Mail on Monday

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week!

This week (18-24 May) is Mental Health Awareness Week! We wanted to just remind you that the theme of this year’s campaign is ‘kindness’ and so we want as many of you as possible to get involved and spread the message far and wide.

 

We  you to share your kindness stories with us, whether it’s a kind gesture you’re planning, a kind gesture you’ve already carried out or maybe one you received that meant something to you. You can submit these stories via a 60 second video or a photograph with a paragraph – these can be sent to the communications team via WhatsApp on 07880169760 and they will be shared on social media to spread the kindness message. Anyone who submits a story will receive a branded ‘BCHFT’ heart-shaped pin badge, so get your submissions in as soon as possible!

 

ALSO – make sure you tune in to our virtual Zoom talks:

 

Meeting ID: 994 1093 9120 | Password: 6HWaCc

 

 

Join the talks whether you have a question or want to find out some top tips!

Safeguarding update

7 Stage Think Family briefing

When practitioners consider the needs of an individual in the context of their relationships and environment, they are better able to work with partner agencies to deliver a coordinated package of care that meets the needs of the whole family and secure more effective and safer outcomes for them all. 

 

Findings from recent Trust route cause analysis investigations and local domestic homicide reviews emphasise the importance of practitioners considering the whole family when providing individual care to one member of it. This means thinking about the children and the adults in the family, and considering where their strengths and resilience lie, but paying particular attention to where they individually and collectively would benefit from further support from partner agencies – to whom the practitioner can and should refer.

 

Communicating with the family, exploring and seeking to understand what is happening to them and thinking the unthinkable, rather than accepting things at face value, assists practitioners to take the right action at the right time.

 

The safeguarding department provides safeguarding supervision to practitioners on a one-to-one, group, or team basis, where there are patient/service user safeguarding concerns. Please contact your Trust safeguarding named nurse/safeguarding named practitioner for more details.

Think parent, think child, think family. You can view the full document here.

Prevent

The purpose of Prevent is to safeguard vulnerable adults and children from being targeted and radicalised by terrorist recruiters. 

 

Social distancing and self-isolation means that vulnerabilities and associated risks are further heightened, and make those individuals more susceptible to the messages they receive.

 

Prevent deals with all forms of terrorism, including but not limited to Islamist and extreme right-wing, and it does not focus on any one community.

 

Your role is important in helping to identify where possible vulnerability and risk of radicalisation exist, then reporting it. The Prevent leaflet helps you to identify those risks and vulnerabilities, and guides you about what to do next. NOTICE, CHECK, SHARE.

 

Domestic abuse guidance

In response to local domestic homicide learning/recommendations and the police and crime commissioner’s #noexcuseforabuse campaign, it is imperative that we all remain vigilant to the experiences our service users and colleagues may be going through, if they are living in domestic abuse households. Therefore, the safeguarding department have produced a guidance document to assist in you opening up conversations about domestic abuse, so that you can do the right thing at the right time.

People of the Black Country

For last week's episode of People of the Black Country, we spoke to Senior Nurse Practitioner Kathleen Humphries! 

 

Kathleen said: "I work as a Senior Nurse Practitioner with the Memory Service at Edward Street. We are primarily a dementia service and my job is to assess and support the diagnosis of dementia. 

“I specialise specifically in young onset dementia, so I work very closely with the medics in assessing and diagnosing dementia in people under 65. I then provide post diagnostic support and continue to support them going forward with all the challenges they may face in coming to terms with their diagnosis.  

“I am very lucky to work with an amazing team doing a job I love! I am very passionate about dementia so getting to work in this field is a blessing. 

 “A fun fact about me is I just think I’m a little bit loopy! I’m full of fun and mischief as I’m sure any colleagues who work with me will verify. I haven’t quite grown up yet!"

Bikes needed for Gerry Simon Clinic!

The team at Gerry Simon Clinic, Heath Lane Hospital have been looking into different exercise options for patients, and have started to use some old mountain bikes.  

 

The bikes that the team are using are extremely old, and are breaking quite frequently, so they would be extremely grateful if any staff have unused mountain bikes that they would be willing to donate.

 

They can be dropped off from Monday – Friday at Heath Lane, for the attention of Ruth Burns, Specialist Inpatient Occupational Therapist or the activities team.

ESR downtime

The ESR (Electronic Staff Record) system will be unavailable from 6pm on Friday 22 May, until 12pm (midday) on Monday 25 May, in order to carry out a technical merge event.

Please note that you will not be able to access ESR and/or complete your mandatory training e-Learning during this downtime period.

Please ensure that you are logged off by 6pm on Friday. The ESR batch queues will be held from 4pm on Friday to ensure that no batch work is running when the service is withdrawn at 6pm.

Business Continuity Awareness Week

This week is Business Continuity Awareness Week, and the theme this year is ‘we are stronger together’.

 

Business continuity management is an important tool for every organisation, to be able to manage and respond to disruptions in service – particularly important given the current pandemic. As a Trust, we are required to have full business continuity plans, and some work is developed to ensure that our plans are fully robust. Brian McMillan, Emergency Planning Officer, will be offering training to all staff and working with teams across the organisation to build better plans.

 

The Trust has access to a number of documents and information sources. If staff have any questions about their local plan or the resilience of the organisation, please contact brian.mcmillan@nhs.net.

 

Covid-19 staff debrief

As part of the Trust’s emergency planning duties, we are committed to incident debriefs. Ordinarily these are conducted within two weeks of an incident ending and are a useful tool to gauge how the Trust has reacted to the incident, how we could improve our response and how our staff have been impacted by the events.

 

Due to the longevity of the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of the scale of the disruption, the Trust feel that a ‘mid event’ debrief with staff would be beneficial. This will help us to improve our response should there be a second wave of infections.

 

The scope is not to look at transformation and change activities, but to reflect on how you felt the organisation responded and how it may be done better next time. The Trust is committed to supporting its staff and learning lessons to improve our incident response.

 

Please take some time to consider the questions in our survey – this information is reported back to NHS England/Improvement so please do take the time to respond if you can.

In answering, please think about how systems, processes and services have worked, rather than individuals.

 

For further information on the debrief, please also contact Brian McMillan via the email address above.

Eid Mubarak

The spiritual care team, along with the Trust, would like to wish Eid Mubarak to all those who are celebrating the end of Ramadan over the spring bank holiday weekend, including patients, staff, carers and visitors. To find out more about Eid, please click here. 

 

The team usually visit various units/sites around the Trust to mark this special festival, sharing in festivities and food (including samosas!) However, due to coronavirus, this won’t be possible this year. We hope that those participating in Eid festivities can mark it in a different way this year, but in a way that is equally meaningful and celebratory.

 

The spiritual care team are still available to support staff by phone, as well as continuing to offer spiritual and faith care to patients. They can also advise staff who are providing direct patient care, with issues around spirituality, faith or culture. The best way to get hold of the team at the moment is by phone on 07813 015325 or by emailing bcpft.spiritualcareteam@nhs.net.

Congratulations to Tess Moroney!

Tess Moroney, who previously worked as a CPN in the street triage team, has been awarded an Excellence in Service Delivery Award by West Midlands Police.

 

Tess and her police colleague have been recognised for their professionalism when dealing with a male who was in a mental health crisis, and also being violent and aggressive. They were with the male for nine hours with no relief, but remained professional throughout.

 

“Tess is a very experienced, professional and conscientious registered nurse who has worked in urgent care settings since qualifying in 2000. Tess joined the crisis home treatment team in Wolverhampton in 2008, and then in November 2014 was successful in her appointment as a CPN, working in partnership with West Midlands Police and West Midlands Ambulance Service in setting up the street triage service.

“She is a valued, key member of the team and has always shown care and compassion when engaging with service users. She is well respected not only by her mental health colleagues but by her colleagues within West Midlands Police.”

Well done and thank you Tess – very well deserved recognition!

Sam Skelding’s wellbeing update

Mental Health Awareness Week

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme for this year’s campaign is ‘kindness’. We can all suggest that there are a number of reasons since the turn of the year, as to why this year’s campaign and its theme are as important as ever to be aware of. Please visit Mental Health Foundation to see information about the campaign and why kindness was chosen as this year’s theme. Please also look at our wellbeing guide for information to help you look after your wellbeing during this time, and also a list of available support for staff. Please look out for our videos this week around looking after your wellbeing, improving your sleep, mindfulness, and videos from our Mental Health First Aiders!

 

Emma Louis, Spiritual Care Lead will also be offering another mindfulness session via Jitsi this week – Thursday 21 May at 12.30pm for an hour.

 

Join the meeting here: https://meet.jit.si/StaffMindfulnessPracticeGroup or to join by phone, dial 0121 468 3154. Code – 479247855 #

Schwartz Rounds

Many of you may have read or heard about Schwartz Rounds before. They provide a forum where all staff, whether clinical or non-clinical, can come together to discuss the emotional and social aspects of working in healthcare. The purpose is not to solve problems or analyse the clinical aspects, but to understand the challenges, rewards and compassion involved in patient care, and reflect on this openly as a group. For more information on Schwartz Rounds, please visit the Point of Care Foundation page. Due to Covid-19, we will be running a virtual version – Team Time. If you and members of your team would be interested in taking part, please contact myself and I can signpost you to how to take part!

NHS staff discounts

Food parcels

Islamic Help and Hazrat Sultan Bahu Trust have kindly donated free food parcels containing essentials such as milk, tinned food and other related food items for our staff who might be struggling at this time. We still have parcels left to collect from some of our inpatient sites (Hallam Street in Sandwell, Dorothy Pattison in Walsall, Bushey Fields in Dudley and Penn in Wolverhampton).

 

If you would like to reserve a food parcel or find out more, please contact Yassar Mohammed, Staff Governor on 07970 372473 via phone call or text message. These parcels are free, however, if you would like to make a donation in-kind to our Trust charity, please contact Erica Pearce on 07752514190 or email erica.pearce@nhs.net.

 

SearchChildcare

SearchChildcare offers a free search of registered childcare providers, including those currently open to key workers. It also gives advice and support on different types of childcare, and information on registered childminding – how it can offer flexible, high quality care and early education, including atypical hours.

 

My GCSE Science

My GCSE Science are offering an 80% discount for parents who work for the NHS, to provide access to My GCSE Science Distance Learning for their children until 30 June 2021. This offer is most suitable for current year 10 students who will be taking their GCSEs in the summer of 2021. Please email support@my-GCSEscience.com from your NHS account and specify if you require Combined Science (Double Award) or Triple Science access.

 

Graze in Bridgnorth

Give Graze in Bridgnorth a like on Facebook. Every month on a selected weekend they offer free burgers (for collection) to NHS staff, with a sponsor donating the cost to a charity (May was Severn Hospice). Look out for the next weekend when this will be on offer so you can place your order!

Secondment opportunity: Band 6 care coordinator, Dudley North CRS

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the adult community service line as a Band 6 care coordinator. There are two secondment opportunities – one for six months and one for 12 months.  

 

The main focus for this role will include working within the Dudley North CRS team to:

 

  • Manage a caseload of patients open to secondary mental health services.
  • Manage duty calls from patients open to secondary care mental health services.
  • Work closely with the MDT to deliver safe and effective care.
  • Provide supervision and leadership to support workers.

 

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact Jack Dingley on 07471 025271.

Please submit an expression of interest via email/writing by Monday 25 May to jack.dingley@nhs.net

Pharmacy transport bags

Please can we remind all staff that pharmacy transport bags are for transporting medications only. They should be emptied immediately on arrival to the wards and either handed back to the driver or left in your usual collection area. Do not store these bags in your clinical areas or use them for any other purpose other than transporting medication.

 

If you have a stock pile of bags, please arrange with transport for an immediate collection. This allows the bags to go back to be cleaned and put back into the pharmacy transport system.

International Nurses Day (IND) is tomorrow!

We would like to say a massive thank you to all the nurses who submitted their nursing stories over the past week. We truly do appreciate these personal stories, and the creativity that has gone into pulling these together in such short notice. These stories will be shared via our social media and website starting from tomorrow, so stay alert for more updates on these.

 

Everyone who has sent us a submission has been entered into a draw for prizes, and tomorrow, we will make an announcement on staff space – so if you are not already a part of the group, we suggest you join today to find out the prizes!

If you and your team are celebrating IND tomorrow, share with us your photos and videos at bchft.communications@nhs.net, and we will feature them on all our social media channels throughout the week.

 

Nurses – don’t forget your revalidation!

As we celebrate IND, nursing has never been in sharper focus or more needed as a profession. It’s easy for nurses who are working so hard on the frontline, and in some cases redeployed to unfamiliar areas, not to prioritise their revalidation submission plans at the moment. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has given some assistance with this by giving a three-month extension for those nurses who were due to revalidate in March, April, May and June – but not beyond this. Please make sure you have your evidence ready to submit your online application, and those due to revalidate beyond 1 June will need to plan for revalidation at their normal time, unless we receive further updates from the NMC in the coming weeks. If you require any support or guidance, please contact Jayne Hloul, Nurse Development & Revalidation Lead at Jayne.Hloul@nhs.net.

People of the Black Country

We recently told you that in order for us all get to know each other a little better, we would introduce: People of the Black Country – a weekly feature focusing on different staff members. For last week's episode of People of the Black Country, we spoke to Catering Supervisor Elaine Westwood! 

 

Elaine said: “I work in the Trust’s catering team and I’m responsible for leading staff at Bushey Fields Hospital in Dudley. We make sure that all our patients receive high-quality food and drink, and that our service runs smoothly.

 

“We all support each other in the catering team, we are one big family who strive to provide the best service for our patients. Our work has even been recognised nationally, as we were shortlisted for a HSJ Award last year! I attended with members of my team and it was amazing.

 

“A fun fact about me is that I once came into work forgetting I had booked annual leave - I would honestly lose my head if it wasn’t attached!”

Important Rio update for LD and CYPF services

Having conducted a review of the Rio system, the EPR programme team have identified a number of progress notes which have been left unvalidated. This is an urgent matter which all qualified staff should work to resolve. 

 

To aid this validation process, the EPR programme team have created a front-end Rio report, as well as a quick reference guide to steer you through the process. This report is named ‘My Unvalidated Progress Notes’ and is currently published to the Rio Live system. It will produce all the unvalidated notes for the user who is logged into Rio at the time of running it. The ‘Validating Progress Notes’ guide is available for download and can be found here.

 

If you are unqualified, you will need to print the report and forward it to a qualified member of staff, to validate your progress notes.

 

If you have any issues, please log a call on the BI helpdesk, or you can call: 07989168183/0121 612 8020 (Dan), 07970511223/0121 612 8021 (Ravi), or 07790357818/0121 612 8022 (Molly).

Band 5 perinatal peer support coordinator vacancy

As part of the expansion of specialised perinatal community services, an exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic perinatal peer support coordinator to join the specialist perinatal community mental health service in the Black Country teams (Sandwell and West Birmingham and Dudley team and Walsall and Wolverhampton).

 

They are looking for a compassionate, thoughtful and motivated woman that wants to use her own experience of mental illness in the perinatal period to support others, and to coordinate the development of the peer support work role in the Black Country perinatal service. The post-holder will have the capacity to build relationships, show empathy in challenging situations and sit with women in their distress. Likewise, they will be able to inspire and lead others, providing supervision to other peer support workers as they make the transition from experiencing their own difficulties to working alongside women currently under the service. Because of the level of distress the post-holder may be exposed to, it is expected that they will have developed a level of resilience in their own recovery, whilst being able to reflect and share this with others and use available support and supervision.

 

For more information including the job description and person specification, and to apply, please click here.

Interim management arrangements – former DWMH

We are pleased to announce interim management arrangements for the DWMH division. These are secondments that will remain in place until they are replaced by the new clinical divisions and their structures. All changes are as of today (11 May). 

 

Debbie Cooper and Ann Preece have taken up deputy director roles, working to Jacky O’Sullivan, and aligned as follows:

 

Debbie Cooper

  • Aligned to inpatient, specialist services and adult community.
  • Management of the MHA office and OT professional lead.
  • Leads for OOA plan and bed management developments for this division.
  • TCP lead for this division – working with Dr Jawed.

 

Ann Preece

  • Aligned to urgent care access & CAMHS services, older adult community/OPD/employment.
  • Ops link for Dudley ICP.
  • Ops lead for DMBC dissolution of Section 75.
  • A&E Boards.

 

Kelly Plant has taken up the head of inpatients role, and James Parker the head of urgent care, access & CAMHS role. For clarity, all five heads of service will continue to report to Jacky O’Sullivan.

Celebrating Mental Health Awareness Week

Next week (18-24 May), we celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week which is an important week for us all. The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘kindness’ and so we want as many of you as possible to get involved and spread the message far and wide. Throughout the week, we want you to share your kindness stories with us, whether it’s a kind gesture you’re planning, a kind gesture you’ve already carried out or maybe one you received that meant something to you. You can submit these stories via a 60 second video or a photograph with a paragraph telling your story – these can be sent to the communications team via WhatsApp on 07880169760, and they will be shared on social media to spread the kindness message. Anyone who submits a story will receive a branded ‘BCHFT’ heart-shaped pin badge, so get your submissions in before 18 May!

 

We will also be holding virtual talks via Zoom around topics such as sleep, so stay tuned to find out more information! A range of mental health resources on topics such as how to overcome fear and anxiety, and looking after your mental health in later life, will also be shared.

Support for staff undertaking personality disorder interventions

Personality disorder is a complex and often controversial diagnosis. For these individuals, impairment of social, psychological and occupational functioning can lead to a substantial reduction in their quality of life and increased risk of suicide. Often, people diagnosed with a personality disorder have experienced significant trauma in their lives, however, this diagnosis can be stigmatising. It is imperative that clinicians are aware of and follow good practice principles and NICE guidelines, and seek supervision when working with clients.

BCHFT provides a range of treatment and interventions that meet NICE guidance requirements, for staff undertaking personality disorder interventions. These include various psychological therapies and community mental health services.

One such recommended treatment is Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT). DBT is an intensive and structured evidence-based intervention, suitable for clients who have ongoing high risk or life-threatening behaviours, as well as difficulties in relationships and managing emotions. However, as with all psychological based interventions, clients will need to be at a stage in their recovery where they can make effective use of it. For example, it would not be suitable to refer a client to DBT if they are unable to leave their home. For these clients, other interventions from the community team will be initially required to get them to a stage where they can effectively participate in therapy.

Below are links to current NICE guidelines, to help support you in your work with clients with personality disorder.

 

For further information, please contact specialist practitioners in your area.

Sam Skelding’s wellbeing update

Vivup cycling

Many of us are still digesting last night’s update to government guidance, and we have had a lot of changes to cope with in recent weeks. One thing that has stayed consistent is the messages around living a healthy lifestyle. Recent research has shown that positive lifestyle advice such as keeping a healthy body weight, eating healthily, keeping active, keeping our alcohol intake low and taking safe measures to reduce stress, all have a positive impact on your health and continue to be recommended during the pandemic. With the weather getting better, it may be a good opportunity to get outdoors, while following social distancing guidance, to benefit your health – taking on more walking, running or cycling as a hobby or way of getting to and from work.

 

Register or login to your free Vivup account to see some of the options available through our Cycle to Work and Bike Shop schemes, which you can access through salary sacrifice. There is a wide range of equipment available to allow you and your household to get cycling.

 

Support for domestic abuse

The restrictions caused by lockdown and isolation have unfortunately seen a rise in cases of domestic abuse. The number of calls to the National Domestic Abuse helpline ran by Refuge, increased by 49% in just three weeks.

 

Boots Pharmacy have made their consultation rooms available as safe spaces for those suffering from domestic abuse, and there will be information in the rooms to look through, plus important contact details if needed.

 

Lyndsey Dearlove, Head of the ‘UK SAYS NO MORE’ campaign at Hestia, said: “We recognise that key workers in pharmacies hold a unique position within the community as a single point of contact for victims. By creating this safe space in Boots pharmacies, we hope many will be able to safely access support while following government guidelines. We hope more pharmacies will follow Boots UK’s lead and join the safe space initiative. Although we are in a period of lockdown and isolation, our message to victims is that domestic abuse services are open and we can help you.”

 

For more information regarding Boots’ safe space consultation rooms, please visit their website.

 

Useful Contacts:

  • 24hr National Domestic Abuse helpline: 0808 2000 247.
  • Men's Advice Line: 0808 801 0327 (also includes functions for webchat and email).
  • Citizens Advice – signposts to a wide range of support services, some that specialise in certain areas or scenarios.
  • Bright Sky app – a free app which provides support and information to anyone who may be in an abusive relationship, or those concerned about someone they know.

 

A domestic abuse fundraiser has also been set up, which is aiming to raise money for refuges in Birmingham and the Black Country via Chadd. Donations will help sustain the vital work they do, to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. If you would like to donate to this very worthy cause, you can do so here.

The Kaleidoscope Plus Group – The Positive Place

Social media can be a temperamental and sometimes cynical platform, and so it is important that we limit our time we spend on it and what we expose ourselves to on there.

 

Kaleidoscope Plus Group have created a Facebook group called The Positive Place, with the idea and determination to spread love and positivity on social media – a page to allow you to express yourself in a place where you can feel safe. You will see uplifting quotes, tips on self-care, as well as access to a wide range of mental health and wellbeing resources. #TeamKPG also encourage you to share your favourite tips for looking after your mental health, as well as showing your support for everyone else in the group.

 

Kaleidoscope Plus offer a range of services, including a crisis text line – you can text TeamKPG to 85258 for immediate support. They can help with urgent issues such as suicidal thoughts, abuse or assault, self-harm, bullying, or relationship issues.

NHS staff discounts

  • British Cycling are offering NHS staff a three-month commute membership, free of charge. With liability insurance and legal support, the membership will support NHS staff to cycle to and from work. Alongside the insurance and legal benefits, there are a number of member benefits including discounts on servicing, components, kit and much more. They also offer videos and a weekly newsletter to provide helpful hints and tips.

 

  • Sustrans also signpost to useful information, such as bike shops which have stayed open during the pandemic, and virtual services such as The Bike Project, where mechanics talk you through basic repair and maintenance. Halfords are also offering a free bike service for NHS staff and emergency workers (as well as a free 10 point car check, and 10% off all tyres). Visit the website for further details.

 

  • HomeServe are offering free emergency repairs to all NHS and social care workers – the website gives more information about which repairs are included, or you can give them a call on 0330 0247 222/speak to a member of the team via live chat.

 

  • Gold Key Media is allowing NHS staff to access some of their content for free, such as magazines, podcasts, video games and children’s publications.

 

  • Goldfinch are giving 50% off online orders for NHS staff.

Staff mindfulness practice group

Emma Louis, Spiritual Care Lead, is offering staff the opportunity to join in with some mindfulness practice via Jitsi, as a way of helping us to practice good self-care and reduce our stress at this time. The session will be on Thursday 14 May at 12.30pm, for an hour. All are welcome, whether you are new to mindfulness, or have experience of mindfulness practice already. This group usually meets once a month, but will be offered more regularly at the moment to support staff through this time.

 

Join the meeting here: https://meet.jit.si/StaffMindfulnessPracticeGroup

 

To join by phone instead, dial 0121 468 3154, then you will be asked for a code which is 479247855 #

 

Please feel free to get in touch with Emma for more information on mindfulness or resources. You can call 07817 564014 or email elouis@nhs.net.

Cabin Fever – Lockdown Survival Guide by David Stocks

Our very talented member of staff, David Stocks, has written an uplifting and very relatable article called ‘Cabin Fever’, whilst we have been in lockdown and taken away from our routine and normality.

 

David previously worked as a vocational specialist in the thrive into work team, and his article touches on his personal experience of being in lockdown, including being redeployed, coping with restrictions, and the increase in spare time to fill which I’m sure lots of us can relate to. He talks about how we can use this time to uncover new skills, and focus on our interests that we wouldn’t give as much time to under normal circumstances.

 

With so much news, information and guidance to absorb during this time, it’s great to hear a personal perspective which offers a great deal of positivity and hope for the future. Please take a few minutes to read the full article if you can.  

 

Thank you David for sharing this with us, and for offering your tips and advice to all our staff!

Fraud alert: A message from the BCHFT fraud and IT teams

We have become aware from reports from other NHS trusts, of a current scam that is ongoing. It is important that you are aware of this scam and how it is perpetrated so that you do not allow yourself or the Trust to fall victim.

 

The scam

An automated call is made to landline or mobile phones where a pre-recorded message is played stating: “Your internet connection will be disconnected in four hours, please press 1 to connect with your internet provider.”

 

As with the majority of scams, this rests on the hope that you will start to panic, and then follow the instructions that you are being fed, and incur costs or provide them with sensitive information.

 

What must you do?

  1. Immediately hang up (do not follow any instructions issued).
  2. Do not attempt to call the number back.
  3. Report any such calls received to the ICT service desk and the Trust’s local counter fraud specialist.

 

For more information and useful contact details, please refer to the full fraud alert here.

We want to hear from you!

Calling all our amazing nurses! Next Tuesday marks International Nurses Day, and we would like to hear what makes you proud to be a nurse and your personal stories. 

 

For those who are not familiar with this international celebration, the day coincides with the anniversary of the birth of nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, who is recognised as the founder of modern day nursing, and known for her care and compassion across the world.

 

We have a variety of great nurses working for us, all from different pathways and backgrounds, and we want to make this year’s International Nurses Day is all about you, as we believe it’s your time to shine, not just because of the recent challenging times, but also because of the commitment and excellent care you provide, and the impact you have on the lives of so many.

 

This year, we want to showcase all our nurses’ diverse talents and expertise to both our own staff, the public and to those considering nursing as a career, and thus we have set up a fun competition for you!

 

Regardless of your nursing role, from safeguarding, mental health, learning disability, children’s services, to infection control, nursing associates, support workers, student nurses and even returning nurses – everyone in our amazing nursing family, we want to hear about you and your nursing career! We want to know what made you want to become a nurse, your typical working day and what inspiring words you would give to someone considering a career in nursing. However, the way you tell us these stories is totally up to you. You can either:

 

Option 1

Answer our questions within this document, complete with a picture of yourself (preferably in your uniform) and send it to bchft.communications@nhs.net.

 

Option 2

Send a short video clip of yourself answering these questions to Charlotte, Communications Officer at charlotte.southall1@nhs.net. When filming yourself, please do so in landscape, preferably in your uniform and when forwarding to the number above, make sure to include your full name and job title.

 

Option 3

Answer these questions in a completely unique, creative way – surprise us!

 

Once you have submitted your story, you will automatically be entered into our competition. Your stories will be shared on our social media channels as part of an inspirational campaign. Deadline for all submissions is Sunday 10 May.

 

We have a number of fantastic, mystery prizes on offer for those who send us their submissions, and the winners (yes, there will be more than one!) will be revealed live on staff space by our Chief Executive Mark Axcell, so make sure you tune in next Tuesday (time to be confirmed)!

 

So hurry, and get creative - the deadline is only six days away! We look forward to reading your submissions!

 

Free coaching sessions for our nurses

As we celebrate International Nurses Day on 12 May, we are offering our nurses a FREE coaching session with coaching experts Unlimited Potential (between 11-15 May).

We know that all of our nurses do a fantastic job, and so as a thank you, we would like to offer them all a dedicated 40 minute telephone coaching conversation. The conversation will be a one-to-one development experience with an accredited coach to discuss elements of life and work in a way that might not normally be discussed. The coaching session will allow our nurses to unblock challenges that may have otherwise remain unchanged. Coaching is also excellent for mental resilience, anxiety and confidence in uncertain times.

 

If you are interested in booking one of these sessions, contact Angela Millward on angela.millward3@nhs.net or 01384 324568 by 7 May.

 

Please print out and display these posters in any areas for nursing staff who may not see this message.  

Staff safe spaces

It was suggested by staff that during these unusually challenging times, we adopt what many acute trusts have implemented and provide “staff safe spaces” at our hospital sites. These safe spaces will be a room where frontline staff can step away from their duties for a short time, catch their breath, have a cry or just sit quietly. The rooms listed below have been set aside for this purpose – please use them if you feel you need some “time out”. Details of where you can access more support if you need will be in the room, along with some etiquette for using the space, so please no PPE, and maintain social distancing if someone is already there. We’d also encourage community teams to consider setting up safe spaces too.

 

Longer term we’d like to know if inpatients staff would like permanent “chill out” rooms. We’d really like to hear from you if this is something you’d benefit from and use, if there’s a space we could use, and what resources would make that a space you’d want to make use of. Please contact the communications team with your thoughts about that or any wellbeing suggestions that we could look to implement.

 

Also, remember that there are various spiritual spaces available across many sites for those who might want to look a little higher for quiet inspiration and contemplation during these times.

 

Site

Room

Bloxwich

Seminar room

Dorothy Pattison

Therapy room (next to the OT office)

Bushey Fields

Henry Lautch Centre, Room 3

Penn

Meeting room 2

Heath Lane

Tredgold room, meeting room

Edward Street

Lighthouse, Quiet room

Hallam Street

Pines

 

Rio update: Calling all mental health and CAMHS staff

It is essential that we put in place an Oasis change freeze for mental health and CAMHS specialities. The freeze is an important part of the EPR project, and is an essential requirement from the system supplier, Servelec Rio.

 

The Oasis change freeze will commence from Thursday 7 May. This is to ensure that the EPR programme team have the up-to-date information from Oasis to configure into Rio, which is vital to ensure there is high quality data being migrated.

 

We are aware that services will require some changes to be carried out before they go live on Rio, thus the changes that will be accepted by the Oasis team are: New starters, leavers, front end outpatients clinics, and diary changes.

 

Other change requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis – please log these in the usual manner via the Oasis helpdesk.

 

If you have any queries, please contact the Oasis helpdesk or email bchft.epr.implementation@nhs.net. We appreciate your co-operation at this time.

Artwork for our Trust sites – we need your creativity!

We are going to be displaying a variety of artwork across our Trust sites, including drawings, paintings, letters, poems and messages of thanks/support for the NHS – we have reached out to our local communities to help with this but we'd also love for you, your family members and friends to be involved too!

So whether you are feeling creative yourself, you have children who enjoy being arty, or know others who would like to take part, please send your artwork across to us!

They can be emailed to bchft.communications@nhs.net, or sent to:

 

Membership

FREEPOST RRRG - BTCC - UKSE

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Delta House

Greets Green Road

West Bromwich

B70 9PL

How to contact the recruitment team

Please see below updated contact details for members of the recruitment team, which are to be used moving forward should you need to contact individual members of staff.

 

Zain Abdul Wahid, HR Administrator MH

07435993177

Anita Chohan, HR Administrator MH

07435995103

Georgia Small, HR Administrator CYPF and LD

07435799687

Lin Willets, HR Administrator CORP

07435996481

Bhavika Mission, Recruitment Administrator

01384 325074

Courtney Jacques, Recruitment Administrator

07570 950949

 

Are you following BCHFT’s social media channels?

If you haven’t yet already, make sure to follow our social media channels to stay up-to-date with what is going on across the Trust! It’s a great way to keep in touch and feel informed without having to check your emails, and also interact with colleagues in a more informal way.

 

You can follow us on:

 

Facebook – @BlackCountryNHS (Staff Facebook group – BCHFT staff space)

Twitter – @BlackCountryNHS

Instagram – @blackcountry_nhs

YouTube – Black Country Healthcare

LinkedIn – Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

 

We ALSO have something exciting coming to social media this week, called #PeopleoftheBlackCountry – a weekly feature which focuses on different staff members, so that we can get to know each other a little bit better and find out about the range of roles within our trust. Keep your eyes peeled for the first feature later on this week!

Reminder: Tell us how you’re feeling

As part of our continued efforts to provide ongoing support during these exceptional times to all our staff, particularly those who continue to attend work and carry out their duties as normal, we want to hear from you about how you are managing during Covid.

 

We have developed a simple online questionnaire as a quick and easy way for all staff to take part, and ask that if you can, please take a few minutes to help us find out a bit more about what would help you. The survey has been designed with the support from experts such as WHO (World Health Organisation) – this will help us determine any other areas where we need to support you further, to continue the fantastic work you are already doing.

Sam Skelding’s wellbeing update

Loneliness, isolation and working from home – live session with Lisa Aytok

This Wednesday, 6 May at 6.30pm on staff space, Wellbeing Consultant Lisa Aytok will be providing a live session on loneliness, isolation, and working from home during Covid-19. During the session, Lisa will be answering any questions you may have on these topics, so please email the communications team by 4.30pm tomorrow (Tuesday 5 May) if there is anything you would like to ask. Make sure to tune in as there will be some great advice and tips. After the session, the video will be available via staff space if you weren’t able to catch it live, or you would like to go back to it at any point.

 

TransaveUK

Boost your financial wellbeing by saving every month with TransaveUK Credit Union, a not-for-profit savings and loans cooperative. Decide how much you want to save (minimum £5 per month), and the money will be deducted straight from your net pay and transferred to your personal Transave account.

As well as saving directly from payroll each month, you are also free to boost your savings by adding a lump sum at any time, and providing your savings are not acting as security on a Transave loan, you can withdraw them at any time without penalty. Once you have joined Transave you will also have the option of applying for an affordable loan. ‘Instant loans’ up to £1,000 are immediately available on joining Transave. Personal loans up to £20,000 are also available once you have been saving regularly. Please see the leaflet for further information, and contact samuel.skelding1@nhs.net if you would like to find out more.

 

Stay Alive app

NHS and social care staff now have free access to the Stay Alive app, which aims to provide help to people with existing mental health concerns, suicidal thoughts, and those struggling in self-isolation. It provides information to help colleagues stay safe, including advice for people concerned about someone else who may be considering suicide.

 

You can also read the strategies for staying safe, or explore the tips on how to stay grounded when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Try the guided-breathing exercises, and support your wellness by creating your own interactive wellness plan. The app links you directly to local and national crisis resources, so you won’t need to carry around slips of paper with contact details on – it’s all stored there within the app. If the resource isn’t listed, you can simply add in your own!

 

National Walking Month

May is National Walking Month, and going out and having a daily walk has never been more important, or appreciated by many of us! Unless advised to stay indoors at all times, use your daily exercise to get some fresh air. Despite the instructions to socially distance, it is important now more than ever that we look after our health and wellbeing, and daily walking will provide us with short and long term benefits. Importantly, stay two metres apart from others and only walk with people from your home. You should not walk in groups of two or more people, or with people from another household. For more advice, please visit the Living Streets website and stay safe.

 

NHS bereavement advice/support during Covid-19

NHS England and NHS Improvement have received a lot of feedback from colleagues across the NHS, asking for central guidance and support following the loss of a colleague, friend or family member during the coronavirus pandemic. They have put together a thorough catalogue of resources that aim to help you access support during what will be a difficult time for all staff. Some of the information available includes:

 

  • Guidance on good leadership during bereavement and complex grief.
  • Dos and don’ts for leading and managing your team after a bereavement.
  • Advice for when you’re concerned about a colleague.
  • Supporting others amidst your own complex grief.
  • Other resources and information.
     

Please have a look through the information available for you and your team which is available here. In addition to this, the Trust will this week be releasing two documents aiming to advise and support managers and all staff around bereavement.

NHS staff discounts

Free nappies

Over the last few weeks, we have been very lucky to receive some gifts from supermarkets and other companies wanting to show their appreciation to NHS staff. In one of the batches received, were a few packs of babies’ nappies:

 

  • 2x Pure Baby 44 nappies (Size 4+ - Maxi Plus 9-20kgs/20-44lbs)
  • 1x Mamia Ultra-dry 48 nappies (Size 4 - Maxi 7-18kg/15-40lbs)
  • 1x Mamia Ultra-dry 44 nappies (Size 4+ - Maxi+ 9-20kg/20-44lbs)
     

If you would like a pack, please email Samuel.skelding1@nhs.net, or you can send a message to me on 07788 362125. If we have less than four people that would like them, then we can split them between those interested, but if we have more than four then we can raffle them off. Each pack also has a pack of Pampers baby wipes with them. If anyone interested could let me know by the end of Wednesday 6 May, and we can make arrangements from there.

 

Laundry bags/Easter eggs/soft drinks

We have very recently kindly had donated to us:

 

  • Laundry bags - for staff to change out of used uniform straight after work, and put into bags that can go into the wash when home.
  • Easter eggs
  • Soft drinks
     

Many of these will be offered out to staff, and we are trying to get them across to as many of our Trust sites as possible. If you or your team would like us to send any of the above to you, please contact myself or erica.pearce@nhs.net, and we can try our best to arrange for them to be brought to you and your team.

 

Discount sites

Keep an eye on discount pages such as Health Service Discounts, NHS Staff Benefits and Blue Light Card, as they are continually trying to negotiate extra deals. If you haven’t already, familiarise yourself with some of the offers at the moment to NHS staff, on pages such as NHS England and Money Saving Expert. Although some of them may not be of use right now, it is worth noting offers such as AA who have a 24/7 line for NHS staff (0800 072 5064) – even if you’re not a member, they will come to you for free if you breakdown on the way to or from work. Halfords are also offering a free 10 point car check (usually £15) to NHS staff. There are also a number of services offering free or reduced taxis or parking too.

Important IG reminder: Access to records

Due to how services work within the Trust, we are unable to restrict access to all records within our electronic systems. However, before accessing any information you must have a justified reason for doing so. You must not access patient data for personal reasons. Having access to patient records does not give you permission to search for and look at any patient record within the Trust.

 

If you are aware that any of your family and/or friends are within services across Black Country Healthcare NHS FT, then you must raise this with your line manager. Where an individual is within the service that you work for, your line manager will make arrangements to ensure that you either do not have to access the records, or your involvement with the patient is limited; in this circumstance your access to the records will be monitored.

 

Please be aware that all access to patient records and data across the Trust is recorded, monitored and audited. If you willingly access records and this is not in line with your job role, this will be in breach of:

  • Trust policies and procedures
  • Data Protection Act 2018/GDPR 2016
  • Computer Misuse Act 1990
     

Any identified misuse of patient systems, where you have accessed records or information that you are not authorised to, or access cannot be justified, this will be classified as an incident and investigated appropriately. In severe cases, the Information Commissioner can take legal action against the individual, as well as action against the Trust due to the breach in law.

Recovery College update

Following government guidelines, and to maintain safety for students and the team, the Recovery College has currently postponed their face-to-face courses and community groups. However, this hasn’t stopped them from sharing their positivity and mental health guidance.

 

Over the past few weeks, the hardworking team have been thinking outside the box on how to connect with their students and have developed new ways of working. They are currently texting or calling students and offering a listening ear, wellbeing tips and activities to complete during this pandemic, and have so far had a really positive response to this.

 

The college have also set up a new Facebook page: ‘The BlackCountry Recovery College’, which you can access here and share, where they will be sharing useful information, tips and guidance for students and the public, as well as providing access to some amazing videos filmed by the team, to inspire hope during this difficult time.

 

Currently, the team are working on delivering live sessions and classes via Jitsi, similar to their community provision, and will be further exploring ways to deliver courses online.

 

Well done team!

Goodbye and good luck to CBT therapist Olwyn Moore

This week, we say goodbye and good luck to another of our longstanding colleagues, Olwyn Moore, who has worked over 35 years for the Trust.

 

Her career has spanned older adult to primary mental health, until her final role as a CBT therapist.  She will be greatly missed by her team and those who know her, as she has shown dedication to her work, has a brilliant work ethic and lots of knowledge which she has willingly shared. 

 

Her colleagues in the Walsall talking therapies team said: “Olwyn has always had a ‘salt of the earth’ way about her, combined with a great sense of humour that means clients can relate to her and feel comfortable with her, and colleagues find her approachable and supportive.”

 

Dumi Mhlanga, Clinical Lead for Walsall talking therapies said: “I met Olwyn when I joined the talking therapies service in 2011. She has always been very approachable and ready to provide colleagues with support and guidance. Over the years she has given a lot of us advice on clinical issues, the ‘dos and don’ts’ for handling large-hooved animals, and what to order from the menu at our team’s favourite curry restaurant!”

 

Thank you Olywn for your support and dedication to the Trust – we wish you all the very best in your retirement.

Mark's Message

Yesterday, the Board did a series of virtual visits – thank you to the Adult Ward teams across the Trust for meeting with us virtually and for sharing their views openly on what is going well, what we can learn from and what we need to improve. We are planning to do more of these over the coming months. If you are having a virtual team meeting or would like Board members to meet with you then please let me know. I know I speak for all the Board members that your openness and candour is really helpful and we can only improve what we do if we know about it. These sessions are also an opportunity to say thank you for all you do.

Over the past few weeks, we have been holding a series of events looking at how we deliver our services going forward. It is great to hear that during these sessions, you have put your views on what the future of our Trust looks like - please continue to do that. Your views matter in how we go forward.

As part of thinking about the future, all NHS organisations have this week received national guidance on what the next phase of recovering and restoring the NHS post the challenges of Covid presented in March to May look like. We know that for our acute trust colleagues, they have not been able to deliver the volumes of routine care and diagnostics they would want to as the focus has rightly been on Covid and the letter focusses on the need for acute trusts to get back to near normal levels of delivery before pre-winter pressures come along. For our Trust, we know we have been able to maintain the majority of our services and that is testimony to the amazing work you have done. For our services, the letter makes the following ask:

·       Every CCG to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard, so we can continue to develop services in line with the NHS Ten Year plan

·       To review our plans - we have to do this post Covid, in particular with activity and demand and whether this has changed as a result of Covid

·       24/7 crisis lines established during Covid continue

·       Continue to support growth in the number of children and young people accessing care

·       Review all patients on community caseloads and increase therapeutic input to prevent relapse

·       National capital monies available to eradicate MH dormitory wards

·       Continue to reduce the number of LD patients in inpatient settings

·       Complete all outstanding LD mortality reviews by December 2020

·       GP practices to ensure all LD patients are receiving annual health checks

If you want to read the letter, please click here

In addition, all trusts also need to expand their flu vaccination programmes which we are already planning for and you will see more communication on our flu programme in the coming weeks..

As you can see from the above, it is good news that the commitments given nationally pre-Covid to grow the services we deliver are still in place and this creates a great opportunity alongside the events we are holding to shape our future  – so getting your views on how we move forward is so important. You know your services best and what more we can do to expand and improve them.

As you may have seen, we recently announced that we would be launching our brand new trust values over the coming months, which had sadly been put on hold due to Covid. We will shortly be asking your views in regards to what our values mean to YOU so the more of you that take part, whether that’s sending a video in or sending a few words over, the better. We will also be promoting our virtual values and behaviours workshops, so please be sure to book on within your teams. Look out for more information coming to your inboxes soon.

Thank you for all that you continue to do and as always if you have any questions or queries, please do get in touch.

Mark

Thanks to Jeremy and Rosie for their messages over the past two weeks whilst I took some leave. Today is about celebrating the past but also looking forward. At lunchtime today two senior nurse leaders from the Trust: Rosie Musson and Jacky O’Sullivan retire after both knocking up more than 35 years’ service within mental health services in Staffordshire and the Black Country. As always it’s a great opportunity to look back and celebrate their amazing contributions. Normally after such long service we would bring everyone together for a presentation but we know, in order to keep everyone safe, that is not possible so we will be hosting a virtual leaving presentation. Thank you to Rosie and Jacky for being amazing nurses and colleagues and I wish them all the very best with their retirements.

As I have mentioned in my Friday message and broadcasts previously, we are currently holding some events in relation to your views on how we deliver our services in the future. It is really important to both myself and the Board because you know best in terms of what works well for our patients and yourselves and what we could improve on. It’s great to see that some of you have already attended some of the sessions but if you haven’t and want to book on, the remaining dates are below: 

To book please contact bchft.pmo@nhs.net

· Children and young people MH workshop, 31 July, 11am - 12.30pm

· Mental health core community and IAPT (adult) workshop, 5 August, 10.30am - 12noon

· Learning disabilities, 7 August, 1pm - 2.30pm

· Suicide prevention, 13 August, 3pm - 4.30pm

· Mental health community crisis and liaison workshop, 14 August, 3pm - 4.30pm

· Specialist mental health services workshop, 18 August, 9.30am - 11am

· Corporate, 27 August, 9am - 10.30am

Your views and ideas really matter so please get involved. Whilst today is very much about celebrating the contribution colleagues have given to delivering healthcare over the last 35 years, these events will shape our future and how we deliver services, care for our patients and care for each other going forward.

Just finally from me, you will have seen on the news over the last few days that Covid outbreaks are currently happening locally. I have talked for sometime about the adherence to the measures we have put in place which are there to keep not only you safe but also your colleagues, your families and our patients.  Before I went off on annual leave, I decided to get out and about and at one particular site I visited I was shocked at the lack of adherence to the measures we have put in place. You may also be aware that where we have had staff with Covid in the last few weeks that when we trace who they have come into contact with – it has resulted in 20 or 30 staff having to be tested. I can’t stress enough the importance of continuing with the measures we have in place. I know it is difficult especially on a hot day like today but the alternative i.e. that you catch Covid or have to isolate at home for 14 days because you have been in a room with someone that has got Covid without a mask or PPE on, is far more serious. If you don’t feel you are being supported in being able to do this, please let your line manager, director, myself or our freedom to speak up guardians know or report an incident and we will make sure you are supported.

These continue to be challenging times and I know the local outbreaks we are seeing will be a worry to us all but we will get through this together if we all continue to stay safe.

Thanks as always for all the amazing work you do and as always if you have any questions or concerns please contact me.

Mark

As many of you know on 31 July I will be retiring from the Trust and moving to another chapter of my life. Whilst this is an exciting time for me, I will dearly miss the NHS and the colleagues and friends who I have worked alongside for over 35 years. I have enjoyed a truly wonderful career as a registered mental health nurse and also having the opportunity to be chief nurse.

As I near my retirement, it has been a poignant time for reflection on my career and the changes I have seen in mental health nursing over the years. There has been many changes which have taken place in the context of the development of the profession but predominantly to adapt to the changes in models of care in the NHS and I would like to take the opportunity to share some of my reflections with you.

I started nursing when I was 16, as a care assistant in a convent nursing home. This showed me the importance of the fundamentals of nursing care and these have underpinned my values throughout my career and taught me from the offset that it is a gift to care for people with compassion. Being kind, caring, compassionate and wanting the best for people are the fundamentals of nursing and they will continue to underpin all we do and will not change.

In 1988 I qualified as an RMN, having undertaken my training in a large mental health institution on the brink of moving care into the community. I feel privileged to have been part of the journey, where the traditional institutional task driven care has moved towards a person-centred approach with emphasis on engagement with services users and families. There has been significant changes during my career in the way care is delivered, moving to being focussed on recovery, early interventions and ensuring we are delivering care in the least restrictive way.

I was very fortunate in 2001 to come and work in Walsall as a nurse consultant. This was a new exciting role for nurses, with greater autonomy and decision making. I have seen many new roles develop for mental health nurses, with greater integration into multidisciplinary teams, with nurses bringing their individual strengths to decision making. Nurses have risen to the challenges and embraced the growing opportunities to continue to learn and develop new skills and take on more varied and complex roles within the multi-disciplinary teams, which in turn has improved outcomes for service users.

In recent years I have been part of the Trust Board as chief nurse and have been very much part of our exciting journey to becoming Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The merged organisation provides many opportunities for nurses and all clinicians to be part of developing a clinical strategy for the way forward and I know this will make a real difference for the people of the Black Country. It will enable nurses and all who work for the Trust to continue to deliver the compassionate, quality care which they do so well – I look forward to watching the Trust grow from afar.

I leave the chief nurse role in very capable hands – Judy McDonald will take up the positon on an interim basis – she is kind and compassionate in her approach and you will find her a joy to work with. I have also heard great things about Dean Howells who will be joining in approximately six months’ time.

Finally, thank you for everything you do – each and every one of you are a fantastic asset to this organisation and I wish you all well for the future.

Rosie Musson

Chief Nurse

I am delighted to offer the Friday message as the Chief Executive takes a well earned break. I live locally and I’m involved in various frontline organisations and faith networks. Most of my close family also work in social care, acute hospitals and the community. Like you, we have been utterly enveloped in the various stages of the Covid-19 experience. The changes, the disruption, the questions, the moments of pride as we find a new way of communicating or sustaining a service, but then the troubling sadness of seeing other things just get harder, the ordeal going on longer than we first imagined, and people we know falling ill. Like many of you, we’ve also found the extra task of home schooling a challenge, as well as assisting the more vulnerable in our family networks, who have often been patient and forgiving. But nonetheless you sense the deep sadness in the eyes of children and older people who just cannot get around and enjoy life in ways they obviously wish to.

My role is to chair the key governance meetings at Black Country Healthcare, and, with the other non-executive directors, to help shape the culture and strategy of the organisation. An important piece of that work is listening to and engaging with the workforce and hearing the voices of the patients, carers and communities we serve. All of this has been difficult in the recent months. Our meetings like yours are held on devices, and working largely at home has severely reduced our ability to visit services. I am very grateful to the spiritual team and staff side representatives, as well as the team of directors and governors, for helping me hear those voices through this isolating time.

To start a brand new merged organisation in this unexpected time was always going to be a challenge. After the buzz and energy of the first Covid arrangements subsided, we have then had to continue carefully building the new Black Country Healthcare in this most complex and distracted new environment. Only this week have we been able to complete and announce the recruitment of the new directors of nursing and finance. We are still in the process of recruiting several new non-executive directors, but that will soon conclude too. Whilst we have many early ideas for the re-imagination of mental health, learning disability and community services across the Black Country, the important work on establishing some of the new structures and key appointments has been held up too. I am sorry for the slowing pace that we all wanted to be quicker. Covid has caused profound obstacles.

But these developments are now all occurring. We will soon see 16 new governors joining our assembly, with an increase in the representation of the former Dudley and Walsall geography. I hope you find that this series of developments in the leadership and governance teams will then add momentum to the other changes we have planned. We will also see several carefully chosen new initiatives within equality and diversity. As a board we have already noted the importance of the Black Lives Matter campaign and I have committed the Trust to changes to deliver on this agenda, but we also want to advance other equalities initiatives too. Please do contribute to our thinking, which ideally should be co-produced. The equality and diversity committee is now meeting monthly to develop these plans. Do give us your thoughts.

In conclusion, my sense is that we are only part way through a very long new era here. We have talked often that Covid is a marathon, not a sprint, and I now reflect that many times through my health career we have talked about facing a pandemic, but compared to the Covid experience those earlier preparations were actually miniscule. This really is a marathon, probably multi year, and we may still get further setbacks and surprises. In the end we will not fully return to where we once were, because we, our communities, our economy and the work we do at BCH will have fundamentally moved on. My commitment is to ensure that the new normal we arrive in, despite the hard journey to get there, will be substantially better than the old normal. 

I hope you feel the same determination.  

Thank you so much for your recent hard work in the first three months of the life of Black Country Healthcare. These have been the most trying circumstances any of us have worked in, and I will never forget your efforts.

Jeremy Vanes

 

It was great to see at the weekend the messages of support for the NHS and Social Care on its 72nd birthday. I would like to say thank you to the members of staff who took the time to share their heart-warming messages with us and organise the activities put on for patients.

 

A birthday is always a moment to reflect and look forward to (as well as have a bit of cake) and it’s appropriate that on its birthday the NHS is just doing that. Reflecting on the last year which started with the ten year plan for development of NHS services and ended with the NHS leading the nation in its response to Covid.

 

Looking forward, the NHS as a whole is now working on a forward plan for the recovery and restoration of its services. For NHS Trusts across the country, this includes how can we ensure that we can start operations safely, ensure people can access the treatment they need, and how we can start reducing waiting times for procedures where people have to wait, because during the last four months the NHS was not able to deliver all the services it wanted to due to Covid.

 

For our services, due to your exceptional hard work and effort, we managed to keep the majority of services running and indeed expand our service offer, with for example the 24/7 helpline and MH support to Health and Social Care colleagues. So the next phase now is to think about the future of our services. Everyone is committed to continuing to grow our services and to meet the needs of the population we serve. But the question we need to ask ourselves during the next couple of months is what do we want that service to look like in the future to meet those needs based on your views and the views of our patients?

 

This should be driven by the desire to be outstanding in all we do and a learning culture where we can learn from each other. For example this week, I have been reviewing suicide rates over the last 12 months. A suicide has such a devastating impact on families, carers and you - our staff - everyone feels the loss so deeply. Fortunately in the Black Country, we have relatively low suicide rates and they are coming down, but if we were to set an ambition to reduce our suicide rates across our four boroughs to the lowest rates, that would reduce the number of suicides across the region by 16 a year. 

 

So as we look forward on the NHS’s Birthday, I want us to think about planning for the future of Black Country Healthcare. I believe at the heart of that future are services that have a strong recovery focus – encouraging people wherever possible to live independent lives in their communities, it has to focus on the wider determinants of good health that enable that independence (employment, housing, good physical health) including addressing inequalities; it should be driven by clinical innovation and the views of all clinicians and be supported by digital technology. But most importantly, it needs to have at its heart two bedrocks of success. We need to be an organisation that supports you, be that in health and wellbeing, development and career opportunities or in being able to raise what you are concerned about and most importantly to address it. Secondly, in all we do, we should strive for the highest quality and best outcomes.

 

During the next 2-3 months, we really want you to come forward with your ideas on what the future of Black Country Healthcare should look like as we finalise our clinical vision, IT and Estates strategy and most importantly our people plan.  Look out for the opportunities to be part of this conversation. I believe if we work together on this, listen to each other and take action together, we can make this an outstanding organisation. Happy birthday NHS.

 

As always, thanks for all that you continue to do and if you have any queries, questions or comments please contact me.

Mark

This weekend will see further lifting of restrictions across the country due to Covid. As I drove in to work this morning I heard bar and restaurant owners talking on the radio about their plans to reopen, with some even opening at one minute past midnight tonight for a couple of hours. Tomorrow will be an interesting day to see how we respond to this as a nation – will people choose to stay at home or go out? This week we have been working closely with acute hospital and ambulance partners to ensure plans are in place as there are some predictions that tomorrow night could be as busy as New Year’s Eve in terms of emergency activity due to alcohol consumption.

Whether we choose to go to the pub or not, we have all had difficult decisions to make over the past weeks and months and we will continue to do so going forward. We won’t always get those decisions right but learning from it is part of what makes us improve. For a few weeks now a team of people from our clinical services have been working on a plan to restart visiting. They have produced, what we believe, is a really robust plan. Unfortunately, we didn’t communicate this well enough to the inpatient wards earlier in the week. We have to give inpatient colleagues time to understand what the visiting process will be so that they can ask questions and challenge the plan if something has been missed. Over the next week, we will be doing just that. Apologies if it caused anxiety or confusion for colleagues – it was not our intention and we have learnt from it. I would also like to say thank you to colleagues that raised their concerns about this – we are a better trust for that openness of challenge.

This week you may have also seen the news in relation to the outbreak situation in Leicester but also more isolated outbreaks in factories. This has always happened - for example, we know that the Black Country had more cases of Covid in March and April than other parts of the country but we are now in a position where we can move quickly as a nation to tackle those outbreaks in a more localised way. This starts from an individual receiving a positive test for Covid, tracing who that individual has been in contact with, and then identifying if there are any locations where the number of cases being flagged is high with the outcome of then potentially ‘closing’ those locations, e.g. factories, services etc. This is called outbreak management. As a trust, we are working really closely with public health teams in each of our four boroughs to understand and plan for what would happen if there was an outbreak and restrictive measures were put in place in one of our boroughs. What I do firmly believe is that we are stronger as one trust rather than two to be able to deal with this – I think that has been evident through the response so far and as we move forward. One of the questions I get asked a lot is ‘why do we have to wear a mask if I work with the same colleagues every day in a clinical office or in our HQs?’ Well it is partly for the reason above – life is changing around us but we have a responsibility to protect you and ensure we are not the source of an outbreak. If we had an outbreak, we could end up having to close an essential service (imagine if that was one of our inpatient units or community sites). We owe that to each other as colleagues and our patients. You may not have or ever had symptoms but you could still have Covid and I know that because our antibody testing programme has shown it. What we are doing though is working really hard to ensure our buildings are Covid safe which may mean we can lift those restrictions.

Finally, it’s important we continue to celebrate all that we do – it’s been great to hear about teams doing amazing work this week, receiving national recognition, being innovative and going the extra mile for patients and colleagues. I know you do this week in week out and for many of you it’s just “part of the job”, but please do share with us what you are doing – because as a Board we are committed to learning from when we don’t get things quite right but equally the best practice that goes on right across our organisation and most importantly celebrating it.

Thanks for everything that you continue to do and as always if you have any questions or queries, please do get in touch.

Mark

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for their amazing efforts these past couple of days. Working in the heat is always a challenge, but working in the heat in PPE is even more challenging. Thank you.

We have now been dealing with Covid for a long time now in both our personal and professional lives. We are all working in different ways and we have all had to make changes to our home lives i.e. looking after relatives, shielding or child care. Like me, you will have found this at times challenging and as a Board, I have said previously we can’t thank you enough for you response.

Over the last week I have been made aware of a small number of incidents where our support to each other during these difficult times is not what it should have been and I thank those colleagues for raising these incidents. I have heard of corporate teams being on the receiving end of staff aggression despite them working flat out to support the trust, or colleagues being made to feel uncomfortable or inappropriately challenged about a Covid issue personal to them. I know these are isolated incidents and I do accept it’s tough at the moment for us all. But it is really important during these challenging times that we hold on to our values and ensure our interactions are in line with them. The BCHFT values are Caring, Enabling, Working Together and Integrity. I know you will support me in this and I know the majority of the time we all live these values – but in these difficult and challenging times it is even more important.

This week was our Trust Board meeting. We discuss many things in our Board meetings but it’s always with a focus on you and how we can improve our support to you and our patients. It was great to receive a presentation at the start of the Board from two LD colleagues, Alison and Julia, who presented brilliantly on quality improvements they were making. As a Board, we also made a strong public stance on our approach to BAME, Black Lives Matter and eradicating prejudice of any sort. We have put ourselves forward as a trust to lead the Black Country Health and Social Care system in addressing these issues, as we know how much it matters to you, your families and your communities. 

Finally, don’t forget nominations are open to be a BCHFT staff governor. We have six vacancies open – four for former DWMH staff and two for BCPFT staff. The governors make such a difference and a positive contribution to the Trust in so many ways, including fostering a culture that matters most to staff. You will also be given lots of support and training as part of the role. To find out more, contact Erica Pearce in our membership office on 0121 612 8061 or email bchft.membership@nhs.net. Nominations close 5pm on Monday 6th July.

Thank you for all that you continue to do and as always, if you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Mark   

This week we put new measures in place across all our sites in relation to the wearing of masks. I know from listening to your feedback that you have found this challenging but I want to assure you that these measures are in place to support and protect you all. As we move in to the next phase of our Covid response, as a nation we will have a better understanding in terms of where Covid outbreaks occur and you may have seen some of this on the news already. Wherever an outbreak occurs the new test and trace system will identify the area so that anyone who has been in close contact with a confirmed Covid case will have to self isolate for 14 days. We also know that of the 900 antibody tests we have completed to date 16% of you have had Covid, some of you without ever showing any symptoms. Wearing a mask is to protect us all.

This week I have also seen staff raising concerns via our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and I want to thank those staff for doing so. Being able to speak up freely where you genuinely have concerns without fear of retribution or consequence is an important part of our culture as BCHFT. This is always important to me but even more so in these challenging times where we all have concerns and worries about Covid, how we work to deal with Covid and the impact it will have on our colleagues, families and friends. As an executive team we will support anyone that speaks up through whatever route. This can be via Michael and Roger - our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, your manager or directly to a member of the executive team. The important thing is that we know about it because you have told us and that we do something to address it.

A number of you have also asked me what is happening with Dudley MCP which is now known as Dudley Integrated Health Care (DIHC). As you will be aware the organisation formed when BCPFT and DWMH merged, and included a small set of services which were IAPT and MH Primary Care for Dudley. The next stage was for DIHC to produce a full business case to be approved by partner boards including our own before submitting to the regulators for approval. This would describe how DIHC would expand to deliver more integrated services such as Children’s Services in Dudley. With the absolute focus over the last three months for all health partners in Dudley being Covid the process of producing the business case has been delayed. The latest position is that the business case will be ready in August for partners to consider. Once we have received that business case and had opportunity to consider, we will update you further.

Finally – as a foundation trust we have an assembly of governors and every year we run elections for those whose term is coming to an end. As part of that assembly of governors we have staff governors who represent your voice. As part of our proposals to merge it was recognised that the membership of the assembly of governors should change to ensure that former DWMH staff were represented to reflect our new merged organisation. Therefore, we are going out to election for four staff governors from within our former DWMH colleagues. We would encourage anyone to apply, no matter what position they hold within the Trust. Governors have an important role in making an NHS foundation trust publicly accountable for the services it provides. They bring valuable perspectives and contributions from their own personal experiences or those of members, which can help us shape the future of our services. Governors have a number of statutory duties, such as holding non-executive directors to account for the performance of the board and to represent the interests of NHS foundation trust members and the public. If you are eligible to stand, you will shortly be receiving notification of the nomination process either via email or to your home address. The nominations are now open (Friday 19 June) and will close at 5pm on Monday 6 July. To find out more, contact Erica Pearce (erica.pearce@nhs.net) in our membership office or visit our website/staff hub. I would really encourage former DWMH colleagues to come forward and stand for one of these roles as it’s a great opportunity to be involved with the future development of BCHFT.

Thank you for all that you continue to do and as always if you have any questions, queries or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Mark

It is now some three months since we stepped into a major incident and Covid-19 became part of our daily lives. I acknowledge that Covid-19 has impacted on us all in different ways. I have described it a bit like DNA, in that its impact is slightly different for all of us. The impact Covid-19 has had on ourselves, our patients, our families, our friends, our communities – all different for all of us. It has been challenging, tough and at times emotional for all of us. I have never underestimated that and yet despite the many professional and personal challenges in dealing with Covid-19, you have all responded fantastically.

 

Many of you will be watching the news and seeing the lifting and relaxation of restrictions in our public lives including the opening of more shops, some children returning to school etc. But I can’t stress enough the need to continue to be vigilent and diligent in how we approach our working lives. I know it is hard and I like many of you have days where I find it challenging. But we must continue with the approach we have taken and go further.

 

Last Friday, the government announced that all staff in all healthcare settings will need to wear masks. This will come into effect from Monday. In its simplest form:

  • If you are able to do your role at home, you must continue to do so.
  • If you aren’t able to do your role at home and you are in a clinical role/area, you must continue to follow the PPE guidance already in place.
  • If you are in a non-clinical role/area, you must wear a mask which we will provide for you. Further guidance about this will be circulated later on today.

 

This week we have also gone live with antibody testing. This has been a mammoth task to get set up as those who have set up clinical pathways involving laboratories know. I would like to say a big thank you to those who have made this happen. The response from you also when we offered the test has been great too and lots of you want to have the test. We are now working through all those requests and everyone who has requested one will be contacted and booked on. All I would ask is that you be patient with us – this is a new service, but we are now up and running.

 

As of yesterday, what we do know is that of those who have been tested, 19% have come back positive for Covid antibodies. This is a higher proportion of our staff than those that have self-isolated with symptoms. This demonstrates that you can carry Covid without ever having symptoms and that’s why the measures around masks and PPE above are so important.

 

Finally, you will have seen this morning the impact Covid-19 has had on our economy. The recovery of our economy and for us, our local Black Country businesses is something we need to be part of. We know that employment is a major part of supporting good mental health for our population and the impact of businesses closing and job losses will undoubtedly impact on our patients and service users. Going forward in shaping our approach to service delivery, we need to think about how our services can maximise the impact on the wider determinants of good health, as well as ensuring as an organisation we do all we can to support local businesses.

 

Thanks as always for all that you continue to do.

 

Mark

I wanted to start my message to directly address a couple of issues. Like me, I am sure you will have been appalled by the tragic death of George Floyd in America. My thoughts immediately go out to the friends and family of George.

 

I want to be clear that as Chief Executive of the Trust, I am committed to the organisation being a safe and inclusive environment for you, that has a zero tolerance approach towards prejudice against ethnic minorities in all its forms – be that racism, xenophobia, colourism, Islamphobia or antisemitism.

 

You will also know that the Coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the health needs of different elements of our local communities, particularly those from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, who are at higher risk from Coronavirus and who, along with others, continue to experience health inequalities. We have been holding engagement events for our BAME staff for a number of weeks now and work is currently being done to support all our staff and BAME colleagues. Our BAME Staff Network is also doing a lot of work to support staff. Please look out for dates for future meetings.

 

I recognise that this maybe a difficult time for everyone as we all reflect on these recent events; I have said in my previous Friday messages that our diversity as a Trust is something we should celebrate in all we do. It is a strength of the organisation. I and the Board are committed to listening to your experiences of both working in the Trust and living in this country. We all have a role we can play to change and improve the experiences of Black and Ethnic Minority staff and patients.

 

Put simply, I will not tolerate prejudice or discrimination in the organisation in any form and if you feel you are experiencing this, I would encourage you to speak up through the many ways we have for you to do that.

 

If you would like to speak to someone about any concerns, regarding this issue, the Trust is here to support you. Please feel free to contact myself, any members of the Board, your manager, our Equality and Inclusion Team, Paul Singh and Yassar Mohammed, our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, Michael Hirons and Roger Bishton, a Trade Union Representative, the spiritual care team or a member of HR.

 

I will cover this in more detail and other topics in my Friday broadcast which is today at 12:30pm and can be accessed either by our Facebook StaffSpace Group, or the MS Teams link here.

 

Thank you for all that you do and we will stand together in these challenging times. As always if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

Mark Axcell

Hi everyone.

Hope you’ve had a productive and positive week. This Friday’s message is from Kuli and Marsha – we are the Director of Strategy and the Director of Partnerships respectively for our newly merged Trust.

 

Last Friday, Mark talked about our ‘Re-imagination’ programme - this will be a key priority for our roles over the coming months, and will enable the newly merged Trust to embed itself as a key player in Mental Health, Learning Disability and Children’s Services locally and nationally. Over the summer, we will be talking to a whole range of stakeholders and partners about:

 

  • Developing a clinical strategy for the new Trust, as well as a suite of supporting strategies;
  • How we will embrace and embed the positive innovations we have implemented as a result of operating under Covid-19 arrangements; and
  • What we now need to do differently, and together with partners to move our services forward.

 

There has been a significant shift for healthcare more recently from ‘competition’ to ‘collaboration’ – as part of this move, we need to focus on how we work together with partners to look at system-wide issues like health outcomes and inequalities, as well as planning how we’ll contribute to national priorities such as the NHS Long Term Plan.

 

This week has been extremely busy – and unusually for a bank holiday week, we’ve had some great weather! Whilst Covid-19 is still firmly part of our everyday reality, nationally the figures are starting to look a little more positive – the rate of diagnosis of new Covid-19 cases and the Covid-19 deaths in hospitals are starting to decrease, and the Prime Minister has announced some early steps toward a relaxation of our lockdown. This will be huge boost to us all – but we need to remain careful and vigilant, remembering that the next few weeks are critical to what happens next.

 

On a final note, we know from staff feedback that many of us are starting to feel a little worn and ‘frazzled’ by our current situation. Some colleagues have told us that they are wondering about how much difference they’re able to make at the moment, and are anxious about what the future might bring for the services we provide. Let’s be clear here – that is completely natural! We really need to hold dear the concepts that Mark discussed last week (and are explicit in the values of our new Trust) – that is being kind and compassionate to each other and to the patients and families we work with. The ‘Thursday clap’ was noticeably quieter this week in many neighbourhoods, which may be another sign that we are moving on to the next stage of the pandemic – so let’s make sure that isn’t the yardstick against which we measure the undoubted value and contribution we continue to make to our communities!

 

A huge thanks to you all for your hard work and professionalism – for this week, as every week. Please do let us know if you have any queries or thoughts. Take good care.

 

 

Marsha and Kuli

This week as you will have seen is Mental Health Awareness week. Thank you to everyone across the Trust who has contributed; it has been great to see. This year's theme has been kindness, and so I thought I would share my reflections on how kindness is an important part of our leadership approach as we go forward as an organisation. 

 

Kindness in leadership is often a misunderstood concept, but for me it is essential especially in the NHS. For some, leadership is about position, power, giving orders and kindness in leadership is seen as a weakness. I absolutely disagree with this. Kind leadership isn’t a weakness. Kind leadership brings in many elements including authenticity, transparency and empowering people to name a few.

 

If you look at modern companies, their success doesn’t come from old fashioned, hierarchical leadership - it comes from openness and empowering their staff. Kind leadership is also not about shying away from difficult decisions or conversations; it is about being honest in feedback and setting clear expectations. Finally it's about how we work together; two way openness – you can raise anything and we are transparent and open as an organisation. Our values as a trust should be at our core of this approach – Caring, Enabling, Working Together and Integrity. Striving for kindness in leadership at all levels will help make us outstanding in what we do. Developing this will take time and we won't always get it right. I may not always get it right (part of our open and learning culture), but let's strive to be the kindest we can be in these tough times.   

 

During the last nine weeks of the coronavirus response, I have seen and heard so many innovative ways of working that you have implemented, either internally in the Trust or with partners. A good example of this is our children services, who work with so many partner organisations and families and have really shone in their approach in continuing to deliver services. Many of you see this as a moment to reflect and make sure that where good practice works we keep it and develop it going forward. We also said that as a new trust, we wanted to take the time to develop with you our approach to delivering services (clinical strategy) and how we develop you (workforce plan) etc. So we have put together the attached programme which reimagines our future based on your feedback and our stakeholders, patients and carers' views. Also attached are photos and contact details for all of the executive team. We really want your input into this, so watch out for how you can get involved and let your views be known. This is a great opportunity to come together (virtually), so that we can reimagine our future based on learning from Covid and what you think we need to do differently

 

To support this, it is important we understand our research and evidence. This week has been Clinical Trials Week. You will have seen on the news the many clinical trials taking place in response to Covid and our organisation, through our research and innovation team.

 

Thank you for all that you continue to do and as always if you have any questions or queries, please do get in touch.

This week has been a challenging one for all of us across the Trust with the sad news of the passing of a much loved colleague Thembi. Thembi had been poorly with covid for a number of weeks and had been fighting so valiantly to overcome the virus, but sadly that was not to be and we received the news in the early hours of Sunday morning that he had passed away.

 

How we respond in these difficult times is important and I was really struck on Sunday by the outpouring of love for Thembi and how colleagues all across BCHFT came together to support each other, in particular those colleagues who worked so closely with Thembi. Thank you to everyone for the way they supported each other and continue to support each other. RIP Thembi.

 

On Tuesday we celebrated International Nurses Day across the Trust and we started the day with a moment of remembrance for Thembi and Dawn. International Nurses Day is always on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, one of our historic healthcare heroes. The day was an opportunity to say thank you to the heroes of today - all of you, for the amazing work you do. I was really struck by all the work everyone had put in to celebrating the role of our amazing nurses.

 

This week, we have been hosting more virtual conversations with you, particularly on the issue of the impact of Covid on our BAME staff. We know that there is evidence that Covid is having a greater impact on our BAME communities and as an exec team, we decided that we would not wait for the national review on this and instead, start straight away on taking action and have conversations to see what more we can do to support you. Thank you to everyone that took part in these discussions; some great ideas have come from them which the team will now take forward. Our diversity as an organisation should always be celebrated, but at times like these they can also be a source of strength. We will be holding further virtual chats and discussions on different topics throughout the year, so please do look out for them and be part of them.

 

During the week, you will have seen the announcements from the government on the next phase of the covid response. We will continue to take the approach of if you can do your role from home and have done so for the last 8/9 weeks, then please continue to do so. If IT equipment or access is the only issue preventing you from working at home, please do let us know. Our priority throughout the last few weeks and foreseeable future will continue to be reducing spread of infection, keeping you safe and supporting you in doing your roles.

 

Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week and this year our theme is ‘kindness’. Look out for the various things we will be doing to raise awareness during the week and if you see any of our posts on social media, please do share them – it’s a really easy way we can all spread awareness and ensure the profile of what we do is kept high.

 

In my previous message on 20 March, I set three priorities as an organisation to get us through the first phase of Covid and these were as follows:

  • Continue to prioritise essential services
  • Adjust our practices to limit exposure to Covid-19
  • To move to remote and home working and work in different ways to support that

Whilst it has not always been easy and we may not have always got it right first time (it has been a learning curve for all of us), I do believe we have achieved these priorities and that is down to everyone working together across the trust. You have been fantastic in your response and on behalf of the Board and myself, thank you.

 

Mark Axcell

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