Staff Update Quarterly

Staff Update Quarterly

The quarterly newsletter for staff of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

January 2013

Celebrating

Our NHS Heroes

page 8

Contents

Designing

Our Future

Page 3

A Healthier

You

Page 5

Fundraisers

Honoured

Page 8

Removing

Care Barriers

Page 6

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About Staff Update Quarterly: We know a lot of our readers don’t have regular access to the intranet or email. Based on staff feedback we introduced Staff Update Quarterly as a way to make sure that you have access to the news and information that is important to you. It’s also more cost effective for us to produce a quarterly bulletin rather than the ad-hoc payslip letters you used to receive. It also helps us to cover some of the costs by bringing in regular advertising revenue.

A pivotal year

Peter Herring, Chief Executive, outlines why 2013 will be an important year in the NHS

I am sure this has been said many times before, but this looks

set to be a pivotal year for the NHS. At times like this it becomes more important than ever to focus on the values that inspire us all to work in the NHS.

So, why is this a pivotal year?

Well, we’re facing the third year in which the NHS budget will not increase in real terms, whilst facing increasing needs and demands from our patients and higher costs.

This comes at the same time as the most significant structural changes since the NHS was established over 60 years ago. Clinical Commissioning Groups take up the reins locally, Local Area Teams of the NHS Commissioning Board at regional level, and a new national NHS Trust Development Authority

responsible for supporting organisations like ourselves that have not yet achieved Foundation status. There is a risk that as providers of health services we will be called to account to three new masters who have not yet fully understood how to work together for patients. Our mission must be to ensure this is not a distraction from our focus on productivity and the quality of care for our patients.

Against this backdrop we will see publication of the final report of the Francis Inquiry into Mid Staffordshire. We can expect this to be critical of NHS commissioning and regulation and make far reaching recommendations for reform. Quite rightly it will challenge all of us in the NHS to renew our focus on care, compassion, competence, communication, courage

and commitment.

Reflecting on these issues I was reminded of our Leadership Conference in October. Professor Keith Grint spoke about

critical problems, tame problems and wicked problems.

Critical problems are just that – a crisis – and need decisive

command to answer them.

Tame problems are complicated but they are not complex, and need management to solve the puzzle or technical challenge. But working in health services we are often faced with wicked

problems. They have no simple solutions. They are filled with contradictions, uncertainty and ambiguity. There is no single “truth”. Tackling wicked problems needs courage, questioning, openness, collaboration and leadership.

Later at our conference, Sir Ian Kennedy – chair of the public inquiry into children’s heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and founding Chairman of the Healthcare Commission – provided some fascinating insights into care, compassion and NHS regulation. When asked why a clear national vision for compassionate care was too often

translated into

bureaucracy, he reminded us that it is too easy to address wicked problems (getting care right in a complex, human system) with tame management solutions(contracts, standards, targets, self assessments and box-ticking).

So, responding to the Francis report and ensuring a successful 2013 for our patients requires us and our commissioners and regulators to be courageous, questioning,

open and collaborative. This is where our values really come into play:

 Putting patients first – service to the patient above all else

 Honesty and integrity – dealing with the facts as they are not how we would like them to be, recognising that these are challenging times for all of us

 Being a clinically led organisation – keeping clinical decision-making and clinical standards at the forefront of everything we do

 Working and collaborating together – recognising the contribution that we can all make, developing the best solutions we can and seeing them through

 Encouraging individual ability and creativity – thinking and speaking well of each other, helping everyone to give of their best

 Taking pride in our work and in our organisation – celebrating our achievements and remembering that every day, every one us does something that makes a positive difference

I’m asking you to help make sure that I and my fellow directors stay true to these values, and to use them as your touchstones when facing the challenges and opportunities of the year ahead. If we do then I am confident that we will have done our best for our patients.

Thank you.

Hear an update from me first hand

Although I’m sure you welcome our regular updates and bulletins I’ve no doubt some of you would like to hear updates from me first-hand, have the opportunity to ask me questions and provide feedback to me.

Our regular Staff Briefings provide a great opportunity for this and our latest ones are coming up soon.

These will be my second set of Staff Briefings, after I held my first towards the end of last year. It was great to meet those of you who turned up to the events and I hope even more of you will attend our next briefings which will be held on:

Tuesday 26 February, 12.30pm Seminar Room 5, SECC, RSH

Friday 1 March, 12.30pm Lecture Theatre, Education Centre, PRH

These briefings are led by me and other Board Directors. There is no need to book - please try to be there for the start of the session, but feel free to slip out early if you have other commitments.

Staff Briefings are just one way to hear first hand from me and the other Directors. If you would like to invite one of us to your departmental meeting during February or March, then we will do what we can to accommodate this. Please contact Anne Marie Brandon, Executive Assistant, by calling RSH ext 1001 or emailing

[email protected]Let her know the date, time, venue and a rough idea of who attends (e.g. number/range of staff).

3

Ground Breaking event

Thank you to everyone who attended the Ground Breaking event with our partners and stakeholders earlier this month to mark the start of work on the unit at PRH. As part of the event, those who attended were

asked to vote on their favourite builder’s hard hat. The hats have been decorated by pupils from primary schools across

Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales. The winning school will be invited to take part in an event in the spring where they

will have the chance to insert a Golden Bolt into the steel frame and sign a steel beam in the new structure.

Designing our future together

Thank you to everyone who has taken part in our focus groups so far. Our architects have amended the latest designs and signage to reflect the feedback from the focus groups we held in September. You can view these designs online at www.sath.nhs.uk/future and provide more feedback. Elsewhere, the design and development of services at RSH has started. This will include:



Building a new Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU) and Children’s Outpatients



Creating a new Women’s Zone by refurbishing Wards 31 and 32 to include a Midwifery Led Unit, Maternity Outpatients and Early Pregnancy Assessment Service (EPAS)



Creating new offices within the existing Maternity Building to house administration, executive, human resource and finance staff



Creating a clinical training centre for staff within

the Rainbow Unit (Children’s Cancer Unit)



Creating additional Outpatient space by

refurbishing the existing Level 2 offices



General enabling and temporary works and

moves to facilitate the building work

In addition at PRH we will be creating new offices within the existing Hospital Sterilisation and Disinfectant Unit (HSDU) area to accommodate Women and Children’s staff and create a new Maternity Scan and Outpatients area within and adjacent to the Wrekin midwife-led unit. We will soon be asking for ideas around this. Please email [email protected] or call 01743 261183 to get involved.

Caring For Our Future

As you may have heard, the Mayor of Telford & Wrekin, Councillor Kevin Guy, launched a fundraising campaign last year to raise money for a fun,

learning environment, and hi-tech facilities at the new Women and Children’s Unit at PRH. The Trust is delighted that the ‘Caring For Our Future’ campaign has already raised thousands of pounds through sales of a calendar and various events. There are lots more events planned in the new year, including quiz nights, the ‘From Here to Maternity’ walk to work (see page 8) and a ‘shwopping’ evening. To get involved or make a donation please contact the Mayor’s office on 01952 380110 or email

[email protected]

Focus on . . .

A look at the future of Women and Children’s Services

The Trust is delighted that work has now started on building the new £28 million Women and Children’s Unit at

the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford. It follows several months of work to prepare the site for

construction, which has included moving Children’s Outpatients to a temporary location next to the Breast

Screening Unit, relocating the Trust’s Medical Records department and the Hospedia patient TV and telephone

service and also moving the helipad a short distance.

A sample of the latest designs for the interior of the new Women and Children’s Unit being built at PRH

Building a lasting legacy

Last year, a Legacy Arts Panel was set up to decide on the artwork that would be created at RSH to remember and celebrate the Rainbow Unit

when children’s cancer services move to the PRH in summer 2014. Members of the panel included patients, parents and staff of the Rainbow Unit. Working with our artist, the panel has decided on a ‘rainbow umbrella’ design

(pictured). Rainbow Unit patient and member of the legacy arts panel Tash Martin said: “I like the umbrella design because it represents safety, protection and the care shown by the staff in the Rainbow Unit." Workshops will take place next year for patients, families and staff from the Rainbow Unit to help create the artwork. If you would like to be involved email [email protected] or call 01743 261183.

4

Supporting our workforce

Updates from HR and Education

Staff Survey

Almost 3,000 of you will help to

shape our thinking for the year ahead and beyond after you took part in the Staff Survey for 2012.

Although the results of the survey are not yet available, we know that 57% of you (2,910 individuals) completed it last year. The results from previous surveys have given us vital feedback on how our staff are feeling about their work place and the care we provide to patients.

Taking account of your views and priorities is vital for driving real service improvements in the NHS. Normally a survey within the NHS is distributed to a random sample of staff, but last year we made the decision to distribute the survey to all staff. The results of the survey are under an embargo until March 2013 when we will be able to share the findings with you.

ESR eLearning to launch soon

It is important you all have access to training to improve the skills you need and use on a day-to-day basis, whatever your role is within the Trust. To help improve the access you have to training, we will soon be launching ESR eLearning within the Trust. This is a way of hosting eLearning that will enable all staff to get access to training online and will give you more control over your learning.

It will mean you will be able to complete some of your

statutory training online, such as Information Governance, Equality & Diversity, Health and Safety, Safeguarding Children or Infection Prevention and Control training for non-clinical staff, with your staff records updated automatically. It will also send you email notifications when you need to renew your training.

We’re planning a staggered roll out from April onwards. Some of you may not have access to a computer for your work but you will be able to access the eLearning programmes through the libraries at PRH and RSH. We will also be holding

Introduction to eLearning sessions to help those of you who are not familiar with this way of training and help you get used to ESR eLearning. This will not replace the organisation’s overall Statutory Safety Update training, which is completed every year for clinical staff and every two years for non-clinical staff, but is about increasing access to learning tools.

For more information go to the ESR eLearning Section of the Intranet - http://intranet/learning/e-learning/elearning.asp

Clinical and Operational Policies

A wide range of clinical and operational policies have been reviewed and updated in the last three months. These include:

Diarrhoea and vomiting - management of affected patients and staff IPC Policy, Clinical Audit Policy, Outbreak major IPC policy (incorporating ward closure), Norovirus IPC policy, Influenza IPC Policy, HS05 Violence & Aggression Policy, Missed Appointments,

Making a Surgical Referral, Sustainable Procurement Strategy,

Quality Manual, Domestic Abuse, Receipt and Use of Charitable Funds, Healthcare Associated Infection (HCAI) Reporting to the

Health Protection Agency IPC Policy, Records Management NHS

Code of Practice 2nd edition (Department of Health), Take Transfer Policy, Quality Objectives, Oxygen Therapy, Acute asthma in children, Linen Policy.

All policies are available from the Document Library on the intranet

Human Resources Policies

Recent policy introductions and changes include:

HR23 Policy for the recovery of Overpayments and payment of Underpayments

This new policy sets out how we ensure that where Overpayments and Underpayments are made they are dealt with in a fair manner. It sets out the requirements and responsibilities of both the Trust and its employees in ensuring this. The policy also explains how Overpayments will be recovered and the process for ensuring that Underpayments are corrected.

HR48 Managing Staff with MRSA

This updated policy sets out how we as a Trust manage staff who, through screening, are identified as having MRSA.

HR37 Employment Break Policy

This amended policy provides details of how the Trust supports staff who want to take an employment break. As a Trust we recognise the importance of commitments at home and out-of-work and realise that at certain times in an employee’s out-of-working life, it may be appropriate for them to request an Employment Break.

An employment break enables employees to take an unpaid break from work for a period of 3 months up to 5 years.

This policy sets out the Trust’s arrangements to enable all employees to request an Employment Break. It does not provide an automatic right for employees to take an Employment Break but will ensure that serious consideration is given to any request. The document outlines the steps to follow, provides guidance for the management of such issues and includes a flowchart with an overview of the process.

All Human Resources Policies are available from the HR section of the intranet

Policy Update

2013 — Just some of the highlights

We have a lot planned for 2013 within HR and Corporate Education in a packed agenda that will provide us with a solid foundation. In addition to the eLearning opportunities mentioned above, and the Health and Wellbeing developments mentioned on the next page, other highlights will include:



Focusing further on how we involve you in decisions and communicate effectively with you



Introducing a simpler recruitment process to make it easier for managers and applicants



Implementing an electronic bank staff system to support our temporary staffing needs



Work experience programmes that engage young people in careers in the NHS



A second Leadership Development Conference in October 2013, following last year’s successful event

Keep an eye on the intranet and in future editions of this newsletter for more information

Advertisement

A Healthier You

Supporting your health and wellbeing

We’re just a few weeks into 2013 and some of you may be looking for ways to shed the Christmas pounds and focus a bit more on your health and wellbeing. Last year we launched a new A Healthier You section of the intranet and new classes, while we also held two successful roadshows to provide a wealth of health and wellbeing advice and tips. There’s plenty more planned for this year, which we hope you will find useful.

Health and Wellbeing Roadshows We held two successful roadshows in November, one at PRH and another at RSH, which featured a number of stalls with healthy tips and advice, free gifts, a chance to get your flu jab and competitions to win some great prizes. The feedback from staff who attended the roadshows was fantastic, with many saying how useful they found them. We’re planning to hold more again this year, and hope to hold one at each hospital before the summer. Keep an eye out for more information. Pictured are staff at the events Classes

We launched Zumba classes last year which proved a big success – and the good news is they’re back again for 2013. The classes, which launched earlier this month, are held at RSH on Thursdays from 6.15pm in the Cardiac Rehab Gym, near Pharmacy; and at PRH on Mondays

from 5.30pm in the Physio Gym, near the Paul Brown Day Centre. It costs £3 per session but you will need to pay in advance for six sessions, at £18. To book email

[email protected] or call Ext 4378. Health Checks

Health Trainers from Healthy Telford carried out 45 staff health checks at the Roadshow at PRH and were back to do follow up appointments and further new health checks this month. The Health Trainers work with people over six sessions usually on a weekly basis to help improve their health and lifestyle. For more information please contact Erica or visit the website www.healthytelford.nhs.uk. Smoking Survey

In October 2012, the Trust created an online questionnaire to get the views and feedback of staff to help with a review of our

Smoking Policy. The survey was promoted on the Trust intranet and in newsletters, and hard-copy versions were also made available at the Health and Wellbeing Roadshows. More than 150 people completed questionnaires either online or by hand before the deadline of 30 November. Thank you to all of you who completed the survey, the results of which will be used to help shape our Smoking Policy.

A Healthier You intranet pages

Have you had a chance to check out the A Healthier You section of the intranet yet? The pages are available from the homepage and are packed with tips, useful information, details about benefits for NHS staff, and links to other websites and groups which we hope you will find helpful. Do you know of any NHS benefits or local fitness and exercise groups which colleagues might find helpful? Is there anything you would like us to look to include on the intranet pages in the future? Please email [email protected] with your thoughts.

Patient Status at a Glance (PSAG)

Our Patient Status at a Glance screens (PSAG) have now been in place for about six months and are proving to be a good

resource and visual prompt on our wards. The aim of PSAG is to reflect the patient journey, improving flow and giving staff more time to deliver patient care, and to reduce duplication. They are enabling staff to quickly view the status of patients in a new and consistent way using a touch screen instead of a whiteboard. New functions have now been introduced onto the

screens to help support the handover between colleagues of patients requiring a medical review to be even more effective, and to reduce delays in discharge.

The Medical Handover icon (pictured left) helps with doctor-to-doctor communication. The icon can be used by doctors to outline actions that need to be taken or when a review of a patient is needed. The icon will then change colour so that staff on the next shift are aware, and will then change colour again when actions have been completed. The icon will not replace direct handover between clinicians but is aimed to support this, and is a visual reminder.

A Medical Criteria for Discharge icon (pictured right) has also been introduced. This can be updated by clinical staff to outline what medical criteria needs to be fulfilled before a patient can be

discharged. Again, the icon will change colour depending on if actions need to be completed or if they have been completed and the patient

is medically fit to go home. There may be other criteria that needs to be fulfilled before they can go home.

For more information about PSAG speak to the Continuous Improvement team

6

Spotlight on care and quality

Updates on projects at the Trust

Rapid Assessment Intervention and

Discharge Service (RAID)

RAID is a new mental health early intervention project that aims to support assessment and discharge of people with mental health problems attending acute hospitals.

The team consists of a Consultant Psychiatrist, Clinical Psychologists and Nurses and is a partnership between the Trust and South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Social work support is also provided by the two local authorities.

A 7-day service was rolled out to both hospitals at the start of January (8am-8pm) , and the operating hours are due to be round the clock from 31 January. Staff will access the service as they always have, only now with a dedicated RAID team in place they can expect a one-hour response time in A&E and a 24-hour response for referrals made by ward staff.

This service is designed to help improve staff awareness and skills in dealing with mental illness, reduce length of stay, reduce readmission rates and help more older patients return to their own homes. Referrals can be made by contacting the teams on PRH 4020 or bleep 448 or RSH 3625 or

bleep 572.

Using the National Dementia Screening Tool

Providing care for patients with dementia is becoming an increasing challenge for the NHS. An estimated 25% of acute beds are occupied by people with dementia. Their length of stay is longer than other people and they are often subject to delays on leaving hospital.

To help identify these patients at the earliest opportunity and make sure they are receiving the right care, a new Dementia CQUIN target has now been introduced to help support us picking these patients up as they come in to our hospitals. The National Dementia Screening Tool (pictured) is a simple few steps assessment form to be completed for any patient aged 75

or over and an emergency admission. The form should be completed on the first board round after the patient has been admitted and will indicate what, if any, further action should be taken. The forms are available on the wards for Surgery, Oncology and

Orthopaedics, and will be included with the Medical Assessment Proforma documents in all other medicine areas.

It is vital that this assessment is carried out for all patients aged 75 or over and have come to hospital as an emergency admission.

The first phase of a new service designed to improve the care of elderly, frail and complex patients in Shropshire and mid Wales was launched last month.

The Frail & Complex Service provides a joint approach between acute and community health and social care staff to ensure patients are getting the right care in the right place at the right time. The geriatrician-led multi-disciplinary team is designed to make sure that frail patients or those with complex conditions/home

circumstances are identified as early as possible and given the right package of care, which will help to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions, reduce length of stay and so provide better outcomes. Stage One sees the new Frail and Complex Team providing rapid and comprehensive assessments in the A&E, AMU and DAART departments at RSH and they have already helped to avoid a number of admissions. Stage Two was due to see this rolled out to PRH this month. Ultimately the aim is to have a service that follows the patients across organisational boundaries and will be working in both acute and community health care setting, with easy access for referrals from GPs and other community settings to a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency service in an integrated way with the patients at the centre.

Dr Kevin Eardley (pictured left), the Trust’s Clinical Lead for Unscheduled Care, said: “It is key that we focus on the care of elderly, frail and complex patients and make sure they get the high quality service they deserve. If we get it right for older people then not only will their outcomes improve, but so will the local health and social care system as a whole. This new service will transform the standard of care for many patients.”

Dianne Lloyd (pictured right), Therapies Centre Chief, said: “This is an important service and its unique feature is that it glues together acute and community health teams with social care so they can work in a new way, pooling their knowledge and skills for the benefit of frail and complex patients, many of whom will be able to avoid lengthy stays in hospitals with the right intervention.”

Acute referrals can be made to the team on 07699 706748. Messages for the team can be left with the DAART office on 01743 261095 (ext 1095).

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This newsletter is printed on paper from a sustainable source. © The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, January 2013

Celebrating our Staff

Focusing on your achievements

NHS Heroes

More than 70 individuals and teams at the Trust have been celebrated after they were named as NHS Heroes. The staff were nominated by members of the public and colleagues in the national NHS Heroes scheme, which was launched last year to mark the 64th _{birthday of the}

National Health Service. Over the summer patients,

members of the public and staff were able to nominate go online, outlining in about 100 words why the individual or team they were

nominating, was deserving of the accolade NHS Hero. Nominations could be for anything that NHS staff do that really makes a difference to patients and ensures they receive not only the very best care, but also the best experience possible. A total of 78 teams and individuals at the Trust were named as NHS Heroes after they were nominated in the scheme. The Trust held two events – one at RSH on 26 November and one at PRH in Telford on

29 November – to celebrate these NHS Heroes, where they each received framed certificates.

The reception was presented by Martin Beardwell, Acting Trust Chair, and also celebrated the efforts of internal staff award recipients from the past 12 months, such as those who have received the monthly Chairman’s Award, and winners of the Trust Awards 2012, which were held in September. Mr Beardwell said: “The national NHS Heroes scheme

complemented our own internal awards and was an excellent way of

highlighting the significant efforts of our staff over the past 12 months, which have shown what can be achieved with energy, enthusiasm, ingenuity and talent. Our NHS Heroes receptions were a celebration providing a snapshot of the passion and commitment of the

thousands of staff at the Trust who work in our hospitals and in the community, seeking every

day to provide the best possible care for half a million people across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales.”

Pictured are just some of those who were named as NHS Heroes News in Brief

The Temporary Staffing Department has released a

new timesheet. This is available from the staff

information pages on the intranet, from the department or any of the wards. Please note that this should be submitted to the Temporary Staffing Office on a weekly basis.

The Trust’s Local Counter Fraud Specialist would like to remind all employees of the risks involved with

password sharing. Everyone has a responsibility to

maintain the security of information held by the Trust under the Data Protection Act 1998. Other reasons why sharing passwords is not acceptable include:

 It increases the risk of unauthorised access to

confidential information which could have severe consequences for the individuals and the Trust as a whole

 The likelihood of errors/omissions is increased by

allowing untrained individuals to access computer systems, bringing into question the integrity of information held

 In the event of computer misuse, or fraud by others

using your account YOU may be investigated and

potentially held accountable.

Your password is your digital identity. If someone else uses your details to login to a computer system and commits a crime, suspicion may be directed at you. If you have any concerns about fraud, call Dave Fletcher on 0121 695 5162 or email [email protected]

From Here to Maternity

A fun hospital-to-hospital walk will be held for the second time in May after last year’s inaugural event raised almost £10,000 for charity – double the fundraising target. More than 100 people have already signed up for this year’s walk, From Here to Maternity, which will take place on 10 May 2013 from RSH to PRH. The walk will raise money for the Caring for our Future appeal to raise money for a fun, learning environment, and hi-tech facilities at the new Women and Children's Unit which will open at PRH in 2014. The appeal, which was launched last year by Telford & Wrekin Mayor Councillor Kevin Guy, is focusing on supporting young patients to "thrive, learn and play" and the environment could include a special garden room and an internal classroom for the unit, which will provide state of the art health facilities for women and children. From Here to Maternity is the brainchild of Nick Holding, a Continuous

Improvement Manager, who organised his first hospital-to-hospital charity walk last year. The inaugural event, called the Great Walk to Work, proved a massive success with about 130 people walking from PRH to RSH in May helping to raise double the £5,000 fundraising target to support the Lingen

Davies appeal to buy furniture for the new cancer centre at RSH. Nick and the team who helped organise the walk were named as the charity’s fundraisers of the year just before Christmas. The walk will be free to take part in and people are asked to raise what they can for the appeal. To sign up call Nick on (01952) 641222 Ext 4272 or (01743) 261000 Ext 2415, email [email protected] or search for From Here to Maternity on Facebook. Nick is pictured receiving the Lingen Davies award with Sally Hodson, who is also from the Continuous Improvement team