Issue - meetings
HWB story - Royal London Hospital Patients and Families Group
Meeting: 06/04/2021 - Tower Hamlets Health and Wellbeing Board (Item 2)
Health and Wellbeing Story - Royal London Hospital Patients and Families Groups
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Board welcomed representatives from Royal London Hospital Patient Welfare Association that had been established to investigate allegations of “poor level of care” at the Royal London Hospital. The main points arising from the discussions on this item may be summarised as follows:
The Board
v Noted that concerns had been raised after relatives had apparently not been able to visit wards during strict lockdown periods and that claims had been made that some elderly family members had not received attentive care on the wards.
v Noted the Patient Welfare Association is calling for changes and suggesting how standards "should be improved" by involving families with patient care.
v Noted that Barts Health NHS Trust has stated that patient safety is its top priority and wants to listen to any feedback and concerns.
v Noted that the objective of the Patient Welfare Association is to give the people within the community, a voice for the voiceless where it is felt that care lacking.
v Noted that Patient Welfare Association were incredibly grateful to Jackie Sullivan (Chief Executive Officer Royal London & Mile End Hospitals) for having arranged a meeting on the 1st of April 2021 and that there is now a constant dialogue with the Trust on how the care of residents can be improved. The Patient Welfare Association was also looking forward to working with other groups to get the best possible care for all residents.
v Noted that Patient Welfare Association wants to look at (i) visitation rights to facilitate the elderly and vulnerable patients; (ii) treating patients with dignity and respect; (iii) improve on the work being done through the family contact centre that has been established and for there to be meaningful BAME representation in the running of this centre; and (iv) for meaningful overview and scrutiny of this issue.
v Noted that the Patient Welfare Association recognises the amazing work that front line staff have done by the Barts Health NHS Trust and community coming together during these challenging times. However, the Patient Welfare Association stated that there had been a serious lack in the care that the families of patients had received. The Patient Welfare Association wished to see patients treated with dignity and respect e.g. staff not considering people's cultural and religious needs. Patient Welfare Association indicated that this situation had been not helped by the complaints system which had been a barrier itself as it is not easy to navigate.
v Noted that the aim of the Patient Welfare Association is not to name and shame, it is simply to improve the level of care of every single patient receives from the Barts Health NHS Trust.
v Noted that the Patient Welfare Association wanted better access to patients who are vulnerable and have learning difficulties who cannot feed themselves as it is therapeutic, as it helps with their recovery process and support the nursing staff as at the end of day the wellbeing of the patient is in everyone’s ... view the full minutes text for item 2