Trust Today | October 2007 - Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS ...

News in BriefPEAT Scores 2007The Patient Environment Action Teamresults have been received by thefoundation trust.The foundation trust scored excellenton food at both hospitals, good onenvironment at both hospitals and goodon privacy and dignity at both hospitals.The National Patient Safety Agencycompletes the assessment.For more information contact AndreaDalton, non-clinical support servicesgeneral manager, on ext 4762.Long ServiceAwardsAny staff who haven’t yet collectedtheir long service award need to contactSheridan Osbourne, trust HQ, on ext4794. Please note that Sheridan will beavailable from Tuesday to Friday between9.30am and 2.30pm.Staff who have worked in the NHS for 30years or more will receive a cheque, lapelbadge and a certificate.Dingle Does it forRadio RoyalActress Ursula Holden-Gill who playedAlice Dingle in ITV soap Emmerdale hasrecorded several children’s stories forhospital Radio Royal.The star has been reading a variety ofchildren’s stories and fairy tales. A CDrecording of the stories could be sent tohospitals across the country.For more information contactradio.royal@bradfordhospitals.nhs.ukSAY NO TO FLU!Occupational health will bevisiting wards and departmentsthroughout October, Novemberand December to offer vaccinationsagainst flu to staff.It’s important to have the vaccine toprevent spreading flu to patients andcolleagues. Flu is extremely contagiousand can be dangerous in vulnerablegroups such as the elderly.The vaccine is highly purified andcontains an inactive strain of the virus- it does not give you flu. It’s importantto have a vaccine every year as thevirus alters slightly.A schedule of the visits to wardsand departments is available andwill be publicised throughoutthe foundation trust.For more informationcontact occupationalhealth on ext 5217.EDUCATION DAYFOR PATIENTSThe rheumatology department,recently arranged their firstpatient education day for womenattending the department who prefer tospeak Urdu or Punjabi. This was done inresponse to suggestions made by patientsas part of the Patients as Teachers pilotproject undertaken by the department forthe foundation trust.The event was organised by RuthNewton, rheumatology nurse specialist,to meet the specific language andcultural needs of this group of patients.Liaison officer, Balbir Kaur helped on theday, inviting, welcoming and interpretingfor the participants.The aims of the day were to enable theparticipants to gain information andknowledge about their condition, itsmanagement and the importance of selfhelp. It also provided an opportunity tomeet with members of the rheumatologyteam and learn more about their roles.The departments’ multidisciplinaryteam consisting of consultants, nursespecialists, physiotherapist, occupationaltherapist and podiatrist all contributedto the success of the day by providinginteractive talks and question and answersessions.The day included topics such as diet andcomplementary therapies and caring foryour feet and time was included for theladies to chat over lunch. The ladies alsotook part in a short relaxation session.Those attending felt it had beenenjoyable and worthwhile and theywould encourage other ladies to attendthe next event.For more information contact Ruth onext 5498.What do multi-disciplinaryTEAM coordinators do?Cancer multi-disciplinary teammeetings take place weeklyacross all cancer specialities.The meetings bring together a rangeof staff - consultants, specialist nurses,radiologists, oncologists and others.These members of staff use the meetingto discuss cancer patients and suspectedcancer cases - looking at treatmentoptions and deciding on which treatmentto recommend to the patient.In the past, treatment plans were oftendecided by the managing clinician ratherthan a range of specialists.The meetings are organised by multidisciplinarycoordinators who liaise withclinical staff to make sure that the clinicalinformation is at the meeting, get notes,summarise patients and write treatmentplans at the meeting.They also make sure GPs get summarynotes of the meeting and thatconsultants get copies of the agreedtreatment plan. At some meetings thereare also video link-ups to other cancerunits, such as Airedale.Helena Berry, information andadministration manager for cancerThe foundation trust has receiveda lot of media interest over recentweeks.Here’s a round up of some of the interestwe’ve had:services, said: “Multi-disciplinarycoordinators make sure that meetings runsmoothly and this helps to ensure thatpatients are treated within the cancerwaiting time targets and that patientsreceive the most appropriate treatment.”Cancer multi-disciplinary meetingFor more information contact Helenaon ext 2446.Trust TodayWhat the Papers SayBorn in Bradford has received lots ofattention in the T&A, the Health ServiceJournal - and even the national BBCSix o’Clock News. The national newsshowed mums and staff taking part inthe project and BBC Online will continueto feature stories about the study.In August the T&A featured the newbowel cancer screening centre andfeatured an article about how we willspend Department of Health infectioncontrol money.6 Trust Today | October 2007 Trust Today | October 2007 7