I would like to say thank you for always making sure that our ward D11 is always clean. Your kindness and friendly nature is always appreciated by our team. Keep up the good work Sean!

To – Naomi Rowden

From – Elizabeth Mwansa

Naomi has been a fantastic member of the frailty intervention team and the rapid response team. She works above and beyond for patients and colleagues alike and by doing so has achieved massive successes for patients. She will be very much missed as she rotates to her new job. All the best Naomi!

To – Oluwole Ogeleye

From – Callum Postoyalko

From – Shehnaz Mohammed

For running the Warfarin clinic at the BTC so smoothly in a timely, organised manner. Thank you for being the gentleman you are. You are appreciated by us all and you have a lovely rapport with all the patients. I was impressed. From – Aysha Miah-Karim

To – Tina, Sharon and Kam To the ladies in phlebotomy at Sandwell, always go the extra mile in making patients feel comfortable. Always there when you need than and always happy to help. Special thank you. From – Jenny Oliver

From – Rhiannon Sanders and Beth

They have all worked incredibly hard over the last few months and have embraced changed leadership, new environment, a positive working attitude despite the challenges, mutual respect and general patient satisfaction in care.

To – David Whitfield For the most perfect completion of a notice of death - a shining example which makes our job so much easier and the patients journey so much more dignified. From – Lauren Wood

To – John Dela Cruz

Thank you to one of our dedicated Drs on AMUA, who goes above and beyond for both patients and colleagues. Always approachable, willing to help and supportive to all.

To – Sarah Gibson Always helpful and willing to support, very kind, approachable and professional. Thank you for all your hard work. We appreciate you.

Thank you Leasowes team for the good work and massive improvement seen in recent times. Thank you for all your support and effort. Keep up the great work. From – Shalinipriya Bicrant

From – Priory 5

Very professional emergency department nurse. Provides great care for all Sandwell A&E patients. An asset to the emergency medicine team.

To – Leasowes Team

To – Newton 5

From – Natalie Bent-Malcolm

Celebrating our stars of the week

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

Star of the Week

Sue Houghton, HCA from Priory 4

Denise Evans, Imaging Assistant

Pauline Mohan, Theatre Manager

Nominating Sue for the weekly accolade, Staff Nurse Ruth Panesar said: “I returned to the Trust after some months working elsewhere. On my return Sue has done nothing but make me welcome on the ward. She has taken me under her wing offering support when I have been unsure of where things are, advising where she can within her scope of practice. Sue always puts the patients first in everything she does. She is always encouraging them to push themselves forward with their care and always gives them positive feedback. She goes above and beyond for her patients and it is very heart felt to observe her interactions and how patients respond to her. Sue is a credit to the Trust and is always hard working as well as a true team player. You’re great.”

A patient recently attended the breast unit and due to COVID-19 restrictions she attended on her own. On completion of her appointment she was very confused and didn’t know how to go about catching a bus home. Denise escorted the patient to the bus stop and stayed with her to ensure that she caught the correct bus. Denise took it upon herself to go the extra mile in her own time to ensure the welfare of this patient. We believe the impact of this care and sensitivity will remain with the patient and her loved ones for a significant length of time and will have a positive reflection of the ethos of SWB.

During the past 12 months, Pauline has supported numerous colleagues who have been redeployed into critical care in looking after our sickest patients. She has shown compassion and has always made time to talk and listen to her colleagues. Since taking over as manager, Pauline played a pivotal role in remobilising BTC theatres to accept pre-screened surgical patients for surgery. Pauline is the epitome of professionalism as she is always calm under pressure and steers the team maintaining their focus on the job ahead. Pauline always shows resilience and compassion and is a real asset to the Trust.

Do you know someone in your team that has gone above and beyond the call of duty? Why not put them forward for Star of the Week by visiting Connect.

Star Awards 2021 – flood of nominations in hunt for Stars of SWB A year of hard work, heartbreak and inconceivable amounts of determination has culminated recently in an unbelievable array of Star Awards nominations – proving something we already knew, that we are surrounded by exceptional people who do incredible things. On behalf of the Trust, we’d like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to make a nomination – you really have made a difference. It’s important to take time to recognise those that go above and beyond, it’s often the added extras that make the difference between patients having a good service and patients feeling they have had an outstanding and exceptional experience. To the nominees, we send our congratulations, we wish you the very best of luck as we move swiftly onwards to judging.

SA21 HB Page - July flood nominations.indd 1

Our next stage sees all of the nominations move on to being reviewed by our executive directors who will then hand over the responsibility to a panel of judges from across our organisation. This means that every single nomination is judged completely fairly with a panel deciding the fate of nomination on most categories. It’s not all up to judges though; colleagues across the Trust will have the opportunity to vote for their favourites in our top four categories. Voting for Employee of the year, Clinical team of the year for Children, Clinical team of the year for adults and Non-clinical team of the year will launch on 1 September. For more information on the Star Awards, contact the communications team on swbh.comms@nhs.net or call ext 5303

26/07/2021 09:49

From Karachi to Birmingham: Nikhat has aspirations for general practice CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Over the next few issues of Heartbeat we will feature inspiring stories of colleagues who are part of the SWB family through the Healthcare Overseas Professionals (HOP) programme. The programme supports people from overseas (who are qualified healthcare professionals in their own home countries) to get back into clinical practice. These colleagues are required to pass either the International English Language Test or the Occupational English Test before they take their professional exams. In this issue we meet 46 year old mother of four, Dr Nikhat Iftikhar who came to the UK from Karachi, Pakistan in 2013. In Pakistan, Nikhat had been working as a regional co-ordinator and associate researcher for Bridge Consultants Foundation, a not-forprofit organisation. She oversaw the implementation of a tuberculosis project in the state hospitals of Sindh Province. She was also an elected member of the country coordination mechanism for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. We caught up with Nikhat who told us more. “Settling in a new country was very challenging; starting from scratch is not easy. Entering and adapting to the new system was quite difficult but sincere friends and supportive institutions like the HOP programme made my life easier. “I came across HOP through the Birmingham Asylum Seeker and Refugees Association, of which I’m a member. The association received an invitation to an event where some people from SWB were coming to talk about supporting overseas healthcare professionals back into clinical roles. “I initially had no plans to attend the event but later decided to go, to see if I could get support to enter the NHS – perhaps in a non-clinical role. “HOP, in particular Nav Sharma, were very supportive throughout my difficult times in this journey. Many times I would telephone Nav and tell her I am struggling and I can’t continue, as I was a single parent and bringing up four children and studying for the

Dr Nikhat Iftikhar has aspirations to work as a GP in the Black Country Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test. She would always give me words of encouragement and inspired me not to give up. “The HOP team put me in touch with the Black Country GP forum who supported me financially with my tuition and exam fees and I was able to focus on my studies to pass the exam, as my dream is to be a GP. I have secured a position in the Black Country to start my GP training in August. I will be starting my rotation at SWB which is giving me the opportunity to give back the support I received from their wonderful staff at HOP. “I am delighted to be working as a medic for the NHS at a difficult time when they need doctors. I am so glad that I was able to return at the right time and do my bit to fight the pandemic. “HOP arranged a clinical attachment to make me familiar with the NHS system as well as build up my CV and references.

“I would like to thank Dr Tariq Sami, Consultant Urologist, City Hospital and Dr Syed Jamal Rizvi, Consultant Geriatrics, Walsall Manor Hospital. I completed my clinical attachment with them and they both were excellent teachers and helped me understand the NHS system. I am very grateful to the East Lancashire Hospitals Trust (where I started my first regular job in the UK) for believing in me, building up my confidence, utilising my skills, training me and giving me a chance to work and serve as a doctor. “And of course all this wouldn’t have been possible without the support I received from the SWB HOP team. I will be forever grateful to them.” The Healthcare Overseas Professionals Programme is delivered by The Learning Works project team based at the Wellbeing Sanctuary. For more information on the programme, email lawrencekelly@nhs.net.

Kindness starts with you! By Rev Mary Causer of years ago is how easily we can get ‘stuck’. What do I mean by this? Do you remember the song by U2, ‘Stuck in a moment and I can’t get out of it’? Our lives have had a seismic shake in one way or another and the emotions in us can get stuck. The memories and feelings we carry can become like a repeating film clip, I want to encourage you to be kind to yourselves, whether you believe it or not, you are definitely worth it. I have been using stones and picture post cards to help people unlock some of their thinking. I have an important message to you all - please be kind to yourselves, don’t get stuck, live a little lighter. Let us help you Rev Mary Causer to do that, contact us at the Chaplaincy So, we all know that the last season has not and let us help you work through it. We are trained practitioners at listening, and asking been an easy one, whether you were on site or working from home. When we bring questions, to help you think a little clearer. The team are people with a faith but you our whole selves to work, we don’t leave everything we are at the front door or when don’t have to have any, we are part of a we pick the phone up to someone needing shared humanity that we all belong to. our help, our lives are diverse and individual. And remember, it’s ok not to be ok, be kind One of the things I recognised a number to your body, be kind to your mind, be kind

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS to your heart and then you will start to shine again. We are here for you. I wanted to let you know that the Chaplaincy is now part of People and OD.

Stones are being used to help people unlock some of their thinking

Kissing it Better in a pandemic Healthcare charity Kissing it Better (KiB) has worked across SWB since 2017. Working with hundreds of young people across the area, the mission is simple: to end the isolation of old age by bringing young and old together. So how did the charity cope when coronavirus stopped direct human contact? Realising the work to end isolation had suddenly become more important than ever, they knew they had to think fast. Heartbeat caught up with Jackie Roxborough, KiB Project Director and Jill Fraser, CEO, to find out more, Jackie said: “Prior to March 2020, we encouraged hundreds of young people who worked with us from schools, colleges and universities across the Midlands every week to use their special talents – music, performance and pampering skills, etc. – as a starting point to spark conversation with older people. When we were stopped from doing this, we quickly came up with a plan b. Within days, young singers were performing from care home gardens and at a safe distance through hospital windows. Every session was meticulously planned within government guidelines.” The response was incredible. National TV including BBC1, ITN and Channel 4 covered their story. The pieces captured the joy and hope these sessions created, not just for patients, care home residents and staff but also students’ whose confidence soared when they

December 53 of those tales were re-told by the young people in the book ‘In My Day – memories of isolation shared between the generations.’

KiB have been entertaining care home residents via Zoom realised how they were making a real difference. In partnership with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards, the team then devised new ways for students to complete the volunteering section without leaving home. Called ‘Volunteering from Home’ they were encouraged to make phone calls, write letters, cards and to make simple homemade gifts that helped ensure isolated older people felt cared for during the crisis. Art students from Sandwell College took this one stage further when they exhibited their artwork on the theme of ‘It Won't Define Me', a digital gallery via Zoom where the young artists were able to explain the motivations for their artwork. With many older people having lived through long periods of separation from family and friends whether wartime evacuation, time spent in isolation hospitals, or on the front line, the team introduced daily Zoom sessions with up to 100 young people on each session to ask these remarkable people how they coped with isolation so that the students could learn from their wisdom. The stories they heard were so good, in

Jill added: “Sensitive use of Zoom enabled us to reach isolated older people with our music when winter weather stopped us from performing outside hospital and care home windows. Since Christmas, our interactive concerts – a mix of music, poetry and stories – have triggered the memories and emotions of countless older people. “Prior to the pandemic we ran a range of courses called: ‘Creative Thoughtfulness in the Care of Others’. We quickly adapted them for delivery via highly interactive Zoom sessions. The most popular course can be delivered in six hourly sessions and is a great way for staff to complete the hours required for CPD.” KiB’s mission now is to remind everyone of the power of connection. So the challenge is to find ways to continue to keep human connections alive during this crisis and beyond. If you have any ideas you would like to share, or if you are interested in completing one of the courses or volunteering, please contact: mail@ kissingitbetter.co.uk. KiB are looking for volunteers to assist over the summer holidays in particular.

Dr Phil talks bedside manner with colleagues CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS The Trust welcomed renowned doctor, comedian and journalist Dr Phil Hammond who performed on stage to a socially distanced audience as part of his visit to City Hospital. Dr Phil, as he’s known, was not just there to provide the laughs though – he was there to chuckle himself by listening to some of the funnier stories from colleagues which will be featured in a special show broadcast on Radio 4 next month. Those featured included Rev Mary Causer, our lead chaplain, who not only shared stories of the lighter side of being a confidant for patients, but also the support that she’d provided throughout the pandemic. Mary said: “It was a pleasure spending time with Dr Phil and speaking about some of the delightful moments I have experienced at the Trust. “Sometimes we tend to dwell on the negative but there is always a lighter side to life and it’s nice to be able to provide a laugh or two for someone else.” Dr Phil also got to meet renowned catering assistant Anthony Edwards, who’s known as Tony to most people. During his interview with the famous medic, Tony, who is based at the kiosk Coffee Culture, revealed how he is one half of a comedy duo and regularly –

Dr Phil Hammond performed on stage as part of his visit to City Hospital before the pandemic – performed on stage. He also shared how he had to tend to a patient who had collapsed in his kiosk. Dr Phil was so impressed with Tony, that he invited him to perform one of his songs on stage during the show at the Postgraduate Centre. “There’s quite a few stories I could have told Dr Phil, but I guess then it would have turned into the Tony show,” laughed Tony. “It’s been a really tough year for so many so this was a really welcome change. It was an honour being asked to get up on stage with Phil and I think everyone enjoyed my performance too!” He also met with Liza Gill, Volunteer Service Manager, who shared stories of how dedicated volunteers had been throughout the pandemic.

Dr Phil said: “It was an absolute joy returning to Birmingham, where both my kids were born, and meeting the rather wonderful staff, patients, carers and volunteers at City Hospital. “I was very struck by the warmth, compassion and humour of the staff, and the fact that many of them had been with the hospital for so many years. “I’ve just listened to the episode and it is the best yet, full of great stories, laughter, and a real sense of dedication and togetherness. Nurse Mary Parker’s laugh should be available on prescription. And in Tony from the kiosk, a star is born...” Dr Phil didn’t just mingle with staff – he also met with Malcolm Robinson, a patient who had undergone heart surgery performed by Dr Derek Connolly, Cardiologist. Malcolm spoke about how he came close to death, but the actions of a passer-by giving him CPR saved his life. He now carries out CPR training to the young and old. Dr Phil was left impressed with Malcolm’s determination to pass on life-saving skills to others so that they too could act quickly to help if needed. Our very own medics also spent some time with the presenter. Consultant paediatrician, Dr Nick Makwana gave him an insight into caring for the young and how his dances had lifted the spirits of colleagues during the pandemic. Whilst consultant haematologist Dr Richard Murrin described the moment a patient asked for his autopsy report!

Tony Edwards, Catering Assistant, who entertained Dr Phil and an audience at the stand-up event at City Hospital

The show is one of four that will be broadcast at the end of August. Keep an eye on the daily bulletin to find out when it will go out on Radio 4.

Raising awareness of diabetes June saw the Trust celebrate Diabetes Week, an annual UK-wide initiative which aims to raise awareness of diabetes as well as raise vital funds to help research the condition. The week was an opportunity to give tips and advice to colleagues about living with, managing and treating diabetes. Reversing type 2 diabetes The strongest evidence suggests that type 2 diabetes is mainly put into remission by weight loss. Remission is more likely if you lose weight as soon as possible after your diabetes diagnosis. However, we do know of people who have put their diabetes into remission 25 years after diagnosis. It’s important to know that not everyone who loses weight will be able to put their diabetes into remission. But losing weight comes with a lot of health benefits, even if it doesn’t lead to remission. Research shows that getting support to lose just five per cent of your body weight can have huge benefits for your health such as: • Fewer medications • Better blood sugar levels • A lower risk of complications

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Poor insulin management can cause harm • The timing of insulin is crucial to how effective it is. • Insulin must always be given just before or at the start of a meal. • The only insulin given at bedtime is long acting insulin. • Do not omit insulin. Reduce the dose and refer to Think Glucose if required. • Insulin can safely be reduced or increased by 10 per cent when managing hypo or hyperglycaemia. • Early contact with Think Glucose can reduce length of stay. Do you know how to contact Think Glucose? We must remind all wards and departments that if they wish to contact Think Glucose they should go via the switchboard. If using an internal phone please dial 0 and ask the operator for Think Glucose.

The diabetes team Do you live with diabetes and want support? Would you like to be empowered and learn more the about support available to better manage your diabetes? Would you like to learn up-to-date information and guidance about your diabetes as well as alternative diabetes education platforms available to you? If so please email anitakaur@nhs.net who can help you access education or support with your diabetes.

Improvement through innovation and excellence This month sees the launch of our latest welearn quality improvement poster competition. This is now firmly established as an annual event and forms a key part of our welearn programme of learning and knowledge sharing across our organisation. Crucially, welearn aims to share good practice, quality initiatives, innovations, research and partnerships that have resulted in improvements for our patients, relatives and colleagues. We know that innovation and excellence exists in our Trust and this competition looks to bring it to the forefront, to have this work celebrated and recognised and importantly, be in with a chance to win a share of the £5,000 prize fund. Launching the QI poster competition, Director of Governance Kam Dhami said: “Through this competition we’re looking to draw out all of the improvement work that is going on in our organisation, give it a platform to shine and share the great work with colleagues. “We’re following our usual tried and tested

“We want everyone to take some time, look at the improvement and innovation they have adopted, developed or deployed in their way of working and to see if they can share their good practice with other areas. Put your ideas on paper, and don’t worry if you’re not the greatest artist, we have the support of the medical illustration team on hand to take your ideas and make them in to amazing posters.”

Last year’s winner and runners up in the QI poster competition format of getting colleagues to put their ideas down on paper, in the form of a poster and to describe, evidence and evaluate their work. The competition isn’t just open to clinicians; we have entries from every corner of our Trust, from the operating theatres working hard to preserve fertility in cancer patients, imaging and diagnostics using RFID in preoperative breast localisation and speech and language service improvements in mainstream schools.

Closing date for final poster submissions is 8 October, with posters submitted being displayed in the Sandwell Education Centre and online kiosks in the foyer of Hallam Restaurant, main corridor at City Hospital and reception at Rowley Regis. Colleagues will have a chance to vote on their favourites when the posters are posted on to Connect from 1 November and the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 2 December in Sandwell Education Centre. For more information or to discuss your design ideas please email the team at swbh.welearnposters@nhs.net.

You

said Over last few months many of you have been involved in listening sessions within your teams, reviewing the staff survey results and giving your feedback on how we can make our workplace a great place to be.

Together we

In July the groups held a series of events where the leadership teams supported by executive directors, outlined the main findings from the survey results and how they will work with you to make changes. Thank you to those of you who joined in the events – don’t worry if you didn’t get a chance to join in. The recordings of the events are now on Connect and we are now committed to running these sessions every quarter. The next series of sessions will be held at the end of September following the release of the new quarterly pulse survey results. Thank you for all the feedback you have given over the last few months. Here is what you said and working together in consultation with you – this is what we did together.

You

said

We are not fair and equitable when considering the diversity of our population and workforce.

• A new equality, diversity and inclusion team is now in place to support colleagues and the organisation.

Together we

did

• Cultural Ambassador programme has been introduced to enhance fairness and remove the potential of cultural bias. 14 colleagues are signed up. More colleagues to join in coming months. COMING SOON • Equality, diversity and inclusion committee to be established. • Launching equality, diversity and inclusion lunch and learn sessions. • NHS Cadet Foundation programme for 14-16 year olds to be launched.

You

said •

did

SWB doesn’t act on health and wellbeing.

PDRs are different this year – to acknowledge the Together unprecedented year the Trust has carefully considered its we approach to the personal development review process to ensure that it is both meaningful and conducted in a way which is practical. Managers will be required to have a wellbeing conversation with staff.

did

• Team time-outs – Trust funded time away from the office as a team to reflect, discuss experiences and identify ways to move forward together. • Wellbeing hour - a dedicated time to focus on wellbeing – it can be at any time that best suits the colleague, service or department. This can be time within the working day to focus on something that helps with wellbeing such as a learning & development activity, reading, walking or team discussion. • Use of the wellbeing sanctuary – where colleagues can book a range of free treatments including massages and relaxation therapy. • Risk assessments for all colleagues with reasonable adjustments put in place for individuals. • On site COVID vaccination provision for all colleagues. • Extension to the working from home guidance to allow more flexibility for colleagues who are able to work remotely. COMING SOON • Wellbeing “corners” to be introduced in all areas with materials and tips to maintain good mental health.

You

said

• All managers have been given the opportunity to input into the training needs analysis. •

You

Line managers need support to be better skilled at managing individuals and teams.

Together

The Accredited Manager’s programme continues with modules available online. Some modules are being refreshed. Work is taking place with a view to introduce further modules.

did

• Team leading level 3 Apprenticeship is available.

said •

We don’t know what’s going on in the Trust!

TeamTalk staff briefing is now refreshed. The sessions have been Together designed to have more discussion and questions and answers to we encourage participation from colleagues. Communications messages have also been reviewed to encourage all colleagues to join the session and use it as an opportunity to pose questions to exec colleagues.

did

• Essential leadership skills is an online programme.

• The line manager briefing has been revived – issued once a month with clear guidance on what managers should be sharing with their teams.

• Institute of Leadership Management coaching programme is available.

• Weekly coffee sessions with the interim chief executive have been launched.

• Edward Jenner programme continues to be supported.

• Quarterly staff survey feedback sessions have been introduced.

COMING SOON • Leadership development arrangements being worked through with managers. • Protected time for line manager development. • Local induction packs to be introduced with clear management structures.

For more information go to: www.nationalguardian.org.uk

COMING SOON • Revising the internal communications strategy to ensure all managers and colleagues are supported in alignment with our values and objectives. • A new area will be developed on Connect where managers can access resources to help them with engagement and communication. • Further development of the myConnect app to allow mobile access to Trust communications. • Local teams to increase visibility of senior leadership. • Local teams to develop staff forums.

Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) What is speaking up?

Meet your Freedom to Speak up Guardians

It is about speaking up about anything that gets in the way of doing a great job.

Below are the contact details for our five Freedom to Speak up Guardians. These members of staff have received specialised training and are well placed to listen to your issues and guide you on the best steps to resolve it.

We would like you to feel safe to raise your concerns with your line manager, but realise that this isn’t always possible: There are a number of routes to speak up across the Trust if you don’t feel you can speak to your line manager, or the directorate or group leadership teams. These include: • Staff networks • Chaplaincy • Union reps • Any member of the executive team • The Non Executive Lead for Speak up, Lesley Writtle • Safe Call • Write to Heartbeat • Freedom to Speak up Guardians You will always have the right to raise your concern anonymously. • There are nearly 700 Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in the NHS and independent sector organisations, national bodies and elsewhere.

Rosie Auld Rosie is Head Orthoptist in Surgery though she works across all the Trusts’ sites. E: rosieauld@nhs.net

Ian Galligan

Sandra Kennelly

Ian is a Technical Supervisor in Medical Engineering.

E: ian.galligan1@nhs.net

Sandra works in the community as a Clinical Team Leader/ Occupational Therapist with Primary Care, Community and Therapies. E: sandra.kennelly@nhs.net

Harpal Tiwana

Cheryl Newton

Harpal works in Primary Care, Community and Therapies as an Assistant Service Manager.

Cheryl is the Group Director of Nursing for Women and Child Health Group. Email:

E: harpal.tiwana@nhs.net

E: cheryl.newton@nhs.net

They are ready and willing to help. Christine and Vaishnavi have a role to support doctors in raising concerns.

Christine Wright Christine is a Haematology Consultant and is the Guardian of Safe Working for the Trust. E: christinewright1@nhs.net

FTSU swbh.ftsuguardians@nhs.net

Dr Vaishnavi Kumar Vaishnavi is our Chief Registrar. E: vaishnavikumar@nhs.net

Be an ally, don’t bystand but upstand! their bullies and their oppressors, not just for themselves but for each other. We can no longer bystand and watch as colleagues are unfairly treated, tormented and abused simply because we are not the target. This discrimination not only comes from colleagues and line managers but also our patients, patients we are treating and caring for.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS A ground-breaking workshop organised by The Women’s Clinician Network (WCN) brought together colleagues from across the Trust in late June with one purpose in mind, upskilling and enabling colleagues to stand up for themselves and each other when they face discrimination. Opening the event, Deputy Medical Director and Acute Physician Dr Sarb Clare addressed the audience: “Stand with me, not by me, be an ally, don’t bystand but upstand”, setting in motion the narrative for the afternoons events. The training workshop arranged by Sarb and her WCN colleagues sought to support clinicians facing discrimination, addressing unconscious bias and selfawareness whilst also encouraging colleagues to be an ally and upstand. Sharing her thoughts on the workshop, Sarb said: “Every day NHS colleagues face discrimination and we have clear demonstrable national data that shows this. Whilst some colleagues have the resolve and will to stand up, we know that many more will not for several reasons ranging from fear from line

Dr Sarb Clare and Dr Vaishnavi Kumar managers, being too upset and concern about career progression. “Our work in the WCN has shown that women are often the victims of discrimination, whether that’s intentionally or through unconscious bias, and whilst we have it drummed in to us across the NHS that discrimination will not be tolerated, these practices continue, and the victims continue to pay the price. “Our workshop today has set in motion a challenge to every single one of the attendees, to stand up to their detractors,

“Often the bullies and tormentors will skate a fine line between humour and hurtful comments, relying on their excuse of ‘it’s just banter’, but the skills that we have been able to acquire thanks to our resident conflict trainer, Richard Burnell mean that we are all able to challenge, stand up and step in if we see anything we don’t feel is fair or just.” Colleagues at the workshop also had the opportunity to hear from Deputy Medical Director and Responsible Officer Dr Mark Anderson who shared the formal escalation processes available for colleagues who feel behaviour need formal reporting.

For more information on The Women’s Clinician Network, please contact swbh.WomensClinicianNetwork@nhs.net website www.womenempoweringwomen.org.uk Ted Talk- https://www.ted.com/talks/sarbjit_clare_women_empowering_women twitter @WEWNetwork Podcast Women Empowering Women - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/women-empowering-women/id1557254967

Post mortem consent training rolled out Taking consent for post mortem is needed to be done at a very delicate time for friends or relatives, but we need to make sure, as a Trust, that we are passing on all the relevant information to the friends and families of the deceased, and obtaining all the correct information for us to proceed in the post mortem examination. The Trust has introduced a new training course - post mortem consent training, aimed at making the act of taking consent for a hospital requested post mortem HTA compliant (Human Tissue Authority). Our mortuary services are offering training courses for both adult post mortem consent taking and baby and child post mortem consent taking. These courses are aimed at all clinical colleagues who want to up-skill

She said: This will mean those colleagues taking consent will be the most appropriate people to do so, as they will best know the case and the patients. This makes people feel at ease, and we also know we are then obtaining and giving out the correct information.

Lauren Wood, Mortuary Services Manager is leading on post mortem consent training

She added: “Any colleagues who want to complete the course should already have some knowledge or experience of post mortem work, and other types of consent taking. They should be familiar with the human tissue authority, and what it represents for the Trust.”

Any colleague who does either one of the courses will be presented with a certificate that they have completed the training. On Lauren Wood, Mortuary Services Manager is completion of either course, colleagues will leading on the training and believes it will benefit be required to be audited annually. If you clinical colleagues massively with some colleagues interested in attending either course in the having already completed it in July. future please call Lauren Wood on ext. 2703. themselves, and become compliant in taking post mortem consent.

Adapting apprenticeships in a pandemic Across the Trust, both clinical and non-clinical teams have adapted their ways of working due to the COVID-19 pandemic and this is no different for our widening participation apprenticeship team.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Many of these people achieved distinctions and this number continues to grow.

On the evening of Monday 23 March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered a speech which would change the dayto-day operations at SWB including our apprenticeship team. A lockdown was announced and people were only able to leave their homes for basic necessities. This meant during the last 18 months, the apprenticeship team have had to totally adapt and create new ways of working. “Before COVID-19 we used to offer mainly classroom based teaching with a lot of face-to-face support and coaching, but due to social distancing measures this has had to drastically change,” said Maxine Griffiths, Widening Participation Manager/ Apprenticeship Lead. “Despite this, the team rose to the challenge and have adapted with no fuss, which has ensured people have continued to thrive at learning. Despite limited faceto-face contact, ongoing online and digital support has been available to all our apprentices.” Our apprentice team play a key role in improving our workforce by upskilling which in part saves the Trust money in terms of recruitment. It encourages promotion and progression from within and gives many younger people and older people alike, an opportunity to flourish and grow and really advance their career and skills. In addition to this, one of the initiatives the team recently worked on was Apprenticeship Week which profiled the successes of apprentices across the Trust

From a recent survey conducted by the team it was found that 100 per cent of apprentices: •

Would recommend SWB training provider to a friend.

• Feel they get the support they need.

Maxine Griffiths, Widening Participation Manager and gave them a platform to showcase the exceptional support and value that they bring to the Trust. Our apprentices are great – the stats don’t lie. Between September 2018 - April 2021, despite the pandemic the team have had: •

60 people achieve their Level 2 Healthcare Support Worker

• 7 people achieve their Level 3 Senior Healthcare Support Worker • 16 people achieve their Level 3 Business Administration •

8 people achieve their Level 2 Customer Service Practitioner

•

Feel they are given feedback to help them improve.

•

Feel they are treated fairly by SWB training provider staff.

• Feel SWB training provider has created a safe, disciplined and positive environment for them to learn. Do you feel you are ready to upskill yourself? Why not consider an apprenticeship? We are currently planning a range of apprenticeship programmes using a blended learning approach of online and remote training delivery methods. We have a variety of apprenticeships available across both Level 2 and 3 and more importantly, the cost for the apprenticeships will be funded through the apprenticeship levy. For further details regarding apprenticeships at the Trust, please visit https://connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/ apprenticeships-for-staff/. For more information about apprenticeships please email swbh.apprenticeship@nhs.net.

• 28 people achieve their Level 3 Team Leader.

Want to relax and unwind in a safe place? Visit the Wellbeing Sanctuary and enjoy a range of free treatments including a massage, meditation and relaxation hypnotherapy. Call 0121 507 5886 to book your free session today.

Wellbeing 19

Cardiology keeping specialist referrals flowing through Unity

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS COVID-19 The introduction of Unity has brought about a sea of change in how we work. With recording patient data, care plans, ordering tests and medication and communicating with community health providers - the concept of a single source of truth is slowly becoming embedded. One of the benefits of Unity that we are now being able to realise is tracking and following up on inpatient referrals made between specialties, departments and teams within our

Trust. Referral processes that were once paper heavy, slow and prone to delay with paperwork incomplete are now slowly being integrated in to Unity where they can be logged, actioned and audited safely and securely. Most importantly, keeping all referrals in the patient’s record reduces issues of miscommunication and misunderstanding at handover. The new multi-practitioner task list (MPTL) functionality in Unity means there is no need for paper referrals, and no need for secondary referral systems for inpatient referrals. Inpatient referrals for specialist services can be made from Unity. Earlier this month cardiology began trialling referrals to the service using MPTL and the ‘referral to’ order within ‘Requests and Care Plans’. The new referral system puts an end

to the old practices of duplicating items of medical information, referrals are input in to Unity, sit alongside the patient record and are presented to the receiving service, and everything remains within the Unity system visible by any relevant clinician. Whilst the new system makes life easier for referrals, it is important to ensure all past medical history is documented in the ‘Problem List’ and that medicine reconciliation is completed accurately to ensure all home and active medication is correctly displayed on the drug chart. Details of how you can refer to cardiology using MPTL are available on Connect. For more information on how your department could make use of the new functionality, please contact your IT business relationship manager.

Urgent Treatment Centre officially opens to patients The Sandwell Urgent Treatment Centre has officially opened its doors and welcomes all patients from across the borough. Though the treatment centre opened in April of this year and was streaming patients to the service, patients were accessing the service through Sandwell A&E until all the works to the state of the art building were completed in the summer. Formerly the walk-in centre at Parsonage Street, the urgent treatment facility offers GP-led services, but not emergency care, for ailments such as, abdominal pain and minor illnesses, seven days a week from 9am – 9pm. Previously, before the Urgent Treatment Centre was in place, our patients were directed to the walk-in centre at Parsonage Street, however now when they come to Sandwell their needs will be assessed and depending on their needs, they will either be seen at the Urgent Treatment Centre or Sandwell emergency department. This will ultimately result in shorter waiting times and better quality of care for our patients. Asif Naveed, A&E Consultant at Sandwell, Lead for Sandwell A&E and the Urgent Treatment Centre believes the urgent treatment facility will only improve level

Clinical and non-clinical teams across Sandwell officially opened our Urgent Treatment centre of patient care we currently offer and also improve the overall patient journey. He said: “I feel really proud to have played a key role in the opening of the Urgent Treatment Centre at Sandwell for our local patients.

He added: “The Urgent Treatment Centre will also better support our primary care services and minor injuries as we have dedicated colleagues to run the service and I believe we will streamline a lot of services within the Urgent Treatment Centre.

“The Urgent Treatment Centre is going to provide “We look forward to its success!” expert care to all of the patients who walk through its doors as everything will be essentially be under one roof.”

There is another wave coming – a wave of new starters! COVID-19 changed the way we act as an organisation, the way we talk to patients, each other and also the way we look to recruit new colleagues. We have not had any major recruitment events recently owing to the coronavirus outbreak, and the continued spectre and growing case numbers means this could well continue for some time to come. There has however been not only virtual events but we’re also seeing some hard work from the recruitment team done around the time the pandemic emerged, now come to fruition. Unsurprisingly overseas recruits have previously been put on hold throughout

the majority of 2020. Even those who have previously been hired and were waiting to emigrate were required to wait owing to the restrictions in travel, as well as the situations in their own countries in some instances. However, thanks to the reduction in the number of countries on the red and amber travel lists over recent months – and with more still set to join us, we have been able to welcome some of these people to the Trust.

Indian, Ghanaian, Australian, Nigerian, Egyptian, Filipino, Zimbabwean, Barbadian, Nepalese, Pakistani, Zambian, South African and Columbian – and they’re all arriving to give their best for our patients and communities.

To break things down in both December 2020 and April 2021 we had nine new overseas starters. In May we welcomed another six to our organisation whilst in June a whopping 25 overseas nurses joined the Trust. These nurses are from all sorts of backgrounds:

In July this number is increasing even more by 34 and from August through to December in 2021, it is expected that 75 additional overseas nurses will join the Trust. These figures don’t include further domestic hires being made by the Trust.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

Please welcome all the new faces we’re going to see and help people adjust to what will be for many a major life changing moment. If you are curious about other roles at the Trust or have friends in the industry looking for a new start, you can find all current listed roles at the Trust on our website at swbh.nhs.uk/work-for-us.

Health Sector Talent hosted a welcome session for our recent recruits who joined this month

We also have a recruitment related Facebook page that you may want to follow at facebook.com/SWBHJobs and if you are looking to increase your account to increase your professional network we recommend everyone join the Trust’s LinkedIn page: linkedin.com/ company/swbhnhs.

Richard’s a rising star Former Employee of the Year Richard Burnell has been shortlisted for a prestigious HR award. The organisational development specialist will find out if he has won the Hempsons Rising Star gong at the HPMA Excellence in People Awards during a ceremony to be held in October. Speaking of the achievement, Richard, who won the Employee of the Year title at the 2019 Star Awards said: “I am really grateful to be nominated for this award. I was part of an excellent team who worked hard to support colleagues across COVID and it’s great see that work we did is valued so highly. I’m privileged to do the work that I do and to be able to help leaders across the organisation develop themselves and their teams.” In the awards submission, judges were told about the way Richard has engaged with colleagues during the pandemic. He developed and implemented a number

Richard also co-ordinated the rollout of peerto-peer mental health training for staff which meant they were able to provide support to their colleagues across the Trust. It involved recruiting and training over 200 volunteers then leading on the project to embed this across the organisation. Richard at the Star Awards in 2019 receiving his Employee of the Year prize of support mechanisms, making a huge impact on the mental wellbeing of his colleagues and staff in organisations around him. He also designed a format for resilience coaching and worked with occupational health to identify vulnerable individuals in frontline roles who needed more support. This involved him recording one minute videos of himself offering tips on how to tackle different issues in the workplace. The videos gained widespread positive feedback, with some content receiving 13,000 views on social media.

He also introduced the Recharge Booth project, designed to give staff 30 minutes a week to discuss a topic that affected wellbeing. Aside from his work during the pandemic, Richard provides performance coaching to colleagues across all professions within the organisation. He has worked with teams and line managers supporting both to find solutions to problems and issues through workshops and support materials. This includes coaching them to enable them to manage these themselves in the future.

Understanding your role in research – best patient care CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Research is important to improving patient care, but you may not know why and it’s not always obvious how you can contribute. A research culture is important to the delivery of care to our patients. We know that patients who are treated in organisations who are research active have better outcomes and patients want to be included in research. To embed a research culture, all colleagues patient facing or not, need to know about research. It doesn’t matter whether you are a receptionist, senior clinician, nurse or the chief executive. You matter in clinical research by being aware that it happens in your organisation, or by actively supporting it through your role whether or not it involves direct contact with patients. You are likely aware from the numerous weekly COVID-19 bulletins – an important read for any member of the Trust, produced by the communications

team, about several of the ways research and development (R&D) has played a part in our battle against COVID-19. Such as the SIREN study which recently celebrated its first year, and the PRINCIPLE Research Trial. R&D has been part of a pilot project to ensure that all colleagues who work in the NHS know a little about the importance of research. With the help of colleagues in the communications team, we have used nationally created information to bring a consistent message to all colleagues. To get involved with research at our Trust, please take a look at our new intranet Connect site ‘Best patient care, clinical research and you’ to learn more and find out what role you could play in research and development. You can find it at https://connect2.swbh. nhs.uk/best-patient-care-clinical-researchand-you/ This guide raises general awareness so that staff members become more aware of their potential impact on research in their Trust. Its main focus is to be accessible, quick and easy to navigate so that staff can engage simply by using core messages, relevant

We all have a role to play in research

links, pictures and visual material. This guide also helps the trust fulfil requirements in the CQC Well Led inspection Framework and the NHS Long Term Plan. You will also find some key messages about the value of clinical research in NHS trusts as well as links to evidence which shows that research active Trusts have better patient outcomes. Most importantly however, the purpose of the guide is to give you some practical understanding of how your role can have a positive impact on improving patient care through supporting research.

Safety huddles are platform to share concerns Daily safety huddles are encouraging colleagues to work collectively to provide solutions to issues related to harm in the women’s and child health group.

colleagues to understand how they are doing. We are also working with the performance and insight department (which develops the dashboard), to continuously improve the data quality.”

The group have largely led the way in adopting safety huddles with gynaecology and paediatrics being among the early adopters since November last year.

Bren Taylor, Acute Paediatric Matron is delighted with her team’s achievements, she said: “I am delighted with what we have been able to achieve so far. I am now keen on exploring the feasibility of having a single platform with access to all the essential data which I believe would further benefit improvements on safety and quality.”

Tracy Weston, Matron for Gynae/Gynaeoncology told us: “We have really embraced the daily huddles on D21 and D25; which we plan around our service needs. For example, on D25 we host huddles twice a day at 7.30am and 8pm respectively, to ensure that the safety elements are briefed at the start and end of each shift. It is a completely multidisciplinary team approach which sees us share any concerns and work up solutions collectively.” In paediatrics, daily safety huddles are in full swing and are supported by weekly 30min huddles when the multidisciplinary team review progress and outcomes.

Safety huddles D25 gynae Once the identified outcome is achieved, the multidisciplinary team agree the next safety element to work on. Since the launch of the weekly huddles in May, Lyndon Ground, Lyndon 1 and CECU have made significant improvements on their identified safety element i.e. total head circumference measured within 24 hrs of admission against total admissions for patients under two years of age. Dr Meena Bandhakavi, Consultant Paediatrician and Governance Lead for Paediatrics, has been proactively encouraging all multidisciplinary teams in the directorate to utilise the safety huddles dashboard which generates data from Unity. She told Heartbeat: “The data is displayed in a user-friendly way which helps

Maternity has also embarked on the safety huddle journey. The team on the delivery suite have joined forces with regional partners to host a daily huddle (in addition to their own) - focused on regional capacity. Meanwhile, delivery suite along with M1, M2, neonatal and serenity are taking an integrated approach to running their huddles, ensuring any issues raised are aligned to service delivery, quality, safety and effectiveness.

Cystoscopy pilot proves a huge success Over the last 16 months, we have all felt the pressures of the pandemic and countless teams have found new ways to continue supporting patients. Our urology team is of those teams and has recently trialled an innovative procedure to help reduce their backlog and offer reassurance to their patients. Speaking to Heartbeat, Mr Tariq Sami, Urology Consultant, told us: “The pandemic has meant that we have a backlog and limited capacity to see all of our patients. We needed to find an efficient way for patients to have their diagnostics done and see patients who have been waiting a long time for their cancer management. “With the help of the Trust, we have moved forward with this trial. Approximately £65,000 was secured in funding for the cystoscopes and it has meant we can start to see the patients who need a diagnosis or follow-up treatment. A cystoscopy is a procedure to look inside the bladder using a thin camera called a cystoscope. There is a high rate of bladder cancers and because of the delay; our pick rate has been high. Being able to do this means patients can

go on to have their surgery after having this procedure.” Mr Sami continued: “This is an in house service; done externally, it would mean a higher cost. We do 40 cases a week - that’s on top of what we ordinarily provide. It means we are providing care on the wards and patients aren’t going to theatres. It reduces their pathways and diagnosis and improves the overall patient experience. It’s quick for us, quick for patients and, it has helped with difficult categorisation cases. Plus, we’re now looking at using this in outpatient clinics. It will mean prompt care and stopping patients going back and forth.” Amy Harper, CNS Urology, told us feedback has been excellent. Some of the comments from patients include: “Thank you so much to all the staff who have supported me through my treatment”, whilst another remarked: “Staff were extremely helpful and pleasant – a superb and efficient service.” Asked about when this trial began, Mr Sami explained: “We started in May; I came in on my annual leave, as have other consultants so that we can do this work. Working

SURGICAL SERVICES weekends allows us to continue our day to day service without disruption. “Four consultants have been part of this trial. Including me, there has been Mr Ullah, Mr Khan and Mr Dhanasekaran. Our nurses have been coming in on the weekends too – Maria Delarosa, Lindsey Broadhurst, Sue McKenzie, Emma Hill, Emma Jones, Stacey Clarke and HCA Kully. It’s been a real team effort that has been supported by the bookings team and our management, in particular Andy Torrance and Mohammed Nawaz.” Reflecting on the success of the pilot so far, Mr Andy Torrance, Colorectal Consultant, remarked: “Mr Sami has led on this initiative and, it has been an extremely positive pilot for patients and the Trust. Adapting as the team has is making a real difference in people’s lives is something we can all be proud of. Well done and, thank you to everyone that has supported this project.”

Mr Sami, Urology Consultant with Amy Harper, Clinical Nurse Specialist

Doc wins £100k scholarships to world-famous university MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE Frontline colleague Dr Harun Khan has won two prestigious scholarships which will see him study at the world-famous Harvard University in America. Dr Khan is one of only three people to ever hold both a Fulbright Award and a Kennedy Scholarship which will lead to the one-year placement at the private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The scholarships, worth £100,000, are two of the most highly regarded in the world. Previous awardees of these scholarships include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and American poet and civil rights activist Dr Maya Angelou. Applying for them involved a lengthy process which included a detailed application and gruelling interviews, with one headed by the chief scientific advisor for the UK government. Harun has been at the Trust since 2017 and has worked in the acute medicine unit, emergency department and is currently based in D27. He will study the Master’s of Public Health, which is the leading programme for public health in the world.

He said: “I have a strong interest in public health so I always planned to pursue postgraduate studies in this field since I was at medical school. “My intention is to use my clinical practice, medical research and policy to advocate for under-represented minorities in the UK. “As someone who was eligible for free school meals growing up, being awarded a full scholarship to attend Harvard is extraordinary. “These types of scholarships are dominated by graduates and professionals who are socially elite in terms of social class. I hope my example can encourage others from a similar background to apply with full confidence. It’s also great to see my community celebrate this achievement, as I owe this win to them wholeheartedly! Being the third person in history to secure both scholarships to Harvard is an immense privilege. I also work in the education sector by supporting low-income students apply for higher education in the UK and embarking on this journey in front of these students is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. “The scholarships themselves have so many benefits beyond just the financial. For example, they provide me with entry into exclusive networking and professional events by world leaders, so there are a lot of social benefits too.

“The Master’s will also give me an opportunity to undertake a work experience placement of which I would like to undertake at the United Nations in New York City or in affiliation with the United States Congress in Washington DC. I also plan to use my time in the US to improve my Spanish.” Harun will leave the Trust in August, but intends to return to the UK. “I have really enjoyed my time at the Trust and I may return. I intend to use my time at Harvard to learn more about health and public policy and how we can improve the outcomes of under-represented people by tackling inequity. I have received opportunities to work beyond the NHS since being awarded these scholarships, such as in governmental agencies, non-profit organisations and academic institutions, but I’m sure Harvard will help better define my next career move.” He added: “I would like to thank Dr Sarbjit Clare and Dr Asif Naveed for supporting me through the early part of my professional journey. Despite their busy schedules, they have always been intentional about taking time out to support their juniors and lend an ear. They are true leaders that I hope to emulate one day. I would also like to thank Dr Viru Sadhunavar who, without trouble, swapped me out of a night shift in A&E, so that I could attend my Harvard scholarship interview!”

Dr Harun Khan who has won coveted scholarships enabling him to study at Harvard University.

Demystifying Discharge to Assess – there really is no place like home Elderly patients spending unnecessarily long stays in hospital has for many years been a systemic problem in the NHS.

PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES AND THERAPIES

The Discharge to Assess model goes back to basics, and reminds colleagues of one of the core principles of healthcare, that hospital care should be holistic, with patient-centred care and experience at its core. Clinical evidence demonstrates that patient recovery improves when they are in their own home, in their own surroundings and are returned to their usual support network, whilst also reducing the risk of healthcare associated harms such as physical deconditioning, delirium or hospital acquired infection. So, why do so many patients stay within the confines of wards for so long? Discharge to Assess focusses on the need to support patients who are clinically optimised and who do not need an acute bed, to return home. In the Hospital Discharge and Community Support policy (2021) which underpins this model, the need to be in hospital is known as the Criteria To Reside. The model recognises that some patients may need ongoing support from care services, but this should not delay their discharge. Assessments for long-term support can be carried out in the patients home, and at the right time for the patient. The two questions we should all ask are: Why not home? Why not today?Programmes such as Discharge to Assess can often be labelled as simply being focussed on keeping patient flow in hospitals, focussing on the monetary cost of extended patient stays but this programme is different. To find out more, Heartbeat caught up with Sarah Oley, iBeds Directorate Lead, she said: “Discharge to Access is about focussing on the best thing for the patient and working together to deliver better joined up care. “As an integrated acute and community Trust we have good working relationships and pathways in place to effectively support those who no longer meet the Criteria to Reside to be discharged and for assessments to take place in their home. This is a system-wide project and we’re working closely with our colleagues in the CCG and Local Authorities to deliver these fundamental shift in pathways. We have a dedicated team in the Integrated Discharge Hub who work alongside our inpatient wards to facilitate the best possible outcome for each person who requires ongoing support on discharge.

The Integrated Discharge Hub as clinically possible and involve them and their family/carers in that decision making.” When applying Discharge to Assess methodology to patients, discharge routes are referred to as

different pathways and fall into one of five distinct groups. This is the language we must all adopt in relation to discharge, and will be reflected soon in systems including Unity.

It’s vital that all teams are aware of these definitions: Pathway number

Definition

A simple discharge, no additional support from health or social care is required (approximately 50 per cent of discharges)

Person can return home, with support from health or social care (approximately 45 per cent of discharges)

Person requires a temporary move to a community bed, this may be for rehab or further assessment (approximately 4 per cent of discharges)

Person requires a permanent move to a 24 hour care environment (approximately 1 per cent of discharges)

Pathways for all people at the end of life

Whilst the principle of Discharge to Assess is simple, coordinating what each individual needs can be complex from questions around funding, care, housing, equipment and adaptations and long term support. Our Integrated Discharge Hub is a team of experts from across the Trust and local partners and is on hand for advice, support and escalations. To escalate any issues related to discharge, please contact the Integrated Discharge Hub on 07815 647936 (open seven days a week, from 8am to 5pm).

“Numerous studies have shown that a person’s recovery and recuperation is far quicker at home with the right support. More so now than ever, as visitation is limited and people’s What you and your team can do to help embed feeling of isolation is a very real risk. We should this new way of working: approach every patient with the expectation • Use the language – pathways, Criteria To that we will support their discharge as soon Reside, Home First

•

In daily board rounds ask: Why not home? Why not today?

•

Ensure all patients are given discharge information sheets (contact the IDH or Sarah Oley if you don’t have copies of these)

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Look out for the team as they come to your ward for more info

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Follow the team on Twitter for all the latest news @IDH_swb

•

Call the IDH if you need support, seven days per week!

For more information on Discharge to Assess contact Sarah Oley, iBeds Directorate lead on email saraholey@ nhs.net

Birthing at home made comfortable thanks to new team of midwives “Our team members have a wealth of experience and will provide one-to-one care to the women they look after, preparing them for a home birth in a practical and emotional way.

WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH The home birth team called Birch is the next continuity of care team to be launched at the Trust which means women will be looked after by a dedicated team of midwives. Launching in August, they will ensure women receive antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care if they have chosen home as their preferred place of birth. This is a continuation of the provision which has been traditionally provided by our excellent community midwives, with the additional benefits of case loading. Over the past 12 months there has been a growth in women requesting a home birth, which identified the need to expand. It will mean women can feel confident in the service and home births can be promoted as an option when considering where to have their

“When compared to a birth on delivery suite, a home birth is as safe, women have fewer difficulties and the recovery time is better. They are less likely to have a caesarean section, have lower intervention rates and are more likely to use a pool in labour. Clare Williams, Midwife baby. The Birch team will consist of eight midwives each looking after around 32 women at any one time. Midwife Clare Williams, who is leading the team added: “We are delighted to launch the Birch team which will specifically look after women who choose to birth their baby at home. “It’s part of the maternity plan to support women to have the birth they choose in the environment they feel most comfortable in to meet their baby.

“Being at home in their own environment helps women’s bodies to labour better. The labour hormone, Oxytocin is naturally higher when the woman feels safe and therefore there is less need for interventions. “Women have also stated the need to have their family close during labour as a reason for them choosing a home birth.” To contact the team for more information or to refer women to the service email swbh. birchhomebirthteam@nhs.net.

Neonatal awarded Unicef Baby Friendly accreditation “We demonstrated how we have processes for implementing, auditing and evaluating the standards and also ensure that there is no promotion of breastmilk substitutes, bottles, teats or dummies in any part of the facility or by any colleagues.

Our organisation strives to deliver excellent quality of care for our patients, young and old, and the neonatal team have done just that by achieving the first stage of Baby Friendly accreditation. Following in the footsteps of maternity services who hold full accreditation, neonatal are at the start of their journey with plans to keep going. Unicef Baby Friendly accreditation is a globally recognised quality improvement programme to provide parents with the best possible care to build close and loving relationships with their baby and to feed their baby in ways which will support optimum health and development. The accreditation is implemented in stages over a number of years. At each stage organisations are externally assessed by Unicef UK. When all the stages are passed they are accredited as Baby Friendly. Baby Friendly accreditation is part of the NHS long term plan ensuring everyone gets the best start in life. The award can be achieved for neonatal, maternity,

NNU and infant feeding team recently achieved Baby Friendly accreditation health visiting and children's centre services and will soon be available for children's wards too. Stage one involves building a firm foundation. This stage was led by Carmen Nuttall, Infant Feeding Lead for NNU and Louise Thompson, Infant Feeding Coordinator with huge support from the neonatal nursing and medical team. Louise explains how the team achieved this, she said: “We ensured our policies and guidelines support baby friendly standards and we developed a training programme to allow colleagues to implement the standards according to their role.

The team also have plans to keep going and achieve accreditation for the next stage. Carmen added: “BFI accreditation is an ongoing process; we have two years from stage one accreditation to achieve the next stage. Stage two involves ensuring at least 80 per cent of colleagues have received training and department colleagues and managers will be interviewed to ensure they understand and meet the baby friendly standards to provide the best care.” Dr Sivakumar, Neonatal Clinical Director, said: “I sincerely thank the hard work and the commitment of our neonatal colleagues and our infant feeding team which helped us to achieve stage one Baby Friendly accreditation. This is a reflection of how well the baby and family friendly principles are embedded in each and every member of our team. We look forward to our amazing journey towards further stages of BFI accreditation.”

Team embraces new ways of working during pandemic The community children’s nurse team for special educational nursing needs (CCN SEN) care for children and young people with complex nursing needs in both special and mainstream schools and in the community. Here we shine the spotlight on the work the team does and how COVID-19 has affected the way they work over the past 18 months. What do the CCN SEN team do and how many are in the team? Our team consists of a mix of band 4 clinical workers to band 7 nurses, whilst we have two non-medical prescribers within our team. This has proved to be essential for children to be treated promptly at home and reducing hospital admissions Our role is extremely diverse; we care for those aged from 2 to 19, working across a variety of community settings including schools, homes, nurseries and hospitals. We work wherever is the best place to support the young person and family to enable the child to receive care closer to home. We will work with a wide range of professionals within the NHS, Sandwell Education, social services and the voluntary sector. We are part of the community children’s therapies and nursing service which enables

us to work closely with the multi-agency team and consultant paediatricians to achieve positive outcomes for our patients. For a lot of families we are the first point of access to services in Sandwell. How has the pandemic affected the team’s way of working? We have continued to work throughout the pandemic, home visiting and utilising video calls if possible. We have, like everyone else, learnt how to use video conferencing facilities. We were unable to deliver our usual face-to-face training sessions for our schools so have pushed forward online training which has been very successful. We have introduced a drive-through weigh clinic at each school and worked with consultant paediatricians and schools to identify the children who are clinically vulnerable and were required to initially shield during the first and second lockdowns. Once identified we made regular telephone calls to families to maintain contact and support. The team also supported the vaccination programme for adults within the community. How have you developed partnerships to improve care?

WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH needs to be used when they attend appointments/hospital admissions. This was done in partnership with the paediatric speech and language therapists and the acute paediatric wards. We have developed a 24 hour postural care pathway for use by the community therapists and nursing team. This supports the team to identify potential issues with pressure ulcers and prevent deterioration. It also has a pathway for children who have developed a pressure ulcer to ensure appropriate referrals, assessment and management. What sort of feedback have you had from stakeholders and also patient families? Parents are grateful for our service and are thankful that we will visit at home. We get excellent feedback from them and professionals about the care and support we have given.

We have developed a communication passport for children with complex special

Members of the SEN team

Imaging take learning online with DaTscan studies Dr Notghi continued: “The global lectures were aimed at nuclear medicine and radiology professionals involved in scanning and reporting such studies. The UK has been using DaTscan before many other international countries. For example, we have been using it at City Hospital since 2002. The USA started using it around eight-nine years ago, so there is a need for an international forum.”

IMAGING Dr Alp Notghi, Consultant in Nuclear Medicine, has been leading the way in delivering key lectures virtually for DaTscan studies. This is used commonly in the diagnosis and management of Parkinson’s disease and Lew Body Dementia. Nuclear medicine and radiology professionals have been heading online to learn from the experience of one of our very own doctors. DaTscan images are generally easy to interpret, but occasionally, medics may have difficult studies that could make diagnosis a challenge - this is where Dr Notghi comes in. Organised by GE Healthcare (GEH), these seminars have provided international audiences with the benefit of Dr Notghi’s experience. He has presented to over 500 delegates on average who were keen to hear what he had to say on this topic.

Dr Alp Notghi - Consultant Physician in Nuclear Medicine Dr Notghi told us: “It was an honour to speak to such a broad mix of medical professionals from right across the world. Sharing knowledge is a must in our field of expertise, and I was somewhat surprised to learn that the first international meeting broke the GEH record of attendance, with 600 people from Europe and the USA mostly attending. The second event was more varied and included professionals from India, the Far East, America and even South America.”

Pulse

Dani Joseph, Director of Operations – Imaging, commented: “Dr Notghi is recognised as a reporting expert and provides backup reports for UK centres that have scans that are hard to interpret. Recently he has been busy presenting at five separate DaTscan workshops this year, two of which were shared internationally. “We’re delighted that one of our talented consultants has been able to present his approach to reporting these studies. His interactive sessions allow delegates to look at several clinical cases and openly discuss their findings. The workshops will benefit colleagues in countries overseas where DaTscan is starting to get used more frequently. Thank you, Alp!”

If you have a story you would like to appear on the Pulse page, please email a photo and a short explanation to swbh.comms@nhs.net

News in brief from around our organisation

IMAGING

Ellen passes law qualification with flying colours Congratulations are in order for Ellen Barnett, Senior Occupational Health Nurse Advisor who has recently passed the Occupational Health Law Certificate with flying colours, achieving not just a pass, but a merit grade. The certificate is a practical three-day course designed to provide occupational health professionals with an in-depth understanding of occupational health law at work. This qualification provides a detailed comprehension of legal responsibilities to ensure that work is fully compliant with legislation and case law. Heartbeat caught up with Ellen to find out more, she said: “I have been with the occupational health department for over three years as an occupational health nurse advisor. I started my training 33 years ago. My career started in the NHS and has consisted of OH since the 1990s. Prior to this I was in the Armed Forces and there was a need for this service to care for the civilians employed at the stations based at Yeovilton and Haslar. In 2008 I achieved

as legal terminology can be complicating; however, the glossary of legal terminology and opportunities to ask questions for clarity was always available. “The course has helped me in my role to master critical thinking, strong reasoning and enhance my skills as an experienced occupational health advisor. Ellen Barnett, Senior Occupational Health Nurse Advisor

my Masters in occupational health which consisted of numerous modules including the 'Aspects of Law.' “Studying towards the law course was important to me as I have an interest in gaining additional skills to analyse complex situations, which enables me to provide the best solution for management. “My achievements have helped to build a stronger foundation on situations that are regularly faced, and I aim to provide the best advice.” But this did not come without challenges, Ellen explained: “The course was challenging

“I would encourage others to look towards completing a qualification in their relevant field as it helps us to improve our knowledge by constantly developing new skills. This is essential for safe practice as a nurse.” Dr Masood Aga, Consultant and Specialty Lead in Occupational Medicine praised Ellen for her achievement, he said: “Ellen is an excellent occupational health specialist nurse. Her achievement is particularly commendable in that she has not only completed the course, but excelled in it whilst working above and beyond to provide occupational health support for colleagues during COVID-19 and dealing with personal setbacks at the same time. We are really proud of her as a team. Many congratulations to her!”

Letters, of less than 200 words please, can be sent to the Communications Department,

Trust Headquarters, Sandwell Hospital

or by email to swb–tr.SWBH–GM–Heartbeat@nhs.net

What about Sandwell Gym? Queue after queue

Dear Heartbeat,

I was reading my usual COVID email we get sent every Friday and noticed something quite shocking. We are NOT opening the Sandwell gym?! Why is this? We have had ample time to prepare the gym but for some reason we can only manage City? We say we care about health and wellbeing and all that yet we still haven’t sorted Sandwell gym and didn’t even give a date when it is to open. Am I expected to get the shuttle or drive to City to use the gym or do only people’s health and wellbeing matter for those who are based at the city site? I understand that social distancing can be challenging at Sandwell but couldn’t we set something like a booking system up even? Even if one person were to book it for a slot surely that is better than it being shut to everyone. It would be nice to know a timescale of when this will be resolved.

Many of us in the last few months have spent hours in our cars queueing down Crabtree Road and Pitsford Street all the way to the ring road – another 20 minutes for me today. This all stems from the barrier by Sheldon Block which is too slow to operate for the traffic flows and not fit for purpose. The Trust goes on about green issues but seems not to care for the pollution these queues cause to our neighbours. The new car park is months away yet the Trust has the power to stop this queueing now by raising the barrier or putting in something that works. Kind regards, Anon Dear Anon, Thank you for your letter, queueing on Crabtree Road is a real problem and one that has been made worse by the roadworks at the Western Road\Dudley Road junction and the narrowing of the road directly outside the hospital entrance by the local council. The barrier speed has not been slowed down and functions perfectly well. We will be installing new barriers but it is unlikely that they will operate any quicker. Raising the barrier is not an option as it will allow anyone to park on site. We will then be inundated with complaints from colleagues, patients and visitors struggling to find a car parking space. The Q-Park team on site will continue to monitor the situation with queuing traffic in this area and provide assistance to aid the traffic to flow as smoothly as possible. This will include ensuring all barrier card holders have their passes ready prior to getting to the barrier and helping patients and visitors pull a ticket quickly to enter the site. The new MSCP will be operational in the latter half of August (providing we do not encounter any construction delays) but this will not necessarily improve the congestion on Crabtree Street. It may be that colleagues consider different routes to work knowing the traffic situation at that time, such as continuing along the ring road to Dudley Road and entering the site from the Western Road entrance. Kind regards Ross Badham

YOUR RIGHT TO BE HEARD Where are our other execs? Dear Heartbeat,

Kind regards,

I recently saw on Connect that Richard Beeken will be doing his coffee mornings across all three sites into 2022. This is great as any concerns can go straight to the boss. My question is where are our other execs? I understand some of them are probably quite busy people but even on a smaller scale or less frequently maybe? Since the pandemic it feels like we see our execs less and less especially at City and Rowley and with Team Talk being digital too, some of us feel like we have lost that interaction with them and a lot of new people I work with actually only know Richard which I don’t think is the best. Will we see more of the other execs in the future?

Anon

Kind regards,

Dear anonymous,

Anon

I share your frustration regarding the decision to not open Sandwell gym at this time and I can assure you that this not something that has been taken lightly. While we continue to look at ways to support the health and wellbeing of our colleagues, we also remain very mindful of not taking risks that could jeopardise our recovery or expose colleagues to higher levels of COVID risk. We have widely consulted on this and following a site visit by infection control and health and safety, it was confirmed that the square footage of the space in the Sandwell gym does not provide enough for safe social distancing and there is not adequate ventilation. The risk was deemed too high at present but we hope to be able to re-assess the situation soon.

Dear Anon

As an alternative we are looking at what else can be done onsite and locally to support physical activity. We are also trying to identify any other spaces we can relocate the gym to but this needs more work. We also have a discounted rate for colleagues to join West Bromwich leisure centre as a temporary measure until our on-site gym can re-open. Any suggestions to support the health and wellbeing of our colleagues are welcome.

Kind regards,

We’re really sorry you feel you don’t see enough of us and we’d like to put that right. Members of the exec team are still out and about visiting clinical areas, presenting awards, attending drop-in sessions and talking to clinical and corporate colleagues as much as possible, but there is of course more that we could do. We recognise that City and Rowley are not the Trust HQ which can mean we spend less time there so we have all agreed to move our diary commitments around to allow us to visit different sites more frequently. And please feel free to invite us to any of your team meetings, celebrations or to just drop in and say “hi” and see how we can best help and support you.

Your Executive Team

Kind regards, Dr Masood Aga Consultant and Specialty Lead in Occupational Medicine

Business Manager, Q-Park

Meagan Fernandes Deputy Chief People Officer me the opportunity, through the workforce transformation agenda, to really expand opportunities for those in under-represented groups to gain meaningful employment, to tackle poverty and as a system to collaborate in an integrated way, in ensuring we have the right workforce in place to meet the diverse needs of the population we serve.

Meagan Fernandes has recently joined our workplace as deputy chief people officer. The chief people function supports development and implementation of a people strategy for sustainable and transformational services in the Trust, developing an inclusive and open culture, ensuring organisation wide change supporting our objectives and strategic goals in attraction, retention and engagement. Meagan brings with her over 16 years’ experience within the field of people and organisational development across community mental health and commissioning services. Prior to joining the Trust, Meagan worked for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust as the head of people and culture. Meagan tells us more: “I am passionate about placing our patients at the heart of everything we do, to create an environment where colleagues feel safe to speak up and to enable learning so as to enhance patient care and staff experience. I am always keen to contribute as much as I can, to improve and develop services using evidence and best practice.” The Trust’s focus on integrated care, public

“In my new role, I have responsibility for leading the HR, learning and development, organisation development, widening participation, occupational health, recruitment, workforce information, ESR, workforce transformation and equality, diversity and inclusion teams. Meagan Fernandes, Deputy Chief People Officer

health regeneration and tackling poverty align with my Meagan’s own passion and commitment to tackle inequalities and to always look for opportunities to enable person centred outcomes for our patients, colleagues and communities. She continued: “I feel strongly about the inequalities that we see within the local population and I believe my role will give

Wave goodbye to… After 34 years Jacqueline Coffield, A&E Receptionist will be hanging up the phone and calling it day.

Jacqueline Coffield A&E Receptionist

“My biggest challenge by far throughout my whole career has been the coronavirus pandemic over the last 16-17 months. Having to take time away from my work to shield and to adapt to a new way of working has taken a lot of getting used to.”

“I remember my first day like it was only yesterday,” said Jacqueline.

Working on the frontline in any job can be rewarding but also brings many challenges,

Welcome to our #SWBfamily Meagan!

Despite demonstrating over 30 years of excellence and working for the Trust for the majority of her working life, when asked about the biggest challenges she has faced, Jacqueline highlighted the current COVID-19 pandemic.

It was June 1987, Whitney Houston was number one with her smash hit single ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody,’ Beverly Hills Cop II was number one in the movie box office, Everton Football Club had just won the English football first division and Jacqueline (known to many of her colleagues as Jacky) had first joined the Trust.

“It was 6 June 1987 and I was working in bed management. Though I mostly enjoyed it, I felt I wanted something fast paced which is why I joined the A&E department at City Hospital as a receptionist.”

“My experience in transforming people services, leading workforce transformation including at systems level, and implementing evidencebased interventions to improve engagement, staff wellbeing and developing compassionate and inclusive cultures will be invaluable in supporting the Trust. I am looking forward to being a part of the journey towards recovery and restoration as well as developing our new People Plan, refreshing our values and behaviours and in transforming our leadership, culture and staff experience.”

Jacqueline Coffield

especially in the emergency department. Working in A&E you have to have a strong work ethic, pay great attention to detail as well as show great empathy and understanding – all of which Jacqueline has done for over three decades.

She added: “Though the last year and a half or so has been difficult, I can’t imagine doing anything else other than working for the NHS as I have dedicated so much of my life to my career in the NHS.” As part of her retirement, Jacqueline is planning on spending the majority of her time with her family and loved ones. Congratulations Jacqueline on your retirement and good luck in the future!

Richard talks about: Complacency will be our enemy Richard Beeken, Interim Chief Executive

RICHARD'S LAST WORD This month sees a further easing on COVID-19 government restrictions that have been in place, in one form or another, for almost 18 months. You don’t need me to tell you what a long slog this has been. The waves of COVID-19 in our region have been particularly great which, combined with significant areas of deprivation, high health inequalities and ethnic diversity, mean that our Trust has had to battle among the largest impact of the pandemic when compared to other trusts of a similar size. Over 1200 people have died with COVID-19 who have been treated at our Trust which is extremely sobering and our thoughts remain with all those who are now without those dear to them. It has been far from easy. We have lost loved ones, valued colleagues and had to deal with patient care in settings we were not familiar with or support people through experiences that were previously the exception rather than the norm. And now, many of us are looking ahead with real trepidation about what this relaxation of the rules will mean. Our COVID related admissions and pressure are already on the rise. It is clear that we cannot use frequent lockdowns as the main route to lower infection rates. The economy needs to rebuild because people need to have opportunities for work. It is important that our children are able to stay in school without disruption. And lockdowns have a serious impact on people’s mental wellbeing.

the abundance of misinformation out there is adding to people’s concerns. But please listen to those within our organisation who you trust. Talk to your colleagues, to clinical leaders, to our research team. Make your own mind up and don’t risk your health or the health of your patients unnecessarily.

Dr Florence Cole receives her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine difficult for people. We have been able to ease these in a managed way in some wards but it will be some time before our risk assessments enable us to restore visiting back to pre-pandemic arrangements. The other parts of our armour are the vaccination and testing. The vaccines work. They have broken the link between infection and acute illness for many. The vast majority of people who are admitted to hospital with COVID-19 right now are not vaccinated. They are mostly in younger age groups than we have seen in previous waves. I know that people are worried about the vaccine and

Finally, please continue with regular testing - even if you have had the vaccine. We need to get used to managing COVID-19 within our daily lives. To avoid further restrictions on our life outside work, let’s do what we can whilst in work to keep ourselves and others safe. Complacency will truly be our enemy as we look down the barrel of the next COVID-19 wave which is already here. The thought of continued COVID-19 waves can be at times overwhelming but I know that this Trust will maintain the collaborative, kind approach to enable us to rise to the challenge once again. Our support for each other, our compassion and kindness will see us through. Thank you for all you do. Richard Beeken, Interim Chief Executive

So, we need to use the other elements in our armoury to minimise the severe impact of COVID-19. We have a duty to our colleagues and to the patients in the community to do all we can to keep them safe. This is why I am in support of maintaining restrictions in our hospitals and healthcare settings. We all need to wear masks, continue to wash our hands and keep socially distant from one another at work. When you are out of work, please remain cautious too. You know the effects of COVID-19 on our communities. You have seen people battling to live and families left devastated. You have also probably seen people who are now suffering with long COVID, the longterm impact of which is not yet fully known. I know that the restrictions on visiting that we currently have in place are also really

Anil Patel, Digital Media Officer collecting his LAMP testing kit

Doctor wants to make MMUH more than a hospital space for patients to enjoy the fresh air and spend time off the ward. “We know that when you have that space and fresh air it helps your wellbeing and helps you get better quicker. “We want to get people exercising so there’s a running track around the winter garden and there will be some educational opportunities with artwork and sculptures installed.

 @SWBHCharity To donate to the Your Trust Charity text “SWBH16 £5” to 70070 He’s the doctor who isn’t afraid to face a real challenge - all for a good cause of course!

“I’m hoping the schools will come in and take part in performing and hopefully it will give them aspirations to work with us.” For Nick, there’s also another draw to taking part.

Dr Nick Makwana has danced nonstop for 12 hours to raise money for Your Trust Charity and now he will be whizzing past the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital on a 220-metre long zip wire – so that the new facility will be “More than a Hospital” for not just our community, but for colleagues alike.

“The great idea about doing this zip wire is that it means those taking part will have a fantastic view of Birmingham and will be able to see where the hospital is placed in the area which is currently being regenerated.

Daredevil Nick, Group Director of Women’s and Child Health, is afraid of heights but that won't get in the way of him performing Your Trust Charity’s biggest fundraising stunt.

He added: “One of the great opportunities here is that for so long we’ve been working in Victorian-class facilities. What this hospital does is bring a brand new building to an area that needs regenerating. The whole point is that it is more than a hospital - we’re not just building a healthcare facility. We are regenerating the area around it and we’re

“I’m completely petrified of heights but I felt that the zip wire is good opportunity to push myself and raise money for a cause that’s close to my heart,” he told Heartbeat.

“I’ll also be able to see into the winter garden, and get a clearer view of what people will see when they look out.”

YOUR TRUST CHARITY getting the local people involved. “Patients will see a massive difference in the way they have their world-class care delivered. They can be involved in research, making a difference not to their own population but also internationally as well. That’s a really key part in the excitement that’s building up around this in the next few years.” And for those of you a little unsure as to whether to embark on the hairraising challenge, Nick has this message for you: “I think people should get involved. I’m afraid of heights and am going to do it, I’m sure others can take part too. “This isn’t just about fulfilling a personal achievement; it’s also about doing something for others. And when you look at what we have all faced in the past 18 months something like this is really what we need.”

Join Nick and take part in the zip wire challenge! Email trustcharity@nhs.net stating ZIP21 to register. Fundraising target - £250

“The reason we’re doing this is to raise money for the “More than a Hospital” campaign. We know that the hospital is paid for but what we really want is to have those special touches that will really make a difference. “When I was thinking to myself, why would I do this? The things that stood out were to create an environment for our children and women, that suits them and a place where they can get better. “The money will pay for the artwork on the walls and will also fund the winter garden area which will be a really great

Dr Nick Makwana supported Your Trust Charity by carrying out a 12 hour danceathon

July 2021 staff lottery results 1st £173.25

2nd £103.95

3rd £69.30

Lesley Jordan

Lisa Roberts

Andrew Churm

Don’t forget that Your Trust Charity lottery costs just £1 a month and anyone who works for the Trust can join. Payment is deducted from your wages each month. To take part email amanda.winwood@nhs.net.