InTouch magazine - August-September 2022

InTouch

General

Honorary degree

board

Board member completes scheme

This is Us: feedback to action

Welcome to InTouch magazine – your insight into the latest news and updates from across PAHT.

In this edition, we focus on the range of improvements across the hospital that we have made together in response to your feedback in last year's NHS Staff Survey. The NHS Staff Survey 2022 opened this week - please share your feedback to support us to achieve even more this year, together.

This is Us: feedback to action

Improving patient flow: making it better, together

We also update on two of our board members – Anne Wafula-Strike, associate non-executive director, who has been awarded an honorary degree (p.3), and the appointment of Darshana Bawa as a non-executive director (p.4). You can read about our ongoing work to improve patient flow on p.8, together with our teams raising awareness around falls and how to prevent injuries as part of Falls Prevention Week, with details on p.16.

IT team award Charity update

Information governance team award nomination

Improving antibiotic usage

Patient safety and experience is our absolute priority and you can find out about how you can support improving antibiotic usage at our hospitals from p.14-15, and additionally how we are improving medication safety and care of our patients on p.15.

We are delighted that three fantastic runners took part in the London Marathon to raise money for our charity – you can read Shamina, Sam and Lisa’s inspiring stories from p.11-12. Thank you.

World Sepsis Day Keep moving and think falls

In addition, we congratulate our information governance team on receiving a double award nomination (p.13), and our IT team on winning a prestigious industry award (p.10) – well done to all involved. We also share compliments for you from our patients on p.17, the latest divisional update, this month from clinical support services, on p.18, wellbeing tips on p.19, and much more.

This magazine is for and about you, our #PAHTPeople –please contact the communications team if you would like to see your team featured, at paht.communications@ nhs.net

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Honorary degree awarded to hospital board member from Harlow

Paralympian, Anne Wafula Strike MBE, who is an associate non-executive director on the board of PAHT, has received an honorary degree from the University of Essex in their summer graduations.

Anne, who has lived in Harlow since 2000, was awarded for her inspiring sporting career as a British Paralympic wheelchair racer and for her commitment as a charity ambassador and her hard work to promote sporting equality.

“I am humbled to have received such an amazing award and for

the recognition of issues that are so close to my heart.

“I never thought I would be a Paralympian and I am proud of the opportunities I have had to share my passion for sport and sporting equality.”

Anne was welcomed to the PAHT board in 2021 and is a strong advocate for local people and a supporter of equality and diversity.

Hattie Llewelyn-Davies, chair of PAHT board, said: “I am delighted for Anne to have been recognised in this way and for the focus that this places on her achievements and community involvement.”

Barry Pryer, senior lecturer, the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences said: “Overcoming adversity, achieving so much, but, crucially, not stopping there; going further and continuing to fight with passion for equality - we believe these values are

truly inspirational and we are proud to recognise and honour Anne’s achievements.”

Hospital board member completes NExT Director Scheme

Our board member, Darshana Bawa, has successfully been appointed as a non-executive director.

Darshana was appointed as an associate non-executive director earlier this year following her completion of the Government’s NExT Director Scheme. The scheme supports NHS trust boards to ensure that they are more diverse and seeks to encourage a new generation to join the NHS.

Darshana, from Loughton, said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as a non-executive director and I look forward to supporting PAHT and the teams across the hospital and other sites, as they work hard to provide high quality care.

The non-executive director role involves Darshana giving three

days a month and benefits from her experience as a finance director with a financial and commercial background.

Hattie Llewelyn-Davies, chair of the PAHT board said: “I joined as chair of the board in September last year (2021) and have seen it grow and develop and expand its diversity.

“It is great to see Darshana take on the role. She is a real asset to the board and I look forward to working with her as we make future plans for PAHT.”

This is Us - feedback to action

Working as one team...making it better, together

Take a look at the range of improvements across the hospital that we have made together in response to your feedback in last year's NHS Staff Survey. The NHS Staff Survey 2022 opened on 3 October - please share your feedback. It is with your support that we can achieve even more this year.

Health and wellbeing

y

Opening of the Alex Lounge – a quiet break space and agile working area for you all (pictured, right). This bright, modern area has a range of amenities (including a quiet area, free tea and coffee and air charging points). You are also continuing to benefit from the fantastic space at Kao Park

y Introducing This is Us Week, to recognise and celebrate you, our amazing #PAHTPeople. The programme included a variety of activities and events (pictured bottom right) including new annual This is Us: Our Amazing People Awards, a summer BBQ, ‘meet our teams’ opportunities and interactive games with our board

y Continuing our focus on health and wellbeing by appointing a Trust Wellbeing Guardian at board level and health and wellbeing champions, holding wellbeing induction sessions, and line managers' induction sessions for health and wellbeing. Improving the working lives of junior doctors is a key area of this work. We have also strengthened wellbeing conversations with you, including increasing awareness of the support available. This has featured promotion of national wellbeing events, such as National Hydration Week, in which free breakfasts and drinks were provided. Additionally, we are supporting our staff networks and equality, diversity and inclusion groups with their wellbeing agenda

y Enhanced support for colleagues who are experiencing the menopause, including a new policy, menopause awareness training and working towards the menopause friendly accreditation

y Ensuring that you are aware of the psychological support available. This includes the Here for you service, employee assistance programme and Mental Health First Aiders

y Increasing flexible working opportunities. We also have supportive policies for emergency childcare needs, as well as maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave policies

y Supporting your physical health, including by increasing the range of food options that can be accessed 24/7, promoting the My Health My Way wellbeing website and behavioural coaching, and access to Apps to support better quality sleep. Other support includes NHS weight management services, an online activity portal, smoking cessation services, and the new referral pathway for musculoskeletal services, Physiomed. We also have a long-term condition pathway for long Covid and menopause, created as an integrated care system (ICS)

y Access to financial support, including additional financial support for colleagues from bands 1-7 or equivalent in response to the rising cost of living, working with the local food bank where required, and promoting financial wellbeing webinars and information

y We have appointed a Lead Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, Lindsay Hanmore, supporting you to raise concerns and to reach a resolution

y Thanking you for your hard work and dedication, we have provided a range of initiatives this year, including sharing Costa Coffee vouchers, and free ice cream for all during the heatwave

Learning and safety culture

y Opening of the Learning and Education Centre, including a new library and digital learning hub space (pictured below)

y Refreshed onboarding programme for a smooth and supportive start for new colleagues

y Culture huddles within teams to create a specific space for open and honest conversations about what working in our teams feels like

y Embedding of our new values (patient at heart, everyday excellence and creative collaboration) in how we work e.g. this is now linked with appraisal conversations

y New Alertive system – on demand messaging for operational alerts

y We are working to improve your experiences of poor behaviours that do not align with our values, with support from the people team and organisational development team

y New Extranet, AlexNet – all of the information you need at the click of a button, with features including workspaces for teams and services, easy to locate policies and procedures, event and noticeboard listings and more, available from any device, wherever you are

y

Refresh of our staff networks to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in how we work together, including the Race Equality and Cultural Heritage Network (REACH) and the Disability and Wellbeing Network (DAWN)

y Introduction of an inclusive career development programme - we are working in partnership with the Integrated Care System (ICS) on this programme to support our people

Leadership and management

y This is Us workshops to introduce managers to the new management practices and leadership promise and how these should impact management style

y A wider range of people manager training options being developed/made available to support management capabilities e.g. inclusive recruitment training sessions for hiring managers, people policies and processes training

y PAHT 2030 Ready development programme, building capability and skills of senior managers to lead and engage teams through change

y The ongoing development of a new managers' development programme

Staffing and workforce planning

y Enhanced rates packages made available

y Careers clinics to support your development

y International nurses' support for this vital area of our team

y Leadership restructure across divisions to ensure consistent and stable leadership teams driving strategy and operations

y Refreshed continuing professional development (CPD) application process to better support ensuring the development of skilled and capable teams

y We are recruiting more colleagues, with more #PAHTPeople joining us soon

Please complete your Staff Survey - you will have now received the survey by email or a paper copy if you are in our estates and facilities team.

Our teams have been working on achieving their improvement plans in response to your feedback.

You can read our This is Us - feedback to action special edition for more information about the progress across our divisions >

Thank you to all of our #PAHTPeople for the difference you continue to make...

Improving patient flow – making it better, together update

As you will know, the last few months has been an extremely busy time for us as we manage the high demand for our services.

National data indicates that 58% of patients who met the discharge criteria in acute hospitals were not discharged, resulting in significant waiting times for patients in emergency departments. Together, we can make a difference and make the experience better for our patients and people. To enhance patient flow and improve patient experience, we are working with teams across PAHT towards the following aims:

y A reduction in hospital admissions where a patient could be cared for in a more appropriate setting

y A reduction in bed occupancy and length of stay (LoS)

y An increase in early discharge of patients (before 12pm)

y The timely identification and reduction of patient delays

y Improving the quality of single referral forms to support complex discharge planning

y Keeping patient readmission rates stable

y Consistent achievement of internal professional and performance standards (IPPS)

We are now sharing our progress on the introduction of the Red2Green programme.

Red2Green is a practical tool to help reduce delays and make every day count for patients who are staying in our inpatient wards. A pilot is currently underway on Locke Ward and Harold Ward, together with implementing the principles of SAFER and the internal professional standards for discharge. When Red2Green, SAFER and the internal professional standards for discharge are followed consistently, this can help to reduce length of stay, enhance patient flow and improve safety outcomes. Take a look at our detailed video which explains the Red2Green project >

SAFER focuses on the following:

y Senior review

All patients will have a senior review before midday by a clinician able to make management and discharge decisions.

y All patients

All patients will have an expected discharge date (EDD) and clinical criteria for discharge (CCD), set by assuming ideal recovery time.

y Flow of patients

To ensure the flow of patients is consistent and to begin the review process at earliest opportunity from assessment units to our inpatient wards.

y Early discharge

Aim to discharge all patients, who are medically fit to do so, by 12pm (midday) every day.

y Review

A multi-disciplinary team (MDT) review of patients with extended lengths of stay to be held regularly to understand how we can discharge them home, where possible.

For more information, please contact Johanna Burge, business change manager, at paht.qualityfirst@nhs.net.

IT top tips

Email: how to work faster and more efficiently

Our IT team are sharing some top tips on how to use Outlook to help you work faster and more efficiently.

Use rules

Use rules to move emails to more relevant folders. A rule can automate many tasks for you. For example, reports can be moved to a report folder (but allow you to keep the unread flag on so you know you haven't read something in the folder). Also, emails from a specific person or email address can be moved to a folder for that person.

To create a rule, click 'rules' and 'create rule' (pictured below).

You have a number of options you can check and amend. Common uses are 'subject contains' and 'move the item to folder' (pictured below).

There are even more advanced rules that allow you to tailor the rule more specifically, such as where your name is in the CC box, you could move the email to a folder called 'for information'.

Or, items marked 'important' could display a desktop alert or be assigned a specific category. The advanced button will take you through a number of steps to allow you to be very specific (pictured overleaf).

IT team win prestigious industry award

Congratulations to our IT team, who were awarded the Digital Transformation Project of the Year Award as part of the Health Tech Digital Awards

The team were awarded for their support and involvement in the new starter

project, helping to ensure a smooth transition from the recruitment stage to people starting their new role at PAHT.

The project involved using new technology to manage the onboarding process.

Well done to all involved.

Charity update...

Well done to our London Marathon runners

Three runners raised money for our charity by taking part in this year’s TCS London Marathon on Sunday 2 October.

Thank you to Shamina, Sam and Lisa - well done on this amazing achievement.

For more information, please contact Gary Taylor, head of charity, at gary.taylor17@nhs.net.

Shamina's story

Sam's story

story

Local pupil gets creative to raise funds for our charity

A young pupil has shown his support for our hospital by raising funds for our charity.

Kyle, aged six, from Harlow, created rainbow themed keyrings made from modelling clay as part of his homework and sold them at his primary school, raising £40 for the maternity department.

Gary Taylor, head of charity, said: “A huge thank you to Kyle for taking the time to create the fantastic keyrings and raise funds for our maternity department.

“Kyle is a kind-hearted young person who wanted to give back to our amazing NHS workers after their hard work

and dedication to support the local community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are so grateful for every donation that we receive, no matter how big or small. If you have any ideas on how you would like to raise funds for our charity, please get in touch by emailing paht.fundraising@ nhs.net.”

Giuseppe Labriola, director of midwifery and gynaecology, said: “A huge thank you and well done to Kyle for raising the funds for our department. This is a very kind gesture and will be greatly appreciated by each and every one of our hard working team.

“We are always so pleased to welcome back women, birthing people and their families, who we have supported to bring their bundle of joy into the world.

“It was a pleasure to meet Kyle and see his mum again, who we supported throughout her labour as she gave birth to a baby boy last September. Thank you again.”

Information governance team scoops double award nomination

The information governance team has received a double nomination for the National Health and Social Care Strategic Information Governance Network (SIGN) Awards.

The SIGN has a number of established network groups across England, which are regularly attended by information governance professionals. The networks enable colleagues to share best practice and resources.

The awards aim to recognise and celebrate colleagues who demonstrate excellence within

the information governance field.

The team has been nominated for the Information Governance Team of the Year Award and Tracy Goodacre, data protection officer and information governance

manager, has been nominated for the Information Governance Professional of the Year Award.

Tracy Goodacre said: “We are thrilled to have been nominated for the awards and to see our efforts and teamwork widely recognised.

“We work extremely hard behind the scenes, putting our patients and people at the heart of everything that we do, and keeping those that we care for safe. There are lots of exciting projects in the pipeline over the next year, and we look forward to working collaboratively with

our colleagues on the new initiatives.”

Phil Holland, chief information officer, said: “Our information governance team play a pivotal role in the daily running of our hospital and I am proud to see them recognised for their hard work and dedication.

“The team provide specialist advice, guidance, and support to ensure our people are

equipped with the knowledge in how to handle and manage patient, personal and sensitive information in a legal, confidential, secure, and efficient way.

“They continuously demonstrate enthusiasm and a positive approach to support developments and improvement projects across the hospital, to deliver the highest quality care and

experiences for our patients.

Congratulations team - well deserved.”

Improving antibiotic usage at PAHT - how you can support

Recent data (pictured above) shows us that we are the highest prescriber of antibiotics as defined daily dose (DDD) per 1000 admissions, in the East of England and second highest in England.

We need your support to raise awareness and understanding of our antibiotic usage at PAHT, and to increase antibiotics compliance and improve our practices, in line with our guidelines >

Why is it so important to reduce our antibiotic usage?

y Antimicrobial resistance

Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics causes antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

y Global health threat

AMR is one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity as reported by the World Health Organisation

y Improving patient safety

Appropriate antibiotic prescribing and administration

reduces AMR, medication errors, reduced bloodstream and skin or soft tissue infections

y Improving capacity and flow across the hospital Data has shown that prescribing and administering antibiotics, in line with our guidelines, can help to reduce patient length of stay

y Releases more time for our clinical teams to care for our patients

y Reduces unnecessary cost

Key actions for you

y Please cascade this message to your teams and lead by example

y Indication, duration and requesting clinician must be recorded under the antibiotic indication and duration note on JAC

y Move patients from IV to oral antibiotics after 72 hours or less, where possible

y Think ahead to carefully select which patients require antibiotics - this will support our efforts to reduce antimicrobial resistance

y

and healthcare associated infections

Familiarise yourself with the AWARE acronym (right) which details the antibiotics that should only be used in exceptional circumstances (under the watch and reserve category), where clinically required.

The MicroGuide Appdownload now Please ensure that you have downloaded the MicroGuide App from your smartphone App store. Alternatively, you can scan the QR code (pictured right), or visit this link to download the App >

The App allows you to access our antibiotic guidelines and policy on your smartphone at any time.

Thank you for your support

with this critically important improvement project, which is essential in our efforts to improve patient care, experience and outcomes.

Marking World Patient Safety Day

The fourth World Patient Safety Day, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), took place on 17 September. We supported the event to highlight our efforts and achievements in improving patient safety. This year’s theme was medication safety, which is a high priority for the NHS as a whole and PAHT.

At PAHT, there are many ways that we are improving medication safety and care of our patients, including:

• Involving our patients and their families in their own care by asking them to let us know which medications they take currently and advise how to take medications safely once they are discharged from hospital

• Building a safety culture by learning from previous medication safety errors

• Developing our standard operating procedures and medication safety policies

• Responding to national safety alerts quickly and efficiently to ensure that they reflect our local practice

• Modernising our medicines management through the use of electronic prescribing and advancements in aseptic production, which provides a sterile environment where chemotherapy treatments and cutting-edge clinical trials medicines can be safely prepared

• Collaboration with the wider Integrated Care System (ICS) by sharing discharge medications with community pharmacies via Pharmaoutcomes©, this ensures that medicine changes and medicine information is safely and effectively communicated between primary and secondary care colleagues

Thank you to everyone involved.

World Sepsis Day

For World Sepsis Day (13 September), the dedicated sepsis team raised awareness of the potentially life-threatening disease.

Sepsis occurs when the body's response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multi-organ failure, and death - especially if it has not been recognised early and treated promptly. Although treatable, 48,000 people die from sepsis per year.

The aim of the sepsis team is to improve the outcomes for our patients with sepsis and reduce mortality. The latest figures show that we have achieved this, by implementing the following improvements:

y Maintaining good practice

with the delivery of Sepsis 6 interventions within one hour of the patient showing signs of suspected or confirmed sepsis.

y Improving medical documentation of sepsis and reviewing clinical coded notes to ensure accurate reporting

y Introducing sepsis champions across the wards to deliver ongoing training

and education sessions

y Following the sepsis pathway that includes a senior review within one hour, in line with NICE guidance

Did you know?

y Everybody can get sepsis; however, certain people are at even higher risk, including people with a weakened immune system, adults over the age of 60, children under the age of one, people with no spleen and people with chronic diseases

y The symptoms of sepsis are slurred speech or confusion, extreme shivering or muscle pain/fever, passing no urine all day, severe breathlessness, mottled or discoloured skin.

Keep moving and think falls

Everyone is responsible for falls prevention, and the issue of patient deconditioning is a challenge, now more than ever.

Evidence shows us that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on all of our activity levels, particularly among older adults. Deconditioning can reduce muscle strength and balance, and in turn can increase your risk of a fall.

Falls Prevention Awareness Week, which ran from 18-24 September, was a nationwide effort to raise awareness around falls and how to prevent injuries.

Throughout the week, Andy Dixon, falls prevention lead, visited our ward areas and departments to share important information and tips on how we can help prevent falls.

Teams also played their part by wearing their pyjamas into work (pictured above), to highlight the importance of

getting patients up, dressed, and moving, and the positive impact this can have on their road to recovery. There was an opportunity to take part in a falls prevention themed quiz - the winner will receive a £20 Amazon voucher, which will be announced at the This is Us briefing on Tuesday 4 October (12:30pm).

Our patients said...

"I was treated at your hospital recently, where I had surgery.

"I just want to pass on my thanks and feedback to the staff in children's A&E. The care was second to none.

"They made a terrifying situation bearable. Thank you so, so much, you are amazing."

"I want to thank the doctor who did the procedure, the doctor who did the biopsy and all the nurses in the procedure room.

"They were all so warm and looked after me so well. They all made my fear disappear.

"My appreciation to them and the other nurses in the room for what they did and what it means to me."

"I would like to thank all staff in recovery and surgery, who were excellent."

Divisional update: Clinical support services (CSS)

"We recognise and appreciate the continuing commitment from our dedicated people in CSS division, who work to support and enable the PAHT recovery programme and during times of increased operational pressure to deliver care to our patients. We are very grateful to the teams in the outpatients' administration department (OAD) who contacted over 1000 patients in response to the arrangements for the Bank Holiday for Her Majesty the Queen's funeral.

"We are excited to announce that the new pharmacy aseptic unit being sited in Arundel House will provide a fit for purpose facility which is fully compliant with current standards of Good Manufacturing Practice. Due to open in spring next year, it will replace the aging unit on the lower ground floor pharmacy corridor, which has suffered breakdowns and floods over the last few years, causing disruption to patients’ treatments. The new unit will enable the pharmacy to provide a reliable source of chemotherapy and related medicines for our haematology and oncology patients.

"We would like to welcome our new rotational pharmacists, Stephen Franklin, Matthew Oliver, Ifedayo Fakokunde, Dyadine Abdou Block, Mahima Choudhury, Pavan Natt and Noor Kassem. Radiology have welcomed four out of seven international radiographers this month. They are arriving from Nigeria, India and Jamaica and during their preceptorship with PAHT will also be given named pastoral support by their existing PAHT colleagues. These radiographers will support the delivery of services and provide a much-needed boost to the staffing in the department. We look forward to meeting them all. There will be continued pipeline recruitment within radiology over the coming months including two Health Education England funded posts. Radiology nursing have also seen staff nurse Sajan Abraham and sister Sneha Rajkumar join their teamwelcome both. Additionally, outpatients have welcomed a new sister, Amy Shillaker.

"The pathology team have recently had a successful UKAS inspection where the teams were all praised and recognised by the external inspectors for their engagement and commitment to their service. The consultant element was also successful and the team were highly praised. The mortuary team have also been preparing for their part of the UKAS inspection which will be reported later this month.

"The division has launched a new project which aligns to the PAHT2030 digital strategy, the medical administration project, supported by our colleagues in Quality First. Thank you to all colleagues who attended and engaged with the first workshops and will help to shape the future of the administration function within PAHT."

The clinical support services divisional management team

Wise about wellbeing...

While you are caring for our patients, or supporting those who provide care, it is extremely important to remember to focus on your wellbeing and to check in with your colleagues too. There are a wide variety of resources available to you to support your health and wellbeing. Each month, we are sharing practical information and tips as part of our wise about wellbeing feature. This month, we are focusing on how you can support others when you are concerned about their mental health.

World Suicide Prevention Day

On 10 September, we marked World Suicide Prevention Day. The awareness day aims to encourage people not to be afraid to talk about suicidal thoughts and feelings if they are worried about someone. Every 90 seconds, someone in the UK or Ireland takes their own life. If someone is feeling suicidal, it might be hard to discuss this with them. They might be distant or distracted or feel disconnected from the world and their own emotions and might not respond right away. If someone does let you know they are having suicidal thoughts, always take them seriously. You don’t have to be an expert, just being there to listen and showing you care can help them work through what’s going on. Let them know they are not alone and there is always someone they can turn to – whether it is a family member or friend, or a 24/7 helpline. Remember that it is ok not to be ok, and there is a range of information and support available to help you or a loved one that you are concerned about on the NHS website and on AlexNet.

Suicide awareness seminar Mind in West Essex are hosting a suicide awareness seminar on a range of dates, aimed at all colleagues. The one-hour seminar, Start the conversation, will support you to recognise suicidal behaviours and risk factors, know what to say to someone at risk, and offer the right support and signposting to the appropriate help. You can access more information and book your place here >

As shared in the last Wise about wellbeing feature, we also encourage you to seek support from our trained mental health first aiders and NHS 111. For more information, please refer to the staff health and wellbeing workspace on AlexNet.

#PAHTPeople - making a difference

Welcome to our consultant midwife

A warm welcome to Seyi Akinlaja (pictured right), our first ever consultant midwife, who joined us last month.

We look forward to working with you to provide high quality care and experiences for our women, birthing people and their families. #ISaidYesToPAHT.

Volunteers get ready to support our patients and our people

Our fantastic compassionate care (Namaste) volunteers attended their first simulation training session to gain valuable non-clinical skills and experience of the hospital setting in a safe and controlled environment.

The training session has been specifically tailored for our compassionate care volunteers and will be delivered to all new volunteers who join the team to help enhance care and experiences for our patients and people. Thank you to Jayne Moscow, compassionate care voluntary services coordinator, and the learning and education team for supporting the training session. Pictured: Compassionate care (Namaste) volunteers at the training session.

Share your proudest moments and take part in Lance's digital diary

We are pleased to share your successes as part of the proudest moments at PAHT briefing each week.

It is also fantastic to showcase your work as part of Lance's digital diary - Lance visits a new area every fortnight.

Please contact us at paht.communications@nhs.net to feature in the next proudest moments selection or for Lance to visit your ward or department to film his digital diary. We look forward to hearing from you.