Thought I would report on
a couple of activities I have been organising with fellow Governors over the
last 9 months.
I with other Governors
have several times visited St Lukes Outpatient Department and spoken with
patients about their experience in the hospital. The resulting reports have
resulted in significant improvements. We decided to visit other OP Departments.
We began with the Eye
Clinic because a few years ago I and Governors captured many adverse
experiences there and the resulting report had a substantial impact leading to
the new clinic we see today. We wished to see if experiences had significantly
improved. I paired with three other Governors making three pairs and we visited
the clinic on three different days. We chatted with 60 patients and each
conversation was captured in a short paragraph in our report together with an
analysis of common themes. It was clear that experiences were substantially
better than 5 or 6 years ago and most patients were very satisfied particularly
with their clinical care, However there was some dissatisfaction particularly
with overall waiting times and the uncertainty about waits between the
different stages of the clinical processes. There were some other matters such
as not being able to hear one’s name called. Our report was much welcomed by
managers and a number of improvements are being made.
More recently I and there
other governors visited Outpatient Departments OP4 and OP5 on three different
days as with the Eye Clinic. We spoke with 66 patients. These clinics cover a
number of specialties and our chats revealed experiences right across the Board
some particular to OP4 and OP5 clinics per se but many about the experiences
which led them there or were experienced elsewhere in the hospital. Most
patients were satisfied with their experiences and some effusive in their praise.
But not all comments were positive. Our Report has been shared with all the Departments
relevant to the stories (20 specialties).
Most of our conversations
touched on the vexed question of car parking. Experience here should improve
over the course of this year as explained in an earlier blog.
We plan next to chat with
patients in OP2 the Orthopaedics and Fracture Clinic.
I and fellow Governors
have also been engaged in visiting Departments to look at cleanliness, maintenance
and general appearance e.g. clutter. This involves checking out all clinic rooms,
toilets and waiting areas with the findings for each documented in a structured
report shared with the Chief Nursing Officer, the Chair of the hospital Board, senior
staff responsible for the clinics and those with overall responsibility for cleaning
and maintenance.
Our first visit was to
Audiology and ENT clinics. The latter was fine with some maintenance issues but
in the Audiology clinic the specialist rooms left much to be desired both in
cleanliness and maintenance. Audiology OP is due to refurbishment. We hope that
happens soon and we are monitoring the matter.
The second visit was to
OP departments on Level A e.g. Florence Desmond and Medical Day Unit. They were very good with very few adverse
observations. The Medical Day Unit has been recently refurbished and was
excellent.
The third visit was to
the Day Surgery Unit. There were a few maintenance issues (and all the clocks
were wrong!!) but overall everything was good. Bed Bays were excellent particularly the Paediatric Bay which was a
delight to behold.
