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Frustrated with the limitations of what is being provided

Posted By tucanagb67

"Frustrated with the limitations of what is being provided"

About: Allied Health Professionals / Occupational Therapy Beechcroft Inpatient Care

(as a parent/guardian),

My teenage son has been an inpatient in the hospital for an extended period of time. The only things he has been offered are cooking, gardening, walking, yoga, art and the use of a recreation hall with no structure. There is also a green gym. He is offered 1 session of OT per fortnight. The only other additional group to come in throughout this time was a circus group.

I feel the sessions offered are not person centred, creative or age and gender appropriate. The use of an xbox was approved 8 months ago in an attempt to try to engage my son and build rapport with staff. The xbox never appeared and staff still seem to have made no inroads to engage my son. We are due to come into the summer months when children are meant to be on their summer holidays and as yet no plans have been made for any activities or additional sessions to be provided.

The OT has met with me on minimal occasions and continuously focuses on one task that my son will engage in, but does not see his frustrations with the repetitiveness of the tasks. He has been voicing his boredom for months and does very little apart from sit in his room on his phone.

In the last 5 weeks when he has been permitted pass home. He has been using a punch bag for boxing, swimming, played drums, made himself milkshakes and snacks, watched films with family, crab fishing, shopping, for haircuts, drives to see the sea and countryside, played xbox with his brother and engaged really well. When he is given things to do which he has an interest in he engages well.

I am very frustrated with the limitations of what is being provided within OT sessions in the hospital. I have tried to voice this to several professionals and the response has been dismissive and no changes have been made. Staff are frustrated my son, who is unwell, will not change his response but will not seem to change their approach, which seems the wrong way round.

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Responses

Response from Belfast Health and Social Care Trust 10 months ago
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 04/07/2024 at 15:36
Published on Care Opinion at 16:22

Dear Tucanagb67,

Thank you for taking the time to give us feedback about our service.

I am sorry to hear that you feel frustrated regarding the ward based activities that have been available to your son during his hospital admission to date.

I am delighted to hear that his pass home from hospital has been successful in engaging him in activities of interest.

We are always keen to hear about how we can improve on the care we are providing therefore we would be keen to have a call with you to specifically go through the details of this Care Opinion story in more detail.

If this is something you would be agreeable to can you please email

PatientExperience@belfasttrust.hscni.net who will ensure your details are passed on.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Response from Service Manager, Occupational Therapy, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust 10 months ago
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 08/07/2024 at 14:55
Published on Care Opinion at 14:56

Dear tucanagb67

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. I am sorry to hear that your son has been in hospital for an extended period of time but am pleased to hear that he was recently able to spend time at home with family and was able to engage in a range of activities that were meaningful and important to him.

Occupational Therapy in the unit offer a range of therapeutic groups, aimed at supporting patients recovery, along with individual sessions. All sessions should be person centred and relevant to age and abilities and we are disappointed to hear that you feel the Occupational Therapy service has not met your son’s needs, and that you have not had the opportunity to meet with us as frequently as you would have expected.

We would like to have an opportunity to discuss your concerns further, so we can improve your sons' care and our services.

Please get in touch with Clare Donaghue,OT Lead in the unit on 02895045099 who would be happy to arrange a meeting.

regards

Maria Hilditch ( ASM Occupational Therapy Mental Health) and Camilla Devlin Professional Head of Occupational Therapy

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by tucanagb67 (a parent/guardian)

I am finding this process incredibly unhelpful.

I have been having the same conversations for nearly 2 years and I am fed up saying the same thing to the same staff members including management.

In my experience there are significant systemic issues and the fact the Trust can only make adjustments by asking those already in stressful situations to continuously repeat themselves over and over again is shocking.

The whole point of anonymous responses to these questionnaires is for the people in charge of patient care to listen, consider, plan and act. Not have more discussions to try to convince me they are doing everything they can.

Response from Kevin Patterson, Patient and Client Experience Facilitator, Belfast Trust Wide, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust 10 months ago
Kevin Patterson
Patient and Client Experience Facilitator, Belfast Trust Wide,
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 09/07/2024 at 10:24
Published on Care Opinion at 10:24

picture of Kevin Patterson

Hello tucanagb67

My name is Kevin Patterson I am the Patient and Client Experience Facilitator for the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. I am responsible to ensure that the stories on Care Opinion are heard by those whom can affect change within their departments and we as a Trust and learn and change of the stories posted.

I am so sorry to read about your struggles with activities and that your son is unable to fully engage as the activities are not person centred.

Care Opinion is anonymous and give clients, patients, carers and families the opportunity to leave feedback so that we can learn and change. Services where there is a lot of information and the story covers two or more areas may offer you the opportunity to discuss this in greater detail so that they can focus in on the departments that they are able to change.

I apologise if this is stressful and causing you to repeat yourself, if you wish to discuss your story in greater detail with the service managers this will ensure greater impact and a more focused change. Service Managers are asked to update Care Opinion in a few months to ensure Openness and Transparency on how they have used your feedback to affect change.

Thank you again for leaving your feedback and I hope your story makes some substantial changes for those using BHSCT services in the future.

Kevin Patterson

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