Barts Health Life Spring 2014

Spring 2014
Barts Health Life
The magazine for Barts Health staff, patients and partners
Bringing
trauma care
to the
streets
page 7
PLUS
Meet the Barts
Health heroes
page 4 and 5
Behind the scenes
of the Hyper Acute
Stroke Unit
page 6
Making every day
a CQC day
pages 11
www.bartshealth.nhs.uk
2
Welcome of the
spring edition of
Barts Health Life
In this bumper edition we take time to
celebrate success, and recognise those who
make a difference. The London Air
Ambulance has become as recognisable a
London landmark as those its flies over on a
daily basis as it brings the hospital to the
roadside. In January the service celebrated
its 25th anniversary and in this edition you’ll
read how it went from being a pipe dream
to being a world leader.
You’ll also be able to see pictures from the
second annual Barts Health Heroes Awards
event at the Museum of London. That
might sound like a quiet venue, but all the
celebrating guests made it a pretty noisy
night! It made us all very proud to describe
the work of some of the very many heroes
in Barts Health to members of the Board,
Barts Charity, and colleagues from
commissioning and local authorities. It was
inspirational and a huge pleasure to see
so many people from across our hospitals
and community services celebrating their
success together.
Three very different services come under the
spotlight as we shine a light on our sexual
health team and their work to promote
Think About Sex Day, as well as taking a
look behind the scenes of the award
winning Hyper Acute Stroke Unit at the
Royal London. And as our Tuberculosis team
move to new surroundings we look at how
far the treatment of the illness has come
over the last 150 years.
Reading this edition of Barts Health Life
highlights to me how far we come in a
short time, and I look forward to continuing
to work with you as we jointly create a
world-class health service for the people of
east London.
Peter Morris
chief executive,
Barts Health
NHS Trust
News
World’s largest
stem cell study
begins at
Barts Health
Doctors at The London Chest
Hospital have administered the
first patient’s own stem cells in
the world’s largest-ever trial of
adult stem cell therapy in heart
attack patients.
Pictured:
Image theatre BAMI stem cell
The ground-breaking research is being carried out by Professor Anthony Mathur and colleagues
into how heart attack patients could make better recoveries by having their own stem cells
taken from their bone marrow and injected into their heart within five days of their heart attack.
Patients admitted to the hospital are among 3,000 people across Europe taking part in the trial.
It is hoped the results will definitively confirm stem cell therapy as an effective way of treating
these kinds of heart attack patients and increase survival rates by a quarter.
The study (BAMI) has been made possible
thanks to an award from the European
Commission of £4.8 million (€5.9m) and
involves 19 partners in 10 countries including
colleagues from Queen Mary, University of
London NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical
Research Unit and University College London.
Pictured:
Patient’s stem
cells ready to use
Food for thought
Barts Health has teamed up with charity ‘Chefs
Adopt a School’, as well as celebrity and local
chefs to improve the dietary health of children in
Tower Hamlets. The project will see children at
local primary schools learn about nutrition in
chef-led cookery classes using fresh and healthy
ingredients, known to improve health, energy
and performance.
Refugee doctors
We are celebrating four years of ground-breaking
project Building Bridges which supports refugee
healthcare professionals (RHPs) to re-qualify to
UK standards and work in the UK – including at
Whipps Cross and Newham Hospitals. Around 50
refugee doctors are working in the UK thanks to
the project which offers training and placements
with a UK reference.
The London Chest Hospital is recognised for
its pioneering research into stem cell therapy
for heart patients after recently concluding
three smaller successful trials, funded by
charities the Heart Cells Foundation
and the UK stem cell foundation.
Barts Health leads the way
The UK’s first wireless pacemaker has been
fitted in a patient at St Bartholomew’s. Unlike
conventional pacemakers, the Nanostim
device - the size of an AAA battery - fits into
the heart via a catheter without leaving a
visible scar, reduces the risk of infection and
has quicker recovery times.
NHS first for Whipps Cross Hospital
Whipps Cross has treated the first NHS patient
with a new sustained-release steroid implant,
Iluvien, capable of preventing vision loss in
people with previously untreatable chronic
diabetic refractory maculopathy (swelling or
thickening of the eye). Consultant ophthalmic
surgeon Sudeshna Patra said: “This is an
exciting option to manage the leading cause
of vision loss in people with diabetes.”
3
Our community
Thinking about sex? You should be!
In February, on Think About Sex Day,
alternatively known as Valentine’s Day,
the Trust’s sexual health services hosted
a stand at The Royal London to start the
conversation with staff, patients and
visitors about their sexual health.
Nico Vella, who visited the stand, commented:
“It’s really good that this stand is here as I
have been able to pick up some information
about sexual health services. I’m going to pass
this on to some of my family members,
especially the younger ones.”
Sexual health has always been a bit of a taboo
issue, but ignoring it just isn’t an option.
Sexually transmitted infections spread whether
you talk about it or not. In fact ignoring it is
causing more problems as people spread
infections without even knowing they are
infected. For example, east London has one of
the highest rates of STIs and HIV in the UK,
but without being tested you won’t
know if you are infected.
Barts Health Sexual Health offers a wide
range of confidential services at Whipps Cross,
Newham, The Royal London, Barts and Mile
End hospitals to keep you healthy, including:
quick and easy testing for sexually
transmitted infections
advice and support on contraception –
to stop unplanned pregnancies
HIV testing - HIV can affect anyone
regardless of age, sexual orientation or
ethnicity, but regular testing can
improve your health outcomes and
means timely access to treatment
So whether it’s you who wants some
confidential advice or whether you want to
Pictured:
Nico talks to
Rachel on Think
About Sex Day
advise your friends, family or patients about
Barts Health Sexual Health, it’s easy for anyone
to book online or find out more by visiting
www.bartssexualhealth.nhs.uk
Remember: think TB!
Every year there are almost nine million new cases of TB and over a
million deaths, with east London seeing more TB cases than anywhere
else in the UK. Thankfully, due to modern management, deaths here
are rare and TB is completely curable.
Symptoms may include:
• Fevers
• Night sweats
• Weight loss
• Prolonged cough
• Coughing blood
Courtesy of Trust Archives
Tuberculosis – how far we’ve come
24 March, World TB Day, is a special day in
the history of TB as it was on this day in
1882, Robert Koch gave his famous
presentation during which he demonstrated
that TB was an infectious disease caused by
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB had
previously thought to have been inherited!).
He is now considered one of the founding
fathers of bacteriology and won the Nobel
Prize for medicine and physiology in 1905 for
his work on TB.
One of the first hospitals in London to look
after TB patients was The Royal Hospital on
City Road which was founded in 1814. This
moved to the City of London Hospital for
Diseases of the Chest at Bonner’s Fields in
Bethnal Green, which opened in 1855 and in
1937, became The London Chest Hospital.
Over 150 years later, the TB service in Tower
Hamlets is now moving to Mile End Hospital
(MEH), Bancroft Road. TB management is
truly multi-disciplinary with TB nurses,
outreach workers, pharmacists, physicians,
surgeons, radiologists and public health
clinicians all working together to help
improve treatment and reduce incidence of
the disease. The TB clinic at MEH will be
called the Max Caplin Clinic after a local TB
physician who worked at the London Chest
in the 1950s and 60s.
Contact the new TB clinic
Max Caplin Clinic, Mile End Hospital,
Bancroft Road, E1 4DG. Tel: 020 8121 4184.
Tel internal ext: 43653. Email:
TBTeamenquiries@bartshealth.nhs.uk
4
Our achievements
And the
winners are…
1
2
The second Barts Health Heroes Awards were held in
February at the Museum of London, where some of the
Trust’s most inspiring and amazing staff members were celebrated.
7
The awards celebrate individuals and teams from the Trust’s hospitals,
clinics, community services and departments who embody the Trust’s
five values, such as being caring and compassionate and valuing every
member of staff.
Here is a list of this year’s winners
Actively listening, understanding and
responding to patients, staff and our
partners
1 Individual: Linda White, ambulatory
governance support worker
2 Team: Adult Respiratory Care and
Rehabilitation Team, The Royal London,
Mile End and London Chest hospitals
Achieving ambitious results by
working together
7 Individual: Les Bailes-Barrett, lead
clinical site manager, Newham
8 Team: Emergency Gynaecology Unit,
Whipps Cross Hospital
Caring and compassionate, with
patients, each other and our partners
Valuing every member of staff and their
contribution to the care of our patients
9 Individual: joint winners – Grant
Knockles, matron, and Simon Baulch,
healthcare support worker
3 Individual: Beautine Wester, practice
facilitator
10 Team: Renal Team, The Royal London
Hospital
The Arrhythmia Team were the
winning team for the relentlessly
improving and innovating award.
Simon Sporton, consultant cardiologist
commented: “All members of the
Arrhythmia Team were extremely proud to
be recognised by the Trust as one of its
teams of the year. The awards ceremony was
a fabulous evening – the team photo does it
full justice.”
Barts Charity, which generously sponsors the
Barts Health Heroes Awards, introduced two
new awards last year to recognise staff who
have been exceptional in supporting the
Charity over the past 12 months.
4 Team: South East Locality Health Visiting
Team
Relentlessly improving and innovating
for patient safety
5 Individual: Anne Cummins, pharmacist
6 Team: Arrhythmia Service, St
Bartholomew’s Hospital
Anne Cummins, pharmacist won the
individual award for relentlessly improving
and innovating. Anne said: “This sounds like
a dreadful cliché but I like people, I'm a bit
of a science geek and I enjoy solving
problems. If I can help someone out then
that's a good day.”
Emergency Gynaecology
Unit: The team is proud to
be part of Barts Health and
felt honored to have received
the recognition for their
incredible contributions.
“
”
5
The Health Visiting Team: It is challenging working in a community setting, as
every service, from the voluntary sector to the statutory sector has their part to play,
but it feels that the Health Visiting Team is the service that links these together.
“
”
3
4
8
11
12
5
6
9
10
13
Winners of the Barts Charity
Best Fundraiser Awards were:
11 Doctor Nick Plowman and Stuart
Peters (Joint winners of the Best
Fundraiser Award)
12 HAPPY Team (Best Ambassador
Award – Team)
13 Professor Richard Schilling (Best
Ambassador Award – Individual)
Grant Nockles,
matron Working
within elderly care is
such a privilege. I was
thrilled to win the award.
It felt like I was at the Oscars.
Linda White, ambulatory governance support worker
At the end of the day we are all patients and I know
how I would like to be treated myself. It’s lovely when
I receive positive feedback from services users.
“
“
”
”
6
Our staff
A stroke of
genius
Barts Health has a vision to
‘change lives’ and the Hyper Acute
Stroke Unit at The Royal London
Hospital is doing just that.
Since its creation in 2010, following the
Healthcare for London review, the service has
been going from strength to strength and
now boasts a 30 minute door to needle time
– amongst the fastest in the world. You may
ask why is this so important, well, every
minute counts when treating stroke, as the
earlier you get treatment the better your
chances of a full recovery.
Our door to needle time isn’t the only thing
at Barts Health that’s changing lives. The unit
at The Royal London is the only one to boast
a 24/7 senior consultant delivered service.
This means that if you arrive at the Hyper
Acute Stroke Unit at The London out of
normal working hours you get access to the
Pictured: A scan of
someone having a stroke –
Dr Gompertz points out
where the blood is
blocked causing a
white patch in
the brain
same expertise. For
treatment to begin
within 30 minutes,
decisions have to be taken
without delay, sometimes
without a full medical history, in
order to provide the best possible
outcome and quality of life.
At Barts Health we recognise that only
senior consultants have the expertise needed
to make the crucial decisions in minutes,
being able to balance the risks against the
outcomes and improve recovery for Barts
Health patients.
Pictured: Clockwise -
Patrick Gompertz, lead stroke consultant at
Barts Health, talks about working on the unit:
“We’ve known for 20 years that if people
with a stroke are treated immediately this
saves lives and improves quality of life, so
hyper acute stroke units have been designed
around addressing the needs of the people
we see. Each year we see around 1000 people
and have 12 beds, but this reflects the fact
that 50 percent of our patients are ready to
go home within three days, due to the speed
and quality of care. Those who require further
treatment are discharged to the co-located
stroke unit. We also provide therapy within 24
hours of being admitted as this helps promote
early recovery.
“We do all we can to help our patients
recover without disabilities, or with minimal
effects from their stroke. It’s fantastic that we
are able to help people through a disastrous
phase of their lives and make a real
difference. Prior to setting up the hyper acute
Dr Gompertz; The team
units there
prepare to give a prophylaxis
were 28 units
treatment in the
across London with
emergency department;
differing standards
Dr Gompertz talks
and outcomes,
to Delroy White
on the Acute
introducing the hyper
Stroke Unit
acute units now means that
London is the safest place to have
a stroke, as we have 20 percent less
deaths than elsewhere. Being able to
provide specialised services in one place,
with expertise available and on-hand is
truly changing lives.”
Delroy White, a patient receiving care on the
unit, knows the difference the stroke unit
makes: “I realised I was having a stroke when
I lost control of my limbs and immediately
called an ambulance. The care I’ve received
has been great. I’ve been receiving physical
and speech therapy and feel better being
cared for in an environment where people
understand my needs.”
Being able to provide specialised services in one place, with
“expertise
available and on-hand is truly changing lives ”
Patrick Gompertz, lead stroke consultant at Barts Health
7
Our community
Celebrating 25 years
of saving lives
London’s Air Ambulance, housed at The Royal London, celebrated 25 years of service in January 2014. Since the charity formed in
1989, it has given life-saving treatment to over 30,000 critically injured patients and has attended most major incidents in London.
Sticking at the forefront of medical innovation, delivering pioneering procedures, including roadside open heart surgery, anaesthesia
and blood transfusions, it is a world-leading service that relies on the generosity of the people of London to maintain its service.
35-year-old Angela Barlow was hit by a car aged 11 outside her home
in Plaistow. She had a life-threatening brain injury requiring immediate
surgery. Her mother Susan saw the incident unfold from the kitchen
window. “No matter how careful you are, this can happen to anyone.
When the same accident happened to my grandson, I realised how
common this is and how vital the work of London’s Air Ambulance is.
Angela made a miraculous recovery, I can’t imagine what our lives
would be like if it turned out to be different. Our family will always be
thankful to this life-saving charity.” Angela was one of the charity's
first patients and now has her own family.
Trauma patients can suffer injuries, which must be treated quickly in
order to prevent death or life-long disability. London's Air Ambulance
works alongside the London Ambulance Service to provide rapid,
effective treatment as soon as possible after injury. Their advanced
trauma doctor and paramedic can perform procedures to relieve pain,
straighten broken limbs, perform open heart surgery to restart the
heart, give blood and deliver emergency anaesthesia, at the roadside
and within minutes of injury - bringing the services that would
normally only be provided in hospital directly to patients.
This year, the charity is asking for your help to acquire a desperately
needed second helicopter and to recruit additional pilots and fire crew
to extend its daylight flying hours in the summer months, enabling the
service to reach an estimated further 400 patients per year by aircraft.
Dr Gareth Davies, medical director and chair of the trustees, London's
Air Ambulance commented: “I feel incredibly privileged to have been part
of this amazing service for 20 of its 25 years. It has been a tough, but
enjoyable, journey and it is thanks to people believing in our vision - to
be the world's most innovative and effective provider of advanced prehospital care - that we are now here celebrating our 25th anniversary.”
Barts Health NHS Trust has worked closely alongside London’s Air
Ambulance for 25 years, supporting the charity in numerous ways,
including through seconding doctors to the service.
Sir Stephen O'Brien, chairman, Barts Health NHS Trust congratulated
the charity: “On behalf of everyone at Barts Health I am delighted to
congratulate London's Air Ambulance on its 25 years of excellence.
This ground-breaking service is an outstanding tribute to team
endeavour and an unswerving dedication to the lives of all Londoners.”
Help to keep London's Air Ambulance going for another 25 years
and show your support by making a small donation to the charity by
visiting www.londonsairambulance.co.uk/donate
8
Our staff
Spider diagram – an
example of the data from
the survey results
Listening to our staff voice
Each year every staff member is asked to fill out the staff survey to enable
staff to express their views and have their voice heard… but what happens
next? What’s the point of completing the survey? Well, following the
2012 staff survey a number of changes were made to improve working
lives of staff, including increased support for improved health and
wellbeing and a greater focus on staff development.
For example results in the 2013 survey showed that staff felt that they
were supported with appraisals in terms of their professional development
and more staff also felt that they had clear work objectives, which shows
that the enhanced focus placed on staff development and support over
the last year made a real difference.
The Organisational Development (OD) Team is currently supporting
individual teams to undertake workshops so that teams can identify the
areas where they want
to make changes. This
approach last year
helped the
Chemotherapy
Pharmacy Team to
implement the
‘Accelerated Delivery
Programme’, which
empowers staff
through involvement in
active decision-making,
supporting a sense of
ownership and
This year we will be focusing on five areas highlighted in the
responses to the 2013 staff survey. These are:
Building trust in our leadership
Getting the basics in place
Effectively tackling harassment, bullying and discrimination
Giving our staff confidence that speaking up is the right
thing to do
Supporting line managers in working with their teams
accountability; thereby supporting staff to perform with increased
efficiency. As a result of this, chemotherapy pharmacy staff have reported
that they feel a greater sense of influence on decision-making in their area
and that they have greater involvement in improvements.
We want every staff member at Barts Health to have a voice and feel that
they can make a difference. To get in on the conversation all staff can
access the results from the 2013 survey by visiting the staff intranet and
can speak to their line manager to organise a facilitated workshop for
their area with the OD team.
Changing lives #becausewecare on NHS change day
On Monday 3 March hundreds of staff at
Barts Health pledged to be a changemaker
as part of NHS Change Day. Over 317
pledges were made on the day with more
coming in the days that followed.
Jason Donovan, project accountant, pledged
to: “follow through on all ideas to help develop
staff in the department” and Trevor Payne
pledged to: “walk to all sites for meetings…
and encourage his team to do the same.”
NHS Change Day was an opportunity for every
staff member to make a pledge to make
something better and make a positive
difference in their area of work.
The Trust also made an organisational pledge
to: “find mechanisms to give our staff a greater
voice”, as we believe that by ensuring all staff
have a voice and feel they can make a
difference we will be able to provide the best
possible care and services for our patients.
Over the coming months we will be
theming the pledges and integrating
these into our on-going culture change
work as: ‘NHS Change Day is not just
about a single day of action.’ It’s about
Pictured: Trevor Payne and
Jason Donovan with their pledges (left),
Shona Brown and Louise Jordan
promoting NHS Change Day (right)
making the changes that matter in every
day practice – reminding ourselves of
why we do what we do.’
9
World Cancer
Leaders’ Summit
In late 2013 Frank Chinegwundoh lead
urology consultant at Barts Health and
chairman of the charity Cancer Black
Care, attended the World Cancer
Leaders’ Summit 2013, an invitation
only meeting held in Cape Town.
Investing in our staff
At Barts Health we recognise that our staff are our number one asset. Ensuring
we have sufficient staff cover, by being able to manage shift patterns, temporary
staff and having the right skill mix in place on every shift, ensures our staff can
do the very best for our patients.
Last year the Trust employed over 18,200 temporary staff, including over 2,700
doctors and just over 7,000 nurses and healthcare assistants. This was captured
using three data systems and four bank booking systems, covering a variety of
functionalities, but using several systems made it difficult to enable efficient
workforce planning. Now we are set to launch a new e-Rostering system and our
new bank service providing cohesive management for our entire workforce.
Managing bank shifts to enhance our
workforce
Alison Littlewood, head of resourcing, explains:
“An effectively run bank service helps to ensure
patient safety and quality of experience by
reducing the reliance on temporary agency
staffing. Agency nurses are usually unfamiliar to
the area, the team and patients and on average
are 30 percent more expensive than bank or
permanent staff. By sourcing Bank Partners to
manage our bank shifts and having one pool of
bank staff, one IT system and one reporting
framework this will improve the environment
for our staff and the care we provide to our
patients, as well as reducing the cost of
employing temporary and agency staff.”
e-Rostering to improve the patient
experience
Richard Larkin, associate director of resourcing
and governance, explains the benefits of eRostering: “The new system will make a huge
difference to the way we can manage our
workforce as the reporting functionality within
the system can be scheduled and enables
managers to monitor staffing levels against
patient activity, helping to ensure
that there are appropriate levels of staffing
with the necessary skill mix. This helps to secure
patient safety and comfort. Additionally
automating rostering processes is known to
release staff time, enabling them to be more
effectively redeployed to patient care, thereby
improving the patient experience.”
Recruitment and retention of staff is vital to
improving the experience for our patients and
we will continue to develop and deliver
solutions that enhance our workforce and
improves working lives for everybody working
at or coming into contact with Barts Health.
Frank was invited
due to his
commitment and
contributions to
raising awareness of
cancer in black and
ethnic minority
communities,
including
championing this
subject at the Department of Health and
setting up the award winning pilot drop-in
clinic at the Afro-Caribbean Resource
Centre in Newham.
Frank comments: “The summit
highlighted the urgent need to address
the glaring disparities in cancer control
within and across national, international
and regional boundaries. This is seen
as crucial to achieving the global aim
of reducing premature deaths from
non-communicable diseases by 25
percent by 2015. The two days ended
with a launch of the refreshed World
Cancer Declaration, which has nine
targets to be achieved by all countries by
2025. It is to support global advocacy
efforts calling for inclusion of cancer
prevention and control.”
Everyone is invited to sign the
World Cancer Declaration by visiting:
http://www.uicc.org/signdeclaration
Reference - declaration targets taken from:
http://www.uicc.org/world-cancer-declaration
10
Around our hospitals
Cycling
seminar
Can advances in medicine and
research at Barts Health NHS
Trust reduce the number of people
killed or seriously injured from
cycling incidents?
That was the question put to 40 delegates who met in January
to discuss innovations in trauma care and injury prevention at a
cycling seminar led by Barts Charity, supported by clinicians at Barts
Health and researchers at Barts and The London School of Medicine
and Dentistry.
Reviewing a range of data sources, the group determined that
implementing injury prevention strategies driven by better and more
detailed data about cycling incidents is the only way to reduce
immediate deaths from cycling.
The learning from the session will be used by Barts Charity to develop
new and innovative projects including; sharing insights into trauma
science with other international centres of learning; creating a bespoke
injury database; investigating public perceptions of injury risk;
evaluating current Local Authority injury interventions and creating an
Creating a world-class
cardiovascular centre at
St Bartholomew’s Hospital
essential online web-resource to provide psychological support to
long-term trauma survivors.
Belinda Dee, head of development at Barts Charity, said: “Innovations
to make cycling safe and accessible are worthy of investment; regular
cyclists on average have the fitness of someone 10 years younger,
are half as likely to suffer from heart disease and 27 percent less likely
to have a stroke. Every death through cycling is entirely preventable,
with countless lives shattered by the ripple effect of these tragic
events. I urge anyone interested in working collaboratively with
us to improve the safety of cycling to contact us and get involved.”
To find out more about working with Barts Charity please
visit www.bartscharity.org.uk
Cardiovascular disease affects millions of
people every year, and is one of the biggest
causes of early death and disability in our
population. North and east London has
some of the best cardiovascular experts in
the country, but at the moment our services
are not organised in a way that gives
patients the best chance of survival and the
best experience of care. If we improved
local survival rates for heart disease in line
with the average for England, over 1,000
more lives could be saved every year.
We are working with colleagues at
UCLPartners and University College London
Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on plans to
create a new, state of the art cardiovascular
centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. The
new centre would be one of the largest in
Europe, bringing together the wide range of
expertise in clinical care, research and
education for cardiovascular conditions
from across our organisations.
If the project is fully approved,
cardiovascular services would start to move
into the new centre in early 2015.
11
Working together
with the CQC to
provide better
patient care
In November last year Barts Health
was one of the first acute hospital
trusts to be inspected by the Care
Quality Commission (CQC) under
its new regime for examining the
standards and quality of care
provided by the NHS.
It was both a significant challenge and a
tremendous opportunity for the Trust to
confirm and celebrate excellence where we
deliver the highest standards of care and
treatment. Equally as important it allowed us
to see where we were simply not doing well
enough for our patients. Earlier in 2013 the
CQC had highlighted concerns in some areas at
Whipps Cross, including cleanliness and the
quality of the patient environment, and issued
us with formal improvement notices. In the
months following, a renewed focus and
commitment by staff across the hospital
ensured that the warning notices were lifted,
and our staff and patients could once again
rightly take pride in the environment and care
they provide.
There’s been a huge shift through all the work we did for the CQC
and there is a real ‘see it, fix it’ mentality now. It’s about the whole team
talking to each other – if something isn’t fixed and is compromising
care, it’s discussed in the safety briefing during the day and sorted.
“
”
Matron for elderly care, Grant Nockles,
explains: “I think the improvement
notices really were opportunities, and
that’s the way we approached it.
“There’s been a huge shift through
all the work we did for the CQC
and there is a real ‘see it, fix it’
mentality now. It’s about the
whole team talking to each
other – if something isn’t
fixed and is
compromising care, it’s
discussed in the safety
briefing during the day
and sorted.”
It’s a shift that has been
enabled by a refocused Estates
and Facilities Team whose
dedicated work at Whipps
Cross has rapidly improved the patient
environment. Along with additional domestic
staff providing more out of hours support, the
team undertook over 300 repair jobs around the
hospital ranging from a lick of paint and new
curtains in wards to the refurbishment of entire
patient spaces such as maternity. A new pump
was even installed in the carp pond!
While it should not take warning notices to
achieve such great improvements, the CQC visit
has renewed pride and purpose within our
teams that can only benefit the Trust, our staff,
and most importantly, our patients.
And according to Grant, it’s a purpose that is set
to last: “There’s a quote we now work by which
is ‘every day should be a CQC day’ and with the
renewed motivation to make sure all wards are
clean and safe, we have changed the way we
deliver care.”
12
Getting involved
Watch out for…
Our response to the CQC report
Some dates
can’t wait
Every year around 12 percent of our
patients miss their appointments
without letting the clinic know that
they will not be able to attend. This
stops other people who also need an
appointment from being given that
slot, as well as costing the NHS £160
each time.
Making sure you keep your outpatient
appointment means that Barts Health
clinicians can see and treat as many patients
in our hospitals and clinics as possible
without any delay.
To ensure everyone gets the best treatment
possible in the shortest amount of time, we have
introduced changes to our outpatient rules.
It means that you could be referred back to
the care of your GP if you do not let us know
Following the CQC visit in October and
report published in January, our response
and action plan is now available in the
March Trust board papers – these can be
downloaded from the Trust website.
Equality reports 2013
that you cannot attend an outpatient
appointment. In addition, if you need to
re-arrange your appointment, you can only
do this once. If you request to change your
appointment a second time you may also be
referred back to your GP.
If you know you cannot attend your
appointment please do let us know as soon
as possible by calling the phone number on
your appointment letter. Doing this will mean
we may be able to offer your appointment to
someone else who really cant wait.
Thank you for supporting your local NHS.
The Barts Health Equality Report and the
Barts Health Workforce Equality
Information report for 2013 have been
published and are now available on the
Trust website. The reports look back at
equality and diversity at the Trust in 2013.
Trust Quality Accounts 2013/14
Due to be published in June, our quality
accounts will give us an overview of the
Trust’s service, achievements during
2013/14 and plans for the coming year.
Our social side
ScottLesner
Thanks to Julie in minor injuries for looking
after me and my fractured shoulder today.
Very kind and very efficient! #gonhs
LDNairamb
A massive thanks to @Ldn_Ambulance and
@NHSBartsHealth for an amazing
partnership over the past 25 years!
DianaHughes1987
@NHSBartsHealth aw I loved working for
barts, wish I could bring it to Wales.
benramster
Thank you @NHSBartsHealth for the
excellent care given to my wife and new
son at #whippscross maternity unit.
Wonderful support by the team.
What’s on
Trust Board meetings
• 2 April, 11am – 1.30pm, Bainbridge Room, Robin Brook Centre, St Bartholomew’s
• 7 May, 11am – 1.30pm, Boardroom, Junction 6, Whipps Cross
• 4 June, 11am – 1.30pm, Lecture Theatre, Education Centre, Zone 2, Newham
Tweet us
@NHSBartsHealth
Talk to us via
www.facebook.com/bartshealth
Give your opinion
www.patientopinion.org.uk
or tell us about your experience
on NHS Choices www.nhs.uk
Barts Health magazine is produced by the Communications Team. You can find out more about the Trust on our
website at www.bartshealth.nhs.uk. If you have any queries, would like this magazine in a different format or would
like to suggest articles for future issues, please email communications@bartshealth.nhs.uk
Website: www.bartshealth.nhs.uk | Twitter: @NHSBartsHealth | Facebook: www.facebook.com/BartsHealth