MAY 2022
Deteriorating Patient collaborative Your ideas benefit patients
Improving recovery time Double robotic cancer surgery
Showcasing our nurses
Nurses Day2022 Special
Contents 3 4 6 8 10 11 12 14 16
England’s chief pharmacist praises “incredible” services Deteriorating Patient collaborative: Time to showcase your ideas! Supporting nursing development Lip sync battle
Celebrating Nurses Day 2022
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Transforming the patient journey
Launching soon – Together We Will Colleague Support Offer Living our values: - Community Garden opens at Broadgreen - Funding to develop heart failure services - IBD nurse awarded Employee of the Month
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Surgery to story time Introducing a new Health and Safety volunteer role Join the Staff Facebook page
Send us your stories We want our staff magazine to reflect all the great achievements and inspirational stories from you and your colleagues. Within LUHFT Life we’ll be covering key Trust priorities but we also want to showcase the amazing people that make up our organisation and share what’s happening throughout our hospitals. Is there an award you’ve gained, an innovative way your team is working, an inspiring patient experience or a new patient treatment that deserves recognition? Send your stories to communications@liverpoolft.nhs.uk. 2 | LUHFT Life
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First joint robotic cancer surgery
Continuing my love of nursing in Liverpool
Getting to know you ...Ray Soong
Front cover image: Each month our cover will feature a member of staff who is living our values. Sherin Jones is a Registered Nurse at Aintree who had always wanted to work in the NHS and last year she joined LUHFT from Dubai during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read her story on page 7. If you know a colleague who is caring, fair and innovative and would like to feature on our cover, email: communications@ liverpoolft.nhs.uk.
* Some photos taken before COVID-19
England’s chief pharmacist praises “incredible” services NHS England’s Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, David Webb, has praised LUHFT’s Discharge Medicines Services, which is helping to reduce hospital re-admissions, following a visit to the city. The new service sees patients referred to a community pharmacist when they leave hospital. This helps to reduce readmissions to hospital from patients who have issues with or queries about their medicines. It is estimated that 60% of patients can have three or more changes made to their medicines during a hospital stay. By referring patients directly to their community pharmacy when they are discharged, checks are in place to make sure patients are receiving the most effective care. In Liverpool, the service is already reducing re-admissions to hospital. The NHS Discharge Medicines Service – which involves the first direct referral from hospitals to community pharmacies, and is part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework - is now being rolled out across the North West to assist in the NHS’s pandemic recovery. David, who was accompanied by Richard Cattell, Deputy Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, was also given a tour of the Trust’s new aseptic unit by Professor Alison Ewing, Clinical Director of Pharmacy and Shakeel Herwitker, Pharmacy Production Lead. They also met with members of the wider Pharmacy team as well as Professor John Brennan, Interim Medical Director. David said: “It was great to meet the Liverpool hospital pharmacy team and
see some of the incredible clinical work teams have been doing to support patients, including the integrated approach with community pharmacy teams. “This shows effective ways in which we can integrate and work together to the benefit of everyone and Liverpool is showing us the way forward in terms of how we can do it and do it well.” Professor Ewing said: “We are immensely proud of the impact the service has had so far – and that, by working in partnership with our community pharmacy colleagues, we’ve developed an approach in Liverpool that’s going to help others. The team here has worked hard during what’s been a challenging couple of years to get the service up and running. We can see from the results that it’s helping people.” Karen O’Brien, North West Regional Chief Pharmacist and Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer for NHS England North West, added: “To see this kind of progress with referral from hospital to a community pharmacist for clinical care so quickly is encouraging and I am so proud to see it happening in the North West of England. Community and hospital pharmacy teams have stepped up to many demanding tasks in the last two years to support the entire system and this is another example of why pharmacy is a vital resource to the NHS.”
Top (left to Right) Derek Taylor, Assistant Director of Pharmacy, LUHFT Prof John Brennan, Interim Medical Director, LUHFT Shakeel Herwitker, Pharmacy Production Lead, LUHFT David Webb, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, NHS England Prof Alison Ewing, Clinical Director of Pharmacy, LUHFT Richard Cattell, Deputy Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, NHS England Julie Clough, Pharmacy General Manager, LUHFT Alex Jennings, Associate Clinical Director of Pharmacy, LUHFT Lena Whittall, Pharmacy Technical Manager, LUHFT
LUHFT Life | 3
Deteriorating Patient collaborative: Time to showcase your ideas! Following our first Deteriorating Patient collaborative event in March, the Quality Improvement team have been visiting the collaborative wards involved to see first-hand from colleagues just how the changes you identified are making an impact. During the event colleagues were asked to choose one idea to take away and work on implementing within their areas. On the recent ward walk arounds, staff showcased how these changes either already have or will look to positively influence our ability to improve the recognition and management of deteriorating patients. As part of this new way of working, it’s important that we create a supportive environment to ensure that colleagues feel they are able to develop local solutions and deliver change more rapidly. Samantha Westwell, Director of Nursing for the Royal site and Clinical Lead for the Deteriorating Patient Collaborative, said: “It will be great to see how colleagues continue to go forward and implement your change ideas. We want colleagues to feel able to make changes and try new ideas for the benefit of patients and their teams.” Through the event we have also acknowledged what you identified as the blockers to providing great care, such as hardware issues, and a commitment has been made to follow these up further. 4 | LUHFT Life
Ward 21 at Aintree University Hospital has successfully made a positive impact on improving patient care through their change idea. The team has introduced set six-hour observations for patients on their ward, which has not only boosted their compliance, but is making a real difference to the safe care they are able to provide. By increasing set observations (obs) from eight to six hours for those patients with a NEWS2 (National Early Warning Score) score of 0, staff should now have an increased recognition of, or will be able to act quicker on, signs that a patient is deteriorating. Maree Halsall, Ward Manager, said: “We found the collaborative event really useful and enjoyed being able to talk through different ideas. By giving a new idea a go and making a difference has empowered the team. They feel listened to and it’s important ward colleagues feel permission to make changes they know will improve both patient care and their working day.” Following on from the success of introducing six-hour obs, Helen Isik, Matron of Ward 21, is looking to introduce ‘Obs Champions’ across her three wards: 21, 24, and 25. Helen said: “A nurse from each side of the ward will act as a champion, having oversight of the obs, ensuring that within their team together they are fulfilling their aims and escalating any patient safety issues.”
Joint robotic surgery improves patient journey The teams worked together throughout John’s treatment providing joint clinical appointments, pre-op care and cancer surgery. By operating on two parts of his body during the same procedure John was able to recover quicker and was home within five days. John - who lives in Birkdale with his wife Susan and 17-year-old son Thomas - initially went to see his doctor in September 2021 after spotting blood in his stool. Speaking to LUHFT Life, he said: “While I was at the doctors I also asked them to check my prostatespecific antigen (PSA) levels because my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer when he was 81. The first synchronised bowel and prostate cancer robotic surgery in the North West was performed by our Urology and Colorectal Teams. An excellent example of innovative clinical treatment and collaborative working within our specialities. After 53-year-old John Boylett was diagnosed with bowel and prostate cancer, he began his patient journey with us when he was referred to the Complex Pelvic Oncology Team. Here he met Mr Shakil Ahmed, Colorectal Consultant, and Mr Robin Weston, Urology Consultant, who later performed the rare six-and-a-half-hour surgery together.
“I expected my PSA levels to be fine because I didn’t have any symptoms and I’m only 53, however, my results showed that I had bowel cancer and also raised PSA levels, so there was a good chance I had prostate cancer too. My mind instantly went to worst-case scenarios because I had two types of cancer at the same time.” Colorectal Consultant Shakil Ahmed said: “Robotic surgery is a massive benefit to all our patients. There aren’t many centres in the UK that can offer this combined surgery. It requires a highly skilled level of expertise to operate the robotic machinery and complete the double procedure.
“It gives surgeons views inside a patient that you can’t see otherwise. I always explain to students it’s like comparing a 1980's TV to one today – the technology is just so much better. The robotic machinery improves the whole surgery for the patient and the surgeon. “By working together John was able to go home after only five days, while the alternative would have been two separate operations with around 14 days in hospital, which could bring an increased risk of infection and recovery time.” Following his operation in January 2022, John is recovering well while awaiting his stoma reversal surgery. He said: “Having the joint robotic surgery to remove all my cancer was 100% the best option for me. I’m taking things easy but walking our new puppy, Hugo, has helped increase my exercise and has been good for my mental health too.” Interim Chief Executive, Sir David Dalton, said: “This is an excellent example of our highly-skilled teams from different specialities coming together to improve cancer treatment and patient experience. This is another step towards our aspiration of making LUHFT a leading centre for RoboticAssisted Surgery.” LUHFT Life | 5
Nurses Day2022
Supporting nursing development To help colleagues develop their career and provide support in building skills and knowledge, LUHFT offers the opportunity to complete a three-year Chief Nurse Scholarship course. Ward Manager, Marianne Matic said: "I wanted to pursue my master's to further my knowledge in my field of work and gain the opportunity to grow while at LUHFT. “The scholarship has a selection of
courses available, and I’ve chosen topics that will greatly benefit my work as a Ward Manager such as Negotiated Work Based Learning, among others. “This course has progressed my professional development allowing me to confidently apply my knowledge learnt from the program to make our daily work better. It has made me more proactive in my workplace. “I enjoyed getting different views from my colleagues who are on the same
Lip Sync battle Danielle Carey is taking to the stage in a charity Lip Sync Battle to show her thanks to our Heart Failure team who cared for her mother-in-law, Janet Childs. “Janet was treated in the Heart Failure Clinic at Aintree, but unfortunately, it reached a time when they couldn’t do anymore for her, and she passed away almost two years ago. “She was always so happy going to the ward, all the staff were lovely and just amazing. They worked so hard and always made sure Janet felt comfortable, they couldn’t have done any more for her towards the end of her care,” said Danielle, whose wife and Janet’s daughter, Natalie Carey is also a HCA at Aintree. Danielle, a Domestic at Aintree, added: “During the pandemic I was furloughed but after a while I just needed to be back out and working so I got a role as a domestic at Aintree. Then as a coincidence I was placed on the Heart Failure ward. When I first started it was hard remembering Janet and seeing the chair she had sat in, but I see how wonderful all the staff are with other patients. 6 | LUHFT Life
program, and we were able to exchange our thoughts to make our work more effective. “I recommend applying for the Chief Nurse Scholarship Programme as this is a great opportunity for you to progress in your career and be able to do more as a healthcare professional.” To find out more details contact Joselito Marinas, Associate Director of Nursing Workforce and Education: Joselito. Marinas@liverpoolft.nhs.uk.
“So, I just want to give something back and to raise some money for the ward and the staff that work here because they made Janet’s last couple of months happy for her, plus they made sure her family were all supported too. “I’ve decided if I’m going to make a show of myself then I want to do it with a big song. So, I’m going to be Dolly Parton and lip sync to the song 9 to 5. It’s a great song people can join in with and I’ve already been shopping for my outfit and wig!” The Liverpool University Hospital’s Charity Lip Sync Battle is taking place on 17 June at Bierkeller in Liverpool One. You can get event tickets here: www.rlbuht.nhs.uk/lip-sync
Nurses Day2022
Continuing my love of nursing in Liverpool To mark International Nurses Day on 12 May, we spoke to Sherin Joseph, who joined #TeamLUHFT as an overseas nurse from Dubai last year. “It has always been my dream to work as a nurse in the NHS. I jumped at the chance to work at Liverpool University Hospitals when the opportunity arose. “I was born and grew up in India, and knew from a young age I wanted to be a nurse. After gaining my qualifications and beginning my career in India, I decided to move to Dubai where I worked as an Emergency Department nurse for five years. “The thought of moving to the UK had always appealed to me, although I was hesitant to move with my two young children who I knew would struggle with the language barrier. “I started my role as a registered nurse on Ward 24 (Respiratory) at Aintree in April 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. I work directly with the patient as soon as they’ve been admitted, including their initial assessment. I have a duty to educate the patient to ensure that they are aware of anything related to their care during their stay.
My role requires me to be alert at all times as I need to inform the medical team if there is any change in a patients’ condition. Since starting the role I have learnt all about the importance of social support. The Trust does an amazing job at linking the medical and occupational health teams to ensure patients are as comfortable as possible prior to discharge. The learning is definitely a continuous process, even after practising for 15 years! “I have loved my time on Ward 24 so far, they have welcomed me with open arms, and it’s nice to work somewhere that focusses on equality and diversity. It’s so rewarding to see a patient through to recovery, their smiling faces remind me on a daily basis why I love this profession. “I am a family-orientated person, and my main focus is always having a healthy work/life balance. I feel like I’ve been able to achieve this working at Aintree and I’m thankful that I’m able to spend more time with my children as they grow up so quickly! “What was a dream for me is now a reality, and I am living it with my family. It’s amazing that my children are also receiving a great standard of education, it’s made the move to Liverpool so much easier to deal with.”
LUHFT Life | 7
Celebrating Nu
This month we’re highlighting our Nurses Day2022 nurses across the Trust in celebration of Nurses Day 2022, taking place on Thursday 12 May. Our nurses play a critical role in caring for patients and their loved ones in our hospitals, showing compassion and professionalism to deliver outstanding healthcare. Hayley Johnson – Dental Nurse When choosing a career path, I was drawn to the healthcare sector as I have always enjoyed caring for and helping others. Dental nursing is an extremely rewarding profession that has given me the opportunity to continually grow both professionally and personally, work in a diverse environment, and gain a wealth of experience, a wide variety of skills and an abundance of dental and healthcare knowledge.
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Louise Rice – Lead Nurse for Outpatients I decided to become a nurse because I had my first child and in doing this I learnt to care and to love. I realised that I was good at this, and it made me happy. On thinking of a new career direction, I realised that to do something that you love doing is a joy and this is true of the nursing profession. To have a patient say thank you for helping them, or to know that your team are doing this valued work is a huge reward and I gain great job satisfaction. I couldn’t imagine doing any other job.
Nicola Richardson – Ward Manager – Ward 9 I didn’t start my training until I was 25, I had worked in retail and didn’t want to spend my career there. I loved the idea of caring for people and being able to make a difference in someone’s life. I love my job and being able to lead change on the ward moving from a red LQA audit to a Gold in less than 12 months is proof to myself I’m in the right role.
urses Day 2022 Diane Agger Band 4 Assistant Practitioner I have been in my role as Band 4 assistant practitioner for 12 months now I am confident at delivering care to my patients and also taking a team which I enjoy and utilise my new skills.
Jacqueline Johnson – Matron for Department of Medicine for Older People and Stroke My reason for wanting to be a nurse is the age-old story, I wanted and believed I could make a difference. I wanted to be part of a successful patient’s journey/outcome. Patients are the reason we are all here. The most important part of the job. I trained in Broadgreen Hospital and have been in the trust for 37 years. I am now the matron for DMOPS on the Broadgreen Hospital site, massive full circle for me.
Kieran Roberts Student Nurse I always watched nurses helping my family in hospital and their own homes, so I wanted to become a nurse. It is one of the greatest feelings knowing that you’ve helped someone in a time of need.
Nathalie Nicholas – Research Nurse I wanted to be a research nurse for a career change after working several years in ICU. My role as a research nurse has further developed which allows me opportunities to work with patients, health professionals and other health partners to improve patient care and practice. Being a research nurse throughout the pandemic has shown how vital the role is, in delivering clinical research, which ultimately has improved patient care and developed treatment for the future. LUHFT Life | 9
Transforming the patient journey Emily Hoban, Head of Outpatient Operations, is leading on a brand-new transformation programme to refresh the current outpatient journey, with the aim to provide a quality experience for our patients.
more seamless booking process. There are many changes ahead, that will not only benefit our patients, but also our administrative and clinical teams, enabling colleagues to work together to deliver outstanding care.
In transforming Outpatient Services, we will be implementing a successful elective access policy, that has been developed in consultation with many patients, internal and external stakeholders. The policy will ensure that there is better planning across the Trust, in relation to outpatient provision.
Emily Hoban, Head of Outpatient Operations said: “The team are wholly committed to making the changes which will support the work of the clinical and administrative teams and make all our working lives easier. However, and most importantly, the transformation has the patient at the heart of its programme and all process changes will ensure the patient has a quality experience through their hospital journey.”
The transformation comes as we recognise challenges and areas for improvement with the current systems. Colleagues can expect to see the modernisation of systems and processes, and patients can expect to see less cancellations, and a
For more detailed information on what you can expect to see as part of this project, contact emily.hoban@liverpoolft.nhs.uk.
Working together with our partners Matt Ashton, Director of Public Health for Liverpool City Council, made a visit to The Beat this month to meet the Axess Sexual Health team. The session highlighted the new integrated sexual health services, which include Axess working alongside Liverpool City Council, and the exciting plans for Axess in the near future which will increase patient services within the region.
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Launching soon - the Together We Will Colleague Support Offer Here at LUHFT, we know that to build our future together and to improve services for our patients, this will mean lots of change for you, our valued colleagues. It’s really important to us that we continue to live our values everyday and continue to deliver great care through you, our great people! That’s why we have listened to you over the last few months through our Building our Future Together Big Conversations. We’ve heard that you are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of change, and that you feel that the Trust could do more to recognise your efforts. We recognise how important it is to create the right environment for you to come to work and to be at your best. With this in mind, we have developed the Together We Will
Colleague Support Offer which aims to support you as you move through the many exciting changes here at LUHFT. We have also developed the Together We Will Promise which sets out how we intend to work together to achieve our ambitions over the coming months. A focused area of the Building Our Future Together microsite has been created to house all of the resources and information contained within the offer in one central place. Your feedback, and ensuring that the offer meets your needs, is really important, so please do let us know what you think and if you would like to see anything else added as move forward, email: organisational.development@liverpoolft.nhs.uk.
This is our support offer, it outlines the ways we will support you as we go through the many exciting changes in estate, integration of services and as we move into the New Royal. Share our vision for how we will Build our future together through our:
Support our managers and leaders to support their colleagues and teams
• Building Our Future Together journey map
• Building Our Future Together People Managers Virtual Update Session (monthly)
• Together we will commitment statement
• Dedicated leaders and managers resource site • Leading well through change half-day workshops
Provide regular opportunities for you to have your say • Building Our Future Together Big Conversations • Quarterly Pulse Surveys
• Access to a range of toolkits focussed on supporting your colleagues and teams
Encourage and support teams to remain healthy and effective during change
• Annual National Staff Survey • Local/Team Engagement
Keep you up to date with all things New Hospital and Integration of services: • Building Our Future Together newsletter • Building Our Future Together microsite
For teams directly impacted by the integration of services, together we will: • Provide dedicated HR, OD and PMO support • Offer tailored interventions to support local engagement
For teams in general, together we will: • Provide you with access to bespoke OD support • Give you access to a range of toolkits to support great team working during change
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Provide regular local newsletters to keep you updated
Offer compassionate and wellbeing focussed support to you during change
Coming Soon….
We want to hear from you!
• Site and virtual tours
• Access to confidential staff support and wellbeing services
• Preparation and induction tools
• Clear HR guidance and support at all times
• Team Engagement and Development Tool (TED)
Please contact organisational.development@ liverpoolft.nhs.uk if there is any other support you would like to see.
• Bitesize ‘understanding me during change’ workshops
• Simulation training
• Access to a range of toolkits and apps which will support your wellbeing • Access to peer group networks
LUHFT Life | 11
LIVING OUR Our values are ‘the way we do things around here’. They are the very core of who we are, for every colleague, patient and individual who comes into contact with us. Our values enable us to work together more effectively and to deliver great patient care more consistently. We see examples of our values in practice on a daily basis, and each month we will celebrate individuals or teams who are clearly caring, fair and innovative.
Community Garden opens at Broadgreen Highfield Community Garden was formally opened in April by LUHFT Chair Sue Musson and Andrew Brown, the Executive Director of the Veolia Environmental Trust who funded the garden project.
In attendance where The Conversation Volunteers who completed all the work in the garden project, they worked onsite for just over a year and the team is made up of volunteers from all different walks of life.
The space was created to provide an area for patients and staff to relax or exercise on the outdoor gym area. The occasion was marked by the planting of a final shrub in the garden.
There was also representation from Avrenim staff who were a key part of the project and also donated supplies and time to help finish the garden. Domestic waste contractors also helped
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officially open the garden by donating and planting a rowan tree. The garden has been named Highfield Community Garden to recognise the history of the site. Broadgreen was initially home to Highfield Infirmary which was established in 1903 and was an epilepsy home, before becoming a treatment centre for tuberculosis under the name Highfield Sanatorium.
VALUES
Funding to develop heart failure services Our Heart Failure Team, led by Dr Rajiv Sankaranarayanan, has been awarded a £237,000 grant to develop new out-of-hospital heart failure services, allowing more people to be cared for in the community. In an aim to improve access and outcomes for people with heart failure, NHSX provided the Digital Health Partnership Award funding for a first End-to-end Digital Heart Failure Patient Pathway. This service is being developed in partnership with Mersey Care, Docobo, Graphnet Health, Liverpool CCG, Innovation Agency and Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Science (University of Liverpool). The current services will be scaled up and enhanced so more patients can be cared for in the community. The key areas of the new Digital Heart Failure Patient Pathway are: •
Prevention – by looking at the health of our local community, and through better treatment for patients with higher risk factors, we can identify and prevent the worsening of heart failure which can result in hospitalisation
•
Early supported discharge – supporting patients who have been discharged through a ‘virtual heart failure ward’ which is available seven days a week – only the second such service in the country. This is carried out with the use of Telehealth remote home monitoring, home intravenous diuretics, PIFU personalised care model, long-term condition monitoring and patient self-care and self-management
•
Digital Discharge Plan – A digital discharge plan would allow shared access to patient and health care providers.
IBD Nurse awarded Employee of the Month Congratulations to our Employee of the Month Lisa Critchley, IBD Nurse at the Royal. Lisa was presented her award by LUHFT Chair, Sue Musson, after being nominated by Consultant Gastroenterologist, Dr Philip Smith. Dr Smith said: “Lisa has been awarded a very prestigious Crohn’s and Colitis UK Nurse Specialist Programme Award, one of only a handful in the UK and Northern Ireland given out. To make her story even more powerful, she has Crohn’s Disease herself and has been a key player in supporting me set up the North West’s only Gastroenterology Transition Clinic.”
LUHFT Life | 13
LUHFT introduces new Health and Safety volunteer role
Surgery to story time
To mark World Safety and Health at Work Day on 28 April, a new LUHFT volunteer staff role has been created to further enhance the safety and wellbeing of patients and staff, and to build on the Trust’s health and safety culture. The newly appointed Health, Safety and Fire Champions will act as advocates, promoting and increasing awareness about the importance of health, safety and fire with colleagues. They will also provide encouragement to support a positive culture locally and across the Trust. Health and Safety Manager, Steven Hall, said: “The Champions will act as our eyes and ears within their department and can communicate any concerns around safety and wellbeing directly to us. They can also inform us of good practice within their department which may be used in other areas to further enhance the safety and wellbeing of staff and patients. We are actively looking for more Champions across all sites and encourage staff who would like to become a Champion to volunteer.” Currently there are five Health, Safety and Fire Champions on the Aintree site with plans to recruit volunteers across the Broadgreen and Royal sites by August. Amieejean Hewitt, who volunteers as a Champion for Ward 10 (Gastroenterology) at Aintree, said: “I was originally approached by my Matron to become a Champion for our Ward. When the opportunity arose I jumped at it because I think everyone should be educated about the importance of health and safety in the workplace.” If you are interested in becoming a Health, Safety and Fire Champion, please contact the Health and Safety Team on HealthandSafety@ liverpoolft.nhs.uk.
After being inspired by her four children, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Sharon Scott, decided to take on the challenge of writing a children’s book. “I have always been quite creative and decided to start working on a children’s book at the beginning of 2020. I was walking the dog with my husband - who is also an orthopaedic consultant at LUHFT - and I told him I wanted to write a book about a young girl who dreamt of a fairy world. I’m not sure he believed I’d do it as I have never written anything before!” said Sharon who specialises in trauma and is the Divisional Medical Director for surgery at Aintree. Sharon joined Aintree in 2010 and was integral to the development to the Trust becoming the major trauma centre for Cheshire and Merseyside. Talking about her book which is aimed at 9 to 11-year-olds (and all believers), Sharon said: “The Shadow of the Rowan Tree took around a year to write in between work and home life. I was inspired by my four children, with my imagination cultivated on long walks with my Doberman, Bruno. The story follows the adventures of Daisy and Margot, the tooth fairy she dreams about. “I decided to write under a pen name Florie Parker – Florie is my dad’s grandmother and Parker is my mum’s maiden name. I was absolutely delighted when the box arrived with the first hardback copies of my book - to have actually created something so special I am very proud.” The Shadow of the Rowan Tree can be purchased from Austin Macauley publishers.
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Getting to know you… After a customer advised Ray Soong to work towards something that he was passionate about, he trained to become LUHFT’s Senior Technical Support Engineer, and his wife has joined the Trust too! How long have you worked in our hospitals? I’ve been at Aintree for almost seven years but our office has moved to Liverpool Innovation Park so it’s tough not being able to see everyone. In 2015 I started volunteering in the IT department where I gained a lot of experience and after six months, a job opportunity came up on the Systems team. I then moved to Desktops and finally fast forward two years, I was taken on by the Technical Support team. Did you always want to work in healthcare? Honestly, I had never considered working in the NHS. After finishing college I thought I was going to take over my parent’s takeaway or continue waiting tables at a restaurant. The turning point of my life was when a customer came in late one night and advised me to work towards something that I was passionate about, so I began studying again and a year later I received my IT certification. It was also because of this customer that I started volunteering at Aintree, so I genuinely believe that I would not be where I am today if it hadn’t been for him. Briefly, what does your role involve? I work alongside 13 incredible members
of the Tech Team and between us we assist staff across all three sites. We act as an escalation point for urgent issues and while we all have something we specialise in, I primarily deal with Office 365, Microsoft Teams and remote access. What’s your favourite thing about your job? I speak to a lot of people throughout the day so it’s nice to be able to chat with them whilst sorting out any issues. Even though I’m not on the front line caring for patients, just being able to help those that do gives me a sense of satisfaction. What are the standout highlights during your time at LUHFT? Getting the remote access setup when COVID-19 hit was probably the best and worst experience yet. So many people needed to be able to work from home, but it just wasn’t quite there yet. It took days of troubleshooting, working with the third party to get the system running properly. Another highlight would be the day my wife began working at the hospital too. Monique started as an HCA but now she’s a nurse in the Dialysis Unit, I’m super proud of her… and yes, I have to sort out her IT issues too!
What are your hobbies outside of work? Playing the guitar has always been my favourite way to relax however that was abruptly stopped when we got our puppy, Taro, who absolutely hates the sound of it. My new hobby is taking him for long walks in the hope it’ll tire him out so much he’ll take a nap, so I can quietly play the guitar again. What’s your favourite thing about Liverpool / Merseyside? The variety of food available. I’ve always loved trying new dishes and cuisines, my favourite is Big Bowl Noodle Bar on Berry Street. What’s your favourite film or song? The 1982 version of The Thing. My favourite song would be Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts which was my wedding song. You win the lottery, what’s your dream holiday? I would love to go on a food tour around the world, if that’s even a thing. You’re stranded on an island, what three items would you want with you? My guitar, Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Handbook, and a satellite phone in case I get nowhere with Bear Grylls book. LUHFT Life | 15
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