Welcome to the latest edition of your UHSussex staff newsletter, a round-up of the news stories from across our hospitals throughout March
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Dear colleagues,
This month we showcased the diversity of our healthcare scientists, celebrated two of our orthopaedic colleagues winning a international award, highlighted the history of Louisa Martindale for International Woman's Day, and continued to recognise our long service colleagues.
We saw St Richard’s and Worthing hospitals nationally commended for their commitment to patients living with myeloma, Princess Royal Hospital named as the lead hospital site for a new Alzheimer’s study, and launched Hepatitis C screening at the Royal Sussex County Hospital's Emergency Department.
What’s more, we received national recognition for our surgical hub, shared how the new Louisa Martindale Building will transform training and education opportunities, and documented the three-day junior doctor strikes.
Thank you,
Communications
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Healthcare Science Week 2023
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Healthcare Science Week brings together over 50 scientific specialisms, and celebrates their outstanding work and diversity.
We’re proud to have a range of healthcare science specialities at University Hospitals Sussex, ranging from audiology, pathology and clinical engineering to microbiology, immunology and cardiac science.
Healthcare scientists are a group that in most cases operate behind the scenes, often in our labs and clinics, across all divisions in all of our hospitals.
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More than 13,600 years’ service celebrated at UHSussex
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A total of 583 colleagues attended Long Service Award ceremonies over the past few months to celebrate reaching the milestones of 20, 30, 40 and 40+ years working at UHSussex, across all of our hospital sites.
Together their combined years of service totals an incredible 13,677 years.
The awards, which have been postponed for the past few years due to the pandemic, kicked off in January and finished in March.
For any invitation queries, please email: uhsussex.longservicequeries@nhs.net
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New study uses augmented reality to test for early signs of Alzheimer’s disease
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A specialist memory clinic at Princess Royal Hospital will be the lead hospital site in a study that will use smartphones and wearable augmented reality devices to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages.
Consultant Neurologist Dr Dennis Chan runs the memory clinic at Princess Royal Hospital, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. He is also a Principal Research Fellow at the University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and was awarded a £2 million research grant from the National Institute of Health and Care Research for this study.
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Top award received for cancer care
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Worthing and St Richard’s Hospitals have both received a national award for their commitment to patients living with myeloma.
Both hospitals were presented with the Myeloma UK Clinical Service Excellence Programme (CSEP) Award in recognition of their outstanding care and dedication to patients with myeloma, an incurable blood cancer which claims the lives of 3,000 people in the UK each year.
Colleagues were praised for their efforts to improve patients’ quality of life and eagerness to truly listen to their needs.
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Orthopaedic surgeons win prestigious award for ankle arthritis study
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Two orthopaedic surgeons at UHSussex have been awarded a prestigious international award in recognition of their work supporting an ankle arthritis clinical trial.
Mr Stephen Bendall and Mr Joel Vernois, both Orthopaedic Surgeons at the Sussex Orthopaedic Treatment Centre at Princess Royal Hospital, were amongst those receiving the Roger A. Mann Award after a clinical paper they supported was presented at the American Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS).
Both surgeons, along with fellow researchers from 17 NHS trusts across the UK, contributed to the paper, and are the first winners of the award outside of the USA and Canada since the award was established in 1994.
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Congratulations to newest Patient First training graduates
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Colleagues from our Brighton, Haywards Health, St Richard’s, Southlands and Worthing hospitals attended graduation events this month after completing their Patient First Improvement System (PFIS) training.
The teams, who started their training last summer, shared the improvements they have already made to benefit staff and patients, and received PFIS certificates from members of the Executive team in recognition of their brilliant work.
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Hepatitis C screening launches at Royal Sussex County Hospital’s Emergency Department
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All patients who attend A&E at the Royal Sussex County Hospital will now be screened for Hepatitis C when having routine blood tests, unless they choose to opt out.
The screening, which includes all patients over 16 years old, is in addition to routine HIV testing, which was introduced at the hospital’s Emergency Department in April 2022.
It is a key part of the NHS drive to end new Hepatitis C infections in line with global targets and has already been implemented in several other NHS Trusts.
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Surgical hub praised nationally for top clinical and operational standards
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The Sussex Orthopaedic Treatment Centre at Princess Royal Hospital is one of eight elective surgical hubs in the country to receive national recognition for the care it provides to patients.
The centre has been awarded a national accreditation as part of a pilot scheme to ensure the highest standards in clinical and operational practice. The scheme assesses surgical hubs on the way they work, and the clinical care offered to patients.
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Supporting colleagues observing Ramadan
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Ramadan is the holiest month of the year in Islamic culture. It is a time for spiritual connection and engaging more deeply with faith and spirituality through personal reflection, additional prayer, fasting from food and drink between sunrise and sunset, reading of the Quran and increased charity, to name a few.
We spoke to Imam Idris Nawab, our Muslim Chaplain for all our hospital sites, who explained the significance of the month for our Muslim colleagues, and shared advice on how managers and fellow colleagues can support them
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Providing a hands-on learning environment
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As preparations continue for the new Louisa Martindale Building to open, we heard from colleagues about how the new space will transform staff training and education opportunities.
Zingy, Change Consultant for the 3Ts Redevelopment, explains the benefits of the new ward environment for staff and patients.
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Celebrating Dr Louisa Martindale on International Women’s Day
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On International Women’s Day, we celebrated Dr Louisa Martindale CBE, Brighton’s first female GP and ground breaking surgeon - and the inspiration behind the naming of our newest building.
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Patient First STAR Awards 2023 - Next steps
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STAR Award nominations closed this month and we were delighted to receive more than 1,100 nominations from colleagues, patients and members of the public.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination over the past five weeks. A special thank you to our hospital charities for sourcing the fantastic range of prizes for the prize draw.
Nominations are being packaged up and sent to our judges in preparation for the panel selection process taking place in April. Those who are shortlisted will be contacted at the end of April, and every individual and team nominated will receive a congratulatory postcard in due course.
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Junior doctor strikes across our sites
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Three days of junior doctor strikes took place this month as a result of the British Medical Association (BMA) and Hospital Consultants and Specialist Association (HCSA) voting to take action.
Further junior doctor strikes will take place for four days from Tuesday 11 April.
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Thanks to generous support from our hospital charities, jars of coffee, tea bags and bottles of squash will be ready for departments to collect in April.
St Richard’s Hospital collection took place on Tuesday 28 March. The remaining site dates are:
- Royal Sussex County Hospital: Wednesday 5 April, Kaizen Space, ground floor St Mary’s Hall, 10am-2pm
- Princess Royal Hospital: Thursday 6 April, Bluebells Restaurant, 10am-2pm
- Worthing Hospital: Thursday 6 April, Kaizen Space, entrance next to outpatients, 10am-2pm
Large departments may need two volunteers to collect the items and we recommend bringing trolleys, boxes, or bags to avoid multiple trips.
Refreshments will be delivered to departments at Southlands Hospital, and Worthing and Crawley Sexual Health clinic on Tuesday 11 April.
All other satellite sites will receive their delivery on Wednesday 12 April.
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Patient First Planet First news
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Travel roadshows continued through March
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Following the successful relaunch of our travel roadshows during February’s Environment Week, the Green Travel Team visited St Richard’s and Princess Royal hospitals in March.
The roadshows highlighted the array of sustainable travel options available at the Trust, and the Green Travel Team once again encouraged colleagues to talk about their travel experiences, share feedback and ideas for new active travel initiatives, and make their own green pledge.
Our Procurement Team also joined the roadshows to highlight the benefits of reusable instruments within a clinical setting.
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A message from the dedicated Trust charities
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We have an incredible range of talented colleagues in our hospitals. Physiotherapist James Barclay was inspired to use his passion for drum & bass music to help raise funds to support our hospitals.
His new 10-track album, titled 10 Years of Section, was recently released on the audio platform Bandcamp, on a pay-as-you-want basis.
James is generously donating all proceeds from the album to support Love Your Hospital.
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In case you missed it....
Here's our round-up of all the stories and updates across the Trust in March:
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Patient feedback highlights
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