HEARTBEAT May 2021

May 2021
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 141
Shining a spotlight on our
nursing colleagues Pages 18-19
This month we celebrate National Nurses Week to recognise the valuable work of our nursing colleagues across our workplace.
Birmingham breathes
easy as clean air
zone launches
SWB doctors are
saving lives in India
Celebrating the 73 rd
birthday of the NHS
International Clinical
Trials Day
Page 3
Page 6
Page 10
Page 22

FROM THE CHAIR
Welcome to your May edition of
Heartbeat.
This month we celebrate the fantastic
work of some of our colleagues. From
National Nurses Week, National ODP
Day, International Day of the Midwife,
the Mouth Care Matters project and
International Clinical Trials Day - we
celebrated as individuals, departments
and as a Trust. We show appreciation
for the valuable work and excellent
patient care they deliver. But that's not
all, we cover the arrival of Birmingham's
Clean Air Zone, the upcoming NHS 73rd
birthday celebrations and how SWB
doctors are saving lives in India.
Enjoy
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
HELLO
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:
One of the friendliest Trusts I’ve ever
experienced
Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE, Chair, joined on
1 May 2021
I am delighted to be penning my first column
as Chair of Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS
Trust since joining at the start of this month. I
have enjoyed spending time visiting different
sites and meeting colleagues right across the
Trust.
What I have been struck by is the friendliness
of the organisation and I have been bowled
over by the welcome I have received. This
must be one of the friendliest Trusts I have
experienced. Without exception, everyone
I have met has been warm and welcoming,
willing to take the time to talk to me and
share their thoughts and feelings about
their role and about our organisation.
Colleagues have demonstrated great
commitment to patients and our citizens.
It is clear that many people have been,
and continue to be, working under
extreme pressure and I recognise the
need to ensure that colleagues have the
opportunity to take stock and reflect on the
experiences over the past 18 months, whilst
understanding that there is a considerable
amount of patient need out there that we
need to be able to respond to.
I have seen an impressive array of support
on offer to help with the physical, mental
and spiritual health and wellbeing of
all our staff. There is lots here for other
organisations to learn from.
It is a genuine privilege to be your
Chairman and I look forward to meeting
many more of you as I continue to get to
know the organisation.
Do feel free to get in touch with me
via Twitter @DavidNichols0n or email
david.nicholson3@nhs.net
Sir David Nicholson, Trust Chairman recently visited the Wellbeing Sanctuary

Birmingham breathes easy as
Clean Air Zone launches
From 1 June a Clean Air Zone will come
in to effect in Birmingham which will
charge the owners of high polluting
vehicles to enter certain parts of the
City.
The Clean Air Zone will help tackle
Birmingham’s air quality problem by
charging the owners of the most polluting
vehicles to drive through an area within the
A4540 Middleway .
No vehicle is banned in the zone, but those
which do not have clean enough engines
will pay a daily charge if they travel within
the area.
If your vehicle meets the following emission
standards you will not need to pay the daily
charge:
• Euro 6 (VI) or better for diesel
engine
• Euro 4 or better for petrol engines
• For diesel/petrol electric hybrids
the vehicle should meet the
relevant emission standards
• Fully electric or hydrogen fuel cell
powered vehicles will not need to
pay the charge.
To check your vehicle and to find out more,
visit https://www.brumbreathes.co.uk/.
The Trust has confirmed that colleagues who
are required to visit a facility or property
within the Clean Air Zone for the purpose
of their work will be allowed to claim
reimbursement via the Trust’s expenses
scheme (Easy Expenses).
Guidance for colleagues is available on
Connect.
To find out more about the Clean Air Zone
(CAZ) and the impact on our Trust, Heartbeat
caught up with Head of Sustainability Fran
Silcocks, she said: “The newly formed CAZ is
a commitment by the local authority to take
action against high polluting vehicles that
travel through the centre of Birmingham and
the hope is that this will spark a change to
move to more sustainable forms of transport.
There is a close link between health and air
pollution - as an NHS Trust we have a duty
of care to help improve air quality. We are
working to reduce our impact by transitioning
our general transport vehicles to low and
ultra-low emission vehicles, installing circa 100
electric vehicle charging sockets at City and
CLEAN AIR ZONE
Sandwell Hospital, offering discounts on
public transport, continuing to facilitate
car sharing, and much more.
“We encourage colleagues to review
their commutes in to work and to take
a fresh look at whether other forms
of travel would be better suited. We
have good transport links for bus and
rail in to our sites as well as an ever
growing cycling community, so instead
of sitting in traffic and adding to the
smog, you could be helping us improve
our environment by simply switching to
public transport.”
For more information on the new
Clean Air Zone or to find out if
your vehicle meets the stringent
emissions criteria, check the Brum
Breaths website at https://www.
brumbreathes.co.uk/.
Cycle Parking
At City and Sandwell Hospitals, there are
cycle sheds, shelters and blue, lockable
bike pods. For the cycle pods, please
bring your own padlock and these are
available on a first come, first served basis.
Please remove the lock at the end of your
working day so that others have a chance
to use them.
‘Dr Bike’ sessions
We are running regular, free bike
maintenance checks for colleagues at
City and Sandwell
Hospitals. Keep
checking colleagues the
communications bulletin
for updates.
Bus travel discounted for
colleagues with National
Express
Colleagues are able to access discounted
bus travel when joining the Trust/National
Express Corporate Ticket Scheme. A 5%
discount applies to colleagues joining this
scheme.
For more information, contact Audrey
Hender (existing bus users) on audrey.
hender@nhs.net or Sue Penn on susan.
penn@nationalexpress.com if you would
like to join the scheme.
https://nxbus.co.uk/west-midlands/
travelling-with-us
Car Sharing
The Trust has partnered with a KINTO
(previously Faxi) to provide colleagues with
a car sharing app. The app helps improve
commutes, reduces congestion and
improves air quality. More shared journeys
also reduces parking pressures, saves you
money and is good for the environment
and the local community.
KINTO helps you maximise your savings
in both time and money by connecting
you with colleagues who share your
commuting routes and travel times. Car
sharing can also work well for cross-site
journeys for meetings where travel can’t
be avoided.
Download the app and join the secure
SWBH community using your NHS email
https://www.kinto-join.co.uk/get/
swbh-nhs/.
3

All hands helped out in
vaccination effort
COVID-19
The Trust would like to say a huge
thank you to all colleagues at
both City and Sandwell who have
helped vaccinate patients and
staff throughout the pandemic.
We would also like to thank all of
the operational staff who helped
set up the hubs to ensure trained
colleagues were able to vaccinate all
who attended. The vaccination hub
at Sandwell and PCN clinic at City are
now closed.
Looking back over the last six months,
we were approved to deliver the vaccine
just before Christmas, and were able to
begin vaccinating the first doses merely
days later, enabling those vaccinated to
ring in the year knowing they had taken
the first steps to protect themselves.
Though the process of delivering a
vaccination is simple, completing a
checklist and ensuring the patient
understands the process makes it
more time consuming hence there is
an incredible amount of work involved
in the logistics - not least designing
Alicia Parker - Lead Professional
Development Nurse
and creating a safe and socially distanced
environment to host the clinics. A huge debt
of thanks is also due to our colleagues within
estates (now Engie) who worked tirelessly to
ensure we could deliver vaccines quickly and
safely with minimum waiting.
Dispensing in the region of 400 vaccinations a
day, a dedicated team of retirees returned to
help with the task, alongside medical students
and overseen by our clinicians. And, we even
saw some familiar faces deliver the vaccine
as our very own lead chaplain Mary Causer
became our ‘vaccinating vicar.’ In total we
vaccinated more than 8,500 patients and
staff with their first dose, whilst over 7,000
received their second dose.
Mary Causer expressed her thoughts on
being a vaccinator: “Wow what a privilege,
as soon as we knew that the vaccine was
coming, I wanted to be part of a team that
extended the great service we offer as a
Trust.
“The first thing I believed was that I was
able to inject some hope into people after
a really difficult year. We are a really diverse
team in practice and faith belief. Being the
Vicar was important for those who may
have needed a sense of peace that it was
okay to take it.”
If you have not yet had your vaccine, you
can book an appointment at Tipton Sports
Academy, Wednesbury Road, which is
available as a destination for you to get
your first dose of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine
with the hub running Monday to Sunday,
8am to 7pm. Book your slot via the national
booking website. Alternatively you can be
vaccinated local to where you live – you can
book yourself in via the national booking
website.
Have you got a
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY
CARE
story?
4
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.
4

Quick, convenient and comfortable -
a simple test saving lives
Throughout the pandemic testing for
active infections of COVID-19 has been
crucial in the fight against the virus,
from the initial roll out of PCR tests
to symptomatic patients, colleagues
and their household members, the
subsequent rollout of asymptomatic
lateral flow testing and finally on
to the current offerings of weekly
COVID-19 saliva test (LAMP) tests.
Whilst early testing regimes involved often
uncomfortable nasal and throat swabs, the
new LAMP testing programme involves a
simple saliva sample, with colleagues able
to collect their sample first thing in the
morning and depositing it for testing as
they enter the building.
To find out more, Heartbeat spoke to LAMP
testing lead Kulwinder Johal, sharing her
thoughts, she said: “LAMP testing is the
latest and the most comfortable testing
programme for asymptomatic testing for
COVID-19. It’s completely pain free, quick
and easy – and colleagues will be pleased
to hear it doesn’t involve any swabs.
“We’re keen for colleagues to sign up and
commit to regular testing, not for any other
benefit but to protect themselves and those
around them. Our aim really is to have all of
our colleagues regularly testing and results
Anil Patel, Digital Media Officer collecting
his LAMP testing kit
reassuring them that they are safe and well.”
Colleagues across the Trust have spoken out
in favour of the newly founded LAMP testing.
A nursing colleague commented: “I have had
no problems in carrying out the test - it is very
simple and straight forward. Only downside I
have found is carrying out the test first thing -
before I have had a drink etc - easily resolved
by making sure I drink enough the day before.
“I have found the text messages useful to
remind me to do the test and getting the
result by text too.
“As clinical team leader for swabbing I have
undertaken more COVID-19 nose and throat
swabs over the last 12 months than I can
COVID-19
count, I was interested to see what
the pathway was for LAMP testing,
and the pathway could not be more
straightforward.
“On Friday, I contacted the booking
team to book in for LAMP testing and
after the admin clerk took my details
I was given an appointment for the
following Monday morning to collect my
LAMP test kits.
“After taking a saliva sample on
Tuesday morning I dropped it off in the
sample bin outside phlebotomy and
by Wednesday I’d had text message
at lunchtime to inform me that I was
negative for COVID-19.”
LAMP testing is open to all colleagues,
simply call 0121 507 2664 option 6 to
book in to collect your test kits. A text
message will follow within 24-48hrs
confirming your COVID-19 status.
For further information on the
LAMP testing programme, contact
Kulwinder Johal on email.
kulwinder.johal@nhs.net
Cautious optimism called for as
lockdown is eased
As we begin to ease restrictions from
the third national lockdown, there
are pleas from colleagues on the front
lines to remain cautious as a threat of a
further surge fuelled by a new variant
looms.
Sharing her thoughts on the easing of
restrictions, Acting Chief Nurse Melanie
Roberts said: “We can finally see the
finishing line ahead of us on 21 June, when
it is hoped all remaining restrictions will
be lifted. It’s a time for cautious optimism,
after many months of hard work in fighting
the onslaught of COVID-19, it’s a time to
be celebrate sensibly and to behave in a
responsible way.
“After so much tragedy, so much hard
work and sacrifice, we can’t let ourselves
get carried away and jeopardise the many
months of collective effort, struggle and
sacrifice.
Melanie Roberts, Acting Chief Nurse
“We’re able to begin lifting the rules because
infection rates are low. They will only remain
low if we continue to wash our hands, wear
masks in public and limit unnecessary contact.
In doing so we stand a chance of fending
off some of the new variants we’re seeing
arriving at our shores.”
And whilst COVID restrictions are lifted in the
community, we have begun a phased easing
of visiting restrictions beginning with
supporting visiting on our elderly care
and stroke wards.
Explaining the changes to our visiting
policy Melanie said: “As we begin to
open wards to visiting we will continue
to mandate that all visitors wear a mask
when on site, general patient visits last a
maximum of 30 minutes and be limited to
one visitor per patient. In line with national
guidance, general visiting will only be
allowed for patients who have been in the
hospital for seven days or more.
“We’d like to remind colleagues that there
are exceptional circumstances where visiting
is allowed in all areas, for example for
young patients, patients who lack mental
capacity and patients who are at the end of
their life. For these patients it is important
that we are able to safely facilitate visiting,
so please if in doubt ask your group for
advice.”
5

SWB medics saving lives virtually
COVID-19
medics to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure
(CPAP) therapy, another successful treatment
for COVID patients.
“I have lots of family there, including my
father, sister and my wife’s immediate family.
They are safe but have been listening to the
advice I have given them throughout the
pandemic.”
Dr Arora joined the Trust in 2007 as a
consultant in intensive care and anaesthetics.
As well as offering the teleconsultations, he
has also been instrumental in pushing forward
the 'Awake Proning ' treatment method.
“We recognised how the condition of
the patient improved on lying prone,” he
explained.
“Their oxygen saturation improved and many
avoided admission to intensive care. Junior
doctors working with us put forward an idea
about capturing this new method on film and
we worked with the communications team in
producing photographic and video content.
“This was shared on the Trust’s YouTube
channel and has been viewed more than
37,000 times.”
Dr Arora has also recorded a shorter
Hindi version of the awake proning video
specifically for patients unable to get
hospital treatment in India. They are able
to follow the simple instructions in Hindi
which is widely understood across the
country.
He added: “Awake proning can be lifesaving,
especially when there is a resource
crunch and lack of oxygen supply and
hospital beds. It is being followed by those
infected in India at home because of the
current terrible situation.
“I hope that this video will reach those
who are unable to get to hospital and
that ultimately it saves lives. I would
urge colleagues to share this so we can
get instructions on how to carry out this
important technique out there.”
To watch and share the video go to
https://youtu.be/1bt6DHuixQ
Dr Anand Arora, who has been
carrying out life-saving virtual
consultations with medics and
patients in India.
They are the SWB doctors who are
saving lives in India by offering vital
medical advice through video and
teleconsultations.
Dr Anand Arora has been carrying out
the consultations through the Indian
Society of Critical Care Medicine,
working alongside other medics, in
delivering virtual care to patients and
also Indian clinicians.
“Some of the patients are in a very bad
way,” he explained. “They have been
taking steroids unnecessarily which has
led to complications, including fungal
infections and other life-threatening
illnesses.
“My colleagues and I are able to offer
medical advice to them because we
speak their language and can help them.
“I feel good to be able to help in a small
way by doing something, whatever I
can to help the people of India at such a
dreadful time.”
Dr Arora usually carries out six to seven
consultations a day, either through
WhatsApp or Zoom. In total he estimates
he has offered medical advice up to 80
times and has also introduced many
Colleagues created a step-by-step video guide to the Awake Prone position
The COVID-19 situation in India is severe and distressing. Many colleagues have loved
ones overseas and are naturally extremely concerned about their wellbeing.
Many of you have been asking how you can best support the crisis in India. NHS
England are coordinating a response from the NHS including donations of equipment
and remote clinical support.
Our Trust is actively engaged in these discussions and arrangements. The NHS response
is coordinated nationally, with support focusing on advice on surge hospitals, remote
monitoring/management, clinician/clinician telelink and vetting equipment inventory.
A dedicated email has been setup nationally to coordinate offers of support from
across the NHS to ensure that support is targeted to the areas of greatest need. Please
email nhsi.indiaaidoffers@nhs.net if you would like to help.
6

Mental Health Awareness Week:
Being at one with nature
In May we marked Mental Health
Awareness Week (MHAW) by letting
colleagues know the different ways they
can receive support.
The Trust offers a variety of resources that
can be accessed either via phone or online,
but there is also the option of face-to-face
counselling.
We encouraged people to reach out to
friends if they needed help, whilst Lesley
Writtle, Non-Executive Director and former
CEO of a mental health trust, spoke about
how nature can really help.
She said: “Did you know that one in six
people will have a mental health issue, either
depression or anxiety? Support can come
in many ways either through the places
we work and our wellbeing support and
there are also lots of resources out in the
community.
“Some of the most important things though,
are talking to friends and colleagues. The
theme this year for MHAW is nature. So one
of the things I have certainly found helpful
is taking time outdoors, walking in beautiful
places, taking my dog for a walk or watching
wildlife.
“I even enjoy sitting outside and reading.
They’re all things that can really help us. I
would encourage people to do this if they
have some time spare.”
Accessing support
Urgent support:
• NHS 111 advice line
• CALM – 0800 58 58 58
(5pm – 12am, anonymous)
• ABUSE hotline – 0121 552 6448
Counselling or other support:
• Occupational Health: 0121 507 3306
• The NHS direct counselling service:
0800 06 96 22
(7am – 11pm, 7 days a week)
• Bereavement support:
0300 303 4434 (8am – 8pm)
• Chaplaincy team: 0121 507 3552 or
0121 507 4055
For some there are alternatives such as
behavioural therapies, holistic therapies,
cognitive therapies and there are many
complimentary therapies too as well as clinical
support.
Recent research has shown planning your life
can help support happiness and a stress free
life. Consider this as very soon we can meet
more and even hug. We can sometimes be
stuck so here are some examples of goals to
start a plan today.
You can see the full suite of our wellbeing offer on Connect.
See the services available from Kaleidoscope
www.kaleidoscopeplus.org.uk/self-help-tool.php
COVID-19
Plan your wellbeing...
Read or listen
Find yourself a new
podcast or a book
you enjoy.
A nice fragrant bath
Wash away the stresses
of the day with a nice,
warm, calming bath.
Yoga
Stretch and unwind
with mindful yoga
with Chris.
Talk to a friend
Connect with someone, make
yourself available and open
up. Share your thoughts and
unburden yourself.
Be creative
Paint, draw or write. Revisit an
old hobby and take some time for
yourself, doing something your enjoy.
Music
Research shows that the
right music track can be
relaxing and beneficial.
A gratitude journal
Each day document two things
you are grateful for today.
Plan a walk
Walking is simple, free and one of
the easiest ways to get more active,
lose weight and become healthier.
It improves self-perception and self-esteem,
mood and sleep quality, and it reduces
stress, anxiety and fatigue.
Dance
Dancing and exercise are
well known to improve
mental health and wellbeing,
and whilst the clubs are
closed, take part in Dr Nick Makwana's
#Dance4Wellbeing challenges.
Be a kindness fountain
Do something nice for someone
else the reward returns itself.
Diet
Don't plan to change your life
over night but try to drink more
water, eat more home cooked
meals, and order less takeaway.
Mindfulness
Find something calm to focus
on, even just for a few minutes.
Breathe
To calm down in a stressful
situation, take a deep breath
in through your nose and
hold for 4 seconds. Breathe
out through your mouth and
repeat this process for 2-5 minutes.
Single session therapy at our wellbeing sanctuary – the sanctuary gives colleagues a chance
to de-stress and relax in a confidential safe place. Do you need time to chill out downtime over
a tea/coffee and a biscuit, a listening ear or a chance to talk about anything in confidence,
meditation, mindfulness, relaxation hypnotherapy or music therapy? The
sanctuary is based at Learning Works on Unett Street, Smethwick, B66 3SY.
There is free on site parking. To book yourself a free session please call 0121
507 5886. For further details please see daily sanctuary information sheet.
7

Are you in on the plans for Midland Met?
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Over the last few weeks, members
of our executive team have met with
colleagues across the Trust to share
floor plans of where they will be
moving to within Midland Met.
The highly anticipated move has been
met with delight as colleagues have had
the opportunity to see for the first time
what their areas will look like and what
teams they will be working alongside.
As part of the visits, teams have been
tasked with creating dedicated Midland
Met corners, similar to the Unity ones
we used previously. These corners will
be the go to places for colleagues to get
the latest news and updates for their
specific areas.
As the execs made their way around
the organisation, Angie Dudley, Matron,
Priory 2 beamed: “We are all very
excited – it’s starting to feel a lot more
real now. We have talked about it for
a long time, but now we are starting
to see what is happening. It gives staff
reassurance seeing the plans.”
Angie Smith from Priory 2 echoed these
sentiments and said: “We are very much
looking forward to moving across to
Midland Met.”
Karen Jones, Clinical Radiology Lead
in imaging, remarked: “It is going to
mean so much to our department. It's a
new start in a brand new hospital, with
so much fabulous equipment. We are
excited to move in and get working in
our new, state of the art hospital.”
Rachel Barlow, Director of System
Transformation, explained: “There is a
lot of hard work going on behind the scenes
to ensure that Midland Met is a well-designed
hospital. I am pleased that we've been able
to share plans with colleagues to give them a
feel for where they will be working when they
move to Midland Met.
“There is a lot of work going on with teams to
ensure we can get our services ready to safely
move into the building and take advantage of
the new hospital. We have 800 people on site
daily working hard to get our hospital ready;
things are starting to pick up pace now, and
we all have a part to play in making our move
into Midland Met a successful one.”
Rachel continued: “My colleagues and I have
been visiting teams to deliver their floor plans
and have a chat about what they are looking
forward to. It has been invaluable to hear any
Dinah McLannahan, Chief Finance Officer with colleagues from Priory 2
Rachel Barlow, Director of System Transformation presenting Alice Sibanda, Acting Senior
Sister, D15 with what will be the start of their Midland Met corner.
feedback colleagues have on the move and
to have these open conversations.
“We’ve visited nearly 80 departments,
and as well as sharing the floor plans, we
have been starting to set up Midland Met
Corners. These will grow over time, but we
hope that teams utilise these corners well
and make them a useful resource.”
Rachel added: “There are clinical tours
available so that you can go up to Midland
Met and see the areas you will be working
in. Please use this opportunity to start
thinking about clinical pathways and how
you will work in the building. Three tours
take place every Friday for up to five people
in each group. If you would like to arrange
a visit, please email
mmuhprojectoffice@nhs.net.
Dr David Carruthers, Medical Director,
commented: “Opening a new hospital such
as ours requires input from individuals and
teams right across our Trust. Midland Met
will bring together all acute and emergency
care services, meaning we will have all
acute clinical teams in one place, providing
a hub for emergency care.
“We will be working with new technology
in modern purpose-built facilities, helping
to improve patient care when we move into
Midland Met. As I chatted to colleagues,
it was interesting to hear feedback on the
project, to see how excited teams are first
hand and to get a sense of how much
Midland Met means to them and the care
they and their teams will be able to deliver
in the future.”
8

Practice makes perfect – helping
seriously ill children
Colleagues across the Trust have been
signing up to complete the newly
offered Resuscitation Council (UK)
course to perfect their knowledge
and know-how in the recognition and
management of the seriously ill child.
Children can be amongst the most difficult
patients to clinically support with their
limited communication skills, so when
their health deteriorates it is critical that
colleagues are willing, able and confident
to respond and act decisively to give these
patients the best possible care.
To find out more about the new course
offerings, we caught up with Course
Director and Resuscitation Officer, Kevin
Jennison. He said: “We’re dedicated to
delivering high quality training which is
targeted to the needs of our patient groups
and to our colleagues and we’re pleased
to now deliver the European Paediatric
Advanced Life Support (EPALS) course. It’s
a two-day course that gives colleagues the
skills they need to recognise the causes and
prevention of a deteriorating child, or when
a child is seriously ill and in need of an
intervention, as well as training in how to
carry out resuscitation on children.
Sunil James and Kirsty Cockell get hands on
with their EPALS training
“The EPALS course is a blend of lectures,
demonstrations and opportunities to
practice and be assessed, so it’s a thoroughly
balanced course that supports professional
development in a supportive environment.”
Completing the course, CT1 Anaesthetic
Trainee Dr Sunil James said: “Working in the
emergency department we see a lot of young
people, teenagers and children and I initially
felt a little unconfident and uncomfortable
managing how ill they were and I feel that
this course has increased my confidence and
ability to manage them in a systematic way.
I’m a kinaesthetic learner so the design of
the course with a combination of lecture and
practical really suited my style of learning.”
Safety huddles: Focus
on reducing harms
By Dr Chizo Agwu, Deputy Medical Director
Dr Chizo Agwu, Deputy Medical Director
is leading the safety huddles programme
Safety huddles is a national programme
to improve safety by encouraging
multidisciplinary teams to have a quick but
focussed discussion, to agree actions and
to act in a timely and collaborative manner
to prevent patient harm.
SWB now has 25 clinical areas hosting safety
huddles on a daily basis. The rollout continues
in the remaining clinical areas in a structured
manner, in line with capacity and the Trust
recovery plan, with a supportive system and
shared learning structure in place.
Whilst the rollout continues, the majority of
the 25 clinical areas with huddles taking place
have started the weekly huddles which last
for about 30 minutes, for in-depth discussions
among the multidisciplinary teams. The teams
review the safety issues identified throughout
the week, the progress on actions and, to
agree on the harm(s) that all the teams are
going to work on next, to continuously
improve patient safety.
Colleagues from different disciplines come
together to work as one team, feeling
comfortable to raise their concerns and to
share their ideas.
In addition to responding to issues with
timeliness, many new and effective ideas
have come out from these interactive
multidisciplinary discussions. For example,
on D11, the team has agreed to put a sticker
on the patient cabinet, to indicate if patients
have brought their own drugs with them.
This arrangement enhances medicine safety
as well as effective management of patient
property. D26 further developed upon this
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Also taking part on the course was
Paediatric Staff Nurse, Kirsty Cockell,
sharing her thoughts she said: “This
course has been very interesting, it’s very
scenario based, so you get to work with
a team, it allows you to improve your
skills, communication and take a team
leader approach.
“Doing this course gave me more
confidence in resuscitation being the
nurse in charge looking after a child who
is in cardiac arrest or unwell. This course
has not only given me more confidence,
but reassured me of my ability to provide
the best care for children in these
situations.”
To find out more about the
booking on to and completing the
European Paediatric Advanced Life
Support (EPALS) course, contact
the deteriorating patient and
resuscitation team on ext, 5908 or
email swbh.resuscitationtraining@
nhs.net
idea, to add a third tick box on the sticker,
to highlight if patients require a blister pack.
This arrangement means the medical team
can order the blister pack earlier, providing
additional advanced notice to the pharmacy
team. This sticker with the three tick boxes
has not only improved patient safety and
experience; it has also improved colleague
experience!
Our performance and insight team (in
particular Berenice Lufton and Sameer Farooq
Mohammed) have developed a Trust report
dashboard which shows how our workplace
is doing in the identified harms. In addition to
the Trust’s prioritised harms i.e. VTE and sepsis;
all specialties had the opportunity to input on
the harms to be built into the dashboard.
The dashboard shows that in April 2021 we
were achieving over 95 per cent compliance on
sepsis screening which has now risen to 96.01
per cent (as of 19 May).
Work is currently under way to gather
feedback on the safety huddles dashboard. We
plan to review and consult with teams in mid-
June, followed by the phase two development
of the dashboard, to ensure high level data
quality and user experience.
To find out more about safety huddles or to
share any thoughts and ideas, contact Head of
Transformation, Essie Li on 07980935359 or
email Essie.li@nhs.net
Visit the safety huddles Connect page for
all the latest news.
9

Excitement brewing for the
'Tea-riffic' 73 rd birthday of the NHS!
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Whilst you take a break and treat
yourself to tea and biscuits, you can
rest assured that everything you
raise will go towards making our
new hospital #morethanahospital.
???
???
Funds raised - or should we say 'bagged'
will go towards improving our services
for young patients, developing play
areas and providing facilities to families
that need to stay overnight with their
children.
Our famous dancing doctor, Nick
Makwana, will be coordinating a flash
mob which you’re invited to join – whilst
those of you who don’t fancy dancing
can vote for your favourite wellbeing
routines that he has performed in
the past year. If you’re taking part in
the flash mob colleagues can set up
sponsorship pages in the charity’s Virgin
Money giving page and appeal to family
and friends to donate.
There are other ways in which you
can get involved by holding your own
tea party at home or in your ward/
department with guests donating £1 to Your
Trust Charity so it can continue to make a
difference.
Amanda Winwood, Fundraising Manager said:
“We’ve been through a year like no other and
this year, everyone has a reason to thank you,
our NHS Heroes. We look forward to hearing
about and seeing everyone’s pictures from
their Big Tea Party in support of Your Trust
Charity. Funds raised will go to our Midland
Metropolitan University Hospital appeal to
enhance the journey of all those using our
services including colleagues, patients and
their families by providing things over and
above what the NHS can provide. Your
support makes a huge difference and we
are so grateful for your help.”
Keep your eyes peeled for more
information in the staff bulletin and
on social media, or you can contact
Amanda on Amanda.winwood@nhs.net
Listening to your feedback
In March’s Heartbeat we reported the
results of the NHS Staff Survey in which
38 per cent of colleagues gave their
feedback about what it is like working
for our organisation.
Over the last two months managers have
been asked (in conjunction with their teams)
to review the results of the survey and put in
place action plans to make improvements.
Managers were asked to identify at least
three themes from their results to take
forward for action planning. The clinical
leadership executive also agreed that as
an organisation we need to gain a better
insight into what we can do to improve:
• The wellbeing support offered to
all colleagues
• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• Team communication
• Line manager development.
Following local feedback sessions, during
the last two weeks in June we will be
holding WebEx events by group where the
senior leadership from each group will outline:
• Engagement that has taken place
locally
• Actions that will be taken forward.
Colleagues will be sent invitations to join their
group’s event allowing them the opportunity to
ask questions and share ideas. There will also
be generic events that everyone can join too.
Further information will be shared in the
communications bulletin.
Conducted once a year, the NHS Staff
Survey allows us to see how colleagues
feel about their jobs and working
for our Trust. It also examines the
sentiments of colleagues across a range
of key areas. Data is then compared
against our performance in previous
years and comparisons made against
other similar organisations to determine
our relative performance.
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. The results
of the national NHS Staff Survey are
also used by NHS England to support
national assessments of quality and
safety.
10

Rob Kingston returns to volunteering
after 13 months
If you have been to Sandwell Hospital
over the last year, you may have
noticed that a familiar face has been
missing. Robert Kingston, known to
most Sandwell folk as Rob, has been
absent from the Trust due to COVID-19
restrictions.
However, we are proud to announce, that
one of our most beloved volunteers at the
Trust officially returned at the end of April!
Rob, who lives just a few miles from
Sandwell in Hill Top, is well known by
the majority of Sandwell based clinical
colleagues as he has been volunteering on
a variety of wards for over 11 years. Though
volunteers haven’t started retuning to our
wards due to COVID restrictions just yet,
after receiving his second dose of his the
COVID-19 vaccine, Rob is back doing what
he enjoys most, volunteering.
Rob has sincerely missed everyone at SWB
and said: “I have missed it so much. I
get real satisfaction from supporting the
patients and staff so after over a year of not
doing it, I’m so glad to be back.”
Rob Kingston returns to volunteering
77 year old Rob works across a variety of
wards at Sandwell including Lyndon 2 and 3,
Newton 3, Priority 5 as well as SAU and AMU
A.
When asked why he volunteers Rob said: “It
feels good for my soul working in a hospital
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
as it’s nice to help people in their time of
need and give back. I love it so much as we
are like one big family, from the consultants
to the nurses, to the HCAs, to the porters.”
He added: “It’s a privilege and an honour to
volunteer. Many patients don’t want to be
here so while they’re here, I feel it’s my duty
to make their stay and comfortable and
pleasant as possible.”
Liza Gill, Volunteer Service Manager is
thrilled to have Rob back.
She said: “It’s fantastic to finally have Rob
back at Sandwell. All the staff and patients
greatly value and appreciate Rob and his
efforts whenever he is on site and our
volunteer service is better when Rob is a
part of it.
“Rob plays an integral part of volunteering
at the Trust and is the perfect example of
how a volunteer should be at SWB.”
Occy health awarded safety and
quality accolade by national regulators
The occupational health department
demonstrates the highest standards
of practice according to an industry
regulator.
The Faculty of Occupational Medicine
awarded their SEQOHS quality standards
to the team in April. SEQOHS stands for
'Safe, Effective, Quality Occupational
Health Service' and is a professionally-led
accreditation scheme. It is based on a set of
standards for occupational health services
in the UK and beyond. Occupational health
services must demonstrate they meet these
standards before they can be awarded
SEQOHS accreditation.
On awarding the accreditation the Faculty
of Occupational Medicine said: “Sandwell
and West Birmingham Hospital NHS Trust's
occupational health service has continued
to maintain the standards to meet the
annual re-accreditation requirements. The
service has maintained and developed a
comprehensive array of clinical policies,
procedures and protocols incorporating
new processes to handle the impact of the
pandemic. The service is encouraged to
The occupational health team
maintain its standards over the coming year."
Dr Masood Aga, Consultant and Specialty
Lead in Occupational Medicine is delighted
with the accreditation, he told Heartbeat:
“The Faculty of Occupational Medicine is
the professional and educational body for
occupational medicine in the UK and seeks to
ensure the highest standards in the practice
of occupational medicine. For the faculty to
award this accreditation to us is testament
to the hard work the team has done over
the last 12 months to quickly adapt our
services in light of the pandemic, ensuring
colleagues continue to get high quality care
and advice.
“I would like to take the opportunity
to thank the team in their continued
improvement of the service we provide.
They have developed good practices that
have ensured the highest standards of
competence.”
To become accredited, services must
demonstrate their adherence to
the SEQOHS standards. These are
categorised into six domains:
• Business probity
• Information governance
• People
• Facilities and equipment
• Relationships with purchasers
• Relationships with workers.
11

From Iraq to Birmingham – Bnar’s
nursing journey
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Over the next few issues of
Heartbeat we will feature inspiring
stories of colleagues who are part
of the SWB family through the
Healthcare Overseas Professionals
(HOP) programme.
The programme supports people
from overseas (who are qualified
healthcare professionals in their own
home countries) to get back into
clinical practice. These colleagues
are required to pass either the
International English Language Test
or the Occupational English test
before they take their professional
exams.
In this issue we meet 35 year old mom
of two, Bnar Osman.
She told Heartbeat: “I came to the UK
in 2008 after completing a nursing
degree in Iraq (Kurdistan). At the time
my husband was already in the UK and
had been running his own business since
2005.
“When I arrived I hardly knew any
English – so you can imagine how
difficult things were for me. But then the
children came along and brought me so
much joy so I decided to study English
in the hope of fulfilling my dream of
Bnar Osman is a healthcare assistant at City
Hospital
becoming a nurse.
“I heard about the HOP programme through
the Brushstrokes community project. When I
learned of the scheme I knew it would help
change my life. The team gave me the belief I
needed to realise that anything is possible and
to never give up.
“With the support of HOP, I attended an open
day at the Trust in 2019 with the hope of
securing a job as a nurse. I was interviewed
on the day but because I didn’t have NMC
registration at the time, I was advised to
apply for a healthcare assistant (HCA) role
instead.
“I was really delighted to be given such
a wonderful opportunity. The HOP team
worked very hard to help me achieve this
success. I was so nervous thinking this is
never going to happen and that I will never
work for the NHS, but the programme kept
me focused and I stayed positive.
“Currently, I am working as a HCA at City
hospital. Working as a HCA has helped me
so much and I am learning more about the
UK culture and I’m improving my English
too!
“I enjoy my job so much; the team are very
supportive, all my patients and colleagues
are very happy with me. When I received
the position it was Band 2 HCA, now I
am going to do some training to move to
Band 3 HCA. This job can help me pass my
Occupational English Test meaning I will be
able to work as a qualified nurse in the UK.
“I am so grateful for this opportunity.”
The Healthcare Overseas Professionals
Programme is delivered by The
Learning Works project team based
at the Wellbeing Sanctuary. For more
information on the programme, email
lawrencekelly@nhs.net.
SurgiNet pushes forward
Since the implementation of Unity,
SWB has taken huge strides in going
digital, in particular with COVID-19 our clinical
systems. This is no more prevalent
than with the introduction of
SurgiNet.
SurgiNet will become a part of electronic
patient record and will replace the
current theatres system ORMIS.
“Massive progress has been made with
the build in developing the system to
be fit for purpose and in terms of the
integration testing part 1 of this new
software with us planning to continue to
test the system more vigorously at the end of
May for five weeks as well as start to involve
more end users in testing,” said Vicky Clifton,
Service Planning and Delivery Manager.
“Once testing is completed, we are planning
on rolling out training sessions for all clinical
colleagues in theatres in the summer of this
year. This will be in the form of classroom
sessions with additional e-learning and
simulation exercises in place should any
colleagues feel they need extra support in
helping familiarise themselves with the new
system.”
While testing seems to be going smoothly,
other steps have been put in place to ensure
SurgiNet is operationally ready.
Meetings have started to support the ‘stop,
start, continue’ which is an initiative that aims
to assess all current workflows to identify new
activities, what will stop and what activities
will continue. This will then allow for any
gaps to be identified and corresponding
SOPs and QRGs can be developed to further
meet user needs.
Vicky believes SurgiNet will have many
benefits to both our patients and Trust
colleagues.
She said: “SurgiNet will allow us to have a
more integrated and accurate patient record
as well as allow us to capture information
more efficiently. Wards and other areas will
be able to track theatre in real time and
clinical processes will be performed under
one system thus improving patient safety.”
She added: “The system will mean that
there will be a reduction in manual
processes and unnecessary duplication of
tasks will only improve the patient journey
at the Trust.”
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 – Sean Beswick
Sean is a ward service officer who always
goes above and beyond for all the patients
and staff on D11. He has a calming
influence on everyone and always goes the
extra mile. He is an asset to the team and
we are very grateful to have him on D11...
THANK YOU SEAN!!
From – Aleish Tazarab
To – Stacey Walker
Well done for passing her first year with
flying colours in her Trainee Nursing
Associate role. You have worked very
hard and showed nothing but compassion
and kindness to our patients through the
pandemic. You have been a pleasure to
mentor and a credit to AMU. Keep up the
good work in year two and thank you!
From – Levi O'Gorman
To – Learning and Development Team
I would like to extend my gratitude to all
the team in learning and development,
special mention to Emma Hill, Lavinia
Hines, Helen Colbourne, Lauren Weigh
and Stephanie Agger. Thank you all for
your help in achieving my End of Point of
Assessment a great result of DISTINCTION.
You all doing fantastic job!
From – Daisy Siapno
To – Sarah Smith and Elizabeth Wilson
For their compassion and support towards
a distressed patient who had become
very emotional and was late for their
appointment after being unable to find the
MRI centre in time.
From – Anser Khan
To – Adam Draper
Thank you for going out your way to
help with a patient needing a wheelchair.
Very much appreciated. More than just a
postman!
From – Diane Staple
To – Geraldine Blakeman
Geraldine has helped me so much these
past couple of weeks and she has gone the
extra mile for me, she has welcomed me
and made me feel a part of the team.
From – Jatinder Uppal
To – Sarah Byfield
Thanks to Sarah for being really helpful
and responsive with a payroll issue.
From – Jade Osborne
To – Jade James
For helping me with a patient in A&E who
needed district nurse input as well as heel
dressings and lots of personal care. The
patient went home and it felt like a really
smooth and successful morning! You are
Brill! Thank you!
From – Bethany Bate
To – Dane Lincoln
Dane has turned out to be a big part of the
portering department. He has become a
great team leader who listens and tries to
make a difference.
From – Tracy Banford
To – Charlene Bennett
Made the impossible happen. Organised
imaging appointments at very short notice
to enable the service to continue.
From – Karen Jones
To – Mike Lewis
Just wanted to thank Mike, for all the
help he has given me, for a project/report
that I have been working on in the care
home team, based at The Lyng. Without
his continued support the numbers simply
would not crunch, thanks to Mike's IT
guru experience, he makes it look so easy.
Thanks Mike you’re a star.
From – Susan Oliver
To – Denise Matthews and Regina Cica
Both Denise and Regina alongside their
team worked tirelessly to ensure patients
moved from a very busy Sandwell ED
to AMU to minimise long waits for our
patients and for them to be in the right
place to support their care.
From – Cheryl Newton
To – The Catering Team at Sandwell, City
and Rowley
Thanks for the team providing the delicious
and healthy food all the time, with a smile
and kindness. I tried the chef's choice (fish
with cream sauce) at Sandwell recently
which was super yummy. THANK YOU!!
From – Essie Li
To – Tafhim Nazir
A very big thank you. Above and beyond
with IT advice and support.
From – Denise Eivors
To – Dr Diana Toma
Diane came to the rescue to help out
with translating to parents for a complex
discharge on the neonatal unit, both staff
on shift and parents were very grateful for
her super helpful input!
From – Tracy Ring
To – Security Team 2 Sandwell
I would like to give a shout out to team
2 security at Sandwell for going the extra
mile whilst I was covering a team leader's
position. The officers and bank officers
were professional at all times even when
faced with some difficult situations.
From – Vikram Mehta
To – IT Team
Nothing too much trouble. I took my
laptop into the department and it was
fixed within an hour.
From – Fiona Rochelle
13

Farwell to Dawn, Mary and Sue –
90 years serving the NHS
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
With a total of over 90 years
between them working within the
NHS, healthcare assistants, Dawn
Norman, Mary Mumford and Sue
Steadman reflect upon their time as
they look forward to their upcoming
retirement.
Not many people can say they have
worked in a job they love; in a role they
are passionate about and alongside
great friends. But for Mary, Dawn and
Sue, their time as healthcare assistants
(HCAs) has come to an end as they soon
enter their well-deserved retirement.
Their combined 90 years within the NHS
shows their true dedication and passion
for their roles and their commitment to
caring for others.
Heartbeat caught up with them to find
out more:
So, tell us about your journey
Mary: I started as a domestic in 1988,
loved the contact I had with patients on
the ward, so when an opportunity for an
auxiliary nurse arose, I couldn’t wait to
apply and get started.
Then I started working on Priory 2
surgical ward with Dawn – I loved every
single minute. It’s also lovely that Dawn
and I stayed on the ward together for all
this time, and are now leaving together
too.
Dawn: My career within the NHS started as a
member of the NHS Bank staff. I then joined
Mary on Priory 2 and we worked together
for 30 years. From there we went on to
outpatients. I can honestly say I’ve loved every
minute of the job.
Sue: I became a HCA many years ago after
my gran was admitted to hospital with a
shoulder injury. While I was there I started
helping patients and chatting to them. This
inspired me to leave office work and work in a
nursing home for two and a half years before
applying for outpatients.
What advice do you have for those at the
start of their career?
Dawn: My advice would be to get to know
your patients and build a rapport with
families. Patient interaction is by far one of
the best parts of the job.
Mary: To find pleasure in what you are doing.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time and it
really has been like working with a family.
Sue: Make sure you enjoy the area you are in
and maybe think about training opportunities
to perhaps become a nurse.
What have you enjoyed most about
working within the Trust?
Sue: I have enjoyed the variety my role has
given me and to learn different clinics.
Dawn: I’ve always wanted to work within the
care sector. We’ve had ups and downs on the
wards and it has been hard work. But when
you’ve got a great team behind you, it makes
all the difference.
Mary: I’ve loved all of it but working with a
great team makes all the difference.
If you hadn’t worked for the Trust,
what would you have done instead?
Dawn: I always wanted to go into care
work. If I hadn’t followed this career path,
I think I would have worked in a nursing
home or another line of care.
Sue: If I had not worked for the Trust, many
years ago I wanted to be a midwife. I also
did some office work too.
What are your plans for your
retirement?
Sue: For me, I plan to spend time baking,
catching up on reading, walking and
generally enjoying life! I also want to spend
some more time in the garden.
Dawn: I can’t wait to enjoy myself and
spend lots of time with family throughout
my retirement.
Mary: I plan to spend my retirement with
my husband, as we approach our 50 year
anniversary. We can’t wait to spend more
time together and enjoy ourselves.
Jaswinder Verdi, Sister, outpatients
department said: “We say a fond
farewell to three of our highly thought
of HCAs. They have shown dedication
and commitment throughout their time
working for the Trust and outpatients
department. They have worked tirelessly
and professionally caring for patients, their
knowledge, expertise and presence will be
sorely missed in outpatients. We wish them
all the very best for their retirement and the
future ahead.”
Sue Steadman, Dawn Norman and Mary Mumford on one of their final days at the Trust
14

Care and compassion praised as we
celebrate the work of our midwives
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Chloe Travers, a midwife with the Cedar team, which is part of the continuity of care
programme
We celebrated International Day of the
Midwife by capturing feedback on film
from new mums about their care at our
Trust.
The poignant video also featured midwives
talking about why they were proud to do
their job.
New mum Kazita and her baby Aziel
They included Lilian Ghobrial, and Amelia Bull
who are both shift co-ordinators on the labour
ward, Chloe Travers, who works in continuity of
care and Maike Lehman-Sander a midwife on
the Serenity Suite.
Mum Kazita cradled her newborn Aziel as she
praised her care: “I gave birth to him last night
and the midwives throughout my pregnancy
journey have been really supportive.
New mum Toni with baby Beau
“They really deserve the recognition they
receive and I think International Day of the
Midwife is great thing.”
Toni, who had her baby boy Beau on
Delivery Suite, added: “I had my youngest
child on Serenity which was a great
experience. So with Beau I decided to
come out of area and have my baby at
City Hospital.
“Again, they supported me throughout
my pregnancy journey. I really want to
thank every midwife that has supported
me, because they work so hard with
every baby and I felt I was treated as an
individual, not just a number.
“I really want to thank everyone.”
This year the theme for International Day
of the Midwife was ‘Follow the Data:
Invest in Midwives’.
The Royal College of Midwives called
for investment in quality midwifery care
around the world, improving sexual,
reproductive, maternal, newborn, child
and adolescent in health in the process.
Lilian said: “I’m proud to be a midwife
because I get to help women achieve their
birthing experience. Delivering a baby into
the world is such an amazing thing to do.
I feel a midwife shares a bond with the
woman that no one else gets to share.
You’re delivering this brand new person
that no one has seen or touched and you
get to be one of the first ones to welcome
them into the world.”
Meike has been a midwife for nearly
20 years. She said: “I’m proud of how
midwives are able to empower women
and show them they can actually do
this and to help them have that good
experience.”
Amelia, who’s been a midwife for 12
years, added: “I have developed birth
preparation classes for women who are
booked to deliver their babies at our
hospital. It’s important that midwives get
the recognition they deserve for all the
hard work they’ve put in, especially during
the pandemic.”
Chloe, who works within the Cedar team
told how her favourite part of being a
midwife was helping not only the women
labouring themselves but also their both
partners to feel safe and part of something
special.
15

Apprenticeships available - It’s never
too late to learn!
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
It may be assumed that
apprenticeships are predominantly
for younger people. However, this
couldn’t be further from the truth!
Currently at SWB we offer a variety of
apprenticeships for colleagues at all
levels. From customer service and team
leading, to health care support worker
and business administration, there is a
whole suite of different courses available
to colleagues at the Trust.
A prime example is apprentice, Karen
Connaughton, Ward Service Officer who
recently completed her Customer Service
Level 2 Apprenticeship Standard and is
now reaping the rewards.
When asked about her apprenticeship
journey Karen said: “I was originally put
forward for the apprenticeship by my
managers and at first I wasn’t sure if it
was something that would be relevant
to me or even something that I wanted
to do.
“I feel that I have gained so much from
my apprenticeship. I have gained a
better understanding of the service that
Karen Connaughton
my organisation provides and my role within
that. I have learnt about how and why we do
things in a certain way.”
She added: “I’ve gained so much knowledge
and developed my customer service and
digital skills along the way but not only that, I
have really gained so much confidence.”
And it’s not just Karen who has taken the
successful leap to learn – Amanda Healy
followed the apprenticeship path for Level 3
Healthcare Support Worker. She now works
on the antenatal day assessment unit in
maternity and is based at City hospital as a
trainee assistant practitioner in midwifery.
Amanda is also studying at Birmingham
City University for a two year apprenticeship
midwifery assistant practitioner foundation
degree.
Amanda said: “In 2016 I was a ward service
officer at City hospital with a dream to
become a midwife.
“My personal determination saw me
overcome a number of organisational
barriers and gain support to work additional
hours in a HCA role as an apprentice. I did
this whilst still doing my ward services role
and it was the first time a domestic had
done this.”
Maxine Griffiths, Widening Participation
Manager and Apprenticeship Lead would
urge everyone who is on the fence about
completing an apprenticeship to sign up now.
She said: “Apprenticeships are for
everybody both clinical and non-clinical. It’s
never too late to learn something new and
enhance your skills. Let us help you grow
and succeed in your career pathway.
“We have trained colleagues that can
support you and as long as you are willing
to put the work in, you can attain your Level
2 or 3 in your chosen subject area with us
in-house at the Trust. We also have an array
of degree and higher level apprenticeships
available engaging with external providers
so, if this is of interest to you, please do get
in touch.”
If you are interested in completing an
apprenticeship in 2021 please email
swbh.apprenticeship@nhs.net
16

Scream if you wanna go faster!
Charity launches zip line fundraiser
If you're a thrill seeker, adrenaline
junkie or just simply looking for
something exciting to look forward
to - we have the answer for you.
Your Trust Charity will host their
biggest ever fundraising event on 4
and 5 September - a crane mounted
zip line - with funds raised going
towards making the Midland Met
#morethanhospital.
So, what will it involve? You’ll arrive at the
Midland Metropolitan University Hospital
on either a Saturday or Sunday. We’ll even
let you park for free. Then you and some
other brave people will enter a secure
cage at ground level. A crane will then
lift the cage into the air. Don’t worry they
have done this many times before and you’ll
be supported by a zip wire expert who has
done this thousands of times. Once the cage
reaches the agreed height you will simply
zip wire out one by one. Speeding past the
Midland Met at around 35 mph along a 220
metre long zip wire. With just enough time
to wave at your family, friends and colleagues
who will think you’re even braver than before
you zip wired.
To take part (which we know you will) please
follow these simple steps:
• Read the info online to ensure you can
take part – search zip wire on Connect.
• Email trustcharity@nhs.net your
completed fundraising agreement form
to register.
• Start fundraising – each entrant needs to
raise a minimum of £250.
We really want to make the zip wire an event
for everyone at SWB. So why not sign up
as a team or department? Perhaps ask your
manager to take part. Your family and friends
are also welcome to take part - just no one
under the age of 11. The more funds the
charity raises, the more things it can support
within the new hospital. From supporting
education and arts projects to funding R&D
around cardiology, leukaemia and other
conditions that impact on local people. It will
also be able to fund sensory rooms, patient
spaces and outdoor areas.
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Johnny Shah, Head of Your Trust Charity,
told us: “The mission of Your Trust Charity
is to enhance the experience of all people
using our services including colleagues,
patients and their families. We do this by
providing additional facilities that create
comfortable and secure environments and
by supporting innovative projects. But we
can only do this because of the donations
we receive - so imagine what we’ll be able
to achieve with the funds raised from the
crane zip wire event.”
Remember every penny raised goes to the
charity. The build is paid for.
Johnny added: “The zip wire is our biggest
event to date. We are all excited to be
a part of it and, we’re hoping that our
colleagues will get behind it. Or on it. Even
if you can’t physically take part, please
help spread the word far and wide in your
networks and across social media.”
So please look at the Connect page.
Sign up if you can. Get others to sign
up too. Spread the word. And together
we can support Your Trust Charity to
make the Midland Met more than a
hospital.
Nominations
for our 2021
Star Awards are
now open!
Do you know a team or
individual who deserves
Special
Recognition
for the care they provide?
NOMINATIONS CLOSE ON FRIDAY 2 JULY
#SWBawards217

Shining a
spotlight on
our nursing
colleagues
The week of 10 May was a special one across
our workplace as we came together to recognise
and highlight what it means to be a nursing
colleague.
National Nurses Week is an annual celebration
of all that nurses around the world do for their
communities.
The week started with a special COVID
commemoration service – ‘Shine the Light’ led
by our Lead Chaplain, Rev Mary Causer. The
service celebrated nursing and nurses, but also
respectfully honoured the memory of colleagues
we have lost during the last year, including those
who contracted COVID.
Also, during the week our executive team along
with senior nurse colleagues were out and about
across our sites, meeting teams and expressing
their gratitude for everyone’s tireless commitment
during past challenging 12 months. They took
along some goodies too – which were much
appreciated by colleagues.
Every day in the communications bulletin, we
shared videos of nursing colleagues who told
us why they are proud to be in their roles. Read
about what inspires our most senior nurses on the
opposite page.

““Nursing is about caring for others and being kind
and compassionate to each other and our patients.
Each day brings something new - challenges,
frustrations, new learning but also pride and joy in
what we do.” Acting Chief Nurse, Melanie Roberts
“Nursing is probably the most privileged position you
can be in. Where people will confide in you and share
with you their inner most thoughts. You are also with
them at positive moments but also some of the worst
moments of their lives.” Julie Thompson, Group
Director of Nursing – Medicine and Emergency Care
“I’m proud to be a nurse because no other job could
make me laugh, cry, challenge or fulfil me as much
as nursing does. A quote from Maya Angelou really
resonates with me - ‘While they may not remember
your name, they will always remember how you
made them feel.” Sarah Carr-Cave, Deputy Chief
Nurse
“I feel very proud to be a nurse because I believe
I can make a difference to a patient’s journey, by
providing comfort and reassurance at one of the
most frightening times of their lives. And I always
try to be the nurse that I would want as a patient.”
Amber Markham, Group Director Nursing – Surgical
Services
“I’m proud to be a nurse as I get to lead and develop
community services that make a difference to our
patients and communities every single day.” Nicola
Taylor, Group Director of Nursing, Primary Care
Community and Therapies
“I’m proud to be a nurse because our core mission
is to make a difference and help others. I work with
colleagues who are compassionate and committed
to making a difference to our patients and local
communities.” Cheryl Newton, Group Director of
Nursing, Women and Child Health
“It would be fair to say that every day comes up with
a new challenge. And I think (nursing) it’s one of the
few professions where you go home every single
day, thinking every single hour, that you have made
a difference to somebody’s life.” Diane Eltringham,
Deputy Chief Nurse
“
“Being with families at the very start of life and the
start of their journey together is such an important
and inspiring role. We really can make a difference,
we’re bringing families together and we’re making
a difference for future generations.” Helen Hurst,
Director of Midwifery

Doctor’s research will improve quality
of endoscopy
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
Consultant Gastroenterologist Dr
Nigel Trudgill has been successfully
appointed to the prestigious
Clinical Research Network West
Midlands Health and Care Scholars
Programme.
This is a two year programme which will
provide funding to free up consultant
time for a day a week to allow Dr
Trudgill time and support from the CRN
to focus on and develop his research
ideas.
Dr Trudgill explained: “We will be
working with support from the
Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit on a
major grant application for a national
randomised trial to improve the quality
of endoscopy in the UK and reduce
the chance of cancer being missed at
endoscopy.”
Dr Nigel Trudgill
Dr Derek Connolly, Director of R&D said: “This
was a competitive interview and Dr Trudgill
has done very well in attaining this valuable
post. It builds on our previous successful
applicants Dr Ispoglou and Mr Velota Sung.
Research is at the heart of everything we
do at SWB and it’s imperative as we go into
the new hospital that we have world-class
researchers.”
We need to talk about dying
Healthcare organisations united earlier
this month for a virtual event in honour
of Dying Matters Week, held between
10 to 16 May.
The annual event is a chance for companies,
individuals and partners to come together
to open up the conversation around dying,
death and bereavement. As part of this
our Trust, the CCG, Healthy Sandwell and
a number of other organisations spoke at
a special presentation with public sector
workers, the community and voluntary
sector, and members of the public to share
ideas about how people can be more open
about end-of-life and help them to prepare.
Many people are reluctant to hold
conversations with their loved ones about
their preferences about end-of-life care,
funeral and financial planning. The event
looked at how families, employers and
communities as a whole can remove the
stigma from talking about death and dying
and make a difference for the people they
care about.
“Many people die without discussing their
wishes with their families, but this may be
for lots of different reasons,” Dr Anna Lock,
Consultant in Palliative Care told Heartbeat.
“Often it might be that they are reluctant
to face up to the reality of death which
comes to us all eventually, but there are also
cultural and community barriers to open
Dena Ross, Advanced Clinical Practitioner
conversations. We also discussed how employers
can support those in their workforce who have
been bereaved, and the needs of younger people
who are faced with bereavement, including how
schools and colleges can help.
“As always when it comes to Dying Matters Week,
we really want to hear from anyone who wants
to help break down the taboos around death and
dying as well as supporting people to make plans in
advance.”
As part of the event Dena Ross, Advanced Clinical
Practitioner spoke about how death has affected
her on a professional and personal level, particularly
when it comes to the matter of the Coronavirus.
“I looked after residential and nursing homes and
COVID was very, very difficult for those, there
were a lot of deaths. People dying on their own.
Personally I lost my father at the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic, in April of 2020
which was extremely difficult.
“When we found out that my father was
in hospital and was dying, we were asked
to come in to the ITU and it was a very
difficult decision with the limits on those
that can attend – two people, and we’re
a five children family as well as mum. We
knew what to expect, and I knew what
to expect as a nurse, but the reality (the
masks, the gloves, etc.) was difficult.
“My dad was a Jamaican man, and
culturally we talk about death all the
time. I knew how my dad wanted to die,
pain-free and peaceful, which it was. He
talked about his funeral. He talked about
how he wanted us to be dressed and
what he wanted to wear. Having those
conversations are important. I’m quite
blessed that I’m from multiple cultures that
all discuss death openly but I think NHS
staff need some guidance on how to speak
to families, especially as we’re dealing with
so many different cultures. We need to be
able to communicate not just sympathy but
the next steps, to ask the difficult questions
whilst we’re able.”
You can find more information
about Dying Matters Week over
on https://www.dyingmatters.org/
AwarenessWeek.
20

Introducing the equality, diversity
and inclusion team
The newly formed equality, diversity
and inclusion team (EDI) sprang into
action in April this year with the aim to
drive forward our Trust EDI ambitions
and fulfil EDI responsibilities linked
to the NHS People Plan. Consisting of
a team of three, Estelle Hickman, EDI
Advisor, Khalil Miller, EDI Manager
and Donna Mighty, Head of EDI, they
are currently in the process of scoping
short, medium and long term priorities.
The team are underway with their plans
to introduce a Cultural Ambassador
Programme with Cohort 1 taking place in
June, establishment of an EDI Committee
and EDI lunch and learn sessions.
A NHS Cadet foundation programme for
14-16 year olds will launch in September
2021, in regards to the NHS Cadet
programme, we acknowledge that our
community is very diverse and many
inequalities exist. “We must play our part in
offering our young people a good start in
life,” said Donna.
Frieza Mahmood, Chief People Officer
said: “After commencing my role as Chief
People Officer for the Trust in January it
was clear that one of my key priorities
was to ensure active progression of the
Trusts EDI ambitions. Following a review of
available resources it soon became apparent
that although efforts of individuals had
been concerted despite challenges, these
were actually very limited in nature for the
scale of our aspirations in this area. The
result was a significant additional burden
of responsibility being placed on our staff
networks. I’m pleased to say the Board agreed
and demonstrated their tangible commitment
to the progression of our renewed focus
for EDI by funding a case for investment in
additional resources.
“What followed was an extensive search for
people within and outside of the Trust across
multiple sectors for the necessary passion,
commitment and vision. After a challenging
competitive process, we found exactly what
we were looking for right under our noses
in two exceptional individuals who have
worked tirelessly for many years in the Trust
on the delivery of this agenda through their
support of the networks and wider staff
experience work programmes, along with
working outside of the organisation on the
advancement of EDI objectives. I couldn’t
be more proud that despite having other
comparable opportunities available to them
within the ICS and beyond that they chose to
stay with us.
“They have made a great start and I am
confident that they will bring the right focus
and drive to the delivery of our Trust plans.
However we cannot underestimate the scale
of the challenge ahead, the long standing
nature of some of our issues and the collective
effort it will take to make lasting challenge.
The role of the EDI team is to act as a conduit
to enable us to understand our individual
responsibilities, as we are all accountable
for the delivery of this work. This is about
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
facilitating a culture in which our staff
and patients can be valued for their
individuality, be supported to meet their
needs and truly be themselves at all
times.”
Estelle joined the Trust 12 and a half
years ago in the role of equality and
diversity advisor she told Heartbeat: “I
am passionate about equality, diversity
and inclusion and love working in a
role which can have such a massive
impact on people’s lives and the journey
our patients have when accessing our
services. Now that we have the newly
formed EDI team I am looking forward
to working alongside Khalil and Donna,
meeting the challenges that EDI agenda
holds for us.”
Over the years Khalil has worked with
staff networks within the Trust to help
raise cultural and religious awareness.
He also voluntarily assisted staff, patients
and visitors in matters of race and
gender discrimination. He said: “I have
written articles for Heartbeat around
assisting Muslim staff in Ramadan and
written pamphlets for Muslim patients.
I have recently become the equality,
diversity and Inclusion manager to
conclude the ‘EDI trio’ alongside Estelle
and Donna.”
Estelle Hickman, Khalil Miller and Donna Mighty - equality, diversity and inclusion team
21

Celebrating International Clinical
Trials Day
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
International Clinical Trials Day is
celebrated on 20 May each year to
recognise the day that James Lind
started what is often considered the
first randomised clinical trial aboard
a ship on May 20, 1747.
It is an opportunity for everyone to
recognise people who conduct clinical
trials and to say thank you for what they
do every day to improve public health.
It is also an opportunity for the research
community to raise awareness of clinical
trials – and of clinical research as a career
option – among the greater public.
Gina Dutton, Head of Research and
Development, said: “This year more
than ever we need to celebrate the
achievements that research has brought
to our response to the COVID pandemic.
There has been plenty of research news,
the drugs which help and those that do
not, the rapid pace of development of
the vaccines, but I want to focus today
on the people that made this happen in
our Trust.
“Many people will be aware that we
have a research team and our job is to
conduct research studies and ensure that
the Trust is compliant with regulations.
This year the team like everyone else
have completely changed how we have
worked and there have been some many
learning opportunities. I am immensely
proud of the team and how they have
responded.
“I do want to say a special thanks
and recognise all of the other Trust
colleagues who do not have research
in their job title who have ensured that
our patients are able to participate in
research if they wish to.
“In addition to those departments who
often support research such as pharmacy
and the labs, we have been supported
by an innumerable amount of doctors
and nurses on the wards and critical
care.
“Colleagues from the medical infusion
suite delivered trial treatments to
patients on the wards and in critical
care. Blood transfusion staff provided
convalescent plasma. Infection control
have completed reams of data about
hospital acquired infections and
phlebotomy have taken more than
10,000 of blood and PCR samples for
the SIREN study, all of which have been
On International Clinical Trials Day Patience Domingos a research nurse shares what she
does in the team
processed by our labs and results distributed
by occupational health.
“The business information team have helped
us identify eligible patients.
“There have been some individual stars: the
person in phlebotomy who raised awareness
of SIREN and signposted colleagues our
The research and development team
Did you know?...
department so we could tell them about the
research.
“The post porter who offered to deliver
the paper copies of the information sheets
around City Hospital.
“We had offers of help to raise awareness
and get involved and medical students
volunteering to help with data.”
The research and development team
receiving their 2020 Star Award
• Since 2016 over 16,000 patients have participated in a research trial at SWB.
• Over 200 different research trials have been conducted at SWB in the past
five years.
• Our Trust conducts research in over 25 different specialities.
• Our Trust takes part in local, national and worldwide clinical trials.
22

Celebrating our
stars of the week
Star of the Week
Claire Jones
Infection Prevention Nurse
During the pandemic, Claire has been
working with Sandwell public health
team to monitor and advise care homes
in Sandwell on managing outbreaks
of Coronavirus. The role has involved
developing close relationships with care
home managers. She has developed
training for care homes on specific infection
prevention and control precautions.
The importance of correctly donning and
doffing PPE has been crucial to prevent
transmission of coronavirus to colleagues
and residents in the community. Claire
led practical training sessions within our
care facilities. She was instrumental in
developing a care plan for residents with
coronavirus and has developed proformas
to enable data to be collected from
information provided from the care homes.
Star of the Week
Adriana Lup, Ward Service
Officer based in the BTC
Star of the Week
Darren Whitehouse
Allergy CNS
Darren has worked single handed to
organise and deliver all immunology’s day
case treatments since at least October.
Without him, treatments would have been
delayed, leading to patients experiencing
worsening symptoms, likely calling on acute
medical services when they are already
stretched.
His work has meant that immunology
has been able to deliver a normal day
case service at a time of colleagues on
secondments. Darren’s work is greatly
appreciated by the entire team and the
Adriana is the nominated touch-point ward
service officer in the BTC. Her attention to
detail is exceptional and represents to our
patients a clean and safe environment that
is required to ensure our infection control is
the key item when visiting the Trust.
Her constant visibility and dedication in the
area has not gone unnoticed as the majority
of colleagues have commented on her
performance.
Star of the Week
Nicola Coley
Nursing Associate
Nicola worked very hard to arrange
elements of a complex discharge for an end
of life patient. She ensured all plans were in
place and the patient was safely discharged
home with all required equipment and
community referrals in place despite also
caring for a bay of patients.
Nicola’s hard work during a very busy shift
meant that a patient’s wishes at end of life
were met. She kept the family updated
at all times about the progress of the
discharge and involved them in the process.
Star of the Week
Jacqueline Deeming
Senior Ward Service Officer
Do you know someone in your team that has gone above and
beyond the call of duty? Why not put them forward for Star of the
Week by visiting Connect.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started,
Jacqueline has always supported the
ward service officers giving them latest
advice helping them through challenging
times. Even though she has had her own
difficulties and duties to manage, she has
always given any support them team have
needed especially to her colleagues who
work on the weekends.
23

Ensuring our patients get the right
oral care
MEDICINE AND EMERGENCY
CARE
Encouraging good oral health has
shown to significantly reduce the
risk of oral infections for patients
while in hospital. Declining
oral health regimes can lead to
complications during their stay
such as infections or pneumonia. In
turn, this could result in prolonged
hospital stays, requirements
for antibiotics and other health
implications.
Earlier this month, colleagues came
together to promote the Mouth Care
Matters project. 18 clinical areas hosted
awareness games and activities and took
part in a competition to create a mouth
care matters board for their area.
Each board was judged by Melanie
Roberts, Acting Chief Nurse, Janice
Nelson, Clinical Procurement Specialist
Nurse and Julie Thompson, Group
Director of Nursing for Medicine
and Emergency Care based on visual
appearance and the content – with
points for innovative ideas and thinking
outside of the box. In 3rd place was
D11 at City, Priory 3 at Sandwell were
awarded 2nd place with Cardiology from
City taking the lead in 1st place.
There was also a stand set up in the
main reception area at Sandwell where
colleagues and visitors were greeted by a
giant toothbrush and toothpaste in a bid
to raise awareness on the importance of
mouth care.
Janice Nelson said: “It was great to see
so many clinical areas take part in raising
awareness for the Mouth Care Matters
project. There were so many great
initiatives taking place across the wards
and it was pleasing to see so many
colleagues recognising the importance of
good mouth care for our patients.”
1st place - Mouth Care Matters board
from Cardiology at City
2nd place - Priory 3 Mouth Care Matters
board
3rd place - D11 Mouth Care Matters
board
Following a pilot on D11, D26, Priory 4
and Newton 4 to improve the oral health
of patients, mouth care matters is set to
roll out across the whole organisation in
July.
Julie Thompson said: “It’s really
important that we get the basics right
and mouth care is part of that. It
contributes to how we eat and good
nutrition, if you’ve got a sore mouth,
you won’t eat.
“Last years’ pilot resulted in reduced
hospital acquired pneumonia by 40 per
cent, not only does it make a difference
to patients’ lives, but to their mortality.
“In light of these results, we are rolling
out mouth care across the whole
organisation. From 5 July, good mouth
care is coming to you, there will be
trainers across the organisation, lots of
info, so you will be able to read explore
and look at what that means for your
clinical area.”
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=sYnHMoVTICo
Mouth Care Matters is a Health
Education England funded project
that aims to improve the oral
health of adults in hospital. The
initiative aims to upskill nursing
staff and health care professionals
so they can support vulnerable
patients with mouth care. They
will be better informed to carry
out checks on people’s oral health,
talk with them about this and
confidently carry out oral health
interventions such as helping
people brush their teeth, cleaning
their dentures and how to use
the right tools to do this. This is
particularly important for those
patients unable to carry out their
own personal care and rely on
others for support.
Colleagues at the Mouth Care Matters
stand at Sandwell
Colleagues dressed as toothbrush and
toothpaste at Sandwell Reception to
boost awareness for Mouth Care Matters
Lyndon 5 celebrating Mouth Care
Matters with patient games and cake
24

Fostering a culture of safety in the
community
Safety huddles have now been
introduced across our organisation
supporting effective communication
at key points in the care of our
patients.
Our colleagues in the community have
been the head of the pack having
introduced the short multi-disciplinary
meetings over a year ago. The safety
huddles are held daily at the end of
handovers – and again for the multidisciplinary
team at the end of board
round. There is a multi-disciplinary team
huddle once a week on a set day at a set
time.
We caught up with Matron, Justine
Irish who told us more. She said: “We
started safety huddles quite a while
ago on some of our wards before they
were launched across the organisation.
However, they were not always
consistent or focussed enough on our
real risks - the introduction of safety
huddles via Dr Chizo Agwu, Deputy
Medical Director has given us the focus
and structure we needed. The huddles
help colleagues prioritise patient care
with a focus on safety. We discuss any
events that have occurred, how they
Safety huddles taking place on our community
wards
happened, and how to prevent recurrences.”
Justine said involving colleagues from multiple
professions has probably been their biggest
challenge. “We don’t have medical teams like the
acute wards,” she said. “We are predominately
nurse led we have our therapy colleagues, ACPs,
pharmacists and GPs on all wards and we try
to involve them all. We have even had to trial
different times to suit the whole multi-disciplinary
team; the daily huddles are often the hardest,
although the weekly ones get a good multidisciplinary
team attendance.”
PRIMARY CARE, COMMUNITIES
AND THERAPIES
Having the safety huddles is enabling
colleagues to talk about harms, harm
free care and the vital role everyone
plays in recognising and mitigating
avoidable harms.
“We have really built on this over the last
few months with small projects being
established out of our weekly huddle,”
added Justine. “We have prioritised the
personalisation of care, especially during
handover. We feel this is the moment we
get to recognise individualised risk, plan
for it and deal with any omissions in the
personalised care planning.”
So how easy it is to conduct safety
huddles as well as continue with other
safety checks that need to take place?
“Easy!” said Justine. “If you concentrate
on your priorities, the huddles only take
less than five minutes. Of course this
changes as we move on with our plans
to prevent harm but it doesn’t prevent
us from having a helicopter view on all
necessary safety checks.”
Clinicians to lead new study into
Behçet’s disease
Our clinicians will lead one of the largest
studies into the rare auto inflammatory
disorder Behçet’s disease to identify
prevalence and incidence and assess the
impact of the condition.
Dr Priyanka Chandratre, Consultant
Rheumatologist, is the primary investigator
for the study which has been funded equally
by Your Trust Charity and Behçet’s UK to the
amount of £71,862.
Dr Chandratre said: “The aim of our study is
to establish the prevalence of Behçet’s disease
in adults in the UK. To our knowledge this will
be the largest study to systematically identify
patients with a diagnosis of the disease.
“The most important milestones will include
establishing the prevalence and incidence of
Behçet’s disease for the first time in the UK,
using multiple data sources to maximise case
ascertainment.
“Our project will identify cases for inclusion
in a national Behçet’s registry populated via a
validated pipeline.”
Dr Priyanka Chandratre, Consultant
Rheumatologist
It means that for the first time it will be feasible
to assess the impact of the National Centres of
Excellence for Behcet’s disease. There are three
situated across the UK – one at City Hospital,
another in London and the third in Liverpool.
The aim of these centres is to optimise care
and improve outcomes for patients with
Behçet’s disease in the UK, shortening
time to diagnosis from first symptoms and
reducing complications such as visual loss.
The study will also mean those living with
the disorder will be able to take part in
clinical trials where available.
Dr Chandratre added: “The study will be
led by myself and supervised by Dr Deva
Situnayake, who is lead for the National
Centre of Excellence for Behçet’s disease in
Birmingham.
“Our collaborators include both centres
in Liverpool and London and the Institute
of Applied Health Research, University of
Birmingham. We want to thank both Your
Trust Charity and Behçet’s UK for funding
this important study.”
In the UK, Behçet’s disease is a rare immune
mediated multisystem inflammatory
disorder. It can lead to blindness, brainstem
atrophy, blood clots and pulmonary
aneurysms. But little information is known
on the frequency of poor outcomes.
25

Imaging celebrates PhD success
IMAGING
Bahadar Bhatia, Principle Medical
Physicist
Greg James, Senior Clinical Scientist
It’s not every day you get to celebrate
gaining a PhD. Well, the imaging team
they have reason to celebrate not one
but two success stories. Both Bahadar
Bhatia and Greg James, from the physics
and nuclear medicine department, have
recently received their PhDs.
Bahadar Bhatia, Principal Medical Physicist,
has achieved out of this world success as
he gained a PhD for his work carried out
at the Space Research Centre (SRC) at the
University of Leicester. The SRC is part of the
Department of Physics and Astronomy and
runs an extensive programme that looks at
developing novel sensors and optics for high
energy astrophysics, planetary landers and
orbiters and interdisciplinary research in life
sciences and medicine.
A type of detector used to take pictures of
astronomical gamma-ray bursts was adapted
to develop a small handheld portable opticalgamma
camera. The concept behind this
work explored how it could be used at the
bedside and in clinics. Bill Thomson, Head
of Physics and Nuclear Medicine, explained:
“Bahadar used computational ‘Monte Carlo’
techniques to optimise the light detection
within this novel camera and is currently
planning to bring it to our organisation for
a clinical trial, something we are all excited
about.”
Similarly, Greg James, Senior Clinical Scientist
has been awarded a PhD for work within the
physics and nuclear medicine department.
Greg’s PhD is an integral component of a
new five-year national scheme for higher
scientific training. It intends to prepare and
train senior colleagues to be the leaders of
the future.
Bill Thomson, Head of Physics and Nuclear
Medicine, remarked: “For his PhD, Greg
investigated a novel use of the CT scanner
built into our gamma camera system that is
normally used for 3D SPECT/CT studies. The
CT scanner carries out a low-dose 2D X-ray
view before the full CT to identify the correct
anatomical area to scan.
“Greg has been using just this low-dose
image to work out a detailed attenuation
map of the patient. This mapping can be
used to correct a range of nuclear medicine
studies for the effects of body attenuation,
and so, it gives us absolute quantification
figures. This low dose mapping opens
up many new avenues for more accurate
quantification in nuclear medicine.”
Dani Joseph, Group Director of Operations,
commented: “We are thrilled with the
achievements of Bahadar and Greg. They
have delivered and continue to deliver
on important initiatives that will help to
drive efficiencies and improve the patient
experience.”
Congratulations Bahadar and Greg!
Hats off to newly qualified advanced
critical care practitioners
SURGICAL SERVICES
Vicki Davies and Kayleigh Wadrup are
on their way to contributing to the
continuity of care for patients and their
loved ones and help deliver strong
service leading to greater efficiency
and support of best practice.
The two are part of the advanced critical
care practitioners team. Vicki and Kayleigh
will be awarded Faculty of Intensive
Care Medicine associate membership
enabling them to be part of the medical
team, incorporating the knowledge and
experience gained through working in
critical care for many years.
Vicki began her career as a healthcare
assistant and had always had an interest
in advanced practice roles. She said: “I get
the best of both worlds. I can still use vital
Vicki Davies and Kayleigh Wadrup
nursing skills gained over the last 20 years and
the many new skills I have acquired within the
critical care medical team.”
Kayleigh became interested when she worked
with critical care practitioners while completing
her degree, she said: “The independence,
knowledge and experience first drew me to the
role and the Trust has supported me through my
MSc and the last two years of supernumerary
practice.”
This year as we know has been particularly
tough on the whole of the NHS, with a
complexity and volume of patients we have
never seen before.
Kayleigh added: “Alongside the COVID-19
pandemic, many of the trainee critical care
practitioners have completed university
modules and other clinical competencies, so
we can become associate members of the
Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine. So this has
been an additional challenge.”
Vicki echoed this and said: “The sheer
enormity of what we encountered makes me
incredibly proud to work within this team. The
faces and lives of the many patients and their
families that we treated will be forever in our
memories of this pandemic.”
Congratulations to both Kayleigh and
Vicki for their qualification and award
of Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine
associate membership.
26

Behind closed theatre doors -
Celebrating National ODP Day
National Operating Department
Practitioner Day took place earlier
this month in a bid to promote the
profession and celebrate the vital work
that practitioners perform in the NHS
every day. Following a particularly
tough year, it is more important
now than ever to give thanks and
recognition to our colleagues who play
vital roles within our NHS. Sandwell
theatres marked the occasion with
posters, a specially made cake with a
hand designed topper to share amongst
colleagues, gift bags with some token
goodies, and photo props to snap some
pictures and share via social media.
Louise Horton, Theatre Manager said:
“National Operating Department Practitioner
Day is really about ensuring our existing
practitioners feel valued, and also spreading
the word for the next generation.”
It can be said the role of an operating
department practitioner is perhaps one
of the less well known healthcare roles;
however their work has played a key role
in helping the NHS deal within the influx
of patients in hospitals during the outbreak
of COVID-19. The role of an operating
department practitioner is a diverse one
where you can work as an anaesthetic
practitioner alongside an anaesthetist, as a
scrub or circulating practitioner, alongside
the surgeon and surgical team, or as a
recovery practitioner. Operating department
practitioners are patient advocates, providing
high levels of individualised patient care
throughout all stages of their operation and
supporting patients through the perioperative
journey. They work alongside anaesthetists,
surgeons, theatre nurses and healthcare
assistants to ensure every operation is as
safe and effective as possible – right from
when patients arrive in the operating theatre
department, to discharge from the recovery
room.
Dr Subash Sivasubramaniam, Clinical Director
Theatres and Consultant Anaesthetist said:
“These dedicated NHS staff work tirelessly
behind the scenes throughout the journey of
the patient through the operating theatre.
“They are the key personnel who greet patients
in theatres, allay their anxiety and ensure
those patients receive the best care, from the
moment someone is anaesthetised to their
discharge back to the ward.”
Balbir Kaur, Matron echoed this and said:
“All colleagues (operating department
SURGICAL SERVICES
practitioners, nurses and HCAs) have
gone above and beyond during this
unprecedented and challenging time
where they have been working as ITU
reservists ensuring patients receive their
surgery in theatre and supporting cases
in additional departments in the hospital
and in the community. Their work is
highly appreciated and they have all
demonstrated flexibility, adaptability and
dedication to ensure all patients receive
high quality care.”
Or workplace welcomes apprentices in
theatres, who on successful completion
are offered HCA roles. In the near
future we aim to introduce an operating
department practitioner apprenticeship
programme which will be open for those
with relevant theatre experience.
For further information on
apprenticeships or our current theatre
vacancies please contact Lisa Lewin,
Training and Development Lead on
lisalewin@nhs.net or extension; City
5043, Sandwell 3569 or BMEC 6825.
Colleagues celebrating National ODP day
27

Urology demonstrate recovery of
surgical services
SURGICAL SERVICES
Urologists at City Hospital have shown
that the introduction of an innovative
treatment for men with enlarged
prostates, combined with new efficient
ways of working, can not only benefit
patients but can also help with the
post-COVID-19 recovery of surgical
services. Patients with benign urological
conditions, such as benign prostatic
hyperplasia (BPH), who require surgery
to treat their symptoms have been
particularly hard hit by the impact of
the pandemic.
Consultant Urologist, Ananda
Dhanasekaran joined the urology team
at City Hospital in 2015, bringing with
him the aim of introducing novel, NICErecommended
treatments to patients with
benign urological conditions. Supported
by the urology team and the surgical
directorate, in 2018, he started offering
patients with symptoms of BPH a totally
new approach to their condition – UroLift
(a prostatic urethral lift). UroLift had been
recommended by NICE and, at the time,
was one of the innovations supported by
NHS England as part of its innovation and
technology programme.
This novel treatment is designed to relieve
symptoms, is very quick and requires
minimal time in hospital. This contrasts
Ananda Dhanasekaran, Urology Consultant
with traditional surgical treatments for BPH, such
as TURP which involves a general anaesthetic, a
longer procedure time, an inpatient stay of 1-3
days and a lengthy recovery.
The urology team have also developed ways to
make the treatment pathway more efficient and
easier for the patient. They were the first in the
country to carry out the UroLift procedure under
a complete local anaesthetic with no sedation
or anaesthesia. A one-stop assessment clinic for
patients with symptoms of BPH also means that
the number of times a patient needs to visit the
hospital is minimised.
Ananda said: “Introducing innovative treatments
like UroLift offers benefits including improved
patient experience and quality of care. Compared
with traditional surgical approaches, the new
treatment is associated with improvement in
quality of life, preservation of sexual function and
quick recovery time. We have also found that
a simplified pathway, involving fewer preoperative
investigations, did not compromise
outcomes and was associated with shorter
waiting times for treatment.”
There are also important benefits for the
Trust by being able to streamline the patient
pathway and a reduced requirement for
theatre time and inpatient beds. These benefits
have been brought sharply into focus this past
year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where
patients with benign urological conditions
have been most affected by the impact of
the pandemic on elective non-cancer surgical
services. Three or four UroLift procedures can
be completed in the time it takes to perform
a single TURP. With the current backlog of
patients with benign urological conditions
awaiting surgery, offering UroLift instead of
TURP where appropriate, means it will be
possible to treat these patients and relieve their
symptoms quicker. Also, by using UroLift which
does not require an overnight stay, inpatient
bed capacity is also freed up for patients who
require it.
Ananda said: “Our Trust now offers UroLift to
a wider range of patients with more complex
prostate anatomies and we are glad to see
now our SWBH trust is a recognised UroLift
training centre.”
By offering minimally invasive treatments
like UroLift to patients who need surgery
for BPH, Ananda and the team have shown
how adopting innovation can be part of the
solution to post-COVID-19 recovery of surgical
services.
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
28

Critical care in the pandemic –
no alarm clock necessary
SURGICAL SERVICES
Critical care colleagues gathered for a day of reflection and restoration in May
“I felt scared in a way I can’t explain, I
remember the morning Boris was admitted
to critical care in London, and strangely
that made it even more real. I remember
that morning sitting at my coffee table
crying before driving into work (not to do
with Boris, but rather that this virus could
take down the leader of our country).
“I felt a knot in my stomach for weeks. I didn’t
need an alarm clock as I was awake at 3am
every morning, without fail. I never worried
about our patients because I know our team
is outstanding, I worried for my staff, making
sure they had everything we could get them
to make them safe, however it is difficult to be
strong and in control when you’re as scared as
everyone else. The reality is regardless of role
we all had our moments though,” said Becky
O’Dwyer Lead Nurse and Joint Clinical Lead for
Critical Care Services on reflecting back about
the realisation that COVID-19 would become
a big deal.
Becky’s feelings are typical of those felt by
colleagues who for more than a year have
been dealing with the havoc wrought by the
pandemic, so alongside her colleagues Leeanne
Owen, HR Business Partner for surgical services
and Catherine Beddowes, Senior Sister Follow
Up Support Service, she organised a series
of supportive and restorative away days for
exhausted critical care colleagues.
Leeanne explained: “In HR our aim is to
support colleagues as much as possible, and
so we have been immersed in the groups to
enable us to react quickly when we see what
is required. These events gave us a great
opportunity to understand what colleagues
need going forward. To ensure the days
were run safely we arranged four dates to
accommodate all colleagues who wished to
attend.
Catherine added: “It’s obvious that over
the last year our team spirit has developed
significantly as we’ve all seen the amazing
support for each other when we were at
our lowest point. The wellbeing of staff is so
important. We’ve seen people at breaking
point, so during our restoration events it was
lovely to see people laughing.”
The agenda for the day covered a look back,
and forward, with a debrief, wellbeing and
self-care signposting, alongside meditation,
holistic therapies and an opportunity to
try yoga. Members of the exec team got
involved with a feedback session and for many
attendees the high point was the personal
testimony of a COVID-19 survivor – who many
of the team would have personally looked
after.
Speaking to colleagues at the first event was
Paul Snookes who said: “When I first came
round after being on a ventilator I thought
I was in a zombie apocalypse. I told my
daughter that I had the top of my head taken
off, my brain removed and washed, then put
back in. You see the most difficult part of this
disease was the hallucinations, I kept seeing
things, including three dogs coming into the
room. It was all very strange.
“But as I started to come to terms with what I
was going through, it was the little things
that you did that mattered. Wetting my
lips, combing my hair, brushing my teeth,
and preserving my dignity. As I recovered I
was just more and more grateful for what
you had done for me. Thank you to each
and every one.”
At the event Carys Himan, Sister on critical
care at Sandwell commented: “I am here
today because I am hoping it will give us all
a chance to reflect on the past year, and to
share the experiences that we have been
through together, and it would be nice to
get the patient’s perspective on what they
went through.
“The last year was difficult for me,
especially having three children (6, 9 and
15) being home-schooled, so that on my
days off I became their teacher.”
Her colleague on City site Laura Beaman
added: “I actually had mixed feelings
about whether I really wanted to share
or revisit all the thoughts and emotions
from the last year. However the day turned
out to be fun, insightful and emotional. I
especially enjoyed the patient experience;
I don’t think there was a dry eye in the
house during that! It really helps us to
appreciate that with everything everyone
went through, people did survive and it
makes it all worthwhile. It was difficult
to see this during the time. Until we start
talking about the events of the past year, I
don’t think we realise just what an impact
it has had on us emotionally and can take
you back a bit. I am not a big crier usually,
however I think I've cried a lifetime of tears
over this past year!
“Some of the memories that stand out for
me are when I held a patient’s hand and the
phone to her ear while she passed away, so
that her dad could say his goodbyes to her.
He lived too far away to visit on time and
couldn’t get Wi-Fi connection on his phone
to go on the lifeline.
“Another was on a patient’s birthday.
He was not conscious, however one of
the reservists made a birthday card and a
banner for him. We all sang happy birthday
around the bed space. We called his wife
and children on the lifeline later that day
and they also had a big sing-along to him.
You could hear them telling him all about
their day, telling him to remain strong and
he will get through this. The hardest thing
was knowing that he was probably not
going to survive this, and sadly he did not
make it. I often felt a real sense of guilt that
I was there with their loved one when they
should have been.”
29

Newborn records get SMaRT-er as
NIPE comes to SWB
WOMEN AND CHILD HEALTH
A screenshot of the S4N database
A new electronic system for documenting
the newborn physical examinations
is coming to the Trust with mandated
training for all newborn screening
colleagues.
Newborn and Infant Physical Examination
(NIPE) screens newborn babies within 72
hours of birth, and then once again between
six to eight weeks. The second screen is
needed because some conditions appear later
on.
The new NIPE IT system, SMaRT4NIPE (S4N),
originally went live at several Trusts such as
Medway, Wye Valley and Cornwall on 1 April
2019 with immediate positive feedback,
New donations all sewn up
although, just as we ourselves found out
with the introduction of UNITY, not without
some initial teething issues.
S4N has a cleaner appearance and better
functionality than its predecessor, and two
years down the line its ease of use has
already proven a boon to those using it.
From 1 June all NIPE’s are to be documented
on S4N. It is a live system and training is
necessary.
Contact the Newborn screening team:
Ext 5775 or swbh.nipe-and-nbs@nhs.net
for more information.
News from Your Trust Charity
where Elaine Lane and friends from
Bredon have knitted blankets and
hats for our vulnerable children in
the community and have also made
some twiddle muffs for our older
patients with dementia.
The group previously supported our
organisation over Christmas with
donations of hats and scarves and have
continued to support SWB staff and
patients in the months since.
The group usually meet weekly but due
to the pandemic they have carried on
knitting in isolation to support those
most in need.
Amanda Winwood, Fundraising
Manager told Heartbeat: “We’re
delighted to receive yet more support
from Elaine and her group. These items,
though small, can make a massive
difference to the comfort of some of our
most needy patients.”
This isn’t, however, the only creative
avenue Your Trust Charity has been
receiving donations from, having also
recently taken ownership of their first
delivery from volunteer organisation
Project Linus.
Project Linus, as the name might
suggest to you, aims to provide a
sense of security and comfort to sick
and traumatised babies, children and
teenagers through the provision of
homemade patchwork quilts and
knitted blankets. The organisation giving
volunteers across the UK the opportunity
to contribute to their local community and
delivers around 3,500 quilts and blankets to
sick, disabled or disadvantaged children across
the UK each month.
SWB’s first delivery and has already been
passed on to paediatrics for distribution to
those who may come in with nothing, no
parents and in need of a hug.
You can find out more information about
this at https://projectlinusuk.org.uk/
Knitted items donated to vulnerable children in the community
30

Karen Bennett
Community Children's Epilepsy Nurse
Karen Bennett - Children's Community
Epilepsy Nurse
Karen Bennett has recently joined
our Trust as a Children’s Community
Epilepsy Nurse Specialist.
Karen joins the community children’s
nursing team and brings a wealth of
experience to her new role. She has
previously worked in both hospital and
community settings. This invaluable
experience will directly support the work
she is undertaking in the acute and
community paediatric directorate.
The team works in partnership with children
and their families who have or are likely to
have an epilepsy diagnosis. The overall goal
of managing epilepsy is to enable the child
or young person and their family to lead
a life as free as possible from clinical and
psychosocial complications. This is achieved
through access to specialists such as Karen
and the wider team.
Karen explained: “My role aims to provide
care closer to home, work closely with the
consultant paediatricians and the multiagency
teams to provide specialist epilepsy
nurse provision for children/young people
with epilepsy and their families.
“By providing a service which is both
accessible and responsive in the more than
just a hospital setting, allows me to act
as a contact for families, GPs and other
professionals on epilepsy related matters,
coordinating between agencies.
“I visit the hospital, home and schools as
needed to ensure continuity of care. It’s a
varied role, one that requires me to provide
specialist information, emotional support
and teaching.”
This holistic approach to epilepsy and
supporting young people with epilepsy,
their families and carers, allows Karen to
provide tailored care to meet the needs
of individuals. She remarked: “By taking
this approach, I’m able to offer a specific
care plan for each child. I work closely with
schools and nurseries to ensure children
can access education by; care planning,
facilitating appropriate participation, doing
risk assessments, medication training and
telephone advice.”
Karen added: “This role involves working
as part of a wider community, linking with
the West Midlands Paediatric Epilepsy
Nurse Network (PENN). An integrated
approach for the epilepsy care pathway
is fundamental to delivering high-quality
care for children and young people with
epilepsy.
“Local epilepsy clinical networks include
professionals from all disciplines,
safeguarding unified, current practice,
clinical expertise and supporting service
development. Specialist epilepsy knowledge
and skills help ensure the young person
transfers to adult services.
“I’ll be working closely with SWB transition
key worker, the adult epilepsy nurse team
and consultants to establish an effective
epilepsy transition pathway for young
people into the adult services. I’m hoping to
work with the transition key worker to set
up teenage networking activity groups to
further support this. We know that young
people who can manage their conditions
are more likely to transition into adult
services and ultimately maintain their care.”
If you would like to contact Karen with
any epilepsy queries, you can reach
her via karen.bennett4@nhs.net or by
calling 07971 875 287.
Afrah Muflihi
Lead Midwife for Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
Afrah Muflihi, who is lead midwife for
diiversity, equality and inclusion
She is already a well-known face within
the maternity department having
worked as a community midwife for
the past seven years.
Afrah recently joined the Willow Continuity
of Care team where she delivered focussed
care on mums living in specific areas of
Birmingham.
She told Heartbeat: “I hope to improve
accessibility for all our women who use the
service. I want to understand the behaviours
of women who are accessing our services
and tell us more about their needs.
“I also want to understand how we can
look at tackling unconscious bias and keep
this in check.”
Afrah said it was important for colleagues
to talk about inclusivity and understand the
behaviours of the women they are caring
for.
The post is a secondment and is funded for
11 months by the Local Maternity System
(LMS).
Clare Cheatham, Consultant Midwife
added: “Afrah is highly motivated to drive
improvements in services for our culturally
diverse and vulnerable families with the aim
of improving outcomes and experiences,
alongside ensuring that SWBH leads the
way in expertise.
“She has a wealth of experience as a
registered midwife; having worked five
years in team midwifery in the late 1990s
where she worked in all areas of maternity
services.
“During Afrah’s career she has also gained
experience of working in community health
development when she worked alongside
Public Health, strategic organisations and
the voluntary sector.
“We wish to congratulate Afrah in her new
post.”
31

Wave goodbye to…
Jan Clarke
Head of Support Services
Jan Clarke, Head of Support Services has
retired after giving 36 years to helping
improve the services we offer at the
Trust.
Janet’s (known to most as Jan) career spans
over three and half decades across the
organisation. She first joined the NHS in a
temporary post as a domestic assistant for six
weeks.
“I had been made redundant and was keen
to get back into to work as a soon as I could,”
said Jan.
“Even after six weeks I immediately fell in love
with the NHS. The people were lovely and
it was clear from the start that if you were
willing to put the work in and work hard, the
Trust would enable you to grow and develop
as well as facilitate training and education
courses to support your advancement.”
And that is exactly what Jan did! She knew
in order to work her way up the ladder
to where she wanted to be, she would
need to complete further education. In her
case specifically it was a Master’s degree
in Business Administration which the Trust
supported her in obtaining.
During Jan’s illustrious career, her professional
development saw her go from a domestic
assistant and work her way up to head of
facilities and more recently head of support
services.
When asked specifically about her time at the
Trust, she said it will be a time of her life she
will look fondly upon.
She said: “I have met and worked with
some wonderful people over the years and I
have seen a great deal of change, however
the one constant thing is the wonderful,
caring attitude and selfless devotion of our
staff, who will always go the extra mile to
contribute to patient care.”
She added: “It has been an honour to support
the advancement of the departments within
support service. I will be leaving a brilliant
team that I will miss immensely, but have the
confidence that they will continue to manage
their services professionally, moving forward
to the new Midland Metropolitan University
Hospital.”
Aner Marcelo who was working alongside Jan
has taken over as head of support Services.
When asked about Jan he said: “What
impresses me about Jan is her honesty and
reliability. Jan is a very supportive leader. The
intangible support she has given me means a
lot to us in the team. She always puts patients
first and foremost in everything she does. As
her successor I hope I am able to come near
what Jan has achieved at the Trust with her
36 years of service, dedicating and being
committed to providing excellent patient
care.”
As part of her retirement Jan is planning on
spending more time with her friends and
family once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
Good luck for the future Jan!
Janet Clarke
Sammy paints a path to
colleague wellbeing
The topic of wellbeing has come up a lot
over the course of the last year, as our
organisation and the members of it have
moved to have a greater focus on the
mental as well as physical aspects of our
battle against COVID-19 and beyond.
Pulse
Some have even taken to getting additional
training to help support friends, relatives
and patients in the future.
One such individual is second year
pharmacy student Sameena (“Sammy”)
Khaliq. She will be qualified and registered
as a pharmacy technician this summer,
having already secured a job within the
Trust. Sammy recently undertook the Trust’s
Wellbeing REACT training to become an
advisor.
“I wanted to give back to my colleagues
and decided to undertake a course called
REACT. It is a Level 2 Mental health and
News in brief from around our organisation
Wellbeing poster
wellbeing course.” Explained Sammy in an
email to colleagues late last month. “It has
been a pretty tough and difficult year for
everyone and everybody has been impacted in
one way or another. I would like to offer help
and support for anyone who wants to reach
out.
The course aims to direct people to correct
services for referral.
“I would be able to play an integral part in
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
referring especially where hardship and
wellbeing are concerned. This is a voluntary
service and I will strive to do my best with a
non-judgmental attitude and confidentiality
in a relaxed environment.”
One of the projects as part of the course
is the creation of a wellbeing poster
(pictured) which Sammy describes as a
creative representation of our spiritual
connection as humans with nature.
“How the forces of a waterfall and
mountain are powerful and can resonate
with our own mind-set empowering us
with resilience, strength, endurance, and
the ability to carry on staying focused
being firm and maintaining a balance in
our lives. It is something to uplift inspire
and hopefully send out a positive message.
Do not forget about yourself, do not get
lost. Keep yourself in mind - and if you do
this is a reminder to reinforce your selfworth.
Keep a check on yourself and don’t
be afraid to ask for help when you feel you
need it.”
32

Pulse
News in brief from around our organisation
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
Green fingers in the great
outdoors
With the sun in the sky and a spring
in their step, the children at Sandwell
Day Nursery have been getting stuck
in to a spot of gardening in their
newly refurbished outdoor space.
Keen to get out in to the great outdoors
and make the most of the improving
weather, the children have not only
begun cultivating their own little
community allotments outside Hallam
Restaurant but they’ve made friends with
all of the bugs and animals in their own
back yard with their own little bug hotel.
Sharing the news of their new found
freedom, Day Nursery Manager Emma
Collier said: “The children have really
taken to the outdoors, they’ve loved
looking after their allotments, cultivating
the crops and growing their herbs. The
multisensory environment with the
opportunity to get some fresh air, get
your hands dirty and have some fun
really has made a huge difference.
builders who have been working for the
Trust, but the children have been really keen
to have some space in the nursery grounds
that they can take ownership of.
“We’re proud to have been able to open
up our own little bug hotel, where the
children can take some time to explore and
see if they can spot any of our little creepy
crawly residents. We also have some seating
and best of all, we’ve finally been able to
make full use of the whole site, safe in the
knowledge that everything in it is designed
for the children we have.
“Whilst it’s not all a bug’s life, the children
will soon have the opportunity to plant a
whole range of wild flowers and plants in
the garden, creating a habitat for bees and
butterflies in our own back yard.”
“The nursery garden has also been
transformed recently thanks to some
very kind donations and support from
It’s a bug’s life as nursery children explore the
outdoors in their newly refurbished garden
Irene Bayliss: Three decades at
SWB
After 30 years, a familiar face
to many, Irene Bayliss, Medical
Secretary at City A&E is retiring.
It was March 1991, The Clash were at
number one with hit single Should I Stay
or Should I Go and Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles 2 was number one in the
box office. Irene has just joined the Trust
as a domestic.
“Though I had worked as a domestic for
quite a while, I then moved on to work
in the pathology reception”, said Irene.
“After a few years I then moved to ward
D12 as a ward clerk but I was soon on
the move again as the regular ward clerk
returned so I was then transferred to
ward D19 and then D10.”
After a lengthy stay on D10 she was then
asked to support ward D9 and would
later move to Rheumatology outpatients.
Irene wanted more and to advance
further at the Trust. In order to progress
her career, Irene decided to complete a
Irene Bayliss
part-time night school course and an audio
typing course at Sandwell College to get
her AMPSAR qualification. AMSPAR is the
Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice
Managers, Administrators and Receptionists.
It was established in 1964 with the aim
of creating and promoting appropriate
qualifications, initially for those working as
medical secretaries and subsequently for
medical receptionists, administrators and
practice managers.
Irene said: “Having achieved my qualifications,
I was then able to successfully obtain a role as
medical secretary for acute medicine at City
Hospital.”
Irene has had a positive impact on many of
her colleagues across her 30 years – here are
just some of their kind words:
Clare Hale, Team Leader, City A&E
Reception: “Irene is an amazing colleague
who always goes above and beyond to
help anyone in need. It will be a sad loss
to the Trust when she retires. She will be
greatly missed by all.”
Natasha Thompson, ED Administration
Team Leader: “Irene is a polite and
hardworking member of staff. I have
managed her for a few years and within
that time she has been one of the most
helpful colleagues I have encountered. We
are sorry to see her go but I know she will
be happy. I wish her all the best for the
future!”
As part of her retirement Irene plans to
spend more time with her husband and
when COVID-19 restrictions are eased
she wants to travel to Wales. Irene is also
hopeful to be able to travel on the Flying
Scotsman train for her recent birthday as
she was unable to celebrate fully due to
the recent national lockdown.
The Trust would like to wish Irene a
happy retirement and good luck in the
future!
33

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
Will working life resume as
normal?
Dear Heartbeat,
So our esteemed leader Boris is planning on
abolishing mandatory face coverings and social
distancing come the end of June. Though this
is great for England fans and the Euros what
does this mean for staff working at the Trust?
Will I now walk into an office without a mask
and forget the last 12-18 months of social
distancing? Will my manager send me an email
Monday morning telling me and the rest of our
team we are now required to all report to office
as per usual per pandemic? Am I now allowed
to give my colleagues a big hug seeing as I have
missed out for the past year? What do I do?
Some clarification or even something in writing
which is official on this would be great as I’m
hearing another wave could be on its way in
the summer and I wouldn’t want to knowingly
contribute towards this unnecessarily.
Kind regards,
Anon
Dear colleague,
Thanks for the way you have been following
the national guidelines, and indeed our own
local policies over the past year. Keeping
pace with the rapid changes has not been
easy but I am pleased that all our staff have
responded well to the latest updates.
We are continuing to monitor the impact
of the changes that we have brought in
as lockdown restrictions have eased since
March. This has included a phased approach
to visiting across some of our wards. We will
continue to monitor and review changes in
guidance and adapt them to our own Trust,
dependent on our own risk assessments
that will include the numbers of cases of
COVID-19 in the community and in our
hospitals.
We are not expecting a full return to all
roles being on site full-time and the current
remote working guidance will remain
in place whereby managers can put in
place reasonable arrangements for their
colleagues who can work remotely, that in
many cases will mean a mix of on site and
remote working.
With regard to hugging, we would urge
you to be cautious and sensible. Having the
vaccine, following infection prevention and
control guidance and doing regular LAMP
tests are the best ways to beat this virus so
make sure you are regularly testing.
Any changes to wearing of PPE including
masks will be shared through our COVID-19
weekly bulletin and your group leadership
structures.
Kind regards,
Mel Roberts
Acting Chief Nurse
Will there be improved security in
car parks?
Dear Heartbeat,
I returned to my new car in the car park to yet again
more serious damage to my car for the second time
in one year (and the 5th time including door bangs
and dents). I contacted security, with little hope of
assistance; to be told where I am parking (Brookfield
House) there is no CCTV coverage. This is the 3rd car
parking area I have move to in City Hospital where
my car has been damaged and happens to be in a
CCTV blackspot. If this is not concerning for security
of our cars, surely this is a concern for security of
staff walking to cars, especially at night.
I understand that the Trust cannot take liability
for our property on the site, but I did hold some
hope that assistance can be given to identifying the
culprit for hitting my car and driving off. The last
time this happened 12 months ago, (parking by the
DGM building) the whole wing of my car had to be
replaced and cost £2,500 and I am now facing yet
another bill for body repair.
If I could get away with not using my car anymore, I
would, however I do not live in Birmingham, so this
is not possible.
Can the Trust give some assurances with the new
company taking over the car parking, that there will
be better security monitoring and/or specific staff
parking areas? I am beyond frustrated with finding
my car damaged on a regular basis after my shifts
and paying for the privilege. I can no longer ask my
insurance company for help with this damage as
they refuse to cover me at work anymore.
Kind regards,
Anon
Dear Colleague,
First of all I would like to say that I’m sorry to
hear about the incidents that you have had with
your vehicle whilst parked on site. We want
all staff, patients and visitors to feel confident
in leaving their vehicles on the premises. The
Trust has appointed Q-Park as our operational
management partner for car parking and in
conjunction with the trust security teams,
Q-Park are working towards creating a more
secure site. This is being achieved by adding
Q-Park patrols to those carried out by the
security team and building two new multistorey
car parks. Our aim is to have the majority
of vehicles concentrated into a safe and secure
area so the risk of damage will be significantly
reduced due to the design of the new car parks.
Any potential damage within the multi-storey
car parks will be more easily identifiable on
CCTV.
Kind regards,
James Pollitt
Assistant Director Strategic Development
Hospital traffic flow issues
Dear Heartbeat,
The new carpark at the City Hospital site is going
well and will be an asset for the future but since
building started, there has been a change in the way
in which traffic flows into and around the site.
Traffic entering the Western Road entrance has to
queue for quite a distance and the wait is around
15 mins. Obviously, staff waiting this amount of
time is not ideal but worse than this is the negative
effect on local traffic as some drivers take risks to
try and dodge the queue. The queue affects drivers
navigating that junction as well as it blocks the view
from certain angles.
My other concern is traffic flowing past that barrier
towards the supplies department, then onto the old
nursing home and old transport dept. Traffic flows
in both directions on this road but outside supplies,
there is only enough space for one car. This is a very
busy working area at times. Delivery trucks have no
choice but to park outside supplies to offload vital
stock. Our supplies staff are often seen working
hard alongside the delivery drivers so at times there
are a number of people in that area. There are
also pedestrians walking across the road too from
the estates dept. and from the car park. Too many
cars travelling in both directions in what was used
to be a fairly quiet zone. To make matters worse,
the road bends after the supplies department and
I have seen cars on to the wrong side of the road,
probably because they may have considered it to be
a single lane and one way. There needs to be a risk
assessment of that area and better signage so drivers
know what they are navigating.
Kind regards,
Anon
Dear colleague,
Thank you for your letter regarding traffic flows
and road networks in and around City Hospital.
The building of the new multi storey car park
has been a huge logistical challenge and this
wasn’t helped by the overnight introduction
of the new road lay out on Western Road by
Birmingham City Council. We have appealed in
the strongest terms to the council about this
layout and the problems it continues to cause
and requested that it is returned to its previous
condition, but it seems to have been to no avail.
The challenge of building a 550 space
multi-story car park and the demolition of
a significant building whilst trying to keep
disruption down to a minimum has been
immense. The site continues to receive deliveries
of plant on low loaders, site cabins, scaffold
lorries and other equipment and will cause
some continued disruption, and for that we can
only apologise.
The good news is that the multi-story car parks
are on track and should be open by mid-August.
This will hopefully help reduce the tail backs
and the amount of traffic passing Brookfield
House and further along by the supplies
department.
King regards,
James Pollitt
Assistant Director Strategic Development
34

Richard talks about: The future of healthcare -
multidisciplinary working
Richard Beeken, Interim Chief Executive
RICHARD'S LAST WORD
National Nurses Week begins each year
on 6 May and ends on 12 May, Florence
Nightingale's birthday. These permanent
dates enhance planning and position
National Nurses Week as an established
recognition event. As of 1998, 8 May was
designated as National Student Nurses
Day, to be celebrated annually. It has been
particularly noteworthy to celebrate the
work of nursing this year, given the last 14
months experience of the pandemic and it
is important that we recognise the role the
profession has played in the teeth of the
gale of COVID, as well as the role nursing
and nurses will play in a successful recovery
from COVID, whatever form that recovery
eventually takes.
There were two very different events that
week which celebrated nursing in the Trust.
The first, on 10 May, was a service which
neatly and expertly combined a memorial
service for our own colleagues who we had
tragically lost during the pandemic, whilst
also celebrating the role the profession
plays in being the patient’s advocate in their
hour of need. It was a privilege to attend
the event, which was also attended by
the families of those we have lost, which
made it all the more poignant. The second
event which I attended that week with Mel
Roberts, our chief nurse, was a different
affair – the acute medicine Great Bake Off
event. Mel, Demetri Wade (group director
of operations – medicine and emergency
care) and I had the honour of judging 12,
high quality entries which, by the end of
the session, made me feel rather queasy.
The winner was the Victoria sponge, of
course. Two very different events, both
equally as important in appreciating nurses
and recognising the changing role of the
profession in modern healthcare.
Rather obviously, there are other professions
than nursing in the health service, many
other professions. Not that long ago in
history however, if someone took a photo
of the multi-professional leadership team
at the front of any hospital in this country,
there would be:
always middle aged and nearly
always a physician, he was the
hospital director.
• Next to him, in a starched blue dress
and equally starched hat, always
looking like Hattie Jacques and always
a scary looking woman, was matron.
• Next to her, pencil thin, in an ill-fitting
suit and with a thin smile, was the
hospital administrator.
That was it! Now, we have something like
300 professions or professional demarcations
in the NHS. This can cause confusion and
at times, division. This is why the cry for the
return of the generalist these days is so loud.
Despite that, we can do more, aligned to
our own personal and professional values,
to create a genuine multi-disciplinary, multiprofessional
environment. On 19 May, I spent
over an hour on our respiratory hub at City
Hospital, hearing about their journey over
the last 14 months. We discussed why calling
the pandemic “challenging” is euphemistic
and unhelpful. We discussed recovery from
the emotional journey of the last year. We
discussed post-traumatic growth (thank you,
Sarah!) and, of course, multi-disciplinary
working. The photograph is their safety
huddle board. Whilst the learning and
the actions are divided into the different
professional groups after each huddle
and there remains much that is clunky
about the huddles at the moment,
nevertheless, they are genuinely multidisciplinary.
They are mutually respectful
and the learning is learning achieved as
a team. It was a heartening visit.
It is therefore vital that we don’t divide
ourselves into our respective professional
“silos”. Multidisciplinary working is the
future of healthcare and as we start
to turn our attention to the Midland
Metropolitan University Hospital
development, the blurring of those
professional boundaries and, at the
very least, improved working between
our professions, each seeing each
other respectfully as equals, is critical.
I challenge you all to use, for example,
your safety huddles to achieve that goal.
You can all play your part, whatever your
profession.
• An august looking gentleman in
a white coat, peering over halfmoon
spectacles, with a stethoscope
around his neck. Always a man,
MDT safety huddle board from the respiratory hub at City hospital
35

Workwear donation to support
colleagues and those in need
YOUR TRUST CHARITY
@SWBHCharity To donate
to the Your Trust Charity text
“SWBH16 £5” to 70070
Throughout the last 18 months, many
businesses and organisations have
proven their generosity throughout
the COVID-19 pandemic in support of
the Trust and Your Trust Charity. This
is no more prevalent than the OT
Group Ltd who has kindly donated
over £1,000 worth of workwear
clothing.
The Smethwick based business offers and
supplies a range of tailored goods from
PPE, interior and furniture to office wear
Pete Hall from OT Group Ltd alongside Amanda
Winwood, Fundraising Manager with 1k clothing
donation
and supplies across the borough.
The clothing donated is specifically
workwear and consists of trousers and tunics
tops in a variety of colours and sizes as well
as scrubs for our clinical colleagues.
Amanda Winwood, Fundraising
Manager accepted the donation on
behalf of the charity.
She said: “When I first saw the vehicle
arrive at Sandwell Hospital I was
pleasantly surprised with the sheer
volume of clothes which had been
donated by OT Group Ltd. I must say
a huge thank you to Pete Hall and OT
Group Ltd for this kind donation.”
She added: “We are in the process of
sorting through the 100s of pieces of
garments and will ensure they go they
go to the departments and areas that
need them most including our homeless
patients.
“Our homeless patients often do not
have access to clean and fresh clothing
so this donation will certainly benefit
them all.”
A token of appreciation
Utilita with care packages
International Nurses Day is observed
every year on the anniversary of the birth
of Florence Nightingale, 12 May, to honour
nurses around the world and recognise
their contribution to society. To mark the
occasion, Utilita have donated 200 care
packs to support our nurses here at SWB.
The packs include little treats, reusable
cup, pen, stress reliever, snack and other
wellbeing items to bring a little cheer to
nursing colleagues.
Ashley McIntosh, Retail Manager said: “It is
our pleasure here at Utilita West Bromwich
to support such a fantastic cause, especially
through the pandemic – the hard work and
endless support that the NHS have provided
the borough of Sandwell, and the whole
country in fact, it is important that their
hard work and their efforts do not go
unrecognised. We are so pleased to offer
support, and we are grateful to be a part
of the committee now, which is fantastic
and exciting. It is pleasing to see so much
passion and enthusiasm to support the
local community, in which we share.
Thank you all.”
Amanda Winwood, Fundraising Manager
said: “We really appreciate the support
of Utilita for acknowledging the work of
our nurses, the last year was particularly
difficult for all and having these treats will
hopefully show just how appreciated our
nurses are not just today, but every day.”
May 2021 staff lottery results
1st £178
Sara Adamkiewicz
2nd £106.80
Joanne Page
3rd £71.20
Tracey Clayton
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.