Please provide the number of lifts in the Trust.

The number of lifts in the Trust is:

Birmingham Heartlands Hospital – 38 Lifts

Good Hope Hospital – 19 Lifts

Solihull Hospital – 6 Lifts & 1 document elevator

Birmingham Chest Clinic – 2 Lifts

Would you be able to provide the following information in electronic format please (spreadsheet attached FOI 4825):

1. The type of neonatal unit you have (NICU, Local Neonatal Unit or SCBU). If you have more than one site, please provide the highest level.
2. The region your hospital is in
3. Activity (in bed days) for the following Healthcare Resource Groups (HRGs):
4. XA01Z
5. XA02Z
6. XA03Z
7. XA05Z
8. Your 2015/16 and 2016/17 Tariff for the above HRGs. Please provide your full tariff including any MFF enhancements.
9. Current neonatal nursing vacancy rate (% of expected) at
10. Band 5
11. Band 6
12. Band 7

How many non-EU nationals treated in your NHS trust during each of the last four years were “chargeable” patients – ie those who should not have been receiving NHS care for free? Please give figures for each year

. 1^st April 2012 to 31^st March 2013 – 150

1^st April 2013 to 31^st March 2014 – 175

1^st April 2014 to 31^st March 2015 – 149

1^st April 2015 – 31^st March 2016 – 181

How much money has the trust recovered in charges from patients who were not eligible for free NHS care? Please give figures for each year

. 1^st April 2012 to 31^st March 2013 – £126k

1^st April 2013 to 31^st March 2014 – £100k

1^st April 2014 to 31^st March 2015 – £102k

1^st April 2015 – 31^st March 2016 – £173k

How much money has the trust NOT been able to recover in charges from patients who were not eligible for free NHS care? Please give figures for each year

. 1^st April 2012 to 31^st March 2013 – £89k

1^st April 2013 to 31^st March 2014 – £56k

1^st April 2014 to 31^st March 2015 – £56k

1^st April 2015 – 31^st March 2016 – £103k

Which departments were most frequently used by non-EU overseas patients (eg maternity/gynaecology)?

Maternity, Cardiology & Elderly Medicine

1. Please state the five longest delays (in days) which patients who were ready for discharge, have had before they were able to leave the hospital during the period 1st April 2014 to 31st September 2016.

i)             The five longest waits in days that patients ready for discharge had had as of this date.
ii)            For each of these waits, please state the age of the person concerned and the reason for their admission.
iii)          For each of these waits, please state the reason for the delay.

2. Please state how many patients, who were ready for discharge, had to wait 28 days or more to leave the hospital.

Please break these figures down by the cause of the delay.

3.  On the day of the 28th September 2016, please state:

i)             The five longest waits in days that patients ready for discharge had had as of this date.
ii)            For each of these waits, please state the age of the person concerned and the reason for their admission.
iii)          For each of these waits, please state the reason for the delay.

Please see attached document for responses to questions 1-3 FOI4786

4)      Please state how much your trust spent on delayed discharges in each of the following financial years.

i)                    2011/12

ii)                  2012/13

iii)                2013/14

iv)                2014/15

v)                  2015/16

vi)                2016/17 to date.

We do not hold this information as exact costings would depend on the treatment/ needs of the individual patient.  However we can tell you that a very general figure is used across the NHS of £250.00 per occupied bed per day.

5. i)          Have you had to open extra transitional, reablement or similar beds to meet the additional demand caused by delayed discharges?  Could we class the flex wards being open as partly because of the number of beds not available due to delayed transfers of care or due to medically fit patients waiting for their discharge plan to be confirmed?
No.

ii)           If yes, please state how many beds and the cost of providing these.
Not applicable.

Number of nursing shifts requested and unfilled for 2015/16 by month. Please see attached document FOI4789.

For the second year running the Solihull Community Diabetes Team is celebrating after being commended at a leading national industry awards ceremony.

The team, part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, was recognised as having an ‘X-PERT’ Diabetes Patient Course by health education charity X-PERT Health at its annual awards ceremony at The Midlands Hotel in Manchester.

Paula Gallon, community diabetes dietitian, said: “If you find yourself confused or uncertain about the best way to manage your Type 2 diabetes, I cannot recommend this course highly enough. It is friendly and relaxed, giving participants a chance to learn how they can manage their diabetes, swap information and meet and chat with others in the same situation.”

The course has received some excellent recent feedback from its participants. Comments recorded include:

“I would not know what to do about managing diabetes if it was not for this course.”

“I thought the course was put across in a friendly informative manner and the many aspects of diabetes management were explained well.”

“I learned an awful lot and came away feeling really positive and happier.”

The six weekly sessions are held on Tuesdays and there are sessions in the morning, afternoon and evening through the year across Solihull Borough. Participants are welcome to bring a relative or friend with them and the course is free to attend.

Anyone with Type 2 diabetes and has a Solihull GP can book themselves onto the course. However, anyone taking Insulin should talk to their GP about being referred to the team’s Insulin X-PERT course.

For information about the courses, or to book, telephone the Solihull Community Diabetes Team on 0121 770 4432.

1. What software do you use for FOI requests?  Excel
2. What are the modules it provides e.g. run reports etc. No specific modules but it can run reports
3. Who is the contractor (company name)? Developed in-house
4. How long have you been using the software? Since June 2016
5. What is the annual cost? Not applicable (in-house)
6. How many FOI requests did you process (2015/16)? 588
7. How many staff processes your organisational FOIs? One
8. Please provide the information governance service structure Please see attached. FOI 4785

Solihull Hospital is continuing its journey to having a full Urgent Care Centre on site as it welcomes two new services.

From Saturday 29 October both an Urgent Primary Care service and a Booked Primary Care service will be available on site, as the temporary building for the Solihull Walk-in Centre at the Lode Lane entrance closes its doors and services from that building cease.

Staff from the Walk-in Centre have transferred across to be a part of the new services, run by Birmingham and District General Practitioner Emergency Room group (Badger), and were welcomed by the Trust’s Minor Injuries Unit staff with a special meet and greet coffee morning.

The Urgent Primary Care service will provide an urgent ‘see and treat’ service for patients with minor illnesses. This service will be for patients without a prior booked appointment. Patients will need to report to the Urgent Primary Care reception located next to the existing Minor Injuries Unit reception.

The Booked Primary Care service will be for patients who have had an appointment booked for them, either via 111, their GP out-of-hours service or in some instances at the Urgent Primary Care service. For those patients who have been referred by 111 or their GP out-of-hours service, they will access this reception area from the north entrance of Solihull Hospital, opposite the visitor car park.

Signage will be in place around the hospital and grounds to direct people to the new locations.

The green bag scheme was introduced regionally to encourage patients to bring their medicines with them when they come into hospital is now going to be rolled out to local GPs. Issued by the Trust’s emergency departments and admission areas and by the West Midlands Ambulance Service since April of this year, the bags stay with patients in the care setting and at discharge.

By patients bringing in the easily identifiable bags, this helps hospital staff to gain an accurate picture of what medicines they are taking and helps them to review that medication as part of their overall treatment. It also reduces the need to re-prescribe a medicine – reducing the potential for wastage.

Joanne Lees, pharmacy operational site lead for Heart of England, said: “The increase in proportion of patients bringing in their own medicines, particularly in the ambulance cohort, since the introduction of the green medicines bags scheme is very encouraging, with audits showing an increase in patients bringing in their own medicines by 22%. The results show that patients coming in by themselves are much less likely to bring in their own medicines than if brought in by ambulance and so the bags will now also be available at GP practices across the West Midlands.”

If you require any further information about the green bag scheme, please contact joanne.lees@heartofengland.nhs.uk

A popular member of staff has bid a fond farewell to the Birmingham hospital where he has worked for 36 years and where he met his future wife.

Colin Dyer has worked in a variety of roles in his time at Heartlands Hospital, part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, from his beginnings working in Medical Records as a records porter to his role for the last 13 years as an information systems analyst in the IT department.

The 55-year-old has seen plenty of changes in his time and had many memorable moments, but none more so than when romance blossomed at a water cooler when he was introduced to his now wife of almost 10 years, Kathy.

Colin said: “We both worked in IT when we met, Kathy as an IT trainer. I hadn’t met her before but soon began flirting. I had to do a presentation and I asked her for some help and then I asked her for a meal. It went from there and three years later we were married.

“It turned out that we had actually lived down the road from each other in Stechford for years and had actually gone to the same junior and senior schools without realising.”

While Colin begins his retirement, Kathy will be continuing her current role as the renal dialysis coordinator at the Trust but she said she will make sure her husband has a long list of chores to keep him busy.

Colin added: “I am looking forward to what lies ahead and the list of work my wife has planned for around the house and in the garden. I am also going to be learning Spanish.

“It’s difficult saying goodbye to friends and colleagues who have made my job at Heartlands so very enjoyable over the past 36 years. I would like to thank them for their friendship, help and support over the years. I have shared some great experiences and had plenty of fun along the way.

“It has been a real pleasure and I am taking away many great memories of the time I have shared here.”

Colin’s last working day will be on Friday 28 October.