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The fortnightly bulletin is now being shared every other Thursday. If you’d like to share any items or news, please send them into us at communications@manchesterlco.org.
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  Get your tickets for Freedom to Lead - booking open now!
Blog post by Katy Calvin-Thomas, LCO chief executive
Hello everyone - I hope you're well. I’m delighted that today we’re releasing tickets for our latest LCO Freedom to Lead event – our annual staff conference for staff from right across the LCOs. This year’s event will see us return to the British Muslim Heritage Centre in Whalley Range on Thursday 11 May.
If you’ve been to Freedom to Lead before you will know it’s a chance for staff from across Manchester and Trafford in health and social care to get together, connect and learn from each other on key topics and hear about the plans for the LCO for the coming year. There’s lots of best practice, lots of ideas generated and most importantly a chance to hear from you about the work you are doing and what else you’d like to see.
This year our theme is #WeAreCommunity – looking at how we want to take the LCO forward and celebrating what we do in the communities we serve, as a staff community looking after each other and with community partners to improve health and wellbeing across Manchester and Trafford.
We have capacity for around 260 staff on the day so please book your tickets as soon as possible. We want every team to be represented and the event is open to everyone to come along to.
To book just use the below link to visit Eventbrite and add your details. Freedom to Lead is always one of the highlights of the year and the feedback from last year’s event was fantastic so I can’t wait to see as many of you as possible there.
Best wishes, Katy
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In Memoriam - Nicola Howe
It's with great sadness that we write with the news that our friend and colleague Nicola [Nic] Howe, who worked in our Healthy Schools team, passed away on Friday night.
Nic had been unwell with cancer for a while and she was very brave as she fought her illness.
Our thoughts are with Nic’s family at this very sad time.
If you wish to send a card of condolence or contribute to our collection, please contact Sam Shaw, head of the school health service.
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 Important - NEWS2 early warning score system launches across the LCO
The early identification and assessment of deteriorating patients in the community is a national and local priority. Having a standardised tool to give one approach to recording patient observations and escalating concerns is a vital part of this. It can save lives through escalating concerns and giving an early warning around identifying serious or life-threatening conditions.
We’ve been working with NHS England to develop a standardised approach across our community services. We’re now launching the use of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS2) and escalation pathways for our front-line services across Manchester and Trafford. We know from research that NEWS2 is highly effective in identifying deteriorating or at-risk patients.
To find out more, read the below full briefing. This includes details of important training for staff as well as where you access the new policy in relation to our NEWS2.
Nutrition and Hydration Week 2023 is running from Monday 13 to Sunday 19 March. The aims of the week are to highlight, promote, and celebrate improvements in the provision of nutrition and hydration locally, nationally, and globally.
In the LCOs, we want to raise awareness of the importance of nutrition and hydration, which is everyone’s business. It can affect anyone at any stage of their life as circumstances change, but we know from evidence that older adults are more likely to be affected.
Our Community Nutrition Service has put together this article [PDF, 277KB] where you can learn more about the week itself, a summary of the support they can provide and how you can follow them on Twitter. They’ve also designed this brilliant Ask, Look and See practical tips poster [PDF, 635KB] that you can display in your team areas to help you recognise when a patient or someone you’re caring for may not be meeting their nutrition and hydration needs.
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Yesterday was International Women’s Day. It’s celebrated each year on the 8 March as a chance to celebrate and highlight the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and continue to push for equality in all spheres.
This year’s theme was #EmbraceEquity and in this short post written by India Henry, our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) lead she talks a little about what we’re doing in the LCOs to support equity and equal opportunities in particular for women. It’s a great read, so please take some time to have a look. She also mentions how you support and get involved with our EDI action plan.
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For information, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced that the industrial action by junior doctors will run from Monday 13 to Wednesday 15 March. Please see this MFT staff update [PDF, 104KB] that was shared on Tuesday 7 March for more information, including how this will affect services at our Manchester hospitals.
At the end of last month, the Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Trust published a draft of their improvement plan alongside a shorter, easy-read booklet (Building Our Future Together), which summarised their improvement pillars and key priority areas. Over the next six weeks, they’re now asking service users, staff, and stakeholders to share their views on the plan using their online feedback form. The closing date for responses is Friday 31 March 2023.
The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service's new campaign is aiming to awareness of the importance of smoke alarm testing and escape route planning. Over the last three years, the service has seen a decline in the use of smoke alarms by Greater Manchester residents and fewer people testing them. A working smoke alarm can be the first alert for a person or family to a fire and can help provide vital extra seconds to help them escape their home. The service is asking for the help of health and social care professionals around GM to help spread the word that fire alarm testing can help save lives. They’ve advice on their campaign website, which you can use to share with those you’re caring for or supporting, and it also includes details on how people can access a free home fire safety check.
RCN Nursing Awards 2023 now open for entries
Entries are once again open for the annual Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Nursing Awards, with the RCN Nurse of the Year 2023 award up for grabs. The awards invite nurses, students and nursing support workers to share their innovations and expertise and celebrate their contribution to improving care. Entries are open to individuals and teams in 15 categories covering the diversity of nursing. Managers and colleagues can nominate a nurse that they think deserves recognition, or nurses can share their own practice. The awards will be judged by an expert panel chaired by Foundation of Nursing Studies chief executive Joanne Bosanquet. The winners will then be announced at a ceremony in Liverpool on Friday 10 November.
To submit an entry, please visit the RCN website by Friday 28 April.
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To all our colleagues who celebrated the Holi festival on Tuesday 7 March, we hope you had a fantastic time with your friends and family!
Known to many as the festival of colours, people celebrate by smearing bright colours on each other at their events. They also offer prayers and burn a bonfire to symbolically destroy the bad so that the good can triumph. The festival is based on a Hindu legend and represents new beginnings, a time to mend relationships and begin again. If you celebrated, we'd love to see how. Share your story and pictures with us at communications@manchesterlco.org to include in the next edition of Equity First.
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March is National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, dedicated to the 17 million people diagnosed with cerebral palsy around the world.
Colleagues from the MFT Disability Engagement Group have put together some useful information including what is cerebral palsy, its symptoms and where to go to get further information.
Download the Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month presentation [PDF, 609KB].
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 Your most recent nominations
The LCO STARs recognition scheme is our way of saying thank you to one another for simply being a good colleague or doing fantastic work.
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Over the last two weeks, Mary McCarthy, rotational physio and Liz BainBridge, nutrition and dietetics service manager, have received a nomination, and you can read their lovely messages by clicking on the image of the star.
Congratulations to them both!
Please keep on nominating! Your messages really do help to make someone's day. You can send your nominations to us by email or add them straight into the LCO STARs Forum on the extranet.
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 March’s live LCO Team Brief event
 Don’t forget that on Tuesday 21 March from 10:00am to 10:30am we’ll be holding our next LCO Team Brief event. LCO chief executive, Katy Calvin-Thomas, as well as other members of our executive team will be bringing you the latest news and updates from inside and outside the LCOs, plus answering any questions you may have.
All colleagues are welcome to join, and managers are invited directly to each session as an opportunity to share key information back to teams.
To book a place, please use the below Microsoft form. A calendar invitation will then be sent to you.
LCO Research Champion Network opportunity and upcoming lunch and learn session
We’ve recently formed a LCO Research Champion Network, and we're now looking for nurses, allied health care professionals, and adult social care colleagues to join. If you missed the details of this opportunity in our last edition of the bulletin and have an interest in research, then please take a look at the advertisement [PDF, 155KB] as this could be for you!
The network is also inviting you to join them for a Lunch and Learn session on Tuesday 11 April from 12:00noon to 12:40pm via Microsoft Team. During this, they'll be providing top tips on putting together scientific posters. Further details about the session will be shared nearer the time via the bulletin. In the meantime, you're welcome to save the date and add the Teams meeting link to your calendar if you'd like to attend.
Allyship training
 Great news! Due to popular demand, we’ve now increased the number of spaces available for our allyship training sessions. So, if you’re interested in becoming an ally and have yet to book, then please use the below Eventbrite links for your preferred session to book a place:
All places must be booked at the latest by Monday 13 March. For full details on our allyship training, see this handout [PDF, 221KB].
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All annual leave entitlement for 2021–2022 should be taken by Friday 31 March. Therefore, you're encouraged to check your remaining balance to see what hours you may have outstanding. Where you do have remaining hours and it's not possible to take them, please ensure you discuss this with your manager as soon as possible. For full details on annual leave entitlement and carry over, see your employing organisation's staff intranet.
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 Become an LCO Mental Health First Aider
 We’ve organised two training sessions on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 29 March for staff interested in becoming Mental Health First Aiders. We want to ensure that right across the LCO family, we've got a diverse pool of listeners to act as a friendly point of call for when someone is in need. As a result, if you consider yourself to be a good listener, or if you are the person on your team who people turn to when they are upset, or someone who just wants to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, this could be an opportunity for you!
Joe Wicks, aka the Body Coach, is offering three months of free access to his Body Coach app for NHS staff. Through this, you’ll get tips on how to kick-start your fitness and improve your health and wellbeing.
Sleep is integral to our wellbeing and on the lead up to World Sleep Day, the MFT Employee Health and Wellbeing team are offering sleep and mental health awareness sessions. The sessions will help you understand more about sleep, the role it plays in your overall wellbeing and tips on how to improve it.
The first session will be held on Friday 17 March from 10:00am to 11.30am. To register your interest, email: EHW.MHFA@mft.nhs.uk
Rewards and benefits coffee catch-up information sessions
During March, the MFT Rewards and Benefits Hub will be hosting online coffee catch-up information sessions where you can drop in to find out more about the staff discounts and offers that are available to you. There are numerous incentives available, including car lease schemes, travel discounts, and much more. These sessions have been designed for LCO colleagues only, and for further information, including the dates and times, please see the below promotional poster. Please also share the details of the sessions among your teams and display a copy of the poster within your team areas. |
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