ULN April 2014

ULHnews for staff, patients, gps, volunteers and all local people

Spring 2014

Awards

celebrate staff dedication and success pages 8-9

contents Welcome

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Listening into action passing it on First impressions count: Patients and public involved in improving care in Lincolnshire’s hospitals Leadership in Practice programme Awards ceremony celebrate excellence of ULHT staff Lincolnshire hospitals putting dignity at the forefront of patient care Grateful patients thank Lincolnshire cancer unit

Message from Chief Executive Jane Lewington At United Lincolnshire Hospitals, we’re committed to providing excellent, safe and compassionate care – and I would like to thank our staff for all the work you do every day to achieve this.

In this edition of ULH News, you can Jane Lewington, Chief Executive read about the fantastic successes and achievements of staff across the Trust and just a few of the many positive comments we regularly receive.

We know however that we cannot improve by standing still.

That is why the most comprehensive assessment of care is underway in our county. The Lincolnshire Sustainable Services Review is based on a shared recognition across organisations that only through change will future services be of the right quality and affordable.

The review has directly influenced our new Clinical Strategy, which sets out the Trust’s broad vision for the next five years.

By grasping opportunities to improve, we will avoid the risk which our hospitals and services will face if we try and leave things as they are.

Our recent staff awards was a fantastic opportunity to recognise and reward the hard work of our staff who are committed to delivering the very best patient experience. I am very proud and grateful for the fantastic contribution our staff have made to healthcare in Lincolnshire.

However, we recognise that there is more still to do. That is why we are fully engaged with work around our CQC re-inspection at the end of April, working to provide the highest possible standards of care.

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to the Spring 2014 edition of ULH News. We hope you like the new look of the magazine. We appreciate any feedback and also welcome any suggestions of articles or information readers would like included, please email communications@ulh.nhs.uk or contact 01522 573986. Please note, ULH News is free to produce as costs are covered by advertising.

Clinical Strategy outlines ULHT ambitions for care and services A new vision for continuing to deliver excellent, safe and compassionate care has been adopted by ULHT.

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he Clinical Strategy describes the Trust’s broad ambition for the next five years. It explains why services must change to safeguard the future of our hospitals: • The need to meet national standards, such as staffing ratios, minimum patient numbers and focusing on specialist care in centres of excellence.

• Providing services in a different way will support the recruitment of the skilled professionals the Trust needs.

• National plans to cater for an ageing population place a bigger emphasis on preventing ill-health and care closer to home leading to fewer hospital beds.

• ULHT needs to save more than £90m over the next three years. This can only be achieved by changing the way care is delivered.

The strategy has been directly influenced by the Lincolnshire Sustainable Services Review, which is driven by a shared recognition across NHS and other organisations that without change, services will no longer be of the right quality or affordable.

Work is now underway to identify which ULHT services are not clinically or financially sustainable in their current form.

This is likely to lead to more detailed proposals for change by the summer.

ULHT’s clinical vision • Care provided locally, where safe and affordable. This includes most outpatient, diagnostic and therapy services.

• Some services and specialties may be on fewer sites - but still available to all.

• A tiered A&E service and urgent care less dependent on scarce skills.

• Maximum use of Grantham and Louth Hospitals for non-urgent (elective) surgery, ensuring their future viability.

• Fewer hospital beds, but some protected for elective cases.

• Existing staff trained up for different roles, where it has been difficult to recruit.

• Greater co-ordination with community services, to support patient independence.

• Choice for expectant mothers about where to give birth – bearing in mind the move towards larger units with 24-hour consultant cover for complex cases.

• Chemotherapy closer to home, but some specialised cancer care outside Lincolnshire.

Trust updates

CQC Re-Inspection – Our Improvement Journey Quality is at the heart of all that we do.

Every single one of you puts a huge amount of effort into improving the care that we provide to our patients.

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ur journey of improvement is ongoing and will always be subject to external assessment – we now know that the CQC will begin the next inspection of ULHT on 29 April.

We anticipate that it will last several days and involve a substantial inspection team, reporting to the new Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Sir Mike Richards. It will be a rigorous process, but we are putting arrangements in place to enable you to demonstrate your excellent work.

Preparations for the CQC inspection are being led through our senior teams on each hospital site – our Deputy Directors of Operations,

Deputy Medical Directors and Deputy Nurse Directors. Plenty of information will be shared with you in the coming weeks and your senior site team will be looking for your contribution.

To further help support your preparation, we have established a dedicated section on our staff intranet – http://ulhintranet/cqc-reinspection-our-improvement-journey.

Please keep an eye out for the latest supporting materials, which we encourage you to discuss with your teams whenever possible.

If you have any questions, please get in touch via ourqualityjourney@ulh.nhs.uk.

ULHT promotes best practice with the introduction of clinical care bundles In a bid to standardise and share best practice across the Trust we have introduced the use of a number of clinical care bundles onto our wards.

that, when performed collectively, reliably and continuously, have been proven to improve patient experience and results.

A clinical care bundle is a structured way of improving processes of care.

It is a small straightforward set of practices - generally three to five -

ULHT has introduced expertly tailored care bundles for sepsis, pneumonia, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and heart failure.

It is hoped that the bundles will improve care delivery, reduce unwarranted variation in clinical care and ultimately further reduce mortality rates across the Trust. For more information visit the following page on the staff intranet – http://ulhintranet/mortality-matters. spring 2014 | 3

Trust updates

Listening into Action - passing it on focussing on:

handover at Lincoln

• Reducing unnecessary meetings at Lincoln

• Improving the role of volunteers at Pilgrim

he second wave of Listening into Action teams are now beginning their LiA journeys. These pioneers are taking on the baton from the first 15 teams who have achieved so much over the past 20 weeks.

At a recent Pass It On Event the many successes of the first teams were celebrated - from reducing the time it takes to recruit new staff to developing the management and storage of health records, improving the way we communicate with staff and speeding up the time it takes to operate on hip fracture patients at Lincoln.

• Embedding the quality strategy at Lincoln

• Implementing experience based design at Pilgrim

• Sickness absence - improving the system at Lincoln

• Surgery start on time every time at Pilgrim

• Staff rotating to learn and share at Grantham

• Customer care at Pilgrim

They are still continuing with their efforts, but 29 new teams have now begun identifying missions and outcomes to take their work forward over the next 20 weeks.

• Medical staff engagement - embedding specialty governance at Lincoln

The next set of teams are

• Improving junior doctor

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• Improving junior doctors induction at Lincoln

• Developing and implementing a standard for noticeboards at Pilgrim

• Equipment – improving access to and ensuring it is fit for purpose at Lincoln

• Reviewing ward clerks - number required and role at Pilgrim

• Multiple sign on for PCs moving towards single sign on at Pilgrim • Medical staff engagement - embedding specialty governance at Pilgrim

• Facilities rapid response team at Lincoln

• Hello my name is....and business cards for staff at Pilgrim • Improving urology clinic utilisation at Louth • Healthy workplace at Lincoln • Hello my name is....and business cards for staff at Lincoln • 7 day care at Lincoln • Outpatient letters to GPs within 48 hours at Lincoln • Reviewing ward sisters role Productive Leader at Grantham

• Hello my name is… and business cards for staff at Grantham • Ward rounds have a nurse on them at Grantham • Improving discharge between trust and the community at Grantham • Front entrance at Grantham • Enhanced recovery pathway at Grantham For more information about the successes of the first teams and the work of the next 29 teams, please see the LiA pages on the staff intranet.

Staff are also now being asked for more suggestions of things that could be LiA Quick Wins over the coming months. To suggest anything that you think needs changing for the benefit of patients and staff, please email the LiA inbox at lia@ulh.nhs.uk

Your chance to get more involved with Lincolnshire’s hospitals Staff and public can get more involved in the life of Lincolnshire’s hospitals by signing up to become a member of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Trust is now a membership-based organisation - ensuring that we engage our patients and carers, public and staff more in what we do.

We already have in excess of 1,000 patients and staff signed up as members- and we want you to consider joining up too!

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It’s free of charge, and becoming a member opens up a whole world of opportunity to get more involved.

Members hold influence over our organisation through our quarterly Locality Forums, which provide the opportunity for public and staff members to receive updates on what is going on within the Trust and provide a formal mechanism for their views and suggestions to be fed back into the organisation.

Our members can also get involved by accessing training to become a patient representative to sit on one of the Trust’s boards or committees or carry out patient-perspective visits and inspections of our wards and departments and provide feedback.

To find out more about becoming a member, or to sign up today, log onto the Trust website, call (01522) 572301 or email foundationtrustoffice@ulh.nhs.uk

Trust updates

First impressions count: Patients and public involved in improving care in Lincolnshire’s hospitals “I can tell what kind of care my daughter is going to get within 15 steps of walking onto a ward”

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atients and members of the public have been involved the 15 Steps Challenge, a national programme which aims to identify what good quality care looks and feels like from the patient’s point of view.

As part of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s ongoing patient experience programme, and following recommendations highlighted in the Keogh Review, nonexecutive director Tim Staniland developed a proposal to pilot the challenge at Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, with a view to evaluating and adopting it across the Trust.

As ULHT has become a member-based organisation, a number of public members who had expressed an interest in patient experience were recruited to take part in the challenge.

The members were split into teams and

taken round every ward, department and clinical area within the hospital to identify improvements that could be made to enhance the patient’s experience.

Each member of the team was asked to consider one of four key areas when making their assessments – is the area welcoming; safe; caring and involving and well organised and calm. The teams were accompanied by a director and member of staff from either Lincoln or Grantham hospitals.

patient experience and helps us hear the patient voice, address any issues and also share best practice.

“The positive feedback from many of the teams was that staff were welcoming, friendly and caring and that the wards felt calm and well organised.

“We will also use the comments from the teams to further improve the service, for example we will look at introducing patient information guidelines so departments can maintain consistency with the information they display.”

Speaking about the challenge Jennie Negus, Deputy Director of Nursing said:

Each clinical area has received written feedback on their visit and a presentation was made to Trust members at a recent Locality Forum meeting.

“Patients and staff both have high expectations for safe, good quality care, delivered in welcoming and clean environments. The challenge helps to address how the environment influences

A public facing report will be developed for wards to display. Follow up visits to each area will be agreed for the near future, with plans underway to roll out the challenge across the Trust.

Appointment of Chair to lead Lincolnshire’s hospitals

Ron Buchanan

The Trust has announced the appointment of its new Chairman, Ron Buchanan, and two new non-executive directors - Professor Steve Barnett and Kate Truscott.

A corporate banker by profession, Ron has spent 30 years with a major UK financial organisation, undertaking a variety of senior leadership roles.

He became a non-executive director of Nottingham City Hospital in 2004. In 2006 he was appointed as the Chair of Nottingham City Primary Care Trust, which became one of the top performing PCTs in the country. He also took on additional

Kate Truscott

responsibilities as Chair of Notts County PCT from 2011 and led the board in stabilising its financially challenged position.

Speaking of his appointment Ron said: “I am excited to be joining the Trust at this time. The challenges confronting it have been well documented and I look forward to addressing these alongside my colleagues throughout the organisation with energy, determination and imagination.

“To be successful it is imperative that we also act openly and collaboratively with our key partners to ensure that the people of Lincolnshire receive the quality of health services they deserve.”

Steve Barnett

Steve Barnett is a part time Senior Vice President (UK) for a US based health technology company. He is also the NonExec Chairman of SSG Health Partnership and of Finegreen Associates and acts as a Trustee/Director of the Institute of Employment Studies.

Kate Truscott has worked as a Human Resources specialist throughout her career in both the private and public sectors. She has worked in the NHS for 23 years and has been an Executive Director of Human Resources for 18 years in both NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts. spring 2014 | 5

Training

100% positive feedback

for cardiology

services Patients using cardiology services at ULHT have given them overwhelmingly positive feedback in a survey.

A study carried out by the Cardiology Acute Care Practitioners (ACPs) recently looked at services provided by the team within Pilgrim Hospital, Boston.

ACPs are specialist cardiology nurse practitioners that assess patients with heart failure, arrhythmias and acute coronary syndromes. They undertake all aspects of care ranging from assessment, diagnosis, prescribing medications and discharge according to need.

Patients were asked a series of questions including whether they were provided with adequate information about their proposed treatment and medications, whether they were given enough time to discuss any concerns and did they have confidence in their ACP. Among the findings were that: • 100% of patients would chose to be seen by an ACP in future • 100% of patients had confidence in the ACP • 95% of patients are extremely likely or likely to recommend the service to family and friends Sue Marriott, Cardiac Nurse Practitioner at Pilgrim hospital, said: “We are delighted with the report findings which show that patients have real confidence in our highly skilled and dedicated team.

“We will use the comments from the patients to further improve the service, for example we will be introducing an information booklet to provide patients with written information on their care and treatment.”

Eiri Jones, Director of Nursing, said: ‘I was delighted to see the feedback from our patients in relation to this excellent service. The Acute Care Practitioner nurses provide a very valuable service in the Trust working as part of the cardiac team and as a Trust we are very proud of them.”

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(Left to right): Kate Skipp, Centre Manager at the Education Centre at Pilgrim; Michael Newton, Audio/Visual and Clinical Skills Technician; Michael MacLeod, Pan Trust Education Manager and Mr Sunday Ikhena, Director of Medical Education.

Using TeleEducation to enhance the training experience

The medical education directorate has been successful in its application to secure funding for video conferencing (tele-education) equipment within its three PGME departments at Grantham, Lincoln and Pilgrim hospitals to help improve training for staff.

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he directorate envisages tele-medicine will help support the provision of safer and better patient care. Video conferencing will help achieve regional and local best practices in line with ULHT, Local Education and Training Board (LETB), Royal College and General Medical Council standards and quality management audits. Junior doctors will be more competent in providing patient care in a timely and cost effective way.

Mr Sunday Ikhena, Director of Medical Education said: “As a directorate we are continually looking at ways to improve the delivery of its education and training programme to the medical students and doctors. With advances in technology, we believe that teleeducation will be an integral part of future medical teaching, enabling us to utilise the best expertise available at any of the sites.”

Initially the directorate will focus on how it can improve the foundation training programme for F1 and F2 trainees. Led

by Dr Andrew Houghton, Deputy Director

of Medical Education at Grantham, the directorate is working closely with the Foundation training programme directors and postgraduate centre managers on each site to formalise the F1 and F2 training programme.

Their main priority is to identify how video conferencing can support joint training sessions in areas that are currently hard to deliver at each site.

“As a directorate we are continually looking at ways to improve the delivery of our education and training programme to the medical students and doctors.”

In the near future it is anticipated the directorate will have links established with Leicester and Nottingham hospitals and universities to enable our doctors to link up for regional training with a considerable saving in travel time and cost. We hope this will be a benchmark for medical teaching across the Trust.

Training

Leadership in Practice programme

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LHT has just completed our first Leadership in Practice programme for ward sisters which has been judged a great success by all.

We asked the group what they thought of the six day programme and here is a word cloud built from their responses.

• Organisational context for leadership • Understanding and improving the patient experience • Operational management & leadership • Improving your service The delegates from cohort 1 across the Trust have worked on a wide range of topics including patient safety and patient experience through to lean thinking and human factors whilst engaging in some challenging conversations with directors and deputy directors.

The cohort is now working on their service improvement projects which they are looking forward to sharing at a celebration event on 30 April.

The programme has been sponsored by Director of Nursing Eiri Jones who is hugely committed to developing the leadership potential of our ward sisters and who, along with Chief Executive Jane Lewington, led the first day.

Cohort 2 starts in April (and is already fully booked) with nominations received for cohort 3 rolling out right across the Trust and the Trust will open it up to all band 7s from various specialities including Allied Health Professionals (AHPs).

The course itself is built around a number of themes and is tailored to clinicians focussing, for example, on:

To find out more please visit: http://www.ulh. nhs.uk/for_staff/education_and_training/clinical_ education/leadership_in_practice/programme

Degree success for Eleanor!

Graduate Health Care Support Worker (HCSW) Eleanor Sherwin has achieved a Foundation Degree Science in Health & Social Care (Palliative & Supportive Care).

IOSH Working Safely Course a success The Trust ran the first IOSH Working Safely Course in November 2013 with all delegates completing the course and passing the assessment.

The course is designed to give staff the basic knowledge of Health and Safety and covers topics such as employee’s roles and responsibilities, hazard identification and an understanding of safety management systems.

The feedback from the initial course and subsequent courses has been excellent with delegates saying that the course has heightened their awareness of Health and Safety and enabled them to take appropriate actions to improve the safety of themselves and their co-workers. Because

of the success of the courses a paper was submitted to the Trust Health and Safety Committee who actively supported the proposal for further courses to be run for the year 2014/2015.

(Left to right): Gary Hewit, Course Tutor; Philip Upsall, Theatre Orderly; Cheryl Broodryk, Clinical Educator and Mike Maynard, Physiotherapist.

Studying at the University of Northampton Eleanor began her two year course in September 2011. Aimed at HCSWs from community, hospital and hospice settings the course recognises the vital role played by these staff in end of life care. Eleanor was able to further develop her knowledge and skills related to advanced communication, symptom management, principles and practices of children’s palliative care and interprofessional working.

Supported by her line manager, Children’s Palliative Care Specialist Julia O’Dwyer, Eleanor was able to complete the ‘work based’ element of the course through her role as a member of ULHT’s Children’s Community Services Palliative Care Team.

HCSW’s within the team provide respite care for families with medically vulnerable children at home. Responsibilities include medicines administration, caring for children with compromised airways, those on home ventilation, with tracheostomies, enteral feeding and those requiring end of life care. Eleanor said “I would recommend undertaking this course for anyone working within the palliative care field.”

The team is extremely proud of Eleanor’s achievement and would like to offer congratulations! spring 2014 | 7

Spotlight on: Awards

Awards ceremonies celebrate ULHT Staff Awards

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ver 160 members of staff from a broad range of roles right across the Trust attended the first ever ULHT staff awards, which was hosted by BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Melvyn Prior and sponsored by NL Managed Services.

Members of the public, patients and carers had been invited to nominate staff who they believe have shown dedication and commitment to providing high quality care.

Around 250 nominations were received in total, showcasing the enthusiasm and quality of care that is given to colleagues, as well as patients.

Chief Executive Jane Lewington said “The evening was a great way to celebrate the achievements and successes of our staff who work tirelessly to ensure that the quality of care delivered across all our hospitals is the best that it can be.

Categories and their winners Improving Patient Service Award Pilgrim Ambulatory Emergency Care

The Safety Award Clinical Improvement Facilitators

Achieving Excellence Cardiology Team at the Lincolnshire Heart Centre

Quality Award Fotherby Ward, Louth

Lightbulb Award Metavision Implementation team ICU, Pilgrim

Great Leadership Award Sister Kate Sayles, Lancaster Ward, Lincoln

Compassion and Respect Towards Others (presented by patient Sarah Carter) Mr Abdel-Rahman, Breast Surgeon at Pilgrim

Unsung heroes Mark Shepherd, Housekeeper, Lincoln County

Extra mile award Pilgrim staff and others who responded in the flooding emergency

Fantastic customer service Deborah Alexander, Staff Nurse, Grantham A&E

Chief Executive’s Awards Ian Hayden and the Grantham estates team for their response to the fire in the boiler room.

Chair’s Award Danny Chester-Bush, Junior Charge Nurse, Pilgrim 8 | spring 2014

Listening to our winners talk about their work and hearing the dedication and pride in their voices was a humbling experience.

“Many congratulations to all of the winners and I look forward to celebrating the next years’ achievements.”

Nominations for the Staff Awards 2015 will open in Autumn 2014 and will be advertised across all hospital sites and on the Trust website.

Spotlight on: Awards

excellence of ULHT staff ULHT Long Service Awards

Staff at ULHT who have worked for the NHS for more than 25 years have been thanked for their dedication at a series of long

service awards ceremonies.

staff, which took place in January.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust recently arranged three long service award ceremonies for

Awards were handed out to members of staff from Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospital

Boston and Grantham and District Hospital who have served for the NHS for either 25, 30, 35, 40 or 45 years.

Congratulations to the following staff: Pilgrim Hospital, Boston 25 years:

Maria Baker Denise Bibby Simone Carroll Sarah Davis Gail Dawson Beverley Galey Diane Griffin Elizabeth Grooby Tracey Hayes Debbie Petley Amanda Poole Morna Quin Julie Storr Jane Thorn Allison Toghill Rachel Warrington

30 years:

Karen Fensom Mandy Fitzsimmons, Simon Horniblow Linda Melton Karen Pettit Doreen Macaskill-Refaat Lorraine Stimson-Read John Taleyratne Nicola Travis Ruth Trott

35 years:

Sarah Duck David Gilchrist Eleanor Guilfoyle Wendy Potter Lynda Scott

40 years:

Ena Fox Joan Pettersen Janet Sharman Christine Sharp

Pilgrim long service winners

Grantham long service winners

Grantham & District Hospital 25 years:

Jennifer Blakemore Jane Brennan Cathering Cole Zoe Ford Carol Godfrey Sue Hall Maria Joynt Christine King Emma Osborne Julie Record Graeme Reynolds Raina Robinson

30 years:

Shirley Barrett Debbie Chappell Mandy Charles Jan Elsom Karen Fuller, Administration Assistant Elaine Gilbert, Technical Instructor Laura Hunter, Children’s Nurse Lorraine Newcombe, Health Care Support Worker Nadine Shelbourn-Baker, Health Care Assistant Hilary Short, Hotel Services Manager

Lynne Taylor, Medical Secretary Janet Wilson, Choice and Access Officer Julie Kotyla, Consultant Orthodontist

40 years: Jenny Moore, Midwife

Lincoln County Hospital 25 years: Ann Grice Sharon Everton Elizabeth Bradley Karen Horton Carrie Read Tracy Bell Maureen Bullen Helen Robertson Janet Armstrong Elizabeth Long Patricia Pick Joanna Benton Elaine Coleman Alison Carlsen Meryl Capp Mary Tomlinson Julie Miller Andrew Duncan Peter Heggie

30 years: Luretta Johnson Julie Jackson Kay Wilkie, Dawn Guilliatt, Frances Gregory Kathryn Heggie Sarina Harris Glenys/Ruth Stephenson Michael Coupland Nicola Cornelius

35 years: Lesley Hunter Janet Glover Gustavo De Cozar Pauline Keightley Lynne Machin

40 years: Sandra Knight Roy Husemeyer Rosemary Brown Stuart Dalgliesh Angela Turbin Christine Aram Colin Evans

45 years: Janet Brewer

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Site based news

Emerald suite opening A new breast unit has been opened at Grantham and District Hospital by the Mayor of Grantham Councillor Frank Turner, Mr David Valerio retired breast surgeon and Dr Sheena Bradley retired consultant radiologist.

The Emerald Suite brings together all breast outpatients services in one place for the first time at the site.

The unit was originally a surgical ward, followed by medical admissions and more recently transitional care then Admission and Discharge Lounge.

The area was completely refurbished and now provides purpose built consulting and examination rooms, two waiting rooms, a counselling/prosthetic fitting room, as well as new ultrasound and mammography rooms. The new unit is light, modern and spacious with waiting areas offering twice the previous space.

The Emerald Suite deals with patients referred through both the symptomatic and screening services situated within the unit.

Imaging and examination facilities, nursing and medical offices, as well as Macmillan Information services are now in one specialist area.

Emerald Suite volunteers in the unit have also collected new uniforms and provide a vital support service to patients and carers visiting the department.

Nicky Turner, Macmillan Breast Care Nurse Specialist said “We have come a long way since I joined the service 14 years ago. There has always been a need for a dedicated area at Grantham in line with Boston and Lincoln sites. I feel privileged to work with such a fantastic team that has never lost the determination to create the patient centred unit we have today.”

St Barnabas joins forces with NHS to break new ground as plans revealed for “hospice within a hospital” at Grantham Building work has now begun on the site of the new six-bed inpatient “hospice in a hospital” at Grantham and District Hospital – the first venture of its kind in the UK.

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ore than 160 people a year will benefit from having the state-of-the-art facilities and specialised end-of-life care on their doorstep – saving them and their family and friends a 30-plus mile journey to the county’s only existing inpatient unit Lincoln.

The flagship unit has been created following a £1.2 million investment by St Barnabas and a successful bid by the Hospice to the

Department of Health for £510,000 to help bring the innovative idea to life.

While boasting the very latest in purpose-designed facilities, the unit will also bring patient care closer to nature with the six en-suite rooms opening up into their own private grounds and sharing a sun room and picturesque courtyard.

The expansion is over and above the services already provided at the Grantham day hospice and by the St

It comes as latest figures reveal that south west Lincolnshire has one of the fastest-growing populations in the UK, with GPs reporting an increase in the number of their patients suffering from cancer, heart and lung disease and dementia.

Recruitment of nursing staff for this new unit is in the early stages along with planning of training and induction to ensure that our staff have the right knowledge and skills to care for patients in this new environment when it opens in the summer.

New mobile chemotherapy unit brings services closer to Lincolnshire patients ULHT has been allocated a mobile chemotherapy unit and two support vehicles with help from cancer charity Hope for Tomorrow.

Grantham, Spalding, Louth and coastal areas. The Trust has committed additional funding for nursing staff and the running of the unit.

The unit, which will officially launch in May 2014, will allow some cancer patients to receive their treatments at a location much closer to home, rather than travelling to hospital sites. The unit will be suitable for the delivery of low risk chemotherapy and patients will be given the choice of having their treatment on the mobile unit or continuing to travel to their main hospital site.

Dr Kandeepan Saravanamuttu, Clinical Director, said “Securing a mobile chemotherapy unit is great news for cancer patients in Lincolnshire. It will allow us to extend our chemotherapy service across the county and significantly reduce the amount of travel time for some patients who currently have to attend either Lincoln or Pilgrim hospital for their treatment. We are grateful to Hope for Tomorrow for their support and look forward to launching the service in May 2014.”

The unit will work out of Pilgrim Hospital, Boston with treatment locations in 10 | spring 2014

Barnabas’ “hospice at home” initiative. The inpatient unit at Lincoln will also continue to maintain its full complement of beds.

Spotlight On: Dignity

Lincolnshire hospitals putting dignity at the forefront of patient care

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust supported Dignity Action Day on Saturday 1 February, which aims to ensure people are treated as individuals, are given choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives.

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ignity is promoted every day at the Trust, but this was a dedicated day to celebrate dignity in care.

Wards and departments planned activities, including dignity displays and worked with patients to identify what dignity means to them.

At Lincoln County Hospital Lancaster and Greetwell wards organised a tea party for patients and their relatives, aimed at the more frail patients and those who do not get off the ward easily.

Staff on Shuttleworth and Waddington wards also held similar events in their day rooms providing tea and cakes for patients and raising awareness of dignity.

The student nurses on SEAU put together an education board about Dignity Action Day, the 6C’s of nursing and the Trust’s Dignity in Care pledges, incorporating national and local guidelines.

Pilgrim Hospital Boston held a coffee morning on the 6th floor to celebrate the day, with proceeds being donated to the Alzheimer’s Society. First year nursing students training at the hospital created a dignity board and spoke to patients and staff on ward 7A about dignity.

Trust-wide Senior Chaplain at ULHT, Tim Couchman, said: “It is fantastic that our staff are doing so much to raise awareness of dignity across the Trust. This is a very important day but of course a lot of the work we are doing will carry on across our hospitals throughout the year.

“In recent years the importance of the dignity in care agenda has rightly increased within the health and social care context.

As a Trust we are actively engaged in the wider national dignity agenda as we seek to improve standards in dignified care in all our clinical areas and departments.”

Grantham & District Hospital held ‘dignitea’ parties on wards 1 and 6. Patients and staff were treated to tea and cake, raffles, hand massage and got the opportunity to take part in arts and craft activities.

Kingfisher unit and the occupational therapy department at the hospital created dignity trees to allow patients, staff and visitors to write down what dignity means to them.

spring 2014 | 11

Fundraising

Fundraising event for eye patients in Boston The second annual Eye Ball took place at the Boston West Golf Club and raised over £2,600 for the Royle Eye Department at Pilgrim Hospital, Boston.

Organised and hosted by Consultant Ophthalmologist Mohit Gupta and his team from the eye department, the annual event aims to further improve the service for patients at the hospital.

The money raised will go towards the purchase of diagnostic equipment to provide care closer to home for patients.

Mark Simmonds, MP for Boston and Skegness attended with his wife and gave an encouraging and entertaining speech after the meal, praising the high level of care provided to the local community.

Speaking of the event, Mr Gupta said: “The evening was a huge success and we raised an impressive amount of money for the department which will be of real benefit our patients.

“We would like to thank Mr Simmonds and his wife for attending the event, as well as the local businesses who kindly donated funds and raffle prizes.”

Image shows (left to right): Tracey Wilson, Chemotherapy Sister; Simon Croft; Angela Turbin, Operational Lead for Radiotherapy; Dr Addeo, Oncology Consultant and Mark Whaler.

Grateful patients thank Lincolnshire cancer unit Blushing brides got the chance to don their wedding dresses again during an event to raise money for the Ingham suite at Lincoln County Hospital.

F Lizbeth Simmonds, Mark Simmonds MP and Consultant Ophthalmologist Mohit Gupta at the event.

undraisers Christine Davis, Emma and Mark Whaler, Annabel Swales, Sharon Foster and Nikki and Simon Croft organised a Wear Your Wedding Dress Again charity ball and have donated £3,000 to the unit.

The money raised will go towards a new day care couch in the waiting room, which has a pressure relieving mattress for patients who may be awaiting a bed or who might need to lie down until they

are transferred or discharged.

Tracey Wilson, Chemotherapy Sister, said: “We’re extremely grateful to everyone who organised and attended the event for their fantastic fundraising efforts.

“The department will be able to put the money towards equipment to benefit both chemotherapy and radiology patients. Their generosity means we can further improve patient care.”

Heartfelt thanks to intensive care unit The family of teenager Lauren Davison have so far raised over £2,000 for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Lincoln County Hospital.

Lauren 19 was admitted to the unit in October 2013 following a car accident and sadly died a few days later.

Lauren’s sister Rebecca Harper, said: “Although the outcome was tragic and devastating for us, Lauren received exceptional care during her stay in the ICU. The equipment to help keep a person alive costs thousands of pounds, so we wanted to be able to give something back to the unit and say thank you to staff for the care they took of Lauren.

“Lauren’s organs have successfully been donated and we are very proud that she has 12 | spring 2014

helped save the lives of many other people in desperate need of a transplant.”

The family will be taking part in 19 fundraising activities through the year including a half marathon, 22 mile bike ride and the Lincoln 10k to raise further funds for the unit.

Diane Eady from the ICU at Lincoln County Hospital said: “We’re extremely grateful to Lauren’s family for their fantastic fundraising efforts.

“The department will be able to put the money towards equipment to benefit patients. The family’s generosity means we can continue our pledge to provide the best care possible for our patients and their families.”

Anyone who would like to donate can visit the family’s donation page: http:// uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/ fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?u serUrl=Laurendaisy&isTeam=true.

Any businesses interested in sponsoring or supporting any of the events should contact Sharon Davison on 01526 399171 or email beccyharper@gmail.com.

Lauren’s family fundraising at the Lincoln Drill Hall

Be the difference… …Help me help myself Lincolnshire County Council is looking to recruit Remand Foster Carers.

Are you committed and passionate to provide young people with a period of stability in a family environment to help them find the right direction?

Do you enjoy helping young people, have an ability to listen, negotiate and compromise?

Can you be flexible and available at short notice?

Do you enjoy working as part of a team with other professionals, have a willingness to learn and develop your skills?

To be a Remand Foster Carer you will need: • Experience of working alongside young people.

• One carer will need to be home based (if applying as a couple).

• A spare bedroom.

What you will receive: • Training and on-going support. • An enhanced financial allowance.

For more information call 0800 093 3099 or log on to www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/fostering

The Arches

T

he Arches is a family run residential care home situated in the beautiful village of Cottingham in Yorkshire. We specialise in quality care for the elderly who require dementia care.

We carefully select our staff for their experience and skills in caring for the elderly. Our residents care, welfare and happiness is always our priority.

At the Arches we organise regular activities, for example, outings, regular trips to Bridlington and eating out at the local carvery.

We create our own mealtime menus ensuring our residents

eat well and that their daily nutritional needs are always met.

Our prices vary depending on the needs of our individual residents. This ensures that the price you pay matches the care you require and you will never pay more than you need to. We also like to follow Social Services guidelines whenever possible.

You may qualify for help with the costs of your care, and this depends on many things such as the type of care you need and the amount of income and the value of your estate.

Advice about qualifying for help is available

from many sources such as “Paying for Care” from the Eldercare Group or the “Putting People First” document Paying for Long Term Care in England.

Advice can also be found on the SAGA website.

If you need quality care for yourself, friend or loved one, be sure to contact our manager on:

01482 842222 or E-mail: enquiries@thearches.eu You are always welcome to call into us for a friendly chat and have a look around our home.

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United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust has not vetted the advertisers in this publication and accepts no liability for work done or goods supplied by any advertiser.

Nor does United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust endorse any of the products or services.

School Pick up available We now have an After School Club 3.30pm-6pm with their own dedicated area, we can cater for children upto 11 years of age. We currently have a pick up service at the following schools: Barkston, Marston, Ancaster and Caythorpe We offer free funded sessions for 3-4 year olds and are now able to offer free funded sessions for 2 year olds (subject to eligibility).

We also offer a sibling discount.

Ofsted rated good

Every possible care has been taken to ensure that the information given in this publication is accurate. Whilst the publisher would be grateful to learn of any errors, they cannot accept any liability over and above the cost of the advertisement for loss there by caused. No reproduction by any method whatsoever of any part of this publication is permitted without written consent of the copyright owners.

Octagon Marketing Company Ltd. ©2014 Britannic Chambers, 8a Carlton Road, Worksop, Notts. S80 1PH. Tel: 01909 478822

01400 250358 www.dappledownhousenursery.co.uk

solicitors Offering professional advice in divorce and family law

For an appointment or to speak to our legal experts please call: 01522 595441 22 The Green Nettleham Lincoln LN2 2NR www.jgqc-limited.co.uk spring 2014 | 15

ULH News is designed and published by: Octagon Marketing Company Ltd, Britannic Chambers, 8a Carlton Road, Worksop, Notts S80 1PH. Tel: 01909 478822.