News from The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

THe PulseIssue 142 Autumn 2015

The Pulse

The PulseAutumn 2015

Issue 142

2 The Pulse

Produced by:The Communications Departmentemail: communications@thh.nhs.uk

Print: Streamline Your Print

THIS ISSUE

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A word from shane

Baby Friendly Initiative

Trust leads on Physician Associates

New nurses arrive

shaping a Healthier Future

2014/15 year review

Newborn hearing

Celebrating our nurses

Governors’ voice

Who’s who

The Pulse magazine is for our patients, local people, staff and members of The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Copies can be picked up from the Trust and downloaded from our website www.thh.nhs.uk.

Follow us @HillingdonNHSFT

Contents World Heart Day 2015Global day highlights healthy heart choices

World Heart Day returns on Tuesday

29 september with events held globally to highlight the importance of everyone, everywhere making healthy heart choices.

The day aims to highlight the impact of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes heart disease and stroke as the world’s number one killer. Despite their devastating impact on a person’s health, such conditions can be avoided by exercise, a healthy diet and by quitting smoking.

Smoking-related illnesses continue to destroy lives and accounts for six million deaths worldwide, projected to reach over eight million by 2030. Non-smokers, by simply breathing in second hand smoke, are at a 30 per cent increased risk of developing a CVD. Second hand smoke alone accounts for 600,000 deaths worldwide; 28 per cent being children.

Lack of exercise and a diet high in salt and low in fruit and vegetables are also common risk factors of a CVD. The good news

is that even a small amount of exercise and a decrease of dietary salt intake from 12 to 5 grams could prevent 1.7 million (2.8 per cent) deaths worldwide.

World Heart Day is calling on supporters and Heart Federation members and partners to take action, take part and spread the word. There are many great ways to get involved from making a donation, planning your own World Heart Day event, or even posting a Healthy Heart selfie on your Twitter and Facebook page with the #worldheartday hashtag.

For more information on how to take part and to find events near you, visit: www.world-heart-federation.org/what-we-do/awareness/world-heart-day/take-action.

Front cover: Ashley Mitchell and elsie-Mae Mitchell enjoying summer weather in the paediatrics garden.

www.thh.nhs.uk

WELCOME

Shane DeGarisChief executive

The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

3

More than 50 Trust staff recently took part in

a large-scale emergency training exercise to ensure that we are as prepared as possible should a major incident occur locally.

The ‘emergo’ exercise was overseen by Public Health england (PHe) and conducted in real time, with staff having to make medical and operational decisions as new challenges were presented to them throughout the day. The aim was to test our emergency plans and identify areas that need adjustment. It means we are better prepared to respond quickly in the event of a major incident.

The Trust reviews its emergency plans annually and undertakes a major exercise once every three years. It also carries out smaller-scale exercises a number of times a year using staff and volunteers from the local community to act as casualties.

This exercise imagined the scenario that a train had crashed carrying a number of potentially toxic substances near to West Drayton Station. There were hundreds of casualties impacted by the initial accident but as the exercise unfolded, local residents and utilities also began to be affected. Staff had to respond to a wide range of casualties, prioritise those that needed immediate attention, transferring some to other hospitals, and make important decisions about the day-to-day services provided and the best way to manage the workforce effectively.

An incident like this would involve all of the other emergency services, other hospitals, the local council and many others, so liaison with them was also simulated.

Trust in major incident exercise A word from Shane

A key feature in this issue of The Pulse looks back

on our performance over the past financial year.

Along with the rest of the NHS, the Trust experienced a very challenging year. It is encouraging that despite these challenges we have continued to deliver a high level of care to patients – we know this because they tell us in surveys such as our Friends and Families Test, and the inspectors concluded the same thing during our recent Care Quality Commission inspection.

We have been working exceptionally hard to improve our overall CQC rating of ‘Requires Improvement.’ I am pleased to say that key areas of concern have been largely addressed and the inspectors have acknowledged that significant progress has been made in many areas. We are not, however, complacent and will be doing everything we can to continue improving in the years ahead.

We have some new and exciting developments underway at the Trust including the setting up of a national hub to provide Physician Associates for hospitals across the whole of the country. They will work alongside doctors to support their work. This is a first for the UK and we are extremely proud to be spearheading this important development.

We were also selected to lead the development of the North West London excellence Centre which provides high quality training for local healthcare support workers. We are one of only 12 Trusts in the country chosen to run one of these centres and we recently celebrated the ‘graduation’ of our first 100 students. We were delighted

when the team delivering the scheme scooped top prize for implementation in the Health education North West London excellence Awards.

Another great piece of news is that the Trust has been identified as one of the top 120 health employers in the country by Health Service Journal (HSJ). The selection is made by a panel of healthcare experts.

I am also pleased to report that our Maternity Services are being further upgraded and expanded to provide a wider range of services. This is to accommodate an increase in births expected following the recent closure of ealing Hospital’s Maternity Unit and is a key part of the Shaping a Healthier Future programme, which will see the reconfiguration of health services across North West London.

The Pulse 4

NEWS

The Strawberry FayreThe Royal College of

Midwives held their annual strawberry Fayre to raise money for the maternity and midwives specialist study.

On Wednesday 1 July, the midwives and maternity support workers sold fresh strawberries and cream, cream teas and homemade cakes.

Meadow High School Team enterprise, who are part of the local special needs school, and members of their 6th form also set up a stall selling sweets, handcrafted items and ice cold drinks.

Hillingdon parking update Regrettably the Trust is

now not able to install the first-storey car park deck that had been proposed for Hillingdon Hospital.

Unfortunately the scheme in its present form had become economically unviable. The Trust recognises that there is currently insufficient parking at Hillingdon so is looking at a range of other options to address the issue.

This includes examining ways to increase parking on-site as well as identifying further off-site spaces for staff, who also need to be able to get here. We have also recently appointed a Travel Plan Officer who will be working to promote green travel wherever possible so that patients that most need to drive and park are able to do so more easily.

The Hillingdon Peer Support Workers attended and offered advice and support for women feeding their new babies.

Hillingdon Maternity services has been

awarded its “Certificate of Commitment“ from the uNICeF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI).

The Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) is an accredited UNICeF and WHO programme designed to support breastfeeding and reduce illness in babies and children.

We are delighted that we have been recognised by UNICeF for our commitment to our women and their families. This is the first step towards our journey to full Baby Friendly accreditation. At Hillingdon our primary purpose is to ensure that women choosing to have their babies with us are provided the best possible care, support and advice.

Baby Friendly Initiative

Trust leads on Physician Associates

The Trust will play host to 200 Physician Associates

(PAs) from this December to boost the number of people in this increasingly vital role in the uK.

We will be overseeing the arrival of Physician Associates from America as well as recruiting seven of them in the Trust.

The 200 experienced PAs will be deployed in four UK regions and support the work of hospital clinicians and GPs. The initiative will provide additional experienced professionals to deliver high quality patient care and better support services often relying on costly temporary staffing arrangements.

Dr Nick Jenkins, emergency Department Consultant, who recently completed a secondment at Hillingdon Hospital, is leading The National Physician Associate expansion Programme. He says PAs will help tackle staff shortages in the NHS and encourage more UK candidates with science degrees to

enter the health service. Dr Jenkins said: “Almost 100,000

PAs are employed in America. They value the role in helping clinicians tackle increasingly heavy workloads.

“It’s a rewarding career opportunity for those with a science degree who don’t want to go to medical school but will end up being the right hand person to a doctor.

“PAs support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients and are trained to perform a number of roles, including taking medical histories, performing examinations and diagnosing and treating illnesses.

“They work under the supervision of a doctor and usually have a science-orientated first degree, to be able to get on to one of the training programmes.”

The National Physician Associate expansion Programme (NPAeP) hopes to have the first PAs in place by the end of this year with the Trust housing the programme’s management team and support services.

www.thh.nhs.uk 5

NEWS

New nurses arriveThe Trust is working hard

to recruit new nurses and other clinical staff against a national shortage.

In the last three months a total of 58 nurses have joined the Trust.

As well as continuing to successfully recruit from across the UK, we are also boosting numbers by employing nurses from the EU and further afield. Eleven newly qualified Italian nurses have recently joined the Trust and have just completed a five-week induction on the wards.

They are enjoying being immersed in a new culture and new ways of working. extra training sessions have been set up to support them with communication in the clinical areas.

A group of Spanish nurses arrived in early July and will be joined by a further 21 nurses in

August and September from Italy and Spain.

The Trust has a lot to offer staff with a subsidised on-site nursery, career development opportunities and a range of other staff benefits.

MP volunteers for the day

The Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington joined the

volunteers group handing out cakes and serving up cups of tea

We want to hear from anyone who is newly qualified or interested in returning to nursing after a break.

Please call our recruitment line on: 01895 279556.

and coffee to patients, visitors, and staff members. LoF run a refreshment facility in Outpatients at Hillingdon Hospital and a Baby

local MP John McDonnell served up free coffee and cake at the league of Friends (loF) tea bar to support National Volunteers’ Week.

Boutique in Maternity. Profits from both go directly towards funding extra equipment and materials for the hospital and patients.

If you would like to know more about the LoF charity or would like to volunteer, please contact Marion on 01895 441514.

Our latest recruits join us from Italy

John McDonnell dishes out cakes

The Pulse 6

NEWS

Maternity services provided at Hillingdon

Hospital are expanding. This follows the decision taken by ealing’s Clinical Commissioning Group’s governing body to close Maternity services at ealing Hospital from 1 July.

Hillingdon has been preparing for an increase in births for some time in anticipation of the ealing decision, which is part of the wider Shaping a Healthier Future programme that will see health care services reconfigured across the whole of North West London.

The Trust currently manages 4,200 births a year and approximately 10 per cent of these are already for women who live or have GPs in ealing. The expansion will see the number of births grow to around 5,000 a year.

Shaping a Healthier FutureTrust maternity services expand

Improved facilities

Not all the ealing births will transfer to Hillingdon but will be shared across all six Trusts in North West London.

New midwives have already been recruited to ensure the increase in numbers is managed with ease. More than 60 new staff will be recruited overall.

last year the Trust’s labour rooms were completely refurbished and now feature en-suite facilities, air

conditioning, built-in music systems, and new upgraded equipment providing a reassuring and comfortable environment for mums-to-be.

In addition we now have:

• A new midwifery-led service for low-risk women with new en-suite birthing rooms

• A new transitional care service for those babies that may need a bit of additional support before going home, but don’t need admission to the Special Care Baby Unit.

As part of the Shaping a Healthier Future programme, our Paediatrics Service is also expanding. Improvements will see four new paediatric beds open in a brand new purpose-built

extension to our Peter Pan Children’s Ward as well as an expanded and modernised Paediatric A&e. The new beds will

be built to new standards and a higher specification in bigger spaces and feature a new resuscitation bay in paediatric A&e.

Picture: Barbara Andrezj with baby

www.thh.nhs.uk 77

However, despite our very best efforts we were not always able to meet the four-hour waiting targets in A&e simply because of increased patient numbers. We also received an overall rating of ‘Requires Improvement’ in our CQC inspection. We are absolutely committed to improving and have made excellent progress in addressing the issues highlighted.

On the positive side, the CQC rated the Trust as ‘Good’ for being a caring organisation. The inspector’s acknowledged that our staff are caring and also identified many areas of good practice.

Overall we continued to provide high levels of care as evidenced by our good patient outcomes, key quality performance indicators and positive feedback from patients themselves.

It is well known that much of our estate is old and in poor condition and will require substantial investment in the near future. However we did make some real progress on this in the last financial year.

A major highlight was seeing the brand-new £12.3 million Nightingale

Centre come into operation, with its 46-bed Acute Medical Unit and state-of-the-art endoscopy Unit.

We also extensively revamped our Beaconsfield East rehabilitation ward for elderly patients and expanded our highly-regarded neuro-rehabilitation service.

We are optimistic about the future; this year working in partnership we are rolling out a fully integrated care project that joins up health and social care services to transform care for the over 65-year-olds, and looking at how we can apply other new models of care elsewhere. We are also implementing a key part of the Shaping a Healthier Future (SaHF) programme by expanding our maternity services. We will continue to work with local MPs to lobby for the investment sorely needed to improve our buildings.

We know there will be new challenges ahead but are confident in our ability to deal with them effectively and are grateful to our staff, governors, volunteers and fellow board members (past and present) for their hard work and commitment.

The Trust had a mixed experience over the last year at a time that was extremely challenging for the whole of the NHs.

In terms of successes we have seen significant improvements made to the Trust’s real estate, expanded some key services and, working with our health partners, made great strides towards providing more integrated health services in Hillingdon.

A year of challenges and successes

Richard sumray

Chair The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

shane DeGaris

Chief executive The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

2014/15

The Pulse

YEar rEvIEW

8

Key achievements

2014/15Friends and Family Test

Improved mortality rates

We were one of only 15 Acute Trusts in the country with a “lower than expected” SHMI band (Summary Hospital Level Mortality Indicator published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre).

Investing in our servicesWe received more than 24,000

responses to the FFT during 2014 and 93 per cent of patients said they were happy to recommend our services to their friends and family.

93%Positive

MonitorThe Trust rated green

(compliant) throughout the year in all but two (A&e four-hour target and C.Diff) of Monitor’s performance targets.

We invested more than £15 million in new and improved patient services; opening the £12.3 million Nightingale Centre housing a new AMU and endoscopy Unit; £845,000 on redesigning Beaconsfield East Ward and £870,000 on new Maternity Labour rooms.

expanding servicesWe expanded our highly

acclaimed neuro-rehabilitation service by opening the new 16-bed Daniels Ward at Mount Vernon as well as ambulatory care at Hillingdon Hospital.

Meals served

Over 547,000 meals were served in the hospital over the last year.

www.thh.nhs.uk 9

YEar rEvIEW

Patient safety Thermometer

The Trust’s Patient Safety Thermometer (Harm Free Care) stood at 95.4 per cent against a national target of 95 per cent at year end.

Annual NHs staff survey

The number of staff agreeing that patient care is the Trust’s top priority grew by seven per cent to 78 per cent - above the national average of 69 per cent. Our scores improved in 26 questions and performed better in 71 questions across all trusts.

securing new contractThe Trust secured a

major contract against tough competition to provide Pathology Services for ealing worth £4.9 million per year.

Improving health care training

The Trust was selected to lead the development of the North West London excellence Centre which will provide high quality training for local healthcare support workers.

Award winning Paediatric Diabetes Team

Our Paediatric Diabetes Team were awarded a £50,000 Innovation Challenge Prize for their schools out-reach work and received three commendations in the national Quality Care Programme Awards.

Our year in numbers

81,489 Patients seen by

our A&e and Minor Injuries Unit

4,128Babies born at

Hillingdon

308,180Patients seen as

outpatients

25,660emergency admissions

25,126Operations carried

out

422Beds

Our people

3,300 staff112 volunteers

gave 28,000 hours of service

7,100 Foundation

Trust members

Money matters

£222.8million

£158.8 million

Annual turnover Assets including land, buildings, dwellings

and investment properties

The Pulse

YEar rEvIEW

10

National targetsTarget Actual

Infection control Clostridium difficile cases 16 18

Cancer access - Initial appointments Urgent GP referrals seen within 2 weeks 93% 98.1%

Referrals for breast patients within 2 weeks (Cancer not suspected) 93% 95.7%

Cancer access - Initial treatments First treatment within 62 days of urgent GP referral 85% 91.6%

First treatment within 31 days of diagnosis 96% 99.3%

Urgent GP referrals seen within 2 weeks 93% 98.1%

First treatment within 62 days of referral from NHS Screening Service

90% 97.8%

Cancer access - subsequent treatments Surgical treatments within 31 days 94% 100%

Anti-cancer drug treatments within 31 days 98% 100%

Referral to treatment times % patients admitted for treatment within 18 weeks 90% 95.2%

% patients non-admitted for treatment within 18 weeks 95% 98.5%

% patients on incomplete pathways less than 18 weeks 92% 97.7%

A&e access % patients in A&e less than 4 hours 95% 94.1%

Key service developments in 2014/15emergency careIn December 2014 the Trust

opened the doors of a new 46-bed Acute Medical Unit (AMU) in the Nightingale Centre. This was part of a major programme of renewal of emergency care facilities funded by £12.3m from the Department of Health.

The new AMU is designed as a short stay unit overseen by acute physicians with a focus on rapid intervention so that patients can return home as quickly as possible.

Our Ambulatory emergency Care unit (AeC) has also moved to the new purpose built premises.

The ambulatory model of care has been developed by the Trust to prevent hospital admissions and the unit accepts referrals directly from GPs and the Urgent Care Centre.

endoscopy services A brand new state-of-the-art

endoscopy Unit opened in The Nightingale Centre in February 2015. This complements the enhanced endoscopy facilities

Maternity labour roomsThe refurbishment of the

maternity labour rooms was completed last year, providing a comfortable and reassuring environment for mums-to-be and their families. The 10 new-look rooms all have en-suite bathroom facilities, air conditioning and increased storage as well as new medical equipment.

specialist rehabilitation The Trust expanded its highly-

respected neuro-rehabilitation service by opening the new 16-bed Daniels Ward at the Mount Vernon Hospital in July 2014.

The service takes referrals from Hillingdon and surrounding areas, as well as the Major Trauma Unit at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington and local stroke services.

seven day servicesWe made good progress in

improving the provision of seven day services as part of a coordinated process across North West London.

Last year, we increased the number of consultants resulting in improved times for the patient’s first consultant review and more frequent reviews for high-dependency patients. We also made significant improvements in providing access to diagnostic services (such as MRI and X-rays) and began to work with our partners to improve transfers out of hospital.

Building on those successes, our priorities for this year are: to speed-up patient transfers to community, primary and social care providers; improve shift handovers and reduce the time it takes to get Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) reviews completed.

opened at Mount Vernon Hospital last year.

The new Hillingdon facility has two procedure rooms and seven individual en-suite recovery rooms.

It provides greater privacy and dignity for patients in a much improved environment for both patients and staff.

www.thh.nhs.uk

FEaTUrE

11

Newborn hearing The Newborn Hearing unit

(NBHu) may be one of the Trust’s smaller teams but that doesn’t stop them being hugely important.

The team of six dedicated staff work alongside the midwives and doctors offering hearing

screens to all newborn babies before discharge and providing appointments for those who could not been seen.

Nationally one to two babies in every 1,000 are found to have a hearing loss of some kind and the earlier a baby is identified with a hearing impairment or loss the better the outcomes for the family.

Lucie Clark, Newborn Hearing Screener and the newest member of the team, said: “I joined the team in 2014 and find dealing with the babies and their families to be very rewarding. Coping with hearing loss in a newborn can be a difficult time so we do our best to offer families all the support and information they need.

“It’s been lovely working with everyone here, plus the maternity staff are friendly and helpful making my job so much more enjoyable.”

The team at the hospital work with the NHS Newborn Screening Programme (NHSP), a core service within the NHS, offering all new

parents the opportunity to have their baby’s hearing screened within the first few weeks of life.

The Team work very hard to ensure that the national programme is accessible to all babies and constantly achieve their targets (performance indicators set by Public Health england). Their Friends and Family Test results are always complimentary and the service is given good and positive feedback from the families who use it.

With the planned expansion of the Maternity Department (at present Hillingdon has 4,200 births but this is expected to increase to 5,000 within the next two years) the team are under pressure to ensure that they still screen the babies and achieve maximum coverage.

With their positive attitude and professionalism the team will ensure that the service continues along the right path and is something that Hillingdon can be proud of.

The dedicated team at the Newborn Hearing Unit

The Pulse

FEaTUrE

12

Celebrating our nursesAs part of Nurses Day and International Nurses Day in May, the Trust celebrated the diversity of nurses and midwives at the Trust and the amazing jobs they do every day.

leading up to the day, we asked our nurses and

midwives to tell us what they enjoy about their role; most described team working and being able to make a difference as being really important to them.

Their quotes were used to create posters and start a buzz on social media.

Quotes from our international nurses were also used to produce a world map display, demonstrating the many countries that are

“ ” Look at your hands, they have saved lives

and they have changed lives - be proud to be a nurse.

Lourdes OpimoOriginally

from the Philippines, lourdes joined the Trust 12 years ago and still loves her job.

She was one of the first batch of Filipino nurses recruited from the Philippines in June 2003 and has since spent 12 years of her professional career as an intensive care nurse at Hillingdon Hospital. She tells us about her role and why she loves her job.

“I started my career at Hillingdon as an adaptation nurse for five months and was very fortunate to develop and progress in my role to become a staff nurse and then a senior sister in the Intensive care Unit (ITU).

From my very first day I knew which direction I wanted my nursing career to go in. I remember talking to my senior sister at the time and telling her that I would like to progress and challenge myself in different roles. I wasn’t scared of hard work and was dedicated to give my best to ensure patients receive the highest standard of care.

I enjoy all the responsibilities that encompass my role however challenging it may be. I love coming to work knowing I can make a difference in someone’s life, whether it’s a patient, relative or staff member.

With all the complexities and medical advancement in intensive care, my role is always interesting. However, I particularly enjoy providing basic bedside care like washing my patient’s hair and

brushing their teeth. I believe that patients want to look nice even though they are not well. This also makes families happy to see their loved ones being well cared for and I believe that this, in a way, helps families get through the difficult times.

I am grateful to Hillingdon Hospital for giving me the support to improve my knowledge and skills in intensive care nursing. I completed my BSc in Health Care Practice (Adult ITU) and am currently undertaking the leadership programme ‘Inspired to Lead, Inspired to Care’ provided by the Trust. This will enable me to develop in my new role as a senior sister in ITU.

This role also gives me the opportunity to network with other NHS trusts to gain an insight into the latest developments and best practice in ITU for service improvement.

Most importantly I am very proud to represent my country and be acknowledged for the level of care that comes with this profession and to represent the organisation which has given me a portal for developing my career as a nurse.

senior sister, Intensive Care unit

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FEaTUrE

13

Celebrating our nursesAs part of Nurses Day and International Nurses Day in May, the Trust celebrated the diversity of nurses and midwives at the Trust and the amazing jobs they do every day.

“ ” Look at your hands, they have saved lives

and they have changed lives - be proud to be a nurse.

represented through our nursing workforce.

All of our nurses and midwives were invited to join in a celebration tea party as recognition of their hard work.

This was kicked off by a group photograph pledging our ongoing support to the “Hello, my name is...” campaign, which focuses

on encouraging and reminding healthcare staff about the importance of introductions to our patients as a key factor in providing compassionate care.

Professor Theresa Murphy, Director of Patient experience

and Nursing gave an inspirational opening address encouraging all nurses and midwives to hold out their hands and look at them, considering all of the people who have passed through them and been touched by them with the message: “Look at your hands, they have saved lives and they have changed lives - be proud to be a nurse.”

To remind us of the legacy that is passed on to our nurses of the future, two student nurses were invited to cut the celebration cake, which was enjoyed by all.

The Trust nurses pledge their support to the ‘Hello, my name is...’ campaign

The Pulse

when I was offered the position and have never looked back.

I appreciate the training the Trust has provided both on the job and externally and especially that I was able to undertake the development whilst continuing to work. My advice to others is to take the opportunity!”

14

FEaTUrE

Jo Logue: Therapies Assistant Practitioner

With many interesting and sometimes

unusual avenues of career progression, we will be looking at a series of staff members who have worked their way through various routes to reach their chosen profession.

In this issue, we speak to Jo Logue, Therapies Assistant Practitioner.

“Having been a heavy goods driver for five years, I decided I wanted to explore a role in a hospital setting and started my NHS career as a Health Care Assistant (HCA) at ealing Hospital,” Jo told The Pulse.

“In 2009, I joined the Trust as a Band 2 Therapy Assistant in the Orthopaedic Team focussing on piloting the combination of occupational therapy and

physiotherapy. The post offered

training in direct patient contact to support rehabilitation and was enjoyable as the combined duties enabled more holistic care. I particularly enjoyed the rapport I was able to develop with patients including those who had difficulty participating in therapy.

Having heard from other therapy support workers about the foundation degrees they had undertaken, I decided this was a route I wanted to follow. I started my NVQ level 3 under

the supervision of a senior physiotherapist and completed the course in just a few months so I could start the university course in September. Unfortunately, that course was cancelled, but I persevered and started the

following year balancing the studying with part-time work and childcare for my 11 year old son.

The whole process taught me to be more disciplined and to multitask. I restricted my social life with the approach that ‘if you want something you have to work for it.’ However, I did enjoy getting

“ ”

“Learning, learning, learning… I’m still learning every day”

Our staff are our biggest asset at the Trust and we constantly aspire to develop their potential.

back into education and found that the degree broadened my mind and I found that the more you search the more you learn.

The course was challenging to say the least! I was one of the oldest students in the class and to start with I felt out of my depth and worried that I wouldn’t pass. However I stuck with it.

Having to do a presentation in front of the whole class was my biggest challenge which actually made me feel unwell! But once I started talking, I slowly relaxed and achieved a great result of 92 per cent.

In 2014, I applied for a different role within therapies, acting up to cover a Band 4 post as an assistant practitioner. This was an exciting challenge working with a new caseload of patients with neurological conditions. I particularly enjoyed having more autonomy with greater control over setting goals and undertaking a higher level assessment of patients.

After interviewing for the permanent role, I was thrilled

www.thh.nhs.uk 15

GOvErNOrS’vOICE

North governor Ian Bendall explains why he became a governor

On the whole my experience was a

good one. However a very small part of the nursing care I received was not satisfactory.

On returning home I wrote to the Trust outlining my concerns, but disappointingly received no response.

Subsequently (because I was already a Trust member), I was sent information highlighting the opportunity to become a governor.

I have always thought that the way to get things done is to get involved, not just moan and do nothing. I saw it as a good opportunity to understand more about the Trust and understand the barriers preventing excellence.

Since becoming a governor in April 2014 I have been on a journey of enlightenment. I could go on at length about the many

facets of the NHS but would probably send everyone to sleep; I won’t do that, I will simply try to summarise my raison d’etre.

If you see things which you think are wrong or which you believe could be done better, don’t fulminate and fume - get involved! Its a bit like the lottery if you are not in it, you can’t win it.

Also speak to a governor - we are your representatives and will present generic issues to the board on your behalf

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the governor role is the opportunity to talk to your neighbours and constituents. I was recently invited to the Harefield Residents’ Association Meeting to give updates on: the governor’s role, what is happening within the Trust and specifically how to become a Trust member. There were a number of questions raised relating to the PALS and

complaints system and I promised to return to address the meeting on that subject in the future.

There were also a lot of comments about the car parking facilities at Hillingdon.

The changes taking place in the Trust and the adjacent trusts was touched upon and was briefly discussed to the satisfaction of those present.

The residents were very interested in the information delivered and asked to be kept informed of any future Trust developments - specifically those at Mount Vernon.

In conclusion, I believe the Trust is now a different and better place since my earlier experience. Things have changed and the degree of oversight by the various regulatory bodies is considerably strengthened, and as governors we are closely involved in that oversight on the patients’ behalf.

I was a patient at Hillingdon Hospital in 2011 following an operation, which was successful thanks to Mr Mohsen and his great team.

Annual members’ meeting; Monday 21 September 2015, 5pm-8pm

Come along to hear about the past year at Hillingdon

and Mount Vernon Hospitals and to find out about our plans for the future. The evening will also include discussion of our finances, a presentation around integrated care, and a question and answer session with the Trust board.

Refreshments will be served from 5pm with the chance to visit stands about our services and health advice such as blood pressure checks, along with the opportunity to meet our staff. The main meeting will start at 6pm.

The meeting will be held in the Middlesex suite, Civic Centre, High

street, uxbridge, Middlesex, uB8 1uW.

For more information or to confirm your attendance, contact the Foundation Trust Office on 01895 279 853 or email foundation@thh.nhs.uk.

everyone is welcome to attend.

The Pulse 16

FEEdbaCk

@TweetingBogartVisited @HillingdonNHsFT A&e today -seen by 3

times in under 2hrs, x-rayed & all. Brilliant service. And my foot isn’t falling off either.

@NathanGrayFitnessCan honestly say Mount Vernon Hospital colleagues in Trinity

ward are an absoloute credit @HillingdonNHsFT thank you for your care! #NHs

@arpitarathwell deserved and grateful thanks to the @HillingdonNHsFT @

NHs_Hillingdon for providing me w/t an excellent care.esp. nurses doc flemingward

@lifescanvas7Received amazing service and support from @NHsengland -

Hillingdon Hospital in #uxbridge over the weekend. THANK YOU!!!!

@zakrocka@HillingdonNHsFT I have to mention,today I was so delighted

with care i did received xx really dedicated staff

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Via NHs Choices

Via iWantGreatCare.org