Update on our Covid-19 staff vaccination programme

We would like to share with you our plans for the coming days and weeks at University Hospitals Dorset.

There are clinic appointments available today at both Poole and the Royal Bournemouth hospitals for any staff member who wishes to have their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. If this is you – book online now.

From Monday (1 February) and for the next few weeks only, all vaccinations for staff across UHD will be provided at the Royal Bournemouth. This is due to the significant reduction in demand for the vaccine across our hospitals, and the need to make best use of the substantial resources the vaccination programme requires. This will also allow us to release clinical staff back to other much needed duties.

Whilst overall lower, UHD staff demand for the vaccine remains higher at the Royal Bournemouth than at Poole, and RBH is also the better suited of the two outpatients departments in terms of safely managing flow.

Our expectation is that this model will operate for several weeks until we are ready to stand up our readiness again at both hospitals to deliver the second vaccine dose to staff at significant scale. At this time, this remains scheduled for 10-12 weeks after the first dose, but we will continue to monitor and respond to the latest national guidance on this as necessary and keep you updated. Staff do not need to do anything at this stage regarding booking their second dose. We will communicate the process as the national policy becomes clear in the next couple of weeks.

More information about the vaccine and our programme can be found on the intranet.

Covid areas in our hospitals

To manage the ever changing situation with Covid-19, blue and green pathways in our hospitals change on a regular basis to enable us to care for our patients in the best possible way.

When a ward or department changes from blue (Covid) to green (non-Covid) and vice versa, we update the maps on our Covid intranet pages.

You can keep up to date with the changes on the intranet Covid-19 pages.

Annual leave, carry over to 2021/2022 and selling back 2020/2021 leave

It is so important that we all try to take some leave in the remainder of this holiday year for our physical and mental wellbeing. This includes staff who are shielding and working from home. We know, however, that the ongoing pressures and the dedication of our people have meant that holidays have been severely disrupted and this is to confirm the arrangements for carry over and sell back 2020/21 leave are as follows:

• Minimum carry over is one day and the maximum is 10 days unless authorised to carry over more.
• Carry over of more than five days leave is on the understanding that it may not be possible to take all leave in 2021/22 so some may have to be spread into 2022/2023 depending on what is operationally possible in the local area subject to authorisation by the manager at the time of booking.
• Staff with clear justification for carry over of more than 10 days leave (examples may include being asked to cancel or postpone leave) may be authorised to do so following review of the supporting reasons.
• Staff may also sell back up to five days of their 20/21 leave (pro-rata for part timers) with payment expected in the May payroll.
• Sell back and carry over taken together should not exceed the equivalent of 10 days (pro-rata for part-timers).
• The authorisation process will be shared with managers and following submission of the necessary documents ESR or other records will be updated accordingly.
• Booking of future leave is subject to usual authorisation with periods of extended leave only allowable in exceptional circumstances.

Please ensure that your holiday records are up to date before we commence this task.

The details of the process will shortly be shared with line managers who will be in touch with staff in their areas to discuss plans.

Ask Aly...

Join us for a virtual drop-in session with our chief medical officer, Dr Alyson O'Donnell, and guests, today (29 January), 1-2pm. 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.

Cancellation of February non-mandatory training

To maintain adequate clinical cover on the wards for both clinical and administration staff, some training has been cancelled across UHD until 26 February. Please check the intranet to see cancelled training.

Adverse event reporting and investigation training	RBCH 19 February
Care Certificate New Assessor part 1 and part 2 training	RBCH Part 1: 22 February 2021 Part 2: 26 February
Conflict Resolution	RBCH 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 12, 15, 17 and 18 February	Can be completed on the BEAT/VLE
Clinical and medical ECS ipdate	RBCH 9 and 25 February	Some elements can be completed on the BEAT/VLE
Clinical manual handling and falls champion training (2.5 days)	RBCH 8, 9 and 10 February
Consent and consent update	RBCH 17 February
HCSW update	RBCH 17 and 24 February
Dementia tier 2	RBCH 1, 2, 4,9,15 and 18 February Poole 10 and 24 February
Infection control	Poole 5 and 12 February
Information governance	Poole 5 and 12 February
Level 3 domestic abuse and Marac training	RBCH 19 February
Managing sickness absence	RBCH 25 February
Pain training	RBCH 25 February
SLiP training	RBCH 22 February
Non-essential IT training	RBCH and Poole You will receive a cancellation email if your IT Training has been cancelled.

This does not apply to other training (i.e. resuscitation, moving and handling, clinical skills and induction) which will proceed as normal.

If you have any queries please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for Poole or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for RBCH. For Poole IT This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or RBCH IT This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Construction work at RBH starts next week

Construction work at the Orthopaedics, Eye Unit and Jigsaw Building entrance starts on Monday (1 February).

These works are in preparation for start of construction for the new Maternity, Children's, Emergency and Critical Care Centre (MCEC) building and will provide new facilities in the West Wing of the hospital during the construction period.

For the safety of public and staff we will need to close the road immediately outside the Eye Unit and Jigsaw Building entrance. A new route will be sign posted around the ancillary buildings opposite which will be two-way, but there will be changes to the car parking in the area - please follow the signposted routes.

The orthopaedic entrance from the car park into both the department and onto the main corridor will also be closed from that date. This is to enable works to start on a brand-new retail pharmacy and new patients' affairs accommodation.

For more information and a plan of the changes for both developments click here.

RBH - staff car park access

As part of the above works we need to reduce traffic flow through the road diversion outside the Eye Unit and Jigsaw Building. Therefore, it is requested that staff that use the following car parks access these via the rear of the hospital site:

• S4 (the surface car park adjacent to Tops Nursery)
• multi-storey car park
• occasional user's car park

Thank you for your assistance and we apologise for the disruption and inconvenience during these construction works.

POOLE - parking refund error

Due to a payroll processing error, some staff have paid car parking charges on their January payslip.

A supplementary payment run has been made which will refund this charge back to affected staff on Monday 1 February.

Our new joint intranet

Our web and communication teams are busy working on a new joined up UHD intranet for this year. Many teams have already brought their pages together, and key sections - Covid for example - are already joined up. Please review the content on your pages as the information on there will be brought over to the new intranet.

If you have any changes you would like to make, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Once we have our UHD intranet up and running, we'll be offering training to staff who would like to edit their own pages.

Staff falls awareness

There has recently been an increase in staff falls, with injuries including a fractured neck of femur and a wrist. Staff are reminded to increase awareness of checking for risks when entering areas, including checking floor surfaces for spillages and equipment. The should be done especially whilst wearing PPE which may impact on ability to see areas/surfaces clearly.

For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., falls prevention nurse specialist.

NG tube insertion advice – updated

The IPC advice for NG tube insertion for feeding and drainage has been updated. Check the intranet Covid-19 pages to read the action card.

Medical gas supplies

Under current restrictions medical gasses, and in particular CD oxygen, are only being replaced in the trust on a one-for-one basis.

To assist in maintaining stock levels, delivery and collections now occur every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Cylinders must be returned when they are empty, so they are available for exchanged by the provider.

Wards and department are requested that in addition to ensuring empty cylinders are returned to store, they do not keep excessive numbers of cylinder so they can be centrally held and distributed as required.

Fortisip Compact prescribing

During Covid-19 pressures, staff can prescribe Fortisip Compact protein twice daily to patients they have any nutritional concerns about without dietetic assessment.

Change to library email addresses

Both Poole and Bournemouth hospital libraries will be using one email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

At the end of February This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. will no longer work. Please update any communications and address books accordingly.

Outline planning permission secured for developments on the RBH site

BCP Council have approved our latest plans for developing the Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) site.

The permission is a major milestone in the reorganisation and improvement of healthcare facilities in Dorset with the creation of the major emergency care centre at RBH together with Poole Hospital becoming the main centre for planned treatment and care. The RBH proposals include a new six storey, c.25,000 sq.m. building at the front of the hospital site to accommodate emergency, critical care, maternity unit and children's' health, a new pathology laboratory (2,600 sq.m.), nursing home (3,000sq.m.), and a new 975 space multi-storey car park.

UHD appointed Savills in March 2019 to advise on all aspects of planning strategy and the delivery of the outline planning permission. Following BCP Council planning committee resolution to grant in July 2020, extensive negotiations with the council have also culminated in a s106 agreement whereby the trust has committed to delivering a comprehensive package of sustainable transport measures. Savills is currently retained by the trust to submit reserved matter and condition discharge applications ready for a start on site in Q2 this year.

Commenting on this news, Richard Renaut, chief strategy and transformation officer said,

"We are delighted to have been able to secure outline planning permission for this complex project.

"These plans form part of the £250m transformation and development plans for our hospital sites and is a 'once-in-a-generation' opportunity to improve the future provision of healthcare for the whole of the Dorset and surrounding areas.

"We are grateful for the close support of BCP Council, Savills and UHD colleagues and look forward to this important development coming out of the ground in 2021."

Dorset Care Record online training resources

To complement our newly revised mandatory training e-learning module and our regular training webinars, we now also provide an ever-expanding library of video resources to support your understanding of the Dorset Care Record system.

We have created a range of short reference videos which include an overall navigation of the system as well as short and snappy edits to help guide you through specific tasks. Take a look at this link and have a scroll to see what's available. As always, we're open to your suggestion on how to improve our online learning resources so feel free to email us with your thoughts at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Flu vaccinations still available

If you've had the Covid-19 vaccination first dose but are yet to have your flu jab, now is an ideal time to have it. With the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccination currently scheduled for 10-12 weeks after the first, there's plenty of time between jabs to protect yourself against flu - clinical advice is to leave seven days between each type of vaccination injection.

Find your nearest peer flu vaccinator – trained staff able to provide the jab to colleagues in their clinical area - on the intranet.

Free bike maintenance at RBH and Poole

Bike Fixed will be visiting UHD on the following dates to offer a free bike tune up for staff:

• Wednesday 10 February: Poole Hospital
• Thursday 11 February: Bournemouth Hospital

The tune up is funded by a national cycling charity, Cycling UK, as part of their Big Bike Revival campaign. It is free for staff. Dave, the mechanic, will make minor adjustments such as tightening brakes, pumping up tyres and indexing gears.

If you suspect your bike may need replacement parts, Dave may be able to supply these, however these are not covered as part of the free tune up and therefore will incur a charge. If Dave spots something which needs to be replaced, he'll advise you about this at the time of the service.

A limited number of appointments between 9am – 3pm are available on each date. If you'd like your bike to be tuned up, please email Elliot Prescott, travel and transport manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

ESR and payroll scam warning

We have been made aware of a new ESR scam being sent out to staff. This suggests there is an issue with your salary and instructs you to follow a link to rectify the 'issue'. The link will take you to a fake ESR log in page that is made to look genuine but is owned by the fraudster.

Click here to read more.

Care First webinars

Care First, our employee assistance programme, is putting on webinars this week and next. The themes are:

• Friday 29 January, 12-12.30pm – Burnout and tiredness
• Monday 1 February, 12-12.30pm – Care First
• Tuesday 2 February, 12-12.30pm - Resilience
• Wednesday 3 February, 12-12.30pm - Children
• Thursday 4 February, 12-12.30pm - Counselling
• Friday 5 February, 12-12.30pm – Covid-19

Roadworks

Click here for a list of the current roadworks taking place.