Enter and view: Countess of Chester Hospital; Orthopaedic Trauma Ward
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Healthwatch Cheshire West conducted an Enter and View visit to the Orthopaedic Trauma Ward of the Countess of Chester Hospital on 11 March 2014.
Patients on the Ward present with a variety of orthopaedic conditions - hip fractures, spinal injuries, broken bones due to road accidents. The youngest patient on the ward on the day of the visit was aged 43 and the eldest aged 98. 90% of the patients are aged 70 and over. During the course of the last month a large number of patients had dementia and extra staff were required as these patients needed one-to-one care and support.
While the visiting team observed that the ward was clean and well run, the younger patient on the Ward noted that it could be noisy at night with the elderly patients becoming restless. The ward utilised 'This is me' booklets provided by the Alzheimer's society to provide reassurance to patients with dementia in an unfamiliar environment, as well as providing useful personal information to staff if patients were unable to provide this.
No recommendations were made and no response from the provider is contained within the report.