VISITORS at Barnet Hospital were able to take a break from the bedside and reflect in the great outdoors when they were treated to a sneak preview of a new garden room. Specially designed and built as part of the King’s Fund’s Enhancing the Healing Environment project, the aim of the space is to provide a retreat for relatives and friends spending long hours at the hospital with a patient who is approaching the end of their life. Matron, Sue Hall, project leader, said: ‘While Barnet Hospital is a lovely modern building, there really isn’t anywhere for families or friends to go for a bit of a rest from long hours spent at the bedside. We wanted to create somewhere very special, but private and peaceful.” The hospital added to the grant from the King’s Fund by running a number of fundraising initiatives and trust representatives worked closely with facilities management company, Ecovery, and The Garden Escape Company to deliver the scheme. Now complete, the facility features a series of planted areas and a room for rest and reflection. Green technologies include a sedum ‘living roof’ and sun pipe lighting. The garden will be officially opened in September, with fundraisers still generating cash for a few finishing touches. Deputy director of patient experience, Kay Laurie, said: ‘We have quite a challenging situation for planting in the courtyard garden as light levels are not too bad, but growing conditions aren’t ideal. However we’ve come up with a brilliant solution that will help us keep the courtyard garden looking lovely through the seasons.”

THE occupational health of supply chain workers on the ProCure21 Framework will be improved after the delivery body signed up to the Constructing Better Health (CBH) Client Charter. The framework is collaborating with CBH to encourage improvements in the management of occupational health among employees working on the P21 National Framework and the soon-to-be-launched P21+ National Framework. Cliff Jones, senior policy and performance manager for the ProCure21 Framework, said: “Working with the CBH and through the CBH Client Charter, we will encourage all our framework contractors and their supply chains to develop their approach to the management of occupational health.”  The ProCure21 National Framework includes many of the UK’s leading construction companies as well as many large and small sub-contractors in their supply chains. Mr Jones said: “Our commitment towards delivering exceptional healthcare facilities for the UK needs to ensure that we are addressing the health of all that are directly engaged in delivering them within the supply chain. As we set the standard, so should we lead by example of how to deliver without causing detriment to the construction workforce and unnecessarily generating additional patients for the NHS.”  Michelle Aldous, chief executive of CBH, added: “ProCure21 has a strong reputation for delivering healthcare buildings in the UK and we look forward to adding our expertise to complement their professional excellence by creating a robust foundation for their workers’ health.”

Constructing Better Health

ProCure21

NURSES on hospital drug rounds will be able to get on with their job more safely and with fewer interruptions following the launch of new disposable tabards from GV Health. The garments are being introduced at a number of hospital trusts to minimise interruptions, reduce cross infection risks and improve drug dispensing accuracy, which will in turn enhance patient safety and reduce the cost and waste resulting from mistakes. Catherine Pegna, managing director of GV Health, said: “Reusable fabric drug round tabards currently used by some hospitals have been identified as a potential cross-infection risk particularly where time and financial restraints cause them to be used more than once without laundering. This has put nurses off using them and many hospitals have been looking for an alternative. We wanted to give nurses on drug rounds a safe way of putting up the ‘do not disturb’ sign while saving nurse managers some money.” Senior NHS nurses worked with the company to develop the new tabards, directly influencing the overall construction, design, colour, wording and fit. The single-size tabard can be adjusted to fit all shapes and builds and is suitable for use in all types of ward including general medical, surgical and special care baby units. Their use could also help trusts to save money as a recent survey revealed that laundered tabards cost an average of 42p per use while disposable options can cost from 18p each, representing a 60% saving.

GV Health

PATIENTS in Glossop will receive care on their doorsteps following the completion of the new George Street Primary Care Centre. Bury, Tameside and Glossop Community Solutions, the public private partnership specialising in providing bespoke health and social care premises, has worked in partnership with NHS Tameside and Glossop to develop and deliver the new state-of-the-art facility in George Street, close to the town centre. Construction work started in June last year with a ground-breaking ceremony to make way for the new 1,300sqm building, which was completed last month. It will serve a large part of the surrounding Glossopdale area, with facilities including district and school nursing, children’s services, dietetics, optometry, retinopathy screening, sexual health services, dental surgeries and speech and language therapies. The design concept has been developed using a traditional style and materials that enhance the conservation area. The project is also ground-breaking in that it is one of the first LIFT health centres to install an air source heat pump, providing green energy for the under-floor heating. To add to the building’s green credentials, solar panels have also been set into the natural slate roof, providing additional on-site generation of electricity. Louise Rigg, director of finance and health strategy at NHS Tameside and Glossop, said: “The completion of the centre is the product of three years of planning and it is fantastic to receive the keys. The centre will play a central part in the health and social wellbeing of the Glossopdale community.”

BRADFORD Teaching Hospital is to undergo a refurbishment as part of efforts to improve the clinical environment and experience of dementia patients. The corridors of wards 23, 29 and 30 will be spruced up to make them more interesting and multi-sensory places to be after Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust successfully bid for £50,000 from The King’s Fund’s Enhancing the Healing Environment programme. The trust will add another £15,000 to the pot from its own funds.

Patient service manager for elderly care, Debbie Beaumont, said: “Coming into hospital for dementia patients can often be a confusing experience for sufferers. They don’t know where they are and why they are there, so they spend a lot of time wandering the corridors, trying to find a way out and this can often leave them highly agitated and anxious. It’s also very hard for staff to communicate with patients when they are in this state, so our plan is to refurbish the corridors. This might include sculptures, a piece of illuminated art or something that is interesting to touch.” The project, which it is hoped will be completed by September next year, will be managed by matron for elderly care, Dawn Parkes, and the project team, which includes senior sister, Anne Austick; estates project manager, Shane Embleton; and artist, Sarah Szikora, who trained locally and is also carer for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s. Over the next 18 months, they will look at various options and ideas as well as consulting with dementia patients – some of whom are as young as 40-years-old - and their carers. Parkes added: “There are lots of ideas around at the minute, but we want something that will provide interest without over-stimulation as what we don’t want to do is to the make the patients more anxious and agitated. By improving the environment, we can enable patients with dementia to recover their health in the same way that others do.”

The Cambridge Transplant Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital has moved to newly-refurbished wards, with upgraded facilities and additional specialist beds. Previously, the unit had beds for 22 transplant patients together with a four-bed high-dependency area. The move increases the number of transplant beds to 28 and expands the high-dependency area to six beds. Professor Andrew Bradley, clinical director of transplant surgery, said: “Transplants are a miracle of modern medicine. They are the best possible treatment for people with end-stage organ failure. Our patients often spend a lot of time in hospital, both around the time of their surgery and during other periods of illness, and these new facilities will let us provide the best specialist care and support.” The unit was established more than 40 years ago and cares for patients both before and after their transplant. A team of surgeons carries out kidney, liver, small bowel, pancreas and multi-organ transplants – and Addenbrooke’s is the only hospital in the UK to provide complex multi-visceral transplants. These involve the small bowel and liver together with the stomach, duodenum, pancreas or colon. The unit’s new home is on wards F5 and G5.

A NEW minor injuries unit has opened in Cambridge, coinciding with the deployment of a computerised patient records system across the service. Funded by the Friends of North Cambs Hospital and NHS Cambridgeshire, the facility has six new private rooms including an eye examination room, emergency treatment room and four consulting rooms, where before there were only two rooms and two curtained cubicles. The new reception is more private than before so conversations remain confidential, there is a spacious and comfortable waiting room, and the unit has both male and female disabled toilets. It is also better for staff, who now have a sitting and training room, a kitchen and dedicated changing areas. Victor Lucas, chairman of Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, which will run the service, said: “I am delighted to open this high-quality unit that really provides patients with local access to excellent treatment facilities. Moving in coincided with the introduction of a new computerised patient records system across the minor injuries service. That, together with a bigger and better treatment environment, brings so much benefit to patients and staff. The Friends of Wisbech Hospital provided the cash to buy the new clinical equipment, including patient trolleys, equipment trolleys, a patient multi-monitor which measures the heart and blood pressure, fittings and furnishings for the rooms, and furniture for the kitchen and staff training room.”

PATIENTS at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital are set to benefit from better continuity of care and smoother transfers out of hospital with the opening of a new surgical ward and combined acute medical and surgical assessment unit. The new ward areas will improve how different specialties work together and enhance services for the increasing number of patients requiring higher levels of care. Patients coming to hospital for planned surgery will also benefit from a smoother admission and discharge process, meaning they will need to spend less time in hospital. To facilitate the development of the new ward areas, St Mary Abbots Ward will close from 5 July. Some building work is also required and this is expected to take place from mid-July to early October. The new surgical ward will be located in the area currently occupied by Rainsford Mowlem Ward on the 3rd Floor while the combined medical and surgical assessment unit will temporarily function in two areas of the hospital- the area currently occupied by the Acute Medical Unit (AMU) and Marie Celeste Ward on the 4^th floor until the required building work is completed.

ALSO IN THE NEWS:

Health provider, The Practice, has launched a GP-led health centre in Croydon, which will offer treatment for minor injuries and illnesses as well as a community sexual health service. Additional services will become available over the next few months, including a pharmacy, emergency dental provision, breast screening and health promotion services. The centre, which will address health inequalities in the south London borough, is open 8am-8pm 365 days a year… Healthcare furniture specialist, Knightsbridge Furniture, has extended its collection of cabinet furniture for care and residential homes with the introduction of a new Elective range…