Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

04/11/2025

Occupational therapists work across Birmingham Community Healthcare, supporting children and adults to achieve rehabilitation goals and live as independently as possible.
Each day throughout Occupational Therapy Week (3 -9 Nov), we will be introducing a member of Team BCHC. On Day 2, meet Dan, who recently joined us as part of a specialist rehabilitation team that develops innovative ways for people with complex disability to communicate and interact with their environment, assisted by the use of electronic equipment.

03/11/2025

Nurses from our school-age immunisation team held a 'pop-up' awareness session at Asda, Small Heath.
The main focus was on talking to parents about flu, but they also took the opportunity to provide information about all the vaccinations they provide under the national childhood immunisation schedule.
Parents are urged to give consent for their child to receive the flu vaccine as winter approaches to protect the whole family against the virus.
https://www.bhamcommunity.nhs.uk/immunisation-services.

03/11/2025

Occupational therapists work across our community service divisions, supporting children and adults to achieve rehabilitation goals and enabling them to live as independently as possible.
Each day throughout Occupational Therapy Week (3 -9 Nov), we will be introducing a member of Team BCHC. On Day 1, meet Vanessa, who works in a multidisciplinary early intervention community team - providing high quality, flexible care in people's own homes, reducing the pressure on acute inpatient services.

30/10/2025

Community healthcare support at your local superstore.🙋‍♂️🛒

Members of our Diabetes Service will be holding a pop-up event on Friday 14 November (World Diabetes Day) to help members of the public learn more about the condition.

It is estimated that around 5.8 million people in the UK are living with diabetes. Everyone’s experience of diabetes is different and whether you’re living with diabetes or care for a loved one who does, our service provides highly specialist treatment, advice and training to help people manage their condition.

Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialists for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes will be located at Tesco (Camden Street) in Hockley from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. for anyone looking for advice on diabetes symptoms and/or prevention.

Our team will also be able to check your blood pressure, and a Dietitian will be available to go through helpful dietary tips that could improve your overall health and wellbeing – we recommend stopping to chat before you pick up your weekly shop. ☺️

If you have any further questions about the event, please email Jade Shaw, Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist jade.shaw4@nhs.net

Birmingham City Council

30/10/2025

A targeted toothbrushing education programme in early years nurseries and schools has been featured on BBC Birmingham Midlands Today after plans were announced to extend the initiative.
Our oral health improvement team provides training and resources to school and nursery staff to deliver a supervised toothbrushing education programme to help children learn good oral hygiene practice.
The targeted programme has been delivered in partnership with public health teams in Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and Birmingham as part of a system-wide commitment to tackle health inequalities.
Funding was put towards sessions in deprived areas, where children are most at risk of tooth decay. Birmingham received £587,797 for 2025-26 and Birmingham City Council now plans to extend the scheme to 75 more schools and nurseries.
Watch here (available until evening of 30 Oct only):

The latest news, sport and weather for the Midlands.

30/10/2025

The scheme is targeting Birmingham's most deprived areas in an effort to tackle tooth decay.

29/10/2025

Each year, BCHC Charity spends around £10,000 on gifts, entertainment, and activities to help alleviate boredom, reduce anxiety, and bring some joy to patients and service users during the winter. Help us spread some sparkle across Birmingham by donating to our winter appeal: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bchcsparkle25

Just £5 could buy a gift for an inpatient or child accessing BCHC community services throughout December.

27/10/2025

BCHC's third annual infection prevention and control (IPC) expo took place at Moseley Hall Hospital.
The drop-in event was aimed at colleagues across all clinical divisions and included updates and exhibitions from a range of partners, including equipment suppliers, care home staff and adult social care providers across Birmingham and Solihull.
Interim IPC nurse consultant Lynn Whitehouse said: “It was a great day, sharing information from colleagues and guests from across the whole integrated care system.
“IPC is important to every aspect of our work - from the health of staff and patients through to the whole environment we work in and the quality and safety of the services we provide.
"It affects everything we do - that's the importance of excellent IPC."
Attendees included IPC champions from right across the Birmingham and Solihull health and care system. BCHC's IPC nurses have trained more than 500 IPC champions, including care sector partners.
IPC champion Melissa Dodds, (pictured above, in "Florence Nightingale" uniform) is a receptionist at Bramley Grove Care Home in Yardley Wood, which cares for up to 34 residents.
“The IPC team does a terrific job," she said. "They're always available to offer support and guidance and to update us on any requirements that may have changed.
"They provide great support for the care home sector and they're a pleasure to work with. Keep up the good work!”
Among featured projects was the IPC care home team's Gloveless - Less Gloves initiative, which promotes excellent hand hygiene practice and less use of disposable gloves. The initiative was recently highly commended for IPC excellence by the Infection Prevention Society and is a finalist in the regional Great British Care Home Award in the categories "care innovator" and "co-production".
The IPC team is now launching phase two of the campaign, which will feature a suite of "Go Gloveless" posters, promoting appropriate glove use.
The event also showcased the uniform exchange initiative - the brainchild of school health service community staff nurse and IPC champion Ginelle James, who identified the potential to re-use returned, unwanted or unused clinical uniforms for re-use, rather than being shredded and recycled.
After launching the scheme in school nursing about 18 months ago, the scheme is being made available to teams across the Trust, thanks to the support of the IPC and waste management teams.

27/10/2025

Happening this Thursday! https://www.bhamcommunity.nhs.uk/charity-news-blog/come-along-to-our-autism-roadshow-in-october-7438

22/10/2025

October marks World Menopause Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to recognise this, our Women’s Equality Network hosted a lived experience takeover, giving a voice to those with firsthand knowledge and to show our colleagues that you are not alone.

The space gave colleagues the chance to open up about their menopause and breast cancer journeys in a confidential and welcoming environment with network leads Emma Harrison and Lisa Hadley who were on hand to offer support and signpost for those who need it. One colleague who attended said:

“I attended this event to seek some advice as I will be going through medically induced menopause, it was amazing to hear that I am not alone and to speak to someone who went through a similar experience was unbelievably helpful and put a lot of worries I had to rest. Learning the different ways the Trust can support someone going through the menopause was so helpful, from lighter uniforms to make hot flushes more comfortable to the generic support I can receive from my managers really put me at ease.”

21/10/2025

A Birmingham man and his family have paid tribute to specialist wound care nurses who have successfully treated a long-term leg ulcer.
Ray Masser, of Alum Rock, had suffered from a wound on his left ankle since late 2017, despite many attempts at treatment in primary, community and acute care settings.
In June 2024, Ray was hospitalised with sepsis after his leg became infected. He returned home after treatment but the ulcer continued to worsen and his mobility became increasingly limited.
Finally, the former toolmaker started attending regular clinic appointments at the Ann Marie Howes Centre in Sheldon in April 2025 and has been both delighted and amazed by the improvement achieved with six months of consistent specialist treatment.
“My leg is brilliant, the nurses are brilliant, the service is brilliant!” said the 88-year-old grandfather.
“I'm so grateful to them, it was such a long time I had this problem, I'd lost hope, really. I often told the nurses to chop it off and I would make a new one in the shed!”
Full story in comments.

17/10/2025

Black History Month (BHM) gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of Black heritage and culture.

The theme for Black History Month UK 2025 is “Standing Firm in Power and Pride”, a powerful tribute to the resilience, strength, and unwavering commitment to progress that defines the Black community across the globe.

This year, the theme highlights the profound contributions made by Black people - leaders, activists, or pioneers - who have shaped history, while also looking towards a future of continued empowerment, unity, and growth.

We spoke to Adult Specialist Rehabilitation Dietetic Apprentice, Hayley Samuels who shared her BCHC journey, find out more in the comments