221125-Chatterbox

Last chance to complete your staff survey!

It’s your last chance to win a £500 holiday voucher! Complete your Staff Survey by 5pm TODAY to be in with a chance of winning.

We want to make our organisation a great place to work for everyone, so please fill your survey in before it closes. Just 15 minutes of your time will ensure that the changes we make now and in the future are informed by you.

Last year 45% of our organisation took part thank you to all those who responded. There is a lot of good work under way as a direct result of last year’s survey and we have identified a number of flagship areas:

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Civility, Respect and Inclusion

• Flexible working

• Redesign of appraisal and career conversations

• Supporting our managers to be great leaders

• Further developing our Culture Programme

Having your say this year will help us to continue on our improvement journey and shape what we do next.

We are working with an independent third party provider, Quality Health, to administer the survey which means that the survey is entirely confidential so your responses remain anonymous.

A link to your survey has been sent to your inbox but if you would prefer to complete it over the phone then

you can do so by calling 0800 783 1775.

Remember, prizes are available for individuals and teams who complete their survey, so all the more reason to fill it in!

More information about the NHS Staff Survey 2022 is available on the intranet.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to complete it so far, we really appreciate your feedback.

SaTH marks World Diabetes Day

Colleagues marked World Diabetes Day on 14 November to help raise awareness of the signs and the importance of early diagnosis.

Someone is diagnosed with diabetes every two minutes, but together, we have the power to #RewriteTheStory for everyone who will be diagnosed in the future.

More information can be found at www.diabetes.org.uk.

Claire’s swimming fundraiser for Bowel Cancer

Claire swam 15km during August and raised a total of £999.50 for the charity.

Claire has worked in the Shropshire Bowel Cancer Screening Team since 2015 and was keen to take on the challenge to raise money to help save lives and

improve the quality of life of everyone affected by bowel cancer.

Someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer every 15 minutes in the UK, which is why the challenge was named ‘Swim15’.

Claire said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the swimming challenge and I am planning another swim challenge next year.”

Marilyn gets in the spirit for Children in Need

Marilyn Chitty, DBS Workforce Administrator, donned a Pudsey outfit and got busy collecting money for Children in Need at RSH on Friday 18November.

She said: “A big thank you to everyone at RSH who donated. It was a wonderfully sunny and

enjoyable morning, and I enjoyed putting a smile on lots of faces on their way into work which was an absolute joy!”

Marilyn’s brilliant efforts and your kind donations meant she managed to raise £295.

Maternity Support Workers’ Week

This week marks MSW and WSA Week where we are celebrating and recognising all of our Maternity Support Workers (MSWs) and Women's Services Assistants (WSAs) at SATH and the amazing job they do.

As part of this week's celebrations, we have filmed WSAs and MSWs across our Postnatal Ward, Wrekin MLU, Delivery Suite and more to hear what they love about their role. Take a look at the videos on our dedicated Facebook page 'SaTH Maternity Information Hub'.

The main part of my role involves supporting midwives to provide care to the woman and babies on the ward. This can be a diverse range of skills including observations, catheter care, feeding support, empowering and teaching new parents how to care for their new babies. This is my favourite aspect of my job, having the skills and knowledge to support a woman to feed her baby for the first time, teaching a family member to bath their baby, change a nappy or clothing.

Teaching families to build bonds and close relationships with their newborn and watching that happen is the most precious and heart warming experience and I sometimes can’t believe I have played a part in that!

“My name is Emily and I am an Maternity Support Worker (MSW) on the Postnatal Ward. I have been an MSW for 12 months, and was previously a Women’s Services Assistant (WSA) for nine years, also based on the Postnatal Ward.

“I always knew I wanted to support women and their families in the journey into parenthood but didn’t realise the varying roles there were in maternity services. I thought it was only midwives that provided care for women during their pregnancy, delivery and postnatal period and had no idea about the extent of the multidisciplinary teams involved in their care.

“I initially had plans to become a Midwife myself, so after some research, discovered the role of a Women’s Services Assistant at SaTH, after a short period of time I fell in love with my role. Every day is different, new families and their babies, a varying array of clinical requirements and care needs.

As the new role of MSW was introduced, I now have a new range of clinical skills including newborn observations, newborn blood spots and capillary samples for babies requiring additional care means I am able to support midwives and the neonatal teams with their daily tasks.

“

WSAs and MSWs play an integral role within maternity services, supporting and working alongside the multidisciplinary team clinically, communicating with each other and helping patients to have the most positive experience during their maternity journey.

“We build strong relationships with our service users, sharing their happy times, providing them with that well needed cup of tea and toast, a hand to hold and an ear to listen, a conversation in the middle of the night when their babies are awake and feeding and always being on hand if needed.

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WSAs and MSWs are kind, caring, have the ability to adapt to many situations and I feel proud and honoured to be one of them.”

Nursing Support Workers’ Day

Wednesday 23 November was Nursing Support Workers’ Day. Nursing support workers (NSWs) are the bedrock of our wards, clinics and community teams working with everyone from children to adults in all aspects of healthcare.

The term ’nursing support worker’ encompasses hundreds of different job titles and roles, including health care assistants (HCAs), health care support workers (HCSWs), assistant practitioners (AP), trainee nursing associates (TNA) and nursing associates (NAs) (England).

If you missed the Trust Celebratory Awards, then there is still time to catch up!

The Awards took place on 17 November and highlighted the incredible work and exceptional dedication across our organisation, with 18 award categories and almost 400 nominations made in total.

We had some truly inspiring winners and you can find out more in last week’s special awards edition of Chatterbox which you can read here.

Congratulations once again to all of winners, finalists and nominees!

A number of golden tickets have been presented recently, one of which was awarded to Daisy Armstrong.

Daisy is a Student Physiotherapist who was surprised with a golden ticket on her last day of placement.

She is very keen to join the Trust and the team are looking forward to welcoming her back to start in her new role in May 2023.

Daisy (left, middle) was given the ticket by team members (L-R) Sarah Sandy, Team Lead for Surgical & Critical Care Physiotherapy, Matt Crolla, Specialist Physiotherapist, and (front) Joe Brisbourne, Physiotherapist.

Congratulations Daisy!

Carbon Literacy Action Day

The Sustainability Team held an information stand at PRH and RSH on Monday 7and Tuesday 8November to mark Carbon Literacy Action Day and provide information on what the Trust is doing to reduce its carbon footprint.

Carbon Literacy Action Day is the world’s largest climate education training day which also coincides with day one of the UN COP27 negotiations in Egypt.

The team had an excellent response to the event, which also sparked some great conversations with staff interested in sustainability. As

part of the event, staff were asked to make a carbon pledge and to make a small change to reduce their carbon footprint. Some of the pledges included: “Walk to work more often”

Buy second hand clothes, or none at all for 12 months”

Thank you to everyone who made a pledge and congratulations to Natasha Birchall, Respiratory, for winning the £50 Amazon voucher in the carbon pledge prize draw!

This year's William Farr event is focusing on the wonderful work being done by staff and volunteers for our military community.

We will be celebrating the life and work of Florence Nightingale and volunteers like her during the Crimean and American Civil wars, and then highlighting the similarities in people's response to today's challenges.

The evening will touch on the remarkable story of Florence Nightingale and her work with Shropshire’s William Farr that led to the reform of the Army Medical Service and hospital care of soldiers and the population.

Her brave work fighting infections is so like the efforts made by nurses in our hospitals today facing COVID-19.

The importance of data collection and using statistics to identify opportunities to improve care and address inequalities holds true today too, and Shropshire’s William Farr was the first in the world to do this.

We’ll also hear about the plight of William Farr's son, Frederick, who ran away from home to fight for the north in the American Civil War. Frederick would go on to fight at Gettysburg and would be supported by volunteers and nurses during his service, which would end tragically.

Guest speakers at the event will include:

• Nurse Will Cadelina who will talk of his experiences nursing patients with COVID following which he became seriously ill

• Lt Col (Retd) Maggie Durrant Nurse, veteran and who today uses her military experiences to manage COVID vaccine centres across our region

• Lt Col Carl Meyer - Shropshire Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and lead of the RJAH Veteran Orthopaedic Service and the newly opened state of the art Veteran Orthopaedic Centre

• Sarah Kerr a veteran who is supporting so many veterans in our community

• Lt Col Kevin Eardley and colleagues from 202Fd Hosp and SaTH for their work supporting reservists, regulars, and veterans in hospitals

Music will be provided by the 1119 Squadron of the Air Cadets and the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust Choir.

A curry buffet will be served between 5.30 7.00pm and the meeting will close by 9pm.

Entry is free. To book onto the event, please click the link here

AAA Screening Team at

Our Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening Team joined other partner organisations as part of ‘Men’s Health Week’.

The local campaign aimed to raise awareness of key health issues such as prostate cancer symptoms, abdominal aortic aneurysm screening and the prevalence of hidden mental health concerns. The team are pictured, above, taking part in one of the events at Telford Shopping Centre.

They were encouraging men to go along for AAA screening as part of a screening programme commissioned by Public Health England. It involves the team travelling across the county to 60 different GP practices to offer free scans to all men in their 65th year.

Men over 65 who have not yet had a scan can self refer by contacting the team on 01743 261 048 or sath.aaa@nhs.net

A message

Disability History Month (DHM) is an annual event running from 16 November to 16 December 2022 and this year the theme is Disability, Health and Wellbeing.

DHM provides a platform to raise awareness and another opportunity to remind us that disabilities do not define a whole person and that not all disabled people look the same.

Disabilities come in all shapes and forms. Some are visible, some are not. Some are permanent, some are not. Some are physical, some are related to mental health. Someone may have more than one disability, where one is visible and the other invisible, or their disability may fluctuate and be visible on some days but not others. Regardless of the type of disability, every single person has an equal right to thrive and we as

have a responsibility to make sure that happens!

Currently, disabled people make up 22% of the UK’s general population: that is 1 in 5 of us. Yet research shows that nearly half of disabled people, and 87% of parents of disabled children, frequently feel judged by members of the public.

At SaTH we want to:

• Celebrate the achievements of staff with disabilities

• Encourage leaders and managers to support staff through compassion and inclusivity

• Encourage staff to record their disability on the NHS Electronic Staff Record and have open conversations

• Check in with staff that sufficient adjustments have been made to support those with disabilities to carry out their roles

• Review recruitment practices to ensure they are inclusive

I really encourage you to be involved with the various events that are taking place nationally, and what we have here at SaTH.

Cost of Living Support

Throughout the month of November, staff who are struggling with the cost of living will be able to receive a free soup and a roll from the restaurants at both PRH and RSH. Simply ask the catering staff and they will ensure this is provided.

Whose kids have already lost their jumper or cardigan? Have their shoes only lasted a month? It can be frustrating and stressful having to repurchase items so quickly, especially with the cost of living crisis and financial worries that many of us will have.

To support colleagues who are struggling during this time, a “support for school” voucher is accessible to our staff to help put funds towards the cost of providing your child(ren) with school uniforms, shoes, stationery etc. Colleagues will have to apply for this via their manager, chaplaincy team or health and wellbeing team.

For full guidance please click here.

Small Things Big Difference

As the weather gets cooler, there maybe items that you or your colleagues need to make your work environment a little bit more comfortable.

The SaTH Charity ‘Small Things Big Difference’ Fund is available to help you at this time. It might be that your team needs a microwave so you can have hot food, or a working kettle for warm drinks?

Grants for up to £300 are available and can be applied for using the form here.

There are restrictions on the types of applications made. For instance, it shouldn't be for items you reasonably need to carry out your day to day work such as computers and stationery, or items such as antibacterial wipes or medical equipment, items must also adhere to Fire and Safety and IPC guidelines.

Walking and running group

ED colleagues in Shrewsbury have set up a walking/running group and they would like to open it up to all colleagues.

Walk Talk Walk/Run Talk Run is either a 3k walk or 5k run, and allows colleagues to exercise and meet new people. The aim is to go at the pace of the slowest person in the group.

The group will be meeting next to the helipad outside the ED entrance at RSH on Fridays at 5.30pm from 4 November.

People need to wear appropriate clothing for exercising, and ideally something bright/reflective now the nights are drawing in.

To register your interest email: alexia.jones@nhs.net