Update on Covid-19 testing – patients and staff

NHS England has released new guidance outlining a number of changes in Covid-19 testing practices for staff as well as patients.

We are working to understand the detail underpinning the document, particularly around implementing changes to patient testing and on staff in non-patient facing roles, and the details of these will be shared urgently once agreed.

Patient-facing staff will see little change. Staff in these roles will continue to be able to order free lateral flow device (LFD) tests using the national ordering system, and should continue to be undertaken twice a week. Results, however, should now be reported via the national reporting system here.

For any staff member with symptoms, LFDs will also continue to be available through the national ordering system for free.

The impact of the new guidance on staff in non-patient-facing roles is currently being worked through, and will be shared with you as soon as possible.

Please continue to adhere to current testing practice, with the exception of using the national LFD reporting system instead of our own, until the UHD guidance is shared.

LFD ordering link in full: https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

LFD reporting link in full: https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result

First ever UHD staff survey results published

The results from our first national NHS Staff Survey as University Hospitals Dorset were published on Wednesday (30 March). This is the first UHD NHS Staff Survey and so gives an important baseline position for our new organisation.

Our results show that, alongside merger, we were continuing to perform well alongside other comparable trusts and doing better than other trusts in some areas. The results also largely reflect the informal feedback that you have shared with us over the past few months, and we have already begun to look closely at the areas we need to celebrate, and those where we can make changes to improve staff experience at UHD.

We want to improve on these results by involving and encouraging teams in departments to understand their local results in the heat maps reports and take action on areas that matter through local staff survey action plans.

Read more, including links to the report, on the staff survey page of the UHD intranet.

Reminder: updated guidance on patients with incidental Covid-19

New guidance outlines how best to manage patients with Covid-19 in our hospitals, including those patients whose Covid-19 infection is not the primary reason for admission (known as incidental Covid).

The guidance includes updates on:

• admissions pathways
• bay and ward closures
• contact management
• good practice on wards open to admissions
• terminal cleans for ward/bay closures

The guidance can be read here or accessed via the 'IPC and Covid-19' tile on the intranet front page. It will continue to be reviewed and updated.

A fond farewell to Debbie Fleming

Yesterday (31 March) we said a fond farewell and thanks to our chief executive, Debbie Fleming OBE, who retired after 38 years of dedicated service to the NHS. Speaking at the event, Debbie said, “It's a good end – I'm very happy and proud of my time in the NHS and wish you all the success for the future”. Professor Paula Shobbrook, acting chief executive, added that Debbie had always focussed on patients and their care - “it runs through you like a stick of rock.”

Let us know what you think with the People Pulse survey

The staff survey and our quarterly People Pulse survey work together to keep us improving our staff experience throughout the year, identifying problems and celebrating successes as they arise. It is incredibly important that you take these opportunities to raise your voice to help us to make the changes you need in your area. Let us know how you are feeling in April's national quarterly People Pulse survey and help us continue to make changes across our hospitals. Click here to take the survey.

Together, for our staff - latest edition out now

The spring edition of the UHD magazine Together is now out, with features on staff wellbeing initiatives, VIP visits and a round-up of our ambitious buildings programme. You can also find out how the pandemic pushed public governor Michele Whitehurst to do more to support her local hospitals, and how our fundraising team's efforts are supporting patients and staff – and how you can be involved.

Click here to read this edition, while printed copies have also been sent to all wards and departments.

Help us to be considerate neighbours

Please help us to be considerate neighbours if you're a smoker, by avoiding congregating outside nearby homes and businesses, as well as disposing of your cigarette litter responsibly.

Staff are encouraged to use the allocated smoking areas on our sites wherever possible.

Reduced palliative care service at Bournemouth and Poole

Due to unforeseen circumstances there will be no RBH hospital palliative care cover on Sunday (3 April).

For urgent concerns, 24 hour advice is available from the Macmillan Unit via ext 5470 and choose option 1 between 8am-5pm, and option 3 between the hours of 5pm-8am.

For non-urgent queries, please leave a message on ext 6021 (HPCT) and a staff member will pick these up on Monday (4 April).

There will also be no routine hospital palliative care or end of life service at Poole on Tuesday (5 April).

If you need any urgent specialist palliative care or end of life care advice please contact ext 8115.

UHD PAS programme gathers pace – find out the latest

The latest update on the UHD PAS project, bringing a single shared patient administration system to the trust for the first time, is now available to read here.

With all outpatient clinics now built in the system and all theatre codes added, the project is gearing up to meet the aim to move the trust to one system by 17 May this year. This edition includes news on how medical secretaries can offer support during go live, and how to log into Poole's eCaMIS PAS and UHD PAS at the same time.

Find out more in the first edition of the update if you missed it, including the need to avoid booking patients onto Poole's eCaMIS beyond 16 May.

Staff car parking policy approved

Earlier this week (30 March) our Board approved the decision to reinstate staff car park charges from 1 April as the government's funding to enable free car parking for NHS staff during the pandemic has come to an end.

Commenting on the policy, Richard Renaut, UHD's chief strategy and transformation officer said, "The policy and charges have been designed with the input of our staff partnership forum, making sure our limited parking spaces are allocated fairly and transparently, whilst supporting our wider Green Plan by reducing single occupant and peak time car trips - staff will still be able to park for free overnight as well as at weekends. Our parking policy is designed to do the best for our staff, patients and visitors – balancing a range of factors to support travel to and from our hospitals." You can find out more information including a background briefing, FAQs and how to contact the team on the intranet.

Get your tickets for our 2022 Revue - Pandemonium

Our UHD Revue crew are working hard in rehearsals for our production of 'Pandemonium'. The show is by our staff, for our staff, and will be an evening of sketches, songs and laughter. This is a great opportunity for us all to come together with our colleagues, take a lighter look at life in the NHS and support our UHD Charity through ticket sales.

You can watch the show on 25 and 26 May at Talbot Heath School in the STEAM hub auditorium. Doors will open at 7pm, with the show starting at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £10 (plus booking fee) and include an interval drink during the show. You can buy tickets here.

Digitising elective care: our care coordination system (CCS) is here

Patient prioritisation and waiting list cleansing is already taking place as part of the NHS's COVID-19 recovery plan. During the pandemic, elective waiting lists grew to 6 million patients in the UK. It is essential that we use digital technology in the optimum way to ensure the right patients receive elective surgery as quickly as possible. The solution will improve the trust's ability to coordinate patient care, cutting waiting times for the highest priority patients and reducing surgery cancellations.

UHD has deployed the CCS solution and is pioneering the adoption of the tool for the south west of England.

The system will provide clinicians, schedulers, and operational staff with new tools for direct cleansing of elective surgery waiting list data across specialties, re-prioritising patients awaiting treatment, and optimising theatre capacity.

Commenting on the project, Louise McGraw, UHD's CCS delivery manager, said, "The tool essentially enables clinicians, schedulers and ops staff to directly cleanse the waiting list, where appropriate and have the ability to manage the theatre schedule by using a 'shared source of truth', maximising our capacity.""

Head to the designated CCS tool Intranet page to learn more about the benefits of the tool, implementation progress and the CCS rollout at UHD.

Watch out for more updates, where we will communicate some of the benefits of the system.

Celebrating Ramadan

This month is Ramadan, which for our Muslim community is a time for prayer, spiritual reflection, meals with extended family and friends to break daily fasts.

Your colleagues and patients may be participating in daily fasting during Ramadan starting at sunrise and finishing at sunset over April. This means abstaining from food, drink (including water) and smoking. While fasting is an important part of Ramadan, it is also a time of self-reflection and self-evaluation for Muslims.

If you have any questions about support during Ramadan, whether that be for you, your colleagues or your patients please contact our chaplains, human resources, or our BAME network. More information is available on the intranet.

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness month

It's Bowel Cancer Awareness month and our team of bowel cancer screening nurses are going to be using this time to share information and advice with our community.

The team will visit Poole Dolphin Centre Eco Hub on the 5 and 6 April, Bournemouth Asda on 14 April and Weymouth Asda on 22 and 28 April from 9am-5pm to give our community up to date information on the screening programme and advice on healthy lifestyle for good bowel health and cancer prevention.

You can also catch the team in the dome at Poole on Monday 11 April to find out more and ask your questions.

Reminder - recruitment team has moved to Yeomans House

A reminder that the recruitment team has recently relocated to Yeomans House and we no longer have a regular onsite presence at RBH or Poole. If a manager or new recruit needs to meet face to face with a member of the team, please call or email in advance so that a time can be booked in.

The contact details moving forward for recruitment are:

General recruitment 0300 019 (4426) - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Medical recruitment 0300 019 (4460) - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Alternatively you can Teams any member of the team or call or email them directly.

Please don't send hard copy interview notes. From now on following interview please email copies of the interview paperwork to the member of the recruitment team who has been managing your recruitment. Please make sure the 'Trac ID' number is included.

If you have queries please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

RBH: free bike tagging

On 12 April our local police cadets will be in the marquee from 9am-3.30pm to tag our bikes. Bikes can be left with the teams throughout the day or collected from the bike shed. Please contact Julia Bassil, cadets coordinator on 07912898684 to arrange pick up.

New trial launching from our difficult intravenous access (DIVA) team

From Monday next week we are starting an initial two-week trial for patients with difficult vascular access.

To be referred to the DIVA team during the trial your patient must:

1. have a genuine need for IV access

2. have had two failed attempts at cannulation by a skilled professional at ward level or have no veins palpable or visible on peripheral vein assessment.

If your patient meets these criteria during the trial period, please contact the DIVA team on:

• Poole: bleep 0139
• RBH: bleep 2727 Monday-Friday 8.30am-5.30pm, or Hospital at Night (H@N) 'DIVA request' out of hours.

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions.

The health and safety audit tool (HASAT) is open for completion

The HASAT reporting year runs from April to March and data is collected in quarter 1 April to June each year. Department and service managers can access the form and further information here.

The purpose is to:

• provide evidence of a systematic audit in each department.
• provide a natural signpost towards required risk assessments, depending on department's needs.
• provide evidence that legal health and safety requirements are being met throughout the Trust in accordance with current legislation.
• provide an opportunity for audit input by Associate Operational Managers and Risk Managers if necessary.

For further support please contact your local health and safety advisor.

POOLE: drop-in moving and handling session

Our moving and handling team is hosting a drop-in session for individuals and teams. This is your opportunity to, meet the moving and handling team, update your training and discuss any moving and handling concerns

The session will take place in the clinical skills suite in the education centre from 1pm until 4pm on 13 April.

Don't miss your chance to apply for the NHS Regional Clinical Leadership Fellow Scheme

NHS England and NHS Improvement, in partnership with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM), is launching the second cohort of the NHS Regional Clinical Leadership Fellow Scheme. The scheme expands the opportunities and support to talented clinical leaders and to strengthen clinical leadership capability in the NHS.

Key information:

• Clinical fellows are based in a regional NHS team for 12 months from 1 September 2022.
• Posts are available as less than full time (0.6FTE) secondments and will be hosted by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
• The scheme is open to doctors in training, dentists, pharmacists, allied health professionals, nurses, midwives and healthcare scientists who can demonstrate experience at team leader level, equivalent to an NHS Band 7 role.
• Clinical fellows will lead key projects that contribute to regional and national priorities supporting recovery, reset and the implementation of learning from the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Clinical fellows will develop a range of skills in leadership, management, strategy, healthcare policy, commissioning, workforce and more, and will have access to a supported alumni scheme upon completion for on-going support, development and to act as a resource for the NHS to draw on.

Applications close on Wednesday (6 April) at 5pm. Click here for more information or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

RBH: missing ECG machine

The ECG machine from the orthopaedic outpatients pre assessment has gone missing and it needs it to be returned as quickly as possible. The machine has OOPD marked on the back of the machine in black pen. If you find it, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Job of the week - healthcare support worker educator

Are you passionate about supporting HCSWs and other non-registered staff from the start and throughout their time with us? Are you keen to help develop our support workforce and help them progress in their careers? A fantastic opportunity has arisen to join the education team and lead on HCSW induction and training, career development and the care certificate. This post is open to any member of staff and details can be found on NHS jobs. For further information please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Applications close next Tuesday (5 April).

Join the fight at Teddy Rocks festival with a special offer for UHD staff

Teddy Rocks is a charity festival held in Blandford, Dorset raising money to fight children's cancer. With headliners like The Fratellis, Newton Faulkner and The Wurzels the event runs from 29 April to 1 May. The team is offering NHS staff free day tickets for 750 staff members, or 15 per cent off all weekend camping tickets with the code NHS15.

Click here to book your free ticket or click here to book your camping ticket.

Poole: 243 Wessex Field Hospital and 6 rifles recruiting event

243 Field Hospital and 6 Rifles Reserve Forces are holding a recruiting event in the Dome at Poole Hospital next Thursday (6 April) between 11-2pm. If you would like to find out more about the Reserve Forces and the positive impact being a member of can have on your NHS career pop down to the dome for an informal chat.