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Care Opinion

Stoma Facilities in Disabled Toilets

Posted By LoobyLoo2018

"Stoma Facilities in Disabled Toilets"

About: Crosshouse Hospital

(as a service user),

I was at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock to visit an in-patient who was in a ward on the 4th floor. Shortly arriving in the ward, I had to leave to go to the toilet as my stoma had started to become quite active. There were no toilets on the ward for visitors. In fact, the only toilets were on the ground floor - which is some distance from the wards. By the time I got to the disabled toilet on the ground floor, I was now in desperate need to attend to my stoma. The disabled toilet is a large decent space, very adequate for people in wheelchairs, or those who require assistance. Unfortunately, in the disabled toilets, in this hospital, the needs of an ostomate have been completely overlooked. There is no shelf for you to lay out everything that you need to hand - fresh pouch, disposal bag, wipes etc. The toilet roll dispenser was extremely awkward to use - when you urgently need toilet paper, the last thing you want to do is to try and find the end of the toilet roll and then only be able to get a couple of squares before it breaks off and then you have to start all over again! There was no seat within the toilet so that if you required to change your underwear you could do so without having to use the toilet pan as a seat. After all of that, how to dispose of your disposal bag. There were 2 bins in the toilet - one clearly labelled for domestic waste and a sanitary bin. Unfortunately the opening of the sanitary bin was very small - obviously not designed to take anything larger than sanitary products. Can I also just mention the actual size of the sink? It's rather on the small side, and prohibits properly washing your hands thoroughly without water spraying everywhere!

I would like Crosshouse Hospital to address the needs of ostomates in all of their premises and within their disabled toilets, and also look at the provision of toilets for visitors to wards. 

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Responses

Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 6 years ago
We have made a change
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 12/04/2018 at 11:51
Published on Care Opinion at 14:13

picture of Eunice Goodwin

Dear LoobyLoo2018,

How upsetting this must have been for you and I am truly sorry for your distressing and unsatisfactory experience.

I would like to thank you so much for highlighting the drawbacks of the current facility at University Hospital Crosshouse. There is some good news. NHS Ayrshire and Arran are aware of the need to upgrade the accessibility toilet to reflect all needs, including those people with a stoma. Out estates management have plans drawn up; however we have some challenges to overcome. Possibly the next hurdle is funding. We also need to relocate staff from an existing area and all that goes with that. Then clearly all the usual things that go along with building works/ construction.

Estates and Management teams involved are exploring funding option at the moment. I suspect this will unfortunately, not be resolved quickly but it is firmly on our agenda. I was wondering if you would be interested in being involved as one of our expert consultants when we are further along with the design stage. If you would like to help us ensure this suits the needs of people with a stoma, please drop me an email or call me with your contact details. I will pass them to the senior manager responsible for the development and we can ‘use your expert opinion’ when we at that stage.

I would also like to thank you for educating me with a new word. In my NHS working years, too many to confess to, ‘ostomates’ it is not a word I had come across.

I hope this is helpful although I appreciate this will not be resolved in the short term and does not address all your suggestions.

One thing we have done

We have changed the bin for a clinical waste bin which has a much wider opening at the top and therefore it will help with waste disposal.

Best wishes,

Eunice

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Update posted by LoobyLoo2018 (a service user)

Hi Eunice,

Thank you for your response. I fully understand that changes to the facilities won't happen overnight due to various reasons, but I'm happy to learn that this will now be addressed. I would like to be involved as things progress, and can I suggest that the Stoma Nurse Team at Crosshouse also be involved too? Together we could ensure that appropriate facilities are available for ostomates. Sometimes a small change can make a big difference! The word ostomates is an umbrella term for those with a colostomy, urostomy or ileostomy - I hadn't heard of it myself until I saw it at the Colostomy Association. Perhaps they also can offer some help - I know that they have helped Sainsbury address the stoma/disabled toilet issues as well as some other large organisations. Thank you again, and I will be in touch with my contact details.

LoobyLoo

Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 6 years ago
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 16/04/2018 at 08:38
Published on Care Opinion at 08:43

picture of Eunice Goodwin

Dear LoobyLoo2018,

Thank you, yes, I believe the stoma nurses will be involved. I confess I did Google the term ostomates. I thought it was a great name myself.


Thank you for agreeing to be in touch and giving your expert advice, I am sure all the help we get will bring the facilities to the standard required.


Thank you so much for being in touch,

Take care.

Eunice

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