In accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and International Conference on harmonisation (ICH) guidelines, the following section has been created to help you through the processes and procedures of managing your study.

Research study management refers to the ongoing oversight of your research project that enables you to ensure the rights, safety, dignity and wellbeing of research participants are safeguarded at all times, while also preserving the scientific integrity of the research.

The processes and systems will vary depending on the nature of the research but may include the following:

• The research team
• Research documentation and file management
• Amendments
• Progress and safety reporting
• Reporting recruitment data
• Audit and monitoring of project
• Data management and validation
• Suspension and termination of research projects

There are many approvals you will need to set up in order to run your research project at NBT. Here we provide an overview of all those required, as well as who can help and the processes you will be required to follow in accordance with Research Governance.

Research Governance may loosely be defined as a range of regulations, principles and standards which exist to achieve and improve research quality across all aspects of health and social care. It ensures that health and social care research in England is conducted to the highest standards.

As part of all consultant job planning, research active NBT consultants will need to identify their research activity when they agree their job plans with their Clinical Director and identify Research SPAs explicitly in their job plan.

To facilitate the development of your research study, please contact research@nbt.nhs.uk

Developing a new research idea and applying for funding can feel like a daunting process, but we are here to support you. 

Our team is dedicated to supporting everyone at NBT to lead their own research, improve our NHS and change the lives of our patients. 

We have extensive experience in all aspects of developing a research idea into a funded project, from small scoping projects through to multi-centre national clinical trials. 

Whether you are new to research, or already have research experience, we can help you with the next step of your research journey:

• Developing research ideas
• Identifying suitable funding opportunities for research projects
• Preparing research funding applications 
• Finding peer support and mentorship
• Negotiating research contracts
• Managing research grant income and reporting through the life of your award.

The first step is to contact us at ResearchGrants@nbt.nhs.uk, as early as possible, so that we can provide you with targeted support. 

Year of first Qualification: 1995, University of Sheffield

Specialty: Lead Clinician for Upper Gastrointestinal and Bariatric Surgery

Clinical interests: Laparoscopic (keyhole) abdominal surgery, management of gallstone disease and gastro-oesophageal reflux. 

Secretary: Kate Hewings

Telephone: 0117 414 0837

Fax: 0117 414 9421

Mr James Hewes completed his undergraduate training at the University of Sheffield in 1995. Following a year in Australia, he finished his surgical training in London and the South East. His MD thesis on liver surgery was at the Royal Free Hospital.

His specialist interest is in laparoscopic (keyhole) abdominal surgery, in particular the management of gallstone disease and gastro-oesophageal reflux. He is also a fully trained Bariatric (weight loss) surgeon having completed a fellowship at University College Hospital, London. He offers a range of Bariatric operations including gastric band, gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy as well as revision operations within the team at NBT.

We welcome feedback on your care.Your views and comments are really important to us and will help us to improve our service. To leave anonymous feedback for Mr Hewes please visit, I Want Great Care at http://iwgc.net/echgl

Bariatric Surgery Surgeon Specific Outcome Data is accessible at http://nbsr.e-dendrite.com/

The Learning Disability & Autism Liaison Nurse Service are employed by Sirona Care & Health.

We support anyone with diagnosed learning disabilities and/or autism over 16 years old at Southmead hospital.

We support people when they are admitted to hospital, or with appointments, procedures and operations.

If you have learning disabilities or autism and are coming into Southmead hospital, get in touch and we can talk about how we can support you.

We work 7 days a week.

The learning disability and autism team can:

• Talk to you or your family/carers when you are on a ward, to make sure that you feel safe and supported.
• Support you with appointments, procedures or operations.
• Talk to hospital staff to make sure that they support you in a way that makes you feel safe and supported.
• Make sure that adjustments are made so that you get the health care that you need at hospital.
• Support you with understanding your own health.
• Share your hospital passports and care plans with the hospital.
• Talk to the people that knows you best to make sure that all the important information is shared about you (e.g. your family, carers, community learning disability teams, community autism teams, GPs and social workers) .

We have equipment to help reassure and distract you if needed:

• Bags of calm
• Noise cancelling headphones
• Hospital communication books
• Sensory lights
• Music
• Arts and craft materials
• DVD players

How to get help

You can call us on 0117 414 1239 and leave a message. We will call you back. Or you can email us on learningdisabilities@nbt.nhs.uk or autism@nbt.nhs.uk.

We will talk to you about how we can help make your appointment or stay in hospital easier and more comfortable.

Hospital passports

We recommend that every person with a learning disability and/or autism complete a hospital passport.

You should fill out a passport before you even need to come into hospital so that it is ready for when you need it.  

You can email learningdisabilities@nbt.nhs.uk or autism@nbt.nhs.uk to request a copy of the passport you need.

Please return your completed passport to us at learningdisabilities@nbt.nhs.uk or autism@nbt.nhs.uk. Please encrypt your email to make it secure if you can. We will put it on your hospital file with an alert for hospital staff to read it.

Please also bring in any important guidelines, care plans or protocols that you may have (e.g. epilepsy protocols, eating and drinking guidelines, positive behaviour support plans etc).

Visitors to Southmead Hospital

Please see North Bristol Trust current visitor page for the latest guidance about visitors.

Hidden disabilities

North Bristol NHS Trust is now proudly participating in the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Lanyard scheme. This means that those with a hidden disability can wear a sunflower lanyard or wristband to make their disability visible to those around them while in hospital. Staff should help you with any support or adjustments you may need.

Read more on North Bristol Trust’s Hidden Disability Page.

Contact details for wards

Please use the North Bristol Trust contact page for direct ward contact numbers.

Contact the Learning Disability & Autism Hospital Liaison Team

Telephone: 0117 4141239
Email: learningdisabilities@nbt.nhs.uk or autism@nbt.nhs.uk.

8am – 6pm Monday to Friday.
8am – 4pm weekends and bank holidays.

Advice and guidance in the community

For adults with Learning Disabilities in the community, please contact : Community Learning Disabilities Team – Sirona care & health NHS services (sirona-cic.org.uk): 0300 124 5888

For adults with Autism in the community, please contact BASS on 01275 796249   Bristol Autism Spectrum Service (BASS) :: Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (awp.nhs.uk)

External resources

NHS 111

Leeds Teaching Hospital Easy Read leaflets 

Mencap Coronavirus resources

Keep Safe Easy Read Posters

Gender Pay Gap Report

This report presents the gender pay gap for North Bristol NHS Trust and provides information to inform the Trust’s ongoing commitment to equality and diversity. In calculating the gender pay gap the Trust has had the opportunity to consider how the gap at organisation level differs from that seen in certain staff groups or within individual pay bands which has supported the identification of areas for improvement. The gender pay gap is the difference in average hourly earnings between men and women. This is different to pay inequality, which compares the wages of men and women doing the same job.

Download:

Annual Equality Statistics Report

Monitoring staff enables us to see whether we are offering equality of opportunity in recruitment and promotion.

Monitoring health services is an important part of understanding the access needs and experiences of our staff and also assessing whether we are responding to needs of our patients in an appropriate and effective manner.

These assist us when we are monitored by external examiners like the Quality Care Commission and the Clinical Commissioning Group and others. 

North Bristol NHS Trust has developed its equality work and an annual report is scrutinised by the Equality and Diversity Committee.

In 2010 the Trust Board agreed a single Equality Scheme. This brought together the existing schemes for ethnicity, Disability and Gender and extended this to include Sexual Orientation, Religion or Belief, Age and Gender Identity before there was a legal requirement for this.

The Trust signed upto the Equality Delivery System (EDS) in 2012 and the protected charcteristics were all incorporated these are, ethnicity, sex, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender reassignment, age, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

The annual report shows the actions taken by the Trust, in relation to the EDS and in consultation with patients and staff.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England, set up under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.  

Its role is to monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. These are standards that health care services have a responsibility to meet and that everyone should expect when they receive care.

The CQC looks at the quality and safety of care by assessing whether the service is:

• Safe
• Effective
• Caring
• Responsive to People’s Needs
• Well-led

The CQC makes these assessments for each of the following 8 Core Services:

1. Urgent and emergency services
2. Medical care (including older people’s care)
3. Surgery
4. Critical care
5. Maternity and gynaecology
6. Services for children and young people
7. End of life care
8. Outpatients and diagnostic imaging

Services are rated on a four-point scale: Outstanding; Good; Requires Improvement; or Inadequate.

The CQC carries out a mixture of announced and unannounced inspections, conducted by inspection teams of professional and clinical staff, patients and carers from NHS organisations around the country.

When inspecting a service, the CQC uses different methods to gather evidence on whether it is meeting the five areas above, including;

• speaking with people who use services, as well as their carers and advocates
• holding focus groups with staff and people who use services
• observing care
• interviewing key members of the senior management team and staff of all levels
• visiting certain services out of hours and unannounced.

At the conclusion of inspection, the CQC makes judgements on how well the service is performing. A report is published which sets out their judgement and the evidence that this is based on. The CQC inspectors judge if any action is required by the provider of the service to improve the standard of care. Where improvements are required, the CQC will either instruct the provider on the improvements or in more serious cases, take enforcement action against them. The CQC will revisit the service provider soon afterwards to ensure that the actions have been taken and necessary improvements have been made.

In between inspections, the CQC monitors information about service providers through its ‘Intelligent Monitoring’, which includes a range of indicators from staff and patient surveys, mortality rates and hospital performance data. Together with local information from partners and the public, the CQC uses the Intelligent Monitoring results to assess risks and prioritise inspections.

The Care Quality Commission’s website has details of its visits and assessments.

GMC Number: 4397632

Year of first qualification: 1989

Specialty: Neurosurgery

Clinical interest: Brain Tumours and Spinal pathology

Secretary: Jackie Scholes

Telephone: 0117 414 6704

Mr Venkat Iyer is the Clinical lead for Neuro-Oncology and chairs the weekly Neuro-Oncology MDT.

His interests include intrinsic brain and spine tumours as well as degenerative spine disease.

Valvular Heart Disease Clinic
This service accepts all patient with murmurs and previously undiagnosed valvular heart disease patients or patients with known valvular heart disease that require a further assessment. Echocardiography is offered during the clinic visit in some services. This service is available at the Brunel building Southmead Hospital Bristol, Clevedon and Cossham Hospitals.

Syncope Clinic
This clinic is for patients with unexplained losses of consciousness, blackouts or near blackouts in which a cardiovascular cause is suspected. An initial consultation is provided then further tests such as ambulatory monitoring (ecg and blood pressure), tilt test or echocardiography. Suggested investigations prior to referral are an electrocardiogram. Exclusions are those patients with classical symptoms of epilepsy or vestibular disease, in which primary referral should be to these specialities.

Palpitations Clinic
This clinic is for assessment of patients with arrhythmias or palpitations. Investigations provided are electrocardiogram and ambulatory monitoring. Further investigations such as exercise testing and echocardiogram are arranged if appropriate. Please be aware the patient will need to be available to return the ambulatory monitoring equipment either the following day on an agreed date, as these are fitted at the time of the appointment. Suggested investigations prior to referral are an electrocardiogram and routine bloods to include thyroid function tests. This service is provided at the Brunel Building Southmead Hospital Bristol with further services planned in the community in the future. Alternative services are provided via General Cardiology Outpatients at Clevedon and Cossham Hospitals.

General Cardiology
These clinics see non-paediatric patients who are suffering from heart problems other than acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina. Procedures performed are electrocardiogram, echocardiography, exercise testing, ambulatory monitoring, ECG and blood pressure. Suggested investigations prior to referral are routine bloods, urinalysis, electrocardiogram and chest x-ray (if suspected heart failure). Patients may be offered same day investigations for echocardiography and ambulatory monitoring (ECG and BP) as available. This service is provided at the Brunel building Southmead Hospital Bristol, Cossham Hosptial and Clevedon Hospital.