When a person with dementia finds that their mental abilities are declining, they often feel vulnerable and in need of reassurance and support. The people closest to them - including their carers, friends and family - need to do everything they can to help the person to retain their sense of identity and feelings of self-worth.
At UHMBT we aim to deliver care centred around the needs of the person with dementia. It’s important that we involve not only the person themselves, but their families and carers in the assessment, care planning and updates on the care we give.
Find out more about Dementia Care at UHMBT.
The Care Certificate is aimed at Health Care Assistants, Assistant Practitioners, Care Support Workers, and those in a Band 1 to 4 post, giving support to clinical roles in the NHS where there is any direct contact with patients and is designed to be used at the start of your career in healthcare. The Care Certificate forms part of your induction and training at UHMBT and the e-learning will be added to your TMS (Training Management System) account.
Care Certificates are aimed at equipping you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence you need to feel safe and supported at work. Ultimately, it will enable you to provide safe and compassionate patient care.
To be awarded the Care Certificate you must meet all the outcomes and assessment requirements for all 15 standards. You will be assigned an assessor to support you whilst you’re working through it.
Once completed you will receive a certificate to add to your portfolio. The Care Certificate is a national standard and can be transferred with you between different healthcare settings once completed.
The transfusion department offers a service covering the processing, testing and investigation of transfusion samples and supplies blood, blood components and blood products. The Transfusion Practitioner writes policies procedures and guidelines and provides training and guidance surrounding the transfusion process.
The laboratory is manned
- 24/7 at RLI (call extension 53761) and FGH (extension 51276)
- Monday to Friday 8am-5pm at WGH (extension 55284)
The Transfusion Practitioner, Jill Livingstone, is available Monday to Thursday.
The transfusion process is a paper-based system and consists of four competencies:
- Completion of the request form.
- Taking the transfusion sample.
- Collection of blood and blood components.
- Administration of blood and blood components.
To take part in the transfusion process you must complete the required competencies on your TMS account. TMS is our training system which your manager will help set you up with an account as part of your local workplace induction when you start. The training will be aimed at those involved in blood transfusion, most likely in clinical areas.
Your line manager and the Practice Educators, who support Wards/Units with their clinical training, will decide which training is appropriate for your job role.
Advice, help and guidance can be obtained from the transfusion practitioner jill.livingstone@mbht.nhs.uk or from the transfusion laboratory.
More people than ever are living with and beyond cancer. Receiving care that is tailored to a person’s needs can have a significant impact on their experience and quality of life. If you are going to be dealing with cancer patients as part of your new role at UHMB, it is important that you understand the NHS personalised care agenda and expectations. If you are taking up a Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist or Cancer Support Worker role, you should add the CNS and CSW Lesson Plan for Lorenzo to your TMS list to ensure you capture the personalised care activity.
The NHS Long Term Plan for Cancer states that where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including holistic needs assessment (HNA), a personalised care and support plan (PCSP), health and wellbeing information and support, a treatment summary and after treatment, patients will move to a follow-up pathway that suits their needs and ensures they can get rapid access to clinical support.
What is a Holistic Needs Assessment and why is it so important?
A HNA ensures people’s physical, practical, emotional, social needs are met and that resources are targeted to those who need them most and allows for the development of a PCSP.
Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA) - Macmillan Cancer Support
What is a Treatment Summary?
A Treatment Summary provides both the person and their GP with valuable information, including a detailed summary of:-
- Treatment completed
- Potential side effects
- Lifestyle advice
- Signs and symptoms of recurrence
- Information to support Primary Care support
- Who to contact, when and how.
When you start your role at UHMBT, please speak to your Line Manager regarding the process within your Department to complete End of Treatment Summaries within Lorenzo and Somerset Cancer Registry (SCR).
National Reporting
HNA/PCSP and Treatment Summary activity data is submitted to the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset (COSD) and therefore must be recorded accurately on Somerset Cancer Registry.
Health and Wellbeing Information and Support is the provision of information about emotional support, coping with side effects, financial advice, getting back to work and making healthy lifestyle choices. This support will be available before, during and after cancer treatment from a variety of resources, including
- Clinical team
- Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Service
- Local charities
- Support groups
- Local events
We know people who receive the right information have a much better understanding of their cancer as well as the confidence to make informed choices about their treatment and health.
Prehabilitation helps people living with cancer prepare themselves for treatment. It can include areas like physical activity, healthy eating, mental health, reducing alcohol intake and stopping smoking. It can improve general health prior to treatment and increase the likelihood of recovering beyond baseline health following treatment.
Prehabilitation guidance for healthcare professionals - Macmillan Cancer Support
Rehabilitation promotes the benefit from increased physical activity and healthy lifestyle changes after treatment.
Cancer rehabilitation pathways guidance - Macmillan Cancer Support
Cancer Teams
A team of health professionals will work with patients to plan their Cancer treatment - Cancer services roles
What is Personalised Stratified Follow-up (PSFU)/Supported Self Management (SSM)?
Routine, clinical examination type appointments are replaced by a system where patients call us when they have a problem. SSM is about giving the patients control of their follow-up and includes:-
- Cancer Support Worker (CSW) will be the first point of contact.
- Personalised care and support planning is delivered
- Access to Education
- Rapid re-access to their cancer team
- Regular surveillance scans or tests which comply with follow up criteria in line with national guidelines
At UHMB we have introduced SSM for Breast, Colorectal, Prostate, Gynaecology and Skin cancer patients.
National Cancer Patient Experience Survey
The National Cancer Patient Experience survey allows cancer patients to give feedback on the care they have received.
- This feedback is used to understand where care is working well and how NHS cancer services across England can be improved.
- Results from the survey are used by providers to improve the experience of cancer patients at a national, regional, and local level.
- The survey is run by Picker on behalf of NHS England.
- Results can be looked at from national level through to Trust and tumour site specific results and help drive improvements.
Latest results - National Cancer Patient Experience Survey
The Cancer Quality of Life Survey
Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Service
The Macmillan Information and Support Service (MCISS), is a non-clinical service, working in partnership with the Hospital Cancer Teams, providing information and Support to people living in North Lancashire and South Cumbria.
They provide a wide range of literature including information in different formats, languages and ‘easy read’. They can signpost / refer to local and National services, including counselling and complementary therapies.
The MCISS Team can support with applications such as Attendance Allowance and Blue Badges, however, they are also linked with the local Citizen’s Advice Teams and can offer direct referrals to Citizens Advice for financial assessments, work, and employment concerns.
UHMB Cancer Website
The UHMBT cancer webpage contains information for staff and patients about all things cancer. There is a section for each team containing contact details, common leaflets and questions specific to each tumour group.
Working in Partnership
All staff caring for people with a cancer diagnosis have a responsibility to ensure peoples’ holistic needs are assessed.
For further help please contact.
Fiona Macdonald, Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse, Corporate Nursing Team
E-mail: fiona.macdonald@mbht.nhs.uk
Teams: Call me on Teams
Mobile: 07765256674