Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

Beach party raises buckets of cash for kids ward

A SUMMER BEACH PARTY has raised funds to help local children in Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust by improving their environment.

New Square Shopping Centre in West Bromwich and Hills Funfair donated £800 to the children’s wards at the Trust, after a fun-filled August. Throughout the month, New Square held a beach party so that shoppers could experience all of the fun associated with the seaside, despite being in the West Midlands, over 100 miles from the nearest coast.

Fairground attractions such as ‘hook-a-duck’ and mini waltzers were kindly supplied by Hills Funfair for the event as well as a vintage carousel, which has previously been featured on television.

The £800 will go towards further decoration of Lyndon Ground ward for paediatric care, as the simplest of wall art can make a big different in the care of children.

“Our aim is to improve the ward environment by use of wall stickers with child friendly themes catering for all children admitted” said Paul Duflot, Matron for Acute Paediatrics at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals.

“From nursing experience, we find that wall decorations, with pictures and colours that children can relate to, improve the child’s emotional and physical wellbeing, and also promotes normalisation, in line with therapeutic play.

“We have also found that colourful surroundings with artwork encourage a friendly environment which helps when carrying out medical and nursing procedures by offering distraction, and desensitising the hospital experience.

“We are very appreciative of New Square’s donation as it will enable us to improve the patients experience with positive memories, and outcome.”

It is hoped that this will be one of many joint events with the organisations, and discussions have already begun about future projects that can help to raise money for services provided at the Trust.

Steve Burr, Centre Manager at New Square is very happy about the success of the event and is pleased to help such a worthy cause.

“It’s a pleasure for us to be able to make this donation to the children’s ward at Sandwell Hospital.

“We were delighted that our summer beach event was so successful, enabling New Square to put something back into the local community.”

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust is grateful for all donations and Fundraising and Communications Officer Steve Smith echoes this sentiment.

“On behalf of our patients and staff we want to wish a huge thank you to the team at New Square and Patrick’s guys at Hills Funfair for their generosity.”

Last updated on 28 August 2015.

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Patient had flu symptoms but found out he had cancer

Andrew Cross, aged 51, from Wednesbury, thought he had flu just before he went on holiday the Gambia. Little did anyone know that he actually had cancer at the last stage.

 For a long time, Andrew felt that his health was not right. He would often catch a cough or cold and even had a lung infection. He experienced weight loss and could not sleep or eat well for three months before his trip to Gambia in 2014.

When he came back to England, he could not go straight to hospital for a check-up because his mother and his wife’s mother both passed away in the same period of time. After a while, Andrew finally went to Sandwell Hospital to see the clinicians.

After taking his biopsy, the test confirmed that Andrew had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that appears as a tumour in the gland. When diagnosed, Andrew was already at stage 4, the highest stage. He then underwent chemo therapy on Newton 5 ward at Sandwell Hospital.

He said: “The treatment was brilliant. We received total support from everyone on the ward. The whole team was very supportive and patient. They did not give up on us at any moment. We knew it was their job but to witness their true dedication, we were overwhelmed and grateful.”

Andrew’s wife, Trisha, continued: “When Andrew was diagnosed with cancer, I was very upset. Seeing our mothers passed away, I was frightened that I may lose Andrew as well. Fortunately, we received great support from our friends and family. In a way, cancer has pulled all of us together and we felt very lucky to receive the tremendous support from every one.

“Staff from the hospital were very helpful. We can call anyone in the team any time to ask for help. They were always there to help or just to listen to our concern.”

Andrew is now fully recovered. He only needs to come to hospital once every three months for a check-up.

After receiving treatment at the hospital for about a year, the couple decided to organise a fundraising campaign for Newton 5.

In June 2015, they organised a variety night, where they sold raffle tickets and their friends put on a stage show to raise funds. In the end, they successfully raised more than £1,000 for the ward. Trisha said: “We just hope that the money we raised could give a little bit of help to others, even if it just means to make others’ journeys a bit easier.”

 Karen Mayo, sister on Newton 5, said thanks to the family: “Our team on Newton 5 really appreciates the hard work that Andrew and Trisha put in to make the fundraising night the great success it was. My colleague and I went to the night and we both had such a great time. The money raised will be used to buy equipment to help with the treatment and improve patient experience.”

Last updated on 27 August 2015.

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Greenhouse area renovated by volunteers

GREEN FINGERED volunteers from Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and Lloyds Bank have teamed up for the second time in six weeks to breathe new life into an overgrown garden, giving local people more opportunities to grow their own produce.

After the first collaboration between the two organisations at Rowley Regis Hospital brought tears of joy to the eyes of elderly patients, the group of volunteers from Lloyds Bank were so touched that their efforts made such a difference, they contacted the trust to say they wanted to do it again.

This time it was the City Hospital site in the spotlight with an exciting community greenhouse project providing an opportunity for the groups to join with volunteers from the Summerfield Residence Association. These volunteers tend the garden once a week, aiming to improve the greenhouse area at City Hospital.

Project Facilitator for Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Estelle Greenwood said: “We were delighted when Lloyds contacted us to volunteer for another day. We welcomed 18 volunteers who attended from as far away as Edinburgh, East Anglia and Manchester to support the Greenhouse Project we set up at City Hospital some months ago.”

Lloyds donated £200 towards the project to help buy membrane and bark to tidy up current paths around the greenhouses and stop weeds growing through, making better looking and safer pathways.

“We like to take part in events like this and with many of us coming from different parts of the U.K, Birmingham is a very central and easy place for us all to meet” said Dale McPhee, assistant manager of regulatory and policy compliance team for Lloyds Bank.

“It’s been a fantastic day and we a delighted to support such a fantastic project.”

The Real Junk Food Project provided the catering for the event after one of the volunteers from their café made them aware of the event.

“A few of our volunteers joined the gardeners to help with something close to our hearts. We are passionate supporters of community grow schemes as our aim is to abolish avoidable food waste,” said Gareth Hughes, Founding Co-Director of the Birmingham branch of the Real Junk Food Project.

As well as the greenhouses and areas around them being renovated, the break room next to the garden has been decorated by the children of the local nursery to make a more homely place to convene for the volunteers.

“The nursery kids have done a great job in decorating the meeting room with butterflies and healthy eating plates,” Estelle said.

Last updated on 27 August 2015.

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New cardiac service a hit with first patient

MARKING the opening of the state-of-the-art catheter lab at City Hospital, Perry Barr resident Jyoti Mistry (59) was the first patient to undergo a procedure since the changes to Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust cardiology service were implemented.

Jyoti said: “I was very surprised when the team told me that I was the first patient to undergo treatment at this new lab. Everything went so smoothly and everyone looked so at home in the facility which is modern and very comfortable.”

She continued: “I came here to have an angiogram to see if my stent, which I had inserted in 2014, was all right. I was very relieved to hear that the team did not find anything abnormal.

“I was very nervous before I came in as I was not sure what to expect. But Dr Leong Lee and the team were very caring and informative. They told me everything I need to know and constantly checked on me if I was ok.

“I would encourage patients to be confident when having their treatment in these new labs. The team is very professional and caring.”

Last updated on 27 August 2015.

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Safe Staffing Report

Safe Staffing Report

Safe Staffing July 2015

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Last updated on 18 August 2015.

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