The Older People’s Improvement Collaborative (TOPIC) Improving patient care and patient experience

In July 2020 South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust launched a new initiative which aimed to improve the care and experience of older patients in hospital and attract more nurses to work in this important field.

The Trust asked Healthwatch South Tyneside and Healthwatch Sunderland to support the TOPIC programme by obtaining patient and carer feedback to provide valuable information that could aid the development of improvement initiatives in older people’s care.

Healthwatch undertook three surveys, collecting 108 responses in total.

In summary, although patients overall reported positively on their experiences of being in hospital some did talk about some aspects of everyday care and activities of daily living which may improve their inpatient experience.

The feeling from patients when asking them about bathing was that being able to bathe in the shower or bath was a luxury as opposed to an everyday event; patients reported limited opportunities to use the shower or bath whilst on the ward.

Reformatting current menu choice cards to include large print or pictorial representations may enable more patients to independently choose what they might like to eat during their stay. Asking about filling in menu cards revealed many people actively enjoy this task and appreciate having this choice. It also highlighted how some patients lack understanding around codes printed on the forms which relate to special diets and that foods for specific diets can be ordered. Greater explanation to patients about - or simplifying - menu cards may increase patient choice and active engagement. Increased staffing around mealtimes may support those who struggle with eating. Observations of meals and drinks being placed out of reach were noted. One partially sighted patient explained how they often couldn’t find food on their plate and had knocked over drinks as they needed a description of where food is when placed on the table for them to eat.

Handwipes were not consistently seen at every bed. Many patients stated they were not encouraged to wash their hands before mealtimes and did not mention they had handwipes. Some people told us they washed their hands either in the bathroom following use of toilets or in ward sinks. Consideration must be given to the possibility that being questioned about doing something which is commonly understood to be essential hygiene practice may have resulted in patients agreeing they completed this task when they may not have - or may have struggled to do this task unassisted.

Healthwatch spoke to three patients who had issues with where they were placed on the ward.