@WhitHealth

Whittington Health

December 2013

New study could speed up breast cancer treatment

Page 3

Special feature on our Michael Palin Centre

Page 7

Whittington’s maternity department is among the best in England, according to a new national NHS survey.

Based on 141 responses of mums using the service, the maternity department scored in the top 20 per cent of NHS trusts on 10 of the key questions.

One mum commented: “I felt my care was as good as it would have been if I had paid for private health care services. Excellent maternity services.”

The Trust scored among the top trusts on all four questions for antenatal care. Ninety-one per cent of mums-to-be said our midwives listened and gave them enough time to discuss their pregnancy.

During pregnancy, prospective mums also scored The Whittington Hospital highly with 96 per cent saying they were spoken to in an easy-to-understand way and 90 per cent confirming they were involved in decisions about their care. For their labour and baby’s birth, 96 per cent said a partner or someone else close to them was involved in their care as much as they wanted to be.

A mother who had a high risk pregnancy said: “I loved my labour because of the care I received. Many thanks for such a great service and care.”

The maternity department continues to work on ensuring the best experience for mums. Improvements to the post natal ward are due to begin early in the New Year.

The NHS 2013 Maternity Survey asked women who gave birth in February about their experiences. It was co-ordinated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and carried out by Quality Health.

The results of the survey are availableon the CQC website: www.cqc.org.uk. For more information on our maternity services, visit: bit.ly/ItoU6D

Whittington’s maternity department in top 20 per cent in England

“I loved my labour because of the care I received.”

Winner of the CHKs Patient Safety Award 2013

Catchup | December 2013 2

Our staff excellence awardsThree members of staff from the same team were recently commended in our monthly staff excellence awards for their outstanding performance. The awards are one of the ways we recognise the hard work, dedication and commitment of our 4,000 staff across the organisation. They received their award from chief executive Dr Yi Mien Koh in November. The winners were:

Rose Harrison

Lorna Aitken

Elizabeth Roofe All three members of staff are community matrons in Haringey. They were nominated for their outstanding work in supporting and caring for our patients in the community.

Staff can be nominated for an award by patients or colleagues. If you would like to nominate a member of staff, please contact our communications office either by email: communications.whitthealth@nhs.net or on 020 7288 3402.

A time of waiting and hopeThe lead up to Christmas that we call Advent lasts for about four weeks. The name ‘Advent’ means ‘coming’. It is a beautiful season in the life of the Church. It is filled with longing and expectation. It is a time of waiting and a time of hope. One of the great prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah, expresses this longing and hope as he waits for the coming of the Prince of Peace:

“He will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many peoples; these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, there will be no more training for war.”

At Christmas, the Church celebrates the fulfilment of Isaiah’s longing. Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus

Thumbs up for paediatrician’s direct line to patients

A Whittington Health paediatrician who set up a personalised service for parents to contact her directly as well as in clinic has received positive feedback.

Dr Caroline Fertleman offers her patients’ parents the opportunity to contact her by email. For the last two years, she has been routinely emailing parents test results and answering queries on their child’s condition. More recently, she’s been asking parents to take out their smart phone in her clinic and check they’ve received the email.

For confidentiality purposes and to ensure all email correspondence can be uploaded to her patients’ electronic files, Caroline always puts the child’s hospital number in the subject line. She insists that parents do the same. She makes it clear, from the first appointment, the questions she can answer and the timeframe she can respond in.

To gather feedback on the service, Caroline worked with a parent to devise a questionnaire which was sent to 55 parents earlier this year. The results were extremely positive with 18 of the 21 people who responded saying that their email dialogue with their child’s doctor was a good way to keep each other informed. The others said it was an appropriate method of communication on some occasions. None of the parents who responded said it was not a good idea. Fourteen said that email allowed better communication with the doctor, with only two saying disagreeing.

Of the 21 respondents, 15 wanted test results by email, 20 wanted to use email to ask the doctor non urgent questions, 17 wanted to receive letters electronically, 16 wanted to use email to change appointments, 14 wanted general updates, 15 wanted to email medical questions and 17 wanted to use email to check treatment changes.

A few parents felt that email should not completely replace face-to-face or phone conversations, but most were very satisfied with the service. Caroline will continue to see patients in clinic and continue with the email service.

Christ, the Prince of Peace, and look with hope to the time when those words of Isaiah will come to their final fulfilment and God’s Kingdom of peace and justice is established.

Christians celebrate that precious day when God entered the world, not in splendour and power, but as a humble infant in a humble household. He does not seek to dominate but to love. For the Christian, Jesus is a light that shines in the darkness of disease, the darkness of selfishness and violence, and the darkness of death. And the light is always stronger.

A very happy and peaceful Christmas from everyone at the Department of Spiritual and Pastoral Care.

Fr Mark Elliott-Smith

Chaplain’s corner

Father Mark

Dr Caroline Fertleman with patient

“[The email service] makes

consultants extremely accessible.

Very good for non-urgent questions.”

What parents said:

“… I f ind it a far better way to stay in touch and maintain a good

relationship with the doctor without

taking up their appointment times.”

“I got my baby’s blood results by

email as promised on the day, I

was also able to ask the doctor

questions there and then without

the hassle of coming all the way up

to the hospital, for me it works well.”

Welcome to our Christmas edition of Catchup, our magazine for everyone who is interested in Whittington Health.

We continue to focus sharply on winter and I’m pleased to report our robust plans across the organisation (Catchup Nov 2013) are already demonstrating improvements for patients.

With winter upon us, we have seen more patients arriving at our emergency department and needing admission to hospital. However, our winter plans with revised staffing and extra beds has meant we are continuing to meet and exceed the NHS target of seeing all patients within four hours as well as care for those people who need admission to hospital.

Please support the NHS Choices Winter Friends Campaign and sign a pledge to look in on an older friend or neighbour this winter. Last year around 31,000 people in England died as a result of the cold weather, most were over 75 and many could have been avoided. To make a pledge and receive free cold weather alerts and email tips, visit: www.pledgebank.com/WinterFriends.

If you are one of our 10,000 members, thank you for your continued support and interest in our organisation. We are continuing on our journey to become a foundation trust (FT). The process has now changed with all trusts aspiring to be an FT needing to be inspected under the Care

Targeted radiotherapy during surgery could speed up breast cancer treatment, according to a large international study co-led by a Whittington Health surgeon.

The study, published recently in the medical journal The Lancet, shows that one 20 – 30 minute treatment during surgery could offer an effective alternative to weeks of radiotherapy sessions breast cancer patients need to have afterwards.

Targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT) can be used to treat the cancer site straight after surgery to remove the cancerous lump (lumpectomy).

The research across 33 centres over 12 years was led by Whittington Health breast surgeon Professor Jayant Vaidya, Professor Michael Baum of University College London and radiation oncologist, Professor Jeffrey Tobias of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Whittington Health’s Professor Jayant Vaidya, said: “The biggest benefit of TARGIT for breast cancer patients is that vital treatment is completed in a one-step process. It has the potential to save women a lot of time and energy by taking out the need for lengthy follow up radiotherapy sessions. All treatment is over and done with in a single sitting.”

The research shows that, while the effectiveness of conventional methods of treating breast cancer through follow-up radiotherapy is as good as TARGIT, the one-step procedure can remove the need for 20 to 30 visits to hospital over five to six weeks for follow-up radiotherapy treatment.

Women are also less likely to suffer unpleasant side-effects associated with radiotherapy.

A junior doctor at Whittington Health won the NHS Leadership Development Champion of the Year award at the London-wide Leading for Health Awards.

Joanna Pleming was nominated for her hard work and dedication in leading innovative patient safety projects and mentoring other junior doctors in the Trust.

Joanna said: “I’m delighted to have won the award. The Whittington Hospital’s friendliness and commitment to improving patient safety was behind every project and I would like I thank my colleagues.”

Joanna will now be considered for a national award at the NHS Leadership Recognition Awards in February 2014. The awards recognise NHS leaders who provide exceptional care to patients and act as role models for the next generation of NHS professionals.

Quality Commission’s new regime. This we hope will happen early in the new financial year. In the meantime, we are concentrating on providing the highest quality of care for our patients.

The Government recently published its full response to Robert Francis’ 290 recommendations following the Mid Staffordshire public inquiry. It includes new actions to make trusts more open and more focused on safety including monthly reporting of ward-by-ward staffing levels and a new hospital safety website.

We have been spending considerable time reflecting on what lessons we can learn as a trust and will be publishing our trust’s response to Francis in the New Year. Our work has included developing a new compassion model with our nurses and midwives. This was showcased at the Chief Nursing Officer’s summit in November.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a healthy new year.

Best wishes, Dr Yi Mien Koh

Welcome from our chief executive

Whittington surgeon’s study could transform breast cancer care

Junior doctor wins leadership award

“I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a healthy new year.”

“The biggest benefit of TARGIT for breast cancer patients is that vital treatment is completed in a one-step process.”Professor Jayant Vaidya

3@WhitHealth

Dr Joanna Pleming

Catchup | December 2013 4

We have a shadow Council of Governors and more than 10,000 members as part of our plans to become a foundation trust. Anyone who lives in our area, works for the Trust, or has been a patient or service user there, can become a member of our Trust. This gives staff and local people a real stake in the future of our hospital.

Our first annual members meeting

More than 60 Trust members attended our first annual members meeting to hear the Trust’s progress on improving care for patients.

Acting chairman Robert Aitken hosted the event at The Whittington Hospital in September with six speakers presenting on a range of topics from dementia to the Trust’s clinical strategy.

He said: “It was great to see so many of our members come along and take an interest in Whittington Health’s work. We look forward to meeting more of our members at more events planned for 2014.”

Lead governor Ron Jacob kicked off the speeches outlining his experience of being a Whittington governor as well as updating members on the shadow governors’ achievements over the last year.

As an organisation hoping to be a foundation trust, Whittington Health has a council of shadow governors who represent the interest of trust members and the public.

Carol Nahra, also a governor, gave details of a maternity project to gather information on mums’ experiences at the hospital. This has led to many changes on the postnatal ward, including partners being allowed to stay overnight.

The Trust’s medical directors Dr Martin Kuper and Dr Greg Battle spoke on the benefits the new clinical strategy would bring to patients. Dr Kuper described the enhanced recovery programme as a tool to “empower people to take charge of their healthcare”. He also outlined plans for the new same day treatment (ambulatory care) centre opening in 2014 which is aimed at reducing unnecessary hospital admissions.

Carol Gillen, director of operations, explained the role of integrated care (better co-ordinated care) as the future of healthcare. Improved co-ordination between acute hospital teams, community health services and social services, she said would lead to better care and reduced costs.

Programme manager for the Burdett Dementia Project Dr Juanita Hoe spoke about her work in training nurses to improve awareness of dementia and its treatment.

This will lead to nurses becoming trainers themselves to increase awareness of dementia management across the wider nurse network. The project’s aspiration is to create ‘dementia champions’ in all clinical areas to embed good practice and better care of patients.

Robert Aitken Ron Jacob

Integrated care (better coordinated care) examples

• Areablementservicewherepatientsarecared for in their own homes for up to six weeks with a range of therapists;

• Teleconferencingwithmulti-disciplinaryteams including social services to plan patient discharges and to manage joint working between health care and social services;

• Hospitalconsultantsaccessiblesevendaysaweek

• Communitymatronshelpingtosetupcarepackages

Integrated care pioneers announced Whittington Health in partnership with Islington Clinical Commissioning Group and Islington Council has been selected as one of 14 integrated care pioneers in England.

Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb announced last month the initiatives around the country that he said were transforming the way health and social care is being delivered to patients by bringing services closer together than ever before.

The Department of Health described the 14 initiatives as blazing a trail for change by pioneering new ways of delivering co-ordinated care. The pioneers were selected by a prestigious panel, including international experts drawing together global expertise and experience of how good joined up care works in practice.

Islington’s plans build on the achievements of Whittington Health as an integrated care organisation aligning both hospital and community services. The next steps are to work with patients to develop individual care plans, looking at their goals and wishes around care.

Foundation Trust update Whittington Health remains committed to achieving foundation trust (FT) status. All trusts aspiring to be FTs now need to be inspected under the new Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) inspection regime. The Trust has not been given a date but may be inspected in the first quarter of 2014/15.

For the rest of the financial year, the trust is focusing on clinical and operational excellence and achieving financial balance. By achieving these goals, we hope to achieve FT status in the future. There is no longer a national deadline for trusts achieving FT status.

Members’ edition

5@WhitHealth

Interview with…1. Why did I become a governor? Actually, it was a friend from church who knew the Whittington Hospital was setting up a new shadow council of governors that asked me if I would consider standing for election. She knew that I had a wide range of committee experience and thought that I could contribute.

For my part, I had recently lost a close friend, I believed unnecessarily, at another hospital, and thought that I might be able to help to prevent similar deaths in the future. Also, I have a lifelong disability, and over the years, have heard horror stories of disabled people not getting the help they needed, so I thought that my particular perspective might add something to the Council of Governors’ (CoG) deliberations.

As it happens, only five people volunteered to stand for the six Islington South seats, so I found myself on the council. 2. What improvements have stood out for you? I am delighted that our hospital is shortly to open a new ambulatory care centre (same day treatment) as I hope that this will enable it to treat people more speedily than is currently possible, and to send them home the same day.

Having had experience of the Day Surgery Unit, I was very impressed with how well it worked for people with more serious problems than those who will be treated in the ambulatory care centre.

As well as improving hospital services, the hospital joined forces with community health teams in Islington and Haringey to become Whittington Health, an integrated care organisation, in April 2011. The new organisation aims to provide appropriate health care where ever it is needed in these two London boroughs. We were one of the first NHS trusts to offer this form of health care now favoured by the Government. 3. What advice would you offer to anyone hoping to be a governor? The advice I was given by a friend’s father, who was a local councillor, at the very start of my committee career, was to decide which parts of a committee’s work I was mainly interested in and only speak on those. As I have rather slow speech, I added a further two rules – to be as concise as possible and to avoid repeating what has already been said. The extraordinary result of disciplining myself in this way was that I found I had acquired a reputation for being worth listening to. I think only because I tried not to say too much!

Of course, one should also read the papers beforehand and gain as much knowledge as possible, at least in one’s chosen areas. It is helpful if governors have time to sit on at least one other Whittington Health committee as well.

Governor Valerie Lang

As an aspiring foundation trust, we are encouraging local people to become members of the organisation. Every member receives:

• An annual trust members’ newsletter: a chance to get involved and hear about what’s going on at Whittington Health • Invitations to local events and forums around health and wellbeing • Early access to information on changes and improvements to health services

Members can contribute as much or as little of their time as they want. Some examples are illustrated below:

• Contribute to discussions on how services are developed by putting your opinions forward • Vote for Whittington Health governors • Stand as a Whittington Health governor • Receive information and have the chance to give your views and ideas • Show your support for your local healthcare provider and the services Whittington Health provides.

The Red Guava Benefit Scheme is available at www.redguava.co.uk (User name: foundation. Password: member). For NHS discounts, go to www.nhsdiscounts.com and register using your name, email address and set your own password.

During the registration, you will be asked: Do you work for the NHS, choose: NHS Foundation Trust Member, Organisation/Trust name: Whittington Health, Address: Whittington Health, Whittington Hospital, Magdala Avenue, London N19 5NF

With your membership, you can take advantage of NHS Discounts and the Red Guava benefit scheme in addition to details about forums and feedback sessions to make sure your opinion is heard.

Why become a trust member?

Catchup | December 2013 6

Patient story... Cara DillonNineteen-year-old Cara Dillon gave birth to her daughter Mollie in May this year. Throughout her pregnancy and after the birth of her daughter, Cara benefitted from Whittington Health’s family nurse partnership (FNP).

The service offers a structured support programme to first-time teenage parents in Haringey and Islington. Trained family nurses help with everything from advice on healthy eating to breast feeding and getting back to work after pregnancy.

Cara spoke to Catchup about her positive experiences of using the service.

“When I found out I was pregnant, I was 18 and working 12-hour shifts, six days a week as a bar supervisor. I was still struggling to manage my feelings due to previously losing my daughter to an anencephaly pregnancy [a condition where the brain or spinal cord of an embryo does not develop properly].

My midwife put me in touch with the family nurse partnership, who contacted me to arrange my first appointment. Straight away, I felt at ease with my nurse as she explained what the programme would entail.

My nurse helped me cope with how I was feeling about the pregnancy and all the worries I had. I was also advised about how I should go about reducing my hours at work, as I was still working 12-hour shifts at four months pregnant.

I was assigned another family nurse called Helen when Mollie was born. We instantly hit it off. Helen made my confidence go through the roof! She taught me how to communicate with my baby and how to read certain cues. When I was struggling from my recovery from my pregnancy, Helen booked an appointment with my GP straight away. Nothing was too much trouble.

Helen supported my decisions but always stayed truthful and honest to her opinions. She left the FNP last year, and it was honestly like saying goodbye to an old friend. I now see Celia who has been fantastic support. I see her every two weeks but I know that I can always call her anytime if I needed some advice.

Thanks to Helen and Celia, I now feel that I can be a brilliant mum. I owe them both for my and Mollie’s achievements.

I honestly cannot recommend the programme enough.”

More inpatients recommend Whittington Hospital More adults in our inpatient wards would recommend our hospital, according to the latest NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) results from October.

Our score for the month was 68, based on 446 responses. This was up four compared to September. The response rate was almost 45 per cent, the highest the hospital has achieved since April when FFT was officially launched.

In our emergency department, the score was 34 based on 290 responses. The response rate was six per cent. The department has a number of measures in place to increase the rate.

FFT calculates the number of patients who are extremely likely to recommend the hospital minus those who would not or who are indifferent. The score is between -100 and 100, a positive score means patients would recommend the hospital.

James Cosgrave from Crouch End was a patient in our Coyle Ward for three weeks in September and October. He also spent three days in our intensive therapy unit (ITU). He wrote the letter below to the Ham and High which was published on 14 November.

Feature letter

Dear editor

There has been much criticism of medical

care in different hospitals across the country.

My experience at The Whittington has been

quite different.

I have just spent three weeks there following

an operation and I would like to say how

professionally excellent the clinical and

nursing care was and always delivered with

a personal greeting and a smile to

go with it. This was as true of the doctors

and physicians as it was of the nurses

and the orderlies.

It served as a model hospital of how things

should be.

Surely it’s not the only one!?

James Cosgrave

“Thanks to Helen and Celia, I now feel that I can be a brilliant mum. I owe them both for my and Mollie’s achievements.”

On the social media site Twitter, we had a number of

positive message from patients, including:So thankful for the care my eight-week old son received

while critically ill this week at Whittington Hospital IFOR.

Such brilliant nurses.Thx to the staff of nightingale ward for the brilliant care

for my father in his final days. The NHS at its best.How excited will the babies be at The Whittington

Hospital with all the new toys we have for them (from

the TOY project).Can’t praise women’s health enough. Dr Eben, Sandra on

reception and Jean (nurse) – all outstanding. So kind and

personable.Popped in for a chest X-ray today and was very impressed

by the care and speed of service.

You can follow us on Twitter (@WhitHealth) and give

your feedback too.

7@WhitHealth

Whittington Health’s Michael Palin Centre for stammering children is the largest centre of its kind in the world. The specialist service has been treating stammering children from across the UK for more than 20 years and is widely considered a centre of excellence.

The centre offers a range of treatment for stammering children up to the age of 18. It is a joint initiative between the national charity Action for Stammering Children and the NHS.

Elaine Kelman, head of the centre and trained speech and language therapist, explains: “The thing that really sets us apart is that we personalise our treatment for each child and are very holistic in our approach.”

“For early intervention in very young children, we offer the Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, which helps parents improve their children’s speech through interaction techniques they can use at home.”

Individual sessions are sometimes recommended for 7-14 year olds. The tailored therapy often includes building confidence, problem solving and negotiation skills, as well as developing better fluency in speech.

The centre has developed an intensive two-week group programme for older children that focuses on improving communication skills and confidence rather than just treating stammer.

Elaine explains: “An important feature of this type of treatment is that children are encouraged to communicate effectively with their stammer. It focuses on skills like non-verbal communications rather than just fluency. The programme can really help young people move forward, even with their stammer.”

The centre supports children to cope with the social and psychological aspects of the condition. Some of the centre’s specialists are trained in cognitive behavior therapy and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which can help children feel more positive about their stammer and deal with challenges they may face in social environments.

Many often wonder what connection the centre has to its namesake – Monty Python legend Michael Palin. “It’s actually a really lovely story” explains Elaine. “He kindly agreed to the centre being named after him following his role in A Fish Called Wanda, in which he played a character called Ken who stammered. He based Ken’s persona on his own father who suffered from stammering his whole life. His continued support and involvement has been fantastic for the centre and given us a real profile boost.”

Michael’s bond with the centre hasn’t wavered over the years. Talking about the centre in a recent interview, he said: “There is nothing I am more proud of in my life than the establishment and success of the Michael Palin Centre, though all the really hard work has been done by others. A team of highly competent, wonderfully patient, extraordinarily devoted therapists have been supported by the very best management.”

For more information about the Michael Palin Centre, visit www.stammeringcentre.org/mpc-home

Spotlight on…Michael Palin Centre

Michael Palin with children at the centre

Interview with…1. What does your job involve? I am a stop smoking specialist with lead responsibility for stop smoking services in prisons and mental health. I’m responsible for working with staff in those settings to develop a high-quality stop smoking service for prisoners, staff and patients. I’m on the health and wellbeing committees in the prisons and attend their health and wellbeing days for staff and prisoners. This helps me understand the particular issues that are faced in prisons.

I work with colleagues at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust to promote stop smoking services to their patients, attending health and nutrition meetings and regularly sharing good practice with the London-wide Mental Health Network. One of the most exciting projects I’m involved with at the moment is working with NHS and Ministry of Justice colleagues nationally towards the launch of smokefree prisons. I’m also on a rota for delivering stop smoking clinics at our community site, mostly one-to-one and occasionally for groups.

2. What gives you job satisfaction? Seeing clients succeed in quitting smoking, sometimes when they did not believe it was possible. I love hearing about their improved quality of life and seeing the confidence it often gives them to make positive lifestyle changes, like going to the gym and saving their money.

3. Who or what has been your biggest inspiration? Inspiration for me means feeling that everything is possible. I get that feeling from making sure I follow my passions, being with people I love and admire, making sure I get plenty of time in forests, parks and my garden, listening to music and living in the moment.

4. What could you not do your job without? My colleagues, our great in-team support system, the care we give one another, our laughter – and cake Fridays, which usually mean a trip out to the cake stall in Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell for the most divine cakes you have ever tasted in your life!

5. What is your proudest moment in your career? I don’t think I can answer this. I would say I have had many moments of a great sense of achievement.

6. What would you be if you weren’t doing your job? I would probably be working as a counsellor in a prison somewhere or making cakes or dancing or maybe all three!

7. What do you like doing outside of work? Quiet times, reading, being with loved ones, keeping in touch with my international family, devoting my energies to the demands of my very spoilt cat, planning interesting trips, going to the gym and getting fitter, and always keeping an open mind for new ideas.

Stephanie Duckworth -Porras Stop smoking specialist at Smokefree Islington

For personalised support in quitting smoking, visit the Smokfree Islington website at www.smokefreeislington.nhs.uk or call 0800 093 9030.

December

18

December

23

Speedy Christmas delivery for Whittington coupleTwo Whittington Health staff will never forget the 16 November when their baby Miles decided to come into the world in dramatic style.

Security officer Eddie Kent, known as Eddie K to many, was forced into an unexpected emergency supporting his partner staff nurse Maria Alexiou as she gave birth to Miles on the living room floor.

He had no choice but to roll up his sleeves and deliver his child – with the guidance of a London Ambulance Service call handler.

Speaking to Catchup, Maria said: “I focussed on what Eddie and the lady from London Ambulance were saying. It was quite tough without pain relief but worth it all in the end.”

For Eddie this was one drama he wasn’t expecting, “The caller said to me ‘you’re going to have to deliver the baby’ and I said: ‘I can’t I’m not a midwife’.

“She was brilliant, she talked me through every step of the way. There was real relief when Miles arrived safely but then disbelief that I’d just delivered my own son.”

The drama unfolded when Eddie raced home learning that Maria was in labour for what he thought would be a routine drive to the hospital. But on arrival, it was clear baby Miles had other ideas. A few minutes later, baby Miles arrived weighing 7lbs 8oz.

Three ambulances and a paramedic were too late for the new arrival and Eddie had already successfully cut the umbilical cord!

Whittington Health staff help raise thousands for typhoon victims

More than two thousand pounds has been raised and 10 largo cargo boxes of clothes, shoes and tinned food collected for those affected by typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

Clinical bed and site manager Rizalyn Gonzales-David held a stall in the hospital atrium to collect the donations which topped £2,349. The proceeds were divided between the Augustinian Recollect Sisters, Sagip Kapamilya and Bohol Medical Mission.

The charities will help typhoon victims in areas that have not been highlighted in the news but equally affected. Around £200 from the donations will also go to the Bangon Bayan project of Sigma Kappa Pi Fraternity at the University of the Philippines. Thank you to all staff who have supported this appeal.

Dates for your diary

“The caller said to me ‘you’re going to have to deliver the baby’ and I said: ‘I can’t I’m not a midwife”Eddie Kent

December

24

Winner of the CHKs Patient Safety Award 2013

December

25

December

19

The Roadworks Band from 12.30pm. The eight-piece band will bring some festive cheer to the atrium at The Whittington Hospital with a mix of Christmas carols and other songs. What better way to break up your afternoon in the run up to the big day. Two school choir performances from 12.30pm. We welcome choirs from two local schools, Mount Carmel Catholic College for Girls and Channing School, who will sing for patients, visitors and staff in N19 and the atrium at The Whittington Hospital. No better way to get into the festive spirit! Leyla Aslan performs from 4pm. Leyla Aslan, a Kurdish and Turkish speaking Bektashi poet and saz (lute) player brings her unique performance to the atrium at The Whittington Hospital. This is not to be missed for those looking for something a little bit different to round off their day. Sing for your lungs concert at The Whittington Hospital entrance from 1.30pm. Come and enjoy the sounds of The Whittington Hospital’s very own patient singing group. The group is made up of patients who are receiving treatment for respiratory disorders such as COPD, asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis and fibrosis. Collect and sing festive carols at Archway underground (all day). David Curtis has organized festive carols in aid of The Whittington Hospital Charitable Funds at Archway London Underground station. Carols around the wards from 7.30pm. The wards of The Whittington Hospital will reverberate on Christmas eve with the sound of your festive carols. Listen out for your favourite throughout the evening. Ward communions. For those wishing to receive it, communion will be available throughout the wards, on Christmas Day.

8@WhitHealth

December

16

December

17

Typhoon Haiyan relief appeal

From left to right are Maria Piper, JJ McConnell, Marian Kennedy, Maxine Simpson, Monsurat Radediran and Mary Burke getting into the festive spirit by The Whittington Christmass tree in the hospital reception.