Issue 316, 12 April 2013

Transcription

1 We will be the best - providing excellent compassionate care to the people of Morecambe Bay. Welcome to our new interim Director of Governance Excellent governance is essential to ensure we offer the highest standards of safety and quality to patients across our hospitals. To help us with this, I am pleased to announce that David Holden has joined the Trust as Interim Director of Governance. David has worked in the health sector for over 28 years, much of this time in the NHS and at Board level. He has worked for both commissioning and provider organisations at strategic and local levels. His role is to review and continue to strengthen the role governance plays in the Trust. He is the Executive Director responsible for clinical and corporate governance which includes; clinical audit, PALS and Complaints, Risk Management, Incidents, Quality and Compliance. He is expected to be in post until a permanent appointment is made. The process to appoint a permanent post holder is underway. David s appointment is on the back of other important developments in this area. You will have read in Weekly News last month that following an assessment by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), we achieved level one, meeting all 50 criteria in the five standards. We also received a level one standard in our Maternity services for the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST), again meeting all 50 criteria in the five standards. Both awards mean we met rigorous standards in governance arrangements and risk assessments. This is a good foundation in our recovery and a demonstration of our improved governance and risk management arrangements. David s appointment will help us further develop and strengthen this. Jackie Daniel, Chief Executive We ve introduced the Friends and Family Test On 1 April, we introduced the Friends and Family Test, across the Trust. This follows a pledge by the Prime Minister, to ask patients in every hospital if they d want a friend or relative to be treated at that hospital. Within 48 hours of receiving care or treatment as an inpatient or visitor to A&E, patients will be given the opportunity to answer the following question: How likely are you to recommend our ward/a&e department to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment? Our patients will be asked to respond to the question via mobile telephone text messaging. The feedback we receive, together with the many other forms of patient feedback will be critical to informing our priorities for improving the experience for patients. We intend to share the feedback publicly with patients, together with the changes we have made in a variety of ways on an ongoing basis. Results will be published on the NHS Choice website from July and are designed to give patients an easy to understand evaluation of their local hospitals and help them make decisions about their care. The Friends and Family Test will not replace the Trust s existing procedures and feedback systems they will still be in use. In addition, existing national patient surveys and inspection regimes will continue.

2 Our WRVS volunteers are awarded for long service On 22 March, Jackie Daniel, Chief Executive, joined Andrew Bass, WRVS Locality Manager, Cumbria, to award a number of our wonderful WRVS volunteers with a long service award. Jackie and Andrew presented Cynthia Hurren, Anne Sutcliffe, Kathy Toft, Kit (Elizabeth) Eastwood and Irene Kemp with either a medal or a clasp, marking their faithfull service to WRVS. On behalf of the Trust Board, Jackie thanked the volunteers for the huge difference they make to our patients. WRVS is one of Britain s leading age positive volunteering charities, with over 45,000 volunteers working to help make Britain a great place to grow old in. If you are over the age of 14, they have volunteering opportunities in communities, in hospitals and in emergency situations. To find out how you could become a WRVS volunteer, visit or call Accelerated clinical content Jeremy Hunt, Secretary for Health, has recently challenged the NHS to be paperless by He said that patients should have compatible digital records so their health information can follow them around the health and social care system. On the way towards the 2018 goal, the Health Secretary wants to see: By March everyone who wishes will be able to get online access to their own health records held by their GP. Adoption of paperless referrals - instead of sending a letter to the hospital when referring a patient to hospital, the GP can send an electronic document instead. Clear plans in place to enable secure linking of electronic health and care records wherever they are held, so there is as complete a record as possible of the care someone receives. Clear plans in place for those records to be able to follow individuals, with their consent, to any part of the NHS or social care system. By April digital information to be fully available across NHS and social care services, barring any individual opt outs. In line with the above recommendations, our Trust Board has recently commissioned a project to develop clinical content in Lorenzo, to ensure clinicians have access to information at the point of care, across all outpatient clinics. This approach has been endorsed by the Clinical Directors and cascaded to treatment leads across the bay. Our content team has been in outpatient clinics gathering requirements and supporting clinicians throughout the process.

3 Parkinson s awareness week Monday 15 April 2013, is the start of Parkinson s Awareness week, an annual campaign run by Parkinson s UK. This year, the campaign is focusing on changing attitudes, using the strap line Put yourself in my shoes. The idea is to try to expose some of the difficulties of living with Parkinson s and help the public better understand the condition. Did you know? Parkinsons is a common, progressive neurological condition, which affects one person in 500. As well as affecting movement, people with Parkinson s can find that other issues, such as tiredness, pain, depression and constipation, can have an impact on their day-to-day lives. Over time it can also affect swallowing, speech and cognition in some people. Symptoms are managed by tailored medication regimes, which are individual to each person. Timing of the medications is crucial, missing any doses can have a significant impact for the individual. Patients in our hospitals We care for a number of patients with Parkinson s and it is often something unrelated to this condition, which brings people into hospital. Whilst in our hospitals, it is important these patients continue with their normal medication regime. If they don't get their medication on time, their ability to manage their symptoms may be lost. Our Parkinson s Disease Nurse Specialist (PDNS) team have set up an intranet site to offer advice and support for staff caring for people with Parkinson s. Click here to find out more. You can also contact the team on the numbers below: Emma Briggs, FGH , Vicky Travers, RLI and WGH , Helen Capstick, Parkinson s support nurse ext Is your mandatory training up to date? If you are due for refresher training, please ensure you have booked yourself onto the appropriate course. Please can all managers and TMS co-ordinators ensure that mandatory training, including manual handling is on training accounts and updated appropriately. The Health and Safety department, will be running reports on training and visiting wards and divisions during the week commencing 22 April, to ascertain where we are with mandatory health and safety training and to look at training plans and schedules, to ensure they are in place prior to the upcoming Health and Safety Executive visit. We will be the best - providing excellent compassionate care to the people of Morecambe Bay.

4 Updating my Learning and Development Learning and Development are asking that all staff who are paid by the Trust, input their employee number into the relevant field on their my learning and Development page. This information allows them to comply with Department of Health, CQC and Monitor reporting requirements on Equality and Diversity data for training. Fancy a swim? Morecambe Bay Hospitals charity still has a few places left in this years Great North Swim. The event consists of a one mile swim on Lake Windermere, from June. Experience the UK's favourite outdoor swim series safe in the knowledge that expert kayakers and safety boats are with you every step of the way. To be awarded a place, the charity team ask for your commitment to raise a minimum sponsorship of 150. To register your interest, please your name, address and contact number to [email protected] quoting Great North Swim. New posts announced Two new posts have been announced, following recent secondment opportunities. Carol Park, has been seconded for a period of six months, to the post of Assistant Chief Nurse, Surgery. Carol can be contacted on ext or Lynne Dack, has been seconded to the post of Matron at FGH and can be contacted on ext Infinity feeding pumps audit An annual audit of all infinity pumps, held at ward level will be carried out across the Trust over the next few weeks. Ben Ridall, Regional Medical Device Controller from Nutricia, will be visiting wards on the following dates: RLI - Thursday 25 April FGH - Thursday 9 May WGH - One of the above dates Please can you allow Ben access to these devices when he visits your ward. We want your stories! This is your Weekly News so we want to hear from you about what you would like to see more of, and more importantly, we want your stories! Get in touch by ing [email protected]. Hospital grand round The next grand round will be taking place on 17 April, from 12.30pm-1.15pm, in the Lecture Theatre at the RLI. Dr Scott Gall, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Blackpool Cardiac Centre, will be presenting the lecture titled Stroke Prevention AF. All staff are welcome to attend.

5 Contacting the Macular Unit WGH The new Macular unit opened on level four at WGH this week. If you need to contact any of the team, you can call the reception desk on ext 45250, or the lead nurse on ext Auto enrolement is nearly here In October 2012, the government introduced a change to legislation around work place pensions. These changes mean that all employers must provide access to a qualifying pension to all its employees. The NHS pension scheme is a qualifying scheme, however not everyone who works for the NHS is a member of the scheme. From May 2013, these changes will affect you if - you have previously opted out of the NHS pension scheme or you are have not been eligible to join. All staff will receive a letter with April s payslip giving more details. Mass at WGH A Roman Catholic mass will be taking place in the Chapel at WGH on 18 April. Everyone is welcome to come along to the service, which starts at 5.15pm. Education centre at FGH The education centre at FGH has new telephone numbers. You can contact the team on the following numbers: Lesley Woodhouse ext 44335, Jo Smith ext Shahla Salehi ext 43649, Julie Stewart ext Katie Oxley ext 44339, Kirsteen Swindell ext Funded part time Dementia MSc There are a limited number of places available, for NHS employees to study a part time MSc, funded by the University of Manchester. The qualification is specific to the Dementia care pathway and study is part time over a three year period. The programme involves attendance at the University for one day per week during University term-time, in years one and two. The next intake is September For further information about the degree, including entry requirements and how to apply, click here, or call or [email protected]. Medical audit meetings The next medical audit meetings will be taking place on the following days: Tuesday 16 April FGH, Malcolm Palmer Seminar Room at 2pm Thursday 25 April RLI, lecture theatre at 2pm Missing Nasendoscope The ENT team at the RLI are missing a nasendoscope. If any wards or departments have seen this piece of equipment, please contact Allan Gardner [email protected]. We will be the best - providing excellent compassionate care to the people of Morecambe Bay.

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