nsidI e Story Story/Inside Story - July 2012.pdfgot rid of my crutches and was back in training, in...

Inside StoryJ u l y 2 0 1 2Follow us: @uclh

Inside Story is the UCLH staff magazine

London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games special edition

Inside Story - July.indd 1 10/07/2012 10:35:43

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news

Nothing can stop 68-year-old champion powerlifter Bernard ‘Budgie’ Mullan in his tracks. Not even hip surgery. Just weeks after undergoing an op at UCH, the 12 times world champion was back in training for another top title. Budgie went on to win silver in the 2011 world powerlifting championship.From elite sportsmen, Olympic medallists to weekend warriors: helping athletes overcome injury and stay top of their game is one of the goals of the UCLH/UCL Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health. It offers specialist expert assessment,

diagnosis and treatment of exercise-related conditions and injuries for elite professionals and amateurs alike. It also offers the same service to patients with conditions like diabetes and heart disease where health would benefit from an exercise regime.A new, state-of-the-art treatment and research centre is due to open at 170 Tottenham Court Road in the next year.Budgie was referred to UCH after suffering discomfort and lack of movement. Specialists diagnosed serious arthritis.He said: “I took in my powerlifting

book to UCH to show them photos of what I did and said I was top of my profession and wanted to stay there!“Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Professor Fares Haddad, who is director of the Institute, suggested hip resurfacing surgery, which removes less bone than a standard hip replacement. Instead of removing the entire ball of the ball-and-socket hip joint, a metal cap was inserted to protect the worn cartilage.“Two weeks after the operation I had got rid of my crutches and was back in training, in the gym. I was amazed” said Budgie.

Contact us If 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: [email protected], Tel: ext 79897, Fax: ext 79401.

Front cover: Nus Devon, therapies and rehabilitation supervisor and health care assistant Tiago Bravo

The Institute Part of a national hub to create a centre of excellence in sports-related and exercise medicine and the prevention and management of injuries. It is a collaboration between UCLH/UCL,the British Olympic Association, English Institute of Sport and private hospital group HCA.

Will develop strategies to prevent diseases related to inactivity and promote exercise in the wider community, as part of the 2012 Olympic legacy.

Fit and free on FridaysThe 52 Club is offering FREE gym and sauna sessions to all UCLH staff every Friday during the Olympic period (from 27 July until 12 September). Just go along –and show your ID card. You will also need to complete a health form.When the Olympics have finished, any member of staff wishing to trial the 52 Club can enjoy one free Friday session at 52 Gower Street. If they sign up for membership the same

day, the first payment will be waived. Members can also take part in an Olympic contest to challenge muscle endurance, flexibility, strength, speed and power through weights, running, cycling and rowing. Health and fitness manager (and former professional footballer and coach) Scott Robinson (pictured) will be on hand to offer advice and encouragement. For more information see Insight page.

Budgie flies – thanks to sport institute


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news

Preparing for the greatest sporting show on earth has been a marathon not a sprint for the UCLH 2012 Steering Group which has met each week for the past six months to thrash out the logistics.Nicky Besag, Hospital Olympic and Paralympic Liaison officer, said: “Our detailed plans have focused on ensuring it is business as usual for our local residents and existing patients whilst preparing for a potential influx of extra people coming through A&E during the Olympic period. It is a huge remit.”The steering group has worked closely with suppliers, patient transport, workforce, user groups, NHS London, North Central London and Camden provider services.Exercises in planning for a major incident during the games have also increased.

Some of the steering group members (l-r): James Anderson, head of operations specialist hospitals board, Liz Marsh, business continuity manager, Sheila Adam, deputy chief nurse, Alison Clements, head of operations medicine board and Stephen Bagot, estates and facilities general manager.

Safely steering us through

The Olympic challenge comes to UCLH

Katherine Fenton, chief nurse, Richard Murley, chairman, Liz Davies, divisional senior nurse NHNN, Keisha Mills, lead nurse Heart Hospital

Chairman Richard Murley and chief nurse Katherine Fenton are among 512 staff stepping up to the UCLH Olympic Challenge.Armed with a pedometer, the 128 teams have one goal: to build up to walking 10,000 steps or more a day – forever! The challenge runs from 25 June to 5 August. If you’re not taking part you can still keep track of your local teams score by searching Olympic Challenge on Insight.The average person walks a mere 3,000 – 5,000 steps a day, but with just a few simple changes to your daily routine you can quickly boost the number.Sue Parker, housing services manager and co-ordinator of the challenge, said: “You’ll notice a positive difference to your stamina in just three or four days. It’s easy proof that you can take control of your own well being.”The next pedometer challenge will start in October.


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From medical volunteers, to ambassadors, to performers, Elke Tullett meets some of the UCLH staff who are going the extra mile for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“I’m loving it! says Dana Murray with a wide grin. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life!” When an estimated one billion people from around the world tune in to watch the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony at Stratford in a few days time, office manager Dana will be part of sporting history. She and dozens of her Trust colleagues, will be among 10,000 volunteers performing in the show- to-end-all-shows.Surgeons, anaesthetists, cardiac nurses, health care assistants, dental consultants, supervisors and managers: meet the members of Team UCLH. Under grey skies in Stratford, Nus Devon, therapies and rehabilitation supervisor sums up the sunny mood. “None of us can believe we are part of it – we are all so lucky! It’s going to be spectacular.”Although it’s public knowledge that

the opening ceremony will include a tribute to the NHS, a pastoral scene featuring real farm animals and a celebration of all things British, the detail remains elusive.What costumes will you wear? What’s the music? Are there fireworks? “Sorry, can’t tell you.” “We’ve been sworn to secrecy,” “I signed a disclaimer.” “Can’t say – except the dance steps are difficult and I’ve got two left feet.” These were just some of the responses from UCLH’s tight-lipped recruits.But it promises to be an experience of a lifetime.“When I was in the stadium and heard the music, saw the special effects, I almost cried. It was so emotional.” adds Betsey Lau-Robinson, the Trust lead for safeguarding adults. Dennis Lalusis, nurse in the acute coronary ward at The Heart Hospital, agrees. “Representing the NHS and being part of the Olympics. It makes me feel very proud.”Then, after posing for a group photograph, they set off with a spring in their step for another long night of rehearsals.

Keeping competitors on trackFirst women’s beach volleyball, then the coveted athletic track events: when it comes to the Olympics, consultant anaesthetist Wynne Aveling is a winner.He is one of the volunteer medics who will be on the alert for any injuries during seven days of athletic events at the main Olympic stadium.

Wynne (pictured below) said: “I have always been a big fan of the Olympics and have always watched it on TV – Tokyo in ’64, Mexico in ’68 etc. This time, I’m very lucky to be able to watch it at such close range. “I initially put my name forward as a general volunteer – at that point I would have been happy to rake the

sand on the long jump!”Wynne is one of several staff providing medical aid during the Olympics. They include: Deputy charge nurse Nito Polenio based at The Heart Hospital will be working alongside a doctor in one of the designated medical rooms scattered throughout the Olympic Park.Luigi Andreoli, a staff nurse in the Acute Medical Unit at UCH, will give medical assistance to members of the public at the beach volleyball event. He said: “I’m really excited about the role. I’m not an ‘everyday’ sport fan but I like following these events like the Olympics or World Championships.”Phyllis Knight, a staff nurse in the Acute Admissions Unit, is a field of play medical team member based at Wembley Arena. Her favourite sports are athletics, tennis and football.

London 2012On your marks...get set...go!

Team UCLH: Just some of the staff taking part in the Olympic opening ceremony. Pictured at Westfield Shopping Centre ahead of rehearsals


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London 2012

Team UCLH: Just some of the staff taking part in the Olympic opening ceremony. Pictured at Westfield Shopping Centre ahead of rehearsals

Welcome to London In their role as Team London Ambassadors, Cynthia Burton and Robert Newman will be spreading the word about why London is the best city in the world. Based at Kings Cross station and Covent Garden, they will welcome visitors with a broad smile and A-Z knowledge of London. Want to know where the nearest loos are? How to get to Buck House? How much to tip a cabbie? Cynthia and Robert will have the answer.“I just want to enjoy the experience and make sure everyone else does too. I was desperate to volunteer and signed up straight away. I think I was no 77 to put my name down!” said Robert, an HR administrator. They are among 8,000 ambassadors who will be dressed in pink and purple outfits and trilby hats. As part of the Olympic legacy, a tree will be planted for each of them, complete with their name attached.Cynthia, administrator for the Friends of UCLH, said: “I think London is the best city in the world and I want to share my enthusiasm with visitors. During our training we were briefed by the customer services team from John Lewis. We also had to play team games to test our knowledge of London landmarks. It has all been very professional and interesting. I’m really looking forward to it.”


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“I lost my gold medal for six months and didn’t tell my wife…’ It’s 4am on August 8, 1984 and a thick mist descends over Lake Casitas in California. Four young men are fighting back the butterflies in anticipation of the biggest moment of their lives. This is the culmination of years of intense training and sacrifice: in around four hours they will take to the water and row for Olympic Gold. Among the crew is the 6ft 6ins, 25-year-old medical student Richard Budgett. “I would normally calm myself by thinking: ‘It’s just a rowing race, I’m going to be a doctor and that’s the most important thing’. And then I realised it was a potentially life-changing moment and my legs just felt like jelly. But then after about ten strokes I just clicked into race mode.” Richard had taken a year out from medical school and had been training three times a day in preparation for the following six minutes, 18.64 seconds. Having destroyed the rest of the field in a previous race, breaking the world record in the process, the British coxed four were red hot favourites. They included a 21-year-old by the name of Steve Redgrave.

At half way though, things weren’t going to plan. The American team were in front.“For the first time I thought: ‘My God, perhaps we won’t manage to do it’. But we had a great push with about 500m to go and I knew we were going to win. Because we were favourites, the immediate feeling was one of relief and the elation came on the podium getting our medals when we all cried.”Richard makes a habit of joining elite

groups. Not only is he one of 113 living Great British gold medallists he is among just 50 consultant sport and exercise physicians in the country. Five of those work at the UCLH Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health which Richard joined last year.The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be his 11th as a medical consultant (including Winter Games) and he goes into it as the chief medical officer for the London Organising Committee (LOCOG). His career has taken him full circle. It was the Middlesex Hospital which gave him leave to compete in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Richard has fond memories of the day he returned – just 24 hours after stepping off the plane.

“There was a lady on one of the wards who had won a bronze medal in gymnastics. I expect she was in her 80s and had competed about 50 years previously – it might even have been Los Angeles 1932. She had her medal on the ward so I showed her mine and we exchanged notes. It was very nice.”Sports and

exercise medicine was appropriately recognised as a speciality by the NHS, the day before London presented its medical case for the 2012 Games to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in February 2005.It meant that Richard

could then be recognised as a medical consultant in the speciality which he loved. It is no surprise that

the UCLH/UCL-led Institute of Sport, Exercise and

Health is a key strand of the government’s

Olympic legacy.Richard adds: “Leaving a legacy from the Games was such an important part of our bid

commitment. We told the IOC we

would have a centre of excellence which

would develop sport and exercise medicine and this is

the centre in London – the Olympic city. It’s really exciting.” While not many people can proudly claim to have won an Olympic Gold medal, even fewer can say they have lost one. But that’s where Richard enters yet another select group. “I did lose the medal for six months in a house move and didn’t tell anyone,” he says with a smile. “I didn’t tell my wife until it turned up at the bottom of a crate – I knew it must be somewhere!”

interview

Richard (second left) next to Sir Steve Redgrave on the podium


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our trust

Transport With an extra 500,000 visitors in London, transport services are expected to be significantly busier across the capital on specific dates at specific times. Staff are urged to check out Transport for London’s Get Ahead of the Games website – where they can identify the hotspots and plan their journeys in advance. Tubes and trains will be running for longer hours during the Games and stations may operate one-way pedestrian flows into and out of station exits to help people along their journey. There may also be station closures. Buses may be diverted or disrupted but there will be extra buses added to some routes.Visit www.tfl.gov.uk

PoliciesThere are a number of policies staff can consult over the Games period that will offer guidance and advice. The following policies can all be found on Insight:

Annual leave and special leave Internal and major incident management policy Corporate on-call policy Websites and social media policy Media policy

Games toolkit: getting over the finishing lineThe Olympic and Paralympic Games are only days away. Everything you need to manage – including staffing levels, annual leave requests, accommodation requests and staff with transport issues – can be done at the click of a button on Insight. Here’s an overview to help you get over the finishing line:

Staff accommodationThere may be extreme circumstances where staff cannot get home. If they need somewhere to stay the Trust does have limited accommodation available for certain days. Tom Hughes,leased buildings manager (ext 79509), and Nicky Besag, hospital Olympic and Paralympic liaison officer (ext 77686), will oversee the booking of staff accommodation. More information is available in the Disruption to Public Transport Policy and Procedure.

SecurityThe number of security staff at the Trust is being increased. The team will be in operation for 40 days between 25 July and 15 August and 24 August and 13 September. There will be increased ID card checks, visual patrols around vulnerable areas and cover of busy public areas to assist in dealing with challenging behaviour. All security staff should be fully aware of their role and what to do in the event of an increase in the threat level, during a major incident or lockdown. However all staff have a role in ensuring security is maintained and that only authorised people enter wards and departments.Trust Security Advisors:

Rod Townley ext 74910 Gary Ross ext 79135 Paul Anstee (Queen Square) ext 83328 Interserve Security UCH ext 73078

If in doubt call the police: non-emergency number is (9)101 and in an emergency (9)999.

MediaAll contact with the media should be through the Communications Unit on ext 79897. The Trust, nor its staff, will release any information about any staff member or patient to the media without explicit consent of the individual concerned. Any media interviews with staff, in the capacity as a Trust employee, or patients must be authorised by the Communications Unit.


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the back page

Archives The Trust has a legacy of winners – in 1962 a group of Middlesex nurses won the Hospital Cup.

Secret lives When Dr Eleanor Tillett receives text messages with pictures of swollen ankles, bruised knee caps and – heaven forbid – broken toes, her response is always ice cool. The UCLH sport and exercise medicine consultant is also doctor to the Great Britain figure skating team. And she knows just how to react when faced with skaters’ injuries – because she’s been in their boots too. After taking to the ice at the early age of eight, Eleanor rose to become the sixth best figure skater in the UK. And weeks filled with 25 hours of training and 5am starts meant she was well prepared for the twists and turns of hospital life. “I used to be the most awake person on the early morning ward rounds and I would go home in the evenings, study and sleep and then get up again. I enjoyed the routine and discipline of it and I liked to see how good I could get at something. I loved the fitness and artistic aspect – I don’t think I would have been much of a party animal at university!”

Eleanor went to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics with the GB team and saw Amy Williams win her gold in the skeleton race. She says she’s ‘combining the two things I love’ and her experience on the ice means she knows what it’s like to be injured and train intensively.“There aren’t many people in Great Britain who can be involved having the both sides of the experience I have had. I like that I can give something back to the sport that gave me a lot.”Eleanor’s role involves not only reviewing skaters’ fitness and helping them get fit when they are injured but – most importantly – identifying ways they can improve their performance by optimising their movement patterns.She added: “The London Olympic and Paralympic Games are going to be amazing and we have to hope it raises the importance of sport and physical activity.”

Good luck Team GB!

The best wishes of UCLH will greet Team GB during the ‘golden hour’ when they arrive at the Olympic Village this month.UCLH staff recorded a ‘good luck’ message for the Great Britain team which will be played alongside others by the Prime Minister, Mayor of London, the Met Police, London cabbies and the cast of Les Miserables.Competitors will be shown a video featuring the messages upon arrival at the Olympic Village when they spend a ‘golden hour’ being briefed about their new accommodation for the coming weeks. Belinda Moore, head of athlete engagement for the British Olympic Association, said: “It’s a big moment for the Team GB competitors as they first enter the village. Seventy-five per cent of the team has not been to the Games before – it’s a very scary moment and we want to show them that the nation is supporting them. Thanks to UCLH staff for getting right behind our team.” Eleanor (centre) with British ice dance champions Penny Commes

and Nick Buckland


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