May 2015
Welcome
Welcome to the May issue of Inside St
John’s bringing you the latest news and
developments from across the site.
St John’s 25th Anniversary
A special four-page feature celebrating
25 years at St John’s is available in the
latest issue of Connections.
Cuddle cot
Celtic footballer, Kris Commons and his
partner Lisa Hague, have made a special
presentation to St John’s Hospital in
memory of their daughter, Lola.
The couple donated a CuddleCot to the
hospital’s Neonatal Unit to help bereaved
families. The CuddleCot is a cool
mattress, which allows parents to spend
more time with their little one before they
have to say goodbye.
The Lola Commons fund for SiMBA,
founded in 2013 by Lisa following the
stillbirth of her first baby Lola Grace
Commons, has raised over £100,000 to
help support bereaved families across
Scotland and throughout the UK. You can
read the full West Lothian Courier article
here.
ICU/HDU Upgrade
Intensive Care Unit/High Dependency
Unit (ICU/HDU) moved into their newly
refurbished unit this month. The unit has
been refurbished to an excellent
standard.
There has been a lot of effort and work
carried out by nursing and facilities staff
to plan and complete this work. We are
delighted by the results and look forward
to many years of caring for our patients in
a fresh new environment.
Smokefree Lothian
Thanks to all staff, visitors and patients
for their support in ensuring our hospital
grounds are smokefree and for continuing
to abide by the policy. A gentle reminder
that staff members must maintain the
highest standards of professionalism,
particularly in changing out of uniforms if
they leave the campus for a cigarette or
when they are travelling to and from
work.
Trakcare PaperLite
Programme
eCasenotes
eCasenotes have been live in outpatients
since 11 May – approx 50 percent of
appointments have been ‘paperlite’ with
paperwork generated in clinics being
scanned within two working days of it
being returned to health records.
Approximately 40 people have given
feedback on this new system, of which 50
percent of respondents thought it was
easy to use and 50 percent found it
difficult/very difficult. The project team is
keen to make this as easy a process as
possible and so will be looking to address
issues raised wherever possible.
Inpatients will go live at the end of May.
Nursing and AHP Forms
Wards 4 and 14 have been live since
April and training is underway for Allied
Health Proffesional’s (AHPs) across St
John’s and nurses in the next group of
wards (Observation ward, wards 9, 21,
22, 24, 25). The aim is to be live in late
May/early June for both these groups.
Hardware is being upgraded/replaced to
support this programme of work.
For the emergency department it helps
reduce the potential for over-crowding
which is important for patient and staff
safety.
Achieving this requires lots of teamwork
and planning from all groups of staff as
well as relatives in supporting earlier
discharges.
Older People in Acute
Hospitals
For further information please visit the
intranet or contact Sandra MacGillivray,
eHealth Project Manager at:
NHS Lothian received an announced visit
on 14 April from Health Improvement
Scotland. Each acute hospital presented
their current position including an update
on the work being done to give assurance
that standards of care are being met at St
John’s.
sandra.macgillivray@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk.
Clinical Change Cabinet
The second Clinical Change Cabinet
meeting took place last week. You can
find information on what was discussed
and dates of future meetings on the
intranet. This meeting brings together
clinicians to discuss how NHS Lothian
can meet the challenge of providing
sustained healthcare for the people of
Lothian.
Over the last month additional work has
been happening with Charge Nurses,
Clinical Nurse Managers and the Site
Chief Nurse with a particular focus on the
screening and assessment tool used
when patients are admitted to hospital.
In addition, we are focusing on improving
documentation and are undertaking
awareness sessions for the multi
disciplinary clinical team as part of our
continuing preparation to meet the
standards of care expected for all of our
patients.
Catering Strategy
consultation
NHS Lothian’s draft Catering Strategy Our Food, Our Health, Our Care - is out
for public consultation. Further
information on the strategy and how to
feedback can be found here.
Antimicrobial Stewardship
The vital role that nurses and midwives
can play as part of the multidisciplinary
approach to antimicrobial stewardship
has been recognised in recent years and
this has led to the development of a novel
educational resource by NES (NHS
Education for Scotland).
Discharge by noon
We are continuing to focus on supporting
more patients to be discharged by noon
each day. This is beneficial for lots of
reasons. It helps patients avoid staying
in hospital any longer than they need to.
Importantly it also helps patients who are
being admitted avoid any delay in getting
to the right ward as early as possible.
For ward staff it helps reduce the
likelihood of patients arriving later in the
day.
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
The purpose of the interactive work
programme is to support nurses and
midwives learning around antimicrobial
stewardship and support the care of
patients with infections to promote
optimal outcomes.
The workbook allows learners to assess
their current level of knowledge and
identify potential development needs in
each topic area. The resource can be
accessed here. For further information
contact:
willie.mcgregor@luht.scot.nhs.uk
Ten minute workstation workouts:
a fun ten minute stretch and tone
session provided at your
workstation. For groups of four or
more. Pre-booking essential.
Bookings being taken for the
mornings of Friday 12 June and
Wednesday 17 June. Please book
in by calling ext. 54183. The
telephone line is open from Friday
29 May. If no-one answers, please
leave a message with your name,
workplace and time/date
requesting and your contact
number for confirmation. All
bookings must be confirmed.
Workout @ Work Day
NHS Lothian Staff Physiotherapy Service
is hosting “workout at work day” on Friday
12 June. On this day (and for a week), a
series of fun and active events will be
run. Get involved and have some fun, as
well as get some tips on fitness and
exercise to help you stay healthy and
happy - smiles guaranteed!
The activities at St John’s include:

Treasure Hunt: a 10-15 minute
walking route (with prizes to be
won! - individual and inter-site
challenge). Pick up a map and
questions from physiotherapy
reception on the ground floor.
Please drop off your answer sheet
after your walk also at
physiotherapy reception. The intersite challenge runs from Friday 12
June to Friday 19 June, so get
your colleagues along too! No prebooking required for this event.
Only one entry per person.
This is your site newsletter and we want to hear from you about what’s going on in your
Booking required:
service.
Please send stories to Laura.Mancini@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
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