Nightingale News | 24.06.20

Thank you all for your continued efforts as we prepare our hospital for standby. We have achieved so much in just three months: building a hospital from scratch, providing outstanding care for over 100 patients and now preparing our site for standby. We should all be incredibly proud of what we have delivered, and continue to deliver, as one team. It is important that we take the time to recognise this, and we will therefore be holding a ceremony to mark our transition into standby for all our team on Friday 26 June from 11am-12pm. The ceremony will be held in the auditorium and while numbers are limited due to the government’s social distancing guidelines, there will be representatives from all levels and professions across our team. The majority of attendees will be our Nightingale STAR winners (more information on this below!). Each team has also been allocated a number of seats, as well as a handful of external partners who have been instrumental to our work. Please speak to your line manager if you would like to attend as part of your team’s allocation. The ceremony is also accessible to all staff via the Zoom platform – as many non-NHS colleagues are unable to access Microsoft Teams. Joining information has been included below. Please do check that you are able to access Zoom on your usual device in advance – as it can be blocked by some networks. You may need to use a personal device. We hope you can join us and help celebrate all we have achieved together. The presentation will be shared on the Staff Hub afterwards for those unable to attend.

Zoom meeting details:

https://zoom.us/j/96905003245?pwd=c3ZlazUwUlY2MTRjdE9mWEtnS3ZhZz09

Meeting ID: 969 0500 3245
Password: 0NkPxY

We know colleagues may want to mark the end of this stage in the Nightingale’s journey in their own way – and even together as a team where possible. It is important however to remember to continue to carefully observe guidance regarding social distancing in anything you do. As members of the NHS Nightingale Team, who came together in response to the COVID pandemic, we must continue to act as role models – even when the hospital is in standby. We will then hopefully have the opportunity to come together again in the future once the COVID crisis is over. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

Before you finish your time with us, there are still a few actions we are asking staff to take (more information on each included in the news section below):

• Attend a debrief session – to share your valuable experience and prepare you for finishing your time at the Nightingale
• Complete the Staff Pulse Survey – give your feedback and help us improve the way we work should we need to reactivate
• Complete a self-assessment risk assessment – to help us keep you safe at work
• Share your stories – visit the ‘What makes us proud wall’ in the main reception to share your proudest moments from your time at the Nightingale and help us capture those stories (or email them to [email protected] and we can add them for you!)

You will have also received an update last Friday notifying you that antibody testing is available for Nightingale staff. More information on this below.

We hope you can join us for the virtual ceremony on Friday.

Best wishes,

Professor Michael McCourt
Chief Executive

Every member of our team has gone over and above by stepping forward to work here at a time of need for our NHS. The Nightingale STARs are an opportunity to recognise those colleagues have gone the extra mile for our patients and each other over the last three months. Over 130 nominations were received for our Nightingale STARs, which just goes to show what a fantastic team we have built here at the Nightingale! Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a nomination.

The nominations have now been received by our panel (made up of representatives from Workforce, Nursing, Medicine, AHP, Interserve and G4S) and all nominated individuals will be contacted today. We will also share the full list of winners on the Staff Hub tomorrow.

Antibody testing is now available for all colleagues at the Nightingale. This is part of a research programme being delivered by our host trust Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, to help provide information on the prevalence of COVID-19 in different regions of the country to help better understand how the disease spreads. The test is a venous blood test, which will be taken by a trained member of staff and processed through NHS pathology networks

There is more information, including FAQs, in the document attached. It is however important to be aware that the result of a positive test does not indicate immunity to COVID-19. All infection prevention and control measures must continue to be in place irrespective of the presence of antibodies. Public Health England are conducting a study to establish whether antibodies detected by this test do indicate immunity to COVID-19.

Tests can be booked online here: https://stafftesting.mft.nhs.uk/. You will be prompted to provide a passcode, please enter MCRCOV19 to proceed. During registration you need to select Nightingale as the test site, you will also be asked to provide your details including an up to date mobile telephone, this is the number your booking confirmation and results will be sent to via text message.

Please attend the main reception desk for your appointment, and they will advise on where to go. We suggest you arrive five minutes before your appointment.

If you have already completed your last shift on site, you are still able to access the antibody test. We would advise booking it to coincide with attending a debrief session on site.

If you have further questions regarding this please contact Kate Carter, Lead Nurse ([email protected] or 07921540510).

If you don’t have one already, please make sure to collect your Nightingale rainbow badge before your last shift. The badges are available to collect at the Interserve reception desk.

We would really welcome hearing about your experiences working at NHS Nightingale Hospital North West. It is important to us to understand what is working well and where we can do better. This pulse survey provides the opportunity for ALL staff to share your feedback – including NHS, Interserve and G4S colleagues. Your individual responses will NOT be identifiable.

Click here to complete the survey

The results of this survey will be used to capture the things the hospital is doing well – and most importantly, help us to understand where we can make improvements moving forward. This information is especially important to support reactivation planning should the hospital need to reopen; to make sure we are getting things right for patients and staff. We will share the findings with you, along with any actions taken in response to your feedback. The survey is open from today and should be completed by 30^th June 2020.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Jackie ([email protected]) or Sheni ([email protected]).  For technical issues with the survey, please email [email protected].

All staff are invited to attend a debrief session to reflect on and learn from our experiences of building and working at NHS Nightingale Hospital North West. These sessions are open to all staff groups – NHS, Interserve and G4S colleagues – and you are invited to attend one of the below dates.

As we prepare to go into standby, these sessions will capture your experiences and learning from your time here, share some tools to help you transition back, and help inform the future of the Nightingale should we be required to reactivate. We encourage all colleagues to make the time to attend a session before your last shift.

The sessions will be held in Exchange Hall, and facilitated by the onsite OD and Wellbeing team, and if you have any queries or thoughts beforehand please contact Jackie or Sheni. There are also two additional virtual sessions – details circulated on booking.

• Thurs 25^th June – 2pm to 4pm
• Mon 29^th June – 2pm to 4pm *Virtual only
• Tues 30^th June – 10am to 12noon
• Wed 1^st July – 10am to 12noon *Virtual only

To book onto a session, please click the date and book via Eventbrite.

This simple self-assessment helps to identify and manage any risks or additional support you may need to protect you from infection and the transition from work to home life. Regardless of how you self-score on the assessment, please share the outcomes of this self-assessment with your line manager, clinical supervisor or ward manager – and email [email protected] with subject header Risk Assessment. 

You need to specify one of the follow four outcomes: No Risk / Low Risk / Moderate Risk / Significant Risk. It is advised that a full risk assessment is completed with your line manager if your outcome is moderate or significant risk.

The Staff Hub includes helpful information about the facilities on site, staff offers, how to access accommodation, useful information and contacts as well as previous copies of this newsletter. Please email [email protected] if there is important information you would like to see on the hub.

We send this update by email every Wednesday and you can see previous editions here. Please email [email protected] if you would like us to use an alternative contact.

Staff Information Leaflet SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Antibody Test