Johns Campaign, Blackpool

In order to investigate views and experiences of new visiting arrangements aligned to the recommendations of John’s Campaign (to establish NHS staff to recognise the importance of working with family carers as equal partners in the care of people with a dementia who are in hospital), Healthwatch Blackpool and Healthwatch Lancashire aimed to ensure the views of people experiencing the new visiting arrangements were heard.

During two visits to Blackpool Victoria and Clifton Hospitals on 7 and 8 September 2017 Healthwatch Blackpool representatives saw twenty-six people to speak about their experiences of open visiting arrangements.

The special project aimed to explore whether visitors were seeing someone with a dementia, how they found out about the changed visiting arrangements, what has worked well, what could be improved, whether they felt consulted and involved and whether there were differences to the person they were caring for as well as any signposting to other services.

Key findings from the research included the following suggested improvements: further promotion of the open visiting would be beneficial as there was some confusion at Clifton Hospital and conflicting information on the wards and the website; more staff needed on duty to attend to patients; better communication between staff at shift changes, a requirement for facilities for visitors to store items and more support around parking charges.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals responded positively to the report and outlined the actions taken including additional John’s Campaign training.