Join the first Internationally-Educated Nurses Forum

To provide pastoral support to our internationally-recruited nurses to ensure their settling in is seamless, all staff are welcome to join our first forum. These meetings will be monthly and information will be shared between colleagues in and outside UHD. Topics will include how to conduct a wellbeing check, multi-faith support, where to find childcare followed by a Q&A session. The first session will be held in seminar rooms 1 and 2 in the education centre at RBH on 23 August from 9am-12pm. The second session will be at the lecture theatre at Poole. For more details contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 2246.

Communication Workers Union industrial action

As you may be aware, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort, distribute and deliver parcels and mail to take action on Friday 26 August, Wednesday 31 August and for two days on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 September 2022. This is expected to affect services provided by Royal Mail and Parcelforce.

Whilst we've been told that Royal Mail and Parcelforce have contingency plans, they have advised customers to expect significant disruption to services on strike days and subsequent days as the try to deal with backlogs. We have also been advised that where we can, we should post items as early as possible in advance of these dates.

In more detail;

Scope of roles affected;

• This notification covers CWU members who collect, process, distribute and deliver parcels and letters for both Royal Mail and Parcelforce businesses
• The action also includes support services in Royal Mail including CWU members in customer experience, HR and finance teams

Contingency planning;

• There are contingency plans covering what happens immediately before, during and after any industrial action (during recovery). Operational and non-operational managers and agency staff will be providing a very limited service on strike days. This will focus on attempting to deliver priority streams which are Special Delivery and Tracked 24. In practical terms, it is unlikely we will achieve complete coverage of even these streams without having access to our normal frontline staff. In the days following the action, managers and agency staff will continue to work in the operation to help get as many items as possible delivered.

Effect on services;

• Business collections will not take place. They will restart the next working day that you normally have a collection. Inevitably we may struggle to take away all post on the day after strike days due to the expected accumulation of items. If you manifest on strike days you do not have to re-manifest or re-label those items on the actual date of collection. Since some systems auto-manifest by default, we are expecting manifests with previous dates showing.
• Delivery offices and customer service points will be closed so it will not be possible to drop off mail. Main Mail Centres may be able to accept post at their receptions, but this is not guaranteed, customers are likely to have to cross picket lines, and processing will, in any case, be suspended. The recommendation is so far as is possible to post as much as you are able to at least a couple of days early (bearing in mind 48 hour services due for delivery on strike days will not be delivered) and to be aware that quality of service in the period immediately after any strike days is likely to be severely impacted.
• Special delivery guarantee will be suspended for items posted the day before, the day of and in the days after a strike takes place, until we can confidently restore the guarantee. We will attempt to deliver as many Special Delivery items as possible on strike days.
• Tracked 24 - We will attempt to deliver as many Tracked 24 items as possible on these days, subject to the proviso above. Tracked 48, Royal Mail 24/48, first and second class letters will not be delivered on these days.
• Parcel collect will not be available on the day of or following two working days after industrial action
• Tracking will operate as usual with links to service information from the website and RM App
• Delivery notifications - SMS/email notifications, updating customers on the progress of an item, will remain in place
• Confirmation of delivery – will operate on items delivered
• Estimated delivery windows will be suspended three days before, on the days of and immediately after any IA days until the network has recovered
• Post boxes including priority and parcel boxes - We'll only be collecting from around 2000-5000 post boxes on strike days. These will be high-usage boxes and will include some (but not all) priority boxes (those where Covid-19 tests can be posted)

RBH: Reduced alcohol care and treatment service (ACTS) this month

There will be no ACTS service on 19 August, 26 August and 29 August. For clinical information please refer to the ACTS pages on the intranet.

Visiting at Poole's maternity unit

Following new NHS England guidance, risk assessments at St Mary's maternity unit were undertaken, and due to the size of the bays and numbers in these bays it was reluctantly deemed that visiting should be restricted, including:

• Antenatal clinics, antenatal day assessment unit and scans: one partner only permitted in the waiting toom and consulting room
• Labour ward and Haven birthing suite: two birthing partners permitted.
• Antenatal ward, postnatal wards, transitional care unit: one partner or visitor and any one time, open visiting 10am- 11pm, no overnight stays

This decision was taken very reluctantly by our senior team based on further advice from infection prevention control, and taking into account the outdated design of our maternity unit at St Mary's. This is also in line with Dorset County Hospital which also does not have partners staying overnight in a bay with women and babies.

We also have to take into account helping to protect the privacy, dignity and safety of all mothers and their babies in our maternity wards. We want to ensure that our mothers are able to have protected time and this is not possible with visitors there 24 hours a day. The midwifery matrons are aware that most service users find it very comforting to have a relative or their partner present but that in a shared ward, they also have concerns about sleeping while strangers are awake and in the same room. Read more here.

Leadership Fundamentals Programme

This leadership programme is aimed at first time and aspiring leaders as an introduction to the principles of compassionate and inclusive leadership and how these fit with the expectations of being a leader at UHD.

The programme will focus on developing your own personal leadership skills and style through the use of self-awareness tools, understanding your own values and learning style and how these may have an impact on those around you. Topics explored will include managing relationships and building trust with others, team roles, decision making, communication and motivation.

The programme will give you the opportunity to improve your leadership skills and network with other leaders from across UHD, so that you are able to share best practice and build relationships. Participants will be expected to complete the relevant pre coursework, attend both days, and a half day check-in session three months later to consolidate your learning. You will also need support from your line manager to attend.

We are launching two cohorts in 2022, both with limited spaces:

• Cohort 1 – 12 and 13 October with a morning follow up session on 31 January 2023
• Cohort 2 - 8 and 9 November with a morning follow up session on 7 February 2023

If you would like to express your interest in attending, please complete the form with support from your line manager, and let us know in order of preference which programme you would prefer to take part in.

We particularly encourage all colleagues from underrepresented groups to consider all our leadership development offers.

Click here to sign up.

Reminder: Stay up-to-date on personal safety

We've brought together a range of personal safety information for staff on this document. It's also available on the @UHD app in the 'Support for you' section. You can download our app here.

We also have 250 panic alarms available at Poole and RBH free of charge for anyone who would like one. They are available from the general cash offices between 9am-3.30pm Monday to Friday. You will need to bring your trust ID badge with you to collect the device.

Easy access for Medusa National Injectable Medicines Guide

The National Injectable Medicines Guide (aka Medusa) provides useful information about intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM) and ocular drug administration. Quick, easy access with no log-in required, with local customisations and links to UHD policies are available in managed bookmarks > informational, or on the medicines pages of the intranet.

Please note that from the end of August, the version of Medusa used at Poole requiring log in details will no longer work. If will be therefore only be possible to access via the route mentioned above. If you have any questions contact medicines advice on ext. 4098 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

HR recruitment structure

Our recruitment team structure is now aligned with the organisation's care groups and corporate services. Dedicated resources for each, and the recruitment team new structure, can be viewed on the HR pages of the intranet.

For medical recruitment queries call ext. 4460 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For general recruitment queries, call ext. 4426 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. You can also contact the team on MS Teams.

Our new porter task management system is arriving soon

The trust has invested in a new system for portering requests, designed to help us improve patient flow and deliver better patient outcomes. Other benefits include full visibility of all porter requests to and from your department, full sight of when a porter is on the way and improved timeliness. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at RBH and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at Poole if you have any questions.

Join our procurement team as an operational buyer

We have an exciting opportunity for an operational buyer to join our procurement team within commercial services. You will be an excellent communicator, acting as an ambassador for the department. to ensure we provide an effective and efficient operational procurement service to stakeholders across all areas of UHD. Find out more here.

Yellow Buses routes update

The 18, 33 and 36 routes will be run by Yellow Coaches for the next six months. They will honour pre-bought 30 and 90 day tickets and drivers will be made aware to accept cards. Please keep your staff ID badge with you on your journey.

Staff that purchased 30 or 90 day tickets using a debit card, may be able to contact your bank and receive a refund within 120 days of purchase. If you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company if the amount was over £100. Please note that not all banks offer this, find out more here.

Discounted tickets from the Regent Centre for NHS

Our friends at the Regent Centre in Christchurch have offered us discounted tickets for 'Saba Douglas-Hamilton: in the footsteps of elephants'. Find out more about the film here and book your tickets.