www.rdehospital.nhs.uk

March/April 2011

RD&Enews

page 5

Post it power

page 3

Internetcafe plans

Nurse Brendaneeds your vote

page 2

Nurse Brendaneeds your vote

page 2

staff survey2

Director of Human Resources Lynn

Lane said: “Overall we are in the

top 20% of Trusts for 11 of the key

findings – this is an improvement

on the eight from last year – and

we are above the national average

for staff engagement. We would

like to thank everyone who

completed a questionnaire. The

survey is a great indicator of where

we are doing well and where we

can do better.”

She’s a star already for making the final

four out of over 200 nominations for a national

award but Staff Nurse Brenda Somerfield will find

out at a special awards ceremony in London

whether she is the overall winner of the Nursing

Standard’s Claire Rayner Patient’s Choice Award.

Brenda, who works on Mere ward, was nominated

by Mr Gerard Noel for her care of his late wife

Caroline, during her terminal illness. It was

Caroline’s wish that Brenda should be nominated for

an award.

The winner will be decided by public vote so spare

a few minutes to go on the Nursing Standard

website http://nurseawards.rcnpublishing.co.uk/

patients-choice/ and vote for Brenda. All will be

revealed on 28 April.

Brenda is pictured with Mr Noel on the front cover.

We are delighted that the RD&E has beenplaced in the best 20% of NHS Trusts for staffrecommending the RD&E as a place to workand receive treatment in the 2010 NHS StaffSurvey.

staff survey 3

www.rdehospital.nhs.uk

We were in the top 20% for 11

key findings including:

Staff agreeing their role made

a difference

Staff with work related stress

Bullying and harassment from

patients, public & staff

Staff recommending the Trust

as a place to work and receive

treatment

Staff intention to leave jobs

Staff believing the Trust

provides equal opportunities

for career progression

Improvements on 2009 survey

include:

Staff agreeing their role made

a difference

Staff appraised and receiving

a Personal Development Plan

Effective action from

employer regarding violence &

harassment

The number of staff receiving

Health & Safety training

Impact on health & wellbeing

on ability to perform tasks

Equality & Diversity Training

Areas we need to work on

include:

Support from Immediate

managers

Staff able to contribute to

improvements

Communication with senior

managers

Staff satisfaction & motivation

Fairness & effectiveness of

incident reporting procedures

Work will continue within directorates to further improve the working lives of all our staff during the

coming year. The results for every Trust are published by the Care Quality Commission on their website.

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The new facilities will be completely funded by money

raised through the Staff Lottery. The current internet

counter with three computers will be replaced by a new

lower height desk with seven workstations in the back of

the restaurant on the public seating side. The makeover

will include lighting, paint and soft seating to create a

more friendly and informal area for staff to use. A semi-

transparent screen will keep the area designated for staff

only. For more information visit the Staff Lottery pages on

the intranet IaN.

Work starts soon to transform a corner of the Oasis restaurant into a brandnew staff chill out zone with better internet facilities & soft seating.

� Pictured is Staff Lottery Committee Chair Marie Taylor,Shirley Jones of the catering service & Ed Parker, estatesproject officer.

specialist care & research4

High satisfaction results were recorded for communication, confidence

and trust in staff, pain control, safety, and ward atmosphere.

Ninety per cent of patients rated the level of care they received during

their stay on ITU as excellent or good, with nine of the remaining ten per

cent giving neutral responses.

The survey also found that patients felt that doctors and nurses worked

well together and treated patients with respect and dignity. Colleagues

were praised for giving their time to offer reassurance and making

themselves known to family and friends.

ITU Senior Matron Andy Jackson said: “It is really valuable to receive

detailed feedback from patients and families who have used our

services. I think this very positive feedback is a reflection of the hard

work and commitment of this team.”

The Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) has scoredhighly in a recent patient satisfaction survey.

Our innovative new Surgical

Health Services Research Unit

will be formally opened this

month. It will bring together the

resources, experience and

knowledge to inform real

advances in all stages of surgical

treatment and improve patient

care.

The Unit, which been funded

through collaboration between

the Directorates of Surgery and

Research and Development

(R&D), will enable the Trust to

build on its existing strong

reputation in the field of

research. It will support the

National Institute for Health

Research (NIHR) research

portfolios, as well as building

strong links between the Trust

and local research partners.

rapid improvement 5

www.rdehospital.nhs.uk

Staff have participated in a rapidimprovement event reviewing thevarious booking processes andsystems, identifying areas ofweakness and finding possiblesolutions to ensure that thesystem works right for patientsfirst time.

There were over 20 booking and clinical reception staff involved in the three day event, recognising that ‘only

the staff who do the job, can improve the job’. They were supported by participation from senior colleagues

and clinicians throughout, and IT also attended a session to provide technical advice.

One of the tasks on the second day involved staff using post-it notes to demonstrate all the stages in the

current process; this resulted in the realisation that approximately 80 steps could be simplified to just three!

Melanie Holley, Service Manager, said: “The event was a great success. Thank you to everyone who took

part for your contributions – a huge amount of positive work was achieved. The outcomes of this event

will directly influence changes

to reduce waste and duplication,

remove frustrations and ultimately

improve patient care.”

Order Communications System6

The IMT Training Department are

training the Early Adopters (Renal &

Neonatal staff) on how to use the new

system. More than 250 colleagues will

need training before implementation

in March and a 4,500 will need training

before the full go-live. If you haven’t

already booked a date, you should do

so as soon as possible. No training =

no access! If you aren’t sure which

course you should be on, have a look

at the OCS Training page on IaN which

outlines the different course

requirements and dates.

The project and build teams, with

clinical user involvement, have been

identifying any outstanding issues – a

bit like producing a snagging list on a

house-build. Testing has involved

placing ‘real’ orders on the live system

(real samples but test patients) to

ensure that the processes detailed on

paper during the project actually work

when you start pushing the buttons.

Pathology and Radiology processed

their tests successfully. It’s important

to mock up these scenarios before go-

live to ensure that patient safety isn’t

compromised.

For more information or to discuss

organising a demo or awareness

session for your area, have a look at

the updated IMT Project pages on IaN

or contact the IMT Implementation

Team: Rowenna Laws - 01392 40

6962 (rowenna.laws@rdeft.nhs.uk);

James Rutherford - 01392 40 6916

(james.rutherford@rdeft.nhs.uk) or

Margaret Huntly - 01392 40 6386

(margaret.huntly@rdeft.nhs.uk).

The Trust’s OSC launch is approaching.

The new Order Communication

System (OCS) is one of IMT’s

enabling projects supporting the

Fit for the Future challenge of

reducing financial spending &

maintaining high quality patient

care and services by:

� increasing efficiency

� reducing paper

� improving patient safety

� streamlining processes

If you order tests, use specimen

bags or Pathology/ Radiology

forms or review results then the

new Order Communication

System (OCS) will enable you to

request services (such as blood

tests and x-rays) and review or

acknowledge results

electronically.

To begin with, all Radiology and

Pathology requests (including

Nuclear Medicine & the Breast

Care Unit) will be processed

through OCS - eliminating the

need for paper forms.

tune in 7

www.rdehospital.nhs.uk

A Channel 4 series about the Paralympics and

how talented athletes overcome disability and prepare

for their sport will feature a blind England team

footballer coming in to our fracture clinic to have a

plaster taken off his arm, a consultation with

orthopaedic surgeon Mr Nigel Giles and physiotherapy

advice from Rob Wickins. The series will be broadcast

later this year.

The RD&E organised and hosted aseries of short patient informationfilms for a new BBC health website tobe launched at the end of this year.

Television production company Two Four Productions has

been commissioned to produce the films on a range of

general treatments and procedures. At the RD&E they

have filmed patients, consultants and surgery for hip

replacement, knee replacement and carpal tunnel

repair. They also hope to film removal of a suspected

melanoma and a C-section.

We will then be able to link from our public website to

this information.

Bramble Ward patient Jude Coramwill feature in a special BBC NewsRound report called

Living with Cancer. It is scheduled to be broadcast on

Tuesday 29 March between 4.30pm and 5.30pm on BBC 1.

In a letter of thanks NewsRound said: “we appreciate

that allowing teams like ours onto the ward creates extra

effort for your staff. However being able to show our

audience what it’s like to spend time in hospital is vital

to our programme and we couldn’t have done it without

your help.”

other news8

Carol and Claire Bennett have been

tirelessly fundraising in memory of Laura

Bennett. Patients and their relatives on

ITU have already benefited from generous

‘Laura’s Legacy’ donations of televisions,

digital radios and fans.

As of 31 March 2011 the existing AFC National agreement regarding on-call payments comes to an end.

Current on call arrangements at the RD&E will continue until such time as new arrangements are

negotiated and agreed within the Trust after consultation with Staff Side representatives and in the

context of the wider NHS approach to this issue.

The data collation about the varied on call cover arrangements in place here has progressed and departments

or services which have not returned information are being followed up. This data information is important for

informed decisions on how to achieve equity and fairness across the whole Trust.

Bedside visits for relativeswill be more comfortablewhen the Intensive TherapyUnit gets two recliningchairs funded by donations.

The RD&E News is now bi-monthly which gives colleagues more lead up time to contribute their

story and picture ideas by email to me. The deadline for the April/May edition of the RD&E News is

22 April 2011.

Wendy Shaw, Communications Manager

RD&E Wonford staff are being encouraged to takeup the Fine Fillings café service out of hours ifthe pilot is to prove there is a demand forextended hours.

Since the end of February the café has been openbetween 8pm and 2am. This trial will end on Friday25 March and the catering service will considerwhether this would be viable longer term. If theservice was continued then staff will be asked fordifferent food option suggestions. So if you don’tuse it you may lose it!

The RD&E summer netball league is gettingready to start again soon and we are lookingfor volunteers to help out with the organisingand umpiring.

If you would be able to provide help in somewayplease contact Sophie Chalmers or Wendy Didon.

Also any teams wishing to take part, old or newplease let us know.

sophie.chalmers@rdeft.nhs.uk or x2631 andwendy.didon@rdeft.nhs.uk or x3942