Humberside Fire and Rescue and dental health experts are among the latest to share their words of wisdom with new and expectant families.

Representatives will join the growing team of experts sharing their knowledge with new parents and parents to be next week at the HEY Baby Carousel event, within Hull Women and Children’s Hospital, which takes place from 6-8pm on Wednesday 31 January.

The drop-in events are held monthly to help people prepare for their new arrivals, and cover all sorts of topics from home birth to breastfeeding, and car seats to antenatal classes.

Melanie Lee, Birth Education Midwife at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says:

“Since they launched in the summer, the HEY Baby Carousel events have been growing in popularity, and we regularly see scores of women and their partners or other family members at each session now.

“There’s so much to think about and so much you need to know when you’re expecting a baby, either as mum or dad, so the idea is to give people the chance to come and have a chat and find out what to expect in a really relaxed and sociable way.

“On top of that, we also cover the less obvious things, and in particular that’s why we’re welcoming representatives of the Fire Service and an oral health practitioner along for the first time this month.

“Pregnant women are entitled to free NHS dental care, so there will be information available about eligibility and how to receive this care, as well as how to care for baby’s gums in the early months.

“And knowing that new parents will be keen to do all they can to keep their precious little one safe, Humberside Fire and Rescue will be encouraging families to think about escape routes in the home, and how they might get themselves and their little out in case of a fire.”

Visitors can find out more about a host of other topics including family fitness, children’s centres and the Fatima Allam Midwife-led Birth Centre, and take part in practical baby bath and nappy change demonstrations. As pregnant women are eligible for the flu jab, there will be a team on hand to offer vaccinations, and midwives will also be available to talk through women’s birth plans with them and fill in any blanks.

Melanie will also be hosting her regular ‘Ask the Midwife’ slot again, where literally anything and everything is up for discussion, no matter how trivial or embarrassing it might seem.

Melanie continues:

“Literally thousands of babies are born in this city every year, and we want to give those babies and their parents the best possible start.

“The event we’ll be hosting next week is designed to bring a lot of different experts in their field together so pregnant women or new parents can come along and have all those niggly little questions answered, like ‘what do I need to bring into hospital’ or ‘how do I lose my baby weight?’

“Sometimes women don’t always like to bother their midwife, or questions crop up later in conversation with friends or family, so this event gives people the opportunity to pop in and ask whatever they like; the main thing is we want families to feel ready, confident and supported, and aware of all the options open to them.”

The HEY Baby Carousel Event will take place on Wednesday 31 January from 6 to 8pm at the Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.  Representatives from/advice on the following will be available:

• Fatima Allam Birth Centre (midwife led unit) and Labour Ward
• SureStart Children’s Centres
• UsMums fitness sessions
• Baby bath and nappy change demonstrations
• Car seat safety
• Home birth group
• Hypnobirth
• Healthy lifestyles
• ‘Let’s talk’ talking therapies
• Health Visitors
• Breast buddies – breastfeeding support
• Infant feeding
• Fire safety in the home
• Dental health for mum and baby
• … and much more!

Copies of the Baby Footprint postcards, as featured on the 2017 City of Culture artwork within the entrance to the Women and Children’s Hospital, will also be on sale.

There is no need to book, but for more information, call the HEY Baby team on 07769 671449.

Do you want a print, postcard or canvas of our “Born Into a City of Culture” artwork. Here’s what you need to know

I’d like a canvas. Where can I order one?

You can order them from the community midwives’ office on the first floor of Hull Women and Children’s Hospital between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

You can also email hyp-tr.hey.baby@nhs.net to place your order. You must type “Footprints” into the subject line of the order or it will not be picked up by the appropriate staff.

What size is the canvas and how much does it cost?

The canvas measures 22cm by 82 cm and costs £25. But, remember, it needs to be ordered and paid for in advance (see above).

Where can I get a postcard?

We have postcards for all six panels so you can buy the postcard for the month of your baby’s birth. They cost £1 each or you can buy the full set of six for £6.

You can buy them from the community midwives’ office on the first floor of Hull Women and Children’s Hospital between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

My baby was born last January/February/March. Can I still get a postcard of that month?

Yes. The artwork featured six panels, two months covered in each panel. You can still get postcards of every panel so, regardless of which month your baby was born in, you can get the postcard.

I’d like a print. Where can I get that?

You can get it from the community midwives’ office on the first floor of Hull Women and Children’s Hospital between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. It costs £7 for one or two for £10.

What size is the print?

The print measures 17cm by 59.5cm.

I can’t get into the hospital. Can I get a print or a postcard delivered to my home?

Unfortunately, we cannot send out postcards or prints as that would incur costs to the NHS.

I’ve gone back to work after maternity leave so I can’t come in during the day. How can I get a print or a postcard?

We’ll be selling the postcards and prints at our next Carousel event at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital on Wednesday, January 31, between 6pm and 8pm.

How long will you be selling the postcards/prints/canvases?

We will be selling the postcards, prints and canvases until the last day in Febuary. So, you’ve got more than a month to get your items. We will post regularly to Facebook to remind you of the final sales day. After February 28, 2018, you will not be able to purchase a postcard, print or canvas for the “Born Into a City of Culture” artwork.

More than 8,000 hospital workers are launching “Operation Wintergreen” next week to help East Yorkshire’s two main hospitals deal with unprecedented pressure this winter.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is mobilising staff from every department to support frontline services after record numbers of emergency admissions of patients with serious and life-threatening illnesses over the past few weeks.

Routine surgery and some outpatient clinics will be cancelled for eight days starting on Monday, January 29, to free up clinical teams in specialisms including cardiology, rheumatology and respiratory illnesses.

Consultants and nurses will then be redeployed to work alongside frontline teams in Hull Royal’s emergency department to reduce unnecessary admissions and ensure patients have access to specialist opinions without having to be admitted onto wards.

And some of the trust’s 8,000-plus army of workers, including office, administrative and HR staff, are also being released from their normal day jobs to volunteer their services by acting as “runners” on wards in the Hull Royal tower block so nurses and healthcare professionals can concentrate on patient care.

Chief executive Chris Long said: “Since the start of the year, we have struggled not only with an increasing number of patients turning up at A&E but also with the complexity and seriousness of their conditions.

“We are not alone in experiencing increasing and intense levels of pressure this winter and most acute hospitals in England are in identical positions.

“In Hull, as a two-site hospital where the majority of our elective work takes place at Castle Hill Hospital, we have so far managed to avoid cancelling all non-urgent surgery in the way that many other trusts across the country have been doing since NHS England issued guidance in December.

“The time has now come, however, for us to take more extensive action and we owe it to our patients and staff to ensure we are there for the people who need us most.

“As things stand, we are not meeting the four-hour A&E standard, many patients are spending too long in hospital without being able to go home when they are ready and our staff are struggling to cope with this unprecedented level of demand.

“While we do not take the decision to cancel operations and outpatient clinics lightly, we are certain the people we care for will fully understand the pressures our NHS is facing and why we have to take further action at this time.

“My entire workforce is putting its collective shoulder to the wheel to ensure we make it through the winter and that our patients receive the best and safest care we can deliver.”

Hospital staff are now contacting those patients whose non-urgent operations and routine outpatient appointments between Monday, January 29, and 8am on Tuesday, February 6, will be cancelled.

Patients with long-term conditions who would be adversely affected by cancellations or postponed treatment, cancer surgery and urgent appointments will not be affected.

Michelle Kemp, director of operations for Family and Women’s Health Group, said: “We are already in the process of contacting patients who are directly affected and we are endeavouring to give people as much notice as possible.

“We ask that patients continue to turn up for their surgery or their appointments unless they hear from us directly.

“At this stage, we do not know exactly how many operations or appointments will be cancelled but we will only cancel where we are assured patients will suffer no immediate clinical harm as a consequence.

“We will only cancel appointments and operations where staff are to be diverted to productive roles alongside our emergency teams and we are working closely with our outpatients teams to ensure cancellations are kept to a minimum.

“By releasing our clinical teams from their other duties for a short period of time, we will be able to prioritise the care of our emergency patients, the people who need us most.”

The Trust hopes Operation Wintergreen will lower bed occupancy at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, which is currently above 95 per cent and well beyond the 85 per cent recommended for optimum patient safety.

Additional pharmacy staff, porters, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and phlebotomists will be drafted onto wards to enable patients to be sent home sooner after receiving the care they need.

Staff volunteering as “runners” on wards will be coordinated by a specialist team, ensuring they can be deployed to areas most in need of support.

Chief operating officer Ellen Ryabov said: “By taking this action now, we hope to be in a far better position within ten days to cope with any potential impact of flu or a continuation of the recent increase in patient acuity that we have seen in recent weeks.

“The trust’s senior leadership team will be continually monitoring and assessing the impact of our decision to cancel elective work and how this benefits our emergency patients. We can then flex the deployment of additional staff resources to areas where we will see the greatest benefit for patients and frontline teams.

“By working together, the trust’s army of staff are proving, once again, their priority lies in delivering the best possible patient care.”

A Hull surgeon has been filmed by a television documentary crew after saving children whose faces were ravaged by a deadly infection.

Kelvin Mizen, a maxillofacial consultant at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, has travelled to Ethiopia for 10 years to help children with Noma, a bacterial infection caused by extreme poverty and chronic malnutrition which can lead to gangrene.

The Captive Minds documentary team, working for Channel 5’s Extraordinary People series, filmed Mr Mizen saving two young women aged 14 and 20 during his most recent visit to Ethiopia.

Mr Mizen, who joined the trust more than three years ago, said: “I do this because you can make a proven difference to people’s lives.

“But for every child we see, there are another 10 still to be found. It’s battlefield triage and we’re overwhelmed by the need.”

Noma, also known as cancrum oris, can be prevented with antibiotics and immediate nutritional support if detected early enough.

Left untreated, mouth ulcers lead to agonising swelling in the cheeks or lips.

Within days, gangrene sets in, leaving gaping holes in children’s faces. Around 90 per cent of people with Noma will die from sepsis.

Noma was eradicated in England in the 19^th century as living conditions in the country improved with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It reappeared in Europe briefly during both world wars as malnutrition raged across the continent.

However, it still occurs in 39 of the 46 African countries, with the World Health Organisation estimating around 140,000 new cases, commonly in children under six,  every year.

Charity Facing Africa was set up in 1998 to help children with Noma and other severe facial deformities.

Volunteer surgeons, anaesthetists, theatre and nursing staff from UK and Ireland travel to Ethiopia twice a year to see around 70 patients, operating on around 40.

Mr Mizen was working at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield when he was able to identify the condition after a consultant connected to the charity showed him photographs of some of the children.

“I knew what the disease was,” said Mr Mizen. “He asked me if I would come with them when I became a consultant and I said yes.”

During his most recent trip to Ethiopia, Mr Mizen helped the two girls who both had huge benign tumours on their faces, working with the surgical team to use new techniques to rebuild the girls’ lower jaws.

“Both of these girls would have died and at least one of them would have bled to death if we hadn’t saved her,” he said.

“Her family had a washing business and people believed God had done this to them.

“The family’s business was suffering because people didn’t come anymore because they didn’t want to ‘catch’ anything,”

“So, the girl was physically and verbally abused by her father and was ostracised by her family.”

After being helped by Mr Mizen and the team, both young women are now able to go to school, increasing their chances of better lives.

The documentary featuring Mr Mizen’s work is expected to be featured on Channel 5 later this year.

The final panel in a major piece of art to celebrate the births of babies born during Hull’s year as City of Culture has been unveiled.

Families and midwives watched as the last panel in “Born Into A City of Culture” was unveiled in the foyer of Hull Women and Children’s Hospital this morning.

Charlotte Gorman, 24, attended the unveiling with baby son Dougie, one of the last babies to make it onto the artwork after he was born on December 22.

“He was originally due on January 13 so he was just going to miss having his footprint taken,” said Charlotte, who lives off Spring Bank West in Hull.

“But he decided to arrive a few weeks early so it was a really nice surprise that he could be part of it. It’s great being here today to see it unveiled.”

Handprints from midwives were used to create the tree trunks and the branches for the artwork while thousands of footprints of babies were taken to create the leaves.

The final panel features babies born in November and December. However, another tree had to be created to fit in all the babies who came to “catch up sessions” after their footprints were not taken at the time of their births.

Kirsty Mills, of Leven, brought her seven month-old daughter Lottie along to a catch-up session advertised by the trust on its Hull Woman and Children’s Hospital Facebook page in December.

She said: “A friend tagged me into the post and I got in touch with the midwives to see if we could come along.

“We had missed getting Lottie’s footprint originally so I was so pleased to find out we could still get it done and we rushed through from Leven to get it done.

“I’m really glad we did it and that Lottie is a part of it.”

Community midwife Sallie Ward, who came up with the idea as a way for the trust to play a part in the City of Culture year, was at the event to watch the final panel being put in place.

She said: “It’s great to see it all completed now. We’re all really proud to have been a part of the City of Culture celebrations and we’re so pleased by the response from the families who took part.”

More than 1,400 tickets have been sold for a celebration at the Guildhall on Wednesday, January 24, where families will be able to share memories and meet other parents who took part in the event.

Tickets are now on sale from Hull Box Office at www.hullboxoffice.com/events/born-into-a-city-of-culture-celebration-event

Families can buy up to four tickets, costing £1 each with a 50p booking fee, to ensure as many as possible can attend the event, with City of Culture director Martin Green and head of midwifery Janet Cairns among the guests.

All six postcards of the artwork will be on sale at the event, which runs from 9am to 3pm, costing £6 for the set or £1 each. Prints of the six panels can be purchased for £7 each or two for £10. Limited edition canvases can also be ordered.

Parents are being reminded that only cash can be taken on the day as there are no facilities for credit or debit card payments.

Visit www.hey.nhs.uk/news/2018/01/09/need-know-born-city-culture-celebration for more information about Wednesday’s celebration.

Around 250 patients with serious lung conditions are benefiting from hospital-style treatment in their own homes as part of a project to reduce unnecessary admissions.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has introduced non-invasive ventilation to help patients from Hull and East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire stay out of hospital.

Non-invasive ventilation has been shown to benefit patients with conditions including COPD, motor neurone disease and muscular dystrophy.

Diane Murray, home ventilation service lead at the trust, said: “Non-invasive ventilation can keep patients out of hospital, improve their quality of life and extend the length of their life.

“Using ventilators at home can prevent them going into acute respiratory failure where they have to come into hospital, can prevent chest infections and reduce and relieve symptoms.

“For some patients with chronic conditions, without ventilation, they might not be here.”

David Whiting, 64, suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has been admitted regularly to the respiratory support unit on Ward Five at Hull Royal Infirmary in the past.

However, he has not been admitted to hospital in almost three months despite a rise in respiratory illnesses this winter after he was given non-invasive ventilation to use at home.

Mr Whiting, who lives in East Yorkshire with wife Susan, said: “The cold weather, that’s when it gets me and I’m frightened even to go outside. I always get something like pneumonia or a bad chest infection and then I have to go into hospital.

“But I haven’t been in hospital since November so it looks to me like this unit is working.

“They look after me very well on the ward and are so good to me so I can’t fault them. They’re absolutely brilliant. But no one wants to be in hospital if they can avoid it.”

Patients referred to the trust’s respiratory service by GPs are assessed by the multi-disciplinary respiratory team to see if they are suitable for home ventilation.

Those rushed to hospital with respiratory failure are also assessed by a consultant to see if they might be suitable for home ventilation once they are discharged.

Diane Murray and the other members of her team, specialist nurses Sarah Lyons and Halina Voss-Palmer, then visit people considered suitable for the therapy home to show them how to use the equipment, enabling them to administer the treatment themselves.

Mr Whiting was given the home ventilation system to use for six hours a day in the hope that it will prevent him developing a chest infection and requiring a hospital admission.

He said: “It’s early days but we feel that this is something definitely worth trying.

“I get to stay at home and that’s the main thing because I’ve been so poorly the past two years. We’re really hoping this year will be different.”

Anne Littlefield, sister on Ward Five at Hull Royal Infirmary, said the home ventilation programme mirrored the treatment patients received on her ward but in the comfort of their own home.

She said: “We work closely with the home ventilation team to find patients who could be referred to the consultant to see if they could benefit from home ventilation.

“This improves quality of life and can prevent people having to be admitted to hospital, meaning they can be treated in their own homes.”

THREE midwives marking Hull’s year as City of Culture have double reason to celebrate after their own babies were featured in the artwork.

Handprints from midwives Carly Bowler, Alex McCann and Lois Donkin were used to create trees and branches holding baby footprints for the “Born Into a City of Culture” project.

But the three women’s handprints have been featured alongside their own children’s footprints after their babies were born during 2017.

The final panel featuring babies born in November and December and those who missed out on the chance to have their footprints taken on the months they were born will be unveiled at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital on Monday.

The midwives are hoping to join other families at the Guildhall on Wednesday as Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust hosts a special celebration to mark the end of the project.

Lois Donkin, a midwife at the trust since January 2016 and now part of the team at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre, became pregnant with baby Matilda after her handprint was used in the artwork.

Matilda was born on August 24 and her footprint features in the fourth panel for July and August.

“We didn’t know what it was going to look like, just that the midwives’ hands would be used for the tree trunks and the babies footprints would be the leaves,” Lois said.

“I was so pleased when I found out both of us would be on it after I became pregnant.

“I know Matilda’s footprint is somewhere on the panel for July and August but I’ve no idea where my handprint is.”

Carly’s son Frankie has just celebrated his first birthday after becoming one of the first babies to make it onto the canvas following his birth on January 11, 2017.

“To be born in the year Hull was City of Culture was something special in itself,” said Carly, who started her nurse training at the trust in 2001 before becoming a midwife in 2007.

“But to work at the trust and be part of this incredible project with Frankie was just so lovely.”

Alex McCann has just joined the midwifery team at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre after returning to work from maternity leave following the birth of son Samuel on February 8, 2017.

She said: “It’s really special walking past the artwork when I come to work, knowing both my handprint and Samuel’s footprint are on it.”

More than 1,500 parents and family members have snapped up tickets for Wednesday’s event at the Guildhall.

City of Culture director Martin Green and the trust’s head of midwifery Janet Cairns will be among the guests and families will have the chance to be reunited with midwives who delivered their babies.

There will also be health stalls giving information on children’s services, soft play for the babies and a chance to watch some of the images taken throughout the year.

Families will be able to buy postcards for all six panels of the artwork either individually for £1 each or £6 for the full set. Prints of the artwork will also be available to buy for £7 each or two for £10.

Limited edition canvases of the artwork will also be available to order.

However, people attending the event are being reminded that it is a cash-only event and payment cannot be accepted by credit or debit card.

Visit  www.hey.nhs.uk/news/2018/01/09/need-know-born-city-culture-celebration  for more details about the event.

Tickets for Wednesday’s event can still be purchased by visiting  www.hullboxoffice.com/events/born-into-a-city-of-culture-celebration-event

The final postcard from a City of Culture project celebrating babies born in 2017 has gone on sale.

Babies born in November and December will feature on the sixth postcard in the series now on sale at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

Parents can buy a postcard from the reception of the hospital or the community midwives’ office on the first floor on Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.

Footprints of babies born during Hull’s year in the limelight were taken to create the artwork for the foyer of the hospital.

The final panel featuring the babies born in the last two months of 2017, as well as those from babies who did not have their footprints taken earlier in the year, will be unveiled at the hospital next week.

Community midwife Sallie Ward, who came up with the idea for the project, said: “This is the last in the series of six postcards.

“The project has been a huge success and we’re so proud to have played a part in Hull’s year as City of Culture.”

All six postcards can now be purchased for £6, with individual postcards costing £1. Parents who did not purchase a postcard featuring their child’s footprint earlier in the year can still buy postcards relating to the month their baby was born.

Postcards will also be on sale at an event in the Guildhall on Wednesday, January 24, to celebrate the success of the project.

Around 1,400 tickets have already been snapped up by parents whose babies were featured in the artwork.

Families will be offered the opportunity to buy up to four tickets, costing £1 each with a 50p booking fee, to ensure as many as possible can attend the event.

Tickets are now on sale from Hull Box Office at www.hullboxoffice.com/events/born-into-a-city-of-culture-celebration-event

Prints of the six panels can be purchased at the event for £7 each or two for £10. Limited edition canvases can also be ordered at the event.

Parents are being reminded that only cash can be taken on the day as there are no facilities for credit or debit card payments.

Visit www.hey.nhs.uk/news/2018/01/09/need-know-born-city-culture-celebration for more information about next week’s celebration.

Two wards at Hull Royal Infirmary have been re-opened after staff managed to control an outbreak of Norovirus.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the organisation running Hull Royal and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, has re-opened wards 80 and 90 in the tower block, closed for almost two weeks by the outbreak.

Greta Johnson, lead infection prevention and control nurse at the trust, said Norovirus, normally brought into hospital by visitors or patients with the condition, had been eliminated for the first time since the start of the new year.

She said: “Norovirus is an airborne virus which spreads very quickly in closed environments and among people with weakened immune systems. That is why it happens so regularly in hospitals over the winter months.

“Our staff have worked very hard to control the outbreak. Both affected wards have been deep cleaned and can now be re-opened.

“But we would urge people to stay away from hospital and not visit patients if they have sickness and diarrhoea.

“While unpleasant for most, these bugs can have serious implications for patients so we hope people will use common sense and stay away from hospital when they are vomiting or have diarrhoea.”

Good hand hygiene, such as the public washing their hands after using the toilet, is essential to prevent Norovirus spreading and hospital wards can only reopen when they have had no fresh cases and patients have been symptom-free for 48 hours.

There’s still time to get the flu vaccine

As well as being vigilant for signs of Norovirus, the trust’s infection prevention and control team is also monitoring flu admissions on a daily basis.

There have been 11 admissions of patients with confirmed cases of flu this week, slightly higher than the normal admission rate for the time of year. However, it does not represent a dramatic spike in flu cases at this stage.

Greta Johnson said: “The symptoms associated with flu include a high temperature, aches and pains, extreme fatigue, a blocked or runny nose and a sore throat. People with flu often have a persistent cough.

“Again, we would hope that anyone with these symptoms would stay away from hospital and not visit friends or family members to protect already sick and weak patients and reduce the potential of any infection spreading.

“People can play their part by having the flu vaccine. It’s not too late to protect yourself and your loved ones from catching a virus which can have serious or even life-threatening health implications.”