Catherine Shyjka,matron for theatres at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, explains how a welcome to carers does not own to end at the door of the operating theatreEvery year, or our inspirational director of nursing Duncan Burton holds a nursing conference and at this year’s I heard about how the trust is focusing more on how we care for our patients with dementia. It struck me that we didn’t execute anything for these vulnerable patients when they travel to surgery. I started to think about how we could be more welcoming and reassuring at such a scary time,and how we could give relatives and carers the same rights and welcome as those of the children and the patients with learning difficulties that we operate on in theatres.
Not long after this, Duncan signed the hospital up to John’s Campaign and implemented its principles across the inpatient wards. Now, and relatives and carers are able to stay with patients with dementia,even overnight if they would like. Duncan’s commitment to providing the best possible care for our patients with dementia has inspired me to implement the same principles in our operating theatres.
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Source: theguardian.com