Updates
Update, 25 March
Published: 25 March 2020
Chief Nurse FAQ
Our Chief Nurse, Lisa Stalley-Green answers some of the COVID-19 related questions frequently being asked by staff here:
Donations for staff
Please contact UHB Charity for any donation requests or offers rather than approaching the public or external retail providers, or allowing them on site without permission, to avoid undermining the measures in place to reduce footfall on our hospital sites for infection control.
Throughout this time UHB Charity is keen to support staff members in as many ways as it can and the Charity is working with the Trust to identify what it can do to support you across the sites.
It is important that the Charity and the Trust Wellbeing team are aware of the needs of the areas within the Trust so that they can provide accordingly.
To access this assistance for yourself and your teams in the fight against COVID-19 then please contact the Grants team:
Email: Grants@uhb.nhs.uk
or Antony Cobley, who is co-ordinating the Trust’s Staff Health and Wellbeing response:
Email: Antony.Cobley@uhb.nhs.uk
If you are a member of staff currently in a non-patient facing role, you control your own diary and are currently available to work then you can help us.
We are beginning to see a gradual flow of generous donations from all sections of the community. These donations need to be distributed to our frontline staff across the Trust from our newly established Health and Wellbeing hubs on each of our main hospital sites.
If you can help from one, or all, of the UHB sites, no matter what time you are available, please contact Antony Cobley to discuss
Email: Antony.Cobley@uhb.nhs.uk
Message from Prof Inderjit Singh, Chief Pharmacist
Unfortunately the advice provided in the Trust update on 21 March is not being followed for outpatient prescriptions. It is imperative that the following advice is adhered to with immediate effect.
We are aware that Consultants are increasing supply of prescriptions which is against national guidance. This is starting to have an impact on the Pharmacy which is in danger of running out of medication.
Please maintain normal supply durations to ensure we do not create a shortage.
We are already seeing challenges in the supply chain and having difficulty obtaining some medications. Due to the increase in workload and staffing challenges we are not in a position to:
- contact prescribers to challenge all inappropriate durations
- dispense part of the prescription duration, since we may not be able to issue the remainder in a timely fashion, due to staff concentrating on the new prescriptions received; and staffing numbers reducing
Thank you in advance for your continued support.
ID badge security
Staff are reminded to remain vigilant to prevent theft of ID badges, particularly when travelling to and from work and when attending supermarkets during NHS shopping hours.
Ways to do this include not having badges on show while in supermarkets (stores only ask for ID to be shown on entry) and keeping ID in a secure place.
Any such incidents should be reported to the Police and logged on Datix.
For your own protection, please adhere to the Uniform Policy:
Staff who travel to and from work in Trust uniforms, where there are no changing facilities available, must cover their uniform during their journey between their home and place of work (and in commercial premises).
Get an isolation note
Use this service if you have been told to stay at home because of coronavirus and you need a note for your employer:
Pharmacy service provision: Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull hospitals
From today, the pharmacy departments at Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull hospitals will be adapting the way that your normal ward service is delivered in conjunction with our colleagues at QEHB. This decision has been taken to ensure that we can sustain the quality and provision of your pharmacy service.
Fortunately, due to the availability of JAC EPMA on most clinical areas, where possible your ward team will be processing discharge prescriptions, undertaking patient medicines reconciliation and medicines optimisation reviews remotely.
At each site, the ward pharmacist working remotely will be supported by other pharmacy staff who will provide additional cover should any issues or queries that cannot be resolved by remote working arise. Ward stock will be topped up based on weekly averages i.e. you will no longer receive a regular visit from a pharmacy staff member to check your ward stock
To support with this change in working, pharmacy ward contact posters will be created and displayed on each ward to notify you of who your ward pharmacist is and their contact number(s) so that you can still communicate with them for advice or to notify them of any pharmacy tasks you need them to complete.
If any urgent medication is required, please contact your nominated pharmacy team or main site dispensary directly.
TTOs and medication orders including missed doses will still be processed as they are normally and will be delivered to ward and theatre areas by portering services.
Any further changes will be communicated to you as they develop. There will be constant senior pharmacy management oversight to assure that the service is being delivered as expected.
Please read FAQs available in the "Downloads" section on how you can help us deliver this new temporary service model more efficiently.
COVID-19 education package and refresher training
In the current situation, many of you may be concerned about your knowledge and skills in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and a potential change from your normal role.
The Trust has been looking at what education is required to support refresher training and upskilling for all staff with patient facing responsibilities.
Our focus is to ensure that you have the knowledge and skills to enable you to be competent and confident in caring for your patients. To this aim we have temporarily suspended the need for you to complete your mandatory training refresher and appraisals in order to allow you to focus on updating other knowledge. You can of course still access your mandatory training online if you feel the need to refresh your knowledge. Face to face training has been suspended in line with social distancing guidelines, with some exceptions for induction and upskilling programmes.
Whilst we work through some of the training needs analyses performed, we hope that many of you recognise your own training requirements and will upskill in relevant areas. When doing this it is important (even if you have not been currently allocated to duties) to consider where you might be deployed during the pandemic.
Any additional training that you might need to undertake should not interfere with any critical preparations or current clinical duties.
You may find the following resources helpful:
UHB Moodle
UHB Moodle is our one stop place to find online educational resources and to access specific educational resources relating to COVID-19.
This will updated regularly with additional modules to help you care for our patients, with information resources relating to COVID -19 as well as a variety of core skills.
It will contain a training pathway to guide staff in navigating the relevant resources based on their likely redeployment.
Benefits of the Moodle platform include:
- being able to access Moodle e-learning from any computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone where there is an Internet connection (you can access these resources from home/personal devices)
- access to a wealth of learning opportunities with thorough course descriptions
Please log in with your eight-digit payroll number.
If you cannot recall your password click on "Forgotten your username or password" and you will be emailed a temporary password (please note you will have to change your password when you login for the first time).
If you require any assistance to log on please contact the Moodle team.
Email: Moodle.Administration@uhb.nhs.uk
Electronic Prescribing Systems
If you require refresher training on our electronic prescribing systems, this varies by sites.
For PICS at QEHB site, please book via PICS Training team:
Tel: Ext 18866
Email: PICSTrainingTeam@uhb.nhs.uk
For Electronic Prescribing at Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihill hospitals, please complete the EP Moodle module.
Face-to-face "refresher" skills sessions
A number of sessions are available for staff to update and practice the skills below in a simulation in a skills lab. These sessions are for staff who have previously been competent in these skills only. Please access online resources via iskills on Moodle prior to attending these sessions.
Demonstrations of the skills listed above are provided through iskills and will not be provided in the below face to face sessions.
Sessions are happening most days across the sites – to book please see below.
- IV therapy (bolus and infusion)
- 12 Lead ECG recording
- Cannulation
- Venepuncture (incl Blood cultures)
- CVAD care (including blood sampling and administration)
To book onto a session at Heartlands, Good Hope or Solihull hospital please contact:
Email: Clinical.Skills@uhb.nhs.uk
To book onto a session at QEHB please contact:
Email: ClinicalSkillsTeam@uhb.nhs.uk
In your email, please specify which of the above skills you would like to practice.
Face to Face general medical knowledge refreshers (medical)
The undergraduate teaching fellows have created a bespoke package of training to upskill anybody who may be called on to perform the clinical care of general medical patients (such as ward round procedures, managing the unstable patient and safe discharge).
The teaching fellows will be offering drop-in training in the education centres, Monday to Friday from 09:00–17:00 over the next week or so.
If individuals or small staff groups (remembering social distancing) wish for refreshers, please go to the education centres at each of the four hospital sites and ask for information/directions.
NB: The materials related to the content will also be available as online Moodle tutorials for online access.
Safeprescriber - for medical or non-medical prescribers
SCRIPT is an eLearning programme to improve safety and competency among healthcare professionals around prescribing, therapeutics and medicines management.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SCRIPT has been made freely accessible to anyone with an NHS.uk or NHS.net address.
To access SCRIPT, please visit:
For general refresher training we suggest that prescribers register using the SCRIPT Medicine and Surgery eLearning portfolio which comprises 47 web-based modules relating to prescribing and therapeutics across a wide range of subject area such as Prescribing in Medical Emergencies.
Redthread (youth violence intervention) working remotely
The Redthread teams at Heartlands Hospital and QEHB are now working remotely due to COVID-19.
Redthread supports young people, 11–24 years, who attend hospital because of serious violence or exploitation.
Redthread are still taking referrals, supporting young people, and advising staff whilst working from outside of the hospitals.
If you are caring for a young person who was assaulted, or you are concerned they are being exploited or affected by gang activity, please contact Redthread.
To refer, please gain consent from the young person and ask them for a safe contact number. Please contact us with the patient's full name, date of birth, hospital number, contact number, and your reason for referral.
QEHB
Tel: ext. 12642 or 07376234530
Email: Sean.Monaghan1@nhs.net
Heartlands Hospital
Tel: 07983 258786 (Jo Fitzsimmons)
Tel: 07376 234375 (Katie Summers)
Email: Katie.Summers1@nhs.net