The Royal United Hospital in Bath has celebrated the introduction of innovative projects to enhance the experience of patients during its annual Patient Experience Awards.
Members of the Emergency Department Paediatric Team receiving the award | Photo © RUH
The awards ceremony was held during Experience of Care Week, which is a national initiative to celebrate work taking place across health and social care to improve patient experience.
The awards recognise teams and individuals who go above and beyond to ensure that patients receive high-quality care and feel welcome.
This year’s top award was won by the Emergency Department Paediatric Team, which was nominated by Sarah Potter, Senior Sister and Joint Lead for the Children’s Emergency Department, for developing a dedicated children’s emergency department to provide urgent care to the hospital’s youngest patients.
The project has resulted in a separate area being created within the hospital’s main Emergency Department, which has been specially designed and decorated to make it less intimidating for young patients.
The new children’s area features wall-mounted play equipment for little ones and a Teen Room with a games console. These improvements were supported by the recruitment of additional children’s nurses and increased training for all Emergency Department staff.
Feedback from parents and carers has been overwhelmingly positive, with one parent calling the new children’s area “calm and friendly,” while another praised it as “amazing…so child-friendly.”
One parent commended the staff, stating that “their professionalism and care was nothing but outstanding.”
Sarah said: “It feels amazing to be recognised as the whole team has worked really hard to make a difference, putting patient experience first.
“We know the environment we provide care in is really important, and younger patients have different needs to teens.
“We’re so pleased we’ve been able to transform our space in a way that provides a better experience for young people at every age, and we’re already talking about how we can make further improvements for the people we care for.”
Other award winners were:
- The Palliative Care team – Nominated by Leah Moyle, Palliative Support Worker, for its project to provide butterfly memory boxers and knitted hearts to the families of patients nearing end of life.
- The Holistic Integrated Care of Ovarian Cancer (HICO) team – Nominated by Jonathan Frost, Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist, and Laura Davies, Engagement Lead (HICO), for improving health outcomes for older patients with ovarian cancer.
- The Critical Care team – Nominated by Margi Jenkins, Critical Care Matron, and Ian Kerslake, Clinical Lead for Intensive Care, for the development of the Critical Care Follow-Up clinic, which identifies any ongoing needs or concerns that patients may have following their stay in the unit and provides them with access to support services.
RUH Chief Nurse Toni Lynch said: “We want patients at the RUH to feel safe, understood, cared for and welcome, we are continuously looking at ways to improve their experience.
“Across the Trust, we encourage a culture of continuous improvement in everything we do and these awards demonstrate just some of the projects and improvements that have been introduced to benefit our patients.
“A huge congratulations to the award winners and everyone who was nominated for introducing such positive improvements for the people we care for.”
