Pennine News - Oct 2014 - Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Pride in
Pennine
Quality-Driven
Responsible
Compassionate
Pennine News
Issue 128 • October 2014
INSIDE this issue:
• Getting the service right for
children and young people
• End of life care – focus on quality
• Celebrating our long serving staff
• Flu campaign launched by chief
executive
Electronic prescribing
systems rolled out
2
In the news
October 2014
Contents
PAT consultant involved in
research on breast cancer
and cholesterol ...............................Pg 4
Electronic prescribing ...................Pg 4
End of life care - focus
on quality ........................................Pg 5
Diary dates.......................................Pg 5
Learning the basics for
critically ill care................................Pg 6
Mayor’s visit.....................................Pg 6
New ultrasound breast..................
imaging equipment .......................Pg 6
New HR initiatives ..........................Pg 7
Team Talk ........................................Pg 8
Team focus on crisis response ......Pg 9
Flu vaccination programme
for 2014/15 ......................................Pg 10
Donation for NICU equipment ....Pg 11
Thought for the month ................Pg 12
Maxine’s on a mission! ..................Pg 12
PAT staff nominated for
health education apprentice
of year award .................................Pg 12
Celebrating long serving staff......Pg 13
Health and well being
champions at PAT ..........................Pg 14
New NED appointments ...............Pg 15
Staff notice board ..........................Pg 16
Inside News
THE Trust has several communication
tools to help keep staff up to date:
Team Talk is sent round monthly, for
use in all team briefings.
The chief executive’s Monday Message
is emailed on Mondays and contains
Trust, local and national key issues.
Weekly bulletins are emailed on
Mondays and contain a range of
operational and site information.
Online copies of all the bulletins
and Team Talk, plus more, can be
found on the Trust intranet at
nww.pat.nhs.uk/communications
You can send your stories for either
Pennine News or for local media
to Trust communications at
[email protected]
or call Nicola Berry on 44284.
If you have any ideas, views or
suggestions regarding communications
across the Trust, please email
[email protected]
Please recycle this magazine
Doctors at PAT lead
on specialist course
DELEGATES from across the country
travelled to The Royal Oldham Hospital
in June for a specialist course designed to
introduce them to academic medicine.
come to future events. Funds raised from
ticket sales will be given as a charitable
donation to The Royal Oldham Hospital
Fund.”
Organised by Dr Joshim Khan and Dr Syed
Shan, the idea for the event came about
when they began looking at the first
stages of writing a medical abstract for
publication.
Dr Rahul Potluri, founder/executive
director of ACALM study group and
cardiology specialist registrar, said:
“This course provided a clear insight
into academic medicine which enabled
delegates to gain a confidence and
understanding of the factors required for
successful publication. We look forward to
pursuing the future endeavours of ACALM
study group.”
Dr Khan said: “We felt the skills required
for efficient and successful abstract writing
could be developed through teaching and
training. Dr Potluri, cardiology registrar
at The Royal Oldham Hospital, kindly
offered to teach this to us through his vast
experience and we felt others should also
benefit from this. We therefore set up a
national teaching course aimed at medical
students, foundation doctors, ST and CT
trainees called ‘An insight into academic
medicine: Focus on research, abstract
writing and publication.”
Delegates gained a key insight into various
aspects of academic medicine with the
day beginning with an inspirational talk
from Professor Jacky Hayden CBE, Dean
of Postgraduate Medical Studies North
Western Deanery.
Topics the delegates then learnt about
included career progression, clinical audit,
publication tips and the peer review
process. Abstract writing workshops were
led by F1 doctors Dr Joshim Khan, Dr Syed
Shan, Dr Fatima Ziaei and Dr Zakeea Sher
and delegates rotated around the four
workshops entitled ‘Read, Follow, Write,
Sell.’ These were the four key steps for
abstract writing and submission which the
delegates were trained under. They were
then given the unique opportunity to get
involved with the ACALM* study group.
Dr Khan continued: “Our inaugural event
was the first of its kind for the ACALM
study group and for The Pennine Acute
Hospitals NHS Trust. The course attracted
many expressions of interest with delegates
attending from across the UK. With a total
of 35 attendees we were able to provide
an effective teaching course for all.
“Delegates’ feedback on the day was
hugely positive with many wanting to
Dr Suresh Chandran, acute medical
consultant at The Royal Oldham Hospital
who chaired the event, said: “This was
an excellent initiative on the part of the
organisers to address the important issue
of the art of publication and writing
abstracts. Despite it being a weekend, the
turnout was impressive. All the attendees
were very happy with the content of the
course and felt they had gained the skills
to try to embark on the journey of getting
some publications under their belt.”
Professor Jacky Hayden CBE, Dean of
Postgraduate Medical Studies North
Western Deanery, said: “I was honoured to
be invited to open an event arranged by
trainees for trainees and medical students
on beginning an academic career. I was
impressed that so many of our trainees
and students attended and was inspired
that so many of them aspire to contribute
to the academic base of our discipline.
Well done to Joshim, Syed and team for
the organisation and thanks to Pennine
Acute Trust for the use of the education
centre.”
* ACALM is a small group led by clinicians
who aim to work with junior doctors
across the UK to develop specific research
skills and learn through the art of
publishing in peer reviewed journals and
presenting at national and international
conferences. Since its inception in October
2013, over 60 medical students and junior
doctors are working with ACALM.
See page 4 for a story on Dr Potluri
speaking at a conference in Barcelona.
3
In the news
Getting it right for children and young people
VOICES of children were heard loud and
clear over the summer period at North
Manchester General Hospital.
The A&E department at the hospital was
seeking to engage with children who use
their department and capture their views
on how they can modify or re-design the
services that they offer, to become more
responsive to patients’ needs.
Running initially during August, the
department was looking to capture
the views of around 2,500 children and
families who come in to A&E by asking
them to complete a survey.
Dianne Cook, advanced paediatric nurse
practitioner at North Manchester General
Hospital, who is leading the survey and
engagement work, said: “Parent or carer
views are commonly used as proxies in
ascertaining information for surveys.
However, as with the Friends and
Families adult survey currently running in
the emergency department, we wanted
to give the opportunity to receive
feedback and views of the children and
young people who attend as well.
“Age should not be a barrier to ensuring
that people have a positive experience
of their care. We devised with several
children and young people’s input, a
postcard survey that was designed to
be short and age appropriate, with the
chance to provide comments seeking
children’s views on our service and how
we could improve things.”
The questions included in the survey
were: Did you feel that the nurses and
doctors looked after you today? Did you
like the place and space you were seen in
today? Did the staff make you feel better
today?
The paediatric nursing staff in A&E
distributed the postcard to any child
or young person (where appropriate)
who attended the department with an
acute or chronic illness or injury. The
children filled in the survey and posted
their replies in a confidential box in the
department.
Local children also got the chance to
become even more involved with the
survey when Pike Fold Community
Primary School in Blackley was invited to
design a colour picture to be used on the
postcard.
All 240 pupils from the school completed
their pictures with winners chosen from
each class, and a final overall winner
chosen by a judging panel comprising
Trust chairman John Jesky, Maureen
Denton, head teacher of Pike Fold
Community Primary School and members
of the emergency department. Chris
Hazelhurst, Asda Community Liaison,
presented donated vouchers to the
winners.
Molly, from Year 6 was chosen as the
lucky winner with her picture of ‘what
health means to me’ which was officially
unveiled as the graphic for the postcard
survey.
Professor Andrew Rowland, paediatric
emergency medicine consultant, said:
“This is a very exciting initiative for us
as we eagerly look forward to hearing
the children’s and young people’s
contributions. We want to give them a
greater voice in the design of healthcare
services and engage with our local
community to strengthen links and
communication with our local partners.”
Pictured left to right: Dianne Cook,
advanced paediatric nurse practitioner;
Professor Andrew Rowland, paediatric
emergency medicine consultant; Molly
from Pike Fold Community Primary School
and Chris Hazelhurst, Asda Community
Liaison.
A move in the right direction for A&E system users
SINCE 2005 the A&E departments at the Trust have not kept paper record cards
in storage for patients. Instead the cards are scanned and the images stored
electronically so when a patient attends A&E, staff can easily view previous cards
within the Symphony A&E computer system.
Recently the storage system has been experiencing problems and it was agreed
the cards would be moved onto a new system. This was a very complicated
undertaking as each card image needed to be correctly indexed into the Symphony
patient database. The complexity of the operation and the demand on the A&E
system server meant that this could not be done while the system was running,
meaning the A&E departments had to run using the manual fall back system of
whiteboards, pens and paper. In order to reduce the clinical risk, the move was
carried out over night when patient numbers are lower.
End users should notice no change in the system, except the system being more
responsive! From the Trust perspective, it has moved a vital clinical system away
from a single point of failure on an outdated piece of equipment and will enable
other interlinked projects to move ahead.
Dr Jim Butler, consultant in A&E at North Manchester General Hospital, and
Symphony system lead said: “This change required careful planning and a
co-ordinated team approach in all of the departments using Symphony. All
those involved performed magnificently, whether they were IM&T/supplier staff
staying up all night to do the technical procedures, A&E clinical staff keeping the
departments running without the usual systems in place, the Symphony system
manager, or the admin and clinical staff who recovered the overnight data allowing
the Trust performance reports to be issued by lunchtime the next day.
“This was a good opportunity to test our fall back and recovery plans which are
used in the event of any interruption to the Symphony system, which will itself be
upgraded later this year. Knowing the disaster recovery procedures have been so
thoroughly tested provides reassurance that the departments can get through any
further downtime with minimal impact on service provision.”
Congratulations and thanks to all the staff who were involved in the recent move it
was a great success, well done!
4
In the news
October 2014
Possible link between breast cancer and
cholesterol - PAT consultant involved in research
A CARDIOLOGY registrar at The Royal
Oldham Hospital has recently presented
his research findings at an international
conference.
Dr Rahul Potluri, who has worked at the
Trust for four years, went to the Frontiers
in Cardiovascular Biology conference
in Barcelona, in July, to highlight the
association between high cholesterol
and breast cancer following a study of 1
million patients, over a 14 year period in
the UK.
Dr Rahul Potluri, founder of the ACALM
Study Unit and lead author, said: “Our
preliminary study suggests that women
with high cholesterol in their blood may
be at greater risk of getting breast cancer.
It raises the possibility of preventing
breast cancer with statins, which lower
cholesterol, but as this is a primitive study,
significant time and research is needed
before this idea can be tested.
“We have a general principle that obesity
is linked to breast cancer and a study in
mice suggested that this may be because
of cholesterol. We decided to investigate
whether there was any association
between hyperlipidaemia, which is high
cholesterol essentially, and breast cancer.
“We found that women with high
cholesterol had a significantly greater
chance of developing breast cancer. This
was an observational study so we can’t
conclude that high cholesterol causes
breast cancer but the strength of this
association warrants further investigation.
“A prospective study that monitors the
risk of breast cancer in women with
and without high cholesterol is needed
to confirm what we observed. If the
connection between high cholesterol and
breast cancer is validated, the next step
would be to see if lowering cholesterol
with statins can reduce the risk of
developing cancer.
“Statins are cheap, widely available
and relatively safe. We are potentially
heading towards a clinical trial in 10-15
years to test the effect of statins on the
incidence of breast cancer. If such a trial
is successful, statins may have a role in
the prevention of breast cancer especially
in high risk groups, such as women with
high cholesterol.
“While our study was preliminary,
our results are promising. We found a
significant association between having
high cholesterol and developing breast
cancer that needs to be explored in
more depth. Caution is needed when
interpreting our results because while we
had a large study population, our analysis
was retrospective and observational
with inherent limitations. That said, the
findings are exciting and further research
in this field may have a big impact on
patients several years down the line.”
Electronic prescribing systems rolled out
SEVENTY SEVEN wards at hospitals run
by The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS
Trust can now boast that they have the
latest technology to help clinical and
nursing staff.
The critical care unit at North Manchester
General Hospital celebrated being the
latest ward to roll out the electronic
prescribing and medicines administration
(ePMA) with the fully integrated
HealthViews discharge summary.
Medchart is the electronic prescribing
and medicine administrative system
(ePMA) which uses software to improve
the management, legibility and safety
of medicines recorded within the Trust.
Pennine Acute was the first Trust in the
UK to go live on Medchart.
Previously drug prescriptions would be
handwritten which could mean that
some were difficult to read or could be
lost, whereas doctors now use the new
system to prescribe drugs to patients
and manage discharge prescriptions.
Nurses use the system to record the
administration of drugs to patients
and the system helps them to plan and
organise their drug rounds with legible
prescription information, which replaces
the handwritten kardexes which were
kept at the end of the patients’ beds.
HealthViews is a web based application
which allows clinical staff to log into
a number of different systems at any
one time using a single sign in with a
password to check on the records of
patients. This can include requesting
radiology reports and
electronic discharge
summaries for patients
and as the system is
available 24 hours a day, it
is much safer for patients.
Dr Georges Ng Man
Kwong, consultant
chest physician and
clinical director, who has
been involved with the
project from the start
said: “I would like to
congratulate and thank
all of our staff who have
embraced and implemented ePMA
which has been one of the biggest
change projects ever undertaken by The
Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and
the largest implementation of MedChart
in the world to date. By changing work
behaviours and processes, the project has
had a major impact on patient care and
safety, and linking discharge medications
to Healthviews has significantly increased
the quality and timeliness of discharge
summaries.
“Roll out to complex clinical areas has not
been without challenges and importantly
we have learnt from these to develop
and grow from strength to strength.
ePMA and Healthviews have paved the
way for other major clinical IT systems
which will further improve and integrate
access to clinical information whilst
ultimately improving patient care.”
Libby Woodcock, ePMA lead, who has
overseen the roll out of the technology,
said: “We are proud to say that we have
over 5,000 users trained on the system
with around 900 beds across the Trust at
North Manchester General Hospital, The
Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General
Hospital in Bury, Rochdale Infirmary
and the Floyd unit at Birch Hill Hospital
all live. Maternity at Oldham went live
in September with oncology wards,
paediatrics and neonates to follow. A
pilot in A&E and outpatients will also be
completed.
“Clinical and nursing leads have provided
immense support throughout and have
helped in making this project a success.
The feedback obtained from ward staff
has proved to be largely positive with
ward managers stating they would NOT
want to go back to hand written drug
charts!”
Pictured on front page: Libby Woodcock,
Dr Masie Tan and staff nurse Shelly
Begum.
5
News - Trust stories
End of life care - focus on quality
Infection prevention
accreditation awards
CONGRATULATIONS to the
departments pictured below who
have received infection prevention
accreditation certificates.
END of life care in Pennine
Acute hospitals is about to be
transformed!
The end of life care team have signed up
to a national transformation programme
which aims to empower clinicians to
deliver excellent quality care at the end
of life.
The programme is based on education,
development and implementation of
the following 5 ‘key enablers’ which will
inform the course content;
EPaCCS (Electronic palliative care
coordination systems)
Advance Care Planning
AMBER Care Bundle
Individualised plans of care for each
patient at end of life
Rapid palliative transfer
Following the classroom days, a ten
month ward based teaching and guidance
programme will be introduced with a
view to training at least 80% of staff on
each ward in 10 topic areas specific to end
of life care, thereby empowering staff to
deliver excellent quality end of life care
to all.
On completion of the ward based
teaching, a further case note audit of
deaths on the pilot wards will take
place to demonstrate the impact of the
programme. The ‘Transforming end of life
care in acute hospitals’ programme will
be evaluated and an implementation plan
produced to roll out to other wards.
Sarah Mullen, Macmillan associate end
of life care facilitator, said: “The end
of life care team are very excited about
implementing the programme with the
support of the specialist palliative care
teams and the spiritual care team, which
we hope will ensure that PAT hospitals
consistently deliver high quality care at
end of life and that patients and their
families experience compassion and
dignity at what can be a very difficult
time.”
A pre audit of case notes for all deaths
on the pilot wards within a specified
period has taken place to establish a
baseline, as well as a pre knowledge,
skills and confidence
questionnaire to
“Every patient will receive optimal pain and If you have
be completed by
symptom control at the end of life. This will any questions
all ward staff. A
bereavement survey encompass physical, spiritual and emotional regarding the
programme
was also undertaken needs. At this time patients and carers will
please contact
last year, the results be treated with dignity, respect and be
the Macmillan
of which have been communicated with in an open, honest,
end of life care
taken in to account
compassionate manner.”
team on 0161
in the development
656 (7)1253 or
of the programme.
[email protected]
Two wards from each of the Trust’s
Pictured left to right are: Sarah Mullen,
four hospitals have been identified to
Macmillan associate end of life care
take part in a pilot programme and
facilitator; Christine Taylor, Macmillan
‘champions’ from these wards which
end of life care facilitator; Dr Paul Cook,
include healthcare assistants, nurses,
specialist palliative care consultant at PAT
ward managers and senior medical
and Dr Kershaw’s Hospice ; Jayne Macken,
staff will attend an end of life care
end of life care facilitator; Tony Bonser,
champion two day classroom course. This
north west dying matters champion;
is then followed by a two day hospice
Abdul Amin, quality improvement
placement in one of the Trust’s local
manager, Greater Manchester, Lancashire
hospices including St Ann’s, Springhill,
and South Cumbria Strategic Clinical
Dr Kershaw’s and Bury Hospice, to give
Network, NHS England and Mandie
the staff the opportunity to work with
Sunderland, chief nurse.
a specialist palliative care environment.
Lessons learned and reflections of best
practice will then be included in a final
classroom day.
WARD T5 at The Royal Oldham Hospital.
Pictured left to right: Sr Christine Nixon,
ward manager; Sr Lynn Wright, ward
sister; matron Julie Mills; staff nurse Lisa
Cooke who is the link nurse for infection
control; staff nurse Lisa Ward; healthcare
assistant Angie Slicker; ward domestic
Jackie McDonald and Dr Fathema Johura.
The neonatal unit at Oldham. Pictured
left to right: Lynn Bowe, unit matron; Sr
June Butterworth who is the link nurse for
infection control and Lorraine Durham,
infection prevention specialist nurse.
New integrated
community diabetes
service
A NEW integrated diabetes service
that will deliver improved outcomes
for hundreds of people with diabetes
across Bury and the Rochdale borough
went live on 22 September.
The service has been jointly
commissioned by NHS Bury CCG
and NHS Heywood, Middleton and
Rochdale CCG and will be jointly
delivered by Pennine Acute Trust and
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.
The new service will see community
and hospital-based diabetes staff come
together to form a single integrated
service called the Bury and HMR
diabetes service.
More details in the next edition of
Pennine News.
Diary dates
17 Oct - Emergency management
and mitigation presentation by
Allan Cordwell. 2-3pm, Education
centre, TROH
30 Oct - Arts event tour and talk
with Rob Vale. 2-3pm, Education
centre, TROH
6
People
October 2014
Learning the basics for critically ill care
“This is a great way for foundation
doctors and the nursing staff to learn
first-hand various scenarios they may
encounter and the skills needed to
manage critically ill patients.
THE critical care consultants from
North Manchester General Hospital
and The Royal Oldham Hospital
recently joined forces to plan and
deliver an ICU BASICs course to a
number of foundation doctors and
nursing staff.
The two day course took place
in the state-of-the-art simulation
suite at NMGH and consisted of
assessment of the seriously ill,
acute respiratory failure, airway
management, basic haemodynamic
monitoring, arrhythmias, shock,
acute renal failure, sepsis,
neurological emergencies, sedation,
nutrition and stress ulceration. It also
included practical sessions in mechanical
ventilation, simulation, NIV, vascular
access, arterial blood gases and metabolic
electrolytes.
Jane Bryan, directorate manager,
anaesthetics and critical care services, said:
“The co-ordinator for this event
was Dr Nagaraja Ravishankar, ICU
consultant at North Manchester, who
was assisted by Dr Chung in doing a
great job in pulling this all together.
This is the first time we have had a
collaborative approach across the
Trust, but it won’t be the last with
another course planned for 27 and 28
January 2015.”
The course has been approved by RCOA
for 12 points and is the only one of its
kind held in the north west.
New ultrasound breast imaging
equipment at Oldham and North
Manchester hospitals
NORTH Manchester General Hospital and
The Royal Oldham Hospital have become
the first hospitals in the UK to install a
new Siemens ultrasound imaging system
for patients.
Changes to
ophthalmology service
FROM 1 August 2014 Tameside and
Glossop patients with cataract or minor
eye conditions, will have both their
ophthalmic outpatient appointments
and operations carried out at Tameside
General Hospital. This follows a
request by Tameside CCG to move the
service back from Rochdale Infirmary.
The Pennine Acute Trust will provide
the service.
The new equipment has improved HD
image quality and is easy to upgrade
with new technologies as they become
available.
A team of six consultant radiologists, a
consultant radiographer and advanced
practitioners from the Trust operate
across the two hospitals to deliver breast
ultrasound services to patients, seeing
between 20-60 patients per day.
The new system helps the busy team by
guiding them through examinations stepby-step and activating relevant modes in
the shortest time possible.
Alison Darlington, consultant radiographer
for breast imaging at North Manchester
General Hospital and The Royal Oldham
Hospital said: “We looked extensively at
a number of breast ultrasound systems
and found that the image quality offered
by Siemens’ systems came out head and
shoulders above the rest. The review mode
on the system lets us bring up multiple
images on one screen at the same time.
When looking for something tiny in the
breast, this is a huge benefit to us. A
hockey stick probe also makes looking at
the areola of the breast easier.”
Pictured: [Left to Right] Melanie Taylor,
mammographer at NMGH; Alison
Darlington, consultant radiographer at
NMGH; Richard Evans, Regional Sales
Manager at Siemens Healthcare; and Jackie
Dempsey, clerical officer at NMGH.
7
News - Trust stories
New initiatives to be rolled out across Trust
THERE is some exciting work being undertaken behind the scenes
to improve the way that the Trust operates. Over recent months
a review has commenced of back-office services to ensure that
the best possible support is given to front-line staff in the most
efficient and cost-effective way. The review is wide-reaching and
is being overseen by the Trust Executive through a Programme
Office comprising a mix of Trust staff and external resources.
Whilst some of the changes that will arise from the review
may take a little time to put in place, there are a number of
developments on the immediate horizon. These developments are
aimed at improving the way that the Trust manages its workforce
and will help ensure that we are making the very most of our
resources in delivering the best quality patient care.
For details on any of the initiatives or any other workforce
support changes, contact the workforce programme management
office on 44484.
Introducing Capsticks HR advisory service
ON 1 September 2014 Capsticks became the new provider
of the HR advisory service for Pennine Acute Trust. The
new service ensures that managers have the best possible
advice, guidance and support in dealing with employee
relations issues, for example, employee grievances, bullying
and harassment claims, absence and disciplinary matters. The
service, as well as ensuring consistent application of the Trust’s
employee relations’ policies, ensures that cases are dealt with
as speedily and effectively as possible in line with agreed
timescales.
Staff with concerns relating to whistleblowing or bullying or
harassment will also be able to contact Capsticks for advice.
Ongoing roll-out of doctors’ rostering system (DRS)
THE new DRS system allows rosters to be prepared up to 12 months in advance and
to be readily available online, thereby improving the way that the Trust manages the
deployment of its medical resources. The system provides managers with the facility
to view rosters across different areas so they can plan for cover in a more effective and
efficient way. The system will reduce the Trust’s reliance on agency staff and help to
improve the quality of patient care. A roll-out timetable is currently being prepared
along with briefing material. The system is already up and running in infectious
diseases, and is being rolled out within anaesthetics.
Employee staff record (ESR) self service
STAFF can now access their own personal information currently held on ESR, giving
ownership and accountability for the information held on this system. Self-service
widens access to e-learning and enables all staff to book onto face-to-face learning
on-line.
Total reward statements/annual benefit statements will also be accessible using this
facility, allowing all staff in the pension scheme to access their Total Reward Statement
(TRS). The TRS is a personalised summary showing the full employment package
including basic pay, allowances and pension benefits for NHS pension scheme holders.
New online facility for staff - AskHR
ALL staff will occasionally have questions relating to their employment. The new online
facility gives staff and managers access to a series of frequently asked questions (FAQs)
relating to HR policies and procedures. AskHR can be found on the intranet under
workforce on the homepage, ask HR.
Should your question not be included within the FAQs there is a facility to email
questions to a mailbox and your query will be answered by a member of the workforce
team.
New agency booking system ‘Simplicity’
This system which went live on 14 July has been developed to help manage and control
the use of agency and bank workers. The system will ensure that the use of agency
workers is minimised and that existing resources are deployed effectively. Where agency
workers are to be engaged, the new system will ensure that the appropriate process is
followed and that costs are minimised. The next phase is the development of a locum
staff bank, which will provide better opportunity to fill gaps in rotas using internal
locums before using agencies. The provisional go-live date of the staff bank is the end
of October 2014. This is a major step forward in improving quality, safety and efficiency.
Monitoring and
reporting of sickness
NEW arrangements are to be trialled
for reporting sickness absence that
will initially apply to doctors, dentists,
midwives, nurses and healthcare
assistants. This 24 hour service will be
operated by an external organisation
‘FirstCare’. Affected staff will speak to a
nurse from FirstCare as soon as they are
unable to attend work due to sickness.
The member of staff will receive advice
and support on the next steps that they
should consider taking to help them get
back to a healthy state.
Managers will have easy access to
sickness absence trends throughout
the organisation and will have prompt
notifications of sickness absence,
helping them to better plan around
absence and limit any operational
disruption.
Electronic system for
disclosure and barring
system (EDBS)
AN online checking service for Disclosure
and Barring (previously known as CRB)
is now in place for our appointees who
work with vulnerable adults or children.
The system allows the disclosure form
to be pre-checked prior to submission
to the Disclosure and Barring Service
so that it can be processed as quickly
as possible. New starters are able to
take up their post much quicker, which
relieves the pressure on existing staff
and reduces the reliance on agency
workers.
More effective
recruitment processes
A NEW system is being introduced which
will give managers greater visibility
of their own recruitment activity. It
is envisaged that this will reduce the
average time that it takes to hire a new
member of staff from between 16 and
20 weeks, to a maximum of 13 weeks,
thereby reducing the costs of bank and
agency usage and improve quality of
care.
8
Team talk
October 2014
Have
you been
briefed?
Team Talk takes place once
a month and is a way of
updating you about the
latest news from the Trust.
SEPT TEAM TALK
Team Talk
New whistleblowing policy
THE Trust Whistleblowing Policy has been updated in discussion with staff side
representatives. This is an important policy given the need for all staff to remain
vigilant and never tolerate abuse, violence or lack of care. Staff should feel
confident enough to report any such behaviour immediately in the knowledge that
it will be addressed promptly and fairly. Any member of staff who witnesses or hears
of behaviours that are a concern has a duty to report it, to their line manager, to
a staff side representative, or direct to the Chief Executive or anonymously on the
Trust’s 24 hours Whistleblowing telephone line on 0161 627 8808. We must never
accept poor behaviour in our services.
Payroll service
modernisation
THE Trust’s revised payroll service
has gone live. The major change is
how staff contact the payroll office
which is via a single central telephone
number – 0161 918 4432. There is
also a dedicated email address for
all payroll and pension queries –
[email protected].
Corporate identity
FROM 1st September, our NHS Trust logo will be complemented by Pride in Pennine
and our Trust Values within a consistent new colour design. This will become
our new corporate “house style”. The aim is to support staff and departments in
adopting and ensuring a consistent approach to the use of our Trust identity across
all of our newly produced internal and external corporate printed and electronic
material. This includes all internal staff bulletins such as the Monday Message
and Pennine News, our screensavers, PowerPoint presentations, Trust posters, our
marketing brochures and banners, our FT material and newsletters, our annual
reports, our public website, and our new intranet. A corporate house style guide
will be owned and overseen by our communication department; this guide will be
made available and shared with staff in the next few weeks.
New intranet
THE Trust’s new intranet (internal website) has been redesigned and redeveloped
to be more user friendly for staff. It should help you find the information you
need and keep you up to date with Trust news, key announcements and important
projects and events. This project follows extensive staff engagement whereby
staff views were collated through the Listening into Action (LiA) programme. All
staff have access to the intranet on all Trust computers. Access to Trust policies
via the online Document Management System (DMS) and access to the variety of
clinical and non-clinical IT systems can still be found on the new intranet at the
top navigation bar of the site and via your computer desktop (shortcuts). You can
use the main site navigation on the homepage and through the A-Z of clinical
and corporate departments to find a department or specific content. In addition,
the new intranet has an enhanced search function to help you find what you are
looking for. If you need to resort back to the old intranet then there is a button on
the bottom of the new site.
There is more content that needs to be revised and uploaded, and more sections
that need to be created. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions and
content that you would like uploaded for your department that is not on the new
intranet, then please get in touch with the Communication Dept via emailing
[email protected] or complete the form on the intranet which is
accessible on each page. If you have any technical queries about the intranet such as
problems accessing any IT systems, then log a call with the IM&T helpdesk as normal
or speak with your systems manager.
Pride in Pennine - Our
Values
ALL staff should have received the
Trust’s new Vision & Values leaflet
stapled to your August pay slip.
On one side you will find our Trust
Values, developed by staff, that
determine how we work and the
promise we make to our patients,
their families, the public and each
other as colleagues. Our Values
guide everything we do. On the
other side of the leaflet is our vision,
our strategic goals, our ten corporate
priorities for 2014/15, and our five
year strategic plan (transformation
map). The development of our new
vision, values and transformation
strategy follows a huge amount of
work undertaken to involve and hear
our staff views though our Pride in
Pennine crowd sourcing website and
our strategy summit held in May.
On 5th September every old poster
displaying the Trust’s previous (now
out-dated) values which had a
yellow tick will be replaced with a
poster listing our new values. By w/c
8th September every ward, clinical
areas and out-patient departments,
site restaurants, meeting rooms,
education centres, public areas
and waiting rooms should display
our values poster. In addition,
all areas will have a copy of the
transformation map for display.
9
Team focus - a day in the life of
Team focus on crisis response team
The 60 second interview
Maria O’Callaghan is the sister and IV therapy project nurse within the crisis response team
based at Charlestown Health Centre in Blackley. The team provides urgent assessment and
intervention for patients in the community and makes sure that the right services are in place
to support patients at home.
What are the highlights
of your job/service?
We are a mutidisciplinary team
comprising highly skilled staff including
advanced nurse practitioners, sisters,
physiotherapists, occupational therapists,
a social worker, admin staff, two
pharmacists and support workers.
The highlight of our service is that
our combined skill, knowledge and
experience can prevent unnecessary
hospital admissions and also we really do
help people.
What would make your
job/service better?
If more people knew about us I am sure
we would become better known!
How do you see your role
developing?
As it is a new service and a pilot service
everybody’s role is changing and
developing as we go along.
What don’t you like
about your job/service?
There is nothing that any of the team
do not like. This is a pilot service so it is
important for us to become established
and work with all stakeholders and
partners in the acute setting as well
as GPs, district nurses and active case
managers.
What is the current
biggest challenge in your
job/to your team?
As we are a relatively new service our
biggest challenge is to get ourselves
known! This would increase our referrals
and keep hospital admissions down.
How has your job/ service changed in the last
12 months?
As it is a pilot service there has been an
increase in referrals and a change in the
structure of staff.
What is the one thing you
would change about your
job/service?
I really do not think we would change
anything. As we are a new service we
are learning as we go along to improve
things where necessary. We have a very
supportive manager and weekly team
meetings where we can discuss anything
that we think is important to the service.
We have a chart in the office with the
headings ‘what is working well and what
is not working well’ and all staff use this.
What word best describes
your job/service?
Multi-disciplinary
What aspect of your
job/service is the most
rewarding?
Every day in crisis response is rewarding
as we feel we really do make a
difference. By keeping patients at home
and putting in services, we are keeping
them with their loved ones. What could
be more rewarding than that?
A typical day
A typical day is all staff come in
to work and on the wall we have
patient details i.e name, diagnosis and
individual team members who need
to input their services.
We have a handover which all team
members contribute to and we then
decide who is best to see the patient
on that day depending on their
needs. Each patient is seen by each
discipline whilst they are a patient of
the team.
When the patient is referred, we carry
out an initial assessment where we
are able to identify and co-ordinate
intervention and plan with the
patient to provide a package of
support to enable them to stay at
home. If however, a more supported
environment is needed, we can
arrange a temporary placement such
as an intermediate care bed. We can
also refer on to other community
services such as the falls team,
dieticians and active case managers.
10
News - Trust stories
October 2014
Flu campaign 2014 launched -
Staff conduct and
ethnical standards
ALL staff should be aware of the
Trust’s expectations in relation to
their conduct and ethical standards.
What is expected from staff:
Ensure that the interest of patients
remains paramount at all times
Be impartial and honest in the conduct
of their official business
Use the public funds entrusted to them
to the best advantage of the service,
ensuring value for money at all times
What staff should not do:
Abuse their official position for
personal gain or to benefit their family,
friends or associates.
Seek to advantage or further private
business or other interests, in the course
of their official duties.
Sue Smith, counter fraud officer, said:
“It is assumed that all staff are able to
distinguish between acceptable and
unacceptable behaviour in the conduct
of their duties, but if you are in any
doubt, you should seek advice from a
senior officer.
get your staff jab in at one of the staff clinics
THE Trust’s flu staff vaccination campaign 2014/15 has been launched. The Trust is
committed again to offering the flu vaccination free to all clinical and non-clinical staff to
help protect staff, their families and our patients.
We did well last year in achieving a 60% staff vaccination uptake. We are aiming to
vaccinate more staff this year and to make it easier for staff to get the flu jab. Nearly 100 of
our ward sisters and clinical departmental managers have agreed to act as flu vaccination
leads for their wards and areas to vaccinate their staff. Flu link nurses will be available
on wards – ask your ward manager. More information about the Trust’s flu campaign is
available on the intranet and details of the staff flu vaccination clinics across all sites will be
publicised on the weekly bulletin, intranet and in Pennine News.
Occupational health October Flu clinic dates
Date
Time
Site
Venue
6 Oct
9.00am to 11.30am
12 noon to 3.00pm
RI
Education centre,
D1
7 Oct
8.30am to 12 noon
12.30pm to 3.30pm
FGH
Occupational health
9 Oct
9.00am to 12.30pm
RI
Walkabout in non
clinical areas
1.30pm to 4.00pm
OPD suite 1
10 Oct
8.00am to 12 noon
12.30pm to 3.15pm
TROH
Occupational health
13 Oct
8.30am to 11.00am
11.30am to 3.30pm
FGH
Vestibule
“It is a long established principle that
public sector bodies, including the
NHS, must be impartial and honest
in the conduct of their business and
their employees should remain beyond
suspicion. Staff should be aware that
it is an offence under the Bribery Act
2010 for an employee to give, promise
or offer a bribe and to request, agree
to receive or accept a bribe. Any breach
renders staff liable to prosecution and
disciplinary action.
14 Oct
8.30am to 11.00am
11.30am to 3.30pm
RI
Staff restaurant
16 Oct
8.30am to 11.30am
RI
Physio,
cardiorespiratory,
dietetics, podiatry,
pharmacy
“I would like to draw the attention of
all staff to the Standards of Business
Conduct for NHS Staff – Declaration of
Interests Policy (Intranet/Documents/Non
Clinical Documents/ Finance). The policy
underpins the above and exists to assist
staff in maintaining strict ethical standards
in the conduct of NHS business.”
17 Oct
8.30am to 11.00am
11.30am to 3.30pm
NMGH
OPD G (F2a)
20 Oct
8.30am to 11.30am
12 noon to 3.30pm
NMGH
Walkabout
to physio, OT,
cardiorespiratory,
dietetics, speech
and language
therapy, podiatry,
radiology
21 Oct
9.00am to 1.00pm
TROH
Pathology staff only
(am)
Occupational health
If you wish to report fraud, bribery or
corruption, contact Sue on 0161 922
3549, Mobile 07813188479, e-mail
[email protected].
11.30am to 1.00pm
X-ray
2.00pm to 3.30pm
Walkabout to non
clinical areas
2.00pm to 4.00pm
Oldham car park update
22 Oct
8.30am to 11.00am
11.30am to 3.30pm
FGH
Eye clinic
William Street Suite
The Trust has purchased and received
planning permission to convert Westhulme
Park into a staff car park. The new car park
will have over 500 spaces and be accessed
via Westhulme Avenue. There will be a
pedestrian access into the hospital grounds
near to the Nursery and the area will be
covered by CCTV.
23 Oct
8.00am to 12 noon
12.30pm to 3.45pm
NMGH
Occupational health
27 Oct
8.30am to 11.00am
11.30am to 3.30pm
NMGH
Gallery restaurant
28 Oct
8.30am to 12 noon
12.30pm to 3.30pm
TROH
Walkabout
to physio, OT,
cardiorespiratory,
dietetics, speech
and language
therapy, podiatry
30 Oct
8.30am to 11.00am
11.30am to 3.30pm
TROH
Cafe Royal corridor
Building work is expected to start in October.
This will replace the temporary arrangement
we have with Oldham Athletic Football Club.
11
News - Trust stories
New equipment for neonatal
unit thanks to fundraisers
BABIES born and in need of total body
cooling treatment will benefit from
specialist new equipment, helped by a
donation of £4,200.
The cheque was presented to the staff on
the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at
The Royal Oldham
Hospital by
Stephanie Brown,
from Oldham.
Stephanie
has firsthand
experience of
what it is like to
have a newborn
relative in need of
specialist care. Her
nephew, Cooper
Harris, required
specialist care on the NICU after being
born with birth asphyxia.
The much needed money will be used
to help purchase equipment including a
dedicated suction unit, monitoring system,
oxygen blender and ventilation equipment.
This will be used when transferring babies
requiring total body cooling from the
maternity ward/theatre to the NICU at The
Royal Oldham Hospital.
The majority of the money was raised
by Stephanie through sponsorship and
hosting fun quiz nights and curry evenings.
Stephanie says she will continue to raise
money for as long as possible and her
personal target is to raise £10,000. Her
current total is £6,039.
Fundraiser Stephanie Brown said: “My
family, particularly my sister Samantha
and her husband David Harris, have been
absolutely overwhelmed by the support
and generosity of our friends, family and
colleagues. I do want to highlight that I
have not raised this money alone, I have
only played a part
in a team of people
raising this money.
There’s the people
helping to organise
events with me such
as Louise Taylor,
Paul Duce and John
Payne who ran
the Oldham Half
Marathon in October,
and of course the
people who have
donated the money.
I would also like to say a big thank you to
all the staff on NICU for saving my nephew
Cooper’s life.”
Lynn Bowe, unit manager/intensive care
matron at The Royal Oldham Hospital said:
“The equipment we are buying will help to
safely take the baby from delivery to the
neonatal intensive care unit in a dedicated
incubator. This will mean that the baby
goes into the cool incubator immediately
following birth and stays in there. This
means that in effect, the cooling process can
commence slightly earlier, which is a great
benefit to the baby.”
“The system currently used means that the
baby has to be transferred into another
specialist cool incubator on arrival at the
NICU.”
All the fun of the fair
A HUGE thank you to everyone who attended the 2014 Annual Floyd Unit Summer
Fair at Birch Hill Hospital.
Unit manager Karen Gaunt, said: “The weather was kind and the visitors were
very generous. The afternoon was a resounding success with a record breaking
£1321.11 being raised from 1pm to 3.30pm.
“The Mayoress of Rochdale very kindly opened the fair and was very impressed
with the various stalls and crowds showing their support for the unit.
“Thank you to all the staff who volunteered their time on the day - Angie,
Tommy, Sharon, Brian, Jessica, Ted, Louisa, Mikey, Mark and Colin. Thank you
to all the staff, patients and relatives for the very kind donations for the raffle
prizes; to Amber face painting for her amazing face artwork; to Oldham catering
department for the cakes and biscuits they donated; to Curtain Call drama group
for their fab comedy sketches and singing performances; to Sean, Joanne and
Suzanne for offering the opportunity for a relaxing reiki taster session and finally
thank you to volunteers Stewart and Sue who, as always, worked amazingly well
to ensure everyone bought a raffle ticket or was locked into the stocks for a wet
sponging…although they failed to get me in them!!!!!
“I look forward to next year’s fair and the challenge of it being even bigger and
more successful.”
Volunteers needed
to help older
people
OLDER people’s charity Royal
Voluntary Service is calling on
local people to volunteer for an
on-ward befriending service at North
Manchester General Hospital and The
Royal Oldham Hospital.
The charity, working in conjunction
with Pennine Acute Trust, are
recruiting volunteers to provide
practical support for older people,
including those with dementia at
a critical time when they need it in
hospital. The service will improve
the patient experience through
conversation, companionship and
support. Intended outcomes will
include health benefits, reduced
duration of stays, social benefits and
improved carer/family experience.
If you are interested in finding out
more and have a minimum of two
hours per week spare, please contact
Lindsey on 0161 604 5346 or E-mail,
Lindsey.ashton@royalvoluntaryservice.
org.uk. Training and out of pocket
expenses will be provided.
Recognising
excellence
CONGRATULATIONS to Lisa Smith
and Martin Fox of the leg circulation
service at North Manchester for the
publication of a cover page article
in the British Journal of Community
Nursing, June 2014 Vol19, n06, on
‘The role of the community clinician in
early detection, referral and treatment
of critical limb ischaemia.’
Well done from all your colleagues.
12
October 2014
People
Thought for
the month
by chaplaincy co-ordinator Rev
John Hall
THE autumn season often feels like
another New Year beginning.
For those from the Jewish faith,
New Year has just been celebrated,
known as Rosh Hashanah, a two day
celebration at the end of September.
Anyone in education knows that term
begins with all its expectations. As a
Trust there is a feeling of a new term
with our new structures, logos and
values.
Responsible, quality-driven and
compassionate is the smallest
summary that came out of a huge
interactive piece of work.
At times this can seem bewildering
as the volume of information is vast
yet we know that we need to keep
moving forward.
It’s good to have new beginnings. It’s
good to know what our values should
be.
Our spiritual care team have entered
into a new beginning as we work
jointly with all other health staff on
those wards piloting the transforming
the end of life care programme.
For all these new starts should be
motivated by giving the very best
quality of care we can give, to
patients, carers and one another.
Showing responsibility in knowing
who does which task and then the
essential ingredient of compassion.
Compassion is about showing respect,
valuing others, being professional.
Compassion is at the heart of all faith
communities, it is something special,
shared and lived out, it is something
that we can all demonstrate.
Sometimes a new beginning just
reminds us of the importance of that
as we define our values and make
them count.
Maxine’s on a
mission!
MAXINE Mansfield, booking and
scheduling clerk at Rochdale Infirmary is
celebrating after scooping the top prize
in a competition held by the elective
access division to identify a new mission
statement.
The competition received over 30 entries
and entrants faced a tough judging panel
hosted by head of service improvement
(elective access), Sharon Carey; EDRMS
operational project manager, Jonathan
Clark, and associate director of elective
access, Jo Keogh, but Maxine’s winning
statement ‘Elective Access – Planning
Patient Care With Pride’ wowed the
judges, and has now been adopted by
the division to encapsulate their mission
statement for the future.
Maxine was presented with her award
and prize of £50 Trafford Centre vouchers
by clinical administration manager,
Diane Whetham, on behalf of Jo Keogh,
associate director of elective access.
Maxine said: “I was really shocked, but
thrilled to win the competition. It’s been a
great opportunity for staff like myself to
get involved and help shape the future of
the service. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Head of service improvement, Sharon
Carey, said: “Congratulations to Maxine
on a well deserved win and for the
fantastic contribution she has made to
the future vision of the elective access
division.”
Trust staff nominated for the Health
Education North West Trust Apprentice
of the Year award
FOR a number of years, the Trust has been providing and
commissioning a range of apprenticeship frameworks for
Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust staff to access.
Apprenticeships are offered in a range of frameworks
in both clinical and non-clinical topics and can be
undertaken by both new and existing staff to further
develop their knowledge and skills in their role.
The learning and organisational development (L&OD) department will be
celebrating student successes in achieving their apprenticeships, in the autumn at
the annual education awards ceremony.
This year there will be an inaugural award provided by Health Education North
West for Trust Apprentice of the Year. The award is for any staff member who has
completed an apprenticeship within the last year, where their assessor or tutor feels
that they have ‘gone that extra mile’ and deserve recognition for their hard work.
Pam Earley and Lorraine Davies (curriculum development co-ordinators in L&OD)
have been busy contacting all the assessors and internal verifiers who either work in
the Trust or for a college or training provider, to invite nominations.
Simon Milk from Damar Training has nominated Ann Higgins who is a medical
secretarial supervisor in respiratory medicine who completed an apprenticeship in
management (Level 3). In his nomination, he commented that “…Ann was able
to demonstrate (people management) skills in abundance, and it was genuinely
inspiring to see motivational, caring, and target-focused leadership, which should
be applauded.”
Beverley Nixon from the L&OD department has nominated Madeline Brodie,
community midwifery support worker, who undertook a level 2 apprenticeship in
health (maternity and paediatric support). Beverley commented that “… during the
programme, (Madeline) developed her skills and knowledge and started to believe
in her own ability to complete the course. Now she is delighted to have achieved
the qualification, and is not afraid to pursue new learning.”
The L&OD department have many more nominations to look through and would
like to congratulate all of our apprentices who receive a nomination. We are
looking forward to announcing the winner of the Trust Apprentice of the Year in
October.
Do you want to find out more about apprenticeships for yourself or for the
development of members of your team? For further information or to discuss
apprenticeship frameworks available contact Pam Earley (non-clinical) on 0161 720
2869 or Lorraine Davies (clinical) on 0161 720 2794.
13
News - Trust stories
Celebrating our long serving members of staff
AT the Pennine staff awards ceremony
in June, John Jesky presented certificates
to recognise staff who had achieved 40
years service in the NHS.
Prior to the event, staff were asked to
share their memories of the NHS and a
booklet of these was produced and given
to those receiving the award to mark the
occasion. This provided an interesting
insight into what the NHS was like in
the not too distant past and included
memories of starched white aprons,
patients being allowed to smoke in bed,
the concert hall at Springfield Hospital,
kaolin poultices, manual typewriters, the
Chairman of the Health Authority having
a chauffeur, queuing at the on-site bank
to cash your pay cheque and a first year’s
salary being the princely sum of £705.
A total of 38 certificates have been
presented in 2014 to staff achieving
40 years service. These are: Kathleen
Abbott, theatre practitioner; Elizabeth
Barrow, sister; Martin Bennett, catering
supervisor; Kaye Chadwick, sister gynae;
Diane Charlesworth, intermediate care
nurse assessor; Megan Crook, midwife;
Susan Dennett, staff nurse; Therese
Dent, staff nurse; Catherine Edwards,
medical technical officer; Karen Eidukas,
paediatric dental nurse; Catherine
Harrington, senior radiographer; Sheila
Hill, healthcare assistant; Susan Howard,
discharge ward manager; Mamode
Jaunbocus, senior sister; Lesley Lee,
supervisor; LesleyMagee, sister; Christine
McGovern, upper GI nurse endoscopist;
Elizabeth Morgan, healthcare assistant;
Kitty O’Connor, healthcare assistant;
Jacqueline Pickering, medical team
absence manager; Pamela Redman, staff
nurse; Patricia Rigby, community midwife;
William Robinson, chef; Susan Roe, team
manager; Valerie Saville, sonographer;
Lesley Schofield, staff nurse; James Shaw,
estates officer; Susan Smith, counter fraud
officer; Susan Smith, staff nurse theatres;
Ian Stevenson, team leader; Julie Swatkins,
clinical lead; Ann Taylor, tracker; Margaret
Townsend, staff nurse; Andrew Waite,
cook; Ian Walmsley, payroll accounts
manager; Joy Whitworth, waiting list
co-ordinator; Lynn Wright, staff nurse;
Beverley Young, midwife.
This is an annual event and the next will
be held in 2015 to recognise staff who will
achieve 40 years service in that year. If
you think that you have achieved 40 years
(total) NHS service and have a start date
of 1975 or before please contact Jackie
Livesey on 44311 or e-mail Jackie.Livesey@
pat.nhs.uk and she will ensure that you
receive an invite to the event.
Celebrating 25 years in the NHS at special award events
THE Trust held its annual long service award events for 25 years service in June of this year. Those receiving the awards were invited
to the events which were held on each of the four sites. Divisional directors attended to present certificates to staff and a buffet
lunch was provided.
The long service award scheme is available to all staff within the Trust who have attained 25 years (or more) total service in the
National Health Service. The scheme recognises all service, except casual work in the NHS. You must be working at Pennine Acute
Hospitals Trust when the 25 year mark is reached. If you have had a break in service, it is possible that all separate periods of
employment may be aggregated for qualification purposes.
Eligible staff will receive a long service certificate and Capital Bonds to the value of £250.
If you think that you might be eligible for a long service award, please contact Jackie Livesey on 44311 or email Jackie.Livesey@pat.
nhs.uk and she will forward you the necessary paperwork.
Oldham, top left (LtoR) Paul Loy,
Michelle Eachus, Patricia Morgan,
Deborah Ashton, divisional director of
surgery, Diane Dean, Sharon Green,
Stephanie Anderson, Gail Dufeu, Jane
Tunstall and Ann Devall.
Rochdale, bottom left (LtoR) Nick Hayes,
deputy director of HR, Joanne Keogh
and Christopher Fletcher.
North Manchester, bottom right (LtoR)
Nargis Adam, Alison Ahamed, Helen
Fowell, Julie Tallon, Gillian Diggle, Mary
Mahon, Susan Shepherd, Catherine
Taylor, Heather Wardle, Janet Birch,
Amanda McDonald and Steve Taylor,
divisional director of medicine and
community services.
Fairfield, top right (LtoR) Patricia
Mellor, Lisa Turner, Julie Shepherd,
Christina Sherman, Carol Banks, Patricia
Arthur, Gillian Delaney, Jean O’Donnell,
Judith Maden, Bridget Bentley, Cheryl
Osborne, Denise Cirne and Chris Sleight,
divisional director diagnostic and clinical
support.
14
News - Trust stories
October 2014
Health and well being PAT’s workplace champions
are here to help
IF you are passionate about supporting
your team, and want to make a
difference to the health and well being
of your colleagues, then this could be a
vehicle to assist you.
Well being champions are Trust staff who
have volunteered to get involved and are
from all levels and specialities.
How will you get involved?
We launched our first programme for
champions in January, and have been
in touch on a regular basis to support
each other and share what we have been
doing within our teams.
The role of the champions is primarily to
signpost colleagues towards information
and support, and to talk and listen
to them about their health and well
being. Champions give people support
in making the changes which are right
for them and can signpost to specialist
services when necessary.
They help with keeping people motivated
by encouraging them to set achievable
health goals. This approach has been tried
and tested in other Trusts so we know that
it can have lots of positive benefits.
Did you know?
A medium glass of wine contains the
same calories as two plain digestive biscuits?
Excessive salt can seriously damage your health, and adults need less than
1g of salt per day, but many can consume between 7 to 10g? 1 gram (g) of
table salt equates to: 0.18 teaspoons (tsp) in table salt volume! For more
information visit www.actiononsalt.org.uk/less/surveys/index.html
Here is a flavour of what our well being champions have been promoting
recently.
Conducting an alcohol awareness quiz at the beginning of a meeting www.
drinkaware.co.uk
Sharing health food tips - see Heather’s (fat free ) Tea Loaf below
Promoting awareness of mental health through poster displays
Signposting
Coming soon - Lindsay’s recommended walk
Bookings are now being taken for a second cohort of well being champions - for
further information or to express an interest in the programme please contact
Roz at [email protected] or Lindsay at [email protected]
The role is designed to be fun and
informal, and can be as little or as much
as people want it to be. It could be just
a case of taking a little time to listen
when a colleague starts talking about
wanting to do more exercise, or putting
up posters in the staff room to promote a
national health campaign.
Heather’s healthy fruity tea loaf
Champions initially attend a two day
programme which has been developed by
The Royal Society for Public Health in line
with the national framework for health
and well being. Champions also have
the opportunity to achieve a recognised
Health Improvement qualification. There
are then ongoing support sessions where
our champions meet throughout the year.
1 cup of cold black tea
Champions in our first cohort are
Carol Rogers (IM&T), Christine Oliver
(microbiology), Heather Jones (IM&T),
Glynis Jones (facilities), Barbara Hughes
(medical secretaries), Ilky Cook (complaints),
Joseph Anderson (Lifewise Gym) Roz
Lawson and Lindsay Eavis (L&OD).
Cooking Time:
Preparation Time:
Serves:
45-50 minutes
soaking time plus 10 minutes
15
Ingredients
227g (8oz) dried fruit
227g (8oz) self-raising flour
1 or 2 eggs, beaten
6 level tbsp artificial sweetener (or to taste)
Method
Soak the dried fruit in the tea overnight or for a minimum of two hours.
Add all the other ingredients, mix well then place in a 1lb loaf tin lined with baking
parchment or greaseproof paper.
Bake in a 180oC/350oF/Gas mark 4 oven for 40-50 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin. Slice into 15.
The Rock Choir sings on into 2015
THE Trust has agreed to fund/subsidise another three terms of the staff workplace Rock Choir. Led by local
Rock Choir leader Phil Reynolds, the choir will run for three ten-week terms with one week half term breaks
throughout the year.
To join, staff need to pay £40 per term at the start of each term (cheques payable to The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust) and
attend rehearsals on Thursday evenings from 6-7pm in the education centre, TROH. The first term starts on 18 September.
For more information visit the Rock Choir section of the intranet (under staff room) or email [email protected] or ring 83228.
15
News - Trust stories
Appointment
of new NEDs
THE Trust has welcomed the appointment
of two new non-executive directors to sit on
its Trust Board - Mr Riaz Ahmad OBE, from
Oldham and Wendy Cardiff, from Lancaster.
Mr Ahmad is a Fellow of Chartered
Certified Accountants and has run his own
accountancy practice in Central Manchester
for over 25 years. He was the Chair of the
Racial Equality Council and currently sits
as a Magistrate in Oldham and is the Chair
of the Family Bench, as well as previously
being Chair of Greater Manchester Courts
Board (2004-12).
Reminiscing over tea and cakes
PATIENTS on the discharge unit at The Royal Oldham Hospital were
treated to afternoon tea in July.
The best china was dug out as patients and relatives enjoyed sandwiches and
cakes, served with cups of tea by the discharge unit staff.
The unit has recently had a major refurbishment to make it more dementia
friendly for patients. Susan Howard, unit manager, said: “The unit looks stunning
now as we have some wonderful pictures of Oldham on the walls. There is a large
mural of Dovestones reservoir and lots of local photographs which have already
been admired by patients young and old.
“A lot of our patients on the unit have dementia and so we have introduced
memory boxes which prompt conversations between staff and patients. The boxes
enable our patients to reminisce as they are full of old photos, postcards, Oxo
tins, buttons and things to touch and smell. The looks on some of our patient’s
faces when they reminisce about the old days are fantastic. Our older patients are
amazing and we love to listen to the stories that they are willing to share with
us.”
Volunteers from the Royal Voluntary Service have also been working with staff
on the unit to improve facilities for patients with dementia. They sit and chat
with patients and encourage them to talk about their lives, along with enjoying a
singalong to old records.
Mr Ahmad was previously Chair of the
Audit Committee of NHS Manchester
Primary Care Trust Cluster (2011-13) and
Chair of NHS Oldham Primary Care Trust
(2002-11). He was elected to Oldham
Council 1992-2008 and was a Member of
the Cabinet for Finance, HR and Partnership
(2004-08). He was recently re-elected as
a councillor. He was awarded the OBE
in 2008 for services to local government,
the Administration of Justice and to the
community in Oldham.
Mrs Cardiff has over ten years’ experience
operating at board level in a variety of
worldwide executive roles within BT
plc. She is currently General Manager of
Procurement where she is reporting to the
Business VP and responsible for managing
the purchasing of IT Services Business.
Prior to this, in the same role she managed
the Retail Enterprise Business. She was
previously Head of Procurement responsible
for initially managing BT Ireland and then
moving to manage the Retail Conferencing
business in the UK and US. She is a Member
of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and
Supply (MCIPS).
Riaz Ahmad OBE replaces Mrs Catherine
Fairhurst, whilst Wendy Cardiff replaces
outgoing non-executive director Mr Michael
Holly.
Blood bank team providing urgent out of hours service
A CHARITY who provide urgent out of hours transportation of blood products and similar medical supplies free of charge to the
NHS have been providing such services to our Trust since May and are offering their support for the foreseeable future.
North West Blood Bikes Manchester, a charity operated by a team of volunteers of qualified riders and drivers, have been
transporting urgent supplies on our behalf during all hours of the
night, supported by charitable gifts and sponsors all wanting to put
something back into the community.
Steven Moss, facilities services manager for the Trust said: “I wish to
thank Blood Bikes and those organisations supporting them. It is not
often you get something for nothing but thankfully this is one of those
occasions. By providing such services to the Trust without charge, the
Trust is able to target some of its financial resources into other areas of
need, enhancing the quality of our services while maintaining urgent
supplies day and night.”
To help support this initiative please ensure any items being collected
are suitably packaged for transportation. If you wish to find out more,
go to www.nwbbm.org.uk or if you’re out and about late at night on
one of our hospital sites why not look out for them.
16
Staff room - noticeboard
October 2014
Staff noticeboard
Well done
CONGRATULATIONS
to Trevor Matthews,
estates officer based at
North Manchester and previously at
Fairfield, for gaining a 2:1 Bachelor
of Engineering degree with honours.
Well done from all the estates staff.
Farewell to Dr Hammer
DR HAMMER retired from the Trust
on Thursday 22 May after 27 years
service as consultant in chemical
biochemistry.
Anne-Marie is
wished well
Many of his friends and colleagues
attended a buffet lunch to wish
him well, and Dr Hammer provided
a thoroughly entertaining brief
history of his time with the Trust,
from his recruitment in 1987.
ANNE-MARIE Smith, associate
director, diagnostics and clinical
support, was presented with flowers
and gifts from her friends and
colleagues, by divisional director
Chris Sleight on 20 June.
Dr Hammer will be missed by his
many friends and colleagues, and
is pictured here, with Len Fielding,
receiving and thanking everyone for his gifts and the national gardening tokens.
Taking flexible retirement so that
she can spend more time with her
family, Anne-Marie will be missed by
colleagues across the division. She
joined in November 2011 as associate
director and latterly also undertook
the divisional lead nurse role.
Best wishes from all of us Dr Hammer for a long, happy and well deserved
retirement.
Long serving members recognised
However, Anne-Marie will still be
seen around the Trust as she is
taking on some part time project
management work. The division
wish her well in her new role.
TWO members of Northern Air
hospital radio were recently
recognised for their long service.
Colin Daffern and Howard Copitch
were presented with their certificates
by June Snowden, President of the
Hospital Broadcasting Association
and Fred Ayre, patron.
Colin and Howard are pictured with
June and Fred, and other members
of the hospital radio team including
chairman Marshall Gellman and station manager Joe Sambrook.
Sorry to see you go Sue
Grateful thanks
from a patient
CONGRATULATIONS to Sister Courtney who took
early retirement after working a remarkable 32
years in theatres.
Sue was dedicated to the department. Her
manager and colleagues are proud of the fact she
held a clean sickness record, as she had never had
any time off sick!
She commenced training in April 1978 and worked
on the Marjory Lees Children’s Unit before
becoming a staff nurse in 1982 in operating theatres. Within two years of
qualifying she became a Sister and proceeded to become a team manager in
theatres.
Sue enjoyed her final working day with friends and colleagues, past and
present, all wishing her a very long and happy retirement after all her hard
work and dedication.
A celebratory lunch took place in theatres for Sister Courtney where she was
showered with flowers, gift vouchers for Housing Units, chocolates, money,
wine and champagne.
A PATIENT has written in to thank the
staff from the anti-coagulant clinic at
North Manchester General Hospital for
all their care over the years.
She said: “I have received fantastic
patient care from the team. As I wait
for my appointment I watch them in
action working together in an excellent
professional manner but sharing a
wonderful rapport with patients, often
under difficult times.
“You never hear them complain, they
show dedication to the work they do for
NMGH, and I feel so confident and glad
I am under their care.”