Prospective parents in Hull will now be able to book classes to help them prepare for the birth of their babies through a new website created by Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

Midwives worked with Bonnie Gray, web developer at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, to design a bespoke website for new parents.

The website www.hey.nhs.uk/heybaby enables women registered with a Hull GP to book parenting classes after they have had their 20-week scan.

Midwife Melanie Lee, who leads the Hey Baby team, said: “We’ve created an easy-to-navigate website which gives women the chance to book classes online in an area of their choice and at a time to suit them.

“In the past, women were just given a date and told to attend their nearest venue but our new website allows us to be more flexible in our approach to accommodate more people’s needs and wishes.”

Web Developer Bonnie Gray

Janet Cairns, Head of Midwifery, said parenting classes provide the opportunity for couples  to discuss their birth plans with midwives and birth educators, find out more about labour and learn essential skills to help them look after their new born babies in the early days after birth.

She said: “Our new website also gives information about our hugely popular Hey Baby Carousel events, which are drop-in sessions held for women and partners on the last Wednesday of every month.

“Although the website has just been developed, we are hoping to add information to it over the coming months, including details of our staff, our service and need-to-know information to help families through their pregnancy journeys.”

The next Carousel will take place on Wednesday, June 27, between 6pm and 8pm with a range of stalls and displays to guide people through each stage of their pregnancy. People can chat to our team of midwives, birth educators and childcare experts at the event.

Women who bring their hand-held notes can also have the whooping cough vaccine, offering vital protection to their newborn babies, at the event from the team of midwives trained in administering the injection.

There’s no need to book an appointment for Carousel and the Orchard Café will be open to serve snacks and refreshments.

People who submitted self-referral forms to the trust over the past few days are being asked to resubmit their forms.

Due to circumstances beyond the trust’s control, maternity self-referral forms, antenatal class booking forms and forms to make compliments, comments, concerns or complaints were not submitted to the trust between 5pm on Friday, June 15, and 2pm on Monday, June 18.

The trust took immediate steps to address and log the issue as soon as web staff became aware that forms had been blocked by an external service connected to its website.

If you think this may have affected you, please visit our website and complete the form again. The links are as follows:

Maternity Self-Referral Form: https://www.hey.nhs.uk/maternity/self-referral/

Antenatal Class Booking Form: https://www.hey.nhs.uk/heybaby/hull-antenatal-classes/

Compliments, Comments, Concerns or Complaints Form: https://www.hey.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/feedback/

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and have put measures into place to ensure this does not happen again.

A hospital service is celebrating six years of keeping people who require feeding intravenously out of hospital and in their own homes.

The Nutrition Team at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was launched in June 2012 to care for patients with intestinal failure who require parenteral nutrition (PN) to prevent malnutrition and or dehydration.

Patients receive appropriate nutrients and dietary minerals administered intravenously through an external “Tunnelled lines” or Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters known as PICC lines.

The service, which is currently looking after around 40 patients at home as well as patients at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill, has benefited scores of people who can now stay at home instead of spending months in a hospital bed.

Philippa MacElhinney, Clinical Nurse Specialist in PN, said: “We see patients who require PN as part of their short-term recovery right up to those who will require long term feeding for the rest of their lives.

“When the service was first launched, there was one patient who had been in hospital for nine months and another for a year because they were on PN and there was no dedicated service for them.

“It was the Nutrition Team’s main priority to ensure a service was set up.

“Now, we can give people a far better quality of life because they can maintain their independence by staying at home or holding down a job instead of remaining in hospital for months on end.”

Before the service was introduced, PN patients had to either stay in hospital to receive their treatment or come into hospital for up to four to six hours, three to four times a week, to ensure their nutritional or hydration needs were being met.

With the numbers of PN patients increasing, the Nutrition Team had to find alternative ways of discharging patients safely back home with appropriate levels of care and support.

The Nutrition Team ensures patients and their families are trained to look after their own PICC lines to self-administer their treatment and prevent infection, ensuring wards have capacity to care for sick people requiring inpatient care.

As well as showing patients and their relatives how to look after their central lines, the Nutrition Team has also worked with nursing homes in Hull and the East Riding to ensure staff know how to deliver safe care once a patient on PN has been discharged.

The trust also commissions four domiciliary care firms to provide care to patients within their own home if they are unable to look after their treatment themselves.

Before a patient is discharged, members of the Nutrition Team meet them and their families to explain how they will benefit from the home service. Staff arrange for the patient to be referred to one of the four home care companies and order the correct equipment.

The Clinical Nurse Specialists work with dietitians and pharmacists in the nutrition team to ensure the prescriptions for PN or intravenous fluids are in place and patients are followed up once they go home.

Philippa MacElhinney said: “Some people are concerned, worried how the ‘hospital treatment’ will be delivered in their own home but we ensure they know the process before they go home”.

“We get lots of calls for support from patients and their families in the days following their discharge but those calls reduce as people become more confident in their own treatment.

Once they are discharged, patients are monitored closely until they are more confident and the GPs are kept fully informed of the care plan in place for their patient.

When heat waves or cold snaps are predicted, the Nutrition Team contacts all home patients and the home care companies to ensure patients do not require additional stock or deliveries and offer offer advice over the phone and by email.

A home parenteral nutrition support group meets twice a year where patients and their families can share their views, contribute ideas on how the service could be improved and adapted and find support from each other.

Philippa MacElhinney said: “We are very proud of the service our team offers to patients and we believe we make a real difference to their lives.”

Children have spoken of their love for the army of dads working at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital as the country prepares to celebrate Father’s Day.

Families have joined Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in marking the special day for the dads who work in clinical and non-clinical roles at both hospitals.

Messages of love from proud children will be posted on the trust’s social media pages on Sunday to thank the fathers who contribute to the smooth running of the organisation caring for 600,000 people across Hull and the East Riding.

Simon Nearney, the trust’s director of workforce, said: “We know the families of all our staff are very proud of the work they do for the NHS and rightly so.

“Everyone in our organisation contributes to patient care in one way or another and Father’s Day is a fantastic occasion to remember all the dads within the organisation who are thought so highly of by their families and by us.”

Gary Hewitt with daughters Claire, left, and Katie

Beverley dad Gary Hewitt has worked in Hull Royal’s Emergency Department(ED) for almost 40 years, the last 18 years as an Emergency Nurse Practitioner.

Gary met wife Kay when they were both working in mental health before he moved into emergency medicine. Now 61, Gary has inspired their three children Claire, Katie and Alan to follow his footsteps into the NHS.

Claire, 36, is now training as an Advanced Care Practitioner, working in ED for the past 12 years after qualifying as a nurse and working in intensive care medicine for the first two years of her nursing career.

Katie, 34, trained as a nurse at University of Sheffield before recently returning to Hull to take up a post in gynaecology.  Alan, 24, after qualifying at the University of Sheffield works as a neurology nurse in an Intensive Care Unit at the Hallamshire Hospital.

Claire said: “He’s just so passionate, determined and professional. He works mainly in the emergency care area and is brilliant at dealing with minor injuries. However, he is amazing in emergency situations”.

“But apart from that, it’s the little things I see him doing every day, like getting a chair for an older person or getting someone a drink of water. He really cares”.

“And that’s not just at work, he’s like that in every way in life. As a dad, he’s always been so approachable and caring and he would do anything for us.”

Gary’s determination to help others in life also extends outside work. A few years ago he received a Commander’s Commendation from the British Transport Police for resuscitating a man in cardiac arrest at Glasgow Central Railway Station.

Claire said: “My sister and I have children now, so he has four grandchildren and he’s just such an amazing grandfather too. And we don’t think that just because he’s ours, he really is fantastic.

“He has been such an inspiration to us all our lives and we just want to tell him how proud we are of him. He is our hero.”

Few patients will ever meet David Lowe but many owe their lives to him.

As a senior assistant in the aseptic unit, David, 53, is part of the team preparing and dispensing around 35,000 sterile infusions and injections every year for patients undergoing chemotherapy, other forms of cancer treatment or intravenous nutrition.

David, 53, followed wife Tonian into the NHS and it’s now a family affair with their two daughters Rachael and Rebecca also working for the trust. Rebecca is ward sister on the stroke ward at Hull Royal Infirmary and Rachael is training as a nursing associate in paediatric surgery.

To Rachael, her father is one of the many unsung heroes working behind the scenes in the NHS to save patients’ lives.

“He works so hard every day, carefully making up patient bags of life-saving treatments,” she said. “He is dedicated to his job.

“Even though he has little to no contact with the patients, they are always at the forefront of his work. So many nights he’s got home late because there’s been an emergency bag for a patient that needs making.

“He goes above and beyond to make sure each treatment is done with great care and patience.

“I’d love for my dad to know how much his hard work matters and that although he might be unseen, his hard work is not.”

Despite his dedication to his role, Rachael said David has always been a family man.

“After his time spent at work, he then comes home and dedicates the rest of his time to his family.

“My dad always puts us first, and is also a devoted grandad to my nephew Charlie.  He is quite simply my hero. He means everything to me.”

He could feel a lump in his throat, making it difficult for him to swallow. But it didn’t hurt so Terry Pipes was in no rush to see his GP.

Six months passed and Terry thought he’d nip to the doctors for antibiotics to clear up whatever it was before setting off on a Mediterranean cruise with wife Joanne.

Instead, he ended up fighting to survive in Castle Hill Hospital after he was diagnosed with tonsillar cancer.

Now, two years after he first noticed the lump, Terry is preparing to celebrate Father’s Day with his four children, celebrate the birth of his first grandchild within weeks and take his place at the top table for his eldest son’s wedding.

(from left) Rob, Ash, Mike and Steve

“I might not have been here to see all this,” he said. “I live every moment now and I don’t have the words to thank everyone at the hospital who helped me.

“Every person was so kind to me. I will never forget what they did for me.”

Terry, of west Hull, runs a property maintenance firm with his sister and noticed a lump in his throat which was making it difficult for him to swallow in spring 2016. Painless, he thought he’d get round to going to the doctor sometime or it would just clear up on his own.

He had booked a week-long cruise and a holiday in Majorca so thought he’d nip to the GP to collect some antibiotics so it would be cleared up by the time he set off.

However, he was shocked when the GP recommended an urgent referral to Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham.

He went on holiday, pushing any negative thoughts to the back of his mind, but had to come home early from Majorca as he struggled to breathe in the heat.

Sent to Castle Hill Hospital for tests, he and Joanne were devastated when they were told he had tonsillar cancer.

“I was absolutely gutted,” he said. “You just think that’s it – cancer.”

He began his treatment including six doses of chemotherapy and 30 doses of radiotherapy. He had to have a feeding tube fitted but was overcome by nausea and his weight plummeted five stone, from 13 stone to just over eight.

Exhausted, he struggled through Christmas Day, trying his best to stay cheerful for his wife and children, Rob, Ash, Mike and Steve, but collapsed on Boxing Day and had to be rushed into Castle Hill. He was allowed home but collapsed again on New Year’s Eve as the world prepared to see in 2017.

Terry and Joanne before his illness

This time, he came into Castle Hill and stayed until February 6 while dieticians, speech and language therapists (SLT) and nursing staff attempted to rebuild his strength and help him overcome his swallowing difficulties.

Part of the SLT team’s assessment included assessing Mr Pipe’s swallowing on different consistencies of fluid to ensure he was able to swallow safely.  Thickened drinks and a pureed diet were recommended for a short time during Mr Pipe’s recovery until he could progress to normal drinks and more solid foods.

But still he struggled. Eventually, he underwent a procedure to dilate or stretch his throat to improve his swallowing.

“That’s when things really took off,” he said. “I’d struggled so much until then, even with liquids, but this made all the difference.”

Now weighing 10 and a half stone, he’s able to eat almost anything. He has to have gravy with meat and a drink with bread to help him swallow but, other than that, he’s back to living life to the full with a week in Santorini, a cruise to Croatia and another week in Majorca all on the cards.

“My waist has gone from 34 inches down to 28 and now back to 30,” he said. “But my wife got rid of all my old clothes at a car boot so I better not put any more back on.”

He feels like he’s been given a second chance.

“My whole outlook has changed and I can’t speak highly enough about the care I received from staff at Castle Hill,” he said. “Every person in that hospital was absolutely fantastic.

“It’s thanks to them that I’m here to celebrate Father’s Day with my kids and have all these things to look forward to.”

According to the Office of National Statistics, around 38,600 people were diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2016. Around 10 per cent of patients admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary or Castle Hill Hospital have swallowing problems at any given time.

Nicola Morton, a speech and language therapist working for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said she was delighted to see Terry was well on the road to recovery.

She said: “This can happen after strokes or if they are living with cancer, brain tumours, head injuries or neurological and respiratory conditions.

“But we can help these patients to ensure they can manage food and drink safely.  This may involve thickening drinks and recommending appropriate foods to eat.

“Some patients may have long-term swallowing difficulties while others may return to near-normal eating and drinking.

“We’re glad to see Terry is doing so well and wish him the very best for the future.”

A charity made up of former hospital staff has donated £7,000 of equipment to help patients undergoing heart surgery at Castle Hill Hospital.

The Needed Urgent Remedial Surgical Equipment (N.U.R.S.E) charity has donated a Philips Lumify portable ultrasound machine which generates detailed images of veins and arteries. This mobile device can be used in surgical theatres but can also be used directly on hospital wards by surgical care practitioners, sending high quality images back to help clinicians plan surgical procedures such as coronary artery bypass.

Sharon Campling, Theatres Manager at Castle Hill Hospital says:

“We’re incredibly grateful to the N.U.R.S.E charity for what is a really cutting-edge piece of equipment. The portability of this machine means we can carry out essential pre-surgical mapping of a patient’s veins and arteries while they are still on the ward, which is more convenient for the patient as it means they’re spending less time in theatre, and means less theatre time is taken up. Plus, while it will be mainly used by staff from our cardiothoracic theatres, it is versatile enough to be used across other areas and specialties too.”

“We carry out around 10 to 12 coronary artery bypasses each week which means, depending on our patient list, the Lumify be in use every day assisting with potentially lifesaving procedures.”

Since the N.U.R.S.E Charity was set up in the early 1980s (registered with the Charities Commission in 1991), members say they have raised more than £800,000 through fundraising events including the annual raft race on Beverley Beck, which take place next month. The monies raised have gone to support wards and departments across Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, purchasing equipment from potentially life-saving scanners down to fans to keep patients cool.

Jane Tattam, Chairperson of the N.U.R.S.E Charity says:

“After working in the NHS for over 40 years, I can appreciate how difficult it is to purchase or share resources, equipment which can aid a speedy, efficient and safe service during a patient’s time in hospital.

“We were only too happy to help the Cardiac Unit at Castle Hill Hospital when they requested our support in purchasing this cutting edge device which I believe is one of the first to be used in U.K. hospitals. Feedback from the staff is that they have already found the device an invaluable asset and we hope that it continues to benefit patients who have to undergo major surgical intervention.”

The annual Raft Race is being held in Beverley in aid of the N.U.R.S.E charity on Saturday 21^st July. For more information, visit facebook and search for NURSE charity.

They had rushed to Hull Royal Infirmary expecting to be told their father was in theatre undergoing life-saving brain surgery.

But Hannah Evison, 34, and her brother Dean, 36, were shattered when neurosurgeons told them their father Dave had suffered a massive bleed on his brain which had caused his brain stem to die and nothing could be done to save him.

As grief engulfed them, the brother and sister decided their father’s final act would be to save other people in desperate need of transplants.

Hannah and Dean know their decision means other children will still have the joy of celebrating Father’s Day with their dads this weekend.

Dean and Hannah with their mum Bev and Oliver and Maisie

“We know he helped save other middle-aged men and we hope some of them would have been fathers,” Hannah, 34, said. “We don’t have our dad with us but what he did means that other dads are still here with their children.

“I know if he’d been asked, he wouldn’t have had to think twice about it. He’d have wanted to do it.”

Dave Evison, 62, had worked in the oil industry before taking early retirement at 55. He had suffered a stroke a few years earlier but had recovered well and was considered fit and healthy.

However, Mr Evison, who spent almost 40 years with Hannah and Dean’s mother Bev before they parted as friends a few years before his death, had been suffering headaches for a few weeks before he woke up one morning in July 2016 and started being sick.

Son Dean came over to Mr Evison’s house in Grimsby and realised something was seriously wrong. He took his dad to the emergency department at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital.

He was then “blue lighted” to Hull Royal Infirmary, the specialist neurological centre for the area, after the severity of his condition became known.

Hannah said: “My brother and I arrived in Hull expecting to be told he was having brain surgery but, instead, the consultant neurosurgeon told us he’d had a massive bleed on the brain and wouldn’t survive so there was no point in them doing the surgery.”

(l to r) Hull’s organ donation team Sarah Plant, Alexandra Wray and Raz Igasan

As they absorbed the shock of what they had been told, the organ donation team based at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust approached the family about the possibility of organ donation.

Hannah said: “It was really soon after we’d been told there was no hope of Dad surviving that we were asked about organ donation and our first thought was why were we being asked about this now.

“But it was explained to us that there was a lot to organise and time is a crucial factor.

“Dad wasn’t on the organ donor register but we knew signing the register was just something he wouldn’t have got round to doing. If he had been asked, he would have said yes.”

Mr Evison remained on life support for three days until the recipients of his organs were prepared for surgery, giving his family time to say goodbye before his death on July 7, 2016.

“In a way, it was the hardest part because we knew we were losing him but in another way it was nice to be able to spend some time with him,” said Hannah.

In the end, Mr Evison donated his lungs, liver, both kidneys and heart tissue to save other lives and Hannah hopes other families facing similar situations will agree to organ donation.

“There’s no point in taking your organs with you when you die,” said Hannah. “If you can help someone else when your time has come, why wouldn’t you do that?”

With the second anniversary of her father’s death only three weeks away, Hannah says it’s tough on her, Dean and her two children Oliver, nine on June 18, and six-year-old Maisie.

“He was a fantastic grandfather, “ she said. “It is hard just now when you see all the cards going up in the shops and my Dad’s not here.

“But we’re really glad we could do this so some good can come from it all.”

You can join the organ donor register by visiting www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-to-donate or by calling 0300 1232323.

Security teams are increasing patrols around a hospital fracture clinic after thieves stole twiddle muffs donated to help people with dementia.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is introducing increased patrols after thieves stole a number of twiddle muffs and a twiddle pillow, donated to the clinic to help keep patients with dementia calmer during their treatment.

Thieves have struck again just weeks after memorabilia such as tea pots, dishes, old photographs and even an old tea cosy had been stolen from an area created by staff in the style of a 1960s front room to help people with dementia waiting to be seen.

Today, Ron Gregory, the trust’s security manager, said patrols would be stepped up around the area to prevent any future thefts.

He said: “It is ridiculous that we are having to take such action in a hospital where people dedicate their careers to helping others.

“These thefts are really upsetting the staff in our fracture clinic, who have gone out of their way to create this area, used their own money to buy so many of the items or have arranged donations to help the people they are looking after.

“We will not hesitate to take further action against anyone who steals from our hospitals and we urge the public to help us by reporting any suspicious activity they see in this area.”

Some of the twiddle muffs donated to the hospital by generous well-wishers

Twiddle muffs, which are knitted tubes often fashioned with ribbons, buttons, bells and zips, have been found to have a calming effect on people with dementia by keeping their hands busy and warding off anxiety.

They are particularly useful in a hospital setting while people are in waiting rooms ahead of treatment.

Clinical support worker Kerry Morten, who has worked at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for 18 years, has played a key role in setting up the dementia area in the fracture clinic and noticed the muffs had been taken from the department on Tuesday morning.

She said: “We don’t know when they were taken but we know it must have been during the day as we’ve now started to shutter off the area at night because of all the stuff that was being stolen.

“It’s just sick that someone would do this. It’s obvious these twiddle muffs are for dementia patients but, despite that, someone has still seen fit to walk away with them.

“It’s difficult to understand what would motivate someone to do such a thing.”

Staff in the fracture clinic are now appealing for knitters to help them replace the twiddle muffs.

Kerry said: “They were so useful in helping people feel calm so we’d be very grateful if any knitters would like to donate some replacements, which we hope will not be stolen from us and our patients.”

A hospital team has been recognised as one of the best in the country after halving the number of older people admitted to hospital unnecessarily.

More than two-thirds of people over 80 were being admitted to hospital before Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust introduced its Frailty Intervention Team (FIT) last year.

However, a multi-disciplinary team of specialists in elderly medicine now work alongside staff in the Emergency Department at Hull Royal Infirmary seven days a week to help 70 per cent of patients seen go home the same day.

This month, the team attended the prestigious HSJ Value in Healthcare Awards in Manchester after beating more than 580 entries from around the country to make the shortlist.

Professor Stephen Powis, Medical Director at NHS England, has also visited Hull Royal Infirmary to understand more about the team’s work.

The team will also travel to London on June 27 after being named as a finalist in the 2018 Healthcare Transformation Awards for Innovation in the Care of Long Term Conditions.

(l to r) Sue Parkinson, Dr Kirsten Roberts, Dr Katie Athorn and Suzanne Alexander.

Dr Kirsten Richards, consultant in the Department of Medical Elderly, said the FIT programme was attracting national attention, with staff from Manchester Royal Infirmary due to visit later this month to watch the team in action.

She said: “We are very proud of what we are achieving.

“Hospital is not the safest place for an older person in part because a person over the age of 75 years loses valuable muscle tone for every day they spend in a hospital bed. This could have disastrous consequences for our frail patients and may mean the difference between them going home or going into a home.

“Most frail older patients also don’t want to come into hospital, preferring to stay in their own homes, so it is in their person’s best interests to avoid unnecessary admissions and try to support them in their own environment instead.

“We are working closely with our community colleagues and utilising our daily rapid access clinics to keep our older patients safely in their familiar surroundings as much as possible.”

Before the FIT team was introduced, 67 per cent of older patients brought to the Emergency Department were admitted onto wards for tests and further examinations because of their frailty and complex health needs.

However, 70 per cent can now go home with support the same day because the FIT team assess them as soon as they arrive at hospital.

Feedback from the patients has been extremely positive and the close partnership working between the FIT team and the Emergency Department has also helped to improve the confidence of the Emergency Department team in dealing with frail older patients.

Although many NHS organisations are developing frailty programmes, the trust is thought to be the only trust using a full multi-disciplinary team of geriatricians, advanced nurse practitioners, a trusted assessor therapist, a discharge coordinator, plus dedicated pharmacy and admin support staff in their frailty model.

The team is also supported by mental health workers from Humber Teaching NHS FT and by social services staff from Hull City Council and East Riding Council.