Heartbeat March 2022

March 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 151

r S A W RDS A

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

In this edition we announce the opening of nominations for our annual Star Awards ceremony. In October this year we’ll be celebrating those who go above and beyond in true carnival style, so get your thinking caps on and put a nomination in for your star colleagues. We also introduce our cultural ambassadors, the ‘Get Involved’ membership scheme, and a reminder of on the move from LAMP to lateral flow testing for COVID-19 to help keep everyone safe.

Enjoy 

Contact us Communications Team

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

Published by Communications Team Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

Designed by Medical Illustration, Graphics Team Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

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

 Ext 5303  swbh.comms@nhs.net Stay updated We send out a Communications Bulletin via email every day and you can now read Heartbeat articles throughout the month on Connect.

Don't forget you can follow us on:

Sir David talks about…seizing the once in a lifetime opportunity to transform care The development of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital is the kind of event that will usually only happen once if at all in a person’s career in healthcare. The new hospital is a game changer in how we deliver care and will create a fantastic environment for patients that we can all be proud of.

One of the main reasons I took on the role to become your Trust Chair was to help contribute to the opening of this wonderful hospital.

But, of course, MMUH is not just about a shiny new building for acute care. We are after all #morethanahospital. MMUH is a whole scale transformation on how care is delivered. It will only work if we get the right support in place for people at home.

That means transformation within our community and primary care services, as they develop innovative new ways of working across sectors and organisations, to provide a network of care, wrapped around people at home. Services in the community are where we should expect to see the biggest transformation.

The MMUH programme is, of course, complex. Balfour Beatty are building a truly unique hospital facility. The design is innovative and based around key principles of a building that impacts lightly on the environment, that supports patients to be independent, and that breaks down barriers between NHS institutions and the communities we serve.

MMUH has, too, had more than its fair share of delays and disruption, with the collapse of our first contractor, a redesigned financial model, a new construction partner, altered cladding requirements and a global pandemic.

Yet, despite all this, the building itself is in really good shape. Work has continued to progress at pace; wards, departments and rooms are being completed and signed off to the required standards; and we can begin to see the positive impact the hospital will have on its patients and all those who visit or work there.

In March and April the Trust Board has the opportunity to review in detail the clinical pathways and associated workforce and financial requirements. The nearer we get to opening, the more precise we can be about these plans that take account of the changes in relation to COVID-19, plus the new roles and innovation that we can adopt to make sure our services are at the forefront of a modern NHS. We have the benefit of additional expertise from the national new hospital programme

team. That team have been working alongside ourselves and Balfour Beatty to review the construction programme and to set out a realistic forward view to inform our plans. Once their work is completed we will be able to share our opening date with confidence. Our focus must remain on getting ready for a move in May 2023. We cannot be the reasons for any delay.

We are truly fortunate to have this brand new hospital that will open in the very near future. It is a once in a lifetime development that will change how we deliver care for millions of people for generations to come. MMUH has the full support of the government, the national NHS team and of course, this Trust Board. Whatever is needed to complete and open the building will be provided. Of this, you should have no doubt.

Your Trust Board will continue to support the Trust teams in ensuring that the building progresses at pace and that we carry on refining our plans so that, come opening day, we are ready to make the most of this new opportunity, transforming care for all within our local communities.

Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE, Chair

r S A W RDS A

Each year we host an awards ceremony to highlight and recognise those who go above and beyond within their roles here at their Trust and for our patients. Our 2022 Star Awards ceremony will take place on 7 October in true carnival style.

Nominations open on Monday 4 April, so get thinking about those colleagues who have gone above and beyond this year, been part of something extra special or made a positive difference to the way we work or the quality of care our patients receive. We’ve refined the award categories slightly and have also extended the number of shortlisted nominees that go through to final judging from three to four. Do you know someone who is worthy of a Star Award? Be sure to put in a nomination.

You can make your nomination from 4 April via the link on the front of Connect. Here are the award categories for this year:

1 .Employee of the Year

Nominations open 4 April 7. Distinguished Service Award

An individual or team who has worked above and beyond the call of duty in their service to the Trust. This could be a current employee or someone who has left during the previous year.

8. Prize for transformation and research

This award is presented to an individual or team that has introduced a transformation or participated in research activity that has made substantial improvements to services or systems and processes, resulting in the improvement of patient experience and outcomes.

9. Patient Safety Award

This award is presented to an individual or team exhibiting best practice in providing safe care, who has openly raised awareness of safety issues, championed transparency or introduced new ways of working to a service or treatment that has improved patient safety.

A SWB employee who has an excellent attitude to work, colleagues and patients and has repeatedly gone beyond the call of duty. This could include someone who has made improvements to the delivery of services or the patient experience, who has provided services to education and training or who consistently demonstrates the Trust’s values.

10. Learner of the year

2. Clinical Team of the Year

11. Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

A team that has provided consistent, high-quality care whilst meeting financial and operational targets, demonstrating best practice or driving forward improvements in patient care or has pulled together through particularly difficult circumstances.

3. Non-Clinical Team of the Year

A team with consistently excellent performance whilst meeting financial and operational targets, demonstrating best practice or a team that has introduced a change in approach resulting in improvements to financial or operational performance or has pulled together through particularly difficult circumstances.

4. Rising Star of the Year

A rising star who has held some leadership or management responsibility for at least a year and who has demonstrated outstanding ability, talent, communications skills and leadership, showing great promise for the future.

5. Volunteer of the Year

An individual who has made a significant impact to our Trust whilst volunteering. A person who has shown selflessness and determination to support the people around them.

6. Partnerships with the Community Award

An individual or a team (internal or external) who by their hard work, dedication and example, have made a significant difference to patients, public and our population.

Awarded to an individual who can demonstrate the impact training has had on themselves, their team and their service.

This is open to all staff and could include, for example, completing an apprenticeship, a course or a post grad/ leadership programme or university module.

An individual or team that has demonstrated engagement internally or externally with a minority group or diverse groups from the Sandwell and West Birmingham community to deliver improved services for colleagues, patients or carers.

12. Quality of Care Award (nominated by patients, visitors & carers) We want to hear about colleagues or teams you think provide excellent quality care, producing improved outcomes for patients and their loved ones.

13 .Sustainability Award

Awarded to an individual or team that has made simple changes to demonstrate their commitment to good environmental, social and ethical practices to reduce our environmental impact. They will have made changes within their area of work and how they work. This could include ensuring we work with partners and suppliers that share the SWB ethos of sustainability. Even small changes can make a big impact.

If you have any questions about the 2022 Star Awards or submitting a nomination, contact the communications team at swbh.comms@nhs.net

#SWBawards22

3

Vaccination as a condition of deployment dropped COVID-19 The planned government mandate which was set to make COVID-19 vaccinations a condition of deployment for frontline colleagues has been dropped in a last-minute U turn by the government.

Vaccination as a condition of deployment was introduced for care home staff in October 2021 and was set to be extended to include all frontline patient facing NHS and social care colleagues from April 2022.

However, in light of COVID-19 hospital admissions reducing and the gradual reduction in COVID-19 rules and regulations, the rule change was deferred and returned to public consultation through February.

Over a two week period, colleagues in the

NHS and members of the public were given the opportunity to respond to the consultation and share their thoughts and concerns.

With over 90,000 responses logged and over 4,000 nurses taking the time to respond, the overwhelming majority voted against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. Of the 4,345 registered nurse respondents, 79 per cent said they wanted the mandate revoked, one per cent did not mind and 20 per cent wanted it enforced. Likewise, the public voted overwhelmingly against the mandate being with 96 per cent wanting the mandate dropped.

Sharing her thoughts on the decision to remove Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment, Chief Nurse Mel Roberts said: “Whilst clinical evidence shows that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, we understand that colleagues should always be given the choice of whether they would like to be vaccinated. The revocation of this law means that colleagues can once again return to focussing on delivering clinical care.

“Our vaccination drive continues across our Trust for both colleagues, patients and the public and we would urge everyone to look at the clinical evidence, make an informed choice and if unsure, speak to colleagues in occupational health who are happy to provide unbiased advice.”

If you would like more info information on the COVID-19 vaccination, you can speak to colleagues in occupational health on ext. 3306.

The vaccination hubs are still open daily at City and Tipton, no appointment necessary, just drop in.

Here are the latest opening hours: Tipton Sports Academy Vaccination Centre (*walk-ins)

City, Sheldon Block (*walk-ins)

8am - 7pm (*6pm)

8am - 7pm (*6pm)

Testing is key – How do you know you don’t have COVID-19?

Over the past two years one thing we have learnt whilst dealing with COVID-19 is that you can have the virus, be infected and be contagious – all whilst showing very little to absolutely no symptoms. Without suspecting anything, you could be passing around something that could easily kill those around you. But how do we live a normal life, be able to treat our patients and manage the risk? – regular testing is the key.

Whilst government rules and regulations may be being relaxed and community infections continue to fluctuate, we have to remember that we work in an environment that has both COVID-19 positive people attending, and those that are most vulnerable to infection under the same roof. Testing is key to ensure that we do not transmit infection between these groups.

Until recently, we encouraged all colleagues to test weekly for COVID-19 by submitting a saliva sample for LAMP testing. Whilst this test is highly effective, it still required colleagues to attend the

4

site, deposit a sample and await a result.

However, we have now moved to lateral flow testing and are requesting all colleagues complete a lateral flow test at home twice a week before they come in. Colleagues should also ensure they are reporting their results online using the Trusts reporting form which can be found on Connect, myConnect or in staff communications.

Sharing her thoughts on the changes to testing practices, Chief Nurse Mel Roberts said: “Testing is key to us managing the infection in the long term. We know that asymptomatic infection is prevalent, so we are now asking colleagues to commit to testing twice a week using lateral flows at home, before they attend site. This means that they will have a result within 30 minutes, and crucially they are able to isolate and prevent transmission immediately should they test positive.”

Colleagues can order tests online through the government websites to either have them delivered to their home or collect from a community location and are required to upload their results to the Trust COVID-19 lateral flow reporting system.

QR code for Ordering Lat Flow kits: https://bit.ly/360nocN

QR code for Reporting results: https://bit.ly/3MXteMP

Sandwell vaccination site marks one-year anniversary Our flagship Sandwell vaccination centre has delivered more than 140,000 lifesaving COVID-19 jabs in its first year.

Tipton Sports Academy has played an instrumental role in the vaccine roll out, administering first, second and booster doses, and is Sandwell’s largest and busiest vaccination centre.

Louise Brown, Clinical and Operations Lead said: “What a year it’s been since the vaccination centre opened its doors. I am immensely proud of our brilliant staff and volunteers – many are of whom have been with us since day one and dedicated to their role.

“A great deal of work went into setting the site up as a vaccination hub last year and it was really important to us that vaccines were available locally and in a convenient location for members of the public to access.”

Accessibility has been an ongoing theme at the centre, and the team has offered a variety of specialised clinics to help make the process more comfortable. These include a learning disability clinic, women-only sessions and a language interpreter clinic including British Sign Language. There have also been sessions for faith groups and health and social care workers.

More recently, the site has transformed an area into a mini toy town to help cater to young children, which includes colourful shop fronts, road markings, a treasure hunt and toys.

Nena Mason, Clinical Lead at the centre, said: “I don’t think any of us thought we’d be here for a year. It’s been an amazing journey, right from setting up the centre, to catering for each of the cohorts. We started with protecting adults, then moved onto 12-17 year-olds and are now vaccinating those aged five to 11. It really has been a journey.

“Everyone at the site, wants to thank those from around the Sandwell borough who have come forward and had their vaccine with us.”

Sally Roberts, Chief Nursing Officer for NHS Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group and Local Vaccination Programme Lead, said: “Having Tipton Sports Academy on board has undoubtedly made a significant impact on the number of jabs we’ve been able to deliver across the area.

“I’d like to thank everyone involved including Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust and Sandwell Council, as well as everyone that has come forward for their vaccinations so far.

COVID-19 “Our offer of a vaccine is evergreen and I strongly encourage anyone who is due a dose to come forward. It’s never too late, your vaccine is waiting for you whether it’s for your first dose, second dose or booster.”

Children aged 12 and over and all adults are eligible to receive a first dose. Second doses are currently available for people aged 12 to 17 who had their first dose twelve weeks ago, and anyone over the age of 18 who had their first dose eight weeks ago.

All adults over 18 who had their second dose three months ago are eligible for their booster jab. Children aged five to 11 who have a qualifying health condition or live with someone who is immunocompromised, are also being invited to receive a single reduced dose.

Tipton Sports Academy offers COVID-19 vaccines seven days a week, Monday to Sunday, with walk-in appointments available.

Appointments can also be booked online via the National Booking System or by calling 119.

Some members of the vaccination team at Tipton Sports Academy

5

Vaccination hub transformed into mini toy town for youngsters COVID-19

“Neither of them cried and they happily carried on afterwards exploring the area. It really is a credit to the staff – not only have they created this area, but they are friendly and professional.”

The vaccination centre recently underwent an observational learning visit by NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI) and was praised for its good practice.

Part of the Tipton vaccination hub has been transformed into a mini “toy town” as it starts welcoming eligible 5-11 year-olds for their COVID-19 jab.

Nena Mason, Clinical Lead at the site, explained more: “The drawings were completed by several different colleagues, but the idea came from Kayleigh Beardsmore one of our vaccinators.

Colleagues working for the Trust have created “Vaccination Street” at Tipton Sports Academy with the area boasting colourful shop fronts, road markings, a treasure hunt and toys for the youngsters attending.

“The games and other distraction techniques were my idea. The first two parents who visited the site with their children were amazed with the whole process and felt we had got it right as their kids were nervous before coming to be vaccinated.

Mel Roberts, Chief Nursing Officer, added: “It was great to see the centre called out for the way it is operating by NHSEI and the recent transformation creating a children’s area really does amplify further the good work the staff are doing.

It aims to put clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) young patients who attend the clinic, at ease.

“The treasure hunt, which starts as soon as they arrive in the building, helped distract the youngsters whilst walking through the centre.

Six cubicles have been decorated by both clinical and admin teams at the centre who worked together, discussing their ideas to create the artwork. There are also games and a treasure hunt for the young children to take part in when they arrive.

“Ensuring they are calm before the actual “We’d like to thank colleagues for their vaccination is a big plus. The kids themselves amazing artwork and help in creating such a were smiling and laughing all through the process colourful and bright space.” as we made it fun.

The parents of youngsters who are eligible are “Afterwards the children wait 15 minutes being contacted directly by the clinic’s staff to following their jab, they are able to play with offer them an appointment, available between games thus creating a fun atmosphere rather 3-6pm Monday to Friday and 8am-6pm on than a clinical one.” weekends.

Daisy Cutler was brought to the centre, in Wednesbury Oak Road, by her mum. The seven-year-old is registered as disabled and both her parents decided they wanted to protect her against the virus.

“The space looks incredible and will certainly help the children attending to relax whilst having their jab.

“Walking into a clinical environment like a large vaccination clinic can be a daunting experience especially if you are a child, so we hope this will really help.

“I thought the experience was really child friendly,” said Samantha Cutler, from Cradley Heath. “The staff made a point of making us feel welcome and distracting Daisy. I think she’s actually enjoyed coming in and having her injection.

“Initially when we received a letter that she was eligible we were a little apprehensive, but both my husband and I are triple jabbed and decided that it would be right for Daisy to be protected too.

“The whole experience has been positive and child-centred which is important.

I think she probably won’t have much hesitation when we come back for the second jab.”

Marc Tandy, aged 36, took his two children Cleo, aged five and Aston, aged 11, to the centre for their first dose of the vaccine.

Little Cleo has asthma whilst Aston has a heart condition – they are both classed as CEV. Marc said: “I got the call inviting them both for their vaccines and came along with them. I was really impressed with how the area had been decorated and set up for young children. It’s so welcoming and also a perfect setting for little ones. My two were distracted with the artwork, toys and treasure hunt as soon as they arrived, so that when it came to them having the jab, it was given to them quite easily.

6

Mum Samantha Cutler with daughter Daisy who received her jab at the mini toy town at Tipton Vaccination Centre

Why are some COVID-19 cases far worse than others?

Many of us have had our own encounters with COVID-19 - whether we’ve experienced it personally, know someone who has, or have treated and cared for people who have contracted the virus. We have seen how it affects everyone differently and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have struggled to identify why some people infected with Coronavirus have no symptoms at all, but some develop lifethreating illness. Here at SWB, research has been taking place since April 2020 to find out why.

Our research and development team have partnered with Genomics England to conduct a research study called Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care also known as GenOMICC. The study explores genetic variants associated with vulnerability to becoming critically ill and the risk of mortality from life threatening infection.

Patients who are critically ill with COVID-19, who require oxygen therapy and continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring form part of the study which aims to understand and target treatments to make the individual tolerant to specific pathogens from the infection.

Over 120 patients have taken part in the study across the Trust and it’s still ongoing. The genetic information is derived from a single blood sample and analysed through the whole genome sequence. Together with the patient’s

health data, this information can help find patterns identifying how a disease like COVID-19 can affect people and vary in severity from person to person.

Patients are recruited by giving consent in person if the person is able to communicate and if the patient is intubated, the consent discussions take place with the next of kin via phone. This is new for the research department and has become an adaptation in practices as a result of COVID-19. Risna Haq, Clinical Research Practitioner explains: “Prior to COVID-19 most members of the research and development team had never received consent via a phone call. We have adapted to speaking to relatives over the phone to explain the purpose of the study and request consent while understanding this is a very emotional and delicate time.”

The findings have inspired the introduction of two drugs in the RECOVERY trial (Baracitinib and Dimethyl Fumerate), another COVID-19 study running at our Trust. There has been great feedback from the sponsor and the principal investigator throughout the study to commend the dedication of the research team.

Genomics England praised the work of the research and development team and said: “Out of over 190 sites that are currently working with GenOMICC, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals were in the top ten of recruiters in the past fortnight. This is a superb effort and we would like to reiterate our sincere gratitude for

COVID-19 all of your efforts, at this extremely busy and difficult time.”

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the research and development team, like many teams within the Trust, have adapted the ways in which they work. Risna explains: “Going onto the wards and critical care has been unknown territory, however, we have worked with the clinical teams in the different areas to make this work. As part of the delivery team, our job is to screen the patients admitted to critical care on the day and identify if they are eligible based on the criteria set out in the protocol. Once we have established the patient is eligible, we approach and receive consent. It has been a challenge speaking to patients and relatives during these difficult times. Patients are anxious and scared because of the unknown and relatives are just as anxious because they are not able to see their relatives. It is our job to convey our message without causing further distress.”

Risna continued: “It has been a privilege working on this study as I feel there’s a lot of good coming out of this, with much more to come, and it feels good to part of that cause.”

Lavinia Henry, Risna Haq and Sarah Potter are part of the team that are working on the GenOMICC research study

7

The history of Midland Met explained Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) is currently under construction. Once open, it will be part of our established Trust, and our centre for acute care. It will include a dedicated children’s emergency department and assessment unit, operating theatres for both emergency and major planned surgery, and a purpose-built emergency department, to name but a few things.

This month we take you back to the beginning to explain the history of Midland Met. A lot has happened over the years, so we’re sharing our story to help colleagues understand the context behind MMUH and why making this change is necessary.

The MMUH business case was launched in 2004 and it was expanded on in the Right Care, Right Here programme, which outlined the need to transform care for our diverse populations in 2007. It explained the need to deliver improved prevention and early intervention, enhanced care for people with long term conditions, a more expansive range of services available locally, better access to specialist care in the community and improved specialist services through an improved estate and new models of care.

The vision focused on: •

The transformation of our estate, including developing primary care and community facilities and our new acute hospital - MMUH.

• The development of technology to

facilitate care pathways across healthcare settings.

•

A redefined workforce to deliver high-quality care across

reconfigured services and in a range of settings.

Since defining the initial vision, there has been a lot of external change that has impacted our Trust and the healthcare landscape, but our commitment to improving health outcomes remains as strong as ever.

Rachel Barlow, Director of System Transformation, explained: “Midland Met offers us a unique opportunity to make a direct impact in the areas we serve and for the communities that rely on our services.

“Over the past several years, there has been a lot of change and focus on Midland Met. We have seen the creation of STPs and ICSs, plus we have renamed our new hospital to reflect our collaborative partnership with local universities. This decision underpins our commitment to being a teaching hospital.

“We have navigated our way through each wave of the pandemic and responded professionally and with kindness. We cannot and should not underestimate the significant impact the pandemic has had on healthcare services and our colleagues.”

Rachel added: “SWB has and continues to achieve milestones on our journey towards opening Midland Met. These include things such as primary care integration and single point of access, virtual outpatient appointments and our work with partners to develop a new learning campus on the MMUH site.”

Our journey will help us transform our services before we open our doors. Our acute care model has 12 key transformation

Sandwell and West Birmingham

schemes based on clinical pathway improvements to streamline patient care.

Several changes will happen before we move into our new hospital, and these improvements will continue once we open.

Dr Melanie Griffiths, Head of Improvement and Acute Care Model Programme Lead, explained: “We are working on 12 major transformation programmes that form part of our acute care model. The programmes focus on redesigning our emergency care pathways so that patients are seen and diagnosed rapidly, by senior decisionmakers, in the most appropriate hospital setting.

“We are also concentrating our efforts on delivering care for more patients away from the hospital setting, in their own homes or closer to home. Right-sizing our community bed facilities and home-based care services will help us achieve this.

“In preparation for the opening of MMUH, we’re proposing to provide general surgery day cases differently. MMUH will allow us to treat more day-case patients at our treatment centres away from the elective and emergency treatments, improving efficiency. A public conversation is underway, and we are keen to hear from our local communities about our plans.

Melanie added: “There is collaborative work underway between SWB, acute and community services, primary care, social care, mental health, ambulance and third sector partners. This would not be possible without the continued dedication of colleagues across all areas. We appreciate the collaborative approach to secure the most patient-focused outcomes.”

To ensure that we stay united on our journey to Midland Met, we’ve introduced a six-step change programme. We are in phase one transformation planning.

Want to know more about our move to Midland Met?

8

• • •

NHS Trust

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.

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 – Andrea Blood

To – Dr Kieran Sarna

To – Louise Thomson

We just wanted to thank Andrea for everything she does to be a perfect nurse. we had a really difficult shift in ED and she came and took such a load off our shoulders, with no complaint. Everyone needs an Andrea to support them.

I just wanted to say how fantastic Dr Sarna is. She is always in good spirits and a pleasure to work with. Kieran goes above and beyond for colleagues, children and families. Kieran works very hard and makes every patient contact count. Kieran is very knowledgeable and always works within her scope. During quieter periods Kieran always sees adult patients to help out the department. She is a great asset to CECU/ A&E and we all greatly appreciate what she does for the department.

This lovely lady is worth her weight in gold.

Always there with a smile to help out.

Thanks for being such a great colleague!

From – Jayne Teigan

To – Janet Evans (Imaging) Great help this week when we have had some close calls. Thanks for being at the end of the phone.

From – Liam Mall

From – Karen Jones To – Vanessa Neimke To – Memory Matare Memory has only started a few months ago. She is very helpful and always willing to help everyone. She is a great asset to the team in children's ED at City. Keep up the good work Memory! We really appreciate your great help.

Thank you for welcoming me to the department, for supporting me in my new role and for listening to my ideas and allowing me to implement them. Best of luck in your new role and thank you again!

Zaina in the recruitment team has been really helpful and supportive today with my shortlisting query on TRAC, thank you for your support :) From – Helen Colbourne

From – Louise Kingham

To – Harry Cleaver

To – Rachel Langford

From – Robyn Foster

Rachel has been so supportive of the HV service staff. The service is currently very low staffed and Rachel has worked tirelessly to try and ensure colleagues are supported and that the service can now implement a new low staffing pathway following her negotiating with the commissioners. She deserves recognition and a big thank you from all of us at SWB. From – Zoe White

From – Sandra Kidney

The last few weeks have been challenging but you never grumble. You remain professional, diligent and strive to deliver the very best education and support for all across the Trust. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed and is very much appreciated.

Thank you Harry, A&E PFA, for making me laugh during our crazy shifts together! It keeps me going and makes a big difference to my day.

To – Keturah Gardner Keturah came up with the idea of adding a new alert to the demographic box on SystemOne. This alert would identify that the service user was receiving a universal service but there is a household member that is receiving additional services from the health visiting team. This new alert has received positive feedback from health visiting staff and members of the safeguarding children's team. Well done.

To – Nursing and midwifery clinical education team

From – Thomas Devaney

From – Abda Minhas

To – Zaina Ebanks

From – Karen Jones

To – Lyndon ground staff Parent and grandparent expressed gratitude for the care and attention that the staff on Lyndon ground gave to son/ grandson. Staff were praised for their kind words as “nothing was too much trouble”.

From – Jacqueline Williams

To – Sian Edkins

To – Aidan Day

Sian has been an amazing help with the workforce hub this past week. She has dropped her work at short notice and been a trusted source of support to get the job done really well and with a positive attitude. Thank you so much Sian!

Thanks Aidan for your help and patience with remotely managing some of my computer storage enabling me to continue working whilst waiting for an engineer to complete the process. Much appreciated, you're a star!

From – Meggan Jarvis

From – Marina Davies

To – Kerry Hall

To – Melanie Snelus

To – Andy Farrington

Always goes the extra mile not just with patients but with colleagues old and new.

She is a great source of information and a go to for most staff on the ward. Her efforts and kindness don't go unnoticed.

Thank you for coming to the rescue and helping cover the BCG Clinic at short notice. No grumbling, no moaning, just support and a helping hand.

A BIG Thank you to Andy for sorting out the server issue in quick time. He picked up my IT ticket promptly and went on to resolve the technical issue with the external contractors. A true credit to the Trust!

From – Cheryl Nicklin

From – Thomas Devaney

From – Shila Patel

9

Celebrating our stars of the week

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

Star of the Week

Star of the Week

Marie Matthie, Rota Coordinator for Women’s and Child Health

Safraz Hussain, Vaccination Marshal at City vaccination hub

Marie’s role involves managing the coordination of the consultant and junior doctors’ rotas within Women’s and Child Health. A role that has developed during the pandemic to ensure all clinical aspects of the ward areas are covered. Marie continues to work to an exceedingly high level, managing and completing all of her tasks. She has had extra pressures in managing shift cover due to COVID-19 and increased sickness within our areas but has still completed all of her work to a satisfactory level. Marie consistently monitors and keeps the rotas up to date on all the relevant systems. She is hard working and always gives 100 per cent.

Safraz always goes above and beyond to help vulnerable patients attending the hub.

We had an individual with multiple mental and physical disabilities attend the clinic recently when it had been snowing. The gentleman came in soaking wet and cold.

Safraz provided him with a hot drink and

also walked him home as it was dark by the time he had received his vaccination.

The patient was so grateful he later phoned the hub to report kindness and empathy shown by Safraz and also sent a thank you letter.

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.

Want a helping hand with your move to Office 365? Join a drop-in session Any kind of change is always met with some hesitation, but more so when that change relies on you to move important documents from one system to another, or to change how you work – that’s why this month we have launched daily virtual drop-in sessions for those needing support with moving to Office 365.

Every weekday, colleagues will have the opportunity to login to one of three virtual sessions which will be hosted by IT support teams who are ready and waiting to guide you through getting used to working with Office 365.

Sessions will be running every weekday at 11am, 2pm and 9pm, and every weekend at 11am and 9pm.

10

Details of the virtual drop-in sessions will be published regularly In staff communications and are open to all colleagues to join.

Further information on the rollout of Office 365 can be found on Connect or by contacting the project team by emailing swbh.sharepoint.migration@nhs.net.

Remember, the full rollout of SharePoint is being managed on a departmental basis, with Whether you need some support with moving department heads planning their migration to Outlook web so that you can get to your dates and organising when they move to the emails from any device or that you are working new system. If you have not yet been told from or if you are one of the many colleagues when you are due to move to SharePoint, who has archives of old emails they desperately speak to your line manager. need to import in to Outlook to be able to access them in the future, the drop-in sessions are there for you.

Eating disorder awareness week: a parent’s story Eating disorder awareness week (28 February and 6 March) aims to raise awareness of eating disorders. Eating disorders are devastating mental illnesses that affect 1 in 50 people across the UK with many suffering in silence.

It also marks almost a year since Emma Barton, SWB Convenor and Unite the Union Senior Workplace Representative found out about her daughters eating disorder. In this two-part article, Emma shares her experience.

Admission to the specialist unit We arrived at the end of May. This was incredibly hard as my daughter was vulnerable and I had no idea what the place was like inside, or what the staff were like.

A nurse briefly discussed some rules and left us to say goodbye. Me and my daughter were both in tears, she said I could change my mind and she and I could escape from the window, she said that I could look after her at home, and she would try to eat. This was tough for me as I wanted nothing more to take my daughter home to care for her, as a mum, but as a nurse I also had the naturally medical model to help, to cure her. I truly wanted to take her home and look after her, but deep down I knew this was such a complex disorder, and that I couldn’t risk her getting worse under my care, I knew she would continue to decline.

We hugged, I left, sad that I was only able to have one visit for one hour per week. But I also knew this was her chance of recovery, and that the evidence suggested the earlier someone gets treatment the better the chance of a full recovery.

Here is part two of Emma’s story, you can read part one in the February edition of Heartbeat.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

During admission My daughter was in the unit for nine months. Things got worse before they got better. She was highly anxious and didn’t speak to any of the other patients. She slept most of the day and night apart from meal and snack times and in school. Her mental health really declined, she was up and down with her meal plans missing frequent meals and snacks but just enough for her to gain very small amounts of weight.

During this time I felt guilt, frustration, powerless. I was warned by staff that I may get phone calls from her saying how horrible it was and that they are nasty.

They said most patients will say that but it’s the eating disorder talking. She did this for months and it was really hard as I never really knew if it was the eating disorder or my daughter.

The unit did some work with me regarding understanding anorexia nervosa, I had some knowledge and had read up where I could, I understood about the body distortions, the hiding of food, the fear of weight gain and distortions around food and calories. My daughter’s perception was that even one mouthful of food would result in excessive weight gain. I knew she didn’t understand or have any insight into her illness, but I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t accept it. I thought if she could accept her illness we would be halfway there in recovery. What I learned, is that sufferers can develop something known as anosognosia, which means that a person who is ill cannot perceive that they are unwell. This is really hard to understand, and why it was so important for me to separate the illness from my daughter.

Current situation My daughter was discharged from the unit and has settled into home life fairly quickly. She is regaining the ability to laugh and has slowly started to experience college life again and meeting with friends. She is gradually getting back to her normal self. We are still seeing CAMHS in the community and family therapy.

What have I learned? So much, but the main things are, early help is the best chance of recovery from an eating disorder, knowing the signs and symptoms is something we would all benefit from as even professional can miss some signs, and that recovering is just that - every day is still a struggle for my daughter, and we as a family try our best to support but it’s hard and there are still blips for all of us Lastly but by no means least, my daughter amazes me every day as she works so hard to fight this awful disorder. I’m a very proud mum. The future is looking really positive, thanks to her incredible hard work.

Want to relax and unwind in a safe place? Visit the Wellbeing Sanctuary and enjoy a range of free treatments including a massage, meditation and relaxation hypnotherapy.

Call 0121 507 5886 to book your free session today.

Wellbeing 11

Values campaign launches CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

Background We’d all like to work somewhere where we feel motivated and supported to make a difference to our colleagues, our patients, and our communities.

To do this, we need to make our people a priority. Those who work here now, as well as those who will work here in the future. Despite the immense pressure the pandemic continues to put on us all, we have set out on a journey to deliver a long-term strategy centred around ‘The Three Ps’: our People, our Patients and our Population. For the first time ever, our people are at the heart of our strategy.

For our people, we want to make our Trust a better place to work – a place of safety where:

The three questions were: Colleagues were encouraged to scan the QR code on posters and leaflets to give their views

1.

What three words come to mind when you think of us at our best? E.g. when you have had a good day, when things are going well?

March saw the launch of the first listening activity which will help us as we work out what our values should be.

2.

What's worth celebrating about the work you do, what makes you proud?

3.

What one thing would you change about working here?

We called it ‘2minutes2’ – so called so colleagues understand it’s something quick and easy to do.

Thank you to everyone who took part.

Preparations are now underway to launch the second phase of the values programme which will consist of facilitated focus groups.

Using posters, leaflets, screensavers, Connect banners, QIHD and communications bulletins, colleagues were asked three simple questions that took about two minutes to answer.

Please do take part if called upon, we want our people involved at every stage of this important programme. This is everyone’s workplace. Our values will be shared values.

• People are treated fairly and with respect •

Our people are listened to

•

Our people have choice

• We feel what we do makes a difference.

The best organisations are clear about what they stand for. So, alongside our strategic objectives, ‘The Three Ps’, we are starting work on defining our Trust’s values. Once we are clear on our values, we’ll get to work creating a culture at SWB where these values are lived by all of us. Our workplace culture is what will unite us, not divide us.

Further information is available on Connect.

"Get Involved" membership scheme has launched!

An exciting new member scheme has officially launched this month which aims to get local people involved with our hospitals.

Get Involved, will allow local people from across Sandwell and West Birmingham to have their say on how SWB run and develop its services of the future.

“Membership to the scheme is free and the level of involvement you choose to have is entirely up to the individual,” said Jayne Salter-Scott, Head of Public and Community Engagement.

“From receiving the Trust newsletter three times a year with updates about the hospital and its reconfiguration of services, to attending our members health seminars and joining our young people’s advisory group, we are offering the public a real opportunity to get involved and play an integral role in helping shape the services the Trust offer.”

12

The Get Involved membership scheme aims to bring patients views together in one place. The scheme will be beneficial in both the short term and the long term as it will bring SWB closer to its local community whilst providing a better understanding of the work the Trust does and how they can be a part of that and ultimately make a real difference.

Jayne added: “The scheme will allow the local community to shape our services and improve the overall patient experience.

“The membership scheme is for everyone whether that be our patients, staff or volunteers as they all make up part of the community and we want everyone’s voices to be heard!”

Want to get involved? Why not speak to a member of the team by calling 0121 507 2671 or emailing swbh.engagement@nhs. net. For further information please visit https://www.swbh.nhs.uk/get-involved/.

Jayne Salter-Scott, Head of Public and Community Engagement

Trust's medical support workers provide vital support to patients and staff Our organisation was among the first in the country to adopt the medical support worker programme, an innovative NHS England scheme in response to the significant increase in workload that came with the first wave of COVID-19 infection.

when colleagues became unwell with COVID-19 infection.

“The assistance they have given to our junior doctors has been invaluable and extremely welcome with hugely positive feedback.

The considerable efforts of our medical support workers were rewarded with PLAB exam success, successful GMC registration and all five secured junior specialist doctor posts within five months of starting the programme.”

Our first five medical support workers had just completed clinical observer attachments at the Trust and were in the process of completing Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) exams towards The Trust has run a healthcare overseas General Medical Council (GMC) registration. professionals programme over the last 15 We caught up with Professor Jawad Khan, years with mentoring and clinical attachments Director of Medical Education who told towards establishing a career in the NHS. us more. He said: “The medical support This means we had a ready supply of highly workers’ familiarity with the Trust allowed motivated doctors to take advantage of them to contribute almost immediately the extension in medical support workers to the clinical workload in two main programme funding given by NHS England areas, acute medicine and respiratory. allowing us to expand our numbers to 13.

We undertook clinical training sessions in They were at various stages of establishing a phlebotomy, IV cannulation and arterial career in the NHS but some have also gone blood gas sampling using artificial arms on to pass exams and become junior specialist followed by observed clinical practice to doctors, some within the Trust and others extend their contribution to clinical services. nationally.

“They were involved in the clinical “Our large cohort of doctors in our refugee assessment of medical patients, clerking, doctor programme were also utilised to taking bloods and arranging investigations support the medical support workers using our paperless, computer based programmes in neighbouring Trusts, providing electronic patient records. They supported mutual benefit,” added Jawad. consultant and registrar ward rounds and allowed us to accommodate the significant “The medical support workers programme reduction in staffing levels that occurred provides a much better introduction and

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS acclimatisation to the NHS compared to the traditional clinical observer attachment. It improves the success at PLAB exams and improves patient safety through a much improved familiarisation with the standards of the NHS. “We currently have medical support workers supporting acute medicine, cardiology, respiratory, surgical assessment unit, paediatric assessment unit, orthopaedics and general surgery. A number of our medical support workers have also contributed to the work of our clinical teaching fellows, towards ensuring that medical student education continued alongside the significant disruption to clinical workflows that COVID-19 brought, particularly to elective care.

“They have made a hugely valuable contribution to the clinical care of our patients and most are in the process of securing more substantive posts within the NHS. I am immensely proud of our medical support workers and my colleagues in the Trust who have worked so hard to make the programme the success it has been.”

Some of our medical support workers

13

Funding to boost ovarian cancer survival rates announced CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS The Trust’s Pan-Birmingham Gynaecological Cancer Centre has been given a charity grant of £100,000 to help improve survival rates of women with ovarian cancer.

The City Hospital-based unit is working jointly with University of Cambridge to boost the uptake in genetic testing, especially in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities (BAME) where survival rates are low.

The project, called the Demonstration of Improvement for Molecular Ovarian cancer testing (DEMO), will create information about genetic testing in various languages both in leaflet and video format. The project will also improve the quality of the sample taken to aid diagnosis when there is suspicion of ovarian cancer by establishing a guidance document for all healthcare professionals involved in the process.

Dr Elaine Leung, Clinical Lecturer and Specialist Registrar, said: “This is a muchneeded project reaching those diverse communities in the area.

“With the support of our patient representatives, the materials we co-create will be in an easy-to-understand format in both written and video form, which will give women a better understanding of the link between cancer and genetic testing.

“It’s important to ensure women know that genetic testing is similar to early detection and can help prolong life – we have already seen evidence of this through other studies.

“It helps to provide tailored treatments for patients and ultimately can mean surviving an ovarian cancer diagnosis.

“The lack of informed decision-making resources for women whose first language is not English could be a contributor to the low rates of testing within these communities. The team will co-produce information in multiple languages, as well as exploring why some groups of women are more likely to decline genetic testing.”

The project has been funded by health charity Ovarian Cancer Action and is part of a wider national initiative which includes funding for five other NHS cancer centres.

The Pan-Birmingham Gynaecological Cancer Network delivers cancer care to more than two million people in the West Midlands.

The project also builds on the team’s previous experience with the genetic testing studies,

looking at BRCA testing in women with a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer before it became mainstream practice.

Lisa Bird, a former cancer patient who is part of the project, said: “When I was in my thirties I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which was a large shock. My first line treatment successfully got me into remission but I wanted to know what options would be available to me if I came out of remission.

“I investigated treatment options and found that there were some treatments only available to those that have the BRCA 1 and 2 genes. I also wanted to know if other family members were at an increased genetic risk of also getting ovarian cancer, so that I could warn them of the symptoms and ensure that they received better monitoring by their GPs. “I’m really pleased to be part of the DEMO project team that will encourage more patients to have these same tests. I’m passionate that anyone affected by ovarian cancer should be able to have this genetic knowledge so that their healthcare teams can give them the best treatments available to them as quickly as possible. I really believe that the results of this project will help to provide patients with ovarian cancer, with a greater chance of an extended life.”

Dr Elaine Leung, Clinical Lecturer and Specialist Registrar alongside Mr Janos Balega, Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist

14

Working together to become a Menopause Friendly Trust Menopause, it’s a fact of life, a natural part of aging and something that many will have to tackle at some point in their life, but it’s not often an issue that you hear openly discussed – until now.

CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

March saw the inaugural launch of Menopause cafes, which aim to provide a safe space for colleagues to discuss the impact of menopause on them and work together to develop effective and supportive plans that enable women to continue in “Menopause Cafes are our way of starting their careers. meaningful conversations with affected At our Trust, over 75 per cent of our staff staff and managers. Menopause has for a are female, of which over 40 per cent long time become a taboo subject, but it’s are over 45yrs old, this means there are time we discussed how it affects staff and nearly 2,600 colleagues who fall within the to work out what we can do to put some age demographic commonly affected by support mechanisms in place. We’re working menopause. towards being a ‘Menopause Friendly Trust’ Research has shown that Menopause and it’s part of broader project across our ICS symptoms can have a significant impact on looking to provide a consistent approach to staff wellbeing as well as their attendance supporting women in the workplace. and performance at work, and with an “One of the first trials that we have agreed aging national population as well as a looks at providing colleagues with Menopause determination to support or colleagues at uniforms. These are uniforms that are work these Menopause cafes are set to designed with menopause symptoms in mind, make an impact. so they are made with lighter and thinner Launching the first of many Menopause material to support with hot flushes whilst at Cafes, Amber Markham – Group Director work.” of Nursing for Surgical Services said:

Colleagues who would like to get involved with the Menopause Cafes, can join in online with sessions taking place on a monthly basis.

• 6 April 2-3pm What is Menopause https://bit.ly/3KJyiSS • 4 May 1-2pm What is perimenopause https://bit.ly/3tg88Br • 1 June 1-2pm Symptom management https://bit.ly/36ns3oW • 6 July 12 - 1pm Impact of the menopause at work https://bit.ly/3KQiluo • 3 August 1 -2pm Psychological impact of the menopause https://bit.ly/36lAjG0 For more information on Menopause Cafes contact Amber Markham on email: amber.markham@nhs.net

Education and progress - the focus of new HCA and nurse associates roles Regardless of what we do within the Trust, be it clinical or non-clinical, we all want to do better. We want to learn, improve ourselves, improve our position and our lives.

Most of us have at least one eye on the career ladder and what is needed to climb it, so just how can you go about learning what you need to?

A new role within the Trust is looking to assist with just that for both nurses and HCAs - the Associate Educator. The educators work alongside teams to help develop skills, for example moving HCA’s onto dealing with canulation and bloods and moving on to T&A courses.

They also act as observers, helping to identify positives to highlight and issues that need to be addressed on our wards, providing greater awareness for ward managers of what their teams need.

“We’re a small but growing - and it’s important to say a highly hands-on team.” Nurse Associate Educator Stacey Clarke said speaking to Heartbeat. “There’s lots of scope for us to provide an extra link of reassurance and make sure people aren’t lost. We know a lot of HCAs would love to make the jump up, we know a lot of nurses want more options and both need more awareness of what those options are. For that we’re here. Upskilling through support sessions via Microsoft Teams or one-to-one meetings – whatever is needed.”

“We’re still involved in patient care, but we’ve all come across barriers as we’ve looked to advance,” adds HCA Associate Educator Katie-Louise Adams. “It was initially set up as a secondment roll and I honestly wish it had existed ten years earlier for me and others to benefit. It’s great to give back. Ultimately, it's to prevent any feeling of being forgotten or ‘lost in the shuffle’, to help show you're not alone. We're here to support you clinically.

If you're new to a ward it is quite daunting -

we've all been there. It's nice to know that there's someone there you can rely on to support you.”

The HCA side is already looking into running care certificate sessions lots of young HCAs. “We’re aiming to meet everyone – find out what it is that they need for their journey to prosper. It may take a little time though!” Nurse Associate Educator, Aaron Bertam-Miller jokingly added. “The important thing is we’re here. We’re working to help you. The HCA team is expanding on secondment. We’re already a Wolverhampton University ambassador and hoping to tie up with Birmingham City University. There are options and opportunities developing all the time, we’re looking forward to sharing them with you.”

For more information about how nurse and HCA associate educators can help your teams, contact the education team.

15

Cultural ambassadors to help tackle discrimination and cultural bias CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Last year 14 colleagues were trained as cultural ambassadors for our Trust to identify and challenge discrimination and cultural bias.

They use these skills in their role as a neutral observer within disciplinary processes, formal investigations and grievance hearings involving staff from BAME backgrounds.

The role of cultural ambassador involves: •

Sitting as an equal member of investigation teams, disciplinary and grievance hearing panels

•

Identifying any issues of unconscious bias, conscious bias, being treated less favourably or discrimination

•

Bringing these to the notice of the other members of the

team and ensure that they are taken into consideration in the decision making process.

Heartbeat caught up with Donna Mighty, Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion, she told us: “The cultural ambassador programme is open to all colleagues regardless of banding and ethnicity.

“We are delighted 14 colleagues came forward to help us with this important work for our organisation. They are keen to utilise the skills and knowledge they have acquired, working with and supporting colleagues across the Trust in employee relations matters.

“The EDI team will be working with key stakeholders to ensure the role of the cultural ambassadors is clear, understood and embedded successfully within our organisation. This should yield improved Workforce Disability Equality Standard, Workforce Race Equality Standard and staff survey results as we continue on our journey to being more inclusive and compassionate.”

Frieza Mahmood, Chief People Officer added: “I am delighted that the Board has recognised the importance of the evidence based and highly regarded cultural ambassador programme as being key to delivering on the commitments within our new people strategy to create a just and equitable culture in which everyone’s voice, experience and needs are valued. The cultural ambassadors have been through in-depth training delivered by experts to help them to identify and challenge discrimination and cultural bias.

“Research shows that BAME colleagues in the NHS are over-represented in employee relations processes, and as a result more likely to face sanctions. This important role is key to supporting us to tackle bias and discrimination. Please support us by ensuring the cultural ambassadors receive your full support and commitment to help them deliver on these priorities for our Trust. If you have any questions about the role please do not hesitate to contact colleagues in the EDI team who can provide more information.”

Meet our cultural ambassadors In this issue of Heartbeat we introduce you to just some of our cultural ambassadors who share their motivations for joining the programme.

Estelle Hickman, Equality and Diversity Advisor

16

Melanie Stephens, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, ICARES (Admission Avoidance)

Why I joined the programme: Being able to assist as a neutral observer within disciplinary processes, formal investigations and grievance hearings involving ethnic minority staff, who are over-represented in these processes, and as a result more likely to face sanctions. The role is supporting the organisation to make crucial changes and tackle racial discrimination.

Why I joined the programme: A cultural ambassador is an important role, because not only do you have to ensure that you provide adequate and quality support to your clients, but also you are hoping for everyone to have some understanding about different cultures that exist (we are always learning).

What I hope to achieve: That this skill will allow me to help the organisation improve our Workforce Race Equality Standard data in regards to equality, diversity and inclusion and help with addressing inequalities.

What I hope to achieve: I have been on panels for discrimination concerns, and my aim is to help each individual to have some empathy and understanding about all individuals regardless of race, sexuality, gender etc.

Randeep Kaur, Clinical Lead Midwife, Transformation

Sandra Whitelock, Assistant Primary Care Liaison Manager

Why I joined the programme: Having been in the Trust in various roles across the women and child health group and now currently in maternity, I really want to make a difference to support all the amazing staff that are part of our Trust and this agenda.

Why I joined the programme: In the hope that I can make a difference by being part of a team who are able to assist in the investigation or decision-making teams for grievances and disciplinary hearings.

What I hope to achieve: Support staff with the Trust deliverables expected for the role of cultural ambassador.

What I hope to achieve: Help colleagues so that there is support available to them at the Trust and to hopefully change mindsets.

Natalie Whitton, Matron, Community Medicine, PCCT

Cheryl Newton, Group Director of Nursing, Women’s and Child Health (use pic of Cheryl)

Why I joined the programme: This programme has provided me with the opportunity to be a role model within my team and take a leading role in supporting the wider Black, Asian and minority workforce who may have experienced inequality or discrimination. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to participate and influence positive change and inclusion for all.

Why I joined the programme: I am aware of the disparity with Black, Asian and minority colleagues progressing through HR processes within the NHS compared to their white counterparts. I therefore want to support colleagues and work to avoid formal HR processes where appropriate and to support the development of an equitable and just culture.

What I hope to achieve: I aspire to be accessible and supportive to all staff across the organisation and act as an advocate in a diplomatic way for staff that are faced with unfair bias or discrimination due to their beliefs, cultural backgrounds, sexuality or if they have a disability.

What I hope to achieve: To support Black, Asian and minority colleagues and through early intervention to prevent avoidable HR processes thus creating a workplace which is just, fair, compassionate and kind.

Our cultural ambassadors are: Melanie Stephens, Advanced Nurse Practitioner; Patricia Lee, Executive Assistant, Cheryl Newton, Group Director of Nursing, Women’s and Child Health, Janice Barrett, Lead Nurse, Sandra Whitelock, Assistant Primary Care Liaison Manager; Natalie Whitton, Matron; Fatema Amujee, Ward Manager; Malik Umar, Security Officer; Annie Williams, Sister; Randeep Kaur, Community Matron; Doreen Murray, Staff Side; Danielle Sewell, Staff Side; Estelle Hickman, EDI Team and Khalil Miller, EDI Team.

Our cultural ambassadors are ready to support you. To find out how they can help email d.mighty@nhs.net.

17

How mortality indicators support improvements in care CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS As a healthcare organisation we have a responsibility to monitor and understand why people have died whilst in our care.

In many cases, some patients are expected to do die. This could be due to the severity of their condition and whether medical interventions are no longer working.

However, there are cases too, where some people die unexpectedly. SWB reports all incidents of death to a national register using what is called – the mortality indicators.

We caught up with Deputy Medical Director Dr Chizo Agwu, and asked her just how the mortality indicators work.

She said: “Mortality is reported using two main indicators. Deaths that have occurred whilst at the Trust use a measure called the Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio (HSMR) or if a patient dies up to 30 days post-discharge an indicator called Standardised Hospital Mortality Indicator (SMHI) is used. The measures report mortality performance in a way that can be compared and contrasted with other hospitals.

“Typically, elevated mortality rates should act as an alert and prompt further investigations. Quality of care and treatment of patients and clinical pathways are carefully reviewed to ensure that care quality is not compromised and potentially predisposing to avoidable harm, whilst other contributing factors such as data clinical coding, severity of illnesses, admission pathway, end of life care provision, and local population characteristics are also taken into consideration when scoring the mortality indicators. Ultimately the indicators highlight the number of expected deaths per trust per month, compared with the number of actual deaths.”

SWB has a strategy designed to ensure high standards of care and learning are supported through a strong mortality governance framework. As part of the framework, a review was undertaken to examine the Trust’s mortality indices. This identified several aspects around data quality that is resulting in higher than expected mortality ratios, including how we record admissions, primary diagnosis and comorbidities.

Dr Chizo Agwu and Dr Aveen Mahmood Dr Agwu added: “As a result I am leading a project involving colleagues from clinical groups, clinical coding, informatics, communications, operational leads and the improvement team which will oversee a plan to improve the current mortality indices rates.”

One key step has been the appointment of a new Clinical Digital Fellow, Dr Aveen Mahmood who will be supporting reviews of mortality data but also providing additional education sessions.

Aveen told Heartbeat: “I am working with the medical director’s team and the improvement team to enhance our patient outcomes. My experience in quality improvement projects and in reviewing mortality data during my foundation training has guided me in my role here. I will be focussed on the acute medical units, where I will work alongside the teams, aiming to optimise our use of Unity and to improve our clinical documentation, ensuring it is in line with the clinical coding standards.

So, what can teams do to improve clinical coding?

Aveen said: “We are striving to improve the quality of our documentation, ensuring it is representative of the care we are providing.

A key issue in documentation is the use of ambiguous terminology that cannot be recognised and coded, with terms such as ‘impression’ and ‘likely’ for diagnoses. We are also focussing on documenting the highest level of specificity to improve accuracy and depth of clinical coding.

“We are encouraging clinical staff to use alternative terminology, for example ‘treated as’, 'probable diagnosis' and ‘diagnosis,’ as per the nationally-set standards. This terminology better reflects the inpatient care received. By structuring our documentation with most clinically important diagnoses first, we can give greater clarity on patient care. We can safely maintain patient records by appropriately “I am also working closely with the clinical coding documenting patient comorbidities on Unity. team to review our mortality data and ensure it These simple updates to our daily practice will is accurate and representative of our practice. I give greater clarity about patient care, and will am excited to be involved in the brilliant work have a significant impact on Trust data. We will to make positive changes to practice across the also be sharing posters, stickers, screensavers Trust.” and Connect banners to help keep this message in colleague’s mind.”

For further information contact sally.nicholds@nhs.net

18

New flagship facility Harvest View CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS

Harvest View is due to open this summer The name of a new flagship integrated health and social care facility has been unveiled as Harvest View. The name was chosen following several consultation events with local people, healthcare professionals and future tenants.

The £14m scheme in Harvest Road, Rowley Regis, which is on track to be opened this summer, will provide 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.

It will include 80 individual bedrooms and facilities such as a physiotherapy facility, large communal areas, kitchen space, laundry facilities, treatment rooms, hairdressing salon and resident lounges.

Alongside the state-of-the-art amenities, the centre will also include features that will ensure accessibility throughout the building for people with limited mobility and wheelchair users.

This integrated social care and health centre facility will provide much-needed support to local residents and will support the council’s wider regeneration vision to ensure that people live and age well within the borough.

Qualified staff will be recruited by our Trust to work in the unit, alongside existing therapists and clinical colleagues. An event to recruit into these roles will take place on Friday 1 April, Council Chambers, Oldbury Council House. Information about the event can be found online by visiting www.harvestviewsandwell.co.uk.

Sarah Oley, Directorate Lead for iBeds, said: “The opening of Harvest View represents

another exciting opportunity to deliver integrated health and social care services across our system for the people of Sandwell, building on the positive work we have already started with Discharge To Assess (D2A).

“The unit will have a strong focus on ‘home-first’ reablement and supporting individuals to live as independently as possible following a social care or health crisis and avoiding unnecessary placements for people in long term care facilities, and as a team we will be proud to deliver that ambition for our local population.”

Councillor Suzanne Hartwell, Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for adults, social care and health said: “Harvest View will be such a great facility for residents and will provide the care and support people need to get them back home after a hospital stay.”

It is anticipated that the integrated social care and health centre will be complete by July 2022.

Clinical audit for improvement In the NHS, clinical audit is often seen as a corporate exercise or something to tick off part of your portfolio, but did you know that clinical audit is a powerful tool that can be used to drive improvement?

Thanks to the 2021 WeLearn poster competition, a number of brilliant clinical audit projects have been given their time to shine and over the next few months you will be hearing about these projects and how they can inspire and empower you to make changes within your area.

We all know how daunting a visit from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) can be, especially as we often experience that frustrating phenomenon where all the good practice we know we do, falls out of our memory the second we are put on the spot to talk about it or provide evidence.

You may remember an article in Heartbeat from June 2021 which showcased the brilliant work of Denise Owen, Matron and her team as they worked to embed the CQC domains into the ethos of iCares to give assurance that care is safe, effective and of a high standard every day, not just

Dashboard representing the CQC self assessment tool when an inspection is due. This project saw the development of an electronic self-assessment tool, which has separate tabs to capture evidence of practice for each of the five CQC domains, and colour coded ratings and graphs to make the data visually accessible.

Building this tool has enabled our Trust to turn the CQC domains into a piece of work that we are all familiar with - a clinical audit.

Within the tool, the CQC domains are clearly displayed as the standards of care and there are clearly labelled fields where colleagues can collect data about examples of good practice and points to improve on. Within iCares, where this tool was piloted and implemented

into practice, they now have a raft of evidence about their practice, so when the next CQC inspection happens, they no longer have to worry about being put on the spot and not being able to provide assurance. Thanks to this tool and running this piece of work using clinical audit methodology, we now have a helicopter view of the CQC compliance for the whole directorate – which we have never had before.

This project has been such a success that it was submitted for consideration to be part of a national conference on ‘Clinical Audit for Improvement’ run by Healthcare Conferences UK which will take place in May, and Denise has been selected to be a guest speaker at the conference. This is a huge achievement and a great example of positive learning coming out of SWB, so Denise and everyone involved in this project deserve a massive congratulations!

If you are interested in attending, please email rebecca.kershaw2@nhs.net for booking details and a discount code.

19

Recognition for nurses who care for cancer patients CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS Since her devastating diagnosis of stomach cancer, mum-of-two Jane Evitts has told how she has never felt alone thanks to nurses at our Trust.

Supported and cared for by Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), Jane has praised the team and chosen to mark the first ever awareness day for the profession, which took place on 15 March, by sharing her story.

Jane has been a patient of Trust Cancer Lead Nurse Jo Harvey and her CNS colleagues Grace Preece and Kath Johnson since April last year when she was diagnosed.

In a powerful video about her journey, she says: “They helped me from the very outset of this. When I had my endoscopy, I was told by the doctor he was pretty certain I had stomach cancer. Two days later I had a phone call from Jo asking me how I was feeling, but she was also practical. She encouraged me to eat and to see food as medicine.

“Jo gave me that positivity to get out of bed oncologists, but ultimately the nurses have and told me that when I did see the consultant, been the mainstay for me and they really do I needed to be strong.” need a day for them to shine which highlights the excellent job they are doing.”

Soon afterwards Jane, who has five grandchildren and is a retired advanced nurse As well as creating Jane’s video to mark practitioner, was given the sad news about her National Cancer CNS Day, the nurses also told condition. why they enjoyed their jobs so much.

She added: “It was Jo who actually gave me my diagnosis as well.

“She read the room, so she didn’t rush and tell me everything straight away. She told me I had cancer, but really allowed me time to just ask any questions and only told me what I asked.”

And she said of the team: “They’ve just made a really bad situation easier. And every single time I’ve had a concern, however small, I have been able to message one of them and they respond straight away.

Claire Beats added: “My job is important as we are detecting bowel cancer at an early stage and preventing and protecting our local community.”

Whilst Grace Preece shared her reasons: “I’m proud and privileged to do my job. We get to support patients from diagnosis and through treatment – and are a big part of their “I haven’t felt alone and I haven’t felt so afraid, journey.” because it is scary. One of the worst things is that fear that no one is going to answer you or Jo Harvey added: “Recognising the work that you’re going to be on your own, or you’re not Cancer CNSs do is really important. Our team going to know what to do. And I’ve never felt continues to grow and they are dedicated and that which has been really good for me. devoted to giving their patients the best care possible throughout their journey with us. We “They have been a god send to me. They need all feel privileged to be doing this job, but it’s to be recognised and patients need to know always nice to be recognised and awareness what they do and how they are an excellent raised around our roles so that people are resource. I’ve had very good doctors and know what we do.”

Jane Evitts with Cancer CNSs Kath Johnson, Jo Harvey and Grace Preece

20

Louise Beard said: “I feel privileged to be part of a patient's cancer journey. I get to be with a patient on their worst days but also their best days.”

A safe and sustainable infrastructure within community midwifery

By Randeep Kaur, Clinical Lead Midwife for Transformation Delivering a service that meets national and local standards and takes in to consideration our diverse and often deprived population is a challenge, but one that we are now on the path to address so that we can ensure all of our women receive the care they need. We know mortality rates remain exceptionally high for babies of Asian and black ethnicity, stillbirth rates are over twice those for babies of white ethnicity and neonatal mortality rates are 45-60 per cent higher than for babies of white ethnicity.

National reports including the NHS Long Term Plan 2019 and Better Births 2020 have for a long time advocated improvements across all maternity services.

At SWB we started our process of transformation and innovation in January 2021. We analysed the feedback we regularly receive from patients and staff and put in place plans to address the common issues that have been raised about our services. Learning is an important factor to support our improvement journey. How were we learning from incidents? What could we do about missed care and missed opportunities?

WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH There was a need to take immediate action to improve outcomes to support the Best Start in Life agenda (2021). To take this agenda forward, our staff and their wellbeing was placed at the heart of everything we do, so we put in place mechanisms for feedback such as surveys open door sessions.

As a result,15 priorities were identified and a process put in place to tackle each priority using the Quality Service Improvements and Redesign (QSIR) tools and framework.

What’s gone well

What to work on

Where we want to be

Transformation continues to set the foundations for long term sustainable change and improvement. Work to date includes building governance structures and devising specific assurance tools to improve the safety and quality of our maternity care.

Ongoing review of assurance tools by managers and staff at all levels to ensure processes are enacted so there is continuous improvement, development of a safety and civility culture by embedding a sense of shared ownership/responsibility and accountability.

Deliver ‘high quality care’ that is Safe, Effective, Timely, Efficient, Equitable and People-centred to ensure we meet the needs of our community we serve for the Best Start in Life (2021) and beyond here at SWB.

Assurance tools include: • Use of digital calendars • Electronic allocation of work • Implementation of daily duty midwife • Monthly record keeping audit • AN Booking Tracker • Caseload data submissions • Assurance meetings x 3 weekly with head of midwifery

Refined community provision: We need to ensure ‘we get it right’, for both the population we serve and our staff. The team leaders have supported the initial scoping for this new provision and identified the following key changes and work is well under way: • Early Bird Clinics prior to booking • Out of area bookings, new enhanced and efficient ways of working • Making every contact count • Bespoke Caseload Tool specific to SWB to enhance Birth Rate Plus

Governance: Regular meetings within all management structures have been reviewed and introduced where required to support assurances from ‘floor to board and board to floor’.

I want to thank all colleagues for their valued contributions to date. We must continue this journey together as we have a long way to go. Improvements and transformation are everybody’s business.

The impartiality and support afforded to transform roles has enabled colleagues to challenge leaders and stakeholders at every level to improve outcomes for the babies, women and families we serve.

Our transformation and improvement outputs have generated interest and will be presented at the Maternity Festival to be held in Birmingham later this year.

The community midwifery team

21

SWB transforming healthcare for babies with Unicef programme WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH Becoming a parent is a time filled with lots of emotions. In the first few weeks, parents enjoy getting to know their baby and deciding how to feed their baby is one of the most important decisions that parents make for their child early on.

Here at SWB, our infant feeding team are on hand to support parents with their choice and provide information, guidance, and practical support every step of the way.

We caught up with the infant feeding team to discover how they are collaborating with paediatrics to support parents and babies.

Louise Thompson, Infant Feeding Coordinator, told us: “The Baby Friendly initiative is a global quality improvement programme. As part of the accreditation programme, all colleagues who work in maternity and neonatal units attend training. It is so that they can provide evidence-based, safe, and effective support with infant feeding.

“Paediatric staff are not required to attend training as there is not a baby friendly programme specifically for paediatrics.

However, very often infants will end up on the paediatric wards with issues connected to feeding and may require feeding support.”

Louise continued: “When staff in healthcare services do not receive training on infant feeding, sometimes their actions can mean that mothers do not meet their feeding goals and it may lead to them stopping breastfeeding, it can also lead to prolonged stays in the hospital. We have high breastfeeding rates in our Trust, so often, the paediatric wards see breastfeeding babies.

“We have always encouraged paediatric staff to attend the infant feeding training.

This approach is unusual for infant feeding training in hospitals where it is often only offered to maternity staff. In the past, colleagues from paediatrics have often attended in their own time. However, since Natalie Gough joined as education lead for paediatrics, she has started sending all nursing and HCA staff on our training.

“It has been amazing, we have already seen lots of people attend the course, and it is great to get maternity, neonatal and paediatric staff in the same space to

22

Diana from Lyndon Ground passed her infant feeding assessment

discuss improving care. I know the midwives have found it useful too. Recently we shared news of Diana from Lyndon ground and Dawn from Lyndon ground passing their assessments. It’s this collaborative approach that will continue to make a positive difference for mothers and babies in our care.”

So, what are the benefits of taking this new approach, we asked? Louise explained: “By sending colleagues on our training, women are more likely to reach their feeding goals.

Breastfeeding is a public health issue, and there is overwhelming evidence for the health benefits both long and short term for mothers and babies.

When breastfeeding goes well, it has a protective impact on maternal mental health. When women do not receive the right support, the impact on

mental health can be detrimental.”

Louise added: “Baby Friendly are bringing out a separate accreditation for paediatric wards in the future, so this may be something paediatrics could work towards achieving.

“Not long ago, a staff nurse on Lyndon ground said she had six breastfeeding dyads on the ward. None of the readmissions were due to feeding, but without adequate care and an understanding of how breastfeeding works, it would be easy to undermine breastfeeding while they are in the care of paediatrics.”

If you would like to find out more about the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative contact louisethompson@nhs.net or visit https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly.

Hats off for the health visiting team The health visitor senior team praise the health visiting service for their fantastic hard work and dedication throughout the pandemic.

For the past two years the country has been battling COVID-19 and our Trust along with the rest of the NHS has provided an amazing response to the many challenges that have been faced. There is no need to outline the many hurdles that have had to overcome, (we all know what they were) and we acknowledge that COVID-19 is not yet over and there will no doubt be other challenges in the future.

Whilst celebrating the work of everyone in the Trust, the health visitor senior team and practice teachers in particular want to say a big ‘thank you’ to the whole health visiting service for supporting the training of the next generation of health visitors. Despite some limitations to elements of their training caused by the need to restrict face to face meetings, both recent and current students have managed to experience the full remit of health visiting practice. This has been achieved because throughout the pandemic, SWB health visitors have been a front facing service and have continued to support our Sandwell families in the home.

There has also been enormous commitment shown to health visitor training by practice

WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH

Health visiting students with the practice teachers and acting clinical lead for health visiting supervisors who have been working stoically alongside practice teachers to ensure the students are well supported.

And so to the students themselves who completed all of their training in the shadow of the pandemic. This is no mean feat considering the fact they have not only had to contend with a challenging course but had the additional worries associated with COVID-19. The health visiting service would like to congratulate all eight students who have recently qualified. Their enthusiasm and hard work has been inspirational and they will all be a credit to health visiting.

There is a nationwide shortage of health visitors so it is recognised that training is the best way of growing the service. We currently have seven health visitor students who joined us in September and are busy combining the academic requirements at Wolverhampton University alongside the practical element in the community.

We also provide ‘in house’ training and supervision throughout which complements the process and allows practical skills to be developed in the safe environment of the classroom. At times meeting face to face has not been possible but we have continued this support through virtual methods.

SWB trains the highest number of health visitors in the local region which shows the determination to continue achieving the amazing work our colleagues do with the families. We will soon be recruiting again for September 2022 so keep an eye on the Daily Bulletin if you are interested in applying!

For more information contact, Heather Russon (07972 344927) or Tom Cooper (07972 344735)

Have you got a story?

MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE

We’d love to hear from you if you have…

• An event or special occasion in your department • If you work with an inspirational colleague • Does your department do something that makes a real difference to our patients?

Please get in touch if you’d like to be featured in an upcoming edition of Heartbeat!

Email swbh.comms@nhs.net to submit your story idea.

23 23

Amina Mohamed receives Award for Workforce Transformation IMAGING We know we have some amazing people who shape our workforce here at the Trust and it’s great to see those who are not only nominated, but go on to win recognised national awards within the sector for their hard work.

Every year the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) for England, Professor Dame Sue Hill, recognises excellence in healthcare science through awarding healthcare scientists in England for their contributions, achievements, and the impact they have on patient outcomes.

Amina Mohamed, Deputy Head of Respiratory Physiology received an Award for Workforce Transformation for the work she did to lead her team through the pandemic.

Jilly Croasdale, Head of Radiopharmacy Department and Lead Scientist presented Amina with her award earlier this month. Described as an amazing leader, Jilly explained why Amina deserved to be nominated, she said: “I nominated Amina as I felt she had gone above and beyond in the work she did to respond to the changing needs of respiratory physiology throughout the pandemic.

She was an amazing leader. I also think it’s important to recognise at this point how fantastic the whole respiratory physiology team have been.

“Amina led the team to ensure they were able to meet the additional demands placed on the service, as well as overseeing many positive developments. Around half the staff were redeployed and in collaboration with the respiratory consultant lead for NIV and the ward nurse manager, Amina led the team on the respiratory hub ward in establishing and delivering, alongside the medical and nursing teams, an acute supported breathing service.

“This national recognition has highlighted the important role the respiratory physiology team played during the pandemic not only helping to deliver safe and effective ventilator support but I believe we lead with insight, compassion and resilience. Following re-deployment, without “She also oversaw the training operation any respite, the department commenced for medical and nursing teams, as well the full recovery plans which included reas supporting her own staff in their triaging our waiting lists, prioritising our redeployment and ensuring the main most vulnerable patients on non-invasive respiratory physiology department continued ventilator support and oxygen. A dedicated to run, albeit with a scaled back service. In highly specialised respiratory physiologist addition, she supervised the establishment also came into post to support safer of a virtual service, reviewed how referrals discharges, optimise therapy and reduce were managed to make the workload more length of stay and support education and manageable, and led a service development to training for nursing and medical colleagues. enhance NIV services going forward.”

As a result, this level of support for respiratory failure patients continued.

Amina’s work didn’t stop there - she also made sure the department kept up with “More challenges such as a worldwide training, supporting five students to finish recall and shortages of CPAP/NIV equipment their portfolios, two degree apprenticeships, meant again prioritising and supporting and three associate apprenticeships. patients with affected equipment. I cannot be prouder of this team who always “I felt all of that definitely makes Amina go above and beyond despite immense worthy of an award for excellence,” said Jilly. pressures, but I am so happy that my team have been honoured and recognised in this way.”

Amina Mohamed and the respiratory physiology team

24

Amina said: “I was honoured to be nominated for Excellence in Healthcare Science. To receive such high recognition for our contributions during the pandemic from Professor Dame Sue Hill CSO for England is a tremendous achievement. I am proud to lead such a highly motivated and skilled professional team.

Jodie Brown: supporting the delivery of care for COVID-19 patients Jodie Brown is a familiar face within the Trust having worked as a medical secretary, a nurse, as part of the respiratory hub and more recently the medical infusion suite. Jodie embarks on her new role as COVID Care Coordinator and tell us more.

PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES AND THERAPIES patients during a 7-day week clinical unit through intravenous infusions (IVI), using a range of IVI medication from, cytotoxic to antibiotics. Due to complexities and safe practice the unit also supports the delivery of specialist treatment COVID-19 medication to patients located on other settling.

By Jodie Brown, COVID Care Coordinator Prior to entering the nursing profession, my working experience was medical secretarial.

Although this was a role that I was very fond of, this was not the career that continued to challenge and to bring enough fulfilment into my working life. It was then, that I decided to continue my pursuit of becoming a nurse.

During my nurse training, I had a wide wealth of exposure throughout the Trust; however I found my particular interest in Priory 5. At that time Priory 5 specialised in gastro and respiratory patients. Although this ward had a reputation for being quite heavy and complex, besides the warm, welcoming, hardworking team, I found both specialities interesting and that it would challenge my inexperience. I was also very intrigued by the patient individualised holistic care they received here. Many patients would view this ward as their second home, where they trusted the staff and treatment, which was familiar to them.

At the end of the following year, to improve patient care and speciality focus the team formed the Respiratory Hub at City hospital and was decided that Priory 5 would singularly focus on gastroenterology. The whole team was then met with the difficult decision

Jodie Brown, COVID Care Coordinator to choose between specialities. I decide to support the forming of a new team at City and to further my knowledge and experience in respiratory. Within the first six months of the move, COVID-19 swiftly made its presence across the globe. Together we faced a variety of new complexities and challenges; emotionally, mentally and physically throughout the first and second wave of the pandemic.

To widen my experience further, just over a year ago I transferred from the Respiratory Hub to the Medical Infusion Suite (MIS). Here our focus is on patients with variable long-term illnesses, from a number of specialities, including rheumatology, gastroenterology, haematology and ophthalmology. MIS delivers holistic care to

The aim of my new role is to identify and assess inpatients with the onset of acute symptomatic Hospital Acquired COVID-19 (HAC) and to streamline the process for the delivery the care and treatment to those patients, time sensitively. I will also support the medical, nursing and pharmaceutical teams navigate the rapidly changing pathways and guidelines to make clinical decisions, which impact favourably on patient prognosis. I am looking forward to making a positive impact or imprint on this new phrase of living with COVID-19, especially for those most vulnerable in society. I am also looking forward to seeing how this rapid response to identifying, assessing and delivering this new treatment stabilises hospital admissions and restores patient confidence in the community.

I work four days per week between 8am6pm, splitting my time between our two main hospitals, Sandwell and City. The nMAB group is a newly formed team of multidisciplinary team made up of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and administrators.

25

Equipping surgeons for laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery SURGICAL SERVICES SWB are a leading centre for laparoscopic hernia repair and laparoscopic cholecystectomy training. In conjunction with the Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ALSGBI), Mr Dham Mobarak, Consultant Upper GI Surgeon specialises in laparoscopic cholecystectomy and laparoscopic inguinal hernia repairs and leads several courses throughout the year, right here at the Trust.

The highly sought-after laparoscopic cholecystectomy courses are targeted at surgeons professing an interest in the performance of laparoscopic surgery.

The most recent course took place this month and hosted 10 attendees for a full day of practice live in theatre with real patients under consultant supervision.

So, what exactly is laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery? To put it simply, it’s a minimally invasive

surgery to remove the gallbladder, often helping people who have gallstones which cause inflammation, pain or infection. The gallbladder collects and stores a liquid called bile that helps your body break down food.

Small, hard deposits called gallstones can form in the gallbladder. This is a common condition. If your gallstones cause health problems, surgery may be required to remove it. The procedure involves using a tiny camera and surgical instruments that are inserted through small incisions in the abdomen.

have more confidence in our care when they learn we are not only performing but teaching this kind of surgery to surgeons.

It shows this area of surgery is one of our many specialities.”

Ijlal Haider attended the course and praised the practical experience, he said: “It is one of the best courses I have ever been on. It’s a unique course where participants were asked to actually perform an operation, rather than just discussing things.

“I am amazed at the consultants involved.

It is really impressive that they allowed us to operate. It depicts their utmost commitment to the teaching of surgery. I have no words to express how thankful I am to have had the opportunity to take part in this course.”

What does this mean for our Trust? We asked Mr Mobarak, he said: “Patients will

Equipping surgeons for laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery through a practical course

Great things can happen when we work together.

We believe now is the time to re-think how care is delivered, placing you and your patients at the centre.

Together, we are helping clinical, operational and executive teams to plan and design the hospitals of the future, to help them improve user experience, efficiency and outcomes.

IBM.com/ukhealthcare

26

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2021. IBM, the IBM logo and ibm.com are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. See current list at ibm.com/trademark. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies.

Free targeted lung health checks are coming soon The Trust will be launching free lung health Checks for people aged 55-74 living in Sandwell to help diagnose lung cancer earlier and save more lives. The Targeted Lung Health Check Programme is a new service to those who are at a greater risk of developing lung cancer and is being earmarked for launch in late summer.

Following an initial conversation with a health professional and, if needed, a simple scan, patients will be identified as having early signs of cancer when it is much more treatable - ultimately saving move lives. Sadly, due to there being few to no symptoms at an early stage, lung cancer is regularly diagnosed late.

It currently causes more deaths than any other cancer in the UK, but if caught early, it’s much more treatable and the survival rate is much higher. Attending a targeted lung health check could save a patient’s life. Offered to current or former smokers, the lung health check starts with a phone call from a specially trained health professional from the Trust.

MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY CARE

If necessary, the patient will be offered a simple scan to take a picture of their lungs, to check for signs of lung cancer.

We’ll be bringing you more updates on this project over the coming weeks, so look out for information in the Daily Bulletin and on Connect.

New life-changing drug offered to sickle cell patients A sickle cell patient has become one of the first in England to receive new lifechanging treatment at our Trust.

often need powerful opioid painkillers.

Crizanlizumab, a monoclonal antibody, binds to a protein on blood cells, preventing them from clumping and causing pain.

Loury Mooruth, 61, was given Crizanlizumab on 23 February at the Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Unit, based at City Hospital.

Dr Shivan Pancham, Haematology Consultant, explained: “Our patients often find the experience in emergency departments challenging with a lack of understanding of the severity of pain. However, Crizanlizumab is a new therapy which is given once a month to reduce the frequency and severity of crises that sickle cell patients suffer.”

The drug, which is given as a monthly infusion, will substantially reduce episodes of extreme pain, which are called crises, in those with the disease.

Loury said: “I am really happy that this drug is out there for us. It is going to decrease my crises by 40 per cent. Any amount, whatever percentage is brilliant.

“If you’re in crisis, you’re in extreme pain, it’s very dangerous and can affect your main organs. I’ve had two brain bleeds as a result and didn’t know I’d had them until I had a scan and it showed.

“As a sufferer, we live every day in pain, but this drug will help us.”

She added: “Sickle cell has been part of my entire life. People look at you and think you look fine, but they don’t understand the pain and the trauma along with the many trips to A&E. “When I have a sickle cell crisis, it’s like someone has a knife and they are ripping it through my joints – particularly my hips and legs.

“Whenever I thought about having this

Loury Mooruth at City Hospital after receiving the new treatment new drug it brought tears to my eyes. I am so excited and over the moon because it is literally life-changing for me and my family. I really want to encourage other eligible people with this disease to come forward and get this drug.”

Sickle cell disease causes red blood cells to distort and become sticky, blocking vessels and restricting oxygen supply, which triggers excruciating pain. During a crisis, patients

Lead Sickle Cell and Thalassemia, Nurse Amanda Tembedza, continued: “We are delighted to have administered the new medication to two patients. The Trust is very excited to be able to offer this at our unit. We’re hoping that this medication will reduce hospital admission and bed days for our patients, and also have a better outcome for them.”

Professor David Carruthers, Medical Director at the Trust, added: “It’s very good to see these developments in medical science which have led to these targeted therapies for patients with sickle cell which we’re now able to offer to patients within our community. As a teaching Trust, we are focussed on research and have an appetite to seek opportunities for more research into sickle cell amongst other conditions.”

27

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

Catering fundraise for our children’s ward

Stella Meek said: “I have seen first-hand what a great job the play team do to help make things a little easier for the children who are on Lyndon 1. My daughter was admitted in January and the play team really helped the children keep themselves occupied with plenty of activities and cheered them up in what is a stressful situation.”

The catering team are 60 members strong and recognise how being in hospital can be a daunting time for many - particularly those younger patients. They wanted to do something to make things a little nicer for the children who stay with us and decided to make a generous donation to the play team.

Iona Peterson, Catering Manager, Stella Meek, Secretary and Cheryl Jones, Store Keeper instigated a raffle within the department to raise money to help make the stay in our hospitals for our youngest patients a bit more comfortable. With a fantastic £135 raised, the money was used to purchase sensory toys and fidget

The catering department donated sensory toys for our young patients

toys for those children who spend time with us when they are poorly. But their hard work doesn’t stop there. The team are looking to raise more money and have plans to host another raffle and fundraising events.

Joanne Maher, Play Worker thanked the catering department for their donation to the children’s ward, she said: “The play team really appreciate this kind donation from all of the team in catering. It was lovely that they thought of our patients on Lyndon 1. Catering has donated lots of sensory toys that we needed specifically for children with learning disabilities, Autism and babies. We thank them very much.”

Grandad holds fundraiser to thank colleagues for saving three-year-old A retired welder has organised fundraising events to say thanks to colleagues at Sandwell Hospital for saving his grandson’s life. Bernard Yale hopes to raise thousands of pounds for Your Trust Charity.

His grandson Kailen Williams was aged three when he was rushed to Sandwell hospital after suffering from symptoms of excessive thirst, hunger and weight loss. He was transferred to critical care where he was diagnosed with type one Diabetes.

Kailen’s mum Alison, had initially thought the youngster had COVID-19 but when tests for the virus came back negative, she called her GP for help.

She explained: “We got him to the hospital just in time – had it been any later he may not have been here today.

“The care he received from the staff was fantastic and they were so quick to act and diagnose him. He was close to slipping into a diabetic coma.

“It was towards the end of 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and I was convinced it was COVID. But I was so shocked to find out that he had the diabetes. I think it’s important for people to know the symptoms so that they can act fast.”

Kailen’s diabetes is now under control, with Alison, a senior care assistant, monitoring him daily along with her daughter Shianne.

28

Alison Williams with son Kailen and his grandad Bernard Yale

Her dad Bernard, added: “I really wanted to do something to say thank you to the hospital for saving Kailen – what they did will forever be in my heart. So I decided to organise a charity show which will feature a performance from the top UK ABBA tribute act Angel Eyes, as well as an auction and there will be raffle prizes up for grabs.”

Bernard managed to secure some top prizes at the event on 19 March, including a three night stay in a top caravan in the Isle of Wight, signed Wolverhampton Wanderers football shirts, premium tickets for Uttoxeter Races, golf equipment and a signed heavy weight pro boxing glove from Shane Gill.

Earlier in the month he organised a darts

knockout tournament which raised £350.

“It was a great event and I want to thank all who were all involved in organising it.”

Amanda Winwood, Fundraising Manager for Your Trust Charity, added: “This is a wonderful gesture by Bernard in recognising the care staff from the hospital gave his grandson and we’re glad to hear he is doing well. Raising money for the charity means that we can enhance the experience of our patients, their families and our staff.

We appreciate all that Kailen’s family are doing.”

Look out for an update on how much money the events raised in total in next month’s Heartbeat.

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 Shaping our values Dear Heartbeat, I think its great staff are being invited to share their views to help make our new values for the Trust as I think this could be a really good thing for our future especially when we inevitably move to our new hospital however I’m a little confused on how this will work? So I have described my three words to describe SWB but how will all these information be collated but more importantly, how will this form part of our values. Will other staff across the Trust be contacted when we actually choose the values as I’m desk based so it is easy for me to give my opinions but I know many staff such as drivers and cleaners who have had no input purely because they don’t work at a computer. Are the Trust going to make more efforts to reach out to this group of staff when they actually pick the values or are they only wanting the opinions of more senior staff and people who use their computers?

Kind regards

what the staff at our Trust value the most. These responses will be collated together with other sources of information to shape the new values. The chosen values need to be based on what our people think as well as what will help us to deliver our new five year strategy. Everyone has an opportunity to have their say at this stage. There are posters out across the Trust where people can quickly scan a QR code to take them straight to the three questions. We have written to all managers to ask them to support their teams in completing this exercise. The March QIHD was also focused on this topic.

Once our values have been agreed there is an important next stage that everyone can contribute to, which encompasses the behaviours we should adopt to make our values real and part of our everyday lives. Sessions will be held for teams right across the Trust along with our online tool. Everyone will have a chance to vote on the behaviours that they think are most important to help us live our values.

We’ll keep everyone updated on progress as we go.

Anon

Best wishes,

Dear colleague,

Frieza Mahmood, Chief People Officer

Thank you for you interest in the development of the Trust values. The three questions we are asking help us understand

Jamie Emery Head of Patient Involvement and Insight Lead Though new to SWB, 2022 will be Jamie’s 20th year in the NHS. Jamie first joined the NHS in 2003 where he worked at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) for 10 years. He then moved to the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) before returning to HEFT in 2014 where he worked through the merger with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) up to the end of 2021.

Jamie has held many roles in his almost two-decade career in the NHS working in complaints, PALS, patient and public involvement and always within the sphere of patient experience.

When asked about why he decided to join SWB, Jamie said: “From the moment I spoke with colleagues about potentially working here I was excited straight away and it felt

like a place I wanted to be at. The enthusiasm for patient experience and the opportunity to create a service really felt like something I wanted to be part of.

“I am currently on the MBA course at Aston University which I’ll complete in the summer.”

He added: “I’m really excited by the opportunity to use my experience to create a patient experience function which we can use to drive improvements for patients, relatives and carers across the area and beyond.”

Outside of work Jamie is an avid Aston Villa fan at enjoys music and cycling. He has been married to his wife Sarah since 2003 who he has been with since 1993 and has two children, Sophie (17) and Freya (14) as well as a pet a Poochon called Nessa.

If you see Jamie in and around the Trust, be sure to say hello and give him a warm welcome!

29

Wave goodbye to…

Luis and Elzbieta Zulueta Combined seven decades at SWB

After a combined 70 years at the Trust, husband and wife of 24 years, Luis and Elzbieta Zulueta will be retiring from SWB together.

Dr Luis Zulueta first joined SWB in June 1990 as an Anaesthetic SHO. “I initially stayed at SWB for three years until 1993 but then after a couple of years returned to the Trust in 1995 as a clinical assistant,” said Luis.

Luis has worked his way through the ranks during his three decade career going from SHO, registrar, clinical assistant and staff grade to eventually becoming an associate specialist in anaesthetics.

“Time goes very fast when you like what you do which is why I stayed at SWB to progress my career. I have always kept in mind that patient care is the most important factor when treating anyone which is why I have enjoyed my time at the Trust.”

In addition to this, he also expanded into teaching and since 2003 is still teaching anaesthetics to 4th year medical students. Last year he became the lead for teaching this group of students.

Luis Zulueta’s wife, known to her peers as Liz, first joined us back in September of 1980 where she was training to become a registered nurse at our nurse’s training school.

“Things were a lot different then. For starters, what now is known as the medical education centre and library, back in the 80s was the nurse’s training school,” said Liz. “In 1984 I worked for around five months at Health Lane Hospital on the chest ward before spending the next 20 years working in theatres as theatre sister covering all specialities from anaesthetics and recovery to general surgery and colorectal/vascular as well as training students and new members of staff.”

During those 20 years, Liz gained an array of qualifications including diplomas in therapeutic massage, anatomy and physiology in massage, holistic massage and Otological nursing. In 2004, she completed an MSc in advanced nursing practice at Birmingham City University and also trained as a non-medical prescriber.

She also trained at Greenwich University for her current role as a surgical care practitioner.

Through working in colorectal and general surgery she has performed minor surgery (lumps and bumps) and consults patients in the rectal clinics in out-patients and arranges investigations and treatment. In addition to this she has also taught many medical students and junior doctors on how to scrub, don and doff theatre gowns and gloves as well as how to suture. She taught nurses to examine abdomens (as part of their advanced training).

Mr and Mrs Zulueta

“I’ve seen a lot of changes throughout my career such as new developments in surgery, advances in technology but the thing that hasn’t changed is the care that the staff give to patients and each other. It is still of a high standard which became more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’ve made a lot of friends throughout my career, some of which have retired, some of which have sadly died but I’ve got such wonderful memories I will be taking with me and I feel proud to have been part of a great Trust.”

When asked about challenges she has faced Liz said: “I was one of a group of 11 nurses from Sandwell and City hospital to train for the surgical care practitioner role I do now. This role was new to the country and overstepped the boundaries of nursing practice into the medical field.”

She added: “If I was to give anyone any advice who wants to follow a similar career path to mine it would be to be inquisitive, enjoy what you do and always be ready to help. Also, if you have a passion, follow it.”

Luis and Liz first met at Sandwell Hospital theatres where sometimes they would work together but got to know each other outside of work during theatre nights out. Eventually they got married in May, 1997. Their two daughters were born at Sandwell Hospital and now they will both be retiring together.

As part of their retirement, Luis and Liz are planning on spending more time with their children as well as going on many holidays across Great Britain and Europe.

Happy retirement Mr and Mrs Zulueta!

30 30

30

Richard talks about: Our values, our culture our future: You hold the key Richard Beeken, Chief Executive

RICHARD'S LAST WORD

Last month I wrote about our new five year strategy that has been developed with information gathered from our staff at all levels and the Trust’s leaders, endorsed now by the Trust Board. This strategy sets out three strategic objectives where we aim to deliver significant improvements.

about how we do business round here. We all spend a lot of time, often too much time, at work. It is important that we work in an environment where we can thrive, where we feel valued and are supported to do and be our best. Our values and behaviours are the core principles underpinning this.

• Patients – to be “good” or “outstanding” at everything we do:

We are now some way through the programme to develop a new set of values for our Trust. This month our employee voice campaign has been running, asking everyone within the Trust to take two minutes to answer three quick questions about working here. From what you have said through this survey, combined with all the previous feedback you have shared, and work we have done and continue to do with Trust leaders and stakeholders, we expect to have a brand new set of values.

• People – to cultivate and sustain happy, productive and engaged staff • Population – to work seamlessly with our partners to improve lives The strategy will continue to develop and evolve with the underlying delivery programmes that are being shaped or are already in place.

A really important part of this evolution is to These values will be combined with a set of build the right culture within our fantastic behaviours so that it is clear for all of us to organisation. Culture can’t be changed by understand how the values flow through to leaders. Culture comes from within. It is how we act at work.

This Trust has a set of care promises that have been in place for over a decade. We also have a manager code of conduct.

We expect to replace these important foundations with our new values. They will aim to be easy to remember and will run through all we do, from the way we make decisions, to how we recruit and conduct appraisals.

We will also engage patients and the public in our values to make sure we take account of what matters most to them.

We will be judged on our ability to articulate and live up to these values. I am really looking forward to seeing our new values that will be formed from everything you have contributed. I am confident that by adopting a new set of values we will be able to move towards creating a better organisation where we all feel fulfilled, supported and happy at work.

Thank you in advance for your contributions to developing our new Trust values.

2minutes2

Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

help shape our values

We’re starting work to define our values.

We want to hear everyone’s voice

Three questions Two minutes One SWB

31

Trust launches blooming marvellous Garden of Gratitude at Midland Met YOUR TRUST CHARITY

first 3 months e th r fo t n u co is d 10%

 @SWBHCharity To donate to the Your Trust Charity text “SWBH16 £5” to 70070 2022 is upon us, and as we look beyond the pandemic, Your Trust Charity has begun the most important and ambitious fundraising campaign in their history – We are Metropolitan.

Your Trust Charity is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives and is working to deliver a fundraising campaign that encapsulates everything our new flagship hospital has to offer.

Working hand in hand with our communities, the fundraising campaign strives to enhance the experience of all people using our services.

It will help developments at the Midland Met in these areas: • The development of community spaces - These spaces will be within the hospital or the grounds, these might be play areas or a community garden.

• Creating a healing environment - Healing and getting better is more than curing ailments - it is about creating a positive atmosphere. We are creating and running an arts and culture programme.

• Enhanced research and development (R&D) - The benefits of research and development to the NHS are notable. Whilst the Trust has already

invested heavily in R&D, there’s a lot more we can do. Our fundraising campaign opens the door to new research and development, not just with its facilities but also involving patients and the public.

Your Trust Charity is keen to recognise every supporter for their contributions to We Are Metropolitan. That’s why they’ve come up with a unique opportunity to show your support by having your name etched onto one of our glass courtyards borders in our Garden of Gratitude.

Names will be on display on the glass borders of the courtyards within the Winter Garden, the place where all visitors will be directed to when they arrive.

These can be names of individuals, family, friends, or loved ones.

There are three levels of donations available for colleagues:

Daisy

Rose

Sunflower

£100

£200

£300

Businesses are also welcome to have their company name displayed and should contact trustcharity@nhs.net for more information.

Amanda Winwood, Senior Fundraising Manager, told us: “This is a fantastic way for colleagues to show their support and have a permanent reminder of their part in Midland Met. “I’m delighted that we can offer an early bird discount to colleagues who wish to sign up to support our fundraising campaign. A discount is always welcome and it’s our way of showing our thanks to colleagues for their ongoing support.

“The opening of our new hospital signifies a new chapter for SWB, a chance to transform our services and drive forward our integrated care agenda.

For colleagues, it also means working on a new campus and embracing all the opportunities that come with it too.

What better way to commemorate your part in our history than by having a name etched into one of our glass borders in our Garden of Gratitude.”

To find out more, email trustcharity@nhs.net.

To kickstart the launch, an exclusive 10 per cent discount is available to colleagues who wish to purchase a daisy, rose or sunflower etching.

March 2022 staff lottery results 1st £169.50

2nd £101.70

3rd £67.80

Gillian Bird

Mr Sibanda

Amy Harper

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