InTouch magazine - February - March 2023

February 2023 - March 2023

InTouch

Sir Rod Stewart

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

In this edition, you can read about two special visits to our hospital in recent weeks. We welcomed Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, and Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, to the emergency department (ED) and Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) Unit on 27 January (p.4). On 24 February, Sir Rod Stewart, singer and songwriter, visited a mobile MRI unit at The Princess Alexandra Hospital, having kindly funded a day’s worth of scans for our patients (p.3).

You will have begun to hear about the Patients – Quality – Productivity (PQP) programme across your divisions. Helping to deliver our PAHT2030 strategy, PQP is our approach to ensuring that we focus on improving the quality of care and experiences for our patients, while driving forward our productivity and financial efficiencies. You can find out more and how to share your ideas on p.5.

We have reached a major milestone for our new electronic health record (EHR), having signed the contract last week – you can read more on p.6. Additionally, please take a look at our latest update on the new hospital (p.6).

We also cover the appointment of Giuseppe Labriola as our new deputy chief nurse (p.7) and the achievements of teams including maternity (p.8), dermatology (p.7), IT (p.9) and radiology (p.13) – well done all.

In addition, you can read the latest updates from our charity (p.12), feedback from our patients (p.14), wellbeing tips (p.15), 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.

I hope you enjoy the read.

Best wishes

Lance McCarthy Chief executive

Sir Rod Stewart visits our hospital after paying for patients' scans

Our radiology team welcomed Sir Rod Stewart, singer and songwriter, for a special visit to the mobile MRI unit on 24 February.

Sir Rod kindly funded a day’s worth of scans for patients who require a MRI scan which are carried out at the InHealth mobile unit in Harlow. The funds were used to cover the hire and use of the equipment, maintenance and operational costs.

The mobile unit is an additional resource to the existing two MRI scanners at the hospital, enabling an extra 20-25 patients to be scanned in a day.

Edmund Devlin, who received an MRI scan, said: “I’m here to have a much-needed MRI scan as I’m in a lot of pain and it’s really difficult to walk at the moment. Hopefully, they will be able to find out what is wrong and go from there. It’s a really generous thing of Sir Rod to do, and I am very thankful.”

When visiting the hospital, Sir Rod Stewart said: “It’s been an honour to fund the MRI scans taking place today at PAHT. Early detection and MRI scans are so essential in protecting your health.

“If this is a big success, which I think it will be, I’d like to do it in Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, and just keep it going, and hope some

other people follow me.

“Bless the NHS workers, they work so hard. Thank you for the invitation.”

Stephanie Lawton, chief operating officer, said: “It has been fantastic to work with Sir Rod and we are grateful for his donation and support.

“We have been able to scan between 20-25 additional patients today, which will help to reduce our waiting list by 10%, and move those patients onto the next stage of their diagnosis and treatment.

“A huge thank you to Sir Rod and we would be delighted to work with him again in the future.”

Welcoming Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner for special visit

We also welcomed Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner for a special visit on 27 January.

Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, and Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, visited the emergency department (ED) and Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) Unit.

They had the opportunity to meet colleagues and find out more about the increasing demand for emergency care services and plans for a new hospital.

Following the visit to The Princess Alexandra Hospital, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner attended the Harlow Ambulance Station to meet with their teams.

Speaking after the visit, Keir Starmer said: "Visiting your hospital today, it was clear to me that each and every one of you are working over and above to meet the care needs of the local area.

"The NHS is personal for me. My wife works in the NHS, her sister works in the NHS, and my sister is a care worker. I know how hard you are all working, in often challenging circumstances. On behalf of the Labour Party, I want to thank you for everything you do."

Lance McCarthy, chief executive, said: “We were delighted to welcome Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner to our hospital today.

“It was fantastic to introduce them to our amazing people and showcase the services we provide.

“Thank you to Keir and Angela and our teams who took part in the special visit.”

Hattie Llewelyn-Davies, chair, added: “We were proud to have the opportunity to demonstrate the wonderful achievements of our people and their hard work and dedication.

“My thanks to all involved – it was a great occasion."

Pictured above and below: Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner meeting our teams.

Patients - Quality - Productivity programme - helping deliver PAHT2030

Putting our patients at heart – make it count

The Patients – Quality –Productivity programme, helping to deliver our PAHT2030 strategy, is our approach to ensuring that we focus on improving the quality of care and experiences for our patients, while driving forward our productivity and financial efficiencies.

You will be aware that postCOVID, we are experiencing challenges in meeting demand from our community, both in waiting times for urgent and emergency care and for planned care, such as outpatient appointments and surgery. We are also in a financially challenging position, anticipating approximately a £24m underlying deficit for this financial year (2022/23).

We have seen a decrease in productivity of 20% since the end of 2019/20, meaning our clinical colleagues are seeing and treating less patients, which impacts on waiting lists.

Some of the reasons for our overall operational and financial position include the impact of COVID-19, increased demand for our services, and changes in the income we receive.

We all need to work together to improve our services for our patients. You will hear your divisional leadership teams discussing Patients – Quality

– Productivity plans and your ideas for innovation and ways to improve in your areas are welcomed. Please get involved to make the care you deliver more efficient and make a difference to our patients.

Our aims are:

y Patients – improve patient safety, quality, experience and outcomes

y People – support our people so they can consistently provide the highest quality of care

y Performance – recovery of backlogs, better access to services and improve patient flow

y Places – improve our environments and maximise utilisation of our clinical spaces

y Pounds – achieve sustainable financial savings as a result of improvements across the five Ps

Quality improvement, productivity and financial sustainability are closely linked – by improving these we will achieve our aims for our patients. The PQP programme, together with our

vision, our values and helping to deliver our PAHT2030 strategic priorities, is essential to the future of PAHT as a modern, integrated and outstanding place to receive care for our patients and to work for our people.

Please contact your line manager with ideas of how you could improve quality of care, productivity and financial efficiencies in your area in the first instance. It is time to be different and innovative change is encouraged. The Project Management Office (PMO) team will then work with you to support you to develop and implement your ideas – they can be contacted at paht.pmo@nhs.net.

Please look out for more updates on the Patients – Quality – Productivity programme coming soon.

Major milestone for our new electronic health record

A message from Lance McCarthy, chief executive I am delighted to announce that last week our chair, Hattie Llewelyn-Davies, and I signed the contract with Oracle Cerner to deliver our new electronic health record (EHR).

Oracle Cerner has a very strong track record in successfully implementing EHR systems at other NHS

Trusts as well as hospitals in the United States and Europe and we're very confident that they will deliver the best system possible for PAHT.

This is a huge milestone in a very important project. The EHR is one of the biggest

transformation programmes PAHT has ever seen. It is core to the delivery of our digital strategy and the strategic priorities in PAHT2030.

For more information about PAHT's electronic health record and the benefits it will bring, please visit AlexNet >

Making the clinical case for our new hospital

A message from Sharon McNally, chief nurse and deputy chief executive To help form our clinical case for our new hospital, we facilitated a visit around our hospital site with the New Hospital Programme (NHP) team on 23 February.

The visit was an opportunity for us to be honest with the NHP team about the challenging conditions of our ageing estate and why those conditions make it even harder for us to maintain high quality care for our patients every day.

Feedback included: "The pungent smell is still coming through the shower drain - so much so that I cannot shower" - patient feedback

Throughout the visit, many of our people shared their experiences and challenges they face whilst caring for our patients because of the current environment. Thank you for your honesty and candour, it was important that we showed the NHP team what life is really like working at PAHT.

"When your estate constrains your decisions in developing the clinical model, rather than the other way around, you always have

to make compromises that don't put patients first and make it difficult to deliver the high-quality care that we are here for." - Dr

Fay Gilder, medical director

The NHP team will use the visit to inform the development of the New Hospital Programme pre-consultation business case that will eventually go to the Treasury for decision. We will keep you updated.

My thanks again to everyone who took part in the visit - it was a really important moment to show first-hand why we so desperately need our new hospital.

Appointment of new deputy chief nurse

Giuseppe Labriola, who is currently our director of midwifery, gynaecology and assistant chief nurse (pictured), has been appointed as our new deputy chief nurse, following a competitive recruitment process.

Giuseppe joined PAHT two years ago, from his previous role as the associate director of nursing and midwifery at Newham Hospital, part of Barts Health NHS Trust. He is dual qualified as a registered nurse and registered midwife. He has experience of working in trauma and orthopaedics, haematology and oncology and

more recently, women’s health.

Giuseppe said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have been appointed as deputy chief nurse. I look forward to working alongside our amazing people to deliver and maintain high quality clinical care and experiences for those who use our services.”

A huge thank you to Sarah Webb, our current deputy chief nurse, who retires in April, after a long and successful career in the NHS. We wish you all the best and a wonderful retirement.

Dermatology service improvements

Well done to our dermatology service, who have significantly improved their performance standards, as outlined below:

y The two week wait performance has improved from 27% (September 2022) to 93% (January 2023). This means that 93% of patients were seen within two weeks of referral

y The 28 day faster diagnosis standard has improved from 82% (September 2022) to 93.5% (December 2022). This means that we diagnosed 93.5% of patients on a cancer pathway within 28 days

y The number of patients waiting over 62 days for treatment has reduced from

26 patients (October 2022) to eight currently and the team are working towards reducing this further y Paediatric patients who require a routine appointment are seen within three to four weeks – the national standard is 18 weeks.

To achieve this, the team

carried out a thorough review and analysis into their processes and performance and set a clear plan to improve and remain on track. This included reducing the number of insourcing companies (extra support) to carry out clinics, ensuring that our patients are seen by the right clinician, at the right time, and maximising clinic utilisation. The dermatology consultants also adopted a proactive approach and allowed a level of flexibility in their clinic templates to see fast track referral patients and to help clear the waiting list.

A huge thank you to all involved – this demonstrates how truly living our values can make a real difference.

Maternity department secures prestigious baby friendly gold award

Our maternity team has received the prestigious gold award as part of UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Initiative.

The initiative is based on a set of evidence-based standards which are designed to support families with feeding and developing close, loving relationships, to support with optimum health and development.

The maternity department has been accredited as baby friendly since 2016, and were assessed in December (2022) to ensure that standards and leadership were sustained.

The gold award is the highest level of accreditation and PAHT is one of only 16 acute hospitals across the UK to achieve the gold award.

Extracts from the assessment report include: “PAHT is highly commended for the quality of the evidence submitted and the thorough way in which the processes to embed and further develop care related to the Baby Friendly standards has been planned and implemented.

“It is evident that there is robust leadership for the implementation and maintenance of the standards with examples of supporting mothers and colleagues across

all settings and close working relationships with key partners.

“A number of projects were submitted under the progression theme which were underpinned by quality improvement methodology. The whole team are commended for the overall submission.”

Giuseppe Labriola, director of midwifery, gynaecology, and assistant chief nurse, said: “I am incredibly proud to see the team recognised for their hard work and dedication.

“The award reflects our longstanding commitment to supporting breastfeeding and helping parents to build close and loving relationships with their baby, irrespective of feeding method.

“The team is committed to continuing working, developing and shaping the service to

make a difference and meet the needs of women and pregnant people.”

Pictured: Wendy Matthews OBE, chief midwife for the east of England (second left), visited our hospital on 14 February to congratulate the team on receiving the award.

Hospital information technology team scoops double award nomination

Our information technology (IT) team has received a double nomination for the Health Tech Newspaper (HTN) Now Awards 2023.

The team were shortlisted as a finalist for the Excellence in Innovation and Change category and the Digital Clinical Safety and Process Improvement category, which they were also highly commended for.

The HTN is an online platform for the health technology community which offers a unique and in-depth perspective on new technology projects underway.

The awards aim to recognise and celebrate innovations that have made a difference throughout the year. It is also an opportunity to share the innovations to help shape

future services and systems across the health and social care sector.

Jeff Wood, deputy director of ICT, said: “We are extremely pleased to see our efforts and team work widely recognised.

“Over the last few months, we have introduced various automatic testing processes to our clinical systems that are used to support patient flow across the hospital.

Introduction of open visiting

“We have also implemented a combination of robotic automated processes and electronic service referral forms to enhance experiences for both our patients and people.

“I am so proud of the team and look forward to working collaboratively with colleagues across PAHT on future initiatives.”

Phil Holland, chief information officer at PAHT, said: “Our IT team play a vital role in the daily running of our hospital and work so hard behind the scenes to provide an efficient and effective IT service.

“They continuously strive to deliver developments and improvements projects, to enable our teams to deliver high quality care and experiences for our patients. Congratulations team – this recognition is well deserved.”

We have introduced open visiting (since 30 January), enabling adult inpatients to have visitors with greater flexibility any time between 9am and 8pm, seven days a week.

The change was introduced alongside a new visitors' charter that outlines a clear and consistent approach to how visitors can support friends or relatives they are visiting, what is expected of them and how our people will also support. This will ensure that visiting arrangements are beneficial to everyone, including patients, their loved ones and colleagues.

You can read more on our website >

Our clinical column

We recently marked World Cancer Day (4 February), an opportunity to raise awareness of the disease around the globe.

The theme was ‘Closing the Care Gap’, celebrating progress that enables more people to seek and receive the care they need.

One in two people will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime. In the UK, the four most common types of cancer are:

y breast cancer

y lung cancer

y prostate cancer

y bowel cancer

There are over 200 different types of cancer that can cause many different signs and symptoms. Sometimes symptoms affect specific areas of the body, but signs can also be more general, and include weight loss, tiredness (fatigue) or unexplained pain.

Some possible signs of cancer, like a lump, are better known than others. But this doesn’t mean they’re more important or more likely to be cancer. It is important to get any possible symptom of cancer checked out.

Cancer can affect people in different ways. The type of symptoms a person may have can be different to others, and some people don’t have any symptoms. So, you don’t need to remember all the signs

and symptoms of cancer. It’s important to be aware of what is normal for you and speak to your doctor if you notice any unusual changes or something that won’t go away. This can help to diagnose cancer at an early stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful.

Making some simple changes to your lifestyle can significantly reduce your risk of developing cancer, such as:

y healthy eating

y taking regular exercise

y not smoking

At PAHT, we are focused on improving the holistic care we provide to patients with cancer. This has included:

y Promotion of the benefits of exercise, with the 5K Your Way at Harlow Town Park. This is in conjunction with the Move 4 You charity and Parkrun, encouraging exercise and/or a cup of tea and chat to support local people affected by cancer –both patients and loved ones or carers

y We have the Cancer Hair

Care charity on site in our cancer unit providing support to those who experience hair loss as a result of their cancer treatment

y We have also recently launched a complementary therapy service in the cancer unit, provided by the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity

y In addition to this, we have introduced a psychology service in the last year to support as appropriate, and our clinical nurse specialists run some specific cancer support groups

y We also signpost to a Macmillan Cancer Support funded Citizens’ Advice service to ensure the appropriate financial support is available

y We recently secured some funding for a new cancer information and wellbeing centre within the Williams Day Unit on The Princess Alexandra Hospital site for all of our patients with cancer to access. The service will be available on weekdays to provide information and wellbeing services for our patients, with more updates on this coming soon

We encourage you to contact your GP for further advice.

You can read more at www.nhs.uk

Best wishes

Louise Edwards Head of cancer services

Local art student brightens up paediatric ward for children staying in hospital

A local art student has brightened up the children’s ward (Dolphin Ward) at The Princess Alexandra Hospital, creating murals of colourful sea creatures onto windows and walls for children to enjoy.

Abbie Castle, from Letchworth, was inspired after Tess May, paediatric staff nurse on Dolphin Ward, asked for her artistic input. Abbie’s mum is a special educational needs coordinator (SENDCO) at a primary school and she supported by asking students in year five and six classes the types of scenes they would like to see if they were staying in hospital.

After preparing the templates at home, Abbie gave up two days of her own time in December to transform the windows into magical underwater scenes that include dolphins, sea lions and octopuses to brighten up the view for children staying on the ward. She has now returned to finish the project and delivered a marine themed painted board featuring a dolphin, various fish and underwater plants to welcome people to Dolphin Ward.

Tess said: “I have known Abbie for many years and was very impressed with her artistic skills when I saw some of her A level

work, so I asked if she might help us brighten up Dolphin Ward. The underwater scenes she has created have had a truly positive impact and are being enjoyed, not just by the children in our care, but by colleagues and visitors.”

Abbie said: “I was so pleased and honoured to be asked to help brighten up the Dolphin Ward for children staying at the hospital. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity and

creative process and I hope that patients and staff alike love the artwork.”

Sharon McNally, chief nurse and deputy chief executive, added: “My sincere thanks to Abbie for transforming the walls and windows on Dolphin Ward into these magical underwater scenes and brightening the view for the young people in our care.”

Pictured above: Abbie and Tess with some of the artwork. Pictured below left: Some of Abbie's designs.

Charity update...

Camp bed donation to support relatives of patients who are nearing the end of life

A family, whose relative was cared for at PAHT, has purchased camp beds to help families of patients who are nearing the end of their lives to stay with their loved ones in their final days.

The family, from Broxbourne, were inspired by the hospital’s Butterfly Volunteers, who provide invaluable support to patients at the end of their life and their relatives. The volunteers provided a camp bed so that the family could rest properly, whilst being close to their loved one.

Representing his family, Ian Munday said: “We are so grateful to the Harold Ward team and the Butterfly Volunteers for their kindness and compassion throughout a very difficult time.

“The camp bed allowed my father, sister and I to get some rest – it was so practical and something that you wouldn’t necessarily think of, but can make a big difference.

“After realising that camp beds were not widely available at the hospital, and as a token of our appreciation, we decided to raise funds and donate a gift in kind by supplying nine extra camp beds to support other friends and families in similar situations.”

Nicki Harris, Butterfly Volunteer coordinator at PAHT, said: “Our team of Butterfly Volunteers work extremely hard to ensure that every person receives the compassion, comfort, and companionship they wish for at the end of their life.

“A big thank you to the Munday family for their thoughtful and generous donation of the camp beds, which will be welcomed by those who need to use them and provide much needed comfort whilst staying overnight.

“We hope to position a plaque on each camp bed in recognition of their kind gift.”

Gary Taylor, head of charity at The Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Charity, added: “On behalf of the charity, our heartfelt thanks to Mr Munday and his family for this very

generous donation, which will be used by families and visitors who are staying overnight to support loved ones.”

For more information about the Butterfly Volunteers and The Princess Alexandra Hospital's Charity, please visit our website >

Local voluntary service supports the safe and timely discharge of patients

Dedicated teams at PAHT are working in partnership with the Uttlesford Community Action Network (UCAN) to support patients beyond their hospital stay.

UCAN provide a service, called Ticket Home, which supports the safe and timely discharge of patients leaving hospital, who live in Essex.

Kay Cobbold, transfer of care matron at PAHT, said: “We are pleased to offer a joinedup approach with UCAN, to support our patients and help to maintain their independence.

“UCAN volunteers are on hand to collect patients from

the hospital if they have no other means of getting home, arranging the delivery of funded hot meals for up to 14 days, installing a key safe for carer access, moving and receiving furniture into properties in advance of the patient returning home and providing a 48-hour welfare

Radiology team referrals achievements

Last November (2022), our radiology team implemented an application called MedCurrent Clinical Decisions Support (CDS) iRefer.

The application supports the decision-making for all diagnostic referrals sent to us from primary and secondary care settings.

The system recommends the most appropriate test that is required for the patient, based on the data that the clinician has entered into the system.

The recommendations are aligned to existing iRefer guidelines that have been produced and approved by the Royal College of Radiologists.

telephone call after they have been discharged.

“They also support patients by collecting their shopping and prescription deliveries, providing advice and installation of technology enabled care devices, from personal alarms to voiceactivated lights, and signpost to community based support groups.”

For more information and to request a meeting with one of the UCAN team in hospital, call 03333 402 111, email ticket. home@ucan.org.uk, or visit www.ucan.org.uk/tickethome.

Following a recent review, the results show a 25-30% reduction in unnecessary requests that needed to be rejected by consultants. Moving forward, rejected requests will be reviewed regularly to see if any improvements can be made to the system to further reduce this number.

Well done and thank you to all involved with this project.

Our patients said...

"I am writing to convey my thanks to all the urology team for the first class care I received, from the moment I arrived at Netteswell to my discharge from Henry Moore Ward.

"My heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in my care."

"I would like to praise everyone in A&E for being a real credit to our marvellous NHS service, as well as everyone else I liaised with.

"Thank you to all the staff at the hospital for a service that was second to none - superb."

"To all the doctors, nurses and staff on Charnley Ward - thank you for your care and kindness to my loved one while he was in your care."

"To all the staff on Harold Ward - I can't thank you enough for all the care I received."

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 share practical information and tips as part of our wise about wellbeing feature. This month, we are focusing on the next Schwartz Round on 31 March.

The session, held at the lecture theatre at the Learning and Education Centre, will focus on “great minds don’t think alike – neurodiversity at PAHT.” The round will start at 12:15pm and finish around 1.15pm. A light lunch will be served after the round for those able to stay.

All discussions at the sessions are confidential – open to all and no need to book, please just come along on the day.

If you have any questions, or would like to join the panel and share your experience, please contact the Schwartz Round team at paht.schwartzround@nhs.net or call x 7015.

Continuing professional development (CPD)

• Attending the session qualifies for one hour of continuing professional development (CPD).

• To arrange your certificate of attendance, please email the Schwartz Round team at paht.schwartzround@nhs.net in advance.

For more information, please visit the staff health and wellbeing workspace on AlexNet >

Colleagues begin Chief Nurse Fellowship

Our first cohort of PAHT nurses have started the chief nurse fellowship, which is a new and unique professional development programme.

The programme is a fantastic opportunity for the fellows to gain an in-depth understanding of PAHT, the wider NHS, and to support their future career aspirations.

The fellows will need to identify and lead a quality improvement project to enhance patient experience, with the support from their dedicated mentor.

The programme will enable our people to develop their knowledge and skills whilst improving the quality of care and experiences that we provide.

Welcome to our new #PAHTPeople

In the last month, 52 new #PAHTPeople have joined us:

Eunice Agbo

Zara Al-Faham

Kelly Atkins

Daniel Banner

Fatima Batool

Isaac Biokin

Loren Bustos

Paul Carrington

Laurene Ching

Ehmed Chohan

Liza LuElla Davies

Scott De-Friend

Ahmed Elbekiey

David English

David Fagbola

Ellie Falconer

Keearash Fatemi-Ardakani

Megan Fletcher

Cherry Ford

Rosineide Galvao

Mohammed Ghani

Nikita Goel

Leanne Gosling

Garima Gupta

Naveed Haider

Debra Hamby

Mary Harwood

Sara Howard

Sheriece Jackson

Jerrisha Jose

Gurleen Kaur

Amy Keen

Claire Lamacraft

Joanne Lamb

Michelle Long

Mobin Mohanan

Matthulada Norton

Edna Okpara

Saidat Olabiyi

Blessing Oladimeji

Vida Prasse

Mariam Ramzan

Michele Reina

Simona Remsikova

Laura Renker

Nancy Richardson

Eunice Rojo Carrillo

Elizabeth Sanchez

Jitendra Siyani

Linson Thomas

Jade Wickersham

Taryn Williams

In this time, 55 people have left PAHT - thank you for supporting our patients and our people.