Patient Experience Newsletter

Welcome

Hello, I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine!

It’s been an exciting time in the Patient Experience Team.

We celebrated Patient Experience Week where we launched our first Patient Experience Week Awards (congratulations to our winners) and our new NHS Elect Training course on LEARN, which is CPD-accredited. This is available for all patient-facing staff and can be found by searching "Patient Experience" on LEARN.

We opened a new prayer room in the Library Resource Centre of Learning &Research Building, delivered our new Carers Awareness Training and launched an exciting new opportunity as part of the Bristol NHS Group; The Community Participation Group (CPG).

The CPG is designed to embed lived experience more deeply into how we plan and improve services. This will support the Joint Clinical Strategy work to review our duplicated services and form single managed services for Bristol and Weston.

The CPG will be made up of patients, carers and community representatives. We look forward to bringing this group together.

As always, make sure you are following us on Instagram @NBTPatientExperience for regular updates.

Volunteer Services

Bwalya Treasure, Volunteer Operational Lead 

This June, we celebrated National Volunteers Week and thanked our 440 volunteers for their incredible contributions and dedication. 

We spent the week giving out thank-you bags filled with treats and raffle prizes from our generous supporters.

We were joined at our Brunel Atrium stalls by The Hospital Company, Equans, League of Friends Southmead and Southmead Hospital Charity, and our senior leaders Maria Kane (Group Chief Executive), Glyn Howells (Hospital Managing Director) and Paul Cresswell (Director of Quality Governance), joined us to thank and recognise our volunteers.

We also launched the Volunteers Photo Exhibition which tell the story of many of our volunteers, across a variety of different roles. The photos were kindly taken by volunteer photography students at UWE and are available to view at Gate 36 of the Brunel until 25 August.

Fresh Arts

Art on wards

Donna Baber, Fresh Arts Manager

This May, Fresh Arts took part in Creativity & Wellbeing Week by showcasing some of the high quality, engaging, arts programmes, projects and activities that take place every day at NBT to enhance the patient experience, funded by generous donations to Southmead Hospital Charity.

Through 16 hours of activity in the atrium during the week, we estimate 2560 patients, visitors and staff enjoyed:

• Seven volunteer pianists performing for seven hours.
• 56 people took part in a Wonder Workshop for patients, visitors and staff in the Sanctuary Gallery. This was led by three Artists in Residence who were ‘Pathology Tourists’, and who created our current exhibition.
• 30 singers from North Bristol Good Afternoon Choir sang in the atrium.
• Bristol Taiko Drummers performed in the amphitheatre – in the sunshine!
• The Open Orchestra at Baytree School performed.
• 25 patients and carers from our Dance for Parkinson’s group performed in the atrium.
• Dance for Dementia in Elgar House with 40 patients, visitors and staff.
• 10 professionals learnt about the Sensing Spaces of Healthcare project.
• Eight creative writers and six Arts on Referral participants met in the art room for regular group activities.
• We held a preview for the "What makes you feel good?" exhibition with our partners, creativeShift, in the Schools & Communities Gallery.

Photo: First Avenue Photography

Patient Feedback & Engagement

Troy Crompton, Patient Experience Manager

The Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People have been hosting information stalls across Southmead and Cossham, and we have gone out to the community to share more about our services, including how to provide feedback, and use our digital communications.

Our Physical Access Group of patient representatives collaborated with Estates to undertake a PLACE session (Patient-Led Assessment of Care Environments) specifically looking at access, and as a Trust, we will now look at how we can make improvements based on their feedback.

This June is Gypsy, Roma, Traveller Week. We held an awareness training session with over 30 staff and continue to deliver outreach with this community. If you are interested in finding out more, do get in touch.

From July-September we will be trialing 6 WOWs (Wordskii on Wheels) devices across the Trust to help us improve access to interpreters, and hope this improves both Staff and Patient Experience. 

Any questions or feedback on Interpreting or outreach at NBT do contact Ann – ann.o’malley@nbt.nhs.uk.

Spiritual, Pastoral and Religious Care (SPaRC) 

Chaplaincy Volunteers Training Course

Steve Christian, Chaplaincy Team

Over the last few months, several students have spent time with our chaplains, shadowing the team to understand and experience the work we do within the Trust. Recent students have included trainee doctors, Trinity Theological Students (those training to be Anglican Priests), and Jutta (pictured), who is a church based Baptist Minister in training studying at Bristol Baptist College.

Jutta has been with our chaplaincy team throughout June and has accompanied chaplains on routine patient visits. She has also been with chaplains to observe the care and support offered to patients and families when facing end-of-life, bereavement, baby loss, baby funerals, receiving a terminal diagnosis, or needing treatment in ICU following trauma or a catastrophic life event.

Jutta says “it has been very helpful to see the important work chaplains do, and how their role in the hospital supports the pastoral work that we as church ministers and faith group leaders do in our local communities”.

As a team, we welcome NBT staff to come and spend some time with us to see what we do, and how our work can help you and the patients who are in your care.

A Fond Farewell 

Whilst welcoming and encouraging many to experience chaplaincy for the first time, the team are also preparing in July to say farewell to Mark Read as he moves into retirement.

Mark became a hospital chaplain in Gloucester in 2002. He then moved on to become the Lead chaplain at UHBW  from 2017 to 2022, after which he moved to NBT.

Here, Mark has brought his vast experience to help develop the outstanding chaplaincy team that we have in our trust today.

Mark will be greatly missed by so many in NBT who have appreciated the way he has supported and walked with staff and patients through challenges and led the service to celebrate the rich diversity of faith and holistic wellbeing.

Mark has developed the service with the team to one that is respected and valued across NBT.

We wish Mark every happiness as he now turns his focus to gardening, photography and travelling.