April 12 2013 - Staffordshire and Stoke-On

The
Word
Edition 125
12th April 2013
Over the past eighteen
months I have had
many positive and
constructive meetings
with frontline staff
across the county
and always find it
especially valuable
to hear about your
first hand experiences,
achievements and of the
challenges and difficulties
you may face.
However I am aware that speaking
directly to the Chief Executive about an
issue of concern may not be something that
some staff feel particularly comfortable about
doing. Historically in many organisations and
industries, speaking to senior management may
not have been encouraged and staff may also
have exercised caution over what matters they
brought to the attention of their line manager.
Times however have moved on and I want to
assure all Partnership Trust staff that in our
organisation you can raise any concerns with any
member of the management team or with me
directly if you are worried about poor practice,
attitudes or inappropriate behaviour. I believe in
encouraging openness and transparency in all we
do and there will be no negative comeback for
individuals who have acted responsibly in
Continued...
Ambassador for
Cultural Change
I know from
experience how
frightening
and daunting
a task it can
feel to raise
concerns in
the workplace.
There are many
reasons why
people feel that it
is just easier to turn a
blind eye and not raise your
head above the parapet!
However while the reasons are often valid and
must not be dismissed, it is vital that were
problems exist those of us who witness them
must speak out in order for things to change.
After qualifing as a staff nurse in 2002 and
working in various health care settings, I became
a Nurse Practitioner in the A&E department at
Stafford Hospital in 2005. During my time there
I became increasingly concerned about the poor
standards of patient care and the low morale of
staff. When I tried to report issues they were
routinely ignored and no action was taken. This
left me feeling very frustrated and led me to raise
my concerns more formerly within the Trust. I
have since given evidence at both Inquiries by
Robert Francis QC into the failings at the Mid
Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
Continued...
www.staffordshireandstokeontrent.nhs.uk
1
highlighting issues that could put the people we care
for at risk in any way.
The single most important thing you can do is to
report something you are concerned about either to
your line manager, your Professional Lead, Staffside
representative or via the Raising Concerns helpline
0800 1974 520. The helpline is available for
anyone worried that something wrong or dangerous is
happening at work; please don’t keep it to yourself.
You may find it easier to speak to a fellow colleague
about issues and I am very pleased to be able to
announce this week that we have appointed a frontline
member of staff to a new role to encourage even
greater professionalism and support staff to raise
concerns.
Helene Donnelly is a nurse practitioner who has
been based at the Haywood Hospital Walk In Centre
for the past four years. Previously she worked in the
A&E department at Stafford Hospital and following her
experience and difficulties in trying to raise concerns
there, she was a key witness at the Public Inquiry held
by Robert Francis QC into the Mid Staffordshire NHS
Foundation Trust.
Helene has been seconded into a new six month role
as an additional ally for staff, ensuring that the voice of
the frontline is heard clearly at a senior level within the
organisation.
I believe the Francis Report presents all NHS
organisations with a unique opportunity to honestly
challenge ourselves about just how openly staff can
raise concerns and operate in their best professional
manner, without prejudice.
As Ambassador for Cultural Change, Helene has a clear
remit from myself and the Trust Board to act freely and
with complete autonomy from the management team
as another route for issues of concern to be raised at
the highest level. I have encouraged Helene to visit
teams and services across the organisation as widely as
possible. She is also interested in gathering feedback
about how you feel you are listened to, what might
prevent you from raising concerns and the level of
support you receive.
I hope you will welcome her in this post and that
her appointment will give you an additional level of
confidence to report any concerns that you may have
at the earliest opportunity.
Stuart
Stuart Poynor
Chief Executive
I now work as a nurse practitioner in the Walk In
Centre at the Haywood Hosptial and, like you, I feel
passionately about delivering the best possible service
to patients and service users. I have great faith in
the nursing profession and the NHS in general and
the important role they play in supporting staff to
undertake our jobs to the best of our abilities.
I hope we are all working in health and social care
because we care about delivering a high quality, caring
service to our patients and service users. We have a
duty to act as advocates for the people we care for and
this sometimes means speaking out when things are
not right! But in order for all staff to feel able to do this
I believe we need to feel truly listened to, supported
and protected.
Through my own difficult personal experience I am
clear that there is so much more that can be done to
raise awareness and support staff who want to raise
concerns. In my new role as Ambassador for Cultural
Change I hope the situations I faced at Stafford, and
what I learnt from them, can really help to encourage
a more open and transparent culture across the
Partnership Trust.
My aim is to help empower staff to deliver an excellent
service and be an ally for anyone of the frontline who
is worried about rasing concerns. I will be to getting
out and about to as many hospitals, teams, clinics and
services as possible in order to promote this, giving staff
the opportunity to tell me about their roles and asking;
• How supported do you feel?
• Are you condfident you know how to raise
concerns?
• Have you raised concerns in the past? What has
been the response?
• Do staff feel listened to?
• What helps and hinders staff from do their jobs
well?
• What do patients/ service users and relatives feel?
I want staff to know that I am here as your support to
improve the way we all work and ultimately give the
best possible care to our patients and services users!
I’m looking forward to meeting you over the next few
months and you can contact me via
[email protected] or
Tel: 0800 1974 520
Helene
Helene Donnelly
www.staffordshireandstokeontrent.nhs.uk
2
Ambassador for Cultural Change
Bowel cancer
symptoms
The Word 124 - What’s In
■ Blood in your
■ Going to the
poo
toilet more ofte
n
■ A change in you
r normal bowel
habits
that last longer
than 6 weeks
■ Lost weight and
don’t know why
■ A lump in you
r tummy
These symptoms
do not necessaril
y
mean you have
bowel cancer but
it is important tha
t you make an
appointment wit
h your doctor tod
ay if
you notice any
of these…don’t
wait for
the test!
3│ Working Together to Safeguard Children
4│ Community Hospitals - Quality Days
5│ LONE WORKING
5│ WELL DONE
The NHS
Bowel Ca
screenin
ncer Scre
g every
two year ening Program
60 - 69 (g
me of
s to
ra
of years) dually expanded all men and wom fers
. People
in this ag up to 74 over th en aged
sent an
invitatio
e
e group
n and th
will auto next couple
en their
matically
If you ar
screenin
e unsure
be
g kits in
if you ar
the num
the post
e eligible
ber belo
.
w.
for a test
kit please
call
6│ CALL BELLS: WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?
7│ April - Bowel Cancer Awareness
freepho
ne 0800
For furthe
r inform
8│ Thank You
ation ab
out scre
ening
for bow
el cancer
707 60 6
call
0
ening.nh
healthim
s.uk/bow
provem
ent@sso
el
tp.n
www.ca
ncerscre
hs.uk
August
2012
Be bow
el awar
e
Working Together to Safeguard Children - 2013 Guidance Published
The long awaited new guidance on effective Multi Agency working to safeguard children has been released.
Representing a radical shift in the way that the child protection system will operate in England, it streamlines
previous guidance documents to clarity the responsibilities of professionals towards safeguarding children and
strengthen the focus away from processes and onto the needs of the child.
The guidance replaces:
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010)
• Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (2000)
• Statutory Guidance on making arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children under section
11 of the Children Act 2004 (2007)
Please follow this link to the guidance:
Working Together 2013
The new guidance to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children has now been
published
www.staffordshireandstokeontrent.nhs.uk
3
Community Hospitals – Quality Days
Do you work in one of our community hospitals? Can you spare a few minutes to learn more about what
Quality means for your service?
Over the next couple of weeks the Quality Team is running some special events at each of our community
hospitals.
Quality is an essential part of every role in the hospital. Whatever your job, you are welcome to pop in and find
out about our quality framework. Stay for 10 minutes or an hour, grab some tea and biscuits, and find out
about our approach to quality.
You will be able to meet with some of the Professional Leads and new Quality Team members, discuss how the
Partnership Trust’s six quality goals affect your role and how we can work together to improve quality.
There will be Bitesize presentations on:
•
What is the quality framework?
•
What is a safety culture?
•
Review of findings from community hospital quality visits 2012/13
•
NICE guidance: what is it?
•
Our quality visit programme, and how you can become a reviewer
•
“On the Record”: practical tips for good record keeping
•
You can’t audit everything! Developing a clinical audit programme
•
Developing Q+IDEAS in your team
For more information contact [email protected]
Date &
Time
16/04
9:00-17:00
19/04
8:30-17:00
22/04
9:00-17:00
Venue
Longton Cottage, Canteen
Bradwell, Lecture room / large
Leek Moorlands Hospital Ed &
Development Centre Room 4
Bradwell, Lecture room / large
24/04
12:00-17:00
26/04
Cheadle Hospital, Seminar room
9:00-17:00
01/05
Haywood Hospital, Large room /
11:00-15:00 seminar
03/05
Haywood Hospital, Large room /
11:00-17:00 seminar
www.staffordshireandstokeontrent.nhs.uk
4
LONE WORKING - IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SECURITY MANAGER
The Partnership Trust is committed to ensuring that all our
staff work in a safe environment and are not put at risk.
Working alone can present difficulties and therefore it
is extremely important that teams have a robust and
operationally practical Lone Working System.
This can include a ‘buddy’ system whereby two
or more staff make an arrangement to checkin with each other at predefined intervals
without compromising safety. Alternatively
it can be a system whereby the lone worker
makes an arrangement to check-in with a
colleague who will raise the alarm if contact
is not made at predefined times.
It is particularly important that community
staff inform a colleague that they have
completed their last visit, or for office based
staff, have safely left the building.
If possible, a ‘Shadow’ diary, with the addresses
and telephone numbers for clients should be kept
in the office/clinic to enable contact to be made if
concerns about the whereabouts of a member of staff are
raised.
A system must be in place to provide staff with assistance and support.
Staff must ensure that up to date details for cars and mobile telephone numbers are logged with their line
manager.
For further information or assistance on any of these issues please contact Partnership Trust Security Manager
Marilyn Evans on tel: 07970 762495 or
Tony Childs Fire, Health & Safety Manager on tel: 07970 768367
WELL DONE!
Well done to all staff who have worked so hard to ensure
we meet our target for preventing Clostridium Difficile (C
Diff) infections across the Trust.
Earlier in the year we were in a challenging position but
thanks to everyone’s commitment to patient safety we have
made good progress. Keep up the good work everyone!
www.staffordshireandstokeontrent.nhs.uk
5
From Siobhan Heafield Director of Nursing & Quality
CALL BELLS: WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?
A call bell or button is found in any patient/service user area and allows people in health
and social care settings to alert staff remotely that they need help or assistance.
When the button is pressed, a signal alerts staff, usually a beep or a buzz and a
member of the team will respond to calls and find out what an individual may need.
The call buttons can be of great benefit to patients and service users as:
• It enables people confined to bed or chair and have no other way of
communicating with staff that they need assistance.
• Help peoples able to get out of bed or a chair, but for whom this may be
hazardous, exhausting, or otherwise difficult, to alert a member of staff of the need for
any type of assistance.
• Gives service users and patients an increased sense of security.
Staff can also use call buttons to call for additional help, or visitors can use them to call for help on behalf of
the patient/service user.
Best practice requires that a call button must be in reach of the patient or service user at all times. It is essential
to patients and service users in emergencies.
It is the responsibility of all the staff members in the team to explain to the patients/service users that they have
a call button and to teach them how to use it.
“Alarm fatigue” refers to the response - or lack of it - of staff to more than a dozen types of alarms that can
sound many times a day - and many of those calls may be false alarms.
It is essential that a quality service is provided and response to call bells by our staff is a means by which users
and visitors will make a judgment about the care they receive from us.
If you are a nurse, physiotherapist, speech and language therapist,
occupational therapist, social worker, dietitian, podiatrist, ward
manager, service manager, health care assistant, therapy support worker, assistant practitioner, technical
instructor please respond promptly to call bells and
undertake the action requested by the patient.
All professional clinical staff have a duty to
respond to the patients need when they
initiate the call bell
e.g. a therapist could answer a call bell and take a
patient to the toilet etc
It’s everyone’s responsibility to
answer a call bell whatever your
job role
Staff cannot ignore such calls.
www.staffordshireandstokeontrent.nhs.uk
6
April - Bowel Cancer Awareness Month
Bowel cancer
symptoms
poo
■ Blood in your
n
toilet more ofte
■ Going to the
l habits
ur normal bowe
■ A change in yo
s
ek
we
than 6
that last longer
y
d don’t know wh
■ Lost weight an
tummy
■ A lump in your
ily
s do not necessar
These symptom
er but
nc
ca
el
w
bo
ve
mean you ha
at you make an
it is important th
y if
your doctor toda
ith
w
for
appointment
ait
w
t
n’
do
e…
of thes
you notice any
the test!
The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme offers
screening every two years to all men and women aged
60 - 69 (gradually expanded up to 74 over the next couple
of years). People in this age group will automatically be
sent an invitation and then their screening kits in the post.
If you are unsure if you are eligible for a test kit please call
the number below.
For further information about screening for bowel cancer call
freephone 0800 707 60 60
www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/bowel
[email protected]
August 2012
Be bowel aware
Get checked…
“
clear instructions on how to
use it. I found it was really
easy to do. Yes, it was a bit
embarrassing collecting the
three stool samples, but in
the privacy of my own loo
not a problem.
Two weeks after completing
the kit and posting it back I
was surprised to be called for
further investigation which
revealed that I had bowel
cancer.
Here’s my story:
Thanks to the screening
process my cancer was found
early and after treatment I
am now back to my normal
self, on no medication and
enjoying playing golf and
spending time with my
family.
Harold: I had no signs of
anything being wrong with
me when I completed the kit
but I thought “why not do it
anyway, you have nothing to
Completing the kit was one
lose”.
of the best decisions I ever
The kit came through the
made and almost certainly
post and inside there were
saved my life.
Here’s our story:
Lynn: My test results
came back saying the
results were normal and
that I would be invited
to do the test again in 2
years. The kit was quick
to do, everything is so
simple and the great
thing is it can be done in
your home.
Barbara: I didn’t hesitate
to do the kit as I strongly
believe “it is better to be
safe than sorry”. It was a
good job I did do it as I
discovered I had polyps.
Polyps can develop into
cancer so I decided to
have them removed
which was easy, painless
and didn’t involve any
surgery.
“it is better
to be safe
than sorry…
everything is so
simple”
“Thanks to the screening process
my cancer was found early”
Do the test at your convenience…in your convenience.
Do the test and we’ll do the rest!
Mrs Christine Hall, Consultant Colorectal General Surgeon,
University Hospital of North Staffordshire
www.staffordshireandstokeontrent.nhs.uk
7
7
Thank You
Social Worker Andrea Trubshaw works at UHNS
supporting patients being discharged for assessment
and has received a lovely thank you form a local
residential home.
“Andrea’s attitude with patient
family and staff at the home is
exceptional. She was helpful,
pleasant and nothing was
ever much trouble
“She is a real “asset” to
the supported discharge
team and we would be
happy to work with her in
the future.”
The Cancer Volunteer
Network were in Hanley market
one day, every week throughout March
Be bowel aware. www.enjoytomorrow.stoke.nhs.uk
promoting Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and
have been thanked by a gentleman for their help.
Network volunteer Co-ordinator Dawn Fitzjohn
says “Because of the discussion he had with the
volunteers who manned the information stand the
previous week, he actually went to see his GP.
He thought his symptoms were due to his diabetes
but after talking to the volunteers he did the right
thing and went to see his GP.
The gentleman concerned has let the team know
what happened next, “ I came to the stand. Had a
word with the ladies about prostate because I had a
problem down below.
Dawn says , “This is evidence for the volunteers
that they are doing a fabulous job and making a
difference. I am sure there are many more people out
there with a similar story to tell.
I just want to say well done to all of our volunteers,
this programme wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for their
dedication and time. Thanks you are fabulous!”
A grateful message of thanks has been received
for the Podiatry Team based at Smallthorne Health
Centre:
“I would like to say how happy I am with my podiatry
treatment at Smallthorne Health Centre. Judith
Baynes, Sharon Edwards and Alicia Mountford
have been wonderful and their professionalism has
taken a lot of my foot worries away.”
Congratulations
Congratulations from the Healthcare Team at
HMYOI Brinsford and the Offender Health Division
to Staff Nurses Hayley Roberts and Jade
Harris for their fabulous success in
obtaining the Honours Degree in
Offender Health Studies!
Congratulations to Sister
Lisa Jones, Sister Wendy
Heeley and Sister
Andrea Cortes-Pooler
on successfully completing
their course “Emergency
Care of the Child”. Well
done from all of the team.
“I went the doctors and she found a lump and also
blood in my urine, so from that I am going to get the
job done. Thank you!
Please send all Compliments to:
the PALS teams for Health
[email protected] (South Division)
[email protected] (North Division)
or the Customer Service Feedback Team for Social Care
complaints&[email protected]
www.staffordshireandstokeontrent.nhs.uk
8