Pennine News - Oct 2014 - Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Transcription
Pennine News - Oct 2014 - Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Pride in Pennine Quality-Driven Responsible Compassionate Pennine News Issue 128 • October 2014 INSIDE this issue: • Getting the service right for children and young people • End of life care – focus on quality • Celebrating our long serving staff • Flu campaign launched by chief executive Electronic prescribing systems rolled out 2 In the news October 2014 Contents PAT consultant involved in research on breast cancer and cholesterol ...............................Pg 4 Electronic prescribing ...................Pg 4 End of life care - focus on quality ........................................Pg 5 Diary dates.......................................Pg 5 Learning the basics for critically ill care................................Pg 6 Mayor’s visit.....................................Pg 6 New ultrasound breast.................. imaging equipment .......................Pg 6 New HR initiatives ..........................Pg 7 Team Talk ........................................Pg 8 Team focus on crisis response ......Pg 9 Flu vaccination programme for 2014/15 ......................................Pg 10 Donation for NICU equipment ....Pg 11 Thought for the month ................Pg 12 Maxine’s on a mission! ..................Pg 12 PAT staff nominated for health education apprentice of year award .................................Pg 12 Celebrating long serving staff......Pg 13 Health and well being champions at PAT ..........................Pg 14 New NED appointments ...............Pg 15 Staff notice board ..........................Pg 16 Inside News THE Trust has several communication tools to help keep staff up to date: Team Talk is sent round monthly, for use in all team briefings. The chief executive’s Monday Message is emailed on Mondays and contains Trust, local and national key issues. Weekly bulletins are emailed on Mondays and contain a range of operational and site information. Online copies of all the bulletins and Team Talk, plus more, can be found on the Trust intranet at nww.pat.nhs.uk/communications You can send your stories for either Pennine News or for local media to Trust communications at trust.communications@pat.nhs.uk or call Nicola Berry on 44284. If you have any ideas, views or suggestions regarding communications across the Trust, please email staff.views@pat.nhs.uk Please recycle this magazine Doctors at PAT lead on specialist course DELEGATES from across the country travelled to The Royal Oldham Hospital in June for a specialist course designed to introduce them to academic medicine. come to future events. Funds raised from ticket sales will be given as a charitable donation to The Royal Oldham Hospital Fund.” Organised by Dr Joshim Khan and Dr Syed Shan, the idea for the event came about when they began looking at the first stages of writing a medical abstract for publication. Dr Rahul Potluri, founder/executive director of ACALM study group and cardiology specialist registrar, said: “This course provided a clear insight into academic medicine which enabled delegates to gain a confidence and understanding of the factors required for successful publication. We look forward to pursuing the future endeavours of ACALM study group.” Dr Khan said: “We felt the skills required for efficient and successful abstract writing could be developed through teaching and training. Dr Potluri, cardiology registrar at The Royal Oldham Hospital, kindly offered to teach this to us through his vast experience and we felt others should also benefit from this. We therefore set up a national teaching course aimed at medical students, foundation doctors, ST and CT trainees called ‘An insight into academic medicine: Focus on research, abstract writing and publication.” Delegates gained a key insight into various aspects of academic medicine with the day beginning with an inspirational talk from Professor Jacky Hayden CBE, Dean of Postgraduate Medical Studies North Western Deanery. Topics the delegates then learnt about included career progression, clinical audit, publication tips and the peer review process. Abstract writing workshops were led by F1 doctors Dr Joshim Khan, Dr Syed Shan, Dr Fatima Ziaei and Dr Zakeea Sher and delegates rotated around the four workshops entitled ‘Read, Follow, Write, Sell.’ These were the four key steps for abstract writing and submission which the delegates were trained under. They were then given the unique opportunity to get involved with the ACALM* study group. Dr Khan continued: “Our inaugural event was the first of its kind for the ACALM study group and for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. The course attracted many expressions of interest with delegates attending from across the UK. With a total of 35 attendees we were able to provide an effective teaching course for all. “Delegates’ feedback on the day was hugely positive with many wanting to Dr Suresh Chandran, acute medical consultant at The Royal Oldham Hospital who chaired the event, said: “This was an excellent initiative on the part of the organisers to address the important issue of the art of publication and writing abstracts. Despite it being a weekend, the turnout was impressive. All the attendees were very happy with the content of the course and felt they had gained the skills to try to embark on the journey of getting some publications under their belt.” Professor Jacky Hayden CBE, Dean of Postgraduate Medical Studies North Western Deanery, said: “I was honoured to be invited to open an event arranged by trainees for trainees and medical students on beginning an academic career. I was impressed that so many of our trainees and students attended and was inspired that so many of them aspire to contribute to the academic base of our discipline. Well done to Joshim, Syed and team for the organisation and thanks to Pennine Acute Trust for the use of the education centre.” * ACALM is a small group led by clinicians who aim to work with junior doctors across the UK to develop specific research skills and learn through the art of publishing in peer reviewed journals and presenting at national and international conferences. Since its inception in October 2013, over 60 medical students and junior doctors are working with ACALM. See page 4 for a story on Dr Potluri speaking at a conference in Barcelona. 3 In the news Getting it right for children and young people VOICES of children were heard loud and clear over the summer period at North Manchester General Hospital. The A&E department at the hospital was seeking to engage with children who use their department and capture their views on how they can modify or re-design the services that they offer, to become more responsive to patients’ needs. Running initially during August, the department was looking to capture the views of around 2,500 children and families who come in to A&E by asking them to complete a survey. Dianne Cook, advanced paediatric nurse practitioner at North Manchester General Hospital, who is leading the survey and engagement work, said: “Parent or carer views are commonly used as proxies in ascertaining information for surveys. However, as with the Friends and Families adult survey currently running in the emergency department, we wanted to give the opportunity to receive feedback and views of the children and young people who attend as well. “Age should not be a barrier to ensuring that people have a positive experience of their care. We devised with several children and young people’s input, a postcard survey that was designed to be short and age appropriate, with the chance to provide comments seeking children’s views on our service and how we could improve things.” The questions included in the survey were: Did you feel that the nurses and doctors looked after you today? Did you like the place and space you were seen in today? Did the staff make you feel better today? The paediatric nursing staff in A&E distributed the postcard to any child or young person (where appropriate) who attended the department with an acute or chronic illness or injury. The children filled in the survey and posted their replies in a confidential box in the department. Local children also got the chance to become even more involved with the survey when Pike Fold Community Primary School in Blackley was invited to design a colour picture to be used on the postcard. All 240 pupils from the school completed their pictures with winners chosen from each class, and a final overall winner chosen by a judging panel comprising Trust chairman John Jesky, Maureen Denton, head teacher of Pike Fold Community Primary School and members of the emergency department. Chris Hazelhurst, Asda Community Liaison, presented donated vouchers to the winners. Molly, from Year 6 was chosen as the lucky winner with her picture of ‘what health means to me’ which was officially unveiled as the graphic for the postcard survey. Professor Andrew Rowland, paediatric emergency medicine consultant, said: “This is a very exciting initiative for us as we eagerly look forward to hearing the children’s and young people’s contributions. We want to give them a greater voice in the design of healthcare services and engage with our local community to strengthen links and communication with our local partners.” Pictured left to right: Dianne Cook, advanced paediatric nurse practitioner; Professor Andrew Rowland, paediatric emergency medicine consultant; Molly from Pike Fold Community Primary School and Chris Hazelhurst, Asda Community Liaison. A move in the right direction for A&E system users SINCE 2005 the A&E departments at the Trust have not kept paper record cards in storage for patients. Instead the cards are scanned and the images stored electronically so when a patient attends A&E, staff can easily view previous cards within the Symphony A&E computer system. Recently the storage system has been experiencing problems and it was agreed the cards would be moved onto a new system. This was a very complicated undertaking as each card image needed to be correctly indexed into the Symphony patient database. The complexity of the operation and the demand on the A&E system server meant that this could not be done while the system was running, meaning the A&E departments had to run using the manual fall back system of whiteboards, pens and paper. In order to reduce the clinical risk, the move was carried out over night when patient numbers are lower. End users should notice no change in the system, except the system being more responsive! From the Trust perspective, it has moved a vital clinical system away from a single point of failure on an outdated piece of equipment and will enable other interlinked projects to move ahead. Dr Jim Butler, consultant in A&E at North Manchester General Hospital, and Symphony system lead said: “This change required careful planning and a co-ordinated team approach in all of the departments using Symphony. All those involved performed magnificently, whether they were IM&T/supplier staff staying up all night to do the technical procedures, A&E clinical staff keeping the departments running without the usual systems in place, the Symphony system manager, or the admin and clinical staff who recovered the overnight data allowing the Trust performance reports to be issued by lunchtime the next day. “This was a good opportunity to test our fall back and recovery plans which are used in the event of any interruption to the Symphony system, which will itself be upgraded later this year. Knowing the disaster recovery procedures have been so thoroughly tested provides reassurance that the departments can get through any further downtime with minimal impact on service provision.” Congratulations and thanks to all the staff who were involved in the recent move it was a great success, well done! 4 In the news October 2014 Possible link between breast cancer and cholesterol - PAT consultant involved in research A CARDIOLOGY registrar at The Royal Oldham Hospital has recently presented his research findings at an international conference. Dr Rahul Potluri, who has worked at the Trust for four years, went to the Frontiers in Cardiovascular Biology conference in Barcelona, in July, to highlight the association between high cholesterol and breast cancer following a study of 1 million patients, over a 14 year period in the UK. Dr Rahul Potluri, founder of the ACALM Study Unit and lead author, said: “Our preliminary study suggests that women with high cholesterol in their blood may be at greater risk of getting breast cancer. It raises the possibility of preventing breast cancer with statins, which lower cholesterol, but as this is a primitive study, significant time and research is needed before this idea can be tested. “We have a general principle that obesity is linked to breast cancer and a study in mice suggested that this may be because of cholesterol. We decided to investigate whether there was any association between hyperlipidaemia, which is high cholesterol essentially, and breast cancer. “We found that women with high cholesterol had a significantly greater chance of developing breast cancer. This was an observational study so we can’t conclude that high cholesterol causes breast cancer but the strength of this association warrants further investigation. “A prospective study that monitors the risk of breast cancer in women with and without high cholesterol is needed to confirm what we observed. If the connection between high cholesterol and breast cancer is validated, the next step would be to see if lowering cholesterol with statins can reduce the risk of developing cancer. “Statins are cheap, widely available and relatively safe. We are potentially heading towards a clinical trial in 10-15 years to test the effect of statins on the incidence of breast cancer. If such a trial is successful, statins may have a role in the prevention of breast cancer especially in high risk groups, such as women with high cholesterol. “While our study was preliminary, our results are promising. We found a significant association between having high cholesterol and developing breast cancer that needs to be explored in more depth. Caution is needed when interpreting our results because while we had a large study population, our analysis was retrospective and observational with inherent limitations. That said, the findings are exciting and further research in this field may have a big impact on patients several years down the line.” Electronic prescribing systems rolled out SEVENTY SEVEN wards at hospitals run by The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust can now boast that they have the latest technology to help clinical and nursing staff. The critical care unit at North Manchester General Hospital celebrated being the latest ward to roll out the electronic prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) with the fully integrated HealthViews discharge summary. Medchart is the electronic prescribing and medicine administrative system (ePMA) which uses software to improve the management, legibility and safety of medicines recorded within the Trust. Pennine Acute was the first Trust in the UK to go live on Medchart. Previously drug prescriptions would be handwritten which could mean that some were difficult to read or could be lost, whereas doctors now use the new system to prescribe drugs to patients and manage discharge prescriptions. Nurses use the system to record the administration of drugs to patients and the system helps them to plan and organise their drug rounds with legible prescription information, which replaces the handwritten kardexes which were kept at the end of the patients’ beds. HealthViews is a web based application which allows clinical staff to log into a number of different systems at any one time using a single sign in with a password to check on the records of patients. This can include requesting radiology reports and electronic discharge summaries for patients and as the system is available 24 hours a day, it is much safer for patients. Dr Georges Ng Man Kwong, consultant chest physician and clinical director, who has been involved with the project from the start said: “I would like to congratulate and thank all of our staff who have embraced and implemented ePMA which has been one of the biggest change projects ever undertaken by The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and the largest implementation of MedChart in the world to date. By changing work behaviours and processes, the project has had a major impact on patient care and safety, and linking discharge medications to Healthviews has significantly increased the quality and timeliness of discharge summaries. “Roll out to complex clinical areas has not been without challenges and importantly we have learnt from these to develop and grow from strength to strength. ePMA and Healthviews have paved the way for other major clinical IT systems which will further improve and integrate access to clinical information whilst ultimately improving patient care.” Libby Woodcock, ePMA lead, who has overseen the roll out of the technology, said: “We are proud to say that we have over 5,000 users trained on the system with around 900 beds across the Trust at North Manchester General Hospital, The Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Rochdale Infirmary and the Floyd unit at Birch Hill Hospital all live. Maternity at Oldham went live in September with oncology wards, paediatrics and neonates to follow. A pilot in A&E and outpatients will also be completed. “Clinical and nursing leads have provided immense support throughout and have helped in making this project a success. The feedback obtained from ward staff has proved to be largely positive with ward managers stating they would NOT want to go back to hand written drug charts!” Pictured on front page: Libby Woodcock, Dr Masie Tan and staff nurse Shelly Begum. 5 News - Trust stories End of life care - focus on quality Infection prevention accreditation awards CONGRATULATIONS to the departments pictured below who have received infection prevention accreditation certificates. END of life care in Pennine Acute hospitals is about to be transformed! The end of life care team have signed up to a national transformation programme which aims to empower clinicians to deliver excellent quality care at the end of life. The programme is based on education, development and implementation of the following 5 ‘key enablers’ which will inform the course content; EPaCCS (Electronic palliative care coordination systems) Advance Care Planning AMBER Care Bundle Individualised plans of care for each patient at end of life Rapid palliative transfer Following the classroom days, a ten month ward based teaching and guidance programme will be introduced with a view to training at least 80% of staff on each ward in 10 topic areas specific to end of life care, thereby empowering staff to deliver excellent quality end of life care to all. On completion of the ward based teaching, a further case note audit of deaths on the pilot wards will take place to demonstrate the impact of the programme. The ‘Transforming end of life care in acute hospitals’ programme will be evaluated and an implementation plan produced to roll out to other wards. Sarah Mullen, Macmillan associate end of life care facilitator, said: “The end of life care team are very excited about implementing the programme with the support of the specialist palliative care teams and the spiritual care team, which we hope will ensure that PAT hospitals consistently deliver high quality care at end of life and that patients and their families experience compassion and dignity at what can be a very difficult time.” A pre audit of case notes for all deaths on the pilot wards within a specified period has taken place to establish a baseline, as well as a pre knowledge, skills and confidence questionnaire to “Every patient will receive optimal pain and If you have be completed by symptom control at the end of life. This will any questions all ward staff. A bereavement survey encompass physical, spiritual and emotional regarding the programme was also undertaken needs. At this time patients and carers will please contact last year, the results be treated with dignity, respect and be the Macmillan of which have been communicated with in an open, honest, end of life care taken in to account compassionate manner.” team on 0161 in the development 656 (7)1253 or of the programme. Endoflife.care@pat.nhs.uk Two wards from each of the Trust’s Pictured left to right are: Sarah Mullen, four hospitals have been identified to Macmillan associate end of life care take part in a pilot programme and facilitator; Christine Taylor, Macmillan ‘champions’ from these wards which end of life care facilitator; Dr Paul Cook, include healthcare assistants, nurses, specialist palliative care consultant at PAT ward managers and senior medical and Dr Kershaw’s Hospice ; Jayne Macken, staff will attend an end of life care end of life care facilitator; Tony Bonser, champion two day classroom course. This north west dying matters champion; is then followed by a two day hospice Abdul Amin, quality improvement placement in one of the Trust’s local manager, Greater Manchester, Lancashire hospices including St Ann’s, Springhill, and South Cumbria Strategic Clinical Dr Kershaw’s and Bury Hospice, to give Network, NHS England and Mandie the staff the opportunity to work with Sunderland, chief nurse. a specialist palliative care environment. Lessons learned and reflections of best practice will then be included in a final classroom day. WARD T5 at The Royal Oldham Hospital. Pictured left to right: Sr Christine Nixon, ward manager; Sr Lynn Wright, ward sister; matron Julie Mills; staff nurse Lisa Cooke who is the link nurse for infection control; staff nurse Lisa Ward; healthcare assistant Angie Slicker; ward domestic Jackie McDonald and Dr Fathema Johura. The neonatal unit at Oldham. Pictured left to right: Lynn Bowe, unit matron; Sr June Butterworth who is the link nurse for infection control and Lorraine Durham, infection prevention specialist nurse. New integrated community diabetes service A NEW integrated diabetes service that will deliver improved outcomes for hundreds of people with diabetes across Bury and the Rochdale borough went live on 22 September. The service has been jointly commissioned by NHS Bury CCG and NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG and will be jointly delivered by Pennine Acute Trust and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. The new service will see community and hospital-based diabetes staff come together to form a single integrated service called the Bury and HMR diabetes service. More details in the next edition of Pennine News. Diary dates 17 Oct - Emergency management and mitigation presentation by Allan Cordwell. 2-3pm, Education centre, TROH 30 Oct - Arts event tour and talk with Rob Vale. 2-3pm, Education centre, TROH 6 People October 2014 Learning the basics for critically ill care “This is a great way for foundation doctors and the nursing staff to learn first-hand various scenarios they may encounter and the skills needed to manage critically ill patients. THE critical care consultants from North Manchester General Hospital and The Royal Oldham Hospital recently joined forces to plan and deliver an ICU BASICs course to a number of foundation doctors and nursing staff. The two day course took place in the state-of-the-art simulation suite at NMGH and consisted of assessment of the seriously ill, acute respiratory failure, airway management, basic haemodynamic monitoring, arrhythmias, shock, acute renal failure, sepsis, neurological emergencies, sedation, nutrition and stress ulceration. It also included practical sessions in mechanical ventilation, simulation, NIV, vascular access, arterial blood gases and metabolic electrolytes. Jane Bryan, directorate manager, anaesthetics and critical care services, said: “The co-ordinator for this event was Dr Nagaraja Ravishankar, ICU consultant at North Manchester, who was assisted by Dr Chung in doing a great job in pulling this all together. This is the first time we have had a collaborative approach across the Trust, but it won’t be the last with another course planned for 27 and 28 January 2015.” The course has been approved by RCOA for 12 points and is the only one of its kind held in the north west. New ultrasound breast imaging equipment at Oldham and North Manchester hospitals NORTH Manchester General Hospital and The Royal Oldham Hospital have become the first hospitals in the UK to install a new Siemens ultrasound imaging system for patients. Changes to ophthalmology service FROM 1 August 2014 Tameside and Glossop patients with cataract or minor eye conditions, will have both their ophthalmic outpatient appointments and operations carried out at Tameside General Hospital. This follows a request by Tameside CCG to move the service back from Rochdale Infirmary. The Pennine Acute Trust will provide the service. The new equipment has improved HD image quality and is easy to upgrade with new technologies as they become available. A team of six consultant radiologists, a consultant radiographer and advanced practitioners from the Trust operate across the two hospitals to deliver breast ultrasound services to patients, seeing between 20-60 patients per day. The new system helps the busy team by guiding them through examinations stepby-step and activating relevant modes in the shortest time possible. Alison Darlington, consultant radiographer for breast imaging at North Manchester General Hospital and The Royal Oldham Hospital said: “We looked extensively at a number of breast ultrasound systems and found that the image quality offered by Siemens’ systems came out head and shoulders above the rest. The review mode on the system lets us bring up multiple images on one screen at the same time. When looking for something tiny in the breast, this is a huge benefit to us. A hockey stick probe also makes looking at the areola of the breast easier.” Pictured: [Left to Right] Melanie Taylor, mammographer at NMGH; Alison Darlington, consultant radiographer at NMGH; Richard Evans, Regional Sales Manager at Siemens Healthcare; and Jackie Dempsey, clerical officer at NMGH. 7 News - Trust stories New initiatives to be rolled out across Trust THERE is some exciting work being undertaken behind the scenes to improve the way that the Trust operates. Over recent months a review has commenced of back-office services to ensure that the best possible support is given to front-line staff in the most efficient and cost-effective way. The review is wide-reaching and is being overseen by the Trust Executive through a Programme Office comprising a mix of Trust staff and external resources. Whilst some of the changes that will arise from the review may take a little time to put in place, there are a number of developments on the immediate horizon. These developments are aimed at improving the way that the Trust manages its workforce and will help ensure that we are making the very most of our resources in delivering the best quality patient care. For details on any of the initiatives or any other workforce support changes, contact the workforce programme management office on 44484. Introducing Capsticks HR advisory service ON 1 September 2014 Capsticks became the new provider of the HR advisory service for Pennine Acute Trust. The new service ensures that managers have the best possible advice, guidance and support in dealing with employee relations issues, for example, employee grievances, bullying and harassment claims, absence and disciplinary matters. The service, as well as ensuring consistent application of the Trust’s employee relations’ policies, ensures that cases are dealt with as speedily and effectively as possible in line with agreed timescales. Staff with concerns relating to whistleblowing or bullying or harassment will also be able to contact Capsticks for advice. Ongoing roll-out of doctors’ rostering system (DRS) THE new DRS system allows rosters to be prepared up to 12 months in advance and to be readily available online, thereby improving the way that the Trust manages the deployment of its medical resources. The system provides managers with the facility to view rosters across different areas so they can plan for cover in a more effective and efficient way. The system will reduce the Trust’s reliance on agency staff and help to improve the quality of patient care. A roll-out timetable is currently being prepared along with briefing material. The system is already up and running in infectious diseases, and is being rolled out within anaesthetics. Employee staff record (ESR) self service STAFF can now access their own personal information currently held on ESR, giving ownership and accountability for the information held on this system. Self-service widens access to e-learning and enables all staff to book onto face-to-face learning on-line. Total reward statements/annual benefit statements will also be accessible using this facility, allowing all staff in the pension scheme to access their Total Reward Statement (TRS). The TRS is a personalised summary showing the full employment package including basic pay, allowances and pension benefits for NHS pension scheme holders. New online facility for staff - AskHR ALL staff will occasionally have questions relating to their employment. The new online facility gives staff and managers access to a series of frequently asked questions (FAQs) relating to HR policies and procedures. AskHR can be found on the intranet under workforce on the homepage, ask HR. Should your question not be included within the FAQs there is a facility to email questions to a mailbox and your query will be answered by a member of the workforce team. New agency booking system ‘Simplicity’ This system which went live on 14 July has been developed to help manage and control the use of agency and bank workers. The system will ensure that the use of agency workers is minimised and that existing resources are deployed effectively. Where agency workers are to be engaged, the new system will ensure that the appropriate process is followed and that costs are minimised. The next phase is the development of a locum staff bank, which will provide better opportunity to fill gaps in rotas using internal locums before using agencies. The provisional go-live date of the staff bank is the end of October 2014. This is a major step forward in improving quality, safety and efficiency. Monitoring and reporting of sickness NEW arrangements are to be trialled for reporting sickness absence that will initially apply to doctors, dentists, midwives, nurses and healthcare assistants. This 24 hour service will be operated by an external organisation ‘FirstCare’. Affected staff will speak to a nurse from FirstCare as soon as they are unable to attend work due to sickness. The member of staff will receive advice and support on the next steps that they should consider taking to help them get back to a healthy state. Managers will have easy access to sickness absence trends throughout the organisation and will have prompt notifications of sickness absence, helping them to better plan around absence and limit any operational disruption. Electronic system for disclosure and barring system (EDBS) AN online checking service for Disclosure and Barring (previously known as CRB) is now in place for our appointees who work with vulnerable adults or children. The system allows the disclosure form to be pre-checked prior to submission to the Disclosure and Barring Service so that it can be processed as quickly as possible. New starters are able to take up their post much quicker, which relieves the pressure on existing staff and reduces the reliance on agency workers. More effective recruitment processes A NEW system is being introduced which will give managers greater visibility of their own recruitment activity. It is envisaged that this will reduce the average time that it takes to hire a new member of staff from between 16 and 20 weeks, to a maximum of 13 weeks, thereby reducing the costs of bank and agency usage and improve quality of care. 8 Team talk October 2014 Have you been briefed? Team Talk takes place once a month and is a way of updating you about the latest news from the Trust. SEPT TEAM TALK Team Talk New whistleblowing policy THE Trust Whistleblowing Policy has been updated in discussion with staff side representatives. This is an important policy given the need for all staff to remain vigilant and never tolerate abuse, violence or lack of care. Staff should feel confident enough to report any such behaviour immediately in the knowledge that it will be addressed promptly and fairly. Any member of staff who witnesses or hears of behaviours that are a concern has a duty to report it, to their line manager, to a staff side representative, or direct to the Chief Executive or anonymously on the Trust’s 24 hours Whistleblowing telephone line on 0161 627 8808. We must never accept poor behaviour in our services. Payroll service modernisation THE Trust’s revised payroll service has gone live. The major change is how staff contact the payroll office which is via a single central telephone number – 0161 918 4432. There is also a dedicated email address for all payroll and pension queries – Pennine.PayrollHelpdesk@pat.nhs.uk. Corporate identity FROM 1st September, our NHS Trust logo will be complemented by Pride in Pennine and our Trust Values within a consistent new colour design. This will become our new corporate “house style”. The aim is to support staff and departments in adopting and ensuring a consistent approach to the use of our Trust identity across all of our newly produced internal and external corporate printed and electronic material. This includes all internal staff bulletins such as the Monday Message and Pennine News, our screensavers, PowerPoint presentations, Trust posters, our marketing brochures and banners, our FT material and newsletters, our annual reports, our public website, and our new intranet. A corporate house style guide will be owned and overseen by our communication department; this guide will be made available and shared with staff in the next few weeks. New intranet THE Trust’s new intranet (internal website) has been redesigned and redeveloped to be more user friendly for staff. It should help you find the information you need and keep you up to date with Trust news, key announcements and important projects and events. This project follows extensive staff engagement whereby staff views were collated through the Listening into Action (LiA) programme. All staff have access to the intranet on all Trust computers. Access to Trust policies via the online Document Management System (DMS) and access to the variety of clinical and non-clinical IT systems can still be found on the new intranet at the top navigation bar of the site and via your computer desktop (shortcuts). You can use the main site navigation on the homepage and through the A-Z of clinical and corporate departments to find a department or specific content. In addition, the new intranet has an enhanced search function to help you find what you are looking for. If you need to resort back to the old intranet then there is a button on the bottom of the new site. There is more content that needs to be revised and uploaded, and more sections that need to be created. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions and content that you would like uploaded for your department that is not on the new intranet, then please get in touch with the Communication Dept via emailing trust.communications@pat.nhs.uk or complete the form on the intranet which is accessible on each page. If you have any technical queries about the intranet such as problems accessing any IT systems, then log a call with the IM&T helpdesk as normal or speak with your systems manager. Pride in Pennine - Our Values ALL staff should have received the Trust’s new Vision & Values leaflet stapled to your August pay slip. On one side you will find our Trust Values, developed by staff, that determine how we work and the promise we make to our patients, their families, the public and each other as colleagues. Our Values guide everything we do. On the other side of the leaflet is our vision, our strategic goals, our ten corporate priorities for 2014/15, and our five year strategic plan (transformation map). The development of our new vision, values and transformation strategy follows a huge amount of work undertaken to involve and hear our staff views though our Pride in Pennine crowd sourcing website and our strategy summit held in May. On 5th September every old poster displaying the Trust’s previous (now out-dated) values which had a yellow tick will be replaced with a poster listing our new values. By w/c 8th September every ward, clinical areas and out-patient departments, site restaurants, meeting rooms, education centres, public areas and waiting rooms should display our values poster. In addition, all areas will have a copy of the transformation map for display. 9 Team focus - a day in the life of Team focus on crisis response team The 60 second interview Maria O’Callaghan is the sister and IV therapy project nurse within the crisis response team based at Charlestown Health Centre in Blackley. The team provides urgent assessment and intervention for patients in the community and makes sure that the right services are in place to support patients at home. What are the highlights of your job/service? We are a mutidisciplinary team comprising highly skilled staff including advanced nurse practitioners, sisters, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a social worker, admin staff, two pharmacists and support workers. The highlight of our service is that our combined skill, knowledge and experience can prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and also we really do help people. What would make your job/service better? If more people knew about us I am sure we would become better known! How do you see your role developing? As it is a new service and a pilot service everybody’s role is changing and developing as we go along. What don’t you like about your job/service? There is nothing that any of the team do not like. This is a pilot service so it is important for us to become established and work with all stakeholders and partners in the acute setting as well as GPs, district nurses and active case managers. What is the current biggest challenge in your job/to your team? As we are a relatively new service our biggest challenge is to get ourselves known! This would increase our referrals and keep hospital admissions down. How has your job/ service changed in the last 12 months? As it is a pilot service there has been an increase in referrals and a change in the structure of staff. What is the one thing you would change about your job/service? I really do not think we would change anything. As we are a new service we are learning as we go along to improve things where necessary. We have a very supportive manager and weekly team meetings where we can discuss anything that we think is important to the service. We have a chart in the office with the headings ‘what is working well and what is not working well’ and all staff use this. What word best describes your job/service? Multi-disciplinary What aspect of your job/service is the most rewarding? Every day in crisis response is rewarding as we feel we really do make a difference. By keeping patients at home and putting in services, we are keeping them with their loved ones. What could be more rewarding than that? A typical day A typical day is all staff come in to work and on the wall we have patient details i.e name, diagnosis and individual team members who need to input their services. We have a handover which all team members contribute to and we then decide who is best to see the patient on that day depending on their needs. Each patient is seen by each discipline whilst they are a patient of the team. When the patient is referred, we carry out an initial assessment where we are able to identify and co-ordinate intervention and plan with the patient to provide a package of support to enable them to stay at home. If however, a more supported environment is needed, we can arrange a temporary placement such as an intermediate care bed. We can also refer on to other community services such as the falls team, dieticians and active case managers. 10 News - Trust stories October 2014 Flu campaign 2014 launched - Staff conduct and ethnical standards ALL staff should be aware of the Trust’s expectations in relation to their conduct and ethical standards. What is expected from staff: Ensure that the interest of patients remains paramount at all times Be impartial and honest in the conduct of their official business Use the public funds entrusted to them to the best advantage of the service, ensuring value for money at all times What staff should not do: Abuse their official position for personal gain or to benefit their family, friends or associates. Seek to advantage or further private business or other interests, in the course of their official duties. Sue Smith, counter fraud officer, said: “It is assumed that all staff are able to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in the conduct of their duties, but if you are in any doubt, you should seek advice from a senior officer. get your staff jab in at one of the staff clinics THE Trust’s flu staff vaccination campaign 2014/15 has been launched. The Trust is committed again to offering the flu vaccination free to all clinical and non-clinical staff to help protect staff, their families and our patients. We did well last year in achieving a 60% staff vaccination uptake. We are aiming to vaccinate more staff this year and to make it easier for staff to get the flu jab. Nearly 100 of our ward sisters and clinical departmental managers have agreed to act as flu vaccination leads for their wards and areas to vaccinate their staff. Flu link nurses will be available on wards – ask your ward manager. More information about the Trust’s flu campaign is available on the intranet and details of the staff flu vaccination clinics across all sites will be publicised on the weekly bulletin, intranet and in Pennine News. Occupational health October Flu clinic dates Date Time Site Venue 6 Oct 9.00am to 11.30am 12 noon to 3.00pm RI Education centre, D1 7 Oct 8.30am to 12 noon 12.30pm to 3.30pm FGH Occupational health 9 Oct 9.00am to 12.30pm RI Walkabout in non clinical areas 1.30pm to 4.00pm OPD suite 1 10 Oct 8.00am to 12 noon 12.30pm to 3.15pm TROH Occupational health 13 Oct 8.30am to 11.00am 11.30am to 3.30pm FGH Vestibule “It is a long established principle that public sector bodies, including the NHS, must be impartial and honest in the conduct of their business and their employees should remain beyond suspicion. Staff should be aware that it is an offence under the Bribery Act 2010 for an employee to give, promise or offer a bribe and to request, agree to receive or accept a bribe. Any breach renders staff liable to prosecution and disciplinary action. 14 Oct 8.30am to 11.00am 11.30am to 3.30pm RI Staff restaurant 16 Oct 8.30am to 11.30am RI Physio, cardiorespiratory, dietetics, podiatry, pharmacy “I would like to draw the attention of all staff to the Standards of Business Conduct for NHS Staff – Declaration of Interests Policy (Intranet/Documents/Non Clinical Documents/ Finance). The policy underpins the above and exists to assist staff in maintaining strict ethical standards in the conduct of NHS business.” 17 Oct 8.30am to 11.00am 11.30am to 3.30pm NMGH OPD G (F2a) 20 Oct 8.30am to 11.30am 12 noon to 3.30pm NMGH Walkabout to physio, OT, cardiorespiratory, dietetics, speech and language therapy, podiatry, radiology 21 Oct 9.00am to 1.00pm TROH Pathology staff only (am) Occupational health If you wish to report fraud, bribery or corruption, contact Sue on 0161 922 3549, Mobile 07813188479, e-mail sue.smith2@pat.nhs.uk. 11.30am to 1.00pm X-ray 2.00pm to 3.30pm Walkabout to non clinical areas 2.00pm to 4.00pm Oldham car park update 22 Oct 8.30am to 11.00am 11.30am to 3.30pm FGH Eye clinic William Street Suite The Trust has purchased and received planning permission to convert Westhulme Park into a staff car park. The new car park will have over 500 spaces and be accessed via Westhulme Avenue. There will be a pedestrian access into the hospital grounds near to the Nursery and the area will be covered by CCTV. 23 Oct 8.00am to 12 noon 12.30pm to 3.45pm NMGH Occupational health 27 Oct 8.30am to 11.00am 11.30am to 3.30pm NMGH Gallery restaurant 28 Oct 8.30am to 12 noon 12.30pm to 3.30pm TROH Walkabout to physio, OT, cardiorespiratory, dietetics, speech and language therapy, podiatry 30 Oct 8.30am to 11.00am 11.30am to 3.30pm TROH Cafe Royal corridor Building work is expected to start in October. This will replace the temporary arrangement we have with Oldham Athletic Football Club. 11 News - Trust stories New equipment for neonatal unit thanks to fundraisers BABIES born and in need of total body cooling treatment will benefit from specialist new equipment, helped by a donation of £4,200. The cheque was presented to the staff on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at The Royal Oldham Hospital by Stephanie Brown, from Oldham. Stephanie has firsthand experience of what it is like to have a newborn relative in need of specialist care. Her nephew, Cooper Harris, required specialist care on the NICU after being born with birth asphyxia. The much needed money will be used to help purchase equipment including a dedicated suction unit, monitoring system, oxygen blender and ventilation equipment. This will be used when transferring babies requiring total body cooling from the maternity ward/theatre to the NICU at The Royal Oldham Hospital. The majority of the money was raised by Stephanie through sponsorship and hosting fun quiz nights and curry evenings. Stephanie says she will continue to raise money for as long as possible and her personal target is to raise £10,000. Her current total is £6,039. Fundraiser Stephanie Brown said: “My family, particularly my sister Samantha and her husband David Harris, have been absolutely overwhelmed by the support and generosity of our friends, family and colleagues. I do want to highlight that I have not raised this money alone, I have only played a part in a team of people raising this money. There’s the people helping to organise events with me such as Louise Taylor, Paul Duce and John Payne who ran the Oldham Half Marathon in October, and of course the people who have donated the money. I would also like to say a big thank you to all the staff on NICU for saving my nephew Cooper’s life.” Lynn Bowe, unit manager/intensive care matron at The Royal Oldham Hospital said: “The equipment we are buying will help to safely take the baby from delivery to the neonatal intensive care unit in a dedicated incubator. This will mean that the baby goes into the cool incubator immediately following birth and stays in there. This means that in effect, the cooling process can commence slightly earlier, which is a great benefit to the baby.” “The system currently used means that the baby has to be transferred into another specialist cool incubator on arrival at the NICU.” All the fun of the fair A HUGE thank you to everyone who attended the 2014 Annual Floyd Unit Summer Fair at Birch Hill Hospital. Unit manager Karen Gaunt, said: “The weather was kind and the visitors were very generous. The afternoon was a resounding success with a record breaking £1321.11 being raised from 1pm to 3.30pm. “The Mayoress of Rochdale very kindly opened the fair and was very impressed with the various stalls and crowds showing their support for the unit. “Thank you to all the staff who volunteered their time on the day - Angie, Tommy, Sharon, Brian, Jessica, Ted, Louisa, Mikey, Mark and Colin. Thank you to all the staff, patients and relatives for the very kind donations for the raffle prizes; to Amber face painting for her amazing face artwork; to Oldham catering department for the cakes and biscuits they donated; to Curtain Call drama group for their fab comedy sketches and singing performances; to Sean, Joanne and Suzanne for offering the opportunity for a relaxing reiki taster session and finally thank you to volunteers Stewart and Sue who, as always, worked amazingly well to ensure everyone bought a raffle ticket or was locked into the stocks for a wet sponging…although they failed to get me in them!!!!! “I look forward to next year’s fair and the challenge of it being even bigger and more successful.” Volunteers needed to help older people OLDER people’s charity Royal Voluntary Service is calling on local people to volunteer for an on-ward befriending service at North Manchester General Hospital and The Royal Oldham Hospital. The charity, working in conjunction with Pennine Acute Trust, are recruiting volunteers to provide practical support for older people, including those with dementia at a critical time when they need it in hospital. The service will improve the patient experience through conversation, companionship and support. Intended outcomes will include health benefits, reduced duration of stays, social benefits and improved carer/family experience. If you are interested in finding out more and have a minimum of two hours per week spare, please contact Lindsey on 0161 604 5346 or E-mail, Lindsey.ashton@royalvoluntaryservice. org.uk. Training and out of pocket expenses will be provided. Recognising excellence CONGRATULATIONS to Lisa Smith and Martin Fox of the leg circulation service at North Manchester for the publication of a cover page article in the British Journal of Community Nursing, June 2014 Vol19, n06, on ‘The role of the community clinician in early detection, referral and treatment of critical limb ischaemia.’ Well done from all your colleagues. 12 October 2014 People Thought for the month by chaplaincy co-ordinator Rev John Hall THE autumn season often feels like another New Year beginning. For those from the Jewish faith, New Year has just been celebrated, known as Rosh Hashanah, a two day celebration at the end of September. Anyone in education knows that term begins with all its expectations. As a Trust there is a feeling of a new term with our new structures, logos and values. Responsible, quality-driven and compassionate is the smallest summary that came out of a huge interactive piece of work. At times this can seem bewildering as the volume of information is vast yet we know that we need to keep moving forward. It’s good to have new beginnings. It’s good to know what our values should be. Our spiritual care team have entered into a new beginning as we work jointly with all other health staff on those wards piloting the transforming the end of life care programme. For all these new starts should be motivated by giving the very best quality of care we can give, to patients, carers and one another. Showing responsibility in knowing who does which task and then the essential ingredient of compassion. Compassion is about showing respect, valuing others, being professional. Compassion is at the heart of all faith communities, it is something special, shared and lived out, it is something that we can all demonstrate. Sometimes a new beginning just reminds us of the importance of that as we define our values and make them count. Maxine’s on a mission! MAXINE Mansfield, booking and scheduling clerk at Rochdale Infirmary is celebrating after scooping the top prize in a competition held by the elective access division to identify a new mission statement. The competition received over 30 entries and entrants faced a tough judging panel hosted by head of service improvement (elective access), Sharon Carey; EDRMS operational project manager, Jonathan Clark, and associate director of elective access, Jo Keogh, but Maxine’s winning statement ‘Elective Access – Planning Patient Care With Pride’ wowed the judges, and has now been adopted by the division to encapsulate their mission statement for the future. Maxine was presented with her award and prize of £50 Trafford Centre vouchers by clinical administration manager, Diane Whetham, on behalf of Jo Keogh, associate director of elective access. Maxine said: “I was really shocked, but thrilled to win the competition. It’s been a great opportunity for staff like myself to get involved and help shape the future of the service. I’ve really enjoyed it.” Head of service improvement, Sharon Carey, said: “Congratulations to Maxine on a well deserved win and for the fantastic contribution she has made to the future vision of the elective access division.” Trust staff nominated for the Health Education North West Trust Apprentice of the Year award FOR a number of years, the Trust has been providing and commissioning a range of apprenticeship frameworks for Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust staff to access. Apprenticeships are offered in a range of frameworks in both clinical and non-clinical topics and can be undertaken by both new and existing staff to further develop their knowledge and skills in their role. The learning and organisational development (L&OD) department will be celebrating student successes in achieving their apprenticeships, in the autumn at the annual education awards ceremony. This year there will be an inaugural award provided by Health Education North West for Trust Apprentice of the Year. The award is for any staff member who has completed an apprenticeship within the last year, where their assessor or tutor feels that they have ‘gone that extra mile’ and deserve recognition for their hard work. Pam Earley and Lorraine Davies (curriculum development co-ordinators in L&OD) have been busy contacting all the assessors and internal verifiers who either work in the Trust or for a college or training provider, to invite nominations. Simon Milk from Damar Training has nominated Ann Higgins who is a medical secretarial supervisor in respiratory medicine who completed an apprenticeship in management (Level 3). In his nomination, he commented that “…Ann was able to demonstrate (people management) skills in abundance, and it was genuinely inspiring to see motivational, caring, and target-focused leadership, which should be applauded.” Beverley Nixon from the L&OD department has nominated Madeline Brodie, community midwifery support worker, who undertook a level 2 apprenticeship in health (maternity and paediatric support). Beverley commented that “… during the programme, (Madeline) developed her skills and knowledge and started to believe in her own ability to complete the course. Now she is delighted to have achieved the qualification, and is not afraid to pursue new learning.” The L&OD department have many more nominations to look through and would like to congratulate all of our apprentices who receive a nomination. We are looking forward to announcing the winner of the Trust Apprentice of the Year in October. Do you want to find out more about apprenticeships for yourself or for the development of members of your team? For further information or to discuss apprenticeship frameworks available contact Pam Earley (non-clinical) on 0161 720 2869 or Lorraine Davies (clinical) on 0161 720 2794. 13 News - Trust stories Celebrating our long serving members of staff AT the Pennine staff awards ceremony in June, John Jesky presented certificates to recognise staff who had achieved 40 years service in the NHS. Prior to the event, staff were asked to share their memories of the NHS and a booklet of these was produced and given to those receiving the award to mark the occasion. This provided an interesting insight into what the NHS was like in the not too distant past and included memories of starched white aprons, patients being allowed to smoke in bed, the concert hall at Springfield Hospital, kaolin poultices, manual typewriters, the Chairman of the Health Authority having a chauffeur, queuing at the on-site bank to cash your pay cheque and a first year’s salary being the princely sum of £705. A total of 38 certificates have been presented in 2014 to staff achieving 40 years service. These are: Kathleen Abbott, theatre practitioner; Elizabeth Barrow, sister; Martin Bennett, catering supervisor; Kaye Chadwick, sister gynae; Diane Charlesworth, intermediate care nurse assessor; Megan Crook, midwife; Susan Dennett, staff nurse; Therese Dent, staff nurse; Catherine Edwards, medical technical officer; Karen Eidukas, paediatric dental nurse; Catherine Harrington, senior radiographer; Sheila Hill, healthcare assistant; Susan Howard, discharge ward manager; Mamode Jaunbocus, senior sister; Lesley Lee, supervisor; LesleyMagee, sister; Christine McGovern, upper GI nurse endoscopist; Elizabeth Morgan, healthcare assistant; Kitty O’Connor, healthcare assistant; Jacqueline Pickering, medical team absence manager; Pamela Redman, staff nurse; Patricia Rigby, community midwife; William Robinson, chef; Susan Roe, team manager; Valerie Saville, sonographer; Lesley Schofield, staff nurse; James Shaw, estates officer; Susan Smith, counter fraud officer; Susan Smith, staff nurse theatres; Ian Stevenson, team leader; Julie Swatkins, clinical lead; Ann Taylor, tracker; Margaret Townsend, staff nurse; Andrew Waite, cook; Ian Walmsley, payroll accounts manager; Joy Whitworth, waiting list co-ordinator; Lynn Wright, staff nurse; Beverley Young, midwife. This is an annual event and the next will be held in 2015 to recognise staff who will achieve 40 years service in that year. If you think that you have achieved 40 years (total) NHS service and have a start date of 1975 or before please contact Jackie Livesey on 44311 or e-mail Jackie.Livesey@ pat.nhs.uk and she will ensure that you receive an invite to the event. Celebrating 25 years in the NHS at special award events THE Trust held its annual long service award events for 25 years service in June of this year. Those receiving the awards were invited to the events which were held on each of the four sites. Divisional directors attended to present certificates to staff and a buffet lunch was provided. The long service award scheme is available to all staff within the Trust who have attained 25 years (or more) total service in the National Health Service. The scheme recognises all service, except casual work in the NHS. You must be working at Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust when the 25 year mark is reached. If you have had a break in service, it is possible that all separate periods of employment may be aggregated for qualification purposes. Eligible staff will receive a long service certificate and Capital Bonds to the value of £250. If you think that you might be eligible for a long service award, please contact Jackie Livesey on 44311 or email Jackie.Livesey@pat. nhs.uk and she will forward you the necessary paperwork. Oldham, top left (LtoR) Paul Loy, Michelle Eachus, Patricia Morgan, Deborah Ashton, divisional director of surgery, Diane Dean, Sharon Green, Stephanie Anderson, Gail Dufeu, Jane Tunstall and Ann Devall. Rochdale, bottom left (LtoR) Nick Hayes, deputy director of HR, Joanne Keogh and Christopher Fletcher. North Manchester, bottom right (LtoR) Nargis Adam, Alison Ahamed, Helen Fowell, Julie Tallon, Gillian Diggle, Mary Mahon, Susan Shepherd, Catherine Taylor, Heather Wardle, Janet Birch, Amanda McDonald and Steve Taylor, divisional director of medicine and community services. Fairfield, top right (LtoR) Patricia Mellor, Lisa Turner, Julie Shepherd, Christina Sherman, Carol Banks, Patricia Arthur, Gillian Delaney, Jean O’Donnell, Judith Maden, Bridget Bentley, Cheryl Osborne, Denise Cirne and Chris Sleight, divisional director diagnostic and clinical support. 14 News - Trust stories October 2014 Health and well being PAT’s workplace champions are here to help IF you are passionate about supporting your team, and want to make a difference to the health and well being of your colleagues, then this could be a vehicle to assist you. Well being champions are Trust staff who have volunteered to get involved and are from all levels and specialities. How will you get involved? We launched our first programme for champions in January, and have been in touch on a regular basis to support each other and share what we have been doing within our teams. The role of the champions is primarily to signpost colleagues towards information and support, and to talk and listen to them about their health and well being. Champions give people support in making the changes which are right for them and can signpost to specialist services when necessary. They help with keeping people motivated by encouraging them to set achievable health goals. This approach has been tried and tested in other Trusts so we know that it can have lots of positive benefits. Did you know? A medium glass of wine contains the same calories as two plain digestive biscuits? Excessive salt can seriously damage your health, and adults need less than 1g of salt per day, but many can consume between 7 to 10g? 1 gram (g) of table salt equates to: 0.18 teaspoons (tsp) in table salt volume! For more information visit www.actiononsalt.org.uk/less/surveys/index.html Here is a flavour of what our well being champions have been promoting recently. Conducting an alcohol awareness quiz at the beginning of a meeting www. drinkaware.co.uk Sharing health food tips - see Heather’s (fat free ) Tea Loaf below Promoting awareness of mental health through poster displays Signposting Coming soon - Lindsay’s recommended walk Bookings are now being taken for a second cohort of well being champions - for further information or to express an interest in the programme please contact Roz at roz.lawson@pat.nhs.uk or Lindsay at lindsay.eavis@pat.nhs.uk The role is designed to be fun and informal, and can be as little or as much as people want it to be. It could be just a case of taking a little time to listen when a colleague starts talking about wanting to do more exercise, or putting up posters in the staff room to promote a national health campaign. Heather’s healthy fruity tea loaf Champions initially attend a two day programme which has been developed by The Royal Society for Public Health in line with the national framework for health and well being. Champions also have the opportunity to achieve a recognised Health Improvement qualification. There are then ongoing support sessions where our champions meet throughout the year. 1 cup of cold black tea Champions in our first cohort are Carol Rogers (IM&T), Christine Oliver (microbiology), Heather Jones (IM&T), Glynis Jones (facilities), Barbara Hughes (medical secretaries), Ilky Cook (complaints), Joseph Anderson (Lifewise Gym) Roz Lawson and Lindsay Eavis (L&OD). Cooking Time: Preparation Time: Serves: 45-50 minutes soaking time plus 10 minutes 15 Ingredients 227g (8oz) dried fruit 227g (8oz) self-raising flour 1 or 2 eggs, beaten 6 level tbsp artificial sweetener (or to taste) Method Soak the dried fruit in the tea overnight or for a minimum of two hours. Add all the other ingredients, mix well then place in a 1lb loaf tin lined with baking parchment or greaseproof paper. Bake in a 180oC/350oF/Gas mark 4 oven for 40-50 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin. Slice into 15. The Rock Choir sings on into 2015 THE Trust has agreed to fund/subsidise another three terms of the staff workplace Rock Choir. Led by local Rock Choir leader Phil Reynolds, the choir will run for three ten-week terms with one week half term breaks throughout the year. To join, staff need to pay £40 per term at the start of each term (cheques payable to The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust) and attend rehearsals on Thursday evenings from 6-7pm in the education centre, TROH. The first term starts on 18 September. For more information visit the Rock Choir section of the intranet (under staff room) or email Julie.owen@pat.nhs.uk or ring 83228. 15 News - Trust stories Appointment of new NEDs THE Trust has welcomed the appointment of two new non-executive directors to sit on its Trust Board - Mr Riaz Ahmad OBE, from Oldham and Wendy Cardiff, from Lancaster. Mr Ahmad is a Fellow of Chartered Certified Accountants and has run his own accountancy practice in Central Manchester for over 25 years. He was the Chair of the Racial Equality Council and currently sits as a Magistrate in Oldham and is the Chair of the Family Bench, as well as previously being Chair of Greater Manchester Courts Board (2004-12). Reminiscing over tea and cakes PATIENTS on the discharge unit at The Royal Oldham Hospital were treated to afternoon tea in July. The best china was dug out as patients and relatives enjoyed sandwiches and cakes, served with cups of tea by the discharge unit staff. The unit has recently had a major refurbishment to make it more dementia friendly for patients. Susan Howard, unit manager, said: “The unit looks stunning now as we have some wonderful pictures of Oldham on the walls. There is a large mural of Dovestones reservoir and lots of local photographs which have already been admired by patients young and old. “A lot of our patients on the unit have dementia and so we have introduced memory boxes which prompt conversations between staff and patients. The boxes enable our patients to reminisce as they are full of old photos, postcards, Oxo tins, buttons and things to touch and smell. The looks on some of our patient’s faces when they reminisce about the old days are fantastic. Our older patients are amazing and we love to listen to the stories that they are willing to share with us.” Volunteers from the Royal Voluntary Service have also been working with staff on the unit to improve facilities for patients with dementia. They sit and chat with patients and encourage them to talk about their lives, along with enjoying a singalong to old records. Mr Ahmad was previously Chair of the Audit Committee of NHS Manchester Primary Care Trust Cluster (2011-13) and Chair of NHS Oldham Primary Care Trust (2002-11). He was elected to Oldham Council 1992-2008 and was a Member of the Cabinet for Finance, HR and Partnership (2004-08). He was recently re-elected as a councillor. He was awarded the OBE in 2008 for services to local government, the Administration of Justice and to the community in Oldham. Mrs Cardiff has over ten years’ experience operating at board level in a variety of worldwide executive roles within BT plc. She is currently General Manager of Procurement where she is reporting to the Business VP and responsible for managing the purchasing of IT Services Business. Prior to this, in the same role she managed the Retail Enterprise Business. She was previously Head of Procurement responsible for initially managing BT Ireland and then moving to manage the Retail Conferencing business in the UK and US. She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (MCIPS). Riaz Ahmad OBE replaces Mrs Catherine Fairhurst, whilst Wendy Cardiff replaces outgoing non-executive director Mr Michael Holly. Blood bank team providing urgent out of hours service A CHARITY who provide urgent out of hours transportation of blood products and similar medical supplies free of charge to the NHS have been providing such services to our Trust since May and are offering their support for the foreseeable future. North West Blood Bikes Manchester, a charity operated by a team of volunteers of qualified riders and drivers, have been transporting urgent supplies on our behalf during all hours of the night, supported by charitable gifts and sponsors all wanting to put something back into the community. Steven Moss, facilities services manager for the Trust said: “I wish to thank Blood Bikes and those organisations supporting them. It is not often you get something for nothing but thankfully this is one of those occasions. By providing such services to the Trust without charge, the Trust is able to target some of its financial resources into other areas of need, enhancing the quality of our services while maintaining urgent supplies day and night.” To help support this initiative please ensure any items being collected are suitably packaged for transportation. If you wish to find out more, go to www.nwbbm.org.uk or if you’re out and about late at night on one of our hospital sites why not look out for them. 16 Staff room - noticeboard October 2014 Staff noticeboard Well done CONGRATULATIONS to Trevor Matthews, estates officer based at North Manchester and previously at Fairfield, for gaining a 2:1 Bachelor of Engineering degree with honours. Well done from all the estates staff. Farewell to Dr Hammer DR HAMMER retired from the Trust on Thursday 22 May after 27 years service as consultant in chemical biochemistry. Anne-Marie is wished well Many of his friends and colleagues attended a buffet lunch to wish him well, and Dr Hammer provided a thoroughly entertaining brief history of his time with the Trust, from his recruitment in 1987. ANNE-MARIE Smith, associate director, diagnostics and clinical support, was presented with flowers and gifts from her friends and colleagues, by divisional director Chris Sleight on 20 June. Dr Hammer will be missed by his many friends and colleagues, and is pictured here, with Len Fielding, receiving and thanking everyone for his gifts and the national gardening tokens. Taking flexible retirement so that she can spend more time with her family, Anne-Marie will be missed by colleagues across the division. She joined in November 2011 as associate director and latterly also undertook the divisional lead nurse role. Best wishes from all of us Dr Hammer for a long, happy and well deserved retirement. Long serving members recognised However, Anne-Marie will still be seen around the Trust as she is taking on some part time project management work. The division wish her well in her new role. TWO members of Northern Air hospital radio were recently recognised for their long service. Colin Daffern and Howard Copitch were presented with their certificates by June Snowden, President of the Hospital Broadcasting Association and Fred Ayre, patron. Colin and Howard are pictured with June and Fred, and other members of the hospital radio team including chairman Marshall Gellman and station manager Joe Sambrook. Sorry to see you go Sue Grateful thanks from a patient CONGRATULATIONS to Sister Courtney who took early retirement after working a remarkable 32 years in theatres. Sue was dedicated to the department. Her manager and colleagues are proud of the fact she held a clean sickness record, as she had never had any time off sick! She commenced training in April 1978 and worked on the Marjory Lees Children’s Unit before becoming a staff nurse in 1982 in operating theatres. Within two years of qualifying she became a Sister and proceeded to become a team manager in theatres. Sue enjoyed her final working day with friends and colleagues, past and present, all wishing her a very long and happy retirement after all her hard work and dedication. A celebratory lunch took place in theatres for Sister Courtney where she was showered with flowers, gift vouchers for Housing Units, chocolates, money, wine and champagne. A PATIENT has written in to thank the staff from the anti-coagulant clinic at North Manchester General Hospital for all their care over the years. She said: “I have received fantastic patient care from the team. As I wait for my appointment I watch them in action working together in an excellent professional manner but sharing a wonderful rapport with patients, often under difficult times. “You never hear them complain, they show dedication to the work they do for NMGH, and I feel so confident and glad I am under their care.”