AMH.LD Division Staff Briefing – Issue 1: May 2014 Dear colleague

AMH.LD Division Staff Briefing – Issue 1: May 2014
Dear colleague,
Welcome… to the first of a new bi-monthly series of divisional staff
briefings under the banner of our newly joined-up Adult Mental Health
and Learning Disability Services division.
The formal joining up of our services on 1 April presents us with some
really exciting opportunities to build on and maximise our strengths for
the benefit of the people we provide care for.
We have a new opportunity now to draw on wider bedrock of
knowledge and services – as individuals, in our teams and together in
our expanded, shared divisional ‘home’.
Closer affinity between AMH and LD services will make it easier for
each of us to share ideas and benefit from the experience of others –
to share best practice and lessons learned, and to support innovation to help us
achieve our ultimate goal of developing, delivering and sustaining high quality,
person-focused services.
We can draw on the benefits of our newly joined-up ‘synergy’ almost immediately, as
we begin the detailed work to develop our two service development initiatives
(SDIs).
We’d like you to consider how you want to influence and contribute to this work, and
help us to create effective, more integrated pathways – for adults with acute and
enduring mental health conditions and for people with complex learning disabilities
respectively.
In April the former AMH senior management team dedicated a day to looking at the
overarching SDI for adult mental health services. A project board is being set up, a
project plan developed and once the work-streams are confirmed we’d like your input
to help us fill out the detail and deliver this vital work.
In LD many aspects of the work will be similar. So please watch this space for further
updates and information about the part you might play in making these two crucial
programmes a success.
Thank you.
Teresa
Mohammed
Teresa Smith
Acting Divisional Director
Dr. Mohammed Al-Uzri
Clinical Director
oooOOOooo
Staff survey results – now and next
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to the 2013 NHS staff survey.
Your responses are invaluable in helping us identify areas where we can work to
improve the working lives of staff in AMH.LD services, and where we can build on
success to do more of what already works well.
While, as a whole, we continue to focus on improving four
key areas – effective leadership and management support,
effective team working, communication/engagement and
staff health and wellbeing – your feedback has helped us
identify some common themes in our services and this is
where we are focusing divisional work for improvements:



Driving up the numbers of appraisals and improving their quality – each of us
has a right to a PDR to support our development and performance
Acting to cut bullying, harassment and discrimination
Improving communication between senior management and the rest of the
division
We have already begun rolling out work
 a new approach to appraisals (your manager will have received a PDR
pack outlining the key changes which include new paperwork aligning
objectives to Trust values and our service development initiatives) and
a pledge to ensure you have your appraisal within weeks, not months.
Your manager should be arranging a date for your appraisal soon – if
not, please ask them to.
 Increasing the frequency of your divisional newsletter to ensure you get
regular updates on news and initiatives in our division
 We’ve launched a programme to recruit equality champions in the
Bradgate Unit
 Pledge from the senior management team to increase contact with and
visibility in your teams
 All new interventions will be monitored by the divisional working group
We also want to hear your ideas for improving communication with senior managers
in our division – if you have a suggestion for positive change please share it – by
emailing [email protected]. Please mark your email ‘Positive change’.
The full staff survey results from adult mental health and learning disability division
are available to download from e-Source.
We ‘meet all essential standards of care’ at Gartree - CQC
Congratulations to our prison healthcare service after CQC inspectors confirmed we
are meeting all essential standards at Gartree Prison where we provide a range of
physical and mental healthcare services.
Gartree is a male category B (long-term) prison in Market Harborough, housing up to
707 prisoners. Prison governor Ian Telfer said: “Leicestershire Partnership NHS
Trust has excelled here at Gartree and is a credit to the National Health Service.
They have worked tirelessly to continually improve on their high standards”.
You can read our media release on e-Source and the full CQC report online at
http://www.cqc.org.uk
Our national pilot boosts criminal justice support
Our criminal liaison and diversion team has launched a £450,000 pilot to provide
round-the-clock mental health nursing cover in police custody suites, and boost
support in youth and adult courts.
Funded nationally by the Department of Health, through NHS England, our new allage liaison and diversion service is a partnership with Leicestershire Police and the
probation service.
The service increases specialist support for children and young people; people with
learning disabilities, particularly autism, and older people with mental health issues –
in particular those with dementia. It also introduces specialist mental healthcare
support in Leicestershire youth courts. The launch attracted positive coverage in the
Leicester Mercury and you can read details in our media release.
John appointed national LD professional adviser to CQC
Congratulations to LD consultant psychiatrist Dr. John
Devapriam on his appointment to a national advisory role with
the CQC.
Dr. Devapriam, who is based primarily at the Agnes Unit, has
been named the commission’s national professional adviser
for learning disabilities for England. He will be involved in the
development and implementation of the new regulatory model
for learning disability services. Read the full media release.
New LD role for Carole, Andy continues to cover in complex care
Following the joining up of adult mental
health and learning disability divisions on
1 April, we updated you on changes to
senior management posts in our newlook AMH.LD division.
Now we can confirm that Carole Robson
(left) has joined our learning disability
services as service manager for a trial
period. She took up her new role on Monday 28 April, working
part time for the first month and switching to full time from 2 June. Carole is based
initially at OSL House with plans for a later move to Mansion House.
Carole, whose career includes inpatient, community and offender health service
roles in LD, said: “I am really looking forward to joining the teams and feel there are
lots of exciting times ahead. I hope to get out to as many areas as possible in the
near future.” Andy Watson (right) continues to provide service manager cover across
complex care services.
Getting ready for RiO – are your IT skills up to date?
RiO goes live in LD services next month – and will start rolling out in AMH services
later this year. The training and roll-out schedule is tight and it’s vital everyone is
ready – so if you are not up to date with computer training literacy you need to act
now – speak to your line manager or for information about courses, contact
([email protected]) or call 0116 225 5485.
Therapeutic risk-taking form live from 14 May: The Therapeutic Risk Taking
Assessment form will be available on RiO from Wednesday (14 May) and will be
located in the CPA and Risk Assessment folder on the patient case record. A
printable version of the form for recording signatures will be located in l the letter
templates (you will find these in the correspondence/ Uploaded Documents folder
on the case record.) A paper version of the form is available on e-Source for those
people not yet on RiO.
For any RiO related queries please contact application support on 0116 295 3500
option 2.
End of formal PbR project programme
As many of you know the formal programme on
PbR closed at the end of March. Major
achievements included developing all the care
cluster pathways, website, e-learning module,
using i-Pad for patient outcome measures and a
tele-psychiatry pilot. Work is also underway to
develop e-care pathways.
Our Trust will take forward the implementation programme through the divisional
service development initiatives. Clinical lead Dr Girish Kunigiri and project lead Jules
Galbraith want to thank everyone who has supported this work.
Quality Improvement Programme
The implementation of our Quality Improvement Programme at the Bradgate Unit,
instigated as a response to inspections by the CQC and serious incident action
plans, is now almost complete. Work is already underway to start rolling out some of
the new tools, initiatives and best practice across other
adult mental health inpatient areas and community
services. The QIP programme will also be shared Trustwide, ultimately. A QIP staff briefing will be circulated
within the next couple of weeks.
Reducing pressures to send acute patients out of area
An intensive programme of quality improvements across our acute inpatient wards is
already working to reduce the number of patients having to be placed out of area.
While demand for beds has been and remains high, new initiatives including more
efficient bed management processes and a reduction in delayed discharges and
transfers has seen significant results and more recently we saw out of area
placements halved between March and April. Our new service development
initiative will include further work to increase access to timely, effective care in the
community, avoiding unnecessary admissions to acute wards, and to enable early
discharge.
Support with stress
Sickness rates in our division stand at 5.9% in adult mental health services and 3.8%
in LD services. Stress remains a feature of a large portion of absences.
We want to ensure you’re aware of the wide range of internal and external support
mechanisms open to everyone to help with stress-related sickness. Your line
manager can help signpost you to these and much of the information is included in
the Your Working Life section of e-Source. Support includes (but isn’t restricted to)

Stress risk assessment tool to help identify causes of stress and
interventions that can be used to help – this is included in our Trust stress
policy
 Occupational health - management and self referral
can be provided for work-related and personal stress issues.
 Amica – provides support and emotional resilience
training - details of dates have been circulated to teams
 Support during investigations – we’re boosting
support for staff, eg mentoring,
 Mediation – we have increased the number of
trained mediators available to staff
 Bullying and harassment service – advice and
signposting service provided by and for colleagues
 Staff-side – if you are a member of a union you
can access additional support from your union
representative.
 Fit for Work scheme – Leicester scheme via
GP referral helps staff on long-term sick leave.
 If you are registered with a GP in Leicester City you can
also self-refer to our city Open Mind service’s stress management course.
New referrals hub for city CMHT teams
We launched a new referral screening service for our three city community mental
health teams (CMHTs) on Tuesday 6 May. Our new Referral Management Service
(RMS), based at Braunstone Health and Social Care Centre, aims to speed up
responses and will screen and assess all referrals to:
1. City Central CMHT at St Peters Health Centre;
2. City East CMHT at Merlyn Vaz Health Centre and
3. City West CMHT at Braunstone Health and Social Care Centre.
There is no change to the referrals criteria or established process but forms should
be sent to the new fax number 0116 295 3280.
Questions? please contact Tim Colman, team manager on 0116 295 70707/3322
Full contact details for the service: Braunstone Health and Social Care Centre,
Hockley Farm Road, Leicester LE3 1HN. Tel: 0116 295 3326 Fax: 0116 295 3280
Mental Health Act Office move to Mansion House
Our Mental Health Act office has now moved from Bridge Park Plaza to a new base
at Mansion House on the Glenfield Hospital site. Telephone and fax numbers have
changed. The new telephone number for the team is 0116 225 5425. The fax
number is 225 5426.
Existing practices for the use of ‘pink envelopes’ for the processing of section papers
continue for now, but the delivery address must be changed to Mansion House.
Mandatory training up to date?
If your mandatory training is due to expire this year, you’re advised to act now to
book your place. Course dates are now available to book for the next 12 months
For a list of all mandatory topics please see the Mandatory Training Register on eSource. For details of courses and dates please see the course directory and to
make a booking call 0116 225 3669 or email [email protected]
Don’t forget fire safety! You should also complete the fire safety checklist every
year in conjunction with your manager or someone with delegated responsibility (e.g.
a fire warden/coordinator).
Once you have completed your checklist it must be kept on your personal file and
you should use the form below to let Learning and Development know it has been
done. This will be logged on your learning record and you will show as 'in date' for a
period of 12 months. You can download a copy of the annual fire refresh safety
checklist and find more information on the intranet fire safety management pages
Important reminder about security of personal information
Following last week’s AMH.LD briefing which you should have received via email,
please ensure you’re aware of your responsibilities around the security of personal
and confidential information away from your usual base.
Please make sure you are familiar with and follow our Trust’s information lifecycle
management and records management policy (March 3013). Appendix 1 states: “If
the member of staff does not return to base at the end of a shift, records must be
removed from the car and care taken to ensure that members of the family or visitors
cannot gain access. Ideally, records should be stored and carried in a secure case,
and kept out of sight. Staff should ensure that they place the secure case in a
cupboard or similar, as soon as they enter the house. If they do not have a secure
case, notes should be stored in a locked cupboard or cabinet with access only by the
member of staff. “
You can find further guidance on the information governance pages of e-Source.
Safe parking at Bradgate site – a reminder
Recent service moves around the Bradgate Unit,
including the current construction of the new
pharmacy and the move of more teams away
from The Towers, underline the importance of
safe and considerate parking around our
services on the Glenfield Hospital site.
Please remember parking management arrangements are enforced around the
Bradgate. The measures are in place to ensure visitors and staff park safely on the
site and don’t block approach roads and hamper emergency access.
Fixed penalty notices will be issued to any vehicles parked on double red or yellow
lines, in red or yellow hatched areas and on grass verges. Causing an obstruction,
including obstructing fire doors, and parking in disabled bays without a valid blue
badge, is also prohibited. To avoid penalties please park only in authorised
parking areas.
Training opportunities
1. HCSW workshops: A new two-day LPT training programme provides the
opportunity to develop fundamental skills and knowledge in line with the
national minimum standards for healthcare support workers.
Topics include the 6Cs, the culture of care, patient experience, how to raise
concerns and delegation, responsibility and accountability. Dates run through to
March 2015 with the first sessions on 9 and 10 June. Details of dates, times and
venues can be found in the learning and development course directory on eSource.
To book call 0116 225 3669 or email [email protected]
2. Health Education East Midlands is providing funded training opportunities in
the following areas:

Recovery-orientated practice

Recording with care

Leadership for patient safety

Decision support tool
The links provide details of dates and venues. If you would like to attend please
inform your line manager as soon as possible. Bookings should be emailed to
[email protected]
Support around ‘reasonable adjustments’ to attend training
Our equality team has developed a helpful resource to support you if you need
reasonable adjustments when attending learning and development training events
provided by our Trust or external facilitators. It’s available to download from e-Source
(log in using User name: LPT password, staff). For further advice and support
contact the equality team [email protected] or 0116 295 7680.
Your hard work is making headlines!
Hard work and dedication of staff across AMH.LD services has been making the
headlines in the local media and radio recently, and so it’s great to see your efforts
recognised publicly. These include the launch of the new criminal justice liaison and
diversion pilot in courts and custody suites, Dr John Devapriam’s appointment to the
CQC, our International Links work in Gondar, our arts in therapy project work
specifically among young BME men, and the CQC’s positive report on healthcare
standards at Gartree Prison.
Service users have been having their say too – here’s one example shared with the
Letters Page readers of the Leicester Mercury last week:
Thanks to staff at Bradgate Unit: Having reached the age of 71, this is the
first time I have ever felt compelled to write to a
newspaper. I recently spent quite a long time
in Watermead Ward at the Bradgate Unit at
Glenfield Hospital. I am sure most people
know that this is a mental hospital. I was
admitted with depression. When people say
they are battling depression, that is exactly
what it is – a battle. For anyone who thinks it will
never happen to them, think again – it can happen to anyone, at
any time. Remember, but for the grace of God go I. The real reason for writing this
letter is to pay tribute to the excellent staff who work on this ward; consultants,
nurses, students and cleaning staff. Nobody ever felt they were being a nuisance
and staff were available for any queries and a chat at any time. For obvious reasons,
I do not want my name printed, because in this so-called enlightened age, there is
still a stigma attached to mental health. The staff should receive an award for their
excellence. This letter is send from the lady who read a lot – they will know who I
am. Name and address supplied.
___________________________________________________________________
More news to share?
If you’d like your news included in the July AMH.LD briefing, please contact Sheila
Ashton, communications manager, at [email protected] tel 0116 295
0042
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