Welcome
Welcome to the January issue of Inside St John’s.
Pensions
New pension arrangements are to be introduced for public sector pension schemes from April 2015. Information on the changes can be found here.
Smoke-Free Lothian
Following the Scottish Government’s publication in 2013 of The National Tobacco Control Strategy, which states “All NHS Boards will implement and enforce smoke-free grounds by March 2015,” Lothian Partnership Forum recently agreed a NHS Lothian Smoke-Free Policy which will be implemented from 31 March 2015.
SJH have established a smoke-free policy group who meet fortnightly to take forward the arrangements for the site.
New inpatient antibiotic guidelines
The antibiotic guidelines for the treatment of common conditions in hospital are changing – if you prescribe or administer antibiotics you need to know about this. For further information, please visit the intranet.
Marking our 25th Anniversary
In addition to the official opening of the MRI,that was opened by Tam Dalyell and Brian Houston on 26 January, a couple of other events are planned to mark this event. Work is underway in collaboration with Artlink to develop a historic presentation of the development of the hospital which can be displayed near the entrance of the hospital. This will draw on archive material but if any member of staff has interesting photographs or material they think might be of interest, please share this with Agnes McKenna in the Volunteers office. Additionally a couple of events are being scheduled for early June which will allow staff to participate in events to mark this milestone.Further details will be available shortly.
PVG Retrospective Checking
The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) legislation replaced the disclosure arrangements for people who work with vulnerable groups. It helps to ensure that people who have a known history of harmful or abusive behaviour are unable to work with children and protected adults.
After October 2015 it will be illegal for anyone who is involved in regulated work not to be on the PVG Scheme.
NHS Lothian needs to have everyone in regulated work on the Scheme by July 2015. If you have not already completed a PVG form and think you qualify, contact your line manager in the first instance to discuss further, or go to HROnline for more information. If you have any questions about the PVG retrospective exercise, please e-mail the team:
Development of front door area
A project plan is being developed to improve the layout of the reception at the front entrance of St John’s. The changes will involve making the Patient Information Centre much more prominent and visible, to support its use. This will also allow any market stall activity to be more appropriately placed within a dedicated area currently occupied by the existing Patient Information Centre. This will help reduce congestion in what is a busy area and help to improve how the main entrance operates for patients, visitors and staff. We are also looking to increase the role of volunteers to help support reception staff in directing visitors around the hospital.
Critical Care decant
The decant of the Critical Care Unit on Monday 12 January was very successful and all the team involved are to be congratulated. The unit will be based in ward 20 for three or four months whilst the full refurbishment continues.The longer term future for the use of Ward 20 is part of the overall site masterplanning work and a business case is being developed to utilise the area foradditional surgical capacity for ophthalmology and plastics.This proposal has still to be submitted and forms part of a wider plan to develop more in-house capacity for elective workthrough the master planning process.
EHLF Small Grants Process
Small Grants (up to £5k)
Small Grants are only available to projects that will directly benefit patients of NHS Lothian, whether in hospital wards and departments, or in community health services. Applicants must be employees of NHS Lothian or those employed by GP practices contracted to NHS Lothian and, if required, will have informed the applicable manager of their application before submission. In exceptional circumstances, grants of up to £5k may be available.
If applying from a GP practice contracted to provide NHS Lothian services, please select ‘General Medical Services’ as your legal status when completing the online application form.
Application Deadlines
Small Grants are awarded four times a year; the next deadline for applications is 26 February 2015. Further information can be found here.
Ebola
A significant amount of work and training has been undertaken to prepare all potential sites for dealing with any patient with suspected Ebola.
The Emergency Department team has established plans to care for any patients who present to the department. NHS Lothian has also established the laboratory at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh as the centre for NHS Scotland where blood samples can be tested for the virus. This will speed up the diagnosis process to help keep patients, staff and the public safe.
More details can be found on the staff intranet.
WELPACT 3
The next West Lothian Pathways Collaborative (WELPACT) event takes place on Tuesday 10 February 2015 at the Howden Centre.
The WELPACT programme aims to focus on improving care for patients with long-term conditions, as well as looking at a range of actions we can take to reduce the risk of patients being readmitted to hospital by working differently with hospital, community, social care and voluntary care services.
Dr Andy Longmate – originally a consultant anaesthetist - has extensive experience in patient safety and improvement methodology at clinical and Government levels and we are delighted to welcome Andy as our keynote speaker.
We will also run an interactive morning, to hear about and shape new initiatives which improve the patient experience and our ability to care. In the afternoon we are going to see what we can do to improve the care of frail elderly people in West Lothian.
More details can be found on the staff intranet. Please reserve your place by e-mailing
Staff changing rooms upgrade
The flooring in the second phase of the staff changing area has been completed and the work on the toilet and shower areas will be completed by the end of January. This will allow Domestic Services to clean the area before informing staff that they can move back to their original lockers.Phase three work should start on 16 February. Thanks to staff for their co-operation with ongoing work.
Stroke Service
SJH provides a comprehensive stroke service covering all aspects of stroke, from acute care including thrombolysis, inpatient rehabilitation, community rehabilitation and urgent Stroke and TIA (Transient Ischaemic Attack) outpatient clinics with same day access to carotid doppler ultrasound.
To improve stroke services in NHSScotland the Scottish Government has agreed a set of stroke standards and targets which every stroke service has to achieve.
Locally we have been consistently meeting the CT scanning target and the Aspirin target has been around 90 per cent but improvements can be made to the Stroke Unit admission standard and the swallow screening standard.
Staff who are involved in the care of stroke patients particularly in the acute assessment phase are encouraged to be aware of these standards and targets to help us achieve them consistently.
Referrals should be emailed to ()
A phone call to the ward (ext 54104) to alert us to individuals with definite strokes is also helpful in terms of planning transfers.
Dementia Awareness Courses
There is a two hour session and a full study day on dementia available to book which aims to support staff working with vulnerable adults.
Further information on both sessions and details of how to book can be found on the staff intranet.
Mediation Service
NHS Lothian is launching a mediation service, which will provide impartial, confidential advice, to help resolve disputes amongst employees.
The mediation service aims to ‘help you resolve your conflicts quickly and locally.’ This service will launch on 2 February. For more information and to access this service, please contact the Mediation Coordinator at:
Staff Travel
A number of changes have been made to the MPV/Shuttle bus service between sites. Please visit the intranet for further information.
Celebrating Success Awards – Change of date
The Celebrating Success Awards will now be held in June with nominations opening on 13 February 2015.
This decision was taken as the October date coincided with various other national health awards. An earlier date will allow staff to re-enter their nominations for the likes of the Scottish Health Awards later in the year. Further information can be found on the intranet.
MoonWalk Scotland 2015
The 10th annual MoonWalk Scotland is now open for entries. The event, which will be held at InverleithPark, Edinburgh on Saturday 13 June, raises awareness and vital funds for breast cancer. One of the most notable successes from the funds is the new mammography unit at the Western GeneralHospital.You can sign up now by clickinghere.
Staff flu
Staff still have time to get a free, seasonal flu jab. The flu season is the worst the southern hemisphere has seen for six years and may be an indication of what will happen in the northern hemisphere.
Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect patients, the community, yourself and your familyfrom this potentially serious, preventable disease.Further information can be found here.
NHSScotland Event 2015: call for poster abstracts now open
Leading Integration for Quality is the theme of this year’s NHS Scotland Event, taking place on 23-24 June at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow. A key feature is the poster exhibition, which forms an integral part of best practice, learning and sharing at the event.
The call for poster abstracts is now open. The event team is looking for poster abstracts that showcase good examples of how your work embeds NHSScotland quality ambitions and how it is taking forward the priority areas identified for action in the journey towards the 2020 Vision.
Completed abstract forms should be e-mailed to Clifford Burden, Poster Co-ordinator at no later than 6 March 2015.
Further information can be found on the intranet.