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Visiting hours extended on wards at more than half of NHS trusts Exclusive by Alistair Kleebauer @alistairbauer More than half of NHS trusts and boards are offering extended, flexible or open visiting hours on adult inpatient or older people’s wards, exclusive research by Nursing Standard has revealed. Of 65 NHS organisations that responded to a UK-wide survey, 57 per cent have moved to improve patient experience by offering more than five hours in a day for friends and family to visit. Some have introduced open visiting on particular wards. Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust now allows visiting at any time (see box). A quarter of those responding (16 NHS organisations) have changed their visiting hours in the past year and 29 per cent (19 organisations) plan to
Open all hours, with beds for family members The Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust abolished set visiting times in 2013. Now friends and family are encouraged, in agreement with the patient, to visit whenever they feel it is appropriate. The hospital has purchased beds allowing family members to stay overnight. Assistant director of nursing for patient and family experience Joanne Shaw said: ‘What staff have learned is that family members have more of a right to be with their loved one than healthcare professionals.’ change their hours, with ten currently trialling or reviewing their hours. Solihull Hospital, part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, began piloting visiting from 2pm until 8.30pm last month. Head nurse Vanessa Wort said: ‘It is going well, but there have been some issues around visitors’ expectations.’ A leaflet on what extended visiting means for patients, visitors and staff explains the occasions when relatives will be asked to leave a patient’s bedside, such as when the patient needs to have wound or drain checks, she added.
A nurse accused of murdering three patients was ‘a very good nurse’ but did not get on well with other nurses, a court heard last week. Victorino Chua, described as ‘caring and courteous’ by a nurse who worked with him, is on trial at Manchester Crown Court for poisoning 21 patients at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport by injecting insulin into saline bags used by ‘unsuspecting’ colleagues. Mr Chua, from Stockport, has pleaded not guilty to 36 charges, including three alleged murders, one count of grievous bodily harm with intent, 23 counts of attempted grievous bodily harm, eight counts of attempting to cause a poison to be administered and one count of administering a poison. The hearing continues.
MEN
‘Caring’ nurse goes on trial for murder
Victorino Chua: pleading not guilty
Dementia expert June Andrews, director of the Dementia Services Development Centre in Stirling, said open visiting should be the norm and relatives of patients can help with mealtimes and exercise.
Noise control
‘Some relatives can be a nuisance and noisy, but as a nurse you have to have the courage to say to someone “can you step out for a while or can you wait in the waiting room?”’ In England, 58 per cent of trusts (28) offered some form of extended hours and 31 per cent (15) had plans for changing them. Eight out of eleven Scottish health boards that responded gave evidence of extended hours. NHS Forth Valley allows visitors into its adult inpatient wards in acute and community hospitals between 11.30am and 8pm. In Northern Ireland, three health and social care trusts that responded did not provide examples of extended visiting hours or say they planned to extend them. One Welsh health board – Betsi Cadwaladr University – out of three responding said it had open hours on some wards. NHS England experience of care professional lead Paul Jebb said visitors help patients’ mood and ‘break up the day’. Should all hospitals offer extended visiting? Tell us what you think at tinyurl.com/pv8t87g
NURSING STANDARD february :: vol 29without no 26 permission. :: 2015 7 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Dec 02, 2015. For personal use only. No25 other uses Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Share your news with us – email [email protected], call +44 (0)20 8872 3144 or @NurseStandard
Visiting hours extended on wards at more than half of NHS trusts Exclusive by Alistair Kleebauer @alistairbauer More than half of NHS trusts and boards are offering extended, flexible or open visiting hours on adult inpatient or older people’s wards, exclusive research by Nursing Standard has revealed. Of 65 NHS organisations that responded to a UK-wide survey, 57 per cent have moved to improve patient experience by offering more than five hours in a day for friends and family to visit. Some have introduced open visiting on particular wards. Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust now allows visiting at any time (see box). A quarter of those responding (16 NHS organisations) have changed their visiting hours in the past year and 29 per cent (19 organisations) plan to
Open all hours, with beds for family members The Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust abolished set visiting times in 2013. Now friends and family are encouraged, in agreement with the patient, to visit whenever they feel it is appropriate. The hospital has purchased beds allowing family members to stay overnight. Assistant director of nursing for patient and family experience Joanne Shaw said: ‘What staff have learned is that family members have more of a right to be with their loved one than healthcare professionals.’ change their hours, with ten currently trialling or reviewing their hours. Solihull Hospital, part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, began piloting visiting from 2pm until 8.30pm last month. Head nurse Vanessa Wort said: ‘It is going well, but there have been some issues around visitors’ expectations.’ A leaflet on what extended visiting means for patients, visitors and staff explains the occasions when relatives will be asked to leave a patient’s bedside, such as when the patient needs to have wound or drain checks, she added.
A nurse accused of murdering three patients was ‘a very good nurse’ but did not get on well with other nurses, a court heard last week. Victorino Chua, described as ‘caring and courteous’ by a nurse who worked with him, is on trial at Manchester Crown Court for poisoning 21 patients at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport by injecting insulin into saline bags used by ‘unsuspecting’ colleagues. Mr Chua, from Stockport, has pleaded not guilty to 36 charges, including three alleged murders, one count of grievous bodily harm with intent, 23 counts of attempted grievous bodily harm, eight counts of attempting to cause a poison to be administered and one count of administering a poison. The hearing continues.
MEN
‘Caring’ nurse goes on trial for murder
Victorino Chua: pleading not guilty
Dementia expert June Andrews, director of the Dementia Services Development Centre in Stirling, said open visiting should be the norm and relatives of patients can help with mealtimes and exercise.
Noise control
‘Some relatives can be a nuisance and noisy, but as a nurse you have to have the courage to say to someone “can you step out for a while or can you wait in the waiting room?”’ In England, 58 per cent of trusts (28) offered some form of extended hours and 31 per cent (15) had plans for changing them. Eight out of eleven Scottish health boards that responded gave evidence of extended hours. NHS Forth Valley allows visitors into its adult inpatient wards in acute and community hospitals between 11.30am and 8pm. In Northern Ireland, three health and social care trusts that responded did not provide examples of extended visiting hours or say they planned to extend them. One Welsh health board – Betsi Cadwaladr University – out of three responding said it had open hours on some wards. NHS England experience of care professional lead Paul Jebb said visitors help patients’ mood and ‘break up the day’. Should all hospitals offer extended visiting? Tell us what you think at tinyurl.com/pv8t87g
NURSING STANDARD february :: vol 29without no 26 permission. :: 2015 7 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Dec 02, 2015. For personal use only. No25 other uses Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
