Join us tomorrow for the next all staff briefing

Join us for the all staff briefing in the Dolphin Restaurant at Poole Hospital, or online on Teams here, at 8am on Wednesday 5 October. After the live briefing, there will be an opportunity to catch up with Siobhan and our execs and to ask questions until 9am. Refreshments will be provided.

NHS Staff Survey 2022 - Are you concerned about confidentiality?

The NHS Staff Survey is your chance to be completely open and honest about your UHD experience, whether that's highlighting areas for change or celebrating what's being done well.

No one at UHD will see your completed survey or be able to identify individual responses. Only our survey provider, IQVIA, will have access to your data. They will then report their findings to us, excluding all identifying information.

After the survey is complete, all staff details will be deleted and paper questionnaires destroyed securely.

Find out more about the confidentiality of the survey here. Look out for your personal invitation via email or post and join the conversation!

#SpeakUpSparkChange

Patient First

Our trust is planning to implement the "Patient First" programme. We were delighted to welcome Dame Marianne Griffiths, former CEO of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust last week to give more details about the programme and the difference we hope it can make to all of us. A video of her presentation is available here. More details about the programme will be shared at our all staff briefing tomorrow morning.

Reducing patient waits - clinically driven, operationally delivered

We continue to support the national Super September initiative, with a special focus on organising outpatient bookings so that routine patient's 'Wait in Line'. Four in every five patients on our waiting lists are waiting to be seen in an outpatient setting, but for a range of reasons, including cancellations and re-bookings due to Covid-19, and our move to a single PAS earlier this year, some of our waiting lists have routine patients waiting out of line.

The 'Wait in Line' project sees teams validate those waiting and then effectively rebook patients in turn into more appropriate slots where necessary.

Ear, nose and throat (ENT) services is one area taking part, and their improvements have been marked.

The number of patients at risk of waiting longer than 18 months for their appointment has been cut by three quarters, while those waiting a year or more have reduced by nearly two thirds.

Patients waiting more than 40 weeks for a first appointment have more than halved, and those waiting for a second appointment are down by 15 per cent.

The key has been whole team working towards improving the experience for patients, great clinical engagement and excellent data.

The aim is to now roll out Wait in Line to other specialties, with gynaecology, rheumatology in progress.

The main outpatient bookings team is also putting in place the main principles of Wait in Line to help ensure as many patients benefit as possible.

For more information contact Judith May, Director for Operational Performance and Oversight, via

Day of health talks – have you booked your place?

We will be holding our first face to face Understanding Health talks since the pandemic on Wednesday 12 October at St Mary's Longfleet Church Centre, opposite Poole Hospital.

The three free talks will also be live streamed via Teams and will take place throughout the day covering the below topics:

• Understanding Neurodevelopmental Conditions in Children – Dr Mark Tighe, consultant paediatrician at 10am
• Understanding how to take care of yourself while pregnant - Kerry Taylor, head of midwifery at UHD at 1.30pm
• Understanding patient flow in our hospitals - Alex Lister, group director of operations at 3.30pm

Places at the talks are limited so booking is essential. To book your place, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the names of the people attending the talk, which talk you'd like to attend and an email address. The talks will also be live streamed and recorded to ensure that those unable to attend can still benefit. Links to the Teams events will be available on the events page of the UHD website and recordings will be added to the health talk library.

Celebrate Black History Month with us

Our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff network invites you to celebrate Black History Month with us. Our intranet page is the place to go to for information and inspiration. Over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing events, stories and resources so keep an eye out for updates on our UHD social media pages.

If you'd like to join the BAME network as a member or ally, we'd love to hear from you! Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sign up for a chartered manager apprenticeship

Could you undertake a chartered manager degree alongside the Mary Seacole award as an apprenticeship? The three-year course is fully funded and attended by colleagues from across Dorset. It is suitable for anyone in a senior departmental manager role across clinical and non-clinical departments. Line manager support is essential. More information can be found on the apprenticeships pages on the intranet. Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested by Monday 10 October.

Reflecting on Falls Awareness Week

Our falls team took part in the national Falls Awareness Week recently with the focus being falls prevention. The team attended wards where staff were asked to complete pledges or highlight something small they could do in their area to reduce a fall from occurring. They also designed falls prevention information boards and had stands across all three sites promoting falls prevention for staff, patients and the public.

Thank you to the therapy teams, frailty service and Christchurch Day Hospital who helped to organise and support the falls team during the week and to all ward staff who continue to support and promote falls prevention.

UHD Charity: Join us for Elf Dash 2022

Join 'Crackers' the elf for a day of festive family fun on 3 December, all in aid of raising money for some very important projects in our hospitals this Christmas.

We return to the stunning seaside venue of Branksome Dene Chine, ideally located for our community to come together in support of UHD.

The family friendly 2km 'dash' is along the prom. You can run, walk, skip or dance your way along the promenade route. Suitable for the whole family this event is buggy, wheelchair and dog friendly with plenty of parking available. Hot drinks and refreshments will be provided courtesy of the Rapid Relief Team. All children's tickets include a visit to Father Christmas in his grotto and a very special festive gift. Register now here or call our charity office on 0300 019 4060/8449.

Full capacity for social media workshop

We've now reached the limit for attendees to our social media workshop in November, so booking on to this session is no longer available. Thank you to colleagues who have expressed an interest - there is clearly a growing appetite for staff wishing to level up their social media skills, and we'll bring you another training session very soon. Look out for details in the Staff Bulletin.

Job of the week: Heart failure data manager

Our heart failure service team is looking for an individual who is passionate about data and someone who is keen to ensure our nationally mandated heart failure audit data is accurate, timely and robust. There are opportunities to work from home in this role or on site at RBH or Poole. Find out more here.

Further industrial action

SWR announces further strikes on 8 October

Please check the South West Rail website for updates and to find out how your commute may be affected.

BT Group and Openreach strike action

Strike action will be taking place on 6 October, 10 October, 20 October and 24 October. Anyone working from home who gets their Wi-Fi directly from BT, or from a provider that uses the Openreach network, should be aware that they are unlikely to receive any immediate technical support, in the event of an issue on a strike days.