Issue 126 • June 2014

Pennine NewsT O P R O V I D E T H E V E R Y B E S T C A R E F O R E A C H P A T I E N T O N E V E R Y O C C A S I O N

TRUST’S CATERINGSERVICE WINNATIONAL AWARD

• PAT leads on heart failure medication study

• ‘Every drop is golden’ – breastfeeding awareness week

• Innovative work – non surgical prosthetic ear created

• From hospital to home – here to help

In the news2 June 2014

ContentsBoxing clever in library .............Pg 4

Delivering patient safety ..........Pg 4

Generous donation by Pennine Lymphoma Support Group .........Pg 4

Non surgical prosthetic ear ...... created for patient ....................Pg 5

Staff awards update ...................Pg 5

Flu link nurses needed ..............Pg 6

Zero tolerance approach in mattress audit............................Pg 6

Consultant writes for medical book .............................Pg 6

Stephani causes a stir! ..............Pg 7

IT’s the real thing!.....................Pg 7

Team Talk ..................................Pg 8

Team focus on orthoptists ........Pg 9

National report with PAT input ...Pg 10

Fairfield’s A&E expansion ..........Pg 10

Advancing Healthcare Awards ....Pg 10

Midwives remembered .............. Pg 11

Simulation accreditation...........Pg 11

Thought for the month ............Pg 11

LiA update on theatres .............Pg 12

Oldham’s A&E expansion .........Pg 12

Fraud awareness .......................... Pg 13

Safer wards technology fund ....Pg 13

From hospital to home .............Pg 14

Police officer on patrol .............Pg 15

Swapping roles in training .......Pg 15

Staff notice board .....................Pg 16

EVERY drop of breast milk is golden! This is the message Pennine Acute Trust infant feeding advisors delivered during breast feeding awareness week from 19 to 25 May.

Dr Val Finigan MBE, the Trust’s consultant midwife in infant feeding, said: “National breastfeeding awareness week is all about highlighting the various means of support that can help a mother to start and then continue breastfeeding for longer. At Pennine Acute Trust we went one step further and celebrated both mothers’ and staff achievements in breastfeeding with our slogan ‘Celebrating success in supporting women to initiate and continue to breastfeed – our journey.’”

The Trust has had UNICEF accredited status for 15 years at Oldham and eight years at North Manchester General Hospital. This means that the hospitals have been externally assessed and demonstrated exceptional care for mothers and babies with regards to feeding, whether that be by breast or bottle.

Along with a consultant in infant feeding, there are also two infant feeding advisors/co-ordinators to train staff, support mothers and provide services across the maternity, paediatric, neonatal and general ward areas where breastfeeding women may be being treated. There are three peer breastfeeding supporters who provide basic information and support to mothers on both breast and bottle feeding during their maternity stay and three volunteers. All Pennine Acute Trust staff who have direct contact with mothers and babies are also trained in breastfeeding.

Val continued: “During the awareness week we launched our champions’ scheme in which staff who champion

‘Every drop is golden’ - Breast feeding awareness week

Diary dates

3 June - Arthritis presentation. 2pm to 3pm, education centre, FGH

18 June - Staff awards event

19 - 20 June - London Uropatholody Conference including PAT staff. www.uropathologyuk.com

Please recycle this magazine

breastfeeding in paediatric, neonatal, maternity services and the wider Trust, were awarded a champions’ badge.

“Mums were also given a small present and a card to commemorate the week which depicts a golden drop and states that every drop of breast milk is golden.”

Helen and Henry’s storyHelen and baby Henry McKeown from Oldham met several challenges during their breastfeeding journey. Helen was determined to succeed. She sought the help of Val and the team and it was found that even after support to position Henry better, breastfeeding continued to be uncomfortable.

Henry had a notable tongue-tie. This is a rare condition where the baby’s tongue is attached to the bottom of the mouth by a thin piece of skin, which restricts the forward movement of the tongue and can lead to problems with breastfeeding. The problem can be corrected with a quick procedure called frenulotomy, which involves snipping the thin piece of skin and freeing the tongue. Henry’s tongue tie was divided at The Royal Oldham Hospital, and further support and encouragement was given with breastfeeding. Both mum and baby are now enjoying breastfeeding which shows that with the right help mums and babies can be successful.

Helen said: “They are a brilliant team. We have been exclusively breastfeeding since the tongue-tie was clipped and all of the help and assistance is greatly appreciated.”

Helen and Henry are pictured above with Dr Val Finigan, MBE.

Inside NewsTHE Trust has several communication tools to help keep staff up to date:

Team Talk is sent round monthly, for use in all team briefings.

The chief executive’s Monday Message is emailed on Mondays and contains Trust, local and national key issues.

Weekly bulletins are emailed on Mondays and contain a range of operational and site information.

Online copies of all the bulletins and Team Talk, plus more, can be found on the Trust intranet at nww.pat.nhs.uk/communications

You can send your stories for either Pennine News or for local media to Trust communications at trust.communications@pat.nhs.uk or call Nicola Berry on 44284.

If you have any ideas, views or suggestions regarding communications across the Trust, please email staff.views@pat.nhs.uk

THE Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust catering team are celebrating after being crowned the catering service team of the year 2014.

Awarded by the Hospital Caterers’ Association, the accolade went to the catering teams which cover all of the Trust’s hospitals.

The 2014 Awards recognised the worthiest caterers who are rising above the challenges and providing a service that goes above and beyond the day-to-day catering requirements, to enhance the patient experience and support the healing work of the medical teams with healthy, nutritious food.

Invited to the Hospital Caterers’ Association national conference awards ceremony in Birmingham, the team were delighted when their name was called out from amongst the five finalists.

Howard Cartledge, Trust catering lead, said: “I am very proud of our catering team. They constantly strive to provide a first class service to all our patients and visitors. This national award is recognition of the high standard they set themselves and will only lead them to continue to go the extra mile.”

The Award is in recognition of the work the Trust wide team have been doing over the last 12 months which includes:

Education to patients and staff around nutrition and hydration encompassing good practice.

Protected meal times for patients. Each patient should have a protected hour, free from unnecessary visits from staff and relatives so that they can enjoy their meals in peace.

Collaborative work with celebrity chef James Martin on the BBC1 programme ‘Operation Hospital Food’. The Royal Oldham Hospital appeared on the show and got glowing reports from James as they worked together to improve the children’s menu at The Royal Oldham Hospital. This work has now been rolled out at North Manchester General Hospital.

The design of a tool so that nurses, dieticians and catering staff could work together to check best practice is being provided to patients.

Howard continued: “We were also recognised for achieving five star environmental health officer (EHO) reports and excellent PLACE scores which review standards of cleanliness and the environment

for patients.

“The retail side of our business also contributed to our win and the pride of Oldham nomination for The Shop at The Royal Oldham Hospital taken into consideration.”

Pam Miller, associate director of facilities, said: “It goes without saying that everyone who has a role in ensuring patients receive good nutritious food across all our hospitals have played a part in our success and the team were absolutely delighted to receive this honour from the Association and be recognised for all the hard work done to improve patient and staff catering services within the four Pennine Acute Hospitals sites.

“Our aim now will be to continue to improve the patient, visitor and staff experience and be the first Trust in 67 years of the Hospital Caterers’ Association to win the award two years on the run!”

The catering service won a cheque for £500, a certificate and glass trophy. Pam continued: “We intend to use the prize money to implement an annual ‘catering staff of the year award’ in the Trust to continue to further drive excellence in our services for patients.”

3In the news

Getting to the heart of the matter as PAT leads the wayTHE Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has been successful in recruiting the first patient in the UK to a new study on heart failure medication.

Initially started at the end of January, the clinical research team at The Royal Oldham Hospital had until 5 May 2014 to recruit patients onto the study which is looking at a brand new class of medicine to help heart failure patients.

Simon Kaye, senior clinical research nurse, said: “We had initiation of the study on 29 January and then had to wait a few days until the drug arrived on site before we were allowed to recruit a patient. The study was set up in double quick time and the research and development department, pharmacy, labs and the research team pulled out all the stops to get the study set up in weeks rather than the months it can sometimes take.”

Working very closely with the sponsor Novartis, the team had patients ready to take part in the Titration study before it was officially launched and so when the trial went ‘live’, the team were ready to get the first patient started on the medication.

Simon continued: “We were also the first UK site to reach our recruitment target for this study. For every study we undertake, we have to say how many patients we will recruit. It was therefore fantastic when we reached our target with one

month to spare. This means we could recruit more patients than expected and so hopefully the sponsors will ask us to do further research in the future which will enhance the Trust’s reputation as a place to do high quality clinical trials.”

The worldwide study run by Novartis is hoping to benefit patients as they will have access to a brand new medicine

which may control their heart failure symptoms better than what is currently available.

Random patients have been chosen to receive the drug to help control blood pressure for three months. The sponsor is looking at the best way to get patients to the optimum dose of the new medicine.

Dr Jolanta Sobolewska, consultant cardiologist at PAT and in charge of the study at the Trust, said: “We are delighted to recruit the first patient in the UK to this important study and are confident that this medication will

bring benefit to heart failure patients attending The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.”

Pictured left to right are: Lori Hubbard, research nurse; Simon Kaye, senior research nurse; Dr Jolanta Sobolewska, consultant cardiologist; Nick Robinson, clinical trials administrator and Judith Muir, research nurse.

The icing on the cake as Trust catering service wins national award

Boxing clever by library serviceBoxing clever by library serviceBoxing clever by library service

FOLLOWING a successful bid for funds from a regional group, the library service has purchased a book return box for The Royal Oldham site.

Conveniently located by the entrance to the Education Centre, this facility enables readers registered at any Pennine Acute library to safely return their books out of staffed library hours.

Library service manager, John Addison, explained: “We know that our staff are very busy people and often cannot wait for the library to open when they have been on a night shift. Similarly, many don’t have time to come to the library during their busy working day to return the items they have out on loan. This book return box will make it far more convenient for them to drop their books off at any time when the library is unstaffed, thus helping them to avoid costly library fines.”

The library at The Royal Oldham is now open 08.30 to 17.00 Monday to Friday.

John Addison, library service manager at the Education Centre Library at Oldham, oversees the first book being dropped off in the book return box.

News - Trust stories4 June 2014

Generous donation by support group helps patientsPATIENTS who have to undergo chemotherapy treatment on a ward at The Royal Oldham Hospital now have entertainment facilities to help distract them from their therapy.

The Pennine Lymphoma Support Group visited ward F11 at The Royal Oldham Hospital to donate a TV/DVD, games console with six games, and computer desk.

The gift to the ward which treats haematological disorders was made in memory of Gordon Wright, a former patient and member of the Pennine Lymphoma Support Group.

The group provides support to individuals who have been affected by lymphoma either themselves or by supporting somebody with the disease.

Presenting the gift to nurses and medical staff on the ward were group members, Gordon’s wife Julie, his mother-in-law and Reverend Tony Ford.

Group member Joyce Young, said: “The donation was made possible because of funding provided to the group by TK Maxx, who Gordon worked for, and recognised the importance of the support given during Gordon’s illness. Gordon was a wonderful man, much loved and missed by the group. A plaque bearing his name will provide a lasting memory on the ward to those who knew him, as the gift is in recognition of the care and treatment he had received.”

Gordon’s wife Julie said: “Gordon would have been thrilled with the presentation and the donation to the ward.”

Accepting the gift on behalf of the ward, consultant haematologist, Dr Hayley Greenfield, said: “Our patients can spend long periods of time on the in-patient ward. This donation of an entertainment system will, I am sure, go down well with our young and older patients alike. It will help to pass the time along and take their minds off the treatment and side effects. On behalf of the clinical haematology department a big thank you to the Lymphoma Support Group.”

For more details on The Pennine Lymphoma Group contact www.thepenninelymphomasupportgroup.co.uk or ring Joyce Young on 0161 766 1611.

Lymphomas are cancers of the lymphatic system. When a person has lymphoma, some of their lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) are ‘out of control’. They divide in an abnormal way or they do not die off when they should. These abnormal lymphocytes can collect in the lymph nodes, which then enlarge as the lymphocytes form tumours. Although lymphoma is a disease of the lymphatic system, it can also happen in other areas of the body. For example, lymphoma can affect the stomach, the skin, or the liver.

 

Delivering patient safetyIN 2012 a Trust wide audit conducted by the critical care outreach team demonstrated that 6 in 10 patients’ medical notes had no evidence of escalation after triggering on their Early Warning Score.

As part of the AQUA Patient Safety Champions project 2013, five of the Trust’s matrons, Rachel Charlesworth, Julia Riley, Tracy Shaw, Collette Parker and Cath Hatton have developed a Modified Early Warning Score chart (MEWS). The aim of the MEWS is to improve patient safety through implementation of a colour coded observation chart that will prompt staff to timely escalate when a patient’s condition changes as early intervention improves patient outcomes.

A first pilot using the MEWS was carried out in July 2013. Further amendments have been made to the chart following the pilot and now a second pilot is to be carried out.

The pilot will commence on 2 June until the end of June on wards T3, T5, F1 and F7 on The Royal Oldham Hospital site and ward E1, E3 and F5 on the North Manchester Hospital site. The pilot will be supported by the divisional matrons for those areas, who will support educating the staff working within the pilot areas and audit progress each week. A summary report will be developed following the audit and this will be taken to the executive team with a view to rolling out Trust wide in early autumn.

For more information please contact site matrons, Janet Stanton and Nicola Rimmington for NMGH and Julia Riley, Julie Mills and Cath Hatton for TROH.

�

5News - Trust stories

A GROUNDBREAKING initiative at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has seen a patient fitted with an artificial ear without having to undergo any surgical intervention.

Eighty eight year old Philip Segal from Salford was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma in 2012. This is a very rare disease in which malignant cells form in the skin. Mr Segal had to undergo the surgical removal of the tumour resulting in the loss of the lower part of his ear.

As well as creating a cosmetic issue, it also meant that Mr Segal had difficulty wearing his hearing aid as it would not sit securely in his ear. Staff from North Manchester General Hospital therefore came up with an ingenious idea of creating a non surgical means of attaching Mr Segal’s hearing aid to a prosthetic pinna.

Rob Ronson, clinical lead for adult services in audiology at North Manchester General Hospital said: “The pinna is the flap of skin and cartilage which is attached to the head and makes up the outer ear. When this is removed surgically it obviously causes problems for patients as they have no means of wearing hearing aids or glasses as there is no external ear to help with these things. We usually therefore create an artificial or prosthetic ear which has to be surgically implanted.

“As Mr Segal was reluctant to undergo any further surgery, we decided to see if we could come up with an alternative for him.”

Rob and Alan Fogg, practitioner MPT/prosthodontic technician therefore created an artificial ear which is held in place by the patient’s hearing aid, rather than surgically.

Rob continued: “This is the first time that I have been involved in anything like this so I was excited that we could help Mr Segal and come up with the best solution for him and his circumstances. As the system is non surgical, it is therefore temporary and totally reversible.

“The artificial ear is bonded to the patient’s hearing aid in a way that makes the prosthetic look like a natural part of the ear when the hearing aid is being worn.”

The hearing aid ear mould is acrylic and the prosthetic ear is made from silicone rubber.

Alan who works in the maxillo facial laboratory, added: “I have never produced or even seen such a device before, but it’s such a logical solution I cannot imagine this being the first time that it has been made. Partial ear prosthetics are not uncommon and so I was able to take advantage of the patient’s ear mould to provide what I hope will be a durable and hygienic solution.

“Using this new device also meant that we saved on the cost of implant surgery and the components needed for that, as well as nearly ten patient appointments with Mr Segal.”

Mr Segal has been wearing his artificial ear since October 2013 and is extremely happy with the device. He said: “I had the carcinoma removed from my ear about two years ago by Professor Woodwards at North Manchester General Hospital.

“I am very happy with the prosthetic. Originally I was never bothered about the appearance of my ear after surgery; I was more concerned with the consequences of my condition as I believed it to be untreatable.

“The prosthetic was suggested by the surgeon who dealt with my amputation, however I was not prepared to undergo further surgery. I am glad I got the artificial ear; I feel that Alan and Rob went to great lengths to create it and devise a means of fixing it in place using my hearing aid.

“The hearing aid is more secure than it previously was and no further surgery was required. To me it’s perfect.”

Mr Segal is pictured top with Rob, and Alan (inset).

Have you heard about innovative work?

Non surgical prosthetic ear created for patient

OVER 500 nominations were received for this year’s staff awards.

Recognising the very best of Pennine Acute, winners from each division have been invited to attend the fifth Pennine Staff Awards event on 18 June at the Sheridan Suite in Manchester.

The overall winners for each of the 13 categories will be announced by Olympic rower and endurance adventurer James Cracknell OBE. He will also award prizes to the winner of the patients’ choice award, the medical educator of the year and the outstanding achievement in medical education 2014.

Dr Gillian Fairfield, chief executive, said: “These annual Staff Awards aim to reward and recognise those staff and volunteers who make a real difference – every day - to the lives of local people who need the Trust’s services. They are a key part of our organisation celebrating success of staff – whether individuals, teams or whole wards. I know there are many of our staff who go that extra mile for patient care, have done something extraordinary, perhaps come up with innovative ideas or simply make our Trust a more welcoming and caring place to work and be treated.”

The Trust Staff Awards are fully sponsored and paid for by external companies and suppliers who work with the Trust. Sponsors this year include NG Bailey, Vinci Construction UK, Weightmans, G2Speech and Philips, Kainos, G4S Government Services, Lloyds Pharmacy, Sitekit and Mitie.

Staff rewarded at divisional events

Midwives celebrate international dayNORTH Manchester General Hospital birth centre and community staff took part in the international day of the midwife on 5 May.

Midwives Adele Perrett and Rose-Marie Newport are pictured giving advice to women and promoting the Bluebell birth centre at NMGH, at Mothercare in Ancoats and Asda in Harpurhey.

THE tissue viability equipment coordinators have adopted a zero tolerance approach to the quality and standard of mattresses.

Strict criteria have been set for all clinical support surfaces in the Trust and this means that they all must have full access zips to allow for audit inspection and welded seams to prevent fluid ingress.

The women and children’s division have recently benefitted from this quality initiative by the way of a Trust wide audit and replacement programme of all birthing, cot and crib mattresses.

Ann Vickers, equipment co-ordinator, said: “By purchasing higher specification mattresses we can provide safer care. In terms of infection prevention, fluid ingress within mattresses is a significant infection risk to our patients and all replaced mattresses now meet the correct specifications to prevent this.”

In terms of pressure ulcer prevention, the new NICE (2014) guidelines have advised the use of a high-specification foam cot mattress or overlay for all neonates,

infants, children and young people who have been assessed as being at high risk of developing a pressure ulcer as part of their individualised care plan. Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust are leading the way by purchasing high risk specification foam mattresses for ward areas within the women and children’s division, with a total of 144 mattresses being replaced within this division following the audit in January 2014.

The equipment coordinators would like to thank all the ward staff for their co-operation with the audits, along with the mattress supplier, Karomed, who supported them in both the condition audit and the mattress replacement.

Pictured above at the audit at The Royal Oldham Hospital are Rikki Tyrrell, cadet; Natalie Cavanagh, equipment co-ordinator; Jamie Curley, Karomed representative; Ann Vickers, equipment co-ordinator; Raqia Boi, staff nurse; Karen Coop, staff nurse; Janet Wright, domestic and Andrea Scholey, healthcare assistant on the children’s ward.

News - Trust stories6 June 2014

Zero tolerance approach in mattress audit

Flu link nursesTHE Trust is hoping to recruit as many flu link nurses this year to help the occupational health department deliver the flu vaccination programme within clinical areas.

To become a flu link worker you need to register for one of the training sessions below. The training consists of one hour’s training followed by a short assessment to enable your PGD for flu vaccination to be signed off. Following this you will be able to vaccinate colleagues within your department.

Attendance certificates for your portfolio will also be given.

If you are interested please email occupational.health@pat.nhs.uk to have your name added to a training list (please specify date and venue). Your place will be confirmed by return email, or alternatively ring 0161 604 5204, internally 45204.

NORTH MANCHESTER GENERAL HOSPITAL

20 June - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room 219, Trust HQ

3 July - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room 237, Trust HQ

9 July - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room 219, Trust HQ

22 July - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room 219, Trust HQ

THE ROYAL OLDHAM HOSPITAL

23 June - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room F7, education centre

2 July - 2.00 to 3.00pm, room F7, education centre

14 July - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room F16, education centre

23 July - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room F7, education centre

ROCHDALE INFIRMARY

24 June - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room D3, education centre

15 July - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room D3, education centre

FAIRFIELD GENERAL HOSPITAL

19 June - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room 032, education centre

10 July - 1.30 to 2.30pm, room 124, education centre

PAT consultant writes for medical bookDR Santosh Patel, consultant anaesthetist working across Rochdale Infirmary and The Royal Oldham Hospital is pleased to have completed a book chapter - Gastrointestinal surgery for a book to be published by Cambridge University Press.

The book is currently in proof format and not yet on the market but Dr Patel has kindly provided his colleagues with a snippet of his chapter for educational purposes.

Dr Patel said: “The editor from Canada had read my two part review articles on colorectal anaesthesia published in 2012 and invited me to write a chapter for the third edition. I thought it was a good opportunity although it has taken a long time – approximately three months and certainly more than 100 hrs!

“I was asked to write on a few topics for the chapter. Sections like ‘Anaesthesia and intestinal circulation’ and ‘Anaesthesia and anastomotic leak’ are advanced topics which are not included even in major anaesthesia text books, so I thought this would be useful to readers and may stimulate their thoughts whilst managing patients clinically.

“I hope my contribution will lead to improved knowledge from several sections of the chapter including enhanced recovery pathways and use of higher oxygen concentration to prevent surgical site infections in colorectal surgical patients. Enhanced recovery pathways are beneficial to patients and hospitals and improve patient satisfaction.”

7People

CHILDREN at the Trust were treated to a bumper donation of Easter eggs courtesy of a local company.

H&T Pawnbrokers which has branches throughout the north west collected Easter eggs from staff and members of the public to hand out to children at North Manchester General Hospital and The Royal Oldham Hospital.

Liz Smythe, manager of the Cheetham Hill store said: “We would like to thank everyone who donated an egg. It was inspiring and heart warming to see the smiles on the children’s faces when they received their eggs.”

Evie Doherty is pictured receiving her egg on the children’s ward at North Manchester General Hospital.

Stephani causes a stir!STAFF marvelled at a statuesque blonde as she walked the corridors at North Manchester General Hospital for one day in April!

All was not what it seemed though as she turned heads in amazement! The ‘lady’ was in fact porter Steve Stanner who had turned himself into a 5 ft 6 in stunner for the day all in aid of charity.

Steve who works in the post room at North Manchester decided to dress as a woman for the day so that he could raise money for Macmillan cancer support in memory of some of his relatives who had died of cancer.

He said: “I decided to go from Steve to Stephani as I thought it would be nice to put a smile on people’s faces as I was raising money.”

Dressed in a long red silky evening dress, black wedge boots and a cream cardigan, Steve donned a long blonde wig and was professionally made up. He also shaved off his goatee beard and his chest!

Raising nearly £500 he did cause quite a bit of confusion as he went from department to department with his charity bucket. He said: “I got the strangest looks from most people and a lot of colleagues I know from around the site didn’t even recognise me even though they knew that I was doing the charity dress-up. One security guard challenged me and asked to see my ID. We had a good laugh when he realised that it was me under the make-up and flowing locks.”

Thanks to everyone who donated to Steve. If you still owe sponsorship money, please deliver it to the post room at NMGH. Watch out for him next year when he dresses up with volunteer co-ordinator Mary Sunderland as Laurel and Hardy, in aid of the Trust’s volunteer and carer centre.

Steve is pictured as Stephani top, and above, in his porter’s uniform.

who donated to Steve. If you still owe

TiA service instructionsALL clinical staff need to complete an online referral form when referring patients to the centralised OPD TIA service.

The online form can be found by clicking the interactive button on the intranet and then follow the link for online forms and the TIA referral clinic form. By completing this form, a calculated ABCD2 score is achieved, thereby making to clear to the booking clerk whether the patient is a high risk patient ie seen within 24 hours, or a low risk patient to be seen within seven days.

If the patient is an inpatient, the form should be completed on the patient’s discharge and not whilst they are still in hospital. We would appreciate your assistance with this.

For any queries contact louise.williams@pat.nhs.uk

LOVE has continued to blossom and grow for a couple who met at the Trust, as they have celebrated and renewed their wedding vows ten years down the line.

Angie and Martin Lindsay met when they both worked at Bury General Hospital, Angie in radiology and Martin in IT. After working together on a project, they became very good friends, which in time developed into a romance.

In 2003 Martin surprised Angie with a proposal and on 26th July 2003 they were married in Florida in Angie’s sister’s big back garden. Angie said: “My sister officiated the ceremony and apart from Martin’s cousin, who coincidentally was in Florida at the same time as us, and my son (who was 8 at the time and gave me away), we had no other family there, but we had a beautiful day and a small celebration

when we got back home.

“Martin and I always said that when we had been married 10 years we would renew our vows and have all our friends and family there to witness it. I had arranged a 50s Hollywood Glamour Party for my 50th birthday and I’d made a 50s

wedding dress for the event. This triggered Martin into arranging a surprise vow renewal at the same time. He had put together a slide show of my life to date and at the end had recorded a message and announced to the party that he had arranged for us to renew our vows. It was perfect, very light hearted and emotional.”

With romantic declarations like that Martin, the pressure starts now for what you can plan for the 20th anniversary!

IT’s the real thing for IT couple!

Easter surprise for children

TiA service instructions

Team talk8 June 2014

Have you been briefed?Team Talk takes place once a month and is a way of updating you about the latest news from the Trust.

MAY TEAM TALK

Healthier TogetherHEALTHIER Together, the Greater Manchester wide health care reform programme, has announced that its plans to improve access to GPs and primary care, join up local authority care with NHS care and upgrade all hospitals by sharing clinical expertise and removing variations in quality for patients, will go out for public consultation this summer. Healthier Together have not yet revealed their exact proposals but have stated that every hospital will provide the highest quality “local” services and in addition some of the ten Greater Manchester hospitals will be designated as specialist sites. Further details will be circulated once available.

PerformanceIN 2013/14 we have achieved and performed extremely well against national and locally determined key performance indicators. These include our successful reduction in C-Difficile infection cases, our continued high cleanliness scores, a continued reduction in mortality, good VTE performance, and achieving our overall year end Referral To Treatment (RTT) surgery waiting times. Although there are clearly areas where we must focus on and improve performance, it should not been underestimated how well we have performed against these very important clinical and patient experience standards. The Trust Board would like to convey its thanks to all staff who have worked hard to improve our performance.

FinanceBY keeping tight control of budgets, achieving £20m of CIPs and through a number of non-recurring measures we managed to break even in 2013/14. However, we still have a significant underlying financial deficit and we must not underestimate how difficult it will be to address this. We will continue to develop more CIPs during 2014/15 while recognising that quality and safety are our priorities. Everyone must play a part in finding ways to work differently to improve efficiency and cut waste which will improve patient care and service delivery. Ultimately, achieving a financially sustainable Trust will allow us to focus on delivering excellent care.

Trust Board arrangementsAS the Trust moves forward, there is a need to streamline the Trust Board arrangements to ensure that we are spending the right amount of time on key strategic, operational, quality, safety and governance issues. In order to increase accountability and in line with duty of candour, it is vital that decision making is open and transparent. It is also important that the Board embraces the view of our clinicians in all aspects of our work. From May 2014 the following arrangements for future Trust Board meetings will come into effect as follows:

Eight open/public Board meetings per year (no August meeting); a shift to consider all business in public

Each Board will be followed by a Board development session on key strategic topics;

Eight closed/private Board meetings per year considering only those matters that are either commercially sensitive or matters of staff confidentiality;

Three quarterly full day ‘Confirm and Challenge Board’ events involving Board members and senior clinical and managerial staff. This will allow two way challenge and debate on key issues and will put our clinicians and senior managers at the heart of Trust decision making;

One Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held in September.

Panorama - Behind Closed DoorsNO one who saw the Panorama programme on abuse of elderly patients in a care home in Essex would have been other than shocked, distressed and ashamed of the treatment meted out to people at one of the most vulnerable times of their lives. From what I have seen so far of our services and our staff, I do not believe that any member of our staff would act in such a way, or in anything approaching such a way, but we all must remain vigilant. We must never tolerate abuse, violence or lack of care and respect and we must be confident enough to report any such behaviour immediately, in the knowledge that it will be addressed promptly and fairly. Any member of staff who witnesses or hears of behaviours that are a concern has a duty to report it, to their line manager, to a staff side representative, direct to me as Chief Executive or anonymously on the Whistleblowing telephone line on 0161 627 8808. We must never accept poor behaviour in our services.

Team Talk

A typical dayI arrive at the UCC by 8.30am and then put all the patients’ information for that morning on health views.

I start seeing patients at 9.00am and this can include: A lady with dysthyroid eye disease and double vision; a young man with possible MS and distorted ‘wobbly’ vision; an A level student with headaches and problems with close work; a lovely gentle man post stroke whose world has been turned upside down by the complete loss of half of his visual field to his left.

Then a quick sandwich and off to Glodwick Health centre for my afternoon children’s clinic. I monitor a couple of children on patching, review a few children with glasses, check a few six month old babies for possible squint and screen a few three and a half year olds.

What are the highlights of your job/service?

What don’t you like about your job/service?

What would make your job/service better?

What is the current biggest challenge in your

job/to your team?

What is the one thing you would change about your

job/service?

How do you see your role developing?

What aspect of your job/service is the most

rewarding?

How has your job/service changed?

Orthoptics hasn’t really changed much over the years, visual problems are much the same, but as the public become more aware of us and our role we are seeing and helping more patients of all ages.

This June we are celebrating World Orthoptic Day, a national day to help improve public awareness of our profession.

The most rewarding part of my job is making a difference to someone and their family.

Sometimes that can be by resolving double vision or prescribing glasses, or explaining someone’s visual problems to them and giving them coping strategies; but sometimes it is just about listening and showing that you care.

Orthoptics is constantly developing. In recent years we have become much more involved in stroke work and the many different visual problems which are common, post stroke.

The one thing I would like to change about my job is the amount of paperwork I do, but I’m sure that’s nothing new to anyone in the NHS.

The biggest challenge to our team is to make parents aware of how important the development of a child’s vision is and what a small ‘window of opportunity’ we have to make a difference to that. A child’s vision develops from birth to approximately seven years old so the younger we see a child the better.

Our service would be better if we could encourage better attendance at some of our clinics, particularly our visual screening programme which offers every child in Oldham an eye test between three and a half and four years old. We have looked at attendance rates and have made some positive improvements to this.

I don’t like telling people there’s nothing that can be done to improve their vision, but sadly this is sometimes the case.

The highlights of my job are that I work with a variety of patients from three month olds to 100 yr olds and each one is different.

To make someone smile because I have been able to resolve some troublesome double vision that has been making their life very difficult, or have a mother tell me that her child is engaging with school and life since we corrected their poor eyesight with glasses gives me great job satisfaction.

Kay Jackson is an orthoptist within the Oldham orthoptic department.

9

The 60 second interview

Team focus on orthoptists

Team focus - a day in the life of

Fairfield’s A&E expansion work continuesWORK to complete a £2.25m expansion to the accident and emergency department at Fairfield General Hospital is making good progress.

Construction work started on the scheme in November 2012 with the project due to complete in July 2014.

The scheme will see the expansion of A&E facilities at Fairfield, with the construction of two extensions to the existing A&E department. One of the extended areas will provide dedicated, state of the art A&E facilities for children and young people and the other will allow staff to separate minor and major cases.

Dr Kassim Ali, consultant in A&E medicine and clinical lead at Fairfield, said: “The improved physical layout and expansion of clinical treatment areas will allow the A&E department to streamline patients more effectively and reduce waiting times by separating patients with minor injuries from those who are critically ill.”

The first extension was completed in February and is now in use for minor injuries. Work on the fit-out of the second extension is well under way, which will consist of 11 ‘major incident’ treatment bays with updated bed head services and improved lighting, together with additional essential clinical storage and utility rooms.

Graham Lord, head of estate development at PAT, said: “The new facilities should make a big difference to patients in Bury and surrounding areas when they are completed. In the meantime, we will try to ensure that any disruption to services is kept to a minimum whilst the fit out works are taking place.”

National report has input from PATIN March 2014, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Vascular Disease, chaired by MP Neil Carmichael, published its first national report on Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). The report has been contributed to by a number of clinicians from around the country, including Pennine Acute Trust vascular specialist podiatrist, Martin Fox.

The report is focussed on highlighting the need to improve the diagnosis and management of PAD, particularly in people with diabetes, to help reduce the risks of avoidable lower limb amputations and vascular related deaths. The report also aims to highlight the variance in lower limb amputation rates of people in different parts of the country, by publishing available data, linked to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

As the PAT PAD service in North Manchester is recognised nationally as a model of best clinical practice, Martin was asked to contribute to the work of the group by presenting the Trust’s PAD service model in the Houses of Parliament APPG meetings. He has subsequently contributed to the final published document, by providing the APPG report title and sharing the PAT Clinical Care Pathway for PAD, which has been included as an appendix as an example of best practice, for CCGs and clinicians in other parts of the country to consider using or adapting, to help develop their PAD service models.

Martin said: “The working group was already well represented by leading vascular and diabetes teams, focussed on emphasising the need for multidisciplinary foot teams to be implemented throughout the NHS for people with PAD and diabetic foot disease.

“What I brought to the table was the message that to improve the variable and poor outcomes for patients, we also need to invest in earlier diagnosis, best preventative treatment and rapid referral for urgent cases too.

“PAD is known to be under-diagnosed and under-treated, both locally and nationally. To change this situation, the NHS has to have clinicians with vascular and diabetes expertise in the lower limb, placed in the communities where the risk of PAD and diabetic foot disease is high. At North Manchester we are working closely with our GPs and other community clinicians to ensure that people with PAD are offered specific education and best treatment as early as possible after the disease develops.”

See the full APPG report at: www.appgvascular.org.uk

In the news10 June 2014

Advancing healthcare awards sees PAT staff taking part in the ceremonyTHE annual Advancing Healthcare Awards had a Pennine flavour to them as one member of staff was listed as a finalist, whilst another presented an award.

Liz McInnes, Unite workplace and equality representative and staff side chair, attended the event which was held in London in April and compered by Roy Lilley, NHS commentator, writer and broadcaster. Liz was honoured as chair of Unite’s National Health Sector Committee, to be asked to present the Unite sponsored award for Working Together to radiographer Andrea Brammer and occupational therapist Frances Binns, for their work on ‘Improving access to healthcare for children and young people with autism’.

Andrea and Frances work at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Liz said: “What was really great about the event for Pennine was that for the second year running PAT employees featured amongst the shortlisted and award winners. Last year we had a great presentation from Gareth Adams and Karen Lloyd from the pharmacy department at North Manchester General Hospital, who came very close to winning their category.

“This year Elizabeth Piggott, community nutrition service lead at Pennine Acute, was highly commended as one of the rising star award recipients sponsored by Gatehouse Learning and Development.

“It’s fantastic to see the great work done by Pennine staff achieving recognition on a national stage and I’d encourage all our allied health professionals and healthcare scientists to start thinking about their entries for the 2015 awards.”

Liz is pictured centre with Andrea and Frances.

Thought for the month by chaplaincy co-ordinator Rev John Hall

BY the time this article is read we will all know the outcome to the dramatic conclusion of the football season and we will be swamped with World Cup speculation.

One of the big stories this season has been focussed on the drop in form of the once invincible Manchester United, champions last season. Football, whether you follow it or loathe it, is one of those constants in life, in the papers, on the television, and talked about in our places of work and patients on wards. Some express their disinterest, yet by doing so form an opinion, others live through the results both good and bad.

Following a team is often compared to a type of religion. Being part of a mass crowd, standing and sitting, communal singing (of a creative variety) and moments of praise and adulation alongside loyalty, belonging and having faith.

For many this experience can be called a spiritual one. So when David Moyes was sacked as manager of Manchester United many spoke of the dignity he showed in how he responded. Also the dignity he showed earlier in the season under very trying conditions. The definition of dignity is summed up by the words respect, how you conduct yourself, how you treat others. Often it is shown in the attitude of one person to another.

Dignity is something those of us in the spiritual care team feel passionately about, we know others do as well. For when we show dignity towards others we work with and care for, it creates an infectious environment in which we work better together, which is soon picked up and appreciated.

Value individuals, show respect, honour promises, treating others as we would want to be treated then follows naturally into how we care for and treat all PAT users. If we did that all the time we would all feel the benefits even when the team we follow aren’t doing so well!

11News - Trust stories

THREE former midwives have been commemorated in a new birth centre at The Royal Oldham Hospital.

Alison Waterhouse, Amanda Thompson and Beryl Mooney all sadly died within six months of each other in 2012, and so in recognition of their service, three birthing suites in a new centre have been named after them.

The new midwife-led birth centre was officially opened at The Royal Oldham Hospital on 22 March. Cathy Trinick, head of midwifery, gave a speech as Oliver, Nathaniel and Ian Thompson, and Ben and Joe Waterhouse cut the opening ribbon.

The new unit moved from its temporary residence on the paediatric ward on 3 December 2013 and is now situated adjacent to the women and children’s £44m development at The Royal Oldham Hospital.

The centre has five home from home suites, three of which have birthing pools. All the rooms have mats, birthing stools and grab bars to encourage ladies to have active births.

From December 2012 to December 2013 the unit supported and birthed 971 babies.

Midwives remembered at Oldham

Simulatation team receives faculty and course accreditationTHE simulation team at Pennine Acute have recently been awarded both faculty and course accreditation by the North West Simulation Education Network (NWSEN).

To achieve this, both the faculty and the training provided had to be of a consistently high standard and comply with NWSEN educational and simulation frameworks. The team is currently working towards gaining centre accreditation for the Limbert Education Centre and is hoping to achieve this by the end of 2014.

Located within the Limbert Education centre at North Manchester General Hospital, the simulation suite has been specifically designed for the provision of various simulation training for all health care professionals. The suite holds both a ‘mock’ side ward, and a ‘mock’ clinical area and, dependant on the training and who it is aimed at, the simulation session can take place in either. If you would prefer the training to take place within your specific area we can help to facilitate in-situ simulation training which involves bringing the simulation manikin, and the simulation team, to you.

There are four state-of-the-art manikins in the simulation suite - SimMan, SimBaby, SimNewB and a METIman. These simulation manikins allow learners to assess and treat simulated patients and even allows them to safely administer medications.

We currently run a number of courses for health care cadets, medical and nursing students, newly qualified nurses, FY doctors, the ICU team, the paediatric team and theatre staff. Where required the team will design bespoke training to meet the needs of different areas and learners.

For information on the simulation suite or on booking a course, ring 0161 922 3857 (43857) or email bethan.maher@pat.nhs.uk

Transforming theatres - updateIN January 2014 Fairfield General Hospital theatres and the day surgery unit (DSU) entered into a conversation via the Listening into Action (LiA) development to ask staff ‘How can we generate a fabulous patient experience at Fairfield General Hospital Theatres?’

The care at Fairfield has always been known to be of a high standard and the teams within theatres DSU are passionate about patient focused care. We wanted to explore how the patients saw this as for the most part they are asleep whilst being cared for. “In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.” (Dalai Lama).

Over 40 members of staff attended the conversation and very valued comments originated. Following this, small action teams embraced the challenges of creating the environment that patients deserve. “Sort out our front of house” was the comment made by a staff member, which is what we are aiming to do.

So far we have made some small inroads to improving the patient journey through the surgical unit at Fairfield by changes to patient theatre reception - by removing a high rise on the desk it allows eye contact and a smile as soon as people walk into the department.

We are also are working with our staff to embed a customer service element of greeting visitors into the department. Ward staff now access the recovery room for patient handovers.

The patient waiting areas and corridors are also one of the first challenges we are tackling - decor and comfort with patient dignity are our upmost objective. Following conversations with patients we now understand that a TV blaring out Jeremy Kyle is not everyone’s taste and quiet music with up-to-date magazines (not the usual five year plus dog eared ones) would be more appropriate.

Other areas which the team will be reviewing over the long term include:

Fasting times for patients whilst they are waiting for surgery

Admissions unit and postoperative environments.

Expansion work nearly complete at Oldham’s accident and emergencyTHE major alterations to the accident and emergency department at The Royal Oldham Hospital are now nearing completion.

The Trust which runs the hospital, has invested £4.4M in expanding the emergency department and the development of separate, dedicated A&E facilities for children and young people.

The department has been completely re-modelled with the work being carried out in phases to ensure the service remained open throughout the contract.

The new reception and waiting room for paediatrics is already open and has a transport theme with a bus, traffic lights and road markings, making a more welcoming environment for patients and young children.

The latest phase has also seen the completion of a new major treatment area with 11 cubicles, and two treatment rooms. A ‘state of the art’ resuscitation area has also been opened, providing seven bays, including a separate room for children.

An additional x-ray room is due to open soon and a new corridor formed to provide improved links to the x-ray department and the main hospital building.

The final phase will see the refurbishment of the eight-bedded A&E ward and is due to be completed in June 2014.

The A&E department at The Royal Oldham Hospital currently sees an average of 250 patients per day; approximately 91,000 patients a year. Of these, over 60 children aged under 16 are seen every day. The A&E team comprises 10 consultants in emergency medicine and 77 nursing staff.

Dr Nick Gili, A&E consultant and clinical director at The Royal Oldham Hospital, said: “We are really excited about the new department. It has been fascinating to watch the building works develop and the final work has exceeded all of our expectations. I would like to thank Julie Winterbottom, clinical matron and Dr Tom Leckie, A&E consultant who have both worked really closely with our estates department and contractors to ensure that we have the very best facilities for all of our patients and with minimal disruption to our service during the building work.”

Graham Lord, head of estate development at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The main contractor, Vinci Construction, have worked closely with the department to maintain business as usual throughout the contract period and are due to complete the project on time in the summer of this year.”

In the news12 June 2014

13News - Trust stories

NHS England Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards Technology

FundIN 2013 the Secretary of State for Health, and Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, launched the Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards Technology Fund, the overall value of which is £510m.

The Technology Fund was made available for Trusts to submit bids to support the rapid progression from paper-based systems for patient notes and prescriptions, to integrated digital care records and the development of ePrescribing and eReferral systems. There was a focus for the fund to provide high quality digital information at the point of care that would bring benefits for patients and clinicians.

Pennine Acute submitted a number of bids to the fund and have been awarded £582,773 for the ePMA (electronic prescriptions and medicine administration) project and £4.2m for the EDRMS (electronic document records management system) project.

So what does this mean for us?

It means our clinical staff, doctors and nurses will be able to access up to date information, at the point of care, to assist them with providing safer, ‘joined up’ care to our patients.

What happens next?

Money allocated to the ePMA project, which is already well under way will be spent providing further support to the roll-out, allowing the system to be rolled out more quickly. Some of the Trust’s more complex areas have yet to be involved; this fund provides the opportunity for us to be able to enter these areas sooner, whilst maintaining the same high standard of clinical support.

The ePMA project is also responsible for the roll-out of the new integrated discharge summary which includes information such as discharge medications automatically, making the completion of the discharge summary quicker and more straightforward. The EDMRS project has just started and is tasked with making active casenotes available digitally at every point of care. This will revolutionise the way in which we as a Trust will operate. The same set of casenotes will be available to be reviewed and searched by multiple users simultaneously. This will assist patient care and help to ensure the safety of our patients, by providing the most up to date information in a timely manner.

What to know more? ePMA - contact Mick Heaton, programme manager on 45757 or mick.heaton@pat.nhs.uk

OVER the last few months, staff at the Trust have been regularly targeted by bogus emails and telephone calls including:

Pleas for help from abroad - the email will come from a name and email address that you know which has been hacked by the fraudster. The request usually says the person has been stranded abroad (mugged etc) with no money and asks you to transfer money to them. Never send any money. Check with the person concerned (not by email) and warn them they have been hacked.

Lottery wins - have you entered a lottery? If not, then you are unlikely to have won. Never click on links or attachments and do not respond.

Emails from your bank saying your account has been deactivated and asking you to click on the attachment and give full details to reactivate it - such as your account details, sort code and even pin number. Banks will never ask for your details in this way.

Email from HMRC saying you have a tax rebate - again all you

have to do to receive it is click on the attachment and fill in your details. HMRC do not use emails to inform you of funds.

Email saying that you owe money and attaching an invoice. Again the fraudster wants you to click on the attachment, which is tempting to see what it is you are supposed to owe. Do not open the attachments. If you are unsure about an invoice, ring the accounts department to check.

Phone calls or emails from fraudsters posing as members of staff (often from IT) trying to get information from you, which could relate to staff in your department, or in the case of IT, asking for your log-in details and password. If you are in any doubt about a call, do not give any information and tell them you will call them back. Do so using a number you have looked up yourself.

If you wish to report a fraud, contact Sue Smith, counter fraud officer on 0161 922 3549 (43549), 07813 188479 or ring the NHS Fraud and Corruption Reporting Line on 0800 028 40 60.

Be aware - fraud scrams in operation

REHABILITATION support worker Suzanne Kelly is jumping out of a plane in the name of The Floyd Unit!

The facility which is a neurological rehabilitation unit at Birch Hill Hospital provides rehabilitation from a multi-disciplinary team, for individuals who have a brain injury or a degenerative neurological disease.

Suzanne said: “The patients at The Floyd Unit are AMAZING individuals. They are survivors and their gritty determination and courage has inspired me to do something a little crazy and jump out of a plane!

“I love my job, the patients, unit staff, the level of support we provide and the feedback we get from the patients. I want us to continue to provide this level of care. We just need a little help and that’s where I am asking for sponsorship for my skydive. Visit www.justgiving.com/account/your-pages/SuzanneKelly5

“Every little helps from £1.00 to £10.00. This will enable us to buy items such as leave-in hoist slings and trips out to enhance our patients’ experience and well being. Help us make a difference!”

Suzanne’s skydive

MANAGERS from all departments can use this certificate as a means

of recognising those outstanding members of staff who have ‘gone the extra mile’ and demonstrated true commitment to providing a

quality service for patients.

Ian Angus from Oldham’s ICU - nominated by Rev John Hall for baking a golden wedding anniversary cake for a long time patient on the ward.

You made a difference!

News - Trust stories14 June 2014

SINCE 1st April 2014 Manchester residents who are over 60 and have been treated at North Manchester General Hospital can now benefit from a new personalised hospital discharge support service.

Building on the highly successful and well established home from hospital service which offers a telephone follow up service to all over 60s who have visited A&E or been discharged after a stay in hospital, the new home from hospital discharge support service is a one year pilot project commissioned by The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, in partnership with Manchester City Council and North Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group.

National and local research has demonstrated that for many older and vulnerable adults, the point of transition from hospital back to their own home is an unsatisfactory experience. Many patients who are over 60, may feel socially isolated and lack the active support of an extended family. Discharge is therefore often accompanied by feelings of abandonment, isolation and depression.

Patients still in recovery may have to cope with major adjustments in their life and with practical problems to overcome, with which they are poorly placed to address. This can further undermine health and resilience leading to the risk of further ill-health and hospitalisation.

Hospital discharge support services have demonstrated that through a simple assessment tool, barriers to health and independence can be identified and emotional and practical support delivered, which reduces risks and allows isolated individuals to re-connect with sources of local support.

The Home from Hospital service, which is delivered at North Manchester General Hospital by Manchester Care and Repair, ensures that vulnerable or isolated patients aged over 60 are provided with personalised discharge support which is tailored to their needs.

Manchester Care and Repair is a local charity and award winning home improvement agency which has been supporting older and vulnerable Manchester residents for over 20 years.

Karen Kennedy, Home from Hospital manager, said: “Any patients identified as possibly benefitting from the service are supported and prepared for their discharge home. We also transport them home and settle them back in. The discharge support service will assist the patient to warm the home, make necessary adjustments, prepare beds and a simple meal, shop for immediate essentials and re-connect with services, relatives or friends – in short ‘that little bit of extra support’ that a close relative or friend would seek to provide to someone in recuperation. This is then followed up by

regular telephone and direct contact as necessary for a period of up to six weeks by staff and volunteers.”

May Eddleston, 91 from Newton Heath is one of over 100 patients who have been supported by the scheme within its first four weeks of operation. She said: “I think it’s the best thing that has happened to the hospital. The service is marvellous, the staff see if you need anything to eat and will do some shopping for you. I have no family locally and they have helped me so much.

Karen added: “The overwhelming response to the introduction of this service from both patients and NMGH staff alike

has been incredibly positive. Most people can’t understand why such a service hasn’t been available until now as it is clear that a little bit of extra support, reassurance and help with practical tasks can make a massive difference to vulnerable patients.”

Helen Speed, Programme Director Urgent Care at North Manchester CCG said: “We are really excited by this pilot; it’s a simple idea that offers massive benefits for older patients when they are likely to be feeling very vulnerable and afraid. It also offers benefits to hospital staff who can be confident to discharge patients home knowing that Care and Repair are there to support the patient.”

From hospital to home - we’re here to help

PEFs get a silver liningPRACTICE Education Facilitators (PEFs) at Pennine Acute were not content with the bronze level standard they achieved last year for the quality of their education in practice. Despite achieving a fantastic 86% score for placement provider assessment for students, their aim was to go for gold.

Results have now been circulated by the North West Health Education England (NWHE) for 2013/14 and Pennine have scored a massive 96%, coming in at the silver level standard. This score exceeded the Greater Manchester locality average score of 90% and the NW average score of 87%.

Quality of education in practice is monitored and assessed annually by the NWHEE against the Learning and Development Agreement (LDA) and core role outcomes for the Practice Education Facilitators (PEFs).

Assessed as being compliant as a placement provider for students at silver level as indicated in the 2013 learning and development agreement it is a huge achievement. Speaking on behalf of the PEF team, Sheryl O’Flanagan said: “We have worked hard to build on the success of last year’s achievements. However, like last year we want to acknowledge that we could not have achieved this fantastic result of 96% without the collaboration and support of all our colleagues Trust wide and the excellent care our staff take in supporting students in practice. Nevertheless there is still plenty more to do especially as we are still aiming for gold.”

The organisational action plan for the period of October 2013 to October 2014 outlines the priorities for this year and is available to see on request to the PEF team.

Police officer on patrol at The Royal Oldham HospitalPATIENTS being cared for at The Royal Oldham Hospital have had their safety increased following the introduction of a full time police officer at the hospital.The pilot scheme which was launched on 1 April 2014 will see an officer from the Oldham Division join staff at the hospital.

The move is hoped to help reduce the number of police call outs to the hospital to support staff.

Superintendent Denise Worth for Oldham Division, said: “We want this role to highlight to the hospital and the local community that we are committed to maintaining a visible police presence at the hospital.

“It demonstrates our continued drive to ensure that The Royal Oldham Hospital is a safe environment for all of the people it supports.”

PC Holly Mills from the Oldham Central Neighbourhood Policing Team will be based full time at the hospital to reduce demand on police and support those members of staff.

She said: “I am looking forward to this role and to working closely with staff at the hospital to ensure it remains a safe and secure environment for staff, patients and visitors.

Glynis Jones, security management specialist from The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The hospital and the police have always worked well together, but having Holly as our own dedicated police officer is going to make a big difference to our staff, patients and visitors. We will now be able to be work more proactively to keep our hospital safe. Hopefully when other police divisions see how well this partnership is working we will have dedicated officers on our other sites.”

PC Holly Mills is pictured with A&E clinical matron Julie Winterbottom at The Royal Oldham Hospital.

Swapping roles to better understand patients’ needsPATIENTS within the North Manchester area are set to benefit from a new initiative which will see hospital and community health services working closer together.

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is working with The Collegiate Partnership Medical Centre in Cheetham Hill, in an innovative way to share training and nursing experience.

Emergency nurse practitioners from North Manchester General Hospital’s A&E department and Medical Emergency Unit will be rotating with practice nurses who work within the medical centre. Starting on 12 May 2014, three staff from the two organisations will be taking part in the six month pilot project which will see the Collegiate Medical Centre hosting ten sessions of nursing time, and the Trust welcoming practice nurses into the emergency care department to work shadow the emergency nurse practitioners there.

Seeing around 280 patients per day in the emergency department at North Manchester General Hospital, the emergency nurse practitioners will show their practice nurse colleagues all the minor illnesses and injuries that they have to treat. They will also be taught how to interpret x-rays, assess limb problems, triage and close wounds.

In return the nurses seconded to the GP practice will gain support in the delivery of assessment advice and prescribing for patients, together with the opportunity to take part in GP tutorial training days.

Nina Kumar and Gordon Stansfield, both senior nurses who are taking part in the initiative agreed that: “This is a great opportunity to develop clinical skills and knowledge in primary care and to develop the service we provide for our patients accessing services in both the emergency department and acute medical unit.”

Gillian McAllister, directorate manager in urgent care at North Manchester General Hospital, said: “We believe this is an exciting opportunity to widen the scope of both the emergency nurse practitioner and practice nurses, and indeed bring extra knowledge and expertise into GP practice based nursing.”

Sue Petterson and Lisa Forshaw both clinical matrons in the urgent care areas endorse this venture stating that the ”venture is just the start of real collaborative working with our primary care colleagues.”

Dr Martin Whiting, GP Principal from The Collegiate Partnership Medical Centre, said: “We are delighted to be part of these developments. It is truly a first tentative step in genuine joint working between secondary and primary care in the nursing arena. Our experience in doctor training suggests that having staff exposed to both primary and secondary care adds to the efficiency and integration in our systems. We are all hoping to learn from each other to manage patients better, with less duplication and better communication between the hospital and GP teams. From the nurses’ perspective we hope it will add knowledge, insight, variety and valuable skills to their portfolio.”

Following evaluation of the initial pilot there is potential to roll the scheme out to other GP practices within the North Manchester locality.

15News - Trust stories

40 years for Lesley

Staff room - noticeboard16 June 2014

Staff noticeboard

Michele’s marathon for charityPAEDIATRIC physiotherapist Michele Openshaw has completed a personal challenge and also raised money for muscular dystrophy at the same time.

Michele who works in the child development centre at Fairfield General Hospital took part in the Manchester marathon in April and ran for the muscular dystrophy campaign. She chose this particular charity as working as a paediatric physio, she often sees children and their families who have been diagnosed with a dystrophy and has seen how difficult it can be for them to come to terms with the condition which causes wasting of the body tissues, particularly the muscles.

She said: “A marathon was a personal goal of mine and so after training for around five months in the wind and rain and clocking up 350 miles, I felt that the actual day of the marathon went well. I completed it in four hours and 53 minutes, even though I lost three toe nails along the way! I was pleased with the time as I really wanted to finish in under five hours.

“Friends, family and colleagues from the child development centre, children’s outpatients and the physiotherapy department at Fairfield were very generous in their sponsorship of me as I managed to raise £840.”

CONGRATULATIONS to Lesley Lee, supervisor at Fairfield who achieved 40 years service in the health records department on 22 April 2014.

Lesley received flowers from her friends and colleagues to mark the occasion.

On the ballTRUST staff proved that they were on the ball for charity when they took part in a charity netball tournament.

Organised by community midwives Kathy Unsworth and Katie White, the event was held to remember the loss of Katie’s baby in 2013, and to raise money for the North Manchester branch of the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society (SANDS).

Gathering eight teams which were made up of community and hospital midwives, along with family and friends, the ladies donned their gym kits and did battle at Oldham Sports Centre.

Over £1000 was raised from both the tournament and a cake sale including a raffle.

Ringing in retirementTELEPHONIST Mary Poole is retiring after nine years with the NHS answering calls on the Trust switchboard.

We will miss your colourful appearance and your fun personality, but we wish you all the very best Mary for the future, see you back on the bank… from all your friends at switchboard at The Royal Oldham Hospital.

Didn’t she do well

CONGRATULATIONS to Elizabeth Piggott, community nutrition service lead, who was highly commended as one of the five recipients of the Gatehouse Rising Star awards at the 2014 Advancing Healthcare Awards, held at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London on Friday 11 April 2014.

Well done from all your colleagues.

Ramping up the red at Fairfield!THE cardiac rehab team at Fairfield have raised £200 for the British Heart Foundation ‘Ramp up the red’ campaign.

Throughout February, the cardiac rehab specialist nurses and physiotherapists provided tea and coffee to patients for a donation to the cause.

In addition, members of the team including Sue Davenport, Sarah Jones, Neil Middleton and Liane Hickling completed a 5k sponsored run at Heaton Park in February as part of the Park Run scheme.

Thanks to all the cardiac rehab patients and cardiac staff for their generosity and support.

Specialist cardiac nurse Annette Sturch is pictured holding a heart shaped coffee cup.

Happy 50thA BIG happy 50th birthday to Karen in the orthotics department at North Manchester. Hope you have a brilliant day and a great party, from all your colleagues xxx

Best foot forwardTWO members of staff put their best foot forward for charity when they took part in the Dr Kershaw’s Hospice to Springhill Hospice walk.

Maria Turner-Hart and Lisa Killeen both walked the journey to and from the hospices and raised £180.