On behalf of the Site Management team, we would like to wish all the staff at St
John’s a very happy and peaceful
Christmas and New Year. 2014 has been a successful year for the hospital and there have been a great deal of positive developments across the site.
However, nothing we do is achieved without the commitment and dedication of our staff and we thank you all for this.
Merry Christmas!
There is still time to get your free, seasonal flu jab.
Details of flu clinics can still be found on the intranet or you can contact your local area lead for a flu jab in your workplace.
Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect patients, the community, yourself and your family from this potentially serious disease.
A number of changes have been made to the MPV/shuttle bus service to:

ensure the organisation is improving its green credentials and carbon footprint

help to address health and safety issues with fewer cars on our sites

contribute to necessary savings.
December 2014
The University of Edinburgh and National
Health Services Scotland are now equal partners in the shuttle bus service, which means we have saved £100,000, equating to a significant number of additional porters or domestic workers.
This resource is integral to our clinical service delivery and provides a much valued level of resilience.
What the changes mean for you:
MPV service
Following a request by staff partnership, further consultation on the planned changes to the MPV service will take place between managers and staff side.
In the meantime, the MPV service will continue to operate on the existing route, i.e. it will continue to run return journeys between the WGH and RIE with no changes to the timetable.
Shuttle bus
The changes to the shuttle service already communicated by email/intranet are now in place, effective from 1
December, with return journeys between the WGH and RIE seeing an additional stop at Morningside Road. It will no longer stop at Waverley Gate.
Additional service
There will be an additional minibus service running a return service for an initial period of one month between Gyle
Square and Waverley Gate, calling at
Pentland House and Lauriston Place.

This service will be reviewed during the month and depending on uptake will either be extended or discontinued.
For more information please visit the intranet.
Building work has been going on within the Emergency Department to convert the existing plaster room into additional assessment cubicle capacity. This work is now complete and will give the department additional space to assess patients, which will improve waiting times. The Emergency Department is also starting some improvement work to look at “Enhanced Triage.” This will test a different approach to seeing patients when they arrive, with the goal of further reducing waiting times. This approach has been introduced successfully at the
RIE and has led to benefits for both patients and staff and the team.
Work continues to improve the staff changing facilities on the site. The work has inevitably caused some disruption but will provide an improved area for staff in the long run. Concerns about the area were raised by staff through the site
Partnership Forum, which exists as the representative meeting for Trade union and professional bodies with the management teams. The progress made in acting on the improvements is a good example of how the Partnership Forum can support the site working effectively.
The minutes of the Partnership Forum can be found, along with a number of other important sources of site information, on the SJH information zone on the staff intranet.
The annual ‘Volunteers Thank You Event’ was held on Monday 15 December in the dining room at SJH.
Over 200 volunteers were invited from across West Lothian - including NHS volunteers who help within SJH,
Tippethill, St Michaels, Maple Villa and
Community Projects and Services across
West Lothian along with Carers groups,
Food Bank, Royal Voluntary Services and
British Red Cross, who provide additional services for our patients. Volunteers were welcomed by Agnes McKenna, Voluntary
Services Manager, and were given a big thank you by Chris Stirling, Site Director, for the huge contribution they have made throughout the year. Volunteers were then treated to a buffet provided by our award-winning catering department and entertainment from Freshtouch, a local singer and volunteer here at the hospital.
It was fantastic to see so many attend the event, especially given the weather over the past few days, so once again thank you to all our volunteers.
The MRI scanner will be officially opened by NHS Lothian’s chairman, Brian
Houston and former MP, Tam Dayell on
26 January. The official opening forms part of the celebration of the 25 th anniversary of the official opening of SJH.
The next West Lothian Pathways
Collaborative (WELPACT) event is being held on Tuesday 10 February 2015 at the
Howden Centre. This is the third of such events, which bring front line staff together who are working on improving different aspects of care for patients. WELPACT has had a particular focus on reducing hospital readmissions.
A wide number of staff from different departments and sectors, both in community and hospital as well as the voluntary sector, are involved. More details can be found on the staff intranet.

Christmas lunches will be served on
Thursday 18 December in the dining room. There are two sittings at 12 noon and 12.45pm. Tickets are available from the tills at a cost of £8.50 per head. If you have any special dietary requirements, such as gluten-free, please let us know in advance and we will produce products such as a gluten-free cheesecake and adapt menu items to suit. The menu is displayed in the dining room and around the hospital.
Coming up to the festive period, the catering department are selling a selection of home made bakery goods, such as home made mince pies and
Christmas cake. There are also some festive new products available in the coffee shops and dining room.
Both Dr Wright and Dr Van Look will participate in General Medicine also, supporting the acute medical receiving of patients from GP referrals and the
Emergency Department admissions.
Dr Alan Japp has been appointed as a consultant to work jointly between SJH and the RIE. Dr Japp, who undertook his cardiology training in the south east of
Scotland ,is currently working in Australia and will return to work alongside Dr
Jacob, Frances Divers and the wider cardiology team in late March 2015.
The Diabetes team is expanding.
Following the retirement of Dr James
Walker, NHS Lothian has supported the development of the Diabetes service and the ongoing programme of ensuring a sustainable General Medicine service for
SJH. Dr Rohana Wright and Dr Liesbeth
Van Look will be starting as consultants in Diabetes and General Medicine in the spring of 2015, joining Dr Karen
Adamson. In addition, the service has received support for the appointment of an additional diabetic specialist nurse
Helping make sure that patients are discharged from hospital at the right time can be a challenge. It is important to get it right to prevent delays in ensuring patients are in the right bed in the right ward. This helps ‘patient flow’ throughout the hospital. To help focus on this issue, the site team have been developing a
Discharge Hub function. The Discharge
Hub is currently staffed by nursing staff
Susan Scott and Ally Russell, who work with wards, patients, carers and social care, together with clinical teams from other hospitals within and beyond NHS
Lothian, to help reduce delays. The team is establishing a new base next to Board
Room 1 as part of an NHS Lothian-wide project. role. Garry Jones joined the team at the beginning of December. Garry previously worked in the diabetes team at SJH, before moving to the RIE for the last year.
We are delighted to welcome him back.
This support is in recognition of the increased pressures on the diabetes service and the need to provide additional support to patients with this condition to improve their care.
This is your site newsletter and we want to hear from you about what’s going on in your service.
Please send stories to Laura.Mancini@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk