April - May 2021
InTouch
Back to better New hospital update Our charity - new brand Digital improvements
Foreword 2 3
Welcome to InTouch magazine Improving our patients’ experience with digital developments
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Back to better
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Cancer services: new vague symptoms pathway introduced
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New hospital
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New hospital (continued)
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PAHT midwives feature in Happy Mum, Happy Baby: The Virtual Meetup
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Healthcare group update: medicine Introducing...Darrel Arjoon
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CQC: Reporting incidents
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Our patients said...
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Our charity update
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Our charity update (continued)
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A fond farewell to Jacqui Featherstone
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A fond farewell to Jacqui Featherstone (continued)
Welcome to InTouch magazine – your insight into the latest news and updates from across PAHT. In this edition, you can read about how we are improving our patients’ experience with digital developments, including a new digital appointment letter viewing system and a text message service for our outpatients. There is also an opportunity to hear the latest about our Back to better campaign, as we focus on the future. Please continue to look out for a range of information over this month and next month, with a variety of sessions to take part in. You can find out more about the new vague symptoms pathway we have introduced for cancer services and we have a healthcare group update, this month from medicine. Please also take a look at our new charity brand, inspired by the amazing sculptures in the Harlow area. Additionally, this month, you can read about how two of our midwives had the fantastic opportunity to feature in Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum, Happy Baby: The Virtual Meetup. We also say a fond farewell to Jacqui Featherstone, associate director of nursing and midwifery, who retires later this month. Please ensure that you refresh your knowledge of the importance of reporting incidents on Datix – more information is on p.15. There is also the opportunity to hear the latest update on the programme to build a new hospital that is fit for the future. If you would like to share your news with colleagues and to see your team featured in InTouch magazine, please let the communications team know via paht. communications@nhs.net. I hope you enjoy the read.
#PAHTPeople
Best wishes Lance McCarthy Chief executive
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Improving our patients’ experience with digital developments We have recently made some significant improvements to our patients’ experience with digital developments to the appointment system.
We have implemented a new digital appointment letter viewing system and a new text message service for our outpatients. Digital appointment letter viewing system We have introduced a new electronic system that enables outpatients to view and download their outpatient hospital appointment letters instantly via a patient portal. The service, named DrDoctor, is designed to make it easier for outpatients to view hospital appointments online via the internet, smartphone, tablet or device at any time. If we have the patient’s mobile phone number stored on our records, they will receive a text message that will take them straight to a secure DrDoctor log in portal to set up an account that requires their full name, date of birth and postcode; allowing them to view upcoming appointment letters online. If they sign up to DrDoctor, they will no longer receive a paper copy of their future outpatient appointment letters. If they change their mind,
they can update their letter preferences via the DrDoctor portal. If patients are unable to view their letter online or do not click on the link from the text we send to them, we will continue to send them their appointment letters by post. Lynne Fenwick, director of information and IT, said: “We are proud to be working in partnership with DrDoctor to offer this efficient service to create a high quality experience for our patients.” Text message service for our outpatients We have also introduced a new electronic text message system that reminds outpatients about their upcoming outpatient appointment.
them about their upcoming appointment. They will be given full instructions in the text message. Please note that paediatric outpatient parents/carers, paediatric diabetes parents/ carers, breast unit outpatients and fracture clinic outpatients will be able to respond to the text currently to cancel or reschedule their appointment. All other specialities will be able to call an outpatient appointment phone line listed in their text to reschedule or cancel their appointment. If they do not receive a text message, they will receive a telephone call from the outpatients’ department to confirm their appointment closer to the time.
Patients will receive a reminder seven days before and 48 hours before their appointment via an SMS text message. The new service is designed to make it easier for patients to remember their upcoming hospital appointment and respond to the text to cancel or reschedule if they need to. If we have a patient’s mobile phone number stored on our records, they will receive the SMS text message to remind
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Back to better Now is a time to focus on the future and how we move to being Back to better. Please continue to look out for a range of events, webinars information and updates. So far, sessions have included: z InTouch briefing: Psychological support and the Here for you service from Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) z InTouch briefing: Compassionate leadership z InTouch briefing: Operational focus (Access Board) z InTouch briefing: Values and behaviours: equality, recruitment and attraction z Keynote speaker Gavin Oattes z Schwartz Round adaptability z Resilience, dealing with change, and overcoming limiting beliefs, with coach Mandie Holgate z Supporting your wellbeing, with Harri Paddan, regional health and wellbeing manager – East of England, NHS England and Improvement z Self-compassion and compassionate leadership, with Dr Amanda Super, chartered occupational psychologist z InTouch briefing: Civility saves lives In addition to our virtual events, we have also shared links to sessions from our
partner organisations, such as: variety of health and wellbeing videos on our Back to better z International Women’s Day YouTube playlist. Our trailer webinars video and the InTouch briefings z The recovery of our people are also available to watch at z Creating an inclusive any time on our Back to better and supportive work YouTube playlist. environment z Compassionate leadership If you have suggestions z Using strengths to reach of content that you would your potential like to see as part of the Back to better campaign, For the remainder of this please contact the month (April) and into early communications team on paht. May, highlights include: communications@nhs.net. z InTouch briefing: Operational focus (Access Board) z InTouch briefing: Operational focus (Cancer management) z Supporting your wellbeing with health psychologist Dr Esther Murray z Compassionate leadership with Professor Michael West, CBE You can access a wide range of helpful information on our Back to better Alex page. Additionally, you can watch a 4
Cancer services: new vague symptoms pathway introduced thromoboembolism (VTE), Our cancer services team have ischemic heart disease recently introduced a new (IHD), COPD or chest vague symptoms pathway that infection provides an assessment and diagnostics for patients with the z Unexplained thromboembolism following: z Abnormal laboratory findings not explained by established z Non-specific symptoms or self-limiting disease and that could indicate cancer not needing admission who do not fit other two week wait criteria for a Important note cancer referral, but there is a significant risk of an underlying malignancy Patients must be
fit and suitable for The pilot pathway has been investigation and not designed to ensure that our fit the criteria for any patients are referred to an other urgent referral appropriate pathway and a diagnosis is pursued, whether it pathway. is cancer or otherwise.
GPs are able to refer patients on the vague symptom pathway referral based on the following criteria: z New unexplained weight loss z New unexplained constitutional symptoms of four weeks or more z New unexplained vague abdominal pain of four weeks or more z New unexplained, unexpected or progressive pain, including bone pain, of four weeks or more z GP ‘gut feeling’ of cancer diagnosis – reasons to be clearly described at referral z New and unexplained breathlessness for more than three weeks not due to heart failure, venous
There are mandatory tests that should be carried out and reviewed in primary care before referring a patient to this pathway. This will rule out a more common diagnosis that would be better managed directly through the appropriate specialty multi-disciplinary team. The tests are available on ICE as a bundle under vague symptoms pathway tests, and a chest X-ray must be requested separately.
z ESR AND CRP z B12, folate and ferritin z FIT z MSU z HIV z GGT z U&Es, TFTs, LFTs z PSA/CA125 z HbA1c z CXR z Bone profile z Clotting screen z LDH There may be other diagnostics that are required after initial review of the patient – the responsible person who delivers the diagnostics would be asked to support a quick turnaround, ideally within 48 hours of the request. If you have any questions or would like any further information, please contact Dr Robert Ghosh, associate medical director and clinical lead for the referral pathway, email: robertghosh@nhs.net or Bernadette Roach, head of cancer services at bernadette. roach@nhs.net.
The following mandatory investigations must be completed prior to referral – the referral will be returned to the GP if the tests have not been completed: z FBC
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New hospital update
Building a sustainable future Our new hospital will be built using modern methods of construction (MMC) which will mean we can build it faster, build it better and reduce our carbon footprint in the process.
What is MMC? MMC is an approach to construct buildings quickly, reliably and sustainably. It often involves making components offsite before being transported to the building’s location for quick and easy installation. Think readymade frames, walls, floors, roofs, facades and even entire rooms. The COVID-19 Nightingale Hospitals are just one example of where MMC has come into its own in terms of speed of delivery. Five hospitals were able to be built in just a matter of weeks using offsite manufacturing and construction.
How will MMC benefit our new hospital?
The Grange University Hospital in Wales (pictured right) opened last year and reduced its build time by nearly a quarter by using MMC, in particular the offsite manufacturing of facades, mechanical and engineering services and bathroom pods.
MMC will help us to deliver an innovative, energy efficient new hospital on time and on budget.
An innovative hospital campus was delivered ahead of schedule, achieving significant time and cost savings.
z quicker and cheaper to build z a high quality environment for our people and patients z better for the environment z adaptable and flexible to meet future demands
By making the most of offsite manufacturing and construction in the design and build, we can create a hospital that is highly flexible, meaning we are able to respond rapidly to any future changes such as a growing population or another pandemic. We will be able to deliver a new hospital that is:
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Will our new hospital be carbon neutral? That’s what we’re aiming for. With government targets set to reach net zero by 2050, the NHS has committed to reaching net zero as soon as possible. To achieve net zero carbon, we will need to reduce the carbon impact of our new hospital in construction and operation. What carbon emissions we do make should be offset, for example by buying renewable energy. MMC plays a big role in reducing carbon emissions during construction, as the techniques require fewer people working on site, fewer deliveries to site, and less waste during production.
A hospital for the future Given that 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are already built, our new hospital has an incredibly exciting opportunity to be innovative and lead the sector in reducing operational emissions. With architects and specialists in the construction sector, we are maximising MMC opportunities into our new hospital designs so we can deliver a hospital fit for the future. The new hospital designs are set to be finalised in just a few months’ time. We look forward to sharing them with you very soon.
New hospital environment graphics Those of you who regularly use the hospital canteen may have noticed some bold designs appearing on the walls just before the Easter weekend. The graphics promote the new hospital plans and are intended to spark interest from our people and our visitors. We’d love to know what you think of the graphics, as well as hear any thoughts or questions you have about our new hospital plans: paht. newhospital@nhs.net.
Overall, our approach to net zero means we need to: z be lean - designing our building to use less energy z be clean - supplying our own low carbon energy efficiently z be green - using renewable energy to offset our emissions z be seen - monitoring and targeting reductions in our energy use
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PAHT midwives feature in Happy Mum, Happy Baby: The Virtual Meetup Two midwives from PAHT have taken part in Giovanna Fletcher’s, Happy Mum, Happy Baby: The Virtual Meetup. Gloria Annor Machado, labour ward manager (top left), and Anna Croot, fetal monitoring midwife (top right) joined star Emma Willis in a virtual event on Friday, 26 March. Gloria and Anna helped to answer questions from listeners about topics ranging from preparation for birth, breastfeeding, baby care, support after birth, and much more.
premiere episode, and the show subsequently won Best Popular Factual Programme at the Broadcast Digital Awards. In series 2, Emma returned to The Princess Alexandra They were invited to participate Hospital and successfully in the virtual event following completed her training as a Emma Willis: Delivering fully-qualified maternity care Babies – two series of which assistant. were filmed at The Princess Alexandra Hospital. The Gloria said: “It was fantastic to third series follows families have the chance to take part preparing to give birth in in Happy Mum, Happy Baby: the midst of the COVID-19 The Virtual Meetup and to pandemic, and was filmed help answer questions from virtually, with contributions from parents-to-be.” around the country. Anna added: “It was a real Series 1 of Emma Willis: privilege to be invited to Delivering Babies saw Emma contribute to the virtual train for three months to meetup. It will definitely be a become a maternity care special memory for our team.” assistant in the busy maternity ward at The Princess Jacqui Featherstone, Alexandra Hospital. The associate director of nursing series was W’s most-watched and midwifery, added: “I am series of 2018, with almost a incredibly proud to see Gloria million people tuning into the and Anna feature in Happy
Mum, Happy Baby: The Virtual Meetup. “Our midwifery team are dedicated to supporting women, babies, their partners and families and we hope that listeners will find the advice informative and reassuring during their pregnancy and birth journey.” Happy Mum, Happy Baby: The Virtual Meetup is available to watch at www. happymumhappybaby.com
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Healthcare group update: medicine “The medical healthcare group (HCG) have been very proud of the way our people and teams have handled an extremely difficult year; especially in their support of the COVID-19 wards and the respiratory emergency department (ED). Their resilience and dedication through this period has been humbling and will always be appreciated by the entire medicine HCG. “As we enter a recovery phase, we have an exciting new refurbishment of the Frailty Unit which will allow an improved patient experience for our older patients. It will also support reduced demand for non-elective acute ward beds and the development of a specialist team that attracts and retains staff and demonstrates high levels of staff satisfaction. “We also have building works underway for the construction of a new, third suite in our Endoscopy Unit that will enable the service to have the capacity required to deal with the ever increasing demand for endoscopy services and help reduce waiting times for these procedures. The HCG believe that staff health and wellbeing needs to be our absolute focus over the next few months and our upcoming staff survey workshop will formulate a plan to help us address this important issue. “In the last three months, medicine has seen a new associate director of operations, Darren Hobbs, and associate director of nursing, Jo Ward, joining from cancer, cardiology and clinical support services (CCCS), to link up with Dr Bob Ghosh as associate medical director (AMD) for the HCG. They both look forward to working with a great team and continuing the progress made by the HCG.” From the medical healthcare group management team
Introducing...
Darrel Arjoon, nonexecutive director
Darrel has 18 years of NHS experience as a paediatric nurse, senior lecturer and programme manager, and 10 years of experience as founder and MD of a technology company, bringing unique perspectives to his role as a non-executive director. He has extensive clinical and
programme management experience, driven by unwavering commitment to quality of care. Darrel brings deep cultural understanding and insight of social, economic and cultural groups. He is also an ambassador for ‘Levelling the Playing Field’, Alliance of Sport’s three-year project which aims to use sport to
engage and improve health and life outcomes for more than 11,000 BAME children at risk of entering, or who are already involved in the UK criminal justice system. Darrel is delighted to have joined the Board in 2021. 9
CQC: reporting incidents Why is it important to report incidents? Reporting of incidents to our trust database, Datix, helps to protect patients from avoidable harm by: z raising awareness z increasing opportunities for staff to analyse mistakes z implementing safety measures to prevent reoccurrence of incidents What is vital for safe care is that all staff feel confident to report incidents. If you do not, then please talk to your line manager. Across PAHT, we do review incidents that are reported as a ‘near miss’, as this can help us to reduce occurrence of serious harm incidents in the longer term.
patients to be implemented.
governance awareness and training. There you can view National review of incidents the governance awareness On a monthly basis, our patient and training plan for 2020/2021. safety incidents are uploaded onto the National Resource and Learning System (the national system).
These are reviewed by the safety team working at NHS England, where they identify It is important to note that a recurring issues taking place at critical incident is rarely caused several Trusts. by one person alone, and so by working together we can From this national review, they all play our part in reducing issue national safety alerts and patient harm and making PAHT equipment recall notices, all of a safer place to receive care. which ensure patient care is safer. The process is exactly the same for incidents that impact Training on our staff. We need to be If you require training on how alerted to them quickly to to raise an incident on Datix, allow actions to be taken, please discuss this with your either locally or across the line manager. organisation to keep all colleagues safe. If you are a line manager, the governance team have High performing Trusts are recently launched a training ones where its people learn programme that you will find from errors, omissions, useful. patterns of incidents and do this quickly to enable safer ways of delivering care to
It can be accessed on Alex, in the training zone, under 10
Our patients said... “I would like to say a big thank you to all the doctors, nurses, cleaners, porters etc. on Charnley Ward. You were amazing! Everyone I met was kind, courteous, caring and helpful. “All the staff deserve medals!” “I had to attend the breast clinic and I was very impressed with the friendliness of every member of staff I met, including the receptionist, nurses, doctors and cleaners. “Thank you to all the staff for their great effort. It’s definitely appreciated.”
“We would like to thank all of the staff on Tye Green Ward for all of your dedication, compassion and hard work in the face of such enormous challenge. “You are in our thoughts and prayers.”
“I have a few departments who I’d like to pass my thanks to. Firstly, the pre-surgery assessment department, who saw me as an emergency. “The nurses and doctor who looked after me in the pre-surgery assessment department were so kind and gentle. “After spending time in A&E, I was transferred to the Alexandra Day Stay Unit, where I was looked after for a few days. Everyone in the unit was so caring. “You are doing a great job with such kindness. I cannot praise all the staff highly enough. “My thanks go to all concerned.”
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Our charity update
Introducing the new brand We are pleased to introduce the new brand for The Princess Alexandra Hospital Charity. You can see the designs in a range of colours and examples overleaf.
Design inspiration: modern, contemporary, abstract
This design represents people and diversity, inspired by the different cultures in our area and the abstract sculptures and shapes around Harlow. The people shapes are quirky, like the structure of Dame Elisabeth Frink’s Boar and celebrate the bold shapes of The Harlow Family Group by Henry Moore. This graphic device can be playful and colourful to represent diversity and fun, events, gathering of people, family and community. It can also work in monochrome for a more reflective mood for particular campaigns. Pictured left, Boar by Dame Elisabeth Frink. Pictured centre, The Harlow Family Group by Henry Moore.
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A monochrome version of the new charity brand.
A white version of the charity brand, for using on dark backgrounds.
Examples of how the new charity brand would appear on T-shirts.
We have secured places in the Virtual London Marathon! In this exciting virtual event, you’ll have from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 on Sunday 3 October to run or walk 26.2 miles in your local area. Raising money for The Princess Alexandra Hospital Charity, we can put your sponsorship towards particular areas of the hospital. The 2020 Virtual London Marathon broke a world record for the most people to complete a remote marathon in 24 hours and this year the London Marathon are aiming even higher, so you could also be part of a Guinness World Record. Track your route using the Virtual London Marathon App and receive an official finisher’s medal and t-shirt. The non-refundable, non-transferable registration fee is £20 and we ask that people taking part pledge to raise £150. To register, or for more information, please email paht.fundraising@nhs.net. 13
A fond farewell to Jacqui Featherstone At the end of this month, we say a fond farewell to Jacqui Featherstone, associate director of nursing for the family and women’s service, after a career of over 37 years at PAHT. Take a look at the messages below:
A message from Sharon McNally, director of nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals
“A huge thank you to Jacqui for her hard work, commitment and dedication since joining PAHT in 1984. “You have truly lived our values and made a real difference to our patients. You are caring, compassionate and a fantastic leader who will be greatly missed by our PAHT people. “We wish you all the best in the future and a very happy retirement.”
A message from Charlotte Grier, midwife “I am going to miss you very much Jacqui. “You have encouraged and supported me with the NIPE course which I will always be very grateful for. “I hope that you enjoy your retirement - it is well deserved. You have been a true inspiration.”
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A message from Andrea Philip, associate director of operations - family and women’s services “Jacqui was part of the interview panel when I was interviewed for the maternity matron position back in May 2009. I had never met Jacqui previously, but I will always remember her nods of encouragement and soothing sincere smile throughout the interview. “I joined PAHT in November 2009; however, Jacqui was on a six-month secondment with the then Strategic Health Authority. Even though we had not worked together, I was beginning to understand who Jacqui was, as you could not walk anywhere in the unit without a positive mention of her name or how much she was missed whilst on her secondment. “Our professional and personal friendship blossomed when we shared an office between the two of us. In all that time, we have only ever had two real ‘blow outs’ which lasted no more than a few minutes. “We have been through many highs and lows together throughout this time. We have celebrated the achievement of an Outstanding CQC rating for maternity and a Good CQC rating for child health. “We have relied on each other through the lows and sometimes cried together through shared frustration or hysteria, but we were always there to support each other. “Jacqui is completely selfless and always puts others first. She put up with my ‘cranky’ days while I was studying for my MSc, and encouraged me to complete it. There has never been a start or finish time at work for Jacqui, she makes time to see our staff and patients to discuss their individual needs and how their care could be improved. “Jacqui has shown real commitment to maternity and child health services and has managed to juggle many other responsibilities. This includes supporting the surgery team as associate director of nursing for surgery whilst maintaining her own family and women’s role. “I am very sad that Jacqui is retiring and I will miss her dearly as we are not just work colleagues, but friends for life. Anyway, we already have set lunch dates in the diary! I know that the team will go onto achieve great things due to the strong foundation that Jacqui has built. “Finally, to conclude on who Jacqui is and what makes her so special, I will share a moment that occurred last week. A midwife visited to thank Jacqui for her personal efforts to support and reach out to her family during a very difficult period of sickness. “The midwife said something very profound - ‘Jacqui you really cared about me and my family and I don’t know if you realise how much that means to me. You do this for every member of staff when needed all the time’. “Jacqui truly cares about everyone alongside her and will be greatly missed. I wish her every happiness during her retirement and as the meaning of her names states ‘May God protect’.”
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PAHT People Appointment to deputy medical director roles Congratulations to Dr Fiona Hikmet for being appointed to the role of deputy medical director (professional standards) and Dr Jon Keene for being appointed to the role of deputy medical director (clinical strategy). They will be working with us as we strive to achieve our goals of delivering the highest quality care to our patients, creating a culture where we can all do our best work and become a truly learning organisation.
Lateral flow test reporting reminder Thank you to all who are involved in the lateral flow testing scheme for our staff. We are concerned to see that a large number of test results are not being reported. Please be reminded that as the responsible manager or as a healthcare professional in receipt of a testing kit, that it is your professional and legal responsibility to report the results. You can report your results via the link on the Alex homepage. All managers must discuss this with your teams. If you are a member of staff who is taking part in the lateral flow testing scheme and have any questions, please contact your line manager. You must ensure that you test regularly and report your results. We are reviewing this process to ensure that all results are being monitored. Please ensure that you use the testing kits appropriately - you can read full guidance on Alex.
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