News from The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

THe Pulse

Issue 143 Winter 2015

The Pulse

The PulseSummer 2015

Issue 141

2 The Pulse

Produced by:The Communications Teamemail: communications@thh.nhs.uk Print: Streamline Your Print

THIS ISSUE

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10-11

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15

A word from the Chief executive

Facelift for children’s A&e

use A&e wisely

Rebuilding lives

New simulation centre helps train staff

Focus on hospital supplies team

Governors’ Voice

Who’s who

The Pulse magazine is for our patients, local people, staff and members of The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Copies can be picked up from the Trust and downloaded from our website www.thh.nhs.uk.

Follow us @HillingdonNHSFT

Contents

I n england, around 17,000 people are diagnosed

and 7,500 people die from bladder or kidney cancer each year, but this needn’t be the case. Knowing what to look out for saves lives. If you notice any blood in your pee, even if it is just once, tell your doctor straight away. The chances are it’s nothing serious, but these cancers are more treatable if they are found early.

Blood in your pee is the most common symptom of both types of cancer.

Other bladder cancer symptoms include needing to pee very often or very suddenly or pain while peeing. Other kidney cancer symptoms include, pain below the ribs that doesn’t go away or a lump in your stomach.

You’re not wasting anyone’s time by getting your symptoms checked out and, if it’s not serious, your mind will be put at rest. But if it is a condition such as bladder or kidney cancer, early detection makes it easier to treat.

Seeing your doctor early could save your life. If you’ve been to the doctor but your symptoms haven’t gone away, he or she will want to know. It’s important to see your doctor again if your symptoms persist.

Having symptoms doesn’t mean it’s cancer. Some symptoms may be caused by an infection or bladder or kidney stones, all of which may need treatment. But don’t try and diagnose yourself. Go and see your doctor now to find out for sure.

You can find your doctor’s contact details online at nhs.uk/bloodinpee

Most people diagnosed with bladder and kidney cancers are over 50. Smokers have a much higher risk of bladder and kidney cancer.

Other things that increase the risk of bladder and/or kidney cancer include being overweight or obese, exposure to, or working with certain industrial chemicals and other medical conditions, such as kidney disease or diabetes.

Try to maintain a healthy weight and keep active - swimming, cycling, dancing - the more you can do, the better. even walking to your local shops instead of taking the car can make a difference.

Try to eat healthy by getting your 5-a-day. eat more vegetables and fruit, fish and wholegrain foods. Try to cut back on fattening foods like cakes and pastries and processed meats like bacon and ham.

Unclear on anything? Visit nhs.uk/bloodinpee

Be clear on Cancer

Front page: Dr Meng Aw-Yong, Dr Ritu Gupta and Dr Lola Olakunbi in the new Simulation Centre with the state of the art SimMan model

Winter 2015Issue 143

www.thh.nhs.uk 3

earlier this month, we celebrated our

achievements as CARes, our hospitals’ culture and values, reached its third birthday.

The celebration recognised the achievements of the past three years through our CAReS journey as we embedded the values into our working lives.

Members of the executive Team and staff came along to hear about how CAReS has progressed since its inception in 2012, including the major milestones such as the introduction of new training for staff, based on the CAReS values, being shortlisted for two awards and the re-launch of the Personal Development Review process for staff, incorporating our CAReS values.

Cares Third Birthday

Coming towards the tail end of a year is always

a time for reflection and this year is no different.

The last 12 months have been particularly challenging for the Trust and the wider NHS; demand for services has continued to grow while the funding available has become ever more stretched. Despite the difficulties, we have been able to make good progress in some key areas and continued to deliver high quality services to our patients. Credit for this goes to the hard work and dedication of the Trust’s fantastic staff team.

It would be all too easy to let the increased challenges overshadow the positive steps taken in the last year. However there is a lot to celebrate.

At the time of writing, our new Acute Medical Unit (AMU) has been open for almost 12 months and seen great success in helping us to better manage patients who are admitted as an emergency case. The new unit has enabled us to speed up the time it takes to assess and discharge patients. This is partly due to its closer proximity to A&e but also having wider multi-disciplinary teams including staff focused on ensuring there is appropriate community support for patients once they leave our care. We have also stepped-up our ambulatory emergency care (AeC) service, meaning more patients are now being treated in outpatient ‘hot’ clinics, where appropriate, rather than being admitted to a ward unnecessarily.

February saw the opening of Hillingdon’s brand-new endoscopy

Unit – vastly improving the environment for both patients and staff.

Since the summer, we have greatly expanded our maternity services as part of the Shaping a Healthier Future programme. We now provide a new midwifery-led service as well as a new transitional care service for babies who need a bit of additional support before going home. We have also started work on transforming our Paediatric A&e. Once complete this will provide bigger and better quality bed-bays built to new modern standards.

We have recently completed the refurbishment of six of our seven theatres at Hillingdon Hospital, upgrading ventilation and providing new lighting and equipment.

earlier this month we opened a brand-new training facility at Hillingdon which will provide a state-of-the-art simulation suite for our staff to further enhance their skills in the years to come.

Thank you to all the Trust staff for their commitment over the last year. Have an enjoyable festive season.

A word from the Chief Executive

Shane DeGaris, Chief executiveThe Hillingdon Hospitals NHS

Foundation Trust

WElComE

Chief Executive, Shane DeGaris

Members of the Executive team joined in the celebration of our culture and values

The Pulse 4

News

We currently have an enthusiastic team

of volunteers working in various departments across the Trust but we are always looking for more. Work patterns and time commitments vary but any help and support is greatly valued by staff and patients alike.

Volunteering is a two way process; the Trust gains an integral member of the workforce who enhances and complements the work of our staff. Whilst as a volunteer you can benefit from:

Come and be a volunteer at our hospitals

Friends hit diamond milestone

Volunteers at The Hillingdon Hospitals NHs Foundation Trust make an invaluable contribution to the running of the hospital and the wellbeing of our patients.

• Making a real difference to someone’s life • Improving your confidence and motivation • Putting to good use your work related and people skills if retired • Meeting new people from all different backgrounds and walks of life • Improving your CV • Improving your health.

Various studies have shown that those who volunteer live longer and have lower rates of depression.

Hospital volunteers are welcome in many departments and wards.

They perform a wide variety of tasks to enhance the service provided to our patients. Anyone over the age of 17 is welcome to apply to become a Volunteer.

Volunteering opportunities within the Trust will be advertised on our public website at www.thh.nhs.uk. The Voluntary Services page will be regularly updated with new voluntary posts.

Hillingdon Hospital’s league of Friends

celebrate their 60th anniversary this year.

A celebratory event with tea and cakes was recently held at the hospital’s education Centre to mark the occasion. In a speech, trust Chair Richard Sumray thanked them for their hard work and acknowledged the significant

role the organisation plays in supporting the hospital through its donations.

The Friends have donated more than £1.2 million to the hospital in the last 60 years which has enabled it to buy a bladder scanner, hand splints and pulmonary testing kit amongst many other vitally important pieces of equipment. Their first donation back in 1955 was for £10 and several shillings

After opening three shops, one tea bar, enlisting 150 volunteers and donating several million pounds, the Mount Vernon Comforts Fund celebrates 80 years of fundraising for the Trust.

and enabled the purchase of three hairdryers. Their most recent donation of just over £11,000 paid for a shockwave machine.

The team of Friends volunteers run the Tea Shop in Outpatients as well as the Baby Boutique in Maternity. They currently have 54 working volunteers and each day eight of them spend time volunteering on site.

Pearl Berlock, volunteer

Friends at the 60th anniversary celebration

www.thh.nhs.uk

Hillingdon Hospital

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NEWS

The Trust’s Facilities Team has been busy recruiting more than 50 permanent staff in the last couple of months. The new staffing complement includes: cleaners, housekeepers, kitchen assistants, restaurant and cafe assistants as well as porters and drivers.

The majority of the newcomers are based at Hillingdon although around a dozen will be based at Mount Vernon. All of the new recruits live in the local communities around both hospitals.

This is fantastic news for the organisation as it supports the Trust’s drive to reduce agency staff and save money.

local residents boost staff numbers

Barbara Elliott, Paula Wheatley and Karen Somogyi outside the newly opened Endoscopy Unit

The major refurbishment of operating theatres at Hillingdon Hospital has been completed.

A rolling programme of improvements carried out over the spring and summer saw the last of the six refurbished theatres reopen for business at the end of September.

The theatres, which were originally built in the 1960s, manage around 6,000 operations a year.

The Trust continued with its scheduled procedures throughout the re-fit and helped manage the work by making greater use of the four existing theatres at its Mount Vernon Hospital site.

New look operating theatres back in business

The Trust has appointed IBI Group to develop long term development plans for both its hospital sites.

The IBI Group is a highly-respected design practice that specialises in health care. The Group has been responsible for more than 1,300 significant health development projects worldwide. They have been appointed for a 12 month period.

IBI’s work will involve analysing the level of clinical activity and the current resources at both Trust hospitals and future plans and strategies. This will include looking at the number of emergency admissions, the number of patients attending outpatient clinics and an evaluation of the Trust space constraints and the condition of the estate.

The Trust’s Paediatric A&e at Hillingdon Hospital is being transformed over the next six months. The re-design will see new equipment installed and spacious new bed bays, built to modern standards, providing better quality facilities for children and their parents.

The current children’s area of A&e will be re-housed temporarily from the end of this month (November) while the main work is carried out. The temporary site will be based in the hospital’s former endoscopy Unit near to Outpatients.

The redevelopment works will be complete by next summer in readiness for an increase in demand once paediatric services at ealing Hospital close.

Trust appoints master planners

Facelift for children’s A&E

Pearl Berlock, volunteer

Steve Wedgwood, Head of Facilities with the new recruits

Damien Smith, Consultant Anaesthetist in the new look theatres

The Pulse 6

A&E - It’s for accidents and emergencies only. Use it responsibly.

The Accident and emergency department

is not there to treat everyday health problems but an increasing number of people are using it that way. A campaign has been launched across Hillingdon (and the rest of West london) to raise awareness about the best place to get the right treatment and ensure that NHs money is not wasted.

The last 12 months has seen a steady increase in numbers coming to Hillingdon Hospital’s A&e department; it increased by eight per cent in August alone. Figures show that many people didn’t need the services of A&e and would have got quicker treatment by going elsewhere. Those not needing A&e are diverting

Hillingdon health care providers have joined forces to tell local people to only use A&e when it’s really needed; to deal with a life-threatening emergency.

Trust plans new

News

A&E is for life-threatening emergencies only

If you use A&E when you could get help somewhere else, you are taking NHS staff time away from life-threatening cases.

Other NHS services are available that will help you more quickly.

For more information visit: www.rightcare4U.org.uk

For emergency use only

CS41363 NHS Creative 2015

Get ready for this WinterA major drive to help people stay well this winter has

been launched by Public Health england and NHs england. It was kick started with a national flu vaccination programme for children, which seeks to help over three million 2-6 year olds, as the programme is extended to children in school years 1 and 2.

For the first time ever, all the youngest primary school children are eligible to receive the free nasal spray vaccine, making this the largest school-based vaccination programme in england involving children in 17,000 schools. As in previous years, the adult flu vaccine is also offered for free to those in groups at particular risk of infection and complications from flu. The groups being offered the adult flu vaccine are:

• Pregnant women

• Those aged 65 and over

• Those aged under 65 with long-

term conditions

• Carers.

As well as protecting against flu, the NHS Stay Well This Winter campaign urges people over 65 or those with long-term health conditions, such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease or respiratory illness, to prepare for winter with advice on how to ward off common illnesses.

The advice is to:

• Make sure you get your flu jab if eligible

• Keep yourself warm – heat your home to least 18 degrees C or (65F) if you can

• If you start to feel unwell, even if it’s just a cough or a cold, then get help from your pharmacist quickly before it gets

• more serious

• Make sure you get your prescription medicines before pharmacies close on Christmas eve

• Always take your prescribed medicines as directed

• Look out for other people who may need a bit of extra help over winter.

www.thh.nhs.uk 77

A&E - It’s for accidents and emergencies only. Use it responsibly.Hillingdon health care providers have joined forces to tell local people to only use A&e when it’s really needed; to deal with a life-threatening emergency.

Key facts

• The cost of each visit to A&e is around £150

• For every 1,000 attendees it costs an extra £50,000

• Last year Hillingdon saw 56,000 visitors to A&e

• Approximately 20 per cent could have gone somewhere else (a

pharmacy, GP surgery or other service) which would have saved

more than £1.7 million

• £1.7 million would have paid for an additonal 20-30 nurses and

doctors a year

Choose the right care

valuable resources away from people who really need emergency care and this puts people’s lives at risk.

The Trust saw more than 56,000 patients in A&e last year. An estimated 20 per cent of them could have been treated elsewhere. There are many other NHS services available for those that don’t need A&e. These include: the NHS 111 phone line, local pharmacies and GP practices.

every patient visit to A&e costs around £150. The whole of the NHS is struggling financially to meet the demands of all the patients it needs to care for. It has never been more important to make sure that our money is well spent and that A&e staff can focus on seriously sick patients and not have to deal with coughs, colds

and hangovers.

Hillingdon A&e Consultant Jas Johal said: “The A&e team want to provide the best care possible. To do this our limited resources need to be focused where they are most needed. Patients who use A&e when they could get care somewhere else are taking staff time away from life-threatening cases. Please help us to help those that need it most by getting care in the right place.”

“The Trust saw more than 56,000 patients in A&e last year. An estimated 20 per cent of them could have been seen elsewhere.”

NEWS

A&E Consultant Jas Johal urges people to get care at the right place

The Pulse 8

Trust signs up to John’s Campaign

Patient Safety Day

John’s Campaign was prompted by the

experience of John Gerrard and aims to give carers the right to stay with their loved ones in hospital to provide support, comfort and familiarity.

John Gerrard had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in his mid-70s. He was admitted to hospital (elsewhere in the country) to receive treatment for infected leg ulcers. However, during his five-week stay, visits from his family were restricted and his health severely deteriorated.

His family believe that he would not have descended into a state of incapacity if he had the people he knew to tend and comfort him during those five weeks. The individual nurses and doctors were kind, conscientious and respectful but they couldn’t sit and talk to him, read to him, make sure he ate and keep him attached to the world.

This national initiative focuses

the campaign and welcome carers and encourage their involvement. For further information on caring for your loved one in hospital, please speak to staff on the ward.

on supporting carers rights to stay with people with dementia when they are in hospital. It acknowledges that there are many other patients who do not have dementia but may be frail or who have particular needs that would benefit from the nurture and support of a family member or trusted friend when they are in hospital too.

At Hillingdon, we fully support

The Trust held a Patient Safety Workshop in October as part of the Sign up to Safety campaign (Su2S).

The event was an opportunity for patients and visitors to learn about what the Trust is doing to reduce patient harms, keep our patients safe and how they can be involved in the Sign up to Safety campaign.

If you are interested in becoming involved in the Su2S campaign then please email: Jacqueline Walker, Deputy Director of Nursing and Integrated Governance: Jacqueline.Walker@thh.nhs.uk

What we are doing at Hillingdon

• Displaying a Carers Welcome poster on every ward

• Identifying Carers - telling them about the campaign and giving them our Carers Guide

• Using the Carers Information sheet to guide a discussion about how they would like to be involved

• Informing carers about Trust parking concessions

• Providing a carers passport/badge to help identify their role in providing care

• ensuring that carers have a comfortable chair if they are staying overnight

• Providing hot drinks to passport carrying carers during routine refreshment rounds.

News

Congratulations to Phoebe Kurian, Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse who completed a five day trek along the Great Wall of China to raise money for the Juvenile diabetes Research Foundation.

Phoebe, who has Type 1 diabetes herself, walked for seven hours every day to complete the challenge. She has raised over £1,300 so far for the charity which funds research to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes.

Pheobe’s Great Wall of China trek for charity

www.thh.nhs.uk 9

Rebuilding lives with rehabilitation care

The Trust’s specialist rehabilitation service

sees thousands of patients every year at one of its two units. The Alderbourne Rehabilitation unit based at Hillingdon Hospital and the newly opened Daniels Ward at Mount Vernon Hospital provide a wide range of services for adults with complex disability due to stroke, Multiple sclerosis, spinal injury, brain injury and other long term conditions.

The Alderbourne Unit at Hillingdon has been a district rehabilitation unit for over 20 years. It admits on an average about 110 patients a year and also sees more than 1,000 outpatients every year. Now teamed up with Daniels Rehabilitation Unit, which opened in 2014, Hillingdon’s specialist rehabilitation service has the capacity to meet the needs of the population of Hillingdon and its adjoining areas. More than 100 inpatients were successfully treated at Daniels Rehabilitation Unit alone, within a year of its opening.

Most of the inpatients at both units start their patient journey at a hyperacute stroke unit, major trauma unit or other neurological and neurosurgical unit, usually having suffered life-changing neurological impairment.

The services at Hillingdon and Mount Vernon provide them with a skilled and safe environment to recover and reintegrate back into the community. 92 per cent of the patients admitted to Daniels in its first year were discharged home with only four per cent needing nursing home placements. A further four per cent needed to transfer back to acute hospitals.

Both units offer co-ordinated treatment between physical and occupational therapy, speech pathology and neuropsychology to achieve functional improvement for patients. The units also provide a range of outpatient services such as multidisciplinary, rehabilitation medicine and nurse-led clinics.

The care model used in both units - a consultant-led service with an extremely motivated multidisciplinary team, skilled in neuro-rehabilitation - has been recognised by commissioners, patients and other health care providers as a very cost effective and safe means of delivering high quality rehabilitation.

As a result the Trust, in partnership with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, has been commissioned to provide specialist neuro-rehabilitation services on behalf of NHS Central London, NHS Hammersmith and Fulham and NHS West London Clinical Commissioning Group. The joint venture sees a new 10-bed Neuro-rehabilitation Unit (CNRU) which has recently opened at Charing Cross Hospital.

FEATURE

Daniels ward interior

The team in the Alderbourne Rehabilitation Unit provide a range of services for patients

Former consultant at THH, Dai Thomas opens Daniels ward

The Pulse 10

High-tech robots enhance staff training

One of only a handful of its type in the country,

the centre is an excellent training facility and provides staff with the opportunity to act out clinical scenarios and carry-out a range of clinical procedures with the aid of robotic ‘patients.’

The simulation centre is kitted out with two ‘patients’ – known as high-fidelity sim models (robots) - that are as near to the real thing as you can get. Trainers control the highly sophisticated models from a concealed control room in real time and observe how the ‘patients’ respond to the treatment being provided. The models can sweat, cry and even speak! Their heart rate, blood pressure and breathing are all responsive to treatment and they can even detect if they have been given the correct amount of medication.

An advanced audio visual camera

A fantastic new state-of-the-art simulation centre has now opened at Hillingdon Hospital. The centre, established in a former ward area, is kitted out with the most up-to-date simulation kit available.

Smile. you’re on #Snapshot.

system has also been installed so that the clinical training sessions can be observed and recorded as events unfold. Sessions are played back to trainees for analysis and to further embed learning.

The centre also boasts three additional teaching areas, with the most up-to-date interactive smart board monitors. These will enable trainers to interact with students and deliver information during scenarios, and provide real-time demonstrations simultaneously in the centre, at satellite sites and potentially elsewhere across the UK in the future.

Healthcare simulation is recognised as an essential training tool in the development of healthcare staff. It offers valuable learning experiences that are easily transferred into the real-life hospital setting.

“We are delighted that the Trust has this fantastic new training facility that provides as close to a real life environment as possible”

FeATURe

The Trust recently re-visited its successful #snapshot Twitter campaign posting a photo of its staff every day for a month. See what the Trust gets up to by following us on Twitter.

The work to expand the main car park at

Hillingdon Hospital is planned to get underway over the summer months. A new single-story car park deck is proposed to be installed in the main car park area, providing an additional 85 spaces, more disabled bays, brown badge bays and electric charge points.

The Trust Board will consider approving the plans at its next Board meeting on Wednesday 27 May.

Inevitably there will be some disruption during the installation period which it’s proposed will run from July to September. The Trust will do all it can to help minimise disruption however it is not possible

Car park expansion

Sharing the day While the Duke and Duchess

of Cambridge were preparing to welcome their baby girl into the world on Saturday, the Maternity Unit at The Hillingdon Hospital was also busy delivering babies from

Sharing the day

Hillingdon Hospital#Snapshot

@HillingdonNHSFT

www.thh.nhs.uk 11

High-tech robots enhance staff trainingAbbas Khakoo, Medical Director

said: “We are delighted that the Trust has this fantastic new training facility that provides as close to a real life environment as possible. It means that our staff will be even better prepared to care for patients as they will have already experienced a broad range of scenarios and be able to respond quickly and effectively.”

Dr Lola Olakunbi, Teaching Fellow at the Trust is tasked with getting the programme of training courses up and running. She is an advocate of this kind of learning and said: “This centre will provide great support to Hillingdon’s clinical staff. I know from my own training that if you have already been through a situation with a patient your previous experience just kicks in and that can only be a

good thing for our patients.”The Trust has been able to set-

up the training facility thanks to securing £240k funding from North West London education & Training Board (NWLeTB) following a successful bid.

The establishment of the Hillingdon Simulation Centre is down to the simulation team, made up of Dr Meng Aw-Yong (Associate Specialist in emergency Medicine) who played the lead role in securing the initial allocation of funding; with Dr Anthea Parry (Director of Medical education), Karen Blackbond

“We are delighted that the Trust has this fantastic new training facility that provides as close to a real life environment as possible”

(Project Manager), Dr Ritu Gupta (Clinical Simulation Lead), Chris Campbell (Medical education Manager), Dr Lola Olakunbi (Simulation Medical education Fellow) and Paul Andreozzi (build Project Manager) working hard to establish the Hillingdon Simulation Centre thereafter.

Centre fact file

• Centre cost £240k to set up

• Two robot patients; High Fidelity 3G SimMan and SimJunior with

SimMom on its way

• Three interative smart board monitors

• Can deliver up to 400 half-day training sessions a year when fully operational.

FEATURE

State of the art SimMan model

The Pulse 12

The Clinical Coding Department

Across the health service Clinical Coding may go

somewhat unnoticed, or even unheard of, but the skill plays a vital role in supporting patient care. Put simply, Clinical Coding is “the translation of medical terminology to describe a patient’s complaint, problem, diagnosis, treatment or reason for seeking medical attention, into a coded format.” It is an internationally recognised system that helps medical staff quickly and easily understand a patients’ health issue and how it is being addressed.

There are 16 people who make up the Coding Team at the Trust. They are responsible for coding approximately 68,000 ‘finished consultant episodes’ (FCes) a year - worth around £70 million to the Trust. An FCe or multiple FCes make up a ‘spell’ which is the length of time the patient is in hospital for one continuous visit. All FCes have to be coded by a set deadline without fail or else the Trust will lose money and our coding information will be insufficient. It is a significant responsibility and matching a treatment or patient’s diagnosis to a code is not as straightforward as it might seem. each patient’s record is an entity in its own right and they all have to be coded individually.

The coders use four comprehensive books of codes along with computer software and an enormous amount of training and know-how. It could be described as a cross between an art and a science capturing the diversity and complexity of diagnosis and procedures whilst ensuring the coding meets the national standards. Often they may also need to meet local requirements for example of a particular specialist consultant.

The use of the codes ensures the information derived from them is standardised and comparable both at national and international level. The coders are trained to a nationally accredited standard and have to keep-up to date with regular bi-annual training courses.

The importance of clinical coding cannot be emphasised enough; it is the main method of measuring ‘payment by results’ (which brings in the money needed to run the

The Eyes/ENT team celebrating on the night

sPOTLIGHT

Trust’s hospitals and its services). However clinical coding is used to support many other functions within the Trust and at a national level. These include: overall cost analysis; the commissioning of services; health trends and most importantly the outcome and effectiveness of patients’ care.

Tara Turner, the Trust’s Clinical Coding Manager fully understands how important her team is to the effective running of the organisation. She holds them in high regard and said: “Communication is a fundamental part of the role and the team have to build good working relationships across the whole range of staff. This ensures we collect good quality information and as importantly provides confidence in the data we produce for the Trust”.

“The team work hard and get their job done despite any challenges. They are fab”.

The Clinical Coding Team are responsible for approximately 68,000 ‘finished consultant episodes’.

www.thh.nhs.uk 13

A week’s supplies in numbers:

Supply and demand

Hillingdon Hospital’s supplies Team delivers thousands of items around the 27 acre site every week.

They are part of a small army of non-clinical staff

keeping the hospital running 24/7 delivering everything from medical supplies and stationery to beds and furniture.

“We deliver around five tonnes of supplies a day,” says Logistics Co-ordinator Ben Wheatcroft who manages the seven-strong team.

An estimated £25 million of

supplies passes through their basement offices every year.

The team ensure the hospital’s 40-plus departments are restocked on a weekly basis with everything from catheters and scalpels to surgical gowns and syringes.

The team’s encyclopaedic knowledge of what goes where comes into play when a department bleeps them for an urgently required item.

“We more or less know where

everything is in our heads. With a combined team experience of 50 years, we can usually find what’s needed quickly and easily.”

The team can also find itself having to track down new items at short notice. During last year’s ebola situation Ben had to quickly source sufficient numbers of personal protective equipment (PPe) at very short notice. And at this time of year they can find themselves delivering the odd festive item alongside the routine clinical supplies.

“There’s never a dull moment,” says Ben. “The team are always on the go ensuring the right things arrive in the right place at the right time. We play a really important role in making sure the hospital runs as smoothly as possible.”

Well done to Ben and his team!

• Surgical gloves 760 boxes

• IV Cannulas 2,500

• Syringes 2,200 boxes

• Hand wash 250 cases

• Handtowels 3,600 packs

The team clocks up an estimated 220 miles week.

FEATURE

The Supplies Team move approximately five tonnes a day

Ben with a festive delivery

The Pulse 14

Jay Dungeni: Acting Assistant Director of operations (ADo) for the Women and Children’s Division

With many interesting and sometimes

unusual avenues of career progression, we will be looking at a series of staff members who have worked their way through various routes to reach their chosen profession.

“I was a sciences student at school and my answer to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” always had something to do with being a doctor. Although I never became a doctor, I ended up in a hospital and that was good enough for me!

“My first foot into the NHS was when I was a student nurse in 1999. I joined the Temporary Staffing Bank at Hillingdon as a Healthcare Assistant which was an easy choice to make as I had already responded to the ‘Florence Nightingale’ calling and was on my way to becoming a nurse. I had also heard about other students’

positive experiences of working and having their placements at Hillingdon Hospital and decided that this was where I wanted to be.

“The one thing that fascinated me in my early years in the NHS is how much of an industry it is. I always imagined it being a show of just doctors and nurses and then I discovered that there was a whole massive industry behind the scenes including many back office functions such as business managers, finance teams and various service improvement teams who all contribute to the running of the hospital.

“I worked as a nurse in Trauma and Orthopaedics at Hillingdon between 2001 and 2008 before I came across the world of service management. I was encouraged to apply for a post in the surgical division on a trial basis as part of my personal development plan. I grew to love it and ended up being appointed into the role in 2008. It was through this experience that I developed my passion for the world of operations management working

my way through appointments in business and service management. In February 2015 I started working as the Acting Assistant Director of Operations for the Women and Children’s Division.

“Since my days in nursing I have always enjoyed keeping busy and as an ADO there is plenty

of opportunity for this. This could range from ensuring that the departments in the division have the resources to perform their functions to working with stakeholders in other organisations on service development projects. It can be very satisfying to see a project through from start to finish.

“Working in the current financial climate is a challenge. It is tough making decisions about what will be prioritised but if there is some comfort in that dilemma, it is that you are never alone in that process and there is always an opportunity to learn from other senior managers.

“In my role, no two days are the same and I am never short of challenges to respond to. Luckily we all work as part of a team in one form or another so we survive to tell the tales of each day. I always try to spend time in a clinical area within the division each day. This keeps me in touch with the experiences of staff and helps frame my approach to providing some steer in how the division constantly endeavours to

improve patient outcomes and experiences.

“I am grateful for the opportunities I have had in the health service so far and do not regret the choices I have made in my career.”

“there is always an opportunity to learn from other senior managers.”

FeATURe

www.thh.nhs.uk 15

Rekha Wadhwani shares her governor experiences

In writing this piece I thought I would highlight

a few of the activities I have been involved in over the year.

With my background in charity work, I was invited to join the Trust’s charity committee. The Trust receives some donations from members of the public which can be spent on items for which there is no budget. With a view to increasing donations, we examined in detail how we receive donations, current donors and how we put these to best use in line with the donor’s wishes. Over the next few years we aim to substantially increase donations to help support the Trust’s work and have appointed a professional

fundraiser to help us with this.During the year, I also

participated in a Patient Led Assessment of Care environment (PLACe) on of one of the wards at Mount Vernon hospital. A PLACe session takes approximately three hours to complete and is a fascinating activity comprising of members of the public and staff checking that a wide range of items meet national standards. It is a very detailed process and our group initially marked a linen trolley that had been left open on the ward as sub-standard. We upgraded this score following a second check when it had been closed and removed from the ward. This just goes to show the level of detail that is considered in providing a safe and healthy

“there is always an opportunity to learn from other senior managers.”

GovERNoR’S voICE

environment for us to heal in. I attended several Members’

meetings and events at various locations where Trust staff meet the public. I also went to three focused events covering diabetes, heart conditions and a report received from Monitor.

This is only a brief summary of my activities and I hope it reflects the varied and busy life as a Trust governor. It has been an interesting time and I look forward to the next year with its challenges and rewards.

Rekha WadhwaniPublic Governor, South

People in Partnership meetings 2015/2016All meetings take place from 6.30 to 9pm

Monday 23 November 2015: education Centre, Hillingdon Hospital

Tuesday 26 January 2016: Postgraduate Centre, Mount Vernon Hospital

Monday 25 April 2016: education Centre, Hillingdon Hospital Wednesday 20 July 2016: Committee Room 5, Civic Centre

Tuesday 15 November 2016: education Centre, Hillingdon Hospital

The Trust’s Annual General Meeting took place in September. The Trust’s Chief executive Shane DeGaris and Director of Finance Paul Wratten highlighted that last year had been very challenging with greater demands for services against a backdrop of shrinking budgets - a situation experienced by the majority of other trusts.

Despite this more than £15 million was invested in improvement works across both sites. This included the new Acute Medical Unit and endoscopy at

Hillingdon and the opening of Daniels ward at Mount Vernon.

The meeting also focused on Hillingdon’s Integrated Care programme with a presentation

Trust general meeting a success

from Consultant Geriatrician Julie Vowles. The group discussion and feedback that followed will be used to help shape the programme in the future.

The Pulse

FesTIvITy

music on the wardsOn Christmas eve, following a longstanding tradition, members from local churches will be coming into the Trust to sing carols around the Trust in wards and departments.

Ward visitsThe Trust has been lucky enough to have had yearly visits to our children’s wards from local pantomimes, professional footballers and even soap stars. This year we hope there’ll be no difference. We are in the process of lining up some exciting special guests to bring a cheer to those who need it this Christmas.

Christmas in the chapelServices will be held on:

Christmas Day: eucharist - 11am and 2pm

Sunday 27 December: eucharist - 2pm

location Chapel Lower Ground FloorHillingdon Hospital

‘The Giving Tree’ As Christmas draws near, Hillingdon Hospital will again have its Giving Tree for members of the public and staff to join in the seasonal spirit of giving.Throughout the year many

Dinner is servedA full Christmas lunch will be served to staff, patients and visitors at both Hillingdon and Mount Vernon restaurants. Dates and availability will be advertised within each site.

School carol singersIt’s a long standing tradition at Hillingdon to have students from our local schools perform carols for staff and patients during December. This year we’ve invited them again and hope many of you come and support the young

Preparations are well underway for the

busy festive season. As usual, there will be lots of activities taking place across both trust sites from Christmas lunches in our restaurants to the annual carol performances from local schools. Full details and timings will be published on our website nearer the time.

Getting in the festive spirit

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patients are rushed into hospital and are not able to bring some of the little things that matter so much like soap, toothbrush, skin cream, wipes, shaving supplies and hair care. We hope that with your generosity we’ll be able to help patients throughout the year by providing them with the small essentials donated by the public.So, come and put your star on the tree and your gift under the branches. The tree will be in place in the Chapel from 30 November until 6 December.

talent. We will be posting times and dates of performances closer to December.