Issue 22 - April 2009 - Southern Health and Social Care Trust

2 - ‘G.I. Jane’ MeningitisFundraising Event2Up dateStaff newsletterIssue 22 April 2009Health Minister, Michael McGimpseyhas launched an information leaflet onClostridium difficile for patients, theirfamilies, visitors and carers.The leaflet is one of a range of initiativesfunded by the additional £9millioninvestment in patient safety that theMinister announced in January 2008.Five Star award for Copperfields>Madge Tate, Day Care Worker and Lena Boyd,Facility Support Worker with the awardCopperfields Resource Centre hasrecently gained a 'Five Star' award for itshigh degree of cleanliness, food hygieneprotocols and for the maintenance ofHACCP awards. The Scores on the Doorsscheme uses a national scoring systemto provide the public with informationabout food hygiene standards in an easyto understand format. Copperfields waspraised for its very high standards offood safety management. The score isderived from three main areas - structuralcondition, observation of practices andconfidence in management.Banbridge District Council administersthe Scores on the Doors scheme whichrates the hygiene standards of a businessat unannounced inspections. For moreinformation on the awards click onwww.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/fac.php orwww.banbridge.com/template1.asp?parent=116&parent2=428&pid=642&area=1Health Minister LaunchesClostridium Difficile LeafletProduced by the Department of Health,Social Services and Public Safety, theleaflet draws on a range of existingmaterials and expert advice.The leaflet aims to explain C. difficile topatients who have contracted the infection,their visitors and carers and to help controlthe spread of infection.The Minister said: "Tackling healthcareassociatedinfections is one of my toppriorities. We need to make sure thathealthcare is as safe as possible, andwe need to restore and maintain publicconfidence in our health service."This leaflet is an important part of the fightagainst healthcare-associated infections,for two reasons: people want this kindof information presented in an easy-toreadformat; secondly, the information andadvice in theleaflet will helppatients, theirvisitors, familiesand carers to dothe right thingsto help preventthe spread ofinfection."The Ministeradded: "Thisinformation hasbeen written inplain Englishto make sureit is readable for patients, their families,friends and any member of the public. I amgrateful to Age Sector Platform for testingits readability."All wards and departments have suppliesof the leaflet. It is also available from theInfection Control Team Tel: (028) 38613868 or from the Trust intranet underClinical Guidelines/Infection Control.In this issue2 - Call for Foster Carers3 - Trust holds SexualHealth conference3 - New Uniforms forDomiciliary Care workers4 - Trust launchesResources for BlackMinority Ethnic Population

Security Porter Staff receive MAPA TrainingPictured at the MAPA training are Security Porter staff, MAPAtrainers and Hammond Coppinger, Security Manager.In support of the Department of Health’s ZeroTolerance on abuse of staff campaign, theTrust places great importance on the safety ofall staff and does not accept that they shouldbe subjected to verbal abuse or physicalviolence of any nature. In recognition of theincrease and the seriousness of physical andLocal foster carers and staff from the Trust'sFamily Placement Teams recently tookpart in an advertising campaign along withUlsterbus. The campaign is part of an ongoingrecruitment campaign. The Trust is appealingto anyone who has an interest in caring for achild to consider becoming a foster carer. TheTrust needs a broad range of foster carersto meet the demand of children requiringa foster placement and allow them to beplaced with the most suitable carers, limitingdisruption and instability in children's lives.verbal attacks on healthcare staff the Trust’sHealth and Safety Department can now offer3 levels of MAPA (Management of Actual orPotential Aggression) training as well as givingadvice and guidance to Managers and staff onthe Management of Violence and Aggression.Donal Grimes, Portering Services Managercommented after the training that "those whoparticipated in the training felt supported by theTrust and that they would be able to apply thetechniques they had learnt to their everydaywork." Donal also commented that "one of themain benefits is that there is now a standardisedapproach to MAPA training across the Trust thatall staff can access.”For further information on the Managementof Violence and Aggression please contactthe Health and Safety Department, 2b NewryRoad, Banbridge BT32 3HF or by telephone on(028) 4062 2475.'G.I. Jane' Meningitis Fundraising EventA team of ladies from The Southern Trustjoined over 120 other plucky women(including the current Miss Great Britain) incompeting for the title of 'G.I. Jane 2009'.The event was held on Saturday 28 February2009 at Castlewellan Forest Park andhelped raise over £23,000 for The MeningitisResearch Foundation. The day involved aseries of physical challenges which certainlyweren't for the faint-hearted. Well done to allinvolved!>Call for Foster CarersAngela McVeigh, Nicola Oldham, Christine Preston,Gillian Redmond (not participating) Marie McConville,Caroline McGuigan, Kirsten Shorthall.2Call or log on for more information• Freephone 0800 0720 137• Armagh/Dungannon: (028) 8775 2033,• Newry/Mourne: (028) 3083 2693,• Craigavon/Banbridge: (028) 3833 7181www.fostering.hscni.net>Pictured at the Dungannon bus depot are local foster carers OrlaDevlin and Sharon Galway along with Roisin Hughes, FamilyPlacement Team, Southern Trust

Trust holds Sexual HealthconferenceThe Southern Health Trust recently helda two day Sexual Health conference;'Networking for Sexual HealthImprovement' (24 and 25 March) in theCanal Court Hotel, Newry.The conference aimed to highlight someof the key issues in relation to the planningand delivery of sexual health promotionand sexual health services and theimportance and value of working acrosssectors/disciplines to improve the sexualhealth of the population of the Southernarea. The conference was attended bya broad range of people involved in thecommissioning, planning and delivery ofsexual health improvement services andprogrammes in the Statutory, Voluntaryand Community Sectors.Opportunities for All websitewww.opportunitiesforall.org - a new website aimed atpeople with physical and sensory disabilities is thefirst of its kind in Northern Ireland has been developedby Trust staff and Disability Action.Chief Executive Colm Donaghy sees the opportunitiesfor the users of the site. "This site has everythingtopical to disability in the Southern Trust area and isa very exciting development for service users."We all aspire to having a balance between everydayoccupational activities and social and leisure interestsand this resource appears to have everything. Makingthe most of community, voluntary and statutoryservices is vital for an individual's wellbeing and thereDr Raymond Maw - Consultant GUM (Gentio Urinary Medicine) Clinic DaisyHill Hospital & Royal Victoria Hospital, Claire Mc Cluskey - Sexual HealthAdviser Royal Victoria Hospital GUM Clinic, Gerard Rocks ,Gabrielle O'Neill, Lyndsey McCann, Southern Trust, Dr Tracy Owen - Consultant inPublic Health Medicine, SHSSB, Dr Naresh Chada - Senior Medical Officer,DHSSPS, Georgie Mc Cormick - Training Manager FPA BelfastNew uniforms for Domiciliary Care workers in Armagh and Dungannon>Left to right : Domiciliary care workers: HelenaCasey, Geraldine Symington, Yvonne Mc Kay,Anna Archer modelling the new uniforms!As part of ongoing investment in domiciliary care, TheSouthern Health and Social Care Trust is introducinguniforms for Trust domiciliary care workers in the Armagh andDungannon region. Alongside new uniforms, domiciliary careworkers have been issued with identification badges. Both ofthese measures will make Trust employees easily identifiableand will help protect vulnerable older people in their ownhomes from the threat of ‘bogus callers’.The Trust is also currently ‘rolling out’ wider changes to theway domiciliary care is delivered to people in the Armagh andDungannon region. These changes are designed to improvethe experience of those local people who receive domiciliarycare as well as improving the overall efficiency of the service.This process is almost complete and the benefits of the newarrangements are already being seen by our staff and thelocal people who receive this service.are links to housing, enterprise and employment,and local councils' services which can all have animpact on good health. The Trust commissionedDisability Action to develop the site and we hopeservice users and surfers will be pleased with theresult."Kevin Doherty, Director of Services at DisabilityAction, adds, "I would like to congratulate theSouthern Trust for their vision in developing thiswebsite and I would encourage other Trusts totake a similar approach. The website adheres tointernational web content accessibility guidelinesand is very user friendly."New Antibiotic GuidelinesThe Trust has introduced a new set of antibiotic guidelines for use by clinical staff. The new guidelinesare part of the Trust's drive to reduce infection and apply in all areas except paediatrics. A pocket guideand the guidelines in full are available on the Trust intranet under clinical guidelines.3

Trust Launches Resources for Black Minority Ethnic PopulationThe Trust launched a selection of newly developeddrugs and alcohol resources for the Black MinorityEthnic population of the area on Thursday 8 April2009 in the Armagh City Hotel. The resources havebeen developed over the last 18 months by theTrust in partnership with Ethnic Minority centres inthe southern area and Community Safety and RoadTraffic Branches of PSNI. The resources createdincludes: nationally accredited courses on drugsand alcohol in 6 different languages, substituteprescribing agreements in 13 different languagesand an information leaflet addressing drink drivingand road safety in Polish.The resources will be available to the BMEpopulation through the many ethnic minoritycentres across all of the Southern Health andSocial Care Trust area. For further informationcontact Mr. Kieran Devlin at the Trust emailKieran.Devlin@southerntrust.hscni.net or call(028) 3831 7155.Dr. Gillian Rankin, Director of Older People andPrimary Care, said at the launch, "The Trust seesthe launch of these resources today as anotherstep in the ongoing process of helping to promotesocial inclusion amongst the BME population of ourarea and it is indeed a tangible example of what canbe achieved by working in partnership with otherstatutory and voluntary organisations to achieve acommon goal. We would like to thank the SouthernDrugs and Alcohol Co-ordination Team and thePublic Health Agency for providing the funding thathas made this initiative possible and look forward tocontinued co-operation in this field in the future.">Kieran Devlin, Southern Trust, Melanie McClements SouthernTrust, George McCague, Southern Drugs and Alcohol CoordinationTeam, Jerome Mullen, Honorary Polish Consul forNorthern Ireland, Dr. Gillian Rankin, Southern TrustNew Health and Social Care Complaints ProcedureSince 1 April, the new Health and Social CareComplaints: Standards and Guidelines for Resolutionand Learning has come into effect. Jocelyn Davidsonhas been appointed by the Medical Directorate asComplaints Project Manager. Jocelyn will be workingwith Patient/Client Liaison Managers to implementthe new complaints procedure throughout the Trust.Jocelyn says: "Complaints are a valuable source oflearning for the organisation. The new complaintsprocess aims to provide a more robust, local resolutionstage and help to share learning outcomes. We hopethat this will help us to learn more about patient andclient views on the services we deliver, ultimatelyimproving patients care ...The main differences fromthe old complaints procedure include; enhancedlocal resolution; the removal of independent reviewand the introduction of new standards for complaintshandling."All staff should be aware of the new procedures andbe able to signpost complainants to the appropriateperson. A series of training sessions outlining thechanges will take place throughout the Trust andcan also be deliveredthrough developmentp r o g r a m m e s ,inductions, teammeetings and trainingdays. Current datesand venues of trainingsessions can befound on the eventssection of the Trustintranet site.Jocelyn adds: "I am also available to train staffwithin their own department. This has provedpopular with wards and departments where staffcan not easily leave the area."For further information or to organise training inthe new complaints procedures contact:Jocelyn Davidson, Complaints Project ManagerTel: (028) 3861 4182/2696 Email:Jocelyn.davidson@southerntrust.hscni.netKey Events in May 2009• National Breastfeeding Awareness Week 10-16 May• Foster Care Fortnight 11-24 May4