Staff ‘pledge’ to improve patient care as part of Experience of Care Week

24 April 2018

Staff at Shropshire’s two acute hospitals have made pledges to improve patient care.

Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) and The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH), have made the pledges as part of Experience of Care Week.

Experience of Care Week is a national initiative running from Monday 23 – Friday 27 April.

• Karen Breese, Dementia Clinical Specialist, said: “To help improve patient care I pledge to develop pop-up dementia-friendly cafes at RSH and PRH.”

• Hannah Roy, Governance Membership Manager, said: “To help improve patient care I pledge to support people to become volunteers at our hospitals.”
  

  Karen Breese

• Jules Lewis, End of Life Care Facilitator, said: “To help improve patient care I pledge to develop the Swan Scheme and develop more Swan Rooms.”

• Nick Parkin, Catering Manager, added: “To help improve patient care I pledge to raise money for the Swan Fund through the raffle of a fabulous hamper.”

• Kate Ballinger, Community Engagement Facilitator, said: “To support communities to get involved with us and help us to make our services as good as they can be.

As part of the celebrations, SaTH is supporting the national End PJ Paralysis campaign.

To coincide with the 70th anniversary of the NHS this year, a 70 day challenge was launched on Tuesday 17 April, aiming to get patients up, dressed in their own clothes, and moving to boost their recovery.

Deirdre Fowler, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Quality at SaTH, said: “Patients on Ward 16 Stroke Rehabilitation have been doing exercises—sometimes even dancing and singing—to some of their favourite musical artists, such as Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra.

“On Ward 15 Acute Stroke they are playing balloon tennis to get people up and mobilised. They have been having lots of fun on the ward while tackling a really important issue. It is great to see patients dressed and around a table while playing with a balloon, instead of lying in a hospital bed.

“Staff on Ward 6 Cardiology came to work in their gym kit on Tuesday to lead exercise classes with their patients, but perhaps even more fun was the number of staff walking around our hospitals in their pyjamas. I say fun, but what they are doing is actually tackling a really serious issue as it makes us realise how uncomfortable and sluggish we feel when wearing pyjamas. If we feel like that, imagine how patients feel when they are in their pyjamas all day.

“All of our wards are taking part in this challenge and it is really encouraging to see how everyone has embraced the challenge—and believe me, it won’t just end at the end of the 70 days! If something is making such a difference to patient care, why would we stop?”

Other initiatives taking place include: encouraging patients to collect their own drinks from the beverage trollies and helping patients to get up and move to the toilet, instead of using a commode.

It has been suggested that patients older than 80 years old who spend 10 days in a hospital bed will lose 10 per cent of their muscle mass. For many, wearing pyjamas reinforces being sick and can prevent recovery.

The campaign was launched to raise awareness of the health benefits of getting people dressed, out of bed and as active as possible, while in hospital.

As part of the campaign there are a number of wonderful initiatives taking place on the wards at PRH and RSH.