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Industrial Action Update - Issued on 16 January 2023
Ahead of this week’s planned industrial action by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), we’ve developed an in-depth briefing which we hope colleagues will find useful. It also signposts to other helpful sources of information.
https://dchs.nhs.uk/my_dchs/show-me/staff-news-my-download/industrial-action-update-16-january
Research and Innovation
Our vision is to increase capacity, capability and participation in research and innovation as we embed a culture of continuous improvement across the organisation.
Open event spotlights Walton Hospital’s upcoming diagnostic service
https://dchs.nhs.uk/news/open-event-spotlights-walton-hospitals-upcoming-diagnostic-service
Pandemic poems penned by Derbyshire NHS’ Heather Longbottom go into print!
https://dchs.nhs.uk/news/pandemic-poems-penned-derbyshire-nhs-heather-longbottom-go-print
Changes to the NHS Pension Scheme April 2022
As you may be aware there are some important changes to the NHS Pension Scheme which could affect members from April 2022.
https://dchs.nhs.uk/my_dchs/show-me/staff-news-my-download/changes-nhs-pension-scheme-april-2022
Files
FINAL Chief Executive Designate - Stakeholder Briefing - 11 November 2021.pdf
Dr Chris Clayton appointment; Chief Executive JUCD
Standard Operating Procedure for the Issue of Procaine Penicillin outside of ISHS services (S83)
This SOP sets out the actions which should be taken to facilitate the administration of the procaine penicillin outside of ISHS opening hours.
Witness Destruction of Controlled Drugs (S34)
This Procedure is to formally record the process to be undertaken in order for the Trust Accountable Officer for Controlled Drugs to authorise named people to witness the destruction of stock controlled drugs.
Medicine Code (S2)
This Code defines the roles and responsibilities of all health care professionals and ancillary staff involved in the ordering, storage, distribution, prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines within DCHS. This Medicines Code extends the previous Medicines Codes and reviews them in light of current legislation and guidelines.
Safe Use of Bed Rails and Bed Area Equipment Within Inpatient Areas Policy (P22)
Some people in hospital may be at risk of falling from bed for many reasons including poor mobility, cognitive impairment, e.g. dementia, brain damage, visual impairment, and the effects of their treatment or medication. The National Audit of Inpatient Falls 2015 reported that twenty two per cent of patients who fall in hospital do so from their bed. The use of bed rails can be challenging. This is because bed rails are not appropriate for all patients and can create a barrier to independence that can create a greater risk of falls to mobile but confused patients who may attempt to climb over the rails. However a review of literature indicates that falls from beds with bed rails are usually associated with lower rates of injury (NRSL 2015). Bed rails and other pieces of bed equipment are not appropriate for all people, and using bedrails, bed levers etc. involves risks. National data suggests around 1,250 people injure themselves on bed rails each year. This is usually scrapes and bruises to their lower legs. Based on reports to the MHRA and the HSE, deaths from bed rail entrapment could probably have been avoided if MHRA advice had been followed. Staff should continue to take great care to avoid bed rail entrapment, but need to be aware that in hospital settings there is a greater risk of harm to people falling from beds.
Learning from Death’s Policy (P72)
This policy confirms the process to ensure a multi-disciplinary, consistent and coordinated approach for the review of deaths that occur in all DCHS in-patient and community team caseloads. The aim of the learning from deaths process is to identify any areas of practice both specific to the individual case and beyond that could potentially be improved, based upon peer group review. Areas of good practice are also identified and supported. To describe in detail the three-stage mortality review process within the Trust, detailing how reviews should be completed, by whom and when to ensure that learning from deaths is made a Trust priority and leads to developments and improvements in patient care.
DCHS_Supervision online record system User Guide V2
DCHS Clinical supervision (reflection on practice) online system guide; includes information on how to access the site, navigate, and record supervision sessions.
Recognition of the Deteriorating Child Policy (P93)
The aim of this policy is to set the minimum standard and frequency for monitoring and recording Child patients’ vital signs in their own home, Urgent Treatment Centres and Outpatient Podiatric Surgery. The mismanagement of deterioration is a common area of systemic failure in avoidable patient death across the NHS and poor communication is a leading cause of adverse events in healthcare. The Paediatric Observation Priority Score (POPS) offers a common language to describe and communicate a child’s acute illness severity by all healthcare professionals in all settings and is central to establishing a national pathway for improving the management of deterioration and sepsis.
Requesting and Managing Pathology Results within DCHS Community Hospital Wards SOP (S98)
The purpose of this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is to outline the steps required to effectively manage the requesting, receiving, filing and actioning of all pathology results by either an electronic process or by a relevant paper-based system. Utilising an electronic system (such as ICE) enables pathology requests to be requested, reviewed and actioned electronically via the electronic patient record within TPP SystmOne. There are an estimated 1.12 billion pathology tests undertaken each year in England (NHS England, 2020) It is imperative a record of all pathology samples is accurately maintained to avoid patient harm and improve patient outcomes (WHO, 2021). The Care Quality Commission (2021) inspects the management of test results to ensure processes are robust, practice is safe and care is effective.
Completion of agency checks within the 0-19 Children’s Service Guidelines (G249)
The purpose of this guidance is to ensure that health visitors and school nurses clearly understand their roles and responsibilities when they are asked to complete an agency check. This includes ensuring that the relevant consent to share information has been obtained from parents/ those with parental responsibility for the child/ young person ( this should be obtained by social care). The guidance also clearly outlines the process for admin staff to follow to ensure that any requests are sent to the clinical teams and that in turn the clinical teams can respond in a timely manner.