Issuu

June 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 154

Midland Met will be complete in 2023, opening for patients in Spring 2024

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Midland Met continues to on its journey to completion. Significant progress being made inside our flagship new hospital.

Green Plan helping to cut CO2 emissions

SCORE gears up for second cohort

Celebrating Sickle Cell Day

Radiology leading way in artificial intelligence

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FROM THE CHAIR HELLO Welcome to the June edition of Heartbeat. This month we announce the opening date for our new flagship acute hospital as construction steps up pace. Take the time to see how the project is progressing and get up to date on what you need to do in preparation for the big move. In this issue we celebrate the innovation that is bringing improvements to patient care, from cardiac rehab support sessions moving online to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence supporting our radiology departments. Enjoy 

 Ext 5303  swbh.comms@nhs.net  C ommunications Department Ground Floor, Trinity House Sandwell Hospital Published by Communications Team Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

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

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

Sir David talks about…Confirmed building programme in place at last for MMUH! I am writing this with a sense of relief that we have signed an update to our contract with Balfour Beatty that sets out a clear construction programme for completion of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. As you are very aware, the development of our new hospital has been far from straightforward with a range of incredibly challenging issues to overcome including the liquidation of the former construction partner and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past few months, the Trust has been supported by the national New Hospital Programme team who have taken on a review of the building, the forward construction milestones and commercial negotiations. This process is now complete and we are confident that the revised construction programme is realistic, takes account of the current challenges facing the construction industry, and ensures that the finished building will be completed to the high quality standards that we require. The commitment from Balfour Beatty is that the building will be handed over to us before the end of 2023. We will work as swiftly as we can to equip and fit out the building to open as soon as possible after that. So opening in the first part of 2024 is certainly achievable so that patients and colleagues can benefit from this new, first-class hospital for urgent, emergency and acute care. Our Trust Board has approved £6m to enable for recruitment now to some of the new job roles that we need for MMUH. I want

to remind you of how great this prize of the new hospital is, and how fortunate we are to be able to have this new facility within our footprint. New hospitals don’t come around very often and when they do, they are almost always a once in a career opportunity. Not all of the care that patients need is provided from MMUH, and that is partly what makes it so special. Our opportunity to keep all our acute care in one place, with much routine care, diagnostics and outpatient clinics taking place elsewhere is a system that most health care organisations, commissioners and systems will look at with envy. With transformed community services and primary care to support people at home our whole organisation will be touched and transformed by MMUH. The onus is on all of us to get this right for our patients and colleagues. That means making sure you know how your service is changing, or what you can do to support change, and identifying what you can do to prepare. Where changes can be made now we will support you to do this, as you can see from our commitment to recruit to new posts. Join in the staff forums so you know what is going on, raise questions with your teams and managers, be curious. In the next relatively short space of time left before handover, let’s do all we can, to get ready so that we make the most of this unique opportunity. Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE, Chair

Full steam ahead as new construction programme agreed for Midland Met Our new hospital, the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, will be handed over to the Trust before the end of 2023, meaning that we will open for patients in 2024 - as soon as possible following the equipping and fit out stage.

“I would like you to be assured that we are now in a really good place with the revised programme and the partnership with Balfour Beatty.”

As our main centre for acute and emergency care, Midland Met includes a purpose-built The news comes after a thorough review of the emergency department with co-located imaging construction programme with Balfour Beatty, and diagnostic services, a dedicated children’s led by the national New Hospital Full steam emergency department and assessment unit, plus ahead as new construction programme agreed adult and children’s wards. for Midland Met. Work has progressed across all nine floors, Midland Met provides a unique opportunity to including the underground car parks. Our new create a healthcare facility that will enhance hospital has approximately 700 beds, with over the care we deliver for our local communities half of these in single-ensuite rooms. There are for generations to come. 11 emergency, trauma and elective inpatient operating theatres, maternity theatres and 15 It’s our chance to create a modern, purposebirthing rooms for maternity services. built hospital for those with urgent, emergency and acute care needs, with specialist clinics, As well as being a centre of excellence for clinical day-case surgery and planned diagnostics at the care and research, our new hospital is designed City, Sandwell and Rowley Regis Hospital sites. around a new therapeutic model of care to encourage patients to maintain mobility and Our move to Midland Met is a journey, and we independence during a hospital stay. are now at a point where we can collectively move forward with our plans to transform Midland Met also houses public areas, including services across our estate at SWB and in our our winter garden and an 80m long art gallery communities. that will be open to residents. Richard Beeken, Chief Executive, said: “The main outside construction is now complete, and some benchmark rooms are in place so we can see what the clinical facilities will look like once open. “It is more than a hospital. We are working on our care model to ensure we can deliver first-class care alongside enhanced community services.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Your Trust Charity is supporting this project and is one of many the Trust will champion to enrich our local communities. More recently, some colleagues have visited Midland Met and have been inspired by what they have seen. Mr Tariq Sami, Urology Consultant, remarked: “It really is an impressive place. I can’t wait to start working here. It’s been positive to see our dedicated urology area.” Angie Smith, Matron for Surgery, added: “Our new hospital looks fantastic. I’ve looked at the wards, and they are amazing. SAU will be fantastic, and the area for same day emergency care is coming along great.” • During 2021, Balfour Beatty and their suppliers have installed main power to the site

From 25 June – 3 September, Abundance – a natural, inclusive garden play space will be situated outside City Hospital, and colleagues are welcome to visit and take pleasure in the area.

• 96 miles of sub-mains cabling

This garden play space has been designed and built by Spectra and local community groups for everyone to access and enjoy as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.

• 98 miles of pipework.

• 13 miles of ducting • 570 tonnes of scaffold • More than 3800m2 of concrete paving slabs have been laid and 8000m2 of vinyl flooring.

Mr Tariq Sami, Urology Consultant, recently visited Midland Met

Green Plan will help cut 1m tonnes in CO2 emissions a year, it is clear we are facing a health emergency as well as a climate emergency.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

“Our Green Plan is a testament to our staff's commitment to tackling climate change, and we are proud to set out the positive actions we will take to reduce our impact on the environment and safeguard the future health of our children and grandchildren. We are also developing plans to decarbonise our heating systems – a significant infrastructure change.”

As we celebrated Clean Air Day on 16 June, it was an opportunity for the Trust to talk about how it is playing its part in helping the NHS to cut one million tonnes of CO2 emissions. As part of our Green Plan we have introduced a number of initiatives to tackle climate change – including installing more than 100 electric vehicle (EV) charging points in our car parks and solar panels on our roofs at two sites. More than 200 healthcare organisations in England are producing a Green Plan in a bid to help the NHS reach net zero by 2040 and reduce emissions which equate to taking 520,000 cars off the road. Fran Silcocks, Head of Sustainability, said: “We have a number of projects already in place as part of our Green Plan. As well as

Dr Nick Watts, Chief Sustainability Officer at NHS England continued: “The NHS was the first health system in the world to commit the introduction of more EV charging points, we to net zero and the outstanding innovation also have solar panels at City Hospital and Rowley and commitment from Sandwell and West Regis Hospital. Birmingham NHS Trust is a vital step towards “LED lighting has been rolled out across the Trust achieving that aim. to replace less efficient lighting and we have “Doing our bit on climate change will directly also continued with our highly successful Green improve public health and reduce health Impact programme which encourages staff to inequalities, cutting deaths caused by air take on initiatives which will reduce emissions.” pollution and ensuring a healthier future for our children.” Fran added: "With air pollution alone Fran Silcocks, Head of Sustainability is leading on our Green Plan

contributing to one in 20 deaths in this country

Alcohol care team helping keep the Trust tidy Our alcohol care team have embraced ‘Green Impact’ by targeting one particular aspect of the programme – our environment.

ethos of teams working together to take action, no matter how big or small, that collectively have a positive impact on our environment.

Led by Arlene Copland, Nurse Consultant, the team have been doing their bit for the environment by taking up litter picking.

Fran Silcocks, Head of Sustainability is hopeful the actions of the alcohol care team will inspire others across our workplace. She said: “I hope the team’s actions will inspire other teams and individuals to make positive changes too. If just one person does something positive for the environment it will benefit colleagues, patients, visitors and wider community.”

This may not sound particularly glamorous, however there are huge benefits for the Trust. Littering has many harmful effects on the environment including water, air, plastic and soil pollution, can cause death and injury to local wildlife and it also pollutes our ecosystem. Leading the charge, Arlene shared her insight, “I am of the mindset that this is something we could all start doing to improve the environment around us, Green Impact gives us a starting point, but we all have a role to play in making our local environments more pleasant and healthier places to live. “Maybe my fellow colleagues can get involved too. Even if it is something very little like starting to pick up some rubbish whilst you’re waiting for the shuttle bus or in between meetings or

Arlene Copland on your way to the canteen. Every little bit counts and it will certainly help improve our environment.” Despite the introduction of the 7-day alcohol service at SWB, for the past few years, the team have been working tirelessly to ensure they have an impact on patient care as well as continuing their work to make the environment we all work and live in more sustainable. Green Impact is based on the

She added: If your team is looking for new, fun and interactive ways to make a positive impact toward improving our Trust, please get in touch. We are always looking to recruit more teams onto our ‘Green Impact’ staff environmental engagement programme. It’s an easy way for colleagues to work together in teams to complete simple actions that make a big difference thus helping make SWB more environmentally friendly and also saving costs. If you have any ideas on how we can work more sustainably or if you would like to get involved, please contact Francesca.silcocks@nhs.net.

Clare Nash scoops national procurement award Congratulations to Clare Nash, Head of Clinical Products Management who was recently recognised at two national procurement awards. The Outstanding Contribution to Procurement was presented by Midlands Excellence in Supply. It recognised Clare for having introduced processes to ensure procurement deliver products that offer value for money, safety for patients and consider the impact they have on environmental sustainability. Through this focus on greener products, Clare was able to play a pivotal role in preventing approximately 3.2 tons of single use plastics going into clinical waste streams, helping the Trust to use sustainable recycled paper and saving approximately 41,000 trees from the chop. Clare also played a pivotal role in ensuring the supply of syringes from an

alternative supplier saved additional 1.3 tons of CO2 emissions from the additional transport miles. In addition to this, Clare has also set up and chairs an Integrated Care System Greener Care group where clinical colleagues are encouraged to drive change in their own areas of practice in NHS Trusts across the Black Country. Clare was also highly commended in the Individual Achievement of the Year category at the GO Awards which celebrate excellence in public procurement and are referred to as the Oscars of procurement to many in the industry. Clare was delighted with the recognition, she said: “I was thrilled about being nominated for two awards! To be shortlisted was one thing but to win one, and achieve highly commended for the other was amazing.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS She added: “I must also thank all my colleagues as without them, I wouldn’t have been able to make the changes in our Trusts which led my success.” Paul Mellor, Deputy Director of Procurement believes Clare is fully deserving of all her recent accolades. He said: “I can speak on behalf of everyone in procurement in saying how proud we are of Clare. Clare is the is the perfect example of hard work and dedication and winning both these awards couldn’t have happened to a nicer and more deserving person. Well done Clare, you truly deserve it!”

Clare Nash was delighted to be recognised

How can we do better together? A perspective from the third sector CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

By Brian Carr, Chief Executive Officer Birmingham Voluntary Service Council and Mark Davis, Chief Executive Officer, Sandwell Council of Voluntary Organisations

There is nothing more embarrassing than needing to be introduced to someone that you have had an ongoing acquaintance with. We are going to have to swallow our pride and introduce ourselves to you. Many of you know us, but often this is only a partial picture. We are bigger and more diverse than you think. Let’s start with the initials: Voluntary, Community, Faith, Social Enterprise (VCFSE) are all ways of organising people to come together to deliver social change. We range from informal support groups, place-based community organisations, people driven by religious conviction to create social change, organisations structured around places or specific communities to large conditionspecific social care organisations. From your children’s football team to the organisation that helps your patients settle in at home after a stay in hospital, that’s us and that’s us working hard to improve people’s health. When at our strongest it’s impossible to separate the communities we support and who we are. We are built out of the communities of interest, identity and place that created us. Out of the challenges people face, but also out of people’s willingness to get together and make a difference. With this we bring trust, a different kind of reach and a particular way of doing things. Although we focus on data and evidence, more importantly we are committed to organising ourselves around what people want. We occupy a space alongside people that doesn’t involve ‘doing to’ people but does enable them to transform how they live their lives. It’s been over ten years since the Marmot review established the importance of the wider determinants of health: the role that a person’s environment plays in determining how healthy they are. It taught us that good health is largely a result of what happens outside of the NHS. The VCFSE sits squarely in this space, doing what we can to make sure as few people as possible need medical care. In all this time we have been developing new ways of working together, to improve the health of our communities, but never quite cracked it. Our involvement in the new integrated care system (ICS) is the next step on this journey. Within our sector we have always understood that peoples’ lives

Volunteers organise donations for the community are determined both by what we do, what they do but also by what happens to them in that wider network of support that surrounds them. The opening of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital offers a brilliant opportunity to take this forward. A hospital can be so much more than a place to go when people are sick. We see it as partner we can work with to build the health of our communities. The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed us all to our limits, but it has also shown us how connected we are. Never has it been clearer that what happens out in our communities determines what happens within a hospital, and MMUH is a brilliant opportunity to build better health out of a crisis. Our VCFSE sector across Sandwell and West Birmingham is extensive, with well in excess of 2,000 independent community groups, voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises reaching, engaging, involving and supporting people from all places, faiths and backgrounds. Behind this diverse and evergrowing array of community initiatives sit two

organisations which provide an ‘umbrella’ for our sector: Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) and Sandwell Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). These two organisations play a crucial role in helping sector staff and volunteers respond to challenges and opportunities within the local area, nurturing partnerships between organisations, and supporting communities to have a voice on issues that matter to them. To assist local residents, health professionals and other support agencies to access and make the most of local VCFSE support, two important websites have been developed showcasing well over 1,000 local services and activities focused on maintaining and improving health and well-being: www. r2wbirmingham.info in Birmingham and www.route2wellbeing.info in Sandwell. Further information on how to engage and work with the VCFSE Sector can be found at www.bvsc.org (West Birmingham) and www.scvo.info (Sandwell). We look forward to hearing from and working with you.

Nurturing partnerships and supporting communities is a key focus

Mark steps up to be Chief Medical Officer CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

Dr Mark Anderson

at the Trust for over 16 years, and in that time have seen many changes, and worked alongside some fantastically dedicated people. Looking to the future the big highlight and challenge will certainly be the opening of MMUH, but I see my role as leading and inspiring clinicians in many other ways, and hope to share my passion for research, education and safety much more widely.' “I am also focussed on developing our primary care model and want to work closely with our GP partners to provide truly integrated care. My immediate plan will be to get round the organisation to ensure I am aware of all the exceptional work currently going on, and to ensure best practice is pushed out so it is shared widely.

An enthusiastic consultant gastroenterologist has been appointed to be our next Chief Medical Officer, as Dr Mark Anderson takes over the role in September when Dr David Carruthers retires.

“Through my experience of working at the Trust, I already know how special our team and culture is. It is my desire to accommodate positive change where it is needed and I’ll be inviting colleagues to share their ideas of what more we can do to support each other.”

Speaking to Heartbeat Mark said: “It is a great privilege to take on this role for such an engaging organisation. I have worked

Graduating from the University of Cambridge Medical School in 1994, Mark obtained his PhD from the University of Birmingham in

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS 2005 following work on growth factor receptors in oesophageal cancer. He has been a consultant gastroenterologist with us since 2006, having served as clinical lead for the endoscopy units, lead for the upper GI cancer service and clinical director for scheduled care. A deputy medical director since 2019, Mark also serves as Responsible Officer for medical professional standards. Taking the opportunity to thank his predecessor, Mark said, "Thank you to David for his ongoing support and leadership during his four years as Medical Director and for his period as Acting Chief Executive. David took the reigns in a period of where our Trust was amongst the hardest hit in the COVID-19 pandemic and guided us through each ensuing wave. Thank you David."

Her Majesty’s calling Clinical research practitioner Risna Haq has been given a Royal seal of approval – after being recognised in the Queen’s Honours for the Platinum Jubilee. By day she is busy finding new ways in tackling disease but when the lights go out in the office the curtains go up for Risna who is one of the core members of an arts organisation called Purbanat. And it was announced in early June that the group has received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS). Risna, who supports the group by organising events and running them, explained: “We originally started out as a theatre group, doing little productions which were mainly around Bangladeshi culture and language. “We then diversified into celebrating different cultures and did our first event in February 2015 for international Mother Language Day. “This was a huge success, and it was a great way to bring different languages and celebrate them in one event. Since then we have grown in the theatre productions, and the collaborations we have had. We have worked very closely with Sampad Arts at the Midlands Arts Centre on many occasions. “We are involved in projects such as raising awareness in wellbeing, and health in the

Members of the arts organisation Purbanat Asian community of Small Heath and the surroundings.

raise their profile in the Arts world whilst supporting others.”

“The organisation is also setting up a women’s fitness group, where we have a fitness instructor who will be helping with exercise and healthy living.

The Lord-Lieutenant for the West Midlands, John Crabtree OBE said: "These seventeen organisations are all run by volunteers that are dedicated in their support and generous in giving their time to make the communities they serve a much more enriched place to be.

“The group also took part in a walking and sharing group, where we were joined by many people to have a walk and share personal stories. We worked during COVID to raise the awareness of the virus and how to get information from the correct source, especially for our non-English speaking community. We work closely with other cultural organisations in Birmingham to provide a network and a platform allowing them to

"It is volunteers, that make our region such a great place to live and let’s celebrate their incredible recognition, which is fitting for the Platinum Jubilee year." For more information about Purbanat go to www.purbanat.com.

S.C.O.R.E gears up for next cohort CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Young people in our local area have another chance to get involved and learn about how they could find a career as the next cohort for the SCORE programme gets ready to launch SCORE, which stands for Supporting Career Opportunities, Recruitment and Employment, is an ongoing project combining the efforts of our volunteer service, Your Trust Charity and the Aston Villa Foundation all in partnership with The Princes Trust. It aims to engage with long term unemployed people across Birmingham and provide support with training and linkages to work within key growth sectors. A unique work experience pathway to employment, SCORE is a programme specifically designed to inspire young people from a variety of different and diverse backgrounds to enter the health and social care sector. Jointly funded by our Trust and the Prince’s Trust, the programme aims to get people ‘ready for work’ for at least one job role depending on qualifications - multi-skilled discipline (clinical and non-clinical) in vital service areas. These include positions as health care assistants, trainee nurses and many more positions that are still being added across our hospitals, as well as positions supplied by our partners. The first cohort proved very successful, with one member even finding their way into a position on the volunteer team itself as an admin support officer. Sahfa Shafaqat told Heartbeat: “I was part of the score recruitment programme's first cohort. I had a great time on the programme because I was able to learn things that were valuable to me and my future career. “This programme has not only given me both the knowledge and skills to advance my career it has also assisted me in gaining placement experience and helped me get into employment. I was also able to meet some incredible people, especially Eddie Edmead and Liza Gill, who have been highly supportive throughout my time on the program. This is also true of the volunteer service team where I completed my placement and currently work. “I am glad to be a part of this programme and would strongly suggest it to anyone looking for the right experience.”

Admin Support Officer, Sahfa Shafaqat is the latest SCORE candidate to move in to a paid role at our Trust Programme Manager, Liza Gill was also looking providing valuable reflection and analysis to to the future when Heartbeat caught up with her. SCORE being delivered. The focus for cohort 3 has been suggested for engagement with “To date we have supported nine beneficiaries local colleges/universities and providing a from cohort 1 and ten beneficiaries from cohort 2 focused group intake of health care workers, in completing the training eight-week S.C.O.R.E in view to support the Trust and providing programme. The first two cohorts have seen nine them with opportunities of completing the beneficiaries in total get into employment. Those Care Certificate Training or gaining placement that are yet to get into employment are either experience for beneficiaries studying health continuing with further studies or volunteering and social care. at SWB. “We endeavour and await eagerly for great “Regular monthly project steering group result to be achieved following the outcome meetings are run by various clinical and nonsuccesses from the first 2 cohorts.” clinical department heads and members of staff, Our SCORE employability programme could be for you if: •

You are age 16-30 years, an unemployed job seeker who wants to be ‘job ready’ and live in Birmingham

•

You have no formal qualifications, but want to pursue a career in the healthcare sector?

•

You currently volunteer in a healthcare related setting but need retraining and formal qualifications to boost your job chances

•

You have the capacity to participate in 16 hours of development training for 8 weeks which will include: 2 weeks of in-house training, functional skills, IT assessments, real work-based experience on placement with Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospital NHS Trust and an external health and social care service organisation.

Could you place a SCORE candidate in your department? If you have an entry level role which could be undertaken by young person aged 16-30, offering a minimum of 16 hours per week for 3 months, contact the team on swbh.volunteer@nhs.net or phone 0121 507 4855 to find out how you could support the programme.

Get the inside scoop on Midland Met as we celebrate NHS Day Every year we come together to celebrate the NHS’ birthday, and this year is no different. 2022 marks the 74th birthday of our national health service, born in 1948 thanks to Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health at the time.

Midland Met is set to open in 2024 and will bring together specialties and provide a hub for emergency, acute care and maternity services. Proudly serving our diverse communities, our new hospital will be so much #morethanahospital and signifies a change in how we deliver care.

Since 1948 a lot has changed but our ethos to continue to provide good healthcare to all has not. With each new year comes fresh challenges and opportunities to innovate and continue to enhance the services we provide.

It will deliver a unique model of care to improve health in the local area, with patients and their families from Sandwell and West Birmingham set to benefit. Work is already underway to transform our acute care model and embed place based partnerships.

This year as we focus on resetting our strategic objectives and rebuilding our services as we learn to live with COVID-19, we have reason to be optimistic as we fix our sights on the future and a period of restoration. We’ve recently announced a revised opening date for Midland Metropolitan University Hospital which is integral to our strategic ambitions. We will be using 5 July to celebrate our hard-working colleagues and share updates on all things Midland Met. You can use this opportunity to join us for a free ice cream and discover more about our new acute healthcare facility.

We are also investing in high-quality arts, education and heritage programmes to help enhance the experience of our patients. The aspirations for our new hospital reach far beyond providing effective clinical care. We are building a facility for our local communities to use and supporting community regeneration initiatives. Our Winter Garden will have one of the largest art gallery spaces in the region. We are also devising an arts and culture programme and will see a broad mix of content co-created and curated on-site at Midland Met.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS To enjoy your free ice cream and to find out more visit us at these times and locations: Sandwell Hospital from 12-3pm City Hospital from 12-3pm Rowley Regis Hospital from 12 – 1pm Leasowes – 3.30 – 4pm Lyng – 3.30 – 4pm

Be sure to send us any photos enjoying your ice cream to swbh.comms@nhs.net.

Free parking for carers of end of life patients The Trust has recently made the decision to provide free parking for carers of patients approaching the end of their life. At SWB, we believe that acts of kindness can go a long way to shaping experiences, particularly when going through times of distress. For the loved ones of patients in their final days of life at SWB, we want kindness and compassion to be their daily experience. This starts from the moment they park their car at our sites which is why we as an organisation we have committed to providing free car parking to people in this position across our Sandwell, City and Rowley hospital sites. Free car parking is available for visitors to SWB if there has been an unexpected death in the emergency department, as well as visitors for people in their last days of life or if attending for long periods of time and/or assisting with the care needs of the patient, thus supporting our nursing colleagues. Anna Lock, Palliative Medicine Consultant believes free parking for carers of end of life patients will help ease stress. Sharing her thoughts she

Free parking for carers of end of life patients said, “If we at SWB can help minimise the stress and worries for carers of end of patients we must do all we can to do this, which even includes making parking easier for those people. Something as simple as free parking can communicate the message, ‘we care.’” Mike Blaber, Locum Consultant in Palliative Medicine echoes these thoughts: “The final days of a loved one will always be remembered by those closest to them. I

think it is our duty as care provider to positively influence the experience wherever possible, as even the little things can make a big difference.” Don’t miss the opportunity to play your part in promoting this offer. For more information on how you can make this provision available for the people you are caring for, please visit https://connect2. swbh.nhs.uk/palliative-care/car-parkingfor-visitors/.

SWB puts emergency planning to the test CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘Failure to prepare is preparing to fail’. The saying couldn’t be more relevant for our teams across SWB and the wider NHS. As a healthcare provider, we must plan for and be able to respond to a wide range of incidents and emergencies that could affect health or patient care. Examples of incidents could be extreme weather conditions, a transport accident or a terrorist act. Within the NHS, this area of work is called emergency preparedness resilience and response (EPRR). Given that we could face unknown threats at any time, we have a team in place that oversee this crucial piece of work. Their role ensures we have the right plans in place to respond to or manage incidents. Plus, they work with teams to ensure their business continuity plans are in place

and that they stand up to the pressures critical incidents would potentially place on our organisation and services.

respond. Clinical colleagues used the emergo train system to triage and treat patients within their teams.

Plans such as these are not unique to the NHS. The emergency services, local authority departments, fire service, police and voluntary organisations also have plans to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Caroline Rennalls, Assistant Director of Operations and Resilience Management, explained: “Holding these sessions was essential as it enabled us to test drive all of our plans and processes. Putting our theory to the test is vital as we need to be able to stand up to any potential threats.

With the Commonwealth Games on the horizon, we recently held two mock emergency planning sessions involving clinical and operational colleagues from frontline teams to our executive team. Both sessions were part of NHS planning activity and focused on terror threats, but each had a different focus. The first session took place in April. The purpose of this session was to test emergency plans, our command and control arrangements and how we performed our roles and executed our responsibilities, including handling press queries. Our second session in May had a clinical focus, and teams dealt with a trauma threat. The session aimed to build on our existing knowledge and identify gaps in how we

Colleagues put their emergency plans in to practice

“All colleagues are asked to familiarise themselves with their business continuity plans. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email swbh.EPRRAdmin@nhs.net.” If you are unsure what you should do in the event of a major incident, please speak to your line manager as a priority. The Trust has comprehensive plans in place for major incidents which are updated, checked and tested by the groups they relate to. It is everyone’s individual responsibility to know what they should do in the event of an emergency.

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 – Security Team Sandwell

To – Haroon Akhtar

To – Ward Services Sandwell

I would like to send a HUGE shout out the Security Team at Sandwell for the way they handled an incident at Main Reception at Sandwell Hospital. Swift response and Very Professional. Well done to Gurvinder and the Team.

Haroon attended x-ray to replace an old pc, whilst he was here he noticed other equipment needed replacing and sorted it out on the same day. We're now much better equipped, really brilliant service, thank you

Showing great commitment to Health and Safety by adopting short term additional measures to ensure staff remain safe at work when normal practice is out of use! It was refreshing to see this approach adopted so quickly!

From – Mark Lee

From – Cheryl Dickson

From – Simon Morley

To – Pam Khasirya

To – Meera Seniaray

Thank you Pam for always helping us and exceeding the expectations of your role to us. we don't know what we would do without you. Thank you

I just want to say as a colleague I am so proud of Meera. She came into this service as a newbie on the specialist community public health nurse course and since we qualified she has demonstrated absolute dedication to her work. She goes above and beyond for her clients and they clearly have trust in her to share their worries with her when she has been to support them. I feel Meera works really hard to ensure the best interest of the child is priority and she has recently made a big difference to one young person in particular and I didn't want this to go unrecognised. Keep up the amazing work Meera, you are an awesome school nurse.

From – Sonia Bal

To – Eleanor Stokes Eleanor has gone above and beyond to support me on my placement. She has given her time, shared knowledge and been supportive as such a stressful time. Providing me with extra resources and great opportunities of additional learning. Also she has helped to build my confidence and challenged me to grow as I transition to becoming a nurse. She loves student and it definitely show . Absolute credit to her team and department. From – Detriece Francis

To – Jennifer Law Jenny is a Health Visitor in the Whiteheath Health Visiting Team. Jenny recently shared a case study at the Tackling Neglect Sub Group and we received feedback commenting on the fantastic support Jenny provided to a family and excellent multi agency working ensuring the best outcome for the child. Jenny always goes above and beyond to support the families she works with and this case study highlighted this further. Well done Jenny and Thank you! From – Kayleigh Hill

From – Alysha Davis

Mia supported and guided me patiently with some computer awareness, she definitely went the extra mile and I am so grateful. A huge thank you to Mia for all her support From – Jenny Oliver

To – Adam Draper A huge thank you to Adam and post room colleagues in helping find a solution to a complex problem to get patient letters out. I'd been sat with this for over 2 months. Adam and 2 other colleagues then went over and above to take an extra 5mins with me to get the envelopes ready to send. Huge thank you gents! From – Rebecca Gilman

To – Sherralea Madhoo A massive shout-out to Sherralea the (CNP) for going above and beyond. Thank you so much for your rapid response in making a fast and accurate clinical decision for a patient during an emergency where you controlled a very stressful situation. Due to your compassion, empathy, dedication and hard work in your role, we want you to be recognised by expressing our appreciation. Keep up the good work , well done and huge thank you! Sister Maureen Smith and Tony From – Sister Maureen Smith and Tony

To – Juliet Sweeney Amazing feedback from a neonates course she attending which involved follow-up work: Your background information and observation records were well documented. The summary profiles were full of description and information which enabled me to get an accurate ‘picture’ of how the baby responded to the NBO session. Good to see excellent use of the AMOR headings. So much easier to understand and organise. Well done! From – Kay Baker

To – Terrie Holder

For her amazing work and continued support within the Palliative Care Team. Absolutely amazing nurse who supports patients to the fullest.

Terrie has helped and supported me to open SDU back up and support all of the junior staff on the ward - After a long 2 years of not being day case!! She has shown me the day to day working of SDU and pointed me in the right direction as I am very new to SDU myself. She has shown great initiative and been a massive help. Thank you Terrie!!

From – Palliative Care Hub

From – Jenna O'Connor

To – Charlie Brookes

To – Mia Geddis

To – Staff on Ward D27 The vaccination team visited the ward today to offer the spring booster vaccination to patients. the spring boosters to patients in hospital. They found the staff very friendly and helpful, the atmosphere was lovely and it was very obvious that all the staff on the ward were going a extra mile From – Joy Haywood

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Celebrating our stars of the week

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

CORPORATE CORPORATEAND ANDGENERAL GENERAL NEWS NEWS

Sarah is new to both the ward manager role and the Trust but has joined us with lots drive and positivity. In the short time she has been in the role she has provided support and motivation to the team. She has taken the safety huddle concept and introduced a key message under structed headings. These happen every day including weekends and they include wellbeing Wednesday, feedback Friday and safety Sunday which all add an additional element to promote colleague wellbeing with relevant governance information and safer patient care standards.

Star of the Week Sarah Clarke , Senior Sister

In two months her team have become empowered to communicate better, smile and laugh with the patients and positively accept incidents happen and address these with action and resolve.

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

New and improved look for our catering outlets Colleagues across the Trust will be enjoying coffee breaks and lunch in refurbished retail units thanks to a recent investment in our retained estate. Food and beverage facilities at Sandwell, City and Rowley have seen a revamp to ensure they are fit for purpose going forward.

flow both from a customer and catering perspective. The improved design of the unit's flow benefits customers and catering colleagues, the aesthetics of the counters are significantly improved promoting a professional image with a clear focus on customer service. “OPD Sandwell was originally the RVS that

The coffee shop in the main reception at Sandwell has been expanded and improved and is now able to offer hot snacks along with a greater selection of cold items that can now displayed in the new chilled display counter units. With the refreshed unit now having improved customer flow and providing a more welcoming, customer focused space. The new improvements are a definite hit with customers with feedback showing an improved customer experience. Sharing the news of the refurbishments Trust catering manager Jane Owen, she said, “ The BTC unit started life as a 'Coffee Pod' and over time grew to include and offer a selection of hot and cold food and beverage items. There were a number of add on counter units that didn't match or

Catering Sandwell Coffeeshop

moved to the inhouse catering team some years ago, the unit remained unchanged with limited space and equipment contributing to a restricted range of food and beverages items. The new design has improved space utilisation with enhanced hot and cold counter display to enable us to offer a greater selection of food and beverage items.”

Plans are a-brewing as NHS Big Tea makes a return The NHS’s birthday is on the horizon yet again, our 74th if you are keeping count- and we certainly are. That also means it’ll soon be time to dust off your mugs (if they need dusting) and prepare for a bit of a do as NHS gears up for its annual celebration the NHS Big Tea on Tuesday 5 July.

programme as part of the Trust’s art in hospital strategy. This has brought together artists, children and young people from 13 local schools, and our Trust clinicians to create high quality art, which will eventually be showcased in our new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, currently under construction.

Yes, if you’ve got the tea party bug following the recent jubilee activities there’s another very good excuse for a sequel.

“This year, we’d encourage our local community to host their own events and fundraisers for Your Trust Charity on 5 July. This could be something as simple as a running a cake sale, a dress down day, doing a run or cycle challenge, or even dyeing your hair!”

Led by NHS Charities Together, the NHS Big Tea brings the nation together to not just celebrate the birthday of the NHS but give thanks to its workforce and raise some cash to for good causes. And with COVID measures now on the backburner it’s hoped that more than ever will raise a cup of char in celebration of the health service and raise money for Your Trust Charity, the registered charity of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust. “We are proud to be a part of this annual event where our community can celebrate their local NHS Trust and the hard work that our dedicated staff do for our population,” Head of Your Trust Charity, Johnny Shah told Heartbeat. “The funds we raised last year from our fundraisers including the Big Tea helped us to make a real difference for so many people. This includes running pop-up wellbeing hubs for staff across our sites and setting up a volunteer befriending service for our patients living with and beyond cancer. “We have also been able to support our community through our ‘Inside Outside’

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS “The effects of the pandemic are still being felt even as the NHS and the country now looks to recover and rebuild, so the continued support of local communities remains as vital as it is hugely appreciated.” If you would be interested in organising a big tea event in or out of the hospital please email trustcharity@nhs.net.

NHS Charities Together hopes to make the event the biggest NHS Big Tea to date, with a collective fundraising target of over £775,000. This will include donations from corporate sponsors including the headline sponsor Morrisons, who supported the campaign by raising £250,000 last year and will be urging their customers and staff to take part once again.

How can you help?

“No one in the country has been untouched by the events of the last two years,” NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard told media in response to the campaign’s launch.“ NHS staff along with our wonderful volunteers, workers who kept our shops and public services running and those who kept schools and offices open across the country are no exception.

•

Trust Charity Office, Corridor A, Trinity House Ground Floor, Sandwell, 9am - 10.30am, Tuesday 5 July

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Charity/volunteer hub opposite Arches café, main spine ground floor, City, 9am - 10.30am, Thursday 7 July

“The NHS Big Tea is an excellent opportunity for communities to come together and pay tribute to brilliant staff and volunteers, who have gone above and beyond during the pandemic to keep us and our loved ones safe.

If you are a budding baker or a master chef who wants to share their bakes, cakes and treats with colleagues, we would love for you to support our charity by donating some of your creations. You can deliver these to us at either:

If you’d like to make, bake and donate, please email trustcharity@nhs.net or call 0121 507 5196 to book in your delivery.

Calling everyone who plays a role in research

By Jilly Croasdale, Head of Radiopharmacy and Associate Director Healthcare Science

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS OK, so Nurses, Midwives, Allied Health Professionals, Healthcare Scientists, Pharmacy staff, and Psychologists (NMAHPPS) Research Group is a bit of a mouthful, and it’s not immediately obvious what it’s all about! To be honest, the group has considered if the name should change, but decided to stick with it. The reason for this is that it’s a term used in other organisations and it does include pretty much all our non-medical colleagues (we hope!) What we’re trying to do is help advance our research capability as an organisation. We have some great people working here and want to build on this. We want patients to feel that our organisation is a place where research happens, that it’s a forward looking place which seeks to continually improve the care we deliver and is able to offer the most up to date technologies. We want it to be normal to be asked about research! As a group of non-medical staff, we have focused on this staff group, but it’s important not fall into the trap of working in isolation, reinventing the wheel, or even worse, developing contradictory strategies. Our overall aim is for our organisation as a whole to become known as a place where good research happens, so we must all work together. However, we feel there is disparity in the amount of research carried out by our different staff groups, and lots of potential to develop it further for all of them. For example, Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) make up a third of the NHS workforce with over 65,500 qualified staff and 13,500 support staff registered in 2018 (NHS Digital, 2018). However, whilst early career medics have access to clinical academic training programmes and 6% of the medical workforce is made up of clinical academic positions, this number drops to 0.1% for non-medical staff, and nonmedical professionals do play a vital role in the delivery of high quality, patient centred clinical research (2018-2020 NIHR Clinical Research Network AHP Strategy). At an organisational level, health and social care organisations that engage in high quality and person-centred research activity have demonstrated higher rates of patient satisfaction, reduced mortality,

Jilly Croasdale, Head of Radiopharmacy and Associate Director Healthcare Science improved CQC performance and improved organisational efficiency. At a departmental level, a strong research culture is associated with reduced staff turnover and better translation of evidence into practice. At an individual level, it is recognised that research activity can lead to increased perception of skills and confidence in practice and improved job satisfaction. When you put it like that, why wouldn’t you want to maximise your research capability?! So, what are we doing about it? As a starting point, we are currently conducting a survey as a benchmarking exercise to see where we stand at the moment. If you haven’t seen the link in the daily communications bulletin, then please have a look at the link below. The survey only takes about 10 minutes to complete and we are interested in any level of research you are doing – this could range

from presenting posters at conferences right up to running clinical trials. We’re interested in it all. This survey has been designed to help us understand how any non-medical healthcare professional within SWB currently play an active role with research. Once we have the data, we intend to use it to help developed a research strategy, to look at providing research training and research opportunities within SWB as we look to develop a more formalised approach to non-medical research within the trust. Although the survey is aimed at nonmedical colleagues, the strategy will need to be Trust strategy. We really hope you will help us to develop this. We all want to provide the best treatment to our patients. And to do this, we need research. Link for survey: https://www. smartsurvey.co.uk/s/NMAHPPS/

Clinical Audit Awareness Week – Celebrating audit heroes CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS There was a national ‘Clinical Audit Heroes’ competition running throughout #CAAW22, which gave us an opportunity to celebrate our local audit heroes:

In June (13th-17th 2022) our trust participated in the national Clinical Audit Awareness Week (#CAAW22). The week runs every year and is used to promote the benefits of clinical audit as a quality improvement tool and as an excellent platform to shine a light on brilliant audit activity happening locally. Clinical audits enable us to clearly define what standards of practice we should be achieving, then comparing what practice we actually deliver against these standards. This provides us with great opportunities for learning, including sharing elements of great practice, and identifying where we can improve patient care. We all know that “Quality Improvement Methodology” is a big talking point at the moment, but did you know that clinical audit is arguably “the original” quality improvement method used in healthcare?

Anita Kaur used clinical audit methodology to improve understanding of and access to Hypo boxes, which helped improve patient safety for diabetes patients Catherine Beatty and her team improved the referral process for audiology assessments for patients with hearing loss from childhood meningitis, meaning patients could receive the appropriate treatment in a timely manner. Corrine DaCosta ran a clinical audit on the neonatal unit which helped improve compliance with the Lullaby Trust standards for safer sleeping, which reduces the risk of sudden incident death syndrome. Corrine received a commendation in the ‘Patient Safety’ category of the national ‘Clinical Audit Heroes’ competition.

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved with clinical audit and other elements of the clinical effectiveness portfolio, such To find out more about Clinical Audit as NICE, clinical guidelines and learning Awareness Week, Heartbeat caught up from deaths, so the clinical effectiveness with Head of Clinical Effectiveness Rebecca team would love to hear from you! If you Kershaw, she said, “Quality, safety and would like support or want to share a clinical delivering improvements to patient care are effectiveness achievement, send an email to of the utmost importance at our Trust and swbh.auditteam-clineffec@nhs.net or reach the Clinical Audit Awareness Week gives out to one of the team. You can also visit our us an opportunity to promote the benefits Connect page, where we have a range of of Clinical Audit as a Quality Improvement online resources to support with clinical audit, tool and celebrate SWB successes across the service evaluation and quality improvement wider organisation.”

Denise Owen led a project that aimed to make the CQC domains more accessible and establish a review practice that could be embedded into practice. By creating an electronic tool and using clinical audit methodologies, Denise has influenced a change in culture around our approach to reviewing practice in line with CQC standards, which ultimately provides us with more opportunities to know where we can improve patient care. Denise won the ‘Best Speaker’ award when she presented her work at the national ‘Clinical Audit for Improvement’ healthcare conference earlier this year. Roanna Burgess was nominated as the SWB ‘Future-proofing healthcare audit hero’ following a project she completed which used technology to increase the return of patient reported outcome and experience measures (PROMS & PREMS) and make this data more accessible to clinicians in order to inform clinical decisions and improve patient care. You may have seen that it was Roanna’s poster that won the 2021 weLearn QI Poster competition. projects, including upcoming clinical effectiveness training dates (https:// connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/governance/ clinical-effectiveness). Thank you to everyone who engaged with #CAAW22. The clinical effectiveness team (Tina Hipkiss, Bahadur Dehar, Lauren Homer, Amelia Roberts and Tahmena Karim) would like to send special thanks to library and knowledge services, the Catering team and the trust volunteers as your help during CAAW22 was invaluable.

As part of Clinical Audit Awareness week, the Clinical Effectiveness team reached out across the organisation to share their message

Our road to Midland Met

Phase one - transformation planning ACM

Development of the ACM model and support development of Midland Met business case.

Gateway Date

April 2022

Finance

Consolidate financial plans into budgets.

Gateway Date

Work

May 2022

Workforce modellin induction, and on

Gatew

Augus

Commissio

Establish clinica operational move

Gateway Da

November 2

Visit our Midland Met pages on Connect - connect2.swbh.nhs.uk/mmuh • Email any questions to swbh.mmuh@nhs.net • Contact your clinical/operational leads for more information. 16

Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

Communications and engagement

Develop communication and engagement plan

kforce

Gateway Date

ng and recruitment, nboarding planning

September 2022

way Date

st 2022 5.

Develop SMART hospital opportunities.

Gateway Date

November 2022

8. Phase One Complete

oning

al and e group.

ate

2022

Decommissioning

Up next – Phase two Testing and getting ready

Develop decommissioning plan for retained estate at City and Sandwell

Gateway Date

December 2022 17

World Sickle Cell Day puts condition under the microscope MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE Sunday June 19 marked World Sickle Cell Day, a United Nation’s recognised day to raise awareness of the disease across the world. Sickle cell disease is the name for a group of inherited health conditions that affect the red blood cells. The most serious type is called sickle cell anaemia and the disease is particularly common in people with an African or Caribbean family background, being passed on genetically. Sickle cell disorders cause your normally round and flexible blood cells to become stiff and sickle shaped, stopping the blood cells, and the oxygen they carry, from being able to move freely around the body and causing pain. This can cause episodes of severe pain. These painful episodes are referred to as ‘sickle cell crisis’. They are treated with strong painkillers such as morphine to control the pain. People with sickle cell are also at risk of complications such as stroke, acute chest

syndrome, blindness, bone damage and more

“It’s still early days but the feedback has been great. For a long, long time we Over time people with sickle cell can haven’t had any new therapies for patients experience damage to organs such as the liver, with sickle cell disease, and so it’s really kidney, lungs, heart and spleen. Death can good that there’s something new we can also result from complications of the disorder. potentially use going forward that will help Treatment of sickle cell mostly focuses on make things even better for patients.” preventing and treating complications. The day also has an educational focus, On Friday 17th the SCaT team at City Hospital as despite being a common disorder, played host to the Trust’s own promotions many have no knowledge or awareness about awareness. Speaking to Heartbeat, of it. Sickle cell sufferer Jessica Uche told Specialist Registrar in Haematology Dr Heartbeat that the condition has often Sandeep Potluri said: caused her issues as she goes through her daily life. “One of the commonest blood disorders we deal with is sickle cell disease, it’s the “My usual symptoms are pains in my fastest growing genetic disease in the UK. joints, such as my wrists and my knees We offer a full range of treatment: acute and ankles – they’re usually the places complications such as pain management, it that get affected. From time to time even can be a very painful disease and we do our my chest. Most people, when I reveal I’ve best to minimise this. But we also work to got sickle cell don’t know what it is or prevent issues happening in the future, to have even heard of it before, so I have to see what we can do to prevent a crisis or the educate them on the subject, for example complications that patients often have.” what it is and how to aid someone with it. It’s really important to raise awareness, Along with standard treatments a “new as though we’ve progressed as a society in and exciting” monoclonal therapy has also terms of healthcare, more needs to be done been rolled out to patients recently, which, although not long in circulation has shown in around understanding the disease so more awareness is out there amongst health early tests to be beneficial in reducing issues professionals and members of the public.” including episodes.

SCaT team at City Hospital mark World Sickle Cell Day

Myeloma in 2022, what has changed? CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Recently Dr Wandroo was invited to give lectures on the subcontinent on the latest developments in myeloma. He has previously given lectures overseas, including in Kashmir and Mumbai in India and Lahore in Pakistan. He has delivered seminars on managing cancer in underdeveloped countries in India and in April 2022, Dr Wandroo presented to 22 countries at a myeloma symposium organised by the Mumbai Group of Haematologists. Dr Wandroo told us: “Since 2000, a lot of research has helped us improve the survival rate of this disease to an average of seven years with the discovery of new drugs. New drugs are available in the UK, and more new drugs, continue to become available. An update at a recent European conference shows new therapies like CAR-T and Bi-specific antibodies to be a game changer. These will be soon be available in the UK.

Dr Farooq Wandroo – Consultant Haematologist It’s not every day that you exchange your knowledge across continents, but Dr Farooq Wandroo, Consultant in Haematology, recently did just that, so we caught up with him to find out more. Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer which accounts for 15 per cent of all blood cancers and 0.2 per cent of all cancers in the UK. About 5,500 patients are diagnosed each year, mainly affecting people 65+, although it does affect younger patients. It’s precursor form called MGUS is prevalent in up to 5 per cent of the UK population over 60, particularly in those from AfroCaribbean backgrounds. At SWB, we diagnose one case of myeloma nearly every week. One of the main problems of myeloma is its late diagnosis. Dr Wandroo explained: “A survey published by the Myeloma UK charity shows that it takes up to four visits to a GP before a myeloma diagnosis is confirmed. Often, it may take six months or more and

many people present as emergencies in our hospitals with the complications of kidney failure, fractures or paralysis. If detected early, we can prevent complications, helping patients live longer. “There is a need to create more awareness among clinicians, particularly in primary care. Main clinical symptoms include non-improving backache, bone pains, fatigue, anaemia, and recurrent infections. Clinicians should investigate all patients with anaemia or mild kidney failure for myeloma by sending them for simple tests called serum immunoglobulin assay.” Dr Wandroo has an interest in myeloma research and clinical trials. He runs several national and commercial clinical trials at SWB and is keen to use new drugs. He is involved in creating awareness by delivering nationwide talks in primary care. He has also created a Midland Metropolitan University Hospital myeloma patient forum with the help of cancer services and Myeloma UK to support patients.

“I am keen to share my knowledge in the UK and with other countries that may not benefit from the same level of investment in research as we do. Here in the UK, I give updates on myeloma to my colleagues and trainees in the West Midlands and have been creating awareness videos with specialist nurses and giving talks to patient groups since 2018. I’m an active member of the West Midlands Research Consortium and have published my myeloma experience through this group.” Dr Wandroo added: “This is what I am passionate about, and I urge all patients to participate in new clinical trials so we can use research to help find a cure. Plus, I ask my fellow clinicians, nurses and healthcare professionals to familiarise themselves with the basics about myeloma so that collectively we can help more patients.” To keep up to date with the latest updates from Dr Wandroo, you can follow him on Twitter at @FWANDROO. You can also find out more about myeloma at www.myeloma.org.uk.

New support programme in elderly care welcomes our international nurses MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE Moving to a new job can be a stressful and challenging time for most people, understanding the new processes, pathways and guidelines amongst the baffling array of clinical systems, but even more so if you have just moved across the world in to this new role. This is the challenge that many of the international nurses who joined our Trust faced recently, until a new ‘wrap around training and support’ programme rolled out on elderly care wards. Sharing the news of the new support programme Matron Jo Thomas spoke to Heartbeat, she said, “Moving to a new job can be quite stressful as it takes a while to learn the new processes, how things work and to find your feet in a new place. Our wards can be incredibly busy and whilst all of our staff are willing to help, we’re often left in a situation where there is such a demand on our staff from patients, we can sometimes forget that the new staff need a little more help and support to settle in to

their new roles. This is why we came up with the ‘wrap around training’ programme. “It’s important to remember that elderly care is a challenging specialty and across each of the wards the way we carry our certain tasks does differ, but the insight we are gaining from our new staff we’re now able to begin to normalise our processes across the wards and adopt standardised approaches that we can document and train our new staff on as they join the department.” “To welcome our new international nurses in to elderly care we decided we would hold a week of team building and development sessions, these would give our new colleagues an opportunity to get to know others in the department without the stress of balancing clinical duties. The programme consisted of a one hour session from each of our Trust specialties, such as the frailty intervention team, tissue viability team, professional development nurses where the new nurses had an opportunity to understand in depth how or organisation operates. “And to keep the sessions a little more fun, we included opportunities for team building with mini competitions with prizes which we hoped would help build relationships throughout the team.”

“To complete the programme, each of the international nurses has been partnered with a mentor and have chosen a quality improvement project to take on which they can work on, develop and have the opportunity to present to the matron, ward managers and deputy group director of nursing in September.” Taking part in the programme was Staff Nurse, Ruth Gurung who had joined elderly care in March this year, she said, “The wrap around training programme has been really helpful in supporting each of us to understand how this Trust works and to really become part of the team. Although we each understand the roles and duties we undertake, it’s the processes and how things are done here in particular that can be quite challenging to understand until you have done them a couple of times. The wards are always busy and you really don’t want to be constantly asking questions and distracting people from caring for patients so this has been really helpful.” To find out more about the wrap around training that is being offered to colleagues in elderly care, contact Matron Jo Thomas on email: Joanne.thomas7@nhs.net

Elderly care Matron, Jo Thomas (centre), alongside Staff Nurse Anastasia Mnoneke (left) and Staff Nurse, Ruth Gurung (right)

Sepsis specialist role to help reduce preventable deaths Sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection is the second commonest cause of death in UK, second only to cardiovascular disease. At SWB we have taken the decision to appoint a sepsis specialist who can contribute to reducing the number of deaths caused by the condition.

MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE with key stakeholders across the organisation to enhance the sepsis pathway for our patients, promoting prompt recognition and early management. A key component of my role is obtaining feedback from colleagues, acknowledging good practice and understanding and actioning any barriers that impact on the delivery of the sepsis 6 care bundle.

Heartbeat caught up with Dr Chizo Agwu, Deputy Medical Director who explained: “A national report reveals an overall sepsis related mortality rate in England of 28.9 per cent. In our organisation every week approximately 175 patients are diagnosed with sepsis. “Sepsis is one of the most common causes of death here at SWB and research has shown that prompt recognition and early management does save lives.” In a hospital setting, all adult patients that have an early warning score (NEWS) more than or equal to 5 should be screened for sepsis and those patients with ‘sepsis 6 red flag alert’ (NEWS of more than or equal to 5, an infection and also ONE of the RED flags) should have sepsis 6 care bundle administered within one hour. However,

Stephanie Coates audit results show a lack of consistency in delivery of the sepsis 6 care bundle. Stephanie Coates, Lead Nurse for Sepsis and Vascular Access is on a six-month secondment to support colleagues by delivering ward based training and promoting early recognition and management of sepsis. She told Heartbeat: “This is an exciting opportunity for me to work collaboratively

“During my secondment I plan to review and develop the educational programmes to enhance knowledge and compliance with the sepsis and blood culture pathway to reduce risk of contamination. I am currently working with the improvement team and key stakeholders to reduce inconsistencies in care and improve unity processes.” For further information you can contact Stephanie by emailing stephanie.coates@nhs.net

Trust receives Heartworks and POCUS simulator worth £75,000 SWB have been gifted a Heartworks and POCUS (point of care ultrasound) simulator courtesy of Intelligent Ultrasound after a successful submission to Health Education England. The submission was put together by both Sarb Clare, Deputy Medical Director and Acute Physician and Jilly Croasdale, Head of Radiopharmacy Department and Associate Director Healthcare Science and resulted in the Trust being gifted a Heartworks and POCUS simulator worth over £75,000. The innovate and state of the art simulator will play a key role in educating and training up our clinicians who practice POCUS to echocardiographers who provide detailed scanning for our patients. Sarb was delighted to hear the joint bid she had put together with Jilly was a success and said: "I am so over the moon we were successful in our bid. It feels like Christmas has come early for us! “This simulator will enable us to teach

to diagnose COVID-19 as well as recognise the sequelae of this virus." Jilly echoes these thoughts and said: "I am so pleased and excited as this will support the training of so many of our staff as this is such an invaluable piece of kit." Dr Zubair Rahim Cardiology and General Internal Medicine Trainee recently spent some time with the ultrasound simulator and is currently progressing with his Level 2 BSE (British Society Echocardiography) accreditation. Heartworks and POCUS Simulator colleagues who are starting in their ultrasound training journey to those who are established to provide consolidation and enable assessments which are mandated for many of the national accreditation pathways. “COVID-19 has halted training and education and we have a lot of ground to make up, but this equipment will provide us opportunity to teach during COVID surges and it even has a specific COVID module on lung and heart which is critical for clinicians

When asked about his initial thoughts on the equipment he said: "The simulator is very impressive and will allow me as a trainee to understand anatomy as you change the probe position. This is key for me to understand why I may be getting suboptimal images. This will be essential in my training and I am really looking forward to using this alongside my echo training with patients." If you are keen to use and spend some time with the simulator and find out more, please email dawn.ebanks@nhs.net.

New funding to improve access to maternity services “We found that many women from our BAME community were not accessing pregnancy care from an early stage and we want to address this issue.

WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH Maternity colleagues have secured a £17,000 grant to fund a pilot project encouraging more expectant parents to access services early. Staff working at seven Sandwell Councilrun children’s centres have been specially trained to help expectant parents to fill out a referral form ensuring they receive the right care from the start of their pregnancy journey. The project, a partnership with the council, is being led by Afrah Muflihi, equality, diversity and inclusion midwife. She recognised an issue with women accessing care early, especially those from the black, minority and ethnic community.

Still of childrens centres animation As well as assisting with referrals, they will also give women brief pregnancy-related health information. Afrah said: “This will introduce families to universal services form the very start of their pregnancy. It aims to add an additional supported pathway for our most vulnerable families and will not replace our current pathways such as GP referrals and electronic self-referrals.

“We hope by having the extra support from the Sandwell Council’s children’s centres we will be able to ensure that we deliver the right care from the very start of their journey.” A number of foreign language animations have been produced so that it can be shared in various communities amplifying the message about the service and the importance of seeking help early. For further information on the project please email afrah.muflihi@nhs.net.

Say hello to Flo – a text messaging service for parents The infant feeding team has introduced a new information text messaging service for expectant parents and those who have recently had a baby. The service called Flo sends useful tips around safer sleep for babies, breastfeeding and building a loving relationship. Friendly reassuring texts are sent throughout the pregnancy from 28 weeks until the baby has arrived. Once the baby is born, parents can sign up to continue to receive useful information. Louise Thompson, Infant Feeding Team Coordinator, said: “Being a new mum can be wonderful, but also overwhelming at times. This service helps parents before their is born and when they arrive by sending useful tips, videos and information on building a relationship with your baby, how to tell if your baby is feeding well and safer sleep. “They can sign up to it by asking their midwife to register their number. It doesn’t cost the parents anything and they won’t be charged if they reply to the number. Flo is used in a number of other maternity services in NHS Trust’s and has proved popular with parents. “It is delivering information to them in an accessible way.”

Adesola Ogunsakin has been receiving antenatal care at our Trust and has praised the staff for their great work

D18 gets day case dental and oral surgery flowing SURGICAL SERVICES utilisation of Windmill theatres. During COVID-19 a high proportion of surgery was relocated to Sandwell, the opening of D18 is helping us get surgery at City Hospital back on track. “The opening of D18 has offered us an increased bed base of 6 patients and we are now facilitating three theatre lists per week from 7:30am through to 7pm Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. “The ward was able to be opened quite quickly thanks to the hard work and determination of colleagues, all pulled together with the support of our nurses, matrons and colleagues in estates and support services. The ward is single sex, so we need to thank our booking team too who are taking on the challenge of planning our lists. D18 ward is back open and supporting day case surgery

During the COVID-19 pandemic, amongst a whole host of changes brought in to help manage the influx of patients and the overwhelming demand was sweeping changes to surgery. Whilst staff from theatres moved to support acutely unwell patients in critical care, surgical patients found their procedures rescheduled or relocated. However, the recent opening of

D18 is setting the standard for getting things back on track. D18 ward at City Hospital was recently brought back online and opened to dental and oral surgery patients in our care. Heartbeat caught up with Deputy Group Director of Nursing, Kelly Papavarnava to find out more.

“With the new ward operational, we’ll start to see surgical specialties begin to make progress on their targets and waiting lists and the increased availability means improved choice for patients, they can choose the hospital they want their procedure to take place at.” For more information on the changes to D18, contact Kelly Papavarnava on kelly.papavarnava@nhs.net

She said, “D18 recently reopened to support day case surgery and is currently helping us increase

Cardiac rehab online is key to patient’s success PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES AND THERAPIES A teenage heart and kidney transplant patient commended our cardiac rehab team for their online exercise class which has helped her to walk again. Courtney Price, aged 17, underwent a gruelling 12-hour operation in July last year and was left struggling to walk. But thanks to Exercise Physiologist, Jake O’Brien based at City Hospital, she is now up and about and able to leave the house. Courtney, from West Bromwich, said: “When I came round after the operation I couldn’t walk. As I started to recover, getting around still wasn’t easy and I could barely get around the house, let alone go outside. I would get very tired. “I started Jake’s classes a few months later and the recovery was amazing. He was so considerate and was constantly making sure I was ok throughout. “When I began, I could just about do 10 minutes, now I’m able to do the entire 30 minute class and am much stronger than before. But most of all it’s given me my freedom back.

“I love going shopping and have really missed it. But I can get round Primark now without any problems.” Courtney was diagnosed with a rare kidney condition called MPGN Type 2, a disease that affects the filters of the kidneys. Unfortunately, her body rejected the transplanted kidney soon after her operation. She is due to undergo another transplant in the future. Her mum Lorraine, 47, who is her full-time carer, said: “The way that Jake and the team have cared for Courtney has been brilliant. Having these online sessions have helped immensely and have really improved her health and fitness. “Courtney is still on dialysis, so we have to be careful. It’s so important she builds up her strength and we can’t thank Jake enough for what he has done for her. Courtney has missed out on so much over the past year – her prom, spending time with her school friends. It’s been hard. So for her to be able to get out and about again has been good for her both mentally and physically.” Jake said: “Courtney has been under the care of the cardiac rehabilitation team for the last six months. During this time, we have all been inspired by her progress and her transformation

Courtney and her mum Lorraine have commended the cardiac rehab team

which has been achieved by her bravery, motivation and sheer determination. “We focused the exercise prescription primarily on functional movement to ensure Courtney could return to her usual daily activities as quickly and safely as possible. “She is due to have a further kidney transplant and our plan is to continue to build up Courtney’s fitness even further in preparation for this, as higher functional capacity has been linked to reduced recovery time following major surgery. “Our cardiac rehabilitation team is multidisciplinary consisting of cardiac nurse specialists, exercise physiologists and cardiac rehabilitation assistants. We see patients with a wide range of cardiac conditions some of whom may have multiple co-morbidities. “We not only provide the exercise component of cardiac rehabilitation, the cardiac nurse specialists also lead the post MI clinics, cardiology pre-admission clinics and also cardiac device clinics. Now that we have returned to the cardiac rehab gym at City Hospital, we look forward to welcoming more of our patients to the department for their rehabilitation.”

Free lung health checks coming to Sandwell PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES AND THERAPIES From summer 2022, our Trust will be offering people who are aged between 55 and 74, who smoke or used to smoke and have a Sandwell GP, a free NHS lung health check. Run by specially-trained nurses, lung health checks aim to find out how well the lungs are working in a patient fitting the criteria. The Trust is part of a phased campaign by NHS England/Improvement introducing the checks. The service has been introduced in a handful of other areas across the country and has been successful in early detection of cancer in smokers and ex-smokers. Steve Nelson, project manager, said: “This is a really important service which could save lives. It’s all about detecting any problems early and ensuring treatment is given quickly so that the person can enjoy a good quality of life. “This is a service for our Sandwell population at the moment and we’re keen to spread the word so that those who do receive an invite for a lung health check take up this offer. Colleagues should be aware of the campaign so that if they do know of people who fit the criteria they can reassure them share the importance of the checks.”

Why is it important to look after your lungs? Your lungs work hard every day so you can breathe and they don’t get much rest. They carry oxygen from the air into your blood and release carbon dioxide from your blood into the air. Your body’s cells need this oxygen to work properly. Your lungs have a natural defence system to keep out dirt and germs but several things can damage this, meaning they can’t do their job as well. There are lots of things that you can do to look after your lungs, which are just as important if you already have a lung condition, including: • Being more active • Eating a balanced diet • Stopping smoking • Making sure you have all your vaccinations if you are over 65 years old or have a long term condition • Knowing the warning signs and symptoms of lung conditions including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) and lung cancer. It’s also important to be able to spot when things might not quite be right. A persistent cough can be an early warning sign of lung disease. Other symptoms to look out for are feeling more breathless, wheezing, losing weight, coughing up blood or noticing chest pain. Don’t ignore or dismiss these symptoms; go and speak to your GP.

Those eligible they will be sent a letter inviting them to make a lung health check appointment which will take place over the phone and last around 20 minutes. They’ll be asked some questions about their breathing and overall health and they’ll have time to talk to the nurse about any concerns they may have. They may be offered an appointment to have a CT scan for further investigation. This will take place in a COVID-safe mobile unit at a convenient location such as a supermarket carpark or a community centre across Sandwell making it as easy as possible for them to attend. A lung health check can give the patient the reassurance that their lungs are healthy or can help find problems early – often before they notice anything is wrong. If a problem with their breathing or lungs is found early, treatment could be simpler and more successful. For more information about the project go to www.swbh.nhs.uk/lung-healthchecks

An animation has been created to explain more information about lung health checks

Flagship integrated health and social care facility opening in September PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES AND THERAPIES Harvest View - Sandwell Council’s new flagship integrated health and social care facility - is almost complete and is due to open in a few months. The centre is a first of its kind for Sandwell providing on-site specialist support from health and social care staff, to get people back home after a hospital visit or for people who need some structured support to avoid a hospital stay altogether. Matron for Primary Care Community and Therapies, Palwinder Grewal commented: “I'm looking forward to being involved and provide my nursing skills and expertise in setting up a brandnew integrated care centre. It is an exciting opportunity for us and for the population of Sandwell.” The 80-bed centre will offer short stays to patients who need to maintain their independence following a hospital stay or crisis at home. Residents will experience better care and lower lengths of stay in hospital or in a community bed, and staff

Colleagues at Harvest View celebrate at construction nears completion at flagship health and social care facility will benefit from working in a joined-up way that promotes better mutual understanding of roles as well as challenges and opportunities to improve care. Residents will leave the centre with a care plan that meets their whole needs, including maintaining social connectedness to their community. Visiting the site at the end of June, Heartbeat was impressed with the design and

particularly inviting landscaped gardens which offer a glorious opportunity to pause and enjoy nature whilst appreciating the elevated views of the surrounding countryside. Located a short distance from Rowley Regis Hospital, Harvest View is a great example of collaborative working and what we can achieve for the good of our population when we work closely together with our social care partners.

Proud to provide high quality imaging services at the Commonwealth Games IMAGING By Aoife Murphy, Senior CT & MRI Radiographer

I currently work as a senior radiographer in CT and MRI, where I undertake scans using cutting edge technology to assist the diagnosis of patients at our trust. I recently completed an MSc in Radiography and undertook fundraising for Midland Met through the crane zip wire fundraising event. I also enjoy playing sport, particularly a sport called Camogie which I hold All-Ireland and All-England medals. I applied to volunteer as a radiographer at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022 because it combines my passion for radiography and sport! There is also a thrill and excitement of being part of an historic sporting event right at my doorstep. The Commonwealth Games will be the biggest in the UK for a decade and the largest sporting event ever held in the West Midlands. I will work as part of the Commonwealth Collective which includes medical volunteers. Medical staff will be essential

to support world class athletes perform at their best during the games. I will be providing high quality imaging services throughout the period of the games at one of the three polyclinics equipped with MRI, ultrasound and x-ray facilities. I will be working alongside highly experienced sports medicine clinicians many of whom have worked at the highest levels in team and international sport. 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.

Radiology leading way in artificial intelligence Three years ago, Group Director of Imaging Dr Sarah Yusuf realised that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in radiology had the potential to transform how we care for our patients and report results following imaging. AI is becoming more common in healthcare and our Trust is doing some exciting work in this field of research. Sarah said: “Our radiology team has been working with IBM, our imaging system provider who have developed their Watson artificial intelligence system, they wanted a European partner to validate their CR3 AI program, which looked at reported chest x-rays and CTs, to ensure that six pre-identified findings were correctly reported. “My colleague Dr John Morlese and I, with the support of Physicist, Bahadar Bhatia, with the support of IT thanks to Martin Sadler, undertook this validation process. We sent 13,000 images to the AI algorithm and reviewed all cases where the algorithms felt the radiologist had missed the finding. “Reassuringly, our radiology reporting error rate is remarkably low, 0.7% in the study, which is well below the RCR threshold for acceptable levels of errors. “Some of the issues with the algorithm related to its inability to recognise the different ways in which radiologist described lesions, and so our feedback provided data to allow tweaking of the neurolinguistic component of the

Sarah Yusuf

software and a new version 3.3 is now available commercially. We have forged a close relationship with IBM and are looking forward to working on future algorithms that characterise lesions in prostate & liver MRIs' Martin Sadler, Executive Director of IT and Digital added: “The results of our tests have been extremely positive, firstly we have shown that we have skilled and effective radiologists, which we already knew really, but also we have trained the artificial intelligence system to be as accurate on a variety of studies. “The three years of work have also been complemented and supported by the steady improvement in IT services allowing us to be able to innovate – we have moved all our imaging services into the cloud, ensuring that we now have a reliable and resilient infrastructure that can grow with us.” Sarah added: “We are confident that there will be tangible benefits to patient care as a result of our work and investment in AI, particularly in helping identify high and low risk studies, to prioritise them and to manage workload. Our initial findings are currently being finalised and we intend to publish them. “AI learns from the data with which it is presented, these systems are incredibly skilled at pattern matching and detecting things that could otherwise be overlooked. We are hoping that both staff and patients will soon be able to

IMAGING reap the benefits of AI, supporting us to improve accuracy and reporting times. The accuracy, understandings and speed of a focussed AI system that has a good dataset is unmatched. “We continue to explore other ways in which AI can help us in the Trust and are grateful for colleagues within imaging and informatics who are working to ensure we get this right for patients. We are particularly delighted to have Bahadar on board, he has been deeply involved in the progress and has pioneered a number of other studies looking into a variety of image related Artificial Intelligence.” Earlier this year, the team hosted a conference for IBM at Sandwell Hospital aimed at raising awareness and attracting external funding. Sarah and Martin have also attended various healthcare forums to showcase the initial findings of the study, explain the IT journey that is required to support AI activity and discuss our organisation’s AI ambitions. For further information contact Martin Sadler on martin.sadler1@nhs.net or Sarah Yusuf on sarah.yusuf@nhs.net

Martin Sadler

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

Memorial bench in remembrance of Tony Ross takes its rightful place outside BMEC Thanks to the contributions of colleagues across the Trust, a memorial bench to celebrate the life of Tony Ross has been place outside the Birmingham Midland Eye Centre. The bench gives colleagues the opportunity to sit in the sunshine and take in a moment of calmness, perfectly fitting in the memory of Tony. Tony sadly passed away after a short illness in 2021. Known to many as ‘Mr Tone’ Tony worked at SWB for over three decades and was an invaluable member of the medical engineering team for the last 26 years. He was known to many for his calmness, professionalism, and his willingness to help others alongside his

Tony Ross

Tony's Memorial Bench

loveable sense of humour. He lived life to the full and enjoyed riding his motorbikes. Tony will be sorely missed by all that knew him at SWB, especially his friends and colleagues

in the medical engineering department. He may be gone, but he will never be forgotten.

Kelly Hard Head of Research and Development This month we say hello to a new face at the Trust in Kelly Hard who has taken up the role of Head of Research and Development.

Over the last 12 months Kelly has been on secondment to the Clinical Research Network West Midlands as their deputy chief operating officer but has now joined us.

Though new to SWB, Kelly has 18 years of experience in NHS Research where she spent the majority of her time in research management but has been involved in varied disease speciality areas including mental health, neuropsychiatry, reproductive health and childbirth.

When asked about why she decided to join SWB and what she is most looking forward to she said, “I wanted a new challenge in terms of job opportunity and this Trust seemed to really understand the need for research within the organisation to enable services to better serve our communities.”

“I started my career at Office for National Statistics undertaking work looking at the national minimum wage,” said Kelly.

She added; “In this role I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity to share and spread the enthusiasm and passion for research and seeing the outcomes of the research we are able to offer our communities.”

“I then joined the regional chronic fatigue syndrome service as a research assistant working on grant applications, engaging with patients and public, evaluating patient outcomes and listening to their needs of the service. I then later worked on delivery of national trials with the mental health research network recruiting and following patients through the trials, undertaking assessments which was followed by a move to Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital as head of research and development.”

Outside of work Kelly has three young children and a dog. In addition to this she currently holds the position of vice chair of governors for her children’s local primary school, volunteers as a chaperone for her local dance school and plays a key role in her local church community with fundraising events. If you see Kelly in and around the Trust, be sure to say hello and give her a warm welcome!

Kelly Hard

Wave goodbye to… This month we say au revoir to a colleague who leaves SWB after 20 years and has been the only paediatrics orthopaedic surgeon in the Trust since 2008! Siten Roy, qualified as an orthopaedic surgeon in India and worked in Oman for a few years before moving to the UK in 1996. On arrival in the UK, he was a shoulder fellow in Stanmore before joining a training rotation in Manchester and Leeds. He told Heartbeat: “I also did my knee fellowship in Droitwich and then worked in Dudley for two years before joining Sandwell as a consultant in 2002. I was drawn to Sandwell because of diversity, team working and the excellent opportunities to develop.” Initially, Siten did all types of electives and trauma surgery, but later specialised in hip, knee and paediatrics before taking on managerial positions. Reflecting on his journey into management Siten added: “In 2008 I had the opportunity to work with GPs to streamline the referral system and in 2012, I was delighted to be appointed clinical director of T&O. “Doing my master’s in healthcare leadership was one of the best decisions of my leadership career though very challenging too due to the time commitment. On completion I was able to join the West Midlands Leadership Board on which I served for five years from 2015. At that time, I had taken on the role of clinical director

Siten Roy T&O Consultant, Group Director, Surgical Services

in theatres and eventually became group director in 2018.” Siten says the last 20 years have been truly fulfilling for him and he has overseen many changes. “One major change is the participation of clinicians in management and leadership,” he said. “Nowadays junior doctors are very focussed, informed and involved in leading the changes. I have also seen a growing sense of openness, equality and transparency. “It is good to see a huge push towards education, training and research. Leadership development opportunities have also increased, though I think this will need even more focus now. “In some ways the pandemic has brought colleagues closer, created some real options to change the system and has brought staff wellbeing to everyone's attention.” Siten has enjoyed working with junior doctors, instigating changes in the leadership training at junior level, mentoring colleagues into management roles, participating in advanced clinical practitioner development within paediatrics and interacting with the Board. He said: “The most satisfying and enjoyable part has been working with colleagues from every clinical area. My last four years as group director were both exceptionally busy and challenging, but also hugely rewarding; and probably the best part of my leadership career. This is one area I will miss the most in coming years.”

Commenting on Siten’s influence on the Trust, David Carruthers, Chief Medical Officer said: “Siten has made a fantastic contribution to the Trust over the years he has worked here both as an orthopaedic surgeon, with special interest and expertise in paediatric surgery, and then as a leader within the surgery group. He brings a calm and considered approach to the developments and challenges that are faced within the group, and it has been my pleasure to work with him over the last five years. He retires leaving the group in a strong position, ready for the service to develop further in preparation for the move to MMUH and system working within the Black Country. “ We asked Siten what he plans to do with his newfound free time. He told us: “I will carry on with my paediatrics clinical practice for at least a year. I will also continue to do my management work for another few months, until my successor is in place. “I hope to find more time to give back to my community and my garden may also see more of me now! Now there are less restrictions, travelling is also on the cards. “I would like to thank all my orthopaedics colleagues, management teams and the execs for their constant support, wise advice and encouragement throughout these 20 years. I wish everybody the best.” We wish you the best too Siten. Good luck for the future!

Siten Roy

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 Transporting parcels between sites Dear Heartbeat, My team, alongside many others has happily been using the staff shuttle to move small packages and documents between sites where they’re needed at short notice. So I was a little surprised recently when I was told that the shuttle would only take envelopes no larger than an A4 and that transport should be booked. Sustainability means saving resources, so why book transport for small packages when we already have shuttles moving between sites every 30 minutes. I can completely understand that we should be using internal post and booked transport primarily, but when we’re working to tight deadlines, having to be agile and responsive, added delays in booking transport and overnight postal runs adds considerable delays, especially when the package in question is reasonably small. It would be great if the Trust could be a little more understanding and reinstate the rule of ‘reasonable use’ we have enjoyed in the past to allow small packages and parcels to be placed on the shuttle. It will mean we reduce our impact on the environment, cut down our turnaround times and ensure we remain a sustainability focussed organisation. Anon Dear Colleague, Thank you for writing in with your concerns, we agree that we should be doing everything in our power to support sustainability. The recent investment and improvements to our fleet of Trust vehicles is a proud reminder of our drive to be environmentally friendly but it’s important that we share our reasoning for the recent changes in transport rules. The most important reason why we do not allow boxes on the shuttle bus is that the staff shuttles are only designed for passengers, and not cargo, boxes unfortunately cannot be secured and therefore remain a danger to the driver and passengers.

We also have the issue of the packages going uncollected, with limited information on them regarding their destination and who is collecting. Often these include expensive pieces of equipment which remain unclaimed and returned to the depot at the end of the day. A considerable amount still yet to be claimed to this day. It important that colleagues understand that we do have a dedicated general transport service, who have access vehicles designed to transport cargo and who have structured processes on collection and delivery, ensuring that your packages are safely and securely transported between sites. The general transport service operates on a similar schedule to the shuttle buses, the only difference is that the GTS drivers will collect from the Ward/ Department and deliver to the Ward/ Department. Colleagues who would like to book a delivery can contact the service on ext. 3869 and select option 4. Kind regards Trish Kehoe Directorate General Manager, Transport Services

Are we owed a day? Dear Heartbeat, Back in the autumn last year we were told by our manager that the Trust had agreed to give everyone a ‘Gift day’. This was day had to be booked by end of the year. So we all booked this day off for when it suited us. Round February time we were told we need to pay this day back as not all colleagues were able to take this day back, we had until end of March to do this. We as a team did not know what to do as this mean working 8—6 to pay the hours back. On top of everything else this was added stress and we cannot understand why a ‘Gift day’ was given to be taken back off us. Please can someone make some sort of sense out this Many thanks Anon

Dear Colleague, Thank you for your letter. As you know, all colleagues were encouraged to take their annual leave by the end of March 2022, and there were arrangements in place for those who, mainly for reasons created by the pandemic, were unable to do so. The Trust has not provided an additional annual leave day to our staff which is I believe what you refer to as a "gift day". It was one of the things that was suggested but we didn't agree to take this forward, as we recognised that so many people were already struggling to take their existing annual leave allowance and it therefore wouldn't be equitable. We instead decided to put that funding towards additional health and wellbeing support that included funding team time-outs to support recovery, additional wellbeing hubs and investing in staff rest room facilities. These upgrades are now scheduled to help improve the spaces where you can take a break. I am sorry that you were incorrectly informed about an additional leave day. If you would like some further advice on this issue please contact our HR team for support. Kind regards Frieza Mahmood Chief People Officer

Richard talks about: Our People Plan: To cultivate and sustain happy, productive and engaged staff Richard Beeken, Chief Executive

RICHARD'S LAST WORD You should by now all be familiar with our Trust’s new five year strategy, in particular our three strategic objectives: Patients: To be good or outstanding at everything we do. People: To cultivate and sustain happy, productive and engaged staff. Population: To work seamlessly with partners to improve lives. To find out more about our new strategy look at last month’s Heartbeat centrespread.

6. Choice Freedom to choose

5. Meaning Shared purpose

This month I want to focus on our Trust People Plan, which is what we are going to focus on to improve your working lives and support your wellbeing. This Trust has a strong track record of award-winning health and wellbeing services. We have also made concerted efforts to improve the things that get you down (access to parking being a key issue that we have managed to resolve!). But we know that there are three things that influence how happy people are at work. These are: the organisation’s culture, the tools and technologies to do the job, and a working environment to be proud of (J. Morgan 2017). Respondents to the national NHS staff survey from our Trust, as well as the quarterly Pulse survey that was introduced during 2021, tell us that our culture could be better. We should have consistent, fair recruitment for all roles and give all colleagues support in pursuing opportunities to develop their careers. We also need to ensure that we celebrate our diversity and are inclusive to all, regardless of disabilities, gender, race and background. Our Trust People Plan aims to address and improve staff experience and has been developed within the context that is all too familiar to all of us, that of an NHS that has significant recruitment and retention challenges linked to the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Creating a just, learning culture The people create the culture. Grounded in evidence-based practice, our five year People Plan seeks to improve organisational culture through the lens of six key domains: • Physical Safety • Psychological Safety • Equity • Camaraderie • Meaning • Choice

1. Physical Safety - Free from harm

Happy, productive, and engaged staff.

4. Camaraderie supportive and friendly colleagues

Our working environment

2. Psychological Safety encouraged to share concerns

3. Equity and Fairness Treated fairly

Our focus in the first year of the strategy is to develop a leadership culture that improves fairness, equity and inclusion. There are a number of elements that will support this: • The development of our new values and associated behavioural framework. • Our new equality, diversity and inclusion strategy that includes some high impact actions to be taken on recruitment practices and employee relations processes. • Signing up to the RACE Code (Reporting, Action, Composition and Education) and associated activities to improve race equality and tackle discrimination. •

Our Trust has a really exciting programme of development across our estate. We will be opening a new hospital, the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, for acute and emergency care. Even though you may not be working out of this new facility, much of the retained estate has had the opportunity for some redevelopment and there are other capital updates planned over the next five years. For those services moving there, the new environment will transform how care is delivered, within a brand new, purposebuilt facility. We have heard from colleagues that access to good quality rest room areas is really important and we have committed substantial funds to get improvements made, with a schedule of areas identified for some sprucing up. How we are doing on achieving our People objective including recruitment and retention, sickness absence and responses to speak up issues? The most important measure, however, is what you tell us through the staff surveys that are regularly carried out during the year. Please ensure you have your say to share how you feel, what we do well here, and what more we could do to cultivate and sustain happy, productive and engaged staff.

Improved visibility on how to speak up and ensure that people are encouraged and feel safe and supported to raise concerns

• A leadership development framework that includes an updated programme for managers, delivered in a new way. •

Streamlining workforce processes.

Having the right tools to do the job We have implemented a new electronic patient record that covers many of our service areas and was designed to create more time to care. We know that there is more we can do to optimise usage of all our clinical systems, including Unity, so that those benefits of time saving can be fully realised. The Trust’s digital plan, which you will learn more about in due course, will also address other aspects that support improvements in patient care, efficiency and technology to improve your day-to-day work.

Richard outside the new multi-storey car park at Sandwell Hospital Different measures will be used to track how we are doing on achieving our People objective including recruitment and retention, sickness absence and responses to speak up issues. The most important measure, however, is what you tell us through the staff surveys that are regularly carried out during the year. Please ensure you have your say to share how you feel, what we do well here, and what more we could do to cultivate and sustain happy, productive and engaged staff.

‘Abundance’ art installation opens at City Hospital YOUR TRUST CHARITY

Abundance opened on the 25 June and will be available until 3 September from 10am – 6pm daily.

 @SWBHCharity To donate to the Your Trust Charity text “SWBH16 £5” to 70070 The Commonwealth Games are just around the corner, and we’re getting into the swing of things with the launch of Abundance.

Johnny Shah, Head of Your Trust Charity, explained: “We were introduced to Spectra Arts via the Arts and Wellbeing Manager at Sense, who is part of our quarterly arts committee. We partnered with Spectra to support them to apply for funding to the Birmingham Nature 2022 fund and they successfully secured funding for this project.

For those of you onsite at City Hospital, you may have already seen a glimpse of the garden space unfolding as arts and community groups have worked together to create a garden play space that celebrates nature in an urban setting.

“This project is also supported by Creative Black Country, who also sit on our arts committee. This collaborative approach has meant that we have been able to develop something quite unique in the middle of a busy, urban area as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.”

Your Trust Charity is supporting this project and investing in arts, education and heritage programmes as part of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, which is currently under construction.

Ruth Wilkin, Communications Director, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to see Abundance launch at City Hospital. Seeing families and friends enjoying the space that has been created especially for us was a joy to see.

Abundance is just one of the projects the Trust will support to enrich local communities. Everyone is welcome to visit and enjoy the space.

“The team at Spectra have done wonders with the space which is a real asset to the Trust estate, and we look forward to welcoming staff, patients and other visitors to the site. I would especially urge colleagues to take the time to enjoy the space on their breaks and enjoy the great outdoors. It will be great to see how this space grows over summer and we hope you all take a moment where you can to enjoy the space.”

If you are onsite, feel free to enjoy the space and have a moment in the calm surroundings. The hope is that the garden will flourish and grow over the summer.

June 2022 staff lottery results 1st £163.25

2nd £97.95

3rd £65.30

Gemma Charles

Patricia Jackson

Jody Stubbs

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.