No immediate changes to infection control practices

You may have heard the Prime Minister announce an end to Covid-related legal restrictions in his press conference last night.

We should all feel justly proud, as should the entire NHS, of the contribution we have made in helping to enable this lifting of restrictions.

As a healthcare provider we need to maintain the safest environments possible for our vulnerable patients, as well as staff and visitors. We will be looking at the detailed guidance that accompanies the Prime Minister's announcement as soon as we have it. For now, all of our current infection prevention and control guidance based on best practice remains in place, including the wearing of masks for staff and visitors, the need to self-isolate if Covid-19 symptoms are detected and the ongoing use of regular lateral flow tests.

We will share any updated UHD guidance as soon as we are able to.

Therapies outpatient clinics now on UHD PAS

Following successful development and testing, therapies has become one of the first departments to move Poole outpatient clinics and appointments onto the UHD PAS. This means RBH, XCH and Poole staff have access to therapies clinics on a single PAS for the first time.

Outpatient clinics for other departments at Poole will be moving across in the coming weeks. Ngaira Smith, project manager for outpatients and theatres workstreams, has already been in contact with some teams to discuss the transition of outpatient clinics and will shortly be getting in touch with those that remain to move over. The single PAS project team look forward to supporting you through the process of moving your specialties to the UHD e-CaMIS.

General and medical recruitment teams move to Yeoman's House

Our general and medical recruitment team will soon relocate from Poole and RBH to a new office in Yeoman's House, Castlepoint, Bournemouth. The medical recruitment team is relocating from 7 March and the general team from 9 March.

Office hours will remain as they are now, and recruiting managers will still be able to contact the recruitment administrator responsible for their particular recruitment via email, Teams and their usual extension number.

A member of the recruitment team will to be available at Poole on some days to meet with newly appointed candidates and carry out ID checks by pre-booked appointments only by contacting the member of the team dealing with their recruitment.

The recruitment team will no longer be routinely based at RBH.

The phone numbers following the move will be:

• general recruitment for all sites 0300 019 (4426)
• medical recruitment for all sites 0300 019 (4460)

Please don't send hard copy general recruitment interview notes. 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..

Share your feedback from our latest hot food trial

Last week we trialled hot food for our night shift teams, provided by independent food vendors at Poole and RBH. This trial was part of a larger drive by our wellbeing team to provide a permanent solution to giving our night shift teams a hot meal.

It's important to our wellbeing team that we get this right, so if you used the trucks over the weekend we would like to hear your feedback.

Click here to fill out a short survey by Friday (25 February).

Reduced podiatry service

The podiatry service at RBH and Poole will be significantly reduced week commencing 21 February due to unforeseen circumstances.

For advice regarding dressings and offloading contact the team on ext. 4811 for Bournemouth and ext. 8077 for Poole.

Could you support your colleagues as a health and wellbeing ambassador?

If you are enthusiastic about wellbeing and committed to supporting your colleagues you could be one of #TeamUHD's first health and wellbeing ambassadors. As an ambassador you will assist in promoting and signposting colleagues to our support services, encouraging engagement with our health and wellbeing initiatives and listening to feedback to find out where we are getting it right, and where we could be improving.

Our new ambassadors will be working in partnership with our Mental Health First Aiders, Trauma Risk Management Practitioners, Wellbeing Champions and staff networks alongside the occupational health and organisational development teams.

Becoming an ambassador is voluntary and is open to any staff member with approval from your manager - all that we require is enthusiasm and commitment to health and wellbeing to support #TeamUHD in improving the health and wellbeing of our colleagues.

Please see the health and wellbeing pages on the intranet for more information.

New Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) policy

The health and safety team has created an updated COSHH policy.

A COSHH assessment needs to be completed and uploaded to Datix under the risk register section by any team using or producing any substances hazardous to health in any quantity.

Full details of the requirements can be found on the health and safety intranet pages or join our Teams group with templates and completed assessments for use by departments.

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

New edition of the quality and risk newsletter out now

The next edition of the quarterly quality and risk newsletter is now available on the intranet. This newsletter aims to keep us all updated on the strategic developments around patient safety, risk management and quality governance across UHD. Click here to read it.

If you have any questions or comments about any of the content please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Launch of the new COSMOS portal

The business intelligence portal for accessing all UHD reports is called COSMOS.

The portal has been re-designed in response to feedback received, to improve the layout and structure of the front page. Visit the portal here.

Are you using legacy business intelligence reports?

The legacy Poole (Hector) and RBH business intelligence reports need to be reviewed to assess whether they are still required. Reports being accessed regularly will be moved to our UHD database ready for implementation of the single PAS (UHD e-CaMIS).

If there are any legacy reports being used by your team (either manually or emailed out), can you notify the business intelligence department if you still require access to them by next Monday (28 February).

Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the email subject being 'exclude switch off' and include in the body of the email the specific report name. This will ensure the continued availability of the reports.

Any outstanding reports will be deactivated on 1 March.

RBH: New name for estates and risk management building

The estates and risk management building at RBH has been renamed the Avon Building.

Not long left to sign up for the world's greatest festival of cycling

UHD Charity has secured 10 places in the iconic Ride London event Essex 100 which returns on 29 May.

Ride London is back with an exciting new Essex 100 route that will see participants cross the finish line at Tower Bridge welcomed once again by spectators. Setting off from Victoria Embankment in central London and into Essex via Epping Forest, riders will be able to take in the historic landmarks along the way all whilst raising funds for our hospitals.

Whether you sign up as an individual or bring some friends along for the ride, this unique opportunity is not to be missed by any bike buff! If you're up for the challenge, don't delay, join #teamUHD today!

Volatile Agents to take over the O2 for one night only! (until the next time)

Back by popular demand Volatile Agents, the best medical rock punk funk rap soul band in East Dorset, will be performing at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth on 29 April.

A limited number of tickets are available from our charity offices at RBH and Poole for £10 or for £12.50 Ticketmaster.

To stay up to date with the details of the event follow @UHDcharity on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.