Heartbeat July 2018

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Putting our waste to good use waste stock have even gone to help projects abroad in Sri Lanka, Syria and Yemen. CORPORATE & GENERAL NEWS Eighteen months ago, Justin Mitchell, Assistant Director of Procurement, was looking for ways to recycle products that pile up across our Trust in tonnes. Rather than pay for a company to collect it and dump it in landfill, the aim was to process the waste in an environmentally friendly manner at zero cost. Justin was then introduced to Tom O’Brien, from Trust-Reclaim Ltd who specialises in reducing NHS disposal costs through recycling and giving to communities. Justin liked the idea of squeezing out residue value from condemned stock and adding to people’s lives. This started an agreement with Trust-Reclaim Ltd initially just dealing with stock from scrap items held in the old laundry, but since then has grown into other projects. Over the past year, Trust-Reclaim Ltd has collected over 200 tonnes of waste from our sites. By carrying out an up-cycling Some examples of the waste recycled through Trust-Reclaim Ltd process which is sustainable and ethical - the Trust has made an income of £8k in the process. “The process of working with a social enterprise to recycle our waste is a no brainer,” said Justin. “Not only are we helping the environment, the proceeds are going to good causes and we are also able to make this process as an income stream for the groups just by recycling in an ethical way.” Good causes that have benefitted from our work with Trust-Reclaim Ltd include providing furniture to homeless people that are in the process of being rehoused, through charities such as the ‘Ladywood Furniture Project’ and ‘Langar Aid’. Proving this way of working is really adding social value at street level. Some containers, full of Justin said: “Recycling our scrap is just the tip of iceberg. As a large organisation we generate 1,000s of tonnes of waste every year. The procurement team are now working with teams across the Trust to help them realise the benefits that could be had by recycling ethically.” Tom added: “We are able to provide recycling at zero cost as Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals has given us the opportunity to carry out a variety of recycling work. It’s great that the Trust is really beginning to embrace ethical recycling. There are so many opportunities that could help save the environment and help provide potential employment for local communities. Partnerships can be developed to help grow the Trust with other social enterprises that will help meet the organisation’s goal of becoming truly sustainable.” The procurement team manages the governance and has an audit trail of all the waste that is taken off site by Trust-Reclaim Ltd including indemnity. Any profit made is paid directly to the cost centre code for that particular area. To find out how your area can get involved please email Justin justin.mitchell@nhs.net Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards – know how to follow the process From time to time we come across patients who may not have the capacity to make decisions about their care. In order to find out if a patient has capacity, we are required to carry out a Deprivation of Liberty Standards (DoLS) assessment. DoLS are an amendment to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and were put in place as an extra safeguard. The MCA states that we can use restrictions on patients if it is in their best interest to do so because they lack capacity to make informed decisions. Sabina Price-Hckman is the adult safeguarding nurse, she explained more. “If a patient does not have capacity we then need to ask ourselves the acid test questions. Is the patient subject to constant control and supervision and are they free to leave?” Sabina continued: “If the patient does not have capacity, is subject to supervision and restraints and is not free to leave then it is likely you are depriving them of their liberty.” A poster with questions and answers to assist you in the process of making a decision has been designed by the safeguarding team. Always send the referral to the local authority based on the patient’s post code. Also send a copy to the adult safeguarding team SWBH-Alert-AdultSafeguarding Ensure the dates are correct - a DoLS starts on the day you are referring. Complete ALL sections of the form. A Form 10 should be completed for any patient who is discharged, transferred or regains capacity. The form must be sent to the relevant local authority and to the adult safeguarding team. If a patient “The poster which includes a list of restraints and restrictions that would require a DoLS, have been delivered to all wards,” said Sabina. “I would urge colleagues to ensure they follow the process carefully as mistakes on the referral forms lead to delays in the local authority sending out a best interest assessor.” Top tips to ensure the DoLS referral is processed quickly dies whilst under a DoLS, a Form 12 must be completed following the above process. All forms can be found on Connect. For further information contact the adult safeguarding team: • Sabina Price-Hickman sabina.price@nhs.net Tel: 07966625176 • Clare Cotterill clarecotterill@nhs.net Tel:07970244138 16
Volunteers in a league of their own Nearly half a million pounds has been raised by the dedicated volunteers group League of Friends over the past 13 years, it was revealed at its recent annual general meeting (AGM). Chairwoman, Janet Dearn commended the volunteers within the service for their efforts in raising a staggering £485,994.54, before announcing that she would be stepping down from her position after 13 years in the role. Paying tribute to her colleagues, she said: “This is my last AGM as chair as I think someone else should take over the reins. I want to thank everyone for all their time and hard work as well as their friendship. There is nothing in this world as big as the heart of a volunteer.” She added: “It gives me great satisfaction to give something back to society and that applies to most of our volunteers. “Even though I’m stepping down as chair, I will still continue my shift at the League of Friends shop every Tuesday and Friday.” Mrs Dearn started as a volunteer around 20 years ago, and became vice chair in 1998. She took over the main job seven years later. “It was then that we started keeping tally of how much money we were raising,” she explained. Chairwoman, Janet Dearn receives flowers from Johnny Shah, Head of Your Trust Charity “We used to get requests for very basic things back then, like razors, hairdryers and TVs. But now that has certainly changed and we are buying much bigger pieces of equipment.” At the start of the meeting Mrs Dearn revealed how the League of Friends had raised just over £45,000 in 2017/18, funding 15 projects in total. Equipment purchased includes reminisce therapy software for patients treated on the Eliza Tinsley ward at Rowley Regis Hospital, voice amplifiers for the speech and language therapy department and arts and crafts material for the children’s ward. CORPORATE AND GENERAL NEWS “We provide such a wide range of equipment and it is a great achievement - none of this could have been possible without the time and dedication from our volunteers,” added Mrs Dearn. “We still receive lots of thanks from the departments, and every single penny raised must be used for the benefit of the patients.” During the AGM, Johnny Shah, Head of Your Trust Charity, presented Mrs Dearn with a bunch of flowers and a certificate of appreciation for the League of Friends’ fundraising efforts over the past year. He said: “It’s the hard work of volunteers, their time and sacrifice, that helps the League of Friends fund essential equipment needs for our departments. “I also want to say a personal thank you to Janet for her own dedication and commitment over the past 40 years, during her time as a volunteer and as chair.” Seeking your views about LGBT equality in our workplace Colleagues are being urged to take a few minutes to complete a survey to gain a snap shot of how we all feel about LGBT equality and help our organisation make changes to improve our inclusive culture. The Trust became a member of Stonewall (an organisation that campaigns for the equality of LGBT people) almost two years ago. As part of our membership we take part in the Workplace Equality Index. <strong>Heartbeat</strong> caught up with Stuart Young, Head of Equality and Inclusion and Chair of the LGBT Staff Network who explained more. “I would encourage everyone to take part in this survey as it reflects the views of all colleagues regardless of whether they identify as LGBT or not. As members of Stonewall, our aim is to rank highly on the Stonewall Equality Index and the survey responses will go to our overall score. “We joined Stonewall to demonstrate our commitment to LGBT issues. It provides a platform to benchmark ourselves against other organisations. We want to become the employer of choice for people who want to work and thrive in an inclusive organisation. “It is really important to the Board that all colleagues are able to bring their whole selves to work and feel comfortable and confident to speak up and raise concerns.” So what have been the benefits of being a member of Stonewall? “There have been many,” says Stuart. “We have access to a dedicated advisor who has helped us develop a transsexual policy for colleagues and patients. We have also had support to review the equal opportunities policy. “And some LGBT colleagues have benefitted from role model training which encourages them to be empowered and put themselves forward as champions for LGBT issues.” The survey is completely anonymous and is available online until Friday 2 November. Please take a few minutes to give your feedback www. stonewall.org.uk/index-survey-2019 our unique four digit code for survey is 2089. 17
Page 1 and 2: July 2018 Sandwell and West Birming
Page 3 and 4: Colleagues celebrate NHS 70 in styl
Page 5 and 6: Unity end user training - are you b
Page 7 and 8: Diversity and inclusion - the golde
Page 9 and 10: Colleagues come together to celebra
Page 11 and 12: To: Joanne Wright For doing so well
Page 13 and 14: Unity - how ready are you? Later th
Page 18 and 19: AMU team present at Birmingham Medi
Page 20 and 21: 20 Trust allergy service is first t
Page 22 and 23: Fiona says goodbye after 20 years a
Page 24 and 25: 24 News in brief from around our or
Page 26 and 27: Letters, of less than 200 words ple
Page 28: Events Diary August 2018 EVENT DATE

Heartbeat July 2018

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