InsideStory_December_2006:Layout 1.qxd
InsideStory_December_2006:Layout 1.qxd InsideStory_December_2006:Layout 1.qxd
Inside Story BABS IS A SENSE...ATION Soap star opens sensory room I’m dreaming of a ... Staff reveal their Christmas wishes Injury time medicine Why we’re in the premier league WIN! £100 to spend at Habitat Inside Story is the UCLH staff magazine
- Page 2 and 3: Give us the Inside Story …on what
- Page 4 and 5: CHOOSE and BOOK goes direct Patient
- Page 6 and 7: New book is child’s play UCLH pla
- Page 8: Big thanks to Ki Health For the pas
Inside Story<br />
BABS IS A SENSE...ATION<br />
Soap star opens sensory room<br />
I’m dreaming of a ...<br />
Staff reveal their Christmas wishes<br />
Injury time medicine<br />
Why we’re in the premier league<br />
WIN!<br />
£100 to spend at Habitat<br />
Inside Story is the UCLH staff magazine
Give us the<br />
Inside Story<br />
…on what’s happening in your<br />
area, ward or department. Inside<br />
Story is YOUR magazine – so share<br />
your stories, events and photos<br />
with Anne Burns, Inside Story’s<br />
new editor. Anne is covering Sam<br />
Coombs’ maternity leave, and is<br />
waiting to hear from you.<br />
Contact her at the communications<br />
unit, second floor central, 250 Euston<br />
Road, London NW1 2PG, x 9897 or<br />
e-mail: anne.burns@uclh.nhs.uk<br />
T15 opens for<br />
business<br />
'Harley Street on 15’ is the new name<br />
for floor 15 at UCH which is now<br />
home to the new private specialist<br />
centre for treating blood and bone<br />
cancers. Independent healthcare<br />
company HCA are running the centre<br />
making use of spare capacity within<br />
UCLH. “It’s a win-win situation”<br />
explains Neil Griffiths, director of<br />
strategic development. “HCA’s centre<br />
combines the benefits of their<br />
expertise in running a private patient<br />
unit with our clinical expertise and<br />
state-of-the-art facilities. The contract<br />
will generate additional income for the<br />
Trust which we can use to support<br />
services for our NHS patients”. This<br />
approach, the first of its kind in the<br />
NHS, may provide opportunities to<br />
develop private practice within UCLH<br />
in obstetrics and cardiac, and to<br />
expand the existing provision of<br />
private services in neurosciences.<br />
The Trust is seeking expressions of<br />
interest from appropriate companies<br />
to work with us on this. For further<br />
information email Neil Griffiths.<br />
Did you see?<br />
The eagle-eyed amongst you may<br />
have noticed the Assisted Conception<br />
Unit at the Eastman Dental Hospital<br />
featured on the BBC1 documentary A<br />
Child Against All Odds.<br />
The programme, presented by<br />
Professor Robert Winston, went out in<br />
November and included a couple with<br />
a disabled daughter who were using<br />
preimplantation genetic diagnosis<br />
(PGD) in an effort to avoid passing on<br />
an unbalanced chromosome rearrangement<br />
to future children. The<br />
UCL department of obstetrics and<br />
gynaecology was also featured.<br />
NEW faces @UCLH<br />
“A baptism of fire” is how Stacey Hardy sums up her first<br />
weeks as the web manager in the communications unit. “My first<br />
weekend as press officer on call was spent dealing with a major<br />
story about a high profile patient. It really proved the need for a<br />
first class website to match the first class services we provide –<br />
the web needed constantly updating and the BBC used us as a<br />
featured link for the story”. Stacey also wants to make Insight<br />
more user-friendly. “Staff need an intranet that really works for them” she says.<br />
Stacey’s best-ever Christmas present? "It'll be this year, as I'm going back to Oz<br />
to spend Xmas with all the family, and be there for the Ashes!!!"<br />
Having spent the last seven years working in intensive care<br />
units (ICU), Claire Miller joins the NHNN as a team leader in the<br />
neurosurgical ICU. Previously at the Western General in<br />
Edinburgh, Claire made the move because she wanted to get<br />
more specialised experience and the NHNN has a great<br />
reputation. Asked about her affection for ICU, Claire says; “I<br />
like the one-to-one ratio because you can give better quality<br />
care and time to patients”. Claire’s best-ever Christmas<br />
present? A twin pram when she was seven years old!<br />
Previously at the Whittington Hospital and now at the<br />
EGA/UCH, Anupama Shahid is half way through a five year<br />
rotation as a specialist registrar in obstetrics and<br />
gynaecology. Anupama says; “I’m particularly keen on obs<br />
and gynae because it blends a medical side with surgery. It’s<br />
also great to have a hand in helping women conceive”.<br />
Anupama’s best-ever Christmas present? Starting her first<br />
job in the UK on Christmas Eve.<br />
Andrew Vallance-Owen, deputy chairman,<br />
BUPA foundation, presents certificate<br />
to Dr Stephanie Baldeweg and Susan Olive<br />
Photo credit Terry Beazley<br />
Diabetes care for mumsto-be<br />
scoops award...<br />
The maternity diabetes and endocrine team at<br />
UCLH and EGA has been highly commended<br />
in the BUPA Foundation Clinical Excellence<br />
Award <strong>2006</strong>.<br />
The team, led by consultant physician<br />
in diabetes and endocrinology Dr<br />
Stephanie Baldeweg, was runner-up in<br />
the award to celebrate work which<br />
demonstrates an improved clinical<br />
outcome for patients.<br />
The team impressed judges with how<br />
it had improved diabetes and obstetric care for pregnant women. Dr Baldeweg was<br />
supported by former general manager for women’s health Jackie Sullivan and<br />
diabetes specialist nurse Susan Olive.<br />
The team has improved preconception care, and now sees women much earlier<br />
in pregnancy, improving diabetes control throughout pregnancy. These measures<br />
have been shown to improve pregnancy outcomes with fewer complications for<br />
mothers and babies. Women with diabetes are nearly five times as likely to have a<br />
stillborn baby and three times as likely to see their baby die in the first months of<br />
life, so the care provided by the team is crucial.<br />
Front cover star: Barbara Windsor opens the sensory room
BABS visits UCH and<br />
hails the cabbies<br />
Soap legend Barbara Windsor has officially opened the new<br />
sensory room at UCH. As reported in November’s Inside<br />
Story, the room was donated by the London Taxi Drivers’ Fund<br />
for Underprivileged Children and will give our younger patients<br />
a space in which to relax from the hustle and bustle of hospital<br />
life.<br />
Taking time to chat with children and patients on the ward,<br />
Barbara described the facility as ‘fantastic’.<br />
All I want for Christmas!<br />
David<br />
Amos, director<br />
of workforce, "I<br />
discover that I have<br />
Icelandic ancestry<br />
and have inherited a<br />
place on the board<br />
of West Ham<br />
United FC."<br />
We asked UCLH staff what was at the<br />
top of their Christmas list...<br />
Alison Johns, transitional care sister<br />
in the neo-natal unit. “Elastic hours –<br />
there are never enough hours in the<br />
day.” How will she spend Christmas?<br />
”I’m on duty – so I’ll be at work. My<br />
second Christmas will be the following<br />
weekend spent with my children. We eat exactly what<br />
they like – prawn cocktail, chicken – not turkey - no<br />
brussel sprouts, fresh fruit salad.”<br />
Craig Wood, modern matron<br />
A&E. “I would like to book out a hotel for the<br />
weekend – somewhere nice like the<br />
Dorchester – and have a two day party<br />
with family and friends from all over<br />
the world.” How will he spend<br />
Christmas? “I’m going home to<br />
Australia to spend Christmas<br />
with my mum. She’s not feeling<br />
well at the moment.”<br />
Alison Cahn, director of<br />
communications. Her wish? “To<br />
have the body and health of a 24<br />
year old and the knowledge of a<br />
49 year old!” How is she<br />
spending Christmas? “At home<br />
with my ex husband, my step son<br />
and his mother, my rather bizarre<br />
extended family and my two<br />
gorgeous sons – oh yes and my<br />
overweight cat!”<br />
Janet Clarke, clinic<br />
manager, members’ council member for<br />
admin, clerical, estates and ancillary<br />
staff. “Top of my Christmas list is a<br />
date with George Clooney - and a<br />
peaceful new year for<br />
everybody at UCLH.”<br />
Judy<br />
Walker, play<br />
services manager. “My wish list? 12<br />
hours’ uninterrupted sleep, two days of<br />
snow before new year (like last year),<br />
new leather boots and a speaker<br />
system for my MP3 player.”<br />
Lydia Pierre, executive assistant,<br />
trust HQ – “My wish for Christmas is<br />
that Janet Clarke doesn't get her mitts<br />
on George Clooney. He's in my<br />
Christmas box and I'm keeping him!”<br />
Anything that can<br />
make the hospital<br />
stay better for these<br />
children has to be a<br />
good thing. It means<br />
it is not so frightening<br />
for them<br />
Annie<br />
Lindsay, Trust<br />
archivist has just<br />
one wish for<br />
Christmas: “It’s a<br />
difficult question –<br />
but the answer<br />
must be ‘world<br />
peace”.<br />
Karin<br />
Roberts, corporate<br />
development and<br />
projects manager.<br />
Her wish? “A nice,<br />
peaceful, relaxing day.”<br />
The reality? “Driving to<br />
Bristol to have<br />
Christmas day lunch<br />
with my<br />
mum.”<br />
Barbara Windsor with patient Ronnie-Lee Hart<br />
Christmas<br />
message from chief<br />
executive Robert<br />
Naylor<br />
“Looking back, <strong>2006</strong> has been one of<br />
the most challenging years in our history.<br />
Our financial situation has dominated<br />
much of the year, but as it draws to a<br />
close, I’m delighted to say that we’re on<br />
target to reduce our deficit as planned.<br />
We’ve achieved this by changing the way<br />
we work, not by the compulsory<br />
redundancies that have made headline<br />
news elsewhere in the NHS. I’m pleased<br />
to say our bank balance, as well as our<br />
patients, have seen real benefits. For<br />
instance, waiting times for inpatients<br />
requiring MRI scans is down from five<br />
days to less than 24 hours, the average<br />
length of stay has been reduced from five<br />
to four days and we’re seeing more<br />
patients faster in fewer clinics. These and<br />
other achievements this year - such as<br />
our performance in the Good Hospital<br />
Guide and the recent Healthcare<br />
Commission ratings, research<br />
breakthroughs and innovations in patient<br />
care - are due to your hard work and<br />
commitment. I’ve no doubt that you will<br />
rise to the challenge of making even more<br />
improvements in the next year.<br />
The holiday season is a time for much<br />
deserved rest and relaxation but not all<br />
our staff have this luxury. For those<br />
taking time out, and for those on duty over<br />
the Christmas and New Year period, I<br />
would like to wish you all a very happy<br />
holiday and very best wishes for 2007.”<br />
Kind regards<br />
Robert Naylor<br />
The communications unit wishes you all a happy holiday
CHOOSE and BOOK<br />
goes direct<br />
Patient choice means that if a patient requires<br />
treatment in a hospital, they can choose where and<br />
when to have that treatment.<br />
Since May <strong>2006</strong>, extended choice has been available.<br />
This means that whether you live in Cornwall or Camden<br />
you can choose to be treated at any Foundation Trust – so<br />
you can be referred to UCLH from any GP in England (as<br />
long as we provide the service!)<br />
‘Choose and Book’ is a national initiative which combines<br />
electronic booking and a choice of place, date and time for<br />
first outpatient appointments. Until recently UCLH services<br />
have only been available “indirectly”, in other words, the<br />
patient has had to call in to fix the time and date of their<br />
appointment – but all that is about to change as our<br />
services become bookable directly online.<br />
The first service to offer electronic direct booking<br />
launches this month. Patients needing referral to trauma<br />
and orthopaedics can now choose UCLH and book an<br />
appointment there and then in the GP’s surgery.<br />
The new system will be monitored for any glitches and<br />
the rest of the Trust’s Choose and Book services will be<br />
rolled out early next year.<br />
“This brings huge benefits for patients, giving them<br />
flexibility and control over the booking of their appointment”<br />
said Sarah Johnston director of service development &<br />
marketing. “It’s also a great opportunity for the Trust to<br />
make our services easily available to patients throughout<br />
England”.<br />
For more information on the new direct booking<br />
system email chooseandbook@uclh.nhs.uk or visit the<br />
Choose and Book pages on Insight.<br />
Annual memorial<br />
lecture ends on a high<br />
The Janet Hull Memorial Lecture bowed out on a high last<br />
month as NHS chief nursing officer Chris Beasley gave a<br />
talk to UCLH nurses on the challenges presented by<br />
modern day nursing. This is the last lecture to be funded<br />
by the Janet Hull Memorial Fund, set up in 1979 in memory<br />
of staff nurse Janet Hull who died tragically in a road<br />
accident. From now on, the fund will be used to finance<br />
travelling scholarships for nurses who wish to travel and<br />
study to improve their education and/or qualifications.<br />
Members of the Nurses’ Leagues (nurses who trained at<br />
UCLH), as well as current Trust nurses can apply for a<br />
scholarship of up to £1500. Submit your proposal to the<br />
Nurses’ League via Sylvia Jemmott (PA at chief nurse’s<br />
office), by 31 March 2007.<br />
Left to right: NHS chief nurse Chris Beasley (second left)<br />
flanked by UCLH nursing staff Rachel Halliday acting senior nurse,<br />
personal development (left), chief nurse Louise Boden (third right)<br />
and Alison Brooks, acting acute services head of nursing (far right)<br />
The bug<br />
stops<br />
Here!<br />
A giant fluffy bug<br />
greeted visitors to UCH<br />
during infection control<br />
week last month to<br />
The fluffy bug with infection control staff<br />
Annette Jeanes and Duncan Burton<br />
Award winner “An inspiration”<br />
Congratulations to Dr Usha Menon named Woman of the<br />
Year at the Asian Achievers Awards. Colleagues at the<br />
Institute for Women’s Health describe her as “an inspiration<br />
to everyone”. The accolade recognises her key contribution<br />
to medical research into ovarian cancer screening. She was<br />
a key member of the team that carried out the UK<br />
Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer, involving 202,000<br />
women, the largest UK randomised clinical trial ever<br />
performed.<br />
remind patients and staff of the importance of good<br />
infection control. The MRSA bug roamed around the atrium<br />
of the hospital handing out alcohol handrub to visitors.<br />
Although we have an excellent record on MRSA, we can’t be<br />
complacent, as infection control consultant nurse Annette<br />
Jeanes said. ‘We are highlighting the need to clean your<br />
hands and how that applies to everybody – including visitors<br />
‘But we are trying to make it fun – hence the MRSA bug<br />
lurking in the foyer. People have been very amused and it’s<br />
really made them ask questions about what<br />
they can do to help and that’s exactly what we<br />
wanted.<br />
Dr Menon an honorary UCLH<br />
consultant and UCL director and<br />
senior lecturer at the<br />
Gynaecological Cancer Research<br />
Unit, was also praised for her<br />
innovation in trial management,<br />
hard work and attention to detail.<br />
Usha Menon, Woman of the Year<br />
Got a story? Contact anne.burns@uclh.nhs.uk or call x 9897
Equality for disabled people a priority<br />
A disability equality scheme has put the needs of<br />
disabled people at the fore of trust priorities. It aims to<br />
ensure they are taken into account in everything we do.<br />
“We want to put into practice a vision to achieve equality<br />
and break down barriers” said David Amos, director of<br />
workforce. “It’s about fostering a culture of positive attitudes<br />
where the views and needs of disabled people are heard and<br />
met. It’s also about practical things like making sure<br />
disabled people can get in and out and around our buildings<br />
with easy access.”<br />
The scheme is part of an on-going drive to integrate<br />
equality issues into decision-making and the running of the<br />
trust. From 4 <strong>December</strong> <strong>2006</strong>, hospitals and all other public<br />
bodies have a legal duty to promote equality under the<br />
Disability Discrimination Act.<br />
The Trust’s equality scheme is on Insight and if you’d<br />
like to be part of a disability network or have any<br />
comments please contact Eyong Besong x 8760 or email<br />
disability@uclh.nhs.uk<br />
Key facts<br />
In the UK there are:<br />
11 million disabled people and 770,000 disabled children<br />
1 in 5 of the working population are disabled – that’s 6.8<br />
million people<br />
1 million disabled people without a job want to work<br />
Six core areas have been identified for Trustwide<br />
action:<br />
to improve access to buildings<br />
to encourage disabled people’s involvement in<br />
decision-making and service development<br />
to recruit disabled people<br />
to increase awareness of disability equality through<br />
staff training<br />
to ensure good communications for disabled people<br />
to take account of the needs of disabled people in<br />
service delivery and gather feedback<br />
UCLH LAUNCHES<br />
FIRST NHS<br />
DENTAL<br />
SMOKING<br />
CESSATION<br />
SERVICE<br />
Chief dental officer Barry<br />
Cockcroft cuts a cake with patient<br />
Mary Hartley to mark the launch<br />
of the Eastman Dental Hospital<br />
smoking cessation service<br />
What it’s really like views from a<br />
member of staff and a patient<br />
Veronica Beechey<br />
Veronica’s story<br />
“Parking and portering can be tricky at<br />
some trust hospitals”, says patient<br />
Veronica Beechey, who uses a<br />
wheelchair.<br />
“The clinical care is sympathetic and<br />
cutting edge, but getting back and forth<br />
can be problematic for<br />
dropping off and picking up.<br />
And it’s not always easy to<br />
find a porter. These are things that something can be done<br />
about with the will and resources.”<br />
Stanley Eyanagho<br />
Stanley’s story<br />
The world of staff nurse Stanley<br />
Eyanagho changed forever six years ago<br />
when he became paralysed. He left the<br />
wards he loved at the National Hospital<br />
for Neurology and Neurosurgery.<br />
“It was a great shock and big transition<br />
from being able to do<br />
everything to being in a<br />
wheelchair.” He now has a<br />
desk job as a clinical coding liaison officer.<br />
“I was told to take early retirement but I had a young<br />
family, I was in my early forties and I had a lot more to give.<br />
I felt very alone initially. I had to push and cajole for this job.<br />
Better communications between managers and personnel<br />
would be very helpful. This scheme is a great development<br />
and. I’ll do anything to help.”<br />
“My colleagues have been positive, sympathetic and<br />
understanding. I couldn’t do this job without them.”<br />
Useful links<br />
Find out more about the new legislation and how it affects<br />
you at: www.dwp.gov.uk and www.drc.org.uk<br />
The first dental stop smoking service in England was<br />
launched at the Eastman Dental Hospital at the end of<br />
October, with the backing of the chief dental officer and the<br />
British Dental Association. Specialist smoking cessation<br />
clinics with a stop smoking nurse will now be available for<br />
patients at the Eastman. Launching the service, chief dental<br />
officer Barry Cockcroft described it as ‘fantastically<br />
impressive’ and a factor in tackling an increase in oral cancer<br />
which was on the increase among young people.<br />
Eastman Dental Hospital clinical director Richard Welfare<br />
said the clinics were about helping patients live healthier<br />
lives as well as giving their treatment the best chance to<br />
succeed. “Smoking is key to the oral health of patients and it<br />
is also a fact that their treatment does not work so well if they<br />
are smokers.”<br />
Send details of your upcoming events to weekly.email.bulletin@uclh.nhs.uk
New book is<br />
child’s play<br />
UCLH play services manager Judy Walker’s book ‘Play for<br />
Health: Delivering and Auditing Quality in Hospital Play<br />
Services’ was published last month by the National<br />
Association of Hospital Play Staff. The first of its kind for 16<br />
years, the book is designed to guide the management and<br />
delivery of hospital play services and describes the standards<br />
children and families using play services should receive in<br />
different hospital settings. "The book draws on my experience<br />
at UCLH where play services have improved and extended<br />
into new areas. Writing a book is a great personal<br />
achievement, but it will only have significance if it’s used to<br />
ensure children and their families across the UK receive the<br />
play services they need."<br />
Applauded by the Department of Health’s<br />
National Service Framework for Children,<br />
Young People and Maternity Services, the<br />
work of the 1200 NHS play specialists is<br />
seen as hugely beneficial to babies,<br />
children and young people in hospital.<br />
Other hospital staff also appreciate the<br />
support play specialists provide,<br />
particularly during medical<br />
procedures where<br />
anxiety can be<br />
reduced and<br />
co-operation<br />
increased.<br />
Play services manager/author Judy Walker<br />
Premier␣league␣medicine<br />
Mr Haddad’s team have put the Trust in pole position to do<br />
this, with a multi disciplinary approach, developing specialist<br />
clinics and surgery, as well as state of the art physiotherapy<br />
and rehabilitation services, getting people back to work, back<br />
to sport and back to a healthy lifestyle.<br />
Patient<br />
Raymond St Hill<br />
examined by<br />
Bruce Paton,<br />
extended scope<br />
physiotherapist.<br />
Fares Haddad in scrubs flanked by colleagues<br />
Sunday soccer dads and weekend sports enthusiasts<br />
are in the premier league when it comes to injury time<br />
here at UCLH - they get the same top team treatment as<br />
England soccer stars and Olympic athletes.<br />
The specialist sports injury team, led by consultant<br />
orthopaedic surgeon, player manager Fares Haddad, is fastgaining<br />
a leading reputation in the expanding field of sports<br />
medicine. Mr Haddad already treats top sports professionals<br />
worldwide – he’s put England soccer star Aaron Lennon back<br />
on his feet, as well as Olympic athletes, top rugby players and<br />
cricketers. “I want to give the same quality of care to people<br />
who love their sport - all those weekend sports warriors who<br />
want to get back to it just as much as Lennon” he says.<br />
With interest in the Olympics and the government’s push to<br />
encourage a fit and healthy nation, patient numbers are<br />
expected to increase. “Our work dovetails with health<br />
priorities which aim to get the nation taking up more sport and<br />
exercise to keep healthy” says Mr Haddad. “A healthy lifestyle<br />
will help combat obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer<br />
but as people take up more sport we can expect more injuries.<br />
We want to be the premiere provider in the NHS, not just in<br />
surgery but in rehabilitation, getting people back on track to<br />
healthy living”.<br />
Raymond St Hill was well impressed when he heard he<br />
was in the hands of premiere league sports clinicians. “If it’s<br />
good enough for Aaron Lennon, it’s good enough for me”, he<br />
says. A keen runner, kick boxer and circuit trainer, the strain<br />
was too much for his knee. Bruce Paton, extended scope<br />
physiotherapist and key team member says Raymond was<br />
typical of the patients he sees. “The most common complaints<br />
include ligament damage, soft tissue, metatarsal damage,<br />
hamstring strains, ankle breaks and sprains and back and<br />
Achilles heel injuries. Facilities at the new hospital helps us<br />
give first-class support to all patients.”<br />
Sports␣injuries␣-␣did␣you␣know?<br />
There are 29 million new or recurrent sports<br />
injuries every year<br />
10 million result in people being off work<br />
It costs the NHS £590m a year to treat these<br />
injuries<br />
For each hospital admission the patient has been<br />
11 times to emergency departments and 12 times<br />
to the GP<br />
Check out the 52 club’s fantastic sports and leisure facilities
Secret lives<br />
In her working<br />
life, Alison<br />
Johns is a<br />
transitional care<br />
sister at the<br />
EGA, helping to<br />
look after tiny,<br />
sick babies.<br />
But when she<br />
clocks off she<br />
takes on a very<br />
different<br />
persona – and<br />
becomes a<br />
Brown Owl.<br />
To girls growing<br />
up in Friern<br />
Barnet, she’s the<br />
jolly lady with<br />
oodles of energy<br />
who bakes<br />
cookies, plays rounders, leads campfire sing-alongs – and<br />
helps them stick to the rules and earn their Brownie badges.<br />
“They are full of enthusiasm – and so am I. It gives them<br />
the chance to flourish away from their parents, to develop, to<br />
think for themselves in an environment away from school<br />
and home.”<br />
It’s a role she was destined for. Her dad<br />
was in the RAF and travelled around the<br />
world – so Alison became a Brownie in<br />
Malaya, a Girl Guide in England and a<br />
Ranger in Australia. Years later, her<br />
daughter Emma joined the movement.<br />
When her Brownie leader retired – and<br />
the group was threatened with closure –<br />
Alison stepped in to help. She is now also<br />
the county leadership coordinator for<br />
Middlesex East.<br />
“The Brownies have adapted over the<br />
years but essentially it remains the same.<br />
There’s still the Brownie promise, the rules<br />
and the sense of belonging. There’s not<br />
bob-a-job any more though because of<br />
child protection.”<br />
Every year she takes 15-18 girls to the<br />
Guide camp at Colney Heath. Earlier this<br />
year they even went to Euro Disney.<br />
“Children need an interest outside school,<br />
a set of rules, a sense of enjoyment and<br />
achievement. It’s got to be better than<br />
just hanging around street corners. I feel<br />
rather sad for those children.”<br />
Brownie badges<br />
A day in the life...<br />
volunteer Anita Yeomans<br />
If you spot Anita Yeomans around a ward she’s likely to be lulling a<br />
patient into a trance – not exactly what you expect in hospital!<br />
Anita, who is qualified in combined hypnotherapy and psychotherapy,volunteers<br />
her services once a week to help our patients on the road to recovery. She<br />
smiles at the image most people have of hypnosis. “Patients sometimes think<br />
I’m going to swing a watch in front of their drooping eyes and have them hopping<br />
down the ward on one foot with a canula hanging out” she laughs.<br />
The therapy has proved to have very real benefits for many patients. Some<br />
have had problems sleeping in hospital, some can’t eat very well after an<br />
operation or because drugs have made them nauseous, some are at a very low<br />
ebb, worried or struggling with pain. And some just want to give up smoking to<br />
help them get better.<br />
“It can help with so many different things, said Anita. “In hospital people are<br />
often vulnerable, it’s all very stressful.“ I might talk through and work on any<br />
anxieties and fears the patient may have and sometimes use hypnosis to help<br />
them relax, increase well-being and physical comfort.<br />
“The therapy is a very natural and gentle way of getting people to help themselves be positive, to build confidence and<br />
optimism, and become less stressed.<br />
“I love helping patients here – the hospital is very open minded to complementary medicine and I get great satisfaction<br />
from seeing patients benefit”.<br />
If there are patients on your ward who you think might benefit from this kind of therapy please contact Anita via<br />
the voluntary services department on x 73004.<br />
Did you know? Up to 250 people volunteer at UCLH
Big thanks to Ki Health<br />
For the past year, non-profit charity Ki Health International has been recharging<br />
the batteries of UCLH staff by offering 15 minute acupressure sessions as part of<br />
their ‘Supporting Our Services’ (S.O.S.) project. Designed to give something back<br />
to the London emergency services, the S.O.S. project is part of a wider campaign<br />
to combat stress and fatigue in the workplace. More sessions are being arranged<br />
with our occupational health department – all staff are welcome, check Insight for<br />
details.<br />
Meanwhile Ki Health came to<br />
the rescue recently when the<br />
communications unit was let<br />
down by a company offering a<br />
competition prize. “With three<br />
winners and no prize, we were<br />
about to dig deep when Ki<br />
Health kindly stepped in and<br />
offered treatments for our<br />
winners worth £100 each.<br />
“They certainly reduced our<br />
stress levels and gave our<br />
winners a real treat” explains<br />
Rosa Wotton, communications<br />
assistant. Find out more at<br />
www.kihealth.org, email<br />
info@soslondon.org or call 020<br />
7636 3500 x 8634.<br />
Feedback from UCLH Ki<br />
Ki Master at work<br />
Health sessions:<br />
Excellent 10 minutes; best ever<br />
spent at work. Refreshed, relaxed.<br />
Joanne, lead nurse<br />
Less back pain – almost pain free. Very relaxed and energised, thank you.<br />
Luke, speech therapist<br />
Surprisingly relaxed - at first I wasn’t too sure but you have converted me!<br />
Martin, nurse<br />
Competition<br />
Kit out your pad in style with a little help<br />
from Habitat on Tottenham Court Road.<br />
One lucky Inside Story reader has the<br />
chance to win a £100 voucher to spend<br />
in store. Many thanks to Habitat for this<br />
generous prize.<br />
To enter, just answer this simple<br />
question:<br />
“How many play specialists are there<br />
currently working in the NHS?”<br />
Email entries to<br />
competition@uclh.nhs.uk, or send to<br />
the communications unit, second floor<br />
central, 250 Euston Road via internal<br />
email. Closing date is Friday 12<br />
January 2007.<br />
The Brain Hospital<br />
If you’ve felt touched by the stories<br />
featured in the three-part BBC 1 series,<br />
The Brain Hospital, and wish to support<br />
the National Hospital Development<br />
Foundation in raising the the final<br />
£750,000 needed to ensure that the<br />
neurocritical care service at the<br />
National Hospital continues to lead the<br />
field, visit the charities page on Insight.<br />
The Brain Hospital team<br />
Ki Treatment uses special breathing techniques to create a sound<br />
vibration that carries energy naturally into the body, softening deep-set tension<br />
and blockages. This is combined with acupressure to stimulate energy points<br />
around the body. Acupressure regulates the circulation of blood and energy<br />
which carries oxygen and nutrition to all organs and cells.<br />
Eastman socks it to ‘em<br />
Uniform policy dictates that staff in the orthodontic<br />
department at the Eastman Dental Hospital wear only<br />
black or navy socks. But on ‘Children in Need’ day<br />
last month,<br />
dental nurses,<br />
technicians,<br />
consultants,<br />
receptionists<br />
and<br />
postgraduates<br />
donned<br />
brightly<br />
Dental nurses show off their socks<br />
coloured socks<br />
to do collections around the hospital, as well as<br />
donating £2 each, to raise over £200 for the annual<br />
BBC fundraiser.<br />
52 Club news<br />
The 52 Club wishes you a very merry Christmas and a happy<br />
new year.<br />
•Treat yourself or a friend to the Christmas gift with a<br />
difference - some personal training sessions. The 52 Club has<br />
three personal trainers to help develop your health and well<br />
being with nutritional advice and exercise programs. Trainers<br />
encourage regular attendance and moral support when you<br />
feel the self discipline slipping. Pay before Christmas and get<br />
six classes free. Also, buy four sessions and get one free –<br />
sessions are just £25 an hour.<br />
•Don’t forget the end of month discos to pick you up after a<br />
hard month’s work - last Friday of every month and it’s FREE!<br />
•The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is<br />
organising a charity swim in aid of Swim for Malaria in the 52<br />
Club pool on 22 February, from 8am – 8pm. Swimmers are<br />
hoping to top the £16,000 raised last year.<br />
Congrats to October’s competition winner: Ivona Hofmanova