Emergency Department Patient Engagement Group (ED PEG) is a group aiming to make the Emergency Department (ED) better and safer for patients. We work with patients, families, and carers to improve care and make sure their voices are heard.

If you would like to join, please complete the expression of interest form on Microsoft Forms

What ED PEG will do:

• Listen to patients about their experiences and find ways to improve things.
• Work with ED staff to plan the best care.
• Speak up for what is best for patients in the ED.
   

What ED PEG won’t do:

• Resolve individual complaints about care.
• Provide specific medical advice or treatment.
• Commit to acting on every suggestion - but they will all be carefully considered.

Who can join?

Anyone who has used the ED including patients, relatives, or carers. You can stay a member as long as you like (we suggest a year). You might be invited through surveys, feedback or complaints, posters, or we may reach out to underrepresented groups.
 

Accessibility

We will make reasonable adjustments to help you take part. We can’t currently fund interpreters for other languages but you can bring a friend or relative to interpret if you wish.

Group Commitment

• By signing up to the ED PEG you will join a group who have volunteered to be invited to meetings.
• Meetings will happen every few months. They may also be arranged to discuss specific issues.
• We may have more volunteers than we need for each meeting. You are not expected to attend them all.
• The meetings will be in person at Southmead Hospital. We will offer free parking and refreshments.
• You will be free to leave the group at any time for any reason.

Code of conduct (how we expect you to behave)

• Be kind and respectful of others, no matter what their background is. 
• Speak honestly and respectfully, even if you disagree with others.
• Join meetings on time, be prepared, and stick to the agenda. 
• Help make everyone feel welcome and safe to share their thoughts. 
• Try to give ideas which help things improve - be constructive. 
• Keep personal stories private - unless someone says it’s OK to share
• No bullying, discrimination, or abuse of any kind is allowed.
   

Contact: edpatientengagement@nbt.nhs.uk

Where can I find an information leaflet in English or in other languages?

Where can I find further information?

What if my baby is in NICU or a specialist hospital unit?

What happens to my baby's bloodspot card?

For Genetics EQA please see the South West Genomic Laboratory Hub website SWGLH Quality | North Bristol NHS Trust

All departments within Severn Pathology participate within External Quality Assurance Schemes where possible. Where external quality assurance schemes are not available, the laboratories will explore alternative mechanisms such as Internal Quality Assessment or Inter-Laboratory Exchange with other diagnostic laboratories.

N.B. All scores are confidential to the participating organisation.  However, we will inform our users should we receive a letter of poor performance in any particular scheme.

Antimicrobial Reference Laboratory

Bacteriology

Mycology Reference Laboratory

Virology

Clinical Biochemistry

Immunology

Cellular Pathology

Haematology

General contacts

Pathology Helpdesk:  Telephone: 0117 4148383
Duty Biochemist (Clinical Advice):  Telephone: 0117 4148437  (Monday – Friday, 9am – 6pm)

Administrative Secretaries
Telephone: 0117 4148423
Email: bloodsciencesadmin@nbt.nhs.uk

An out-of-hours service is available through switchboard.

Staff contacts

Michelle Young
Head of Clinical Biochemistry
Consultant Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4148424
Email: michelle.young@nbt.nhs.uk

Roanna George
Head of Newborn Screening
Consultant Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4148425
Email: roanna.george@nbt.nhs.uk

Nathan Cantley
Consultant Chemical Pathologist
Telephone: 0117 4148425
Email: nathan.cantley@nbt.nhs.uk

Peter Beresford
Head of Toxicology
Consultant Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4148415
Email: peter.beresford@nbt.nhs.uk

Allison Brixey
Blood Sciences Laboratory Manager
Telephone: 0117 4148416
Email: allison.brixey@nbt.nhs.uk

Lesley Morgan
Quality Manager
Telephone: 0117 4148428
Email: lesley.morgan@nbt.nhs.uk

Maryam Khan
Principal Clinical Scientist
Newborn Screening & Metabolic Biochemistry
Telephone: 0117 4148418
Email: maryam.khan@nbt.nhs.uk

Fiona Davidson
Principal Clinical Scientist
First Timester Screening & Toxicology
Telephone: 0117 4148420
Email: fiona.davidson@nbt.nhs.uk

Sadie Redding
Senior Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4148417
Email: sadie.redding@nbt.nhs.uk

Sam Sheerin
Senior Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4140407
Email: samuel.sheerin@nbt.nhs.uk

Emma Smith-Thomas
Senior Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4148427
Email: emma.smith-thomas@nbt.nhs.uk

Joanna Harding
Senior Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4148418
Email: leila.cornes@nbt.nhs.uk

Leila Cornes
Senior Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4148418
Email: joanna.harding@nbt.nhs.uk

Nicola Crabbe
Lead Biomedical Scientist
Newborn Screening, Metabolic Biochemistry & Toxicology
Telephone: 0117 4148450
Email: nicola.crabbe@nbt.nhs.uk

Adrian Oates
Lead Biomedical Scientist
Automated Laboratory           
Telephone: 0117 4148431
Email: adrian.oates@nbt.nhs.uk

Cosi Mutton    
Lead Biomedical Scientist
Point of Care Testing
Telephone: 0117 4148422
Email: cosima.mutton@nbt.nhs.uk

David Brixey
Pathology IT Manager           
Telephone: 0117 4146120
Email: david.brixey@nbt.nhs.uk

Download: 

Departmental Secretaries
Telephone: 0117 4148396

Immunology Laboratory
Telephone: 0117 4148378

Cellular Immunology/Immunophenotyping
Telephone: 0117 4148377

Tissue Typing
Telephone: 0117 4148375

Dr Mark Gompels
Consultant Immunologist
Telephone: 0117 4148396

Dr Sarah Johnston
Consultant Immunologist
Telephone: 0117 4148396

Dr Alexandros Grammatikos
Consultant Immunologist
Telephone: 0117 4148396

Dr Phil Bright
Consultant Immunologist
Telephone: 0117 4148396

Dr Adrian Heaps
Head of Department
Telephone: 0117 4148473

Dr Carla Rosser
H&I Consultant Clinical Scientist
Telephone: 0117 4140848

Sarinder Day
Lead Clinical Scientist Immunogenetics
Telephone: 0117 4148365

Nigel Noel
Lead Health Care Scientist Flow Cytometry
Telephone: 0117 4148561

Allison Brixey
Blood Sciences Laboratory Manager
Telephone: 0117 4148416

Joanne Skingley
Blood Sciences Operations Manager
Telephone: 0117 4148498

Charlotte Besant
Quality Manager
Telephone: 0117 4148372

For Allergy and Immunology clinical advice, the clinicians and nursing team can be contacted:
1. via the secretaries on 0117 4143456, 9-5, no on-call service provided
2. via switchboard to our individual mobiles if clinician specific advice required, 9-5
3. via the immunology SpR bleep 9287, 9-5, no on-call service provided

General public enquiries should be directed to your GP in the first instance.

PROSPER: Improving Speech Outcomes for Very Preterm Born Children in Wales

Funded by Health and Care Research Wales (HCRW), the PROSPER study is led by HCRW Advanced Fellow, Dr Sam Burr. 

This research aims to improve speech outcomes for the 365 children born very preterm (VP) (before 32 weeks’ gestation) in Wales every year. 

These children are at increased risk of having difficulties learning to speak. Some of them have a speech sound disorder. Speech sound disorders can make it hard for children to be understood and they may sound different to their friends. If their problems persist, they are less likely to do well in school, and may struggle to make friends or get jobs in adulthood.

There are some extra challenges that may make things even harder for VP born children. 

Firstly, they have different experiences in the first 12 months of life compared with children born at term (after 37 weeks' gestation). At the moment, we don't know much about the impact these experiences have on how VP-born children learn to talk. 

Secondly, children with speech difficulties are not usually seen by NHS speech and language therapy services until they are about four years old, or sometimes older. This means children who need the most help can wait longer to get it.

It is important that health professionals are able to identify these children as early as possible so they can have help. 

We know the earlier these children get help, the better they do. This will benefit the child as they will be easier to understand and there will be less impact on their education and social development. This will also save money for the NHS and wider society by reducing the burden on social care. 

Parents of VP-born children and the clinicians who support them have told me that this is a priority area of research for them.

How will this research help?

To tackle this problem, this research will lead to new information that will help to make sure that NHS health and care teams have the skills and knowledge they need to monitor and support the speech sound development of VP-born children from an early age.

This PPI and stakeholder-informed research comprises four Work Packages (WPs), to address the following research questions:

• What are the characteristics of speech sound development in VP-born children compared with children born at term in a population sample? (WP1)
• What are the characteristics of speech sound development in a clinical sample of VP-born children at 2 years (corrected age) in Wales (WP2)
• Is current clinical practice in Wales effective in identifying VP-born children at 2 years (corrected age) who are at highest risk of SSD later in childhood? (WP3)
• What are parent’s experiences and perspectives on SLT involvement in NDFU care for VP-born children in Wales? (WP4)

First, we will look at information from a large study in Bristol from the 1990s to help us understand the differences between speech development in VP-born babies and babies born at term (WP1). This will help us understand what differences there are and whether VP-born children are at higher risk of speech sound difficulties. 

Then we will know how to spot these earlier in childhood, and they will get help earlier. This will mean their speech difficulties don't get in the way of their learning as much as if they had to wait until they were older. This will lead to better life outcomes for the child and their family. It will also mean we can identify children who are not likely to need help. This will save the NHS money and make sure that resources are focused on the children who need the most help.

Next, we will work with an NHS clinical team in Cardiff, who see VP-born children when they are aged two years old. This is an important age for speech development. We will collect information about the children's speech (WP2) so we can understand what this looks like in more detail and compare it with what we learnt from the Bristol study (WP1). We will also collect information about how the clinicians assess speech at the moment (WP3). Importantly, we will work with parents to understand their views about the role of speech and language therapists in the 2-year-old assessments (WP4).

We will share our findings with organisations like the Welsh Government so they can make sure that NHS services are effective in helping VP-born children to achieve their potential.

 

Meet the team

Severn Pathology (North Bristol NHS Trust Pathology Sciences and UKHSA Bristol Laboratory) is committed to setting and achieving high quality standards that meet the needs and requirements of its users and patients. 

Severn Pathology will:

• Operate a quality management system to integrate the organisation, procedures, processes, and resources, and ensure this is continually reviewed for fitness for purpose.
• Ensure that personnel comply with the policies of North Bristol NHS Trust and UK Health Security Agency as required.
• Establish and review quality objectives and plans to implement this quality policy and to achieve continual quality improvement.
• Ensure that all personnel are familiar with this quality policy and comply with the quality manual and all procedures relevant to their work to ensure user satisfaction.
• Encourage good communication between all staff.
• Commit to the health, safety, and welfare of its staff.  Visitors to the department will be treated with respect, and due consideration will be given to their safety while on site.
•  Commit to comply with relevant environmental legislation.
• Uphold professional values and be committed to good professional practice and conduct.
   

Severn Pathology will comply with the requirements of all relevant regulatory bodies, population screening programmes, the Data Protection Act 2018, and ISO 15189 and is committed to:

• The treatment of patients, samples and remains with due care and respect.
• Identification and mitigation of actual and potential risks to patient care.
• Staff recruitment, training, development, and retention at all levels to provide a full and effective service to its users.
• The proper procurement and maintenance of such equipment and other resources as are needed for the provision of the service.
• The collection, transport and handling of all specimens in such a way as to ensure the correct performance of laboratory examinations.
• The use of examination procedures that will ensure the acceptable quality of all tests performed and are fit for their intended use.
• Reporting results of examinations in ways which are timely, confidential, accurate and clinically useful.
• The assessment of patient and user satisfaction, in addition to internal audit and external quality assessment, as part of its commitment to continual quality improvement.
• Providing a comprehensive diagnostic service for Pathology, incorporating a number of national reference laboratories.
• The safe and timely provision of blood components and products, initiation of recall and the external reporting (SABRE scheme) of transfusion related incidents.  
   

Signed by:   

Mrs N. Stock, Pathology Services Director

Mr J. Steer, UK Health Security Agency Regional Head of Operations 

Antimicrobial Reference Laboratory
Level 2, Phase 1, Pathology Sciences Building
Southmead Hospital
Westbury-on-Trym
Bristol
BS10 5NB

Telephone: 0117 4146269 or 0117 4146220

Email: ARLEnquiries@nbt.nhs.uk