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CNO Bulletin December 2021

 

Introducing our new CNO – Tracey Brigstock

It is with great pleasure and pride that I present the CNO bulletin for December, my first in my new role.

When the opportunity came to be your Senior Professional Lead – how could I refuse?

We have all been through such a lot together over the last 18 months, both in our work and home lives and still are facing, what I am sure, will be a tough and challenging winter for us all.

That said, and a significant reason for taking this post, I am ‘blown away’ by the courage, compassion and determination that I see across our teams every day. Great Leadership at all levels!

Please enjoy this edition of the CNO Bulletin; it is a celebration of your work and success!

I look forward to 2022 with great optimism.

What a team!  Bring it on!

 

In This Issue

 

With Staff in Mind – Health and Wellbeing

The With Staff in Mind (WSIM) service would like to remind all Health and Social Care workers in the Coventry and Warwickshire region of the support available, both locally and nationally should they require it.

The WSIM service will be accepting referrals over the Christmas period (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm). The service will be closed on bank Holidays but referrals can still be submitted via the WSIM website which includes an online referral form.

Free Phone: 0808 196 3921

Email address: cwp-tr.wellbeing@nhs.net

Website: www.withstaffinmind.co.uk/

If you require urgent mental health support, please call the CWPT 24/7 mental health helpline on 0808 1966 798

 

The Importance of Patient Experience, capture and actions (PDF)

Patient Insight and Involvement Team are part of the Patient Experience Function which sits under the Quality Department along with Complaints and PALS.

The Patient Insight element of the team is all about the collection of patient feedback and meeting statutory requirements of NHS England.

The Patient Involvement element supports the Patient Partner Panel and Patient Virtual Panel who support with patient information, interviews, changes to pathways, service redesign, PLACE audits and Mystery Shopper exercises.

For more information, click here.

 

Reflections on the Pathway Conference

In November, Vicky Williams (Deputy Chief Nursing Officer), Lisa Dunn (Pathway to Excellence Facilitator Lead), Vicky Parker (Pathway to Excellence Facilitator) and Robyn Gough (Clinical Sister, Ward 10) attended the Annual Pathway to Excellence Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. They represented UHCW NHS Trust at this international forum, to gain insight into other healthcare organisations’ experiences of their journey to Pathway Designation and to celebrate our journey so far.

The conference offered insight into some of the challenges the nursing and midwifery professions have faced across the globe in the last two years and the innovations, initiatives and ideas that direct care nurses and midwives have developed and led to support their colleagues and the professional throughout this difficult time. They celebrated how an embedded ethos of Shared Decision-Making is the cornerstone to ensuring staff are involved and empowered throughout times of crisis, such as those we’ve seen throughout this pandemic. Our council network is our framework to support shared decision-making processes, but we want to continue to facilitate and embed shared decision-making into our everyday culture and practice.

There was also a particular focus on meaningful recognition of nurses and midwives and how local leadership is crucial is driving a culture of recognition across all of our teams and areas. Recognition can take many forms, from awards and nominations, to appreciation cards and quality feedback. We all have the ability and potential to positively impact our practice environments by taking the time to recognise others’ hard work and achievements.

The team have been sharing their key learning across many forums since their return, including the Pathway to Excellence Ambassadors network. Other insights will also influence our strategy for our Pathway to Excellence Survey next Spring!

 

2021 Reflections from the Faith Centre - Rev Simon Betteridge

Our Faith Centre is often at the heart of hospital community and this has been highlighted over the last year and in general through the pandemic. It holds and encompasses the spectrum of life that is experienced by patients, their families and friends, and staff. On any given day it is a place of meeting, solitude and refuge that holds celebration, anguish, hopes and fears, loss and pain, laughter and tears. Some people come to Faith Centre every day at the same time to pray quietly or just to be. Others come to have breaks with friends and share the gift of laughter and catch up. Others find themselves there accidently and say what a wonderful place, why have I never been here before?

One of the great joys of the Faith Centre is that people of different faiths and beliefs are able to worship, pray and reflect in their own way and often share in each other’s ways. It is a place that sees weddings, memorials, remembrance services, baptisms, bereavement support groups and Christmas Carol services. Food plays a large part in a lot of what happens with tea and cake usually in good supply. The sharing of food is also poignant in our shared celebrations and expressions of hospitality when people of different backgrounds come together at Eid, Christmas or Vaisakhi.

The outside garden provides a space to breathe, to feel the sun on one’s back, to smell flowers, the benches are a place to read quietly, dance, eat and find release on tough days. One of the most moving experiences I’ve ever witnessed took place recently in the garden. A family who had recognised that not continuing with treatment for their child was for the best spent the last hours of the child’s life together in the garden sunshine. 

Our Faith Centre is a gift to us all as a community of people in all of our rich lives; it belongs to each of us whoever we are and whatever we believe, good day or bad day. Bring cake! 

 

Getting to Know Our Nursing Team: New Associate Professors of Nursing/Midwifery

Liz an Associate Professor of Nursing at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and the University of Coventry. She is known internationally for her research on Patient Discharge.  This work focuses on the assessment of adults in acute care who are being discharged from hospital. To date Liz has published over 100 academic articles and 3 nursing textbooks. 

Liz has also led international work on Criteria Led Discharge (nurse and therapy led) through innovations in practice and qualitative enquiry.  During 2020, Liz commenced protocol testing for Criteria Led Discharge (CLD) after developing a standard operating procedure at ward level (Lees-Deutsch et al, 2019) evidenced through her systematic review (Lees-Deutsch and Robinson, 2018).  In 2021 the first national guidance was produced by Liz in collaboration with NHSi and NHS England.  Her work can be located as SPEED (The selection of patients for early and effective discharge).

In 2016, she received a Life Fellowship from the Society for Acute Medicine for her outstanding and significant contribution to multi-professional staff development in acute care.

Liz is looking forward to working with nurses at UHCW to develop research capacity and to establish the best evidence to inform day to day practice. In the New Year, Liz will be working close collaboration with Library staff to establish train the trainer workshops, known as CATs (critically appraised topic groups) to establish the best evidence to answer a clinical question or resolve an issue in practice. 2022 will also see the launch of her e-learning module about Writing and Publication (it’s a WrAP), nationally hosted by the NIHR Learn Platform.

If Liz were to be defined in just three words, they would be: Innovative, Energetic and Pragmatic. She was awarded the NIHR 70@70 senior nurse research leaders programme.

Liz is part of the Centre for Care Excellence at UHCW and is very keen to meet with any nurses who have ideas they would like to develop in clinical practice to improve patient care. Do make contact for an informal chat at liz.lees-deutsch@uhcw.nhs.uk

 

One Year On: The Covid-19 Vaccine

Almost 120 million first, second, third and booster Covid-19 jabs have been delivered by the NHS during the last year.

The world-leading vaccination programme, the scale of which this country has never seen, began on December 8, 2020, when grandmother Maggie Keenan became the first person in the world to receive an approved jab.

It was an iconic moment; an historic day. And it will always be a source of pride that those events took place at University Hospital, Coventry, with the whole world watching on.

To mark the first anniversary, Maggie returned to UHCW and was reunited with May Parsons, the Modern Matron who administered the first vaccine.

Maggie, 91, reflected on the last 12 months and urged people to come forward and get their booster shots when eligible to do so.

She said: "It was such a privilege and an honour to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19, everything went by in a blur. I’m not sure it will ever truly sink in.

“The staff at University Hospital, Coventry, showed me such wonderful care and compassion and I am so pleased to have remained friends with May since that day.

“Getting the vaccine gave me so much more confidence to go out to places. It’s saving lives, protecting those around us and is helping the NHS, so what more can I say – go for it, go and have it done.”

UHCW Chief Executive Officer, Professor Andy Hardy, added: “I can remember it as though it were yesterday.

“I’m incredibly proud to celebrate the vaccination programme’s one-year anniversary and shine a spotlight on all of the hard work that you, our amazing colleagues, do every day to continue our fight against the pandemic.”

 

WHY WE DO RESEARCH: PHIL'S STORY

Phil Preston has shared his experience of taking part in research at UHCW during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In February, 2020, Phil was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts (the thin tubes that carry bile from the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine).

Due to his previous medical history, he was told his cancer was inoperable. At this point Phil’s cancer was 13.5cm in diameter and growing at 2.5mm a month.

Phil was told about two clinical trials running at UHCW which he could take part in. After discussions with his consultant, he decided to take part in one and in December, 2020, started receiving a new medication.

During a time where the rest of the country was moving between a tier system and national lockdown, Phil was attending weekly appointments at the Clinical Research Treatment Centre at University Hospital, Coventry, and also regularly visiting the Eye Clinic at Hospital of St Cross in Rugby as part of the trial.

Since starting the trial medication, scans show Phil’s tumour has shrunk 3.7cm, which Phil's consultant said was really encouraging.

When asked how he felt about visiting UHCW during the pandemic, Phil said: “It has been a rollercoaster but I’ve always felt very safe and never worried about coming into hospital.”

Senior Nurse Rachel Bazeley manages the Clinical Research Treatment Centre and, along with her team, has been treating research patients like Phil throughout the pandemic.

She said: “It has been an extremely challenging time but we were keen to ensure patients like Phil could still be given the opportunity to take part in research.

“All patients were tested for Covid before coming into the unit and we ensured social distancing was maintained.

 

DAISY Awards Update: December

As we approach Christmas and what is always a very busy time at UHCW, we are delighted that the wonderful DAISY Awards ceremony presentations have continued in full force!

To date, a total of 44 of our extraordinary Nurses and Midwives have been congratulated as honourees of a prestigious DAISY Award!

Our most recent DAISY awards have been presented to Lauren Deegan, a Registered Nurse who works in the Cardiac Catheter Lab, Louise Riddell a Registered Nurse from ward 10, Mary Grogan, a Registered Midwife who works on ward 24 and Sunita Mahay, a Specialist Plastics Nurse - massive congratulations to all our honourees!

As we come to the end of 2021, we look forward to being able to present more DAISY awards to our extraordinary Nurses and Midwives in 2022. Could you be our next honouree? 

 

Share Your Stories

We're always looking for new stories to tell in the CNO Bulletin.

While we can't guarantee everything submitted will be published, if you have anything you would like to be included in a CNO Bulletin please get in contact via the Communications Request Form which is available on TrustNav.

 

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