Over half of all frontline hospital staff vaccinated in under four weeks

More than half of all frontline healthcare staff working across Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital have been vaccinated against flu in under four weeks.

Since the launch of its staff flu vaccination campaign, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has seen 4,600 staff, including 53% of all those who are involved in providing direct  care to patients, protected against this season’s most likely strain of the virus.

The Occupational Health team has been supported to deliver the vaccinations by a network of volunteer vaccinators, working round the clock to protect colleagues in their immediate teams and workplaces; this has enabled staff in different locations, working different shift patterns, to receive this essential protection. The volunteer teams have been vaccinating colleagues during their shifts and holding special drop-in flu jab clinics across both hospital sites, while Occupational Health staff have offered one-to-one appointments in their department.

Carole Hunter, Head of Occupational Health for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says:

“Staff vaccination against flu is an essential part of our winter planning. We want our staff to be protected against the virus so they can be at work to deliver care to our patients in sufficient numbers when we need them.

“Frontline staff are at a high risk of catching any viral infection and that means they are at a high risk of spreading it to others. This can be particularly dangerous for hospital patients as many are already seriously ill or have weakened immune systems.

“By getting the flu jab, staff are not only protecting themselves but by default, their patients, visitors and even their own friends and loved ones.”

All staff receiving vaccinations between now and the end of November will qualify for an extra day off as part of a Trust incentive scheme to ensure as many staff as possible get their jabs.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Trust has been one of the country’s best performing NHS Trusts in terms of staff vaccination rates for the past six years. Last year, 76% of frontline staff were vaccinated against flu.

People in good health who catch flu are usually expected to recover within a week or so of contracting the illness.

However, it can have severe consequences in anyone aged 65 and over, pregnant women, children and adults with underlying health conditions such as long-term heart or respiratory diseases and those with weakened immune systems

At-risk groups are also more likely to develop potentially serious complications such as pneumonia.

Carole continues:

“We’re really pleased with the response so far. It’s great to see so many people involved in delivering direct patient care receiving the jab, but it’s also important for other staff who play a part in keeping our hospitals working, day in day out, to get protected too.

“We hope staff will continue to attend our clinics over the next two months so we can have as many people vaccinated as possible.”

Find out more about the jab and what you can do to protect yourself at www.nhs.uk/flu

Emergency staff at Hull Royal Infirmary are to appear in a new video urging people to use alternative services over winter if they need urgent medical attention.

NHS England is featuring Hull’s frontline team in the video, due to be released in December, to encourage people to play their part in reducing winter pressures on the health service.

Chief Operating Officer Teresa Cope said Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will be including the video as part of its own #SeriousStuff campaign over the coming weeks.

She said: “All winters are tough for the NHS and we’re not expecting this one to be any easier for our staff.

“We are taking special measures to ensure our health service can cope with these additional pressures but we’re asking for the public’s support.

“Please only come to Hull’s Emergency Department if you have a genuine medical emergency. It should not be used if you’re asked to wait for an appointment to see your GP or just because we might be closer than an Urgent Treatment Centre.

“With your help, we can make sure our hospitals and our dedicated teams are here for the serious stuff to help people who need us most at a time when the NHS is under intense pressure.”

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has received £2m from the Department of Health and Social Care to put in additional measures to help staff cope with the expected surge in admissions this winter.

Additional beds will be opened at Hull Royal Infirmary and people who are not genuine emergencies will be diverted to other services if they show up at the Emergency Department so frontline staff can concentrate on our sickest patients.

A new discharge area will also be created for patients who are ready to move into a community or care home bed or to return home.

The trust will be working with Hull City and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils throughout the winter to ensure “step down” facilities are available for people well enough to be discharged from hospital but in need of additional support.

A hospital team is appealing for wigs to help cancer patients overcome the trauma of losing their hair.

The Living With and Beyond Cancer team at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust set up the wig service last year to help patients undergoing treatment at the Queen’s Centre at Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham.

With wigs costing anywhere from £100 to £1,000, patients can pick up a wig for as little as £10.

Now, because they have helped so many patients, the team is appealing to the public to donate new, used or unwanted wigs as their stocks are running low.

Claire Walker, a Macmillan Associate Practitioner who works with the team, said: “Losing your hair can be such a big thing because it’s tied in with your full body image and your identity.

“You go from having hair to having nothing at all, not even your eyebrows or eyelashes, so it does have a really big impact.

“Wigs can be really expensive so we thought this service would help people and make it far more affordable. But we need the public’s help because we’re now running out of wigs.”

As well as helping patients with cancer, the service can also accept referrals from people with alopecia and other conditions which cause hair loss.

People come to the team before they begin their treatment or after their first chemotherapy session.

They can make a £10 donation to buy a wig or pay £20 for a special package including shampoo, conditioner, a wig stand, a hairbrush and a special cap to be worn under the wig.

All profits are ploughed back into replenishing supplies and patient care.

A wig fitter comes into the centre on Mondays and Tuesdays to help patients to ensure they are happy with their purchase.

Claire said: “We try to match it as near as possible to their own natural hair although we do get some people who want to try something completely new. They say this is their one time to have something completely different so we try to accommodate that too.

“It can be a really frightening time for people so we try to make it as relaxing as possible for them.

“We just need the public’s help to keep on providing a service which means such a lot to so many people.”

Anyone who can is asked to call Claire Walker on 01482 461091, ask for a member of the Living With and Beyond Cancer team at the reception desk or speak to Tanya in the Macmillan Information Centre, both at the Queen’s Centre.

Staff at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital have been praised for helping women through more complex pregnancies to deliver the most babies born in a single month this year.

Midwives and doctors have helped women give birth to 480 babies in September.

Nine months on from Christmas, September is traditionally a busy time for maternity hospitals but almost 50 more babies were born in Hull last month compared to August, including 22 in a single day.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said although the annual birth rate had fallen from 5,505 in 2016/17 to 5,285 in 2017/18, 2,676 babies had already been born since April this year.

More women were experiencing complicated pregnancies, requiring admission to the hospital’s antenatal ward before giving birth, and more were having caesarean sections, meaning they were staying longer on post natal wards after their babies were born.

The complexity of cases was also increasing, with more women with high body mass indexes (BMIs) giving birth.

Janet Cairns, Head of Midwifery, said: “We are seeing more women who need more support from our staff both in the hospital and out in the community.

“The whole unit has been busy and our community teams have visited all these families at home.

“I’m very proud of how hard our team has worked and thank them all for their dedication and commitment to provide great care and support to the women and families we look after.”

The next HEY Baby Carousel, where prospective parents can get a wealth of information and advice on pregnancy, birth and child care from our team of midwives and birth educators, will be held on Wednesday, October 31, at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

Held between 6pm and 8pm, there is no need to book an appointment and people can just turn up.

A grandmother has been fitted with a Batman-style prosthesis to help her twin grandsons overcome their fear of her false leg.

Mary Monahan, 66, was attending a routine appointment at Hull’s Artificial Limb Unit and mentioned to Prosthetist Jess Gilroy that her grandsons Toby and Finlay were frightened of her prosthesis.

Now, with Jess’s help, Mrs Monahan is the proud owner of a Batman prosthesis, designed by the team in Sykes Street from a pair of Batman leggings.

Mrs Monahan said: “The boys were just transfixed by Granny’s new leg and now we play special games they’ve devised using my leg when they come to visit.

“I’m just so impressed by what Jess did for me. Hull has a really lovely centre and they do such a good job. The atmosphere is great and the staff are all so nice.

“I can’t thank them enough, really.”

Mrs Monahan had her left leg amputated to mid-calf when she was just three years old after she was born with a congenital defect in her foot. She has always worn a prosthesis, only removing it at bedtime.

Although her own children had no issues, she realised Toby and Finlay, now four, were frightened of the prosthesis when she moved to the East Riding from the Isle of Man to be closer to them as they grew up.

She said: “For some reason, Toby and Finlay were very frightened of the leg and whenever they saw it, they were just aghast and I had to put it away.

“I tried calling it my ‘special leg’ or my ‘funny leg’ but they were just so spooked by the sight of it.

“I’d gone to the centre to get my spare leg adjusted and I was chatting to Jess and just mentioned the boys’ reaction to her. She suggested we could look at putting a special cover on it and I thought it was a great idea.”

With both boys Superhero fans, Mrs Monahan opted for a Batman leg and bought a pair of leggings featuring the character for the team to use.

Once the leg had been created, Mrs Monahan met her grandsons for a family get-together in the pub.

“I told Toby I’d a secret and asked him to get under the table and pulled up my trouser leg. He was utterly transfixed. Finlay then got a look at it.

“We went out into the garden so they could have a proper look and since then, their attitude to the prosthesis and to my stump has just changed completely.

“When they come and stay her, we play this new game of their own devising which involves them both taking off Granny’s leg, having a jolly good look and feel of my stump. I then have to go to bed where they are doctors in the hospital and they explain they’re going to have to cut my foot off and attack it with their swords.

“They then get to put on the Batman leg. And, of course, they like to try it on themselves and pretend they’ve got three legs.”

Jess Gilroy, who has worked with the service for 12 months, said the team in the centre’s workshop had designed special covers for laminated sockets on artificial limbs including unicorns and Spider Man by using fabric, carbon fibre and resin.

She said: “It makes a difference to people. Some are happy with natural skin colour but others think a special design makes it feel a bit more like their own.

“I was glad to help Mary and she’s the only one with a Batman socket.”

A hospital linen services worker turned detective to reunite a woman with memory books charting her life.

David Stothard, management assistant in linen services, was sent photographs, books detailing Hull’s history and other personal items in April from the company contracted to look after linen from Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.

Over the next few months, David refused to give up and the trail eventually led him to Sue Davis, the owner of the package of memories.

He said: “I didn’t want to give up because I knew I’d eventually get somewhere and find who it was.

“I’m just really pleased I could help.”

David, who has worked for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust since 2003, knew the books featuring photographs of someone called Sue Davis and postcards of Hull over the decades had been put together with great care.

He checked the trust’s staff list and asked patient administration to see if any patient matched Sue’s name but found no matches. He appealed for information on the trust’s intranet but no one recognised the name or the photographs.

With the package still in his office, he went through each photograph and document until he found a photograph of a Brownie certificate presented to the woman by St Martin’s Church in North Road decades before.

He contacted the church for help and a church-goer recognised Mrs Davis. She got in touch with Mrs Davis’s sister, who then passed on the message to Mrs Davis’s daughter Claire Moverley, who had collected the photographs, books and postcards as a memory aid for her mother, who has dementia.

The package had been lost when her mother was moved out of a nursing home and into temporary accommodation at Dove House Hospice in East Hull during a major refurbishment scheme in November 2017.

As the linen company serviced both the trust and the hospice, the package had been sent to the trust by staff who thought it must belong to a hospital patient.

Claire said: “It was just the most amazing thing when I heard what David had done. I’d almost given up hope of her things being found again and I was phoning every week to see if her stuff had been tracked down.

“I was in tears when I heard David had found us because these were my Mum’s memories.

“She’s regressed back to her childhood and the Brownies are a big part of her life now so it’s great that she can look at her photographs once again.”

David has been nominated by his colleagues for a Moments of Magic award in the trust’s internal staff recognition scheme for his efforts to reunite the books and photographs with the family.

Claire said: “He deserves every bit of it. He took the time and trouble to find us and we’re really grateful for all he’s done.”

Patients undergoing fertility treatment could soon be receiving their care in brand new, state of the art facilities.

The Hull IVF Unit has submitted an application to East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s planning team to build a new, two-storey treatment unit at the Hesslewood Estate, close to the Humber Bridge.

Clinicians working at the Hull IVF Unit say the current unit’s location within Hull Women and Children’s Hospital is limiting its ability to meet rising demand from NHS and private patients across the region.  A new facility would not only enable the team to continue growing in both the physical and technological sense, but would also provide a better, more sensitive patient experience.

The working relationship between the Hull IVF Unit and the local NHS is a long one and the Unit will continue to work closely with its NHS partners.

Dr Christine Leary, Consultant Embryologist at the Hull IVF Unit (pictured) says:

“The Hull IVF Unit is one of the most successful fertility treatment centres in the country. We provide over 400 treatment cycles for our patients every year, and our work continues to attract a growing number of patients seeking both NHS-funded and private treatment.

“Our patients come from all across the Yorkshire and the Humber area, so the right location and modern facilities are vital in enabling us to deliver the best possible patient care. After considering various options, we decided that a new, purpose built clinic would be the best solution to enable us to continue our growth and deliver a more suitable environment to meet our patients’ needs.”

The proposed building would contain state of the art, high tech treatment facilities as well as patient areas, a staff office and facilities, recovery rooms and a spacious waiting area. Dedicated private parking for the exclusive use of staff and patients would also be available.

Dr Leary continues:

“We regularly ask for feedback from our patients and with a satisfaction rating of 97.5%, we know we’re providing an excellent patient service, but one thing our patients comment on regularly is the unit’s current location within the Women and Children’s Hospital.

“Our patients can sometimes require multiple cycles of IVF treatment, and having to walk past lots of new parents and expectant mums can be incredibly difficult to deal with if you’re struggling to conceive. A new unit such as the one we’re looking to develop, in calm surroundings away from the hospital site, would take away a lot of that angst for those receiving treatment, some of whom may have been trying for a baby for years without success.”

Hull IVF Unit’s Practice Manager, Pam Andrew, has written to all patients to advise them of the plans and pledged to ensure the move has no negative impact on their treatment.

The planning application will be considered by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and, subject to the necessary approvals, work could begin as early as the New Year and the unit could be operational by early 2020.

A marathon runner who suffered a cardiac arrest after a yoga class has run 10k alongside a physiotherapist who helped him back to health.

Mike Aramayo, 53, had a heart attack in Hull City Centre and was rushed to the specialist cardiology centre at Castle Hill Hospital.

However, he went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated before he was taken into the operating theatre to have life-saving surgery.

Now, Mike has praised the Cardiac Rehabilitation Team after the team of physiotherapists helped him achieve his dream of running 10k within four months.

He said: “The whole team are absolutely amazing people and I cannot thank them enough.

“They gave me the courage to think I could get back to normal.

“They were always so positive, telling me I could have my life back again, and I don’t think I could have done this without their support.”

Mike, a managing director at a manufacturing firm in Burnley employing 800 people, lives in Hull with wife Joanne and they have three children – actress daughter Laura, 27, son Robert, 25, who has appeared in Game of Thrones and is currently in Hollywood filming and 20-year-old Charleigh, who is studying criminology.

A keen sportsman, Mike ran the London Marathon in 2016, completed the Great North Run and numerous 10k races. He also played football and squash.

He attended a yoga session every week and had just finished a class on May 3 when he became unwell.

“I was sitting in the changing room and this overwhelming tiredness came on me,” Mike said. “I had a shower but it kept getting worse and worse.

“By the time I got to my car, I couldn’t lift my bag up and started sweating. I then felt this massive pain in my chest and I knew I was in trouble.”

He managed to dial 999 but couldn’t speak so a woman stopped to help him and stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. The woman also answered his phone to Robert, who had only arrived back in Hull from New York the night before, and told him about his dad.

Robert arrived in time to accompany Mike to Castle Hill, alerting his mother and two sisters on the way, before they arrived at the hospital where Mike went into cardiac arrest.

“I was given two shots of morphine for the pain in the ambulance and don’t remember much,” Mike said. “I just remember brilliant white lights, then everything going dark, and then everything lighting up again.”

Mike was saved by the centre’s life-saving team before he went into theatre to have two stents fitted to keep his arteries open.

He spent three days in Intensive Care and a further night on a ward before he was allowed home, his heart back working at 90 per cent of its original capacity because of his baseline fitness.

He started a 16-visit programme over eight weeks, working with the Cardiac Rehabilitation Team at Hull Royal Infirmary.

“I told them my aim as soon as I went in there,” he said. “They knew how fit I’d been and I said my biggest goal was to run a 10k.

“And I did it on my very last session, with Oliver Sherwood, one of the physios, running on the treadmill alongside me.”

Despite his speedy return to health, Mike says the psychological barrier of having a heart attack was his toughest battle.

He said: “The psychological impact of having a heart attack is one of the biggest things you need to address.

“I think there are lots of people who have heart attacks and don’t believe it’s possible to get back to normal.

“Don’t get me wrong, I was very cautious at first and did everything they told me to do. I walked, cycled and I changed my diet, losing a stone even ‘though I wasn’t overweight before and no-one could give me a reason why I had a heart attack.

“I’ve taken these positive steps and I would love to be the person who goes in front of other people who have had heart attacks and says you can do it too.”

Oliver Sherwood, who ran the 10k with Mike, said: “Mike did absolutely brilliantly and he was fully committed to his rehab.

“He has achieved a huge goal of running 10k sixteen weeks after suffering a cardiac arrest. It really shows that our colleagues in the theatres at CHH do an amazing job.

“The whole of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Team are happy that we have been able to support and encourage Mike and our other patients in their journey.

“It’s hugely satisfying that we are able to make a difference to people following a cardiac event, be it running a 10k, playing with the grandkids or just feeling that life isn’t over following a heart attack.”

A great-grandmother born in the year the NHS was created has no plans to retire despite devoting almost 40 years to caring for patients.

Sue Worrall joined the NHS almost 44 years ago, working at Withernsea Hospital and the Royal Berkshire Hospital before joining Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Now, after 20 years in the Haematology Department in the Chemotherapy Day Unit at the Queen’s Centre, Sue has no intention of retiring despite celebrating her 70^th birthday this month.

“The best part of my job is being with patients,” she said. “I just love it.

“We see them at a very difficult time in their lives so if you can cheer them up, it’s good.”

Sue, who has two children, four grand-daughters and two great grandsons, decided to return to work when her daughter was two, successfully applying for a job as an auxiliary nurse at Withernsea Hospital.

She stayed in the role for 22 years before moving south to work in the Colposcopy Department at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

However, she missed her family and decided to return to East Yorkshire, getting a job as a phlebotomist taking blood from patients at Hull Royal Infirmary.

She switched to the Haematology Department at Castle Hill Hospital and has stayed there ever since.

As a Clinical Support Worker, Sue carries out roles to support nurses by cannulating patients for blood transfusions and fluids, carrying out observations while they are undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

She works Monday, Tuesday and half a day on a Friday, looking after her two great grandsons Riley, 4, and 18-month-old Ollie on her days off. She also has a six-month-old grand-daughter Paisley.

“I don’t think I could retire,” she said. “I wouldn’t know what to do at home.

“I look after my two great grandchildren when I’m not working so putting my feet up isn’t my thing.”

To mark her birthday, Sue’s workmates held a party for her on the unit, bringing along a cut-out of her favourite singer Gary Barlow to help in the celebrations.

Lynsey Wood, Senior Nurse in the Chemotherapy Day Unit, said: “Sue or Super Gran as I like to call her, is truly an incredible person. She is loved by all her colleagues and patients.

“She brightens up all of our days with her sense of humour, supports us all and picks us up if anyone has a low mood.

“Sue truly is a role model and represents everything that the NHS stands for.”

A steel worker has returned to an intensive care unit to thank the life-saving team who cared for him after he suffered a cardiac arrest.

Tommaso Serri, 51, collapsed while working at British Steel in Scunthorpe in May and his workmates helped to save his life before he was rushed to hospital.

He spent 10 days in the Intensive Care Unit at Castle Hill Hospital before spending 12 weeks in a rehabilitation unit at Goole Hospital to continue his recovery.

Now back home, Mr Serri and wife Becky, who have two daughters, have gone back to ICU1 at Castle Hill after raising £1,750 to thank the nursing team who looked after him in the early days.

Mrs Serri said: “We just wanted to give something back. They were absolutely fantastic and we couldn’t have asked for more.

“The nurses didn’t just look after Tom, they looked after all of us and went above and beyond to help us.

“We wanted to see them again to thank them for all they did for us.”

Mr Serri had no apparent health problems before he suffered a cardiac arrest although there was a history of heart problems in his family, with his mother dying of a stroke and heart attack in her 50s.

When he collapsed at work on May 28, his colleagues performed CPR and used a work-based defibrillator to begin the chain of survival before the ambulance arrived.

He was rushed to Scunthorpe General Hospital where doctors stabilised his condition before he was transferred to the cardiology centre at Castle Hill to be treated by the specialist team.

He underwent the procedure to fit the stent at the hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab and was then moved into ICU1 to be looked after by the team of highly-skilled nurses.

Mrs Serri said: “They looked after Tom so well and the nursing was just so personal. They were lovely nurses who helped me through it.”

Mr Serri suffered a hypoxic brain injury caused by the lack of oxygen to his brain during the cardiac arrest and spent 12 weeks on the Neurological Rehabilitation Unit at Goole Hospital to continue his recovery. He was well enough to go home in September.

The family held a charity fundraising night raising £4,000 to thank the NHS for saving his life and split the money between the Goole unit and ICU1.

Maria Lewis, Critical Care Matron at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, thanked Mr and Mrs Serri for the donation.

She said: “Our staff were so happy to see Mr Serri again and how well he is doing. We see patients when they are very ill so it’s fantastic to see them again when they’ve made such progress.

“We are all so touched that they would take the time to raise all this money for us to help us care for people who find themselves in similar situations in the future and we thank they for their kindness.”