Winter 2009 - Homerton University Hospital

MemberlinkFor members… Winter 2009Senior nurses get new uniforms – see page 3Homerton retainsdouble excellenceHomerton Hospital has received a prestigious double‘Excellent’ rating for the second year running in theannual health check – the only acute hospital in Londonto retain this rating.The Care Quality Commission awarded theexcellent rating to Homerton both for thequality of services it provides to patients andits record of sound financial management.The CQC’s health check examines all NHSservices across the country and scores themagainst a number of national targets andstandards.Homerton is one of only a few Trusts toreceive an ‘excellent’ rating in bothcategories – quality of services and use ofresources (financial management). The Trusthas actually scored ‘Excellent’ for use ofresources for the past three years.The CQC report says: “Based on ourassessments for 2008/09, the quality ofservices provided by Homerton UniversityHospital NHS Foundation Trust for its localpopulation was ‘excellent’. The financialmanagement rating for this organisation is‘excellent’, as this foundation trust has beenassessed as performing strongly with arelatively low financial risk.”Trust Chief Executive, Nancy Hallett said: “Theseare again terrific results which reflect anoutstanding effort from all our staff to improveservices for our patients whilst at the sametime, working efficiently and effectively to buildup a sound financial base for the future.“Foundation Trust status now allows us thefreedom to use our resources in a way whichensures a direct benefit to our patients andthat is why we have invested over £10million into new facilities for IVF treatment,and the Maternity and Newborn Centrewhich is soon to open.”Welcome toMemberlinkthe magazine for members ofour Foundation Trust.Receiving theprestigious doubleexcellent rating was aboost for everybodyconnected with theTrust and reflectsthe hard work andenthusiasm of ourstaff at all levels.It also reflects our determination tocontinue to provide high quality servicesand invest in improved facilities in thehospital as is illustrated in this editionwith our feature on the new Lamb Ward.Thank you to all those members whocame to the Annual Members’ Meetingand joined in the open question andanswer session. You will find thequestions and our answers in the centrepages.I hope you enjoy this edition ofMemberlink and if you have anyquestions or suggestions, please contactthe Foundation Trust Office on020 8510 5221 or email:members@homerton.nhs.ukThank you for your continuing interest.Pauline BrownChief Nurse and Director of GovernanceHomerton University Hospital Memberlink 1

MemberlinkWaiting times halved instate-of-the-art x-ray departmentPatients are having to wait far shortertimes for their x-rays, thanks to a majorupgrade of equipment.The radiology department has recentlyinstalled a state-of-the-art upgrade to threex-ray rooms involving a transfer fromComputed Radiography (CR) to DirectRadiography (DR) technology.Colin West, Head of Imaging Services, said:“Using CR technology, an ‘average’ x-rayexamination takes eight minutes – threeminutes of which involves ‘processing’ theimage. With the new DR technology, theprocessing cycle is reduced to just fourseconds, meaning that in practical terms, thelength of an average x-ray examination hasbeen reduced from eight to five minutes.”This upgrade has been installed in the x-rayrooms which examine patients who ‘walk in’i.e. have no appointment – these patients arereferred from GPs, outpatient clinics and A&E.Said Colin: “Patients are examined on a firstcomefirst-served basis. This means that apatient may have to sit in the x-ray waitingroom for up to 40 minutes during busyperiods.“An audit of waiting times is currentlyunderway following the installation of thenew equipment, but early results are showinga maximum wait of 20 minutes (even duringthe busiest periods). Although detailed datawill be available shortly, the radiology team isconfident that the introduction of thistechnology has resulted in a 50 per centreduction in patient waiting times.”The installation of thisupgrade took approximatelyone day per room, and wasachieved without any noticeabledisruption to the service provided. Staffare already delighted with theperformance of this upgradedtechnology, and expect thatpatients and doctors will besimilarly impressed.The radiology department at Homerton is thefirst in the country to install this upgrade inthree rooms simultaneously; it also meansthat now all ‘ordinary’ x-ray rooms atHomerton benefit from the speed of DRtechnology.The recent upgrade, plus a room that wasinstalled in April 2009, all use an imagetransfer process known as wi-fi (the sametechnology used in lap-top computers). Wi-fitechnology means that that the x-ray image(picture) is sent from the x-ray plate to theoperators viewing screen, without the needfor wires.Along with the speed of transfer (fourseconds), the additional benefit is that thedetector plate can be used in any part of thex-ray room regardless of whether the patientis standing, in a wheelchair, or on a stretcher– all without having wires trailing along thefloor.Added Colin: “The installation of thisupgrade took approximately one day perroom, and was achieved without anynoticeable disruption to the service provided.Staff are already delighted with theperformance of this upgraded technology,and expect that patients and doctors will besimilarly impressed.“Homerton radiology is proud to be able tostate that all of its ‘ordinary’ x-ray roomsnow operate with DR technology – very fewother Trusts in the country have benefitedfrom this level of investment.”Fertility centre takesOlympia by stormThe Homerton fertility centre went west recentlyto raise its profile at the annual showcase forspecialist IVF units.The hospital was represented for the first time at thetwo day Fertility Fair at the Olympia conference centrearmed with new information material and a verypopular body mass indicator gift for visitors.Homerton Fertility Centre Manager, Jenny Clacy, said:“After a slow start on Friday things really picked in theafternoon and the team was very busy throughoutSaturday.“Quite a few people came up to us saying they onlylived ‘round the corner’ but had not been aware of ourcentre and its work – they are now.“A presentation about how to use the NHS for fertility services by our consultantAnil Gudi was packed – it was sold out days beforehand. Needless to say that ourstand was mobbed with interested potential users soon afterwards.“The two days were a great success generating a lot of interest and, we hope, aconsiderable amount for new business – and thanks to all the members of theteam who manned the stand in their own time. We will definitely be going to theevent again next year.”2 Homerton University Hospital Memberlink

MemberlinkNew nurse uniforms – the line upThe Trust has now unveiled new uniformsfor senior nursing staff.The uniforms have been designed to be practical and comfortable as well aseasily recognisable for patients and other staff.Margaret Howat, Nursing Practice Lead for the Trust, said: “There has beensome confusion amongst both patients and some staff about the variousresponsibilities and designations of nursing managers and matrons. We hopethe new uniforms will make things clearer.”Top row (left to right) ward sisters, senior staff nursesFront row (ltr) specialist nurses, staff nurses, mostmatrons and senior nurses in the Trust have red pipingHomerton University Hospital Memberlink 3

MemberlinkOver 100 people attended the sixthannual members’ meeting at the hospitalChairman Michael Cassidy thankedoutgoing Governors for their contributionand involvement. These were: Patricia Bennett Helen Scher Angus Mulready-Jones James Torr Ezendu Ariwa Dr Paul Cannon Andrew Williams Jamie McFetters John Bennett Mary WattsHe presented the following results of therecent Governor elections.The following candidates were elected(Public: Hackney): Chris O’Leary Jaime Bishop Samantha Fontaine Florence Osaigbovo (re-elected)The following candidate was electedunopposed (Public: Outer): Andrew ShambokoFour vacant seats remain. These are for aPublic Governor (City), Staff (non-clinical)and two Staff (clinical). Elections for theseseats will be held in the New Year 2010.Watch out for election forms in the post.Following brief presentations by ChiefExecutive Nancy Hallett and FinanceDirector, Anna Anderson, Geoffrey Rivett,Co-Chair of the Council of Governorspresented the membership report for2008/09. He presented membership datahighlighting membership composition,growth, ethnicity, and age.Maternity Service Liaison CommitteePatient Environment Action Team visitsFaith Group meetingsNew privacy curtains designMaternity HelplineLabour Ward ForumPatient Information Readers groupMen’s Health Awareness DayGroup B Strep ConferenceBreastfeeding GroupHe also highlighted new initiatives toimprove membership Frontline staff in outpatients settingsto promote membership NHS discount schemes as a membershipincentive Membership information for new referralsMembership priorities for 2009/10 werethen presented and included targets for alarger, more diverse membership withparticular emphasis on recruiting moreyounger members.Guest speaker was Vicki Longstaff,Consultant Nurse for Infection Preventionand Control who spoke on “InfectionPrevention and Control at Homerton”.She focused on the ongoing work regardingHygiene Code Compliance and other InfectionControl developments within the Trust.He highlighted areas of membershipinvolvement including: Patient & Public Involvement Group(merged with MembershipDevelopment Committee) Service Focus Groups; HIV, Neonatalparents, Paediatrics, RNRU4 Homerton University Hospital Memberlink

MemberlinkMembers’ questions and answers from the Trust:Q. The need to have two membersignatures on the governor nominationform can cause difficulty. Is thereanything you could do about this?A. Friends, family and neighbours can beapproached and if they are not membersthey can complete a simple membershipform at the same time.Q. Will the Olympics support thehospital financially?A. We are expecting the actual amount offinancial benefit to be limited. Athletes willhave a dedicated facility funded by abusiness case on the Olympic site. We havealready received support from organisationssponsoring the games including £4.8millionworth of GE equipment. The Trust is biddingfor other funds as this becomes available.Q What about the demand on ourA&E services caused by the Games?A. There will be good A&E facilities on theOlympic park site and we are liaising closelywith the London Games organisingcommittee. Our A&E consultant, LawrenceGant has been on a number of fact findingmissions to Beijing and elsewhere to learnlessons we can take forward to 2012.Q. Does the balance shown in theaccounts include accruals and debtorsof £3.5 million?A. Yes, each month we review outstandingdebts and report these to the Board ofDirectors.Q. I am concerned about thedevelopment of St Leonard’s as thefinancial situation gets worse?A. There are some mental health servicesmoving from Homerton site to St Leonard’sand some new primary care services andfacilities. We need to continue workingwith the PCT to avoid duplicating services.The PCT is trying hard to balance a range ofservices including dentists, GPs and keepsthese under close review.Q. I am very concerned about thenumber of visitors around the beds,sometimes as many as eight. Doesn’tthis increase the risk of infection?A. We recognise that we sometimes have aproblem with visitor numbers. We haverecently looked at this and introducedchanges to the visiting times allowing extratime in the morning. We have asked theward sisters to be more vigilant and askvisitors to leave if the numbers becomeproblematic and disturb other patients.This can be difficult especially if visitorsrefuse to leave, in which case a more seniornurse is available to assist 24 hours per day.Q. What progress has Homerton madetowards single sex wards?A. This year we have created one femaleward (Halley) and one male ward (ThomasAudley). We are developing a proposal tomake more wards single sex. We have notreceived any DH funding to do this. Wehave also recently opened Lamb Ward withnew facilities recognising single sex anddignity issues (see story on page 6)Q. Why are the Board of Directors’meetings not in public?A. The private board meetings focus onbusiness and finance. The Board and theGovernors also have joint meetings (inpublic) during the year as well as the AMMopen to all members.Q. I think there is a problem withfeeding patients and people are alsoafraid to complain?A. We have protected meal times but wealso have patients that need help withfeeding. We plan to re-launch ourVolunteer Programme and recruit and trainsome volunteers to help at meal times.In response to your question about patientsbeing afraid to complain – We are doingsome work to make the senior nursing teammore visible to patients and improve ourPatient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) sothat it is more user friendly.Q. Why are staff not wearing masksduring swing flu?A. The Trust has rigorous systems in place toassess and isolate patients. We do have masksand we are working with our PCT colleaguesto make masks available to protect staffagainst flu and we monitor the use of these.Q. I would like to congratulate you onanother year of serving the communitybut also have a question on agencycosts which represent 10 per cent oftotal staff costs. Your 5 per centsaving overall – will that be savings onstaff costs through pay freeze orrecruitment freeze?A. We use agency staff to fill vacancies butwe still need to look at waste in the system.Q. I asked last year about a prostatelaser operation – was this implemented?A. We have made some progress and therewill be a meeting at the end of Septemberto take this forward.Q. Why do Trauma & Orthopaedicclinics require patients to phone in oneweek or you lose the appointment?A. We are installing a new call centrewhich should improve things. GPs will alsobe able to book directly.Q. Is there a programme with HackneyCouncil for key worker housing?A. Yes and some of our staff have takenadvantage of the key worker housing scheme.Q. With all of your operatingexpenses, how did you make surplus?A. Our income also increased andremained more than what we spent.Q. At night time, local residents parkon site and remove their cars in themorning. Is this a problem for thehospital?A. We lift the barriers at night to allow openparking for people visiting the hospital. Anylocal residents that may park on site are notcausing a problem to the hospital at this timeand are out of the car-park early each morning.We will continue to monitor the situation.Q. How will you attract youngmembers?A. We are keen to do this and have hadsome success recruiting but less successful ininvolving young people. We are very open toideas on how we can improve this situation.Q. What is an inclusive/informedmembership?A. Inclusive means anyone can join.Informed means we tell people about thehospital so they can contribute.Homerton University Hospital Memberlink 5

MemberlinkLamb springs back into actionThe hospital recently welcomed back an old friend – complete with full facelift and mod cons.Lamb Ward had been closed over the summer asbuilders completely gutted it and set to workrevamping it into a state-of-the-art hospital ward.Recently reopened, Lamb Ward now boasts a host ofnew innovations and initiatives aimed particularly atimproving infection control and privacy of patients.Chief Nurse, Pauline Brown, said: “We have beencarrying out a rolling programme of refurbishments towards in recent years and learning lessons duringevery project.“Lamb Ward reflects all the current approvedinnovations plus some new touches recommended bymembers and the ward team.“We now have wash basins in each of the bays,toilets and shower rooms have large male or femalesigns on the doors clearly designating who shouldand shouldn’t use them, and finally, in the mostmarked improvement, two of the ward bays can beused for isolation and safety simply by pressing abutton and activating a sliding glass door whichcloses into place.”6 Homerton University Hospital Memberlink

MemberlinkCarerscountFifteen carers registered their namesat Homerton Hospital’s day longcelebration during National Carers’Week held in the summer.They are eager to be involved in theplanned future activities to improveunderstanding of their needs and thusimprove the services for them.During the day, over 200 people includingcarers, patients, visitors and staff gotinvolved by visiting health informationstands and taking advice from staff andother specialists.The thanks to four Governors, we alsorecruited 29 new members.The Diabetes Team screened 117 peoplefor diabetes. They measured their waistcircumference, calculated their BMI andtested their blood glucose levels.They came across five people, who hadraised blood glucose levels of more than7.5 mmmol/L who were advised to seetheir GPs.Save lives not pointsMembers and staff are being urged to sign up and raise money for hospitalservices whilst spending money in major stores and shops.The Hospital Gift Loyalty Card has been launched at Homerton and everytime a holder uses it to make a purchase at a participating store,money will be donated to the hospital.People are now able to pick up the card atthe hospital reception, participating storesor register online onwww.hospitalgift.co.ukOver 150 retailers including Asda, Next,Debenhams and John Lewis have signed up toparticipate. Rather than collect rewards points,every purchase will generate money for thehospital. Discounts will also be offered to cardholders.The stroke team, including the strokeproject from Social Action for Health,screened 97 people and advised 13 to seetheir GP because they were found to havehigh blood pressure.The other stall holders such as thedietitians were delighted to have had achance to give nutritional advice to loseweight and with some people to actuallygain weight.If you are a carer and would like to beinvolved in the future activities, pleasecontact Carers’ Support Specialist,Sophie Fagan, 020 8510 8817 orPublic Involvement & InformationManager, Sadhna Chand, 020 85105144.Homerton University Hospital Memberlink 7

MemberlinkVoices of praiseThe Trust receives feedback andcomments from many patients. Someare complaints or raise issues whichneed to be addressed.But the majority praise the hospitaland its staff.Here are just the latest batch.“Brilliant. Just saw the dermatology doctorand everyone was professional andprompt – a first class service. Myappointment came through very quicklyfrom the GP’s referral. The nurse with mewas also very helpful.”“Had a follow-up appointment at yourfracture clinic and I just want to say that thelevel of service and help was outstanding,from the reception through to theconsultant and the plaster master.”“Just had my second baby. The midwiveswere wonderful in making the wholeexperience more of a joy than I everimagined. I wish to highlight theirprofessional and personal skills as some ofthe best I have experienced and thank themfor their hard work.”A greater say“My son was admitted with a viral asthmaattack. I would like to say thank you to all inA&E and the Starlight Ward who cared forhim. Everyone was so kind and thoughtful.”“I was referred to the Homerton for fertilitytreatment and just wanted to say I havebeen really impressed with the level ofservice and care we have received so far. Ihave not had much experience of the NHSprior to this, but have been pleasantlysurprised and very satisfied with the service.”“I visit a number of hospitals due to multipleconditions and I am extremely impressedhow organised the outpatients is. All thestaff are friendly, including the pharmacists.”“My baby son has been in hospital for aweek and, as I am working, I’ve only hadthe time to come in late at night and I findthe night staff very helpful and supportive.”“I was referred to the x-ray department.The reception staff and the radiologist whotalked to me went out of their way to beextremely flexible and helpful. Their positiveapproach and problem solving attitudeswent way beyond my expectations ofwhat was possible in a very busy hospital.”The NHS watchdog organisation is urging people to give them viewsabout local hospital and healthcare services.The Care Quality Commission is theindependent regulatory body for the NHSwhich succeeded the HealthcareCommission at the beginning of this yearand is responsible for inspecting hospitalsand ensuring standards are kept high.The results of their inspections, togetherwith NHS trusts own assessment ofstandards and the achievement ofnational targets, leads to the publicationof the annual health check everyautumn. Homerton is the only acutehospital NHS Trust in London to haverecorded a double excellent rating forthe past two years.The CQC has now launched its Voicesinto action programme.The CQC says: “Its important for us tohear what people who use services haveto say about their experiences. We aretherefore grateful to those groups whowork hard to gather comments fromlocal people. You can now send usinformation when you want to about thehealth and adult social care issues thatmatter to you,”The CQC is inviting people to: Help judge how well NHS providersmeet essential standards, please sendus information about any NHSprovider by the end of January 2010. We welcome information at any timeof the year. Information can be send using a newform on the CQC websitewww.cqc,org.uk/localvoices fromDecember 1.For more information, visit the CQCwebsite on www.cqc.org.ukGoverners’ meetingMarch 18 at the Education Centre at 5.30pm.Forthcoming datesMembers Matters Lecture series (lecturesbegin at 5pm):Wednesday January 27 2010Patient journey through A & E Serviceat Homerton University HospitalA&E senior management team will present apatient journey through: A&E to discharge A&E to outpatients A&E to hospital admissionIt will be an opportunity to find out more aboutthe main reasons why people attend A&E atHomerton Hospital.Wednesday March 17 2010Stroke Services – Pathway from hospitalto homeA presentation on the recent changes to servicesfor stroke survivors in Hackney.Thanks to all members who attended the recentlecture on bariatric services at the hospital. Therewere some wonderful stories from patients whoselives had been transformed by the surgery andtreatment they had received.ForthcomingelectionsNo nominations were received during recentelections for the vacant seats for: public (City) staff (Clinical and Non-clinical).We are therefore running further elections in early2010 to fill these seats. If you are a member ofeither of these groups, you will be receiving moredetailed information in the post regarding theseelections. Please do consider becoming a Governor.If you do not receive any information; or if youwish to request nomination papers, pleasecontact Christy Gerould at Election ReformServices on 020 8365 8909 or emailChristy.gerould@electoralreform.co.ukIf you have any questions regarding the electionprocess, please contact the Returning Officeron 020 8365 8909 or email David Bridger, Headof Governance, Homerton University HospitalNHS, Foundation Trust, London E9 6SRT: 020 8510 5221E: david.bridger@homerton.nhs.ukDesigned by Andrew Younger & Associates 020 8995 8787 www.aya-creative.co.uk8 Homerton University Hospital Memberlinkwww.homerton.nhs.uk