Your Hospitals Magazine - Winter 2023

A new, advanced machine that delivers radiotherapy treatment is helping improve cancer care to patients at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

The £1.6million state-of-the-art machine, which is based at Southend Hospital, significantly improves cancer treatment, increasing capacity to treat people more quickly.

The machine is called a linear accelerator, and it uses beams of high energy X-rays or electrons, to give radiation treatments for patients with cancer anywhere in the body. The new machine destroys cancer cells, reducing damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

Nicolai Greet, Head of Radiotherapy, said: “Our new linear accelerator, known as a linac for short, means we can deliver more accurate radiotherapy than ever before, taking less time, meaning that patients receive their treatment sooner and hopefully recover more quickly. 

“The linac means we have the very latest technology to help patients in Mid and South Essex, so we can be more efficient and deliver even more accurate radiotherapy. This will help improve the lives and outcomes of patients who need radiotherapy.”

The machine was bought as part of the Trust’s ongoing replacement and upgrade programme and has been in use since August this year.

Children and their families are receiving better care for sickle cell disease thanks to the efforts of hospitals in mid and south Essex.

The children’s department at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has developed a specialised sickle cell service for young people, while hiring additional staff and educating NHS colleagues about the disease.

Specialised consultants Dr Eva Tsouana and Dr Kilali Ominu-Evbota provide round-the-clock support and have helped to boost public understanding of the disease through interviews and blog articles. This comes amid calls for more blood donors to help those in need.

Nikki Tuffin, Haematology Clinical Nurse Specialist, said: “We have run bitesize training sessions for other staff at our hospitals, to teach them about the symptoms of sickle cell disease, how to identify a crisis, and what medications and treatments are available.”

A transcranial doppler scan, which measures the risk of stroke that is higher in this group of patients, is offered in the local area, meaning families no longer need to travel to London.

A dedicated paediatric sickle cell nurse specialist and an additional community nurse have also been appointed, while children on monthly transfusions now receive these in a day unit, rather than on the open ward as before.

Families have spoken positively about the care that their children have received. Simi Omolabi, 16, from Laindon, has been seen at the hospital’s Penguin Unit for two years.

His mum Victoria said: “The staff here are all very helpful, and Nikki is passionate about the care she gives to patients and families. She’s always looking for new ways of to make us comfortable. There is entertainment for the kids, such as an Xbox, and so they actually enjoy their time here. We used to have to go to Whitechapel when Simi needed treatment, but now we can stay in the local area.”

Dr Maimuna Mushabe, Clinical Director for Paediatrics at the Trust, said: “Our children’s department has developed a world-class sickle cell service, and since 2021 all patients across mid and south Essex are looked after by one team, which joins up their care.

“We treat over 150 patients, and they all have direct access to the paediatric assessment unit. More than three-quarters received analgesia within 30 minutes of arrival to the department, which is above the national average.”

Patients are reaping the rewards after local cardiologists carried out their 500th procedure to treat those suffering from heart problems.

Staff at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre (CTC), based at Basildon Hospital, have been replacing diseased and restricted heart valves for five years for patients who are unable to have conventional open-heart surgery.

The procedure, known as transcatheter aortic implantation (TAVI), helps patients to recover from a thickening of the valve that controls the flow of blood from your heart to the rest of the body.

TAVI involves inserting a new aortic heart valve via a blood vessel in the leg, which is guided towards the beating heart by the cardiologist where they can then replace the diseased valve.

Dr Christopher Cook, one of the cardiologists to carry out the 500^th TAVI procedure, said: “Some of our patients are not able to have conventional open-heart surgery, meaning TAVI is the best option to alleviate their symptoms and, most importantly, enjoy a high quality of life. It can be done under local anaesthetic and does not need a large cut in the chest, allowing them to recover much more quickly and return to normal activity.

“I’m very proud to have been a part of the team at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre who have helped so many people in Essex and the east of England.”

A patient who benfitted from TAVI is Graham Francis, 82, from Bishop's Stortford. At a regular check-up Graham was told that his heart valve was getting worse, and later reported reported occasionally feeling breathless.

Graham said: “I was concerned about my symptoms and quite apprehensive about going into hospital.

“The doctors gave me honest, clear advice, and said that TAVI was my best option. The procedure itself was superb. I immediately felt better and was out of hospital after only three days.

“I’m now walking more, playing golf again, and even planning to visit my son in Spain. My life is back to normal.”

Graham has also offered to help the staff at the Essex CTC by reassuring other patients before they are treated with TAVI.

Patients at Southend Hospital can expect a smoother and more active discharge home thanks to the opening of a new larger area for those preparing to leave.

Known as the Active Home Suite, staff continue to provide care for patients in the ward-like, but activity based setting, as they get them ready to go home or to their next place of care, which also helps free up beds elsewhere in the hospital for new patients coming in.

The area, which is larger than the old discharge lounge, is initially made up of 12 beds – soon to increase to 18 - and 12 comfy chairs, and has separate male and female sections.

One of the first patients to experience the new area is John Gould, from Southend. He said: “Staff have been brilliant and this new area makes a big difference.”

Rebecca Goatley, Ward Manager for the suite, said: “We’ve worked really hard to make the Active Home Suite a welcoming and brighter place for patients as they get ready to leave, with everything from table-top activities, group activities and a special interactive computer tablet to help dementia patients.

“The area is staffed by doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, under the direction of a senior nurse. We also have dedicated pharmacists visiting the suite, helping to speed up that discharge process and get patients their medication as quickly as possible.”

The suite will remain in use throughout winter, supporting the hospital’s work to discharge patients more quickly, which already includes the Southend Enhanced Discharge Service and Bridging Service. 

Hospital volunteers across Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust were recently celebrated for giving over 1,000 years of service and dedication to patients and staff.  

Long service medals were handed out to those that had given their time to helping Broomfield, Braintree, Basildon and Southend hospitals over the years at a series of ‘thank you’ events.

One of those celebrating the longest was Alan Newman, a Basildon Hospital Radio volunteer, who has spent 48 years broadcasting. He joined the year after Basildon Hospital opened in 1973 and received his award and thanks from the Trust’s Acting Chief Executive, Hannah Coffey.

In common with many hospital radio volunteers, Alan, a retired IT consultant from Billericay, continued to provide a service right through Covid, broadcasting from his studio at home. He said: “You hope you are doing something useful – the feedback we get from patients is that we are a friendly voice at a time in their lives where they may be feeling a bit vulnerable.”

Alan was one of around 300 volunteers who were treated to a festive afternoon tea as a small way of saying thank you. The events – held at the Saxon Hall in Southend, the Holiday Inn in Basildon and the Chelmsford City Racecourse – were the first face-to-face events in almost three years.

All three events were attended by hospital bosses, including the Trust’s Chairman Nigel Beverley, Acting Chief Executive Hannah Coffey and Deputy Chairman Alan Tobias.

Alan told Southend Hospital volunteers: “We were last at Saxon Hall on a sunny day in June 2019. Little did we know…but it’s marvellous to see so many familiar faces.”

Celebrating 10 years of volunteering was Davina Randall, from Westcliff, who was one of the first volunteers to help when Southend Hospital opened its first charity shop in Westcliff in 2012.

Davina, who also used to volunteer at the blood clinic at Southend Hospital said of her charity shop role: “I absolutely love it, I love who I work with and I love chatting to people who come in, some of them are very lonely.”

Talking to people and being helpful are the primary motivators for another volunteer, Wilma Smart, from Chelmsford, who celebrated 21 years of volunteering at Broomfield Hospital’s helpdesk in the main outpatients’ area. She helps there every Monday morning and said: “I get a great deal of satisfaction from this,” the grandmother-of-three and retired bank clerk from explains. “It’s lovely to speak to people, even if they are not in the best of spirits.”

Lucy Thomas-Clayton, Director of Fundraising said: “It was lovely to see so many of our volunteers in person after such a long gap and to recognise the huge contribution they make to improving the lives of our patients.

“As we look 2023, we hope to expand our volunteer service to support staff in A&E and on the wards.”

Information about volunteering at our hospitals can be found at www.mse.nhs.uk/get-involved.

Patients needing to see a respiratory specialist at Broomfield Hospital will now been seen more quickly, thanks to the introduction of an in-house Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) team.

This is the first time the service has been brought in-house, it helping patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma to be seen faster and on any of the hospital’s adult in-patient wards.

The team, made up of Respiratory CNS’s Anna Biddulph, Dzidzisai Hungwe and Jordan Smith, will also be working to educate wards on how best to care for patients with respiratory conditions.

Anna said: “As part of our in-house service we’ll be giving education to patients and support the wards to help with early discharge of patients to the community. They will then be referred to the community team, Provide, for continued care and support and this will help reduce readmission to the hospital.”

The introduction of this service at Broomfield now brings it in line with the rest of the Trust.

A garden, which is a safe and welcoming sanctuary for families who have lost their babies, has opened for the first time at Broomfield Hospital as part of Babyloss Awareness Week (9-15 October).

The Blossom Garden cost £25,000, funded by Mid and South Essex Hospitals Charity, and is a quiet location where families impacted can take their baby, away from the ward, to make lasting memories.

The garden also gives somewhere families can return to, after they had gone home, to feel connected to their baby.

Stacey Alliston, from Basildon who suffered her own babyloss, said: “This is such a lovely space and it’s quiet so we can reflect. It’s somewhere I can come with my blossom friends, our rainbow babies can play and we can feel close to all our babies.”

Families who visit the garden, are also able to bring along a pebble showing the name of their baby and place it on the path leading into the garden.

Tabitha Stuthridge, Senior Specialist Bereavement Midwife, said: “The Blossom Garden was thoughtfully planned and designed by the Grounds and Gardens team, with support and input from the Blossom Suite team at the hospital. The garden is an extension of that bereavement suite for families affected by babyloss.

“It started as an idea five years ago after a father spoke about how he wished he had thought about taking his baby outside to feel the sun on its face.  The Blossom Suite is a lovely space, having a change of scenery away from the ward gives parents a chance to spend precious time together.”

Careful research and thought went into the design and choosing the plants to make it fit for purpose, making it a peaceful place where families can pause and reflect.

Benches and a butterfly screen offer individual areas for people to use, and the location in the woods led to the opportunity to plant bluebells and incorporate the woods into the garden,  giving the impression that the garden continues and on, like the never-ending love parents have for their babies. 

The Blossom Suite also has its own pram kindly donated by a bereaved family, and now there is somewhere special to take it, on its own soft gravel path in the garden that is somewhere away from the ward. It’s a place where parents can experience doing things they thought they would never be able to do following the loss of their baby.

A testicular cancer patient at Southend Hospital has parachuted in with a cheque for almost £2,000 pounds as a show of thanks for the excellent care he received, the donation is all the more meaningful as November is men’s health awareness month.

Mike Farrow, aged 48, from Hockley received his cancer diagnosis in March 2021, soon after he was operated on and began his chemotherapy treatment. 

He said: “The treatment I received throughout from the Oncology department was superb, I felt supported by every staff member throughout the good and the bad. I cannot thank everyone enough and my skydive challenge was my chance to show my gratitude.

“Following my chemotherapy treatment, I felt numb, that’s the only way I can describe it. I knew that I needed a challenge, something to focus on; the skydive was the best experience, I loved it and felt truly alive.”

Together with generous friends, family and work colleagues, Mike raised £1,860 to benefit Oncology services, where the money will be used to help future patients.

Kayley Donovan, Community Fundraising Manager for Mid and South Essex Hospitals Charity, said: "On behalf of Southend's Oncology department we are just so thrilled at Mike’s donation, it will help make a difference to the lives of patients in the department. It means such a lot to them knowing that it has come from a patient who has been under their care, and who’s life they have helped as well.”

According to Cancer Research UK, there are around 2,400 new testicular cancer cases in the UK every year, that's more than six every day (2016-2018).

Since the early 1990s, testicular cancer rates have increased by more than a quarter (27%) in males in the UK (2016-2018), although rates for testicular cancer are projected to rise by 12% in the UK between 2014 and 2035, to 10 cases per 100,000 males by 2035.