Heartbeat July 2020

Trust scoops prestigious bronze award
for travel plan – a first for Brum
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Our Trust has officially been
awarded the Modeshift STARS
Business Bronze Accreditation for
the delivery of our travel plan - the
first organisation in Birmingham to
achieve such a prestigious award.
SWB’s travel plan was created to
demonstrate our commitment to
creating a greener and more sustainable
workplace going forward. “A large part
of the travel plan itself was looking at
the way colleagues travel and making
it easier for people to choose to cycle,
walk, use public transport or car share,”
said Fran Silcocks, Sustainability Officer.
Fran Silcocks, Sustainability Officer is
leading the delivery of our travel plan
“We need to reduce the number of people
travelling to sites via car for many reasons - to
reduce car parking pressures, improve local
and national air quality, and improve health
and wellbeing.”
Courtesy of the travel plan and sustainability
efforts our workplace boasts an array of
schemes encouraging colleagues to take up
active and sustainable forms of travel, such
as the Cycle to Work scheme, increased
cycle storage capacity and electric vehicle
charging points across our hospital sites, with
significantly more planned.
Health centre reaches out with
improved access for women
Every year, it is reported that there
are around 3,000 new cases of
cervical cancer across the UK. Over
99 per cent of cases are preventable;
however, there remain some barriers
to women coming forward to get
their test.
Colleagues at Heath Street Health
Centre have removed one barrier – in
terms of access – by introducing childfriendly
clinics for women who have
no childcare provision, so they can
attend their appointment and whilst
undergoing their procedure a staff
member will look after their children.
They’ve also extended the hours of
the clinic to offer appointments on
Saturdays.
GP and clinical lead for the practice,
Dr Imran Zaman explained: “We have
a poor uptake of cervical cancer smear
tests in our area, with only 41 per cent
of eligible women coming forward to be
Heath Street Health Centre
tested. Being aware of some of the barriers
that stop some women attending, we knew
we needed to do something to help. So, we
introduced the new Saturday clinic in June this
year, offering 12 nurse appointments, and at
the same time have added ten bookable GP
appointments – which can be booked for any
medical reason. This is an enhancement to the
service we offer at Heath Street and has been
welcomed by our patients.”
The health centre has a staff of 14
representing a range of professions including
Birmingham City Council and local partners
are taking radical measures to achieve
a low carbon, clean air recovery from
lockdown, prioritising walking, cycling and
public transport, as well as preparing for
Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone. There has
never been a better time for SWB to engage
in effective travel planning.
Fran said: “We have been working on
travel and transport initiatives for many
years with the target of reducing singleoccupancy
driving to our sites. This has
been very challenging, however, if we
continue to promote and support active
and sustainable modes of travel, alongside
providing the infrastructure and working
in partnership with our local authorities,
we believe that we can create positive
change. As a Trust, we have a duty of care
to advocate improvements in air quality and
are committed to positively contributing
towards this.”
Fran was delighted to be awarded
the Modeshift STARS Business Bronze
Accreditation and believes it is a step in
the right direction to becoming a more
sustainable organisation. She added: “We
are elated to be given such a prestigious
award. We look forward to working with
our local authorities to improve air quality
and ultimately becoming more sustainable.”
GPs, district nurses, pharmacists admin and
a social prescriber. They are a progressive
practice looking after over 6,000 patients,
with registrations currently open to new
patients. The practice has dedicated GPs
specialising in the following:
• Dr Kunnummal has a special interest in
dermatology and joint injections
• Dr Zaman has a special interest in
teaching
• Dr Khan has a special interest in
diabetes and teaching
• Dr Kambo has a special interest in
sexual health.
Working in partnership with colleagues in
women and child health, the practice also
has plans to develop a tongue-tied service
to improve breastfeeding rates.
During the first wave of the pandemic the
surgery set up and ran the Ladywood &
Perry Barr hot site for COVID-19 symptom
patients across the patch, and has become
a GP training practice due to welcome their
first two students in August.
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