STAFF UPDATE

You may have seen on social media that we marked the 12 Days of Christmas, by looking back at some of the successes we’ve had in 2023. We think these successes deserve shouting about as we look back at the year.

Please watch the video and join us in celebrating these amazing achievements and the people who made them possible.

Full details about all of the stories highlighted in the video are available here.

We wanted to take a moment to share our pride and gratitude for your incredible response to the significant challenges we faced over the holiday season and through the last round of industrial action. You rose to the challenge, respected each other’s decisions around industrial action and worked incredibly hard throughout the entire period to ensure our patients were cared for and safe.

Read the full message here to see the numbers behind the massive challenges we faced and the incredible success we achieved.

We continue to see new cases of COVID-19, flu, other respiratory diseases and norovirus infections across our services.

Across our Eastern services we have now been able to move away from the blanket visitor restrictions we had applied and will be using these restrictions in certain areas on a case-by-case basis instead. You can find details here.

To protect yourselves, your patients and your colleagues, please make sure you follow these IPC steps.

Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and flu are two of the most important things you can do to keep yourself and your patients safe.

Please don’t delay.

• The COVID-19 vaccination offer will end for staff and the general public on Wednesday 31 January 2024.

• We are approaching peak flu season so act now to make sure you are protected. The flu vaccine will continue to be available to staff and those members of the public who are eligible until Sunday 31 March 2024.

You can find details of clinics for COVID-19 and flu vaccinations here on HUB:

Flu clinics

COVID-19 clinics

More information including FAQs are available on the vaccination pages on HUB.

The first all-staff webinar of 2024 is taking place on Friday 26 January at 1pm. You can join in live using this MS Teams link. 

The executive team are ready to answer your questions and you can post questions using this slido link, you can also use this Slido page to vote for your favourite questions - this helps the most supported topics rise to the top of the list. We will answer the top 50 questions that are posted on Slido and any questions that happen live during the webinar. 

Please post your questions by Wednesday 17 January so we can prepare for the webinar. 

The full Q&A from the last webinar is also now available on the all-staff webinar page on Hub, apologies for the delay in uploading. 

We want to develop our staff, and our appraisal process provides an important opportunity to discuss your goals, personal development and identify any training needs. As valued colleagues we would like to make it easier for you to have a meaningful appraisal conversation.

We want to hear how we can make it easier for you and are creating a number of opportunities for you to share your views.

You can share your views in the following ways:

• Feedback through our anonymous online survey here
• Or join us at one of our Staff Conversations for a friendly, open discussion.

Conversations will take place via Microsoft Teams on the following dates:

• Thursday 18 January 11am – 12pm
• Friday 19 January 8.30am – 9.30am

Further information and details on how to join a conversation is available on HUB 

Work will begin tomorrow, Saturday 13 January, to install an additional lift to service the intensive care unit at NDDH. This will double the current lift capacity to the unit, and ensure greater comfort, privacy and dignity for patients being transferred to and from ICU.

Please see HUB for full details.

The next People Pulse survey will launch on Monday 15 January. See HUB for full details

"Since being diagnosed with melanoma it has been a scary journey but the care provided by each and every member of staff has helped me immensely. 

"There is absolutely nothing that could improve your service and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making my journey much more bearable. Thank you, everyone of you."

As part of the digital integration, one element of how we have implemented cross-site working is the ability to print from which ever location you are working in.

Please see HUB for full details.

We have recently updated our resources for doctors' mental health support services and signposting. Please see HUB for full details.

Our next Level 5 Operational Manager/Departmental Manager apprenticeship course will start in March 2024 and we are now inviting applications.

If you are a subject matter expert who works with our learning teams to create new learning content for Learn+, we now have a resources area in Learn+ to help you request support to:

• create a new piece of learning, or 
• change existing learning held in Learn+

It also provides information on the governance process. To access the link click here

There is also information on HUB about starting a new appraisal. Please click here to read.

Exercise Medical Endeavour is back for 2024. 

This is an exciting and challenging event aimed at bringing the South West & West Hampshire healthcare community together. The event, scheduled from 7-9 June 2024, will feature activities, including a care under fire scenario, a simulated rifle range, and the use of the Army’s latest communication system. 

Participants will be accommodated and fed at no cost. If you would be interested in joining the Royal Devon team, or would like to find out more, please get in touch with Alex Tait on alexandra.tait@nhs.net.

To celebrate Veganuary 2024, we are offering colleagues a free vegan meal in January. We have now run out of vouchers for the Eastern sites, however we still have some available for the North.

If you’re based in the North, all you have to do is complete this three-minute survey to apply for your voucher: https://forms.office.com/e/ZeyWfB3xm3

You will be asked to pick which week you would like your voucher to be valid for, and an internal postal address for us to send out your unique voucher to.

Please note that all vouchers are subject to availability and the limited number will be sent out on a first-come first-served basis.

The January edition of Lifestyle & Wellbeing, the monthly newsletter from the Fern Centre, is now available.

Please click here to read or download.

The digital team is conducting a series of scheduled maintenance works to the IT and telephony system on the following dates:

Monday 15 January – 6.30pm - 11pm

Tuesday 16 January – 6.30pm - 9.30pm

See HUB for full details of which areas will be affected on those dates.

We are updating the contents of the liver function test offered in Northern services to align with that of Eastern services. From February 2024, total protein will be removed from the LFT profile for hospital requests.

If you wish to have a blood sample analysed for total protein, a standalone test is available to request. Liver function profile offered to GPs remains unchanged.

Please contact rduh.biochem@nhs.net if you have a query about this proposed change.

An upgrade to Epic is taking place on Wednesday 17 January at 4am. This will involve a short downtime of around 45 minutes when users will need to log out of the system. 

See HUB for full details

Shillingford Organics will be holding a veg stall at outside Child and Women's Health on the Wonford site, 12pm to 2pm, on Wednesday 17 January.

As well as being able to buy organic produce, colleagues will be able to benefit from a special discount on veg box deliveries.

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