STAFF UPDATE

British Medical Association (BMA) industrial action update

Today has seen the start of four days of BMA strike action running until 7am Saturday 23 September, involving consultants (19 – 21 September) and junior doctors (20 – 23 September).

On Wednesday 20 September we will find ourselves in the unprecedented position of having both consultants and junior doctors striking. The ‘Christmas Day’ level of medical staffing will be in place on this day, but where colleagues have informed us they will not be taking strike action we are working to ensure standard levels of service delivery remain in place.

We have been supported in our planning for this strike period, by colleagues across our acute and community services, who have demonstrated huge flexibility. We are really grateful to both medical and non-clinical colleagues who are working in different ways to manage the additional complexity provided by these strikes and to maintain patient safety. Thank you for everything you are doing for our patients and each other.

Our services are very busy today and we know we have a challenging few days ahead. Please do escalate any delays in achieving discharge of patients through the usual routes. There are currently delays in transferring patients out of ED to ward areas, and we all play an important part in ensuring that every patient receives care in the right place for them.

Please see HUB for details of how we are preparing and how to inform us of your intention to take strike action.

The latest industrial action updates and FAQs can be found on the intranet as follows:

Consultants

Junior doctors

We know this week may be emotional for some colleagues and we ask that you all continue to treat each other with kindness and respect. Thank you again for your continued support.

Nominations close this weekend for our Extraordinary People Awards

All you have to do is fill in a simple form telling us why they deserve to be recognised, and they could be invited to a special celebration event with finalists and winners taking place on Thursday 30 November 2023 at Sandy Park, Exeter.

Click here for more information about the categories and find out how to nominate a colleague.

The Royal Devon ranks joint second for inpatient satisfaction nationally

The Trust has ranked joint second nationally for inpatient satisfaction, alongside three other acute and general combined NHS Trusts in the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) inpatient survey. The Royal Devon scored above the average score for all Trusts for 47 of the 51 questions.

The survey results reveal that patients at our sites found their experience of the ward they were staying on to be ‘better than expected’. It also shows when it came to being treated with respect, and being provided with information about procedures the Trust performed ‘somewhat better than expected’.

Carolyn Mills, Chief Nursing Officer says "I'm delighted to see that when patients are here, we are not only meeting their expectations but exceeding them and I want to commend the wonderful staff here at the Royal Devon for all their hard work and dedication in delivering person centred care despite the operational challenges they face."

More details, and a summary of the CQC's findings, are on HUB.

COVID-19: at a glance and new guidance

The Royal Devon continues to see cases of COVID-19 among our patients and colleagues.

We have undertaken a review of our COVID-19 IPC, staff testing and patient testing guidance to ensure it meets our current needs and provides clarity of approach.

Revised guidance is available here on HUB. Please ensure you are familiar with this new guidance.

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Thank you: clinical coding team

"Together we make a great team having pooled knowledge and experience across the sites. I feel incredibly proud and lucky to lead such a fantastic team of individuals that have embraced the changes that have come our way in 2023.

"The whole team deserve recognition for their hard work, dedication and excellent attitude. With 40+ staff, we have successfully merged and now work together as a fully integrated service providing excellent quality clinical coding for the Trust’s inpatient and day case activity. And each one of them makes a difference to our combined achievements and goals.

"In addition, the senior team always go above and beyond to ensure the wider team is supported and I certainly would be lost without them.

Governor elections 2023: the results are in

Voting closed in this year’s governor elections last week, and we can now share the results of the staff governor vote.

• Simon Leepile has been re-elected for a term of three years
• Naomi Hallet and Zoe Harris have been elected for terms of three years
• Clare Stevens and Emily Partridge have been elected for terms of one year

They will join the Council of Governors, who have a number of statutory duties and play a vitally important role by providing a direct connection between the Trust’s Board of Directors and staff, patients and our wider communities.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s election. Visit HUB for more details and he full election results, which includes results of voting in our public constituencies.

Next all-staff webinar: Friday 6 October, 1.15pm

The next all-staff webinar is on Friday 6 October at 1.15pm, hosted by John Palmer, Chief Operating Officer, Hannah Foster, Chief People Officer, Zahara Hyde, Director of Estates and Facilities, and Karen Davies, Medical Director - Northern services. Join us live on MS Teams.

You can ask a question ahead of the webinar on Slido and upvote your favourite questions as well. The top 50 questions on Slido will be answered during the webinar, as will questions asked during the live webinar, and any questions that don’t get a full answer during the webinar itself, we'll publish a written response around a week later.

Full details about the webinar are available on HUB.

Liftshare week: find out how you can win a £100 Love2Shop voucher

Liftshare week takes place 18-24 September. To celebrate, the Liftshare team is holding a competition - anyone who signs up for an account, or updates their existing trip details during Liftshare week will be entered to win one of five £100 Love2Shop vouchers.

Visit HUB for details on how to enter the competition.

Wellbeing support

For information about resources to support your wellbeing, please go to the our Health and Wellbeing pages

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Nightingale Hospital Exeter sees major milestone reached with cataract operations

Earlier this month, the Centre of Excellence for Eyes (CEE) at the NHS Nightingale Hospital Exeter successfully completed a cataract operation on its 1,000th patient, with one of the lowest-recorded complication rates in the world.

Since opening in 2022, the CEE has been offering low-complexity high-quality cataract surgery to people across Devon, and this latest milestone highlights the vital work being done to help reduce the local waiting times for these procedures.

Full details are available on HUB.

Walking stick MOT: dates in September

As part of Falls Prevention and Frailty weeks our falls practitioners and physiotherapists will be in the community offering walking stick checks and information. You can find them at the following dates/locations:

• Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 September - RD&E (Wonford) main entrance, 9am-2pm
• Monday 25 September - Sainsbury, South Molton, 9am-3pm
• Tuesday 26 September - Tesco, Ilfracombe, 9am-3pm
• Wednesday 27 September - Morrisons, Bideford, 1-5pm
• Thursday 28 September - Waitrose, Holsworthy, 9am-3pm
• Friday 29 September - Green Lanes, Barnstaple, 9am-3pm

Please help us share the above date with our patients. To find out more about frailty week and the events on offer, visit HUB.

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Message from Professor Tim Briggs, NHS England National Director for Clinical Improvement and Elective Recovery

Dear colleague,

One group of unsung heroes that I want to specifically mention are the administration staff and schedulers who have been impacted significantly by the industrial action disruption with the requirement for repeated cancellations and then multiple rebookings. Many thanks for sticking with the programme despite these issues, your support and input as well as your commitment has been crucial.

We have new assets coming on stream across all three main hospital sites, from day case theatres at Torbay, the Nightingale investment for Orthopaedics and eye services, the elective ward for orthopaedics at NDDH, the cardiology investment on the RD&E (Wonford) site and finally the new ward and three theatres at Plymouth.

As we move into winter maintaining the elective services will be critical and I am now confident, we will be able to continue to deliver recovery and transform services despite the challenging environment.

However, without your support, dedication and hard work this would not have been possible. You should all be very proud with the achievements you have achieved over the last eight months and I firmly believe we are on track to make the Devon ICB one of the best in the country.

Finally, to repeat myself again, this would not have been possible without all of you who work across Devon in the NHS, whether in the acute trusts, the ICB or the community.

Kind Regards

Tim

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