December 2015

2 / Bug blasting UV light4&5 / Open Event extravaganza6 / Helping the homeless

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2 News

High tech kit that destroys harmful germs such as Clostridium difficile in just 30 minutes by flooding hospital wards and side rooms with fluorescent ultra violet light is being tested by clinical microbiologists at University College Hospital.

“It looks like something out of Star Trek,” said consultant Professor Peter Wilson, “but is also straight forward, safe and easy to use. Our trial research shows it can kill the majority of bacteria in just half an hour, compared to three hours using Hydrogen Peroxide Vapour (HPV).”

This has the potential to reduce the risk of patients becoming infected with Clostridium difficile, MRSA and Klebsiella Pneumoniae, as well as cutting the time hospital beds are left out-of-action between patients. UV light can also be used in bay and ward areas, unlike HPV which is only suitable when used in a sealed room.

“Ultra violet has the added benefit of being far quicker and more flexible. Clostridium difficile forms spores, which are extremely resistant to ordinary disinfectants and normal cleaning methods so this is an exciting development.”

His colleagues Dr Shanom Ali and Dr Samuel Yui inoculated stainless steel discs with about 1 million bacteria or spores in the UCLH lab and placed them in areas of the room to measure the disinfection efficacy of UV light.

Three models have undergone trials and a decision on whether to introduce UV light to UCLH is likely to be made in the next few months. Although popular in America, there are only a handful of UK hospitals who have introduced the new UV cleaning method. If introduced at UCLH it could help both enhanced cleaning and more rapid turn-around of beds and side rooms which improves care and patient flow.

Meet the teamProduced and designed by: The Communications Department

Front cover photo: Chairman Richard Murley with actress Emma Thompson

Inside Story magazine is published by UCLH (University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) for our staff

Contact usIf you have any information you would like included in Inside Story, or on Insight, contact: Communications Unit, 2nd Floor Central, 250 Euston Road, London NW1 2PG. Email: communications@uclh.nhs.uk, Tel: ext 79897, Fax: ext 79401. Visit us online at: www.uclh.nhs.uk

Shining the light on infection control

Focus on Clostridium difficileA task force led by medical director Jonathan Fielden and Annette Jeanes, director of infection prevention and control is focusing on how to improve practice in a number of areas to reduce incidents of Clostridium difficile.• To quickly identify, test and assess

cases of diarrhoea • To rapidly isolate patients within two

hours and increase availability of side rooms

• Ensure our hospitals are as clean as possible. Our annual rolling deep clean programme is underway. Highlight the importance of decontaminating sluices and commodes.

• Increase training for cleaning staff.• Continue to educate and audit staff on

antibiotic prescribing• Encourage staff and patients to clean

hands with warm water and soap and comply with infection control practices.

Clinical microbiologists Dr Shanom Ali, Dr Samuel Yui and consultant Professor Peter Wilson. Bathed in light: The light can be harmful to skin and eyes and so should be operated remotely.

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3News

Word on the Tweet...Follow us: @uclh@JohnAmaechi: Came back from Mexico with ear infection. Woke me with pain today. Just left @uclh urgent care with meds: 38 minutes round trip #nhs

@lisybabe: brilliant service from @uclh PALS. I emailed them on Sunday asking them to pass some info to my Dr. Sorted mid-Monday

@LookUpAtStars: Being v. well looked after by #nurses @uclh. Friendly #surgeons answered all my q’s – felt in v. safe hands. #Anaesthetist so caring too.

@RichardTurner: Big thanks to #RNTNEH #CochlearImplant Dept for sorting my faulty CI out first thing AM #Legends #LoveTheNHS

@Elle_berry_: A big thanks to the team @uclh this morning after a champagne bottle fell on my head!! Glued me back together & so helpful #NHS

Perfect Week roundupA ‘Perfect Week’ aimed at improving patients’ journeys through our hospitals saw staff from across UCLH pitch in to help clinical colleagues and identify ways to improve flow.

The week was used to prepare for the arrival of haematology from the Royal Free, ring-fence elective orthopaedic beds and to adjust urgent and emergency flow for winter and beyond.

Almost 90 clinical and support staff volunteered to help wards communicate issues during the week, culminating in a debrief.

Dr Jonathan Fielden, medicine

board medical director, said: “We remain challenged on our flow of patients, particularly in the University College Hospital tower and dealing with the large number of patients attending the emergency department. However, each day during the Perfect Week we made improvements.”

Staff feedback was also positive. “We really felt like one organisation all pulling together for patients,” was one quote from the week end debrief.Up to 20 per cent of patients are not having care advanced on any given day. This could be solved with earlier decision-making.

“Each ward now knows the number of patients they need to have ready for discharge first thing in the morning and by lunchtime and importantly all staff – clinical and non-clinical – are focused on improving care,” said Jonathan.Support staff on the wards also benefited from the experience. Vivek Joshi, assistant general manager for haematology, was ward liaison officer throughout Perfect Week. “I think seeing those issues in person will have an impact on changing how we think about the way we do things.” he said.

The prostate cancer team at University College Hospital has won a leading health industry award for innovation in diagnosing and treating the disease.

Hashim Ahmed, who holds positions at both UCLH and UCL and who led the work, said: “I am tremendously proud of the team who have worked so hard to develop this new approach.

“We now have 30 per cent fewer biopsies, 30 per cent better cancer detection, fewer radical treatments, a greater number of day-case treatments and fewer complications and side-effects.”

The team use methods that require

fewer but more accurate biopsies and have pioneered focal therapy that can be done in a day-case setting.

A one-stop diagnostic service allows men to be reviewed, scanned and, if necessary, biopsied all in one day. It has reduced patient visits from five to two, and time-to-diagnosis from six weeks down to one.

The team consists of nurses, urologists, radiologists, pathologists, trialists, imaging experts, engineering scientists and molecular researchers and is the type of composition encouraged by the NIHR UCLH/UCL Biomedical Research Centre.

Our award-winning cancer team

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4 Spotlight

The festive season kicked off in style at the UCLH Open Event as Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson switched on our Christmas tree lights.

Our staff – and the services they were showcasing – were equal stars of the show in an event which featured more than 40 display stands and a packed programme of entertainment. It gave staff, patients and local residents the chance to share and talk about the great work that goes on across UCLH.

Emma Thompson, who is a passionate supporter of work to tackle TB including UCLH’s Find&Treat van, paid tribute to all our staff.

She said: “I love this hospital, partly because it’s a beautiful building but also because my sister-in-law was treated here for cancer. They got rid of the cancer, but unfortunately it came back. She said: ‘I’m sorry it’s come back but I will get to see all those wonderful people again’. She was talking about the staff who are absolutely remarkable. I just want to say to anyone who is working here thank you so much.”

Richard Murley and deputy chief executive Neil Griffiths were judges of the competition for the most interesting and inventive display stands, with Theatre and Anaesthetics taking the winners’ gong. Elderly Care grabbed the runner-up spot, with the tinnitus team from the RNTNEH alongside them.

The Open Event is organised by the Communications Unit on behalf of the chairman. It is supported by Health Management (UCLH) Plc. Thanks also to Interserve, UCLH’s support service partner, for providing refreshments and the Christmas tree, L’Express Coffee Company for providing refreshments as well as Dron and Wright Managing Agents for donating the first prize of a hamper, and Eurographics of Aveley for supplying trophies.

More photos will be available to view on Insight over the Christmas period.

UCLH Open Event marks

countdown to Christmas

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Spotlight 5

UCLH Open Event marks

countdown to Christmas

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6 In the know

Behind an anonymous-looking door off Euston Road is a sanctuary: a place for the homeless to complete their hospital treatment away from the cold, cruel reality of nights spent curled up in shop doorways.

Thirty eight year old Stan, an inpatient at University College Hospital, was recovering from leg ulcers and was in no doubt that the extra week or so in the hostel had given him the time to fully heal. He is among homeless patients who’ve benefited from UCLH Pathway to Home since it was launched earlier this year.

“It’s been a Godsend. Last time after I stayed in hospital I was straight back on the streets and the dirt got into my legs and infected them again. There was the risk of amputation. This time my legs feel a lot better– it’s made a difference.”

Stan, who says he started taking drugs as a teenager when his mum died, has also signed up to a local methadone programme. “I want to make a fresh start. Away from the dealers and druggies.”

Hope is always the first step…

The 12 month pilot project, part of the wider UCLH@Home service, offers respite care to homeless people during the last few days of their UCLH stay, with a specialist GP, nurse and care navigators helping them to link into local services. Their physical care is provided by UCLH@Home staff which

is complemented by the homeless and hostel teams who provide social and emotional support.

Florence Cumberbatch, UCLH’s specialist Homeless Pathway nurse, said: “The service provides nursing care to change leg dressings, make sure patients are taking their medication, organise methadone if necessary from the local pharmacy, help find them a longer-term place to live. It gives them some respite, a chance for a few more days of rest-up.”

It also, of course, frees up acute hospital beds and may reduce the likelihood of re-admissions for this vulnerable group.

The service is a partnership between Healthcare at Home Ltd,

UCLH and the local hostel and homeless health charity Pathway. Pathway has helped more than 1500 homeless patients since it was founded by former UCLH director of education Professor Aidan Halligan in 2009. Aidan died suddenly and unexpectedly earlier this year but his inspirational approach

still shines through.Josie Mavromatis knows from

personal experience what a difference it can make.

Now a full time care navigator with the Pathway team, Josie spent many years desperately unwell and living rough on the capital’s streets. A nurse who showed her particular kindness in hospital helped turn her life around.

“She helped put me on a different, more positive path. She offered me support when I needed it the most.”

Her experience sums up the ethos which inspires the dedicated health professionals in their day-to-day work with homeless patients: No matter how hopeless a situation may seem, don’t give up on a patient. Lives can – at least sometimes – be changed.

Pathway to home

Josie Mavromatis (left) and Florence Cumberbatch with Stan

If you have a homeless patient who may benefit from this innovative service please call either the Pathway Homeless team (ext 73009) or the UCLH@Home Care Bureau (0333 103 9813) and someone will assess their suitability.

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7In the know

Hurry! Don’t forget to vote for those colleagues who deserve extra-special recognition. There are nomination boxes and forms at each reception on every site. You can also nominate online via the Celebrating Excellence Awards Insight page. The deadline is 4 January.

Are you planning to lose weight? Would you like some help?

UCLH has 100 vouchers for free membership of Slimming World for a three month period. It means you’ll be able to pop along to weekly meetings when and where you choose. There are 12,000 weekly groups across the

UK and you can attend whichever ones you wish.

To be eligible for a voucher, you need to work for UCLH, have a body mass index (BMI) of at least 28 and want to lose weight. You can work out your BMI by going to the Occupational Health page on Insight.

The vouchers will be issued from the Occupational Health Department on Gower Street, from January 2016. The team can briefly explain more about the scheme, recheck your BMI and issue your voucher. So book a slot now! Email OHandSS@uclh.nhs.uk

New Year. New look?

“I used to get tired all the time and had no energy at all. Nursing’s a very physical job and spending 14½ hours on my feet was absolutely exhausting, especially on top of studying …My friends all say that I have much more confidence and I don’t hide away in baggy clothes anymore. I have so much more energy at work too, moving patients is easier and I don’t feel self-conscious about raising the issue of weight with patients now either.”

Student nurse Uways Pervez, who works at Horton General Hospital A&E department, was crowned Young Slimmer of the Year 2015 after losing 8 stone 1Ib in just nine months. He was offered vouchers by his GP to reduce his high blood pressure.

Credit before and after photos: Slimming World magazine/Paul Buller.

Before After

Pathway to home

Paws for thoughtMeet Nelson, one of our new volunteer recruits, who raised plenty of smiles when he was spotted padding around the UCLH Open Event. In the coming months, Nelson will be a regular visitor to T7 and T10 at University College Hospital when he brightens up the day for our older patients and staff. Our furry friend is accredited by Pets As Therapy.

CelebratingExcellenceAWARDS

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8 Inside out

Richard Smith is looking forward to peace and goodwill to all men this Christmas. An uneventful day spent with family and friends with the only ripple of disturbance coming from minor tussles over the TV remote and a loud rumbling from over-full tummies. He certainly deserves it.

Before joining UCLH as a deputy security advisor, Richard spent Christmas on the perilous high seas protecting ships, oil rigs and their crews from the threat of marauding pirates, kidnap and robbery.

“There is always a visible sense of relief when we board. We sat at the captain’s table, had a tot of rum and sang carols in the officers’ mess. I went on the bridge and rang my mum on the sat phone to wish her a happy Christmas and had one eye on the horizon to check there were no skiffs and a group of pirates speeding towards us, armed to the teeth with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades.”

Christmas day was the calm before the storm. “When we are under attack, the security officers on board send a ‘mayday’ ‘mayday’ alert to local navy forces, lockdown the boat, get the crew to the lower decks to the citadel. We stay on the bridge with loudhailers, flares, pyrotechnics and – if all else fails and as a very last resort – weapons to ward them off.”

For four years, Richard – a former officer in the Army and Royal Marines – prowled the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Aiden, the coast of Somalia, Kenya, Mozambique to the Persian Gulf.

And it wasn’t only pirates that kept life interesting. “I was once caught in a freak triple Sea cyclone in the

middle of the Madagascar Channel when three storms met. We were tilting at a 46 degree angle and sat around in our immersion survival suits waiting for the ship to roll over. I said my prayers. And they were answered.”

So, Richard (pictured centre) has just one wish this Christmas. A Silent Night. And who can blame him?

Secret lives

Children celebrating Christmas in the Royal Ear Hospital, 1962.

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