TRUST CHOSEN TO SHOWCASE ITS ‘HEALING ENVIRONMENT’ TO REST OF COUNTRY

SOUTH Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been chosen as a showcase site for its continued work to improve the hospital environment for patients.

This Wednesday (1 July), The James Cook University Hospital will host an ‘Enhancing the Healing Environment’ (EHE) seminar for The King’s Fund – a charity which seeks to understand how the health system in England can be improved.

The trust is one of a number of healthcare organisations taking part in a Department of Health initiative, led by The King’s Fund, to improve facilities to care for patients at the end of life, the bereaved and the front-line staff who care for them.

Its specific project, overseen by a nurse-led team, involves refurbishing some of the the single rooms and a six-bedded bay on ward nine, which cares for patients with respiratory problems at James Cook to allow patients more privacy and dignity.

But the trust also has a long-established ‘healing arts’ charity to enhance healing, health and a sense of wellbeing to staff, patients and the local population through the use of the arts, space, light and the environment.

A total of 36 representatives from teams from across the country will visit the Middlesbrough hospital site.

The King’s Fund Enhancing the Healing Environment programme director Sarah Waller CBE said: “We are delighted to once again be able to bring teams from across the country to James Cook. The nurse-led teams are working to improve healthcare environments as part of a Department of Health funded programme.

“As part of their programme we give them the opportunity of visiting exemplar sites and James Cook has much to interest and inspire them. We know from previous visits that examples of the way in which interior design, art and wayfinding have been incorporated into the fabric of the building have influenced Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) projects in other parts of the country.

“We are also looking forward to hearing about the latest progress on the trust’s EHE project to improve the hospital environment for those receiving palliative care.”

The trust’s deputy director of planning Margaret McGloin added: “We’re delighted to have been asked to host this event. It is very important we try to make the hospital environment as pleasant as possible for patients and their families and when the James Cook site was redeveloped, we made a conscious effort to ensure the new areas supported a healing and caring environment.

“However we do still have older parts of the hospital which need modernisation to bring them up to the same standard and ward nine is one of those areas. The project will be evaluated and used as an exemplar for any future upgrading work.”

The King’s Fund helps to shape policy, transform services and bring about behaviour change in the NHS and its work includes research, analysis, leadership development and service improvement. It also offers a wide range of resources to help everyone working in health to share knowledge, learning and ideas. More EHE and King’s Fund information can be found at:

http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/research/projects/enhancing_the_healing_environment/