Inside:
Issue 54
. March 2011
. Contact us at: membership@smhp.nhs.uk . online: www.smhp.nhs.uk/trustmatters
Welcome to Aidan Thomas Aidan Thomas has joined the Trust as new chief executive, whilst also maintaining his substantive role as chief executive of Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Mark Halladay, former chief executive of the Trust, will leave the organisation at the end of March as previously agreed in the Trusts’ joint plans for a merger to create a new Foundation Trust for the area. This merger is the preferred option
Aidan Thomas
for both Trusts and the NHS East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) but there remains a process to go through with Monitor, the regulator for Foundation Trusts, which will take longer than previously thought to make a decision. The move follows the announcement in February that Mr Thomas, who is currently acting interim chief executive of Suffolk, would become the overall chief executive when the two Trusts merge later this year. The timing of Mr Thomas’ appointment assumed a 1 April merger date, but this has been put back in order for key regulators to have time to assess the application. The earliest date for the merger is now 1 July 2011. However, in order to maintain momentum and stability for the Trust Mr Thomas will be taking up his position in line with the original timetable. Mark Halladay will provide handover support until the end of the month. Trust chairman Lord Newton of Braintree said: “I agree that to bring as early a change as possible to the leadership of the Trust is in the best interests of our service users, staff and the people of Suffolk. “I am extremely grateful to
• Welcome to Aidan Thomas • Commemorating St Clement’s • Fundraising challenge • NHS Professionals update • Getting to know you • Data quality • Spotlight on ADHD • Research in the Trust • E-touch typing • Communications Opinion Group • Fire safety • Information Governance feature • Merger update • Job swap • Access e-books online • Trust is LGB friendly • Letters and compliments Mark for the approach he has taken, which reflects the service he has given to the Trust over seven years. His tenure has seen it go from financial difficulty to financial stability. We now look forward to the opening of our new mental health wards on the Ipswich Hospital site, which will be the most up-to-date mental health inpatient facilities in England. We have achieved the modernisation, with Suffolk County Council, of Learning Disability services throughout the county, while a survey of patient satisfaction rates us better than any other mental health trust in the East of England. As a result, we have a much stronger foundation on which to continue improving the quality of all our services. That will be a key task for the planned single Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. Like Mark, I have no doubt that the right course now is for the intended leadership to take that work forward.” Mr Thomas, who has been the CEO at Norfolk since 2009, thanked Mark for his valuable contribution to the merger process: “I have been working closely with Mark in negotiating the merger and have found him to be extremely dedicated to improving mental health services in East Anglia,” he said. “The merger was proposed by Mark and he has been instrumental in its progress to date. The Trusts will soon be in a position where we will be able to offer the staff of the combined Trust greater opportunities in terms of learning and development, and service users with increased choices for care subject to a final decision by regulators. This could not have been achieved without Mark’s valuable contribution.”
Graham takes on mountains4money Following his 1000 mile fundraising walk from John o’Groats to Land’s End in 2007, programme officer Graham Hart is taking on an even bigger challenge this year. As well as hill walking for more than 70 days, he is hoping to raise a considerable sum for charity… and all in celebration of his 60th birthday! He starts his assault on ‘The Wainwrights’ (214 summits in the Lake District) on 3rd April and hopes to complete the challenge by mid September 2011. With approximately £300 sponsorship per summit he hopes to raise £60,000 for the charity Methodist Relief and
Development Fund (MRDF). MRDF supports more than 40 local community-based organisations in 18 of the poorest countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, helping individuals and communities to transform their lives and become more self-sufficient. “I hope you will support me in this challenge”- Graham Hart For more information please To select a fell just visit visit http://www.mrdf.org.uk. www.mountains4money.co.uk/sponsorship Your department or team could sponsor a summit - there is plenty of time to raise - there are plenty to choose from that £300! All that is needed now is your For more information or help donating support and commitment. The fund will contact julie.irving@smhp.nhs.uk. remain open all year.
NHS Professionals Getting to kn o w yo u Name and job: Eddy Lewis - Trust liaison coordinator, NHS Professionals
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What was the first record you bought? She Loves You - The Beatles “Following significant work on behalf of both staff and NHS P, we have started to see improvements in the number of shifts being filled by NHSP staff and a corresponding reduction in use of agency staff. PMO, the programme management office for the cost improvement programme, would like to thank staff for their efforts which has been key to this improvement; particular thanks must go to Margaret Little and Kae Donnellan who, with Duncan Thorburn from NHSP, have all worked so hard during this turnaround phase ensuring benefits to the trust are starting to be realized. A full report setting out the progress made in recent months will be presented to TX at the end of March. However, in the interim, we would encourage all staff to ensure all shifts are offered through NHS Professionals and to continue to work with the NHS Professionals liaison team as necessary. PMO will continue to hold monthly performance meetings with NHS Professionals and we welcome feedback from staff using NHS Professionals either to PMO at pmo@smhp.nhs.uk or via Margaret or Kae.
Marmite… love it or hate it? Love it What do you love most about your job? Interacting with people Summer or winter? Summer What was your very first job? A postman If you were a superhero, what one power would you have? Make world peace What is your favourite television programme? Only Fools and Horses When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? A pilot Where is your favourite place to eat? Any Indian restaurant or Nando’s If you won the lottery, what would you buy? A new house
Top marks for data quality! All staff within the clinical teams are to be congratulated on improvements to the Trust’s data quality within ePEX. The completeness, quality and timeliness of data are measured by the NHS Information Centre which produces national figures. The Information centre reports data quality on items such as patient details, care planning, referrals, CPA, assessments and improvements on breaches of standards which have been identified within the Trusts Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS). Nationally the Trust has been ranked 19th out of 74 organisations, ahead of Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, which came 29th and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, which came 58th. Adult Community East and Adult Community West showed the biggest improvements during the calendar year 2010 with improvements of 28.8% and 26.7% respectively. Mental Health and Social Care improved by 18.8% and Specialist Services by 16.1%. Overall Suffolk’s data completeness was an impressive 98.3 per cent. The results show that the efforts made by staff have really made a difference. Chief executive Mark Halladay says: “These results are really something we should celebrate. The achievement is largely down to four factors – a real push by staff, a sustained focus on continuous improvement, enhanced training and support from the informatics service as well as increased functionality and use MIS, the Management Information System.”
Spotlight on ADHD services: piloting evening appointments and service user stories Following feedback from service users alongside parents’ and children’s views of and families, the Trust’s ADHD (attention the service.” deficit hyperactivity disorder) service is offering evening appointments. In addition to the new evening ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed appointments two service users have psychiatric disorder in children. Attention kindly offered to share their stories: deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is caused by a chemical imbalance in the Christopher, 16, from Needham brain affecting the parts controlling Market, describes how he came to be attention, concentration and impulsivity. diagnosed at around ten years old. It causes difficulties with filtering out all “Teachers at middle school were concerned. the information coming into the brain, I suffered from bad behaviour, was hard to which causes the child to be easily control and would not listen. When I was on distracted. ADHD usually begins before medication I felt different and no longer the age of seven and affects 3-5% of snapped at people and could concentrate. I children. also had meetings with SMHP practitioners Evening appointments are now which helped me to manage my feelings and available in Ipswich at Ivry House once suggested ways to stop getting angry. Now a month. Kelley Osman, service line I’m off medication and in the first year of a manager, said: “Families told us that three year bricklaying course at Suffolk New having to take children out of school for College which is going well.” appointments was disruptive and can mean parents/carers having to take time off work. Also car parking at Ivry House Kelley added: “This client group often have complex presentations, and ranging often causes real problems for families. We’re trying the new evening severity of needs. We find the direct work with children and families very rewarding. appointments on a trial basis and will We are fortunate to develop long term review it after three months. We will audit the efficiency of the evening clinics relationships with families as treatment
Matthew, 21, from Ipswich developed problems whilst at primary school. “I wasn’t badly behaved but I was irritable,“ he says. “I talked a lot and did not concentrate and both the teachers and Mum and Dad noticed it. When I was about eight and I was put on Ritalin, which is fine but I’m now on something different. I was discharged from the ADHD service a month ago but am being referred to a new consultant. Now I’m an IT controller for a company in Stowmarket.” often lasts several years, if it continues to provide symptom relief. We continue to increase our knowledge with every family and young person we meet and I am very fortunate to have a highly specialised and dedicated team. “We still however come across individuals or agencies who have many misconceptions or pre-conceived ideas about what ADHD is, and often challenge its existence. It is our role to share our knowledge with the wider community to benefit the family’s experience of our services.”
Lauren talks about research in the Trust inform services to allow for future planning and an understanding of the people that develop this type of mental illness or the people that may be of a higher risk. There is also a study in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) looking at adolescents suffering from moderate to severe depression. The project is comparing three treatments: CBT, short term psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and treatment as usual in the hope of seeing which is more effective for whom. Suffolk recruited its first patient in August 2010 and continues to recruit with the help of this service. The Trust also supports clinical trials with a one running at the moment which invites patients with schizophrenia and mania associated with bipolar disorder to take part. This study aims to evaluate the short term safety of a new formulation of the antipsychotic medication Seroquel with the older preparation known as Quetiapine.
Lauren Wright, clinical studies officer As a research network we are always interested in getting people involved or just spreading the research ethic. If anybody is interested we are hosting a National Scientific Meeting on the 6th to the 8th of April and you can get the details by visiting www.mhrn.info. Alternatively if you have a general interest in a specific topic and would be willing to be contacted or would like to receive a copy of our newsletter please don’t hesitate to contact me on Lauren.wright@smhp.nhs.uk.
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My name is Lauren Wright and I work for the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN). The MHRN has eight different hubs around the UK with your local one being the East Anglia Hub. As a hub we cover a large area including Cambridge, Peterborough, Bedford, Norwich and Suffolk. The hub is home to clinical studies officers (CSO’s) who support and facilitate mental health research within the area. I am based at St Clements Hospital and my role involves promoting the network as well as supporting numerous projects within the Trust. I would like to mention a few of the studies and the teams involved with them to highlight the research that is taking place. Thanks to the Suffolk Early Intervention into Psychosis team (SEIPS) one study is looking at first episode psychosis in a rural community. This study has been running since August 2009 and will continue for 3 1/2 years. This study is hoping to collect information that will
Improve productivity and efficiency! e-touch typing is our on-line course available for all staff – in a matter of weeks, with just a few minutes practice a day, you could improve your working life as well as increase your productivity and efficiency in using your pc or laptop. Touch typing skills have also been shown to reduce repetitive strain injury. Here is what one of our satisfied staff members had to say about the course: “My name is Emily Linsell, I am 6 months into my first job as an admin assistant at the Redwald Unit, St Clements Hospital. I registered with the e-touch typing course as I wanted to gain experience and improve my efficiency of typing. When I saw this course advertised I thought it would be good for me as it was an online course and I could do it when I was able to. “I did the lessons for about 20 – 30 minutes most days; I started the middle of December and finished middle of January, however I was a good typist already but wanted to learn the art of touch typing. I found the course difficult to start with as I had to adjust to new ways of typing, however I got used to the way I needed to type and I am now up to 40 WPM and am going to carry on practicing to gain more speed. I feel that the end result is very good, I am able to type with more ease and I am looking forward to gaining more speed, I highly recommend this as you are able to do the course in your own time and the end result is very positive.“ With a bit of dogged determination anyone can achieve the art and skill of touch typing. To find out more e-mail it.training@smhp.nhs.uk, visit our website www.suffolkittraining.nhs.uk or call the Service Desk to request more information on 01473 329444.
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Let’s communicate! If you want to help make communication informative, timely and proactive then – you can! The communications team run a Staff Communications Opinion Group, which brings together staff from different directorates to discuss key issues affecting staff morale. It doesn’t matter if you work for Suffolk Support Services, in a clinical area or in corporate services the group is open to staff from any area! Denise Hender, work life balance team manager, said: “The Group allows a twoway conversation for staff like me to say what the real feelings are in the Trust. At a previous meeting I brought up the issue of some support staff not knowing enough about the merger. This feedback helped to set up the corporate and support staff merger meetings, giving staff a chance to put questions directly to Mark Halladay.”
How should we commemorate the history of St Clement's? As it opens new wards on the Ipswich Hospital site, the Trust is planning the move from its current base at St Clement's Hospital. The plan is for the St Clement's site to be vacated during 2011 - the site itself is earmarked for housing but as yet the Trust does not have a buyer. Archaeological works have already been carried out on the site in preparation for it being put on the market. The move is being coordinated through the Trust's estates strategy, implemented by David Leckie, director of environmental performance. Because the Trust had already planned to move from St Clement's prior to the idea for a merger with Norfolk, the headquarters for the merged organisation will initially be Norfolk's current base at Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich. However, the Trust has identified several possibilities to retain administration bases in Ipswich following the closure of St Clement's - having Hellesdon as a headquarters does not mean that St Clement's based staff will be required to work from Norfolk. The Trust is working with Red Rose Theatre and Inside Out on a project funded by grants and charitable donations that will commemorate the closure of St Clement's Hospital later this year. New wards being built on the Ipswich Hospital site will
replace the outdated wards at St Clement's. The closing of St Clement's is a milestone in local history and will mark the end of the era for this Victorian asylum in east Suffolk. The hospital has had a huge impact on many people and has a history and social significance. The story of St Clement's Hospital has never been told. This exciting project will mark the closure of the hospital, help people learn the history and social significance of St Clement's Hospital. Its core aims are: • to conserve and signify the history and heritage of St Clement's Hospital by documenting its journey through 140 years of serving the local community. • to engage a wide range of the community to take an active part in this heritage project including mental health service users, their families, residents, past and present staff and those in the community that have no experience of St. Clement's. • to help people to learn about the history of St Clement's whilst promoting awareness and understanding around mental health. We have created an online survey so that you can tell us what you think of the project so far. Your feedback is extremely important to us, and will help to inform the development of the project. Please find a link on the Intranet or public website. For a paper copy please email
Information Governance
information.team@smhp.nhs.uk
Where are we now? Missing Health Records – Working Guidance
ThInk Privacy
Records management
The new way of working with patient data The SMHP Pseudonymisation Implementation is scheduled to complete on the 1st of April 2011. The implementation of pseudonymisation will mean that all staff must use deidentified patient data when making ‘secondary use’ of patient data, that is, when using patient data for purposes that are not directly related to the safe care of the patient. It is NHS policy and a legal requirement that when patient data is used for purposes not involving the direct care of the patient (i.e. secondary use), the patient should not be identified. This is set out clearly in the NHS policy document, ‘NHS Confidentiality Code of Practice’, which states the need to ‘effectively anonymise’ patient data prior to the secondary usage being made of the data, unless other legal means hold, such as the patient’s consent or section 251 (of the NHS Act 2006) approval. The overall aim of the Pseudonymisation Implementation is to: - Facilitate the legal and secure use of patient data for secondary purposes, - To discontinue the use of
identifiable data in non-direct care related work wherever possible, so as to respect patient confidentiality, and - To comply with the law. Within SMHP, several pieces of work have been carried out to ensure the Trust achieves pseudonymisation compliance by 01 April 2011. The work that has been carried out includes the restriction of patient identifiable data to authorised users e.g. - The application of security on MIS and IRIS to ensure access to patient identifiable data is only to staff with a legitimate reason. - The creation of pseudonyms on the Trust data warehouse to enable the use of pseudonymised data for non-care uses. To put this in context, in the Finance dept, it is now possible to calculate the cost of delivering health to individual patients using effectively anonymised data. - Communicating the messages of pseudonymisation to staff. In March 2011, the pseudonymisation Project Manager will be visiting several areas in the Trust, to assist staff in understanding these new ways of working. To support implementation, the following guidance document is currently under consultation on the Trust intranet: Access to patient identifiable data policy Safe Haven Procedures. For more information visit the Intranet page under Projects > Informatics Work Programme.
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The IT Department has successfully enhanced the Trusts network, PC and Laptop security as part of the Th!nk Privacy campaign. All ‘untrusted’ removable media devices have been removed from the trusts network. These changes have been made in response to a number of recent high profile information security breaches in other Trusts and are to minimise the risk of secure information leaving our network without the appropriate controls in place. Find the Th!nk Privacy TMTV under Staff support > Newsletters / Make it Count.
To support the Records Management Strategy there has been a record management project underway since November 2010. Part of this initiative involves planning the relocation of paper records following changes to the premises where we currently provide care. This work will align localised process, trust policy and IG standards. As part of this work and to assist the management of risks associated with availability of paper health records, SMHP has put in Punna Athwall, health records project manager place procedures for been approved by the Information monitoring the availability of paper Governance Security Group and has health records and tracing missing completed its formal consultation period. records. The Missing Health After final approval the document will be Records – Working Guidance has published on the Intranet.
Pseudonymisation
Information Governance Toolkit v8
Compliance with Information Governance (IG) standards is compulsory for all NHS organisations. The standards are updated annually and provide the necessary safeguards to ensure the appropriate use of patient and personal information. The Trust is performing well in the following areas: Information Governance Management clear IG framework with underpinning policies and procedures Information Security Assurance - there are documented information security incident / event reporting and suitable representation from the SIRO Secondary Use Assurance - ongoing improvements in data quality including completeness and validity checks for data. The following under performing areas will be tackled over the next few months: Clinical Coding – clinical coding training programme and relevant management information Information Governance Training Toolkit – 95% target for all staff to complete online IG training Part of the IG requirements for 2010/11 is that 95% of staff (permanent staff and staff on 3 month plus temporary contracts) must have received basic training using the NHS Information Governance Training Toolkit (IGTT). Staff in the categories below must initially work through the relevant mandatory module(s) and pass the assessment: all staff with routine access to personal information must do ‘Introduction to Information Governance’ and all other staff must do ‘Information Governance - The Beginner’s Guide’. Don’t wait... get started today!
The unit that I work within as a staff nurse has recently completed the shift handover module of the Productive Mental Health Ward programme. This module was chosen so that the handover process could be improved to ensure that they are more patient focused and that they provide a more efficient and effective system of communicating relevant information to staff between shifts. It linked in with a degree module that I was undertaking regarding implementing change in practice. The process that I took to implement a positive change was to circulate a questionnaire made of several open questions to gain staff feed back about the pros and cons of the current handover and changes that the staff team would like to see implemented. The previous handover had no set format and staff often felt relevant information was missed. The team worked together to decide the changes by using the hairdryer/PDSA cycle – see Trust Matters, Issue 53 - and implement agreed changes by using tools from the productive ward module handbook. The data gathered from the questionnaires helped the team to create a template loosely based on the SBAR tool that productive wards advocate which helps to focus handovers to discuss the patients Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation. Walker Close staff created a handover sheet which contained the following information: Patient identified by room number, mental health status, observation level, care plans changed/implemented, risk status, diagnosis and current issues.
The process is used as a 24 hour rolling handover which starts with the early shift and ends with the end of the night shift, the handover sheets are stored on the Walker Close shared drive and a hard copy kept on each unit to be accessible to all staff. The pilot of the new handover process using the new template has been effective. It has given structure and focus to staff communications between shifts. All staff are now aware of changes that may have occurred in their absence and ensures that all staff are up to date on patient development. The new handover tool also ensures that process of handover is timely and brought in the
practice of allocating staff to units and specific tasks such as observations. The staff at Walker Close feel that this is an effective service improvement and have now progressed to the next productive mental health ward module with a view to improving the process of admission and planned discharge. Contributed by John Hatton, staff nurse at Walker Close. Phase 3 of the productive mental health ward programme has commenced on Chilton Houses and Foxhall House. Workshops have been given to the staff by project manager Sue Hudson to introduce the foundation modules and begin implementation.
Reviewing successes of Productive Wards My post as project manager for Productive Mental Health Ward (PMHW) finishes on 31st March 2011. I am delighted to say that by this date all inpatient ward areas will have commenced the PMHW programme. Funding has been secured from NHS East of England for me to continue to work for 3 days a week for 3 months to roll out a module impact framework tool. This will enable the wards to gather data for themselves and ensure sustainability of the programme. The productive module impact framework is an online tool that helps NHS organisations to demonstrate the impact that the programme has made for them on productivity, efficiency, staff experience and skills development. Leads will be identified for all in-patient ward areas to implement the tool. The framework has four modules: Staff experience and well being contains
a staff questionnaire template to record ‘Measurements’ for each productive ward module to demonstrate the impact of the Productive programme and ensures the qualitative data is captured. Process improvements is data submitted to demonstrate efficiency around processes e.g. the meals module, the medicine round etc. This section collects data such as the length of time it takes staff to carry out process(es) both before and after any changes made. Knowledge and skills involves identifying that the team has the right skills to ensure effective care delivery. Financial impact measures. This area captures the financial impact of the modules that are implemented. This includes expenses as well as savings to ensure a full cost benefit analysis is undertaken. Contributed by Sue Hudson
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Merger update: message from Aidan Thomas, chief executive As you are all aware, the proposed merger between the Norfolk and Suffolk mental health trusts is well advanced. We are currently in the process of seeking approval to proceed. In order to merge, the Trusts had to submit a full business case to three organisations: the Cooperation and Competition Panel (CCP); Monitor; and the Strategic Health Authority (SHA). The CCP released its decision regarding the merger, notifying the Trusts that it views the merger as anticompetitive and will not recommend the merger to Monitor or the Department of Health (which is represented by the SHA). The CCP report can be read in full at this address at their website www.ccpanel.org.uk While this is a disappointing outcome, I would like to reassure you that it does not
mean that the merger will not proceed. The CCP is an advisory body and there were a number of important factors which it had not been able to consider. The decision to approve the merger rests with the SHA and Monitor. We are now discussing the situation with both organisations. It is important to note that the SHA and all other stakeholders have been supportive of the merger. In considering a merger, both Trusts closely examined the potential impact on service users. We strongly assert that the merger will improve mental health services in East Anglia by increasing choices for service users and allowing for the development of new specialist services. I appreciate this is a difficult time for staff in Suffolk and Norfolk and I urge you to
understand that this decision, which unfortunate, does not mean the merger will not proceed. Together, the Norfolk and Suffolk boards of directors are doing their best to negotiate a favourable outcome in this complex process. This will include discussing the issues with Monitor in detail as they consider the case, as well as writing to our key service user groups and public representatives to once again outline the significant benefits that will result from the merger. Should you have any questions or require further information, please contact the merger Programme Management Office (PMO) on merger.pmo@nwmhp.nhs.uk or 01603 421 421 (ext 8042). Thank you for your continued support. Aidan Thomas, chief executive.
Job swap At the end of last year, Assertive Outreach West team member Iona Williams spent a day with IT and Informatics to gain a better understanding of how they work. A TMTV is available to view on the staff Intranet to see how she got on! Recently Cassie Woolgar, who works in Informatics, returned the favour and spent a day with the West Ipswich Assertive Outreach Team. Cassie started her day in a morning handover meeting. Cassie said: “This was an opportunity to find out what the 30 service users were doing and who was being seen. It was interesting to see how all the staff interact and coordinate their work. They all help each other much more than I had realised – it isn’t just one person seeing a patient. Because of how they work, sometimes service users see several members of the team.” Cassie then joined a clinical meeting where some service users were discussed in more detail and care plans and risk assessments were reviewed. In the afternoon, Cassie joined a visit to one service user in the community. This included doing a shop for the service user at a supermarket and taking the service user and a friend to a garden centre to collect pet food. Cassie said:
“After this, information was entered onto ePEX and I was able to talk to staff about how they use the system on a day to day basis. “Overall I learned a lot about how staff coordinate their work and make sure everyone is up to date. It was apparent that most staff could benefit from remote access whereas at present only some of them have it. This could especially help out of hours so staff don’t have to travel to a base to update ePEX and lose sleep. Out of hours staff contact Riverside social services to obtain patient information from the Compass system but sometimes this does not have all the information which is on ePEX. Sometimes therefore staff contact the ward as well to obtain information but this can result in duplication of work and staff on the ward may be too busy to deal with the call. “As a result of the day, we are considering the issues that were mentioned in relation to ePEX and technology to determine ways in which we can help to make improvements. All the proposals will be reviewed through the Intelligent Clinical Information Group (ICIG). We are always keen to hear from anyone about any concerns or suggestions they have so that we can address them through the ICIG.”
Hundreds of e-books How do you access the e-books? You will need to use your Athens password to access the collection.Go to www.library.nhs.uk Log in to Athens at the top right hand corner. Scroll down the page to Books, Journals and Healthcare Databases. Click on e-books. You can browse the books by topic or search by title, keyword, author or full text. If you don’t have an Athens log-in, it doesn’t take long to register for one. To register, go to www.bit.ly/AthensNHS or follow the link from the SMHP Library Intranet page. For further information on the resources available to you online, visit the SMHP Library Intranet Page, under Training and Education, or contact the librarian,Andrea Core by emailing andrea.core@smhp.nhs.uk
The Trust has been rated amongst the best in the country for its lesbian, gay and bi-sexual (LGB) policies. It is rated well ahead of most participants on the quality of its diversity team and providing an LGB champion. That’s according to the 2011 Stonewall workplace equality index, despite more entries than ever before. Overall, the Trust is ranked 180 out of 378 organisations with a score of 115/200, up nine places on 2010. The index is based on a range of key indicators which this year included the largest ever confidential survey of LGB employees, with over 9,000 participants. This consistently revealed that the satisfaction levels of LGB staff were highest at the top-ranking organisations in the index. For policies, the Trust scored 8/8, 7/7 for the quality of its diversity team and 11/12 for providing an LGB lead champion. It also scored well on ‘pink plateau’ meaning that LGB staff can rise to senior levels in the organisation. Here the Trust scored 6/7. In the last year, the Trust has launched LGB guidelines, taken a stall at Suffolk Pride, sponsored a community tent at Suffolk Pride and taken part in LGB history month with other local organisations at Suffolk New College. The Stonewall logo now appears on the Trust’s vacancy adverts on the NHS Jobs website. Training in diversity and LGB issues is open to staff regardless of their own sexual orientation, there is an LGB staff counselling service and an LGB employee network group. The Trust’s director of community engagement, Robert Nesbitt, said: “This Trust prioritises equality issues and we work hard to attract and retain the best staff so we can provide the best services. We know that people work best when they can be themselves and we’re determined to be the sort of organisation where everyone feels supported in their jobs. We’re also fortunate to have a very proactive head of equality and engagement, Sujata Gathani, whose work has helped develop the Trust’s performance on diversity significantly in recent years.” Chief executive of Stonewall, Ben Summerskill, said: “Competition was fiercer than ever to secure a place in the 2011 Top Employers Index. We received more entries than in any previous year. The index is a powerful tool used by Britain’s 1.7 million gay employees and 150,000 university students to decide where to take their talent and skills.”
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You can access over 400 healthcare titles, as part of the NHS Library core collection, with a strong focus on mental health books. You can access these books on any computer with an internet connection. A few of the titles are listed below: Mental Health Nursing: An Evidencebased Approach Maudsley Handbook of Practical Psychiatry A Handbook of Dementia Care A Multidisciplinary Handbook of Child and Adolescent Mental Health for Front-line Professionals Psychiatric and Behavioural Disorders in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Methods in Clinical Psychology: An Introduction for Students and Practitioners Ethics in Community Mental Health Care: Commonplace Concerns
LGB-friendly employer!
Letters and compliments To Maria, IAPT West team Just a note to say thank you for all the help and support over the last few months.
To Stephen Tucker and ECT Team A big thank you for all the love and care you have given mum. Love and best wishes to you all.
To all staff on Bromeswell Ward Thank you for all the kindness, support and help that you have given my grandmother over the last few weeks.
To Jayne Robinson, CPN, Later Life Community East team J and A have a social worker, Jayne Robinson is her name A very pleasant lady, her nature just the same She visits us every week, to see how we are coping It’s quite a pleasure to see her, it cheers us up from moping
Thanks for all done for my mum. Thank you all so much for everything.
This picture was handpainted on a thank you card to the Pharmacy Team
To Beth Clayton, Minsmere House I wanted to offer you my sincere thanks for your support and kind care, you were all terrific and I am very grateful.
TRUST MATTERS . JANUARY 2011 . PAGE 8
Depression really is a horrid illness for both the person who has it and those around them. I was so glad for your treatment and support. The contrast to my former self was instant. Pass on my thanks to your team – you make a difference.
Jayne has two daughters, simply she adores dearly That love is abundant, so very clearly They respect her so much, it shows in their little ways She will have all that respect for her future days Jayne, my dear, you are a very nice lady But, to say, not the same as my S We both like you such a lot, you’re one of the best So much better than all the rest To Cathy Russell, Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team We write as the parents of S who was under the care of your team whilst she was staying with us. At a time when we were approaching breaking point, the help and support given by your team was invaluable and much appreciated. Your intervention helped to prevent an inpatient admission for S and has enabled us to carry on as informal carers when needed. The smooth transfer to the care of the community team has reassured us all that help and support is still available. We would like to take this opportunity in thanking all members of your team for providing us with this vital care at a time of great difficulty. To all staff on Westgate Ward This is just to say how much I appreciated all the hard work you did
in getting me back on track. I am doing okay at home – slow but sure. With much love and many thanks again. To Christine Lyon, Complex Care Team We are writing to tell you how impressed we were by the contribution of the Complex Care Team at the family meeting in January for M.We appreciated the way the team began by listening carefully to our description of M’s state. It was extremely reassuring to us to have an unhurried discussion based on expert knowledge and assessment of M’s needs, and we left the meeting feeling that everything possible had been done for her safety and well-being. To Richard Smith, link worker Richard gave me some very simple exercises to help me manage tension and anxiety. I am convinced that these are making a big difference. The treatment has given me tools to manage my condition (rather than depending on medication) – it is having a direct beneficial effect. To Michelle Noakes, case manager Thanks so much for all your help and putting things into perspective again for me. I am coping with things much better and feel more relaxed. To all staff in the Crisis Team I would like to say a very big thank you for all the help and support that you gave me. I think you all do an amazing job and cannot praise you enough! To all staff at the Memory clinic I would just like to place on record my very grateful thanks for the support that my mother has received from your staff. Each person that has visited my mother has been outstanding in the way that they have dealt with her, never treating her with anything but the utmost respect and understanding. This has been very much appreciated. To all staff on Parham Ward and Mistley Ward I appreciate the care given through J’s admission. He is doing well at home.
If you have a letter you would like to share through Trust Matters, send it to Nicola Brown, Suffolk House, St Clement’s Hospital, Ipswich or email nicola.brown@smhp.nhs.uk Letters may be edited and will be anonymised to protect service users’ identities. EDITORIAL: If you would like to contribute an article (and accompanying photo) for inclusion in the next Trust Matters please email it to helen.abbott@smhp.nhs.uk. If you want to discuss ideas about potential features or make a suggestion about improving the newsletter you can also email the above address or call Helen Abbott on 01473 329700. The deadline for the May 2011 issue is April15th.