UHD is now in a CRITICAL INCIDENT and we are working to ensure our patients are kept safe. It is vital to ensure that there are no delays to a patient's pathway - either their next step (i.e. a diagnostic test or review) or discharge. If you are experiencing delays please phone ext 8015 where a senior team is waiting to help expedite solutions. More information to follow throughout the day.

Mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for frontline and other staff

The government has stated that all NHS frontline health workers should be fully vaccinated – i.e. had both first and second doses – against Covid-19 by 1 April 2022, unless medically exempt. We are still awaiting further national guidelines for all NHS organisations about what this will mean for us all and will share details when we have.

A fantastic 88.4 per cent of UHD staff have now had both vaccinations. These jabs not only help protect our most vulnerable patients against infection, but also protects us, our colleagues and our families.

The regulations apply to staff in all patient-facing roles, for example doctors, nurses, therapists, healthcare support workers and porters, but also those who work regularly in close proximity with our patients, such as housekeepers, some receptionists and others in ancillary roles. This includes substantive, fixed term and bank workers.

To meet the 1 April deadline, colleagues yet to be fully vaccinated will need to have their first vaccination by 3 February to allow time to receive the second dose.

To support staff, a new series of in-house Covid vaccination clinics have been set up, starting next week. Full details, including how to book, are in the occupational health section of the Poole intranet. Please take advantage of these clinics (which also offer the chance to be vaccinated against flu as well).

Alternatively, vaccinations may continue to be booked in the community through the national NHS booking website.

We will continue to encourage vaccine take up through our staff networks, risk assessment reviews, one-to-one conversations with line managers and the use of walk-ins, pop-ups and other ways of making vaccination as easy as possible, wherever possible.

If you would like more information about the Covid-19 vaccination programme, why it matters and what's involved, and a chance to raise your vaccine questions, join an all staff briefing on 16 December, from 12.30-1.30pm on Teams – click here to join in. If you can't make this date, the briefing will be available to watch later, and a Q&A will be shared shortly afterwards.

In the meantime, if you would like further information on Covid-19 vaccinations or have a question now, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have a query about how the national mandatory vaccination programme might affect your role in the trust.

Dr Alyson O'Donnell, chief medical officer

Reminder: flu jabs still available

Protect yourself against seasonal flu by having the flu jab this winter, available from our UHD drop-in clinics on our sites, as well as from trolley rounds at Poole and Royal Bournemouth.

Flu is present in our communities - it only takes five minutes to have your jab and protect yourself.

These drop-in clinics are scheduled to run until 17 December - full details are in the latest news on the intranet.

Learning from LERN

Have you checked out all four Learning Event Report Notification (LERN) forms? These were previously known as Adverse Incident Reporting (AIRs) and Datix forms

The four forms are for when:

• a patient or staff safety incident has occurred and someone has, or could have come to harm
• you need to raise a safety issue
• something has been, or someone has, done really well
• you have a safety improvement idea.

Sharing information isn't just important when something goes wrong but also when something goes right...

Help us build on our open learning culture by completing a LERN form whenever something goes right or wrong and if you have a concern or a suggestion to improve the way we do things.

Find out more on the LERN pages of the intranet.

Join the campaign, get involved and share, LERN because we all can!

New UHD approach to treatment escalation planning (TEP) launching in January

A diverse group of UHD clinicians has been working on a project to create a trust-wide approach to TEP, with the support of the Quality improvement (Qi) team and IT developers.

Following extensive consultation and testing, a new digital TEP form has been developed which can be created, viewed and updated through EPR.

The digital form has the benefits of:

• being consistent across UHD
• having a clear traceable history of decision making by whom and when
• being accessible 24/7 by all with EPR access
• being accessible from different locations other than with the patient-improving decision making and documentation on call.

We will be providing more information at the Grand Round on December 10 when there will be an opportunity to discuss the implications of this change. Please join using this link.

Do's and don'ts from our HR recruitment team

There have been a lot of changes to our recruitment and workforce processes recently, which we know can make things confusing. A list of useful pointers has been prepared to help our HR team provide a smooth service using the new processes.

Please do:

1. Contact the recruitment or workforce teams if you are ever unsure about how to do something, for example, when you need to change an employee's hours, change a cost centre or note unpaid leave and you don't know what action to take.
2. Add all new acting up, fixed term contracts and secondments of greater than three months in duration to Trac for approval before you offer the position. New acting up, fixed term contracts and secondments of less than three months don't require Trac approval and can be done via an SR3
3. Use the latest job description and person specification templates when adding ATRs to Trac, they can be found on the recruitment intranet pages
4. Put the role location(s) clearly on all job adverts. If the role isn't based at one location, please put 'this role will be based across all UHD sites'. The resourcing team is fielding a lot of queries from candidates who aren't sure where they will be working, and the more information we can give prospective candidates on the advert the more likely they are to apply. If home working is a part of the role please also mention this.

Please don't:

1. Terminate someone when they are moving internally rather than leaving UHD completely. We have had several instances of this recently and it causes significant problems. If one of your team hands in their notice please carefully check with them what the situation is before terminating on manager self-service.
2. Send an SR3 for new recruits whose recruitment has been done via Trac – the recruitment team will do SR3s for all Trac recruitment

For more advice on how to action changes please look at the HR pages of the intranet.

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

RBH: No daily acute kidney injury service or visiting nephrologist this week

This week (6–10 December), there will be no daily acute kidney injury service or visiting nephrologist on site.

If you need urgent advice, phone the Prince of Wales Ward at Dorchester on 01305 255139 and ask for the consultant on call.

RBH: No dementia and delirium nurse specialist cover today and tomorrow

There will be no dementia and delirium nurse specialist cover today and tomorrow (7 and 8 December).

Due to a high demand on the service combined with staff shortages, assessments are likely to be delayed. Please use the 'this is me' document to help support patients who are living with dementia during their stay in hospital and involve patients and next of kin (where possible) in completing this.

In memoriam of Ash

A memorial book and candles will be in place at Poole Hospital prayer space from tomorrow (8 December) for staff to pay tribute our late portering colleague, Ashley 'Ash' Taylor.

Welcome to our new international nurses

A warm welcome to our new international nurses who join us from Ghana, Nigeria, India and the Philippines.

The nurses will be joining our teams in theatres, stroke, RACE, AMU, E3, Portland and Lytchett wards.

'Blue Christmas' in our chaplaincy spaces at Poole and RBH

Not feeling much like celebrating? Missing someone you have loved and lost? Had a tough year?

Blue Christmas has been put together especially for those of us whose days don't feel particularly merry or bright right now, it's a space for you to drop into and gently acknowledge some of the tough realities that you may be facing this year.

Blue Christmas takes place 9am-4pm next Wednesday (15 December) in our chapel/prayer room at RBH and our prayer space at Poole. Our chaplains will be available.

Free staff bike maintenance and Christmas giveaway!

Bike Fixed will be returning to UHD to offer you a free bike tune up.

Bike Fixed will be at RBH on Tuesday 14 December, Poole on Wednesday 15 December and XCH on Thursday 16 December.

The first 50 people to book in their bike will receive a free goody bag containing bike lights, bells and a high-viz tabard.

If you suspect your bike may need replacement parts, Bike Fixed may be able to supply these but they will incur a charge. If they spot something which may need to be replaced, you will be advised at the time of the service.

A limited number of appointments between 9am-3pm are available at RBH and PHT, and 9am – midday at XCH. If you'd like your bike to be serviced, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

POOLE: Conflict resolution training

From February 2022, staff at Poole will be able to attend face-to-face conflict resolution level 1 sessions. This was previously only available to Poole staff on the BEAT.

The training is designed to support staff to deescalate difficult situations with patients or relatives. It is mandatory for all medical and clinical staff, and anyone patient facing.

Staff can get more information and book via the Education and Training pages on the Poole intranet.

Sexual Health Dorset service update

On 1 October 2021, Sexual Health Dorset (SHD) celebrated one year of the integrated service for sexual health and HIV. It has now been a year since contraception, genito-urinary medicine, sexual health and HIV services were brought together as one pan-Dorset service under Dorset HealthCare.

Click here to read their service update.

LGBTQ+ virtual Christmas party with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Yeovil District Hospital have invited us to their second virtual Christmas event for LGBTQ+ staff and their allies. The event is open to colleagues of all ages, sexual orientations, and gender identities.

Join in for a bit of fun to round off your Friday afternoon on 17 December at 5pm.

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for the event link.

Job of the week: stroke/neuro early supported discharge (ESD) therapy assistant at RBH

There is an opportunity to come and work in our stroke ESD team as a band 4 therapy assistant with a focus on speech and language therapy.

This role involves working closely alongside patients with stroke and neurological conditions in their home environment to provide intensive rehabilitation and promote independence and quality of life.

The stroke ESD team help to support people to be discharged home immediately after discharge from hospital, with evidence strongly supporting that patients improve more effectively in their home environments.

Click here to apply, interviews take place on 6 January.

Ticket discount from Lighthouse, Poole

Our friends at the Lighthouse Poole have kindly offered us 25 per cent off tickets to Adam Kay: Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas on 17 December.

Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas is a love letter to all those NHS staff who spend their festive season on the front line, removing babies and baubles from the various places they get stuck, at the most wonderful time of the year. This heart-warming and hilarious live show mixes highlights from the book with Kay's award-winning stand-up comedy and exclusive new content.

Click here for more information and use the code KAY25NHS at the checkout when booking.

Your weekly wellbeing

Don't forget to check our weekly wellbeing offers page for all the latest training and activity opportunities. Join in with needle felting a Christmas decoration, check into the ICS-wide Winter Wellbeing convention, get involved with mindfulness drop in sessions and much more.