LOROS Internal Communications

Welcome

Welcome to the jam-packed March issue of the Hospice Pin Board. The stars of this issue is our wonderful ward nursing team who received a Cavell Star for their amazing work throughout the past year! To accompany this we have a spotlight from one of our nurses, Katie Sherratt, sharing her experience of working at LOROS. There is also a piece on National Social Work week, an update from John and a refresh on what PREVENT is and how it relates to LOROS. You can also watch the entire annual lecture ‘A Good Death in Dementia’ if you were unable to attend – definitely an hour well spent.

Happy reading,

Sophie

x

All staff news and information is also available via the Staff Internal Homepage, important information about COVID-19 and LOROS is here, and information about the future of the Hospice is here. These pages are updated daily and are packed with information. If you have a question, it’s likely to be answered by the information on these pages.

LOROS Ward Nurses receive Cavell Star Award

Our entire team of amazing Ward nurses at LOROS Hospice have been awarded a prestigious Cavell Star for their exceptional care of patients during the Covid crisis. The Cavell Star Awards is a national programme to recognise nurses, midwives, nursing associates and healthcare assistants who shine bright and show exceptional care to colleagues, patients or their families. Unusually, the award has gone to all nurses and healthcare assistants as Cavell awards are normally made to individuals (you might remember Tracy Canham got one back in December).

Katie Shepherd, one of our Cavell superstar nurses, said: “This is so lovely and I’m so proud. It’s such an incredible team and they’ve all worked so hard. We all share the same commitment to the patients and their families. It’s so nice to be recognised.”

Tracey Hughes, who submitted the nomination, for their dedication, care and professionalism throughout the pandemic. Tracey said: “The last video call to a husband as his wife lay dying was facilitated by a nurse who stayed with them both throughout. She was present at the most intimate part of the couple’s life as they said goodbye, knowing they would never speak again and that their life together would end when the video link did. That nurse did something that she was never trained for but she showed the care, compassion, the empathy and integrity of all the nurses and healthcare assistants that work at LOROS.”

Bob Gordon, whose daughter Hanya was cared for at LOROS in December and was visited by Tonto the donkey, said: “The nurses here are really marvellous. It’s a well-deserved award. They couldn’t do enough for us and really put the patients first.”

Good news

Dignity in Action Day at LOROS

We once again celebrated Dignity in Action Day at the Hospice with this year we are focussing on our wonderful staff.

Since the beginning of the pandemic we have all had to adjust our ways of working which has been a real challenge. However, the challenge has been met head on by staff throughout the organisation in one way or another.

Donna Walker put together another beautiful display and Digni-tree in the social area with some chocolate treats for everyone to enjoy as a big thank you for their hard work.

Shine a Light card responses

Going forward we are going to include a quarterly feature on the wonderful Shine a Light responses that have come in about our amazing staff. We want to reflect the good team work recognised between the staff groups in the Hospice. It in the past quarter there were 62 cards written, below are some of the highlights:

· Always willing to help colleagues in a very supportive manner

· A very compassionate, caring, professional nurse

· Very thoughtful. Always makes sure patients and staff have everything they need

· Always professional, compassionate and helpful

· Always very compassionate and goes the extra mile for families who have lost a loved one

· Works very hard and always give 100%

The LOROS skydiving daredevils

A team of more than 20 LOROS daredevils will be taking to the skies and shouting GERONIMO as they fall at speeds of up to 120mph on Sunday 9th May.

Some are super excited and up for the challenge, some are absolutely petrified and now asking themselves why, why, why!?

If you’d like to support and encourage Team LOROS, there is a donation station in the main reception at LOROS.

LOROS staff support homeless charity

A big thank you to the many members of staff, both here and in the warehouse, for supporting the Leicester Homeless Charity.

Your toiletries, blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothes have made an amazing difference to many vulnerable people who are struggling, especially in lockdown and the cold weather.

If you would like to donate anything it is not too late because unfortunately, there are many people in need. Just contact Carol Lacey or visit the LOROS Chaplaincy Team.

You’re all amazing and we can’t thank you enough for your generous donations.

Carol’s masks

The fantastic Carol Hanna, who has raised over £14,000 for LOROS from the sale of her masks since March 2020, has asked if we can help sell some for her.

There are ladies, men’s and Easter ones available at £2 each from the Fundraising Department.

For You – Wellbeing, HR and personal development

The LOROS Summer Quiz is here!

LOROS volunteer, Jenny Burton, has once again developed a fun Summer Quiz for us all to have a go at. This year, the quiz theme is parts of the body, and the 55 questions are sure to test your knowledge from head to toe!

Jenny has now been creating biennial quizzes for the Hospice for 20 years, and hopes this year’s Summer Quiz will help further grow her fundraising total of over £77,000.

Ready to get quizzical? If you’d like to have a go and be in the chance with winning one of three cash prizes, quizzes are available to download at loros.co.uk/summerquiz , or can be purchased from Reception for £1.

Pause on e-learning

There will be a new Learning Management System launched in April, this system will ensure that LOROS has a much more robust mechanism in place for mandatory training, both in terms of how reminders are issued and also in the way that we are able to report compliance figures departmentally and also to the CQC.

To allow the successful implementation of this system please refrain from completing any further e-learning on the old system and wait until we launch in April to commence the new packages.

More information will be communicated around the launch within the next two weeks but if you have any queries at this stage, please direct them to Helen Perkins.

Thanksgiving and Remembrance Service

The next Thanksgiving and Rememberance service will take place on Sunday 14th March (Mother’s Day) at 7pm. As with the last service, it will be an online event accessible to all on Facebook. Staff members are encouraged to join the service if they would like.

Your chance to win a treat with the Lotteries team

Back in February, we ran Superstar Nominations, specifically aimed at the ward team and support staff. Jenno’s Coffee House kindly donated ‘coffee for carers’ by gifting us a number of vouchers, to say ‘thank you’ to our colleagues working on the front line. We received a number of lovely nominations, and had the pleasure of awarding the superstars their vouchers on 3rd February. Big congratulations to Alison Sisu, Helen Menna, Dominika Ptak, Claire Charles, Tracey Hughes, Hannah Bold, Agnes Rupango, Keith Lond, Tracey Bevans, Libby Dickson, Ann Wells, Donna Walker and Tracey Hinde.

If you’d like to treat your superstar to delicious coffee and cake, courtesy of Jenno’s Coffee House, head over to the LOROS Facebook page on the 27th March and take part in our Super Saturday Competition, 3 x £20 gift vouchers up for grabs each single month this year.

Or, if you’d rather not leave it to chance, you could feature as one of our Super Saturday Facebook stories by submitting a picture of you and the superstar in your life, with an explanation of why they deserve a treat, and we’ll say thank you to you by gifting you your very own £20 voucher (limited availability, so don’t delay). Contact Nikki in the Lottery team if you would like to share your story.

Lateral Flow Testing for Staff

If you are already undertaking LFT or need to start then kits can be obtained from Janet Manuel or Jo Potts. All the information about how to do the test, where to record them and FAQs can be found here.

Annual Leave changes reminder

Annual leave for 2021/22 will be inclusive of bank holidays for all staff. This is to streamline the processes for all areas. Only full time staff in non-clinical areas will see a difference, and will need to be booking the bank holidays as they will not automatically be taken from the annual leave entitlement. It is advised to book bank holidays at the beginning of the financial year.

New Health and Wellbeing programme updates

There is new sessions, activities and events being added to the Health and Wellbeing programme all the time so make sure you keep check in. The programme can be accessed on the Health and Wellbeing staff page.

Feedback on the programme is most welcome, as are new ideas which can be added in as we continually review the package in view of take-up of the interventions and suggestions that are coming through.

LOROS vacancies

Fancy a change or a new challenge? You can view all the latest LOROS vacancies and new opportunities on the website. Lots of us aren’t in the Hospice at the moment so won’t be seeing the jobs on notice boards around the Hospice so we want to make sure you don’t miss out.

LOROS education and courses

If you are looking to improve your knowledge and skills then visit the LOROS education pages of our website to have a browse of upcoming courses.

National Social Work Week – 8th to 12th March

Katy-Maria Di-Lena, one of our social workers, has written a brilliant piece about what social work actually is, National Social Work week and her role as a social worker at LOROS.

It is national Social Work week from the 8th March-12th March 2021 and I thought I would take the opportunity to shine a light on Social Work, a profession I am proud to be a part of. I have been a social worker for 5 and a half years now, and even in this relatively short time, I have learnt so much. During my time in social work, I have had to develop strong resilience skills; it always makes me laugh at how misunderstood the profession is, people tend to think that we are a profession that takes and that dictates to people. That we break families up and take people out of their homes. The irony of this is that our profession wants to do the exact opposite of these things, and it is only as a last result, that such circumstances would be considered where the safety and wellbeing of individuals and their families is always considered paramount.

What I love about social work is that it is a profession based on hope; that even in the days where individuals are at their most vulnerable and darkest hour, things can get better, whether this is to keep individuals safe from abuse and harm or supporting somebody recovering from mental ill health to secure accommodation and support in the community-the positive outcomes and different forms of support are endless.

I love fighting for people’s right to freedom, liberty and justice and their right to be held equal despite their differences. I love that we can celebrate difference in social work: having worked with adults with learning disabilities and autism prior to my social work role at the hospice, I realise how beautiful our differences can be. Seeing somebody with a learning disability and autism grow in their confidence moving from their parent’s home to their own home in supported living is so rewarding.

During my time at LOROS, having previously worked for the Local Authority, I feel so privileged to be part of what we call ‘Relationship based social work’ in the profession. This involves being able to spend time with patients and families and work with them free from bureaucratic procedures and ‘red tape’. The Social Work role at LOROS is largely advocacy based where I often find myself advocating for individuals rights promoting the Social Model. For example, ensuring that we always work within the best interests of individuals looking at the least restrictive options of support balancing this with ensuring patients wellbeing and safety.

I also feel hugely privileged to be able to work with the wider multi-disciplinary team at LOROS, this is a luxury that you sadly do not have immediate access to when working in the community where you can work so closely with other professionals. We are very blessed to have this set up and can learn a lot from one another.

Often individuals think that a large part of our role is welfare benefits work; although this is an important part of our role, this is just a fraction of what we do, our team at the hospice can help with queries around mental capacity, deprivation of liberty and safeguarding concerns acting as a lead for information in these areas alongside our safeguarding lead. We can also help with providing advice and support to carers, support with housing concerns and some advice and support around advanced care planning such as advice around funeral planning and wills. We can also signpost on to more specialist agencies where we are unable to provide more detailed information. In essence; social work considers the individual and their families and looks creatively at what we can do to support them.

During my time as a social worker I have come across a lot of negative feedback, I have even had somebody say to me, “Why are you doing your job, you’re not going to change the world you know”. I think this person was missing the point. Although one person cannot change the world, that one small change could be life changing for the individual you are supporting. Just before I close, I welcome you all to refer to ‘The Star Fish Story’ written by Loren Eisley. When I was a student, I always remember my first Practise Educator telling me to read this and always remember it:

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.” “Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!” After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…” I made a difference for that one.”

If anyone asks you what Social Work is and you struggle to find an answer, I welcome you to tell them about the Star Fish story, as this is to me, what it’s all about.

Update from John

We are still working hard towards starting the refurbishment of the Dining, Kitchen and Social areas sometime in March. Establishing the exact date has become a challenge as the supply of essential elements of the project is being impacted by brexit and delivery delays. The windows for the social area were ordered back in November last year but are delayed until April and other large items are also on long dates. Helen Williams and the design team are working hard to come up with creative ways around these challenges and the current plan is to refurbish the social area before the kitchen (different to the original plan). Whichever way we progress there is little point in having builders on site too long before the major items are delivered – so timing is vital. I will keep you all informed as we gain greater clarity.

The annual Board Strategy morning took place on February 6th. At this event the Board reviewed progress made against the Plan On A Page and also considered a range of topics covered in a Hospice UK document around sustainability. Karen Ashcroft and I are now booked to attend a team meeting within every department to share the same papers and to solicit your views as to the future direction of travel for LOROS and also the wider world of hospices across the UK.

Hellos and goodbyes

Welcome to our new starters! If you fancy having a look at who they are then you can access staff profiles via Select HR.

Hellos

Nicola Fulton	Domestic Assistant
Emma Baxter	Supporter Engagement Co-ordinator
Sophie Wright	Discharge Liaison Nurse
Seeta Maher	Discharge Liaison Nurse
Stephanie Lawrie	Specialist Registrar
Milly West	Specialist Registrar
Lara Beswick	Domestic Assistant

Goodbyes

Naomi Lunn	Information Governance Lead
Laura Palmer	Healthcare Assistant - Green Team
Anne Spanswick	Registered Nurse
Jane Prior	Registered Nurse
Chanel Soler	Catering Assistant
Patricia Betteridge	Catering Assistant
Rosamunde Burch	Spiritual Care Chaplain
Catherine Knight	Admiral Nurse
Sarah Capewell	Volunteer Co-ordinator - Income Generation
Stephen Hewick	Music Magpie Seller and PAT Tester
Anna Weston	Sales Assistant (East)
Megan Cox	Sales Assistant (East)
Charlotte Gransden	Apprentice On-line Sales Assistant
Nicole Bramhall	SpR in Palliative Medicine
Ella Richards	SpR in Palliative Medicine
Marianne Beatson	Occupational Therapist

Helen Williams our Operations and Facilities Manager will be leaving LOROS as of Friday 30th April. Helen will have worked for LOROS for more than 7 years and has had a significant and positive impact upon so many different projects and people. Helen’s attention to detail, strength of personality and ability to project manage – were all invaluable to LOROS throughout the most recent site development creating both the LPDC building and also the Day Therapy and Outpatients extension. Those same skills have underpinned her everyday leadership of a large and dedicated team and her commitment to creating and maintaining a working environment that we all find to be safe and welcoming.

Helen has secured a new post with UHL as their “Client Construction Project Manager” for both the new Children’s and Maternity Hospital, an impressive role indeed – congratulations Helen and good luck in your new role!

Clinical guidelines and standard operating procedures Update

Please find below the list of recent updates to Clinical Guidelines, Service Standard Operating Procedures and COVID Standard Operating Procedures:

Clinical Guidelines

Guideline Number	Title	New/Revised/Deleted
34	Mouthcare	New

COVID Standard Operating Procedures

Title	Version	New/Revised/Deleted
Management of COVID-19 Positive Patients on the Inpatient Ward Standard Operating Procedure During COVID-19	1.9	Revised
Care Services Standard Operating Procedures – Amendments to COVID-19 Pandemic	2.1	Revised
Day Therapy Standard Operating Procedures During COVID	2.1	Revised
Ward Standard Operating Procedures During COVID	1.13	Revised

Service Standard Operating Procedures

Title	New/Revised/Deleted
Day Therapy Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised
Outpatients Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised
Lymphoedema Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised
Social Work Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised
Counselling and Bereavement Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised
Complimentary Therapy Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised
Compassionate Neighbours Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised
Integrated Community Specialist Palliative Care Service	Revised
Chaplaincy Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised
Discharge Liaison Team Service Standard Operating Procedure	Revised date
Inpatient Ward Service Delivery Standard Operating Procedure	Revised

New and revised policies are available to view within Organisation Information on the Common (G) Drive: G:\13. Organisation Information\

PREVENT – What is it?

Prevent is part of the Government counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST2 and aims to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The process is a multi-agency approach to identify and provide support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

The strategy is primarily organised around four key principles and has been described as the only long term solution to the genuine threat we currently face from terrorism.

· Pursue - to stop terrorist attacks

· Prevent - to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism

· Protect - to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack

· Prepare - to mitigate the impact of a terrorism

What does it do?

1. Responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views.

2. Provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support.

3. Works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health) where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to deal with.

Prevent uses a range of measures to challenge extremism including:

· Supporting people who are at risk of being drawn into terrorist or extremist activity through the Channel process,

· Working with faith groups and institutions to assist them in providing support and guidance to people who may be vulnerable

· Supporting local schools, local industry and partner agencies through engagement, advice and training.

· Working with and supporting community groups and social enterprise projects who provide services and support to vulnerable people.

For further information or if you have any concerns visit the Act Early website.

Policy and Guideline Update

Please find below the list of recent updates to policies:

New and revised policies are available to view within Organisation Information on the Common (G) Drive: G:\13. Organisation Information\Policies

Paper copies of polices can also be found on the Inpatient Unit behind the Ward Clerk’s desk.

LOROS Research

Annual LOROS Lecture with guest speaker Dr Karen Harrison-Dening

We are delighted to say, our annual LOROS Lecture, A Good Death in Dementia went really well and attracted 110 virtual delegates.

The lecture was open to anyone working with people affected by dementia, including health and social care staff and students, care home and domiciliary care staff, volunteers and the public.

It was a truly insightful lecture by Dr Harrison-Dening who has over 40 years’ experience in nursing, has a PhD in advance care planning and end of life in dementia and is a pioneer and national leader in this field with many publications.

If you weren’t able to attend on the day then you can watch the entire lecture again below.

Team Spotlight

This month Katie Sherratt, one of our amazing ward nurses, sharing her experience of nursing, working at LOROS, the effects of COVID and the activities she has been involved with.

I joined LOROS in August 2019 after working in paediatrics in UHL for nearly 18 years. I had always been passionate about ensuring that patients and their family’s received the best possible care right up until the end of their life. One of my proudest moments prior to moving to LOROS was when a child who was terminally ill at home who had become agitated one evening and her parents rang the ward I was working on for some advice. I knew that their wish was to keep her at home as much as possible so I just advised that they administered a dose of buccal midazolam and to ring me back if she stayed agitated. Sadly she died several hours later but the parents feedback was that they were so grateful for the advice I gave and that although they knew that they had this medication they wanted permission to use it as this was what she needed and it was what she and they wanted to stay at home.

During my first year at LOROS COVID hit. I am the first to admit when I first heard about it I was a bit dismissive, it was something that was affecting somewhere a long way from the UK. Then lockdown 1. It was tough for lots of people, our personal lives felt like they went on hold but work was the same but different, if that makes sense? We still had patients to care for however for a while there was no visiting from the families. I think this was the one aspect of COVID that I have felt most difficult to cope with. As times gone on we have all learnt the art of donning and doffing, how to use the iPad to allow patients and families to have virtual face to face contact. I have witnessed some amazing care being given to patients at LOROS and I feel very privileged to have been here. I have watched people play music that people have loved listening to, I have sat with patients while they have had a bottle of beer because they didn't like to drink alone. Knowing that we have played a part in someone's life is an amazing feeling that I don't think I can describe. During the first lockdown the LOROS staff and volunteer choir managed to all individually record True Colours. I put an appeal out to the nurses and HCAs to get a visual reminder of what staff were wearing while caring for patients. I was inundated and to date this video on YouTube has had over 500 views.

I have huge concerns about everyone's mental wellbeing following on from this pandemic but I know that if everyone works together and supports one another we will get through this. As part of my own personal wellbeing I have been litter picking with my daughters. I became aware of a charity that had been set up that was saving cans and these were turned into helipads for the local hospitals. I then had the idea of sharing this idea with LOROS and after a couple of weeks this has now been arranged and we are now able to save cans which will then be sent the charity to help with their appeal. It is great that despite all that's going on in the world at the moment that we are still able to support other charities. If anyone ever has any other suggestions then I would urge you to share your ideas and you never know it could happen.

Take care

Please do have a think in your next team or project meeting whether you can share what you are up to – we’d can’t wait to hear about it! Please email marketing@loros.co.uk with your spotlight.

LOROS needs you

LOROS calendar competition

Are you or is someone you know an avid photographer? Or perhaps it’s something you’ve considered trying for a while? Well, now’s your chance as the LOROS Calendar Competition is back!

We’re on the lookout for twelve fabulous new photos that showcase the best of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to fill our charity calendar next year. The competition is open to all, regardless of skill level – what matters most is that you capture the beauty of the Midlands in your shot.

Last year, the competition was a huge success which helped us put together a beautiful calendar, raising around £3,500 for the Hospice.

The competition closes on 1st June 2021, so you have plenty of time to get your creative cap on! For more information, please visit loros.co.uk/calendarcomp

Health and Wellbeing Event for people living with cancer

We need you to help us spread the word about the online health and wellbeing event that our ECHO team are hosting. The free event is aimed at those living with and beyond cancer in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and booking is essential. Tickets can be booking here. [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-cancerhealth-and-wellbeing-event-tickets-138149255141]

LOROS Enterprises still online

Don’t forget, our fantastic Enterprises team will continue to operate online. There are four ways to shop and support LOROS online:

· Discogs

· eBay

· Depop

· Abe books

There is loads of great stuff for sale to suit everyone’s taste so make sure you go and have a look.

Heads of Department meeting – in brief

Highlights from the Head of Department meeting held on Tuesday 2nd February. The full minutes and all previous meeting’s minutes can be found on the Common drive on the HoDs folder.

Teaching with Bereavement Hub

Teaching with Bereavement Hub; face to face training was completed at the end of last year, four virtual sessions have commenced, taking place every Friday and this seems to be working well and enabling volunteers to deliver bereavement hubs in Rutland. This work is a collaboration with Sue Ryder Hospice and Dove Cottage. If other organisations want to access this training this could be an income generator for the Hospice; this is being considered.

Funding secured for Young Person and Transition Post

Funding has been secured from the National Lottery for a Young Person and Transition Post. This is for 3 years and does not require the individual to be from a clinical background. The post holder will support anyone accessing our services from the age of 18 – 30 (including patient’s family members) and will also support patients’ (and families) transitioning from Rainbows. This is not a common role within adult hospices and we hope to be a trailblazer in this area of care provision.

Finance update

With the shops remaining closed, Michelle Tyers within the Finance team is trying to access money via retail grants totalling around £206k, half of which has been received to date.

WM advised he is anxiously waiting to hear how much money is due from the government via Hospice UK - this will be advised in due course.

The budget process has commenced, all HODs will be speaking to WM in February, firstly concentrating on the income generation teams, and then moving onto Ward and Operations in due course.

Office space

A meeting has taken place to review the use of office space. It was noted that in the future the whole of the staff workforce may not return to the Hospice at any one time and may continue to work from home on occasions. This change of working practice means there are vacant offices that could be utilised in different ways. Offices would need to be cleared of any individual presence and de-personalised, to enable them to be used by other members of staff.

Hospice pin board deadlines

The dates and deadlines for 2021’s Hospice Pin Boards have been added below. If you have anything in the pipeline then let me know – it’s never too early to give me the heads up!

Please email marketing@loros.co.uk anything you would like to go into the Pin Board.

Content Deadline	Release Date
Tues 30th Mar	Mon 5th Apr
Tues 27th Apr	Mon 3rd May
Tues 1st Jun	Mon 7th Jun
Tues 29th June	Mon 5th July
Tues 27th Jul	Mon 2nd Aug
Tues 31st Aug	Mon 6th Sept
Tues 28th Sept	Mon 4th Oct
Tues 26th Oct	Mon 1st Nov
Tues 30th Nov	Mon 6th Dec