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Care Opinion

The emphasis on recovery in high secure hospitals.

Posted By WWW

"The emphasis on recovery in high secure hospitals."

About: Rampton Hospital

(as a parent/guardian),

I am a carer of someone who is in Rampton Hospital. I am fairly new to the mental health platform as my son fell ill after completing university. He has been in Rampton for about 4 years.

I get a sense that the environment is not conducive to encouraging hope. When the treatment of mental health has moved on into the 21st Century, I'm not sure if the "ethos" in Rampton has. A member of staff just recently remarked to me that in Rampton they medicate, not rehabilitate! Surely, the two should go hand in hand.

A Sainsbury Foundation Study points to "hope" as one of 5 key processes to recovery : Connectedness, Hope, Identity,Meaning, Empowerment.

I feel the ethos within the hospital needs some clarification- perhaps by the leadership and managers. The CQC has certainly identified this as an issue.

To be specific, Tai Chi was recently trialled in Rampton! This was indeed a milestone (thanks to an enlightened Head of Security) . But it was trialled for ONE day! And patients would have to pay £5 to do it if they continue! This is despite several staff members expressing interest in doing it themselves. Carers must draw their own conclusions.

Communication with carers, now that the Triangle of Care has been signed up to,  needs to be expanded. Putting news in the INTOUCH leaflet is not enough. Besides, it has the flavour of a Staff Newsletter. Carers were not involved or informed about projects till after the events. As some carers have commented there were no visual "advertising" of projects  within  the wards. Follow-up on the progression of these "journeying" projects would be greatly appreciated too. Carers can contribute trees and plants for these projects. 

Finally, the issue of going digital, much has been talked about, but carers would like  reports on outcomes or even progression.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust should take up the baton of change and live up to its logo of positive.

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Responses

Response from Lynne Corcoran, Head of Forensic Social Care, Forensic Services Rampton, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 6 years ago
Lynne Corcoran
Head of Forensic Social Care, Forensic Services Rampton,
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Submitted on 08/12/2017 at 10:56
Published on Care Opinion at 14:49

Thank you for your feedback.

Hope is a key element of the Recovery programme which is central to the care and treatment plans for all patietns in the hospital through the Care Programme Review.

We do like to introduce new social activities for patients of which Tai Chi was one. The Tai Chi is carried out by an external person not our staff, so in order to do this, and other such activities in addition to their usual extensive wellbeing programme, we do ask for a proportion of this extra cost to be self funded by the patients, as they would in the community.

Also we try to keep carers informed of new intitiatives at the hospital. The In Touch newsletter receives positive reviews from carers generally, though we continue to improve the way we communicate with visitors to the hospital.

We work with carers to plan the quarterly events to keep you informed of developments. Please contact the Family Support Team if you are interested in joining us to ensure the events cover areas of interest for you.

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Update posted by WWW (a parent/guardian)

Thank-you for your response. I understand that Care Plans are premised on Hope. What I wish to highlight is that care plans take place in situ. The environment in which they take place has also to be supportive of hope, amongst other requirements. What is it like for staff in the workplace? If leadership is lacking, if there is a "blame-culture" (as reviewed by the CQC), this will impact as stagnation in the day to day experience of all concerned. And the patients are the last in the food chain, as it were.

There is also the physical environment. For those patients who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the presence of trees and flowers as they look out their windows, might be important. Why are the grounds so desolate of trees and flowers? Perhaps clinicians can come onside on the importance of nature in recovery. Something visually pleasing to face each day must contribute in a positive way mentally.

Regarding Tai Chi, I fully understand your point. But could anyone decide to subscribe to a new exercise on the basis of just one lesson? I don't think I can or would. Why not give patients a trial of 4 lessons before you ask them to invest in it? Do yoga lessons have to be paid for?

Which brings me to another point. There is a gender bias in some exercises which is why yoga is not popular with male patients. Tai Chi seems to be acceptable. There are very few "mindfulness" exercises which males would attempt, albeit to their own detriment. These exercises will teach them to learn about themselves and should perhaps even be prescribed in the future. Rampton could take the lead in this.

At the end of the day, Carers do not have direct the power to bring about changes. We can highlight issues in the service which perhaps those working in it are not aware or not prepared to voice. Thank-you for your time.

Response from Lynne Corcoran, Head of Forensic Social Care, Forensic Services Rampton, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 6 years ago
Lynne Corcoran
Head of Forensic Social Care, Forensic Services Rampton,
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Submitted on 12/12/2017 at 16:36
Published on Care Opinion at 16:40

Thank you for your response. We are working to improve the issues you identify including leadership and believe that the focus on training and development is already showing positive results. We also strongly believe in learning from incidents where we can, rather than blaming people and intend to further develop this approach in 2018.

Mindfulness is a key part of various treatments and therapy we deliver at the Hospital including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Sessions are provided for new initiatives including Yoga and Tai Chi before patients are asked to contribute, and Yoga is popular here with some of the male patients.

We continue to work on achieving a lovely environment both on and off the wards, and clinical areas. Currently a number of the Sense of Community projects are working on enhancement of the environment, though our hospital grounds cover a large area and have a project starting next year to enhance the area that used to have villas on it, so that more patients can experience this generous green and tranquil part of the hospital.

Our work with Carers continues to improve the services we provide for our patients and appreciate your ongoing support with this.

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