Tees Voices

Consultant podiatric surgeon Lesley Posmyk and podiatrist Holly Ansah discuss their careers in podiatric surgery in our latest episode of Tees Voices. 

In this episode of Tees Voices, palliative nurse consultant, Mel McEvoy, and impact consultant for the open university, Dr. Sally Blackburn-Daniels and arts council chair and medical examiner, Jean MacLeod discuss our upcoming launch of the Writers’ Nook in the Tees Restaurant at the University Hospital of North Tees.

In this episode of Tees Voices, Museum of Hartlepool, project curator, Freya Purcell and arts council chair and medical examiner, Jean MacCleod discuss our upcoming Time for Tea workshops taking place for staff and open event for staff and the public at the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

Tune into the latest episode of Tees Voices as our organ donation nurses at University Hospitals Tees share the importance of organ donation and how two minutes of your time can save countless lives. 

On the latest episode of Tees Voices, we chat with Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England.

From the North East to NHS England, tune in to hear more about Jim’s career journey, the challenges NHS organisations are currently facing and the threads that ties NHS staff together – passion and heart.

As University Hospitals Tees continues to celebrate of 200 years of the Stockton to Darlington Railway, the organisations Arts Council invited collections engagement manager, Alison Grange from Hopetown Darlington into the Radio Stitch studio.

In this episode of Tees Voices, Alison tells us all about painter John Dobbin, whose striking image is being exhibited in the University Hospital of North Tees. She also discusses the range of events people can expect during the celebrations and how to get involved.

All colleagues across University Hospitals Tees have the right to request flexible working from the very first day of employment with us.

In our latest podcast, organisation development practitioner Lauren Begley chats with two colleagues who have supported with implementing flexible working in their departments – senior clinical pharmacy manager Laura Tweddle, and admin service manager Olivia Turner.

They talk through the reasons why it’s so important, the benefits they’ve seen in work production and the challenges of embedding flexible working in a NHS setting.

This week on Tees Voices, we chat with group chief AHP Alan Macdonald. He talks about his career as an allied health professional, our ambitions for our AHP workforce and the future of the profession.

What’s the difference between a podiatrist and a chiropodist?

In our latest podcast, we catch up with podiatrist Claire Oxnard to discuss what a podiatrist does, the future of the profession and the key to healthy feet – prevention.

In the latest episode of Tees Voices, we catch up with some our North Tees NHS ambassadors inspiring children into NHS careers.

Alyson Thompson, children’s ward manager, and Dom Boult, physiotherapist, talk about volunteering as NHS ambassadors and the moving impact their role is having on children and young adults in local schools.

The NHS 10 year plan was recently launched and has been welcomed by health chiefs at University Hospitals Tees.

Here, chief AHP Alan Macdonald discusses the plan, what it means for our colleagues in allied health roles, and the future of the profession.

In our latest episode of Tees Voices, we have consultant AHPs Kirsty Jones and Emma Thompson taking us through their professional journeys and voicing their strong desire in seeing more AHP consultants across our hospital group and the wider region.

On our latest Tees Voices podcast, we have the absolute pleasure of chatting with local songwriter, 23-year-old Katie Colborn.

Katie’s dad has recently been cared for by our staff in critical care at the University Hospital of North Tees. To say thank you, she is dedicating one of her songs, Only You (aptly written by her dad), to the team.

Tune into our latest episode of Tees Voices where clinical educator Carolynn Lloyd shares an insight about her career and how she is supporting our healthcare support workers to deliver the best care for our patients.

Heart failure is a long-term condition that affects around 200,000 people in the UK. It means that the heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly. 

We chat with specialist nurses Anne-Marie Doyle and Lynette Hardy from our community heart failure service about signs and symptoms and living well with heart failure. 

Our latest episode of Tees Voices features Becky Shea (group strategy programme manager) and Jeni Hart (discharge facilitator), along with guest co-host Carol Martin (head of professions).

They talk about the transfer of care hub and its impact on our patients and services.

We chat with Mark Dias who, after beginning his NHS career as a domestic, is now a non-executive director of University Hospitals Tees. He discusses what his role entails, the priorities of our people committee and the future of the NHS.

In this episode of Tees Voices, Radio Stitch’s Elliot Kennedy catches up with some of the students of Catcote Academy Sixth Form who have been on placement with NTH Solutions.

The academy provides additional support for 16 to 19 year olds with special educational needs and works in partnership with NTH Solutions (a subsidiary of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust) to provide work experience opportunities in an NHS environment.

The students discuss the roles they have undertaken, their aspirations for the future and what they’ve learned under the support of facilities team leader Tim Carter.

In part two of our Dying Matters Week podcast specials, South Tees clinical educators Rachel Fawcett and Leanne Hobson chat with Julie Lamb – former lead nurse for cancer and palliative care.

Julie shares her nursing journey, the inspiration that led her to her career, her personal thoughts on what a good death means and pearls of wisdom for those wanting a career in specialist palliative care.

In part one of our Dying Matters Week podcast, we catch up with North Tees and Hartlepool specialist palliative care nurses Helen Dicken, Christina Hancock and Robyn Willis.

They discuss how we’re using simulation manikins to train nurses in supporting patients on palliative care, the nurse-led clinic speeding up treatment, and using virtual reality to comfort those receiving end-of-life care.

Stayed tuned for part two of our Dying Matters specials next week where South Tees’ former lead nurse for cancer and palliative care shares her nursing journey, the inspiration that led her to her career, her personal thoughts on what a good death means and pearls of wisdom for those wanting a career in specialist palliative care.

In this episode, we chat with members of our people services team around the importance of flexible working and how NHS organisations can adapt.

Our flexible working toolkit is currently in place across our North Tees and Hartlepool sites and we’re also currently looking to rollout for our South Tees colleagues as well.

Our latest episode of Tees Voices invites Jean MacLeod, head of the visual arts council, Jane Easterby, hospital chaplain and Mary Sayers, a patient representative from North Tees and Hartlepool to discuss the new COVID-19 Memorial artwork in place at both North Tees and Hartlepool.

 Following a competition last year, a submission from nine Stockton Sixth Form College students was successfully chosen and now have pride of place at both hospital sites.

Specialist screening practitioner Lexi Hurst from the Tees Bowel Screening Service joins us in our latest podcast for a Bowel Cancer Awareness Month special.

She discusses completing your bowel screening tests at home, what happens next and the things we can all do to decrease our risk of bowel cancer.

We’re pleased to have recently launched our new volunteer to career programme to support armed forces veterans and their families into work.

In our latest episode of Tees Voices, Paul Wharton, Sam Taylor and Lindsay Rutherford-Hoe from our volunteer teams discuss the programme, what’s involved and why it’s so important.

Our latest episode of Tees Voices invites Jean MacLeod (head of the visual arts council) from North Tees and Hartlepool to discuss the importance of art in the hospital and healthcare setting. She discusses how the council has been set up to begin working across the University Hospitals Tees group to improve our hospital surroundings and to support artists in the local area.

Saturday 8 March marks International Women’s Day – a day to recognise the achievements of women but also to discuss what still needs to be done to ensure equality and equity between genders.

Our latest episode of Tees Voices sees Natasha McManus (pelvic health physio and women’s network lead) and Helen Waller (health and wellbeing lead) from North Tees and Hartlepool discuss the support currently available to our University Hospitals Tees colleagues, how the two trusts are learning from one another and what we all need to do to strive for parity in our workplace.

Our Schwartz Rounds at both North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees Hospitals are confidential forums where staff come together regularly to discuss the emotional and social aspects of working in healthcare.

During Schwartz Rounds, a panel of staff share their stories – the rest of the group can then reflect on these and share their own experiences. The rounds are confidential, fall under protected time for all staff and contribute to continued professional development.

Here chaplain and Schwartz Round facilitator Jim Wright and clinical coder Matt Harper discuss Schwartz Rounds and the personal and professional benefits of taking part.

We want everyone worworking in University Hospitals Tees to feel safe and confident to speak up. We welcome it and we will listen.

Here group chief people officer Rachael Metcalf and group chief nurse Dr Hilary Lloyd discuss the importance of speaking up and the different ways staff can do so.

As our University Hospitals Tees trusts continue to work together, we’re asking our staff and stakeholders to help us shape our group’s values going forward.

We’re asking about the values and priorities matter most to them as they care for our patients and the local community. This will help us to align our health and care offer and ensure it is befitting to patients, communities and staff.

We spoke with group deputy director of OD and culture Jennie Winnard and people services business partner Sharon Ollivier about what this means and how staff and stakeholders can get involved.