Hospital appointment times have been reduced dramatically for scores of patients after health care assistants were trained to deliver vital heart checks to patients.

Around 60 patients attending appointments at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital every month had to go to the Hull Royal Infirmary’s tower block for electrocardiograms (ECGs) to check heart rhythms and electrical activity before undergoing surgery including hysterectomy.

Now, health care assistants at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Trust have been trained to perform the checks so patients, many of them elderly and with more than one health condition, receive all pre-operation assessments under one roof.

Julie Fellowes, sister for gynaecology and the breast care clinic, said the new system had reduced hospital appointment times by around 90 minutes, improving patient experience.

She said: “Historically, the ECGs have been done in the ECG department in the tower block.

“When our patients came in for pre-op assessments, we had to send them to the tower block if they required an ECG.

“We were sending approximately 15 patients a week over to the tower block, often out into the cold, and many of these patients are elderly or with other conditions. They would have to sit and wait in the department for their turn and then come all the way back here.”

The inconvenience to patients was discovered by Eileen Henderson, head of outpatient services, during a review of the main outpatient suite in the tower block.

Realising the need to improve the experience for patients, staff in the gynaecology outpatients department transformed an under-used “quiet room” in the Women and Children’s Hospital into their own ECG room.

Six Band 2 health care assistants have received specialised training, allowing them to carry out ECGs to appropriate professional standards.

The health care assistants underwent competency core training and were then shown how to carry out ECGs before being supervised in the role.

While they can carry out the tests, the results are passed to registered nurses for interpretation. Any abnormalities or concerns are then forwarded to consultants for review.

The department, on the ground floor of the Women and Children’s Hospital, currently shares an ECG machine with Cedar and Rowan wards, although staff are attempting to raise £2,000 for their own machine.

Reducing the length of appointment times will also benefit the trust’s “referral to treatment” or RTT performance target as it will enable staff to see more outpatients than before, reducing waiting times.

Sister Fellowes said staff had worked hard to find a solution in the best interests of their patients.

“They are a very proactive team,” she said. “They themselves realised it wasn’t nice for the ladies to have to go to the tower block and found a way of making this a better experience for them.”

Staff, patients and visitors are being urged to be on the look-out today for a giraffe lost somewhere in Castle Hill Hospital.

Margaret Atkin, 78, was given the toy giraffe by great grandson Jacob Rider, four, when she was admitted to the intensive care unit at the hospital in Cottingham nine weeks ago.

The soft toy, which doesn’t have a name, had a rip in its back and intensive care nurses used surgical tape to seal its ‘wound’ before Mrs Atkin was transferred to Ward 27 as her condition improved.

However, the giraffe was lost when Mrs Atkin was moved onto Ward 29 on November 22 as her recuperation continues.

Now, Jacob’s mum Kirsty is appealing to staff and anyone visiting patients at the hospital to be on the look-out for the giraffe.

She said: “Jacob asked where the giraffe was at the weekend and I told him it was still in hospital getting fixed.

”But it’s my Nanna who is most upset. She remembers having it the night before she was moved to Ward 29 but then we realised it was missing.”

The family contacted the cleaning firm responsible for the hospital’s laundry but it hasn’t been found. They have checked lost property, the general office at Castle Hill and both wards without success.

They’ve also walked between the wards in the hope of finding the giraffe but it hasn’t turned up.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is emailing all staff to alert them to be on the lookout for Jacob’s giraffe and is now asking visitors to the hospital to keep their eyes peeled.

Kirsty said: “We’re wondering if someone has handed it in to one of the children’s play areas and we just hope people can help us find it. They might have seen the cross on its back and not understand the sentimental value it has for our family.”

Anyone who spots the giraffe is urged to contact the communications department at Hull Royal Infirmary on 01482 675556.

Families have thanked Hull doctors for saving their children’s lives in a moving video to mark 40 years of paediatric surgery.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will play host to some of the UK’s leading children’s doctors today (Friday) to celebrate the 40^th anniversary.

A video of families whose children have undergone surgery since 2009, including some children as soon as they were born has been made by the trust’s medical education technical services team.

Dawn Smith, whose son Ellis was saved by the trust’s paediatric surgical team, said: “You can’t just say thank you to someone who has saved your life or changed it. It’s just not enough.”

Countless lives have been changed and transformed through the skills of our surgical teams, led by consultant paediatric surgeon Sanja Besarovic and known to families throughout East Yorkshire as Miss B.

Jamielea Marshall, whose son Sunny Miller had surgery when he was 12 hours old after he was born in November 2015, said: “I was scared because I didn’t find out until late on in my pregnancy that there was anything wrong.

“Miss B restored my faith in this system. She had made me think they do an amazing job.”

Surgeons from Great Ormond Street Hospital, King’s College Hospital, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield Children’s Hospitals will present on topics including paediatric obesity in childhood, diagnosing problems in pregnancy and congenital conditions at the full-day conference in the trust’s medical lecture theatre on Friday.

NHS staff who underwent paediatric surgery as children, retired surgeons, an anaesthetist and families of child patients will also share their experiences of Hull.

Ms Besarovic  said: “We are holding this event to mark 40 years of paediatric surgery in Hull and 2017, with Hull’s year as City of Culture, seemed like a good occasion to celebrate what we have achieved.

“We have speakers who are well-known nationally and internationally who are coming to the city and most of them have spent time in Hull, either as senior house officers, locum consultants or consultants.

“It is great that they have accepted our invitation to return to the city to talk about their work.”

The Royal College of Surgeons has accredited the event with six “continuing professional development” points for doctors attending in recognition of the level of expertise present.

Colin Vize, medical director for family and women’s health at the trust, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the outstanding work our staff have achieved since we began to offer families paediatric surgery in 1977.

“So many lives have been changed in those 40 years thanks to the skill and dedication of our staff and this prestigious event, attracting some of the most important experts in the field, shines a spotlight on the essential work of this department.”

School students are watching mock operations, testing surgical skills and watching a patient recovered from a motorbike crash at a special event in Hull today.

Year 8 students from Withernsea High, Headlands School in Bridlington and South Hunsley were invited to attend “A Day in the Life of the NHS” to learn about the wide variety of health careers on offer.

Six different scenarios from caring for a patient hurt in the traffic accident to watching a patient undergo surgery in a mock operating theatre are being held at the clinical skills department at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Students from Sirius North, Sirius West and Archbishop Sentamu academies in Hull will take part in a similar event on Friday.

Simon Nearney, Director of Workforce at the trust, said:  “This is a great event enabling us to reach young people with a passion for health care.

“Whether they’re interested in direct patient care or supporting healthcare staff in other ways, the NHS has career pathways for everyone, not just those with academic qualifications.

“Our trust alone employs more than 8,500 people in over 320 different roles including apprenticeships and all of these posts require different levels of experience and qualification so there really is something for everyone.

“What’s important to us is that we attract, recruit and develop the right people to look after our growing population, and in return, the NHS can offer very successful and rewarding careers.”

Physics teacher Will Annison accompanied the Year 8 students from Headlands School and welcomed the opportunity to watch classroom learning put into practice during the day-long event.

He said: “We have set up our own health academy this year and we’re looking to get these guys enthused about careers in the NHS and fired up and excited about the possibilities.

“An event like this lets them see the opportunities available and the application of their learning is fantastic, especially in this environment.”

Chloe Middleton, 13, had come with her classmates from Withernsea School.

“I want to be a nurse because I like helping people,” she said. “I just want to see what it would really be like.”

A porter has won a prestigious award from a radio station after coming to the rescue of a patient in agony.

Martyn Morris scooped top prize for Best Customer Service in the Viking FM awards for helping a patient rushed to Hull Royal Infirmary.

The patient was suffering post-operative complications and his partner drove him to Hull Royal after learning they faced a 90-minute wait for an ambulance because of pressure on the service.

As they arrived outside the tower block, shift supervisor Martyn, 57, was alerted by help desk staff at Castle Hill who told him the patient needed a wheelchair.

“It was obvious the man was in a great deal of pain and he was doubled over in the wheelchair,” he said.

Arranging for the woman to park their car, he took the couple to the minors department and stayed with them while they checked in through the automated system.

However, he was so concerned by the patient’s condition that he spoke to staff in “majors”, the area treating the most seriously ill and injured patients, to ask for the man to be seen there.

The patient’s partner said: “It meant the absolute world to us that someone would not only be there with us but would care enough to not just leave us to wait our turn in the huge queue of people in a Friday night A&E.

“I know we would have been triaged but every second felt like an hour as my partner was in so much pain. Martyn took us through to majors and explained to the staff.

“My partner was seen quickly, given strong pain relief and was able to lie down. Martyn cared enough to find us after a while and pop his head in asking how he was doing.

“You can’t teach somebody to care that much, he’s just a natural.

“He is such a credit to the porter service. He’s one of life’s diamonds and I’ll never forget Martyn or his kindness that night.”

Martyn had already won a Moment of Magic award from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Trust after a patient’s partner contacted chief executive Chris Long to praise Martyn for the help he gave them.

A porter for 17 years, Martyn said he was surprised to receive, first the nomination, and then win the award at the Viking FM ceremony last week.

“We see patients on the wards and take them all over the place but it’s very rare that we receive feedback in the same way as the nursing staff do,” he said.

“I think, in all the years I’ve worked here, we’ve received two thank you cards so this meant a lot, not just to me but to the whole department.”

David May, the trust’s portering and postal services manager, said: “Portering is all about customer service and to receive an award in this category against other talented nominations in the local area is great news we should all be proud of.

“It also acknowledges the high standard of care, reassurance and dignity all trust staff provide to our patients and their families during their time in our hospitals.

“Well done, Martyn.”

A consultant who cared for Hull and East Yorkshire’s sick and premature babies for a quarter of a century has retired.

Dr Peter Pairaudeau, a consultant neonatologist, has just retired from Hull Women and Children’s Hospital after dedicating his career to helping seriously ill new-borns, babies and children.

Joining what was to become Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 1992, Dr Pairaudeau continued to develop the city’s neonatal service, carrying on the work of Dr Mike Lewins with whom he worked at Hedon Road Maternity Hospital.

Consultant Dr Chris Wood, the trust’s paediatric clinical director, said: “He is an extremely caring man and a very skilled and thoughtful clinician who was able to give great care and support to babies in the neonatal service and to his paediatric patients.

“There are many families whose children have survived thanks to the dedication and skill of Dr Pairaudeau.”

Closely involved in the planning and design of the new neonatal unit at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital which opened in 2003, Dr Pairaudeau helped to ensure the unit’s proximity to the labour delivery ward to provide new-born babies with immediate access to life-saving treatment.

He worked with colleagues to provide the most up-to-date and modern clinical environment, equipment and techniques to care for sick babies.

He supported consultant neonatologists Katherine Green and Joanna Preece, clinical lead, in the introduction to Hull of therapeutic hypothermia or “cooling” around 2009, where the temperatures of babies born after perinatal asphyxia are reduced.

Studies have shown the treatment can significantly reduce a baby’s chance of severe brain injury if treatment begins very soon after birth.

Dr Pairaudeau also supported consultant Hilary Klonin in the introduction of nitric oxide therapy and high frequency ventilation, used to treat premature babies with respiratory failure, shortly after maternity services moved from Hedon Road.

In 2016, Dr Pairaudeau was shortlisted for the outstanding clinical individual award in the trust’s Golden Hearts celebrations.

Nominated by his team, the citation read: “Peter has always shown himself to be an extremely dedicated and caring individual not only to his patients, who always come first, but to his colleagues as well.

“Peter is one of the most well-read and educated clinicians in the health group, if not the trust, always on the lookout for the latest development, the next guideline, the next study – all with the aim of improving the care provided  at HEY.

“He continues to champion children’s services and is always willing to push boundaries to develop services to ensure the provision of a high quality and safe service.”

On Dr Pairaudeau’s final afternoon, staff on the neonatal unit threw him a party, decorating the room with pink and blue balloons, streamers and butterflies to remember all the babies he had helped to treat.

Dr Wood said that Dr Pairaudeau will retain some contact with the service, holding regular outpatient clinics to support the handover of a service for the treatment of haemangiomas, or ‘strawberry’ birth marks, which he had introduced as another innovation to implement new treatments for this condition.

“His experience, knowledge and advice over the years have been invaluable to us and his retirement is a big loss to the neonatal unit,” he said.

“However, his legacy is this building and the work which goes on here.”

A couple who have donated more than £150,000 to a hospital neurosurgery department in memory of their daughter have pledged to continue fundraising.

Ruth and Tony Knowles have donated £6,800 to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, bringing their fundraising total to £153,000 in the 19 years since daughter Emma-Jayne died.

At a presentation attended by neurosurgery staff, trust chairman Terry Moran and trust chief medical officer Kevin Phillips, Mrs Knowles said she and husband Tony would never give up trying to help the trust, which runs Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.

She said: “As long as I can draw breath, we will carry on.”

The couple began fundraising for the trust after Emma-Jayne died of an inoperable brain tumour in 1998.

Emma-Jayne was working as a post woman for the Royal Mail when she started experiencing double vision and cold hands. She went to her GP and an MRI scan revealed she had a brain tumour.

She was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary in April 1998 under the care of consultant Kevin Morris and was found to have a rare brain tumour affecting just one in 1.5m people.

With the tumour too deep in Emma-Jayne’s brain for surgeons to operate, she received 35 radiotherapy sessions but died in December 1998, six days before Christmas and two weeks before her 23rd birthday.

Her parents asked for donations instead of flowers at Emma-Jayne’s funeral and raised £1,100, donating half to the GP surgery and half to Hull Royal Infirmary’s neurosurgery department.

When they attended Hull Royal to hand over their first cheque, Mr Morris told them he was attempting to raise £12,000 for a spinal turning bed.

Determined to achieve something good in their daughter’s memory, the couple embarked on a fundraising challenge, raising the money for the bed through a series of charitable events including a popular annual bikeathon event.

However, they decided to keep on raising money for the hospital and, 19 years after their daughter’s death, they have raised enough money to pay for dozens of pieces of vital equipment.

Mrs Knowles said: “When Emma-Jayne was brought here, everyone was fantastic and we wanted to say thank you.

“Emma-Jayne didn’t like any fuss so she would have killed us for all this. But I think she would have been proud of us.

“There are so many youngsters now with cancer and everything else. If we can give something back, it helps.

“It won’t bring Emma-Jayne back but it helps. As long as I can, I will keep on going.”

The couple, of Sutton-on-Sea in Lincolnshire, were awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours List in 2014 in recognition of their fundraising efforts.

Presenting the couple with a bouquet when they visited Ward 40, and neurosurgeon Chittoor Rajaraman said: “They have raised a phenomenal amount of money for us over the last 19 years and we’re very grateful for all they have done.

“It encourages us and gives staff such a morale boost when people take the time to thank us like this.

“It is amazing to see the incredible amount of effort they have put in and we are so glad they have received the Queen’s recognition for the work they have done.”

A mum with cystic fibrosis says her battle against chronic lung infections has become harder because of antibiotic resistance.

Laura Harmer, 31, has physiotherapy every day and nebuliser treatment regularly to prevent life-threatening infections.

However, when she develops an infection, there are now only two forms of potentially life-saving antibiotics Laura can be prescribed because of growing resistance to antibiotics.

Today, at the start of World Antibiotics Awareness Week, Laura is supporting Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s appeal to people to only use antibiotics when they are really needed.

Laura, who lives with her husband Phil and nine-year-old son Joe in Brough, said: “There are only two drugs I can take intravenously now that make a difference and even one of those doesn’t work as well as it used to.

“It’s worrying and really scary. It does frighten me to think what if there comes a day when the only drugs they can offer me stop working too? What will happen to me then?”

Patients are urged to use antibiotics wisely

Public Health England has launched its Keep Antibiotics Working national campaign to halve inappropriate prescription of antibiotics by 2020.

Overuse and misuse is creating resistant strains of bacteria against which none of the current antibiotics work.

Unless the problem is addressed, antibiotics could stop working, meaning people could die from common bacterial infections, during chemotherapy for cancer and after childbirth, and from infected wounds or conditions like pneumonia.

Dr Gavin Barlow, consultant physician at the Department of Infection, has seen the problem of antibiotic resistance worsen since arriving at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 2004.

Around 10 per cent of the 450 cases of E.coli, the most common bloodstream infection seen at the trust each year, are now showing a relatively high level of resistance to antibiotics.

About one in five are resistant to three or more of the most commonly used antibiotics, making patients more difficult to treat.

This forces doctors to rely on broader spectrum antibiotics, which pours further fuel on the drug resistance fire.

Dr Barlow, antimicrobial stewardship officer for the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, said: “Countries like Greece, Italy, the US and India are already seeing untreatable infections and don’t have antibiotics active against them.

“Doctors there have to concoct combinations of antibiotics in the hope that they will work even though the bacteria are resistant in the laboratory.

“We already have a problem with antimicrobial resistance in the UK, and in Hull, but it’s not yet as bad as some other places.”

He said the majority of cases of highly antimicrobial resistant infections in Hull usually involve patients who have been abroad and have returned to the city or are in those who have to take a lot of antibiotics because of underlying illness, such as in cystic fibrosis.

“Many of the very resistant infections I see are imported, perhaps involving someone who had travelled abroad, been injured, taken ill or received healthcare, and has come home, bringing a resistant organism with them.” he said.

“We’re seeing moderate level resistance fairly frequently now and this emphasises the importance of only taking antibiotics when they are really needed.”

Restricting antibiotics for serious bacterial infections means people like Laura Harmer will be spared the worry of wondering if treatment will work.

More than 10,000 people in the UK have cystic fibrosis and one in 25 carry the faulty gene responsible for the genetic condition. People with the condition experience a build-up of thick mucus in the lungs, digestive system and other organs, causing chronic infections.

The bacteria that cause Laura’s infections have become resistant to many types of antibiotics, forcing her to rely on just two when she develops infection.

She said: “I’ve developed head-to-toe rashes and become very unwell almost straight away because of bad reactions to IV antibiotics and my options are very limited now.

“My son has only had antibiotics twice in his life because my family see it from my perspective.

“But I’m not sure people realise just how serious this situation is becoming and it’s frustrating.

“I’d just ask people to think of people like me and not use or expect antibiotics from the doctor unless they are really needed.”

Hull Royal Infirmary’s emergency department sees spike in attendances

A plastic surgeon is warning people of the dangers of life-changing injuries caused by fireworks and sparklers.

James Haeney sees devastating injuries around Bonfire Night as part of his role as consultant plastic surgeon at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

In the UK, last year, fireworks and sparklers were responsible for around 990 injuries, with 494 children hurt and 479 people needing to be admitted to hospital.

Hull Royal Infirmary’s emergency department and plastic surgery team are able to treat most of the injured although people with severe burns are transferred to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield or Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

Mr Haeney and his team have treated numerous patients who have suffered hand injuries including multiple finger losses and blast injuries caused by fireworks over the years.

He said: “Most of the injuries we see are people who were having fun in their gardens or children and young men who have been messing about with fireworks and get injured. We see very few injuries from organised displays.”

“But these injuries, especially to hands, can be devastating. I’ve seen patients with multiple missing fingers and complex nerve injuries, tendon injuries and fractures meaning the hand will never work normally again.

“These aren’t common injuries but we do see them.”

Mr Haeney has helped people suffering burns when picking up sparklers, which have just gone out after burning at the same ferocious heat as a welding torch.

He has also treated people who have been standing too close to fireworks when they go off.

“Over the years, I’ve seen some really nasty injuries caused by people messing about with fireworks and setting them off too close to where people are,” he said.

“We’ve had blast-type injuries caused when fireworks are set off as people are holding them and some of them have caused life-changing injuries.”

“The ED will see, treat and discharge the majority of minor injuries but a small number of those in need of significant acute care will be transferred directly to the plastic surgery team or directly to the burns units if required.”

Emergency department consultant Chris Srinivasan said frontline staff see around 30 firework-related injuries around this time of year.

He said: “We see a lot of burns, with burns to the hand very common and the loss of fingers. But it’s important to recognise these burns aren’t superficial like you would get from a hot kettle.

“They can involve skin grafts and burns which require intervention from our plastic surgery team and staff at burns units in other parts of the country.”

He appealed to people to behave responsibly around fireworks if they are holding Bonfire Night parties this weekend.

“We don’t want to spoil people’s fun and there’s nothing wrong with having a drink and a laugh at a party,” Dr Srinivasan said.

“But we’d just ask people to be responsible around fireworks and bonfires so they don’t end up with an unplanned visit to the emergency department.”