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An “amazing” nurse is the third generation of her family to work in healthcare – and has even brought her mum to tears with her caring nature. Daughter Christina Layton, 27, is a Senior Sister and Manager of Fairoak Ward at Cannock Chase Hospital, part of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT), caring for the rehabilitation of both trauma and orthopaedic patients and elderly care and stroke patients. 

Occupational therapists (OTs) recently celebrated ‘World Occupational Therapy Day’. First launched in 2010, the day has become an important date in the OT calendar to promote and celebrate the profession internationally. This year’s theme focused on how OT offers greater opportunity and choice to promote a more open and just society. There were more OT celebrations at the beginning of November – this time for Occupational Therapy Week, which took place from the 7th to the 13th.

Fifteen Midwives have been recruited to work across Dudley, Sandwell and West Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton NHS Trusts following a successful event held to promote the opportunities available in hospitals and community services across the area. The Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) organised yesterday’s session at the Copthorne Hotel in Brierley Hill, to showcase the training and development opportunities available.

Wolves favourite Steve Daley will again be teaming up with urology nurses to warn men of the dangers of prostate cancer at an awareness event at Molineux next week. Nicola Farnell, Urology Clinical Nurse Specialist, and Jenny Akins, Urology Advanced Nurse Practitioner, both from The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, are delivering a presentation next Wednesday, 30 November, from 6pm-7.30pm.

A hospital choir tuned up and cleaned up at its latest event – raising £1,000 for The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Charity. The RWT Singers, which is made up of healthcare workers from The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, was invited to perform at a gala dinner arranged by the Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals (AHCP), which in return agreed to donate its annual charity funds to the choir.

A grateful breast cancer patient has raised more than £3,400 for two wards at New Cross Hospital – with a little help from her friends. Despite being unable to walk just two weeks beforehand, Sunny Mohindra-Payne, 48, climbed The Wrekin – Shropshire’s third highest peak at 1,335 feet (407 metres). And she raised £3,455.11 for The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Charity to thank staff who looked after her on Snowdrop Millennium Chemotherapy Suite in Deanesly Centre, and Durnall Unit.

An “amazing” volunteer who is profoundly deaf has continued to make crocheted keepsake hearts for bereaved families at New Cross Hospital despite ending up there as a patient herself. Grandmother of three Jackie King, 78, has made between 350 and 400 woollen hearts for families grieving loved ones in all colours of the rainbow, continuing knitting from her hospital bed after suffering a fractured left knee.

Wolverhampton’s dedicated NHS teams who support children and adults with a range of needs across all of the city’s communities are being celebrated on National Dental Nurses Day. Dental nurses work alongside the dental practitioners – assisting them in various ways. They prepare the instruments and maintain equipment; they ensure infection control procedures are followed correctly and look after the patients’ records – to name but a few tasks!

A terminally ill patient’s daughter has written a poem of appreciation to “amazing” staff at New Cross Hospital to thank them for her care. Lenna Donaldson, 60, has pancreatic cancer and has recently been on Ward C24 at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. She has now been transferred to Compton Care, a partner of the Trust, to continue her treatment. Lenna’s daughter Esther Donaldson, 42, penned the poem, titled ‘Thanks to Ward C24’, which has been framed and presented to the ward, in recognition of the efforts of staff there.

I’m Dr Brian McKaig and this is my first Chief Medical Officer’s blog. Why am I writing a blog? Well, I want to connect with a wider audience and share important information, not just with the medical teams here at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT), but with the wider workforce and the population we serve. My intention is to focus on topical items within healthcare and how that relates to working at RWT.

Dedicated followers of fashion were wowed by a range of styles for all shapes and sizes in a fundraising fashion show that netted a very smart £821 for The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Charity. The charity staged a winter show following the success of a similar show back in the spring – and organisers were thrilled to double ticket sales this time round with 140 guests attending.

A winter wonderland will be created at New Cross Hospital – complete with some very special guests – thanks to its Charity Christmas Fair and light switch-on event. The festive treat has been lined up between 2pm and 6pm on Wednesday 30 November with Santa Claus already putting WV10 0QP into his sleigh’s sat nav for the big day. Organised by The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Charity, visitors will be treated to a host of seasonal stalls selling everything from bags to candles and perfume and the Trust’s Choir.

Recently the senior nursing teams introduced an idea called #BackToTheFloorFriday across both our organisations, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. We have asked senior nurse leaders to clear their diaries on Fridays to wherever possible to be out and about in clinical areas, visiting, auditing or undertaking a clinical shift and overseeing care and listening and supporting our patients and staff.

Despite nearly losing him at just two days old, the support and care of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s neonatal team meant baby Hunter pulled through and he is now, “a happy and upbeat four-year-old.” Wolverhampton stay-at-home mum Lucy Hand and partner Ryan Doleman, a digger driver, were excited for the birth of their first child, back in 2018, but this excitement was soon overshadowed by fear when she went into premature labour at 26 weeks. 

A popular maternity drop-in support group for pregnant Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women has received a further boost after hosting the launch of the city’s Orange Wolverhampton campaign – with the Mayor’s approval. Launched last month, the Sahara Maternity Support Group – Sahara means ‘support’ in Punjabi, Hindi, Bangladeshi and Pakistani – was launched jointly by The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Positive Participation Mental Health Services to provide weekly sessions on antenatal and postnatal education to pregnant women in that group.

A “rising star” Wolverhampton District Nursing Sister has won a prestigious, historic award after showing effective leadership in her role – proving to be a chip off the old block! Rebecca Steel, 35, who works within planned care adult community based at Wolverhampton Science Park, has won the Nell Phoenix Charitable Arts Fund Award. Nell Phoenix was a patient who received excellent care at the old Royal Hospital in Wolverhampton several decades ago and, in 1968, generously left a sum of money in her will to set up a fund for the nurses of Wolverhampton to enjoy the arts.

One of the most active Mothers’ Unions in the Lichfield diocese has donated more than £500 worth of essential baby items to vulnerable new Wolverhampton mums. The Christian organisation, made up of 19 members and based in Coven, hosted a skittles event to raise money for the Wolverhampton 0-19 Service at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. The cash was specifically for the Partnering Family and Health Inclusion Teams.

A robust ‘boot camp’ style training course has been launched today aimed at retaining district nurses in Wolverhampton. The five-week training programme started at the headquarters of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s community and district nursing service at Wolverhampton Science Park, with 10 recent recruits. Recruits, who have come from different backgrounds, such as healthcare assistants and general nursing, will learn all aspects of district nursing over a full timetable through each week.

After 53 years’ service Nurse Practitioner Susan Davis has retired from New Cross Hospital and is looking forward to a well-deserved rest. Sue, from Wolverhampton, started her career in 1969, aged 16, as a cadet at the Wolverhampton Eye Infirmary. he did her ophthalmic nursing diploma before completing her State Enrolled Nursing (SEN) at New Cross Hospital.

Black Country students were given a fascinating insight into what it would be like to work as an Allied Health Professional (AHP) in the NHS. Around 40 students from schools across Wolverhampton were invited to New Cross Hospital to hear about the different careers they could embark on. They were split into groups and spent 30 minutes with a member of staff from one of 11 specialities which included Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy (OT) and Orthotics.

Midwives and neonatal nurses from NHS Trusts will be showcasing the wide range of maternity career opportunities on offer across the Black Country at a recruitment event later this month. The event has been arranged through the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) for Wednesday 23 November at the Copthorne Hotel in Brierley Hill, near to the Merry Hill Centre.

A Wolverhampton doctor passionate about shaping the future for heart imaging has been voted onto the leadership group of a national charitable society. Dr Sandeep Hothi, Consultant Cardiologist at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT), has been named as a Trustee of the British Society of Echocardiography. Echocardiography (echo) is the most common way of looking at the heart.

Tributes have been paid to a much-loved, dedicated Wolverhampton Clinical Physiologist who died suddenly, with plans to create a lasting memorial to him. Pete Moxon, who managed the Lung Function department at New Cross Hospital, died on 17 October from multi organ failure and septic shock, with a secondary cause being Crohn’s Disease, at Walsall Manor Hospital, surrounded by his close family and friends.

Students from four Wolverhampton schools attended a “This Girl Can” event, to encourage females of all shapes and sizes, with all abilities and from all backgrounds to keep active. Thursday’s event was hosted by connectEd partnership and Wolverhampton PASS. It focused on four themes and featured guest speakers and activities: be active – bowls and Dance Force; be bold – the 0-19 School Nursing Service, Sister2Sister and charity Period Matters; be kind – tai chi be strong – boxfit.

It’s not often you get to visit the place where laws of the country are made and shaped, which I why I want to use my latest blog to tell you about a memorable trip to London I made recently. I was fortunate to be invited to the House of Lords as a guest of Lord Simon Russell, the third Baron Russell of Liverpool and a crossbench peer, who is patron of Cavell Nurses’ Trust. 

“Sore thighs and toes – but definitely worth the pain” – so says a nurse who raised £2,000 by scaling the Three Peaks for charity. Nicki Teruel, Urology Clinical Nurse Specialist at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT), climbed 11,180 feet (3,408 metres, over two miles) scaling Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon to raise money for the British Association of Urology Nurses (BAUN).

The Covid-19 vaccination pop-up clinic has returned to Bilston Market to offer first, second and booster vaccinations to anyone aged 18 and over. It is open today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday, 3 and 4 November) from 9am-3pm, and again on Monday (7 November) and Wednesday to Friday (9-11 November) from 9am–3pm. No appointment is necessary and both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are available.

A renowned security specialist from the USA has praised innovative staff and the technology used to keep people safe at New Cross Hospital. Eric Clay visited the hospital on Monday to learn about the innovative ways the security team works at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT). Mr Clay is the Vice President of Security Services for Memorial Hermann Health System, providing security leadership for 450 security and law enforcement officers at the system’s 17 hospitals and 250 care sites in Houston, USA.

A study supported by The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) has found a connection between poor broadband provision and health outcomes for city residents. This whole local population level observational study is the first to link data on broadband provision with health data at a defined health economy population level. It used data for all residents of the city of Wolverhampton – some 269,785 people.

A schoolboy brain cancer survivor has raised almost £1,200 for the Children’s Ward where he was treated at New Cross Hospital. Alfie Hinks, aged 13 from Bentley Bridge, has now been cancer free for nearly two years, after being diagnosed on September 16, 2019 with a medulloblastoma, or brain tumour. He had been suffering headaches, vomiting, losing weight and losing his balance.