No 47 April 2009 Newsletter for the staff of NHS Barnsley

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

4 THE CLIENT MATTERS

7 18 WEEK UPDATE

9 CHAMPIONS FOR NURSING

Heinz Muller welcomed the Infection Prevention and Control Team (IP&CT) to Barnsley’s Mecca of football, the Oakwell football ground.

Barnsley Football Club is endorsing the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) cleanyourhands campaign, which the PCT’s Infection Prevention and Control Team launched six months ago. Heinz is the perfect ambassador to reinforce the ‘safe in your hands’ motto.

Kath Bamforth, Infection Prevention and Control Nurse (pictured right) explained: “The Infection Prevention and Control Team wanted to show continued commitment to the Clean Your Hands Campaign giving patients and service users assurance that they are safe in our staff’s hands.”

During their visit to the ground, the Barnsley team signed the cleanyourhands Sash worn by Heinz which the Infection Prevention and Control team plan to have framed and on display as a memento of their day.

Adele Watson, Infection Prevention and Control Nurse added: “We’re really grateful to both Heinz and the Football Club for their support and their endorsement of our campaign. The club’s belief that we can be ‘Stronger together’ shows how involved and committed they are to the local community and the links we have formed with the football club prove this.

The team have arranged for a number of events and initiatives including the staff support ‘Live4Life’ Wellbeing event held recently. “We use every opportunity to promote

Clean your hands campaign scores a goalthe Clean your Hands campaign and raise a positive profile of Infection Control,” said Alison Thomas, Senior Infection Prevention and Control Nurse (pictured left).

One of the new initiatives that the team are currently compiling is a Hand Hygiene training video starring one of our very own nurses, which will be used in training sessions at various sites and will also be available to view on Connect in the near future. You can find out more on the Infection Prevention and Control team’s work on the Connect intranet site.

The team are developing a good practice portfolio and anyone who wishes to provide evidence of good practice should provide this to the Infection Control Team for consideration of inclusion in the portfolio. It is envisaged that the portfolio will be seen on the intranet.

There is currently a lot of work ongoing developing the skills and knowledge of the hand hygiene champions who will play a major part in providing effective training on hand hygiene.

The team regularly run hand hygiene training and drop in sessions for staff. The next session will be on 4 June at Mount Vernon Hospital, 11am-1.30pm.

The team can be contacted on 01226 433364 or 433363 or 433368 for advice and support.

Pictured: (L-R) Alison Thomas, Heinz Muller, Adele Watson and Kath Bamforth.

2

Message from the Chief ExecutiveWorld Class Commissioning coverage in Journal

I really felt proud whilst reading the HSJ last month. They have compiled a league table of the World Class Commissioning results, which we reported in last month’s magazine. In this table, compared with 152 PCTs, we were placed at ninth position with a green light across all three scores. Whilst this table is compiled by the HSJ and is not officially produced by the DH, it’s worth taking a look to see how we compare against other organisations. Direct link: http://www.hsj.co.uk/images/006_hsj_090305_tcm11-2002410.pdf

Working in partnership gets better and better

It’s good to witness that as local leaders of the NHS, we are continuing to make local partners of the people who live and work in Barnsley. Our recent and ongoing work with Barnsley College was recently cemented through a memorandum of agreement, and with a constant turnover of 4,000 students aged between 16 and 19 we now have better access to influence their health and wellbeing and also encourage careers in health care. The front cover story shows more partnership working with Barnsley football club whose goalkeeper has willingly helped to endorse our cleanyourhands campaign.

Star Wards

It was encouraging to see staff and service users at the Oakwell Centre working together at the launch of the Star Wards intiative (page 6). I have heard lots of positive feedback regarding the work of Marion Janner and feel that the more of the 75 ideas (and more) we can implement at Oakwell, the better the overall experience will be for our service users. In addition, I found the feedback from ‘The Client Matters’ (page 4) on the Oakwell Centre interesting and constructive. By listening, we can try to improve how we deliver our services.

What a difference IT can make

The roll out of the new TPP SystmOne programme continues to make a huge difference to our community services. It makes it easier to share information, reduces the need to keep paper records and improves data collection and reporting potential. Whilst learning new systems and changing how we do things are often difficult, we must adopt necessary change and embrace new technology to keep ourselves competitive and in line if not ahead of the rest of the world.

News from Care ServicesHappy New Financial Year

On writing this column, Care Services Direct is forecasting a small underspend on its expenditure against its income for 2008/09, marking the end of the 2008/09 financial year and entering the new 2009/10 financial year. We were in the fortunate position of being able to spend a significant amount of money on a one-off basis (called non-recurrent expenditure) towards the end of the 2008/09 financial year to bring forward future plans for expenditure. For example: an increase in stock of Home Loans equipment, a range of general furniture and equipment, and a range of new equipment to support our cleaning services.

This one-off investment was timely, as the future financial years are going to be challenging to our financial position. Our challenge as a service provider organisation is to achieve planned cost improvements consistently year after year. ‘Cost improvements’ defined as providing the same (or more) capacity of service for a reduced amount of income.

I will be writing about our 2009/10 service contractual position in the next edition of NHS Barnsley News.

Care Packages and Pathways in Mental Health Services

For colleagues working in Mental Health Services, I can not overemphasize the importance of the development and impact of Care Packages and Pathways (featured in the March issue) on the provision of mental health services in Barnsley. The programme is part of a national roll out, with the Barnsley project being lead by Jill Jinks, based at Lundwood Health Clinic.

Embracing the ‘new’

After many years of listening to music on vinyl, and only recently establishing a fairly large CD collection, I have been introduced (courtesy of my 15 year old daughter) to the world of iTunes. I love it – organising my library of music on my home PC and playlists to suite my prevailing mood while out running etc. In the context of embracing this technological change, I could be described as a ‘laggard’. Embracing change often happens like that, at different speeds for different people in the context of their own personal circumstances – often with the same end result that it becomes difficult to imagine life without the ‘new’. In the NHS, we are familiar with constant change and the ‘new’, I would suggest it is preferable for our organization to lead and shape our destiny, rather than be a passive recipient of change and the ‘new’.

3

Delivering Healthy AmbitionsMaking our clinician’s vision for the NHS a realityNHS Yorkshire and Humber published Healthy Ambitions in May 2008. This influential report, part of Lord Darzi’s national NHS Next Stage Review, set out a clinical vision for the NHS in our region for the next decade.

At the time the SHA committed to publishing a detailed delivery document outlining how we would make this clinical vision a reality for patients and the public in our region. This document, titled Delivering Healthy Ambitions, is now complete.

Over 150 clinicians were involved in the eight clinical pathway groups (CPGs) that developed the wide ranging recommendations in Healthy Ambitions to improve health and healthcare in Y&H. Delivering Healthy Ambitions has been co-produced with our local primary care trusts and has benefitted from strong clinical input and advice.

Delivering Healthy Ambitions describes how the clinical pathway recommendations are being hard wired into everyday NHS work at a local, sub-regional and regional level. This document explains how every member of NHS staff has a role in helping deliver the best health and healthcare for people in our region. Importantly it also described the enabling work that is taking place and the governance arrangements put in place to ensure delivery across the region. A small number of Healthy Ambitions metrics have been developed which will be published regularly to demonstrate the hard work of staff and the progress being made.

Delivering Healthy Ambitions is available from www.healthyambitions.co.uk - with supporting resources – including a presentation slide pack and a frequently asked questions document. If you have queries or require further information please contact Tim Barton, tim.barton@yorksandhumber.nhs.uk

Local Area AgreementThe first leaflet from Barnsley’s Local Area Agreement (LAA) is now available. LAAs are legal agreements between central government, local government and its partners.

The leaflet has been produced to assist with partner and general public understanding and awareness of the LAA, in particular partner responsibilities under the duty to have regard. It explains what the LAA does and what the local priorities for development in Barnsley are. You can download the first leaflet from the Council website at www.barnsley.gov.uk and One Barnsley website at www.onebarnsley.com. Leaflets will also be distributed throughout various channels in Barnsley.

New and Expectant Mothers at Work PolicyFollowing a recent review of the ‘New and Expectant Mothers at Work Policy,’ it has been decided that the Occupational Health Service no longer require a copy of the Risk Assessment (Appendix 1 to the Policy) made in respect of individual employees. When completed accurately the Risk Assessment forms meet a high standard, so scrutiny by the Occupational Health Team is therefore unnecessary.

The Occupational Health Team does, however, remind Managers that if there is a specific issue for which advice is required, Managers should refer the employee to the Occupational Health Service in the normal way. Individual employees can also self refer if they need advice or support.

A new front sheet for the risk assessment showing the revised distribution will be issued directly. If you would like further information contact either Frank Shorter on 01226 (43) 5608 or Jackie Dickens, Occupational Health, on 01226 (43) ext 4939.

NHS Leadership Awards

There are many examples of outstanding leadership locally, regionally and nationally. The launch of the leadership Awards is the NHS’ way of recognising quality leadership and is recognised in seven categories:

• NHS leader of the year• NHS quality champion of the year• NHS innovator of the year• NHS change leader of the year• NHS mentor of the year• NHS partner of the year• NHS award for inspiration

You can find the entry forms and further information at http://www.nhsleadershipawards.nhs.uk/ deadline is 15 May.

4

The Client Matters‘The Client Matters’ is a newsletter from the Oakwell centre at Kendray about informing and empowering clients and contributing to relevant changes. The following extract from the newsletter is a question and answer section, revealing interesting points and views from clientele at the centre.

What do you think about the building and its environment?

‘The set up is good with facilities like the shared area and access to activities.’ C.T

‘The building looks different from the outside. It seems more old fashioned from the outside but inside it looks more modern.’ Anonymous.

‘The building is ok I quite like it.’ S.P

‘The reception and visitors area layout is nice, the café there is also nice but would be better if it was open at visiting times.’ J.B

‘The security does not seem so good but the grounds and the gardens are brilliant…the façade on the front of the building is beautiful…I like the reception area and the staff attitude at reception is first class, the café is also good and I love the effect on the windows there…The positioning of the therapy area along the corridor from the ward is good and the therapy area is disability suitable and user friendly.’ L.D

What about the meals?

‘The meals are very good with a wide variety of vegetables, deserts, hot drinks and juices etc. The dining area seems basic but ok.’ C.T

‘I like the meals but the dining area is poorly situated.’ Anonymous.

‘The meals are good with a good variety and the dining area is ok.’ S.P

‘Good choice of meals but at supper time there is not always enough sandwiches to go round…Dining area is ok but it is a little small and could be better situated.’ J.B

‘The food is good with a wide variety and good quality, the dining area though is rubbish and there is little room – it is cramped. People with physical disabilities would struggle with the lack of space.’ L.D

What do you particularly like about Oakwell?

‘The staff are generally friendly and the activities area is really inviting…The rooms are quite comfortable and clean with en suite facilities.’ C.T

‘I like the reception area café.’ Anonymous.

‘The activities are good with a good variety on offer.’ S.P

‘The colours are nice and bright and welcoming…The garden is lovely and I bet it is nice in summer with the flowers.’ J.B

‘I love the client rooms, they are of good size and the flooring is excellent.’ L.D

What particularly don’t you like about Oakwell?

‘The wards have an open prison intimidating type feel…The colours on the wards are not warm or inviting, warmer colours may be more relaxing.’ C.T

‘When I first came it reminded me of what a prison might be like.’ Anonymous.

‘Whenever I tell a member of staff something and they say they will pass it on, it never seems to be passed on. There seems to be a communication difficulty…Its also difficult to get hold of a doctor and ward staff always seem too busy…the smoking area is closed for half an hour at meal times and I don’t always want dinner.’ S.P

‘The ward echoes and is noisy and feels like what I would imagine a prison to be like…the bedrooms are ok but cold…TV in the shared area can be a problem regarding choice of channel, it would be better with TVs in rooms.’ J.B

‘My room plumbing is functionally poor, it’s appalling my toilet does not flush properly…My room lighting is not always switched off at night by staff…More thought could have been put into the decorating especially the ceilings, things could have been made to look less clinical.’ L.D

As well as question and answer sections, the newsletter features clients’ insights and views, ‘a day in the life…’ and topical discussions. You can also read managers responses to any questions and suggestions put forward to them.

If you would like to receive a copy of this newsletter, or have any ideas you would like to contribute, or you just want to make a comment, please contact anthony.payne@barnsleypct.nhs.uk or Anthony Payne, The Oakwell Centre, Redfern Suite, 01226 43 4663.

5

Going Live with TPPThe latest service to implement TPP SystmOne is the Pre School Child Health Service based at New Street. We met with Heather Gledhill, Pre-School Manager and her team (pictured) to find out how the new system has impacted on the service.

Pre School Child Health works with children aged 0-5 and manages the immunisation and vaccination process. Their work also includes recording results of blood spotting and breast feeding uptake.

Following comprehensive training from the PCT’s NPfIT team, Pre School Child Health moved on to TPP SystmOne at the end of January this year. Heather said: “The new system provides better reporting facilities and this is important to help maintain and improve current standards. One of the main changes for us is moving away from the paper based information we relied on previously to help us do our jobs. By working electronically we can speed up access to information and minimise errors and missing information.”

Added Rebecca Smith, Assistant to the Pre-School Manager: “We are required to run a breastfeeding audit at six weeks as part of the Vital Signs initiative and SystmOne enables us to obtain these figures more efficiently.”

Previously the team had to wait for birth notifications but they can now download them every morning, which means they can get the information to the Health Visitors a lot quicker and as a result their visits can be arranged quicker and new mums will get the early support they need.

Work is set to commence with Health Visitors to move the service onto SystmOne which will further improve efficiency and better ways of working, for example with information sharing.

Added Heather, “They will be able to easily identify any gaps in the child’s health records and ensure each child meets national targets by the age of 5. It’s altogether a more modern and robust system which encourages safe sharing of records. Before moving on to the system it presented a good time to revisit our processes and procedures and introduce more efficiency into the way we work.”

Pictured: (L-R) The Pre School Child Health Service team: Natalie Davies, Admin Assistant; Rebecca Smith, Assistant to the Pre-School Manager, Sarah Alderson, Admin Assistant and Heather Gledhill, Pre-School Manager.

6

Are you stuck in your workplace with no time to attend Training? Then why not try e-learning, the training you can do at your own convenience.

Expand your skills and knowledge by completing one of the following available e-courses:

• 18 Week Pathway• Barnsley PCT Fire Safety Awareness• Conflict Resolution• Equal Opportunities and Diversity Essentials – generic course• Diversity Respect for People – this course is aimed at Senior Managers• Dual Diagnosis (under review)• Mental Capacity Act• Breastfeeding Quiz• Dementia• 30 Ways to make more time (managing your time effectively)• Managing Stress (managing your behaviour)• Making time

An initiative that suggests ‘75 good ideas’ has been introduced at the Oakwell Centre at Kendray. Staff and service users welcomed Star Ward’s creator Marion Janner, her dog Buddy and laughter therapy expert Peter Sood to the launch event.

Comedy evenings and visiting pets are just two of the 75 ideas Star Wards recommends to improve the quality of time and treatment outcomes of patients on acute mental health wards.

Research shows strong public backing for a wide range of supports which are currently unavailable to the average in-patient. These include counselling, advice from a psychologist, creative therapies, physical exercise and support from other patients.

Star Wards was set up by Marion Janner, following her experiences as an acute inpatient. She said: “While I had a very positive and healing time at St Ann’s hospital, Tottenham, I later became aware that this isn’t the case for most inpatients elsewhere. Sadly, the norm is that despite the efforts of many excellent and committed staff,

patients have almost nothing to do during the day. This is both a dreadful missed opportunity to accelerate patients’ recoveries and the cause of widespread dissatisfaction among inpatients, carers and indeed staff themselves.”

Sue Robbins, Team Manager at the Oakwell Centre said: “With the new Oakwell Centre building comes an opportunity to do things differently and involve everyone. The Star Wards initiative seemed to be a great way of changing the way we do things in Barnsley. “Marion is a great speaker and her enthusiasm for the project is contagious. Her support dog Buddy was extremely popular with our service users too.”

Find out more on the new initiative by visiting: www.starwards.org.uk

Pictured: Sue Robbins (front row, left), Marion Janner and Buddy (front row, right), Peter Sood (back row, second from left) with staff and service users at the Oakwell Centre celebrating the launch of the Star Wards Initiative.

Star Wards initiative launches at Oakwell

(priorities, people and procedures at work)• Performance Review (a new approach for appraisees)• Telephone Behaviour (the rules of effective communication)• Display Screen Equipment • Manual Handling• Safeguarding Children• Health and Safety Essentials - Coming soon!

All of the above can be accessed via the E-learning page on the NHS Barnsley intranet, Connect. Some programmes can even be accessed via your home computer.

To gain access to the relevant programme, contact Angela Wilde for a username and password on 01226 435765, or angela.wilde@barnsleypct.nhs.uk and state the training that you would like to access. Alternatively, go directly to http://nww.barnsleypct.nhs.uk/training/elearning/ and follow the step by step instructions.

Look out for more e-courses in the future!

E-learning is the way forward

7

18 Weeks UpdateNHS Barnsley 18-Weeks Performance

The below table clearly illustrates that both NHS Barnsley and BHNFT are not only performing excellently but exceeding the 18-Week national targets for admitted and non-admitted patients

Q&A with Emma Kwapisz 18-Week Co-ordinator, Medicine

Q1. What do you consider the most beneficial part of workshop 1?A1. “Learning the skills to tackle problems in manageable chunks. Thinking about what the problem is rather than finding a solution straight away”.

Q2. In your opinion what are the main blockages with your current system?A2. “The main blockages in our system at the moment is training, not enough staff in my opinion to train staff in specialist areas—too generic”.

Q3. What techniques from workshop 1 will you take forward to remedy this problem?A3. “Currently doing a PDSA, another member of the team is doing a gap analysis”.

Q4. Do you and your team plan on using the free services of the Improvement Foundation to help aid change?A4. “If there are any free services available to us apart from the workshops we will definitely look into using them, we need all the help we can get”.

Q5. What are your expectations of workshop 2?A5. “To learn more skills in order for us to improve our service and ourselves, to be able to deal with people in a more influential way.

Thank you

Lastly, thank you to everyone that attended workshop 1. Your input and enthusiasm made the day a success, and we all look forward to working with you all again in the forthcoming workshops. Don’t forget if there’s anyone else within your work area these workshops may benefit, please bring them along too!

This article is an extract from the monthly newsletter that is now produced on the 18 Week pathway, contact James.Townsend@BarnsleyPCT.nhs.uk for more information.

Stroke Stakeholder Event 2009A stakeholder meeting for patients and their carers following stroke and healthcare professionals took place at the Metrodome Leisure Centre on 4 February this year.

Following the publication of the National Stroke Strategy in December 2007, NHS Barnsley decided to take the opportunity for people who have had a stroke, their family and carers, members of the public and staff from health and social care to come together to discuss how services can be developed and improved to meet the national strategy.

NHS Barnsley sought views, through a variety of workshops, on what services do we need to improve? How do we need to improve them? And what do we need to do first?

The event was attended by 69 stakeholders and was chaired by Ian Slater, Nurse Consultant for Stroke Services and speakers included Gill Stansfield, Assistant Director – Strategy & Commissioning and Dr Al-Bazzaz, Dr Beden and Dr Jha, consultant physicians from both Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Barnsley.

Evaluation from the day was very positive and feedback has been provided to all the people who attended the event.

NHS Barnsley will be holding a further event in the Summer/Autumn of 2009 when the local Barnsley Stroke Strategy will be launched.

National Targets NHS Barnsley Dec 2008 Dec 2008 Admitted Patients 90% 95.1% Non-Admitted Patients 95% 98%

8

Barnsley Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Services stakeholder eventOn the 9th July 2008 a Stakeholder event was held at Ardsley House Hotel as part of a review of Children’s Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) Services in Barnsley. The consultation offered attendees an opportunity to discuss the review and comment on its findings and recommendations.

A variety of stakeholders attended the event including practitioners from paediatric services, inclusion services and educational psychology, Speech and Language Therapists, a parent school governor and students and care workers from Greenacre School.

The event was introduced by Mike Gan, Senior Commissioning Manager for NHS Barnsley. A presentation was given by Deborah Newman and Janet Whiting, Clinical Managers of Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Services, covering The Bercow Report, the current Children’s SALT provision in Barnsley and outcomes of the local service review. The presentation was followed by a question and answers session and a group discussion and feedback session.

Stakeholders were asked to summarise what they felt where the key points raised in their discussions. These were:• There needs to be greater awareness of Speech and Language disorders and what therapy can offer• that there needs to be more communication between the different agencies• there needs to be a clear referral pathway• there needs to be more choice given to children on the location of their session• schools need to have more involvement; more training may be needed• there needs to be greater understanding of why people don’t respond

Three students from Greenacre attended and were asked for their views. The students felt that mainstream schools should be more involved in speech and language therapy so that SALT users can work with different children. The students thought group sessions were very useful for improving skills and helping them to socialise. The youngest student to attend wanted SALT sessions to be held at home but the older children preferred sessions to be at school so that parents can’t participate. The students preferred to receive therapy from teachers and assistants as they are already close to these people; they also want to work with speech and language therapists, but felt they don’t see them often enough to form a relationship with them.

Attendees of the event were asked to complete a feedback form at the close of the event. The vast majority of feedback responses were positive and the session was said to be ‘informative’. Responders indicated that they would take what they had learned back to their organisations and look at putting some of the ideas generated into practice.

If you would like any more information about the stakeholder event or the local service review please email janetwhiting@nhs.net or deborahnewman@nhs.net.

42, or the Answer to Nearly EverythingPriory Campus, 07 November 2008

This was the latest in a series of conferences carrying CPD accreditation and aimed at helping local practitioners achieve this. For the past few years it has been a joint effort between CAMHS and its allied services, and the Medical Education Department. The chief organizers were Dr Sheela Biswas, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Dr Anil Karan, Consultant Psychiatrist, Ruth Coppard, Principal Child Psychologist, and Pam Kirk, Post- and Undergraduate Facilitator (Psychiatry).

The keynote speaker was Dr Lenny Thornton, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Chester, whose talk on Innovations and Challenges in the identification and management of Autistic Spectrum Disorders was both educational and entertaining and very well received by the 100 or so audience. This was followed by Issues of Transition with Young People with ADHD and/or Learning Disabilities delivered by Dr Evette Girgis from Sheffield, a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with dual training in Learning Disabilities in Young People.

After an excellent buffet lunch provided by Priory Campus’s own in-house catering, the afternoon session got underway with Dr David Trickey, Consultant Clinical Psychologist from Leicester discussing The Overlap of PTSD and ADHD and the possible ways in which traumatic events impact on the brain. The conference concluded with a presentation on Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing in PTSD given by Ruth Coppard, Principal Child Psychologist, Barnsley PCT and Dr Sabine Schaefer, Specialist Registrar, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The meeting was generously supported by both the PCT and Barnsley Council, to whom we extend our thanks, and sponsored by Janssen-Cilag Ltd, and Eli Lilly and Company Limited. We must also mention the superb facilities at Priory Campus and thank all the staff for their helpful, friendly and willing co-operation. Overall, it was a very successful meeting with delegates scoring 4 overall out of a possible 5.

9

Champions for NursingTwo familiar faces in nursing have been successfully appointed to the new shared post of Assistant Director of Nursing. Andrew Stones for Mental health and Ruth Donoghue for general nursing will head up the new post and both have great ambitions to promote listening and positive action for nurses in NHS Barnsley Care Services Direct.

The new posts began 2 February this year and will run for 12 months. “We’re still operating elements of our previous posts,” explained Ruth, “but this is an exciting new opportunity to really make a difference to nurses that work here.”

The AD post supports the Director of Nursing helping to deliver the nursing agenda across Care Services Direct and will provide professional support to staff building and improving the quality of care standards in the organisation.

Margaret Kitching, Director of Nursing said: “The joint post will strengthen the professional directorate by ensuring that we have the resources and skills to actively get out to front line staff where clinical engagement is paramount.

“Andy and Ruth bring a new perspective to the role and this can only be good in furthering the nursing role.”

“We’ve got exciting plans for the next 12 months,” said Andy, “our aim is to work alongside the operational leaders in guiding and influencing the operational agenda. It is also our priority to be visible amongst all staff groups tapping into the wealth of their knowledge and experience that will be key in shaping the future of nursing services in Care Services.”

Ruth said: “We are here as a sounding board, to consider what professional implications may have on the changing organisation, for example, we know there is a national shortage of nurses so in considering workforce planning, we want to make sure Barnsley stands out as an employer of choice. There is evidence from talking to people that there is no welcome as good as a Barnsley welcome so we’ll be positively promoting the ‘Barnsley effect’ to attract nurses to come and work here!”

“By supporting and listening we can try to improve,” said Andy, “we plan to make a considerable impact in the time available and although we didn’t really know each other well before our appointments, it’s become obvious quite quickly that Ruth and I can draw on each others experience, support each other to make the most of this role, and work collaboratively as a team.”

Ruth concluded: “The advantage we have as we start this new role is that we already know a lot of people and what’s happening out there. We are determined to keep motivation levels high and put more emphasis on celebrating success and recognising achievements.”

Both Ruth and Andy have continued their development since qualifying and both have Masters Degrees.

If anyone wants to contact Ruth or Andy regarding any professional issues or anything they would like support with please do so. Contact Ruth on 01226 43 ext 4157/3268 or 07786 510263 and Andy on 01226 43 ext 4246/434157 or 07917 175063.

Andy qualified in 1988 as a RMN and worked at the Northern General Hospital in acute psychiatry before training in general nursing in 1992. He swiftly returned to Psychiatric nursing working as a ward manager in rehabilitation services. He went on to work as a CPN in acute services for two years then took up a similar position in Nottinghamshire for a further five years, before becoming a clinical nurse specialist in dementia care. Andy moved to Barnsley as a senior nurse in older people’s mental health in 2004 before becoming a specialist practitioner and then nurse consultant in memory services. Andy continues in his role of nurse consultant alongside his new AD role. Outside work Andy has a dog, is an unofficial taxi driver for his daughter, watches rugby union and enjoys cooking and travelling to far flung locations.

Ruth qualified in 1996 and initially worked on a Cardio-thoracic Unit at the Northern General in Sheffield for four years. She was then seconded by Barnsley to do the Community Specialist Practitioner - District Nursing degree and subsequently worked as a DN for two and a half years. She then progressed to the Lead Nurse District Nursing post which she has been in for five years. She is now professionally leading and operationally managing the DN service alongside the AD role.

Outside work, Ruth enjoys a busy social life dancing and going to the gym to keep fit. She loves to watch rugby league, is part of a local fantasy rugby league and enjoys horse racing.

10

NHS Barnsley’s Carbon Reduction MissionIn January 2009, the Department of Health’s Sustainable Development Unit produced a new Strategy for the NHS titled ‘NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy for England’. This document outlines how the NHS needs to take action on climate change and what we need to do to reduce and manage our carbon emission impact.

The areas in which the NHS can focus its environmental and sustainable management of carbon covers a wide scope of the services and functions we provide. These include, waste, water, procurement of food, low carbon travel, transport and access, energy and organisational workforce development.

The Trust’s Carbon Reduction Group has recently been formed to assist NHS Barnsley in addressing and monitoring how we ourselves play our part in the reduction of carbon emission through the variety of services we provide.

During this next financial year the Carbon Reduction Group will be looking into ways of reducing and monitoring the Trust’s carbon emissions and would ask that all staff assist in the good housekeeping measures that significantly help reduce the carbon emissions to the atmosphere.

Next month: tips to reduce energy consumption.

Our placements receive rave reviewsIt’s never been a better time to support young people. As one of Barnsley’s largest employers we have a responsibility to encourage interest and give them hands on experience to get a feel for life in the NHS and help them make important career decisions.

Business Admin students Laura Cooper and Rosie Gash recently completed work experience placements at Mount Vernon and Kendray and wrote up their experience of their time working with the NHS.

A free and local NHS development workshop in planning and supporting young people on placements will take place in May. Contact the Employability team on ext 4253 for more information.

Laura worked with the Tissue Viability team for a fortnight. She said: “My experience working at Mount Vernon hospital for my work experience has benefited me in many ways, one in which I feel my confidence has improved. Mount Vernon is based at Ward Green in Barnsley. The people who work there are very friendly and polite and easy to get along with.

“By coming to Mount Vernon it’s given me a great experience as to what it’s like to work in a hospital environment, which will benefit me for the future because I want to become a nurse so I will be working in a hospital so by working in the conditions it will give me confidence for when I go on placements to other hospitals while I am at college.

“My confidence has improved in many areas one of which I wasn’t confident in ringing wards up asking them to come to meetings, but I felt that every call I made my confidence grew. Also, my confidence in going down to the general office and asking for certain things has also improved so all together my communication skills have improved increasingly. I’m so glad I ended up coming to Mount Vernon because it helped me in many ways and I’ve met some lovely people which made my time there great.”

Rosie, who worked in the Personnel Department at Kendray said: “I enjoyed my week-long placement at NHS Barnsley because I did a range of different tasks, each helping me to better understand how the personnel department operates.

“The placement helped me to develop an improved knowledge of what a personnel department does, and the different roles involved in the running of the department. One of the most useful things I did was to conduct an interview with a member of staff which not only helped me to understand their job role but it also helped me to understand the recruitment process of the business and how they select the correct person for a job.

“Another reason why I enjoyed the placement is that the tasks I had to complete were actual work, not just boring tasks like photocopying or filing, this helped me to develop new skills and gain useful knowledge. The tasks I completed on my placement have helped to support my learning in the BTEC qualification in Business and Administration back at college as well, because I got to put what I had already learnt at college into practise in the workplace.“

11

As part of the Delivering Race Equality (DRE) agenda, NHS Barnsley’s mental health services have enlisted the help of Mirban Hussain and Roya Pourali from Barnsley Black and Ethnic Minority Initiative (BBEMI).

Both Mirban and Roya are Community Development Workers, and their work is forming and following an action plan for achieving equality and targeting discrimination in mental health services in England for people with Black and Minority Ethnic status.

What is DRE? Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care is the Department of Health’s five-year action plan for improving mental health services for Black and minority ethnic communities. It is based on three main building blocks: better, more culturally appropriate services; involving BME communities in planning and providing care; and better understanding the issues by using information and evidence.

What is a Community Development Worker (CDW)? CDWs are a new type of mental health professional whose job is to build bridges between local mental health services and the BME communities they serve, and help communities to have more say in the sort of service they get.

Who are you working with?That’s a long list; we are working with individuals and groups from the local ethnic minority communities this covers a very diverse range of peoples (e.g. Aymara, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, French Guiana, Ghana, India, Kenya, Latin America, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Ughuyr, Venezuela, West Bank, Yemen, Zimbabwe)

Groups and agencies include: BBEMI Ltd (Barnsley Black & Ethnic Minority Initiative ), Barnsley Carers Strategy Steering Group, Barnsley Arena, Making Space, psychiatric intensive care unit, community mental health teams, social workers, ward managers, department of psychological medicine, consultant cardiologists, blood donor service, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, South Yorkshire Police, Drug & Alcohol Action Team, NHS Barnsley, Metropolitan Borough Council.

What’s the best thing about your job?Mirban: I’m a people person so I really enjoy engaging

with members of the local communities. I’ve met people from places I didn’t even know existed!

Roya: I like being the voice of the BME communities; in Barnsley that’s going to be very challenging as there are about 80 plus languages currently being spoken.

What’s the worst thing?Mirban: For me the worst thing is saying ‘no’ to a client. Especially when there is nothing I can do and there is nowhere I can refer them on to.

Roya: The DRE programme began in 2005. It is sad that I still come across some mental health staff who says they have never heard of it.

How long have you been working in this role? We both started in June 2006

What are the learning outcomes so far?By carrying out community engagement we have learnt that Barnsley has a very diverse makeup in terms of people. In one piece of research evidenced that of the 106 participants there were 30 different ethnic groups, 25 different languages and 10 different religions. These are very challenging statistics not just for us as development workers but also for our stakeholders.

What does the future hold? We are working to achieve 13 outcomes as outlined in our local action plan. The first outcome is around promoting the DRE programme within Barnsley mental health services. We will be delivering this through presentations & events.

We have recently completed a train the trainer course on Race Equality and Cultural Capability. We are now looking to link with Barnsley PCT training department.

We are also developing a web page as part of Barnsley PCT intranet; further information and developments will be available on that site.

How can people get in touch?By phone or email; mirban.hussain@barnsleypct.nhs.ukex. 4666. Just leave us a message and we will get back to you. If you see us walking around then just stop and talk; we don’t bite, honest.

Questions for Mirban and Roya

Meet the team who are Delivering Race Equality (DRE)

www.rabbitdesign.co.uk12

Know your Number?In an emergency, you may need your NHS number to access vital prescriptions. Would you or your family know where to get theirs?

The purpose of the NHS number is to ensure the unique and unambiguous identification of each patient. By taking up the NHS Number as the national identifier for patients, we can significantly improve safety by ensuring that patients are correctly identified.

All babies born in England and Wales are given an NHS Number at birth. Other people need to officially join the NHS to get an NHS number. You can do this by:• approaching an NHS GP surgery, or health centre, and asking to permanently join their surgery list, • contacting a Primary Care Trust (PCT) who will place you on a local NHS GP surgery list, or • being treated at an NHS hospital that is able to allocate NHS numbers. Your NHS number is printed on your medical card (FP4). However, if you have a medical card that is more than eight years old, it may show your old NHS number. The new number is 10 digits long.

Your NHS number is written on your medical history notes, so to find out what it is, you can simply ask your GP, or contact your local Primary Care Trust (PCT).

When registering for your new medical card and NHS number, you will be asked for your name, date of birth, and the name of your GP. You may also be asked to confirm selected personal details in order to verify your identity.

Patients will be asking GPs and their health care providers for it and you can help by letting friends and family know how to access and remind them to keep their own number handy. A leaflet about the NHS number is available at: http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/

Contributors

Thanks to:Rebecca AndrewsSteve BartonCaley DimelowRuth DonaghueHeather GledhillMick HitchinMirban HussainMark HollowayPam KirkMargaret KitchingMarie LucraftKirsty MallalieuRoya PouraliSue RobbinsAndy StonesAlison ThomasJames Townsend Jody White

Want to send in your news? If you have an idea for a future article or wish to contribute a story, it’s easy! Just send the information and pictures to katy.jarvis-morgan@barnsleypct.nhs.uk or ring

01226 43 ext 4298 thank you.

New Non Executive DirectorWelcome to Peter Holmes who joined NHS Barnsley last month as a Non Executive Director.

Peter has a background in manufacturing and has worked as an Executive Director in both the magnet and railway parts supply industries. He has considerable experience in contract negotiation, procurement, including China and led his company to achieve ISO9001:2000 accreditation for its Quality Management System in 2006.

Peter said: “I’m Passionate about exceeding rather than just meeting customer expectations and am looking forward to contributing to the continuous improvement of NHS Barnsley and raising awareness of its services amongst the community.”