- -

JULY 2015

Highlights

BIRTHDAY

Claire’s dancing feat

for charity

BASH FOR THE BELFORD

THE Belford Hospital in Fort Wil-liam celebrates its 150

th birthday

this year – and a very special event is being held to mark the oc-casion.

Cabinet Secretary for Health Shona Robison has confirmed that she will at-tend the event, a conference at which she will be joined by Professor David Haslam CBE, chair of the National Insti-tute for Health and Care Excellence; Professor James Garden CBE, surgeon

to the Queen in Scotland and Regius chair of Clinical Surgery at the University of Edinburgh; Professor Derek Bell, president of the Royal College of Physi-cians of Edinburgh and Dr Andrew Fla-pan, physician to the Queen in Scotland.

The four-day conference will feature a host of internationally renowned speak-ers, many of whom spent time training and working at the Belford over the years.

Coincidentally, 2015 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Belford on its cur-rent site, and organisers Dr Patrick

Continued on page 2

By Andrew Devlin

Communications manager

Golfer Iain faces Four

Nations challenge

VIP guests

to attend

conference

to celebrate

anniversary

of hospital

- 2 -

Byrne and Miss Sarah Prince hope the occasion provides a fit-ting tribute to such a unique hos-pital.

Dr Byrne said: “We have planned this birthday party for quite some time and we are de-lighted that we have had so many positive responses from inter-ested parties. Many of them pre-viously trained or worked at the hospital, and were only too happy to come ‘home’ and celebrate with all of us.

“We decided to hold a general themed conference, which will take place in the Nevis Centre in Fort William, with the aim of at-tracting staff from across all ser-vices, from porter to physiothera-pist, from doctor to domestic staff, both past and present – and celebrating the uniqueness of the Belford Hospital.”

Life can sometimes be chal-lenging in remote and rural areas; it can be similarly difficult to re-cruit healthcare professionals to work in these communities. How-ever, it is not impossible.

Dr Byrne said: “Highly skilled and adaptive professionals al-ready work in Highland. We know there are more people in the UK and across the world who want to live and work in remote and rural areas. Belford’s resilience, inno-vation and sustainability can be learned from.”

The Scottish Government has sponsored “Being Here”, a three-year program that seeks to find safe and sustainable solutions for remote and rural communities, part of which is finding these pro-fessionals, recruiting and retain-ing them as well as enabling and empowering local people and lo-cal communities. Maintaining the high standards of training and

knowledge that patients should expect anywhere in the NHS, ir-respective of location, is a key priority of the programme.

Dr Byrne continued: “The con-ference will run from Thursday 22nd October to Sunday 25th and will feature a ceilidh on the Saturday evening, when we can raise a glass or two to toast such a significant milestone in Fort Wil-liam’s history.

“Local musician Gary Innes is providing the music, fresh from his debut at Glastonbury. Various

shinty injuries have brought Gary to the Belford more times than he cares to remember!”

He added: “We are delighted to welcome the Cabinet Secre-tary to the conference, along with many other distinguished guests, including NHS Highland chair Garry Coutts, chief executive Elaine Mead and the director of operations for the north and west operational unit, Gill McVicar.

“We particularly wish to wel-come our international speakers, Dr Tyler Hughes from USA and

Mr John Kyngdon from New Zea-land.

“This is a broad-ranging con-ference with something to suit everyone, hospital or community based, whether you’re a physi-cian, a surgeon, a GP, midwife or a nurse. We will cover a number of themes over the four days, in-cluding acute medicine, educa-tion and training, general prac-tice, geriatric medicine and re-mote and rural.

“Each of the four days will in-clude a number of presentations and workshops on topics such as future resilience for healthcare in remote and rural areas and rural working around the world, and features a one-day Train the Trainers course, which is aimed at medical students in their clini-cal years and Foundation Doc-tors.

“This course meets the cur-riculum requirements of founda-tion training across the United Kingdom and teaches medical students practical skills to equip them for life in the medical pro-fession.

“We have a dedicated website (www.belford-hospital-150.co.uk) where you can find out more and register for what I’m sure will be a fascinating, educational and fun experience. We are calling for abstracts, and there is also a case report competition and prize.”

While the conference cele-brates 150 years of the Belford, and half a century at its current location, a new-build replacement for the Belford Hospital is in NHS Highland’s capital plan, which could see the construction of a new building getting under way in 2019/2020.

Funding has still to be secured at this stage but this marks an important first step.

Conference to mark Belford anniversary Continued from front page

QUOTE

This is a broad-ranging

conference with something

to suit every-one, hospital or

community based

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DURING the past 12 months, NHS Highland and Argyll and Bute Council have been work-ing to set up a Health and So-cial Care Partnership to deliver integrated health and social care services in Argyll and Bute.

Integration aims to ensure that a more co-ordinated, person-centred approach to the delivery of services is achieved.

A significant step towards the new integrated structure was taken on 1st July when Allen Ste-

venson was appointed head of adult services (east), Lorraine Patterson was named as head of adult services (west) and Stephen Whiston was appointed head of strategic planning and performance.

Interviews for the head of chil-dren and families and criminal justice will be held by the end of the summer.

“During August and Septem-ber, we will visit as many health and social work teams as we can,” said Mr Whiston. “We will

be working with HR, trade unions and senior managers across health and social care to imple-ment the next two tiers of our in-tegrated management structure.

“This is a time of significant change, and these new arrange-ments will help everyone to de-liver better joint-working across the entire service.”

To find out more about the Ar-gyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership, read their July newsletter on the NHS Highland intranet.

Key posts filled as

integration gathers pace

in Argyll and Bute

THE NHS Highland health im-provement team has published its annual report for 2014/15.

The team’s focus is on health inequalities and health for all, and the report looks at its highlights over the past 12 months, includ-ing initiatives to tackle fuel pov-erty, multi-agency workshops on health and homelessness and the development of an action plan to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Head of health improvement Cathy Steer said: “Our focus is on prevention and working with our many partners to improve the health of the people of Highland, and to help reduce health ine-

qualities in our area. “These are long-term goals

that cannot be achieved without effective partnership working, planning and engagement, and the team have made enormous strides in the last year.

“Our annual report is an ideal platform for us to highlight the work we have undertaken in that timeframe, but also to plan our next steps and address areas where more work needs to be done.”

The team’s full annual report is available on the announcements page of the NHS Highland intra-net.

NHS Highland’s head of eHealth infrastruc-ture services, Iain Ross, has won the Scot-tish NHS Golf Classic. Iain will now repre-sent NHSScotland in the NHS Four Nations Golf Tournament in August.

Well played! Health improvement team issues report

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By Tom Davison

Communications manager

A MAN who has fitted count-less patients with artificial limbs retires from his Raig-more Hospital-based job at the end of this month.

Derek Ritchie, NHS Highland’s prosthetics services manager, has worked with prosthetics for 46 years. Originally from Peebles, he started his career at the Princess Margaret Rose Hos-pital in Edinburgh, where he worked for almost 20 years, and moved to Raigmore in 1989.

For the first 15 years of his time at Raigmore he was em-ployed in the hospital by a private company, RSL Steeper, which was contracted by the health board to deliver prosthetic ser-vices.

He’s been employed by NHS Highland since 2004, when the board brought the job in-house.

Derek works with patients throughout Highland, as well as the Western Isles and West Grampian, and considers himself to be very much part of a very effective team at Raigmore.

“There is no doubt that Raig-more has one of the best multi-disciplinary teams for amputees in the UK,” said Derek. “We’ve a very tight-knit team here that’s very strong on communication and ensuring that patients get the very best possible service.”

Derek will be handing over to his yet-to-be-appointed succes-sor a caseload of around 370 lower-limb amputees and 62 pa-tients who have had arm amputa-

tions. However, as he once told NHS Highland News, his work doesn’t stop with making a pros-thesis and certainly doesn’t stop when one is fitted.

“Sometimes I see the patients even before they have had their amputation, but most of the time I see them first when I change the plaster cast on their stump.

“But getting a prosthesis is never a one-off episode of care. I often have a lifelong relationship with patients – and each one can present his or her own chal-lenges.”

Derek undertook his prosthet-ics training in London, learning skills as diverse as plaster cast-ing and assessing patients’ physi-cal capabilities, and says a large part of his job involves an under-

standing of anatomy and physiol-ogy.

But it’s another part of his job – working and developing an of-ten long-standing relationship with patients – that he will miss most in his retirement.

He said: “I’ll not miss some aspects of my job, and I don’t suppose I’m alone in that, but I will miss the patients.

“They’re all different, of course. Some of those I see are pretty low and I see it as impor-tant part of my job to get them a bit more upbeat and see their fu-ture more positively. Some, on the other hand, are better able to accept their situation and just get on with it.

“But however they may ap-pear, having an amputation and learning to live with a prosthesis can’t be easy, and I’ll do what-ever I can to make things better for them. Needless to say, that can involve having a laugh with them. You’ve got to have humour in this job – it can help some pa-tients a lot.”

As with many professions, prosthetics services have seen countless changes over the years, many of them technologi-cal.

“We do what we can for pa-tients as long as we can afford to do so,” said Derek. “But some of the more advanced artificial, sometimes bionic, limbs are way out of our reach financially.”

Father-of-one Derek, who lives in Nairn, is looking forward to spending more time indulging in his favourite past-time – fly-fishing – in his retirement.

I’ll miss the patients most,

says prosthetics chief Derek

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Strictly

successful Claire’s dancing feat helps to raise £160,000-plus for charity

NHS HIGHLAND procurement manager Claire Stewart danced her way to success at this year’s Strictly Come Dancing – and helped to raise over £160,000 for two Highland charities.

The event took place over three evenings and saw a host of couples compete for their place at the grand final at the Inverness Ice Centre, which was transformed into a glitter-ing arena for the occasion.

Claire and her partner Barry had practised for months ahead of the show, which was organ-ised by the Highland Hospice and Inverness Ice Centre, and successfully negotiated their way to first prize on both the Friday and Saturday evening shows.

“I still can’t believe it, it was really unexpected,” said Claire. “It was the most nerve-wracking experience of my life, but also one of the best.

“The Friday evening was all a bit of a blur, and I was blown away by the crowd’s reaction and the judge’s scores and comments.

“We then had to compete again on the Saturday in the

Grand Final. It was scarier than the night before – even though both nights were sold out, we had fewer tickets for family and friends.

“We got straight 10s for both of our dances, and I don’t think

that has ever been done be-fore.

“We trained so hard for the occasion, and we were de-lighted to win. It’s such a huge commitment but I would recom-

mend the experience to any-one.

“I’ve made friends for life, learned how to dance (well, two dances at least) and collectively we have raised over £161,000, which is a fantastic amount of money for charity.

“I feel really proud to have been a part of it.”

Claire, who decided to sign up for Strictly after seeing one of her friends perform in last year’s event, has been bitten by the fund-raising bug, and has already planned her next chari-table endeavour.

“I have signed up to the Grand Canyon Challenge 2016, which is my next effort to raise more funds for the Highland Hospice. We will descend into the Grand Canyon, which is a mile deep, six-miles wide and 277 miles long, and explore the incredible landscape for a week.

“I’m really looking forward to heading out there.

!Any donations would be greatly appreciated, and every penny will go to a charity that is close to so many people in Highland. Keep your eyes peeled for details of how to do-nate in Highlights.”

Claire and partner Barry

Procurement

manager wins

city event

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THE Vocational Support Team held two launch events last month to introduce its service to health professionals in In-verness and Caithness.

The service has been estab-lished to help adults with mental ill-health remain in or find new employment.

Teams will be based in Wick and Inverness and will offer one-to-one support to help people achieve their goals, and offer a tailored approach to suit individ-ual needs.

Team manager Heather Jappy said: “The Vocational Support Team replaces Training and Guidance (TAG) Highland and is fully funded by NHS Highland.

“The ethos of this project is to offer one-to-one support to help people achieve their goals. In the past, our staff at TAG worked with groups of eight people at any one time.

“We now offer personal devel-opment plans which identify goals, barriers and what support we can put in place.

“The north team will cover Wick and Thurso and the south

team will support those living in Inverness, Nairn and East and Mid Ross.

“We held two separate launch events at the Rowans Unit at New Craigs in Inverness and in the Dunbar Centre in Thurso, and we were delighted with the level of engagement from profession-als from a wide range of services.

“Guests were provided with information packs, which detailed who we are, and how our service has helped clients from all over Highland remain in work, or find new employment, voluntary and educational opportunities.”

Heather added: “I would like to thank all those who attended our launch days, and ask them to get in touch with me directly should they have any questions regard-ing our service. I would also like to thank all of the staff who gave up so much of their time to help prepare for the launch – including some truly sensational home bak-ing.

Team

hosts

launch

events

Public education event THE Familial Arrhythmia Network for Scotland is to hold its first na-tional public education event on 12th September.

To be held in the Lovat Hotel, Parth, the event will be an information and education day for people with genetic cardiac conditions and their families.

It will feature talks on taking part in sport and activity, genetics, practical information and psychological support for people living with an inherited condition.

The event is free (refreshments included), though places are limited. Anyone who wishes to attend can register their interest by emailing

nss.fans@nhs.net or phoning 01382 835185. A registration form is available on the website

www.fans.scot.nhs.uk/events

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A NEW area has been created in Raigmore Hospital’s out-patients department allowing patients to take their own ob-servations in terms of blood pressure and weight.

The new lounge, which is situ-ated next to the booking desk, has been equipped with a num-ber of self-blood pressure ma-chines and weighing scales which give patients a print-out.

Mairi Fraser, senior charge nurse for the department, ex-

plained that while the lounge had only been open for a matter of weeks it was working well.

She said: “Many of the clinics patients attend in out-patients take details on your blood pres-sure and weight as a matter of course. Many GP surgeries al-ready have self-observation in their waiting rooms so for some of our patients this will not be anything new.

“By enabling our patients to do this it not only saves admin time during their appointment and gives the consultant more time with them but it also gives them a sense of control over their own health.”

Mairi explained that the new lounge was initially trialled during an afternoon cardiac clinic which went very well and it had now been rolled out across all clinics held within the department.

She said: “For most patients it’s possible that out-patients is the only department that they will journey through.

“The lounge will always have a member of staff available to help if there are any questions or our patients are a bit unsure of what to do but so far feedback from patients who have used the self observation area has been posi-tive.”

Self-observation unit

for out-patients opens

NHS Highland staff invited to free weight management training events A HOST of free weight manage-ment training opportunities are available for staff in north High-land over the coming months.

At the courses, staff can learn more about different approaches to weight management, reflect on their own experiences, discover more on intuitive eating and take part in Well Now facilitator train-ing. All the courses will take place in the Culduthel Christian Centre in Inverness.

The workshops will be run by the NHS Highland health im-provement team and specialist dietitian Dr Lucy Aphramor, who is based in Shropshire and is a visiting Research Fellow at Glyndwr University.

An ‘Introduction to Weight Management’ course will be held on 2nd September, an ‘Intuitive Eating’ course will be held the following day and Well Now facili-tator training will take place on 6th

and 7th October and again on 28th and 29th October.

For details, contact: Fiona Clarke on 01463 704905 or fiona.clarke3@nhs.net, Valerie Macdonald on 01463 404875 or valerie.macdonald1@nhs.net, or Dan Jenkins on 01463 704855 or dan.jenkins@nhs.net

For weight management train-ing in Argyll and Bute, contact Jacqualin Barron at jac-qualin.barron@nhs.net

By Erin Greig

Communications manager

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THE GMB union, Highland and Is-lands, last month donated some port-able DVD players, along with some DVDs, to the chil-dren’s ward at Raig-more Hospital.

Linda Walker from the union said: “Having worked on the children's ward in the past and my son spending a lot of time in hospital I know how difficult it can be to keep them going and having the portable DVD players and up to date DVDs is impor-tant for the health and wellbeing of the children.

“When I found out that I could request money from the un-ion’s community fund I wanted to be able to do some-thing that was posi-tive and would make a difference.

“The smiles on the two boys faces when they saw the DVD films was won-derful and made it worthwhile helping them along the way in their recovery.”

Patients and staff were on hand to ac-cept the donation.

Four-year-old Ben Henderson, from Muir of Ord, with senior play specialist Steph Mackenzie and Linda Walker from the GMB

Four-year-old Luke Leckie, from Inverness, with Linda Walker (left) from the GMB

and Luke’s mum, Laura

Union’s gift to ward

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‘End of an era’ as GP retires NHS HIGHLAND colleagues last month said farewell to Dr Alan Belbin, who retired after 19 years as the single-handed GP based in Durness.

Dr Ken Proctor, associate medical director for NHS High-land, described Alan`s retirement as “the end of an era” in terms of healthcare provision in the area.

He said: “When Alan was trained it was a time when GPs were expected to join and work in a practice for their whole profes-sional lifetimes. He has given al-most two decades of constant service, serving patients’ needs around the clock, often for weeks at a time without a break.

“Whatever the new arrange-

ments of care may look like in the future for Durness, it will not dis-tract from the dedication Alan has shown to his community through-out the years.

“Health historians in the future will reflect with some awe, I sus-pect, on the extraordinary com-mitment that single-handed doc-tors gave to their practices during

the 20th and early years of the 21st century.

“We wish Alan a healthy and a long and happy retirement."

The practice has now been taken over by NHS Highland with medical services provided by lo-cum cover and support from the Kinlochbervie and Scourie Prac-tice.

Pictured, from left, are Bob Silverwoord (area manager for north and west), Dr Andreas Herfurt (Armadale GP), Fiona Duff (primary care man-ager), Dr Alan Belbin, Dr Anne Berrie (GP Kinlochbervie and Scourie) and Dr Ken Proctor

NHS HIGHLAND senior dental officer David Babb has retired after 30 years of working in NHS dentistry – a ca-reer that has taken him from the Isles of Scilly to the Highlands of Scotland.

David joined the NHS Highland dental service along with his wife Muriel seven years ago, and headed up the oral health improvement work, which delivers national programmes such as Child Smile and Caring for Smiles.

During his career he developed a great deal of experi-ence in treating patients with additional needs, and this enabled him to contribute so effectively to steering the Public Dental Services towards a greater focus on ser-vices for those groups.

He was also at the forefront of ensuring awareness among other health and social care providers of the rele-vance of oral health to the general health and wellbeing of vulnerable patients.

David was well known within the department for his sense of humour, and his attire frequently caused some hilarity. All in the department would like to wish David and his family all the very best for the future.

30-year dentistry career

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THE renal unit at Raigmore Hospital has embraced the #hello my name is initiative with all staff pledging commit-ment to this patient-centred campaign.

The campaign was started by Dr Kate Granger, a hospital con-sultant, who wanted to improve patient experience after being a patient in hospital following a

cancer diagnosis. Anne Allan, clinical ward man-

ager for the unit, explained that the campaign was quite simple with staff being asked to connect with patients and, at the very least, give their name.

She said: “We always do what we can to treat our patients with respect and dignity but this cam-paign has highlighted than even

something as simple as giving your name can make such a dif-ference to how they feel.

“All staff in the unit were more than happy to pledge their sup-port to this initiative. “

Anne added: “The team has great admiration for Dr Kate Granger, who started this cam-paign, and the marvellous work she has done.”

Staff from the renal unit getting behind the campaign

Hospital’s renal unit staff get behind patient-centred scheme

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THE Emergency Department at Raigmore Hospital has been rated in a national survey as the best department to work in at Raigmore by doctors in training for the second year in a row.

The recently published GMC 2015 survey revealed that when trainees were asked about their experience of working in the de-partment they rated both the clini-cal supervision given and the overall satisfaction of working in the area very positively, with both being scored at over 90 per cent.

Trainees spend six months in the department and during their time they will have to deal with the wide spectrum of major and minor emergency cases that pre-sent to the department, which deals with patients from all over the NHS Highland area.

Dr Andrew Rowlands, service lead for emergency medicine, is delighted that doctors in training are continuing to rate the unit so highly.

He said: “This can be a stress-ful and busy job with an anti-social work pattern so I am very pleased that our trainees have rated their training experience so highly.

“The patients coming into the department can be seriously un-well and we do occasionally have to deal with some very difficult patient behaviour when alcohol is a factor.

“These factors can make working in emergency medicine a

very stressful and demanding job. Good support and a strong team spirit are essential to make it a rewarding post for trainees.

“It is a tremendous reflection

on all the department staff who work so hard to generate a great team spirit and support all the trainees in what can be a very testing environment.”

BRUCE Gardens has been short-listed for Asda’s Inverness Com-munity Awards for this month.

The community mental health service, which focuses on pa-tient recovery and which con-tains drop-in facilities for re-ferred patients with mental ill-health, was selected alongside two other worthwhile causes to receive a donation from the su-permarket giants.

Customers are offered a green token at the till which they can deposit in the box of their choice. The box with the most tokens at the end of the month wins a prize.

Centre manager Ann Patience is appealing for customers to vote for Bruce Gardens, and help to support the excellent work that takes place at the In-verness-based service.

“Bruce Gardens is quickly becoming a hub for the commu-nity mental health service in In-verness,” she said. “We provide invaluable support for our cli-

ents, and they regularly com-ment on the benefits they gain from attending.

“We have motivated staff who are committed to providing sup-port and advice to our clients, and many have gone onto pur-sue employment and educa-tional opportunities elsewhere. We cater for a wide range of peo-ple from all walks of life, and help them to overcome any chal-lenges they are facing.

“I would like to thank Asda Inverness for choosing us a part of their community awards for July.

“The winner of the most votes is awarded £250 worth of prizes and the two runners-up receive £50 of goodies – so it’s a win-win situation.

“I would like to appeal to the public to drop their little green token in the Bruce Gardens box when you do your shopping at Asda. This small gesture can have an enormous impact on our client’s health and wellbeing.”

Bruce Gardens mental health service in line for Asda prize

Simply the best! Trainee docs give Raigmore’s emergency

department the thumbs-up — yet again

- 12 -

AFTER 42 years of working at Raigmore Hospi-tal, chargehand painter John Douglas has de-cided the time has come for him, and his brushes, to retire.

John, who is originally from Raasay but has lived in Inverness for the past 48 years, started work at Raigmore in July 1973.

He said: “Back then Raigmore looked so differ-ent to how it is now. We were in old brick buildings, the majority of which were ground floor only, based across the entire site.

“The lab block and out-patients department buildings, which we still have, were built but nothing else. I suppose you could say I got to watch as the Raigmore building took shape over the years.”

John, who is 62 and married with three children, has very much enjoyed his time at Raigmore.

He said: “I stayed for over 40 years so I must enjoy it but I think 42 years is quite a good shift to put in and it’s time to move on.”

John will be moving on to work at John Fraser & Son Funeral Directors, where he will be a part-time funeral attendant.

Maintenance manager Magnus Bain said: “John has been a loyal and hard-working employee who will be a great loss to the estates department.

“Having worked with us for 42 years I think he is due a well earned rest; no more rushing around to meet deadlines and complete tasks.”

Magnus added: “John has led the painting team at Raigmore ensuring the upkeep of the building

fabric and making it a nicer place for patients, the public and staff to spend time in.

“As he mentioned, the Raigmore site has changed dramatically since he started, and it con-tinues to evolve, but throughout these times the painting team under John’s supervision have kept the place looking fresh and fit for purpose.

“The whole team wish John all the best and thank him for his years of dedication, enthusiasm and team spirit.”

Painter hangs up his

brushes after 42 years

N HS HIGHLAND’S research, development and innovation

annual conference will take place at the Centre for Health Science in Inverness on Friday 13th No-vember.

The event will include keynote speakers, break-out sessions,

posters, lunch, project and busi-ness stands, and networking op-portunities.

It will be an engaging and in-

formative day to highlight re-search, development and innova-tion activities in NHS Highland.

Anyone interested in attend-ing, submitting a poster, or pre-senting their work at one of the break-out sessions should con-tact laura.mcilhatton@nhs.net

Research, development

and innovation event

Chargehand painter John Douglas with the cake he received on his retiral

By Erin Greig

Communications manager

- 13 -

Highlands

play host

to student

nurses from

Nazareth By Andrew Devlin

Communications manager

FOUR student nurses from Is-rael are taking part in a student exchange visit arranged by the Highland Campus of University of Stirling in partnership with NHS Highland.

The pre-registration student nurses from the Nazareth School of Nursing began their three-week educational tour with an induction day at the university’s School of Health Sciences.

This is the third year in suc-cession that Israeli nursing stu-dents have visited the Highlands, and while they are on placement they will be informed about nurs-ing and healthcare in the UK by registered nurses on their particu-lar wards in Raigmore Hospital. They will finish off their trip with an insight into a variety of spe-cialist areas.

The students have raised money for their travel to the UK and they will be living in the staff accommodation on the Raigmore campus.

William Craig-Macleman, NHS Highland divisional nurse man-ager for surgical specialists at Raigmore, said: “We are three years into an exciting exchange project, which offers participants a great opportunity to witness nursing practice in a different

country. “The Nazareth students will

get a unique opportunity to learn about a different system of healthcare. They will also be ob-serving how evidence-based practice is implemented, how nursing is regulated and how pro-fessionalism is expressed in Scotland.

“They are particularly inter-ested to learn about medical-surgical nursing care in Scotland, and in the cross-cultural experi-ence.

“It also offers us a helpful in-sight, and the opportunity to learn from the culture and experience of the visitors.”

The visitors will not be partici-pating in the delivery of health-care while they are Inverness, but

will benefit from the opportunity to observe and discuss similarities and differences in nursing prac-tice.

The Nazareth Hospital, based in Nazareth in Northern Galilee, is known locally as the ‘English Hospital’ though it has strong Scottish connections.

The Edinburgh Medical Mis-sionary Society, which trained medical personnel to work in needy areas, supported its devel-opment and, under the operating name of the Nazareth Trust, runs both the hospital and school of nursing.

The school, which opened in 1924, is a distinctly Christian or-ganisation; though around 70 per cent of its female students are Muslim.

Visiting students Shadi Abu Sinni, Janan Abu Salem, Hadeel Saffouri and Sari Massri

- 14 -

“SHOW, don’t tell” was the key phrase when the NHS Highland learning disabilities team made four short films about the service.

The team worked with High-land-based film-maker Charlie Wilson to produce the films to show people with learning dis-abilities and their families what different members of the team do.

Accessible information officer Dave Hughes organised the pro-ject with Jonathan Gray, learn-ing disabilities nurse consultant. Dave’s job involves making or finding ‘accessible information’. Usually called ‘Easy Read’, it uses plain English and relevant pictures to support the text. It came about as it was found that a lack of understandable infor-mation put off people with learn-ing disabilities accessing ser-vices.

Dave sees making films as a natural extension of his job.

“No matter how ‘Easy Read’ a leaflet may be, for people with literacy problems it can still be a barrier,” he said.

“The internet, tablets and mo-bile phones have made informa-tion widely available. Even NHS Highland has its own YouTube channel!

“Using film, provided we stick to the rules of plain English and relevant pictures, we can reach even more people”.

Another aim was to reassure people.

As occupational therapist Clare Cousins said: “The thought of someone coming into your home and making changes to your life can be daunting.

“We hope the film will show our clients what to expect and hopefully make them feel posi-tive about getting input from an OT or other members of the

Team uses films to

spread the word...

Continued on next page

Pictured from left are Charlie Wilson, filmmaker; Ross Jackson, ac-tor; and Sarah Gallagher, speech therapist and narrator for all the films

- 15 -

learning disabilities team.”

The project was a learning experience for all involved, with the learning disabilities team in-volved in script-writing.

Clare Cousins said: “It has been a fantastic team effort. As well as working with NHS col-leagues, a special mention must go to Angus, who was great in the OT film, and to both L’Arche and Cantraybridge College.”

Cantraybridge, an agricultural college for people with learning disabilities, and L’Arche, Inver-ness, a community and day ser-vice, provided actors and loca-tion for three of the films.

L’Arche were approached because they already worked with Dave and the speech and language team.

Holly Hiles, deputy commu-nity manager with L’arche, helped to organise both actors and location for the speech and language film. Holly also plays the part of the not-very-helpful support worker opposite Ross Jackson. Ross, who attends L’Arche and a drama group at Eden Court, uses sign to com-municate in everyday life.

Talking to Holly, Ross said: “I liked being in the film because I can help other people. I like act-ing and am really happy to be in a film that people can watch. I can’t wait to show my mum and sister!”

Dave added: “For some of the actors learning a script was-n’t an option. Charlie worked with them to improvise scenes that stuck to the message the films.”

Despite a getting a script,

cast and even a bus and bus route from Stagecoach, one film fell through as the project being filmed had its funding pulled.

“It’s definitely been a worth-while, if sometimes frustrating learning experience,” said Dave. “We hope to continue with mak-ing films. I’ve been discussing working with advocacy organisa-tion Health & Happiness and we hope to produce something by next summer”.

The next step is promoting the films and seeing how effec-tive people find them. The plan is to add links and a QR code (right) to letters and appointment cards so that people can access the films.

Dave added “We only launched the films in the middle of June but we are really pleased with how they have been received so far”.

The four films are: ‘Your Mental Health’, which

shows how the learning disabili-ties team can help if someone has problems with their mental health.

‘Speech and Language Therapy – What We Do’, which

shows the different ways the speech therapist can help cli-ents, their family or support staff with communication as well as eating and drinking.

‘Healthy Eating’, which shows the different ways the di-etician can help people make healthier choices.

‘Occupation and Activity – Helping You Take Part in Eve-ryday Activities’, which shows how the occupational therapist can help with everyday things .

They are available both on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/HighlandLearningDisabilitiesSer-vices ) and on the NHS Highland YouTube channel (: http://tinyurl.com/o4wjo9e ).

Learning disability team films Continued from previous page

Pictured, from left, are: front row, the cast — Hannah Ross, Ross Jackson, Zara Ross and Simone Walker; back row — speech and lan-guage therapist Sarah Gallagher, accessible information officer David Hughes, film-maker Charlie Wilson, L’arche deputy community man-ager Holly Hiles and speech and language therapy associate practitio-ner Leigh Robertson

- 16 -

LAST month, NHS Highland business and administration staff took part in a focus group with NHS Education for Scot-land (NES) to give their views on the development of a na-

tional education pathway. The NES project team says it’s

grateful to all the staff who partici-pated and who are continuing to support and promote NES’s work with support workers in business

and administrative roles. The Scottish Government has

recognised that there must be a shift to support the learning and development of the people who make the National Health Service systems work.

This shift has been identified as a priority in the Everyone Mat-ters: 2020 Workforce Vision Im-plementation Framework and Plan: “to work in collaboration with NHS boards to agree and develop education pathways for support workers in business roles to increase capability and support career progression”.

The focus group gave NES the opportunity to hear the opinions of staff on how the education pathway looks, and it gave staff the opportunity to make sugges-tions as to how to improve the pathway for use in their work-place.

This consultation process took throughout NHSScotland from February to June to give staff in boards the opportunity to contrib-ute to the development of this pathway.

The information gathered in the focus groups is essential to the NES project team to guide and inform them on the develop-ment and implementation of this pathway.

The agreed education path-ways are being published on www.theadmincentre.nes.scot.nhs.uk and www.vqfinder.nes.scot.nhs.uk.

Support for your learning and development is available on the admin centre and VQ Finder Websites above. If you are inter-ested in finding out more or con-tributing to this project contact NHS Education for Scotland at acs.project@nes.scot.nhs.uk

Improving the education pathway

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A NURSE who “touched the lives” of many peo-ple has retired after working continuously in Sutherland for 30 years.

Friends and colleagues gathered in the Lawson Memorial Hospital, Golspie, recently to say good-bye to Marion Mackay, Macmillan nurse for East Sutherland.

Originally from Skye, Marion trained as a general nurse in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and then as a midwife in the city. From there she went to work in Dunfermline Maternity Hospital and then on to do district nursing and health visiting training in Fife.

After a spell in Peebles she returned to the High-lands when her husband Robert, a Maths teacher, got a job in Golspie High School. Marion worked part-time as health visitor in Brora and Helmsdale and became Macmillan nurse for East Sutherland in 1996.

Marion’s role has been to make life for people with cancer as easy and as comfortable as possi-ble. She gave practical support to patients, their families and carers, advised them on the manage-ment of symptoms, referred patients to other col-leagues, assisted them with any financial or social concerns, and gave them specific information on cancer and its various treatments.

In 2013, Marion featured in one of the Northern Times’ ongoing series of ‘At Your Service’ articles, produced by NHS Highland and focusing on people who work in or with the health service.

In that article, she said: “I feel very privileged to be involved with and to help a family that’s going through difficult times. It’s rewarding to know that you can help, even if only a small way.”

Lorraine Mackenzie, NHS Highland’s district manager for Sutherland, said: “Marion has touched the lives of many people in the community and within the Lawson Memorial and Migdale hospitals. She has always demonstrated professionalism, compassion, honesty and openness with those in her care and her colleagues. The East Sutherland community received the best possible care in her very capable hands.”

Marion Mackay cuts her retirement cake with Suther-land district manager Lorraine Mackenzie looking on

Tribute paid to retiring

Macmillan nurse Marion By Tom Davison

Communications manager

Referral criteria updated

THE Child and Adolescent Mental Health Ser-vice (CAMHS) have updated their referral crite-ria, and have developed a new referral process and referral form in conjunction with service users.

This information can be found on the new CAMHS webpage at, which can be accessed at www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/services/pages/camhs

All new referrals must adhere to this proc-ess.

The webpage is work in progress and will be regularly updated with new information.

- 18 -

THE NHSScotland standard web browser is currently Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Version 8, com-monly known as IE8.

This browser is the standard because it is the only one that has been certified to work with the NHS Scotland standard clini-cal applications, such as SCI Store and SCI Gateway. If an al-ternative browser is used to ac-cess these systems then this may lead to clinical information being displayed incorrectly.

NHS Highland’s eHealth de-partment is aware that some us-ers require a modern browser to enable access to some internet sites which are not compatible

with Internet Explorer 8. The de-partment has therefore agreed the following processes so that users can request access to a modern browser.

For Northern NHS Highland Users, except (GP practices, place a call to the service desk (01463 704999 or Ser-vicedesk@haht.scot.nhs.uk) who will arrange for an automated in-stallation of a modern browser. The installation may take up to eight working hours and will re-quire you to restart your PC. For example, if you log a request at 9am, the modern browser will be available the next day following a restart of your PC. If this process

does not work it could be down to a number of factors including the age of your device and if this is the case then contact the service desk who will arrange for a man-ual installation to take place.

The alternative browser will be configured to advise users that it should not be used for access clinical applications.

For GP practices in Northern NHS Highland, request access to a modern browser via the con-tractor services team at contrac-torservices.highland@nhs.net

For Argyll & Bute users, re-quest access to a modern browser via normal support por-tal.

Walking

all over

the world IN this, the 10th anniversary year of the opening of the Highland Heartbeat Centre (HHC), cardiac patients and staff have actively contributed to complete the Heart and Sole Walk 2015, a virtual walk round the world.

The centre, a dedicated reha-bilitation and research facility which was built with from money raised by public subscription fol-lowing a campaign run jointly by NHS Highland, the British Heart Foundation and The Highland News Group.

Its main role is to provide a venue for the provision of cardiac rehabilitation classes and clinics, support patients on immediate discharge from hospital following a cardiac event, and provide a

resource for staff in the commu-nity working to support cardiac patients and a base for cardiac research.

In February, the ‘Heart & Sole Walk 2015’ was launched with the aim of virtually walking round the world to promote the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation.

More than 100 individuals and heart health groups, including HHC patients and staff, took part

to complete the 34,000-mile chal-lenge.

The event’s patron, Louise Martin CBE, chair of Sportscot-land said: “I am delighted to see so many people taking part in the Heart and Sole Walk 2015.

“Remaining physically active after a heart-related issue can be vital and I am proud that this event has helped to spread this message far and wide. Making physical activity a part of your daily life is so important to overall wellbeing and this virtual walk around the world will benefit those who have taken part as well as those who have been in-spired by the event.”

What to do if you need a modern web browser...

Some of the Highland Heartbeat Centre staff

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FOR the third year run-ning patients, visitors and staff members at New Craigs Hospital in Inverness have been treated to a wide and varied display of art-work thanks to pupils from local secondary schools.

Every year the schools are asked if they would like to have artwork dis-played in the hospital’s main corridor and pa-tients, visitors and staff get to vote for their fa-vourite with the winning artist receiving a prize.

This year’s winner was Hannah Forman (18) of Charleston Academy and the runners-up were Emma Maclean and Callum Ross of Inverness Royal Academy. Winner Hannah Forman, of Charleston Academy

Joint runners-up Callum Ross and Emma Maclean of Inverness Royal Academy

Hospital displays pupils’ artwork

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EMPLOYMENT services man-ager Brenda Munro is retiring after a long career with NHS Highland.

Having worked her way through the ranks, Brenda has seen a lot of changes over the years – and maintains that NHS Highland is a good employer to work for.

She said: “I’ve thoroughly en-joyed working with NHS High-land. I can still remember how excited I was when I first walked through the door to start my first job as a clerical officer in the pay unit.

“It’s a completely different world that we live in now com-pared to four decades ago – I remember when there were no computers in our office and we shared the one telephone!”

Brenda, who is married to Stewart and mother to Claire, Laura and Grant, began her ca-reer with NHS Highland in 1974, and held a variety of positions in the pay unit, including executive officer and deputy payroll man-ager, before making the switch to human resources in 1999.

Her background in the pay unit allied to her depth of knowledge

of NHS terms and conditions saw her quickly rise to the post of em-ployment services manager and redeployment co-ordinator.

“I believe in treating people how I would like to be treated, and this has served me well over the years,” she said. “I have worked alongside some wonder-ful people, and have made many friends.

“I’ve had some great times here, worked hard and have al-ways given 100% to my job.”

The grandmother of six plans to spend more time with her fam-ily, helping to look after her grandchildren – and catching up with many of her friends who have recently retired.

By Andrew Devlin

Communications manager

I’ve enjoyed some

great times here!

Sight charity’s partnership year with store firm draws to close

SIGHT Action has completed 12 months as the Nairn branch of Sainsbury’s local charity of the year.

Sight Action serves 2,300 blind and partially sighted people in Highland and the Western Isles. It has offices in Wick, Thurso and Stornoway as well as a drop-in centre in Inverness.

It provided specialist expertise and equipment to enable service users to live as safely and inde-pendently as possible.

Murray Cochrane, from Sight Action, said: “We were chosen by J Sainsbury PLC Nairn to be their local charity partner last year after competition with several other wonderful causes.

“Since we launched the part-nership, we have gone on to do joint fund-raising events involving our staff and volunteers – and staff from Sainsbury’s too.

“We have provided training to their staff to raise awareness of issues for blind and partially sighted people when they are shopping in store.

“They have assisted us by holding in-store raffles and prize draws, as well as bag packing. They have also provided us with several iPads – which are of great benefit to our clients.”

ACUTE Life-threatening Events Recognition and Treatment (ALERT) training is coming to Highland.

ALERT is a multi-professional course in the care of acutely ill patients, and focuses on enhancing the level of acute care and improving teamwork.

Courses will run at Raigmore Hospital on Friday, 14th August and Friday 27th November; at Belford

Hospital on Wednesday, 23rd September; and at Caithness General Hospital on Friday, 23rd October.

The fee for the course is £30, which covers man-ual and registration costs.

For further information on ALERT and to book your place contact Graham Geddes at gra-ham.geddes@nhs.net

ALERT courses being held throughout NHS Highland

- 21 -

SCOTTISH Fire and Rescue Service (Lochaber) have pledged their support to the NHS Highland Breast-feeding 'Baby Friendly' sticker scheme.

Breastfeeding women will know that where they see this sticker displayed they can feed their child in a com-fortable environment.

NHS Highland infant feeding advisor Karen MacKay said: "I’m delighted that the fire service in Lochaber is looking to support and encourage breastfeeding in the Highland area.

“By displaying the sticker breastfeeding women in the area now know that they have a warm, friendly and peaceful environment where they can feed their child." Pat McElhinney, group manager for service delivery, Lochaber, said: “I am very happy Scottish Fire and Res-cue Service support this very important scheme. All my children were breast fed and I remember how difficult it was to find areas for my wife to relax and feed our ba-bies.

“The fire station at Fort William has the facilities to al-low a mother to feed her baby in peace and I hope peo-ple take advantage of the facilities we have here.”

Fire service backs breastfeeding

stickers scheme

New roles

will be a

first for

Highland

IN a first for NHS Highland the board is look-ing to employ two physician associate interns to join the team at Raigmore Hospital in In-verness.

Physician associates (PAs) are healthcare professionals who have been trained in the medical model of care and work with the su-pervision of a doctor. The role originated in the United States in the 1950s and has now been adopted by a number of countries worldwide.

Lindsey Mitchell, medical workforce man-ager for NHS Highland, explained that the roles would be fixed term for a year and the successful candidates would complement the existing clinical teams.

She said: “There are already a number of PAs working in a variety of clinical areas across the UK.

“Their role includes obtaining medical his-tories, conducting physical examinations, requesting and interpreting tests, diagnosing and treating illnesses and injuries and pro-viding guidance on preventive health care.

“PAs have already proven to be an excel-lent addition to clinical teams. They are not there to replace nursing, medical or Allied Health Professional staff, they fit in well with the existing roles and I’m very pleased that we are now able to offer these roles within NHS Highland.”

The successful applicants will be sup-ported by the practice development nurse for the nurse practitioner service and will have access to the wide range of educational sup-port and facilities available.

Pat McElhinney with NHS Highland infant feeding advisor Karen Mackay

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HEALTH professionals and patient groups are getting the chance to give their views on the national review of primary care out-of-hours services through a series of engage-ment events.

Last month, the chair of the review, Professor Lewis Ritchie, was in the NHS Ayrshire and Arran area to meet patient rep-resentatives, practitioners, ser-vice providers and policy makers to discuss issues facing out-of-hours services.

Launched in January by Health Secretary Shona Robi-son, the review is considering how best to deliver out-of-hour services in light of the chal-lenges of Scotland’s ageing population, and as health and social care services become better integrated.

Throughout the summer Pro-fessor Ritchie and the review team is visiting every health board area in Scotland in order to gather feedback. This will al-low them to better understand issues facing the delivery and sustainability of primary care services when GP surgeries are closed, such as the recruitment and retention of GPs, staff avail-ability, consistency of service and public expectations.

The review, which is due to publish its findings in the Au-tumn, builds on the Scottish Government’s 2020 Vision for the NHS in Scotland and the work already underway with stakeholders to determine the

short and long term plans. Professor Ritchie said: "The

NHS is facing different chal-lenges from a decade ago with an ageing population and more people with more complex, mul-tiple conditions.

“Out-of-hours services are a crucial component of the NHS and the review of out-of-hours primary care will be looking at how services can provide ac-cess to urgent care when needed, deliver the right skills mix and above all continue to offer patient-centred, high qual-ity, safe and effective care in a sustainable environment.

“As part of the review process it is vital that we hear from health boards, medical and care based professionals, the volun-tary and third sectors and pa-tient groups.

“This is why I am undertaking a programme of national en-gagement across Scotland over the summer. The programme of visits will give medical profes-sionals and patients alike the chance to express their views from both a regional and na-tional level.

“So far I have visited Dum-fries and Galloway and Tayside. Both visits provided me with in-valuable insight into the area’s approach.

“It was interesting to hear views from the diverse range of people who participated in each visit including doctors, like my-self, nurses, drivers, volunteers and local elected members.

“I have taken some very sound food for thought from each visit.”

Shona Robison said: “With more than 90 per cent of patient visits starting and finishing in primary care it is vital that its out-of-hours provision is delivering the best service possible.

“It is also more than 10 years since the current system was created, making it the right time to review these services to en-sure they continue to deliver sustainable, high quality, safe and effective care.

“The feedback gathered from the engagement sessions, as well as all other research being undertaken by Professor Ritchie and his review team, will provide crucial insight to shape the re-view.”

The review comes more than a decade after the 2004 UK GP contract, which transferred re-sponsibility for delivery of out-of-hours primary care services to the management of health boards.

Anyone wishing to share an experience or offer a view can do so at OutofHoursRe-view@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Written contributions can also be submitted via the Review’s web space in the Your Views are Important to Us section at http://sh45inta/Topics/Health/Services/nrpcooh

The Out-of-hours Primary Care Review group is due to publish a report on its findings in the Autumn.

Public and professional

engagement programme

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REVALIDATION for all registered nurses and midwives will be in-troduced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) from 31st March 2016.

Revalidation is a process that all nurses and midwives will need to engage with to demonstrate that they practise safely and effectively throughout their career.

NHS Highland’s senior nurse for education and training, Stephen Loch, said: “Proposed requirements of revalidation in summary are out-lined on the NMC website*. These proposals are subject to change before being finalised by the NMC in October this year.

“The NMC have been piloting the approach to revalidation with a number of registrants in selected areas across the United Kingdom, including NHS Tayside in Scotland.

“In NHS Highland, we have a revalidation working group which meets regularly, and we thought it would be helpful to produce guid-ance for staff to get started with their revalidation process. These six steps are available on the NHS Highland intranet site.”

The six steps are: Register online with the

NMC at http://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/nmc-online/

This allows you to check your registration status, find out your re-newal date, update your information and more. Think about your portfolio

and review those available NMC are currently strongly rec-

ommending an e-portfolio (currently not mandatory). There are various available, although some may have

a cost attached. These are listed below:

NES e-portfolio (free): http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/education-and-training/by-discipline/nursing-a n d - m i d w i f e r y / c a r ee r s - a n d -recruitment/nursing-midwifery-career-long-eportfolio.aspx

RCN: https://www.rcn.org.uk/development/learning/learningzone/my_portfolio

RCM: https://www.rcm.org.uk/news-views-and-analysis/analysis/t he - r cms-new-epor t f o l i o - f o r -members Think about reflective prac-

tice and look at the templates The following website may help

w i t h t h i s : h t t p : / /www.effectivepractitioner.nes.scot.nhs.uk/learning-and-development/r e c o r d i n g - l e a r n i n g - a n d -development.aspx Visit the NMC revalidation

website for information and up-dates at http://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/revalidation/ Check your NMC renewal

date This date will be vital in knowing

when you will go through the revali-dation process. Read the new NMC code: h t t p : / / w w w . n m c . o r g . u k /

standards/code/ If you need further information,

please contact your line manager or your local practice education facili-tator (PCF). If you’re unsure who you’re PCF is, contact the Inver-ness PEF office on 01463 255 639.

*The website for the proposed require-

ments can be found at http://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/revalidation/provisional-revalidation-requirements/

Six steps to revalidation

for nurses and midwives Dialysis unit

named in competition

THE Dialysis Project Group, which includes rep-resentatives of the Kintyre Dialysis Campaign Group, has reviewed all the entries received from members of the public for suggested names for the pilot dialysis unit.

The group was pleased with the variety of sugges-tions received and after viewing all the entries they decided that the unit should be named the Kin-tyre Community Dialysis Unit.

This suggestion was submitted by Carole Har-row, a practice nurse in Campbeltown Health Cen-tre, and Carole will be in-vited to the opening cere-mony, to be held on the 20th August.

The Project Group is also delighted that the commissioning stage of the building works is nearing completion and the unit will be operational for patients from 10th August.

SPSP conference THE Scottish Patient Safety Programme is to hold its national conference on Monday, 9th November in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

- 24 -

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FOLLOWING the success of placements in care homes, stu-dent dietitians from Robert Gordon University will soon be out and about with care at home staff to develop a pilot model for their pre-registration training.

This is another UK first for NHS Highland, working in part-nership with the university, the Care Inspectorate, NHS Educa-tion for Scotland and Highland Home Carers.

Two students will be linked with separate care home teams, working in either a rural or urban location.

They will spend two days a week over a five-week period ob-serving, gathering information and carrying out project work to help gain an understanding of the nutrition and hydration challenges

faced by service users. Evelyn Newman, NHS High-

land nutrition and dietetic co-ordinator for care homes, said: “This is an opportunity for us to gain an understanding of how we can plan ahead and support the needs of service users and their families in a very proactive, per-son-centred placement model.

“Today’s student dietitians will be our workforce of the future, and this model of training offers them a unique insight to how ser-vices will need to be delivered in supporting people to live in homely settings.

“Good nutrition and hydration are essential to maintaining good health, independence and a sense of wellbeing. The popula-tion are living longer, and this can bring challenges to providing nu-trition and hydration safely, and in

a way which is convenient to them: helping them to prevent falls, improve their concentration and maintain energy levels.”

She added: “We are really pleased that Highland Home Car-ers have agreed to pilot this with us, and we hope that it will bene-fit their staff by raising the profile and benefits of nutrition and hy-dration with them.”

The managing director of Highland Home Carers, Stephen Pennington, commented: “The opportunity for dietitians in train-ing to learn about the issues that care at home workers are dealing with everyday can only be a benefit to them and us.

“We continue to sponsor social care workers to undertake social work training, and it is a logical step to assist allied health profes-sionals with their development.”

A S part of National Smile Month, the NHS

Highland oral health im-provement teams and Ar-gyll and Bute Council staff were involved in a toothbrush exchange and ‘guess the celebrity smile’ competition.

Staff also completed an oral health online ques-tionnaire before and after National Smile Month.

The initiative will sup-port Argyll and Bute Coun-cil achieving the Silver Standard for the Healthy Working Lives Award.

Pictured are Gail McKay and Shirley Lovegrove, who attended the tooth brush exchange and National Smile Month oral information display.

Student dietitians to link up

with care at home staff

- 26 -

By Dan Jenkins

Health weight health promotion officer

OK, summer hasn’t been very impressive so far, but the vast majority of us feel more moti-vated to get out and move about at this time of year.

And it’s the perfect opportunity to establish some long-lasting habits that feel good enough to stick with when it’s darker and colder.

We focus on particular events or challenges periodically throughout the year, and many of you have enjoyed things like the Step Count Challenge, 5x50 or the Ramblers Medal Routes App trial.

These are great but it can be easy to drop off the activity at the end of the specified time.

So what can we do to keep it feeling fresh and interesting?

Well, you are the best judge of that, because you will know what you enjoy, you know what you used to love but haven’t tried for a while and you know what you’ve always fancied doing but haven’t got round to yet. So defi-nitely use those ideas.

And, as well as that, why not consider trying out any of the fol-lowing initiatives that various members of staff across NHS Highland have told us about?

World Walking: Check out these web-based walking chal-lenges that take you to some of

the most amazing places on Earth. Be part of a growing movement that began with an idea from a cardiac rehab group in Greenock and which now cap-tures the imagination of people far and wide across the UK and the world.

Check out https://worldwalking.org/

Couch to 5K through NHS Choices: Many people who have never really run before (or not for very long time) and were nervous about giving it a go have found this programme to be perfect for guiding them through a realistic and achievable journey. It’s all done through podcasts that keep you focussed and support every part of your activity. It’s a nine-week programme but you can repeat any bits you like and really take it at the pace that suits you. Visit http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k-plan.aspx

Jog Scotland: All levels of jogging are welcome to join in the regular, weekly sessions. There are 50 active groups across the NHS Highland area and they pride themselves on welcoming beginners and helping people find the right pace for them. They are friendly and supportive, they run all year round and lots of people find it much easier to stick to a regular commitment when they are part of a group. Go to http://www.jogscotland.org.uk/

local-groups Regular Health Walk

groups: While most of these do tend to run during the day, there are several groups that run eve-ning walks during the summer months. Again, it’s a great exam-ple of a supportive, social group welcoming new members of all levels of fitness and walking ex-perience. In Argyll and Bute see http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/find-a-health-walk/argyll-and-bute/?submit=Go ; in The Highland Council area see http://www.pfw.org.uk/projects/step-it-up-highland/walk-directory/ ; in Cairngorm National Park area see http://www.cairngormsoutdooraccess.org.uk/walking-to-health/

NHS Highland’s cycle2work bike access scheme: This scheme is coming again at the end of August and running throughout September. Hundreds of NHS Highland employees have already benefited from get-ting a new bike and made signifi-cant savings through the salary sacrifice arrangements. And many people have now become regular cycle commuters (or part commuters for those who live too far away from their base to cycle all the way) because of it. All the safety accessories you need can be included in the package, so you will have everything you need to make cycling a habit. http://www.cycle2work.info/

Start in summer to

move all year round

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- 28 -

- 29 -

NOMINATIONS for a Highland Quality Award can be submitted by employees, patients, carers and the wider public for an individual or team employed by NHS Highland, or working as part of the wider Na-tional Health Service.

The award reflects on an individual or team who has demonstrated actions and behaviours which epitomise everything about the Highland Quality Approach.

While all members of staff strive to do a great

job and provide outstanding care and compassion on a daily basis, the award reflects actions and be-haviours that demonstrate quality improvement, or where individuals or teams have gone out of their way to provide quality care, in support of the High-land Quality Approach.

Nominations should be made to: Highland Qual-ity Awards, NHS Highland, Assynt House, Beech-wood Park, Inverness, IV2 3BW, or by e-mail to nhshighlandboard@nhs.net

THE latest recipient of a High-land Quality Award lives and breathes the values of NHS Highland and is a ‘jewel’ to the organisation.

Claire McCall, bereavement officer for Raigmore Hospital, has been described as an ‘excellent ambassador’ for Raigmore for the way she sup-ports families and relatives at their most vulnerable time.

The bereavement service is new for NHS Highland and, while she was initially appointed to help with the new death certi-fication process, Claire has quickly adapted to the bereave-ment officer role and made it her own.

He role has involved Claire quietly supporting grieving rela-tives, looking for volunteer knit-ters to provide tiny baby clothes for the very premature babies who sadly do not survive and starting a fundraising campaign to enable the mortuary viewing room to be decorated and up-graded making it a more pleas-ant environment for families.

The feedback from families, funeral directors and members

of NHS Highland’s staff on the impact Claire has had since she has been in post, how she con-ducts her herself and carries

out her role has been impres-sive and really reinforces what an asset she is to the organisa-tion.

HOW TO NOMINATE

NHS Highland chair Garry Coutts presents the award to Claire

Bereavement officer Claire

wins Highland Quality Award

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A SURGEON who has given years of service to NHS High-land has been appointed OBE for his services to healthcare in the north of Scotland.

Mr John Duncan, who featured in the June Honours List, con-fessed to thinking about whether or not to accept the award “for about three milliseconds”.

“I see it as an honour that re-flects on my colleagues and my family (he has two daughters and a son),” he said. “I could not have done what I have done without their help. The OBE is as much for them as for myself.”

Mr Duncan, who recently re-tired from full-time surgery at Raigmore Hospital (though he has returned to help out), edits Surgeons' News, the magazine of the Royal College of Surgeons of

Edinburgh, and is now primarily an educator rather than a practi-

tioner. An Aberdonian, he is head of teaching in NHS Highland for the University of Aberdeen's School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Now 62, Mr Duncan was edu-cated at the University of Aber-deen, graduating in 1977, and spent a year at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

After working in Sheffield, in 1992 he returned to Inverness, where he had previously worked, as a consultant general surgeon with an interest in vascular sur-gery.

Mr Duncan has also consider-able management experience, having served as NHS Highland's head of service for general sur-gery and chair of the Area Medi-cal Committee, responsible for giving medical advice to NHS Highland.

OBE for surgeon

Council and health board set up course on use

of interpreters

IN order to support people who do not have English as a first language, including Brit-ish Sign Language (BSL) us-ers, NHS Highland and The Highland Council have adopted a partnership ap-proach to the provision of interpretation.

Staff from either organisa-tion are being offered the op-portunity to attend a half-day briefing session on the use of interpreters.

To book a place on the 17th

September session, call Isa-bel McLellan on 01463 703018.

A CHARITY CD will benefit Raig-more Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) as 10 per cent of all proceeds made from the sale will go towards the unit.

‘Songs for Dawn’ was started by Arisaig chef Robert “Bodie” Bowman and musician Steve Brown as a thank-you to the three hospitals that helped, and con-tinue to help, Bodie’s daughter Dawn.

Dawn has cerebral palsy, she can’t walk, talk or eat but is a very happy five-year-old.

The first CD raised a total of

£9000 and just under £3000 worth of supplies were subse-quently donated to SCBU.

The latest CD is raising money to help purchase a wheelchair adapted vehicle for Dawn and again 10 per cent of the proceeds will go towards SCBU in Raig-more.

Bodie said: “It is a pleasure to be able to help the unit that saved Dawn.”

CDs are available from www.songsfordawn.co.uk, as is information on a forthcoming charity night in Lochaber.

New charity CD to

boost SCBU funds

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What’s your

story? Keep

Highlights

informed

Do you know of something

you think should be featured

in Highlights? An award, an

achievement, a piece of re-

search, an appointment, a

retiral … you name it, High-

lights has a place for it.

Please send your articles

f o r H i g h l i g h t s t o

tom.davison@nhs.net (01463

704903) or visit the Staff

Dropbox on the NHS High-

land intranet home page.

You can follow NHS Highland on:

WEBSITE

www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/

NHSHighland

TWITTER

www.twitter.com/NHSHighland or @NHSHighland

By Erin Greig

Communications manager

INVERNESS resident John Davidson and his dad Alex have raised more than £1,300 for the Special Care Baby Unit at Raigmore Hospital.

The duo cycled between Lands End and John o’Groats after deciding they wanted to give back to the unit which had cared for both of John’s children.

John and his daughters Clara (4) and Jennifer (2) made a return visit to the unit earlier this month to hand over the cheque to staff midwife Sharon Lawrence and staff nurse Stephanie Nicol.

Sharon said: “It was great seeing John and the girls. I can’t thank John and his dad enough for this kind do-nation.

“This is a huge amount of money for us and it will definitely be put to good use in the department.”

Father and

son support

SCBU with

cycle effort

- 32 -

Highland Health Sciences Library

By Rob Polson

Subject librarian, Highland Health Sciences Library

(rp5@stir.ac.uk)

Time fades away sang Neil Young on the live album of the same name from 1973.

Things don't change and it is a constant battle to fit work and time together. However the suite of resources illustrated below (http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/home/point-of-care.aspx) can save you enormous amounts of time and improve patient care.

Instead of looking in a range of places, all the information you need is collated together and is constantly updated, so is current.

Some quick notes…

Dynamed/BMJ Best Practice/UpToDate —Rapid clinical information, including access to guidelines and patient information materials.

Nursing/Rehabilitation Reference Centres —Rapid information for nursing and rehabilitation staff.

In you have any queries on using these tools please contact the Highland Health Sciences Li-brary (01463 255600/ ext. 7600 (hhs11@stir.ac.uk).

Finally, please remember that whatever your needs the Highland Health Sciences Library and its staff exist to help you.

Quick tools to find the evidence: BMJ best practice added to the Knowledge Network

- 33 -

Can you describe your job? I manage the day-to-day running of the mortuary, car-ing for the deceased, their belongings and also for the bereaved as well as assisting the pathologist in carry-ing out post-mortem examinations. Describe yourself Usually I am renowned for being Mr Grumpy but I have a wicked sense of humour. Given my job I believe life is about living today as tomorrow may never come so I try to enjoy everything to the full. Hobbies and interests? Cooking, reading, playing darts, watching football and rugby (too old to play without pain), camping, walking and photography. What was the first single you ever bought? Sparks’ This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us. What is your favourite food? Good Scottish venison. Favourite film? Saving Private Ryan and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. How about your favourite TV programme? All variations of Masterchef and Bluestone 42. And favourite book? Anything by Wilbur Smith or historical fact-based fiction such as that written by Conn Iggulden. If you won £10 million in the lottery, what would you spend it on?

After the obvious holiday, car, house and boat I would start my own small business doing event management and safety. What about a smaller sum, say £1,000? Probably put it towards returning to Kenya again and do a safari in the north of the country. What are you pet hates? People who park their vehicles on the pavements. I get really narked when I see parents with prams or bug-gies and kids having to go onto the road. If you could have dinner with three people, dead or alive, who twould hey be and what would you cook them? Johnny Cash, Martin Luther King and Shaka Zulu. I would do a starter of haggis and black pudding on an oatcake base with a whisky jus. For mains, a roast loin of venison with red cabbage and mustard mash with a redcurrant jelly and a roasted onion and red wine sauce. Dessert would have to be cranachan. What are the best and worst parts of your job? The best part is when I get to deal with bereaved rela-tives where we have been able to make the death process a distress-free experience and they go away with a positive and sometimes good feeling about the whole experience and we have the same feeling. The worst part is when sadly we are unable to help families or something doesn’t go right. It always feels such a personal failure if we cause distress even unwittingly to families. And of course it goes without saying that deal-ing with children is always hard especially where there has been major trauma or criminality involved.

& Q

A Answering the questions this month is David Scott, senior

anatomical pathology technician based at Raigmore

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