Keeping our hospitals clean and safe – it's everyone's responsibilityIt's more important than ever that we work together to keep our hospitals clean and safe. In addition to the proper use of PPE, effective cleaning is essential to reduce the spread of Covid-19, which can remain active for three days on surfaces. We've put together a short film showing some of the ways we can all make a difference – regardless of your role, good infection prevention and control is everyone's business. |
Ask Aly...Join us for a virtual drop-in session with our chief medical officer, Dr Alyson O'Donnell, and guests, tomorrow (23 December), 12-1pm. Click here to join. All staff are welcome and we encourage you to ask questions, raise issues or share your experiences via the 'raised hand' function or chat bar in Teams. |
Flu vaccinations still availableThank you to the nearly two thirds of frontline staff who have now had their flu jab – but if you haven't had yours, there's still time. Having the jab is a simple and effective way to protect yourself, your family, colleagues and patients from flu. Our peer vaccinators are ready to vaccinate staff who have not yet had their jab – full details of our peer vaccinators, as well as any limited new flu trolley rounds, are available on the intranet. If you have had the jab elsewhere, please don't forget to let occupational health know too. |
Chief executive looks back at 2020In her last update for the year, our chief executive Debbie Fleming looks back at 2020 and shares her sense of pride in all that our staff have achieved. Click here to view the video. |
Update on lateral flow testing kitsWe have now distributed more than 7,000 lateral flow testing kits to staff across University Hospitals Dorset. A number of teams and departments are awaiting delivery of their lateral flow testing kits, which have been delayed. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused, and will keep those teams updated as soon as possible. Please do not contact the swabbing teams for updates as you will be contacted when the kits arrive. Thank you. |
Updated visitor guidanceIn line with the government guidelines over Christmas, and to enable our patients to spend time with loved ones at this time, our visiting restrictions will be adjusted for Christmas Day only. On this day, up to two visitors from the same household may visit patients in our wards by appointment only, for one hour. Please make sure you stagger these visits on the wards to ensure that only one patient in a bay is receiving visitors at a time. Anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 must not visit and visiting to patients with Covid is unfortunately not allowed. Visitors must:
You can read our full visitor guidance for staff, including exemptions and visiting for compassionate reasons, here. Thank you for your hard work and support to our patients and relatives at this time. |
RBH - New pharmacy opening hoursPlease note new hours from 2 January 2021:
Department working hours and on call hours remain unchanged. |
IT specialist nurse service over the Christmas periodThere will be no IT specialist nurse service from 23-28 December and 30 December across Poole and RBCH. Please log a call on the IT service desk if you require assistance during this time. |
Looking for AHPs with a passion for rehabilitationIf you are an AHP with a passion for rehabilitation and would like to take on some additional hours, we need people who can work in the community or hospital settings to help discharge patients effectively and support rehabilitation at home or as close to home as possible. We're looking for registered physios, OTs, speech and language therapists, healthcare support workers and rehab assistants to join our bank staff to support people living in Dorset to recover. If you know an AHP working in private practice or looking to return to practice and would like to get involved, please pass on this message. If you are passionate about rehabilitation, support will be given to help individuals keen to become involved. We can offer flexible shifts including weekends as well as part time and full-time opportunities. Shifts are available across Dorset seven days a week and from 8am-8pm. Shifts will be available from January onwards. Find out more and complete an expression of interest form here. |
Poole Hospital - Christmas mailThe hospital's mail service will close at 10am on 24 December. Any mail received after this time will not leave the hospital until 29 December. If you have any questions contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
ICE requesting reminder on consultant and location detailsLERN forms are being submitted with pathology and radiology results going back to the incorrect consultant because the location and consultant details have been incorrect on the ICE request. ICE will default with the consultant and location details from the episode in eCaMIS. For inpatients, ICE will select the admitting consultant, for outpatients, ICE will select the consultant that the outpatient appointment was booked against. This will not always be the correct consultant because you may be requesting for a patient who is currently under the care of another consultant. Results will be sent to the consultant on the request and if this is wrong, a result can be missed. This is a serious risk and missed diagnoses will continue to occur whilst these details are not being checked by the requester. You must check the consultant and the location fields are correct before submitting the request. |
Board round quality improvement projectWe are looking for ward-based staff who are involved in board rounds to help with a quality improvement project to improve board rounds on wards. You will have the chance to participate in the Dorset wide 'Home First' programme of improvement as well as receiving formal training in leadership and quality improvement, support with data analysis, have the chance to present to senior managers and clinicians, and receive a quality improvement project certificate of completion. To find out more and register your interest contact Claire at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Survey on helping reduce healthcare acquired infectionsNHS England and NHS Improvement are seeking to understand how to better protect frontline staff from Covid-19 infection within all healthcare settings. Staff have made huge efforts to uphold Covid-19 control measures and we want to explore how to better support these efforts. We are asking frontline nurses, doctors, midwifes, allied health professionals, non-clinical patient-facing staff and others to comple an anonymous survey about your experience on how Covid-19 control measures are practiced in formal and informal settings in and around your workplace. The survey will take 10-15 minutes. Click here to complete the survey. The closing date is 30 December. If you have any questions contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Poole Hospital - Blue Christmas drop-in spaceBlue Christmas, based in the hospital chapel, has been put together for staff whose days don't feel merry or bright right now. It is a drop-in space where you can acknowledge some of the tough realities that you are facing this year. Blue Christmas will be open on 23 December from 9am-5pm. Chaplains will be available if needed. |
Organisation positions on smartcardsWe are currently moving all staff across to the new organisation on all of our systems. One of those systems requires us to create new positions on smartcards under the new UHD coding. We have limited time to do this before the old codes become inactive. Staff may have seen these changes with the new code appearing when you log in to some systems. To avoid disruption and so that we get the new roles out before the old ones are shut down, we are adding new roles instead of replacing them and will delete the old roles at a later date. You can log in using the new role under UHD. However, we are still working on this in the background so if you can't access all you need to through that role please use your old roles for now. |
Clinical staff with a year end 19/20 annual allowance tax chargeThe policy for the 19/20 pensions annual allowance charge compensation policy is now available. If you are a clinician who has received an annual allowance tax charge for the year 19/20 you may be able to apply. Please visit the NHS England website for more information on the policy. To apply for this policy you will need to first apply for the tax charge to be paid via Scheme Pays by 31 July 2021. Details can be found here. Once authorised send to the NHS Pensions Agency to register your request. Following this, complete the application form which can be found on the pensions intranet page under "pensions" or at NHS England. RBCH employees: Send the application form to Sarah Davidson Poole employees: Send the application form to Sally Rose. FAQs can be read here and a step by step info graphic is avilable here. |
Financial wellbeing tools for staffThe Trust is working with a company called Salary Finance to make financial wellbeing tools available to staff, in order to assist with managing their money. In addition to global emails, details regarding this service are being sent via letter to each member of staff in order to raise awareness to those staff who do not regularly use email. Please be assured that these letters are legitimate; they are initiated by the Trust and your personal information has not been shared with Salary Finance. |
Be alert to fraud this ChristmasStaff have been the target of fraud in recent weeks prompting safety warnings from advisers. One nurse was almost scammed by someone claiming to be from HMRC stating that she had underpaid on income tax and needed to make a payment of straight away or face arrest. Other staff have received Covid-related fraud asking them to click through on links in text messages to book vaccinations. If you or your colleagues receive any suspicious calls or text messages, please get in contact with our local counter fraud specialist Heather Greenhowe on 07800 617146 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Alternatively call the NHS Fraud and Corruption Reporting Line on 0800 028 40 60 or report NHS fraud online. More information on scams to look out for this Christmas can be found here. |
Dorset EU Settlement Scheme projectThe Dorset-wide EU Settlement Scheme project aims to provide practical help and support to vulnerable EU citizens applying for settled or pre-settled status under the new EU Settlement Scheme. For advice contact:
Please remember advice and support from your colleagues in UHD is also available. Read the letter from chief executive, Debbie Fleming here. |
Subject access request formsStaff are reminded to make sure that up-to-date subject access request forms are being handed to patients. There have been occasions where out-of-date forms have been provided which contain an old email address. Subject access requests must be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. |
Christmas decoration competition winners announcedLast week we invited departments to create a wipeable festive window display to spread a bit of Chritsmas cheer around our Trust. The winners, each recieving a £20 Boots or Tesco voucher, are:
Well done to all of our winners! Click here to see their decorations. |
Appeal for staff to test myDCR pilotsDorset Care Record (DCR) is due to launch a range of pilots for their public health and social care citizen portal early next year: My Dorset Care Record. As part of testing, DCR would value your help and support. This will involve making sure instructions are easy for an individual to use and to provide feedback with areas for improvement. DCR is looking for a couple of hours of your time to go through user cases in a test environment prior to the pilots being established with the public. This will be carried out virtually on your work computer. If you would like to help, contact Kerry Griffin, contact project manager, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 01305 225210 or 07885 405295. |
Survey on improving short term management of patients with dementia admitted to hospitalBased on the interviews conducted at RBH, a researcher from Bournemouth University's Ageing and Dementia Research Centre has develop a support bundle aiming to reducing length of stay through improvements in discharge planning and falls prevention. Staff caring for people with dementia are asked to complete two short surveys on factors identified as contributing to a reduction of falls and the improvement of the discharge planning process. Click here to complete the questionnaire on falls, and here for the questionnaire on discharge planning. For more information contact Mary Duah-Owusu White This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. |
Care First webinarsCare First, our employee assistance programme, is putting on webinars this week and next. The themes are:
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Bournemouth Hospital Charity and Poole Hospital Charity – thank you!You should have all now received your UHD catering voucher to use in our UHD run catering venues. Each voucher is worth £4 and you can purchase a drink and a cake or anything else you would like up to the value of £4. The vouchers are valid until 31 January 2021. The total cost (over £50,000) has been funded from both hospital charities utilising the wonderful donations we have received during the year to support you, our NHS Heroes. Enjoy your refreshments! |
Step into Christmas with Poole Hospital CharityThis Christmas send a virtual Christmas message to your colleagues and loved ones. Click here to help spread a bit of cheer and make a donation towards Poole Hospital's Elf Service to help fund six items on this year's Christmas wishlist. And why not get involved in 'Your Virtual Elf Dash'. We've had such a "fan-dash-tic" response so far! Poole Hospital's CMT have already raised over £2,000 and we have dashers dashing on Christmas Day. If you fancy joining in sign up here. For more details please click here. From all of us at Poole Hospital Charity, we'd like to wish everyone across University Hospitals Dorset a very merry Christmas and our best wishes for a brighter 2021. |
Social distancing Christmas videoNHS South West has been working with their infection control leads on staff social distancing and have created this Christmas-themed video. |
A choral song for staffBSO Voices and Bournemouth Symphony have put together their take on 'Jingle bell rock' to wish staff a merry Christmas. Click here to see the video. |
The Black and Asian Family Covid-19 helplineBarnardo's has launched a new support service for black, asian and minority ethnic children, young people and their families impacted by Covid-19. The charity is offering a free helpline and web chat facility run by specialist advisors who will aim to provide on-going support on a complex range of issues including mental health, bereavement, family break-down, neglect, back to school, parenting advice, counselling, family stress, discrimination, barriers to services and more. Find out more here. |
Together We Can - winter support scheme for vulnerable residentsA community support effort is underway to help the most vulnerable families and households who have been negatively impacted by the pandemic this year. Local residents who are struggling to afford food and keep warm over the winter months are urged to reach out for support from BCP Council and its partners. For more information click here. |
Poole Hospital - DeliMarchéDeliMarché in the north entrance is now selling various boxes of sweets and chocolates. Don't forget you can also buy Costa Coffee and various hot snacks to take away. |
RoadworksClick here for a list of the current roadworks taking place. |
And finally...Seasons greetings and best wishes to all our colleagues. - The communications team |
