Heartbeat July 2022

July 2022

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 155

SWB celebrates 74 years of the NHS Page 3

This year we marked the NHS's birthday with wellbeing events across the organisation alongside treating colleagues to a welldeserved ice cream.

Abundance garden brings joy to City Hospital Page 4

Meet our Commonwealth contributors

Star Awards shortlist announced

Theatres setting benchmark at Midland Met

Pages 8 and 9

Pages 16 and 17

Page 24

FROM THE CHAIR HELLO Welcome to the July edition of Heartbeat.

This month, we're celebrating the NHS' 74th birthday.

We took time to relax during our visit to Abundance, the new garden space at City Hospital. Commissioned to celebrate the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the gardens offer colleagues space to relax and take time away from their busy days.

On this note, we've also included information on colleagues volunteering for the upcoming games. We look forward to hearing more about their involvement as the games kick off this month.

Enjoy 

Contact us Communications Team

 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

Designed by Medical Illustration, Graphics 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

 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.

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Sir David talks about…Strengthening our collaborations Earlier this month, I and my Board colleagues spent the day in Lozells, meeting with leaders within the local community including voluntary organisations and the police, all of whom are dedicated to improving the lives of local residents. It was a privilege to be there, enabling all of us to better understand the population that we serve and challenging us to consider how we can make a difference to support this community.

There is much innovative work going on at a community level to try and address a range of very real challenges including around housing, employment, education, community safety and access to health care. We have the opportunity to see what more we can do in partnership as both a large provider of health care services and also as a large employer.

Our Trust already has in place a range of training and development schemes, aimed at helping people with routes to substantive employment, particularly through the work of our award-winning widening participation team. We can always learn from our population, and we are committed to ongoing dialogue to further enhance routes to jobs and to work with partners locally to streamline access to health care services.

On the theme of partnerships, this month I have been appointed as the new Chair of Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, a role that I am undertaking alongside my role as chair of this Trust. I am really pleased to take up this new position in September.

My hope is that this role enables us to move forwards more easily with the areas we want to work together on, whilst also enabling each Trust to focus on their own unique priorities such as the development of our new hospital.

There are many benefits of greater collaboration and some of the work that has already been done with neighbouring Trusts gives us a good foundation to build on. Across the Black Country we have progressed several partnership arrangements such as our shared pathology service, joint procurement initiatives and mutual aid to support organisations during the peaks of the pandemic and through restoration and recovery. At a time when the NHS is working more formally in partnerships, we will prioritise collaboration in areas where we can demonstrate that patient care will be better as a result.

Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE, Chair

SWB celebrates 74 years of the NHS in style Every year we come together to celebrate the NHS’ birthday, and this year was no different. This year, our fabulous NHS turned 74 and we were able to announce the opening date of the Midland Met, so we marked the occasion with wellbeing events across the organisation alongside treating colleagues to a well-deserved ice cream.

We celebrated our birthday across the Trust whilst welcoming our special guest, the Mayor of Sandwell, who paid us a special visit along with student Harvey Kataria who organised the creation of 400 thank you cards for our colleagues.

Harvey said: “I arranged for local schools and care homes to write thank you cards to give thanks on your birthday. One card read: 'Dear NHS, my name is Tom. Thank you for all that you have done during these sad times.'

Another card read: 'To the NHS, thank you for saving lives and helping others. Happy birthday.'”

Councillor Richard Jones, Mayor of Sandwell, commented: “I’d like to thank Harvey for his amazing work. For the NHS’ 74th birthday, he’s created and collated a collection of cards from

people across Sandwell. Harvey has worked his socks off so that NHS staff are appreciated.”

At Sandwell and City, wellbeing events took place for colleagues to enjoy. Stalls and services were on hand to offer a range of free services such as henna painting, hair braiding, hand massages, seated massages and much more.

Chris Rickards, Lead Wellbeing Coach, commented: “I would like to thank everyone that supported our wellbeing events for their input, time and dedication. I must say a special thank you to the decommissioning team for their assistance.

“Without this support from everyone the events would not have been possible. We held two amazing days showcasing wellbeing for colleagues. Feedback has been great, and staff enjoyed themselves.”

The NHS Big Tea also returned as part of the celebrations. Thank you to colleagues who joined us for a cake, cuppa, and a biscuit for £1 to raise funds for Your Trust Charity. Last year, the funds raised from events such as NHS Big Tea helped us to deliver pop-up wellbeing hubs for our colleagues across our sites, as well as supporting our patients living with and beyond cancer with

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS an incredible volunteer led befriending service.

Our birthday also coincided with the announcement of our opening date of Midland Met in spring 2024, so we used the day to share news about our new flagship hospital with colleagues.

Whilst enjoying an ice cream in the sunshine, colleagues actively engaged with the Midland Met stands, and used the chance to ask questions about the hospital, their areas, our roadmap, and our services, plus lots more.

Paul Hazle, Senior Commissioning Manager, remarked: “We celebrated NHS Day by talking to colleagues about the new hospital and what to expect, their services, new ways of working, orientation and what facilities will be available for the local communities we serve. It was a positive day, and there was lots of buzz around Midland Met.”

Colleagues celebrate the NHS' 74th birthday at events across the Trust

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Abundance brings joy to City Hospital CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS If you’ve been to City Hospital recently you may have noticed our new garden space at the front of the Birmingham Treatment Centre (BTC).

Abundance officially launched on 25 June after being commissioned to celebrate the Birmingham Commonwealth Games; it celebrates nature in all its glory. Sunflowers, shrubs and plants have been spread around in planters made from recycled materials to encourage everyone to engage with the great outdoors. Plus, there are spaces to make music with the chimes or build something creative.

The inclusive garden play area has been designed for children and adults alike to enjoy a moment of calm amid the hustle and bustle of daily life in Birmingham.

Split into zones, visitors can explore to their heart's content. It is not your everyday garden - once inside, you will have the chance to explore different textures and smells as you get to grips with each area.

The hope is that Abundance will grow and flourish over the summer months. In collaboration with our local communities, we hope to develop a play space and garden that will appeal to all ages and be truly inclusive.

Anil Patel, Digital Media Officer, visited the gardens recently and said: “I was amazed at all the different greenery in the garden area! It made me feel relaxed, and it will be a place I will try and visit more often when I am at City Hospital.”

He added: “I also told all my team about the wonderful area and hope they get a chance to enjoy the outdoors there too, especially during the summer months.”

Chilufya Dawo, Head of Internal Communications, also enjoyed a tour of the gardens and her time there. She told Heartbeat: “It was nice to get away from

Abundance at City Hospital

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my desk and have the opportunity to have a tour around Abundance.

Artist Carolyn Morton recently made her Abundance debut. Participants lettered parcel tags and used dandelions collected from the “The team go to great lengths to explain how the site, dried and then soaked to make twine. site was created, what you can do on site, and it’s nice to take a moment to pause and enjoy being If you wish to visit the site, you have until present away without any distractions.”

3 September to pop in and experience it yourself. You can stay up to date with the Throughout the summer, artist residency days latest news online @Spectra_Arts. will take place every Tuesday with special guests joining the team in the garden, sharing their skills and encouraging everyone of all ages and abilities to get involved.

SWB takes part in Sandwell’s Shine a Light Festival CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS 2022 is an exciting summer for our region as it sees the borough of Sandwell spring to life as each town joins in with celebrating their own Shine a Light festival.

The summer festivals which continue through to September, aims to ‘Shine a Light’ on Sandwell’s rich, diverse community and showcase the best of arts, sports and culture.

A programme of events and activities have been taking place across five towns in the borough with festivals already being hosted in Wednesbury, Oldbury, West Bromwich, Rowley Regis and Tipton.

Our Trust joined an array of local health and social care providers at the events showcasing the very best that Sandwell has to offer.

Jayne Salter-Scott, Head of Public and Community Engagement believes the festival is hugely beneficial to the community in Sandwell. She said: “We were able to meet and speak to lots of local people who would otherwise be hard to reach and tell them about our new hospital in which is planned to open in 2024.

“A member of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital commissioning team was also on hand to share some expert insight in to how the project was progressing as well as take on any questions about the flagship hospital which all proved very helpful.”

She added: “Many of those of whom we spoke to also took the opportunity to sign up to our Trust Membership Scheme which was fantastic. All those signed up to the membership will receive regular updates about our Trust and the new hospital keeping them well informed and up to date with the latest improvements at SWB. “One of the key objectives of the events has been using the opportunity to collect public feedback about our services and the care we offer.

“At one event we spoke to 55 people about the Fundamentals of Care approach and what good care looks like. Though the feedback was varied, there were consistencies in comments, including being shown great compassion whilst in our care.

However, some areas of improvement were identified, such as being kept informed whilst in our care and responsiveness of care received.”

Anil Patel and Dawn Webster at the Shine a Light Festival 2022 in West Bromwich

For all the latest news and everything Shine a Light, please visit www.shinealightfestival.co.uk.

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Fundamentals of care – back to basics CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS The transition to living with COVID-19 is the perfect opportunity to get back to the essentials in terms of the care we deliver to our patients. These ‘essentials’ or fundamentals mean ensuring appropriate nutrition, hydration, personal hygiene, sleep, rest and dignity to name but a few, which have traditionally been the responsibility of the nurse on behalf of the healthcare team.

Chief Nursing Officer, Mel Roberts said: “We know through various healthcare reports, such as the 2008 Garling report and the 2013 Francis report, that failure to assure these aspects of essential care often lead to wider patient safety concerns such as increased hospital acquired infection rates, nutrition and hydration problems, or in some extreme cases mortalities.

“This is why our Fundamentals of Care approach needs to be and will be truly interdisciplinary. We will work with all staff to ensure the right training and development is in place so that we deliver care that is compassionate and person centred. This is our patient strategy and our path to gain an outstanding CQC rating.”

She added: “The importance of our Fundamentals of Care approach was emphasised during the July Trust Board meeting where we were joined by the relative of a former inpatient who had experienced instances of poor care, in particular around communication between the clinical team and the patient’s next of kin. Her father’s stay in hospital has had profound impacts on her and the rest of the family. The Trust Board apologised sincerely for the family’s experiences and committed to support the Fundamentals of Care programme to ensure that good standards of care are consistently provided.”

There are eight standards currently in draft as below:

September will see the launch of our Fundamentals of Care approach to improve essential standards of care, patient’s outcome and experience. We want to ensure this approach is interdisciplinary, owned by all staff and applied consistently across all areas of care.

These standards will be finalised for adults, children, maternity & neonates, primary care and any specialist services such as gynaecology and theatres. The final standards will be developed in conjunction with staff and patients.

We are partnering with the International Learning Collaborative (ILC) who will support the organisation through their worldwide network based in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America and Canada.

We are the first Trust in England to become ILC members and one of the first in the UK to develop a care delivery model that places the Fundamentals of Care at its heart. Going forward as part of this approach we will establish a service accreditation programme and a Fundamentals of Care steering committee.

1. Personalised Care 2. Harm Free Care 3. Promoting Independence 4. Nutrition & Hydration 5. Sleep & Rest 6. Maintaining Healthy Skin and Continence 7. Symptom Management 8. Communication

Engagement events have already started to take place with patient groups and consultations are currently underway within the clinical groups. Please join in and have your say. We want to develop this together.

Success will be measured using our current suite of metrics which will be brought together in a quality dashboard. There will be metrics attached to each standard.

For further information about Fundamentals of Care email saleem.mohammed@nhs.net

Patient, public and staff engagement is key to the development of our Fundamentals of Care approach

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Integrated Care Systems explained – What does it all mean?

Like most other NHS organisations across the country, we have recently become part of not just one, but two Integrated Care Systems (ICS) to underline our cross boundary working in Sandwell and West Birmingham, but if you didn’t quite know what the change meant you’re not alone.

The recent change which saw CCGs dissolved and Integrated Care Systems

formed is the latest innovation in a longstanding drive to improve partnership working. However, the raft of changes and the confusing array of acronyms has had some colleagues scratching their heads.

In this issue of Heartbeat we set the record straight and explain what the change means to us as a provider of acute and community healthcare in Sandwell and West Birmingham.

So what are Integrated Care Systems?

So what does this all mean for our patients?

ICSs are partnerships between organisations that deliver health and care needs in an area. In our case as we operate within Sandwell and West Birmingham. We are jointly working with both Healthier Futures (which is the ICS in the Black Country) and the Birmingham and Solihull ICS which includes West Birmingham.

Previously, the provisions for health and social care would be treated as two distinctly separate elements, with clinical staff planning and delivering healthcare, and councils taking the lead with social care. However, the ICS approach changes this: Health and social care now operate together with the patient’s needs sitting firmly at the centre of everything. The hope is that with closer partnership working, patients will find better, more consistent levels of health and social care support being delivered to them.

Working as part of an ICS, or in our case two ICSs, means that healthcare providers work together under one umbrella, each working as part of the system and towards the same goal of improving health and wellbeing of the local community, reducing health inequalities and putting our patients at the heart of everything we do.

What are ICBs and ICPs?

Integrated Care Boards, otherwise known as ICBs are organisations that are responsible for commissioning spending in healthcare and essentially take the responsibility of buying services previously held by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). Working alongside Integrated Care Boards are Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs), this is a group of organisations working together to improve health, social care and public health. This includes NHS Trusts and councils alongside community and voluntary sector organisations.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS How about provider collaboratives?

In addition to the ICB and ICP, other important components within Integrated Care Systems are the Provider Collaboratives and Place Based Partnerships.

Place Based Partnerships are collaborative arrangements that have been formed by the organisations responsible for arranging and delivering health and care services in a locality or community. They involve the NHS, local government and providers of health and care services, including the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE), people and communities (people who use services, their representatives, carers and local residents). They often include other community partners that have a role in supporting the health and wellbeing of the population and addressing health inequalities, such as housing associations, skills and education services and local business.

Our organisation is the lead for the Sandwell place-based partnership, called the Sandwell Health and Care Partnership. We are also a member of the West Birmingham place-based partnership which covers Ladywood and Perry Barr.

For further information there’s a really useful animation produced by the King’s Fund https://youtu.be/ blapgFKXv0I

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Meet our Commonwealth contributors Alongside their admirable work at our Trust, several colleagues will be volunteering in their own time to contribute towards the Commonwealth Games effort, hosted in Birmingham this summer. A chance to be part of the games comes few and far between, but our staff seek to leave an impactful stamp, representing both the Trust and the local community.

Dr Sarb Clare Deputy Medical Director

Rachael Falkner - Highly Specialised Clinical Scientist (Neurophysiology)

As well as being awarded an MBE in 2020 for her services towards the National Health Service during COVID-19, Dr Sarb Clare has been selected as a bearer for the baton relay. She joins a list of inspirational individuals that make up the 2,000-strong relay team.

With the games being hosted in Birmingham, there are opportunities available to get involved with something for the community. One of the most recognised periods during prestigious sporting events, are medal ceremonies.

Dr Sarb said: “I am extremely proud and honoured to be representing Birmingham during the games. To have family and friends cheering me through the leg of the relay, combined with Olympian blood from ancestors, should make for an incredibly special occasion.”

Ellie Patel - Intensive Care Nurse Keeping a close eye on the audience is Ellie Patel – who has been appointed as a first responder team leader. Trained to deal with any medical emergencies, Ellie will swoop into action to ensure anyone with health issues is given the best care possible.

She’ll be using her skills for the benefit of those in attendance.

She said: “It’s going to be such fun working within a great volunteer collective as well as a unique chance to be able to say I was part of the games!”

Rachael Falkner will be volunteering as part of the medal ceremony team, based at Arena Birmingham in the City Centre for gymnastics, and the University of Birmingham for the hockey.

The opportunity gave Rachel a chance to find out more about different sports and give something back. She said: “It might boost my self-confidence and learn some new skills. I haven’t done anything like this before and I’m looking forward to the experience.”

Sarah Cooke Head of Infrastructure For Sarah Cooke, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.

She has volunteered to be a part of the event services team this summer, appointed to meet and greet audiences for Netball games, held at the NEC Arena.

Sarah said: “It’s great to feel I will be a part of something in my hometown, and great to be doing my bit.”

Prinith de Alwis Jayasinghe Paediatric dietician It’s been her dream to take part in a sporting opening or closing ceremony – and finally Prinith de Alwis Jayasinghe gets to do just that.

The dietitian will be performing in the closing ceremony taking place on Monday 8 August.

She’s keeping her exact routine under wraps – but is excited at the prospect of finally taking part.

She said: “I’m not really interested in sport but I absolutely love the ceremonies. I had considered auditioning for the London 2012 ceremonies but realised I wouldn’t be able to attend rehearsals, so I’m thrilled to be taking part this time.”

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Cheryl Newton - Group Director of Nursing – Women and Child Health As a proud Brummie and Midlander, Cheryl Newton jumped at the chance to volunteer at the Commonwealth Games, as an opportunity to “give something back” and “represent the Midlands as the friendly place it is”.

Cheryl will be working as part of the transport team based over at the University of Birmingham site, aiding the loading and regress of various modes of transport.

Cheryl has decided to do something completely different to the day job as a means to learn new skills.

Rebecca Burt - Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist

Theresa Hickey - Procurement Team

Alongside working as a Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist, Rebecca Burt has been rehearsing twice a week for the past month, perfecting routines for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Theresa will be playing a key role in the management of experience for the spectators. As ‘Umpire Chair’ for the Events Services, her role is to create a longlasting impression on spectators through her front of house and departure work.

As part of the opening ceremony, Rebecca will be a part of a dance routine.

Fifty women will be portraying the chain makers of Cradley Heath and the Black Country, ‘showcasing a part of their story.’ In addition, she will be a marshal for the closing ceremony, dancing whilst athletes are paraded around the stadium.

Rebecca beamed: “The Commonwealth Games coming to Birmingham is potentially a once in a lifetime event and being a part of the it and the atmosphere is an opportunity that cannot be missed.

“I feel really honoured to be able to represent the history of the region and to help to tell these stories to the millions of people who may be watching over the world.”

Lizzie Isaacson - Resuscitation Officer Lizzie, who works in the Resuscitation Team, has two roles for the Commonwealth Games. For the majority of the games, she is fulfilling the vital role of spectator nurse at Arena Birmingham where she will be responding to any type of medical emergency, involving spectators of any age or importance. Without two spectator nurses on site the venue is unable to open, so Lizzie’s role is truly paramount!

She has a long history with gymnastics, including being a Welfare Officer for a local club. Luckily for Lizzie, the Arena Birmingham is where the Artistic gymnastics and Rhythmic Gymnastics competitions are being held. She has completed a shift at the at the AXS first CWG dress rehearsal and will be covering two shifts at both Smithfield site and Edgbaston cricket ground over the course of the games, where she is first responder team leader.

Aoife Murphy - Senior Radiographer Currently working as a Senior Radiographer, Aoife Murphy is also an Irish stick and ball game Camogie champion, holding All-Ireland and All-England medals.

She hopes her passion for her work and sport can be translated on a global scale by volunteering as a radiographer at the games.

To ensure all athletes are taken care of, Aoife will be a member of the Commonwealth Collective medical volunteers, who will be providing high-quality imaging services throughout the duration of the games. The opportunity of working with highly experienced sports medicine clinicians, some of whom have worked at the heights of international sport before, is one she cannot pass.

After already completing five hours of training and a little more to do, Theresa has learned that the role will require high-energy and proactiveness. She hopes she “has enough energy to provide a good service to promote our lovely Birmingham at its best”.

Sarah Gibson - Interim Recruitment Manager Using her recruitment skills, Sarah Gibson has managed to successfully ensure a wealth of volunteers will take part in the event. She was an integral part of the preorganisation and constructed an efficient team of games time volunteers.

Sarah always told herself that if a large event such as the Commonwealth games were to be held in Birmingham, she would put herself forward, despite it being out of her comfort zone. And with her recruitment experience in the Trust, there was something she could offer. Not only this, but Sarah said she is now more confident in her role at the Trust. She said: “I’ve learned a lot from this experience having been exposed to the way another organisation goes about its recruitment processes.

“Meeting so many different people from all walks of life, all wanting to give up their time to be involved was inspiring.”

Martin Holmes Advanced MSK Practitioner (Physiotherapist) Another staff member transferring his work from the Trust to the games is Martin Holmes. He will be volunteering as part of Team England, as a physiotherapist in the University of Birmingham polyclinic.

No stranger to working within elite sport, Martin has previously volunteered at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. This time around, his appointment is a “legacy” physiotherapist, supporting the development of fellow practitioners in preparation for future Team England projects and events.

Sukhjinder Kaur Nagra - Healthcare Assistant Sukhi works as a Health Care Assistant in Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, and has lived in the area since 2001.

For the Commonwealth Games, Sukhi is volunteering as a T2 driver. She’s proud of her decision and chose to take part as she wanted to do something different.

Sukhi said: “I did my first shift last Sunday and it was amazing. I met so many lovely people from all over the world.”

She said: “I am looking forward to gaining new skills and meeting new people, all while making a real difference to the athletes and supporting this historic local event.”

Are you also a part of the Commonwealth Games? Do share your story and experiences with us by contacting swbh.comms@nhs.net 9

Birmingham Pride – join in and march for equality CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS The LGBT staff network is calling on allies from across the Trust to come together, join in and march for equality at this year’s Birmingham Pride festival.

After a quiet couple of years where colleagues have focussed all of their time and energy on fighting COVID-19, we are pleased to announce that our Trust will once again be standing shoulder to shoulder with colleagues from across 14 other NHS organisations as we form one of the largest walking contingents in the parade.

To find out more about the Pride march, Heartbeat spoke to Vice Chair of the LGBTQA+ Network and District Nursing Matron Andy Churm. He said “We have always had an incredible turn out for Birmingham Pride with colleagues from the Trust and allies coming together to celebrate equality and diversity.

“Unfortunately, the past few years have been overshadowed by COVID-19 and we haven’t been able to take part as we have done in the past, but this year we’re finally returning and planning to be part of one of the biggest and best walking contingents in the march.

We’ll be alongside colleagues from across the region, walking shoulder to shoulder for equality and justice for all LGBT+ people.”

“This is an incredible event that will be taking place in the heart of Birmingham and is the ideal opportunity for colleagues and allies to show their support for LGBT staff, patients and the community”.

“We want to invite colleagues to join us, including those who identify as LGBT+ and allies. You will be provided with an NHS T-shirt in the colours of the progress flag, and you are more than welcome to bring a plus one with you, such as a partner, family member or friend to join in the festival with you.”

If you would like to join us, please complete the online form at: https://bit.ly/39BAIX2 or scan the QR Code:

Could you be the next Chair or Vice-chair of the LGBT Staff Network?

Are you a colleague who self-defines as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, or perhaps an ally of people who do? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Our staff network is going through an exciting transformation, and we’re looking for a dynamic, committed and open-minded colleague to help us drive our agenda forward.

We look forward to seeing you at Pride in Birmingham City Centre, and if you would like to attend the rest of the events over the weekend you are able to purchase a ticket on the Birmingham Pride website at https:// birminghampride.com/.

It is an exciting time to join us - you’ll have a direct input on our network, our events and how we plan to shape and promote our network.

So what will the role involve?

This is a dynamic role that can help influence the work and policies of the organisation. It can help staff have a real voice in leading change. You will work with colleagues to help deliver our staff pledges and lead events to improve the experience of our LGBT colleagues.

Should you wish to be involved, please email the Equality and Diversity inbox via swb-tr.SWBH-GMEqualityDiversity@nhs.net and declare your interest.

For more information, or an informal chat about this role, please contact the Network Vice Chair, Andrew Churm at Andrew.churm@nhs.net

Colleagues are urged to join this year's Pride march

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Launching the Clinical Research Forum After having to postpone the launch of the much anticipated Clinical Research Forum, the inaugural meeting took place on 18 May 2022. The event was a full day event attended by over 50 staff members interested in research from across the Trust.

The Clinical Research Forum is a new initiative offering a platform for peerobservation, peer-support, knowledge transfer, education and training in order to develop and retain an expert clinical research workforce within SWB as well as facilitate high quality research for the benefit of patients. The Research Forum is open to anyone interested in research. The day saw talks from Dr. David Carruthers, Dr. Derek Connelly, our new Head of R&D Kelly Hard, and our NMAHPPS research group lead Dr. Roanna Burgess.

It is anticipated that the research forum will help to create, promote and further drive a research culture within the Trust to benefit the population we serve both within the SWB area as well as further afield. Research culture is pivotal to research excellence, and research can only flourish where there is a positive approach and attitude that supports all individuals involved. This group will contribute and drive the vision of SWB that "Every SWB

employee should be given the opportunity to contribute to research and every patient attending SWB should be offered participation in a research project".

The day gave the opportunity for colleagues to come together and discuss their research ideas, what they wanted from the forum moving forward as well as an interactive and supportive environment for sharing ideas.

It was clear from feedback that this was a much needed event, filled with enthusiasm and lots of areas to develop and improve support, communication and networks across the organisation.

By Ayman Ewies Consultant Gynaecologist and Deputy Director of R&D

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS regional experts and services as well as local HEIs. To find out more about the research forum, and be the first to know about upcoming events, funding and training opportunities, sign up to "Knowledge Hub". This is an online portal that offers the opportunity to connect and collaborate with colleagues, share expertise and build professional networks. Preeti Puligari, the library services manager, said that the “Knowledge Hub” allows sharing of documents and creating specialty teams as well as enabling staff to share blogs, discussions, and polls.

Shortly afterwards the research forum hosted academic colleagues from Aston University including Prof. Claire Farrow, Prof. Chris Langley and Pro-Vice Chancellor Anthony Hilton. This gave the opportunity for Aston to ‘showcase’ their research interests and areas of Clinical research activity has been expertise. Again a reciprocal event is planned central to the Trust’s strategy focusing for early Autumn so watch this space for on enhancing speed, quality and further information. integration of research with subsequent The forum is inclusive to all research improvement of patient care. interested personnel including medical staff, Furthermore, academic excellence and nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, collaboration with local universities for pharmacists and healthcare scientists. Based research and innovation are key goals on feedback received from attendees the next for the Midland Metropolitan University event is planned for 30 September 2022, at Hospital (MMUH).

City Hospital Education Centre, with talks from

It’s never been easier to get in touch with IT The days of colleagues waiting in a call queue to get some expert help, support and advice from IT are over as a whole raft of services launch, making getting in touch with the department easier than ever.

Little is worse than arriving at work with a busy schedule and much to do, to be met with an IT service or system that just doesn’t want to work as it should, waiting on a phone line where minutes feel like hours whilst your workload continues to grow. But did you know, you can now just fire a message over to the IT service desk on Microsoft Teams and have someone respond to you almost immediately?

If you need support from IT, and you don’t want to wait on the phone lines to speak to someone, you can simply find ‘Service Desk Live Chat’ in MS Teams and fire over a message immediately. Best of all, this messaging system can be used from your phones for those who are struggling

to login to their computers, as well as those colleagues who are working remotely.

I don’t have a problem, I just need equipment How often have you realised you have a virtual meeting booked but don’t have a webcam, speakers or headset, equipment that pre-COVID was not routinely available?

For colleagues that need simple low cost IT peripherals that help them in their work, there is now an answer. Simply pop into the IT department at Trinity House, Sandwell Hospital and colleagues in IT will invite you in to their new one stop shop.

All you need to do is share your name with the department to access a variety of devices, there’s no forms to fill in or counter signatures to chase. If you need a device to make your life easier and improve your access to IT services, it will be made available.

Launching the ‘One stop shop’, Chief Informatics Officer Martin Sadler said, “We’re

here to support colleagues to deliver services and it’s only right that we make our processes as easy and accessible as possible, the new ‘One stop shop’ aims to do just that. Colleagues can simply pop by the department and ask for what they need, it’s as simple as that.

“We’ll also soon be launching our online shop where colleagues can request everything from computers, tablets, mobile phones and chargers, with the whole process managed online and devices delivered directly to them.”

How to get in touch with IT In person: Pop into the department based in corridor B in Trinity House Call in: Phone ext. 4050 or 0121 507 4050 Livechat: Message the department on MS Team listed as ‘Service Desk Live Chat’

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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 – Latoya Harrison

To – Shajahan Yamin

To – Eleanor Stokes

Latoya attended her first safeguarding (core group) meeting with myself. I was covering the meeting for another colleague and Latoya was observing.

As Latoya completed the holistic health assessment for the child, she asked me if she could feedback the outcome of this to professionals. Latoya was able to recognise what was working well for the child and his family and what needed further support and improvement. During the meeting, Latoya spoke clearly and with confidence.

She was able to share her worries and concerns with professionals appropriately. I feel that Latoya did extremely well during the meeting and she should be proud of the work completed with the child and how she shared this information with professionals during the meeting. Keep up the hard work girl you are fab!

Shaz is a brilliant Discharge coordinator, always communicating with the pharmacy team and informing pharmacy about all the discharges for the day and for the next day. This helps pharmacy to prepare any TTO's in advance. This week has been going really well with the discharge pilot where Shaz and doctors on D17 have prepared TTO's early.

Eleanor has been an amazing practice assessor, she has gone above and beyond to ensure that I as a student reach my potential and gain the correct learning opportunities. Despite Eleanor being extremely busy she ensured my learning needs were met. I cannot thank Eleanor enough for everything she has done for me as a third year student. She has eased the whole transition process and has guided me in the best way possible. Thank you for everything you have done.

From – Meera Seniaray

To – Jake O 'Brien Big thank you to Jake, our exercise physiologist in Cardiac Rehabilitation. He always goes the extra mile for our patients and is very approachable and patient when asked for help especially as I am not very computer savvy. Keep up the excellent work Jake. You're a star!

From – Jayne Mann

To – Jason Yap Establishing excellent vulva services at SWBH and undertaking complex vulval surgery to help our patients. Leading the team and showcasing excellent surgical expertise From – Abha Sinha

From – Maryam Choudhury

From – Savera Ahmed To – Lauren Wood Lauren is a valued leader of the Mortuary team. Lauren has thrived, especially in confidence within the difficult role she has taken on. She always has a friendly yet professional approach with families, patients and staff. Lauren always goes above and beyond for families, continuously providing a compassionate service for recently bereaved families.

She is always in good spirits and is a huge asset to the Trust, working tirelessly even with covid, to provide the service she has worked so hard to improve.

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From – Alysha Davis

To – Laura Bradford

Karie Lowe you are a super star. Helping my dad in his hour of need. She sorted out a prescription and appointment for my dad who has been suffering of late. Can't thank you enough, you’re an asset to your department.

Fantastic feedback from a parent well done Laura! "My son struggles with changes to his routine and accepting new people into his life. He suffers with anxiety when beginning something new and struggles to communicate his needs effectively with new adults and peers alike. Due to his needs Laura Bradford attended his own school prior to the group sessions beginning so that he could meet her first in his usual surroundings supported by his Learning assistant. Laura offering to do this for my son to enable him to be able to attend the sessions is invaluable to us and she definitely went above and beyond her job role to do this for us. He would not have been able to attend without Laura doing this for him as his anxiety would have been too much for him to gain anything positive from the group. My son’s confidence has grown with each week he has attended and I am already noticing the skills he has gained from the sessions, as well as him being able to meet other children that sometimes struggle with things too which is definitely helping his self-esteem."

From – Liz Worwood

From – Juliet Sweeney

To – Junaid Iqbal I have observed Junaid in primary schools delivering health education sessions. I feel that Junaid is a quick learner and has taken on the role so well. He knows how to engage children in the sessions and has the skills and knowledge to help deliver these sessions. I feel that Junaid is an enthusiastic learner, always seeking new opportunities to further his learning and understand the roles and responsibilities of the school nursing team. Keep up the amazing work Junaid as you are fab!

To – Emma Waterman and Sanah Naseer

From – Kelly Barnickle

Louise has been working tirelessly with the health education to our primary schools covered by Sandwell School Nursing. Not only has she been going out and making a difference day in, day out to these young children - she has been also organising and co-ordinating all of the emergency virtual response training to schools over Sandwell (not an easy task!) on top of this.

From – Christopher Wood

From – Meera Seniaray

Emma and Sanah presented in our QIHD about anxiety & relaxation and it was amazing! They were both nervous about doing this, it took them out of their comfort zone. It is not something that would be considered a routine part of their role and the whole team enjoyed it. Thanks so much for making the effort, it paid off.

To – Louise Hayward

To – Karie Lowe

Nurse graduates say hello to SWB July saw a welcome event hosted at City Hospital for student nurses who will be joining the Trust, as an introduction to the opportunities and careers available.

There will be 74 new graduates starting within the organisation this September who have been recruited after demonstrating their commitment.

theatres and in our wide range of community services - this includes district nursing and health visiting.”

Those attending also learned more about the move to the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, which is due to open in 2024.

Student nurse Celestina Osei will join the Trust permanently in September. She said: “My colleagues have played a huge part in Di Eltringham, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer, influencing me to work here. I’ve had amazing led the session and told Heartbeat: “This assessors and supervisors and the practice was an important event for our students placement team have been very supportive who were able to learn more about the during hard times which I have been very different services we have to offer. grateful for.”

“Over the next two years, we are significantly investing in our nursing services. Those choosing to come and work with us are offered an exemplar Fundamentals of Care and preceptorship programme in their first year. This will help them gain an insight into what sort of career they want going into the future.

“We offer opportunities in emergency nursing, medical assessment, surgical and

George Gearing, Naval student nurse, will be returning to military practice, however he said the experience he received here was invaluable. “If I didn’t have to return to the military I would have stayed here. There’s been a great level of support from the staff and it’s been a great place to work,” he added.

Graduates joining the Trust will be placed on an induction programme that will offer mentorship and induction onto the wards.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS They will learn about our Fundamentals of Care approach and the patient safety programme.

Additionally, they will be given advice in mapping their career, discussing their ambitions, and offered the necessary guidance and support on how they can achieve this.

They will be supported both on an academic level and in the workplace environment, providing them with the greatest chance to achieve their career goals.

Di added: “We know we always pick the best graduates and those who have already shown commitment to the organisation. We work with graduates to make sure they’re in an appropriate place for them, whilst offering bespoke opportunities too!”

Students gathered at the Student Nursing Event

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From Uganda to the NHS – a story of true courage CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Christine Glory, a workforce coordinator for infrastructure within informatics, has shared her personal story in her new book Outrunning Fear.

Joining our Trust in 2019 as a volunteer during the Unity Project, Christine was excited to be helping people and gaining experience at the same time. She was then offered a role on the Trust Bank to work as a project support admin on the then Unity project.

In 2020, she progressed further to her current role as a workforce coordinator for the infrastructure department within informatics.

She explained: “This role has enabled to me develop my skills and grow. I have a wonderful team and a great Chief Informatics Officer, Martin Sadler.”

Despite all these achievements, her life has not always been this way. Christine was born during the civil war in Uganda and fled to Europe when she was a child, seeking a better, safer life.

Christine wrote ‘Outrunning Fear’ to share her account from her own perspective. She revealed: “I bring the harsh reality of what it is like to be born into war, alongside challenges with childhood sicknesses whilst also living in poverty. This book can help people to understand and appreciate what they really have, and role model that good can come out of hardships.

“The book is centred around the theme of outrunning fear, and how I overcame my own fears; after all, we each have our own type of fear that we are trying to outrun. It may not be a warzone for everyone, it could be a medical diagnosis, family issue or abuse. The hope, however, is that everyone can in some way relate to this story and be inspired that change is possible and there is always hope for the future.”

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Christine started writing her book during lockdown in 2020. “Every time I shared my personal story, people would say to me ‘Christine you need to write a book!’. I wrote this book from a victorious perspective, not as a victim, in the hope to inspire others. The journey for writing my book has been on and off. The overall process took me 18 months, to have it written, edited and published. This is my first book and I have a second on its way,” she told Heartbeat.

Christine Glory Her story starts with her being pulled from her bed in the middle of the night to run for her life from the soldiers of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Christine’s childhood in Uganda was one of sharp contrasts – the fear and terror of war, countered by the kindness and care of a loving family and a protective community.

In a bid to keep her safe, her family fly her across the world in the hope that a new life in Europe will bring security and opportunity – but here she is faced with a new set of challenges, as she learns to navigate life in an alien landscape.

Isolated and far from home, she must draw from the depths of her resilience, faith and

determination to learn how to survive. Set against the harsh landscape of Northern Uganda and moving from Germany to the UK, Outrunning Fear is the story of a young woman who overcame terrifying obstacles and learned that no matter what the circumstances, life will challenge you - what matters most is how you respond.

The book is available for purchase now directly from Amazon, Ingram Spark, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, Tolino, Overdrive, Bibliotheca, Scribd, Baker & Taylor, Hoopla, Vivlio and BorrowBox.

Midland Met mythbusters – Bringing Sandwell and West Birmingham an end to the misinformation

NHS Trust

Earlier this month we celebrated our latest announcement for the Midland Metropolitan Hospital alongside the NHS’s 74th Birthday – finally being able to set a firm opening date for our new acute hospital which will open its doors to patients in Spring 2024.

However, the Midland Met has had its fair share of controversies as we have battled a global pandemic, supply chain issues and rising construction costs. Many of these have unfortunately led to myths and misinformation about the project taking hold.

Whilst as a Trust we have always been open and honest about the issues we have faced on our journey to completing Midland Met, it’s clear that there are some questions that colleagues are keen to have answered, and today we will set the record straight.

Met is subsiding into the canal We are able to categorically confirm that the Midland Met is not subsiding into the canal; there have never been any issues with the construction of the new hospital that have had any risk or impact related to the building being developed close to the canal. The canal remains a crucial part of the development offering colleagues, patients and the community a peaceful and idyllic route into the new development avoiding traffic and congestion. Planned works have commenced around the canal wall edge to improve the appearance and meet the development requirements.

MYTH

MYTH

Staff will have to reapply for their own jobs Whilst it is clear that with the relocation of services to the Midland Met and the acute care model there will be a need for change for some of our staff including changes in base, any changes will be supported by our management of change programme.

Partnership work is at the heart of our approach. We will work closely with our Trade Union partners to agree change management principles and take a collective view on our approaches to each core element of change that is identified. Current baseline assessments confirm that we will require a larger workforce than we have currently budgeted for, the new models will allow more opportunity to develop and reach desired career aspirations.

MYTH

All support services are being privatised We are able to confirm that there are no plans to privatise all our support services.

MYTH

There are not enough beds at Midland Met Midland Met will have 739 beds when opened and will focus on delivering our new acute model of care. This means that outpatient clinics, day case surgery and routine diagnostics will be provided from the Sandwell and City Hospital sites. In addition, the full range of community services we offer will continue and be developed further.

MYTH

For Midland Met to work we need to ensure that we have sufficient community services in place to support reduced admissions and allow people to move out of hospital as soon as they are ready. This is why the biggest transformation required is on those services out in the community.

Departments don’t know when and where they are moving to MMUH Each clinical group has a MMUH board with knowledge of where departments are relocating to. Queries should be made to departmental leads. Moving plans will be developed over the next few months to include induction plans and will be shared through clinical groups’ MMUH boards.

Corporate preparedness planning will commence in the next few months.

MYTH

The concrete is crumbling

Construction of the new building has been reviewed and approved throughout every stage of the development, and there are no issues with the quality of construction of concrete used. Whilst there was some staining to plasterwork caused through damp penetrating the building during a pause in construction, this was superficial and quickly repaired when Balfour Beatty was appointed to complete the construction.

The long awaited Midland Metropolitan University Hospital is due to open in Spring 2024

If you have heard any rumours about the Midland Met and you want to know if there is any truth to them, however far-fetched, intriguing or interesting, email the communications team at swbh.comms@nhs.net for an answer.

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r S A W

A RDS

VOTE NOW Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a colleague or team this year as part of the Star Awards.

The Star Awards serves to recognise the hard work, determination, innovation and improvements colleagues have been able to deliver to patient care and experience.

This year has seen another wonderful turnout of nominations for colleagues and teams from every ward, specialty, department and directorate, with testimonials that share an insight in to the fantastic care and service delivery that we pride ourselves on.

This year’s nominations naturally reflect the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and service pressures faced, but also all the other fantastic work that has taken place throughout the past year.

Our judges have worked hard to whittle down the nominations down to our finalists. Congratulations to everyone who was nominated for an award and join us in celebrating the announcement of our finalists.

#SWBawards22

Distinguished Service:

Prize for transformation and research

Equality Diversity and inclusion

Rising Star Award

•

• •

• • • •

• •

•

Jacqueline Coffield - A&E Receptionist Jayne Evans - Transfusion Officer Rose Butler - Sister Siten Roy - Group Director Surgical Services

Amber Markham - Group Director of Nursing Afrah Muflihi - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead Midwife Corrine Dacosta - Capitalise Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Women’s Clinician Network

Learner of the year • • • •

Children’s Speech and Language Denise Andrews - Ward Clerk Grace Hughes - Medical Secretary Meera Seniaray - Specialist Community Public Health Nurse

• • •

•

•

Sarbjit Clare MBE - Deputy Medical Director Shivan Pancham - Consultant Haematology Palliative Care Team

Carmen Nuttall - Neonatal Community Outreach Team Leader Jason Yap - Consultant Scott Shenton - Infection Prevention and Control Support Officer Simon Lines - Matron

Sustainability Award • • • •

Cancer Services Pharmacy Team Procurement Rhea Conn - Senior Sister

Partnerships with the community award

Volunteer of the year

Patient Safety Award

Special Recognition Award

• • • •

• • • •

Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer Integrated Discharge Hub Living Well Team Neonatal Community Outreach Team

Denise Owen - Deputy Clinical Directorate Lead Justine Irish - Matron Maternity / Governance Ward Based Pharmacy Technicians

• • • •

•

Christine Billson Jennifer Asaju Michael Reay Robert Kingston

To be announced at the ceremony

Voted for categories

Don’t forget that you choose the winners in the following three categories. You will be able to vote online via Connect

until 2 September

Employee of the Year • • • •

Andy Churm - Matron Ayman Ewies - Consultant Cathy Brown – Associate Director for Education & Workforce Mike Blaber - Consultant

Clinical Team of the Year

• • • •

Clinical Nurse Practitioners Infection Prevention and Control Team Intermediate Care (ACP at Your Health Partnership) Vaccination Team

Non-clinical team of the year • • • •

IT Incident management team Portering Security Widening Participation Team

#SWBawards22

Trust commits to TUC’s Dying to Work Charter CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Our Trust is the latest to sign up to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Dying to Work Charter which sets out a voluntary agreement providing additional employment protection for terminally ill colleagues.

It is a fact of life that sickness and serious illness is something that many of us will have to deal with, often for days, week or months. However, for some people, where treatment is not an option, this often leads to a terminal diagnosis and a significant amount of stress, fear and concern.

The Dying to Work Charter helps alleviate some of the stresses, by setting out an agreed approach to how an organisation can actively support a colleague in the event of a terminal diagnosis.

Following a terminal diagnosis, some colleagues will understandably prioritise time with friends and family, but others may wish to continue to work, for reasons of financial stability or to provide a welcome distraction from a frightening reality. Inevitably, this affects personal life, but the occupational life is hindered too. A significant illness can impact on someone’s ability to work to a standard expected by themselves and their employer, and for no fault of their own.

Unfortunately, in the past some people who have found themselves in this difficult situation have not received the necessary support and security that should have been provided by their employer during such a difficult period. Lack of compassion, empathy and understanding has resulted in dismissal.

The ‘Dying to Work’ campaign, led by the Trade Union Congress, aims to provide these employees with the security that should be expected, and the security they deserve. The Dying to Work charter allows those battling terminal illness to have choice in how they use their remaining time, whilst receiving flexibility and understanding from their employer.

The unfortunate reality is that staff who lose their job due to terminal illness lose their source of income, and lose any possible death in service payments through no fault of their own.

Our Trust is the latest organisation to sign, contributing to over a million people currently covered by the charter. We hope that others will follow suit, in the push to support those who need it most.

We are the latest Trust to sign up to the Dying to work charter

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Richard Beeken, Chief Executive said, “I am proud to say that we have signed up to the Dying to Work charter, the health and wellbeing of our colleagues remains absolutely paramount. Colleagues spend their careers caring for those around them, so as an organisation we are committing to providing the same support to colleagues when they need it most.”

SWB taking action to improve your experience at work CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

Every quarter, colleagues are approached to give their feedback about how they feel about working at SWB. This process is done via anonymous surveys, the Quarterly Pulse Surveys (in January, April and July) and the national staff survey (in October).

The feedback received helps the organisation to understand how to improve the lived experience of all our colleagues – this is why it is crucial for everyone to take the opportunity to have their say.

The People Plan is the overall strategy to improve staff experience and the survey results can be used to track how well our People Plan is being embedded and improving experience.

The Trust has arranged several listening events over the course of the past year to engage with colleagues about the results of the surveys, understand key issues or concerns, develop responses and suggestions and feed back on action taken. These events have been at Trust and directorate level enabling localised reporting and feedback.

As an organisation we are always looking to learn from others who are performing better than we are. We have therefore engaged with local NHS organisations who have sustained good scores in relation to the surveys or have improved in recent years.

Fairness, equity and line manager development have been identified as important priorities to address in order to improve staff feedback in future staff surveys and staff experience.

Key to the People Plan is the People Promise - what our NHS colleagues in many different healthcare roles and organisations have said The priority areas of the People Plan were would make the greatest difference to them shared at Trust Board in June 2022 and an in their working lives: operational delivery plan is in development that sets out what will be done, by when.

• We are compassionate and inclusive

This includes:

•

We are recognised and rewarded

•

We each have a voice that counts

•

We are safe and healthy

•

We are always learning

•

We work flexibly

•

We are a team

•

Delivery of the high impact actions identified in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan. This will address a more inclusive culture as well as the issues about fairness with regard to recruitment practices.

• The Flex for the Future

programme: We are one of the

Trusts participating in this

national programme to embed

cultural change around flexible

working in the organisation.

The programme has been

developed by conducting a

deep dive into the staff survey

and other workforce data and

engagement with a number

of focus groups across the

organisation. The action plan is in development.

• Retention Quality Improvement

Project: This is being piloted

with the health visiting and

pharmacy teams and has now launched.

• New values and behaviour

framework that will formally

launch on 27 September 2022

at the Trust Leaders’ Conference.

• Leadership development framework.

The relaunch of the Speak Up arrangements will also improve awareness of the different routes to speak up and will ensure safety for those who raise a concern.

Over the next two issues of Heartbeat we will share the action plans for the clinical groups. In the meantime please do take part when approached for feedback – your opinion matters.

Make sure your views are heard!

Complete the surveys and give your feedback on working at SWB. 19

The future workforce – how apprentices are making their mark PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES AND THERAPIES Apprentices are the future of our workforce and it’s important to recognise how they progress within the organisation.

Step forward Ibrahim Mohammed, who joined Your Health Partnership, which runs Lyndon Primary Care Centre at the Sandwell Hospital site, on the Kickstart Scheme.

Following an impressive six months he has now landed a full-time permanent role as a senior receptionist – and is the friendly face you see when you walk into the centre.

“Getting onto the Kickstart Scheme has given my career a real boost and I’m delighted to have been offered this new job,” Ibrahim said. “I really enjoy working at YHP and have done since starting here on the apprentice scheme.

“My primary role was being at the front of house and greeting patients.

It also meant that I was able to build up good relationships with my clinical colleagues.”

A few months into his role a senior receptionist vacancy became available.

Ibrahim was keen to apply. “The

Ibrahim Mohammed who has been given a permanent role at YHP after joining as an apprentice Kickstart Scheme gave me the experience and start I needed to progress,” he added. “I have learned so much and built up my knowledge which has certainly given me a head start in my new role.

“I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues as a dedicated team member and hope to advance in my role to better my position, so that I can continue to increase the value I provide to the industry and strive in my career in the coming future.”

Dr James Gwilt, Clinical Director and a GP at YHP, said: “We are delighted to welcome Ibrahim as a permanent member of the team here at Lyndon Primary Care Centre. He has made a great impression on colleagues and patients with his positive, helpful manner and strong work ethic.

Creating opportunities for local people to become part of the team is wonderful thank you to the Kickstart team.”

Recruitment drive for new health and social care centre steps up Work to bring the new Harvest View health and social care centre in Rowley to life has stepped up pace with the launch of a new recruitment drive offering over 90 positions.

The £14 million centre, which is set to open in September 2022, will provide on-site specialist support from health and social care staff, to help get people back home from hospital or provide structured support to avoid a hospital stay altogether.

The new centre includes 80 individual bedrooms, communal areas, and stateof-the-art facilities featuring accessibility throughout the building for wheelchair users and people with limited mobility.

Recruitment for a number of new care and support roles at the centre is well under way, with 90 positions still available.

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Michaela Wilson, registered manager for Harvest View, said: “We are seeking highly-motivated and compassionate individuals to help shape the centre. Residents can stay with us for up to six weeks, and we want to ensure our residents are given the best support in that time.

“You will be working within a multi-disciplinary team, with professionals from various sectors coming together with the joint aim of getting our residents home.”

Roles include care assistants, nursing staff, cooks and domestic assistants.

Sarah Oley, iBeds directorate lead, said: “Harvest View represents an exciting opportunity to be part of an integrated health and social care service, working in a brand-new site with stateof-the-art facilities.

“The unit will have a strong focus on ‘home-first’

reablement and supporting individuals to live as independently as possible following a social care or health crisis, and avoiding unnecessary placements for people in long-term care facilities.”

Rashpal Bishop, director of adult social care for Sandwell Council, added: “Harvest View will be such an innovative facility, giving Sandwell residents a chance to get back on their feet and get back home after a hospital stay.

“We want to find the best people to work at the centre, and encourage anyone who wants to make a real difference to Sandwell residents to look at the various roles available.”

For further information visit WMJobs https://www.wmjobs.co.uk/, or contact Julie Hunter on 0781783124 or email julie_hunter@sandwell.gov.uk

A day in the life of a district nurse Here at SWB, we offer an array of qualified nurse or experienced HCA and hands services across the community, with one on experience. of those services being district nursing.

A district nurse faces many day to challenges We recently caught up with members of the in their role. Accessing a patient’s house Blue District Nursing team who are based in can sometimes be difficult. Though patients Smethwick. may be housebound and are expected to be in, sometimes it can be a challenge for our A typical day in the life of a district nurse patients to answer the phone or get to their has many aspects. The patient visits are front door. Some of our patients have pets allocated to each colleague the day before such as dogs, cats and even snakes! Luckily and sent via email. This can be downloaded the majority of our patients are understanding on to SystmOne Mobile Working from the and keep them out of the way. nurses’ laptops which are used instead of paper documentation and anything “It is lovely to see the bonds the patients have they document on their visits will upload with their pets and how much they mean to SystmOne live once they are back on to them and often makes a good topic for WiFi. The district nurses also have access to conversation,” said Kiran Sharma, Community the list of visits on their smartphones. For Staff Nurse. patients who they’re not familiar with, the She added: “Patient compliance can also nurses can read up on their history from be an issue especially with elevating legs or their laptops. sleeping in their beds. Sometimes it is a case “First visits of the day tend to be diabetics. of building a relationship to find out why, We check their blood sugars and administer although some simply have preferences in insulin. For some we are supporting them or regards to their care.” their family to become independent,” said Our district nurses also work in conjunction Paulette Holgate, Community Staff Nurse. with iCares to improve the service and care “After that we plan our visits depending on our patients get. urgency, location and our patients wishes Rebecca Vivian, District Nurse recalls a specific and requests. example with one of her patients: “A good “In addition, we take students out with us example of this is recently we had a patient so they can learn and practice first-hand. who came back home from an echo at a We meet patients from all walks of life, so community site on an afternoon and had it is a skill to develop to be able to form a been told he needed medication as soon relationship and converse with them. This as possible but since there was no doctor also gives students one on one time with a available to prescribe he would have to go to the emergency department. The patient

PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES AND THERAPIES did not want to do this understandably so using Unity through the laptop we could see the echo was there but needed reporting in order to prescribe the medication. iCares was called for advice, who advised we contact the single point of access service. Within 30 minutes a conference call with a cardiologist and a representative from single point of access was set up all from the patient’s house. As a result of this, the echo was reviewed, and medication was prescribed and documented on Unity. This then allowed the iCares the advanced nurse practitioner to prescribe for and medication was collected that evening.”

Helen Benwell, Team Leader believes that working in the community as a district nurse can be hugely beneficial.

She said: “When working in the community, you do not have a team immediately around you as in the hospital. You have to think and work independently which makes you an innovative and skilled nurse. We have lone worker devices to keep us safe to use in an emergency if we need help.

However, there is always a team member or GP on the end of the phone for support if needed and can come out to join you too.”

Some of SWB's district nurses

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Nabeel is keeping up the fight against thalassaemia MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE Thalassaemia patient Nabeel Javed raised money to buy a special machine for the Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia (SCaT) unit at City Hospital after competing in his first boxing match.

The 26-year-old was diagnosed at birth with the genetic blood disorder thalassaemia and had his first blood transfusion at three months old. He was inspired to raise money to buy the Airglove machine which reduces the pain when a transfusion takes place.

Nabeel has been determined not to allow his disease stop him from leading a normal life and took up boxing after becoming fascinated with the sport as a child.

He said: “The SCaT unit is like home and that’s because the staff are as caring as family. For that reason I wanted to ensure the machine was donated to this unit. They have supported me through my journey and it’s only right to give back where possible.”

Sharing his story, Nabeel added: “I’ve had been living with this since birth, so growing up wasn’t the easiest. I was unable to do the things any ‘normal’ kid would be able to do; I was always the slowest or the weakest in the class.

“Growing up, I was always extremely fatigued and tired and my consultant at that time, explained it would be difficult for me to build muscle and take part in sporting activities. I was extremely underweight and saw my illness as nothing but an obstacle.

“I was fascinated by boxing and loved the sport, but I got quite disheartened that I couldn’t take part in the sport.

“For years I allowed myself to think there was a barrier around me and that I wasn’t good enough. But one day this all changed, I woke up and thought to myself why should I see my illness as an obstacle? Why can’t I do it? Why am I not capable? Feeling sorry for myself hasn’t benefited me. I realised I wanted a change in my life, I didn’t care how long it took or how I’d get there, all I knew was a change was what I wanted.

“I attended a gym and fast forward a few years started boxing. I participated in my first boxing event at a white-collar boxing show on 21 May.”

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Nabeel Javed who is one of our patients He added: “My aim is to raise awareness about my illness and let people know that they can achieve anything they put their mind to. I want people to know they are not alone.

Whether you suffer from an illness, obesity, anorexia, disability, mental health disorder or depression. Do not think change is not possible. If I can do it, anyone can. The sky is the limit.

“I want to help people who were once in my position. It wasn’t easy opening up about something so personal, but if my story can motivate just one person then it’s a job well done for me.

“I want the world to hear my story and I won’t stop till we have awareness about thalassaemia which is such a serious yet overlooked condition. I am happy to travel wherever necessary to meet and talk to people who can help me spread the word. I want to help everyone who is suffering from not just an illness but any obstacle in life and let them understand the impossible is possible.”

The Airglove machine helps with difficult cannulation experienced by patients who have transfusion dependent thalassaemia.

It heats the arm and increases the temperature of circulating blood and causes vasodilation. This helps the veins show up and in the end makes the process less painful and traumatic for the patients.

Rejoice Nhevera, Acting Lead Nurse at SCaT, said: “We are so grateful to Nabeel for his kind donation. His determination and attitude is a fine example of how a long term illness like thalassaemia doesn’t mean you can’t live a normal life.

“We have been caring for Nabeel for a while and when he told us about the boxing match to raise money to buy an Airglove machine we were overwhelmed.

This machine will help so many of our patients going forward - it will make a difference to their experience within our centre.”

Congratulations Professor Bish!

MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE “It is both a humbling experience and a huge honour and I am very grateful to Aston University for such recognition. This has given me even more motivation to continue and excel in my contribution.

“I believe education to be a lifelong pursuit and critical to saving lives in emergency medicine. Empowerment through education and training is a means to delivering excellent care for our patients.

I have been involved in many educational activities in the Trust and with the Deanery. I have also been involved in training doctors, nurses and allied health care workers in my home state of Manipur in India.”

Joining the Trust five years ago, Bish came back as a consultant after being a higher specialist registrar with us previously. He says it is the team spirit that attracted him, as everyone operates as one team and he likes to be part of that.

Dr Bishwajeet Elangbam

Emergency medicine consultant and governance lead for Sandwell ED Dr Bishwajeet Elangbam (Bish) has been appointed Visiting Professor by Aston University. It is testament to his consistent work to maintain high standards in teaching across the field of emergency medicine.

Bish explained: “I have been involved in regular teaching and training in Aston University for the past three years, so as a result was advised to apply for the honorary position. It came as a pleasant surprise when I received notice from the vice chancellor of Aston University offering me the position.

He continued: “The department and Trust ensures we have opportunities to provide excellent patient care. I am so grateful for the support and help from my colleagues over the years in developing myself as well working together in many challenging circumstances.”

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Theatres setting the benchmark at Midland Met SURGICAL SERVICES The stage is set - spring 2024 is when Midland Met will open its doors to patients. It’s full steam ahead for SWB as we all work collaboratively to ensure we have everything in place ahead of our move to the largest acute care facility within our organisation.

With our revised construction programme now agreed upon, we’ve wasted no time continuing with our transformation plans that go beyond Midland Met. It is a new chapter for SWB and all of us. The changes will be far reaching, and our focus is on areas such as our acute care model, primary care integration and developing a new learning campus onsite at Midland Met. With so much to look forward to, teams are now reviewing their plans, refining and amending them so that our services are as good as they can be when we welcome patients into our new hospital. On a recent benchmark room tour, the theatres team did just that as they visited the site to check on the progress of their area and to identify

Theatres team visit Midland Met

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any changes that may be needed before they make the big move to Midland Met. After a thorough walkthrough of the space where they saw some of the equipment in their area, Vishal Paringe, Clinical Director Theatres, told us: “Our visit was an excellent opportunity to see how our area looks while it’s under construction. We are excited to see the hospital open and the positive difference it will make in terms of the enhanced care we can deliver for our local communities.”

He added: “The team have been working on their plans for our move to Midland Met, and we are in a good place. Now that we have an opening date, it will motivate colleagues even more as they know when we’ll move into our new home.”

Kelly Papavarnava, Deputy Group Director for Nursing (Surgical Services), revealed: “We visited the site as a team to see our area in theatres and what it will look like when ready. These visits are helpful to us as we can see how our services need to work in the area, and we can recommend any potential changes we’d like to make so that our services are as effective as they can be for patients and staff.”

Adrian Bradbury, Theatres Manager, remarked:

“Today we’ve had the opportunity to visit the theatres area, and it looks fabulous so far. We can see one or two things that may need to be changed but so far, so good.”

The team found that their area is taking shape well and that work has been completed to a high standard. Balbir Kaur, Matron, told us: “The visit gave us some context of where everything will be from a clinical point of view.

It was such a contrast from last time we were there – the paint and flooring has made a big difference.

“Visiting our department has enabled us to visualise and highlight areas that will require a different care model compared to what we use now. We have been working on the standardisation of our practices and reviewing pathways at different sites, reviewing equipment, setting up working groups and having regular meetings with colleagues to keep the momentum going.”

Naran Vekaria, Balfour Beatty Construction Manager accompanied the group on their benchmark tour and told us: “I’m involved with getting the different wards and clinical areas ready throughout the building. Today the team looked at their area, and we have had some positive feedback.”

SAU palliative care board: a visual guide for colleagues and patients A palliative care board recently installed on the surgical assessment unit (SAU) is providing a visual update on end of life care for patients, loved ones and colleagues.

Davinia Edwards, Senior Sister told Heartbeat: “The board is easily accessible and features regular updates. It has been very welcome by everyone who uses our services. Not only do we use it to demonstrate what are doing for our end of life patients, it is very useful for showing our organisational visions and plans.

“Most importantly the board empowers everyone with knowledge as they can easily see how we are performing as a trust and within the ward area. It also reduces uncertainty and gives an idea of what is expected.”

Davinia told us the board is very easy to put together as the relevant tools with the most up to date stats are readily available on Unity.

SURGICAL SERVICES

The approach to end of life care on SAU ensures all colleagues are made aware on the safety brief at handover.

we meet the best interests of the patient and respect their wishes. The involvement of the whole MDT enables “We aim to provide side rooms as the provision of holistic care. If done 'best practice', ensuring dignity can be well, communication also prevents maintained,” added Davinia. “We have a calm anxiety and complaints.” and caring approach, provide open visiting “Our end of life care champions also play and all our documentation is completed an essential role by providing education/ on Unity using the SCP. Consultation with updates and imparting colleagues with doctors, the wider MDT and effective relevant knowledge and training. We communication with patients and their loved utilise staff notice boards and ensure ones is a continuous thread. access to the daily communications “Communication is crucial for our dying bulletin as well as updates from the patients (and their families) as it ensures clinical nurse specialists.”

Palliative care team members with the board

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Gynaecology video putting patients at ease WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH Colleagues may recall how we relaunched the Post-Menopausal Bleeding (PMB) clinic last year – delivering a one-stop service which reduces the amount of appointments women have to attend.

The service has continued to develop and feedback from patients has been positive, with many praising not only the care, but the efficiency of the clinic.

GPs can refer women who experience a vaginal bleed after at least one year of having no periods on the rapid access two week wait pathway. The appointment takes up to two hours and the patient will undergo scans, as well as treatments and procedures needed.

Colleagues who work within the Post-Menopausal Bleeding Clinic have created a video to show patients what to expect when attending their appointment

To complement the service, a patient journey video has now been produced which shows those attending the clinic what to expect.

Tiff Jones, sister, said: “We recently celebrated one year of the service going live and it has been going very well. The video gives the patient an idea of what to expect when coming to an appointment and will help to put them at ease. We already have a detailed patient information leaflet, but this can give the women a more visual introduction of the clinic and an idea of the tests we need to carry out.”

Patients who are referred to the service can watch the video which is on the Trust’s YouTube Channel here: https:// youtu.be/qnGKzBRAtFs.

Bleeding after the menopause is the main sign of womb cancer. The highly skilled team see patients in specially equipped rooms, using new technology.

Tiff added: “For the majority of women this new service ensures the patient only has to attend one hospital appointment, it increases the speed in which we can perform required surgeries and obtain histology results. We are hoping to eliminate any delays in treatment pathways and target times, but our main focus is to make our ladies journey more complete in just one visit. We always want to be the best team that we can, to support our women every step of the way.”

Maternity signs up to national single pregnancy record system Pregnant women who receive their maternity care at our Trust will now benefit from the Single Pregnancy Record (SPR) system – which means their patient data will link with other healthcare providers using the software.

The SPR will enable clinical information to be shared between our Trust, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and

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others across the country who have signed up to it.

Jo Bryer, Digital Lead Midwife, said: “The launch of the SPR within our Trust is great news and demonstrates how working with our colleagues at other Trusts will benefit our women and their families. It will also be easier for our staff to have all of the information they need to make a clinical decision, at the touch of their fingertips.

“We are confident that it will bring significant advantages to care. It will help to make care

safer for women and their babies.”

Additional benefits of the system include a reduction in the duplication of work with staff only needing to input clinical information once. Women will also find it better too, as they will only be asked for information once even if they are booked for their care to be shared between Trusts.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust which runs Manor Hospital and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust also intend to join the SPR in the future.

Claire takes her career higher with audiology qualification IMAGING progression to consultant clinical scientist level through the higher specialist scientist training programme (HSST).

“The HSST programme is a five-year course (although it took six due to COVID-19 interrupting my final research project).

The first two years combine postgraduate leadership and management qualifications through the University of Manchester Business School whilst undertaking further specialist clinical modules in audiology in years one through to four. There were blocks of teaching in Manchester and inevitably lots of study in the evenings and weekends to keep up with the academic components whilst working full time.

“During years four and five, we were required to undertake clinical research at doctoral level, culminating in the production of a thesis. My thesis studied hearing loss in visually impaired children, inspired by some of my SWB patients. I also had to undertake an individual assessment of professional skills via a viva-style assessment with a panel of consultant level examiners to evaluate my skills as a scientist and readiness to work at consultant level.”

Throughout the course, Claire balanced her work and academic commitments.

“The course requires your department to provide a study day each week which is essential. It can be challenging at times to study whilst you are in a senior role in a clinical department as you deal with queries and issues that arise in the service. Thank goodness for the library in the Education Centre at Sandwell as that was my retreat when I needed to focus on studying whilst I was at work.”

Dr Claire Lingard - Consultant Clinical Scientist (Audiology)

Dr Claire Lingard, Consultant Clinical Scientist in Audiology, recently achieved her higher specialist scientist training qualification in audiology, and was the first to do so in the UK, so we caught up with her to find out more.

Speaking of her early career and why she specialised in this area, Claire explained: “My undergraduate degree was in biological sciences, and I began working for SWB in 2004 as a trainee clinical scientist in audiology.

“The Trust supported me to complete my master's degree in audiology and professional

training to become a qualified clinical scientist.

I was fortunate to gain a permanent post after qualifying and worked across different areas of audiology, gradually becoming more specialised in paediatrics and vestibular assessment. I also developed my leadership skills through the NHS Leadership Academy - Mary Seacole Programme, and I became involved with the work of the British Academy of Audiology and the British Society of Audiology.”

In 2015, Claire joined what was at the time a new course developed under the modernising scientific careers scheme. It formalised her career

Taking this next step in her career was natural for Claire. “I enjoy my clinical work, both the challenges of diagnostic work and the relationships you build with patients and their families through rehabilitation.

“The HSST programme came at the perfect time for me as I had ten years of experience as a clinician and was ready to take the next step to further my knowledge and skills and help to support the department.”

Claire added: “I was the first person to complete the HSST in Audiology in the UK. I qualified with a doctorate in clinical science, and I am now working as a consultant clinical scientist and service manager, following the retirement of my manager and mentor, Dr Suki Dhillon.”

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Pulse

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 We are looking to see improvement projects and programmes written up and captured in a poster. Entries are encouraged and welcomed from everyone whether you work with patients or provide non-clinical support, send in your posters.

Closing date for final poster submissions is 11th November.

Welearn quality improvement poster competition launched July sees the launch of the welearn Quality Improvement Poster Competition, our annual event focussed at developing knowledge sharing inside our organisation.

welearn aims to share good practice, quality initiatives, innovations, research and partnerships that have resulted in improvements for our patients, relatives and colleagues. The goal is to have this work celebrated and recognised, with a chance to win a share of the £5,000 of prizes available to teams whose entries are judged as the very best by an esteemed panel.

Posters will be displayed from 12th December with an opportunity for staff to vote for their favourite ideas. The winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony at the March 2023 Trust Board Meeting.

Full guidance for the poster competition can be found on Connect and further support and can be found by emailing swbh.welearnposters@nhs.net.

Yvonne Copeland Clinical Lead for Health Visiting standards were consistently high. She was also seconded to an operational manager post, working within two of the most deprived areas in Birmingham.

Her new role is broadly equivalent to a community matron, ensuring health visiting colleagues have the right skills and deliver the right service to families in a timely manner with the best quality of care.

Her inspiration for her job is her belief that “children are the most vulnerable in our society and equally they are our tomorrow” and therefore she wants to give good quality care to help inspire the next generation.

She is passionate about improving recruitment and retention across Sandwell and believes that by improving the well-being of the workforce she can get better of care for families therefore raising standards of care.

Yvonne Copeland

Growing up in a large family, new Clinical Lead for Health Visiting Yvonne Copeland revelled in her role as big sister, as one of eleven siblings. She muses that it may even have driven her career choice to work with children.

She originally chose nursing as a career, qualifying in paediatrics and starting at Walsall

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Manor, as well as working at Birmingham Children's Hospital and City Hospital. She made the move into community work in 2002 when she became a health visitor, and later after several years became a practice teacher. She worked across Birmingham for 20 years. With teaching being inherent to her nature, Yvonne focused on upskilling the workforce and making sure

And, looking after staff is a key objective she has already started work on, by putting in place flexible working and looking at different skill sets to implement new roles that are more attractive than traditional set job descriptions.

Yvonne is not afraid to shake things up in order to achieve her aims, so it’s a case of watch this space for more to come.

Wave goodbye to…

This month we say goodbye to Diane Bate, Theatre Scheduler who will be retiring from SWB after four decades.

Diane joined SWB in 1981 as an auxiliary nurse on Lyndon 4 then moving to Newton 4 where she took on the challenge of caring for some of most vulnerable elderly patients in our Trust.

“During my time on these wards, a new and innovative training regime was launched, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be able to do my NVQ 2 to become a HCA, followed by my NVQ 3 in direct care,” said Diane.

In 1994 Diane moved on to her next challenge, taking up a role at Rowley Regis Hospital.

“I was approached by a previous ward manager I had worked with asking me if I would be interested in playing a role in helping to set up the outpatients department at Rowley and becoming a team leader. I saw this as a fantastic opportunity to expand my knowledge and work experience, so I jumped at the opportunity.”

After around five years in this role, Diane moved back to Sandwell outpatients and later on to Neptune Park outpatients. A few years passed, but as Diane was not one to rest on her laurels, she went on to work on the surgical day unit reception which was a totally different role,

as she moved from her predominantly nursing background to a non-clinical role.

Around eleven years ago Diane successfully transitioned into her current role of theatre scheduler where she currently oversees the Trust theatre schedule covering both City and Sandwell’s rotas.

Though the NHS and SWB in particular is in Diane’s heart, being from family where three generations have worked at the Trust, she has still faced many challenging times.

“One of the biggest challenges recently has been moving from Ormis to SurgiNet and also the transition to Microsoft Office and SharePoint which took a bit of getting used to.”

Diane believes she has had a great career at the Trust.

“I have always been a very hands-on person and would like to think I have helped new staff settle into their roles taking student nurses under my wing along the way. It’s rewarding to see many people in the Trust I have helped still at SWB after all these years after qualifying and equally with my clerical role and teaching new staff that have come on board.”

Kerry Clarke, Patient Tracker/Coordinator in Upper GI was supported by Diane, she said:

Diane Bate Theatre Scheduler “Diane trained me in the surgical day unit on how to book surgeries, and everything that goes with it. She really is like the oracle where theatres and surgery are concerned.”

Sally Neilson, Service Manager for Gynae, Gynae-Oncology and Breast Services echoes these thoughts and said: “Di is a lovely lady who is always ready to accommodate theatre rota requests and help and support teams and individuals as needed. She is polite, efficient and professional. Di is one of a kind and will be missed.”

Debbie Lloyd-Smith, Directorate General Manager, Theatres, Anaesthetics and Pain Management worked with Diane for eight years and believes she has played an instrumental role at SWB: "Diane has been an integral part of the team. Her knowledge and experience is invaluable, she is and always has been hardworking and conscientious about her work, and has been a pleasure to work with."

As part of her retirement Diane is hoping to spend more time with her new granddaughter and enjoying her favourite hobby: crafting.

She is also a member of her local caravan and camping club so is hopeful of spending more time in her caravan visiting places across the country.

Happy retirement Diane!

Diane Bate

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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

YOUR RIGHT TO BE HEARD Charging bays are always full

How do we keep hydrated?

Dear Heartbeat,

Dear Heartbeat,

Over the last few months I have seen a huge increase in the number of electric cars in the Trust, now this is probably partly because the cost of fuel has gone up so much and partly because of the clean air zone in Birmingham, but it has led to a slightly annoying problem.

Let me start by saying thank you to the Trust for helping us cope in the hot weather, and whilst I’ve always been taught not to look a gift horse in the mouth, this is one of the occasions when we really need to challenge the Trust’s actions.

Every time I pull in to the trust car park, almost all of the charging bays are full, each with a brand new tesla parked, and for the most part they are plugged in and charging – using the chargers as intended.

But there’s always a fair few who park up in their privileged parking spots on the lower levels with absolutely no intention of charging, simply because they’re too lazy to walk the extra few steps or park away from the other Teslas.

Can you confirm what the rules are, are you allowed to park in the electric charging bays if you have no intention to charge, or will you be issued with a ticket? There’s a lot of chargers (thank you Qpark) but there’s a massive increase in electric cars.

Kind regards Anon Dear colleague, Thank you for getting in touch, we agree it’s been great to see colleagues moving over to electric vehicles and making good use of the electric charging network we have in place at the Trust.

There’s over 40 electric charging points available across each of our sites and plans in place for over 100 when we move to the Midland Met. We always encourage colleagues to park considerately and the policy on car parking is clear, colleagues parking in the electric vehicle bays up to 11:30am must be doing so with the intention to charge their vehicle.

We do however allow any vehicle to park in the electric charging bays after 11:30am irrespective of whether that vehicle is an electric vehicle or whether that vehicle is using the electric charging point.

Kind regards Jim Pollitt Assistant Director Strategic Development

For a long time now we’ve been sweating behind PPE, in buildings with limited ventilation and stifling heat and we all know that we should be drinking plenty of water, but have you honestly tasted the water that comes out of the taps in the hospital. Lukewarm and with an oddly chemical taste, it really it isn’t inviting. So we battle on, let our kidneys take a kicking and carry on caring for patients.

Today, I’ve spotted another message from the Trust that says bottled water is being sent out to wards and departments to help us keep hydrated, but hydration isn’t something we only need when the sun comes out, we need access to water all year round.

And please don’t tell us to use the taps, we don’t expect Perrier to flow from the taps but this really isn’t palatable.

Why on earth does the Trust not simply have plumbed and cooled water filling stations for staff and patients, we all have them in our homes attached to our fridges, but in the NHS its far too frivolous a proposal.

Imagine the amount of single use plastics we would save from not having thousands of bottles going in the bin alongside staff, patients and visitors who would benefit from proper hydration.

Is any of this planned for Midland Met or should we begin saving now to be able to afford a drink of water from the canteen?

Anon Dear Colleague, Thank you for getting in touch. Staff wellbeing is absolutely critical to us as an organisation and I can appreciate the impact that the recent heatwave will have had on colleagues. The current PPE guidance alongside our current estate can make some areas difficult to work in, which is why we put in to place our plans to distribute bottled water, as an additional measure.

Rest assured that the water in our taps is entirely safe to drink, but with the intense heat we were experiencing, we wanted to ensure that we could add to the provision of easily accessible supplies. We are very conscious of the environmental impact of single use plastics, but on this occasion felt the extreme circumstances justified it.

We encourage colleagues to bring in their own refillable water bottles to ensure they are able to drink plenty of water throughout the day.

We are also looking at water fountains being installed where possible across the Trust and there are plans in Midland Met to have fountains in areas where there isn’t easy access to tap water.

Best wishes Richard Beeken, Chief Executive

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Richard talks about: Shining a light on our stars Richard Beeken, Chief Executive

RICHARD'S LAST WORD This month we publish the shortlist for the annual SWB Star Awards and what an amazing spread it is, demonstrating all that’s great about our Trust.

Over many months I feel as if I have been talking relentlessly about the challenges facing us, as we develop our plans for Midland Met, manage patient care amidst an ever-increasing demand, improve our Fundamentals of Care approach and our “Requires Improvement” CQC rating and forge new ways of working with our partner organisations. But this month, I really do want to focus on all that is brilliant here and to call out the amazing things that you and others have done during the past year to be in the running for one of our very special awards.

This year we received over 400 nominations for teams and individuals. That is incredible.

Every individual and team who was nominated should be rightly proud of this achievement. It means that you or your team have really stood out and someone or potentially multiple people, have taken the time to write a nomination about you.

These people took the time to nominate you, despite the decrease in time all of us now seem to have to do such things.

Congratulations.

This year, some of our award categories are different, reflecting the new Trust strategy we have agreed. No doubt in future years we will do further adjustment as our new values are launched so that we recognise people for positively role modelling the behaviours that sit alongside our Trust values. Even with a slightly smaller number of categories, the job of longlisting and shortlisting has been as tough as ever because of the amazing stories of courage, innovation, improvement, determination and kindness that have shone through.

Whether that is in developing a new way of working, learning a new skill or supporting colleagues, all are to be commended. Many of these teams and individuals are leading the way regionally, nationally and even internationally and I could not be more proud of our beacons of excellence.

Three categories in this year’s awards scheme are chosen by you, as everyone who works for the Trust gets a chance to vote for Clinical Team of the Year, Non-Clinical Team of the Year and Employee of the Year. The voting will launch during August. Do take the time to read about what these teams and individuals have done and cast your vote. It means a lot to our shortlisted nominees to know that their work has been highlighted in this way.

We remain very hopeful that our awards scheme will once more be held in person where our shortlisted colleagues can get together and participate in a great night as the winners are announced and with any luck, we can have a Covid restriction free party.

But let me remind you that we are one team here at SWB. When we are at our best it is because we all work together to deliver our objectives. No-one wins an award in isolation.

The nominees are products of our team work, our culture and those leaders who have inspired us along the way.

Let’s celebrate our award entrants with pride.

Decisions to take people through to the shortlisting stage were not easy. We have had new panels of judges this year with representation across our groups and staff networks. We have also brought in experts from other organisations and specialisms to give an independent view in four of the categories. Patient representatives lead the judging in the patient-nominated category.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this process.

I am delighted to see the shortlisted entrants. Within this list we can see evidence of people who consistently put patients first, who have battled against their own or organisational challenges and have stepped up time and again to do the right thing.

Some of last year's winners

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YTC offers employment and internship opportunities YOUR TRUST CHARITY

Foundation. Our unique brand of SCORE support provides work experience placements and entry level access for young people ages 16 -30 as a means to secure employment within the NHS Health & Social care supply chain.

Over the Summer holidays our SCORE programme team will be actively recruiting, supporting and training SCORE candidates for Health Care Assistants (HCAs) roles.

These important roles help young people gain specialist training and support as they begin their employment journey in our Trust caring for our patients.

 @SWBHCharity To donate to the Your Trust Charity text “SWBH16 £5” to 70070 Supporting young people with education and employment is a key objective for Your Trust Charity. This involves offering a range of programmes giving young people opportunities to learn new skills and gain experience in the workplace.

Supporting Career Opportunities Recruitment Employment (SCORE) is our flagship employability programme in partnership with Aston Villa

SCORE candidates must be aged between 16 and 30; qualified to a minimum educational standard (Functional Skills Level 2 in Maths and English or a good range of GCSEs); and/or have some transferable skills; or are looking at achieving Level 2 - 3 qualifications in Health & Social Care within the next 12 months Youth Volunteering Internships offer young people a ‘bite size’ volunteering opportunity consisting of a few hours each day for 1 to 3 days per week within one of teams here at our hospitals or within one of the projects funded by Your Trust Charity.

Volunteering internships are available for young people aged 16 – 18 and alongside people aged up to 25 that meet any of the following: currently unemployed; facing financial hardship and/or welfare poverty and therefore vulnerable; seeking employment and need some additional support capacity building, want to learn a new skill and/ or up skilling support; or if you are looking at an apprenticeship route into Health & Social Care/ NHS Internships take place over the 6-week Summer Holidays and are paid opportunities.

We offer some financial support and reimbursements for costs to help interns keen to get involved and join our programme.

We understand that at times finding money for basics can be very difficult for young people and especially those that have limited access to finance. Because of this we are offering young people that sign up and take part on any of Youth Volunteering Champions programmes a small incentive of up to £10.00 a day for the maximum period of 3 days for 6 weeks.

To learn more about either programme, get in touch with the SWBH Volunteers Services Team; you can do this by calling 0121 507 4855 or emailing swbh.volunteer@nhs.net.

Young people taking part in the YVC programme at Aston Villa

July 2022 staff lottery results 1st £162.25

2nd £97.50

3rd £65

Faye Caffery

Patricia Higgins

Anita Patel

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 johnny.shah@nhs.net.