Mary Seacole Nursing Home has received a Good rating from the Care Quality Commission.

This follows on the Good rating given to the Trust’s community services, both children & young people, by the CQC earlier this year. The CQC inspectors had visited Mary Seacole in the spring of 2016 and highlighted a number of issues which needed to be addressed by the management of the home.

The inspectors returned in June this year and noted marked improvements in nursing care and cleanliness and rated the nursing home Good.

Trust Chief Executive Tracey Fletcher said: “The nursing home management took on board the comments of the CQC inspectors and focused on improving the overall care of the elderly patients at the home. Congratulations to all the staff for achieving the improvements required to get the Good rating from the CQC.”

For members | Winter 2017

Mary Seacole wins GOOD rating from the CQC

Mary Seacole Nursing Home also received a welcome boost recently when its gardening club was awarded £4,000 from Tesco supermarket’s Bags of Help initiative.Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch their community scheme, which sees grants being awarded to fund local community projects – all raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores.

Thousands of shoppers across Hackney, voted in stores across the Borough, and Mary Seacole NH proved to be a winner.

Roy Tecson, Matron at Mary Seacole Nursing Home said: “We are thrilled to have been chosen by the community to receive the Bags of Help grant which we will use to develop our community garden. Every donation we receive really does make a big difference. Thank you to everyone who voted for us.”

www.homerton.nhs.uk

The Mary Seacole team with resident Lloyd Jones holding a cheque for £4,000 given by Elaine Price (far right) from Tesco Hackney.

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Annual Members’ Meeting

Review of the year, Annual Accounts and looking to the futureTracey Fletcher, Chief Executive, presented an overview of the Trust, a review of achievements during the past year, and a look forward into 2017/18.

She said the Care Quality Commission (CQC), had carried out inspections of community services (both adult and children’s) during the year as well as a return visit to the Mary Seacole Nursing Home.

The results of the inspection of community services was an overall rating of ‘Good’ with ratings of ‘Good’ for each of the constituent domains: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive,

Well-led. The result of an inspection of the Mary Seacole Nursing Home in April 2016 was ‘Requires Improvement’ however, Tracey was very pleased to announce that, after a follow-up visit in June 2017, CQC rating had improved significantly to ‘Good’ overall with ‘Good’ for each of the domains.

In performance terms, the Trust had done well with regard to the national targets for waiting for services: A&E (target 95%), referral to treatment (target 92%), but still had work to do in improving cancer waits (target 85%). The Trust had also performed well with regard to access to services including health visiting and Community Services.

Feedback from patients included the national NHS inpatient survey. The response rate was comparatively low at

25%, however based on a comparison to other trusts, there had been a small overall improvement. In 2016, the Trust did make a statistically significant improvement in one question (trust and confidence in doctors). There were no sections where the Trust was significantly worse compared to other trusts.

Feedback from staff included the national NHS staff survey, which showed an improved response rate and very good results. The Trust had 64% of questions ranked in the top 20% for a positive response. The Trust was ranked in the top 10% for: satisfaction with quality of care staff feel able to deliver, staff agreeing that their role makes a difference and good communication between management and staff.

The 14th Annual Members’ Meeting of the foundation Trust was held in September, chaired by the Trust Chairman, Tim Melville-Ross.

T he audience of about 40 public and staff members heard the guest lecture from the award winning Locomotor

physiotherapy team and an update on new initiatives in the Trust’s orthopaedic service.

Hilda Walsh, Head of the Locomotor Service explained it was a combined physiotherapy and pain service with around 16,000 referrals a year across three community sites and GP surgeries.

The multi-disciplinary team benefited from the contribution of ‘extended scope physiotherapists’ who were able to provide an enhanced service, for example diagnostic ultrasound.

The presentation included a video which featured contributions from staff and from patients who affirmed the value of the service. The service received very positive patient feedback, with a 97% recommendation rate, and had won national awards. Hilda Walsh described the challenges in maintaining the service

and on future developments including; patient focus groups and community-based hip and knee clinics.

Mr Deepu Sethi, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, gave the second part of the lecture, regarding the Trust’s Orthopaedic Services, noting the benefits of each orthopaedic surgeon being an expert lead in a sub-specialty.

The scope of the service included:

• outpatient clinics • a community hip/knee osteoarthritis

clinic • fracture clinics • trauma list – six days a week.

Waiting times for the service were low, and a choice of locations was offered, as well as links to other services such as the Sports Clinic at the Sir Ludwig Guttman Centre.

The new dedicated ward (2012 Ward) offered benefits such as a reduced risk of infection and, potentially, a shorter length of stay. Future initiatives included

a virtual fracture clinic which has just opened which it was expected would reduce the need for patient attendance.

Those present were given the opportunity to ask any questions, including:

Q. How does the team work with GPs?

A. The team gives presentations to, and visits GPs to ensure that they have up to date information about the scope of the service, and how best to support patients.

Q. For hydrotherapy is it better to use a local swimming baths where there is a journey to a specialist facility?

A. Hydrotherapy is best delivered in a specialist facility where the pool temperature and access are appropriate, for example at the London Aquatic Centre in Stratford. Whilst transport is an issue the Trust strives to minimise the waits experienced by our patients.

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Areas for improvement included: equal opportunities and career progression, and percentage of appraisals completed.

With regard to investment, the Trust had taken forward some key technology projects in 2016/17, including significantly developing the IT systems that support acute and community care.

Looking to the future, priorities included:• continuing to improve the quality

of services to patients and ensuring that this is reflected in the expected inspection of acute services by the (CQC)

• ensuring effective financial stewardship, in the context of population growth

• working with partners in Hackney to develop community services

• building on partnerships in north east London to improve pathways

• the continued effective use of technology

• developing a future model for pathology services.

Jonathan Wilson, Director of Finance gave a presentation regarding the Annual Accounts for 2016/17.

The national context included an increasing NHS deficit and challenging national and local savings targets.

For the Trust, turnover increased by £24 million to £308 million in 2016/17, primarily due to funded activity levels running above plan. The Trust successfully delivered savings of £7.3 million in-year (against a target of £10 million). The Trust’s reported financial position was a deficit of £2.5 million, however after excluding the impact of asset impairments, the underlying position was a surplus of £3.1 million. Asset impairments in-year related to the annual valuation of the Trust’s land and buildings, which saw an £5.6 million decrease in value, and a further impairment charge of £2.2 million in relation to the pathology development. The Trust closed the year with a cash position of £20 million, an increase of £11.4 million compared to 2015/16. Capital expenditure for 2016/17 totalled £4.3 million, focused on replacing medical equipment, including a new CT scanner. Looking forward, the new financial year (2017/18) was extremely challenging with a Trust savings target of £13.1 million, which was on plan for the financial year 2017/18 to date.

Governor elections and membership reportJohn Bootes, Lead Governor explained the scope and work of the Council of Governors, its work with the Board of Directors, membership and priorities for 2017/18. He thanked the two public Governors whose terms had ended, Helena Charles (Hackney) and Siva Anandaciva (Outer Area) and welcomed three recently elected Governors: Eric Cato (Hackney), Danny Turton (Hackney) and Mary Rose Thomson (Outer Area).

The membership of the Trust was consistent with 2016 at 5,100, however demographic data showed that younger people (e.g. those 22 to 29) were significantly under-represented.

The Board of Directors continued to

work effectively with the Council of Governors, as exemplified for example by the effectiveness of the Trust Chairman, Tim Melville-Ross, as chair of both bodies, and by joint meetings of the Board and Council.

John Bootes reported that it was the view of the Council of Governors that the Board of Directors had worked well together and integrated positively with the Council of Governors. The Council of Governors had carried out its duties effectively through participation in induction and development, its annual cycle of meetings, and engagement through pre-Council meetings with individual Non-Executive Directors and ward visits.

Looking forward key areas of interest for 2017/18 included: pathology services, North East London - Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), the Member Engagement and

Communications Committee, ‘Adopting a Ward’ and Dementia Friends.

Questions to the Board of Directors and Governors

Q. Does the Trust have plans to outsource services such as Pathology to the private sector?

A. Tracey Fletcher commented on the structure of services including the current outsourcing of some pathology services to another NHS provider, Barts Health. The key focus was on ensuring that an effective service was in place, meeting the needs of GPs, and the high standards set by accrediting bodies. There was a current initiative from NHS Improvement (NHSI) for NHS boards to consider their partnering arrangements for Pathology Services. The Trust was working through an options appraisal taking into account guidance from NHSI

Questions and answers on the accounts

Q. How can NHS trusts deliver both financial savings and a high quality of care?

A. Jonathan Wilson commented on the national drive for the NHS to remove unwanted variation and improve patient pathways in order to make savings. Savings could also be made from other measures including, for example, better estate utilisation. Tim Melville-Ross added that the question summarised a key challenge for NHS boards i.e. ensuring that the Trust remains cost effective, whilst maintaining a high quality of care for our patients.

Q. Has the Trust considered utilising its charitable activity to secure funding for capital projects?

A. Jonathan Wilson advised that this was in place at the Trust, noting that compared to Trusts with large charitable legacy funds Homerton’s charitable activity was limited, however opportunities to extend this would be considered.

Q. Why is there a variance in the accounts, year on year, re the provision for future pension payments?

A. This figure is calculated externally and provided to the Trust as part of the technical accounting process.

continued over page...

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Homerton Hospital auctioned some of its extensive art collection to raise money for Homerton Hope hospital charity.Several hundred pounds were raised as the Trust welcomed seasoned auctioneers from Christie’s, the

renowned auction house to oversee the event. Art Curator Shaun Caton said: “This was a fantastic opportunity to own an original work of art at a fraction of gallery prices. Many artists have been exceptionally generous in donating their work to our Art Charity Auction 2017 and the scope of work is really quite

stunning. We have sculpture, ceramics, paintings, limited edition prints, drawings, and photographs.”

Homerton Hope fundraiser, Tonya Chalker said: “Our thanks to Christie’s and to all who came to the event.”

and the critical and complex nature of this service.

Q. Will the Trust sign up to the new Complaints Charter.

A. The Trust will sign up to the charter. There is strong executive oversight of complaints, with replies reviewed by the Chief Executive, Medical Director and the Chief Nurse & Director of Governance.

Q. Considering that EU Citizens currently have no confirmed future right to remain in the UK, has the Board taken the implications of Brexit into account in developing its recruitment and retention strategy,?

A. Tim Melville-Ross commented on the Board’s deep concern about this issue which impacted on 600 of the

Trust’s staff. Tracey Fletcher advised that this issue was considered by the recruitment strategy, and underpinned the need to focus on staff retention e.g. newly qualified nurses.

Q. How can patients provide feedback re A&E?

A. Chief Nurse and Director of Governance after Nurse Sheila Adam said there was a range of methods to provide feedback including, i-pads and paper based forms, explaining that this process is facilitated by volunteers as appropriate.

Q. Why are there significant delays in the service provided by patient transport?

A. Tracey Fletcher acknowledged the issues with the service, which were

being addressed as a priority by the new Director of Estates and Facilities.

Q. How does the Trust engage with schools in Hackney?

A. Daniel Waldron, Director of Organisation Transformation explained that the Trust achieves this though working with the Inspire Education Business Partnership, an independent and local charity that supports the education, training and development of young people.

Q. During Governor elections can a replacement ballot paper be issued, for example where this is lost in the post?

A. Governor elections are handled on the Trust’s behalf by Electoral Reform Services (ERS), who if contacted will assist, where possible, in line with the relevant formal election rules.

Art sale raises cash for Homerton Hope charity

Dr Thomas Franzenberg (centre) the successful bidder for Anne Bean’s artwork with (left to right) Louise Simpson from Christie’s, Tonya Chalker from Homerton Hope, Georgina Hilton and Hugh Creasy from Christie’s.

5

Homerton to be a no go zone for smoking New Year start to complete ban

www.homerton.nhs.uk

This hospital is completely smoke free

Please DO NOT SMOKE anywhere on the hospital site including the car parks and outside seating areas

For help and advice to stop smoking:• Telephone: 020 8510 7248

(If no reply please leave a message with your details including telephone number)

• Mobile: 07919 545 762 • Bleep: 330• Email: huh-tr.stopsmokinghomerton@nhs.net

Health and wellbeing for all

(Vaping is allowed in the hospital grounds but please stay away from doors and windows)

Homerton Hospital will become completely smoke free by the end of this year.

Smoking was banned in all public buildings, including hospitals, in 2007. Now, 10 years on, the NHS aims to ban smoking anywhere on a hospital or clinic site.

Andreena Walton, the Trust’s smoking adviser said: “In October we called on all staff to cease smoking on the hospital site. As of January 1 2018 anyone wishing to smoke will have to do so off site. We are currently liaising with the local authority and local residents. We will continue to encourage people – staff and patients - to give up smoking.”

Trust Chief Nurse, Sheila Adam said: “Smoke free public buildings and services have now been the norm for 10 years following the introduction

of the Smoke Free England Law. Many NHS organisations are already totally smoke free and have been so for several years and there is now a national drive to ban smoking completely on all NHS sites.

“Smoking remains the number one health risk to people in this country and is the cause of many diseases and conditions which cost the NHS millions of pounds a year to treat.

“It is right and proper that we should be discouraging smoking on NHS sites but at the same time we offer nicotine patches and continue to support to patients who are smokers whilst in hospital.

“We are also liaising closely with colleagues at the local authority and will be engaging with local residents living near to the hospital and major clinics so that they are aware of our proposals.”

For help and advice to stop smoking: Telephone: 020 8510 7248 or email: huh-tr.stopsmokinghomerton@nhs.net

They are Eric Cato (Hackney) [1], Mary-Rose Thomson (outer area) [2] and Ibrahim Hafeji (non-clinical staff constituency) [3].

Governors re-elected included: Danny Turton (Hackney) and Suzanne Levy (clinical staff constituency).

Trust Chairman Tim Melville-Ross welcomed the new Governors and paid tribute to the work of the outgoing Governors:

• Helena Charles (Hackney)

• Siva Anandaciva (Outer Area)

New Governors elected

He said: “My thanks go to the Governors - who are now standing down - for their time and commitment. I am pleased to be welcoming our new Governors who I am sure will provide us with further help and advice over the next three years.”

Three new Governors have been elected to the Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Council of Governors.

1 2 3

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This is the first step towards gaining international recognition for our great work supporting mothers and their partners.

The Baby Friendly Initiative is a programme created by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation and was designed to support, protect and promote breastfeeding and close, loving parent - infant relationships. The Baby Friendly Initiative is a tiered accreditation. By achieving a certificate of commitment, it demonstrates that we are ready to work towards gaining stage 1 accreditation within the next year.

Bahar Ghodsian, Early Years Project Lead Dietitian said: “To achieve stage 1 we will carry out a review of staff training and update the infant feeding policy. Staff will also be audited around their knowledge of responsive parenting and infant feeding. Once fully implemented, the accreditation has been proven to result in cost savings, an increase in breastfeeding rates and hence better health outcomes for mothers and

infants across the borough. It will also improve support for parent-infant bonding and relationships.”

This certificate was preceded by a visit from Anne Woods, Deputy Programme Director of the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative. Anne’s team spoke to 50 health visitors, midwives, dietitians, children’s centre staff and neonatal nurses, providing an introductory presentation about breastfeeding and the Baby Friendly Initiative. With the support of UNICEF, an action plan was then developed to enable achieving the certificate of commitment and to work towards Stage 1 accreditation.

Bahar explained: “The Baby Friendly Initiative is much needed as, despite strong evidence behind the benefits of breastfeeding, the UK has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. At 6-8 weeks of age, a large number of infants in Hackney receive breastmilk but less than half are exclusively breastfed.”

The World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and with

continued breastfeeding alongside complementary solids for two years and beyond; currently less than 1% of UK infants receive this.

However, internationally, the breastfeeding picture is very different with children, on average, receiving breastmilk until an estimated 4-5 years.

“We are delighted that City and Hackney Children’s Centres and Health Visiting services have received this award,” said Baby Friendly Initiative Programme Director Sue Ashmore. “Surveys show us that most mothers want to breastfeed but don’t always get the support they need. Mothers in City and Hackney have the satisfaction of knowing that their health visitors and children’s centres are aiming to provide the highest standard of care.”

Committed to being baby friendlyHomerton’s health visiting service and City and Hackney Children’s Centres, have been awarded a “certificate of commitment” from the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative.

For more information on the Early Years, please see -

https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/ or contact Early Years

Initiative Project Lead Dietitian bahar.ghodsian@nhs.net

A glimpse into sexual health care at HomertonHomerton’s sexual health services have recently featured in a BBC3 health documentary highlighting the treatment people get when attending the clinics at the hospital.

Staff at the Centre sexual health clinic welcomed a crew in to film a day in the life of the clinic as part of an unflinching documentary series, Sex Map Of Britain.

Dr Joe Petersen-Camp, Specialty Doctor in Sexual Health said, “With rates of sexually transmitted infections continuing to increase, we relished the opportunity to demystify what a visit to a modern sexual health clinic involves.

“Our team provide excellent, compassionate care in welcoming and comfortable surroundings. Most tests can be done with a blood test and a painless urine sample or self-taken swab - a far cry from the myths of ‘umbrellas’ in a portacabin round the back of the hospital.

“We hope this documentary will help to banish some of the fear associated with visiting a clinic.”

Sex Map Of Britain: Dangerous Infections is available on BBC iPlayer.

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Homerton holds major incident exercise

The hospital was taking part in a training exercise, Operation Nemesis, alongside the police, local authority and other NHS organisations to practise their response to dealing with large numbers of emergencies coming through the door.

Over 100 people took part including staff, volunteer casualties, police officers, members of the emergency

services and evaluators from NHS England. The exercise ‘incident’ involved a scenario involving a terrorist act being carried out near the hospital.

As part of the exercise, Homerton was put on major incident alert.As the incident involved potential contamination, A&E staff put on special decontamination suits and

the department’s own mobile decontamination tent was erected at the front of the hospital.

Emergency Planning Officer Debbie Wallis said: “We are constantly changing and updating our major incident plan and these exercises help us to hone our ability to respond to any type of incident that may occur.”

Homerton Hospital recently had the opportunity to test how its staff responds to a major incident.

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As a member of Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust...

...it is vital that we hold all of your correct contact details. We are updating our membership database and would like to ensure that these are accurate.

We look forward to receiving your confirmation or updated address, and email address. You can do this by telephone: 020 8510 5302, email: huh-tr.members@nhs.net or by posting details to:

Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Freepost Nat 7399, London E9 6SR.

Please remember to include your name and date of birth.

Meetings

2017

• 29 November - Board of Directors

• 7 December - Council of Governors

• 14 December - Board of Directors

2018

• 31 January - Board of Directors

• 15 February - Joint Board of Directors/Council of Governors

• 28 February - Board of Directors

• 28 March - Board of Directors

• 5 April - Council of Governors

• 25 April - Board of Directors

Note: Board of Directors’ meetings begin at 10am; Council of Governors’ meetings begin at 5.30pm. Joint meeting begins at 5.30pm.

The Trust’s 2016/17 Annual Report and Accounts are on the website: www.homerton.nhs.uk

Your Governors are:

Public constituency (Hackney)

• Paul Ashton

• Saleem Siddiqui

• Ruth Martin

• Dr Coral Jones

• Danny Turton

• Eric Cato

• Ayse Ahmet

• Shuja Shaikh

• Julia Bennett

• Stuart Maxwell

Public constituency (City)

• John Bootes (Lead Governor)

• Vacancy

Public constituency (Outer)

• Hazel McKenzie

• Mary-Rose Thomson

Staff constituency

• Hilda Walsh

• Ibrahim Hafeji

• Alun Myers

• Dr Helen Cugnoni

• Suzanne Levy

• Chris Mullett

Partner Governors

• Dr Lisa Reynolds (City University)

• Councillor Ben Hayhurst (London Borough of Hackney)

• Dr Mark Ricketts (City and Hackney Clinical Commissioning Group)

• Vacancy (Corporation of London)

• Vacancy (Queen Mary College, University of London)

Dr Dan Tunstall Pedoe (1940-2015)

It is with sadness that Homerton learned of the recent death

of consultant cardiologist and physician, Dr Dan Tunstall

Pedoe, or Dr ‘TP’ as he was fondly known.

Dan was a familiar face at Homerton for many years, joining

the hospital when it fi rst opened in July 1986 and working

here until his retirement in 2005.

My association with him was long and fruitful, as together

we orchestrated and managed the Homerton Art Works

Committee which was responsible for putting art on the walls

in every conceivable place and area of the site.

Over the years, we presented hundreds of artists in exhibitions

in the Education Centre and main corridors, and through

Dan’s tireless efforts and enthusiasm we helped to launch

artists’ careers and bring attention to Homerton’s burgeoning

collection of modern art, working with world-class museums

(such as the British Library and Victoria and Albert Museum)

and many other galleries to showcase some of their fi nest,

most unusual exhibits here.

Dan’s eclectic and diverse taste in art was informed by a

passionate interest in nature photography - a tremendous

talent he possessed and utilised from the 1950s onwards.

His colourful and often quirky photographs of insects taken

in extreme close-up may not be quite what unsuspecting

patients and staff might expect to see adorning the corridor

walls of a modern hospital but they always inspire people to

look and appreciate what a hospital can do to improve its

environment with original art works.

Dan called himself an ‘art activist’ and liked to personally

respond to every single proposal from an artist, no matter

how heavy his workload was. He was a dedicated,

humorous, and magnanimous person who will be sadly

missed by the staff, patients, and people who knew him.

His family have generously donated 40 of his photographs to

the Homerton’s art collection.

Shaun Caton - Art Curator

Cosmic art

Remembering TP

Homerton Hospital has launched its 45th art exhibition,

‘Wavelengths’, an exciting and original exhibition of cosmic

paintings by Brighton based artist, Patrick O’Donnell.

Patrick has spent over a year working on this exhibition

which comprises paintings that at fi rst glance could be

mistaken for colour photographs of astronomy taken by

the Hubble telescope.

His canvasses of star constellations and immense gas clouds

in space have entranced visitors to Homerton’s Education

Centre with their realistic appearance.

One member of staff

commented: ‘They

are really relaxing and

contemplative’ and

another noted, ‘the

paintings are calming

and soothing’.

Wavelengths runs until the end of May 2015.

For further information contact Shaun Caton, Art Curator,

shaun.caton@homerton.nhs.uk

Homertonlife Spring/Summer 2015 15

Art

Dr Tunstall with Germaine Greer at the opening of an exhibition of his

insect photographs in 2008

Annual report and accounts

2016/17

www.homerton.nhs.uk

30 years at Homerton

www.homerton.nhs.uk

Members’ Matters Meetings• Specialist neurological rehabilitation

- 6 December

• Eye screening - 31 January

• Maternity - 21 March

• Bariatrics - (date yet to be confirmed)

All meetings 5.30pm - 7pmLight refreshments from 5pm.

Here to help... If you have any suggestions, queries or concerns about our services, please email huh-tr.pals.service@nhs.net or call 020 8510 7315.

Do you have a small van or estate car?

We need a volunteer to help transport works of art from

Homerton to the framers across the river in Lewisham and back to the

hospital. This usually takes half a day and we go up to six times a year. If you can help in any way please

contact Shaun Caton (Art Curator)

huh-tr.enquiries@nhs.net