HEARTBEAT September 2020

September 2020
Sandwell and West Birmingham
NHS Trust
The pulse of community health, Leasowes, Rowley Regis, City Hospital, Sandwell General and the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital
Issue 133
Unity celebrates first birthday
Pages 4-6
FIRST ANNIVERSARY
Allergies documented
67,600
Number of times patient
records opened
4,200,000
Documents Signed
442,492
Results entered into
Assessments / Fluid
Balance
1,100,000
Results viewed in A/FB
2,100,000
Medication doses
administered
1,200,000
Lab tests ordered
419,369
Medications
Prescribed
482,147
Diagnoses
documented
109,200
Average user logs in
5 times per day
Over the past 12 months our Trust has embraced the electronic patient record system. Read all about our successes in this
month's edition of Heartbeat.
Colleagues have
their say during
Speak Up Month
Page 4-5
NHS Staff Survey:
Your chance to
feedback
Page 15
Flu-Per Troopers get
ready to protect
our Trust this winter
Pages 16 and 17
Virtual wards
for COVID-19
patients
Page 24

HELLO
FROM THE CHAIR
We have many things to be proud of that go
beyond the excellent treatment we provide
Hello and welcome to
your September edition of
Heartbeat.
This month we bring you lots
of exciting news from around
the Trust. We look forward to
Star Awards 2020 going digital,
the start of our flu campaign
and we meet Pete Evans who
completed a 120 mile charity
run, just weeks after being hit
by a car.
Contact us
Communications Team
Ext 5303
swbh.comms@nhs.net
Communications Department
Ground Floor, Trinity House
Sandwell Hospital
Published by
Communications Team
Sandwell and West Birmingham
Hospitals NHS Trust
Designed by
Medical Illustration,
Graphics Team
Sandwell and West Birmingham
Hospitals NHS Trust
Submit an idea
If you’d like to submit an idea
for an article, contact the
communications team
Ext 5303
swbh.comms@nhs.net
Stay updated
We send out a Communications
Bulletin via email every day and you
can now read Heartbeat articles
throughout the month on Connect.
Don't forget you can follow us on:
During this month’s Trust Board
meeting we were privileged to hear
from a patient who praised the care
he received at City Hospital. Mr Bailey
had been in a bad place mentally
following catching COVID-19 where he
was treated in critical care. Mr Bailey,
who had diabetes, developed avascular
necrosis in his left leg and needed an
amputation. He expressed to Board
members how he felt he had nothing
left to live for, but the support and
kindness of all the staff on ward D11
turned him round. He began to have
hope for the future and developed the
will to live again, learning to move
around despite the huge physical
changes that he has to deal with.
Mr Bailey’s story underlined for all of us in
the Board meeting, the impact we have on
people’s wellbeing, not just their physical
health. Mr Bailey’s condition was treated
and he now needed to get to grips with his
new life, coping with a significant physical
disability. He had lost all hope, and what
the marvellous team on D11 were able
to do was to give him back his hope and
encouragement.
At our Trust we have many things to be
proud of that go beyond the excellent
treatment we provide for people’s health
conditions. Our commitment to public
health and supporting the most vulnerable
in our community are testament to that.
The Live and Work scheme, through a
partnership with St Basils, provides young
people at risk of homelessness with on-site
accommodation at Sandwell Hospital and
employment through an apprenticeship
at our Trust. You can read more about
the scheme, that was visited this month
by West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, on
page eight in this edition of Heartbeat.
Our Health Overseas Professionals (HOP)
programme gives health care professionals
in Birmingham, many of whom were
leading clinicians in their own country, the
opportunity and support to convert their
qualifications to UK standards, develop
English skills and gain experience in local
health care organisations, all to give them
a route to health service employment.
There are many more schemes that I could
describe that we lead the way on, changing
people’s lives for the better.
The month ahead is Black History Month
where we can reflect on the experiences
and opportunities for Black people right
across the world. During this year, where
the Black Lives Matter movement has had a
profound impact, it is an opportunity for all
of us to understand more about how Black
people have shaped our society. The history
of the NHS shows clearly the contribution
of the Windrush generation and clinicians
who left their own countries to build up the
NHS into the institution it is today, providing
universal healthcare for all. This year of
coronavirus has shown us just how valuable
this unique health care system is.
Our BME network continues to challenge
our organisation to be better at
providing opportunities to people from
all communities and backgrounds. Our
next Board meeting is discussing what we
have learned through the first COVID-19
surge and how we will address health
inequalities in our second surge plans and
restoration/recovery arrangements. This
includes the disproportionate impact of
COVID-19 on BAME communities that has
been identified nationally. We will take a
proactive approach to this, ensuring that we
support our staff through the individual risk
assessments that you have all undertaken,
and our communities, by identifying those
at greater risk and providing support now,
not just when people become unwell. The
support includes additional PPE if needed
and we need to make sure we all follow
our own infection control guidance and not
become complacent.
This year, let’s make Black History Month
a time for being proactive and considering
how those you love, those who you work
alongside and those in your care are given
the right wellbeing support that will help
reduce those inequalities, providing the
best chance of living longer, healthier
lives. For you and all your colleagues, your
wellbeing needs are paramount and, as
COVID-19 cases increase we are committed
to retaining and enhancing the support that
is on offer for you.
Richard Samuda, Trust Chairman
Mr Neville Bailey
Chairman, Richard
Samuda

Unity – 12 months on
and we couldn't
imagine a world
without it
12 months ago, we had all hands on
deck eagerly anticipating the launch
of Unity, our new electronic patient
record. Years of hard work, months of
planning and it all came down to one
weekend in September when slowly
but surely wards across our Trust
switched off their old outdated systems
and launched headfirst into our first
unified patient record.
Whilst the launch thankfully was hailed
a success and services were able to
reasonably quickly get back up to speed,
colleagues had a longer journey to
undertake, to forget their old ways of
working and to wholeheartedly embrace
the new safe and effective ways of
working.
Little did anyone know that six months
after launch, as staff were settling into
using the new system that Coronavirus
would make its way across the globe, from
Wuhan in China to the wards of Sandwell
and West Birmingham. However, in our
favour was the newest weapon in our
arsenal, our Unity system.
Throughout the last year and in the darkest
hours of the COVID-19 pandemic, Unity
has stood firmly and supported clinical
colleagues to care for the old, infirm, sick
and unwell. Its streamlined processes and
safety checks have meant that even when
we have seen unprecedented patient
numbers descending on our hospitals and
a highly communicable disease affecting
almost every aspect of care.
To find out more about trials and
tribulations of Unity over the last 12
months, Heartbeat caught up with Chief
Clinical Informatics Officer, Ash Sharma. He
said: “Unity was a long-awaited project, we
had been looking for some time to update
our systems and processes and there was
a lot of work to even get us to the point
of looking to partner with Cerner. Moving
a whole organisation to a new system is
a monumental task when you look at it;
it’s not simply pointing people in the right
direction and hoping for the best.
“Unity wasn’t an incremental change; it
was a leap into the future for our Trust,
bringing the best elements of dozens of
systems together into one easy to use
application for all of our colleagues. From
ordering medications and tests to calling for
a porter, Unity can handle it all, handle it well
and help us to continue providing safe care.
“When COVID-19 began to impact us, we
were able to quickly update our processes
in Unity, restructure our wards and respond
appropriately to a very real threat. This
flexibility and ability to adjust our ways of
working meant we were able to evolve our
treatment methods as well as our streaming
pathways without too much trouble.”
One of the areas where Unity has made its
mark has been in the emergency department,
where patients first present and the pace of
working is high. Heartbeat spoke to Sister,
Stacey-Jane McCormick to find out how
colleagues in the department had taken to the
new system and how it had transformed their
way of working. She said: “I can’t imagine
using anything else, as difficult as it was a year
ago to get it going and get used to it, it’s a
robust system. It’s very user friendly, everything
we need is there on one screen, I can’t imagine
using a different system now considering eight
years ago we were using paper.”
Benefits from Unity have been widespread;
in therapies, colleagues are enjoying having
access to in-depth patient information all in
one location. Sharing her thoughts on their
newfound ability, Trainee Frailty ACP, Emma
Hibbs, said: “We’re now better informed going
into patient assessments, whereas before we
would have snapshots of histories from EBMS
and CDA. Now we can view whole encounters,
whole admissions previously and we know
a lot more about our patients before we
go into assessments."
A year in from launch, the pace of
development and innovation hasn’t
faltered with Unity. There are still over
1,000 improvements and alterations
in the hands of our project partners
at Cerner, and recently we applied a
major code upgrade to Unity to improve
usability, speed and stability. Furthermore,
patients will soon also be able to login
to the Unity Patient Portal, bringing their
care record back into their hands and
supporting patients to have a much closer
working relationship with their clinicians
in the management of their care.
For more information on the
developments to Unity, contact Louise
Brown on louise.brown25@nhs.net.
3

Speak up Month - 26 letters of the
alphabet and 26 days to explore issues
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
October sees the start of Speak up
Month when organisations across
health and throughout England will
raise awareness of speaking up and
demonstrate their willingness to
listen to workers.
Speak up Month is the highlight of the
National Guardian’s Office calendar
– this year the campaign will draw
up an Alphabet of Speak Up - from
accountability to zero tolerance – there
will be films, podcasts, blogs and
resources sharing how Freedom to Speak
Up is making a difference.
Rachel Clarke, Interim Deputy Group
Director of Operations for Primary
Care, Community and Therapies is a
Freedom to Speak up Guardian. She
told Heartbeat:“There are 26 letters of
the alphabet and 26 days to explore
the issues, the people, the values, the
challenges – everything which goes into
what Freedom to Speak Up means in
health. When things go wrong, we need
to make sure that lessons are learnt and
improvements made.
“If we think something might go wrong, it’s
important that we all feel able to speak up so
that potential harm is prevented.”
Claire Hubbard, Deputy Director of
Governance, Knowledge and Learning added:
“Having an open and transparent speak up
culture is a vital part of patient safety and
being a learning organisation. It is really
important that our colleagues feel that they
can raise concerns safely, without fear of
reprisal and in confidence, that concerns
will be looked into and feedback provided.
As a Freedom to Speak Up team, we are all
committed to meeting the standards of the
National Guardian's Office, and building
confidence that it is safe to speak up.
Meet the Guardians
For more information go to:
www.nationalguardian.org.uk
“Being able to speak up, and
feeling safe to do so, enables us to
continuously improve and learn which
benefits the staff, patients, and the
families and communities that we serve.
“We'll spend October looking at the
alphabet of speak up, with each day
identifying a word and what that means
to colleagues across the Trust. We are
encouraging managers to use this as
an opportunity for discussion with your
colleagues and team. Speaking up is an
important part of a culture that focuses
on safety and quality, and we would
like you and your teams to play a part in
encouraging these conversations to be
part of who we are and how we work.”
Rosie Auld
Rosie is Head Orthoptist in
Surgery though she works
across all the Trusts’ sites.
E: rosieauld@nhs.net
Rachel Clarke
Rachel is Interim Deputy
Group Director of Operations
for Primary Care, Community
and Therapies.
E: rachel.clarke10@nhs.net
Harpal Tiwana
Harpal works in Primary
Care, Community and
Therapies as an Assistant
Service Manager.
E: harpal.tiwana@nhs.net
Ian Galligan
Ian is a Technical Supervisor in
Medical Engineering.
E: ian.galligan1@nhs.net
Sandra Kennelly
Sandra works in the
community as a Clinical Team
Leader/Occupational Therapist
with Primary Care, Community
and Therapies.
E: sandra.kennelly@nhs.net
Sue Whalen
Sue is a Consultant in Sexual
Health in the Women’s and
Child Health Group.
E: susan.whalen@nhs.net
The guardians will be making time available
in October to support individuals or teams.
If you would like someone to visit your
clinical area, or would like to arrange a
phone call, individual WebEx conversation,
or face to face meeting, please email the
guardians directly or using the generic email
swbh.ftsuguardians@nhs.net
The Freedom to Speak Up Guardians email
address is confidential, with restricted access
rights provided to just the team. This means
that the guardians can ensure that the best
person can meet, support and feedback to
you.
We realise there may be times that you do
not want your concern to go into a central
email address, so on these occasions you are
recommended to email a guardian directly
and they will make contact with you. You
can also phone them and they will be more
than happy to arrange some time to listen.
swbh.ftsuguardians@nhs.net
4

Through your line manager - we would
??? always encourage that your line manager is
???
the first person that you speak to if you see
something that concerns you and gets in the
way of providing good care. However, we
know that this is not always possible.
Staff networks - we have a number of
networks who can support colleagues to speak
up. The networks will be working alongside
the guardians to help to identify any concerns
or worries that we need to support.
BME Network:
swb-tr.SWBH-GM-EqualityDiversity@nhs.net
LGBTQ+ Network:
swbh.lgbt@nhs.net
Disability and Long Term Conditions:
swbh.dlt@nhs.net
Chaplaincy - we are fortunate to have a visible
and supportive multi faith chaplaincy team that
are happy to be contacted to help support our
speak up options. Please feel free to contact
Mary Causer on mary.causer@nhs.net, should
you wish to talk to one of the chaplaincy team.
Safecall - safe call is a company, completely
detached from the NHS, who provide a
fully confidential speak up option for the
organisation. Their 24 phone number is
0800 915 1571.
Other ways to speak up
Meet our Speak Up leads
Kathy French, Interim Chief Nurse
Kathy is our executive lead for Speak Up and has
a strategic overview of our processes. You can
contact Kathy on kathleen.french1@nhs.net
Claire Hubbard, Deputy Director
of Governance, Knowledge
and Learning
Claire has been leading on the review of our
current speak up processes and is supporting
changes in line with current national guidance and
best practice recommendations. You can contact
Claire on claire.hubbard2@nhs.net
Lesley Writtle, Non-Executive
Director for Speak Up
Lesley is responsible for ensuring we have good
standards regarding the freedom to speak up. You
can contact Lesley on lesley.writtle@nhs.net
There are many other ways to speak up, see Connect for further info.
Chief Registrar calls for colleagues to
keep being kind
Last month Specialist Registrar in
Diabetes and Endocrinology, Dr
Vaishnavi Kumar was appointed
Royal College of Physicians Chief
Registrar for the Trust for the
2020/21 term. This means that in
her clinical role she will work on
the frontline providing medical care
during general internal medicine oncalls,
whilst training to be a specialist
in diabetes and endocrinology.
Her focus is on learning and
development, and as chief registrar, she
sees herself as a bridge between senior
clinical leaders and the wider trainee
workforce. She said: “I am keen to hear
from all trainees within the organisation
if they have any concerns and also
on how learning and training can be
improved.
“I am keen to have continued
Dr Vaish Kumar – new chief registrar
involvement in junior doctors’ wellbeing whilst
my main project for the year is to deliver
a leadership and management course for
registrars/middle grades in the Trust.
“I’ve witnessed some great examples of good
leadership in the Trust during the first wave
of COVID, so it made perfect sense for me to
take on the chief registrar role here as I learn
more about leadership. Along with good
training opportunities, staff wellbeing has
been a big priority for the Trust, and this
has encouraged me to stay on to take the
additional role.
“As a trainee, COVID has had a major
impact on my training, especially specialist
training. Clinically, I worked mainly on the
acute medical unit during the pandemic
and was not able to provide any care in the
outpatient setting where I am mainly based
during my specialty training time. I am back
to doing what I enjoy but anxious about the
growing number of cases.
“My message to colleagues across the
Trust is to keep doing what you are doing,
be kind and to my fellow trainees, please
contact me if you are experiencing any
issues or worries. Even if I cannot solve
the problem myself, I can help to signpost
and escalate issues. Please email me on
vaishnavikumar@nhs.net.”
5

Safe spaces in place for prayer
and worship
COVID-19
New social distancing and infection
control measures have been put into
place which will ensure the safety
of those colleagues who wish to use
the chapel and prayer rooms.
Jummah (Friday) Prayers have resumed
in the chapels at Sandwell and the
Birmingham Treatment Centre, with
three-time slots at 1.15 pm, 1.30 pm
and 1.45 pm. Prayer times are staggered
so that there are only a maximum
number of people using the room at any
one time.
Rev Mary Causer, Lead Chaplain, said
the measures were essential in ensuring
the areas were COVID-safe. She added:
“We have drawn up these plans so that
anyone who wishes to pray can do so in
a manner that reflects social distancing
measures.
The new-look chapel at Sandwell, which
shows markings on the floor where prayer
mats should be placed
“We have worked with the infection control
and estates teams to rearrange the rooms,
which have markings on the floor where
prayer mats should be placed. It is important
that the chapels remain open and accessible
during these very trying times.”
At Sandwell, 11 people will be allowed in at
each time slot, whilst at City, 10 worshippers
will be able to use the pray room during
each time slot. Volunteers will hand out
face masks, distribute hand sanitiser and
a reusable travel prayer mat which has
been provided by private donations and
the chaplaincy, to each individual using the
facilities. Please note, there may be a wait
due to the number of people wishing to use
the space.
Christian services will resume shortly, and
more details about this will follow. The
chapels at both sites remain open for
individual worship, and both rooms are set
out to reflect social distancing measures.
The chaplaincy has continued to provide a
service throughout the pandemic, and every
Sunday they light candles for colleagues
and patients.
If you would like a candle lit for a
loved one who has passed away or is
sick, please contact Mary Causer, Lead
Chaplain, via email at mary.causer@nhs.
net or call her on ext 3552.
Reunited in time for their anniversary
A couple from Great Barr got to
celebrate their anniversary back in
each other’s company after the wife
returned home following months of
treatment for COVID-19.
A tearful Hanifabibi Shaikh left City
Hospital to applause, as staff formed
a socially distanced guard of honour
to mark the end to a long period of
treatment. Treatment which began
when Hanifabibi fell seriously ill to the
Coronavirus back in March, requiring a
spell on the hospital’s intensive care unit
before beginning a slow recovery on
City’s D47 rehabilitation unit.
Now, although her journey is not yet
over, Hanifabibi is recovered enough
to go home to finish her recuperation
in the company of her loving husband
Abdul.
The Shaikh family had been in regular
contact with staff during Hanifabibi’s
treatment and developed a special
relationship with those helping her. They
even presented ward staff with a special
book, full of messages of thanks from
relatives far and wide.
Staff in return presented Hanifabibi with
two cards – one a best wishes card,
but another for the couple’s wedding
Hanifabibi Shaikh pictured with team members that looked after her during her stay at
City Hospital
anniversary which they were delighted to be
able to spend together. At the same time,
others caught up with family news, expressing
sadness they would miss their regular updates.
“It’s a very special day for me today,”
Hanifabibi Shaikh told Heartbeat. “I’m going
home after coming here in March but as
happy as I am going home I’m going to miss
all the friends I’ve made on D47. Although
they are my health carers, my nurses, they all
treated me as a friend. They have given me a
second chance at life. I cannot find sufficient
words to express what I feel about them all – I
thank the Lord for giving me a second chance,
but so many people have played a part in
it.”
Memory Seka, Senior Sister on D47
rehabilitation unit added: “We’re both sad
and happy to see Hanifabibi leave after so
long needing treatment. It’s heartwarming
to see her reunited with Abdul and we all
wish her the very best in her continued
recovery. I’m very proud of all the staff
on D47 for all they have done to support
Hanifabibi and her family while she has
been under our care. They have maintained
and upheld the care promises set out by our
Trust.”
6

Colleagues invited to share their
stories of COVID-19
COVID-19
Putting on PPE to deliver treatment
It's been quite a year so far, and for
many of us, it has made an impact that
we will remember for the rest of our
lives.
But we must move on and continue to
support each other through the challenges
that COVID-19 brings us, whether that
be in the changes to the simple tasks we
do almost without thinking about, buying
our groceries, to how we do our jobs,
with the added burden of PPE, and the
constant thought of preventing the spread
of infection.
The diary of an infection control
nurse during COVID-19
2020 will always be synonymous with
COVID-19. It has impacted all of our
lives both personally and professionally
and, it will no doubt have a lasting
impact on how we do things within the
NHS.
If we look back to the start of the surge
we all took decisive action to ensure we
had the right people in the right places to
ensure we could effectively respond to the
many challenges that unfolded. We actively
recruited former colleagues, calling on their
expertise to help us tackle the Coronavirus.
One such person was Kath Hughes, an
Infection Control Nurse with many years’
experience under her belt.
Talking to Heartbeat, Kath explained: “In
December 2019, having worked for many
years in the NHS I retired. The plan was to
enjoy travelling, spending time with my
grandchildren and some quality time with
my loved ones. Well, COVID-19 had other
plans, and we all know what happened
next. Who would have guessed a global
pandemic would strike soon after I retired?”
“I was contacted by Julie Booth, Lead
Nurse, Infection Prevention and asked to
join the Trust to help the team. After the
initial surprise of being back at work, I soon
got used to the systems and processes. I
had worked at another Trust before retiring
Our memories are very important to help us
move on through the year, so we are bringing
together a commemorative book, to tell
the stories of how we coped and adapted
and supported each other to get through
the pandemic – even as we face a potential
second wave.
You may work in any area of the Trust, caring
for patients, or supporting those that do,
frontline or back office, we’ve all had changes
to make, and all lived through lockdown.
We are planning for our book to be a lasting
Retired colleague, Kath Hughes returned to
work to help our Trust during the pandemic
and what surprised me was how well this
team works together.
“The team works flexibly and effectively to
keep patients and colleagues safe. They have
delivered over 17,000 FIT tests to not only
our staff but to other healthcare professionals
from local care homes and other Trusts. I
thought perhaps it was just me who was
impressed by how the team worked together,
but having taken complimentary calls and
comments from grateful staff, many from
reminder of the year, and a valued piece
of our Trust history so would invite you
to participate if you feel able to.
Some time ago the communications
team were delighted to find a treasure
trove of back issues of ‘The Corridor’
– the forerunner to Heartbeat – dating
back over 60 years. It doesn’t take
a history buff to enjoy looking back
through the pages of news written by
and about our colleagues of yesteryear.
Perhaps this book will fulfil the same
purpose in years to come.
If you would like to share your story,
thoughts and memories of working
through the pandemic, please
contact Vanya Rogers, Head of
External Communications, by email
vanya.rogers@nhs.net
outside our Trust, I know I’m not alone in
thinking this.”
Kath added: “All members of the team
have their own roles, but they all help
each other freely. This small team is
unique in that they look after staff and
patients across all the different areas.
During the peak of COVID-19, things
changed daily and to say the team made
it look seamless is an understatement.
“I will always look back at my postponed
retirement with a warm glow as I
had the chance to work with a team
who welcomed me so warmly and
appreciatively as if I had always been
working alongside them. Thank you IPC
team!"
Melanie Roberts, Deputy Chief Operating
Officer commented: “At the start of
this pandemic, there was a need for us
to expand our teams to help meet the
demand placed on us by COVID-19. We
actively sought experienced colleagues
to help support our teams and that
involved contacting some people that
had retired. Kath was one of the people
that agreed to join us, and we thank
her, and all former NHS colleagues,
for showing such professionalism and
dedication during what has been a
demanding time for all of us.”
7

Live and Work programme gets a VIP
visit from Andy Street
COVID-19
Andy Street, the West Midlands
Mayor, visited the Live and Work
programme to find out more about
how it will progress to the second
stage.
The project is a partnership between
the Trust and homeless charity St Basils
and aims to provide apprenticeship
opportunities and living accommodation
to young people. Disused buildings,
situated at the foot of the Hallam Street
staff car park at Sandwell, have been
revamped and turned into homes for
those taking part in the scheme.
Now the Trust and St Basils are looking
to transform another building so that
the project can be expanded. The Mayor
visited to see the work that has already
been done and hear about how the
project will be developed further.
Raffaela Goodby, Director of People
and Organisation Development, said:
"We were delighted to invite Andy to
our Trust site and to share our vision for
the Hallam Youth Village. The Live and
Work project remains important for us
as a Trust as we work with St Basils to
provide a home and a job for young
people who may be at risk of becoming
Mayor, Andy Street with members of our Trust
homeless. We look forward to welcoming
the Mayor back when the accommodation
is revamped and ready to welcome the new
residents’.
Lawrence Kelly, Learning Works Co-ordinator,
added: “During his time here, the Mayor
was able to speak to an apprentice who has
firsthand experience of the Live and Work
scheme and learn about how it has helped
her, both in a professional and personal
capacity.
“She has been able to complete her
apprenticeship and has had a safe and
comfortable place to live which is also
convenient for her work. She has gone on
to secure work through Trust Bank whilst
she studies at university. This is a shining
example of how this scheme is doing exactly
what it set out to do. The apprenticeship
team led by Maxine Griffiths have given this
young person a fantastic platform to build
upon for her future journey ahead.”
8

THE AWARDS
GO DIGITAL
The show must go
on – Star Awards
2020 goes digital
2020 has been a year we’ll all remember.
With so many changes it has become even
more important that we recognise the best of
the best within our Trust. Without a doubt,
colleagues across our organisation at all levels
have pulled out all the stops and gone the
extra mile to ensure patient care has not been
compromised during these trying times.
This year, we’ve had over 700 nominations and
everyone that was put forward for an award
should be hugely proud of that achievement. The
executive judging has been completed and, we
have now completed the colleague nominated
vote.
We’ve enlisted your help to decide who will walk
away with a coveted award in these categories and
the winners of the voted awards will be announced
on the night!
• Employee of the Year
• Clinical Team of the Year (Adults)
• Clinical Team of the Year (Children)
• Non-Clinical Team of the Year
???
Looking ahead to the awards ceremony ??? itself, the
Trust has decided to take the awards ceremony
online. With so much of what we do moving
online this year anyway, it was the most practical
and safe choice for us as an organisation.
So what can you
expect from this
year’s ceremony?
It will be an evening event so nothing is stopping
you from getting dressed up (if you can) to join in
with the fun on the night.
The awards ceremony itself will be streamed live to
the internet and you’ll be able to watch, engage
and participate from the safety of your ward, office
or home.
ITV Weatherman, Des Coleman will be once again
hosting our awards ceremony. Last year, he set
the room alight with his glittering personality and
serenaded the crowd with a song or two. This year,
his stage will be online, and he will be helping us
celebrate the work of exceptional colleagues across
our Trust.
Ruth Wilkin, Director of Communications,
said:
“ We are thrilled to be able to host an awards
ceremony this year. Recognising our people
for everything they do is more important
than ever.
“ We will be doing things a little differently,
and I’m sure you can all appreciate why
that is. Nevertheless, we will be saying thank
you to our colleagues for their fantastic work
and, I’m pleased that everyone got behind
this year’s voting and recognised over 700
co-workers. It shows just how much good
we do collectively, and we look forward
to recognising those achievements shortly.
Watch this space to find out when we’ll be
hosting Star Awards 2020.”
9

???
THE RULE OF SIX
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
???
??? You must not gather
socially in groups of
more than six.
The rule of six applies in
any setting, indoors or
outdoors at home or in
the pub.
Extra restrictions have now
been brought in including the
‘rule of six’ with guidance to
encourage people to work
from home where possible.
The rule of six now
excludes paid or
unpaid child care of
children under 14.
IN ADDITION TO NATIONAL RESTRICTIONS, THERE ARE FURTHER RESTRICTIONS IN
BIRMINGHAM, SANDWELL, SOLIHULL AND WOLVERHAMPTON.
Residents in these areas are no
longer able to mix with people
they don’t live with, in their homes
or gardens.
Your household is defined as the
people you live with and any
support bubble.
Households that have formed
a support bubble with another
single adult household behave as
if everyone lives in the same house.
HANDS FACE SPACE
The doctor dances… again!
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
our organisation has, again and
again, stressed that both the
physical and mental wellbeing of
staff is paramount and one of the
best ways to shake off the cobwebs
is to dance. Dancing helps both
physical fitness and is shown to help
mood – so it’s the perfect antidote to
a bad day.
With the encouragement of Your
Trust Charity, a new monthly dance
event is being held across the Trust:
#Dance4Wellbeing. At the end of each
month, a new dance routine will be
posted on the Trust’s YouTube channel,
the first being set to Sister Sledge’s 1979
hit “We Are Family”. Highly appropriate
considering our own #SWBfamily
hashtag.
The routines are being led by none
other than our doctor of dance Dr Nick
Makwana, Consultant Paediatrician
and Group Director of Women and
Dr Nick Makwana dons his dancing shoes
to help colleagues keep fit
Child Health. Regular Heartbeat readers
will remember Nick’s last turn on the dance
floor, cutting a rug (if we had one there)
at Sandwell Hospital’s main reception in a
12-hour dance-a-thon to raise money for
Children in Need.
“Why am I doing this? I think I was asked
and I sillily agreed,” joked Nick to Heartbeat.
“But more importantly, we know that dance
is a great way of improving wellbeing.
It strengthens emotion, your cognitive
skills, your brainpower. It improves your
physical ability and improves social interconnections,
as very rarely do you dance
alone.
“From a physical aspect, it’s a great calorie
burner. Indeed, when I did my 12-hour
dance-a-thon I burnt 6,000 calories within
12 hours. So, I’m surprised I’m still here, to
be honest!
“Because you’re using different parts of
your body it also helps with coordination,
concentration, balance and your physical
ability. From a mental health point of view,
there’s been research done using dance
movement therapy, showing that it can
improve symptoms of depression and
anxiety. So there are lots of good reasons to
dance.”
The We Are Family video can be found
on the Trust’s YouTube channel: http://
www.youtube.com/SWBHNHS1
10

Nurse scoops top award for work
with incontinent patients
Congratulations to Kelly Stackhouse
who leads our FINCH Service, delivering
care and support to patients who have
bowel dysfunction, regardless of cause,
including patients who have undergone
bowel surgery.
The lead nurse has scooped Continence
Nurse of the Year in the prestigious
British Journal of Nursing Awards. Kelly
is recognised for devising a specialist
treatment pathway for patients with faecal
incontinence, constipation and those who
have undergone an anterior resection – a
surgical procedure to remove the diseased
portion of the bowel and rectum.
Kelly set up the FINCH Service (Faecal
Incontinence and Constipation Healthcare)
10 years ago, which offers intervention
to all patients undergoing this nature of
surgery providing support, advice, treatment
and peer support.
Kelly said of the win: “I am so honoured
to have received this prestigious award. It
Kelly Stackhouse who received the
prestigious Continence Nurse of the Year
award
shows how important a service like this is, as
it has provided invaluable support for patients
who have had this nature of surgery and who
also suffer from other bowel-related issues,
improving their quality of life.
“This is a very unique pathway and other NHS
Trusts are now beginning to adopt this as a
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
result of the work we have been doing
and the recognition it has received.
“I hope that this will provide a further
platform to assist us in our mission to
‘break the taboo and talk poo’ which
in turn will help more people who are
suffering in silence.”
The service has received national
attention. In March, Kelly and her
team were the focus of the Radio 4
programme Inside Health interviewed
by Trust Me I’m a Doctor presenter, Dr
Saleyha Ahsan.
The programme is known for discussing
health issues which people struggle to
understand.
To contact the FINCH team email
swb-tr.SWBH-GM-FINCH@nhs.net.
Introducing Emma Barton – our new
staff side convenor
Most staff in any hospital are members
of a trade union or professional
organisation, and this is certainly
true of our workplace. With over
13 different groups represented, it’s
important for managers to keep up to
date with their collective feedback.
Emma Barton has recently taken on the
mantle from Chris Rickards as our new
staff side convenor and will continue the
task of taking the views of all trade unions
and professional organisations to decision
makers in the Trust.
A clinical nurse specialist by trade, we
caught up with Emma to find out why
she has decided to take on this new and
important role in our organisation. “I’ve
been involved in unions and professional
organisations for the majority of my
career,” said Emma. "I have been a rep for
Unite and enjoy helping and supporting
colleagues at work.”
“Believe it or not, I also love reading
through policies and help with their
development,” she laughed. “I am
excited to be taking on this role and very
encouraged that we now have a huge
number of new staff side colleagues from
Emma Barton, Staff Side Convenor
varied professions choosing to become
reps.”
Emma would like to hear your views
about how the service could be
improved.
She added: “I welcome all feedback to
ensure the service is as representative
as it can be. I aim to set up a shared
mailbox that the unions can use to
communicate with colleagues, as well as
them being able to communicate with
existing members through their union.
There are also plans for a monthly staff
side newsletter which will feature the
matters staff side are working on.”
Since qualifying as a nurse in 1998,
Emma has worked in a variety of
roles including in the community, the
prison service and for local authority
public health. Away from work, Emma
spends time with her four children,
grandchildren and her dog. She loves
cooking and going to the gym.
To contact Emma email emma.
barton1@nhs.net or call
079723344210.
11

International Year of
the Nurse and Midwife
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
This year marks International NEWS Year of the Nurse and Midwife,
CORPORATE a campaign AND by the GENERAL World Health Organisation in honour of
the 200th birthday of NEWS Florence Nightingale.
Staff Nurse
Helen Taylor
Each month we profile some of our
wonderful nurses as part of our
2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife
celebrations.
For September, we feature Lead Nurse
for the Homeless Patient Pathway,
Helen Taylor.
Helen has worked for the Trust in her role
as lead nurse for the homeless pathway
team for seven years, setting up the service
in 2013. As a registered mental health
nurse by background, Helen has also
worked in mental health and addiction
services as a dual diagnosis lead.
Helen plays a pivotal role in the leading
of the homeless patient pathway team
working with complex and vulnerable
adults that are homeless with drug and
alcohol dependencies, alongside physical
and mental health conditions.
“Our team work to improve the experience
of our homeless patients by providing them
with much-needed interventions such as
support securing accommodation, advice
and signposting, GP registrations, food,
clothing, toiletries, and care packages
to ensure safer and more dignified
discharges,” said Helen.
Helen added: “In 2019, of the 650 patients
referred to our service, 94 per cent received
interventions from our team reducing the
potential rough sleeping rate by successfully
housing patients into new accommodation
or supporting them to return to their
original accommodation.
“Patients can be signposted to other
relevant agencies where necessary,
assisted to register with a GP, provided
with prescriptions and essential food and
clothing discharge packs. In doing this the
team have saved the trust 480 bed days
equating to £192,000.”
Alongside helping homeless patients and
Helen Taylor, Lead Nurse for the Homeless
Patient Pathway
reducing hospital admissions by 86 per
cent, Helen was also nominated as one
of our NHS Heroes in August 2019.
She was also shortlisted along with her
team for two awards at the 2019 Star
Awards - Clinical Team of the Year and
the Award for Equality and Diversity
Champion. Most recently her team
has been shortlisted for this year’s Star
Awards in the Equality and Diversity
Champion category.
12

Shout out has been a regular feature
in Heartbeat and it is fantastic to see
colleagues regularly taking the time to
give positive feedback to each other.
We regularly receive positive feedback from
our patients too, and this month we wanted
to share some of those heart-warming
messages which have been sent via our
website and social media platforms.
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
To – Rea Bell
Rea Bell has been so helpful going the
extra mile to help and advise us for our
ward requirements. Nothing has been too
much trouble -A big thank you!
From – Jane Ferguson
To – Danielle Graham
Priory 2 is a very busy high acuity surgical
ward. Due to the rolling clean of the ward
they were asked to move to N3 for a ward
deep clean. Danielle led the move of 23
patients, all the patients and equipment
were transferred in a swift timely manner.
Thank you to you and your team.
From – Kawsar Miah
To – Tony Dyer
Tony had helped me resolve some the
IT issues recently. The whole process
was effective, very well organised and
reassuring. Thanks a lot, Tony.
From – Essie Li
To – Linda, Liz, Sarb, Monica and Nula -
Ward Service Officers
Ladies and gents thank you all for your
hard work Saturday and Sunday giving the
switchboard offices a deep clean and all
with a smile. Much appreciated.
From – Mel Halligan
To – Rafiah Masood
Always smiling, always grafting in CT.
Always a pleasure to work with
From – Nick Harding
To – Tom Knight
Thanks for supporting A&E nurses with a
difficult patient. He always comes to the
department to see if he can help. He is an
amazing doctor.
From – Kirsty Best
To – Imaging Support Workers
A massive thank you to you all for the hard
work you’re doing to help get the waiting
lists down across all modalities. There are
so many extra shifts and many of you are
covering them at short notice. It’s really
appreciated. You have all been amazing!
From – Louise Thompson
To – ADAU team and bank colleagues
The ADAU team and bank colleagues have
continued to work diligently throughout
the summer to cover staff shortages. The
bank midwives have supported the team,
a testament to their relationship with each
other to help deliver safe quality women's
care.
From – Lorraine Williams
To – Robert Hornsby
For reassuring a young nervous patient
undergoing a very difficult procedure. You
really did go that extra mile.
From – Room 1 Imaging Team
To – Selina Meghan
A big thank you to Selina Meghan
(Radiographer) Absolutely stunned by her
kindness. I was having a really bad day at
work to make it worse I used my expired
debit card by mistake to make a payment
at Hallam restaurant, which of course
declined! To save me from embarrassment
Selina paid for my sandwich. I was
completely speechless. I don't think she
even knew that I work for the Trust.
From – Mo Islam
To – Chantell Smith
Thanks for being one of the kindest,
caring, thoughtful, compassionate and
considerate 3rd year nursing students I
have met. Your warmth and mannerism is
beyond words. You should be truly proud
of yourself, especially during these difficult
times. You will be an amazing nurse. All
the best.
From – anon
To – Mairgan Meah (Madge)
Madge is a volunteer for our Trust and
has been volunteering at the Lyng bloods
department. There are multiple services in
one area and Madge goes out of her way
to be kind and helpful to all patients and
staff. Madge goes above and beyond and
really does deserve recognition for her
hard work and dedication.
From – Frances Edwards
To – Reece, Marcus and the Informatics
Team
I'd like to give a huge shout out to Reece,
Marcus and the Informatics Team who have
been so helpful in restoring my access and
getting my devices back up and running
after my maternity leave. Thank you for
your patience over several phone calls and
for working so quickly to resolve the issues.
From – Vanessa Lloyd
To – Tracey Cartwright
Tracey has been working throughout
COVID-19. She has worked 6 weeks as a
lone receptionist when the rest of the
staff were either off sick or shielding. She
even offers to come in to do bank on her
annual leave. She has worked very hard
and deserves a medal. Thank you Tracey for
all your hard work and support since you
joined us in Antenatal at City.
From – Colleen Marsh
To – Paul Smith and Rob Kemp - removal
team
Paul and Rob came to remove four filing
cabinets and three smaller ones. These guys
are great, they never complain, always
happy to help, always smiling. A huge
thank you, and a big shout out from D25.
From – Janet Jeffers
To – Rhiannon Sanders
You have been a great member of the
team during COVID on AMUA, your
support, commitment and hard work has
been appreciated. Congratulations on your
blues and welcome to the team!
From – Beth & Kiran Sandhu
13

Celebrating our
stars of the week
Star of the Week
Lucy Kynaston and Joanne
Bradley, assistant practitioners
in imaging
Star of the Week
Carl Bellamy
e-Learning Manager
Star of the Week
Nicole Miles
Charge Nurse
Congratulations are in order for both
Lucy Kynaston and Joanne Bradley,
assistant practitioners in imaging.
Lucy and Joanne have been invaluable
during the pandemic surge. They have been
recognised for their flexibility in covering
shifts, being pro-active in using Capman
and Unity and training others in how to
use them. In addition to this they regularly
exceed the department’s key performance
indicators making them both hugely
valuable to their team and the Trust as a
whole.
Congratulations are in order for Carl
Bellamy, e-Learning Manager.
Carl has made a huge contribution to the
Trust with his amazing technical skills and
direction in particular with the filming and
editing of wellbeing content during the
pandemic.
He has also filmed numerous other videos
to support and disseminate important
information and contribute to medical
education with many being at short notice
all whilst maintaining a supportive and
positive attitude throughout.
Congratulations are in order for Nicole
Miles, Charge Nurse on the neonatal
unit.
Nicole Miles has been described as ‘a
breath of fresh air on the neonatal unit’.
During the COVID-19 restrictions, Nicole
introduced V-Create to the neonatal unit
enabling colleagues to take photos and
videos of our youngest patients and send
them to their parents when they are unable
to come in. This aids close and loving
relationships, reducing parents stress and
anxiety during an already hard time for
them.
Nicole is a great advocate of family
integrated care, educating colleagues and
patients on developmental care.
Star of the Week
Paulette Duzan, Team Leader, health visiting service
Congratulations are in order for
Paulette Duzan, Team Leader in our
health visiting service
Paulette has been nominated by several
of her colleagues for the support she has
given them during the pandemic. She has
set up daily meeting with colleagues in
the Oldbury team to enable colleagues
working from home and shielding to
remain connected to the team.
She is an example of kindness and
consideration for others, sets a brilliant
example and is deserving of this
prestigious award.
If you have someone in your team that has gone above and beyond the call of duty, put them forward
as a Star of the Week. Visit Connect to find out more.
14

NHS National Staff Survey - Keeping a
finger on the pulse of NHS Trusts
Over the coming weeks almost 1.4
million NHS colleagues across the
country as well as everyone at our
Trust will be receiving the annual NHS
Staff Survey and be given an ideal
opportunity to share their thoughts on
how they feel about working for their
organisations.
The national survey is mandatory for all NHS
organisations with the results being used
to inform national initiatives that can help
support improvements in staff experience and
wellbeing. Data captured through the survey
is used to benchmark organisations against
similar Trusts, identifying where they excel and
where there is room for improvement.
The results of the national NHS Staff Survey
are also used by NHS England to support
national assessments of quality and safety.
The Care Quality Commission uses the results
to inform their intelligent monitoring work
to help to decide who, where and what to
inspect.
Heartbeat caught up with Ruth Wilkin,
Director of Communications who told us
more. “The national NHS staff survey gives
everyone in our workplace the chance to have
their views heard by the people who develop
national policies on health.
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
“Surveys will be distributed predominantly
through email with a small number of
colleagues receiving papers copies through
the post to their home addresses. If you
have received an email invitation or the
survey has dropped through your post box,
please make every effort to complete it. It
is only through listening carefully to your
comments that we can truly make our Trust
a great place to work.
“The results will be reviewed and acted
upon so we can make our organisation a
great place to work. There are fantastic
prizes on offer too, with £200 worth of
shopping vouchers up for grabs.”
The survey will be distributed from
early October and will be open until the
end of November.
Proactively supporting staff with
their health
A new policy has launched recently
which focuses on supporting
colleagues to remain at work and to
more quickly return to work, looking
positively at what colleagues can do
rather than what they cannot.
The newly revised and renamed Attendance
at Work Policy (formerly known as Sickness
Absence) launched on the 1st August and
is the result of significant joint working
and consultation with our trade union
partners. The policy has been written to
ensure we have robust processes in place
to manage sickness absence and to ensure
our colleagues are provided with proactive
support during times of ill health and to
give them the opportunity to return to
work sooner, which we know is better for
our mental and physical health.
To find out more about the new policy and
the changes it brings, Heartbeat caught up
with Director of People and Organisation
Development Raffaela Goodby, she said,
“ The change in policy name has been a
deliberate decision in support of the Trusts
focus on promoting an attendance culture
that recognises that it is generally better for
an individual's health and wellbeing to be
at work, ensuring that the focus should be
on supporting what an employee can do
to remain in work or return to work, rather
Colleagues can have a massage at our wellbeing sanctuary to help with their health and wellbeing
than focussing on what they are unable to do.
“The policy has changed, for example with
changes to the sickness episodes triggers and
how we treat multiple absences in a short
amount of time. We have also included a firm
commitment to the Trade Union Congress
'Dying to work 'voluntary charter, which
outlines how our colleagues will be treated
with dignity, respect and compassion if
diagnosed with a terminal illness.
“It’s really important that all colleagues
take some time to read and understand the
revised policy, as all sickness absence from
1 August (unless being managed within an
existing process) will now be managed in
accordance with these new parameters.
To help colleagues understand the
changes, we have drafted a briefing
paper, some frequently asked questions
and a toolkit of supporting documents.
These are available on our dedicated
sickness absence page on Connect. We
are also planning a series of training
sessions and information sessions to help
you understand the new policy. “
For more information on the
changes, contact the HR team by
calling 0121 507 6680 or emailing
swb-tr.swbh-GM-HR-Enquiries@nhs.
net
15

As we head towards the winter, our
thoughts turn towards confronting
the upcoming flu season head-on.
The disruption, upheaval and anguish
of Coronavirus is still in the minds
of many of us as we head towards
another potential surge, but the
biggest challenge we are set to face
is the possibility of flu and COVID-19
outbreaks being present at the same
time.
Unlike COVID-19, we know the flu is
coming so over the past few months,
we have been busy making plans to
ensure we are able to protect our
colleagues, families and friends with a
well-planned vaccination programme.
Put simply, flu is a preventable infection
and we’re keen to ensure that everyone
is protected and ready to tackle winter
safely.
This year we are going bold and bright.
Taking inspiration from ABBA, our
Flu-Per Troopers are ready and waiting
to swing into action to help protect our
organisation. We’ll be taking a different
approach to how we administer the flu
vaccine in 2020. Our Flu-per Troopers
will represent areas right across our
Trust – we’re going local and getting
personal coming to an area near you to
ensure everyone has the chance to have
their flu jab.
So, it’s time to play your part and get
your flu jab!
If you are undecided, there are some
key points to highlight that may help you
reach your decision:
• You can have the flu and show no
symptoms at the time meaning you
can be spreading the virus to our
patients as well as your friends and
family without even realising.
• It’s important to have the flu
vaccination as soon as possible. It
can take up to two weeks to work
so the earlier you have your jab, the
safer you are.
• Our staff flu vaccines do not contain
any porcine products and we have
an egg free alternative vaccine
available for anyone with an allergy.
This month we introduce you to two of
our school health staff nurses who have
volunteered to suppor t this year’s Flu-Per
Trooper campaign.
First up is Laura Logan, a School
Health Staff Nurse at the Lyng Centre.
Q – What made you want to become a
Flu-per Trooper?
A – I’m quite a new member of the
school health team so I wanted to
use this opportunity to get to know
my colleagues. We’ll all be working
closely together so it’s important to be
protected against the flu and I wanted to
play my part in helping to do that. I also
wanted to improve my knowledge by
completing the flu training online.
Q - What are you looking forward to
about the flu campaign this year?
A – Protecting my colleagues against
the flu whilst I serenade them with
ABBA songs (It’s an optional extra and I
take requests!).
Q – Tell us your favourite ABBA song?
A – Fernando
Q&A’s
Next we say hello to Harbinder Mattu, a
School Health Staff Nurse
Q&A’s
Q – What made you want to become a
Flu-per Trooper?
A - This has been a challenging year
for us all, but knowing we can make
a difference for our colleagues and
protecting them from the flu is what
being a Flu-per Trooper is all about for
us as nurses.
Q - What are you looking forward to
about the flu campaign this year?
A – Being a nurse I enjoy sharing my
knowledge. I want to help educate
people about the importance of having
the flu jab and will really like this year’s
ABBA inspired theme.
Q – Tell us your favourite ABBA song?
A – It has to be Super Trouper!

The flu isn’t just a bad cold,
on average flu kills over
11,000 people each year –
some years this number
is much higher – and it
hospitalises many more.
The flu is mainly spread
from person to person via
respiratory droplets by
coughing and sneezing.
Although transmitted from
person to person the virus
is also able to temporarily
survive outside the body on
contaminated hands and
surfaces enabling further
transmission to occur.
People with mild or no
symptoms can still infect
others.
Vaccination protects
and reduces the risk of
spreading flu to colleagues,
patients and family
members..
You can’t get the flu from
the vaccination. The vaccine
is not live and therefore
cannot give you the flu.
The vaccine can take up to
two weeks to work properly
so early immunisation is
essential to stop the spread
of flu.
Pregnant women should
especially get the flu
vaccine since their immune
systems are weaker than
usual. The inactivated flu
vaccine is safe at any stage
of pregnancy.

Fab Change Day and randomised
coffee chats coming this autumn
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
As part of weLearn programme in
the Trust, our library and knowledge
services are set to launch two new
engaging initiatives in an effort to
learn from the current pandemic and
bring colleagues closer together.
The first of these initiatives is Fab
Change Day - a social movement for
sharing health and social care ideas,
services and solutions that work
throughout the NHS. The Trust has
decided to adopt this special day and
use it to reflect the global pandemic and
the impact it has had on the Trust itself
and colleagues. We will be celebrating,
reflecting, sharing and learning from
COVID-19.
“Fab Change Day aims to recognise,
celebrate and share the innovations
and changes within each part of SWB that
have arisen from the pandemic,” said Preeti
Puligari, Library Services and Knowledge
Manager.
“We want teams to dig deep and share the
changes, both big and small, that have been
made as well as include what has and hasn’t
worked so well.”
Stacey Richards, Librarian at the Sandwell
Education Centre echoes these thoughts
and is urging both clinical and non-clinical
colleagues to get involved with Fab Change
Day. “During the week of 19 – 23 October,
the Trust will be capturing your stories on film
and sharing them across the organisation so
be sure to look out for the details on Connect
and the communications bulletin. We look
forward to hearing all your unique stories.”
The second initiative is “Randomised Coffee
Chats” which will be running throughout
November giving staff colleagues the chance
to meet and chat for 20 minutes with another
colleague about projects, new developments
or sharing best practice.
Eczema “herbal” creams are no
miracle warns mum of patient
The mother of a paediatric patient
has warned against the use of socalled
miracle creams that “heal”
eczema which contain high levels of
dangerous steroids.
Baljit Guraya was given a herbal cream to
try on her daughter Avneet, who suffers
from severe eczema, in a bid to try and
cure her symptoms. But unbeknownst to
her, the “pink” cream contained potent
levels of steroids which falsely appeared
to clear up her daughter’s skin, only for
eczema to return even more aggressively
after they stopped using it.
Avneet, is under the care of allergy
specialist, Dr Nick Makwana, at our
Trust. He has since tested the cream to
find out what was in it and confirmed it
contained powerful steroids. Since then,
Baljit has been offered another herbal
remedy, called the “orange” cream
which has also turned out to contain
potent steroids.
She said: “Like many parents, we
desperately wanted to heal Avneet’s skin,
so we tried this pink cream. People have
since approached us suggesting that we
try the pink cream. We tried to explain
that the cream contained steroids, but
people were unwilling to listen to us. This
just shows how far and wide news of
Avneet suffers from severe eczema
these creams has been spread and how much
work needs to be done to convince people
these creams are harmful.”
Avneet has had eczema since birth. A rash
appeared when she was just six weeks old
behind her ears and in her neck creases. Baljit
recalled: “By her first birthday she had eczema
on most of her body. She always looked red
and sore. The scratching was intense especially
at night times and she would struggle to sleep
because she was always so itchy and irritable
because of her eczema.
“We discovered that Avneet was allergic to
milk when we started to wean her around six
months. She was prescribed topical steroids,
moisturisers and antihistamines to control
the rash. They worked to an extent, but
then they wore off. That’s when we tried the
pink cream. The second cream had listed its
main ingredients as saffron and petroleum
Spearheaded by Nicola Ager, Service
Development Librarian, the chats are
a way to help establish and build new
relationships as well as bring people
together who wouldn’t usually have met.
Nicola commented: “We will pair people
up at random with someone else in the
organisation to have a relaxed conversation.
The chat can be virtual or in person,
whichever you prefer.
“Randomised coffee chats are free, easy
and informal and more importantly will help
staff connect and learn from each other.”
To find out more about Fab Change
Day 2020 please email swbh.
welearnnhsfabchangeday@nhs.net
and if you wish to get involved with
randomised coffee chats please email
swbh.welearnrandomisedcoffeechat@
nhs.net by the 23 October with your
name, job title, department and
location.
jelly, there was no mention of steroids. I
immediately gave it to Dr Makwana to test
without using it.
“We were lucky that we had a willing
professional that agreed to test both of
the creams for us and so could make an
informed opinion about their use. Others are
not so fortunate.”
Dr Makwana said: “We are aware that
eczema is a distressing condition in young
infants and parents are often looking for
a cure. We know that eczema cannot be
cured, but the symptoms can be controlled
with treatment until the child hopefully
grows out of the condition themselves.
“It is important to ensure that the child is
reviewed by a health professional and the
correct treatment prescribed. Depending on
the level of severity of eczema we would
use steroids, but they would be at an
appropriate strength suited to the child’s age
and skin.
"Many of these miracle creams contain
very potent steroids which can lead to
longer-term damage to the delicate infant
skin. If any parents are unsure about
creams they have been recommended,
then it is important to discuss with a health
professional who could send the cream for
testing to look for steroids as we did to help
Avneet.”
18

Thinking of improving your fitness?
Get an e-bike
Colleagues are being encouraged to
take part in a study to monitor health
and wellbeing improvements by
commuting with an e-bike.
As part of the study, you can get an e-bike
on loan for three months during which your
bike usage will be monitored through the
Strava app - available on most smartphones.
In addition, there will be a simple test to
complete at the start, the midway and end
points of the trial. Colleagues will be able to
view and receive personal usage data and
will be guided on how to interpret usage
data for information purposes. You will
also be provided with a helmet and fitness
wearable device to monitor journeys to and
from work.
Heartbeat caught up with James Pollitt,
Assistant Director Strategic Development
who is championing the scheme. He told
us: “The Trust aims to provide colleagues
with access to e-bikes for trial periods
where they can fully experience the benefits
that e-bikes can provide.
“Our aim is simple; to promote the message
that improvements to health and wellbeing
can be achieved by simply changing lifestyle
and travel habits. Recent news and research
suggests that regular exercise may reduce the
risk of serious and potentially life-threatening
complications with COVID-19.”
James also told us there are many benefits to
e-bikes including:
• Improved health and wellbeing
• Greener travel options
• Faster commuting times at
peak periods
• Access to premium e-bike products
through Ebikebrum cycle to work
scheme
• Membership to a dedicated cycling
club, if desired
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
• Access to free community-led rides
• Discounts available for bike/e-bike
purchases.
If you wish to purchase a bike after the
loan period, Ebikebrum will be available to
discuss all possible options either directly or
through our partner cycle to work scheme.
All types of bikes/e-bikes are provided
including:
• Commuter/hybrid
• Road bikes
• Mountain bikes
• Step-through
• Folding bikes
• Gravel bikes
For further information, get
in touch with Ebikebrum at
info@ebikebrum.com.
Going green – Birmingham pushes
ahead with new transport plans
Smoke, congestion, pollution
and poverty are four things that
have become synonymous with
inner-city living with the steady
increase in the number of private
vehicles on the roads and the rush
of people wanting to get around.
However, things are set to change in
Birmingham shortly.
With City Hospital bordering the Clean
Air Zone our Trust has joined in with
the efforts to improve air quality in the
region. To find out more, Heartbeat
caught up with Sustainability Officer, Fran
Silcocks. She said: “We’re committed to
ensuring that we limit our impact on the
local environment.
We employ almost 7,000 people at our
Trust, with a significant proportion of these
people commuting to and from work by car.
We must explore other options and support
staff to help improve air quality.”
We will be installing circa 100 electric vehicle
charging sockets across City, Sandwell and
Midland Met in the near future to support
staff, patients, visitors, and the public.
Providing this infrastructure will support
those that want to drive low emission
vehicles, making it easy for people to charge
their vehicles on our sites. We also offer a
car purchase scheme via Tusker with low
electric and hybrid vehicles on offer.
For those that prefer two wheels instead of
four, across our Trust we now have facilities
to support colleagues to cycle to work. We
have secure cycle parking across our main
sites, cycle lanes at the main entrances, a
cycle to work scheme offering discounted
bikes and equipment, free electric bikes to
loan, and many more.
We are also working with the local
public transport bus providers to support
colleagues. Through National Express, we
offer discounted bus passes as well as a new
flexible bus pass for those that are working
remotely.
19

Research pass provides access to
management journal collection
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Our library services now have
access to Emerald Insight
with over 300 peer reviewed
e-journals from over 13 subject
collections. This collection
covers areas such as accounting,
finance and economics; business,
management and strategy;
education; health and social care;
HR, learning and organisation
studies; knowledge management;
operations, logistics and quality;
property management and build
environment.
You can access Emerald Insight
content via www.emerald.com/
insight
Use your research pass token that the
library services have bought for you to
access full text articles on the website.
You will also need your SWB Athens
login to access the content. If you do
not have one, you can register here
https://openathens.nice.org.uk/
For more help and support, please
contact SWB library services on
swbh.library@nhs.net or x3587
(Sandwell) x4491 (City)
Did you know that you can download
treatment-specific patient information
leaflets from the EIDO Healthcare
website for FREE?
EIDO has hundreds of patient leaflets for different procedures that
are being carried out across the Trust.
They are available in an easy-to-read format and
in different languages.
Patient information for hundreds of procedures carried out across
the Trust can be downloaded for free and passed on to patients
to help them better understand the procedure they may be
undergoing. Many of these are available in different languages and
formats and help patients to give informed consent.
Visit Connect Clinical Systems EIDO PT Leaflets.
For more information, please contact the communications team
on ext.5303 or email swbh.comms@nhs.net
20

Cheryl Shepherd is awarded the
Shiela Lorimer Award
The Shiela Lorimer award is an annual
award, presented to a nurse on the
acute medical unit (AMU), in memory
of Acute Medicine Nurse Practitioner,
Shiela Lorimer who sadly passed away
in 2013.
Shiela worked in our organisation for
over 20 years. She was the first nurse
to start nurse-led discharge and medical
clerking which has led to advanced nurses
discharging patients out of hours on all the
medical wards; helping immensely with
bed capacity, flow and patient experience.
This award is to salute her work but also
to recognise young nurses like Shiela, who
want to develop themselves, be the best
nurse possible and deliver high-quality care.
This year the award was presented to
Cheryl Shepherd, who has been part of our
organisation since 1993.
Cheryl has worked in acute medicine for
five years and has been a senior sister in
AMU for nine months. After qualifying
in 1993 at Dudley Road Hospital, Cheryl
worked in acute respiratory medicine and
then made a move to manage a team at
the National Blood Service before finally
branching into critical care. She has a
Winner of the Shiela Lorimer award, Cheryl
Shepherd, Senior Sister on AMU
diploma in Health Service Management and a
BSc in Nursing.
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY
CARE
AMU Consultant and Deputy Medical
Director, Sarb Clare told Heartbeat why
Cheryl was the standout candidate for
the award this year.
“This award is recognition of nursing
excellence and Cheryl demonstrates
these qualities every day and truly shone
through during the pandemic.
“Cheryl is passionate about ambulatory
care and passionate about her patients
- she a true leader who takes her team
with her. She is well-loved by the entire
team and is an inspiration to all of us.
Cheryl said: “I’m humbled to receive
this award. I just come in every day to
do my job the best way I can, so this
recognition is truly unexpected and
amazing. I couldn’t have achieved all
that I have without the support of the
entire team. I am truly proud to work
with such lovely, committed colleagues.
I humbly accept this award and will
continue the great work that Shiela
started here years ago.”
Ain’t no mountain high enough
The only way is up! Team members making
their way to the top of Mount Snowden
On 23 September Julie Thompson,
Group Director of Nursing, Medicine and
Emergency Care set off on a charitable
climb with her team that saw them scale
new heights for a cause very close to
their hearts.
The medicine and emergency care matrons
decided to take on the challenge of
climbing Mount Snowden to help raise
funds for colleagues in recognition of their
commitment during the COVID-19 surge.
Julie explained: “The teams gave so much
to patients at what was a very demanding
time and we wanted to give something back to
them as a management team.
“This was a significant challenge as the
majority of the matrons had never embarked
upon anything like this before; some have
never been on a long walk, let alone a climb up
a mountain. Everyone trained before the climb
to make sure they were up to it. Some of the
team had to buy walking boots and suitable
clothing, but once that was all sorted we were
ready for our adventure. Two matrons even
went on a visit ahead of the climb for a trial
run to get a feel for the terrain.”
Alarms were set early on the day of the climb
itself, and the minibus departed City Hospital at
6 am prompt. As the song goes ‘the wheels on
the bus go round and round’ and three hours
later the team arrived at their destination. Filled
with anticipation and excitement, they set off
on their very personal charity challenge.
The matrons set off down the country road
as they made their way towards the highest
mountain in Wales. Set at 1,085 metres above
sea level and located in Snowdonia National
Park it offers stunning views both from the
bottom and the top. Julie remarked: “It
was breathtakingly beautiful and a little bit
daunting all at the same time. We knew what
we had committed to so we set off for the
summit. As first-time climbers, we took
the Llanberis Path as it was the most
gradual route to the top.”
Eight hours after beginning their climb
the team reached the peak and saw
for themselves the stunning views of
Snowdonia. “It was all worth it,” said
Julie. “This was a unique experience
and, we were under no illusions as to
how much it would test us, but with the
support of each other we saw it through
and I’m glad we did. Aside from the
fundraising element, another thing we
wanted to focus on was team building.
We work closely together, and we wanted
to strengthen our already tight bonds by
doing something outside of work as a
team.
“I must say a huge well done to all of the
matrons who took part. Steph Coates,
Jody Stubbs, Sam Waldren, Helen Mallard,
Antoinette Cummings, Annabel Botterill,
Michael Brennan, Helen McGivney
and Deb Fretwell - thank you for your
dedication and such a memorable day.”
You can still show your support for
the team by donating via https://
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/
julie-thompson62
21

Wellbeing event shines a spotlight
on colleague experiences
SURGICAL SERVICES
Wellbeing and wellness took centre
stage at a recent event for the
surgical nursing teams on Lyndon
3 and Newton 3. Led by Sonia Bal,
Sister, the wellbeing team-building
afternoon was designed to offer
a safe space for colleagues to talk
openly about their experiences
during the pandemic and to explore
the wellbeing support available to
them.
As many of you will be aware, the last
few months has seen colleagues move
to different areas to help us tackle
Coronavirus and continue to look
after patients effectively. In response
to the many changes colleagues have
experienced, the organisation has
placed further emphasis on ways to help
colleagues look after their physical and
mental wellbeing.
One of the key aspects of the agenda
was exploring all of the different
support options available to staff. Sonia
explained: “The agenda of the day
focused very much on the wellbeing of our
team members and it allowed everyone to
speak openly and highlight any struggles that
they may be facing - for example, dealing
with their emotions. As a management team,
we wanted to be able to put some dedicated
time aside to sit down, talk and listen to
everyone to understand any concerns and
look at things we can do differently to support
where needed.
“This event was also an opportunity for
us to say thank you to colleagues and to
acknowledge the sacrifices individuals made
to continue with their jobs at a time filled with
uncertainty. We had guest speakers on the
day from the wellbeing sanctuary, the alcohol
team, the therapy team and senior leaders
took the time to join in too. I’d like to thank
our Matron, Donna James for supporting
us with this event and Di Eltringham, Group
Director of Nursing for Surgical Services. We
very much appreciate everyone coming
together to make this a success.”
Matron, Donna James remarked:
“Managing your psychological health at
this time is as important as your physical
health. Taking care of yourself and learning
some coping strategies can help to provide
stability and comfort.
“I was pleased that everyone felt
comfortable enough to talk openly and
honestly about their personal experiences.
We shared stories that made us laugh,
some that made us cry and some that
inspired reflection within ourselves. We
supported each other as a group, and I
want that to be a continuing part of how
we work together.
Eye theatre goes under the sea
Great care isn’t simply defined
by having a team of experts at
hand, the environment in which
care is delivered has a surprisingly
significant impact on patient
experience and satisfaction, none
more so than when children are
involved.
Whilst all of our spaces are clean and
tidy, there are always things we can do
to make them that much better. Whilst
form and function take centre stage, it’s
easy to forget that some of the patients
using our facilities will be young, scared
and in desperate need of some engaging,
enlightening and altogether eye-catching
surroundings, simply to take their mind
off of why they’re at the hospital.
Recently following a paediatric service
review at the Birmingham and Midlands
Eye Centre (BMEC), one of the
recommendations made highlighted
the need to make BMEC eye theatres
more welcoming for young patients in
particular. With this request, the BMEC
team sprang into action calling on
support from Your Trust Charity.
Jim Morrissey, Acting Theatre Manager
alongside his team took on the challenge
BMEC gets makeover courtesy of Your Trust
Charity
of transforming the space.
He said: “Though fully functional, many parts
of BMEC were looking a little plain and generic
and needed a little spruce up. We were keen to
bring in elements of distraction therapy to put
some of our young patients at ease.
“It’s a difficult and sometimes distressing
time for children to come into hospital for an
operation, and whilst we would love to put
them at ease by explaining how good we are
at our job, it probably wouldn’t have much
effect. However, we know that distraction
therapy is proven to be beneficial, taking their
mind off why they’re here and getting them
cool, calm and collected, ready for our team to
make them better.”
Answering the call for help from Your Trust
Charity was Amanda Winwood, Fundraising
“We also took the opportunity to signpost
colleagues to some of the resources we
have available within the Trust, for example,
the Thrive app, our wellbeing sanctuary and
the counselling service. If anyone needs any
support, I would ask them to speak to a
member of the management team. We’re
all in this together and our door is always
open for a confidential chat, cuppa or any
help you may need. Thank you to everyone
for joining in on the day.”
Manager. She said: “The team at BMEC
were fantastic in taking on the challenge of
redecorating their space. It didn’t take long
for us to develop an underwater theme to
immerse our young patients in as they make
their journey from the waiting room into
theatres. On the way to the theatre, they
also have hot air balloons, clouds and planes
to take them on their journey.
“All it took to transform the space was a
bright idea from the BMEC theatres team, a
lick of paint and a few favours called in from
our colleagues in the estates team, and in no
time at all, the new space was ready!”
She added: “With traces of the NHS blue
that we’ve all come to recognise and love,
it’s all now part of our underwater landscape
that surrounds BMEC theatres, putting a
smile on everyone's faces and boosting their
spirits.”
Jim was thankful for everyone’s efforts and
said: “On behalf of everyone at BMEC, I
would like to say a massive thank you to
Your Trust Charity and everyone who has
offered a helping hand in bringing our new
space to life, redecorating and ultimately
enhancing the experience of everyone using
our services whether that be patients, their
families or colleagues.”
22

Virtual walk through shows patient
journey in theatres
A video which shows a patient journey
when attending our Trust for surgery
has been developed. The virtual
walkthrough follows the pathway a
patient would take when coming to the
Birmingham Treatment Centre at City
site, for day case surgery.
It takes into account the new infection
control procedures that all those coming
on-site have to follow and the new
checking in procedures which have been
put in place during the pandemic.
When a patient arrives they will be greeted
by a security officer at the main entrance
and a volunteer who will check their
appointment letter. They will then go inside
and be given a fresh surgical mask to wear
and given hand gel. COVID-19 screening is
carried out and they are then taken to the
theatres, where they are given instructions
on how to safely prepare for the operation.
Amber Markham, Clinical Lead Theatres,
said: “We want the public to feel reassured
that when they come into our hospitals
for a procedure they will be in a safe
environment and this video shows step-bystep
how we do this.
“There are several strict measures to ensure
we are COVID-19 safe. These include
screening, giving out a face mask, socially
distanced waiting areas, as well as screens
to protect colleagues and patients. The
video also shows the process of going
into theatre and what it’s like after your
operation.
“It’s important that we can get this pathway
out there for patients to see so they know
what to expect.”
The BTC, where filming took place to show the patient journey
SURGICAL SERVICES
You can view the video on YouTube
at https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=2LvsLBmAiQA
Have you got a
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY
CARE
story?
23
We’d love to hear from you if you have…
• An event or special occasion in your
department
• If you work with an inspirational colleague
• Does your department do something that
makes a real difference to our patients?
Please get in touch if you’d like to be featured in an
upcoming edition of Heartbeat!
Email swbh.comms@nhs.net to submit your story idea.
23

Leading the way - Karen Jones
joins imaging
IMAGING
Imaging welcomes Karen Jones as
their new lead radiographer. Excited
to hear about everything she has
been up to since she joined the Trust,
Heartbeat caught up with her for a
chat.
Karen’s career began in 1983 when she
qualified as a radiographer from the
School of Radiography in Birmingham. She
told us: “I was trained by the one and only
Miss Muriel Chesney – she was a leading
authority in teaching radiography.
“After qualifying, I went on to work at
numerous hospitals both NHS and private.
I was an x-ray superintendent at Royal
Orthopaedic Hospital for several years
and gained specialised knowledge of
Karen Jones, Clinical Radiographer Lead
orthopaedic radiography. I have a great sense
of gratitude to all of my colleagues that have
helped me along the way since I started in my
career.”
When asked what her most interesting place to
work has been so far, Karen commented that it
had to be the accident hospital in Birmingham
which is sadly no longer standing. “A helicopter
would land outside on Bath Row directly in front
of the major injuries unit.”
Looking to the future here at SWB,
Karen remarked: “My role here as clinical
radiography lead enables me to support
radiographers whilst ensuring the department
improves to its optimum potential. I have
introduced some quality improvements to the
service and hope to work alongside colleagues
to incorporate more of their ideas regarding
improvement.
“I’ve hit the ground running with COVID-19
setting the pace of what we do and changing
how we work. It’s been a great time to start in
my new role as everyone has been so friendly
and I felt like part of a family straight away.”
Outside of work, Karen enjoys playing golf
and when the weather breaks; she puts her
knitting skills to good use and makes bonding
squares for the neonatal unit. She has passed
an advanced driving course, holds an IAM
roadsmart membership and is currently
teaching her daughter to drive.
Virtual ward will treat COVID-19
patients in first for West Midlands
PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES
AND THERAPIES
A unique project will see confirmed
and suspected COVID-19 patients
monitored via a virtual ward by our
clinicians in the community.
Patients referred to the Monitoring You At
Home (MYAH) Service via their GP or from
within the Trust, will be given an oximeter,
to measure their oxygen saturation levels
for early signs of hypoxia.
COVID mainly affects the lungs and
causes a viral pneumonia that can lead
to low oxygen levels. By measuring the
oxygen levels using the oximeter probe
that sits on the patient’s finger, clinicians
are able to identify early when a patient’s
health deteriorates and can recommend
corrective measures.
The programme is for patients who have
suspected or confirmed COVID-19, who
are not unwell enough to be admitted to
hospital but need to be monitored with
oximetry for 14 days. Those under MYAH
will be given instructions on how to record
their oxygen saturation and their pulse
as well as keeping a check on general
symptoms.
All clinical data will be entered into the
electronic patient record on SystmOne
COVID-19 patients will benefit from a unique
service being led by Kelly Redden-Rowley
(pictured)
and the team will be in contact with them daily.
The MYAH Service data will be collected by NHS
Digital and will contribute to the national pilot
and help to inform the future development of
NHS Services.
The MYAH Service comes under the umbrella of
PRISMM, an integrated approach to improve the
care of respiratory patients across, secondary,
community and primary care.
Dr Arvind Rajasekaran, Respiratory Consultant
commented: “The front line clinicians have
worked tirelessly over the past six months and
we are now witnessing a steady increase of
COVID-19 again in the community. Our Trust is
making preparations for winter and a potential
increase in both COVID and flu cases. MYAH is
an example of such preparedness.
“We are the only Trust in West Midlands to
be part of this national pilot. The community
respiratory team has developed pathways of
monitoring that will allow them to identify
patients who are deteriorating. Working
alongside the respiratory consultants, they
can arrange early treatment interventions
or transfer patients to specialist care in the
hospital.”
Kelly Redden-Rowley, Service Manager for
Community Respiratory and Heart Failure
Services, said: “Our project is unique as it
is the only one to include a rehabilitation
and recovery phase following the 14-day
monitoring as well as wellbeing follow up calls
after the patient completes a rehabilitation
programme.
“There are several benefits, which include
providing essential monitoring to detect
deterioration and provide the appropriate
treatment and support sooner. It will increase
capacity within the acute setting for those
with severe COVID-19, whilst also providing
safe and quality care to patients at home.
“It will also optimise limited resources within
the community, acute and primary care, and
reduce risk to staff by limiting face-to-face
contact. There will be an admission and
inclusion criteria for patients, who can be
referred through a number of ways via the
Trust, their GP and the community. The service
will operate between 8 am-8 pm, seven days
a week, 365 days a year.
For more information please contact Kelly
Redden-Rowley on 07854 420 584.
24

Portraits capture souls of NHS
colleagues during the pandemic
Clockwise from top left: Kate Palser (artist: Timothy Sutton @timothysuttonuk), Simran Mandara
(artist: Samantha Knight @samknight.art), Steph O'Toole (artist: Becky Cohen @bekicohen), Lyne
Wright (artist: Patricia Samanta @patriciafineart), Becky Johnson (artist: Kaci Magill @chayimart),
Claudia Forrest (artist: Veronika Smart @smartartbyv), Jess Sumner (artist: Nina Jenkins
@ninajenkinsvision), Ellie Savage (artist: Darren Gouldsbrough @redfoxart)
It all started when Speech and
Language Therapist, Kate Palser saw a
feature on BBC news online about the
#portraitsfornhsheroes campaign on
Instagram - a project kicked off by the
artist Tom Croft back in April, offering a
free oil portrait to the first NHS frontline
worker to message him.
The initiative then extended to thousands
of other artists who offered to do the same,
working from photos and providing the
portraits free of charge - with the aim
to have an exhibition once lockdown
restrictions were lifted.
Kate felt it was important to make sure
that speech and language therapy as a
profession was represented. She contacted
artist Timothy Sutton who kindly agreed to
do her portrait.
Spotlight on nutrition and
hydration week
As frontline colleagues across the Trust
will attest to, providing excellent clinical
care is what we strive to offer to each
person that we look after. Providing
great patient care can be varied, and
there isn’t one size that fits all.
Guided by our care promises, we have
outlined the standards we expect for
how we treat patients, staff and visitors.
Recognising that there was an opportunity
to help improve patient rehabilitation, Lyne
Wright, Advanced Speech and Language
Therapist spearheaded the launch of a
nutrition and hydration week that was a
multi-disciplinary team event.
Lyne told us: “The idea for the awareness
week came about following observations
that our patients on Newton 4 were not
progressing with their rehabilitation in part
due to reduced oral intake - an average meal
size consumed was less than half for most
patients.
“Newton 4 is a stroke rehabilitation unit
with 50 per cent of patients currently
taking either modified diet or fluids or
both following a diagnosis of dysphagia,
swallowing difficulty associated with foods,
liquids and saliva. Dysphagia can result in
avoidable complications, such as malnutrition,
dehydration, weight loss, reduced stamina,
poor physical and psychological recovery,
pressure ulcers, reduced wound healing,
infections and increased mortality.
“Staff reported that they were struggling
to support oral intake, with patients often
declining main meals and refusing to eat
for varied reasons, i.e. no appetite, feeling
nauseous, dislike of the food available. We
decided to observe staff feeding patients and
identified goals that may support an increase in
diet and fluids. Some of our main observations
included poor positioning for eating and
drinking, lack of appetite and training needed
around pressure bolus, sensory bolus and hand
over hand feeding.”
PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES
AND THERAPIES
Heartbeat caught up with Ellie Savage,
Speech and Language Therapist who
told us more. “Kate received her portrait
back in May and that was when I
became aware of the project,” she said.
“I was so impressed with Kate's portrait,
I decided I'd like to have one done too
as a memento of working during this
unprecedented time."
“It was easier said than done trying to
match with an artist, as the project had
become so popular that the moment
artists were announcing their availability,
people were snapping them up."
“I did eventually manage to get matched
and, from there, offered to help match
any other colleagues who wanted a
portrait. The aim was to get portraits of
as many of the team done as possible."
“The result is the eight different portraits
in the picture - all by different artists
who used different mediums and styles.”
Search the hashtag
#portraitsfornhsheroes on Instagram
to browse the thousands of different
portraits created of and for NHS
colleagues.
Nutrition and Hydration Week took
place week commencing 21 September.
Lyne told us: “The week aimed to raise
awareness of some of the difficulties
our patients face. Also, we wanted to
focus on how we, as therapists could
support the nursing team and health care
assistants to encourage patients to meet
their nutritional and hydration needs.
Another key aim was to enable feeding
within a limited timescale using the
increased knowledge around positioning
and feeding techniques.
Matron, Michael Brennan commented:
“This was an exceptionally well organised
week. It saw colleagues from all
disciplines come together to enhance
the patient experience. It highlights
Lyne's dedication to stroke services, her
passion for exceptional patient care and
her amazing team. I must say thank you
to everyone involved for showing their
support.”
25

Tiniest patients and parents reunited
through VCreate
WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH
A brand new video messaging
service has been reconnecting
worried parents with the little
bundles of joy being cared for in our
neonatal unit at City Hospital.
When the happiest moment of your
life suddenly takes an unexpected
turn and your newborn needs urgent
and intensive care you would be in no
better hands than those of the team
within the neonatal department at City
Hospital. And as much as you would
want to spend every waking moment
next to your child, there are going to be
occasions when you have to step away,
look after siblings or simply get some
rest. It’s these moments where parents
often feel they miss key moments, and
it’s an area where VCreate is making its
mark.
VCreate is a secure online video
messaging platform designed to
reconnect parents and their babies
Neonatal Discharge Planning Sister, Nicole Miles
shows off one of the VCreate tablets
who are being cared for in hospital. When
parents are away, and the babies are in the
care of colleagues in the neonatal unit, they
can capture, create and securely share short
videos with parents, ensuring they don’t miss
a moment.
Neonatal Discharge Planning Sister, Nicole
Miles was a key driving force in the
introduction of the new platform in the Trust.
Sharing her thoughts she said: “VCreate
finally gives us a safe way to document and
share those crucial little moments in a baby's
early life. One of the most important things
we try to facilitate is for parents and their
newborns to interact and have their time
together and this platform helps us do that
even when the parents aren’t here.
“Often parents have other children they
have to look after and need time to rest
themselves. And when they’re not here,
we can continue looking after their babies,
filming, photographing and sharing their
precious moments with them.
“Most parents expect the pregnancy to last
for 40 weeks and to walk away from the
hospital with a baby in their arms. When
it doesn’t go to plan, it can be a scary
and traumatic time. This technology goes
a long way to helping calm their nerves,
with the steady stream of pictures and
videos providing them with much needed
emotional support and reassurance.
“The platform has been especially useful
during the COVID-19 pandemic where
we have had to be extra cautious,
whilst parents have been able to visit,
unfortunately, siblings and grandparents
have not. VCreate has given us the means
to give parents a lifeline into the hospital to
see how their baby is at any time and share
their development with their family.”
To find out more about vCreate,
contact Nicole Miles on email:
nicole.smith7@nhs.net.
The introduction of midwifery
families
By Nicola Tomkins, Community
Midwifery Manager
In line with Better
Births, the community
midwives’ vision is
to create kinder,
personalised, familyfriendly
care in the
community, so we
have developed
a model that
encompasses just
that.
To ensure women receive continuity
during their pregnancy and after the birth
of their baby, we have created smaller
pockets of ‘midwife families’ across the
whole of Sandwell and West Birmingham.
Each ‘family’ will include a select number
of midwives and support workers who
will offer antenatal and postnatal care to
women in a geographically smaller area.
Women will therefore get to know their
named midwives and support workers
from the start of their pregnancy and be
welcomed into their ‘families’ for their
care. Not only will women receive the high
standard and personalised care already given
here at SWB but each woman will know who
their ‘midwife family’ is, have easier access to
them and will have a familiar face throughout
their care.
Our ‘families’ have been named after precious
gemstones (jade, amethyst, topaz, amber,
ruby, opal, coral and sapphire) to reflect the
rarity and solidity of our growing ‘families’.
Precious gemstones have, through the ages,
been used for storing and transferring wealth
from one person to another. The wealth of
knowledge within each ‘family’ is there to be
shared and the aim is to equip women with
the knowledge and information they need to
have a safe pregnancy and birth experience at
home or in hospital.
A new style ‘family’ leaflet is currently under
development (in different languages) and will
include contact details, appointments and
important information for women such as
monitoring the movements of their babies
from 24 weeks and health advice.
In addition to this, the leaflet will also include
a picture and biography of each midwife so
that women can identify their named midwife
from the beginning of their pregnancy at
booking. There will also be a checklist at
the back of the leaflet so that women
(and midwives) can see at a glance and
tick off the essential milestones such
as whooping cough vaccines, 28-week
bloods and when to obtain the allimportant
MATB1.
Our next step is to secure facilities for
family hubs. This will ensure that all low
risk antenatal and postnatal care will be
in one place for the women. We will also
increase opportunities to hold parent
education classes, feeding support
groups and a chance to meet other
mums in the community.
For more information regarding family
geographical areas, venues and birth
options you can contact the following
people via the switchboard:
• Terri Franklin
• Pamela Dangarembwa
• Angela Mack
• Kelly Bullock
• Nikki Poole
• Amy Wright
• Claire Zareazadeh
• Tracy Parchment.
26

Pete Evans on the run
Pulse
News in brief from around our organisation
Runner takes on 120 mile
challenge – weeks after hit and
run
Fundraiser Pete Evans has shown
his dedication to Your Trust Charity
by running 120 miles in August, just
weeks after being hit by a car.
The dad-of-two pounded the streets raising
nearly £500 for the cause after deciding
to take up the challenge despite being
involved in an accident whilst out running
in May. He was hit by a drunk driver as
he ran across a street and was rushed
to hospital suffering from a number of
injuries.
Luckily no bones were broken, but he
suffered injuries to his ribs, knees, elbows
and legs. Pete said: “I was taken to hospital
during the height of the pandemic and was
impressed with how the nurses and doctors
treated me.
“I wanted to say thank you to the NHS
for the care I received and thought that I
If you have a story you would like to appear
on the Pulse page, please email a photo and a
short explanation to swbh.comms@nhs.net
IMAGING
would do this by raising money through my
running. Getting back out onto the road
was a difficult thing to do – I was fearful
about being hit again. But I knew I couldn’t
give up and having the goal to raise money
for the charity gave me that incentive.
“I chose Your Trust Charity because my
wife works at the Trust and I’ve seen and
heard about all the good things that the
charity does for the patients, staff and their
families.”
Amanda Winwood, Fundraising Manager,
added: “We’d like to thank Pete for his
dedication and for stepping out so soon
after his accident to fundraise for the
charity.
“It must have been a very difficult thing
to do especially after such a traumatising
experience. But he put that aside to make
sure he completed the challenge, getting
up at 5 am every morning. Well done,
Pete.”
You gotta be in it to win it –
Balfour Beatty launch Midland
Met raffle
Making Midland Met
#morethanahospital is not just a
strapline. It’s what we are collectively
working towards as a Trust and we
have so much planned for our new
acute hospital that is set to open in
2022.
We have an ambitious fundraising project
underway to deliver two million pounds of
funding towards arts and heritage projects
with a clear focus on developing relaxing
areas outside of a clinical setting.
Our partners, Balfour Beatty are hugely
supportive of our fundraising project and
have launched a big raffle to help us reach
our target for our ‘We Are Metropolitan’
appeal. With prizes on offer from an
Amazon tablet to an iPad, vouchers, a
golfing day and Formula One merchandise
there is something for everyone. Tickets
cost just £2 for a strip of five and can be
purchased online by searching for https://
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/
BigBalfourBeattyRaffle.
Johnny Shah, Head of Your Trust Charity,
remarked: “Our charity appeal is firmly
underway and we are keen to maximise
A selection of the prizes up for grabs as part of the Midland Met raffle
opportunities and awareness to help us
deliver our £2 million fundraising target.
Our build partners for the Midland
Metropolitan Hospital, Balfour Beatty have
very generously launched a raffle that has
so far raised almost £1,400. The target is
£2,000, so please support us if you can.”
Sarah Fletcher of Balfour Beatty, said:
“Midland Metropolitan University Hospital
is a landmark build. It will deliver so
much in the local area beyond acute care
and that’s something we recognise. This
pandemic has highlighted the sacrifices
our healthcare professionals make and,
this is our way of doing our part. We’ve
reached out to a number of our partners
and they have been only too happy to help
us put this raffle together with a number of
fantastic prizes.
“We hope everyone will get behind the
raffle and show their support for Midland
Met. It’s a project filled with endless
possibilities and, we look forward to
continuing to collaborate with the Trust to
help bring it to life.”
27

???
???
???
Mike Carr
Group Director of Operations, PCCT
from busy acute services and allows patients
to live the lives they want to. Coming to an
integrated organisation such as this one, I
hope there will be even more opportunities to
achieve these goals.
“The ambition of this Trust to be the best
integrated care organisation is what attracted
me to this role. There is a buzz about this
place, a desire to develop the services of the
future - that's a journey I wanted to be part
of.
Mike Carr – Group Director of Operations, PCCT
This month we say hello to Mike Carr,
our new Group Director of Operations,
PCCT. Joining us from Shropshire
Community Health Trust as the Deputy
Director of Operations, Mike brings
a wealth of experience into his new
position.
Speaking to Heartbeat, he said: “I started
my healthcare career when I was 18
working in the medical staffing team of a
mental health trust. After that, I worked
as a mental health support worker for a
charity in Stafford whilst I was at university.
After graduating, I joined the NHS
Graduate Management Training Scheme.
My placements were in Derby, which is
where I spent several years as the general
manager for cancer and palliative care. That
was a fantastic and rewarding job - one of
the major projects at the time was overseeing
the merger of those services when Derby and
Burton's hospitals merged to form University
Hospitals of Derby and Burton.”
More recently, Mike’s career has had more of
a community focus. "My last job in Shropshire
was my first role working predominantly with
community services. Since starting that role,
I’ve become excited by the opportunities
that exist within community services to help
keep people well in their own homes for
longer and get people back home as soon
as possible. This takes the pressure away
“My interests are focused on creating
patient-centred services with an emphasis on
the holistic needs of our patients, ensuring
their physical needs are met to the highest
standards, as well as focusing on their
psychological and social wellbeing to keep
them well. Equally, with a background of
working in the charitable sector, I’m keen
to ensure we develop effective partnerships
between the NHS and charitable organisations
who I know can provide excellent, valueadding
services to our patients. As a newbie
to the organisation, I’m always open to offers
to go and spend time with services and
similarly, if people want to get in touch with
me to discuss ideas then I’d be happy for
them to do so.”
Outside of work Mike enjoys playing rugby.
“I’m fairly new to the area, but I have played
rugby for my team Eccleshall against local
teams such as Wednesbury and Handsworth
on many occasions.”
Be sure to give Mike a warm SWB
welcome if you see him out and about.
28
28

Wave goodbye to…
Dr Bill Thomson
Consultant Physicist and Head of
Physics and Nuclear Medicine
A 'fissionary' retires
After a 49 year career within the NHS,
of which 36 years have been spent
as our Head of Physics and Nuclear
Medicine we say goodbye to Dr Bill
Thomson.
Taking time out of his busy schedule to
speak to Heartbeat, Bill told us how his
career began. “I graduated from Edinburgh
University (also my home city) with a firstclass
honours degree in Physics in 1971.
Having enjoyed a summer job in medical
physics, I decided to go to the University
Hospital of Wales, which at the time was
a brand new hospital about to open to
patients.
“I was able to pursue a PhD using a new
whole-body counter system, very accurately
measuring radioactivity in patients. With a
large haematology research department,
I developed gamma spectra computer
analysis techniques that led to routine
and research studies of iron kinetics,
blood loss, iron absorption, vitamin B12
absorption and total body potassium and
electrolyte studies. I also developed a new
technique for red cell volume measurement.
Renal analysis was another area where I
developed a new technique and presented
on at conferences recently.”
In 1984, Bill joined our organisation and
took on the head of department position.
Together with Dr Harding, the consultant
at the time, they carried out many
investigations around radiation protection in
nuclear medicine, an underdeveloped area.
Some of this work was used in the 2002
national guidance notes and his interest
in this work continues. He has provided
updated regulations for the new guidance
document due in 2021, and lectures
on the national Endocrinologist ARSAC
training course. His radiation protection
interest continues, and he has developed
a new model for dose estimation from
radioactive contamination, and given invited
presentations at three national conferences
this year.
Dr Bill Thomson
Perhaps one of Bill’s defining career
moments has been his work on the krypton
generator service which was just developing
in 1984. “Over the years this has grown
into the unique national service that it now
is. It supplies the country with krypton gas
generators, generators for lung ventilation
imaging; a vital part of the V/Q study for
pulmonary embolus (PE) diagnosis. Along
with ensuring the continued development
of the service, Bill has developed dosimetry
models, and also other techniques for using
krypton gas effectively.”
His interest in radioisotope measurements
also led him to develop a filter system
for the accurate measurement of I123
and In111. He had to overcome strong
resistance from the National Physical
Laboratory. But they now endorse its
use and he helped write their guidance
document on isotope calibrators. A
company now markets these filters, calling
them the Thomson copper filter.
Bill has a long history of professional
involvement. He was on the Council of
the Hospital Physicists Association in the
late 1970s. He also represented them
on the national Whitley Councils in the
80s, chairing the group for scientists. He
was chair of the regional committee for
physicist training in the late 1980s and
was a national assessor through the 90s.
Bill was a member of the national ARSAC
committee for ten years from 2002, the
national government body that regulates
the administration of radiopharmaceuticals
and certification of consultants. Bill was also
an honorary senior lecturer at Birmingham
University for 12 years from 2001 and
ran the nuclear medicine syllabus of their
Medical Physics MSc.
Bill told us how proud he is to have been
a part of so many organisations over the
years. “Professional involvement in all these
groups has been such an honour for me.
I’ve had the chance to pursue my passion
and support individuals and groups along
the way. One thing I look back on fondly
is being awarded the Normal Veall medal
from the British Nuclear Medicine Society in
2014 for an outstanding contribution to the
science of nuclear medicine.”
Bill is pleased to have been part of such
an active department. He has shared over
500 papers, presentations and posters at
conferences and, it is something the team
will continue to do after his retirement.
Asked what he’ll be getting up to, he said
he’d be looking into further developments
of computer programmes, and playing
classical guitar. He was hoping to spend
more time with his grandchildren, but plans
have been put on hold for now due to
COVID-19.
“I have many interests. I was until
COVID-19 hit, indoor climbing and playing
racquetball every week. Despite a serious
climbing fall in the Swiss Alps 10 years ago,
I still love mountaineering and climbing,
particularly in Europe and the UK, and I
have a strong interest in photography. I
have been up five 5000m unclimbed peaks
in the Tien Shan range (Kyrgyzstan). I also
love skiing and ski mountaineering but
have moved over to hut-to-hut ski touring
in Arctic Sweden and Norway, in the last
few years going solo. In March this year, I
had to dig a snow hole to survive the night
as I was hit with a sudden big storm, with
the temperature at -10C in a remote area
between huts.”
From all of us at the Trust – thank
you, Bill, and here’s to a very happy
retirement.
Bill cross country skiing in Arctic Sweden
Bill climbing in the Bugaboos, Canada
29

Letters, of less than 200 words please, can be sent to the Communications Department,
Trust Headquarters, Sandwell Hospital or by email to swb–tr.SWBH–GM–Heartbeat@nhs.net
YOUR RIGHT TO BE HEARD
Help me keep my area clean
Dear Heartbeat,
At the start of this pandemic, there was
a very clear focus and direction from the
Trust about what we should be doing to
protect ourselves. I recall seeing frequent
communications about washing your
hands, PPE and keeping our areas clean.
Recently I have seen less in the way of
cleaning supplies around office spaces. I
work as part of the team that are rotating
when we are at work. As such, people are
sometimes sitting at each other’s desks.
I would like to be able to clean my area
effectively before and after starting work
so that I am confident I am not exposing
myself to any unnecessary risks to my
health. Please can you let me know if there
are plans in place to distribute cleaning
supplies to all areas of the Trust so that
staff can wipe down their areas?
Kind regards,
Anon
Dear colleague,
Keeping areas across our Trust clean is
vitally important. We all have a part to
play to keep each other safe at work.
We have cleaning teams working across
the organisation in both clinical and
non-clinical areas. However, we need
colleagues in non-clinical areas to
help us keep their work environments
hygienic. There are several touchpoints
that we would ask are cleaned daily.
These include your:
• Desk
• Phone
• PC
• Door handles
• Keyboard
• Light switches
Please use disposable gloves and
Clinell wipes to sanitise office areas.
Remember to keep your desk area
tidy and wash your hands for twenty
seconds or longer as often as you
practically can using soap and water.
Should you need to order any cleaning
supplies for your area please contact
distribution and supplies.
Kind regards,
Janet Clarke, Head of Support Services
A bit of food variety and
increased quantity would be nice
Dear Heartbeat,
I know our canteens and restaurants have
fallen on hard times with the pandemic
meaning business isn’t booming as it once
was, but I was wondering if we could get a
bit more variety and quantity in the canteen
(especially at Sandwell).
Staff are working hard in there from what I
can see so I can’t fault them on that. However,
I don’t usually make it to the canteen for
midday due to a busy day, so by the time I get
there at 1.30 pm, there is never anything left
apart from the odd side which can’t be made
into a proper meal exactly.
I do try and go earlier when I can, but this is
not always feasible due to the demands of my
work, especially during the current pandemic.
Could we perhaps think about cooking a bit
more in terms of quantity of food so more
of the good stuff is left? This would then I’m
assuming convert into more sales. Recently
I have had to bring my lunch in to save
disappointment.
Kind regards,
Anon
Dear colleague,
Thank you for your letter.
You are quite right, the pandemic has
had a significant impact on the catering
business, however, we have maintained
the opening of all of our units along with
a selection of meals on offer.
The Sandwell catering manager is
continually monitoring the number
of meals produced to balance choice
against waste food. Hallam restaurant
lunch service offers four main course
choices plus hot snacks, and we have also
reopened Crumbles sandwich/salad bar
three days a week.
We are now carrying out daily checks to
ensure that we have at least three meals
choices available from 1.30 pm till the end
of lunch service at 2 pm and will adjust
the food production numbers accordingly
to maintain a selection of meals for
customers.
We are trying to maintain business as
usual as much as possible and hope that
you continue to support our services
and would like to thank you for your
comments.
Kind regards,
Jane Owen, Trust Catering Manager
It’s good to talk
Dear Heartbeat,
As we start to see our number of COVID cases
increasing, my thoughts turn to how we will
keep in touch with each other. If we do enter
another surge, it will be incredibly busy as we
all know.
I’ve noticed over the last few months that
not everyone displays their contact details
on emails. It would be helpful if we could
encourage colleagues to do this as it helps
with questions and queries. As people
are working from home a lot more at the
moment, having a number to contact them on
would make all the difference.
I’ve had times where I have searched for a
phone number but not been able to find one,
or I’ve called departments and not received
an answer. I appreciate everyone is busy,
but if we could all make an effort to make
communicating with each other a bit easier, it
would help get things done swiftly.
Kind regards,
Anon
Dear Colleague
You are right that the COVID-19
pandemic has taught many of us how
important it is to keep in touch so that we
can best support each other.
Many colleagues have found several ways
useful to keep in touch, particularly as
people have been working in a new or
different area, or working remotely. Some
tips from teams across the Trust include:
• A regular drop-in virtual breakfast
meeting (or lunch or tea!). You can
set this up on WebEx. To get set up
to use WebEx just contact the IT
service desk on 4050.
• A WebEx group or a WhatsApp
group for your team for instant
messaging and to share important
information.
• Building in time during your day
to video call or telephone at least
one colleague to ask how they are.
You suggested that it would be good to
have an up to date phone directory and
there are a number of ways colleagues can
help to get this right.
• Add an email signature with your
telephone number / mobile phone
number.
• Update your details on ESR. The IT team
are putting in place a system to pull
this into active directory meaning you
can search for people’s details through
the MS Outlook email system.
• Log into Connect (use your normal
computer login) and find your name in
the staff directory. You can update your
details here too for all colleagues to
see.
Kind regards,
Martin Sadler, Chief Informatics Officer
30

David talks about: Unity's first birthday
and beyond
Professor David Carruthers, Medical Director and Acting Chief Executive
Toby Lewis is away
DAVID’S LAST WORD
This month we celebrated our first year
anniversary of implementing Unity. Like
many of you, I can’t quite believe a year
has passed, particularly considering all
that has happened over the past 12
months. It would be easy to pass this
anniversary and miss the opportunity
to reflect on this considerable
achievement for our Trust.
Implementing Unity was a whole-
Trust, major transformation that was
several years in the planning. Hundreds
of Trust staff were employed in the
development of Unity, based on the
Cerner Millennium product. Although
the basics of the electronic patient
record were in place, the system had
to be built to fit our Trust’s needs.
Many clinical leads were added to the
Unity programme either on a parttime
or full-time basis to develop and
confirm the system pathways, review
the training programmes and the
competency requirements, as well as
lead the engagement with colleagues
across the Trust. Many more colleagues
were involved in shaping and delivering
the training, setting up the play
domain, the competency checklists and
the operational requirements to ensure
a safe implementation. And of course,
all of you had your working lives
impacted by the introduction of Unity,
whether you are working in a clinical or
a corporate service. You have all had to
get to grips with a new system, reduce
your reliance on paper records and
learn how best to document care and
treatment.
This project was a huge undertaking
and one which we can look back on
with pride. Of course, putting in the
new system had its teething problems
and took time to get right but I know
that, from my own experience, and on
speaking to colleagues, the vast majority
of us would not go back to our previous
multiple systems for documenting patient
care. Page 3 and the front cover in this
edition highlights some of the many
thousands of things that have taken
place during our first 12 months of using
this new system.
There are several future developments
that we will implement over the next
year, including the Patient Portal. This
feature will allow our patients to see
their records from the comfort of their
own homes, hopefully improving their
knowledge of their own health needs and
treatment plans. For many patients the
NHS can feel like a system that they don’t
fully understand and sometimes patients
don’t know where to go to get the
answers they need. By opening up their
health care records, without the need to
apply for access, patients will be able to
see first-hand what plans are in place for
their care, as well as whether diagnostic
tests have been arranged or results
received. By no means will this replace
the need for continued conversation
between a patient and their clinical team
but being able to see their own health
care notes at their convenience is aimed
to help patients be better informed.
The Unity journey does not end here,
however, and we continue to work on
how we can best use the system to
free up clinical time for care, as well
as provide better quality, safer care for
patients. The Unity Optimisation metrics
are well known within each clinical group
and it is these that we will be beginning
to track so that we can learn, and share,
the best ways of doing things using
the system. Undoubtedly Unity is
helping us to provide safer patient
care – as an example, electronic
prescribing is one major benefit
that is reducing medication errors.
There remain some basics that we
still need to get right, and it is no
surprise that I mention the way we
order tests and acknowledge that
a result has been reviewed. This
has been something that we have
discussed and monitored in the lead
up to Unity go-live, and need to
continue to improve. Safe patient
care includes a robustness about
checking diagnostic results and
documenting that we have done
so. By doing this, patients can have
confidence that their health care
needs are being investigated and
reviewed thoroughly.
Digital champions and super users
were crucial as we implemented
Unity, and it is vital that these roles
continue. We need to continue to
ensure that all our colleagues (new
and existing) have access to either
first-time or refresher training and
are able to receive peer support
in Unity usage. I would hope that
how we use Unity is a regular
conversation in your 1:1s with your
line manager as it can support
improving the quality of care that
we provide. Do take the opportunity
to talk about use of Unity within
your teams.
We know that there is much we can
learn from others as we continue in
our digital transformation journey.
31

Local BAME communities to benefit as
hospital charity secures £50,000 grant
@SWBHCharity To donate
to the Your Trust Charity text
“SWBH16 £5” to 70070
Your Trust Charity is celebrating after
being awarded a £50,000 grant to
help support BAME communities in
Sandwell and West Birmingham.
The charity confirmed late last month
that they had been awarded the sum by
NHS Charities Together - a membership
organisation representing, supporting
and championing NHS charities.
The sizable sum, which comes from
funds being allocated to help support
activities being undertaken during the
COVID-19 outbreak, will be used to help
fund work within and in partnership with
local BAME communities. Specifically,
it will be used to help tackle the
acknowledged disproportionate health
and social issues that have arisen or been
exasperated by the pandemic.
The charity has used some of the cash
donations received during the pandemic
to match fund this award. This means
that £100,000 is available to tackle issues
directly within the community.
The charity is in the process of setting
up a funding panel that will be
representative of the communities the
project will support. Once the panel
is up and running, it will identify and
fund areas where support is most
needed. Areas of funding could include
supporting isolated older people or
working with schools to support children
at risk. But fundamentally the panel
will listen to those who work in and on
behalf of BAME communities so that
funds can be allocated appropriately.
Edward Edmead, Major Grants Manager for
Your Trust Charity, said: “We have worked
hard to support staff and patients through
these unprecedented times and that will
continue. But we are also going to work
within the BAME community to address
the disproportionate impact COVID-19 is
having within their homes, families and
communities. How funds will be used
remains to be seen, as COVID-19 has
resulted in health, social and mental health
issues.
"Projects might well include funding
counselling sessions for isolated older
people or helping with fitness classes for
those who are in recovery. Working to
support anxious expectant mothers or to
aid BAME young people in accessing work
opportunities, learning catch up sessions,
or providing mentors to aid with their
educational recovery.”
Previous grants made under the scheme
have been spent on the creation of support
YOUR TRUST CHARITY
packs for staff. These bags full of
toiletries, skin cream and energy filled
snacks were said to be a 'godsend' to
staff working often gruelling shifts at
the beginning of the outbreak. Food
and toiletry packs were also distributed
to patients isolating at home following
discharge, families in need, homeless
patients and prisoners on release.
Your Trust Charity has also been able
to help support the Trust's ongoing
efforts around mental wellbeing. The
Trust has gone on record multiple times
over the last four months about its
concern regarding staff welfare during
COVID-19. Your Trust Charity was able
to fund, through grants, the creation
of a 'wellbeing sanctuary' with holistic
therapies, classes and coaches to help
staff within the community cope with
their negative experiences.
The sizable sum of money from NHS Charities Together will be used to help fund work within and in
partnership with local BAME communities
September 2020 staff lottery results
1st £185.50
Joanne Page
2nd £111.30
Angela Gibson
3rd £74.20
Jenna Akbar
Don’t forget that Your Trust Charity lottery costs just £1 a month and anyone
who works for the Trust can join. Payment is deducted from your wages each
month. To take part email amanda.winwood@nhs.net.