April 2012 - University College London Hospitals

Inside Story
April 2012
Follow us: @uclh
Trust welcomes Royal National
Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital –
pages 4 & 5
Inside Story is the UCLH staff magazine

news
Prime minister backs dementia research
news
World’s most advanced form of radiotherapy coming to UCLH
Prime Minister David Cameron visited
the National Hospital for Neurology
and Neurosurgery on the morning that
the government announced dementia
research funding will be doubled to
£66 million by 2015.
The prime minister said it was ‘a great
honour’ to see at first-hand how the
Trust collaborates closely with UCL on
what he later described as ‘one of the
greatest challenges of our time.’
He gave his backing to the Alzheimer
Society’s landmark report Dementia
2012: A National Challenge which
explores how well people are living
with dementia in 2012 in England,
Wales and Northern Ireland.
Before attending the Alzheimer
Society conference where he
described the issue of dementia as
a ‘national crisis’, the prime minister
visited the dementia MR scanner at
the NHNN and then the Dementia
Research Centre, directly opposite the
hospital.
Need More Time? If so read on...
The Trust is re-launching the option
for staff to temporarily reduce their
working hours, with the guarantee of
reverting back to your normal working
hours afterwards.
The scheme is open to staff at all
levels, dependent on a number of
Prof Martin Rossor, prime minister David Cameron and patient David Hague
The NHNN and UCL have
benefited from considerable
funding grants in the past 12
months which will accelerate the
development of treatments and
identify future therapeutic targets for
neurodegenerative diseases, with the
aim of earlier intervention for patients.
Professor Martin Rossor, honorary
criteria (for further information look at
Insight).
The application will be reviewed by
your line manager initially, before
being submitted to the divisional
manager or corporate director for a
final decision.
Contact us
If you have any information you would like included in Inside Story, or on Insight,
contact: Communications Unit, 2nd Floor Central, 250 Euston Road, London NW1
2PG. Email: communications@uclh.nhs.uk, Tel: ext 79897, Fax: ext 79401.
consultant neurologist at the NHNN
and Professor of clinical neurology
at UCL, said: “We were pleased to
welcome the prime minister to tell
him more about our research and it
is excellent that the government has
pledged more money for this area
of research, which is so desperately
needed.”
Claire Tucker, who works in the Trust
Information team temporarily reduced
her working hours last year.
Claire said: “I wanted more time to
dedicate to other projects outside of
work, and was finding that it was too
much to pack in everything I wanted
to do. Initially I had a trial period so
that both my manager and I could be
confident that the arrangement would
work.”
UCLH recognises the benefits of
flexible working practices within the
organisation to improve the working
lives of the employees.
The deadline for applications to
reduce your working hours is 31
March 2013.
This scheme is launched in addition to
the additional annual leave scheme.
The deadline for applications to
increase your annual leave entitlement
is the 30 April 2012. So don’t delay!
Front cover: Chief executive Sir
Robert Naylor, chairman Richard
Murley and RNTNEH clinical director,
Valerie Lund
UCLH will offer the world’s most advanced form of
radiotherapy after the government announced up to
£250 million of funding to bring Proton Beam Therapy
(PBT) to the UK.
UCLH will be one of two sites delivering PBT for
around 1,500 patients every year across the NHS
from 2017.
Proton Beam Therapy is a type of radiotherapy, which
uses a precision high-energy beam of particles to
destroy cancer cells. The treatment is particularly
suitable for complex childhood cancers, increasing
success rates and reducing side-effects, such as
deafness, loss of IQ and secondary cancers. It can
also be used to treat brain cancers, head and neck
cancers and sarcomas. There are currently no highenergy
Proton Beam Therapy facilities in England,
and patients who require the treatment have to be
sent abroad.
Dr Yen-Ch’ing Chang, UCLH lead on Proton Beam
Therapy, added: “Proton Beam Therapy’s main
advantage is that less normal tissue is irradiated.
“Cancer patients who might benefit from Proton Beam
Therapy include children and teenagers, as well as
some adults with complex tumours of the brain, bone
and soft tissues.”
Katie Swain, whose daughter Matilda was referred
from UCLH to Jacksonville, Florida, for PBT said it
would have made a big difference if she had been
treated in London.
“It would take the pressure off parents and enable
children to carry on with a normal school life and have
the support of their friends and family close by,” said
Ms Swain.
Matilda, 5, went to America to be treated for
retinoblastoma – cancer of the eye. The UCLH bid
was developed with the support of UCLH Charity.
New top ten objectives launched
The Board of Directors has announced
UCLH’s top ten objectives for 2012/13
and delivering excellent clinical
outcomes, improving patient safety
and delivering a high quality patient
experience are top of the list.
The annual objectives, which should
be the focus for all UCLH staff, were
approved last week.
Sir Robert Naylor, UCLH chief
executive, said: “It is more important
than ever that UCLH has a clear
vision and that we are all focussed on
what we need to achieve in order to
maintain our success.
“As our campaign to improve the
patient and staff experience gathers
momentum it is quite right that our
Artist’s impression of how the UCLH Proton Beam Therapy Centre, in Grafton,
Way will look. Picture courtesy of Scott Tallon Walker
Matilda Penfold-Swain and her sister Georgia
top objectives reflect our desire to
save and improve lives through better
safety and team working.
“All of our objectives are designed to
help us achieve our vision to deliver
top-quality patient care, excellent
education and world class research.
“However to achieve these objectives
we need to have a robust plan for
managing our finances well. Delivering
our Quality, Efficiency & Productivity
(QEP) programme remains high
on the agenda and we continue to
find new ways of working that will
improve morale and efficiency without
impacting on the high standards of
care patients have come to expect
from us.”
As in previous years, enabling staff
to maximise their potential is among
the objectives. Further to the launch
of a new appraisal system last year,
focus this year will be on ensuring all
staff benefit from an appraisal and
complete mandatory training.
Developing research and development
and education projects is also a key
objective.
The ‘top ten’ should be reflected in
your departmental priorities which
in turn should help shape your ways
of working. These objectives can
then feed into personal objectives for
individual appraisals.
2 3

Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital
Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital
Welcome to UCLH!
More than 370 staff from the Royal National
Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital (RNTNEH)
have joined the ranks of UCLH, following a
management transfer.
To mark the milestone, colleagues gathered
at the hospital in Gray’s Inn Road, to eat
cake and toast the future partnership.
Chief executive Sir Robert Naylor said: “This
is a landmark day and we can now think
about our ambitious plans for the future –
plans that will see us develop a modern
facility, offering a modern style of care – a
world-leading centre of excellence for all
head and neck services.”
The change will combine the services
provided by the RNTNEH with the dental,
oral health, neuroscience and head and
neck cancer services already provided by
UCLH – making it the most comprehensive
service of its kind in the UK.
Dr Gill Gaskin, medical director for the
UCLH specialist hospital board, said: “I
am delighted the RNTNEH team is joining
UCLH. It adds another strand of nationally
recognised expertise to UCLH’s portfolio,
which complements our existing expertise in
neuro-otology, head and neck cancer, and
oral and thoracic medicine and surgery. A
number of our specialists and researchers
already work closely with them.”
The new joint service will have a team of internationally-recognised ENT
and head and neck surgeons, physicians in audiovestibular medicine and
anaesthetists. Alongside them will be a team of expert nurses, audiologists,
speech and language therapists and allied scientists and professionals.
Some inpatient services are expected to move to UCH but the majority will
continue to be delivered from the current RNTNEH site. In the longer term, the
vision is to bring the RNTNEH,
Eastman Dental Hospital
and existing UCLH head
and neck services into
one centre on the main
UCH campus.
‘We are inextricably linked’ says clinical
director Valerie Lund
As the longest serving clinician at
the RNTNEH, clinical director
and honorary consultant
ENT surgeon Valerie
Lund, is in a good position
to comment on the
management transfer. She
said: “When I first started
working here as a senior
house officer there was
talk of the hospital being
transferred to the Odeon site…
we’re still talking about it and
it may actually happen!”
RNTNEH fact file
UK’s largest ear, nose and
throat hospital – provided
services to around 100,000
patients last year with over
7,000 operations performed
Outpatient clinics/services at
the Royal Free Hospital and
the Whittington, Edgware
Community Hospital and
Finchley Memorial Hospital.
Other RNTNEH
highlights include:
An international centre for
voice disorders assesses
and treats a range of voice
problems from cancer to
hoarseness. It specialises in
treating professional singers
and actors.
Sleep clinic established
20 years ago for snoring
problems or sleep apnoea.
Apnoea patients are prone
to heart disease, strokes and
other health problems.
nose and throat together again –
they are inextricably linked.”
She is also enthusiastic from
an academic point of view,
describing it as ‘a logical
direction of travel’. As the
Professor of Rhinology at
the Ear Institute at UCL,
with whom the RNTNEH work
closely, it is easy to see why she
is supportive of bringing these
specialities closer together.
A holistic approach
The RNTNEH is proud of its unique
range of audiovestibular (AVM)
services that offer a holistic approach
to the non-surgical management
of adults and children with a wide
spectrum of hearing, balance, speech
and language disorders. The hospital
houses the largest AVM departments
in the country, in terms of the
complexity of the multi-disciplinary
teams available, and the numbers of
patients treated.
Babies, children and young people
from across the UK, and other parts
of the world, are referred to The
Nuffield Hearing and Speech Centre.
The teams are led by clinical lead Dr
Deirdre Lucas.
Pioneering implant programme returns
A high-flying city worker left in a
profoundly still world after suddenly
losing his hearing; a mother unable
to listen to her child’s first words;
90-year-old cut off in a world of
silence.
The lives of these patients, and 597
others, have been transformed by the
cochlear implant programme since
the pioneering operation was first
performed in the programme 30 years
ago.
In 2012, its 30th anniversary, it
remains a European leader.
Consultant surgeon and programme
director Jeremy Lavy said: “The
What is a cochlear
implant?
Adults from across the UK and
overseas are referred to the Adult
Audiovestibular Medicine team, who
are housed in the purpose-built soundproofed
Audiology Centre within the
main RNTNEH campus. Complex
hearing loss, dizziness, tinnitus and
hypersensitivity to sound are just a
few of the conditions managed.
Consultant Dr Roshini Alles,
clinical lead in Adult AVM, said
the management transfer would
strengthen existing ties with ENT
surgeons, paediatricians and other
clinicians at UCLH and hopefully lead
to greater research opportunities.
majority of patients are incredibly
happy because you have restored
their hearing. Getting up for work
every morning is easy – the job is
enormously satisfying because you
can make a material difference to
people’s lives.
“Research is constantly developing
and the future of hearing implants
will lead to amazing outcomes for the
next generation of patients. We are
on the threshold of offering so, so
much more.” The cochlear implant
programme moved from UCLH
to become part of
the services of
the RNTNEH
in 1997.
“So really
the cochlear
implant
service has
come full
circle and
we see that
as a positive
shift.” Mr Lavy
concluded.
A cochlear implant device helps
improve the hearing abilities of
many profoundly or totally deaf
people by electrically stimulating
the auditory nerve directly,
Valerie is rightly proud of the
bypassing the damaged cells in
hospital’s reputation. “It attracts the inner ear. A microphone worn
Valerie, who was
patients from all over the world on the outer ear picks up sounds
awarded a CBE
and sends electrical impulses to
for services to
and has a pivotal role nationally
a sophisticated sound processor
medicine, is hugely
in delivery of care at secondary
which modifies the signal and
positive about the
and tertiary levels.”
returns it to a transmitter. This is
RNTNEH being
She acknowledges that the picked up by a receiver in the skull,
welcomed into the
hospital looks reasonably converted to electrical signals and
Trust. “It makes
modest from the outside sent to electrodes inserted inside
Chairman Richard Murley and chief executive Sir Robert Naylor signing and sealing the RNTNEH sense to bring head
but that inside ’it is like the
the cochlea.
transfer documentation
and neck and ear,
Tardis’.
4 5

interview
our trust
Focus on dedicated cancer staff
The opening of the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre marks the dawning of a new era in cancer care.
As well as looking to the future, it’s an opportunity to reflect on those colleagues who have shown years of loyalty.
Elke Tullett speaks to three long-serving staff members in the cancer division.
A sea-change in treatment
of cancer at UCLH
During his 31 years as a consultant
clinical oncologist, Professor Jeffrey
Tobias has seen many seismic shifts
in cancer care.
When he was appointed as joint
consultant for UCH and The
Middlesex Hospital in 1981, cancer
care was nowhere near the level of
complexity seen today. Chemotherapy
was basic, radiotherapy relatively
primitive and imaging unsophisticated.
Jeffrey, who has also held the post of
UCL Professor of Cancer Medicine for
the past decade, said: “When it came
to radiotherapy planning, there was
an awful lot of guess work involved
trying to decide where the tumour was
located. Today we have immeasurably
improved precision and the treatment
can be delivered much more rapidly,
with far less in the way of radiation
side effects.”
The new centre, which he describes
as ‘very exciting’, will go many steps
further.
‘Thirty-four years – really?’
She has worked with our cancer
services division for an amazing
34 years and nine months and is
the longest serving member of the
oncology team. Senior medical
secretary and team leader Isobel
Nissen was bashful when we tracked
her down.
“Thirty-four years – really? That’s a
surprise!” she said.
Isobel started her career at the old
EGA Hospital in Euston Road as a
junior secretary. Then she moved to
the former Middlesex Hospital, as PA
to consultant Miss Margaret Snelling
who was one of the early pioneers of
radiotherapy. She was “an amazing
woman but I think I was a bit scared of
her,” says Isobel.
Isobel, now based at 250 Euston
Road, said: “When I first started it was
very hierarchical. The consultants
and senior secretaries worked on the
third floor and junior secretaries, who
worked on the ground floor, never
went to the third floor – unless you
were invited.”
“There were no photocopiers,
only gestetner machines and pink
correction fluid. I suppose it is easier
now with technology.”
Isobel has the highest praise for
those who were the driving force
behind the Cancer Centre. “Everyone
who campaigned and worked so
hard to develop the idea should be
congratulated. They are incredibly
visionary.”
Deirdre Driver and the
Queen Mother
7 June 1981: the date the Queen
Mother officially opened The
Haematology Unit in the Rosenheim
Building.
Deirdre Driver, who was enjoying
her first day as an agency nurse, was
among the small crowd gathered at
the entrance to welcome the royal
visitor.
For Deirdre it was an auspicious
start to a 30-year career at UCLH,
the majority of which has been spent
working with cancer patients. From
this month her outpatient clinics for
sarcoma patients will transfer to the
new Cancer Centre.
Deirdre said: “I am very nostalgic
about the Rosenheim but the new
centre will be amazing! I’m excited.
Change must be embraced for things
to get even better.”
As a Macmillan sarcoma clinical nurse
specialist, Deirdre is responsible for
offering support and education for
patients, as well as ensuring their
often complex treatment pathway runs
as smoothly as possible.
Call for staff governors
Want to have a real influence on how
the Trust is run and to help make a
difference for patients – why not stand
for Governor?
If you work as a nurse, midwife, porter,
Staff survey results published
The latest staff survey results have
put UCLH among the top 20% of NHS
acute trusts on a number of important
indicators with the majority of staff
saying they would recommend the
Trust as a place to work or receive
treatment.
According to the 2011 staff survey
results, 84% of staff at UCLH said
they were satisfied with the quality of
work and patient care they are able
to deliver, 10% above the national
average for acute trusts. Some 92% of
staff at UCLH believe their role makes
a difference to patients.
Staff at UCLH were among the most
motivated across hospitals in the NHS
being ranked in the top 20% for how
much they look forward to going to
work and their enthusiasm for their
jobs.
This coincides with an increase in
staff receiving appraisals, 82% in
2011 (above the national average)
compared with 74% in 2010.
David Wherrett, workforce director at
UCLH, said: “It is great that our staff
are feeling increasingly satisfied with
the services they are delivering to
patients.
receptionist, manager or in facilities –
read on!
The Trust is holding elections in two
constituencies, one seat in each of
the following: nurses and midwives
staff has been crucial to delivering
improved outcomes for patients. Once
again it is very pleasing to see that
staff at UCLH believe they are making
a real difference and that they would
recommend the Trust to their loved
ones and friends as a place to be
treated or work.”
However it is not all good news, the
survey shows us where we must focus
our attention. The areas where we
didn’t score well being the percentage
of staff working extra hours;
percentage of staff believing the Trust
provides equal opportunities for career
progression or promotion; percentage
and non-clinical. We are looking for
enthusiastic and dynamic staff. It’s
a simple self-nomination process.
Find out more and talk to current
governors, at the election event on 10
May in the UCH Education Centre at
6pm – 8pm
Key dates
Nomination forms 8 May
available
Nominations close 6 June, 5pm
Ballot papers 29 June
dispatched
Close of ballot 20 July, 5pm
Results announced 26 July
For more information, book your
place at the election event or for an
information pack, contact Ros Waring
in the membership office – foundation.
trust@uclh.nhs.uk or 020 3447 9923.
of staff experiencing discrimination
at work and the percentage of staff
witnessing potentially harmful errors,
near misses or incidents.
David added: “Whilst many of our
scores have improved, there are areas
where we have remained static or
where we can do much better. We will
be looking in more detail about our
performance in these areas as it is
clearly not acceptable that staff should
feel held back or their performance
compromised.”
The Trust’s response rate was 57.3%,
the equivalent of more than 3,600
staff.
“Clearly it will offer patients a better
environment and a less confusing,
“I’ve seen many changes over the
more integrated treatment pathway.
years since my early days. It is a
In addition, its ethos and our close
much better experience for patients
link with Macmillan will make more
than it was 20 years ago. You build
help available to patients who are
relationships with them and their
struggling to come to terms with
families and you try to do the very
their diagnosis and also the often
best you can for each and every one
demanding treatments”.
of them.”
“Improving the working lives of our All UCLH staff have a part to play
6 7

the back page
Secret lives
Kevin Fong, consultant anaesthetist. Photo
credit: Anthony Cullen
As a teenager at a comprehensive
school, he tried to hide his
overwhelming passion for space and
science from his jostling, footballloving
peers.
“It wasn’t seen as a cool thing to
be interested in anything academic
at my school. But even as a young
child, I loved space exploration and
wanted to be an astronaut. Science
literally gave me a star to follow.”
Now the UCLH consultant
anaesthetist, Kevin Fong, who holds
degrees in medicine, astrophysics
and engineering, is ready to
broadcast his message loud and
clear.
“I’m not a professional researcher,
I’m never going to find a cure
for cancer but I hope that my
contribution to science can be
through the communication of
scientific ideas; making science
accessible to the widest possible
audience. In that way I hope
to help inspire and deliver the
next generation of scientists and
engineers. A lot of the stigma about
science has gone away. It is going
through a popular period and I’m
hugely lucky to be part of that wave.”
As part of its 75th anniversary,
the Wellcome Trust awarded Dr
Fong a two year fellowship to push
the boundaries and cajole the
public, clinicians and academics to
examine, explore and debate the
‘big scientific challenges’ faced by
society.
He’s been busy. In the first six
months of the fellowship he
interviewed UCLH colleagues,
for a four-part series of online
films for The Guardian about
advances in cardiac medicine. He
also organised live events at the
Royal Institution on the history of
heart transplants and the ethics of
intensive care. He’s been learning
the craft of broadcasting too and has
presented five BBC Radio 4 science
programmes and three BBC Horizon
documentaries and a BBC2 series
about the physiology of extreme
environments.
“I think that if you’re involved in
science or medicine and you don’t
communicate it’s like being the
curator of a museum of rare and
beautiful artefacts that no one else is
ever allowed to see.”
“I think that if we in the medical
profession want people to
understand why we do what we
do, appreciate the difficulties we
face and celebrate our successes
then we have no choice but
to communicate as well as we
can; whenever we’re given the
opportunity.”
Archives
Royal National Throat, Nose and
Ear Hospital – a look back in time
1875: The Central London
Throat and Ear Hospital
established in Gray’s Inn Road,
with just ten beds. Famous opera
singer Madam Adelina Patti laid
the foundation stone. The Times
newspaper, the hospital’s first
annual report and her portrait
were buried underneath
1939: Central London Throat
and Ear Hospital merged with
the Hospital for Disease of the
Throat in Golden Square (known
as ‘Golden Square Hospital’)
1942: The two hospitals formally
amalgamated to form The Royal
8
National Throat Nose & Ear
Hospital
1963: Completion of the Nuffield
Hearing & Speech Centre for
children with a wide spectrum
of speech, hearing and balance
problems
1975: Known as the largest ENT
unit in the world
1982: Under NHS
reorganisation, RNTNEH was
put under the management of
the Bloomsbury District Health
Authority
1996: RNTNEH joined the Royal
Free Hampstead NHS Trust
2012: Transferred to UCLH
Dr Nafiv Shah at the Nuffield Centre in the
1970s