BMJ 2014;348:g2024 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g2024 (Published 10 March 2014)
Page 1 of 2
News
NEWS Doctors shadow patients’ experiences for “NHS Change Day” Zosia Kmietowicz BMJ
A GP who spent NHS Change Day on 3 March in a wheelchair has said that the worst thing about the experience was the social isolation. Jonathan Griffiths, from Cheshire, who shared his experience on Twitter and in blog posts, said that his pledge for the day, which aims to inspire staff, patients, and the public to do something better together to improve healthcare, increased his empathy for wheelchair users.
“What struck me was how the little things we all take for granted became so much more difficult. Things like getting through doors, driving a car, and climbing stairs. The social isolation was the worst,” he said. “It helps me see them as people instead of medical problems and fosters a better patient-doctor relationship.”
Griffiths is one of nearly 402 000 people who had made a pledge by 7 March, more than double the 189 000 pledges recorded in the first NHS Change Day last year. The target this year is to get half a million staff, patients, and NHS supporters to make pledges as part of the collective action to improve the NHS.
Damian Roland, senior paediatric registrar at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and one of the founders of NHS Change Day, said, “What started out as a simple discussion about how to improve the NHS from within has become the biggest ever united healthcare movement for change.” Roland’s own pledge was to spend an hour “collared and blocked” on a spinal board to see what it was like to arrive at hospital in an emergency.
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Many other pledges have seen NHS staff shadow their patients to further their appreciation of what they go through. One group of doctors had a gastric nasal tube inserted, and another spent a week on a special renal diet.
Members of the public have also been asked to take part by pledging to ensure that they turn up for GP and hospital appointments—or to warn their doctor if they are unable to keep the appointment—in an effort to tackle the problem of missed appointments, which cost the NHS millions of pounds every year. The needs of wheelchair users came up again when David Nicholson, NHS England’s chief executive, pledged to revolutionise wheelchair services. “My pledge is to bring together people across the country dedicated to improving services for people who use wheelchairs. Wheelchairs enable people to have full lives, and we need to revolutionise the way in which the NHS supports these people,” he said.
In his pledge Terence Stephenson, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, set himself the goal of losing 5% of his body weight to bring his body mass index into the normal range, in recognition of the academy’s campaign on obesity. On 3 March the academy said that he had achieved his target weight. Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g2024 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2014
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BMJ 2014;348:g2024 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g2024 (Published 10 March 2014)
Page 2 of 2
NEWS
Figure
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
Page 1 of 2
News
NEWS Doctors shadow patients’ experiences for “NHS Change Day” Zosia Kmietowicz BMJ
A GP who spent NHS Change Day on 3 March in a wheelchair has said that the worst thing about the experience was the social isolation. Jonathan Griffiths, from Cheshire, who shared his experience on Twitter and in blog posts, said that his pledge for the day, which aims to inspire staff, patients, and the public to do something better together to improve healthcare, increased his empathy for wheelchair users.
“What struck me was how the little things we all take for granted became so much more difficult. Things like getting through doors, driving a car, and climbing stairs. The social isolation was the worst,” he said. “It helps me see them as people instead of medical problems and fosters a better patient-doctor relationship.”
Griffiths is one of nearly 402 000 people who had made a pledge by 7 March, more than double the 189 000 pledges recorded in the first NHS Change Day last year. The target this year is to get half a million staff, patients, and NHS supporters to make pledges as part of the collective action to improve the NHS.
Damian Roland, senior paediatric registrar at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and one of the founders of NHS Change Day, said, “What started out as a simple discussion about how to improve the NHS from within has become the biggest ever united healthcare movement for change.” Roland’s own pledge was to spend an hour “collared and blocked” on a spinal board to see what it was like to arrive at hospital in an emergency.
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Many other pledges have seen NHS staff shadow their patients to further their appreciation of what they go through. One group of doctors had a gastric nasal tube inserted, and another spent a week on a special renal diet.
Members of the public have also been asked to take part by pledging to ensure that they turn up for GP and hospital appointments—or to warn their doctor if they are unable to keep the appointment—in an effort to tackle the problem of missed appointments, which cost the NHS millions of pounds every year. The needs of wheelchair users came up again when David Nicholson, NHS England’s chief executive, pledged to revolutionise wheelchair services. “My pledge is to bring together people across the country dedicated to improving services for people who use wheelchairs. Wheelchairs enable people to have full lives, and we need to revolutionise the way in which the NHS supports these people,” he said.
In his pledge Terence Stephenson, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, set himself the goal of losing 5% of his body weight to bring his body mass index into the normal range, in recognition of the academy’s campaign on obesity. On 3 March the academy said that he had achieved his target weight. Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g2024 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2014
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
BMJ 2014;348:g2024 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g2024 (Published 10 March 2014)
Page 2 of 2
NEWS
Figure
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
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