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Brilliant staff, lovely ward.

Posted By greatfuldaughter

"Brilliant staff, lovely ward."

About: Udston Hospital

(as a relative),

I would like to say a massive thank you to all the staff in Douglas ward who helped look after my mother during her stay. The staff were brilliant, the ward was lovely.

On that note I would like to express my disbelief and utter disgust at the NHS decision to close this ward. The NHS is crying out for beds so why continue to close wards and risk patient safety. I don't care what the reasons are but they are wrong. It's all money money money with the NHS, they don't seem to care about patient safety or welfare or the fact we have a growing and aging population and nowhere near enough beds to handle that.

I feel sorry for all the patients and staff in Douglas ward who again are all amazing.

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Responses

Response from Gwen MacIntyre, Senior Nurse for the Care of the Elderly, University Hospital Hairmyres, NHS Lanarkshire 6 years ago
Gwen MacIntyre
Senior Nurse for the Care of the Elderly, University Hospital Hairmyres,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 27/02/2018 at 14:17
Published on Care Opinion at 15:42

picture of Gwen MacIntyre

Dear greatfuldaughter,

Thank you for taking time to feedback regarding the staff and your experience of the great care and compassion the Douglas Ward staff provide.

It is always a sad and upsetting time when services change and on ocassions like this when the unit is closing.

I've added some detail below which our communication team have issued throughout this process which explains the reason for changes as we evolve with our changing Health and Social Care Partnership service.

Once again thank you for sharing the positive aspects of your experience and we take on board our valuable comments.

"In terms of the closure of Douglas ward, NHS Lanarkshire’s healthcare strategy Achieving Excellence and South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership’s (H&SCP) Strategic Commissioning plan set out the need to deliver more care for patients in community settings. These strategies were produced in line with national policy and following public consultation and part of these strategies involved a review of services within Douglas Ward in Udston.

The majority of patients cared for in Douglas Ward are awaiting either home care packages or to be placed in a nursing home. By freeing up the resources used to run Douglas Ward, we will able to increase community provision so patients can move back to their home, or nursing home, much more quickly.

There are a small number of patients on the ward who receive long term hospital based care. The criteria for long-term, hospital-based care has changed over the years while the type of care that can be provided in a nursing home has evolved.

As a result, we are seeing fewer patients who need to be in hospital for complex, clinical, hospital based care. This, combined with the reduction in the length of time patients have to wait for a package of care, means that the long term future of Douglas Ward as an acute care of the elderly ward is not sustainable.

The resources from the closure of the ward will be transferred to the H&SCP to generate more community options. This redesign will make way for better outcomes for individuals, who will be more speedily settled back at home or in a homely setting.

We have met regularly with staff, patients and their families throughout the process to ensure we identify the best options for them following the closure of the ward next month."

Kind Regards

Gwen

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