Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

We're supporting NHS Blood Donation this winter. Book an appointment today at https://orlo.uk/hrBcd and give the gift of life. You can save up to 3 lives in 1 hour #GiveBlood.

Todays #ThankYouThursday is for our elective surgery team in Denton Ward!

Congratulations to our Breast Screening Promotion Team who’ve won an award for Quality Improvement in Equality, Diversity and Belonging. The team which is comprised of radiographers, associate practitioners, breast care nurses, and admin and clerical staff were presented with the award at the Norfolk and Waveney Allied Health Professions conference last month. They were the only team from NNUH to win an award and were praised for their dedication and commitment to reaching more patients to promote the service. The team regularly attends community events such a WI groups, attends Norwich PRIDE, finds new community contacts and posts monthly ‘check your chest’ reminders on their Facebook page. Team members volunteer in their own time because they passionately believe in promoting how important breast screening it is. Becky Bond, Deputy Breast Imaging Manager, said: “I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who gives up their own time to attend community events; reaches out to seek new areas we can promote in; to everyone who speaks so passionately to the general public and screening clients on a day to day basis about our wonderful service and being breast aware. It’s lovely to have the recognition for the hard work we have been doing to reach more people and encourage them to attend their screening appointments.” An ICB executive is due to visit the department to find out more about the team’s inequalities work.

Our annual Staff Awards were celebrated at Norwich City Football Club on Thursday 21 November. More than 300 staff and volunteers attended to recognise the individuals and teams who have consistently gone the extra mile to support patients, families and colleagues. We also celebrated those who have given 25 years and 40 years’ service to our hospitals. “I want to sincerely thank everyone who was nominated for their hard work and all the winners for their outstanding achievements – this is what makes our hospitals so special,” said Prof Lesley Dwyer, Chief Executive. The event was supported by N&N Hospitals Charity. The winner of the Patient Choice Award is Gill Gray, Consultant on Mulbarton Ward. A patient with a rare cancer nominated Gill for her exemplary care, treatment and kindness. The patient always felt that Gill cared for her holistically and remembered the important things going on in their home life as well as their care and treatment. The winner of the Patient Choice Team Award is our Endometriosis team. The patient nomination for this team describes their outstanding teamwork, support, and exemplary care during treatment for endometriosis. Their unwavering dedication, compassion, and guidance have made a profound difference in their patients’ lives. Volunteer of the Year Award: Gerald Bradley Gerald is one of many volunteers who provides transport for the patients on the Virtual Ward. Gerald really does go the extra mile to meet the needs of our patients and the ward. He is always friendly, kind and professional and takes his time to chat to our patients. When the volunteer co-ordinator is on leave Gerald steps up to keep the service running. Volunteer Team of the Year Award: Emergency Department Volunteer team Our volunteers play a crucial role in accompanying patients throughout their journey within ED, ensuring they feel supported and reassured every step of the way. The ED volunteers are dedicated to making each patient’s experience is as smooth and comfortable as possible. They are valued and appreciated very much by the department for all their help and assistance they give to patients and the staff. Lifetime Achievement Award This award is reserved for colleagues who have made an outstanding contribution to the Trust during a long NHS career. This was presented to Anna Farrar, Specialist Palliative Care Nurse, Norna Gazmin, Nurse on the Weybourne Day Unit, Bahman Kasmai, Principal Clinical Scientist in Radiology and Nick Levell, Consultant Dermatologist.

Patients, visitors and staff are all welcome to attend an event to mark Grief Awareness Week next Thursday 5 December. Come along to browse stands from charities, support services and local businesses who help support people in Norfolk who are dealing with loss and grief. Enjoy tea and cake at the Grief Cafe supported by our Butterfly Volunteers. With talks from Lorna Vyse, Author and Child Bereavement Specialist, Grief Tendering, Priscilla Bacon Lodge plus discussion on grief in different cultures and therapies to support you in grief. The event is taking place in the Benjamin Gooch Lecture Theatre, East Atrium level 1 from 10am - 3.30pm.

A project held at NNUH to increase breastfeeding in women with diabetes has been shared at the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative conference. Diabetes in Pregnancy Infant Feeding Specialist Lucy Lowe has worked alongside Gemma Partridge, Consultant Obstetrician, on the project, which aims to increase breastfeeding initiation rates for women with diabetes. Research shows that this group of patients are less likely to initiate and sustain breastfeeding. The project involves giving bespoke one-to-one, evidence-based antenatal feeding education and support. This intervention empowers parents to make an informed choice about feeding, enhances their knowledge of responsive parenting, strengthening brain development and relationships, and reducing adverse health outcomes. Breastfeeding is known to have many benefits to mother and baby. Mothers with gestational diabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes postnatally. Breastfeeding for up to six months can lower that risk by 24% and breastfeeding for more than six months can lower it by 47%. The results of the project show that breastfeeding initiation rates in this group of patients at NNUH increased from 68% to 90%. Exclusive or partial breastfeeding rates were also higher on discharge from midwifery, increasing from 60% to 75%. Our Maternity department was awarded full BFI accreditation at the end of 2023. The BFI initiative supports breastfeeding and developing close and loving parent infant relationships so that all babies get the best possible start in life. Trusts which implement the Baby Friendly standards receive the prestigious Baby Friendly award, a nationally recognised mark of quality care. The BFI conference takes place every year with speakers from across the country sharing best practice and innovative projects. On Saturday Lucy shared details of the project with conference delegates including paediatricians, neonatal teams, midwives, lactation consultants and other healthcare professionals. Lucy said: “I’m delighted to share the results of this project that show that personalised infant feeding education helps increase breastfeeding rates for people with diabetes. We’ve shown that it’s a relatively low-cost intervention that could be easily replicated in other groups who could benefit, such as people who are pregnant with twins or triplets, or in people with a high BMI. It’s a great accolade for us to speak at the conference. I hope other Trusts can learn from our work and adopt this approach to help give more babies the best start in life.”

Visit your local pharmacy to find out what help they can provide without the need for a GP appointment #WarmandWell

Have you heard of Post Intensive Care Syndrome? In our latest podcast episode we chat to Critical Care Consultant Dr Deborah Easby and Clinical Lead Physiotherapist Toni Bladdon about the unique challenges that face both patients and their loved ones after a stay on Critical Care. They also talk about the important role that rehab plays on the unit. Listen now on your favourite podcast platform: https://orlo.uk/uzPPu If you've got a topic you'd like us to cover on the podcast, let us know in the comments.

Visit your local pharmacy to find out what help they can provide without the need for a GP appointment #WarmandWell

The Research team have launched their new website to promote patient and public participation and to help clinicians with developing new research projects. The new site includes a section where potential participants can understand what research is, how they can be part of research and learn more about a few of our home-grown research projects. It also promotes our Public Research Champions and other opportunities to get involved with research. Also featured on the website is an area where clinicians and students can find out what to do and who to speak to if they think they have an idea that might be research. This area covers what research approvals you might need, how NNUH sponsor and manage research studies and what to do if you need a research passport. This section of the website also promotes our state-of-the-art facilities for commercial research opportunities and information to support grant applications. The website promotes our NIHR Norfolk Clinical Research Facility (CRF) that is based over at the Quadram Institute where you can find out what facilities are available to researchers. You can also meet the team and find out more information regarding our Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategies. Jenny Longmore, Director of Research Operations, said: “This fantastic new website gives information about research that NNUH carries out, providing information about participating in research and also information for researchers to help with smooth development and running of their research projects. The team have worked really hard to pull together information about research, presenting what sometimes can seem like complex information in straight forward way, so to give insight into NNUH research capabilities, how NNUH collaborates with other organisations and information for people who want to know more and be involved.” Visit the new website Home: https://orlo.uk/kGSfg