"Inconsistencies between Redwood and Rowan"

Hello and many thanks for your comments.

It is a coincidence that you mention inconsitencies between the wards as Steve and I were looking to address this only recently.

Every ward develops their own way of working based upon idealogies, the environment and experiences, but you are correct in that two wards that are based at the same hospital should not have such inconsistencies between one another.

We are due to meet in the New Year to discuss how we can provide consistent care between the male wards and share practice to promote better ways of working for patients and carers.

The internet use on wards has long been a souce of contention and provided much discussion between patients and staff. This item was also identified at a recent Patient Meeting on the ward.

The Multi Disciplinary Team are of the opinion that internet access should be provided on the ward, especially as technology has progressed to a level where many tasks are performed over the internet (e.g. bills, job searches, housing applications, etc).

The problem we currently face is that we cannot guarantee that information used by patients will be appropropriate when unwell and may also lead to difficult circumstances for the patient, who may not possess capacity to understand the full impact of their decisions at that time due to ill health.

It may be the case that we contact other trusts to see how the problem has been tackled and how they can (if they do) achieve a successful result in this context.

It is very pleasing to hear of the positive input the OT service has had on your care. We will be looking to work far more collaboratively in future and hope that this will increase your opportunity to feel empowered and evolve.

Although Patrick has responded I felt that it important you receive the clarity you have been listened too from both wards.

As Patrick mentioned we have recently been in contact with a view to meeting in the new year. This is to try and support each other as wards and to bring the care from both sides closer and more harmoniously. There will always be a slight difference as different members of the team will bring different skills and levels to the ward.

Protected time was an issue over the summer period on redwood 1 due to constraints of the ward and staffing issues were a problem. This has been re-introduced on Redwood 1, and I agree this is a valuable time. I have to again agree with Patrick the use of internet is a tricky one, due to social media and advances in technology I am aware of the importance for people to have access to the internet. However this often does not run in line with our trust policies and procedures and information Governance issues. The trust would have to make decisions which reflect this, but however taking into account the need to protect individuals and others personal information and that sometimes when people are unwell their decision making processes can be impaired.

I am glad you feel you had good relationships and support from the HCA's but was sad to hear not from the Nurses, which I will take on board and if you would like to elaborate more on this you are more than welcome to contact me and come in and speak with me.

I also am glad that you had support and felt the OT services were important to your recovery. I'm glad you had hope and looked forward to the cooking you did on the ward.

As stated above if you feel that you want to talk in more depth about yours and your experiences on the ward, I would be more than happy to discuss this with you in the New Year. Please contact me on redwood 1 0115 9529410.

Many thanks for your time you spent to write your comments about Highbury Hospital.