Hospital staff in East Yorkshire will be showing how they have been responding to the drive to improve dignity in care this week.
To tie in with national Dignity Action Day, staff from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will be celebrating with their own special Dignity Day event at the Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology in Cottingham.
Running from 9am to 4pm on Wednesday 1st February, the event will bring together examples of how staff have been working to ensure patients are treated with both dignity and respect, as Janis Hostad, Lecturer/Education and Development Coordinator at the Trust explains:
“This is the seventh consecutive year in which we’ve marked Dignity Action Day with an event of our own, showcasing the lengths which staff are going to in order to provide care and develop services which are suitably respectful and considerate of patients’ needs and feelings.
“Patients can naturally feel quite vulnerable when they’re coming into hospital and that can be for a number of reasons, for example because they’re elderly, because they don’t have friends and family around them, because they don’t know how their illness will affect them, or even because the environment they find themselves in isn’t suited to their particular needs.
“In response to this, health staff from across the Trust have been looking at ways of reducing these anxieties and ensuring patients feel they are given choice and control in the way they are treated, no matter how long they’re in hospital for.”
Throughout the day, the main reception area at the Queen’s Centre will play host to numerous information stands explaining how services such as Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, Haematology and many of the Trust’s wards have gone about this task. Examples of the projects on show include a type of radiotherapy gown designed to protect patients’ modesty whilst undergoing radiotherapy treatment, whilst the nursing stands will focus on their roles and specific treatments, and how they continually endeavour to improve dignity for patients.
On the day, patients will also be asked to take part in a special Dignity Survey to find out how they feel about the care they are given, and three lucky members of staff will receive a special Dignity in Care Award, following patient nominations, for going above and beyond in the care of their patients.
Janis continues:
“The day for us is not just about sharing information, it’s about being proud of our achievements and really celebrating the strides we’ve made in promoting dignity in care and making it the norm across our wards and departments.
“To remain in-keeping with the spirit of the day, our staff have once again gone the extra mile and have been busy making homemade cakes and buns to share with visitors on the day. A number of staff are so keen to promote their work that they are planning to come in to host their stands in their own time too.
“We consider dignity in care not just as a ’nice to have’, but as a cornerstone of delivering great care to patients, and we hope that by joining us on the day and finding out how far we’ve come already, our patients and visitors will share their views and help us to improve still further.”
Meanwhile, over at Hull Royal Infirmary, patients and visitors will be invited to share their views on dignity in care with staff within the Patient Experience Hub, just inside in the main tower block. Members of the Patient Experience Team will be in attendance throughout the day to take feedback, offer advice, and discuss expected standards of care.