Welcome to the latest issue of My Download - your regular news roundup. The deadline for contributions is 5pm on a Thursday. If you have anything that needs sharing with colleagues, please don't hesitate to get in touch: dchst.communications@nhs.net.

Please note: Next week's update (23 December) will be our last edition before the festive period. Following this, our next edition will be issued on Monday 6 January, deadline for contributions will be Thursday 2 January.

Huge shout-out to DCHS’ Steve Ward and everyone else involved in this huge pre-Christmas delivery at Walton Hospital, Chesterfield. See what we’ve unwrapped here.

Mental health services: A story published by MSN in the past few days uses our good CQC ratings for learning disability, autism services and older people’s mental health, to write a piece leading with this line: “Every mental health service at Derbyshire Community Health Services is safe, independent ratings show.” Then it goes on to say two-fifths of mental health services nationally aren’t “up to scratch”. Well done everyone involved in these services at DCHS. While we don’t know exactly what prompted this piece to appear now, we are aware that nationally spending on mental health services is currently in the spotlight, and former NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens has spoken out to protect mental health funding.

Tip to combat Trust communications landing in 'Junk' folders: We've recently been made aware that some of our emails are landing in colleague's junk folders. If you or anyone you work with has had this issue, please follow these steps to help retrain the email system into dropping them into your inbox and stop emails from us landing in your junk folder:

Go to junk email
Click on the email you want to receive
Right click to get list of options
Hover over 'Junk', then mark the email as 'not junk'
You will then see a pop up, please make sure you tick the box next to 'Always trust email from dchst.communications@dchs.nhs.uk' then click ok.

Congrats to our latest ROSE and IRIS award winners: This month’s ROSE award winner is Emma Jackson from our Integrated Sexual Health Service. Her winning nomination said: “Emma went above and beyond without even realising it. I could not have asked for a better service, and I could not be more grateful that she was the one who took me through the procedure I was already nervous for.” You can find the full winning nomination here.

Congrats to our two IRIS winners. Declan Doherty from our Buxton Podiatric Surgery Team has been recognised by the Research and Innovation Team “for his outstanding effort and contributions to research in the field of podiatric surgery and care at DCHS. His dedication, innovation, and commitment to advancing healthcare for our patients have made a lasting impact, on our team helping to facilitate research, and the wider podiatric and DCHS community."

Our second IRIS award winner is Helen Wood from our Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Team who has made a real difference in supporting her colleague Jade to return to work after a period of ill health and an operation. “Helen was so generous at offering her time and skills to support Jade's caseload where she could”. Helen has continued to support Jade on her return to work by doing joint visits, checking in with her and giving her lots of encouragement.

You can read both of their full nominations here. Well done to all of this month’s winners!

Get your flu vaccination before Christmas! There’s still chance to get your flu vaccination in time to protect yourself for the festive season. Our final week of clinics for 2024 will be taking place this week – you can either pre-book or just drop-in to a clinic. View the full list of this week’s clinics here. If you work from home, remember you’re entitled to protected time during your working hours to get your flu vaccination. If you would prefer to get your flu vaccination through your local pharmacy, you have until 19 December to book one through the NHS website and if you’re charged for it, you can claim the cost back. Any questions, please email the team at dchst.flu@nhs.net.

Sharps Safety Week quiz winners: Congratulations to the Ripley District Nursing Team who have won this year’s Sharps Safety Week competition! The team have won themselves a £30 M&S voucher for correctly answering all the questions on the sharps safety quiz. Thank you to all the teams who took part in this year’s competition.

Update from the Recruitment Team: The team is currently undergoing training and development, which combined with the upcoming festive period, may cause things to take a little longer than usual. They remain committed to supporting recruitment as swiftly as possible, and normal operations are expected to resume soon. Due to this, your recruitment contact may have changed, and if so, your new recruitment coordinator will reach out shortly to introduce themselves. If you have a query regarding any of the above, please contact Georgina Hanson, interim head of resourcing.

Upcoming governance changes in 2025: Meetings in the DCHS governance structure will use a new cover sheet template and assurance model from January 2025. Information sessions around this are running this week at the following times:

Tuesday 17 December, 3pm - 3.30pm
Thursday 19 December, 2pm - 2.30pm
Friday 20 December, 10am - 10.30am.

Training and information sessions will be delivered quarterly in 2025, and governance drop-in sessions will also run on the first Tuesday of each month, starting on Tuesday 7 January, 10am - 10.30am. If you'd like to join any of the above sessions or require further information, please contact Sara Parkin, corporate governance manager.

Developing Healthcare Talent programme - apply now (closing on Sunday 5 January): This has been designed for healthcare support workers across the UK to develop and enhance their core skills, competencies, and personal and professional growth. It aims to engage participants, strengthen their connection to their organisations, and equip them with proactive, innovative practices.

Participants will gain new skills, a refreshed mindset, and practices that extend benefits to themselves, their peers, and their communities, with long-lasting effects beyond the programme. All sessions will be held virtually on Thursdays from 10am - 11.30am, beginning on Thursday 23 January with the final session on 1 May 2025.

If you’d like to apply, please submit your expression of interest here. Following this, a registration form with Talent for Care will need to be completed. Please note, your manager's permission is required to apply and if oversubscribed, you may be placed in a future cohort. Please contact DCHST.cpdfunding@nhs.net with any queries.

Diagnosis of OsteoMyelitis: INvestigation Optimisation in Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DOMINO-DFU) study - participants needed: Buxton and Whitworth Podiatric Surgery clinics are looking for patients to join the DOMINO-DFU study and are actively recruiting until August 2025. If you have any patients that you think would be suitable for the study, please click here for more information on the entry criteria and how to refer.

Research and Innovation - December 2024 newsletter: Read the latest newsletter from our Research and Innovation Team here.

New Research and Innovation forum launching this week: The Research and Innovation Group (RIG) has been successfully running at DCHS for some time. In the past, its focus has been as a strategy oversight group and then as an assurance group. Over the last few months, the group has been paused to allow consideration of what it needs to become to evolve and represent our ambition for research within DCHS. RIG is now relaunching with a new format, feel and hopefully leaving a new impression. We want RIG to be:

A place for all with an interest in research to come together
To share the research that is happening across DCHS
To educate and learn from each other
To share and develop our future ambition for DCHS research
To celebrate the success of colleagues across DCHS.

The next RIG forum will take place virtually this Thursday (19 December), from 1pm - 2.30pm. No need to book, just turn up. Take a look at the attached poster for more details and the link to join the meeting.

Clinical apprenticeships - closing date Friday 28 February 2025: If you wish to apply for one of the below apprenticeships due to start in Autumn 2025, the closing date for applications is Friday 28 February 2025:

Trainee assistant practitioner
Student nursing associate
Adult - registered nurse degree top-up (18months)
Enhanced clinical practitioner
Advanced clinical practitioner
Podiatrist.

Please note - you can only apply if your manager has confirmed support and you must meet the eligibility criteria. Submit your application here, for more information contact the Wider Workforce team: dchst.apprenticeships@nhs.net.

The ‘what to do if’ documentation used by the community care division has been archived, as it was developed during Covid when access to care homes was limited. These 12 documents are no longer available for distribution and should be removed from use if found in care homes. Nursing and therapy teams now visit care homes regularly to provide individualised care, supported by our clinical teams on triage for patient advice. Documentation referring to these documents will be updated in due course. Please contact Gemma Cooke if you have any further questions.

This week’s leaders' and managers' update spotlights:

Kind vs nice
The impact of incivility in the workplace
Compassionate leadership – for yourself and others.

Take a look at the latest update here. You can book via ESR self-service – search 'people management' to view all available sessions.

DCHS Festive Wellbeing Rescue Package: Our Wellbeing Team has created this boxset of ideas to help you look after yourself over the next few weeks and into 2025. We know the festive season can bring a whole range of stresses and strains. Winter bugs, personal finance and workload pressures in the NHS are all part and parcel of the unwanted seasonal gifts you may be facing. Take a look at our dedicated webpage for more information about looking after yourself and your loved ones.

Looking after your mental wellbeing this Christmas: Christmas and New Year are often associated with excitement and joy. For some, it can be a difficult time that strains us mentally, emotionally, physically and financially. There are many reasons why this time of year can be challenging, and it's ok not to feel joy during the festive period. Whether you celebrate the holiday seasons or not, it is important to look after ourselves. Mental Health UK have put together some top tips on how to look after yourself and others throughout the festive season, take a look at them here.

Salsa taster class and social at Kingsway Hospital on Monday 23 December: Join our weekly salsa lessons from 5pm with a qualified dance teacher. Learn basic salsa steps, body movements and partner work (leading and following techniques). No experience is required. Book your place here.

Update from your Wellbeing Team: Find out what's on offer from your Wellbeing Team in their December update here. If you would like to find out more about the diverse range of wellbeing support available, please visit the JUCD wellbeing website. If you need any further help with your wellbeing, you can contact our Wellbeing Team: dchst.yourwellbeingteam@nhs.net.

Jobs at DCHS: Check out all the latest DCHS vacancies here.

Well done to Amanda Topp, who has recently been awarded her 20 years' long service award. Amanda works as a health visitor in the Bolsover Health Visiting Team and has supported families compassionately from pregnancy all the way through to attending school. She continues to be an advocate for children and an incredible colleague and friend to everyone in her team. Her colleagues in Children’s Services would like to say a massive thank you to Amanda for her years of dedication.

Congratulations to Gary Woodhouse, sexual health practitioner, and Sarah Smith, sexual health promotion business support, on celebrating 20 years of service with the NHS. Thank you both for your long and loyal service to the NHS.

Another well done to Gill Schmidt, from the MSK service in Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire, who has also recently been awarded her 20-year long service award. Gill has been with her team for about 10 years, is a much valued colleague and has worked her way from outpatient physiotherapy to the FCP and MSK service. She has completed lots of training and university study along the way, and has supported many colleagues and thousands of patients in this time, whilst working through many service changes, remaining positive and continuing to work to very high standards! A massive thank you from us and your team Gill.

Mary Driver would like to say a massive thank you to Penny Lincoln for her help and support once again with this year's Love in a Bag Derbyshire donations - the collection through Whitworth Hospital has been fantastic. A second thank you goes to all the wonderful DCHS staff (and the lovely lady who knits teddies for the UTC) who kindly donated bags and items this year. The bags will be going out to P3 homelessness service, Derbyshire WISH, and Crossroads Derbyshire (both domestic abuse charities) again this year, and will be very much appreciated.

Finally, we'd like to say thank you to everyone that attended one of our People Promise Roadshows that were held in Derby, Buxton, Ilkeston and North Wingfield. It was great to see so many colleagues join us and have their say! We want to continue to build on our culture to be positive, compassionate, and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.

A big thank you to Unison for sponsoring all four events, we also had some raffle prizes kindly donated by three local organisations:

Four cricket tickets (donated by Derbyshire County Cricket Club), won by Hazel Lea
Deluxe hamper (donated by Heatherton House Care Home), won by Veneice Sewell
Signed football – (donated by Chesterfield FC), won by Mark Armstrong.

Congratulations to the winners, a member of the EDI team will be in contact to arrange delivery of the prizes.

Huge congratulations to one of our new Queen's Nurses, Judith Westhead! Judith said: "I started my nurse training 50 years ago and soon became interested in public health issues, qualifying as a health visitor in 1980. I have worked in a variety of settings in management roles including the prison service. I retired from a senior management role 10 years ago and returned to practice. I retired again in 2020 and since then I have worked as a bank HV. Since retiring I have studied Spanish at A level and passed with an A star at GCSE level seven years ago which is handy for holidays!" Well done, Judith, we are very proud of you.

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