"A note of thanks to..."

Note of thanks to….. 

To the team in ICU at Bournemouth Hospital in late November, to the team in Ward 24  and to the Trust Leadership team. 

We would like to send our huge thanks to the entire team of doctors and nurses who looked after our family member during his 9 days in ICU.  We were humbled by the level of emotional care, compassion and medical care both given to him and to us as a family during that extended time.  

As you know he was eventually taken off his ventilator and moved to Ward 24 where he sadly passed away three days later.  We would like to tell you that the approach that you took to save him gave him enough of a boost that we were able to talk with him for a couple of days.  Those moments were hugely important to us as a family and we cannot thank you enough for giving us that opportunity. 

It was comforting to us that the ICU doctors were involved in his care right from his admission into A&E and their approach with us,  both at the beginning where we had some hope and at the end when that hope was fading was nothing but top class.  You were factual in a gentle way but showed us incredible empathy and compassion at a time when many things were uncertain. 

To his nurses we were so impressed by your level of professionalism and medical skills and we were equally touched by your kindness and amazing people skills.  

To Tapi, Luciano, Hannah, Layna, Loren and Heather we thank you for everything you did for him and us. 

In particular:-  

Tapi for asking us whilst we were in the canteen if we were all ok. 

Hannah for engaging with the patient’s wife so well and making her feel that you were really interested about him as a person rather than just a patient. That gave her some much needed comfort and you helped us all by telling us about the routines that you carried out to keep him comfortable and safe. 

Layna for her care and empathy and even after he had been moved to Ward 24 for noticing us three times in the corridors and asking us how he was doing.  Your interest was heartfelt and we thank you for that.  

Loren for being there for us over night when we called and for calming our nerves.  On the day we said we would be in early you made sure that you had given him a lovely wash and new sheets before we arrived.  We wish you every success with your new baby and are certain you will be a fantastic mum!  

Heather for absorbing so quickly all the information from the previous 6 days and giving us the confidence that you knew everything that had happened so far.  For helping us all as the stress levels were increasing and for helping us with all the difficult questions we wanted to ask. 

We would also like to thank Emma the research nurse who explained her work and its importance in a way that made us all feeling really good about our family member participating in her work.  It was also comforting to hear how ICU’s across the world collaborate on best practices and that his care was a result of global teamwork and knowledge sharing. 

In addition we wanted to thank the ladies from behind the desk for answering our hundreds of door buzzes and for recognising us up close and personal on the screen!  

We also wish to thank the friendly gentleman who managed the cleaning regime in ICU.  Not only was he very welcoming to us we were impressed by how busy he always was and of course how important his role must be in that environment. 

From Ward 24: 

We would like to thank three people, the lady on the desk overnight – we apologise that we missed your name but you made us very comfortable and were always asking you could help us with tea, coffees and helped us when we had concerns. 

There were two ladies in particular who engaged us with great care and empathy-  Jackie on the day shift and xx on the night shift.  Having moved from a 1:1 care environment in ICU  into a ward it was important to us that we found people to talk to and they both made themselves available to us in a very natural and caring way.  This helped us no end in understanding who to talk to in the medical team and made the whole experience less stressful for us.  Ladies – thank you so much for everything you did for us. 

To the Trust Management team, we wanted to say that we were immediately impressed by the family atmosphere in the hospital and noticed lots of members of staff saying hello to each other as they walked the corridors.  It gave us the feeling that everyone was working together to provide the best care for the hospital patients. 

Particularly of note was the care shown to our daughter who took many “walks” when really upset, she was asked by several members of staff if she was ok, notably the lady who said to her that she would show her to the Chapel and that it was not necessary to be ‘Chapelly’ to use it.  That gave us a very memorable moment of care and light heartedness. 

Lastly thanks also to the catering staff and the Royal Volunteer service for feeding us some excellent breakfast, lunch and dinners and for keeping us topped up with coffee and sweet things during our two weeks.  Without that we would have not had the energy to keep going. 

So to close – whilst the outcome was not what we had hoped for, we hope that you 

• feel proud about the work you do  

• realise what amazing care and empathy you give 

• understand that your medical skills are incredible 

• know that when you go the extra mile it means so much  

and lastly that you know that it was greatly appreciated by us as a family.